Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2) by George Grey (read book txt) 📕

 

Intaglio Cut In A Rock.

 

I Was Moving On When We Observed The Profile Of A Human Face And Head Cut

Out In A Sandstone Rock Which Fronted The Cave; This Rock Was So Hard

That To Have Removed Such A Large Portion Of It With No Better Tool Than

A Knife And Hatchet Made Of Stone,  Such As The Australian Natives

Generally Possess,  Would Have Been A Work Of Very Great Labour. The Head

Was Two Feet In Length,  And Sixteen Inches In Breadth In The Broadest

Part; The Depth Of The Profile Increased Gradually From The Edges Where

It Was Nothing,  To The Centre Where It Was An Inch And A Half; The Ear

Was Rather Badly Placed,  But Otherwise The Whole Of The Work Was Good,

And Far Superior To What A Savage Race Could Be Supposed Capable Of

Executing. The Only Proof Of Antiquity That It Bore About It Was That All

The Edges Of The Cutting Were Rounded And Perfectly Smooth,  Much More So

Than They Could Have Been From Any Other Cause Than Long Exposure To

Atmospheric Influences.

 

Route Continued. High Grass.

 

After Having Made A Sketch Of This Head (See The Accompanying Plate) I

Returned To The Party And,  As I Had Not Been Able To Find A Path Which

Would Lead Us Across The Sandstone Ridge,  We Continued Our Course Round

It,  Retracing Our Steps Until We Reached The Stream Which Had Been

Crossed This Morning,  And Then Moved Westward,  Keeping Along Its Southern

Bank Until We Had Turned The Sandstone Range And Reached Another Stream

Running From The South,  Which We Traced Up In The Direction Of Its

Source,  Travelling Through A Series Of Basaltic Valleys Of So Luxuriant A

Character That Those Of The Party Who Were Not Very Tall Travelled,  As

They Themselves Expressed It,  Between Two High Green Walls,  Over Which

They Could Not See; And These Green Walls Were Composed Of Rich Grass

Which The Ponies Ate With Avidity. On A Subsequent Occasion When We

Visited This Valley We Had To Call To One Another In Order To Ascertain

Our Relative Positions When Only A Few Yards Apart; And Yet The

Vegetation Was Neither Rank Nor Coarse,  But As Fine A Grass As I Have

Ever Seen.

 

Reflections.

 

We Halted For The Night In One Of These Lovely Valleys; A Clear Stream

Bubbled Along Within About Fifty Yards Of Us And,  About A Mile Beyond,

Two Darkly-Wooded Basaltic Hills Raised Their Heads,  And Between These

And The Stream Our Ponies Were Feeding In Grass Higher Than Themselves. I

Sat In The Fading Light,  Looking At The Beautiful Scenery Around Me,

Which Now For The First Time Gladdened The Eyes Of Europeans; And I

Wondered That So Fair A Land Should Only Be The Abode Of Savage Men; And

Then I Thought Of The Curious Paintings We Had This Day Seen,  Of The

Timid Character Of The Natives,  Of Their Anomalous Position In So Fertile

A Country,  And Wondered How Long These Things Were To Be. With So Wide A

Field Of Conjecture Before Me,  Thought Naturally Thronged On Thought,  And

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The Night Was Far Advanced Ere I Laid Down To Seek Repose From The

Fatigues Of The Day.

 

Deep Stream.

 

March 27.

 

The Ponies Having Been Routed Out Of Their Long And Excellent Feed,

Amongst Which Indeed It Was No Easy Matter To Find Them,  We Moved On. I

Could Not But Reflect How Different Our Position And The Condition Of The

Ponies Would Have Been Had We Known As Much Of The Country At First

Starting As We Did At Present; But These Reflections Were Now Useless.

With The Exception Of One Small Rocky Valley,  The Whole Of Our Morning's

Journey Was Through A Rich And Fertile Country Until We Reached A Deep

Stream,  Thirty Or Forty Yards Wide And Apparently Navigable For Large

Boats Up To This Point; It Ran Away To The Westward,  But With A Current

Scarcely Perceptible.

 

Difficult Approach To It.

 

It Was Very Difficult To Approach This Stream On Account Of The Marshy

Nature Of Its Banks,  Which Were Overgrown With Bamboo And,  Even If We

Could Have Got The Ponies To It,  It Was Not Fordable Here. We Therefore

Turned Up It In An Easterly Direction To Look For A Passage Over It; And

In So Doing Were Necessarily Compelled To Cross Many Smaller Streams And

A Great Deal Of Swampy Ground In Which Some Of The Most Weakly Of The

Ponies Got Bogged And Were Only Extricated With Great Difficulty. However

Annoying This Was I Could Not But Smile At The Distress Of Some Of The

Men,  Who Had Contracted A Friendship For The Animals They Had So Long

Led,  When One Of Their Favourites Got Into A Difficulty. The Exclamations

Of Ruston The Old Sailor Were Particularly Amusing,  As,  According To The

Position In Which The Animal Got Bogged,  He Used To Roar Out For Someone

"To Come And Give His Pony A Heave Upon The Starboard Or Larboard

Quarters;" And Once,  When Violently Alarmed At The Danger He Imagined His

Pet Pony To Be In,  He Shouted Amain,  "By G---,  Sir,  She'll Go Down By The

Stern." At Last However We Got Clear Of The Marsh,  And Reached A Rocky

Gorge Where This Stream Issued From The Hills,  And Here We Stopped For

Breakfast

 

This Spot Was Very Picturesque. The River As It Issued From The Gorge In

The High Wooded Hills First Formed A Series Of Cascades,  And Then At The

Mouth Of The Gorge Expanded Into A Large Pool. It Was At This Point,

Although Only A Secondary Stream In This Country,  Far Larger Than Any Of

The Rivers Of South-Western Australia. At The Gorges,  Where They Issue

From The Hills,  Its Banks Were Clothed With The Pandanus,  Lofty Gum

Trees,  And A Very Luxuriant Vegetation. We First Sought For A Ford Up The

River In The Direction Of The Rapids,  But Our Search Was Fruitless. On

Returning To Breakfast I Found That The Men Had Caught Three Fish And One

Of The Long-Necked Fresh-Water Turtle Which Are Common Over The Whole Of

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This Continent. Mr. Lushington Had Also Shot Several Black Cockatoos So

That We Were Supplied With A Meal Of Meat,  A Luxury We Had Not Enjoyed

For A Long Time.

 

Cross A Large River.

 

After Breakfast Corporal Auger Started Alone And Returned In About An

Hour To Report That He Had Found A Ford Across The River Close To Us. I

Therefore Ordered The Ponies To Be Brought Up And We At Once Moved On.

The River Where We Crossed It In South Latitude 15 Degrees 49 Minutes,

East Longitude 125 Degrees 6 Minutes,  Was About A Hundred Yards Wide. It

Was However Nowhere More Than Knee Deep As We Wound Through It,  Following

A Circuitous Course; But We Passed Very Deep Parts On Each Side,  And I

Could Not But Admire The Perseverance Of Auger In Having Discovered So

Very Intricate A Ford As This Was. There Were Several Minor Channels To

The Stream Not Much Wider Than An English Ditch; They Were However Very

Deep And Went Winding Along Through Groves Of The Pandanus And Lofty

Reeds,  Which Formed Leafy Tunnels Above Them. It Was Some Time Before We

Got Rid Of The Main Stream,  And We Then Found Ourselves On A Narrow

Terrace Of Land Which Was Bounded On The Left By Rocky Cliffs,  And On The

Right By A Large Tributary Of The Stream We Had Just Crossed. This

Tributary Was Not Fordable Here So We Were Compelled To Travel Up The

Terrace Where Our Way Was Much Impeded By The Luxuriant Vegetation And By

Fallen Trees Of Great Magnitude; Indeed Of A Size Which Those Alone Who

Have Traversed Tropical Virgin Forests Can Conceive.

 

That We Could Not Get Off This Terrace Was The More Provoking From

Seeing,  Immediately On The Other Side Of The Stream,  One Of Those Wide

Open Basaltic Valleys Which I Have So Often Mentioned. We At Length

Reached The Point Where The Stream Issued From The High Land And,  Having

Here Forded It,  Entered The Large Valley,  But In Its Centre We Found

Another Impassable Stream And,  In Order To Turn This,  Were Obliged To

Travel Round The Valley; But Before We Could Gain The Head Of It We Had

To Cross Two Streams Which Ran Into It On The Eastern Side. These However

Gave Us But Little Trouble.

 

Native Hut.

 

On The Tongue Of Land Between Them We Found A Native Hut Which Differed

From Any Before Seen,  In Having A Sloping Roof. After Passing This Hut We

Began To Wind Up A Rocky Ascent,  And Just At Sunset Reached The

Watershed,  Which Threw Off Streams To The North And South: The Valley

Which Lay Immediately To The South Of Us Appearing As Fertile As That

Which We Had Been Travelling Through For The Whole Day.

 

March 28.

 

The First Part Of Our Journey Was Through A Fertile Valley,  About Four

Miles In Length,  Through Which Wound A Rapid Stream. It Was Clothed With

The Richest Grass,  Abounded In Kangaroos,  And Was Marked At Its Southern

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Extremity By A Very Remarkable Precipitous Hill. The Heights To The

Westward Were All Composed Of Basalt,  Whilst Those To The Eastward Were

Sandstone. On Passing The Ridge Of Hills Which Bounded This Valley To The

South We Entered On A Sandstone District,  Although The Hills To The

Westward Were Still Basaltic.

 

Natural Grapery. Grape-Like Fruit.

 

I Here Halted The Party For Breakfast By The Side Of A Stream And,  On

Casting My Eyes Upwards,  I Found That I Was In A Sort Of Natural Grapery,

For The Tree Under Which I Lay Was Covered With A Plant Which Bears A

Sort Of Grape And I Believe Is A Species Of Cissus.

 

We Met Altogether With Three Varieties Of This Plant,  All Of Which Were

Creepers But Differing From Each Other In Their Habits And In The Size Of

Their Fruit. Two Of Them Generally Ran Along The Ground Or Amongst Low

Shrubs And The Third Climbed High Trees; This Latter Kind Bore The Finest

Fruit,  And It Was A Plant Of This Description Which I