Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2), George Grey [robert munsch read aloud txt] 📗
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Leschenault No Tidings Had Been Received Of Mr. Elliott, That His Party
Must Be Somewhere To The Southward And Eastward Of The Course I Had
Taken, And That I Might Still, By The Assistance Of The Leschenault
Natives To Whom This Country Was Known, Succeed In Finding Him Before
Such A Period Had Elapsed As Would Render Assistance Useless.
Killing A Kangaroo.
On The 19th, In Pursuance Of This Determination, We Made A Rapid Push Of
Nearly Twenty Miles In A Westerly Direction Without Reckoning Our
Divergencies To The Southward. Nothing However But Toil And
Disappointment Rewarded Our Exertions. We Killed A Large Boomer, Or Old
Male Kangaroo, The Largest Indeed I Had Ever Seen; The Dogs Were Unable
Volume 1 Chapter 13 (At Swan River) Pg 200To Master Him He Fought So Desperately, And It Was Not Until After He Had
Wounded Two Of Them That I Succeeded In Dispatching It By A Sort Of
Personal Encounter In Which A Club Was The Weapon I Used. The Native Who
Was Carrying My Gun Had Dropped It The Instant The Kangaroo Was Started,
And I Was Thus Unable To Shoot It. We Cut Off As Much Of The Flesh As The
Dogs And Ourselves Required For Two Days And Left The Rest In The Forest.
We Halted For The Night On A Small Stream, The Only One I Had Seen Since
We Quitted The Williams.
Country Upon The Harvey River.
Our Departure Was Delayed On The Morning Of The 20th For About An Hour
From Being Unable To Find One Of The Horses Which Had Strayed Away In The
Night, But, The Fugitive Being At Length Discovered And Brought Back, We
Started And Made Nine Miles Before Breakfast. We Then Travelled Nine And
A Half Miles More, When We Came Upon The River Harvey Near Its Source.
The Character Of The Country We Had Travelled Over Since Entering The
Mountains Was Monotonous In The Extreme. It Consisted Of An Elevated
Tableland Composed Of Ironstone And Granite Occasionally Traversed By
Veins Of Whinstone. On This Tableland There Was Little Or No Herbage; The
Lower Vegetation Consisting Principally Of A Short Prickly Scrub, In Some
Places Completely Destroyed By The Native Fires; But The Whole Country
Was Thickly Clothed With Mahogany Trees, So That In Many Parts It Might
Be Called A Dense Forest. These Mahogany Trees Ascended, Without A Bend
Or Without Throwing Off A Branch, To The Height Of From Forty To Fifty
Feet, Occasionally Much More, And The Ground Was So Encumbered By The
Fallen Trunks Of These Forest Trees That It Was Sometimes Difficult To
Pick A Passage Between Them. Even At Midday The Forest Wore A Sombre
Aspect, And A Stillness And Solitude Reigned Throughout It That Was Very
Striking. Occasionally A Timid Kangaroo Might Be Seen Stealing Off In The
Distance, Or A Kangaroo-Rat Might Dart Out From A Tuft Beneath Your Feet;
But These Were Rare Circumstances. The Most Usual Disturber Of These
Wooded Solitudes Were The Black Cockatoos; But I Have Never In Any Part
Of The World Seen So Great A Want Of Animal Life As In These Mountains.
Upon Our Gaining The Harvey However The Scene Somewhat Changed; The River
Here Bore The Appearance Of A Mountain Trout-Stream, Sometimes Gurgling
Along With A Rapid Current, And Sometimes Forming Large Pools. The
Tableland Could No Longer Be Distinguished As It Here Changed To A Broken
Chain Of Hills Traversed By Deep Valleys; The Scrub Was Higher And
Entwined By A Variety Of Climbing Plants, Which Rendered It Very
Difficult To Traverse; The Mahogany Trees Became Less Frequent, And
Various Others Were Mingled With Them, Whilst On The Banks Of The River
Good Forage Abounded. We Made About Five Miles More Through A Country Of
This Description And Then Halted For The Night.
Lose The Tracks. Native Grave.
January 21.
Volume 1 Chapter 13 (At Swan River) Pg 201We Did Not Make More Than Seven Miles Before Breakfast This Morning,
Being Embarrassed Both By High And Tangled Underwood And Rocky Hills. We
Then Halted On The Banks Of The Harvey, Where There Was Some Beautiful
Grass. We Had Still Been Able To Find Nothing Of Mr. Elliott's Tracks,
And Had In Vain Looked For Natives: But This Evening, Soon After Starting
Again, For The First Time Signs Of Them Appeared, For We Found A
Newly-Made Grave, Carefully Constructed, With A Hut Built Over It To
Protect The Now Senseless Slumberer Beneath From The Rains Of Winter. All
That Friendship Could Do To Render His Future State Happy Had Been Done.
His Throwing Stick Was Stuck In The Ground At His Head; His Broken Spears
Rested Against The Entrance Of The Hut, The Grave Was Thickly Strewed
With Wilgey Or Red Earth; And Three Trees In Front Of The Hut, Chopped
With A Variety Of Notches And Uncouth Figures And Then Daubed Over With
Wilgey, Bore Testimony That His Death Had Been Bloodily Avenged.
Kaiber's Fears.
The Native Kaiber Gazed With A Degree Of Concern And Uneasiness On This
Scene. "A Man Has Been Slain Here," He Said. "And What, Kaiber," I Asked
Him, "Is The Reason That These Spears Are Broken, That The Trees Are
Notched, And That Wilgey Is Strewed On The Grave?" His Answer Was,
"Neither You Nor I Know: Our People Have Always Done So, And We Do So
Now." I Then Said To Him, "Kaiber, I Intend To Stop Here For The Night,
And Sleep." "You Are Deceiving Me," He Said: "I Cannot Rest Here, For
There Are Many Spirits In This Place." I Laughed At His Fears, And We
Again Moved On.
Want Of Water.
We Now Soon Got Clear Of The Hills And Came Out Upon A Plain Of Good
Land, Thickly Covered With Grass-Trees. This Plain Was About Three Miles
In Width And, Having Traversed It, We Found Ourselves In A Sandy Country
Abounding With Banksia Trees. We Crossed Several Swamps, Now Completely
Dried Up, And Having Made Ten Miles Halted For The Night Without Water.
Mr. Walker Scraped A Hole In One Of These Swamps And Obtained A Little
Putrid And Muddy Water Which, Not Being Very Thirsty, I Did Not Drink,
More Especially As We Had Now, Or Indeed For Several Days, Had No Tea Or
Anything Else To Mix With It.
January 22.
We Started Again At Dawn This Morning And Travelled Rapidly, For We Were
Anxious To Obtain Water. In Six Miles We Came Out Upon The Sea. If My
Reckoning Was Right We Ought Now To Have Been About Ten Miles To The
North Of Leschenault; I Therefore Turned Due South. Kaiber However Now
Came Up And Remonstrated Against This, Assuring Me That I Was Wrong And
That We Were, At This Moment, Two Or Three Miles To The South Of
Leschenault, And That If I Persisted In Going On In This Direction We
Should All Die For Want Of Water. As I Put Great Faith In His Knowledge
Of The Country I Halted And Ascended A Hill To Try And Get A View Along
The Coast; I Could Not However Succeed On Account Of The Haze; And
Volume 1 Chapter 13 (At Swan River) Pg 202Believing Then That I Must Be In Error I Turned North. We Trudged On,
Hour After Hour; The Sun Got Higher And More Intensely Hot, Whilst,
Having Been Four-And-Twenty Hours Without Water, The Greater Part Of
Which Time Had Been Spent In Violent Exercise Under A Burning Sun, The
Pangs Of Thirst Became Very Annoying. A Short Period More Convinced Me
That I Was Right, And That Kaiber Was In Error; And, As We Soon After
Fell In With Two Native Wells Now Dried Up, We Dug Another In A
Promising-Looking Spot Near Them, And Obtained A Little Water, Very Muddy
And Stinking; But I Never Enjoyed A Draught More In My Life. We Here
Halted For Breakfast And By Degrees Obtained Water Enough For The Horses
As Well As Ourselves.
Estuary Of The Leschenault.
The Evening Was Consumed In Retracing Our Steps Of The Morning, And At
Night We Halted Near The Head Of The Leschenault Estuary, Being Again
Without Water.
January 23.
Our Route This Morning Was Along The Estuary Of The Leschenault. About
Five Miles From This Place We Fell In With A Party Of Natives, Who
Informed Us That A Few Days Before Mr. Elliott And Those With Him Had
Arrived There In Perfect Safety, And My Anxiety On This Point Was
Therefore Set At Rest. We Passed The Mouth Of The River Collie At The
Bar, Which Was Almost Dry, And Halted For Breakfast On The Banks Of The
Preston, About One Mile From The House Where I Expected To Find Mr.
Elliott.
Meet With Mr. Elliott. Mr. Elliott's Adventures.
No Sooner Was Breakfast Despatched Than I Set Off To See Mr. Elliott In
Order To Hear The History Of His Adventures, Which Were Not A Little
Surprising. He Had, As I Before Related, Started On The 17th Of December
From The Williams, With Only Three Days' Provisions And, Owing To Some
Mistake, Had Taken A South-South-West Course And Gone Off In The
Direction Where We First Saw His Tracks, And Had Pursued This Route For
Three Days, When, Seeing Nothing Of The Coast, He Suspected He Must Be
Wrong, And Endeavoured To Make A Due West Course; But From The Impassable
Nature Of The Mountain Range At This Point Was Unable To Do So. About
This Period Also, Owing To His Powder-Horn Having Been Placed Too Near
The Fire, It Was Accidentally Blown Away, And He Was Thus Left Totally
Without Protection In The Event Of Any Attack Being Made On Them By The
Natives. His Own Courage And Resolution However Never Failed, And He
Still Made The Best Of His Way To The Southward, Seizing Every
Opportunity Of Making Westing. For Twelve Days He Pursued This Course,
Subsisting On Native Roots And Boiled Tops Of Grass Trees. About The
Sixth Day He Fell In With Some Natives; But They Ran Away, Being
Frightened At The Appearance Of White Men, And He Thus Could Obtain No
Assistance From Them. At This Period The Filly Strayed Away From The Mare
And Was Lost. His Men Behaved Admirably; And On The Fourteenth Day The
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