Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume ISturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume I
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
Perhaps no time is so favourable for a view along the horizon as the
sunset hour; and here, at an elevation of from five to six hundred feet
above the plain, the visible line of it could not have been less than
from thirty-five to forty-five miles. The hill upon which I stood was
broken into two points; the one was a bold rocky elevation; the other
had its rear face also perpendicular, but gradually declined to the
north, and at a distance of from four to five miles was lost in an
extensive and open plain in that direction. In the S.E. quarter, two
wooded hills were visible, which before had appeared to be nothing more
than swells in the general level of the country. A small hill, similar
to the above, bore N.E. by compass; and again, to the west, a more
considerable mountain than that I had ascended, and evidently much
higher, reflected the last beams of the sun as he sunk behind them. I
looked, however, in vain for water. I could not trace either the
windings of a stream, or the course of a mountain torrent; and, as we
had passed a swamp about a mile from the hill, we descended to it for
the night, during which we were grievously tormented by the mosquitoes.
RESULTS OF THE EXCURSION.
I had no inducement to proceed further into the interior. I had been
sufficiently disappointed in the termination of this excursion, and the
track before me was still less inviting. Nothing but a dense forest,
and a level country, existed between me and the distant hill. I had
learnt, by experience, that it was impossible to form any opinion of
the probable features of so singular a region as that in which I was
wandering, from previous appearances, or to expect the same result, as
in other countries, from similar causes. In a geographical point of
view, my journey had been more successful, and had enabled me to put to
rest for ever a question of much previous doubt. Of whatever extent the
marshes of the Macquarie might be, it was evident they were not
connected with those of the Lachlan. I had gained knowledge of more
than 100 miles of the western interior, and had ascertained that no
sea, indeed that little water, existed on its surface; and that,
although it is generally flat, it still has elevations of considerable
magnitude upon it.
Although I had passed over much barren ground, I had likewise noticed
soil that was far from poor, and the vegetation upon which in ordinary
seasons would, I am convinced, have borne a very different aspect.
Yet, upon the whole, the space I traversed is unlikely to become the
haunt of civilized man, or will only become so in isolated spots, as a
chain of connection to a more fertile country; if such a country exist
to the westward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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