Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2), George Grey [robert munsch read aloud txt] 📗
- Author: George Grey
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For Before We Could Make Any Further Progress In Either Of Those
Directions We Had A Perfect Precipice To Get Down, At The Foot Of Which
Lay A Beautiful And Verdant Valley About Three Miles Wide, Diversified
With Wood And Water; Whilst A Large Cascade Which Could Be Seen Falling
In A Dark Forest On The Other Side Added Much To The Scenery. Beyond The
Valley Rose Again Rocky Sandstone Ranges, But I Knew That The Width Of
These Was Inconsiderable.
Descent On The Opposite Side.
After A Very Tedious Search We Discovered A Sort Of Pass Leading
Diagonally Down The Face Of The Precipice; But Before Attempting To Take
The Ponies Over This It Was Necessary To Move Many Large Rocks And
Stones, To Cut Down Trees, And Otherwise Make It Practicable For Them.
All Hands However Set Cheerfully To Work, And By 1 P.M. The Whole Party
Had Safely Reached The Bottom Of The Precipice. The Valley That We Were
In Was Very Fertile But, From The Incessant Rain Which Had Lately Fallen,
The Centre Part Of It Had Become An Impassable Swamp, And We Were Thus
Volume 1 Chapter 9 (To The Upper Glenelg) Pg 119Once More Obliged To Turn To The Northward In Order To Travel Round It:
But As Rest And Food Were Necessary Both For Horses And Men We Halted At
The Foot Of The Sandstone Range For Breakfast.
Remarkable Frilled Lizard. Beautiful Country.
As We Were Pursuing Our Route In The Afternoon We Fell In With A Specimen
Of The Remarkable Frilled Lizard (Chlamydosaurus Kingii); This Animal
Measures About Twenty-Four Inches From The Tip Of The Nose To The Point
Of Its Tail, And Lives Principally In Trees, Although It Can Run Very
Swiftly Along The Ground: When Not Provoked Or Disturbed It Moves Quietly
About, With Its Frill Lying Back In Plaits Upon The Body: But It Is Very
Irascible And, Directly It Is Frightened, Elevates The Frill Or Ruff And
Makes For A Tree; Where If Overtaken It Throws Itself Upon Its Stern,
Raising Its Head And Chest As High As It Can Upon The Forelegs, Then
Doubling Its Tail Underneath The Body And Displaying A Very Formidable
Set Of Teeth. From The Concavity Of Its Large Frill It Boldly Faces Any
Opponent, Biting Fiercely Whatever Is Presented To It, And Even Venturing
So Far In Its Rage As To Fairly Make A Fierce Charge At Its Enemy. We
Repeatedly Tried The Courage Of This Lizard, And It Certainly Fought
Bravely Whenever Attacked. From The Animal Making So Much Use Of This
Frill As A Covering And Means Of Defence For Its Body This Is Most
Probably One Of The Uses To Which Nature Intended The Appendage Should Be
Applied.
We At Length Reached The Watershed Connecting The Country We Had Left
With That We Were Entering Upon, And Were Now Again Enabled To Turn To
The Eastward And Thus To Travel Round The Swamp. This Watershed Consisted
Principally Of A Range Of Elevated Hills From Which Streams Were Thrown
Off To The Glenelg And To Prince Regent's River. The Scenery Here Was
Very Fine, But I Have So Often Before Described The Same Character Of
Landscape That It Will Be Sufficient To Say We Again Looked Down From
High Land On A Very Fertile Country, Covered With A Tropical Vegetation
And Lying Between Two Navigable Rivers. I Can Compare This To No Other
Australian Scenery, For I Have Met With Nothing In The Other Portions Of
The Continent Which At All Resembles It. When We Had Nearly Headed The
Valley The Night Closed In So Rapidly On Us That I Was Obliged To Halt
The Party; And By The Time The Arrangements For Security And Rest Were
Completed It Was Quite Dark.
Curious Nest.
March 24.
This Morning We Started As Soon As It Was Light And, Continuing Our Route
Round The Valley, Passed The Beautiful Cascade Seen Yesterday And, After
Fording A Clear Running Brook Like An English Trout Stream, We Began To
Ascend The Next Sandstone Range. On Gaining The Summit We Fell In With A
Very Remarkable Nest, Or What Appeared To Me To Be Such, And Which I
Shall Describe More Particularly When I Advert To The Natural History Of
Volume 1 Chapter 9 (To The Upper Glenelg) Pg 120This Part Of The Country. We Had Previously Seen Several Of Them, And
They Had Always Afforded Us Food For Conjecture As To The Agent And
Purpose Of Such Singular Structures.
Deep Valley.
Soon After Quitting This Nest We Found A Very Convenient Pass Through A
Deep And Fertile Valley, Which Led Directly Up Into The Heart Of The
Sandstone Range; A Fine Stream Ran Through It In Which Were Several Large
Reservoirs Of Fresh Water; The Hills On Each Side Were Lofty, Being At
Times Of A Rounded Character, And At Others Broken Into Precipitous And
Fantastic Cliffs; The Country Was Thinly Wooded With Large Timber, And
The Varied Scenery, The Facility Which The Country Afforded For
Travelling, And The Pleasure Incident On Finding Ourselves Clear Of The
Marshy Ground Which Had So Long Encumbered Our Movements, Combined To
Make Me Push Along As Fast As Possible; The Only Check Was The Heat Of
The Sun; And It Should Always Be Borne In Mind That No Parallel Whatever
Can Be Instituted Between Travels In Tropical And Extra-Tropical
Australia, For In The Former The More Exhausting Nature Of The Climate
Unfits Both Men And Horses For Making Long Journeys, And Indeed Renders
It Almost Impossible To Travel During The Heat Of The Day, Whilst The
Difficult Nature Of The Ground Caused By The Dense Vegetation, The
Jungles, The Ravines, And Marshes, Render It Altogether Impracticable To
Move At Night Through An Unknown Country.
Wild Oats.
We Crossed During The Day Several Recent Tracks Of Natives But Did Not
Fall In With The Natives Themselves; We Also Saw Many Kangaroos, And
Halted For The Night On An Elevated Basaltic Ridge, At A Point Close To
Which There Was A Large Crop Of The Grain Which We Called Wild Oats. This
Is A Remarkable Vegetable Production, Growing To The Height Of From Five
To Six Feet; In The Stalk, The Shape, And Mode Of Insertion Of The Leaves
It Is Similar To The Oat Of Europe; The Manner In Which The Seeds Grow In
The Two Plants Is Also The Same, And The Seeds Are Nearly Of The Same
Size, But The Australian Oat Is Furnished With A Beard Like The Barley.
When Hungry I Have Repeatedly Eaten These Oats, Which In Some Parts Grow
In Such Abundance That Several Acres Of Them Might Be Mown At Once; And I
Have Little Doubt That This Plant Would With Cultivation Turn Out To Be A
Very Great Addition To Our Tropical Grains.*
March 25.
This Morning We Resumed Our Journey, Crossing A Succession Of Basaltic
Valleys. The Vegetation Was Luxuriant Beyond Description; And It Was
Ludicrous To See The Heavy-Tailed Kangaroos Leaping And Floundering About
In The Long Grass When They Had Quitted Their Beaten Pathways And Were
Suddenly Disturbed By Our Approach.
Volume 1 Chapter 9 (Footnote) Pg 121(*Footnote. I Am Informed That The Seeds Of It Which I Introduced Into
The Isle Of France In 1838 Have Greatly Multiplied And That The Plants
Are In A Very Flourishing State.)
Volume 1 Chapter 9 (To The Upper Glenelg) Pg 122
Curious Birds.
In Crossing The Second Of These Large Valleys We Saw Two Large White And
Black Birds, More Like Pelicans Than Any Other Kind I Am Acquainted With;
They Had Webbed Feet, And The Colour And Form Of Their Body Resembled
That Of The Pelican, But The Head And Beak Were Very Different; After
Flying Two Or Three Times Round Our Heads, Well Out Of Shot, So As To
Have A Good Peep At Us, They Flew Away, And For The First And Last Time I
Saw This Curious Bird.
We Now Ascended A Ridge Of Sandstone Tableland Which Crossed Our Route:
This Was About Three Miles In Width, And At Its Southern Extremity Were
Two Lofty Basaltic Hills, From Between Which A Small Valley Led Down Into
Another Very Large One That Was The General Receptacle Of The Streams
Which Came Pouring In From All Directions. This Last Might Be Considered
As A Good Type Of The Valleys In This Portion Of The Country: At Its
Northern Extremity It Was About Four Miles Wide, Being Bounded On All
Sides By Rocky Wooded Ranges With Dark Gullies From Which Numerous
Streams And Springs Poured Forth Their Watery Contributions To The Main
One. This Last Ran Nearly Down The Centre Of The Principal Valley, The
Width Of Which Gradually Contracted Towards The South, Where It
Terminated Almost In A Point, Having A Narrow Lateral Opening At The
South-West End Of Not More Than A Quarter Of A Mile Wide, And Bounded By
Steep Cliffs On Each Side, So As To Form A Perfect Gorge, The Direction
Of Which Was Due West. In About A Mile And A Half This Gorge Met A Cross
Valley, Running From The South To The North, Down Which The Waters Were
Poured, So As To Run Back As It Were Upon Their Former Course.
Basaltic Valley.
We Halted For The Day In The Main Valley, Which From The Run Of The
Waters Above Described Must Necessarily Have Been Very Elevated; It Was,
Moreover, Nearly Level, Forming Indeed A Sort Of Enclosed Plateau, So
That The Streams, Which Both On Entering And Quitting It Ran Bubbling
Merrily Along, Preserved Whilst In It A Sluggish And Scarcely Perceptible
Course. When To This I Add That It Was Composed Of Basaltic Rocks And
Received The Deposit Of Such An Extent Of Elevated Basaltic Land
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