Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia Part 28

A little below the hills under which we had stopped, the country again a.s.sumed a level. A line of cliffs, of from two to three hundred feet in height, flanked the river, first on one side and then on the other, varying in length from a quarter of a mile to a mile. They rose perpendicularly from the water, and were of a bright yellow colour, rendered still more vivid occasionally by the sun shining full upon them.

The summits of these cliffs were as even as if they had been built by an architect; and from their very edge, the country back from the stream was of an uniform level, and was partly plain, and partly clothed by brush.

The soil upon this plateau, or table land, was sandy, and it was as barren and unproductive as the worst of the country we had pa.s.sed through. On the other hand, the alluvial flats on the river increased in size, and were less subject to flood; and the river lost much of its sandy bed, and its current was greatly diminished in strength.

NATIVE CHARACTER.

It blew so fresh, during the greater part of the day, from the westward, that we had great difficulty in pulling against the breeze. The determined N.W. course the river kept, made me doubt the correctness of the story of the little old black; yet there was an openness of manner about him, and a clearness of description, that did not appear like fabrication. He pointed to the S.S.W. when he left us, as the direction in which he would again join us, thus confirming, without any apparent intention, what he had stated with regard to the southerly course the river was about to take.

Among the natives who were with him, there was another man of very different manners and appearance. Our friend was small in stature, had piercing grey eyes, and was as quick as lightning in his movements The other was tall, and grey headed; anxious, yet un.o.btrusive; and confident, without the least mixture of boldness. The study of the human character on many occasions similar to this, during our intercourse with these people, rude and uncivilized as they were, was not only pleasing, but instructive.

We found that the individuals of a tribe partook of one general character, and that the whole of the tribe were either decidedly quiet, or as decidedly disorderly. The whole of the blacks left us when we started, but we had not gone very far, when the individual I have described brought his family, consisting of about fifteen persons. We were going down a part of the river in which there was a very slight fall. The natives were posted under some blue-gum trees, upon the right bank, and there was a broad shoal of sand immediately to our left. They walked over to this shoal, to receive some little presents, but did not follow when we continued our journey.

TAKE BEARINGS.

During the whole of the day the river ran to the N.W. We stopped for the night under some cliffs, similar to those we had already pa.s.sed, but somewhat higher. From their summit, mountains were visible to the N.W., but at a great distance from us. I doubted not that they were at the head of the southern gulfs; or of one of them, at all events. Our observations placed us in 34 degrees 08 minutes south of lat., and in long. 139 degrees 41 minutes 15 seconds; we were consequently nearly seventy miles from Spencer's Gulf, in a direct line, and I should have given that as the distance the hills appeared to be from us. They bore as follows:--

Lofty round mountain, S. 127 degrees W.

Mountain scarcely visible, S. 128 degrees W.

Northern extremity of a broken range, S. 102 degrees W.

Southern extremity scarcely visible, S. 58 degrees W.

The country between the river and these ranges appeared to be very low, and darkly wooded: that to the N.E. was more open. The summit of the cliff did not form any table-land, but it dipped almost immediately to the westward, and the country, although, as I have already remarked, it was depressed, and undulated.

I walked to some distance from the river, across a valley, and started several kangaroos; but I was quite alone, and could not, therefore, secure one of them. Had the dogs been near, we should have had a fine feast. The soil of the interior still continued sandy, but there was a kind of short gra.s.s mixed with the salsolaceous plants upon it, that indicated, as I thought, a change for the better in the vegetation; and the circ.u.mstance of there being kangaroos in the valleys to the westward was also a favourable sign.

FEAST ON A TORTOISE.

Beneath the cliffs hereabouts, the river was extremely broad and deep.

My servant thought it a good place for fishing and accordingly set a night-line, one end of which he fastened to the bough of a tree. During the night, being on guard, he saw a small tortoise floating on the water, so near that he struck it a violent blow with a large stick, upon which it dived: to his surprise, however, in the morning, he found that it had taken the bait, and was fast to the line. On examining it, the sh.e.l.l proved to be cracked, so that the blow must have been a severe one. It was the largest we had ever seen, and made an excellent dish. The flesh was beautifully white, nor could anything, especially under our circ.u.mstances, have been more tempting than it was when cooked; yet M'Leay would not partake of it.

The prevailing wind was, at this time, from the S.W. It blew heavily all day, but moderated towards the evening

I was very anxious, at starting on the 3rd, as to the course the river would take, since it would prove whether the little old man had played us false or not. From the cliffs under which we had slept, it held a direct N.W. course for two or three miles. It then turned suddenly to the S.E., and gradually came round to E.N.E., so that after two hours pulling, we found ourselves just opposite to the spot from which we had started, the neck of land that separated the channels not being more than 200 yards across. I have before noticed a bend similar to this, which the Murray makes, a little above the junction of the supposed Darling with it.

CHART OF THE RIVER.

It may appear strange to some of my readers, that I should have laid down the windings of the river so minutely. It may therefore be necessary for me to state that every bend of it was laid down by compa.s.s, and that the bearings of the angles as they opened were regularly marked by me, so that not a single winding or curve of the Murray is omitted in the large chart.

The length of some of the reaches may be erroneous, but their direction is strictly correct. I always had a sheet of paper and the compa.s.s before me, and not only marked down the river line, but also the description of country nearest; its most minute changes, its cliffs, its flats, the kind of country back from it, its lagoons, the places at which the tribes a.s.sembled, its junctions, tributaries and creeks, together with our several positions, were all regularly noted, so that on our return up the river we had no difficulty in ascertaining upon what part of it we were, by a reference to the chart; and it proved of infinite service to us, since we were enabled to judge of our distance from our several camps, as we gained them day by day with the current against us; and we should often have stopped short of them, weary and exhausted, had we not known that two or three reaches more would terminate our labour for the day.

REMARKABLE CLIFFS.

From the spot last spoken of, the river held on a due south course for the remainder of the day; and at the same time changed its character. It lost its sandy bed and its current together, and became deep, still, and turbid, with a muddy bottom. It increased considerably in breadth, and stretched away before us in magnificent reaches of from three to six miles in length. The cliffs under which we pa.s.sed towered above us, like maritime cliffs, and the water dashed against their base like the waves of the sea. They became brighter and brighter in colour, looking like dead gold in the sun's rays; and formed an unbroken wall of a mile or two in length. The natives on their summits showed as small as crows; and the c.o.c.katoos, the eagles, and other birds, were as specks above us; the former made the valley reverberate with their harsh and discordant notes.

The reader may form some idea of the height of these cliffs, when informed that the king of the feathered race made them his sanctuary. They were continuous on both sides of the river, but retired, more or less, from it, according to the extent of the alluvial flats. The river held a serpentine course down the valley through which it pa.s.sed, striking the precipices alternately on each side.

The soil on the flats was better, and less mixed with sand than it had been, but the flats were generally covered with reeds, though certainly not wholly subject to flood at any time. The polygonum still prevailed upon them in places, and the blue-gum tree alone occupied their outskirts.

From the several elevations we ascended, the country to the N.W. appeared undulating and well wooded; that to the eastward, seemed to be brushy and low. Certainly there was a great difference in the country, both to the eastward and to the westward. We had frequent views of the mountains we had seen, or, I should have said, of a continuation of them. They bore nearly west from us at a very great distance all day.

We fell in with several tribes, but did not see our old friend, although, from the inquiries we made, it was evident he was well known among them.

It would disgust my readers were I to describe the miserable state of disease and infirmity to which these tribes were reduced. Leprosy of the most loathsome description, the most violent cutaneous eruptions, and glandular affections, absolutely raged through the whole of them; yet we could not escape from the persecuting examination of our persons that curiosity prompted them in some measure to insist upon.

REJOINED BY OUR OLD NATIVE GUIDE.

The old man, whose information had proved strictly correct, joined us again on the 4th, and his joy at being received into the boat was unbounded, as well as the pleasure he expressed at again meeting Hopkinson. He had been on a long journey, it would appear, for he had not then reached his tribe. As we approached their haunt, he landed and preceded us to collect them. We were, of course, more than usually liberal to so old a friend, and we were really sorry to part with him.

Soon after leaving his tribe, which occupied the left bank of the river, and was very weak in point of numbers, we fell in with a very strong tribe upon the right bank. They numbered 211 in all. We lay off the bank, in order to escape their importunities; a measure that by no means satisfied them. The women appeared to be very prolific; but, as a race, these people are not to be compared with the natives of the mountains, or of the upper branches of the Murray.

We pa.s.sed some beautiful scenery in the course of the day. The river preserved a direct southerly course, and could not in any place have been less than 400 yards in breadth. The cliffs still continued, and varied perpetually in form; at one time presenting a perpendicular wall to the view, at others, they overhung the stream, in huge fragments. All were composed of a ma.s.s of sh.e.l.ls of various kinds; a fact which will call for further observation and remark.

DELAYED BY STRONG WINDS.

Many circ.u.mstances at this time tended to confirm our hopes that the sea could not be very far from us, or that we should not be long in gaining it. Some sea-gulls flew over our heads, at which Fraser was about to shoot, had I not prevented him, for I hailed them as the messengers of glad tidings, and thought they ill deserved such a fate. It blew very hard from the S.W., during the whole of the day, and we found it extremely laborious pulling against the heavy and short sea that came rolling up the broad and open reaches of the Murray at this place.

Four of the blacks, from the last tribe, followed us, and slept at the fires; but they were suspicious and timid, and appeared to be very glad when morning dawned. Our fires were always so much larger than those made by themselves, that, they fancied, perhaps, we were going to roast them.

Our dogs, likewise, gave them great uneasiness; for although so fond of the native brute, they feared ours, from their size. We generally tied them to the boat, therefore, to prevent a recurrence of theft, so that they were not altogether useless.

CHAPTER VI.

Improvement in the aspect of the country--Increase of the river--Strong westerly gales--Chronometer broken--A healthier tribe of natives-- Termination of the Murray in a large lake--Its extent and environs-- Pa.s.sage across it--Hostile appearance of the natives--Beautiful scenery --Channel from the lake to the sea at Encounter Bay--Reach the beach-- Large flocks of water fowl--Curious refraction--State of provisions-- Embarra.s.sing situation--Inspection of the channel to the ocean--Weak condition of the men--Difficulties of the return.

DELIGHTFUL COUNTRY.

It now appeared that the Murray had taken a permanent southerly course; indeed, it might strictly be said that it ran away to the south. As we proceeded down it, the valley expanded to the width of two miles; the alluvial flats became proportionably larger; and a small lake generally occupied their centre. They were extensively covered with reeds and gra.s.s, for which reason, notwithstanding that they were little elevated above the level of the stream, I do not think they are subject to overflow. Parts of them may be laid under water, but certainly not the whole. The rains at the head of the Murray, and its tributaries, must be unusually severe to prolong their effects to this distant region, and the flats bordering it appear, by successive depositions, to have only just gained a height above the further influence of the floods. Should this prove to be the case, the valley may be decidedly laid down as a most desirable spot, whether we regard the richness of its soil, its rock formation, its locality, or the extreme facility of water communication along it. It must not, however, be forgotten or concealed, that the summits of the cliffs by which the valley is enclosed, have not a corresponding soil. On the contrary, many of the productions common to the plains of the interior still existed upon them, and they were decidedly barren; but as we measured the reaches of the river, the cliffs ceased, and gave place to undulating hills, that were very different in appearance from the country we had previously noted down. It would have been impossible for the most tasteful individual to have laid out pleasure ground to more advantage, than Nature had done in planting and disposing the various groups of trees along the spine, and upon the sides of the elevations that confined the river, and bounded the low ground that intervened between it and their base. Still, however, the soil upon these elevations was sandy, and coa.r.s.e, but the large oat-gra.s.s was abundant upon them, which yielded pasture at least as good as that in the broken country between Underaliga and Morumbidgee.

We had now gained a distance of at least sixty miles from that angle of the Murray at which it reaches its extreme west. The general aspect of the country to our right was beautiful, and several valleys branched away into the interior upon that side which had a most promising appearance, and seemed to abound with kangaroos, as the traces of them were numerous, and the dogs succeeded in killing one, which, to our great mortification, we could not find.

While, however, the country to the westward had so much to recommend it, the hills to our left became extremely bare. It was evident that the right was the sheltered side of the valley. The few trees on the opposite side bent over to the N.E., as if under the influence of some prevailing wind.

ADVERSE GALES.

We experienced at this time a succession of gales from the S.W., against which we, on several occasions, found it useless to contend: the waves on the river being heavy and short; and the boat, driving her prow into them, sent the spray over us and soon wet us through. Indeed, it is difficult for the reader to imagine the heavy swell that rolled up the river, which had increased in breadth to the third of a mile, and in the length of its reaches to eight or ten. I was satisfied that we were not only navigating this river at a particularly stormy, perhaps THE stormy, season; but also, that the influence of the S.W. wind is felt even as far in the interior as to the supposed Darling; in consequence of the uniform build of the huts, and the circ.u.mstance of their not only facing the N.E., but also being almost invariably erected under the lee of some bush.

The weather, under the influence of the wind we experienced, was cool and pleasant, although the thermometer stood at a medium height of 86 degrees; but we found it very distressing to pull against the heavy breezes that swept up the valley, and bent the reeds so as almost to make them kiss the stream.

We communicated on the 6th and 7th with several large tribes of natives, whose manners were on the whole quiet and inoffensive. They distinctly informed us, that we were fast approaching the sea, and, from what I could understand, we were nearer to it than the coast line of Encounter Bay made us. We had placed sticks to ascertain if there was any rise or fall of tide, but the troubled state of the river prevented our experiments from being satisfactory. By selecting a place, however, that was sheltered from the effects of the wind, we ascertained that there was an apparent rise of about eight inches.

OBLIGED TO TAKE REPOSE.

It blew a heavy gale during the whole of the 7th; and we laboured in vain at the oar. The gusts that swept the bosom of the water, and the swell they caused, turned the boat from her course, and prevented us from making an inch of way. The men were quite exhausted, and, as they had conducted themselves so well, and had been so patient, I felt myself obliged to grant them every indulgence consistent with our safety. However precarious our situation, it would have been vain, with our exhausted strength, to have contended against the elements. We, therefore, pulled in to the left bank of the river, and pitched our tents on a little rising ground beyond the reeds that lined it.

CHRONOMETER BROKEN.

I had been suffering very much front tooth-ache for the last three or four days, and this day felt the most violent pain from the wind. I was not, therefore, sorry to get under even the poor shelter our tents afforded.

M'Leay, observing that I was in considerable pain, undertook to wind up the chronometer; but, not understanding or knowing the instrument, he unfortunately broke the spring. I shall not forget the anxiety he expressed, and the regret he felt on the occasion; nor do I think M'Leay recovered the shock this unlucky accident gave him for two or three days, or until the novelty of other scenes drove it from his recollection.

We landed close to the haunt of a small tribe of natives, who came to us with the most perfect confidence, and a.s.sisted the men in their occupations. They were cleaner and more healthy than any tribe we had seen; and were extremely cheerful, although reserved in some respects.

As a mark of more than usual cleanliness, the women had mats of oval shape, upon which they sat, made, apparently, of rushes. There was a young girl among them of a most cheerful disposition. She was about eighteen, was well made, and really pretty. This girl was married to an elderly man who had broken his leg, which having united in a bent shape, the limb was almost useless. I really believe the girl thought we could cure her husband, from her importunate manner to us. I regretted that I could do nothing for the man, but to show that I was not inattentive to her entreaties, I gave him a pair of trousers, and desired Fraser to put them upon him; but the poor fellow cut so awkward an appearance in them, that his wife became quite distressed, and Fraser was obliged speedily to disenc.u.mber him from them again.