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

A Yellow Dust; Volume 1 Chapter 11 (Natural History Climate Aborigines) Pg 164

And From A Sort Of Fungus From Which A Similar Dust Is Also Obtained.

 

The Black Is Nothing But Finely Pounded Charcoal.

 

The White Is A Very Fine Greasy Species Of Pipe-Clay,  Common All Over

Australia,  And Which They Use Either Wet Or Dry.

 

How The Blue Colour Used In The Caves On The North-West Was Obtained I Do

Not Know; It Is Very Dark And Brilliant,  And Closely Resembles The Colour

Obtained From The Seed-Vessel Of A Plant Very Common There,  And Which,  On

Being Broken,  Yields A Few Drops Of A Brilliant Blue Liquid. I Therefore

Imagined That It Was Procured From This Source.

 

Age And Motive Of Drawings.

 

With Regard To The Age Of These Paintings We Had No Clue Whatever To

Guide Us. It Is Certain That They May Have Been Very Ancient,  For,

Although The Colours Were Composed Of Such Perishable Materials,  They

Were All Mixed With A Resinous Gum,  Insoluble In Water,  And,  No Doubt,

When Thus Prepared,  They Would Be Capable Of Resisting,  For A Long

Period,  The Usual Atmospheric Causes Of Decay. The Painting Which

Appeared To Me To Have Been The Longest Executed Was The One Clothed In

The Long Red Dress,  But I Came To This Conclusion Solely From Its State

Of Decay And Dilapidation,  And These May Possibly Have Misled Me Very

Much; But,  Whatever May Have Been The Age Of These Paintings,  It Is

Scarcely Probable That They Could Have Been Executed By A Self-Taught

Savage. Their Origin Therefore I Think Must Still Be Open To Conjecture.

 

But The Art And Skill With Which Some Of The Figures Are Drawn,  And The

Great Effect Which Has Been Produced By Such Simple Means,  Renders It

Most Probable That These Paintings Must Have Been Executed With The

Intention Of Exercising An Influence Upon The Fears And Superstitious

Feelings Of The Ignorant And Barbarous Natives: For Such A Purpose They

Are Indeed Well Calculated; And I Think That An Attentive Examination Of

The Arrangement Of The Figures We First Discovered,  More Particularly Of

That One Over The Entrance Of The Cave,  Will Tend Considerably To Bear

Out The Conclusion I Have Here Advanced.

 

Singularity Regarding Them.

 

It Is A Singularity Worthy Of Remark That The Drawings We Found In The

Vicinity Of The Coast Were Nothing But The Rudest Scratches; That They

Gradually Improved Until We Reached The Farthest Point We Attained From

The Sea; And That It Was In The Vicinity Of This Point That Some Of The

Best Productions Were Found.

 

 

Volume 1 Chapter 12 (Physical Geography Commercial Prospects) Pg 165

 

The Most Remarkable Geographical Feature In North-Western Australia Is A

High Range Of Mountains Running North-North-East And South-South-West,

Named By Me Stephen's Range After James Stephen,  Esquire,  Under-Secretary

Of State For The Colonies. From This Primary Range Several Branches Are

Thrown Off: 1. One Between Roe's River On The North And Prince Regent's

River On The South. 2. Macdonald's Range That Throws Off Streams To

Prince Regent's River On The North And To Glenelg River On The South. 3.

Whateley's Range Which Gives Forth Streams To Glenelg River On The North,

And To The Low Country Behind Collier's Bay And Dampier's Land On The

South.

 

These Branch Ranges As Well As The Principal One Are All Composed Of

Ancient Sandstone,  Deposited In Nearly Horizontal Strata,  Or Of Basaltic

Rocks Which Are Only Visible In Certain Places,  And Are Most Fully

Developed In That Part Of Stephen's Range Which Lies Behind Collier's

Bay,  And In The Low Ground Near Glenelg River.

 

With The Extent Of Stephen's Range I Am Unacquainted; But I Have No Doubt

That The High Land Whence The Fitzroy River Takes Its Rise Is Merely An

Under-Feature Again Thrown Off From It,  And Which I Propose To Call

Wickham's Range After Captain Wickham,  R.N.,  The Discoverer Of The

Fitzroy.

 

We May Form Some Idea Of The Limits Of Stephen's Range In A North And

East Direction From The Following Passage Extracted From Captain King's

Survey Of These Coasts:*

 

Lacrosse Island Is Situated In The Entrance Of A Deep Opening Trending To

The South-South-West Towards Some Steep,  Rugged Hills. The Character Of

The Country Is Here Entirely Changed. Irregular Ranges Of Detached Rocky

Hills Of Sandstone Formation,  Very Slightly Clothed With Small Shrubs And

Rising Abruptly From Extensive Plains Of Low,  Level Land,  Seem To Have

Superseded The Low Wooded Coasts That Almost Uninterruptedly Prevails

Between This And Cape Wessel,  A Distance Of More Than Six Hundred Miles!

 

 

 

It Appears Therefore That This Main Range Contains Within It The Sources

Of Roe's River,  Prince Regent's And Glenelg Rivers,  Most Probably The

Fitzroy,  And Those That Run Into Cambridge Gulf And Perhaps Others That

Have Their Embouchures Between This Last And Admiralty Gulf.

 

From An Accident Having Occurred To The Only Barometer We Could Carry

With Us I Am Unable To State The Elevation Of The Highest Land We Reached

Above The Level Of The Sea; But The Appearance Of The Country On The

Coast Does Not Give The Impression Of Any Very Elevated Ground Existing

Near It. This However Is Owing To The Great Height Of The Shore Cliffs

And The Gradual Rise Of The Land Towards The Interior. The Following

 

Volume 1 Chapter 12 (Footnote) Pg 166

 (*Footnote. King's Australia Volume 1 Page 291.)

Volume 1 Chapter 12 (Physical Geography Commercial Prospects) Pg 167

Observations,  Made With The Barometer Before It Was Broken,  Will Show

However That The Altitude Of The Country At No Great Distance From The

Coast Is Considerable.

 

Macdonald's Range.

 

Our First Encampment Was On The Banks Of A Small River At A Spot 2,640

Feet From The Sea. This River Ran Through A Deep And Narrow Valley,

Descending With A Nearly Regular Slope From A Tableland Of Sandstone,  In

Which It Took Its Rise About Seven Miles Inland. At This Encampment The

Height Of The Bed Of The River Above The Level Of The Sea Was 188.76

Feet,  As Found By The Mean Of Several Very Accordant Observations,  Which,

At The Same Average Slope,  Gives An Elevation Of About 377 Feet For The

Height Of A Spot On Its Banks Distant Only One Mile From The Sea; And If

We Conceive The Average Increase Of Elevation To The Sandstone Tableland

To Be Only 200 Feet In Every Mile (And I Believe It To Have Been More) We

Shall Have 1400 Feet For The Elevation Of The Tableland Which Formed One

Of The Highest Parts Of Macdonald's Range.

 

Elevation Of Hills.

 

After Passing Across This Range We Again Descended Rapidly Into The Low

Country,  The Face Of Which Is Much Broken By Conical Hills Composed Of

Basalt. The Heights Of Some Of These Hills Above Their Base,  Which Had A

Considerable Elevation Above The Sea Level,  Were In Three Instances As

Follows:

 

February 28.

 

The Measured Height Of A Hill Above Its Base Was 331 Feet.

 

March 4.

 

Measured The Altitude Of A Hill Above Its Base And Found It To Be 222

Feet.

 

March 8.

 

Measured The Altitude Of A Hill Above Its Base And Found It To Be 229.5

Feet.

 

None Of These Hills Had Apparently Near So Great An Elevation As The

Sandstone Range Of Which They Were Under-Features. At This Period Our

Barometer Was Unfortunately Broken. We Now Proceeded Up The Banks Of The

Glenelg And Arrived At Many Hills And Conical Peaks,  Apparently Much

Higher Than Those I Had Measured; Yet On Afterwards Passing The River And

Attaining The Summit Of The Opposite Sandstone Range,  We Looked Down Upon

Them As Hills Of Far Inferior Elevation To Those On Which We Stood. From

This Circumstance,  And From The Very Perceptible Change Of Temperature We

Experienced,  I Should Think The Altitude Of The Farthest Point Of

Stephen's Range Which We Reached Must Have Been 2,500 Or 3,000 Feet Above

Volume 1 Chapter 12 (Physical Geography Commercial Prospects) Pg 168

The Sea.

 

Character Of The Rivers.

 

The Rivers In North-Western Australia Much Resemble In Character Those Of

The South-Eastern Parts Of The Continent. They Rise At No Very Great

Distance From The Sea. Near Their Sources They Are Mountain Torrents,  But

In The Lowlands They Become Generally Streams With Slow Currents,  Winding

Through Fertile And Extensive Valleys Or Plains Which Are Liable To

Sudden And Terrific Inundations,  Caused,  I Conceive,  By The Rain Which

Falls In That Part Of The Mountains Where The Rivers Take Their Rise; For

At One Period,  When We Had Our Encampment On The Bank Of The Small Stream

Near The Sea At Hanover Bay,  I Was Myself Distant About Fourteen Miles In

The Interior In The Direction Of Its Source,  Where We Had Heavy Rain; And

On My Return I Found That The Party At The Station Had Been Surprised By

A Sudden Rising Of The Water For Which There Was No Apparent Cause As

There Had Been No Rain Where They Were.

 

The Glenelg River,  In Like Manner,  Is Subject To Sweeping Inundations,

Rising Sometimes To