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

Of Mountains. Whilst Breakfast Was Preparing

I Walked Up Into The Mouth Of The Gorge,  Which Was Replete With Most Wild

And Beautiful Scenery At This Point. The River Comes Streaming Out From A

Rocky Mountain Pass,  Forming In Its Course A Series Of Small Cataracts.

The Vale In Which It Runs Offers An Interesting Specimen Of Woodland

Scenery,  And The High,  Bold,  And Partially Bare Granite Mountains Which

Rear Their Heads Above It Differ Much In Character From The Tame Mountain

Scenery That Lies Between Perth And York: This Place Is A Favourite

Resort Of The Wild Cattle,  And We Saw Everywhere Numerous Recent Traces

Of Them.

 

Wild Cattle.

 

In The Afternoon We Again Started In A South By East Direction. About A

Mile After Leaving The Murray We Came Suddenly Upon Four Head Of Wild

Cattle; Two,  Which Were Distant From Us,  Made Off To The Mountains,  But A

Noble White Bull And A Cow Followed A Line Lying Exactly In The Course We

Were Pursuing. As We Had One Saddle-Horse,  Which I Was Then On,  I Could

Not Resist Having A Gallop After Them. I Soon Brought The Bull To Bay,

But When He Had Taken Breath He Turned And Made Off Again And,  As I Had

No Time To Spare,  I Gave Him No Further Interruption; On However Wishing

To Ascertain The Hour I Found That My Watch Had Fallen From My Pocket

During The Course Of The Gallop.

 

Native Tracking.

 

I Now Waited Until The Party Came Up,  When I Requested Kaiber The Native

To Walk Back And Find The Watch. This He Assured Me Was Utterly

Impossible,  And I Really At The Time Agreed In This Opinion; However As

It Was A Watch I Much Valued I Determined To Make One Effort. "Well,

Kaiber," I Said To Him,  "Your People Had Told Me You Could See Tracks

Well,  But I Find They Are Mistaken; You Have But One Eye,  Something Is

The Matter With The Other (This Was Really The Case) No Young Woman Will

Take You,  For If You Cannot Follow My Tracks And Find A Watch I Have Just

Dropped How Can You Kill Game For Her." This Speech Had The Desired

Effect,  And The Promise Of A Shilling Heightened His Diligence,  And I

Volume 1 Chapter 13 (At Swan River) Pg 197

Returned With Him. The Ground We Had Passed Over Was Badly Suited For The

Purpose Of Tracking And The Scrub Was Thick; Nevertheless,  To My Delight

And Surprise,  Within The Period Of Half An Hour My Watch Was Restored To

My Pocket. This Feat Of Kaiber's Surpassed Anything Of The Sort I Had

Previously Seen Performed By The Natives.

 

We Completed About Eight Miles And Then Halted For The Night On The Banks

Of A Running Stream Issuing From A Gorge In The Hills. There Was A

Considerable Portion Of Good Land In Its Neighbourhood And The Horses

Appeared Not A Little Pleased With The Excellence Of The Feed.

 

The 13th We Spent In Passing A Portion Of The Darling Range. After

Travelling For Eleven Miles Over A Hilly Country We Came Upon A Beautiful

Valley Between Two Steep And High Hills. Two Streams Poured Down Into

This Valley And There Formed A Small Freshwater Lake. The Scenery Here

Was So Green And Verdant,  The Tranquil Little Lake Was So Covered With

Broad-Leaved Waterlilies,  And The Whole Wore Such An Air Of Highland

Mountain Scenery That I Could Readily Have Imagined I Was Once More In

Scotland. About This Lake There Was Also Much Good Feed.

 

Cross The Darling Range.

 

In The Course Of The Afternoon We Travelled Eight Miles Further In An

Easterly Direction,  And Were Then Obliged To Halt Without Water,  Which We

Did Not Again Succeed In Finding After We Left The Lake.

 

To The Hotham River.

 

On The Morning Of The 14th We Had Only Travelled Six Miles In A Due

Easterly Direction When I Found We Had Crossed The Darling Range; Our

Course Now Lay Along A Level Fertile Plain,  Well Fitted For Pastoral

Purposes. We Travelled Across This A Distance Of About Five Miles When We

Came Upon The River Bannister,  Which Here Was Nothing But A Series Of

Large Pools With Good Feed For Cattle About Them. We Halted For Breakfast

And Afterwards Continued In An Easterly Direction,  When,  After Travelling

For Another Six Miles,  We Reached The Hotham. The Land We Passed Over

Between The Bannister And Hotham Was Equal In Goodness To Any I Have Seen

In Western Australia.

 

The Circumstance Of Both Water And Feed Abounding At The Hotham Induced

Me To Halt Here For The Night,  And On The Morning Of The 15th We

Commenced Our Toilsome March From The Hotham To The Williams; The

Distance Is About Twenty-Eight Miles In A Direct Line; The Country

Consisting Of Rocky Hills,  Difficult To Cross; And Throughout The Whole

Of This Distance We Could Find No Water: We Were Thus For Eleven Hours

Exposed To The Sun In One Of The Hottest Days I Have Ever Felt,  And We

Were Not A Little Glad When Just At Sunset We Found Ourselves On The

Banks Of The Williams.

 

Condition Of Distant Settlers.

 

We Here Found The Establishment Of An Out-Settler,  Of Which It Would Be

Volume 1 Chapter 13 (At Swan River) Pg 198

Difficult To Convey An Adequate Idea: The House Consisted Of A Few

Upright Poles,  One End Of Each Resting On The Ground,  Whilst The Other

Met A Transverse Pole,  To Which They Were Tied; Cross-Poles Then Ran

Along These,  And To Complete The Building A Sort Of Rude Thatch Was Tied

On It. It Was Open At Both Ends And Exposed To The Land Wind,  Which,  As

The Situation Was High,  I Found A Very Unpleasant Visitor During The

Night. Here We Found A Very Large Flock Of Sheep In Fair Condition,  Also

A Well-Supplied Stockyard,  And Cattle In Beautiful Order; Upwards Of

Twenty Kangaroo Dogs Completed The Establishment.

 

These Settlers Were,  At The Time I Visited The Williams,  Four In Number;

Consisting Of One Young Man,  Two Youths,  And A Little Boy. Four Soldiers

Were Quartered About Sixteen Miles From Them,  And There Was No Other

European Within Fifty Miles Of The Spot. The Distance They Had To Send

For All Stores And Necessaries Was One Hundred And Twenty Miles,  And This

Through A Country Untraversed By Roads And Where They Were Exposed To The

Hostility Of The Natives In The Event Of Any Ill-Feeling Arising On Their

Part.

 

Nothing Can Give A More Lively Notion Of The Difficulties And Privations

Undergone By First Settlers Than The Fact That,  When I Left This Hut,

They Had No Flour,  Tea,  Sugar,  Meat,  Or Any Provision Whatever Except

Their Livestock And The Milk Of The Cattle,  Their Sole Dependence For Any

Other Article Of Food Being The Kangaroo Dogs,  And The Only Thing I Was

Able To Do In Order To Better Their Situation Was To Leave Them Some

Shot.

 

All Other Circumstances Connected With Their Position Were On The Same

Scale. They Had But One Knife,  An Old Clasp One; There Was But One Small

Bed For One Person,  The Others Sleeping On The Ground Every Night,  With

Little Or No Covering; They Had No Soap To Wash Themselves Or Their

Clothes,  Yet They Submitted Cheerfully To All These Privations,

Considering Them As Necessary Attendants Upon Their Situation. Two Of

These Out-Settlers Were Gentlemen,  Not Only By Birth But Also In Thought

And Manner,  And,  To Tell The Truth,  I Believe They Were Far Happier Than

Many An Idle Young Man I Have Seen Lounging About In England,  A Burden To

Himself And His Friends; For It Must Be Borne In Mind That They Were

Realizing A Future Independence For Themselves.

 

Their Privations.

 

Many Of The Ills And Privations Which They Endured Were However

Unnecessary,  And Were Entailed Upon Them By The Mistaken System That Has

Been Pursued At Swan River Of Spreading To The Utmost Their Limited

Population. I Trust However That A Wiser Line Of Policy Will Now Be

Pursued,  And That Settling Will Consequently Become An Easier,  Less

Dangerous,  And Far More Agreeable Task.

 

Volume 1 Chapter 13 (At Swan River) Pg 199

Route Along Mr. Elliott's Tracks. Tracking Mr. Elliott.

 

On The Morning Of The 16th Mr. Walker Went To The Upper Williams,  Where

The Soldiers Were Quartered,  For A Further Supply Of Provisions,  Whilst

The Native And Myself Tried To Make Off Mr. Elliott's Tracks,  In Doing

Which We Were Not However Successful. The Next Morning,  Previously To Mr.

Walker's Return,  I Renewed My Search With Kaiber For The Tracks With A

Little More Success,  As Amidst The Numerous Traces Of Cattle And Horses

Along The Bed Of The River The Native Was Able By His Acute Eye To

Discover The Footsteps Of A Colt. When Mr. Walker Returned The Little Boy

Belonging To The Establishment Came Back With Him. He Had Seen Mr.

Elliott Start And Assured Me That He Had Heard Him Express His

Determination Of Keeping The Bed Of The River For Eighteen Miles. With

This Piece Of Information We Moved On Down The River On The Tracks Which

We Were Able To Distinguish For About Two Miles And A Half,  When They

Quitted It In A South-South-West Direction; And From The Hard Nature Of

The Ground The Tracking From Thence Became Excessively Difficult. If The

Colt Had Traversed This Route,  Its Little Foot Had Made No Impression On

The Soil; And When We Got On The Ironstone Hills,  We Altogether Lost The

Traces Of The Horse. Both The Native And Myself Imagined,  From Our Seeing

No Tracks Of The Colt,  From The Indistinctness Of Those Of The Horse,  And

From The Circumstance Of The Boy's Telling Us That Mr. Elliott Intended

To Proceed Eighteen Miles Down The River,  That We Had Followed The Wrong

Marks; Just Therefore As Night Began To Fall I Moved Back To The River.

 

January 18.

 

We Started At Dawn,  Following Down The River,  But Could See Nothing Of

Mr. Elliott's Tracks: And Our Evening Journey Was Equally Unsuccessful. I

Now Became Very Anxious And Indeed Rather Alarmed For The Safety Of The

Missing Party,  But Resolved,  As The Best Plan I Could Pursue,  To Strike

Across The Mountains To Leschenault,  Making A Due West Course My True

Line Of Route,  But Constantly Diverging Two Or Three Miles To The South

Of This,  And Again Returning To It By Another Route. I Should Thus Have

Every Chance Of Falling In With The Track I Wished To Find; And In The

Event