Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2), George Grey [robert munsch read aloud txt] 📗

Volume 1 Chapter 7 (Hanover Bay And Its Vicinity) Pg 76

 

At 10 Hours 30 Minutes P.M. Saw Land About A Quarter Of A Mile Ahead;

Hauled Our Wind To West By South; Sounded In 12 Fathoms Water,  Rocky

Bottom; It Appeared To Be About One Mile In Extent,  And About Twenty Feet

Above The Water. After Running West By South One Mile,  Got No Bottom With

40 Fathoms Of Line. Kept Our Course South By East: It (The Island)

Appeared To Be Quite Level With Rocks Extending To North-West,  With Heavy

Breakers. Made It By Observation South Latitude 14 Degrees 4 Minutes;

East Longitude 123 Degrees 31 Minutes By Good Chronometer Rated At Roti.

 

Trouble With The Horses.

 

At 6 A.M. On The Morning Of The 16th They Experienced Heavy Squalls Of

Wind Off Red Island,  And This Prevented Them From Getting Into Hanover

Bay On That Day; But On The Morning Of The 17th They Anchored Safely,

Without Having Lost A Single Pony,  Or Without Having Experienced Any

Serious Misfortune,  Having Made The Passage From Roti In Five Days.

 

Unforeseen Embarrassments.

 

Some Short Time Was Occupied In Narrating The Adventures We Had

Respectively Encountered Since We Had Last Seen One Another,  And In

Giving Way To The Pleasure Arising From Meeting Again In So Distant A

Land,  And Under Such Circumstances: At Last Came The Unpleasant

Announcement That There Was Not An Atom Of Forage On Board,  So That The

Ponies Must Of Necessity Be Landed Tomorrow; And My Plans Of Disembarking

Them At A More Eligible Site Were Thus At Once Overthrown. Being The Only

Person Who Knew The Route To Hanover Bay From The Encampment,  I Was

Obliged To Remain On Shore To Guide The Party Over There The Next

Morning. Mr. Lushington And The Captain However Returned On Board To Make

Preparations For Landing The Horses At Daybreak.

 

Landing The Horses.

 

I Lay Down To Sleep This Night Oppressed With Very Uneasy Thoughts. I Was

Thoroughly Convinced That The Position We Occupied Was A Bad One To Make

A Start From; But We Had Already Approached Too Near The Season Of The

Heaviest Rains (The Beginning Of February) To Allow Of Longer Delay,  So

That To Have Landed The Horses,  Then To Cut Grass For Them,  And

Afterwards To Have Re-Embarked Them And The Stores,  Would,  In My Opinion,

Have Been A Tedious And Wrong Course To Adopt. Unforeseen Difficulties,

And Against Which We Could Not Have Guarded,  Had Already Completely

Encompassed Us,  So That,  Considering The Scanty Means At Our Disposal,

The Remote And Unknown Region In Which We Were Situated,  And The

Impossibility Of Our Receiving Further Aid From Any Quarter,  I Saw No Way

Of Overcoming Them. All Therefore That Was Now Left Us Was To Make The

Most Of Our Actual Means,  To Acquit Ourselves Like Men,  And Do Our

Utmost.

 

Volume 1 Chapter 7 (Hanover Bay And Its Vicinity) Pg 77

Excursion By Water To Prince Regent's River.

 

January 18.

 

Fortune Smiled On Us This Morning In As Far As She Gave Us A Fine

Daybreak,  And At Dawn We Started For Hanover Bay,  Leaving A Small Party

At The Encampment. After All The Trouble I Had Taken To Find A Good Route

For The Horses,  We Still Had A Great Deal To Do To Render It At All

Practicable; We However All Worked Cheerfully And Sturdily Away At

Burning The Grass,  Moving Rocks And Fallen Trees,  Etc.,  And Thus,  As It

Were,  Fought Our Way Through Opposing Obstacles To Hanover Bay,  Over A

Distance Of About Four Miles.

 

Trouble In Getting The Horses To The Camp.

 

On Arriving There I Found Mr. Lushington Already On Shore And Some Of The

Horses Disembarked. They Were Not Only Well Selected For The Purpose,  But

Were Generally In Good Condition. They Had However Two Faults Which Could

Not Have Been Avoided,  And These Were That They Were Very Small And

Perfectly Wild. By About Two O'clock In The Afternoon The Whole

Twenty-Six Had Been Swum Ashore,  And We Started For The Huts.

 

Our Progress Was However Slow; For,  As There Were Only A Few Of Us,  Each

Person Was Obliged To Take Charge Of Three Or Four Of These Untamed,

Unbroken Brutes. The Mode We Adopted Was To Fasten Them Together By Long

Ropes So That The Number Each Man Led Could Follow In A Line; But,  Being

Wholly Unused To This Kind Of Discipline,  They Strenuously Resisted It,

Biting And Kicking At One Another With The Greatest Ferocity; And As They

Were Chiefly Very Courageous Little Entire Horses,  A Variety Of Spirited

Contests Took Place,  Much To Their Own Satisfaction,  But To My Infinite

Chagrin. Some Of The Men Who Were Not Much Accustomed To Horses Regarded

These Wild Ponies As Being But Little Better Than Savage Monsters,  With

Whom It Was Dangerous To Have Anything To Do; And,  Being Thus Rather

Afraid Of Them,  Treated Them Very Cruelly,  Kicking Them Often With Great

Violence Whenever I For A Moment Looked Away,  And Thus Naturally

Rendering The Ponies Still More Wild.

 

But Even When We Did Induce These Brutes To Move Along Pacifically They

Would Not Follow One Another In A Line,  But All Strove To Go In Different

Directions,  And,  As Our Road Lay Through A Rocky Forest,  The Consequence

Of This Pulling Was That The Connecting Ropes Kept On Getting Entangled

In Rocks And Trees; Indeed There Was Scarcely An Instance Of Two Of Them

Passing On The Same Side Of A Tree Or Rock At The First Attempt,  So That

We Were Continually Halting To Clear Their Tether Ropes; Again,  One Of

The Beasts Would Now And Then Become Obstinate,  Refuse To Move,  And This

Delayed Us All; For I Would Not Allow The Party To Separate For Fear Of

The Natives. In Consequence Of All These Adverse Circumstances At Sunset

Volume 1 Chapter 7 (Hanover Bay And Its Vicinity) Pg 78

We Had Scarcely Got Half-Way To The Encampment; And Just At This Period

One Pony Became And Remained So Obstinate That,  In Despair,  I Had It Tied

Up To A Tree Alone. We Now Moved On Again As Fast As We Could,  But Night

Soon Surprised Us,  And,  When It Became Too Dark To See Our Course,  We

Tethered Our Horses And Laid Down In The Forest By Them; But As It

Rained,  And We Had Neither Warm Clothes Nor Covering,  And Many Of The

Party Had Tasted Nothing Since Dawn,  Our Situation Was Not Very Pleasant;

Indeed,  The Combined Circumstances Of Cold,  Hunger,  And Obstinate Ponies

Had Rendered Some Of The Men More Crabbed Than I Had Ever Before Seen

Them.

 

January 19.

 

As Soon As It Was Light Enough To Find The Ponies We Recommenced Our

March; And,  All Our Annoyances Of Yesterday Being Repeated,  Did Not

Succeed In Arriving At The Ravine Until Noon--It Took Us Much Care And A

Great Deal Of Time To Reach The Bottom Of This In Safety; When However We

Had Done So,  We Knee-Haltered The Ponies And Let Them Loose Amidst Very

Good Feed,  Of Which They Now Stood Much In Need,  For There Was No Grass

Whatever Between The Encampment And Hanover Bay; The Whole Of The

Intervening Country Being A Mass Of Rock,  Scrub,  And Spinifex. I Now Sent

A Party Back To Bring On The Refractory Pony,  Which I Had Yesterday Been

Obliged To Tie Up To A Tree,  And The Long Fast It Had Been Subjected To

Appeared To Have Produced A Very Beneficial Effect On Its Temper,  For It

Now Was Perfectly Docile.

 

Excursion Up Prince Regent's River. Preparations For Moving.

 

For The Next Few Days All Was Bustle And Preparation. The Ponies Being So

Much Smaller Than I Had Expected,  All Our Packsaddles Had To Be Altered,

And Fourteen Of Them,  Which The Party Had Made During The Absence Of The

Schooner,  Still Had To Be Put Together. Mr. Walker Undertook The Task Of

Constructing A Pathway Up The Cliffs,  By Means Of Which The Loaded Ponies

Could Ascend; He Laboured Personally At Making This Path,  Occasionally

Assisted By Two Or Three Others; And It Would Be Impossible For Anyone

Who Had Not Seen It At All To Comprehend The Obstacles He Met With,  And

The Perseverance With Which He Contended Against And Finally Overcame

Them. We Were Obliged To Complete Everything In A Hurried And

Unsatisfactory Manner,  For Our Departure Had Been So Long Delayed That We

Were Every Day In Expectation Of The Setting In Of The Heavy Rains And

The Consequent Flooding Of The Ravine In Which We Were Encamped; And In

The Event Of This Taking Place Before We Made A Start It Was Impossible

To Foresee For How Long A Period Our Movements Might Be Delayed.

 

Character Of Its Shores.

 

On Monday The 22nd Captain Browse And Mr. Walker Accompanied Me In The

Jolly-Boat Up Prince Regent's River; We Went Up With The Flood-Tide,

Volume 1 Chapter 7 (Hanover Bay And Its Vicinity) Pg 79

Entering The River By Its Northern Mouth; I Had Thus An Opportunity Of

Examining The Island Which Lies At The Entrance To This Great Arm Of The

Sea,  And Landed Upon It In Several Places,  But Found Only Bad Sandy Land,

Occasionally Covered With Rocks; It Was However Well Wooded And Abounded

With Birds. After We Had Passed The Mouth Of Rothsay Water The Tide Swept

Us Along With Great Rapidity,  And We Soon Found Ourselves In St. George's

Basin. I Kept Close Along The Northern Shore,  Where We Saw But Little

Good Land After Entering The Basin; But There Was One Fertile Island,  Of

A Small Conical Shape,  Bearing Nearly Due East As You Enter. From The

Appearance Of This Island There Can Be No Doubt Whatever That It Is Of

Volcanic Origin; As It In All Respects Resembles Mount Lyell And The

Other Basaltic Conical Hills Which We Afterwards Found In The Fertile

District Of Glenelg; We Did Not However Land On It,  But Merely Ran Close

By,  And Then Continued Our Route Up The River.

 

St. George's Basin Is A Noble Sheet Of Water Some Ten Or Twelve Miles

Across. On Its Southern Side Deep Inlets Run Up Into A Low And Marshy

Country,  Leading To Fertile Districts,  And The Main Object