Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 31

Mount Eckersley.

Cross the Fitzroy.

Cross the Surry.

Lady Julia Percy's Isle.

Beach of Portland Bay.

A vessel at anchor.

House and farming establishment there.

Whale fishery.

Excursion to Cape Nelson.

Mount Kincaid.

A whale chase.

Sagacity of the natives on the coast.

Mount Clay.

Return to the camp.

Still r.e.t.a.r.ded by the soft soil.

Leave one of the boats, and reduce the size of the boat carriage.

Excursion to Mount Napier.

Cross some fine streams.

Natives very timid.

Crater of Mount Napier or Murroa.

View from the summit.

Return to the Camp.

Mr. Stapylton's excursion to the north-west.

The Shaw.

Conduct the carts along the highest ground.

Again ascend Murroa and partially clear the summit.

Mount Rouse.

Australian Pyrenees.

Swamps harder than the ground around them.

Again reach the good country.

Mounts Bainbrigge and Pierrepoint.

Mount Sturgeon.

Ascend Mount Abrupt.

View of the Grampians from the summit.

Victoria range and the Serra.

Mud again, and a broken axle.

Mr. Stapylton examines the country before us.

At length get through the soft region.

Cattle quite exhausted.

Determine to leave them in a depot to refresh while I proceed forward.

Specimens of natural history.

Situation of depot camp at Lake Repose.

LEAVE THE GLENELG AND TRAVEL EASTWARD.

August 23.

Having at length disposed of the course of the Glenelg, my next object was to cross and examine the high ground which enclosed its basin on the east supplying those tributaries which the river received from its left bank, and evidently extending from the Grampians to Cape Bridgewater. I had named this the Rifle range in crossing that branch of it extending north-westward when I ascertained its characteristics to be lofty woods and swamps; but its ramifications in other directions and how it was connected backwards with the mountains still remained to be discovered; and from what I did know of this range I apprehended considerable difficulty in getting over it with our heavy carriages at such a season.

That we might if possible escape the bogs, I devoted the day to an extensive reconnaissance of the country before us; my guide in this case being the river Crawford which, flowing in deep ravines, was likely to afford (so long as its general course continued to be nearly parallel to our route) one means at least of avoiding those soft swampy flats which could not possibly impede us so long as the side of such a ravine as that of the river was within reach. I had the good fortune to find that the range in general was firm under the hoof, and its direction precisely such as I wished. Extensive swamps occasionally appeared on my right; but I had on the left the deep ravines of the Crawford, and I travelled across the highest slopes of the ground. Having thus found good sound turf for twelve miles in the direction in which I wished to take the carriages, I returned on descending from a trap range where the rock consisted of granular felspar and hornblende with crystals of gla.s.sy felspar. On this hill the soil was exceedingly rich and the gra.s.s green and luxuriant. I obtained thence a most useful bearing on Mount Gambier, and saw also some heights to the eastward beyond the Rifle range. The timber grew to an enormous size on the ranges which I traversed this day; it consisted chiefly of that species of eucalyptus known as stringybark.

Some of the trees we measured were 13 feet and one as much as 14 1/2 feet in circ.u.mference, and 80 feet was no uncommon height. The fallen timber was of such magnitude as to present a new impediment to our progress for we had not previously met with such an obstruction on any journey.

CROSS THE CRAWFORD.

August 24.

The carriages were taken across the Crawford without much delay considering its depth and the softness of the banks. The carts sank at least five feet in the water yet nothing was damaged for we had taken care to pack the flour and other perishable articles on the tops of the loads. We succeeded in crossing the rivulets at the heads of several ravines by filling up their channels with logs; and thus, after crossing the last of these, and ascending the steep bank beyond it, we encamped after a journey of seven miles. The weather had been stormy on both days since I crossed the Crawford, a circ.u.mstance very much against our progress. Near this camp we found a new Correa, resembling C. virens but having distinctly cordate toothed leaves with less down on their underside and a much shorter calyx.*

(*Footnote. C. cordifolia, Lindley ma.n.u.scripts; stellato-tomentosa, foliis subsessilibus cordatis ovatis denticulatis obtusis planis supra glabris, corollis tubulosis cernuis, calyce truncato brevissimo.)

BOGGY CHARACTER OF ITS SOURCES.

August 25.

In our progress eastward we were still governed by the line of the Crawford; and the tortuous direction of the ravines connected with it required constant attention, while the very variable character of the swamps at the head of them was still more perplexing. We succeeded in finding a pa.s.sage between all this day also and, on again crossing a small mountain torrent by filling up the chasm with dead timber, we encamped after another journey of seven miles. On our left to the northward lay a deep valley in which we found a broad sheet of water covered with ducks, the banks being soft and overgrown with reeds. A considerable stream flowed westward from this lake through a narrow part of the valley, so that I concluded we were still on the princ.i.p.al branch of the Crawford. Trees of large dimensions were abundant and the fallen timber impeded our progress even more than any unusual softness of the earth.

August 26.

After proceeding several miles without lett or hindrance, having successfully crossed some swampy rivulets all flowing to the left amidst thick scrubs, we at length arrived at a watercourse in which my horse went down, and which filled a very wide swampy bed enclosed by a thick growth of young mimosa trees, through which it was necessary to cut a pa.s.sage wide enough for the carts. The scrub having been thus cleared to the extent of about 100 yards with much labour, I found only then unfortunately that although the roots grew very closely, and that water flowed over the surface, the earth was withal so soft that I could at every point with ease push a stick five feet down without reaching any firm bottom. The loose cattle were driven in, an experiment which until then we had tried with success in doubtful places, but they with difficulty got across this, for one of them sank and could not be extricated without considerable delay. While the men were busily employed there I rode to the head of the swamp which extended about a mile to the southward. On this swampy plain I at length succeeded in finding, with Mr. Stapylton's a.s.sistance, a line of route likely to bear the carts and we pa.s.sed safely in that direction, not one carriage having gone down.

While on this swampy surface we distinctly heard the breakers of the sea apparently at no great distance to the south-west, and I was convinced that the head of this swamp was about the highest ground immediately adjacent to Discovery Bay. On travelling a mile and a half further we reached a small rivulet, the first we had crossed flowing to the south.

Beyond it the country appeared open and good, consisting of what is termed forest land with casuarinae and banksia growing upon it.

RECROSS THE RIFLE RANGE.

We had at length reached the highest parts of the range and were about to descend into the country beyond it. We continued to travel a considerable distance further than the rivulet flowing to the south. Crossing others running northward or to the left, and leaving also on the same side a swamp, we finally came to a higher range clothed with trees of gigantic size, attesting the strength and depth of the soil, and here enormous old trunks obstructed our pa.s.sage, covering the surface so as to form an impediment almost as great to us as the swampy ground had been; but this large timber so near the coast was an important feature in that country.

Piper, having climbed to the top of one of these trees, perceived some fine green hills to the south-east, saying they were very near us and that the sea was visible beyond them. It was late in the afternoon when I reluctantly changed my intended route, which had been until then eastward, to proceed in the direction recommended by Piper, or to the south-east and so to follow down a valley, instead of my proposed route which had been along a favourable range.

HEAVY TIMBER THE CHIEF IMPEDIMENT.

I had still less reason to be satisfied with the change when, after pushing my horse through thick scrubs and bogs until twilight and looking in vain for a pa.s.sage for the carts, I encountered at length bushes so thickly set and bogs so soft that any further progress in that direction was out of the question; and thus on the evening when I hoped to have entered a better sort of country after so successful a pa.s.sage of the range we encamped where but little gra.s.s could be found for the cattle, our tents being not only under lofty trees but amongst thick bushes and bogs during very rainy weather.

TRAVELLING ALSO DIFFICULT FROM THE SOFTNESS OF THE GROUND.

August 27.

I was so anxious to get into open ground again that, as soon as daylight permitted, I carefully examined the environs of our camp, and I found that we occupied a broad flat where the drainage from the hills met and spread among bushes, so that at one time I almost despaired of extricating the party otherwise than by returning to the hill at which I had first altered my route. The track we made had been however so much cut up by our wheels that I preferred the chance of finding a pa.s.sage northward which, of course, was also less out of our way. We reached an extremity of the hill (the nearest to us on that side) with much less difficulty than I had reason to apprehend and, keeping along that feature, we soon regained a range which led us east-north-east. By proceeding in this direction however we could not avoid the pa.s.sage of a valley where the water was not confined to any channel, but spread and lodged on a wide tract of very soft ground, also covered with mimosa bushes and a thick growth of young saplings of eucalyptus. The light carts and the first heavy cart got over this soft ground or bog, but the others and the boat carriage sank up to the axles so that we were obliged to halt after having proceeded about five miles only. This was near a fine forest-hill consisting of trap-rock in a state of decomposition, but apparently similar to that of the trap-rock I had ascended on the 23rd of August; and from a tree there Burnett thought he saw the sea to the north-east, and even to the northward of a remarkable conical hill. The discovery of the sea in that direction was so different from the situation of the sh.o.r.e as laid down on the maps that I began to hope an inlet might exist there as yet undiscovered, the "Cadong," perhaps, of the native woman, "where white men had never been."*

(*Footnote. See above.)

EXCURSION SOUTHWARD TO PORTLAND BAY.

I had now proceeded far enough to the eastward to be able to examine the coast about Portland Bay and extend my survey to the capes in its neighbourhood, the better to ascertain their longitude. I therefore determined to make an excursion in that direction and thus afford time not only for the extrication of the heavy carts still remaining in the mud but also for the repose of the cattle after their labours.

August 28.

By the survey proposed I hoped to extend my map of the country sufficiently in that direction to be at liberty, on my return to the party, to pursue a route directly homeward; not doubting that at a short distance to the northward of our camp we should again enter the beautiful open country which, when seen from the mouth of the Wannon, seemed to extend as far as could be seen to the eastward. In our ride to the south we reached, at four miles from the boggy ground, a fine green hill consisting of trap-rock and connected with a ridge of the same description which extended about two miles further to the southward.

MOUNT ECKERSLEY.

There we found it to terminate abruptly in a lofty brow, quite clear of timber and commanding an extensive view to the east and south over a much lower country. This hill had a very remarkable feature--a deep chasm separating it from the ridge behind, the sides being so steep as to present a section of the trap-rock which consisted princ.i.p.ally of compact felspar. The hill which I named Mount Eckersley was covered, as well as the ridge to which it belonged, with a luxuriant crop of anthisterium, or kangaroo gra.s.s. Unfortunately the weather was squally but, by awaiting the intervals between clouds on the horizon, I obtained angles at length on nearly all the distant hills, the waters of Portland Bay just appearing in the south over an intervening woody ridge. From this hill I recognised a very conspicuous flat-topped hill to the northward which had been previously included in a series of angles observed on the 12th instant from the valley of the Wannon and which I now named Mount Napier.

Portland Bay was distant about fifteen miles but the intervening country seemed so low, and swamps entirely clear of timber appeared in so many places, that I could scarcely hope to get through it: knowing it to contain all the water from those boggy valleys where our progress had been already so much impeded. Smoke arose from various parts of the lower country--a proof that at least some dry land was there. We were provided with horses only, and therefore desperately determined to flounder through or even to swim if necessary, we thrust them down the hill. On its side we met an emu which stood and stared, apparently fearless as if the strange quadrupeds had withdrawn its keen eye from the more familiar enemies who bestrode them. In the lower country we saw also a kangaroo, an animal that seldom frequents marshy lands. I was agreeably surprised to find also, on descending, that the rich gra.s.s extended among the trees across the lower country; and I was still more pleased on coming to a fine running stream at about three miles from the hill and after crossing a tract of land of the richest description. Reeds grew thickly amongst the long gra.s.s, and the ground appeared to be of a different character from any that I had previously seen. This seemed to be just such land as would produce wheat during the driest seasons and never become sour even in the wettest, such as this season undoubtedly was.