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
One would have imagined that our perplexities would have been
sufficient for one day, but ere night closed, they increased upon us,
although our anxiety, with regard to the cattle, was happily removed.
Mr. Hume with his usual perseverance, walked out when the camp was
formed; and, at a little distance from it, ascended a ridge of pure
sand, crowned with cypresses. From this, he descended to the westward,
and, at length, struck upon the river, where a reef of rocks creased
its channel, and formed a dry passage from one side to the other; but
the bend, which the river must have taken, appeared to him so singular,
that he doubted whether it was the same beside which we had been
travelling during the day. Curiosity led him to cross it, when he found
a small pond of fresh water on a tongue of land, and, immediately
afterwards, returned to acquaint me with the welcome tidings. It was
too late to move, but we had, at least, the prospect of a comfortable
breakfast in the morning.
JUNCTION OF NEW YEAR'S CREEK.
In consequence of the doubts that hung upon Mr. Hume's mind, as to the
course of the river, we arranged that the animals should precede us to
the fresh water; and that we should keep close in upon the stream, to
ascertain that point. After traversing a deep bight, we arrived nearly
as soon as the party, at the appointed rendezvous. The rocks composing
the channel of the river at the crossing place, were of indurated clay.
In the course of an hour, the animals appearing quite refreshed, we
proceeded on our journey, and at about four miles crossed New Year's
Creek, at its junction with the salt river. We passed several parts of
the main channel that were perfectly dry, and were altogether at a loss
to account for the current we undoubtedly had observed in the river
when we first came upon it. At midday D'Urban's Group bore S. 65 E.
distant about 32 miles. We made a little westing in the afternoon. The
river continued to maintain its character and appearance, its lofty
banks, and its long still reaches: while, however, the blue-gum trees
upon its banks were of magnificent size, the soil had but little
vegetation upon it, although an alluvial deposit.
We passed over vast spaces covered with the polygonum junceum, that
bore all the appearance of the flooded tracks in the neighbourhood of
the marshes, and on which the travelling was equally distressing to the
animals. Indeed, it had been sufficiently evident to us that the waters
of this river were not always confined to its channel, capacious as it
was, but that they inundated a belt of barren land, that varied in
width from a quarter of a mile to a mile, when they were checked by an
outer embankment that prevented them from spreading generally over the
country, and upon the neighbouring plains. At our halting place, the
cattle drank sparingly of the water, but it acted as a violent
purgative both on them and the men who partook of it.
NATIVE VILLAGE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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