Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2Sturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
We experienced the most oppressive heat about this time. Calms
generally prevailed, and about 3 p.m. the sun's rays fell upon us with
intense effect. The waters of the Murray continued extremely muddy, a
circumstance we discovered to be owing to the turbid current of the
Rufus, which we passed on the 1st of March. It is, really, singular
whence this little stream originates. It will be remembered that I
concluded it must have been swollen by rains when we first saw it; yet,
after an absence of more than three weeks we found it discharging its
waters as muddy as ever into the main stream; and that, too, in such
quantities as to discolour its waters to the very lake. The reader will
have some idea of the force of the current in both, when I assure him
that for nearly fifty yards below the mouth of the Rufus, the waters of
the Murray preserve their transparency, and the line between them and
the turbid waters of its tributary was as distinctly marked as if drawn
by a pencil. Indeed, the higher we advanced, the more did we feel the
strength of the current, against which we had to pull.
DIFFICULTIES AT THE RAPIDS.
A little below the Lindesay, a rapid occurs. It was with the utmost
difficulty that we stemmed it with the four oars upon the boat, and the
exertion of our whole strength. We remained, at one time, perfectly
stationary, the force we employed and that of the current being equal.
We at length ran up the stream obliquely; but it was evident the men
were not adequate to such exertion for any length of time. We pulled
that day for eleven successive hours, in order to avoid a tribe of
natives who followed us. Hopkinson and Fraser fell asleep at their
oars, and even the heavy Clayton appeared to labour.
We again occupied our camp under the first remarkable cliffs of the
Murray, a description of which has been given in page 128 of this work.
[GEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION.] Their summit, as I have already remarked
forms a table land of some elevation. From it the distant interior to
the S.S.E. appears very depressed; that to the north undulates more. In
neither quarter, however, does any bright foliage meet the eye, to tell
that a better soil is under it; but a dark and gloomy vegetation
occupies both the near and distant ground, in proof that the sandy
sterile tracts, succeeding the river deposits, stretch far away without
a change.
A little above our camp of the 28th of January, we fell in with a large
tribe of natives, whose anxiety to detain us was remarkable. The wind,
however, which, from the time we lost the sea breezes, had hung to the
S.E., had changed to the S.W., and we were eagerly availing ourselves
of it. It will not be supposed we stopped even for a moment. In truth
we pressed on with great success, and did not land to sleep until nine
o'clock. As long as the wind blew from the S.W., the days were cool,
and the sky overcast even so much so as to threaten rain.
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