diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/strtt10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/strtt10.txt | 20666 |
1 files changed, 20666 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/strtt10.txt b/old/strtt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d88e54e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/strtt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20666 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Australia Twice Traversed, by Ernest Giles + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Australia Twice Traversed + The Romance of Exploration + +Author: Ernest Giles + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4974] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 8, 2002] +[Date last updated: June 1st, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRALIA TWICE TRAVERSED *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher asschers@bigpond.com +Colin Beck + + + + + + + + +AUSTRALIA TWICE TRAVERSED. + +THE ROMANCE OF EXPLORATION, + +BEING + +A NARRATIVE COMPILED FROM THE JOURNALS + +OF + +FIVE EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS + +INTO AND THROUGH + +CENTRAL SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA, + +FROM 1872 TO 1876. + +BY + +ERNEST GILES + +FELLOW, AND GOLD MEDALLIST, OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. + + +"GO FORTH, MY BOOK, AND SHOW THE THINGS, +PILGRIMAGE UNTO THE PILGRIM BRINGS." + +BUNYAN. + + +(PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. Signed: "Yours faithfully, Ernest Giles.") + + +CONTENTS. + +AUTHOR'S NOTES. + +INTRODUCTION. + +PREFACE. + + +BOOK 1. + +CHAPTER 1.1. From 4th to 30th August, 1872. + +CHAPTER 1.2. From 30th August to 6th September, 1872. + +CHAPTER 1.3. From 6th to 17th September, 1872. + +CHAPTER 1.4. From 17th September to 1st October, 1872. + +CHAPTER 1.5. From 1st to 15th October, 1872. + +CHAPTER 1.6. From 15th October, 1872 to 31st January, 1873. + + +BOOK 2. + +CHAPTER 2.1. From 4th to 22nd August, 1873. + +CHAPTER 2.2. From 22nd August to 10th September, 1873. + +CHAPTER 2.3. From 10th to 30th September, 1873. + +CHAPTER 2.4. From 30th September to 9th November, 1873. + +CHAPTER 2.5. From 9th November to 23rd December, 1873. + +CHAPTER 2.6. From 23rd December, 1873 to 16th January, 1874. + +CHAPTER 2.7. From 16th January to 19th February, 1874. + +CHAPTER 2.8. From 20th February to 12th March, 1874. + +CHAPTER 2.9. From 12th March to 19th April, 1874. + +CHAPTER 2.10. From 20th April to 21st May, 1874. + +CHAPTER 2.11. From 21st May to 20th July, 1874. + + +BOOK 3. + +CHAPTER 3.1. From 13th March to 1st April, 1875. + +CHAPTER 3.2. From 2nd April to 6th May, 1875. + + +BOOK 4. + +CHAPTER 4.1. From 6th May to 27th July, 1875. + +CHAPTER 4.2. From 27th July to 6th October, 1875. + +CHAPTER 4.3. From 6th October to 18th October, 1875. + +CHAPTER 4.4. From 18th October to 18th November, 1875. + + +BOOK 5. + +CHAPTER 5.1. From 18th November, 1875 to 10th April, 1876. + +CHAPTER 5.2. From 10th April to 7th May, 1876. + +CHAPTER 5.3. From 7th May to 10th June, 1876. + +CHAPTER 5.4. From 11th June to 23rd August, 1876. + +CHAPTER 5.5. From 23rd August to 20th September, 1876. + + +APPENDIX. + + +INDEX. + + +*** + + +(ILLUSTRATIONS. + +PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR. + +CHAMBERS' PILLAR. + +THE MOLOCH HORRIDUS. + +VIEW IN THE GLEN OF PALMS. + +PALM-TREE FOUND IN THE GLEN OF PALMS. + +GLEN EDITH. + +PENNY'S CREEK. + +ESCAPE GLEN--THE ADVANCE. + +ESCAPE GLEN--THE RETREAT. + +MIDDLETON'S PASS AND FISH PONDS. + +JUNCTION OF THE PALMER AND THE FINKE. + +AN INCIDENT OF TRAVEL. + +TIETKENS'S BIRTHDAY CREEK AND MOUNT CARNARVON. + +ON BIRTHDAY CREEK. + +ENCOUNTER WITH NATIVES AT "THE OFFICER," MUSGRAVE RANGE. + +THE FAIRIES' GLEN. + +ZOE'S GLEN. + +THE STINKING PIT. + +ATTACK AT FORT MUELLER. + +DRAGGED BY DIAWAY. + +ATTACK AT SLADEN WATER. + +GILL'S PINNACLE. + +VIEW ON THE PETERMANN RANGE. + +ATTACK AT THE FARTHEST EAST. + +MOUNT OLGA. + +CIRCUS WATER. + +FIRST VIEW OF THE ALFRED AND MARIE RANGE. + +THE LAST EVER SEEN OF GIBSON. + +ALONE IN THE DESERT. + +JIMMY AT FORT MCKELLAR. + +THE HERMIT HILL AND FINNISS SPRING. + +WYNBRING ROCK. + +LITTLE SALT LAKE. + +IN QUEEN VICTORIA'S DESERT. + +QUEEN VICTORIA'S SPRING. + +ATTACK AT ULARRING. + +FORCING A PASSAGE THROUGH THE SCRUBS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. + +FIRST VIEW OF MOUNT CHURCHMAN. + +THE FIRST WHITE MAN MET IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. + +ARRIVAL AT CULHAM (SAMUEL PHILLIPS'S). + +ARRIVAL AT PERTH. + +ARRIVAL AT THE TOWN HALL, PERTH. + +FAREWELL TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA. + +GLEN ROSS. + +GLEN FERDINAND. + +MAP OF FIRST EXPEDITION, 1872. + +MAP OF SECOND EXPEDITION, 1873-4. + +MAP OF AUSTRALIA, SHOWING THE SEVERAL ROUTES. + +MAP OF THIRD EXPEDITION, 1875. + +MAP OF FOURTH EXPEDITION, 1875. + +MAP OF FIFTH EXPEDITION, 1876. + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTES. + +The original journals of the field notes, from which the present +narrative is compiled, were published, as each expedition ended, as +parliamentary papers by the Government of the Colony of South +Australia. + +The journals of the first two expeditions, formed a small book, which +was distributed mostly to the patrons who had subscribed to the fund +for my second expedition. The account of the third, found its way into +the South Australian "Observer," while the records of the fourth and +fifth journeys remained as parliamentary documents, the whole never +having appeared together. Thus only fragments of the accounts of my +wanderings became known; and though my name as an explorer has been +heard of, both in Australia and England, yet very few people even in +the Colonies are aware of what I have really done. Therefore it was +thought that a work embodying the whole of my explorations might be +acceptable to both English and Colonial readers. + +Some years have been allowed to elapse since these journeys were +commenced; but the facts are the same, and to those not mixed up in +the adventures, the incidents as fresh as when they occurred. + +Unavoidably, I have had to encounter a large area of desert country in +the interior of the colonies of South Australia, and Western +Australia, in my various wanderings; but I also discovered +considerable tracts of lands watered and suitable for occupation. + +It is not in accordance with my own feelings in regard to Australia +that I am the chronicler of her poorer regions; and although an +Englishman, Australia has no sincerer well-wisher; had it been +otherwise, I could not have performed the work these volumes record. +It has indeed been often a cause of regret that my lines of march +should have led me away from the beautiful and fertile places upon +Australia's shores, where our countrymen have made their homes. + +On the subject of the wonderful resources of Australia I am not called +upon to enlarge, and surely all who have heard her name must have +heard also of her gold, copper, wool, wine, beef, mutton, wheat, +timber, and other products; and if any other evidence were wanting to +show what Australia really is, a visit to her cities, and an +experience of her civilisation, not forgetting the great revenues of +her different provinces, would dispel at once all previous inaccurate +impressions of those who, never having seen, perhaps cannot believe in +the existence of them. + +In the course of this work my reader will easily discover to whom it +is dedicated, without a more formal statement under such a heading. +The preface, which may seem out of its place, is merely such to my own +journeys. I thought it due to my readers and my predecessors in the +Australian field of discovery, that I should give a rapid epitome +(which may contain some minor errors) of what they had done, and which +is here put forward by way of introduction. + +Most of the illustrations, except one or two photographs, were +originally from very rough sketches, or I might rather say scratches, +of mine, improved upon by Mr. Val Prinsep, of Perth, Western +Australia, who drew most of the plates referring to the camel +expeditions, while those relating to the horse journeys were sketched +by Mr. Woodhouse, Junr., of Melbourne; the whole, however, have +undergone a process of reproduction at the hands of London artists. + +To Mrs. Cashel Hoey, the well-known authoress and Australian +correspondent, who revised and cleared my original manuscripts, I have +to accord my most sincere thanks. To Mr. Henniker-Heaton, M.P., who +appears to be the Imperial Member in the British Parliament for all +Australia, I am under great obligations, he having introduced me to +Mr. Marston, of the publishing firm who have produced these volumes. I +also have to thank Messrs. Clowes and Sons for the masterly way in +which they have printed this work. Also Messrs. Creed, Robinson, +Fricker, and Symons, of the publishing staff. The maps have been +reproduced by Weller, the well-known geographer. + +(ILLUSTRATION: Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. +"Victoria D.G. Britanniarum Regina, 1837, Patrona. +Or, Terras Reclusas, Ernest Giles, 1880.") + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Before narrating my own labours in opening out portions of the unknown +interior of Australia, it will be well that I should give a succinct +account of what others engaged in the same arduous enterprise around +the shores and on the face of the great Southern Continent, have +accomplished. + +After the wondrous discoveries of Columbus had set the Old World into +a state of excitement, the finding of new lands appears to have become +the romance of that day, as the exploration by land of unknown regions +has been that of our time; and in less than fifty years after the +discovery of America navigators were searching every sea in hopes of +emulating the deeds of that great explorer; but nearly a hundred years +elapsed before it became known in Europe that a vast and misty land +existed in the south, whose northern and western shores had been met +in certain latitudes and longitudes, but whose general outline had not +been traced, nor was it even then visited with anything like a +systematic geographical object. The fact of the existence of such a +land at the European antipodes no doubt set many ardent and +adventurous spirits upon the search, but of their exploits and labours +we know nothing. + +The Dutch were the most eager in their attempts, although Torres, a +Spaniard, was, so far as we know, the first to pass in a voyage from +the West Coast of America to India, between the Indian or Malay +Islands, and the great continent to the south, hence we have Torres +Straits. The first authentic voyager, however, to our actual shores +was Theodoric Hertoge, subsequently known as Dirk Hartog--bound from +Holland to India. He arrived at the western coast between the years +1610 and 1616. An island on the west coast bears his name: there he +left a tin plate nailed to a tree with the date of his visit and the +name of his ship, the Endragt, marked upon it. Not very long after +Theodoric Hertoge, and still to the western and north-western coasts, +came Zeachern, Edels, Nuitz, De Witt, and Pelsart, who was wrecked +upon Houtman's Albrolhos, or rocks named by Edels, in his ship the +Leewin or Lion. Cape Leewin is called after this vessel. Pelsart left +two convicts on the Australian coast in 1629. Carpenter was the next +navigator, and all these adventurers have indelibly affixed their +names to portions of the coast of the land they discovered. The next, +and a greater than these, at least greater in his navigating +successes, was Abel Janz Tasman, in 1642. Tasman was instructed to +inquire from the native inhabitants for Pelsart's two convicts, and to +bring them away with him, IF THEY ENTREATED HIM; but they were never +heard of again. Tasman sailed round a great portion of the Australian +coast, discovered what he named Van Diemen's land, now Tasmania, and +New Zealand. He it was who called the whole, believing it to be one, +New Holland, after the land of his birth. Next we have Dampier, an +English buccaneer--though the name sounds very like Dutch; it was +probably by chance only that he and his roving crew visited these +shores. Then came Wilhelm Vlaming with three ships. God save the mark +to call such things ships. How the men performed the feats they did, +wandering over vast and unknown oceans, visiting unknown coasts with +iron-bound shores, beset with sunken reefs, subsisting on food not fit +for human beings, suffering from scurvy caused by salted diet and +rotten biscuit, with a short allowance of water, in torrid zones, and +liable to be attacked and killed by hostile natives, it is difficult +for us to conceive. They suffered all the hardships it is possible to +imagine upon the sea, and for what? for fame, for glory? That their +names and achievements might be handed down to us; and this seems to +have been their only reward; for there was no Geographical Society's +medal in those days with its motto to spur them on. + +Vlaming was the discoverer of the Swan River, upon which the seaport +town of Fremantle and the picturesque city of Perth, in Western +Australia, now stand. This river he discovered in 1697, and he was the +first who saw Dirk Hartog's tin plate. + +Dampier's report of the regions he had visited caused him to be sent +out again in 1710 by the British Government, and upon his return, all +previous doubts, if any existed, as to the reality of the existence of +this continent, were dispelled, and the position of its western shores +was well established. Dampier discovered a beautiful flower of the pea +family known as the Clianthus Dampierii. In 1845 Captain Sturt found +the same flower on his Central Australian expedition, and it is now +generally known as Sturt's Desert Pea, but it is properly named in its +botanical classification, after its original discoverer. + +After Dampier's discoveries, something like sixty years elapsed before +Cook appeared upon the scene, and it was not until his return to +England that practical results seemed likely to accrue to any nation +from the far-off land. I shall not recapitulate Cook's voyages; the +first fitted out by the British Government was made in 1768, but Cook +did not touch upon Australia's coast until two years later, when, +voyaging northwards along the eastern coast, he anchored at a spot he +called Botany Bay, from the brightness and abundance of the beautiful +wild flowers he found growing there. Here two natives attempted to +prevent his landing, although the boats were manned with forty men. +The natives threw stones and spears at the invaders, but nobody was +killed. At this remote and previously unvisited spot one of the crew +named Forby Sutherland, who had died on board the Endeavour, was +buried, his being the first white man's grave ever dug upon +Australia's shore; at least the first authenticated one--for might not +the remaining one of the two unfortunate convicts left by Pelsart have +dug a grave for his companion who was the first to die, no man +remaining to bury the survivor? Cook's route on this voyage was along +the eastern coast from Cape Howe in south latitude 37 degrees 30' to +Cape York in Torres Straits in latitude 10 degrees 40'. He called the +country New South Wales, from its fancied resemblance to that older +land, and he took possession of the whole in the name of George III as +England's territory. + +Cook reported so favourably of the regions he had discovered that the +British Government decided to establish a colony there; the spot +finally selected was at Port Jackson, and the settlement was called +Sydney in 1788. After Cook came the Frenchman Du Fresne and his +unfortunate countryman, La Perouse. Then Vancouver, Blyth, and the +French General and Admiral, D'Entre-Casteaux, who went in search of +the missing La Perouse. In 1826, Captain Dillon, an English navigator, +found the stranded remains of La Perouse's ships at two of the +Charlotte Islands group. We now come to another great English +navigator, Matthew Flinders, who was the first to circumnavigate +Australia; to him belongs the honour of having given to this great +island continent the name it now bears. In 1798, Flinders and Bass, +sailing in an open boat from Sydney, discovered that Australia and Van +Diemen's Land were separate; the dividing straits between were then +named after Bass. In 1802, during his second voyage in the +Investigator, a vessel about the size of a modern ship's launch, +Flinders had with him as a midshipman John Franklin, afterwards the +celebrated Arctic navigator. On his return to England, Flinders, +touching at the Isle of France, was made prisoner by the French +governor and detained for nearly seven years, during which time a +French navigator Nicolas Baudin, with whom came Perron and Lacepede +the naturalists, and whom Flinders had met at a part of the southern +coast which he called Encounter Bay in reference to that meeting, +claimed and reaped the honour and reward of a great portion of the +unfortunate prisoner's work. Alas for human hopes and aspirations, +this gallant sailor died before his merits could be acknowledged or +rewarded, and I believe one or two of his sisters were, until very +lately, living in the very poorest circumstances. + +The name of Flinders is, however, held in greater veneration than any +of his predecessors or successors, for no part of the Australian coast +was unvisited by him. Rivers, mountain ranges, parks, districts, +counties, and electoral divisions, have all been named after him; and, +indeed, I may say the same of Cook; but, his work being mostly +confined to the eastern coast, the more western colonies are not so +intimately connected with his name, although an Australian poet has +called him the Columbus of our shore. + +After Flinders and Baudin came another Frenchman, De Freycinet, bound +on a tour of discovery all over the world. + +Australia's next navigator was Captain, subsequently Admiral, Philip +Parker King, who carried out four separate voyages of discovery, +mostly upon the northern coasts. At three places upon which King +favourably reported, namely Camden Harbour on the north-west coast, +Port Essington in Arnhem's Land, and Port Cockburn in Apsley Straits, +between Melville and Bathurst Islands on the north coast, military and +penal settlements were established, but from want of further +emigration these were abandoned. King completed a great amount of +marine surveying on these voyages, which occurred between the years +1813 and 1822. + +Captain Wickham in the Beagle comes next; he discovered the Fitzroy +River, which he found emptied itself into a gulf named King's Sound. +In consequence of ill-health Captain Wickham, after but a short +sojourn on these shores, resigned his command, and Lieutenant Lort +Stokes, who had sailed with him in the Beagle round the rocky shores +of Magellan's Straits and Tierra del Fuego, received the command from +the Lords of the Admiralty. Captain Lort Stokes may be considered the +last, but by no means the least, of the Australian navigators. On one +occasion he was speared by natives of what he justly called Treachery +Bay, near the mouth of the Victoria River in Northern Australia, +discovered by him. His voyages occurred between the years 1839 and +1843. He discovered the mouths of most of the rivers that fall into +the Gulf of Carpentaria, besides many harbours, bays, estuaries, and +other geographical features upon the North Australian coasts. + +The early navigators had to encounter much difficulty and many dangers +in their task of making surveys from the rough achievements of the +Dutch, down to the more finished work of Flinders, King and Stokes. It +is to be remembered that they came neither for pleasure nor for rest, +but to discover the gulfs, bays, peninsulas, mountains, rivers and +harbours, as well as to make acquaintance with the native races, the +soils, and animal and vegetable products of the great new land, so as +to diffuse the knowledge so gained for the benefit of others who might +come after them. In cockle-shells of little ships what dangers did +they not encounter from shipwreck on the sunken edges of coral ledges +of the new and shallow seas, how many were those who were never heard +of again; how many a little exploring bark with its adventurous crew +have been sunk in Australia's seas, while those poor wretches who +might, in times gone by, have landed upon the inhospitable shore would +certainly have been killed by the wild and savage hordes of hostile +aborigines, from whom there could be no escape! With Stokes the list +of those who have visited and benefited Australia by their labours +from the sea must close; my only regret being that so poor a +chronicler is giving an outline of their achievements. I now turn to +another kind of exploration--and have to narrate deeds of even greater +danger, though of a different kind, done upon Australia's face. + +In giving a short account of those gallant men who have left +everlasting names as explorers upon the terra firma and terra +incognita of our Australian possession, I must begin with the +earliest, and go back a hundred years to the arrival of Governor +Phillip at Botany Bay, in 1788, with eleven ships, which have ever +since been known as "The First Fleet." I am not called upon to narrate +the history of the settlement, but will only say that the Governor +showed sound judgment when he removed his fleet and all his men from +Botany Bay to Port Jackson, and founded the village of Sydney, which +has now become the huge capital city of New South Wales. A new region +was thus opened out for British labour, trade, capital, and +enterprise. From the earliest days of the settlement adventurous and +enterprising men, among whom was the Governor himself, who was on one +occasion speared by the natives, were found willing to venture their +lives in the exploration of the country upon whose shores they had so +lately landed. Wentworth, Blaxland, and Evans appear on the list as +the very first explorers by land. The chief object they had in view +was to surmount the difficulties which opposed their attempting to +cross the Blue Mountains, and Evans was the first who accomplished +this. The first efficient exploring expedition into the interior of +New South Wales was conducted by John Oxley, the Surveyor-General of +the colony, in 1817. His principal discovery was that some of the +Australian streams ran inland, towards the interior, and he traced +both the Macquarie and the Lachlan, named by him after Governor +Lachlan Macquarie, until he supposed they ended in vast swamps or +marshes, and thereby founded the theory that in the centre of +Australia there existed a great inland sea. After Oxley came two +explorers named respectively Hovell and Hume, who penetrated, in 1824, +from the New South Wales settlements into what is now the colony of +Victoria. They discovered the upper portions of the River Murray, +which they crossed somewhere in the neighbourhood of the present town +of Albury. The river was then called the Hume, but it was subsequently +called the Murray by Captain Charles Sturt, who heads the list of +Australia's heroes with the title of The Father of Australian +Exploration. + +In 1827 Sturt made one of the greatest discoveries of this century--or +at least one of the most useful for his countrymen--that of the River +Darling, the great western artery of the river system of New South +Wales, and what is now South-western Queensland. In another +expedition, in 1832, Sturt traced the Murrumbidgee River, discovered +by Oxley, in boats into what he called the Murray. This river is the +same found by Hovell and Hume, Sturt's name for it having been +adopted. He entered the new stream, which was lined on either bank by +troops of hostile natives, from whom he had many narrow escapes, and +found it trended for several hundreds of miles in a west-north-west +direction, confirming him in his idea of an inland sea; but at a +certain point, which he called the great north-west bend, it suddenly +turned south and forced its way to the sea at Encounter Bay, where +Flinders met Baudin in 1803. Neither of these explorers appear to have +discovered the river's mouth. On this occasion Sturt discovered the +province or colony of South Australia, which in 1837 was proclaimed by +the British Government, and in that colony Sturt afterwards made his +home. + +Sturt's third and final expedition was from the colony of South +Australia into Central Australia, in 1843-1845. This was the first +truly Central Australian expedition that had yet been despatched, +although in 1841 Edward Eyre had attempted the same arduous +enterprise. Of this I shall write anon. On his third expedition Sturt +discovered the Barrier, the Grey, and the Stokes ranges, and among +numerous smaller watercourses he found and named Strezletki's, +Cooper's, and Eyre's Creeks. The latter remained the furthest known +inland water of Australia for many years after Sturt's return. Sturt +was accompanied, as surveyor and draftsman, by John McDouall Stuart, +whom I shall mention in his turn. So far as my opinion, formed in my +wanderings over the greater portions of the country explored by Sturt, +goes, his estimate of the regions he visited has scarcely been borne +out according to the views of the present day. + +Like Oxley, he was fully impressed with the notion that an inland sea +did exist, and although he never met such a feature in his travels, he +seems to have thought it must be only a little more remote than the +parts he had reached. He was fully prepared to come upon an inland +sea, for he carried a boat on a bullock waggon for hundreds of miles, +and when he finally abandoned it he writes: "Here we left the boat +which I had vainly hoped would have ploughed the waters of an inland +sea." Several years afterwards I discovered pieces of this boat, built +of New Zealand pine, in the debris of a flood about twenty miles down +the watercourse where it had been left. A great portion, if not all +the country, explored by that expedition is now highly-prized pastoral +land, and a gold field was discovered almost in sight of a depot +formed by Sturt, at a spot where he was imprisoned at a water hole for +six months without moving his camp. He described the whole region as a +desert, and he seems to have been haunted by the notion that he had +got into and was surrounded by a wilderness the like of which no human +being had ever seen or heard of before. His whole narrative is a tale +of suffering and woe, and he says on his map, being at the furthest +point he attained in the interior, about forty-five miles from where +he had encamped on the watercourse he called Eyre's Creek, now a +watering place for stock on a Queensland cattle run: "Halted at sunset +in a country such as I verily believe has no parallel upon the earth's +surface, and one which was terrible in its aspect." Sturt's views are +only to be accounted for by the fact that what we now call excellent +sheep and cattle country appeared to him like a desert, because his +comparisons were made with the best alluvial lands he had left near +the coast. Explorers as a rule, great ones more particularly, are not +without rivals in so honourable a field as that of discovery, although +not every one who undertakes the task is fitted either by nature or +art to adorn the chosen part. Sturt was rivalled by no less celebrated +an individual than Major, afterwards Sir Thomas, Mitchell, a soldier +of the Peninsula War, and some professional jealousy appears to have +existed between them. + +Major Mitchell was then the Surveyor-General of the Colony, and he +entirely traversed and made known the region he appropriately named +Australia Felix, now the colony of Victoria. Mitchell, like Sturt, +conducted three expeditions: the first in 1831-1832, when he traced +the River Darling previously discovered by Sturt, for several hundred +miles, until he found it trend directly to the locality at which +Sturt, in his journey down the Murray, had seen and laid down its +mouth or junction with the larger river. Far up the Darling, in +latitude 30 degrees 5', Mitchell built a stockade and formed a depot, +which he called Fort Bourke; near this spot the present town of Bourke +is situated and now connected by rail with Sydney, the distance being +about 560 miles. Mitchell's second journey, when he visited Australia +Felix, was made in 1835, and his last expedition into tropical +Australia was in 1845. On this expedition he discovered a large river +running in a north-westerly direction, and as its channel was so +large, and its general appearance so grand, he conjectured that it +would prove to be the Victoria River of Captain Lort Stokes, and that +it would run on in probably increasing size, or at least in +undiminished magnificence, through the 1100 or 1200 miles of country +that intervened between his own and Captain Stokes's position. He +therefore called it the Victoria River. Gregory subsequently +discovered that Mitchell's Victoria turned south, and was one and the +same watercourse called Cooper's Creek by Sturt. The upper portion of +this watercourse is now known by its native name of the Barcoo, the +name Victoria being ignored. Mitchell always had surveyors with him, +who chained as he went every yard of the thousands of miles he +explored. He was knighted for his explorations, and lived to enjoy the +honour; so indeed was Sturt, but in his case it was only a mockery, +for he was totally blind and almost on his deathbed when the +recognition of his numerous and valuable services was so tardily +conferred upon him. (Dr. W.H. Browne, who accompanied Sturt to Central +Australia in 1843-5 as surgeon and naturalist, is living in London; +and another earlier companion of the Father of Australian Exploration, +George McCleay, still survives.) + +These two great travellers were followed by, or worked simultaneously, +although in a totally different part of the continent, namely the +north-west coast, with Sir George Grey in 1837-1839. His labours and +escapes from death by spear-wounds, shipwreck, starvation, thirst, and +fatigue, fill his volumes with incidents of the deepest interest. +Edward Eyre, subsequently known as Governor Eyre, made an attempt to +reach, in 1840-1841, Central Australia by a route north from the city +of Adelaide; and as Sturt imagined himself surrounded by a desert, so +Eyre thought he was hemmed in by a circular or horse-shoe-shaped salt +depression, which he called Lake Torrens; because, wherever he tried +to push northwards, north-westwards, eastwards, or north-eastwards, he +invariably came upon the shores of one of these objectionable and +impassable features. As we now know, there are several of them with +spaces of traversable ground between, instead of the obstacle being +one continuous circle by which he supposed he was surrounded. In +consequence of his inability to overcome this obstruction, Eyre gave +up the attempt to penetrate into Central Australia, but pushing +westerly, round the head of Flinders' Spencer's Gulf, where now the +inland seaport town of Port Augusta stands, he forced his way along +the coast line from Port Lincoln to Fowler's Bay (Flinders), and +thence along the perpendicular cliffs of the Great Australian Bight to +Albany, at King George's Sound. + +This journey of Eyre's was very remarkable in more ways than one; its +most extraordinary incident being the statement that his horses +travelled for seven days and nights without water. I have travelled +with horses in almost every part of Australia, but I know that after +three days and three nights without water horses would certainly knock +up, die, or become utterly useless, and it would be impossible to make +them continue travelling. Another remarkable incident of his march is +strange enough. One night whilst Eyre was watching the horses, there +being no water at the encampment, Baxter, his only white companion, +was murdered by two little black boys belonging to South Australia, +who had been with Eyre for some time previously. These little boys +shot Baxter and robbed the camp of nearly all the food and ammunition +it contained, and then, while Eyre was running up from the horses to +where Baxter lay, decamped into the bush and were only seen the +following morning, but never afterwards. One other and older boy, a +native of Albany, whither Eyre was bound, now alone remained. Eyre and +this boy (Wylie) now pushed on in a starving condition, living upon +dead fish or anything they could find for several weeks, and never +could have reached the Sound had they not, by almost a miracle, fallen +in with a French whaling schooner when nearly 300 miles had yet to be +traversed. The captain, who was an Englishman named Rossiter, treated +them most handsomely; he took them on board for a month while their +horses recruited on shore--for this was a watering place of +Flinders--he then completely refitted them with every necessary before +he would allow them to depart. Eyre in gratitude called the place +Rossiter Bay, but it seems to have been prophetically christened +previously by the ubiquitous Flinders, under the name of Lucky Bay. +Nearly all the watering places visited by Eyre consisted of the +drainage from great accumulations of pure white sand or hummocks, +which were previously discovered by the Investigator; as Flinders +himself might well have been called. The most peculiar of these +features is the patch at what Flinders called the head of the Great +Australian Bight; these sandhills rise to an elevation of several +hundred feet, the prevailing southerly winds causing them to slope +gradually from the south, while the northern face is precipitous. In +moonlight I have seen these sandhills, a few miles away, shining like +snowy mountains, being refracted to an unnatural altitude by the +bright moonlight. Fortunate indeed it was for Eyre that such relief +was afforded him; he was unable to penetrate at all into the interior, +and he brought back no information of the character and nature of the +country inland. I am the only traveller who has explored that part of +the interior, but of this more hereafter. + +About this time Strezletki and McMillan, both from New South Wales, +explored the region now the easternmost part of the colony of +Victoria, which Strezletki called Gipp's Land. These two explorers +were rivals, and both, it seems, claimed to have been first in that +field. + +Next on the list of explorers comes Ludwig Leichhardt, a surgeon, a +botanist, and an eager seeker after fame in the Australian field of +discovery, and whose memory all must revere. He successfully conducted +an expedition from Moreton Bay to the Port Essington of King--on the +northern coast--by which he made known the geographical features of a +great part of what is now Queensland, the capital being Brisbane at +Moreton Bay. A settlement had been established at Port Essington by +the Government of New South Wales, to which colony the whole territory +then belonged. At this settlement, as being the only point of relief +after eighteen months of travel, Leichhardt and his exhausted party +arrived. The settlement was a military and penal one, but was +ultimately abandoned. It is now a cattle station in the northern +territory division of South Australia, and belongs to some gentlemen +in Adelaide. + +Of Leichhardt's sad fate in the interior of Australia no tidings have +ever been heard. On this fatal journey, which occurred in 1848, he +undertook the too gigantic task of crossing Australia from east to +west, that is to say, from Moreton Bay to Swan River. Even at that +period, however, the eastern interior was not all entirely unknown, as +Mitchell's Victoria River or Barcoo, and the Cooper's and Eyre's +Creeks of Sturt had already been discovered. The last-named +watercourse lay nearly 1000 miles from the eastern coast, in latitude +25 degrees south, and it is reasonable to suppose that to such a point +Leichhardt would naturally direct his course--indeed in what was +probably his last letter, addressed to a friend, he mentions this +watercourse as a desirable point to make for upon his new attempt. But +where his wanderings ended, and where the catastrophe that closed his +own and his companions' lives occurred, no tongue can tell. After he +finally left the furthest outlying settlements at the Mount Abundance +station, he, like the lost Pleiad, was seen on earth no more. How +could he have died and where? ah, where indeed? I who have wandered +into and returned alive from the curious regions he attempted and died +to explore, have unfortunately never come across a single record or +any remains or traces of those long lost but unforgotten braves. +Leichhardt originally started on his last sad venture with a party of +eight, including one if not two native black boys. Owing, however, to +some disagreement, the whole party returned to the starting point, but +being reorganised it started again with the same number of members. +There were about twenty head of bullocks broken in to carry +pack-loads; this was an ordinary custom in those early days of +Australian settlement. Leichhardt also had two horses and five or six +mules: this outfit was mostly contributed by the settlers who gave, +some flour, some bullocks, some money, firearms, gear, etc., and some +gave sheep and goats; he had about a hundred of the latter. The packed +bullocks were taken to supply the party with beef, in the meantime +carrying the expedition stores. The bullocks' pack-saddles were huge, +ungainly frames of wood fastened with iron-work, rings, etc. + +Shortly after the expedition made a second start, two or three of the +members again seceded, and returned to the settlements, while +Leichhardt and his remaining band pushed farther and farther to the +west. + +Although the eastern half of the continent is now inhabited, though +thinly, no traces of any kind, except two or three branded trees in +the valley of the Cooper, have ever been found. My belief is that the +only cause to be assigned for their destruction is summed up in the +dread word "flood." They were so far traced into the valley of the +Cooper; this creek, which has a very lengthy course, ends in Lake +Eyre, one of the salt depressions which baffled that explorer. A point +on the southern shore is now known as Eyre's Lookout. + +The Cooper is known in times of flood to reach a width of between +forty and fifty miles, the whole valley being inundated. Floods may +surround a traveller while not a drop of local rain may fall, and had +the members of this expedition perished in any other way, some remains +of iron pack-saddle frames, horns, bones, skulls, firearms, and other +articles must have been found by the native inhabitants who occupied +the region, and would long ago have been pointed out by the aborigines +to the next comers who invaded their territories. The length of time +that animals' bones might remain intact in the open air in Australia +is exemplified by the fact that in 1870, John Forrest found the skull +of a horse in one of Eyre's camps on the cliffs of the south coast +thirty years after it was left there by Eyre. Forrest carried the +skull to Adelaide. I argue, therefore, that if Leichhardt's animals +and equipment had not been buried by a flood, some remains must have +been since found, for it is impossible, if such things were above +ground that they could escape the lynx-like glances of Australian +aboriginals, whose wonderful visual powers are unsurpassed among +mankind. Everybody and everything must have been swallowed in a +cataclysm and buried deep and sure in the mud and slime of a flood. + +The New South Wales Government made praiseworthy efforts to rescue the +missing traveller. About a year after Leichhardt visited Port +Essington, the Government abandoned the settlement, and the prevailing +opinion in the colony of New South Wales at that time was, that +Leichhardt had not been able to reach Eyre's Creek, but had been +forced up north, from his intended route, the inland-sea theory still +prevailing, and that he had probably returned to the old settlement +for relief. Therefore, when he had been absent two years, the +Government despatched a schooner to the abandoned place. The master of +the vessel saw several of the half-civilised natives, who well +remembered Leichhardt's arrival there, but he had not returned. The +natives promised the master to take the greatest care of him should he +again appear, but it is needless to say he was seen no more. The +Government were very solicitous about him, and when he had been absent +four years, Mr. Hovendon Heley was sent away with an outfit of +pack-horses and six or seven men, to endeavour to trace him. This +expedition seems to have wandered about for several months, and +discovered, as Mr. Heley states, two marked trees branded exactly +alike, namely L over XVA, and each spot where these existed is +minutely described. There was at each, a water-hole, upon the bank of +which the camp was situated; at each camp a marked tree was found +branded alike; at each, the frame of a tent was left standing; at +each, some logs had been laid down to place the stores and keep them +from damp. The two places as described appear so identical that it +seems impossible to think otherwise than that Heley and his party +arrived twice at the same place without knowing it. The tree or trees +were found on a watercourse, or courses, near the head of the Warrego +River, in Queensland. The above was all the information gained by this +expedition. A subsequent search expedition was sent out in 1858, under +Augustus Gregory; this I shall place in its chronological order. +Kennedy, a companion of Sir Thomas Mitchell into Tropical Australia in +1845, next enters the field. He went to trace Mitchell's Victoria +River or Barcoo, but finding it turned southwards and broke into many +channels, he abandoned it, and on his return journey discovered the +Warrego River, which may be termed the Murrumbidgee of Queensland. On +a second expedition, in 1848, Kennedy started from Moreton Bay to +penetrate and explore the country of the long peninsula, which runs up +northward between the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Pacific Ocean, and +ends at Cape York, the northernmost point of Australia in Torres +Straits. From this disastrous expedition he never returned. He was +starved, ill, fatigued, hunted by remorseless aborigines for days, and +finally speared to death by the natives of Cape York, when almost +within sight of his goal, where a vessel was waiting to succour him +and all his party. Only a black boy named Jacky Jacky was with him. +After Kennedy's death Jacky buried all his papers in a hollow tree, +and for a couple of days he eluded his pursuers, until, reaching the +spot where his master had told him the vessel would be, he ran yelling +down to the beach, followed by a crowd of murderous savages. By the +luckiest chance a boat happened to be at the beach, and the officers +and crew rescued the boy. The following day a party led by Jacky +returned to where poor Kennedy lay, and they buried him. They obtained +his books and maps from the tree where Jacky had hidden them. The +narrative of this expedition is heart-rending. Of the whole number of +the whites, namely seven, two only were rescued by the vessel at a +place where Kennedy had formed a depot on the coast, and left four +men. + +With Captain Roe, a companion of King's, with whom he was speared and +nearly killed by the natives of Goulburn Island, in 1820, and who +afterwards became Surveyor-General of the colony of Western Australia, +the list of Australia's early explorers may be said to close, although +I should remark that Augustus Gregory was a West Australian explorer +as early as the year 1846. Captain Roe conducted the most extensive +inland exploration of Western Australia at that day, in 1848. No works +of fiction can excel, or indeed equal, in romantic and heart-stirring +interest the volumes, worthy to be written in letters of gold, which +record the deeds and the sufferings of these noble toilers in the dim +and distant field of discovery afforded by the Australasian continent +and its vast islands. It would be well if those works were read by the +present generation as eagerly as the imaginary tales of adventure +which, while they appeal to no real sentiment, and convey no solid +information, cannot compete for a moment with those sublime records of +what has been dared, done, and suffered, at the call of duty, and for +the sake of human interests by men who have really lived and died. I +do not say that all works of fiction are entirely without interest to +the human imagination, or that writers of some of these works are not +clever, for in one sense they certainly are, and that is, in only +writing of horrors that never occurred, without going through the +preliminary agony of a practical realisation of the dangers they so +graphically describe, and from which, perhaps, they might be the very +first to flee, though their heroes are made to appear nothing less +than demigods. Strange as it may appear, it seems because the tales of +Australian travel and self-devotion are true, that they attract but +little notice, for were the narratives of the explorers NOT true we +might become the most renowned novelists the world has ever known. +Again, Australian geography, as explained in the works of Australian +exploration, might be called an unlearned study. Let me ask how many +boys out of a hundred in Australia, or England either, have ever read +Sturt or Mitchell, Eyre, Leichhardt, Grey, or Stuart. It is possible a +few may have read Cook's voyages, because they appear more national, +but who has read Flinders, King, or Stokes? Is it because these +narratives are Australian and true that they are not worthy of +attention? + +Having well-nigh exhausted the list of the early explorers in +Australia, it is necessary now to turn to a more modern school. I must +admit that in the works of this second section, with a few exceptions, +such stirring narratives as those of the older travellers cannot be +found. Nevertheless, considerable interest must still attach to them, +as they in reality carry on the burning torch which will not be +consumed until by its light the whole of Australia stands revealed. + +The modern explorers are of a different class, and perhaps of one not +so high as their predecessors. By this remark I do not mean anything +invidious, and if any of the moderns are correctly to be classed with +the ancients, the Brothers Gregory must be spoken of next, as being +the fittest to head a secondary list. Augustus Gregory was in the West +Australian field of discovery in 1846. He was a great mechanical, as +well as a geographical, discoverer, for to him we are indebted for our +modern horses' pack-saddles in lieu of the dreadful old English +sumpter horse furniture that went by that name; he also invented a new +kind of compass known as Gregory's Patent, unequalled for steering on +horseback, and through dense scrubs where an ordinary compass would be +almost useless, while steering on camels in dense scrubs, on a given +bearing, without a Gregory would be next to impossible; it would be +far easier indeed, if not absolutely necessary, to walk and lead them, +which has to be done in almost all camel countries. + +In 1854 Austin made a lengthened journey to the east and northwards, +from the old settled places of Western Australia, and in 1856 Augustus +Gregory conducted the North Australian Expedition, fitted out under +the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Landing at +Stokes's Treachery Bay, Gregory and his brother Frank explored +Stokes's Victoria River to its sources, and found another watercourse, +whose waters, running inland, somewhat revived the old theory of the +inland sea. Upon tracing this river, which he named Sturt's Creek, +after the father of Australian exploration, it was found to exhaust +itself in a circular basin, which was named Termination Lake. +Retracing the creek to where the depot was situated, the party +travelled across a stretch of unknown country for some two hundred +miles, and striking Leichhardt's Port Essington track on Leichhardt's +Roper River, his route was followed too closely for hundreds of miles +until civilisation was reached. My friend Baron von Mueller +accompanied this expedition as botanist, naturalist, surgeon and +physician. + +Soon after his return from his northern expedition, Gregory was +despatched in 1858 by the Government of New South Wales to search +again for the lost explorer Leichhardt, who had then been missing ten +years. This expedition resulted in little or nothing, as far as its +main object was concerned, one or two trees, marked L, on the Barcoo +and lower end of the Thompson, was all it discovered; but, +geographically, it settled the question of the course of the Barcoo, +or Mitchell's Victoria, which Gregory followed past Kennedy's farthest +point, and traced until he found it identical with Sturt's Cooper's +Creek. He described it as being of enormous width in times of flood, +and two of Sturt's horses, abandoned since 1845, were seen but left +uncaptured. Sturt's Strezletki Creek in South Australian territory was +then followed. This peculiar watercourse branches out from the Cooper +and runs in a south-south-west direction. It brought Gregory safely to +the northern settlements of South Australia. The fruitless search for +it, however, was one of the main causes of the death of Burke and +Wills in 1861. This was Gregory's final attempt; he accepted the +position of Surveyor-General of Queensland, and his labours as an +explorer terminated. His journals are characterised by a brevity that +is not the soul of wit, he appearing to grudge to others the +information he had obtained at the expense of great endurance, +hardihood, knowledge, and judgment. Gregory was probably the closest +observer of all the explorers, except Mitchell, and an advanced +geologist. + +In 1858 a new aspirant for geographical honours appeared on the field +in the person of John McDouall Stuart, of South Australia, who, as +before mentioned, had formerly been a member of Captain Sturt's +Central Australian expedition in 1843-5 as draftsman and surveyor. +Stuart's object was to cross the continent, almost in its greatest +width, from south to north; and this he eventually accomplished. After +three attempts he finally reached the north coast in 1862, his rival +Burke having been the first to do so. Stuart might have been first, +but he seems to have under-valued his rival, and wasted time in +returning and refitting when he might have performed the feat in two +if not one journey; for he discovered a well-watered country the whole +way, and his route is now mainly the South Australian Transcontinental +Telegraph Line, though it must be remembered that Stuart had something +like fifteen hundred miles of unknown country in front of him to +explore, while Burke and Wills had scarcely six. Stuart also conducted +some minor explorations before he undertook his greater one. He and +McKinlay were South Australia's heroes, and are still venerated there +accordingly. He died in England not long after the completion of his +last expedition. + +We now come to probably the most melancholy episode in the long +history of Australian exploration, relating to the fate of Burke and +Wills. The people and Government of the colony of Victoria determined +to despatch an expedition to explore Central Australia, from Sturt's +Eyre's Creek to the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria at the mouth of +the Albert River of Stokes's, a distance in a straight line of not +more than six hundred miles; and as everything that Victoria +undertakes must always be on the grandest scale, so was this. One +colonist gave 1000 pounds; 4000 pounds more was subscribed, and then +the Government took the matter in hand to fit out the Victorian +Exploring Expedition. Camels were specially imported from India, and +everything was done to ensure success; when I say everything, I mean +all but the principal thing--the leader was the wrong man. He knew +nothing of bush life or bushmanship, navigation, or any art of travel. +Robert O'Hara Burke was brave, no doubt, but so hopelessly ignorant of +what he was undertaking, that it would have been the greatest wonder +if he had returned alive to civilisation. He was accompanied by a +young man named Wills as surveyor and observer; he alone kept a diary, +and from his own statements therein he was frequently more than a +hundred miles out of his reckoning. That, however, did not cause his +or Burke's death; what really did so was bad management. The money +this expedition cost, variously estimated at from 40,000 to 60,000 +pounds, was almost thrown away, for the map of the route of the +expedition was incorrect and unreliable, and Wills's journal of no +geographical value, except that it showed they had no difficulty with +regard to water. The expedition was, however, successful in so far +that Burke crossed Australia from south to north before Stuart, and +was the first traveller who had done so. Burke and Wills both died +upon Cooper's Creek after their return from Carpentaria upon the field +of their renown. Charles Gray, one of the party, died, or was killed, +a day or two before returning thither, and John King, the sole +survivor, was rescued by Alfred Howitt. Burke's and Stuart's lines of +travel, though both pushing from south to north, were separated by a +distance of over 400 miles in longitude. These travellers, or heroes I +suppose I ought to call them, were neither explorers nor bushmen, but +they were brave and undaunted, and they died in the cause they had +undertaken. + +When it became certain in Melbourne that some mishap must have +occurred to these adventurers, Victoria, South Australia, and +Queensland each sent out relief parties. South Australia sent John +McKinlay, who found Gray's grave, and afterwards made a long +exploration to Carpentaria, where, not finding any vessel as he +expected, he had an arduous struggle to reach a Queensland cattle +station near Port Dennison on the eastern coast. Queensland sent +Landsborough by sea to Carpentaria, where he was landed and left to +live or die as he might, though of course he had a proper equipment of +horses, men, and gear. He followed up the Flinders River of Stokes, +had a fine country to traverse; got on to the head of the Warrego, and +finally on to the Darling River in New South Wales. He came across no +traces whatever of Burke. Victoria sent a relief expedition under +Walker, with several Queensland black troopers. Walker, crossing the +lower Barcoo, found a tree of Leichhardt's marked L, being the most +westerly known. Walker arrived at Carpentaria without seeing any +traces of the missing Burke and Wills; but at the mouth of the Albert +River met the master of the vessel that had conveyed Landsborough; the +master had seen or heard nothing of Burke. Another expedition fitted +out by Victoria, and called the Victorian Contingent Relief +Expedition, was placed under the command of Alfred Howitt in 1861. At +this time a friend of mine, named Conn, and I were out exploring for +pastoral runs, and were in retreat upon the Darling, when we met +Howitt going out. When farther north I repeatedly urged my companion +to visit the Cooper, from which we were then only eighty or ninety +miles away, in vain. I urged how we might succour some, if not all, of +the wanderers. Had we done so we should have found and rescued King, +and we might have been in time to save Burke and Wills also; but Conn +would not agree to go. It is true we were nearly starved as it was, +and might have been entirely starved had we gone there, but by good +fortune we met and shot a stray bullock that had wandered from the +Darling, and this happy chance saved our lives. I may here remark that +poor Conn and two other exploring comrades of those days, named +Curlewis and McCulloch, were all subsequently, not only killed but +partly eaten by the wild natives of Australia--Conn in a place near +Cooktown on the Queensland coast, and Curlewis and McCulloch on the +Paroo River in New South Wales in 1862. When we were together we had +many very narrow escapes from death, and I have had several similar +experiences since those days. Howitt on his arrival at Cooper's Creek +was informed by the natives that a white man was alive with them, and +thus John King, the sole survivor, was rescued. + +Between 1860-65 several short expeditions were carried on in Western +Australia by Frank Gregory, Lefroy, Robinson, and Hunt; while upon the +eastern side of Australia, the Brothers Jardine successfully explored +and took a mob of cattle through the region that proved so fatal to +Kennedy and his companions in 1848. The Jardines traversed a route +more westerly than Kennedy's along the eastern shores of the Gulf of +Carpentaria to Cape York. + +In 1865, Duncan McIntyre, while on the Flinders River of Stokes and +near the Gulf of Carpentaria, into which it flows, was shown by a +white shepherd at an out sheep station, a tree on which the letter L +was cut. This no doubt was one of Landsborough's marks, or if it was +really carved by Leichhardt, it was done upon his journey to Port +Essington in 1844, when he crossed and encamped upon the Flinders. +Mcintyre reported by telegraph to Melbourne that he had found traces +of Leichhardt, whereupon Baron von Mueller and a committee of ladies +in Melbourne raised a fund of nearly 4000 pounds, and an expedition +called "The Ladies' Leichhardt Search Expedition," whose noble object +was to trace and find some records or mementoes, if not the persons, +and discover the last resting-place of the unfortunate traveller and +his companions, was placed under McIntyre's command. About sixty +horses and sixteen camels were obtained for this attempt. The less +said about this splendid but ill-starred effort the better. +Indignation is a mild term to apply to our feelings towards the man +who caused the ruin of so generous an undertaking. Everything that its +promoters could do to ensure its success they did, and it deserved a +better fate, for a brilliant issue might have been obtained, if not by +the discovery of the lost explorers, at least by a geographical +result, as the whole of the western half of Australia lay unexplored +before it. The work, trouble, anxiety, and expense that Baron von +Mueller went through to start this expedition none but the initiated +can ever know. It was ruined before it even entered the field of its +labours, for, like Burke's and Wills's expedition, it was +unfortunately placed under the command of the wrong man. The collapse +of the expedition occurred in this wise. A certain doctor was +appointed surgeon and second in command, the party consisting of about +ten men, including two Afghans with the camels, and one young black +boy. Their encampment was now at a water-hole in the Paroo, where +Curlewis and McCulloch had been killed, in New South Wales. The +previous year McIntyre had visited a water-hole in the Cooper some +seventy-four or seventy-five miles from his camp on the Paroo, and now +ordered the whole of his heavily-laden beasts and all the men to start +for the distant spot. The few appliances they had for carrying water +soon became emptied. About the middle of the third day, upon arrival +at the wished-for relief, to their horror and surprise they found the +water-hole was dry--by no means an unusual thing in Australian travel. +The horses were already nearly dead; McIntyre, without attempting to +search either up or down the channel of the watercourse, immediately +ordered a retreat to the last water in the Paroo. After proceeding a +few miles he left the horses and white men, seven in number, and went +on ahead with the camels, the Afghans and the black boy, saying he +would return with water for the others as soon as he could. His +brother was one of the party left behind. Almost as soon as McIntyre's +back was turned, the doctor said to the men something to the effect +that they were abandoned to die of thirst, there not being a drop of +water remaining, and that he knew in which packs the medical brandy +was stowed, certain bags being marked to indicate them. He then added, +"Boys, we must help ourselves! the Leichhardt Search Expedition is a +failure; follow me, and I'll get you something to drink." Taking a +knife, he ripped open the marked bags while still on the choking +horses' backs, and extracted the only six bottles there were. One +white man named Barnes, to whom all honour, refused to touch the +brandy, the others poured the boiling alcohol down their parched and +burning throats, and a wild scene of frenzy, as described by Barnes, +ensued. In the meanwhile the unfortunate packhorses wandered away, +loaded as they were, and died in thirst and agony, weighed down by +their unremoved packs, none of which were ever recovered. Thus all the +food supply and nearly all the carrying power of the expedition was +lost; the only wonder was that none of these wretches actually died at +the spot, although I heard some of them died soon after. The return of +McIntyre and the camels loaded with water saved their lives at the +time; but what was his chagrin and surprise to find the party just +where he had left them, nearly dead, most of them delirious, with all +the horses gone, when he had expected to meet them so much nearer the +Paroo. In consequence of the state these men or animals were in, they +had to be carried on the camels, and it was impossible to go in search +of the horses; thus all was lost. This event crushed the expedition. +Mcintyre obtained a few more horses, pushed across to the Flinders +again, became attacked with fever, and died. Thus the "Ladies' +Leichhardt Search Expedition" entirely fell through. The camels were +subsequently claimed by McIntyre's brother for the cost of grazing +them, he having been carried by them to Carpentaria, where he selected +an excellent pastoral property, became rich, and died. It was the same +doctor that got into trouble with the Queensland Government concerning +the kidnapping of some islanders in the South Seas, and narrowly +escaped severe, if not capital punishment. + +In 1866, Mr. Cowle conducted an expedition from Roebourne, near Nicol +Bay, on the West Coast, for four or five hundred miles to the Fitzroy +River, discovered by Wickham, at the bottom of King's Sound. + +In 1869, a report having spread in Western Australia of the massacre +of some white people by the natives somewhere to the eastwards of +Champion Bay, on the west coast, the rumour was supposed to relate to +Leichhardt and his party; and upon the representations of Baron von +Mueller to the West Australian Government, a young surveyor named John +Forrest was despatched to investigate the truth of the story. This +expedition penetrated some distance to the eastwards, but could +discover no traces of the lost, or indeed anything appertaining to any +travellers whatever. + +In 1869-70, John Forrest, accompanied by his brother Alexander, was +again equipped by the West Australian Government for an exploration +eastwards, with the object of endeavouring to reach the South +Australian settlements by a new route inland. Forrest, however, +followed Eyre's track of 1840-1, along the shores of the Great +Australian Bight, and may be said to have made no exploration at all, +as he did not on any occasion penetrate inland more than about thirty +miles from the coast. At an old encampment Forrest found the skull of +one of Eyre's horses, which had been lying there for thirty years. +This trophy he brought with him to Adelaide. + +The following year, Alexander Forrest conducted an expedition to the +eastwards, from the West Australian settlements; but only succeeded in +pushing a few miles beyond Hunt and Lefroy's furthest point in 1864. + +What I have written above is an outline of the history of discovery +and exploration in Australia when I first took the field in the year +1872; and though it may not perhaps be called, as Tennyson says, one +of the fairy tales of science, still it is certainly one of the long +results of time. I have conducted five public expeditions and several +private ones. The latter will not be recorded in these volumes, not +because there were no incidents of interest, but because they were +conducted, in connection with other persons, for entirely pastoral +objects. Experiences of hunger, thirst, and attacks by hostile natives +during those undertakings relieved them of any monotony they might +otherwise display. It is, however, to my public expeditions that I +shall now confine my narrative. + +The wild charm and exciting desire that induce an individual to +undertake the arduous tasks that lie before an explorer, and the +pleasure and delight of visiting new and totally unknown places, are +only whetted by his first attempt, especially when he is constrained +to admit that his first attempt had not resulted in his carrying out +its objects. + +My first and second expeditions were conducted entirely with horses; +in all my after journeys I had the services of camels, those wonderful +ships of the desert, without whose aid the travels and adventures +which are subsequently recorded could not possibly have been achieved, +nor should I now be alive, as Byron says, to write so poor a tale, +this lowly lay of mine. In my first and second expeditions, the object +I had in view was to push across the continent, from different +starting points, upon the South Australian Transcontinental Telegraph +Line, to the settled districts of Western Australia. My first +expedition was fitted out entirely by Baron von Mueller, my +brother-in-law, Mr. G.D. Gill, and myself. I was joined in this +enterprise by a young gentleman, named Samuel Carmichael, whom I met +in Melbourne, and who also contributed his share towards the +undertaking. The furthest point reached on this journey was about 300 +miles from my starting point. On my return, upon reaching the +Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station, in latitude 25 degrees 55' and +longitude 135 degrees I met Colonel Warburton and his son, whom I had +known before. These gentlemen informed me, to my great astonishment, +they were about to undertake an exploring expedition to Western +Australia, for two well-known capitalists of South Australia, namely +the Honourable Sir Thomas Elder and Captain Hughes. I was also +informed that a South Australian Government expedition, for the same +purpose, was just in advance of them, under the command of Mr. William +C. Gosse. This information took me greatly by surprise, though perhaps +an explorer should not admit such a feeling. I had just returned from +an attempt of the same kind, beaten and disappointed. I felt if ever I +took the field again, against two such formidable rivals as were now +about to attempt what I had failed in, both being supplied with camels +by Sir Thomas Elder, my chances of competing with them would be small +indeed, as I could only command horses, and was not then known to Sir +Thomas Elder, the only gentleman in Australia who possessed camels. + +The fact of two expeditions starting away simultaneously, almost as +soon as I had turned my back upon civilisation, showed me at once that +my attempt, I being regarded as a Victorian, had roused the people and +Government of South Australia to the importance of the question which +I was the first to endeavour to solve--namely, the exploration of the +unknown interior, and the possibility of discovering an overland route +for stock through Central Australia, to the settlements upon the +western coast. This, I may remark, had been the dream of all +Australian explorers from the time of Eyre and Leichhardt down to my +own time. It also showed that South Australia had no desire to be +beaten again (Burke and Stuart.), and in her own territories, by +"worthless Melbourne's pulling child;" (hence the two new expeditions +arose). Immediately upon my return being made known by telegram to my +friend Baron von Mueller, he set to work, and with unwearied exertion +soon obtained a new fund from several wealthy gentlemen in the rival +colony of Victoria. In consideration of the information I had afforded +by my late effort, the Government of South Australia supplemented this +fund by the munificent subsidy of 250 pounds, provided I EXPENDED the +money in fresh explorations, and supplied to the Government, at the +termination of my journey, a copy of the map and journal of my +expedition. My poverty, and not my will, consented to accept so mean a +gift. As a new, though limited fund was now placed at my disposal, I +had no inclination to decline a fresh attempt, and thus my second +expedition was undertaken; and such despatch was used by Baron Mueller +and myself, that I was again in the field, with horses only, not many +weeks later than my rivals. + +On this journey I was accompanied and seconded by Mr. William Henry +Tietkens. We had both been scholars at Christ's Hospital in London, +though many years apart. Of the toils and adventures of my second +expedition the readers of my book must form their own opinion; and +although I was again unsuccessful in carrying out my object, and the +expedition ended in the death of one member, and in misfortune and +starvation to the others, still I have been told by a few partial +friends that it was really a splendid failure. On that expedition I +explored a line of nearly 700 miles of previously unknown country, in +a straight line from my starting point. + +During my first and second expeditions I had been fortunate in the +discovery of large areas of mountain country, permanently watered and +beautifully grassed, and, as spaces of enormous extent still remained +to be explored, I decided to continue in the field, provided I could +secure the use of camels. These volumes will contain the narratives of +my public explorations. In the preface to this work I have given an +outline of the physical and colonial divisions of Australia, so that +my reader may eventually follow me, albeit in imagination only, to the +starting points of my journeys, and into the field of my labours also. + + +PREFACE. + +The Island Continent of Australia contains an area of about three +millions of square miles, it being, so to say, an elliptically-shaped +mass about 2500 miles in length from east to west, and 2000 from north +to south. The degrees of latitude and longitude it occupies will be +shown by the map accompanying these volumes. + +The continent is divided into five separate colonies, whose respective +capitals are situated several hundreds of miles apart. The oldest +colony is New South Wales. The largest in area is Western Australia, +next comes South Australia; then Queensland, New South Wales, and +lastly Victoria, which, though the smallest in area, is now the first +in importance among the group. It was no wonder that Mitchell, the +Surveyor-General of New South Wales, designated that region "Australia +Felix." + +It may be strange, but it is no less true, that there is almost as +great a difference between the fiscal laws and governments of the +various Australian Colonies as between those of foreign States in +Europe--the only thing in common being the language and the money of +the British Empire. Although however, they agree to differ amongst +themselves, there can be no doubt of the loyalty of the group, as a +whole, to their parent nation. I shall go no further into this matter, +as, although English enough, it is foreign to my subject. I shall +treat more especially of the colony or colonies within whose +boundaries my travels led me, and shall begin with South Australia, +where my first expedition was conducted. + +South Australia includes a vast extent of country called the Northern +Territory, which must become in time a separate colony, as it extends +from the 26th parallel of latitude, embracing the whole country +northwards to the Indian Ocean at the 11th parallel. South Australia +possesses one advantage over the other colonies, from the geographical +fact of her oblong territory extending, so to speak, exactly in the +middle right across the continent from the Southern to the Indian +Ocean. The dimensions of the colony are in extreme length over 1800 +miles, by a breadth of nearly 700, and almost through the centre of +this vast region the South Australian Transcontinental Telegraph line +runs from Adelaide, via Port Augusta, to Port Darwin. + +At the time I undertook my first expedition in 1872, this extensive +work had just been completed, and it may be said to divide the +continent into halves, which, for the purpose I then had in view, +might be termed the explored and the unexplored halves. For several +years previous to my taking the field, I had desired to be the first +to penetrate into this unknown region, where, for a thousand miles in +a straight line, no white man's foot had ever wandered, or, if it had, +its owner had never brought it back, nor told the tale. I had ever +been a delighted student of the narratives of voyages and discoveries, +from Robinson Crusoe to Anson and Cook, and the exploits on land in +the brilliant accounts given by Sturt, Mitchell, Eyre, Grey, +Leichhardt, and Kennedy, constantly excited my imagination, as my own +travels may do that of future rovers, and continually spurred me on to +emulate them in the pursuit they had so eminently graced. + +My object, as indeed had been Leichhardt's, was to force my way across +the thousand miles that lay untrodden and unknown, between the South +Australian telegraph line and the settlements upon the Swan River. +What hopes I formed, what aspirations came of what might be my +fortune, for I trust it will be believed that an explorer may be an +imaginative as well as a practical creature, to discover in that +unknown space. Here let me remark that the exploration of 1000 miles +in Australia is equal to 10,000 in any other part of the earth's +surface, always excepting Arctic and Antarctic travels. + +There was room for snowy mountains, an inland sea, ancient river, and +palmy plain, for races of new kinds of men inhabiting a new and +odorous land, for fields of gold and golcondas of gems, for a new +flora and a new fauna, and, above all the rest combined, there was +room for me! Many well-meaning friends tried to dissuade me +altogether, and endeavoured to instil into my mind that what I so +ardently wished to attempt was simply deliberate suicide, and to +persuade me of the truth of the poetic line, that the sad eye of +experience sees beneath youth's radiant glow, so that, like Falstaff, +I was only partly consoled by the remark that they hate us youth. But +in spite of their experience, and probably on account of youth's +radiant glow, I was not to be deterred, however, and at last I met +with Baron von Mueller, who, himself an explorer with the two +Gregorys, has always had the cause of Australian exploration at heart, +and he assisting, I was at length enabled to take the field. Baron +Mueller and I had consulted, and it was deemed advisable that I should +make a peculiar feature near the Finke river, called Chambers' Pillar, +my point of departure for the west. This Pillar is situated in +latitude 24 degrees 55' and longitude 133 degrees 50', being 1200 +miles from Melbourne in a straight line, over which distance Mr. +Carmichael, a black boy, and I travelled. In the course of our travels +from Melbourne to the starting point, we reached Port Augusta, a +seaport though an inland town, at the head of Spencer's Gulf in South +Australia, first visited by the Investigator in 1803, and where, a few +miles to the eastwards, a fine bold range of mountains runs along for +scores of miles and bears the gallant navigator's name. A railway line +of 250 miles now connects Port Augusta with Adelaide. To this town was +the first section of the Transcontinental telegraph line carried; and +it was in those days the last place where I could get stores for my +expedition. Various telegraph stations are erected along the line, the +average distance between each being from 150 to 200 miles. There were +eleven stations between Port Augusta and Port Darwin. A railway is now +completed as far as the Peake Telegraph Station, about 450 miles +north-westwards from Port Augusta along the telegraph line towards +Port Darwin, to which it will no doubt be carried before many years +elapse. + +From Port Augusta the Flinders range runs almost northerly for nearly +200 miles, throwing out numerous creeks (I must here remark that +throughout this work the word creek will often occur. This is not to +be considered in its English acceptation of an inlet from the sea, +but, no matter how far inland, it means, in Australia a watercourse.), +through rocky pine-clad glens and gorges, these all emptying, in times +of flood, into the salt lake Torrens, that peculiar depression which +baffled Eyre in 1840-1. Captain Frome, the Surveyor-General of the +Colony, dispelled the old horse-shoe-shaped illusion of this feature, +and discovered that there were several similar features instead of +one. As far as the Flinders range extends northwards, the water supply +of the traveller in that region is obtained from its watercourses. The +country beyond, where this long range falls off, continues an +extensive open stony plateau or plain, occasionally intersected with +watercourses, the course of the line of road being west of north. Most +of these watercourses on the plains fall into Lake Eyre, another and +more northerly salt depression. A curious limestone formation now +occurs, and for some hundreds of miles the whole country is open and +studded with what are called mound-springs. These are usually about +fifty feet high, and ornamented on the summit with clumps of tall +reeds or bulrushes. These mounds are natural artesian wells, through +which the water, forced up from below, gushes out over the tops to the +level ground, where it forms little water-channels at which sheep and +cattle can water. Some of these mounds have miniature lakes on their +summits, where people might bathe. The most perfect mound is called +the Blanche Cup, in latitude about 29 degrees 20', and longitude 136 +degrees 40'. + +The water of some of these springs is fresh and good, the Blanche Cup +is drinkable, but the generality of them have either a mineral salt- +or soda-ish taste; at first their effect is aperient, but afterwards +just the opposite. The water is good enough for animals. + +The Honourable Sir Thomas Elder's sheep, cattle, horse, and camel +station, Beltana, is the first telegraph station from Port Augusta, +the distance being 150 miles. The next is at the Strangways Springs, +about 200 miles distant. This station occupies a nearly central +position in this region of mound-springs; it is situated on a low rise +out of the surrounding plain; all around are dozens of these peculiar +mounds. The Messrs. Hogarth and Warren, who own the sheep and cattle +station, have springs with a sufficiently strong flow of water to +spout their wool at shearing time. The next telegraph station beyond +the Strangways is the Peake, distant 100 miles. About twenty miles +northward, or rather north-westward, from the Peake the mound-springs +cease, and the country is watered by large pools in stony watercourses +and creek beds. These pools are generally no more than twelve to +fifteen miles apart. The waters in times of flood run into Lake Eyre, +which receives the Cooper and all the flood waters of West and +South-western Queensland, and all the drainage from the hundred +watercourses of Central South Australia. The chief among the latter is +the huge artery, the Finke, from the north-west. + +The Charlotte Waters Station, named after Lady Charlotte Bacon, the +Ianthe of Byron, which was to be my last outpost of civilisation, is a +quadrangular stone building, plastered or painted white, having a +corrugated iron roof, and a courtyard enclosed by the two wings of the +building, having loop-holes in the walls for rifles and musketry, a +cemented water-tank dug under the yard, and tall heavy iron gates to +secure the place from attack by the natives. + +I may here relate an occurrence at a station farther up the line, +built upon the same principle. One evening, while the telegraph master +and staff were sitting outside the gates after the heat of the day, +the natives, knowing that the stand of arms was inside the courtyard, +sent some of their warriers to creep unseen inside and slam the gates, +so as to prevent retreat. Then from the outside an attempt to massacre +was made; several whites were speared, some were killed on the spot, +others died soon afterwards, but the greatest wonder was that any at +all escaped. + +The establishment at the Charlotte Waters stands on a large grassy and +pebbly plain, bounded on the north by a watercourse half a mile away. +The natives here have always been peaceful, and never displayed any +hostility to the whites. From this last station I made my way to +Chambers' Pillar, which was to be my actual starting-point for the +west. + + +BOOK 1. + + +CHAPTER 1.1. FROM 4TH TO 30TH AUGUST, 1872. + +The party. +Port Augusta. +The road. +The Peake. +Stony plateau. +Telegraph station. +Natives formerly hostile. +A new member. +Leave the Peake. +Black boy deserts. +Reach the Charlotte Waters Station. +Natives' account of other natives. +Leave last outpost. +Reach the Finke. +A Government party. +A ride westward. +End of the stony plateau. +A sandhill region. +Chambers' Pillar. +The Moloch horridus. +Thermometer 18 degrees. +The Finke. +Johnstone's range. +A night alarm. +Beautiful trees. +Wild ducks. +A tributary. +High dark hill. +Country rises in altitude. +Very high sandhills. +Quicksands. +New ranges. +A brush ford. +New pigeon. +Pointed hill. +A clay pan. +Christopher's Pinnacle. +Chandler's Range. +Another new range. +Sounds of running water. +First natives seen. +Name of the river. +A Central Australian warrior. +Natives burning the country. +Name a new creek. +Ascend a mountain. +Vivid green. +Discover a glen and more mountains. +Hot winds, smoke and ashes. + +The personnel of my first expedition into the interior consisted in +the first instance of myself, Mr. Carmichael, and a young black boy. I +intended to engage the services of another white man at the furthest +outpost that I could secure one. From Port Augusta I despatched the +bulk of my stores by a team to the Peake, and made a leisurely +progress up the overland road via Beltana, the Finniss and Strangways +Springs stations. Our stores reached the Peake station before us. This +station was originally called Mount Margaret, but subsequently removed +to the mound-springs near the south bank of the Peake Creek; it was a +cattle station formed by Mr. Phillip Levi of Adelaide. The character +of the country is an open stony plateau, upon which lines of hills or +ranges rise; it is intersected by numerous watercourses, all trending +to Lake Eyre, and was an excellent cattle run. The South Australian +Government erected the telegraph station in the immediate vicinity of +the cattle station. When the cattle station was first formed in 1862 +the natives were very numerous and very hostile, but at the time of my +visit, ten years later, they were comparatively civilised. At the +Peake we were enabled to re-shoe all our horses, for the stony road up +from Port Augusta had worn out all that were put on there. I also had +an extra set fitted for each horse, rolled up in calico, and marked +with its name. At the Peake I engaged a young man named Alec Robinson, +who, according to his account, could do everything, and had been +everywhere, who knew the country I was about to explore perfectly +well, and who had frequently met and camped with blacks from the west +coast, and declared we could easily go over there in a few weeks. He +died at one of the telegraph stations a year or two after he left me. +I must say he was very good at cooking, and shoeing horses. I am able +to do these useful works myself, but I do not relish either. I had +brought a light little spring cart with me all the way from Melbourne +to the Peake, which I sold here, and my means of transit from thence +was with pack-horses. After a rather prolonged sojourn at the Peake, +where I received great hospitality from Mr. Blood, of the Telegraph +Department, and from Messrs. Bagot, the owners, and Mr. Conway, the +manager, we departed for the Charlotte. + +My little black boy Dick, or, as he used generally to write, and call +himself, Richard Giles Kew, 1872, had been at school at Kew, near +Melbourne. He came to me from Queensland; he had visited Adelaide, +Melbourne, and Sydney, and had been with me for nearly three years, +but his fears of wild natives were terribly excited by what nearly +everybody we met said to him about them. This was not surprising, as +it was usually something to this effect, in bush parlance: "By G--, +young feller, just you look out when you get OUTSIDE! the wild blacks +will [adjective] soon cook you. They'll kill YOU first, you know--they +WILL like to cut out your kidney fat! They'll sneak on yer when yer +goes out after the horses, they'll have yer and eat yer." This being +the burden of the strain continually dinned into the boy's ears, made +him so terrified and nervous the farther we got away from +civilisation, that soon after leaving the Peake, as we were camping +one night with some bullock teams returning south, the same stories +having been told him over again, he at last made up his mind, and told +me he wanted to go back with one of the teamsters; he had hinted about +this before, and both Carmichael and Robinson seemed to be aware of +his intention. Force was useless to detain him; argument was lost on +him, and entreaty I did not attempt, so in the morning we parted. I +shall mention him again by-and-bye. He was a small, very handsome, +light-complexioned, very intelligent, but childish boy, and was +frequently mistaken for a half-caste; he was a splendid rider and +tracker, and knew almost everything. He was a great wit, as one remark +of his will show. In travelling up the country after he had been at +school, we once saw some old deserted native gunyahs, and he said to +me as we rode by, pointing to them, "Gentleman's 'ouse, villa +residence, I s'pose, he's gone to his watering place for the season +p'r'aps." At another time, being at a place called Crowlands, he asked +me why it was called so. I replied pointing to a crow on a tree, "Why, +there's the crow," and stamping with my foot on the ground, "there's +the land;" he immediately said, "Oh, now I know why my country is +called Queensland, because it's land belonging to our Queen." I said, +"Certainly it is;" then he said, "Well, ain't it funny? I never knew +that before." In Melbourne, one day, we were leaning out of a window +overlooking the people continually passing by. Dick said, "What +for,--white fellow always walk about--walk about in town--when he +always rides in the bush?" I said, "Oh, to do their business." +"Business," he asked, "what's that?" I said, "Why, to get money, to be +sure." "Money," he said; "white fellow can't pick up money in the +street." + +From the Peake we had only pack-horses and one little Scotch terrier +dog. Dick left us at Hann's Creek, thirty miles from the Peake. On our +road up, about halfway between the Peake and the Charlotte, we crossed +and camped at a large creek which runs into the Finke, called the +Alberga. Here we met a few natives, who were friendly enough, but who +were known to be great thieves, having stolen things from several +bullock drays, and committed other robberies; so we had to keep a +sharp look out upon them and their actions. One of their number, a +young man, could speak English pretty well, and could actually sing +some songs. His most successful effort in that line was the song of +"Jim Crow," and he performed the "turn about and wheel about and do +just so" part of it until he got giddy, or pretended to be; and to get +rid of him and his brethren, we gave them some flour and a smoke of +tobacco, and they departed. + +We arrived at the Charlotte Waters station on the 4th of August, 1872; +this was actually my last outpost of civilisation. My companion, Mr. +Carmichael, and I were most kindly welcomed by Mr. Johnstone, the +officer in charge of this depot, and by Mr. Chandler, a gentleman +belonging to a telegraph station farther up the line. In consequence +of their kindness, our stay was lengthened to a week. My horses were +all the better for the short respite, for they were by no means in +good fettle; but the country having been visited by rains, grass was +abundant, and the animals improving. The party consisted only of +myself, Carmichael, and Robinson; I could not now obtain another man +to make up our original number of four. We still had the little dog. +during our stay at the Charlotte I inquired of a number of the natives +for information concerning the region beyond, to the west and +north-west. They often used the words "Larapinta and plenty black +fellow." Of the country to the west they seemed to know more, but it +was very difficult to get positive statements. The gist of their +information was that there were large waters, high mountains, and +plenty, plenty, wild black fellow; they said the wild blacks were very +big and fat, and had hair growing, as some said, all down their backs; +while others asserted that the hair grew all over their bodies, and +that they eat pickaninnies, and sometimes came eastward and killed any +of the members of the Charlotte tribe that they could find, and +carried off all the women they could catch. On the 12th we departed, +and my intended starting point being Chambers' Pillar, upon the Finke +River, I proceeded up the telegraph road as far as the crossing place +of the above-named watercourse, which was sixty miles by the road. + +(ILLUSTRATION: CHAMBERS' PILLAR.) + +In the evening of the day we encamped there, a Government party, under +the charge of Mr. McMinn, surveyor, and accompanied by Mr. Harley +Bacon, a son of Lady Charlotte Bacon, arrived from the north, and we +had their company at the camp. Close to this crossing-place a large +tributary joins the Finke near the foot of Mount Humphries. On the +following day Mr. McMinn, Mr. Bacon, and I rode up its channel, and at +about twelve miles we found a water-hole and returned. The country +consisted chiefly of open sandhills well grassed. I mentioned +previously that from Port Augusta, northwards and north-westwards, the +whole region consists of an open stony plateau, upon which mountain +ranges stand at various distances; through and from these, a number of +watercourses run, and, on a section of this plateau, nearly 200 miles +in extent, the curious mound-springs exist. This formation, mostly of +limestone, ceases at, or immediately before reaching, the Finke, and +then a formation of heavy red sandhills begins. Next day our friends +departed for the Charlotte, after making me several presents. From Mr. +McMinn I obtained the course and distance of the pillar from our camp, +and travelling on the course given, we crossed the Finke three times, +as it wound about so snake-like across the country. On the 22nd we +encamped upon it, having the pillar in full view. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE Moloch horridus.) + +The appearance of this feature I should imagine to be unique. For a +detailed account of it my reader must consult Stuart's report. +Approaching the pillar from the south, the traveller must pass over a +series of red sandhills, covered with some scrubs, and clothed near +the ground with that abominable vegetable production, the so-called +spinifex or porcupine grass--botanically, the Triodia, or Festuca +irritans. The timber on the sandhills near the pillar is nearly all +mulga, a very hard acacia, though a few tall and well-grown +casuarinas--of a kind that is new to me, namely the C. +Decaisneana--are occasionally met. (These trees have almost a +palm-like appearance, and look like huge mops; but they grow in the +driest regions.) On our route Mr. Carmichael brought to me a most +peculiar little lizard, a true native of the soil; its colour was a +yellowish-green; it was armed, or ornamented, at points and joints, +with spines, in a row along its back, sides, and legs; these were +curved, and almost sharp; on the back of its neck was a thick knotty +lump, with a spine at each side, by which I lifted it; its tail was +armed with spines to the point, and was of proportional length to its +body. The lizard was about eight inches in length. Naturalists have +christened this harmless little chameleon the Moloch horridus. I put +the little creature in a pouch, and intended to preserve it, but it +managed to crawl out of its receptacle, and dropped again to its +native sand. I had one of these lizards, as a pet, for months in +Melbourne. It was finally trodden on and died. It used to eat sugar. + +By this time we were close to the pillar: its outline was most +imposing. Upon reaching it, I found it to be a columnar structure, +standing upon a pedestal, which is perhaps eighty feet high, and +composed of loose white sandstone, having vast numbers of large blocks +lying about in all directions. From the centre of the pedestal rises +the pillar, composed also of the same kind of rock; at its top, and +for twenty to thirty feet from its summit, the colour of the stone is +red. The column itself must be seventy or eighty feet above the +pedestal. It is split at the top into two points. There it stands, a +vast monument of the geological periods that must have elapsed since +the mountain ridge, of which it was formerly a part, was washed by the +action of old Ocean's waves into mere sandhills at its feet. The stone +is so friable that names can be cut in it to almost any depth with a +pocket-knife: so loose, indeed, is it, that one almost feels alarmed +lest it should fall while he is scratching at its base. In a small +orifice or chamber of the pillar I discovered an opossum asleep, the +first I had seen in this part of the country. We turned our backs upon +this peculiar monument, and left it in its loneliness and its +grandeur--"clothed in white sandstone, mystic, wonderful!" + +From hence we travelled nearly west, and in seventeen miles came to +some very high sandhills, at whose feet the river swept. We followed +round them to a convenient spot, and one where our horses could water +without bogging. The bed of the Finke is the most boggy creek-channel +I have ever met. As we had travelled several miles in the morning to +the pillar, and camped eighteen beyond it, it was late in the +afternoon when we encamped. The country we passed over was mostly +scrubby sandhills, covered with porcupine grass. Where we struck the +channel there was a long hole of brine. There was plenty of good grass +on the river flat; and we got some tolerably good water where we fixed +our camp. When we had finished our evening meal, the shades of night +descended upon us, in this our first bivouac in the unknown interior. +By observations of the bright stars Vega and Altair, I found my +latitude was 24 degrees 52' 15"; the night was excessively cold, and +by daylight next morning the thermometer had fallen to 18 degrees. Our +blankets and packs were covered with a thick coating of ice; and tea +left in our pannikins overnight had become solid cakes. + +The country here being soft and sandy, we unshod all the horses and +carried the shoes. So far as I could discern with the glasses, the +river channel came from the west, but I decided to go north-west, as I +was sure it would turn more northerly in time; and I dreaded being +caught in a long bend, and having to turn back many miles, or chance +the loss of some or all the horses in a boggy crossing. To the south a +line of hills appeared, where the natives were burning the spinifex in +all directions. These hills had the appearance of red sandstone; and +they had a series of ancient ocean watermarks along their northern +face, traceable for miles. This I called Johnstone's Range. As another +night approached, we could see, to the north, the brilliant flames of +large grass fires, which had only recently been started by some +prowling sons of the soil, upon their becoming aware of our presence +in their domain. The nights now were usually very cold. One night some +wild man or beast must have been prowling around our camp, for my +little dog Monkey exhibited signs of great perturbation for several +hours. We kept awake, listening for some sounds that might give us an +idea of the intruders; and being sure that we heard the tones of human +voices, we got our rifles in readiness. The little dog barked still +more furiously, but the sounds departed: we heard them no more: and +the rest of the night passed in silence--in silence and beautiful +rest. + +We had not yet even sighted the Finke, upon my north-west course; but +I determined to continue, and was rewarded by coming suddenly upon it +under the foot of high sandhills. Its course now was a good deal to +the north. The horses being heavily packed, and the spinifex +distressing them so much, we found a convenient spot where the animals +could water without bogging, and camped. Hard by, were some clumps of +the fine-looking casuarinas; they grow to a height of twenty to +twenty-five feet of barrel without a branch, and then spread out to a +fine umbrella top; they flourish out of pure red sand. The large sheet +of water at the camp had wild ducks on it: some of these we shot. The +day was very agreeable, with cool breezes from the north-west. A +tributary joins the Finke here from the west, and a high dark hill +forms its southern embankment: the western horizon is bounded by +broken lines of hills, of no great elevation. As we ascend the river, +the country gradually rises, and we are here about 250 feet above the +level of the Charlotte Waters Station. + +Finding the river now trended not only northerly, but even east of +north, we had to go in that direction, passing over some very high +sandhills, where we met the Finke at almost right angles. Although the +country was quite open, it was impossible to see the river channel, +even though fringed with rows of splendid gum-trees, for any distance, +as it became hidden by the high sandhills. I was very reluctant to +cross, on account of the frightfully boggy bed of the creek, but, +rather than travel several miles roundabout, I decided to try it. We +got over, certainly, but to see one's horses and loads sinking bodily +in a mass of quaking quicksand is by no means an agreeable sight, and +it was only by urging the animals on with stock-whips, to prevent them +delaying, that we accomplished the crossing without loss. Our riding +horses got the worst of it, as the bed was so fearfully ploughed up by +the pack-horses ahead of them. The whole bed of this peculiar creek +appears to be a quicksand, and when I say it was nearly a quarter of a +mile wide, its formidable nature will be understood. Here a stream of +slightly brackish water was trickling down the bed in a much narrower +channel, however, than its whole width; and where the water appears +upon the surface, there the bog is most to be apprehended. Sometimes +it runs under one bank, sometimes under the opposite, and again, at +other places the water occupies the mid-channel. A horse may walk upon +apparently firm sand towards the stream, when, without a second's +warning, horse and rider may be engulfed in quicksand; but in other +places, where it is firmer, it will quake for yards all round, and +thus give some slight warning. + +Crossing safely, and now having the river on my right hand, we +continued our journey, sighting a continuous range of hills to the +north, which ran east and west, and with the glasses I could see the +river trending towards them. I changed my course for a conspicuous +hill in this new line, which brought me to the river again at right +angles; and, having so successfully crossed in the morning, I decided +to try it again. We descended to the bank, and after great trouble +found a spot firm enough and large enough to allow all the horses to +stand upon it at one time, but we could not find a place where they +could climb the opposite bank, for under it was a long reach of water, +and a quagmire extending for more than a mile on either side. Two of +our riding-horses were badly bogged in trying to find a get-away: +finally, we had to cut boughs and sticks, and bridge the place over +with them. Thus we eventually got the horses over one by one without +accident or loss. In four miles we touched on a bend of the river +again, but had no occasion to recross, as it was not in our road. This +day, having wasted so much time in the crossings, we travelled only +fifteen miles. The horizon from this camp was bounded from south-west, +and west, round by north, to north-west, by ranges; which I was not +sorry to perceive. Those to the west, and south-west, were the highest +and most pointed. It appears that the Finke must come under or through +some of those to the north-west. To-day I observed a most beautiful +pigeon, quite new to me; it was of a dark-brown colour, mottled under +the throat and on the breast; it had also a high top-knot. It is +considerably smaller than the Sturt pigeon of his Central Australian +expedition. + +It was now the 28th of August, and the temperature of the atmosphere +was getting warmer. Journeying now again about north-west, we reached +a peculiar pointed hill with the Finke at its foot. We passed over the +usual red sandhill country covered with the porcupine grass, +characteristic of the Finke country, and saw a shallow sheet of yellow +rain water in a large clay pan, which is quite an unusual feature in +this part of the world, clay being so conspicuous by its absence. The +hill, when we reached it, assumed the appearance of a high pinnacle; +broken fragments of rock upon its sides and summit showed it too rough +and precipitous to climb with any degree of pleasure. I named it +Christopher's Pinnacle, after a namesake of mine. The range behind it +I named Chandler's Range. For some miles we had seen very little +porcupine grass, but here we came into it again, to the manifest +disgust of our horses. We had now a line of hills on our right, with +the river on our left hand, and in six or seven miles came to the west +end of Chandler's Range, and could see to the north and north-west +another, and much higher the line running parallel to Chandler's +Range, but extending to the west as far as I could see. The country +hereabouts has been nearly all burnt by the natives, and the horses +endeavour to pick roads where the dreaded triodia has been destroyed. + +We passed a few clumps of casuarinas and a few stunted trees with +broad, poplar-like leaves. Travelling for twelve miles on this +bearing, we struck the Finke again, running nearly north and south. +Here the river had a stony bed with a fine reach of water in it; so +to-night at least our anxiety as regards the horses bogging is at an +end. The stream purling over its stony floor produces a most agreeable +sound, such as I have not heard for many a day. Here I might say, +"Brightly the brook through the green leaflets, giddy with joyousness, +dances along." + +Soon after we had unpacked and let go our horses, we were accosted by +a native on the opposite side of the creek. Our little dog became +furious; then two natives appeared. We made an attempt at a long +conversation, but signally failed, for neither of us knew many of the +words the other was saying. The only bit of information I obtained +from them was their name for the river--as they kept continually +pointing to it and repeating the word Larapinta. This word, among the +Peake and Charlotte natives, means a snake, and from the continual +serpentine windings of this peculiar and only Central Australian +river, no doubt the name is derived. I shot a hawk for them, and they +departed. The weather to-day was fine, with agreeable cool breezes; +the sky has become rather overcast; the flies are very numerous and +troublesome; and it seems probable we may have a slight fall of rain +before long. + +A few drops of rain fell during the night, which made me regret that I +had not our tarpaulins erected, though no more fell. In the morning +there was sultriness in the air though the sky was clear; the +thermometer stood at 52 degrees, and at sunrise a smoky haze pervaded +the whole sky. Whilst we were packing up the horses this morning, the +same two natives whom we saw last night, again made their appearance, +bringing with them a third, who was painted, feathered, greased, and +red-ochred, in, as they doubtless thought, the most alarming manner. I +had just mounted my horse, and rode towards them, thinking to get some +more information from the warrior as to the course of the creek, etc., +but when they saw the horse approaching they scampered off, and the +bedizened warrior projected himself into the friendly branches of the +nearest tree with the most astonishing velocity. Perceiving that it +was useless to try to approach them, without actually running them to +earth, we left them; and crossing the river easily over its stony bed, +we continued north-west towards a mountain in the ranges that +traversed the horizon in that direction. The river appeared to come +from the same spot. A breeze from the north-west caused the dust +raised by the pack-horses, which we drove in a mob before us, +travelling upon the loose soil where the spinifex had all been lately +burnt, to blow directly in our faces. At five miles we struck on a +bend of a river, and we saw great volumes of smoke from burning grass +and triodia rising in all directions. The natives find it easier to +catch game when the ground is bare, or covered only with a short +vegetation, than when it is clothed with thick coarse grasses or +pungent shrubs. A tributary from the north, or east of north, joined +the Finke on this course, but it was destitute of water at the +junction. Soon now the river swept round to the westward, along the +foot of the hills we were approaching. Here a tributary from the west +joined, having a slender stream of water running along its bed. It was +exceedingly boggy, and we had to pass up along it for over two miles +before we could find a place to cross to enable us to reach the main +stream, now to the north of us. I called this McMinn's Creek. + +On reaching the Finke we encamped. In the evening I ascended a +mountain to the north-westward of us. It was very rough, stony, and +precipitous, and composed of red sandstone; its summit was some 800 +feet above our camp. It had little other vegetation upon it than huge +plots of triodia, of the most beautiful and vivid green, and set with +the most formidable spines. Whenever one moves, these spines enter the +clothes in all directions, making it quite a torture to walk about +among them. From here I could see that the Finke turned up towards +these hills through a glen, in a north-westerly direction. Other +mountains appeared to the north and north-west; indeed this seemed to +be a range of mountains of great length and breadth. To the eastwards +it may stretch to the telegraph line, and to the west as far as the +eye could see. The sun had gone down before I had finished taking +bearings. Our road to-morrow will be up through the glen from which +the river issues. All day a most objectionable hot wind has been +blowing, and clouds of smoke and ashes from the fires, and masses of +dust from the loose soil ploughed up by the horses in front of us, and +blowing in our faces, made it one of the most disagreeable days I ever +passed. At night, however, a contrast obtained--the wind dropped, and +a calm, clear, and beautiful night succeeded to the hot, smoky, and +dusty day. Vega alone gave me my latitude here, close to the mouth of +the glen, as 24 degrees 25' 12"; and, though the day had been so hot +and disagreeable, the night proved cold and chilly, the thermometer +falling to 24 degrees by daylight, but there was no frost, or even any +dew to freeze. + + +CHAPTER 1.2. FROM 30TH AUGUST TO 6TH SEPTEMBER, 1872. + +(ILLUSTRATION: VIEW IN THE GLEN OF PALMS.) + +Milk thistle. +In the glen. +A serpentine and rocky road. +Name a new creek. +Grotesque hills. +Caves and caverns. +Cypress pines. +More natives. +Astonish them. +Agreeable scenery. +Sentinel stars. +Pelicans. +Wild and picturesque scenery. +More natives. +Palm-trees. +A junction in the glen. +High ranges to the north. +Palms and flowers. +The Glen of Palms. +Slight rain. +Rain at night. +Plant various seeds. +End of the glen. +Its length. +Krichauff Range. +The northern range. +Level country between. +A gorge. +A flooded channel. +Cross a western tributary. +Wild ducks. +Ramble among the mountains. +Their altitude. +A splendid panorama. +Progress stopped by a torrent and impassable gorge. + +Our start this morning was late, some of our horses having wandered in +the night, the feed at the camp not being very good; indeed the only +green herb met by us, for some considerable distance, has been the sow +or milk thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), which grows to a considerable +height. Of this the horses are extremely fond: it is also very +fattening. Entering the mouth of the glen, in two miles we found +ourselves fairly enclosed by the hills, which shut in the river on +both sides. We had to follow the windings of the serpentine channel; +the mountains occasionally forming steep precipices overhanging the +stream, first upon one side, then upon the other. We often had to lead +the horses separately over huge ledges of rock, and frequently had to +cut saplings and lever them out of the way, continually crossing and +recrossing the river. On camping in the glen we had only made good +eleven miles, though to accomplish this we had travelled more than +double the distance. At the camp a branch creek came out of the +mountains to the westwards, which I named Phillip's Creek. The whole +of this line of ranges is composed of red sandstone in large or small +fragments, piled up into the most grotesque shapes. Here and there +caves and caverns exist in the sides of the hills. + +A few trees of the cypress pine (Callitris) were seen upon the summits +of the higher mounts. The hills and country generally seen in this +glen are more fertile than those outside, having real grass instead of +triodia upon their sides. I saw two or three natives just before +camping; they kept upon the opposite side of the water, according to a +slight weakness of theirs. Just at the time I saw them, I had my eye +on some ducks upon the water in the river bed, I therefore determined +to kill two birds with one stone; that is to say, to shoot the ducks +and astonish the natives at the same time. I got behind a tree, the +natives I could see were watching me most intently the while, and +fired. Two ducks only were shot, the remainder of the birds and the +natives, apparently, flying away together. Our travels to-day were +very agreeable; the day was fine, the breezes cool, and the scenery +continually changing, the river taking the most sinuous windings +imaginable; the bed of it, as might be expected in such a glen, is +rough and stony, and the old fear of the horses bogging has departed +from us. By bearings back upon hills at the mouth of the glen I found +our course was nearly north 23 degrees west. The night was clear and +cold; the stars, those sentinels of the sky, appeared intensely +bright. To the explorer they must ever be objects of admiration and +love, as to them he is indebted for his guidance through the untrodden +wilderness he is traversing. "And sweet it is to watch them in the +evening skies weeping dew from their gentle eyes." Several hundred +pelicans, those antediluvian birds, made their appearance upon the +water early this morning, but seeing us they flew away before a shot +could be fired. These birds came from the north-west; indeed, all the +aquatic birds that I have seen upon the wing, come and go in that +direction. I am in hopes of getting through this glen to-day, for +however wild and picturesque the scenery, it is very difficult and bad +travelling for the unshod horses; consequently it is difficult to get +them along. There was no other road to follow than the windings of the +river bed through this mountain-bound glen, in the same manner as +yesterday. Soon after starting, I observed several natives ahead of +us; immediately upon their discovering us they raised a great outcry, +which to our ears did not exactly resemble the agreeable vibration of +the melodious sound, it being quite the opposite. Then of course +signal fires were made which raised great volumes of smoke, the +natives thinking perhaps to intimidate and prevent us from farther +advance. Neither of these effects was produced, so their next idea was +to depart themselves, and they ran ahead of us up the glen. I also saw +another lot of some twenty or thirty scudding away over the rocks and +stony hills--these were probably the women and children. Passing their +last night's encampment, we saw that they had left all their valuables +behind them--these we left untouched. One old gentleman sought the +security of a shield of rock, where this villain upon earth and fiend +in upper air most vehemently apostrophised us, and probably ordered us +away out of his territory. To the command in itself we paid little +heed, but as it fell in with our own ideas, we endeavoured to carry it +out as fast as possible. This, I trust, was satisfactory, as I always +like to do what pleases others, especially when it coincides with my +own views. + + "It's a very fine thing, and delightful to see + Inclination and duty both join and agree." + +Some of the natives near him threatened us with their spears, and +waved knobbed sticks at us, but we departed without any harm being +done on either side. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE PALM-TREE FOUND IN THE GLEN OF PALMS.) + +Soon after leaving the natives, we had the gratification of +discovering a magnificent specimen of the Fan palm, a species of +Livistona, allied to one in the south of Arnhem's Land, and now +distinguished as the Maria Palm (Baron von Mueller), growing in the +channel of the watercourse with flood drifts against its stem. Its +dark-hued, dome-shaped frondage contrasted strangely with the paler +green foliage of the eucalyptus trees that surrounded it. It was a +perfectly new botanical feature to me, nor did I expect to meet it in +this latitude. "But there's a wonderful power in latitude, it alters a +man's moral relations and attitude." I had noticed some strange +vegetation in the dry flood drifts lower down, and was on the qui vive +for something new, but I did not know that. This fine tree was sixty +feet long, or high, in the barrel. Passing the palms, we continued +amongst the defiles of this mountain glen, which appears to have no +termination, for no signs of a break or anything but a continuation of +the range could be observed from any of the hills I ascended. + +It was late in the afternoon when we left the palm-groves, and though +we travelled over twenty miles in distance could only make twelve good +from last camp. Although this glen was rough and rocky, yet the +purling of the water over its stony bed was always a delightful sound +to me; and when the winds of evening fanned us to repose, it seemed as +though some kindly spirit whispered that it would guard us while we +slept and when the sun declined the swift stream echoed on. + +The following day being Sunday, the 1st September, I made it a day of +rest, for the horses at least, whose feet were getting sore from +continued travel over rocks and boulders of stone. I made an excursion +into the hills, to endeavour to discover when and where this +apparently interminable glen ceased, for with all its grandeur, +picturesqueness, and variety, it was such a difficult road for the +horses, that I was getting heartily tired of it; besides this, I +feared this range might be its actual source, and that I should find +myself eventually blocked and stopped by impassable water-choked +gorges, and that I should finally have to retreat to where I first +entered it. I walked and climbed over several hills, cliffs, and +precipices, of red sandstone, to the west of the camp, and at length +reached the summit of a pine-clad mountain considerably higher than +any other near it. Its elevation was over 1000 feet above the level of +the surrounding country. From it I obtained a view to all points of +the compass except the west, and could descry mountains, from the +north-east round by north to the north-north west, at which point a +very high and pointed mount showed its top above the others in its +neighbourhood, over fifty miles away. To the north and east of north a +massive chain, with many dome-shaped summits, was visible. Below, +towards the camp, I could see the channel of the river where it forced +its way under the perpendicular sides of the hills, and at a spot not +far above the camp it seemed split in two, or rather was joined by +another watercourse from the northwards. From the junction the course +of the main stream was more directly from the west. Along the course +of the tributary at about ten miles I could see an apparently open +piece of country, and with the glasses there appeared a sheet of water +upon it. I was glad to find a break in the chain, though it was not on +the line I should travel. Returning to my companions, I imparted to +them the result of my observations. + +On Monday, the 2nd, there was a heaviness in the atmosphere that felt +like approaching rain. The thermometer during the night had not fallen +below 60 degrees; over 4 degrees higher than at our first night's camp +from the pillar. To-day, again following the mazy windings of the +glen, we passed the northern tributary noticed yesterday, and +continued on over rocks, under precipices, crossing and re-crossing +the channel, and turning to all points of the compass, so that nearly +three miles had to be travelled to make good one. Clumps of the +beautiful palms were occasionally passed, growing mostly in the river +bed, and where they appear, they considerably enliven the scenery. +During my sojourn in this glen, and indeed from first starting, I +collected a great number of most beautiful flowers, which grow in +profusion in this otherwise desolate glen. I was literally surrounded +by fair flowers of every changing hue. Why Nature should scatter such +floral gems upon such a stony sterile region it is difficult to +understand, but such a variety of lovely flowers of every kind and +colour I had never met with previously. Nature at times, indeed, +delights in contrasts, for here exists a land "where bright flowers +are all scentless, and songless bright birds." The flowers alone would +have induced me to name this Glen Flora; but having found in it also +so many of the stately palm trees, I have called it the Glen of Palms. +Peculiar indeed, and romantic too, is this new-found watery glen, +enclosed by rocky walls, "Where dial-like, to portion time, the +palm-tree's shadow falls." + +While we were travelling to-day, a few slight showers fell, giving us +warning in their way that heavier falls might come. We were most +anxious to reach the northern mouth of the glen if possible before +night, so heartily tired were we of so continuously serpentine a +track; we therefore kept pushing on. We saw several natives to-day, +but they invariably fled to the fastnesses of their mountain homes, +they raised great volumes of smoke, and their strident vociferations +caused a dull and buzzing sound even when out of ear-shot. The +pattering of the rain-drops became heavier, yet we kept on, hoping at +every turn to see an opening which would free us from our +prison-house; but night and heavier rain together came, and we were +compelled to remain another night in the palmy glen. I found a small +sloping, sandy, firm piece of ground, probably the only one in the +glen, a little off from the creek, having some blood-wood or red +gum-trees growing upon it, and above the reach of any flood-mark--for +it is necessary to be careful in selecting a site on a watercourse, +as, otherwise, in a single instant everything might be swept to +destruction. We were fortunate indeed to find such a refuge, as it was +large enough for the horses to graze on, and there was some good feed +upon it. By the time we had our tarpaulins fixed, and everything under +cover, the rain fell in earnest. The tributary passed this morning was +named Ellery's Creek. The actual distance we travelled to-day was +eighteen miles; to accomplish this we travelled from morn till night. +Although the rain continued at intervals all night, no great quantity +fell. In the morning the heavens were clear towards the south, but to +the north dense nimbus clouds covered the hills and darkened the sky. +Not removing the camp, I took another ramble into the hills to the +east of the camp, and from the first rise I saw what I was most +anxious to see, that is to say, the end, or rather the beginning of +the glen, which occurred at about two miles beyond our camp. Beyond +that the Finke came winding from the north-west, but clouds obscured a +distant view. It appeared that rain must still be falling north of us, +and we had to seek the shelter of our canvas home. At midday the whole +sky became overclouded, rain came slowly down, and when the night +again descended heavier still was then the fall. At an hour after +daylight on the morrow the greatest volume fell, and continued for +several hours. At midday it held up sufficiently to enable me to plant +some seeds of various trees, plants, vegetables, etc., given me +specially by Baron von Mueller. Among these were blue gum (tree), +cucumbers, melons, culinary vegetables, white maize, prairie grass, +sorghum, rye, and wattle-tree seeds, which I soaked before planting. +Although the rain lasted thirty-six hours in all, only about an inch +fell. It was with great pleasure that at last, on the 5th, we left the +glen behind us, and in a couple of miles debouched upon a plain, which +ran up to the foot of this line of ranges. The horses seemed to be +especially pleased to be on soft ground again. The length of this glen +is considerable, as it occupies 31 minutes of latitude. The main +bearing of it is nearly north 25 degrees west; it is the longest +feature of the kind I ever traversed, being over forty miles straight, +and over a hundred miles of actual travelling, and it appeared the +only pass through the range, which I named the Krichauff. To the north +a higher and more imposing chain existed, apparently about twenty +miles away. This northern chain must be the western portion of the +McDonnell Range. The river now is broader than in the glen; its bed, +however, is stony, and not boggy, the country level, sandy, and thinly +timbered, mostly all the vegetation being burnt by grass fires set +alight by the natives. + +Travelling now upon the right bank of this stream, we cut off most of +the bends, which, however, were by no means so extensive or so +serpentine as in the glen or on the south side of it. Keeping near the +river bank, we met but little porcupine grass for the most part of the +day's stage, but there was abundance of it further off. The river took +us to the foot of the big mountains, and we camped about a mile below +a gorge through which it issues. As we neared the new hills, we became +aware that the late rains were raising the waters of the river. At six +miles before camping we crossed a tributary joining the Finke at right +angles from the west, where there are some ranges in that direction; a +slight stream was running down the bed. My next anxiety is to discover +where this river comes from, or whether its sources are to be found in +this chain. The day was delightfully fine and cool, the breezes seemed +to vibrate the echo of an air which Music, sleeping at her instrument, +had ceased to play. The ground is soft after the late rains. I said we +camped a mile below a gorge; at night I found my position to be in +latitude 23 degrees 40', and longitude 132 degrees 31', the variation +3 degrees east. We shot a few ducks, which were very fat and good. +This morning I took a walk into the hills to discover the best route +to take next. The high ranges north seem to be formed of three +separate lines, all running east and west; the most northerly being +the highest, rising over 2000 feet above the level of the surrounding +country, and, according to my barometrical and boiling-point +measurements, I found that at the Charlotte Waters I was 900 feet +above the sea. From that point up to the foot of these mountains the +country had steadily risen, as we traced the Finke, over 1000 feet, so +that the highest points of that range are over 4000 feet above sea +level; the most southerly of the three lines is composed of sandstone, +the middle and highest tiers I think change to granite. I climbed for +several hours over masses of hills, but always found one just a little +farther on to shut out the view. At length I reached the summit of a +high round mountain in the middle tier, and a most varied and splendid +panorama was spread before me, or I was spread before it. + +To the north was the main chain, composed for the most part of +individual high mounts, there being a valley between them and the hill +I was on, and meandering along through this valley from the west I +could trace the course of the Finke by its timber for some miles. To +the east a mass of high and jumbled hills appeared, and one +bluff-faced mount was more conspicuous than the rest. Nearer to me, +and almost under my feet, was the gorge through which the river +passes, and it appears to be the only pass through this chain. I +approached the precipice overlooking the gorge, and found the channel +so flooded by the late rains, that it was impossible to get the horses +up through it. The hills which enclosed it were equally impracticable, +and it was utterly useless to try to get horses over them. The view to +the west was gratifying, for the ranges appeared to run on in +undiminished height in that direction, or a little north of it. From +the face of several of the hills climbed to-day, I saw streams of pure +water running, probably caused by the late rains. One hill I passed +over I found to be composed of puddingstone, that is to say, a +conglomeration of many kinds of stone mostly rounded and mixed up in a +mass, and formed by the smothered bubblings of some ancient and +ocean-quenched volcano. The surface of the place now more particularly +mentioned had been worn smooth by the action of the passage of water, +so that it presented the appearance of an enormous tessellated +pavement, before which the celebrated Roman one at Bognor, in Sussex, +which I remember, when I was a boy, on a visit to Goodwood, though +more artistically but not more fantastically arranged, would be +compelled to hide its diminished head. In the course of my rambles I +noticed a great quantity of beautiful flowers upon the hills, of +similar kinds to those collected in the Glen of Palms, and these +interested me so greatly, that the day passed before I was aware, and +I was made to remember the line, "How noiseless falls the foot of Time +that only treads on flowers." I saw two kangaroos and one rock +wallaby, but they were too wild to allow me to approach near enough to +get a shot at them. When I said I walked to-day, I really started on +an old favourite horse called Cocky, that had carried me for years, +and many a day have I had to thank him for getting me out of +difficulties through his splendid powers of endurance. I soon found +the hills too rough for a horse, so fixing up his bridle, I said, "Now +you stop there till I come back." I believe he knew everything I said, +for I used frequently to talk to him. When I came back at night, not +thinking he would stay, as the other horses were all feeding within +half a mile of him, there he was just as I had left him. I was quite +inclined to rest after my scrambles in the hills. During the night +nothing occurred to disturb our slumbers, which indeed were aided by +the sounds of the rippling stream, which sang to us a soothing song. + + +CHAPTER 1.3. FROM 6TH TO 17TH SEPTEMBER, 1872. + +Progress stopped. +Fall back on a tributary. +River flooded. +A new range. +Rudall's Creek. +Reach the range. +Grass-trees. +Wild beauty of scene. +Scarcity of water. +A pea-like vetch. +Name the range. +A barren spot. +Water seen from it. +Follow a creek channel. +Other creeks join it. +A confined glen. +Scrubby and stony hills. +Strike a gum creek. +Slimy water. +A pretty tree. +Flies troublesome. +Emus. +An orange tree. +Tropic of Capricorn. +Melodious sounds. +Carmichael's Creek. +Mountains to the north. +Ponds of water. +A green plain. +Clay-pan water. +Fine herbage. +Kangaroos and emus numerous. +A new tree. +Agreeable encampment. +Peculiar mountains. +High peak. +Start to ascend it. +Game plentiful. +Racecourse plain. +Surrounded by scrubs. +A bare slope. +A yawning chasm. +Appearance of the peak. +Gleaming pools. +Cypress pines. +The tropic clime of youth. +Proceed westwards. +Thick scrubs. +Native method of procuring water. +A pine-clad hill. +A watercourse to the south. +A poor supply of water. +Skywards the only view. +Horses all gone. +Increasing temperature. +Attempt ascending high bluff. +Timberless mountains. +Beautiful flowers. +Sultry night. +Wretched encampment. +Depart from it. + +I had come to the decision, as it was impossible to follow the Finke +through the gorge in consequence of the flood, and as the hills were +equally impracticable, to fall back upon the tributary I had noticed +the day before yesterday as joining the river from the west, thinking +I might in twenty or thirty miles find a gap in the northern range +that would enable me to reach the Finke again. The night was very +cold, the thermometer at daylight stood at 28 degrees. The river had +risen still higher in the night, and it was impossible to pass through +the gorge. We now turned west-south-west, in order to strike the +tributary. Passing first over rough stony ridges, covered with +porcupine grass, we entered a sandy, thickly-bushed country, and +struck the creek in ten miles. A new range lying west I expected to be +the source of it, but it now seemed to turn too much to the south. +There was very poor grass, it being old and dry, but as the new range +to the west was too distant, we encamped, as there was water. This +watercourse was called Rudall's Creek. A cold and very dewy night made +all our packs, blankets, etc., wet and clammy; the mercury fell below +freezing point, but instantly upon the sun's appearance it went up +enormously. The horses rambled, and it was late when we reached the +western range, as our road was beset by some miles of dense scrubs. +The range was isolated, and of some elevation. As we passed along the +creek, the slight flood became slighter still; it had now nearly +ceased running. The day was one of the warmest we had yet experienced. +The creek now seemed not to come from the range, but, thinking water +might be got there so soon after rains, we travelled up to its foot. +The country was sandy, and bedecked with triodia, but near the range I +saw for the first time on this expedition a quantity of the Australian +grass-tree (Xanthorrhoea) dotting the landscape. They were of all +heights, from two to twenty feet. The country round the base of this +range is not devoid of a certain kind of wild beauty. A few blood-wood +or red gum-trees, with their brilliant green foliage, enlivened the +scene. + +A small creek, lined with gum-trees, issued from an opening or glen, +up which I rode in search of water, but was perfectly unsuccessful, as +not a drop of the life-sustaining fluid was to be found. Upon +returning to impart this discouraging intelligence to my companions, I +stumbled upon a small quantity in a depression, on a broad, almost +square boulder of rock that lay in the bed of the creek. There was not +more than two quarts. As the horses had watered in the afternoon, and +as there was a quantity of a herb, much like a green vetch or small +pea, we encamped. I ascended a small eminence to the north, and with +the glasses could distinguish the creek last left, now running east +and west. I saw water gleaming in its channel, and at the junction of +the little creek we were now on; there was also water nearly east. As +the horses were feeding down the creek that way, I felt sure they +would go there and drink in the night. It is, however, very strange +whenever one wants horses to do a certain thing or feed a certain way, +they are almost sure to do just the opposite, and so it was in the +present case. On returning to camp by a circuitous route, I found in a +small rocky crevice an additional supply of water, sufficient for our +own requirements--there was nearly a bucketful--and felicity reigned +in the camp. A few cypress pines are rooted in the rocky shelving +sides of the range, which is not of such elevation as it appeared from +a distance. The highest points are not more than from 700 to 800 feet. +I collected some specimens of plants, which, however, are not peculiar +to this range. I named it Gosse's range, after Mr. Harry Gosse. The +late rains had not visited this isolated mass. It is barren and +covered with spinifex from turret to basement, wherever sufficient +soil can be found among the stones to admit of its growth. + +The night of the 9th of September, like the preceding, was cold and +dewy. The horses wandered quite in the wrong direction, and it was +eleven o'clock before we got away from the camp and went north to the +sheet of water seen yesterday, where we watered the horses and +followed up the creek, as its course here appeared to be from the +west. The country was level, open, and sandy, but covered with the +widely pervading triodia (irritans). Some more Xanthorrhoea were seen, +and several small creeks joined this from the ranges to the north. +Small sheets of water were seen in the creek as we passed along, but +whether they existed before the late rains is very problematical. The +weather is evidently getting warmer. We had been following this creek +for two days; it now turned up into a confined glen in a more +northerly direction. At last its northern course was so pronounced we +had to leave it, as it evidently took its rise amongst the low hills +in that direction, which shut out any view of the higher ranges behind +them. Our road was now about west-north-west, over wretched, stony, +barren, mallee (Eucalyptus) covered low hills or stony rises; the +mallee scrub being so thick, it was difficult to drive the horses +through it. Farther on we crested the highest ground the horses had +yet passed over. From here with the glasses I fancied I saw the timber +of a creek in a valley to the north-west, in which direction we now +went, and struck the channel of a small dry watercourse, whose banks +were lined with gum-trees. When there is any water in its channel, its +flow is to the west. The creek joined another, in which, after +following it for a mile or two, I found a small pool of water, which +had evidently lain there for many months, as it was half slime, and +drying up fast. It was evident the late rains had not fallen here. + +In consequence of the windings of the creeks, we travelled upon all +points of the compass, but our main course was a little west of +north-west. The day was warm enough, and when we camped we felt the +benefit of what shade the creek timber could afford. Some of the small +vetch, or pea-like plant, of which the horses are so fond, existed +here. To-day we saw a single quandong tree (Fusanus; one of the sandal +woods, but not of commerce) in full bearing, but the fruit not yet +ripe. I also saw a pretty drooping acacia, whose leaves hung in small +bunches together, giving it an elegant and pendulous appearance. This +tree grows to a height of fifty feet; and some were over a foot +through in the barrel. + +The flies to-day were exceedingly troublesome: a sure sign of +increasing temperature. We saw some emus, but being continually hunted +by the natives, they were too shy to allow us to get within shot of +them. Some emu steaks would come in very handy now. Near our pool of +slime a so-called native orange tree (Capparis), of a very poor and +stunted habit, grew; and we allowed it to keep on growing. + +The stars informed me, in the night, that I was almost under the +tropic line, my latitude being 23 degrees 29'. The horses fed well on +the purple vetch, their bells melodiously tinkling in the air the +whole night long. The sound of the animals' bells, in the night, is +really musical to the explorer's ear. I called the creek after Mr. +Carmichael; and hoping it would contain good water lower down, decided +to follow it, as it trended to the west. We found, however, in a few +miles, it went considerably to the south of west, when it eventually +turned up again to the north-west. + +We still had the main line of mountains on our right, or north of us: +and now, to the south, another line of low hills trended up towards +them; and there is evidently a kind of gap between the two lines of +ranges, about twenty-five miles off. The country along the banks of +Carmichael's Creek was open and sandy, with plenty of old dry grass, +and not much triodia; but to the south, the latter and mallee scrub +approached somewhat near. We saw several small ponds of water as we +passed along, but none of any size. In seven or eight miles it split +into several channels, and eventually exhausted itself upon an open +grassy swamp or plain. The little plain looked bright and green. I +found some rain water, in clay pans, upon it. A clay pan is a small +area of ground, whose top soil has been washed or blown away, leaving +the hard clay exposed; and upon this surface, one, two, three, or +(scarcely) more inches of rain water may remain for some days after +rain: the longer it remains the thicker it gets, until at last it +dries in cakes which shine like tiles; these at length crumble away, +and the clay pan is swept by winds clean and ready for the next +shower. In the course of time it becomes enlarged and deepened. They +are very seldom deep enough for ducks. + +The grass and herbage here were excellent. There were numerous +kangaroos and emus on the plain, but they preferred to leave us in +undisturbed possession of it. There were many evidences of native +camping places about here; and no doubt the natives look upon this +little circle as one of their happy hunting grounds. To-day I noticed +a tree in the mallee very like a Currajong tree. This being the most +agreeable and fertile little spot I had seen, we did not shift the +camp, as the horses were in clover. Our little plain is bounded on the +north by peculiar mountains; it is also fringed with scrub nearly all +round. The appearance of the northern mountains is singular, +grotesque, and very difficult to describe. There appear to be still +three distinct lines. One ends in a bluff, to the east-north-east of +the camp; another line ends in a bluff to the north-north-east; while +the third continues along the northern horizon. One point, higher than +the rest in that line, bears north 26 degrees west from camp. The +middle tier of hills is the most strange-looking; it recedes in the +distance eastwards, in almost regular steps or notches, each of them +being itself a bluff, and all overlooking a valley. The bluffs have a +circular curve, are of a red colour, and in perspective appear like a +gigantic flat stairway, only that they have an oblique tendency to the +southward, caused, I presume, by the wash of ocean currents that, at +perhaps no greatly distant geological period, must have swept over +them from the north. My eyes, however, were mostly bent upon the high +peak in the northern line; and Mr. Carmichael and I decided to walk +over to, and ascend it. It was apparently no more than seven or eight +miles away. + +As my reader is aware, I left the Finke issuing through an +impracticable gorge in these same ranges, now some seventy-five miles +behind us, and in that distance not a break had occurred in the line +whereby I could either get over or through it, to meet the Finke +again; indeed, at this distance it was doubtful whether it were worth +while to endeavour to do so, as one can never tell what change may +take place, in even the largest of Australian streams, in such a +distance. When last seen, it was trending along a valley under the +foot of the highest of three tiers of hills, and coming from the west; +but whether its sources are in those hills, or that it still runs on +somewhere to the north of us, is the question which I now hope to +solve. I am the more anxious to rediscover the Finke, if it still +exists, because water has been by no means plentiful on the route +along which I have lately been travelling; and I believe a better +country exists upon the other side of the mountains. + +At starting, Carmichael and I at first walked across the plain, we +being encamped upon its southern end. It was beautifully grassed, and +had good soil, and it would make an excellent racecourse, or ground +for a kangaroo hunt. We saw numbers of kangaroos, and emus too, but +could get no shots at them. In three miles the plain ended in thick, +indeed very dense, scrub, which continued to the foot of the hills; in +it the grass was long, dry, and tangled with dead and dry burnt sticks +and timber, making it exceedingly difficult to walk through. Reaching +the foot of the hills, I found the natives had recently burnt all the +vegetation from their sides, leaving the stones, of which it was +composed, perfectly bare. It was a long distance to the top of the +first ridge, but the incline was easy, and I was in great hopes, if it +continued so, to be able to get the horses over the mountains at this +spot. Upon arriving at the top of the slope, I was, however, +undeceived upon that score, for we found the high mount, for which we +were steering, completely separated from us by a yawning chasm, which +lay, under an almost sheer precipice, at our feet. The high mountain +beyond, near the crown, was girt around by a solid wall of rock, fifty +or sixty feet in height, from the edge of which the summit rose. It +was quite unapproachable, except, perhaps, in one place, round to the +northward. + +The solid rock of which it had formerly been composed had, by some +mighty force of nature, been split into innumerable fissures and +fragments, both perpendicularly and horizontally, and was almost +mathematically divided into pieces or squares, or unequal cubes, +simply placed upon one another, like masons' work without mortar. The +lower strata of these divisions were large, the upper tapered to +pieces not much larger than a brick, at least they seemed so from a +distance. The whole appearance of this singular mount was grand and +awful, and I could not but reflect upon the time when these colossal +ridges were all at once rocking in the convulsive tremblings of some +mighty volcanic shock, which shivered them into the fragments I then +beheld. I said the hill we had ascended ended abruptly in a precipice; +by going farther round we found a spot, which, though practicable, was +difficult enough to descend. At the bottom of some of the ravines +below I could see several small pools of water gleaming in little +stony gullies. + +The afternoon had been warm, if not actually hot, and our walking and +climbing had made us thirsty; the sight of water made us all the more +so. It was now nearly sundown, and it would be useless to attempt the +ascent of the mountain, as by the time we could reach its summit, the +sun would be far below the horizon, and we should obtain no view at +all. + +It was, however, evident that no gap or pass existed by which I could +get my horses up, even if the country beyond were ever so promising. A +few of the cypress or Australian pines (Callitris) dotted the summits +of the hills, they also grew on the sides of some of the ravines below +us. We had, at least I had, considerable difficulty in descending the +almost perpendicular face to the water below. Carmichael got there +before I did, and had time to sit, laving his feet and legs in a fine +little rock hole full of pure water, filled, I suppose, by the late +rains. The water, indeed, had not yet ceased to run, for it was +trickling from hole to hole. Upon Mr. Carmichael inquiring what +delayed me so long, I replied: "Ah, it is all very easy for you; you +have two circumstances in your favour. You are young, and therefore +able to climb, and besides, you are in the tropic." To which he very +naturally replies, "If I am in the tropic you must be also." I +benignly answer, "No, you are in the tropic clime of youth." While on +the high ground no view of any kind, except along the mountains for a +mile or two east and west, could be obtained. I was greatly +disappointed at having such a toilsome walk for so little purpose. We +returned by a more circuitous route, eventually reaching the camp very +late at night, thoroughly tired out with our walk. I named this +mountain Mount Musgrave. It is nearly 1700 feet above the level of the +surrounding country, and over 3000 feet above the sea. The next day +Mr. Carmichael went out to shoot game; there were kangaroos, and in +the way of birds there were emus, crows, hawks, quail, and +bronze-winged pigeons; but all we got from his expedition was nil. The +horses now being somewhat refreshed by our stay here, we proceeded +across the little plain towards another high bluff hill, which loomed +over the surrounding country to the west-north-west. Flies were +troublesome, and very busy at our eyes; soon after daylight, and +immediately after sunrise, it became quite hot. + +Traversing first the racecourse plain, we then entered some mulga +scrub; the mulga is an acacia, the wood extremely hard. It grows to a +height of twenty to thirty feet, but is by no means a shady or even a +pretty tree; it ranges over an enormous extent of Australia. The scrub +we now entered had been recently burnt near the edge of the plain; but +the further we got into it, the worse it became. At seven miles we +came to stones, triodia, and mallee, a low eucalyptus of the gumtree +family, growing generally in thick clumps from one root: its being +rooted close together makes it difficult travelling to force one's way +through. It grows about twenty feet high. The higher grade of +eucalypts or gum-trees delight in water and a good soil, and nearly +always line the banks of watercourses. The eucalypts of the mallee +species thrive in deserts and droughts, but contain water in their +roots which only the native inhabitants of the country can discover. A +white man would die of thirst while digging and fooling around trying +to get the water he might know was preserved by the tree, but not for +him; while an aboriginal, upon the other hand, coming to a +mallee-tree, after perhaps travelling miles through them without +noticing one, will suddenly make an exclamation, look at a tree, go +perhaps ten or twelve feet away, and begin to dig. In a foot or so he +comes upon a root, which he shakes upwards, gradually getting more and +more of it out of the ground, till he comes to the foot of the tree; +he then breaks it off, and has a root perhaps fifteen feet long--this, +by the way, is an extreme length. He breaks the root into sections +about a foot long, ties them into bundles, and stands them up on end +in a receptacle, when they drain out a quantity of beautifully sweet, +pure water. A very long root such as I have mentioned might give +nearly a bucketful of water; but woe to the white man who fancies he +can get water out of mallee. There are a few other trees of different +kinds that water is also got from, as I have known it obtained from +the mulga, acacia trees, and from some casuarina trees; it depends +upon the region they are in, as to what trees give the most if any +water, but it is an aboriginal art at any time or place to find it. + +The mallee we found so dense that not a third of the horses could be +seen together, and with great difficulty we managed to reach the foot +of a small pine-clad hill lying under the foot of the high bluff +before mentioned--there a small creek lined with eucalypts ran under +its foot. Though our journey to-day was only twelve miles, that +distance through such horrible scrubs took us many hours. From the top +of the piny hill I could see a watercourse to the south two or three +miles away; it is probably Carmichael's Creek, reformed, after +splitting on the plain behind; Carmichael found a little water-hole up +this channel, with barely sufficient water for our use. The day had +been disagreeably warm. I rode over to the creek to the south, and +found two small puddles in its bed; but there was evidently plenty of +water to be got by digging, as by scratching with my hands I soon +obtained some. The camp which Carmichael and Robinson had selected, +while I rode over to the other creek, was a most wretched place, in +the midst of dense mallee and amidst thick plots of triodia, which we +had to cut away before we could sit down. + +The only direction in which we could see a yard ahead of us was up +towards the sky; and as we were not going that way, it gave us no idea +of our next line of route. The big bluff we had been steering for all +day was, I may say, included in our skyward view, for it towered above +us almost overhead. Being away when the camp was selected, I was sorry +to hear that the horses had all been let go without hobbles; as they +had been in such fine quarters for three nights at the last camp on +the plain, it was more than probable they would work back through the +scrub to it in the night. The following morning not a horse was to be +found! Robinson and I went in search of them, and found they had split +into several mobs. I only got three, and at night Robinson returned +with only six, the remainder had been missed in the dense scrubs. The +thermometer stood at 95 degrees in the shade, and there was a warm +wind blowing. Robinson had a fine day's work, as he had to walk back +to the camp on the plain for the horses he got. In the afternoon I +attempted the high bluff immediately overlooking the camp. I had a bit +of cliff-climbing, and reached the summit of one hill of some +elevation, 1300 feet, and then found that a vast chasm, or ravine, +separated me from the main mountain chain. It would be dark before I +could--if I could--reach the summit, and then I should get no view, so +I returned to the camp. The height was considerable, as mountains in +this part of the world go, as it towered above the hill I was upon, +and was 500 or 600 feet higher. These mountains appear to be composed +of a kind of conglomerate granite; very little timber existed upon +them, but they were splendidly supplied with high, strong, coarse +spinifex. I slipped down a gully, fell into a hideous bunch of this +horrid stuff, and got pricked from head to foot; the spiny points +breaking off in my clothes and flesh caused me great annoyance and +pain for many days after. Many beautiful flowers grew on the +hillsides, in gullies and ravines; of these I collected several. We +secured what horses we had, for the night, which was warm and sultry. +In the morning Robinson and I rode after the still missing ones; at +the plain camp we found all except one, and by the time we returned it +was night. + +Not hobbling the horses in general, we had some difficulty in finding +a pair of hobbles for each, and not being able to do so, I left one in +the mob without. This base reptile surreptitiously crawled away in the +night by himself. As our camp was the most wretched dog-hole it was +possible for a man to get into, in the midst of dense mallee, triodia, +and large stones, I determined to escape from it, before looking for +the now two missing animals. The water was completely exhausted. We +moved away south-westerly for about three miles, to the creek I had +scratched in some days ago; now we had to dig a big hole with a +shovel, and with a good deal of labour we obtained a sufficient supply +for a few days. + + +CHAPTER 1.4. FROM 17TH SEPTEMBER TO 1ST OCTOBER, 1872. + +Search for the missing horses. +Find one. +Hot wind and flying sand. +Last horse recovered. +Annoyed by flies. +Mountains to the west. +Fine timber. +Gardiner's Range. +Mount Solitary. +Follow the creek. +Dig a tank. +Character of the country. +Thunderstorms. +Mount Peculiar. +A desolate region. +Sandhills. +Useless rain. +A bare granite hill. +No water. +Equinoctial gales. +Search for water. +Find a rock reservoir. +Native fig-trees. +Gloomy and desolate view. +The old chain. +Hills surrounded by scrubs. +More hills to the west. +Difficult watering-place. +Immortelles. +Cold weather. +View from a hill. +Renewed search for water. +Find a small supply. +Almost unapproachable. +Effects of the spinifex on the horses. +Pack-horses in scrubs. +The Mus conditor. +Glistening micaceous hills. +Unsuccessful search. +Waterless hill nine hundred feet high. +Oceans of scrub. +Retreat to last reservoir. +Natives' smokes. +Night without water. +Unlucky day. +Two horses lost. +Recover them. +Take a wrong turn. +Difficulty in watering the horses. +An uncomfortable camp. +Unsuccessful searches. +Mount Udor. +Mark a tree. +Tender-footed horses. +Poor feed. +Sprinkling rain. +Flies again troublesome. +Start for the western ranges. +No water. +Difficult scrubs. +Lonely camp. +Horses away. +Reach the range. +No water. +Retreat to Mount Udor. +Slight rain. +Determine to abandon this region. +Corkwood trees. +Ants' nests. +Glow-worms. +Native poplar trees. +Peculiar climate. +Red gum-trees. +A mare foals. +Depart for the south. +Remarks on the country. + +Having fixed our camp at a new place, in the afternoon of the 17th +September, Robinson and I again went to look after the horses. At +three miles above the camp we found some water; soon after we got the +tracks of one horse and saw that he had been about there for a day or +two, as the tracks were that age. We made a sweep out round some +hills, found the tracks again, much fresher, and came upon the horse +about seven miles from the camp. The other horse was left for +to-morrow. Thermometer 96 degrees, sky overcast, rain imminent. + +During the night of the 18th of September a few heat-drops of rain +fell. I sent Robinson away to the plain camp, feeling sure he would +find the rover there. A hot wind blew all day, the sand was flying +about in all directions. Robinson got the horse at last at the plain, +and I took special care to find a pair of hobbles for him for this +night at all events. The flies were an intolerable nuisance, not that +they were extraordinarily numerous, but so insufferably pertinacious. +I think the tropic fly of Australia the most abominable insect of its +kind. From the summit of the hill I ascended on Sunday, I found the +line of mountains still ran on to the west, the furthest hills +appeared fifty miles away. As they extend so far, and are the +principal features in sight, I shall follow them, in hopes of meeting +some creek, or river, that may carry me on to the west. It is a +remarkable fact that such high hills as I have been following should +send out no creek whose course extends farther than ten or twelve +miles. I could trace the creek I am now on by its timber for only a +few miles, its course appearing south of west. The country in its +immediate neighbourhood is open, and timbered with fine casuarina +trees; the grass is dry and long, and the triodia approaches to within +a quarter of a mile of it. The line of hills I previously mentioned as +running along to the south of us, we had now run out. I named them +Gardiner's Range, after a friend of Mr. Carmichael's. There is, +however, one small isolated hill, the furthest outpost of that line, +some three miles away to the south-west; the creek may probably take a +bend down towards it. I called it Mount Solitary. This creek is rather +well timbered, the gum-trees look fresh and young, and there is some +green herbage in places, though the surface water has all disappeared. + +There was so little water at the camp tank, we had to send the horses +up the creek three miles to water, and on their return I was not sorry +to be moving again, for our stay at these two last camps had been +compulsory, and the anxiety, trouble, and annoyance we had, left no +very agreeable reminiscences of the locality in our minds. + +We travelled along the creek all day, cutting off the bends, but +without seeing any signs of water: towards evening we set to work to +try if we could get any by digging. In about four feet, water began to +drain in, but, the sand being so loose, we had to remove an enormous +quantity to enable a horse to drink. Some of the horses would not go +into it, and had to be watered with a canvas bucket. The supply seemed +good, but it only drained in from the sides. Every time a horse drank +we had to clear out the sand for the next; it therefore took until +late before all were satisfied. The country was still open, and +timbered with fine black oak, or what is so called in Australia. It is +a species of casuarina, of the same family but distinct from the +beautiful desert oak. Triodia reigned supreme within half a mile. At +this camp the old grass had been burnt, and fresh young green shoots +appeared in its place; this was very good for the horses. A few drops +of rain fell; distant rumblings of thunder and flashes of lightning +now cooled the air. While we were at breakfast the next morning, a +thunderstorm came up to us from the west, then suddenly turned away, +only just sprinkling us, though we could see the rain falling heavily +a few yards to the south. We packed up and went off, hoping to find a +better watered region at the hills westwards. There was an +extraordinary mount a little to the west of north from us; it looked +something like a church; it was over twenty miles away: I called it +Mount Peculiar. Leaving the creek on our left, to run itself out into +some lonely flat or dismal swamp, known only to the wretched +inhabitants of this desolate region--over which there seems to brood +an unutterable stillness and a dread repose--we struck into sandhill +country, rather open, covered with the triodia or spinifex, and +timbered with the casuarina or black oak trees. We had scarcely gone +two miles when our old thunderstorm came upon us--it had evidently +missed us at first, and had now come to look for us--and it rained +heavily. The country was so sandy and porous that no water remained on +the surface. We travelled on and the storm travelled with us--the +ground sucking up every drop that fell. Continuing our course, which +was north 67 degrees west, we travelled twenty-five miles. At this +distance we came in sight of the mountains I was steering for, but +they were too distant to reach before night, so, turning a little +northward to the foot of a low, bare, white granite hill, I hoped to +find a creek, or at least some ledges in the rocks, where we might get +some water. Not a drop was to be found. Though we had been travelling +in the rain all day and accomplished thirty miles, we were obliged to +camp without water at last. There was good feed for the horses, and, +as it was still raining, they could not be very greatly in want of +water. We fixed up our tent and retired for the night, the wind +blowing furiously, as might reasonably be expected, for it was the eve +of the vernal equinox, and this I supposed was our share of the +equinoctial gales. We were compelled in the morning to remove the +camp, as we had not a drop of water, and unless it descended in sheets +the country could not hold it, being all pure red sand. The hill near +us had no rocky ledges to catch water, so we made off for the higher +mountains for which we were steering yesterday. Their nearest or most +eastern point was not more than four miles away, and we went first to +it. I walked on ahead of the horses with the shovel, to a small gully +I saw with the glasses, having some few eucalypts growing in it. I +walked up it, to and over rocky ledges, down which at times, no doubt, +small leaping torrents roar. Very little of yesterday's rain had +fallen here; but most fortunately I found one small rock reservoir, +with just sufficient water for all the horses. There was none either +above or below in any other basin, and there were many better-looking +places, but all were dry. The water in this one must have stood for +some time, yesterday's rain not having affected it in the least. The +place at which I found the water was the most difficult for horses to +reach; it was almost impracticable. After finding this opportune +though awkwardly situated supply, I climbed to the summit of the +mount. On the top was a native fig-tree in full bearing; the fruit was +ripe and delicious. It is the size of an ordinary marble, yellow when +unripe, and gradually becoming red, then black: it is full of small +seeds. I was disturbed from my repast by seeing the horses, several +hundred feet below me, going away in the wrong direction. And I had to +descend before I had time to look around; but the casual glance I +obtained gave me the most gloomy and desolate view imaginable; one, +almost enough to daunt the explorer from penetrating any farther into +such a dreadful region. To the eastward, I found I had now long outrun +the old main chain of mountains, which had turned up to the north, or +rather north-north-westward; between me and it a mass of jumbled and +broken mounts appeared; each separate one, however, was almost +surrounded by scrubs, which ran up to the foot of the hill I was upon. +Northward the view was similar. To the west the picture was the same, +except that a more defined range loomed above the intervening +scrubs--the hills furthest away in that direction being probably fifty +miles distant. The whole horizon looked dark and gloomy--I could see +no creeks of any kind, the most extensive water channels were mere +gullies, and not existing at all at a mile from the hills they issued +from. + +Watering our horses proved a difficult and tedious task; as many of +them would not approach the rocky basin, the water had to be carried +up to them in canvas buckets. By the time they were all watered, and +we had descended from the rocky gully, the day had passed with most +miraculous celerity. The horses did not finish the water, there being +nearly sufficient to give them another drink. The grass was good here, +as a little flat, on which grew some yellow immortelles, had recently +been burnt. I allowed the horses to remain and drink up the balance of +the water, while I went away to inspect some other gorges or gullies +in the hills to the west of us, and see whether any more water could +be found. The day was cool and fine. + +I climbed to the summit of a hill about 800 feet from its base. The +view was similar to yesterday's, except that I could now see these +hills ran on west for twelve or fifteen miles, where the country was +entirely covered with scrubs. Little gullies, with an odd, and +stunted, gum-tree here and there, were seen. Few of these gullies were +more than six feet wide, and the trumpery little streams that descend, +in even their most flooded state, would be of but little service to +anybody. I had wandered up and down hills, in and out of gullies, all +the morning, but had met no single drop of water, and was returning +disappointed to the camp when, on trying one more small scrubby, +dreadfully-rocky little gully which I had missed, or rather passed by, +in going out, I was fortunate enough to discover a few small rocky +holes full of the purest fluid. This treasure was small indeed, but my +gratitude was great; for what pleased me most was the rather strange +fact that the water was trickling from one basin to another, but with +the weakest possible flow. Above and below where I found this water +the gully and the rocks were as dry as the desert around. Had the +supply not been kept up by the trickling, half my horses would have +emptied all the holes at a draught. + +The approach to this water was worse, rougher, rockier, and more +impracticable than at the camp; I was, however, most delighted to have +found it, otherwise I should have had to retreat to the last creek. I +determined, however, not to touch it now, but to keep it as a reserve +fund, should I be unable to find more out west. Returning to camp, we +gave the horses all the water remaining, and left the spot perfectly +dry. + +We now had the line of hills on our right, and travelled nearly +west-north-west. Close to the foot of the hills the country is open, +but covered with large stones, between the interstices of which grow +huge bunches of the hideous spinifex, which both we and the horses +dread like a pestilence. We have encountered this scourge for over 200 +miles. All around the coronets of most of the horses, in consequence +of their being so continually punctured with the spines of this +terrible grass, it has caused a swelling, or tough enlargement of the +flesh and skin, giving them the appearance of having ring-bones. Many +of them have the flesh quite raw and bleeding; they are also very +tender-footed from traversing so much stony ground, as we have lately +had to pass over. Bordering upon the open stony triodia ground +above-mentioned is a bed of scrubs, composed chiefly of mulga, though +there are various other trees, shrubs, and plants amongst it. It is so +dense and thick that in it we cannot see a third of the horses at +once; they, of course, continually endeavour to make into it to avoid +the stones and triodia; for, generally speaking, the pungent triodia +and the mulga acacia appear to be antagonistic members of the +vegetable kingdom. The ground in the scrubs is generally soft, and on +that account also the horses seek it. Out of kindness, I have +occasionally allowed them to travel in the scrubs, when our direct +course should have been on the open, until some dire mishap forces us +out again; for, the scrubs being so dense, the horses are compelled to +crash through them, tearing the coverings of their loads, and +frequently forcing sticks in between their backs or sides and their +saddles, sometimes staking themselves severely. Then we hear a frantic +crashing through the scrubs, and the sounds of the pounding of +horse-hoofs are the first notice we receive that some calamity has +occurred. So soon as we ourselves can force our way through, and +collect the horses the best way we can, yelling and howling to one +another to say how many each may have got, we discover one or two +missing. Then they have to be tracked; portions of loads are picked up +here and there, and, in the course of an hour or more, the horse or +horses are found, repacked, and on we push again, mostly for the open, +though rough and stony spinifex ground, where at least we can see what +is going on. These scrubs are really dreadful, and one's skin and +clothes get torn and ripped in all directions. One of these mishaps +occurred to-day. + +In these scrubs are met nests of the building rat (Mus conditor). They +form their nests with twigs and sticks to the height of four feet, the +circumference being fifteen to twenty. The sticks are all lengths up +to three feet, and up to an inch in diameter. Inside are chambers and +galleries, while in the ground underneath are tunnels, which are +carried to some distance from their citadel. They occur in many parts +of Australia, and are occasionally met with on plains where few trees +can be found. As a general rule, they frequent the country inhabited +by the black oak (casuarina). They can live without water, but, at +times, build so near a watercourse as to have their structures swept +away by floods. Their flesh is very good eating. + +In ten miles we had passed several little gullies, and reached the +foot of other hills, where a few Australian pines were scattered here +and there. These hills have a glistening, sheening, laminated +appearance, caused by the vast quantities of mica which abounds in +them. Their sides are furrowed and corrugated, and their upper +portions almost bare rock. Time was lost here in unsuccessful searches +for water, and we departed to another range, four or five miles +farther on, and apparently higher; therefore perhaps more likely to +supply us with water. Mr. Carmichael and I ascended the range, and +found it to be 900 feet from its base; but in all its gullies water +there was none. The view from the summit was just such as I have +described before--an ocean of scrubs, with isolated hills or ranges +appearing like islands in most directions. Our horses had been already +twenty-four hours without water. I wanted to reach the far range to +the west, but it was useless to push all the pack-horses farther into +such an ocean of scrubs, as our rate of progress in them was so +terribly slow. I decided to return to the small supply I had left as a +reserve, and go myself to the far range, which was yet some thirty +miles away. The country southward seemed to have been more recently +visited by the natives than upon our line of march, which perhaps was +not to be wondered at, as what could they get to live on out of such a +region as we had got into? Probably forty or fifty miles to the south, +over the tops of some low ridges, we saw the ascending smoke of +spinifex fires, still attended to by the natives; and in the +neighbourhood, no doubt, they had some watering places. On our retreat +we travelled round the northern face of the hills, upon whose south +side we had arrived, in hopes of finding some place having water, +where I might form a depot for a few days. By night we could find +none, and had to encamp without, either for ourselves or our horses. + +The following day seemed foredoomed to be unlucky; it really appeared +as though everything must go wrong by a natural law. In the first +place, while making a hobble peg, while Carmichael and Robinson were +away after the horses, the little piece of wood slipped out of my +hand, and the sharp blade of the knife went through the top and nail +of my third finger and stuck in the end of my thumb. The cut bled +profusely, and it took me till the horses came to sew my mutilated +digits up. It was late when we left this waterless spot. As there was +a hill with a prepossessing gorge, I left Carmichael and Robinson to +bring the horses on, and rode off to see if I could find water there. +Though I rode and walked in gullies and gorges, no water was to be +found. I then made down to where the horses should have passed along, +and found some of them standing with their packs on, in a small bit of +open ground, surrounded by dense scrubs, which by chance I came to, +and nobody near. I called and waited, and at last Mr. Carmichael came +and told me that when he and Robinson debouched with the horses on +this little open space, they found that two of the animals were +missing, and that Robinson had gone to pick up their tracks. The horse +carrying my papers and instruments was one of the truants. Robinson +soon returned, not having found the track. Neither of them could tell +when they saw the horses last. I sent Mr. Carmichael to another hill +two or three miles away, that we had passed, but not inspected +yesterday, to search for water, while Robinson and I looked for the +missing horses. And lest any more should retreat during our absence, +we tied them up in two mobs. Robinson tied his lot up near a small +rock. We then separately made sweeps round, returning to the horses on +the opposite side, without success. We then went again in company, and +again on opposite sides singly, but neither tracks nor horses could be +found. Five hours had now elapsed since I first heard of their +absence. I determined to make one more circuit beyond any we had +already taken, so as to include the spot we had camped at; this +occupied a couple of hours. When I returned I was surprised to hear +that Robinson had found the horses in a small but extra dense bunch of +scrub not twenty yards from the spot where he had tied his horses up. +While I was away he had gone on top of the little stony eminence close +by, and from its summit had obtained a bird's-eye view of the ground +below, and thus perceived the two animals, which had never been absent +at all. It seemed strange to me that I could not find their tracks, +but the reason was there were no tracks to find. I took it for granted +when Carmichael told me of their absence that they were absent, but he +and Robinson were both mistaken. + +It was now nearly evening, and I had been riding my horse at a fast +pace the whole day; I was afraid we could not reach the reserve water +by night. But we pushed on, Mr. Carmichael joining us, not having +found any water. At dusk we reached the small creek or gully, up in +whose rocks I had found the water on Sunday. At a certain point the +creek split in two, or rather two channels joined, and formed one, and +I suppose the same ill fate that had pursued me all day made me +mistake the proper channel, and we drove the unfortunate and limping +horses up a wretched, rocky, vile, scrubby, almost impenetrable gully, +where there was not a sup of water. + +On discovering my error, we had to turn them back over the same +horrible places, all rocks, dense scrubs, and triodia, until we got +them into the proper channel. When near the first little hole I had +formerly seen, I dismounted, and walked up to see how it had stood +during my absence, and was grieved to discover that the lowest and +largest hole was nearly dry. I bounded up the rocks to the next, and +there, by the blessing of Providence, was still a sufficient quantity, +as the slow trickling of the water from basin to basin had not yet +entirely ceased, though its current had sadly diminished since my last +visit only some seventy hours since. + +By this time it was dark, and totally impossible to get the horses up +the gully. We had to get them over a horrible ridge of broken and +jumbled rocks, having to get levers and roll away huge boulders, to +make something like a track to enable the animals to reach the water. + +Time (and labour) accomplishes all things, and in time the last +animal's thirst was quenched, and the last drop of water sucked up +from every basin. I was afraid it would not be replenished by morning. +We had to encamp in the midst of a thicket of a kind of willow acacia +with pink bark all in little curls, with a small and pretty +mimosa-like leaf. This bush is of the most tenacious nature--you may +bend it, but break it won't. We had to cut away sufficient to make an +open square, large enough for our packs, and to enable us to lie down, +also to remove the huge bunches of spinifex that occupied the space; +then, when the stones were cleared away, we had something like a place +for a camp. By this time it was midnight, and we slept, all heartily +tired of our day's work, and the night being cool we could sleep in +comfort. Our first thought in the morning was to see how the basins +looked. Mr. Carmichael went up with a keg to discover, and on his +return reported that they had all been refilled in the night, and that +the trickling continued, but less in volume. This was a great relief +to my mind; I trust the water will remain until I return from those +dismal-looking mountains to the west. I made another search during the +morning for more water, but without success, and I can only conclude +that this water was permitted by Providence to remain here in this +lonely spot for my especial benefit, for no more rain had fallen here +than at any of the other hills in the neighbourhood, nor is this one +any higher or different from the others which I visited, except that +this one had a little water and all the rest none. In gratitude +therefore to this hill I have called it Mount Udor. Mount Udor was the +only spot where water was to be found in this abominable region, and +when I left it the udor had departed also. I got two of my +riding-horses shod to-day, as the country I intended to travel over is +about half stones and half scrub. I have marked a eucalyptus or +gum-tree in this gully close to the foot of the rock where I found the +water [EG/21], as this is my twenty-first camp from Chambers' Pillar. +My position here is in latitude 23 degrees 14', longitude 130 degrees +55', and variation 3 degrees east nearly. I could not start to-day as +the newly shod horses are so tender-footed that they seem to go worse +in their shoes; they may be better to-morrow. The water still holds +out. The camp is in a confined gully, and warm, though it is +comparatively a cool day. The grass here is very poor, and the horses +wander a great deal to look for feed. Four of them could not be found +in the morning. A slight thunderstorm passed over in the night, with a +sprinkling of rain for nearly an hour, but not sufficient fell to damp +a pocket-handkerchief. It was, however, quite sufficient to damp my +hopes of a good fall. The flies are very numerous here and +troublesome. After watering my two horses I started away by myself for +the ranges out west. I went on our old tracks as far as they went, +then I visited some other hills on my line of march. As usual, the +country alternated between open stones at the foot of the hills and +dense scrubs beyond. I thought one of the beds of scrubs I got into +the densest I had ever seen, it was actually impenetrable without +cutting one's way, and I had to turn around and about in all +directions. I had the greatest difficulty to get the horse I was +leading to come on at all; I had no power over him whatever. I could +not use either a whip or a stick, and he dragged so much that he +nearly pulled me out of my saddle, so that I could hardly tell which +way I was going, and it was extremely difficult to keep anything like +a straight course. Night overtook me, and I had to encamp in the +scrubs, having travelled nearly forty miles. A few drops of rain fell; +it may have benefited the horses, but to me it was a nuisance. I was +up, off my sandy couch early enough, but had to wait for daylight +before I could get the horses; they had wandered away for miles back +towards the camp, and I had the same difficulties over again when +getting them back to where the saddles were. In seven or eight miles +after starting I got out of the scrubs. At the foot of the mountain +for which I was steering there was a little creek or gully, with some +eucalypts where I struck it. It was, as all the others had been, +scrubby, rocky, and dry. I left the horses and ascended to the top, +about 900 feet above the scrubs which surrounded it. The horizon was +broken by low ranges nearly all round, but scrubs as usual intervened +between them. I descended and walked into dozens of gullies and rocky +places, and I found some small holes and basins, but all were dry. At +this spot I was eighty miles from a sufficient supply of water; that +at the camp, forty-five miles away, may be gone by the time I return. +Under these circumstances I could not go any farther west. It was now +evening again. I left these desolate hills, the Ehrenberg Ranges of my +map, and travelled upon a different line, hoping to find a better or +less thick route through the scrubs, but it was just the same, and +altogether abominable. Night again overtook me in the direful scrubs, +not very far from the place at which I had slept the previous night; +the most of the day was wasted in an ineffectual search for water. + +On Sunday morning, the 29th September, having hobbled my horses so +short, although the scrubs were so thick, they were actually in sight +at dawn; I might as well have tied them up. Starting at once, I +travelled to one or two hills we had passed by, but had not inspected +before. I could find no water anywhere. It was late when I reached the +camp, and I was gladdened to find the party still there, and that the +water supply had held out so long. On the following morning, Monday, +the 30th of September, it was at a very low ebb; the trickling had +ceased in the upper holes, though it was still oozing into the lower +ones, so that it was absolutely necessary to pack up and be off from +this wretched place. It was an expedition in itself to get water for +the camp, from the rock basins above. The horses dreaded to approach +it on account of their tender feet. It required a lot of labour to get +sufficient firewood to boil a quart pot, for, although we were camped +in a dense thicket, the small wood of which it was composed was all +green, and useless for firewood. + +I intended to retreat from here to-day, but just as Robinson was +starting to find the horses a shower of rain came on, and hoping it +might end in a heavier fall, I decided to remain until to-morrow, to +give the rain a chance,--especially as, aided by the slight rain, the +horses could do without a drink, there now being only one drink +remaining, as the trickling had entirely ceased, though we yet had the +little holes full. The rain fell in a slight and gentle shower two or +three hours, but it left no trace of its fall, even upon the rocks, so +that our water supply was not increased by one pint. + +To-morrow I am off; it is useless to remain in a region such as this. +But where shall I go next? The creek I had last got water in, might +even now be dry. I determined to try and reach it farther down its +channel. If it existed beyond where I left it, I expected, in +twenty-five to thirty miles, in a southerly direction, to strike it +again: therefore, I decided to travel in that direction. A few +quandongs, or native peach trees, exist amongst these gullies; also a +tree that I only know by the name of the corkwood tree. ("Sesbania +grandiflora," Baron Mueller says, "North-Western Australia; to the +verge of the tropics; Indian Archipelago; called in Australia the +corkwood tree; valuable for various utilitarian purposes. The +red-flowered variety is grandly ornamented. Dr. Roxburgh recommends +the leaves and young pods as an exquisite spinach; the plant is shy of +frost.") The wood is soft, and light in weight and colour. It is by no +means a handsome tree. It grows about twenty feet high. Generally two +or three are huddled together, as though growing from one stem. Those +I saw were nearly all dead. They grow in the little water channels. +The ants here, as in nearly the whole of Tropical Australia, build +nests from four to six feet high--in some other parts I have known +them twenty--to escape, I suppose, from the torrents of rain that at +times fall in these regions: the height also protects their eggs and +stores from the fires the natives continually keep burning. This +burning, perhaps, accounts for the conspicuous absence of insects and +reptiles. One night, however, I certainly saw glowworms. These I have +only seen in one other region in Australia--near Geelong, in Victoria. +A tree called the native poplar (Codonocarpus cotinifolius) is also +found growing in the scrubs and water-channels of this part of the +country. The climate of this region appears very peculiar. Scarcely a +week passes without thunderstorms and rain; but the latter falls in +such small quantities that it is almost useless. It is evidently on +this account that there are no waters or watercourses deserving of the +name. I should like to know how much rain would have to fall here +before any could be discovered lying on the ground. All waters found +in this part of the country must be got out of pure sand, in a water +channel or pure rock. The native orange-tree grows here, but the +specimens I have met are very poor and stunted. The blood-wood-trees, +or red gum-trees, which always enliven any landscape where they are +found, also occur. They are not, however, the magnificent vegetable +structures which are known in Queensland and Western Australia, but +are mostly gnarled and stunted. They also grow near the watercourses. + +The 1st October broke bright and clear, and I was only too thankful to +get out of this horrible region and this frightful encampment, into +which the fates had drawn me, alive. When the horses arrived, there +was only just enough water for all to drink; but one mare was away, +and Robinson said she had foaled. The foal was too young to walk or +move; the dam was extremely poor, and had been losing condition for +some time previously; so Robinson went back, killed the foal, and +brought up the mare. Now there was not sufficient water to satisfy her +when she did come. Mr. Carmichael and I packed up the horses, while +Robinson was away upon his unpleasant mission. When he brought her up, +the mare looked the picture of misery. At last I turned my back upon +this wretched camp and region; and we went away to the south. It was +half-past two o'clock when we got clear from our prison. + +It is almost a work of supererogation to make many further remarks on +the character of this region--I mean, of course, since we left the +Finke. I might, at a word, condemn it as a useless desert. I will, +however, scarcely use so sweeping a term. I can truly say it is dry, +stony, scrubby, and barren, and this in my former remarks any one who +runs can read. I saw very few living creatures, but it is occasionally +visited by its native owners, to whom I do not grudge the possession +of it. Occasionally the howls of the native dog (Canis familiaris)--or +dingo as he is usually called--were heard, and their footprints in +sandy places seen. A small species of kangaroo, known as the scrub +wallaby, were sometimes seen, and startled from their pursuit of +nibbling at the roots of plants, upon which they exist; but the scrubs +being so dense, and their movements so rapid, it was utterly +impossible to get a shot at them. Their greatest enemy--besides the +wild black man and the dingo--is the large eagle-hawk, which, though +flying at an enormous height, is always on the watch; but it is only +when the wallaby lets itself out, on to the stony open, that the enemy +can swoop down upon it. The eagle trusses it with his talons, smashes +its head with its beak to quiet it, and, finally, if a female, flies +away with the victim to its nest for food for its young, or if a male +bird, to some lonely rock or secluded tarn, to gorge its fill alone. I +have frequently seen these eagles swoop on to one, and, while +struggling with its prey, have galloped up and secured it myself, +before the dazed wallaby could collect its senses. Other birds of +prey, such as sparrow-hawks, owls, and mopokes (a kind of owl), +inhabit this region, but they are not numerous. Dull-coloured, small +birds, that exist entirely without water, are found in the scrubs; and +in the mornings they are sometimes noisy, but not melodious, when +there is a likelihood of rain; and the smallest of Australian +ornithology, the diamond bird (Amadina) of Gould, is met with at +almost every watering place. Reptiles and insects, as I have said, are +scarce, on account of the continual fires the natives use in their +perpetual hunt for food. + + +CHAPTER 1.5. FROM 1ST TO 15TH OCTOBER, 1872. + +A bluff hill. +Quandong trees. +The mulga tree. +Travel South-south-east. +Mare left behind. +Native peaches. +Short of water. +Large tree. +Timbered ridges. +Horses suffer from thirst. +Pine-trees. +Native encampments. +Native paintings in caves. +Peculiar crevice. +A rock tarn. +A liquid prize. +Caverns and caves. +A pretty oasis. +Ripe figs. +Recover the mare. +Thunder and lightning. +Ornamented caves. +Hands of glory. +A snake in a hole. +Heavy dew. +Natives burning the country. +A rocky eminence. +Waterless region. +Cheerless view. +A race of Salamanders. +Circles of fire. +Wallaby and pigeons. +Wallaby traps. +Return to depot. +Water diminishing. +Glen Edith. +Mark trees. +The tarn of Auber. +Landmarks to it. +Seeds sown. +Everything in miniature. +Journey south. +Desert oaks. +A better region. +Kangaroos and emus. +Desert again. +A creek channel. +Water by scratching. +Find more. +Splendid grass. +Native signs. +Farther south. +Beautiful green. +Abundance of water. +Follow the channel. +Laurie's Creek. +Vale of Tempe. +A gap or pass. +Without water. +Well-grassed plain. +Native well. +Dry rock holes. +Natives' fires. +New ranges. +High mountain. +Return to creek. +And Glen Edith. +Description of it. + +On starting from Mount Udor, on the 1st October, our road lay at first +over rocks and stones, then for two or three miles through thick +scrubs. The country afterwards became a trifle less scrubby, and +consisted of sandhills, timbered with casuarina, and covered, as +usual, with triodia. In ten miles we passed a low bluff hill, and +camped near it, without any water. On the road we saw several quandong +trees, and got some of the ripe fruit. The day was warm and sultry; +but the night set in cool, if not cold. Mr. Carmichael went to the top +of the low bluff, and informed me of the existence of low ridges, +bounding the horizon in every direction except to the +south-south-east, and that the intervening country appeared to be +composed of sandhills, with casuarinas, or mulga scrubs. + +In Baron von Mueller's extraordinary work on Select Extra-tropical +Plants, with indications of their native countries, and some of their +uses, these remarks occur:--"Acacia aneura, Ferd. v. Mueller. Arid +desert--interior of extra tropic Australia. A tree never more than +twenty-five feet high. The principal 'mulga' tree. Mr. S. Dixon +praises it particularly as valuable for fodder of pasture animals; +hence it might locally serve for ensilage. Mr. W. Johnson found in the +foliage a considerable quantity of starch and gum, rendering it +nutritious. Cattle and sheep browse on the twigs of this, and some +allied species, even in the presence of plentiful grass; and are much +sustained by such acacias in seasons of protracted drought. +Dromedaries in Australia crave for the mulga as food. Wood excessively +hard, dark-brown; used, preferentially, by the natives for boomerangs, +sticks with which to lift edible roots, and shafts of phragmites, +spears, wommerahs, nulla-nullas, and jagged spear ends. Mr. J.H. +Maiden determined the percentage of mimosa tannic acid in the +perfectly dry bark as 8.62." The mulga bears a small woody fruit +called the mulga apple. It somewhat resembles the taste of apples, and +is sweet. If crab apples, as is said, were the originals of all the +present kinds, I imagine an excellent fruit might be obtained from the +mulga by cultivation. As this tree is necessarily so often mentioned +in my travels, the remarks of so eminent a botanist upon it cannot be +otherwise than welcome. + +In the direction of south-south-east Mr. Carmichael said the country +appeared most open. A yellow flower, of the immortelle species, which +I picked at this little bluff, was an old Darling acquaintance; the +vegetation, in many respects, resembles that of the River Darling. +There was no water at this bluff, and the horses wandered all over the +country during the night, in mobs of twos and threes. It was midday +before we got away. For several hours we kept on south-south-east, +over sandhills and through casuarina timber, in unvarying monotony. At +about five o'clock the little mare that had foaled yesterday gave in, +and would travel no farther. We were obliged to leave her amongst the +sandhills. + +We continued until we had travelled forty miles from Mount Udor, but +no signs of a creek or any place likely to produce or hold water had +been found. The only difference in the country was that it was now +more open, though the spinifex was as lively as ever. + +We passed several quandong trees in full fruit, of which we ate a +great quantity; they were the most palatable, and sweetest I have ever +eaten. We also passed a few Currajong-trees (Brachychiton). At this +point we turned nearly east. It was, however, now past sundown, too +dark to go on any farther, and we had again to encamp without water, +our own small supply being so limited that we could have only a third +of a pint each, and we could not eat anything in consequence. The +horses had to be very short-hobbled to prevent their straying, and we +passed the night under the umbrage of a colossal Currajong-tree. The +unfortunate horses had now been two days and nights without water, and +could not feed; being so short-hobbled, they were almost in sight of +the camp in the morning. From the top of a sandhill I saw that the +eastern horizon was bounded by timbered ridges, and it was not very +probable that the creek I was searching for could lie between us and +them. Indeed, I concluded that the creek had exhausted itself, not far +from where we had left it. The western horizon was now bounded by low +ridges, continuous for many miles. I decided to make for our last camp +on the creek, distant some five-and-twenty miles north-east. At five +miles after starting, we came upon a mass of eucalypts which were not +exactly gum-trees, though of that family, and I thought this might be +the end of the exhausted creek channel, only the timber grew +promiscuously on the tops of the sandhills, as in the lower ground +between them. There was no appearance of any flow of water ever having +passed by these trees, and indeed they looked more like gigantic +mallee-trees than gums, only that they grew separately. They covered a +space of about half a mile wide. From here I saw that some ridges were +right before me, at a short distance, but where our line of march +would intersect them they seemed so scrubby and stony I wished to +avoid them. At one point I discerned a notch or gap. The horses were +now very troublesome to drive, the poor creatures being very bad with +thirst. I turned on the bearing that would take me back to the old +creek, which seemed the only spot in this desolate region where water +could be found, and there we had to dig to get it. At one place on the +ridges before us appeared a few pine-trees (Callitris) which enliven +any region they inhabit, and there is usually water in their +neighbourhood. The rocks from which the pines grew were much broken; +they were yet, however, five or six miles away. We travelled directly +towards them, and upon approaching, I found the rocks upheaved in a +most singular manner, and a few gum-trees were visible at the foot of +the ridge. I directed Carmichael and Robinson to avoid the stones as +much as possible, while I rode over to see whether there was a creek +or any other place where water might be procured. On approaching the +rocks at the foot of the ridge, I found several enormous overhanging +ledges of sandstone, under which the natives had evidently been +encamped long and frequently; and there was the channel of a small +watercourse scarcely more than six feet wide. I rode over to another +overhanging ledge and found it formed a verandah wide enough to make a +large cave; upon the walls of this, the natives had painted strange +devices of snakes, principally in white; the children had scratched +imperfect shapes of hands with bits of charcoal. The whole length of +this cave had frequently been a large encampment. Looking about with +some hopes of finding the place where these children of the wilderness +obtained water, I espied about a hundred yards away, and on the +opposite side of the little glen or valley, a very peculiar looking +crevice between two huge blocks of sandstone, and apparently not more +than a yard wide. I rode over to this spot, and to my great delight +found a most excellent little rock tarn, of nearly an oblong shape, +containing a most welcome and opportune supply of the fluid I was so +anxious to discover. Some green slime rested on a portion of the +surface, but the rest was all clear and pure water. My horse must have +thought me mad, and any one who had seen me might have thought I had +suddenly espied some basilisk, or cockatrice, or mailed saurian; for +just as the horse was preparing to dip his nose in the water he so +greatly wanted, I turned him away and made him gallop off after his +and my companions, who were slowly passing away from this liquid +prize. When I hailed, and overtook them, they could scarcely believe +that our wants were to be so soon and so agreeably relieved. There was +abundance of water for all our requirements here, but the approach was +so narrow that only two horses could drink at one time, and we had +great difficulty in preventing some of the horses from precipitating +themselves, loads and all, into the inviting fluid. No one who has not +experienced it, can imagine the pleasure which the finding of such a +treasure confers on the thirsty, hungry, and weary traveller; all his +troubles for the time are at an end. Thirst, that dire affliction that +besets the wanderer in the Australian wilds, at last is quenched; his +horses, unloaded, are allowed to roam and graze and drink at will, +free from the encumbrance of hobbles, and the traveller's other +appetite of hunger is also at length appeased, for no matter what food +one may carry, it is impossible to eat it without water. This was +truly a mental and bodily relief. After our hunger had been satisfied +I took a more extended survey of our surroundings, and found that we +had dropped into a really very pretty little spot. + +Low sandstone hills, broken and split into most extraordinary shapes, +forming huge caves and caverns, that once no doubt had been some of +the cavernous depths of the ocean, were to be seen in every direction; +little runnels, with a few gum-trees upon them, constituted the +creeks. Callitris or cypress pines, ornamented the landscape, and a +few blood-wood or red gum-trees also enlivened the scene. No +porcupine, but real green grass made up a really pretty picture, to +the explorer at least. This little spot is indeed an oasis. I had +climbed high hills, traversed untold miles of scrub, and gone in all +directions to try and pick up the channel of a wretched dry creek, +when all of a sudden I stumbled upon a perfect little paradise. I +found the dimensions of this little tarn are not very large, nor is +the quantity of water in it very great, but untouched and in its +native state it is certainly a permanent water for its native owners. +It has probably not been filled since last January or February, and it +now contains amply sufficient water to enable it to last until those +months return, provided that no such enormous drinkers as horses draw +upon it; in that case it might not last a month. I found the actual +water was fifty feet long, by eight feet wide, and four feet deep; the +rocks in which the water lies are more than twenty feet high. The main +ridges at the back are between 200 and 300 feet high. The native +fig-tree (Ficus orbicularis) grows here most luxuriantly; there are +several of them in full fruit, which is delicious when thoroughly +ripe. I had no thought of deserting this welcome little spot for a few +days. On the following morning Mr. Carmichael and I loaded a +pack-horse with water and started back into the scrub to where we left +the little mare the day before yesterday. With protractor and paper I +found the spot we left her at bore from this place south 70 degrees +west, and that she was now no more than thirteen or fourteen miles +away, though we had travelled double the distance since we left her. +We therefore travelled upon that bearing, and at thirteen and a half +miles we cut our former track at about a quarter of a mile from where +we left the mare. We soon picked up her track and found she had +wandered about a mile, although hobbled, from where we left her. We +saw her standing, with her head down, under an oak tree truly +distressed. The poor little creature was the picture of misery, her +milk was entirely gone--she was alive, and that was all that could be +said of her. She swallowed up the water we brought with the greatest +avidity; and I believe could have drank as much as a couple of camels +could have carried to her. We let her try to feed for a bit with the +other three horses, and then started back for the tarn. On this line +we did not intersect any of the eucalyptus timber we had passed +through yesterday. The mare held up very well until we were close to +the camp, when she gave in again; but we had to somewhat severely +persuade her to keep moving, and at last she had her reward by being +left standing upon the brink of the water, where she was [like Cyrus +when Queen Thomeris had his head cut off into a receptacle filled with +blood] enabled to drink her fill. + +In the night heavy storm-clouds gathered o'er us, and vivid lightnings +played around the rocks near the camp: a storm came up and seemed to +part in two, one half going north and the other south; but just before +daybreak we were awakened by a crash of thunder that seemed to split +the hills; and we heard the wrack as though the earth and sky would +mingle; but only a few drops of rain fell, too little to leave any +water, even on the surface of the flat rocks close to the camp. This +is certainly an extraordinary climate. I do not believe a week ever +passes without a shower of rain, but none falls to do any good: one +good fallen in three or even six months, beginning now, would be +infinitely more gratifying, to me at least; but I suppose I must take +it as I find it. The rain that does fall certainly cools the +atmosphere a little, which is a partial benefit. + +I found several more caves to-day up in the rocks, and noticed that +the natives here have precisely the same method of ornamenting them as +the natives of the Barrier Range and mountains east of the Darling. +You see the representation of the human hand here, as there, upon the +walls of the caves: it is generally coloured either red or black. The +drawing is done by filling the mouth with charcoal powder if the +device is to be black, if red with red ochre powder, damping the wall +where the mark is to be left, and placing the palm of the hand against +it, with the fingers stretched out; the charcoal or ochre powder is +then blown against the back of the hand; when it is withdrawn, it +leaves the space occupied by the hand and fingers clean, while the +surrounding portions of the wall are all black or red, as the case may +be. One device represents a snake going into a hole: the hole is +actually in the rock, while the snake is painted on the wall, and the +spectator is to suppose that its head is just inside the hole; the +body of the reptile is curled round and round the hole, though its +breadth is out of all proportion to its length, being seven or eight +inches thick, and only two or three feet long. It is painted with +charcoal ashes which had been mixed up with some animal's or reptile's +fat. Mr. Carmichael left upon the walls a few choice specimens of the +white man's art, which will help, no doubt, to teach the young native +idea, how to shoot either in one direction or another. + +To-day it rained in light and fitful shallows, which, as usual, were +of no use, except indeed to cause a heavy dew which wet all our +blankets and things, for we always camp without tent or tarpaulin +whenever it does not actually rain. The solar beams of morning soon +evaporated the dew. To the west-south-west the natives were hunting, +and as usual burning the spinifex before them. They do not seem to +care much for our company; for ever since we left the Glen of Palms, +the cave-dwelling, reptile-eating Troglodytes have left us severely +alone. As there was a continuous ridge for miles to the westward, I +determined to visit it; for though this little tarn, that I had so +opportunely found, was a most valuable discovery, yet the number of +horses I had were somewhat rapidly reducing the water supply, and I +could plainly perceive that, with such a strain upon it, it could not +last much more than a month, if that; I must therefore endeavour to +find some other watered place, where next I may remove. + +On the morning of the 7th October it was evident a warm day was +approaching. Mr. Carmichael and I started away to a small rocky +eminence, which bore a great resemblance to the rocks immediately +behind this camp, and in consequence we hoped to find more water +there. The rocks bore south 62 degrees west from camp; we travelled +over sandhills, through scrub, triodia, and some casuarina country, +until we reached the hill in twenty miles. It was composed of broken +red sandstone rock, being isolated from the main ridge; other similar +heaps were in the vicinity. + +We soon discovered that there was neither water nor any place to hold +it. Having searched all about, we went away to some other ridges, with +exactly the same result; and at dark we had to encamp in the scrubs, +having travelled forty miles on fifty courses. The thermometer had +stood at 91 degrees in the shade, where we rested the horses in the +middle of the day. Natives' smokes were seen mostly round the base of +some other ridges to the south-east, which I determined to visit +to-morrow; as the fires were there, natives must or should be also; +and as they require water to exist, we might find their hidden +springs. It seemed evident that only in the hills or rocky reservoirs +water could be found. + +We slept under the shadow of a hill, and mounted to its top in the +morning. The view was anything but cheering; ridges, like islands in a +sea of scrub, appeared in connection with this one; some distance away +another rose to the south-east. We first searched those near us, and +left them in disgust, for those farther away. At eight or nine miles +we reached the latter, and another fruitless search was gone through. +We then went to another and another, walking over the stones and +riding through the scrubs. We found some large rocky places, where +water might remain for many weeks, after being filled; but when such +an occurrence ever had taken place, or ever would take place again, it +was impossible to tell. We had wandered into and over such frightful +rocky and ungodly places, that it appeared useless to search farther +in such a region, as it seemed utterly impossible for water to exist +in it all. Nevertheless, the natives were about, burning, burning, +ever burning; one would think they were of the fabled salamander race, +and lived on fire instead of water. The fires were starting up here +and there around us in fresh and narrowing circles; it seems as though +the natives can only get water from the hollow spouts of some trees +and from the roots of others, for on the surface of the earth there is +none. We saw a few rock wallaby, a different variety to the scrub or +open sandhill kinds. Bronze-winged pigeons also were occasionally +startled as we wandered about the rocks; these birds must have water, +but they never drink except at sundown, and occasionally just before +sunrise, then they fly so swiftly, with unerring precision, on their +filmy wings, to the place they know so well will supply them; and +thirty, forty, or fifty miles of wretched scrub, that would take a +poor human being and his horse a whole day to accomplish, are passed +over with the quickness of thought. The birds we flushed up would +probably dart across the scrubs to the oasis we had so recently found. +Our horses were getting bad and thirsty; the day was warm; 92 degrees +in the shade, in thirst and wretchedness, is hot enough, for any poor +animal or man either. But man enters these desolate regions to please +himself or satisfy his desire for ambition to win for himself--what? a +medal, a record, a name? Well, yes, dear reader, these may enter into +his thoughts as parts of a tangible recognition of his labours; but a +nobler idea also actuates him--either to find, for the benefit of +those who come after him, some beauteous spots where they may dwell; +or if these regions can't supply them, of deserts only can he tell; +but the unfortunate lower is forced into such frightful privations to +please the higher animals. We now turned up towards the north-west, +amongst scrubs, sandhills, and more stony ridges, where another +fruitless search ended as before. Now to the east of us rose a more +continuous ridge, which we followed under its (base) foot, hoping +against hope to meet some creek or gully with water. Gullies we saw, +but neither creeks or water. We continued on this line till we struck +our outgoing track, and as it was again night, we encamped without +water. We had travelled in a triangle. To-day's march was forty-three +miles, and we were yet twenty-nine from the tarn--apparently the only +water existing in this extraordinary and terrible region. + +In one or two places to-day, passing through some of the burning +scrubs and spinifex, we had noticed the fresh footprints of several +natives. Of course they saw us, but they most perseveringly shunned +us, considering us probably far too low a type of animal for their +society. We also saw to-day dilapidated old yards, where they had +formerly yarded emu or wallaby, though we saw none of their wurleys, +or mymys, or gunyahs, or whatever name suits best. The above are all +names of the same thing, of tribes of natives, of different parts of +the Continent--as Lubra, Gin, Nungo, etc., are for woman. No doubt +these natives carry water in wallaby or other animals' skins during +their burning hunts, for they travel great distances in a day, walking +and burning, and picking up everything alive or roasted as they go, +and bring the game into the general camp at night. We passed through +three different lines of conflagrations to-day. I only wish I could +catch a native, or a dozen, or a thousand; it would be better to die +or conquer in a pitched battle for water, than be for ever fighting +these direful scrubs and getting none. The following morning the poor +horses looked wretched in the extreme; to remain long in such a region +without water is very severe upon them; it is a wonder they are able +to carry us so well. From this desert camp our depot bore north 40 +degrees east. The horses were so exhausted that, though we started +early enough, it was late in the afternoon when we had accomplished +the twenty-nine or thirty miles that brought us at last to the tarn. +Altogether they had travelled 120 miles without a drink. The water in +the tarn had evidently shrunk. The day was warm--thermometer 92 +degrees in shadiest place at the depot. A rest after the fatigue of +the last few days was absolutely necessary before we made a fresh +attempt in some new locality. + +(ILLUSTRATION: GLEN EDITH.) + +It is only partly a day's rest--for I, at least, have plenty to do; +but it is a respite, and we can drink our fill of water. And oh! what +a pleasure, what a luxury that is! How few in civilisation will drink +water when they can get anything else. Let them try going without, in +the explorer's sense of the expression, and then see how they will +long for it! The figs on the largest tree, near the cave opposite, are +quite ripe and falling; neither Carmichael nor Robinson care for them, +but I eat a good many, though I fancy they are not quite wholesome for +a white man's digestive organs; at first, they act as an aperient, but +subsequently have an opposite effect. I called this charming little +oasis Glen Edith, after one of my nieces. I marked two gum-trees at +this camp, one "Giles 24", and another "Glen Edith 24 Oct 9, 72". Mr. +Carmichael and Robinson also marked one with their names. The +receptacle in which I found the water I have called the Tarn of Auber, +after Allan Poe's beautiful lines, in which that name appears, as I +thought them appropriate to the spot. He says:-- + + "It was in the drear month of October, + The leaves were all crisped and sere, + Adown by the Tarn of Auber, + In the misty mid regions of Weir." + +If these are not the misty mid regions of Weir, I don't know where +they are. There are two heaps of broken sandstone rocks, with cypress +pines growing about them, which will always be a landmark for any +future traveller who may seek the wild seclusion of these sequestered +caves. The bearing of the water from them is south 51 degrees west, +and it is about a mile on that bearing from the northern heap; that +with a glance at my map would enable any ordinary bushman to find it. +I sowed a quantity of vegetable seeds here, also seeds of the +Tasmanian blue gum-tree, some wattles and clover, rye and +prairie-grass. In the bright gleams of the morning, in this Austral +land of dawning, it was beautiful to survey this little spot; +everything seemed in miniature here--little hills, little glen, little +trees, little tarn, and little water. Though the early mornings were +cool and pleasant, the days usually turned out just the opposite. On +the 11th Mr. Carmichael and I got fresh horses, and I determined to +try the country more to the south, and leaving Alec Robinson and the +little dog Monkey again in charge of glen, and camp, and tarn, away we +went in that direction. At first we travelled over sandhills, timbered +with the fine Casuarina decaisneana, or desert oak; we then met some +eucalyptus-trees growing promiscuously on the tops of the sandhills, +as well as in the hollows. At twelve miles we rode over a low ridge; +the country in advance appeared no more inviting than that already +travelled. Descending to the lower ground, however, we entered upon a +bit of better country, covered with green grass, there was also some +thick mulga scrub upon it. Here we saw a few kangaroos and emus, but +could not get a shot at them. Beyond this we entered timbered country +again, the desert oak being quite a desert sign. In a few miles +farther another ridge fronted us, and a trifle on our left lay a +hollow, or valley, which seemed to offer the best road, but we had to +ride through some very scrubby gullies, stony, and covered with +spinifex. It eventually formed the valley of a small creek, which soon +had a few gum-trees on it. After following this about four miles, we +saw a place where the sand was damp, and got some water by scratching +with our hands. The supply was insufficient, and we went farther down +and found a small hole with just enough for our three horses, and now, +having found a little, we immediately wanted to find a great deal +more. At twenty-six miles from the tarn we found a place where the +natives had dug, and there seemed a good supply, so we camped there +for the night. The grass along this creek was magnificent, being about +eight inches high and beautifully green, the old grass having been +burnt some time ago. It was a most refreshing sight to our +triodia-accustomed eyes; at twelve o'clock the thermometer stood at 94 +degrees in the shade. The trend of this little creek, and the valley +in which it exists, is to the south-east. Having found water here, we +were prepared to find numerous traces of natives, and soon saw old +camps and wurleys, and some recent footmarks. I was exceedingly +gratified to find this water, as I hoped it would eventually enable me +to get out of the wretched bed of sand and scrub into which we had +been forced since leaving the Finke, and which evidently occupies such +an enormous extent of territory. Our horses fed all night close at +hand, and we were in our saddles early enough. I wanted to go west, +and the further west the better; but we decided to follow the creek +and see what became of it, and if any more waters existed in it. We +found that it meandered through a piece of open plain, splendidly +grassed, and delightful to gaze upon. How beautiful is the colour of +green! What other colour could even Nature have chosen with which to +embellish the face of the earth? How, indeed, would red, or blue, or +yellow pall upon the eye! But green, emerald green, is the loveliest +of all Nature's hues. The soil of this plain was good and firm. The +creek had now worn a deep channel, and in three miles from where we +camped we came upon the top of a high red bank, with a very nice +little water-hole underneath. There was abundance of water for 100 or +200 horses for a month or two, and plenty more in the sand below. +Three other ponds were met lower down, and I believe water can always +be got by digging. We followed the creek for a mile or two farther, +and found that it soon became exhausted, as casuarina and triodia +sandhills environed the little plain, and after the short course of +scarcely ten miles, the little creek became swallowed up by those +water-devouring monsters. This was named Laurie's Creek. + +There was from 6000 to 10,000 acres of fine grass land in this little +plain, and it was such a change from the sterile, triodia, and sandy +country outside it, I could not resist calling it the Vale of Tempe. +We left the exhausted creek, and in ten miles from our camp we entered +on and descended into another valley, which was open, but had no signs +of any water. From a hill I saw some ridges stretching away to the +south and south-west, and to the west also appeared broken ridges. I +decided to travel about south-west, as it appeared the least stony. In +eight miles we had met the usual country. At eighteen we turned the +horses out for an hour on a burnt patch, during which the thermometer +stood at 94 degrees in the shade; we then left for some ridges through +a small gap or pass between two hills, which formed into a small +creek-channel. As it was now dark, we camped near the pass, without +water, having travelled thirty-five miles. In the morning we found the +country in front of us to consist of a small well grassed plain, which +was as green, as at the last camp. The horses rambled in search of +water up into a small gully, which joins this one; it had a few +gum-trees on it. We saw a place where the natives had dug for water, +but not very recently. We scratched out a lot of sand with our hands, +and some water percolated through, but the hole was too deep to get +any out for the horses, as we had no means of removing the sand, +having no shovel. Upon searching farther up the gully we found some +good-sized rock-holes, but unfortunately they were all dry. We next +ascended a hill to view the surrounding country, and endeavour to +discover if there was any feature in any direction to induce us to +visit, and where we might find a fresh supply of water. There were +several fires raging in various directions upon the southern horizon, +and the whole atmosphere was thick with a smoky haze. After a long and +anxious scrutiny through the smoke far, very far away, a little to the +west of south, I descried the outline of a range of hills, and right +in the smoke of one fire an exceedingly high and abruptly-ending +mountain loomed. To the south east-wards other ranges appeared; they +seemed to lie nearly north and south. + +The high mountain was very remote; it must be at least seventy or +seventy-five miles away, with nothing apparently between but a country +similar to that immediately before and behind us; that is to say, +sandhills and scrub. I was, however, delighted to perceive any feature +for which to make as a medium point, and which might help to change +the character and monotony of the country over which I have been +wandering so long. I thought it not improbable that some extensive +watercourses may proceed from these new ranges which might lead me at +last away to the west. For the present, not being able to get water at +this little glen, although I believe a supply can be obtained with a +shovel, I decided to return to the tarn at Glen Edith, which was now +fifty-five miles away, remove the camp to the newly-found creek at the +Vale of Tempe, and then return here, open out this watering place with +a shovel, and make a straight line for the newly-discovered high +mountain to the south. By the time these conclusions had been arrived +at, and our wanderings about the rocks completed, it was nearly +midday; and as we had thirty-five miles to travel to get back to the +creek, it took us all the remainder of the day to do so; and it was +late when we again encamped upon its friendly banks. The thermometer +to-day had stood at 96 degrees. We now had our former tracks to return +upon to the tarn. The morning was cool and pleasant, and we arrived at +the depot early. Alec Robinson informed me that he believed some +natives had been prowling about the camp in our absence, as the little +dog had been greatly perturbed during two of the nights we were away. +It was very possible that some natives had come to the tarn for water, +as well as to spy out who and what and how many vile and wicked +intruders had found their way into this secluded spot; but as they +must have walked about on the rocks they left no traces of their +visit. + +OCTOBER 15TH. + +This morning's meal was to be the last we should make at our friendly +little tarn, whose opportune waters, ripe figs, miniature mountains, +and imitation fortresses, will long linger in my recollection. +Opposite the rocks in which the water lies, and opposite the camp +also, is a series of small fort-like stony eminences, standing apart; +these form one side of the glen; the other is formed by the rocks at +the base of the main ridge, where the camp and water are situated. +This really was a most delightful little spot, though it certainly had +one great nuisance, which is almost inseparable from pine-trees, +namely ants. These horrid pests used to crawl into and over everything +and everybody, by night as well as by day. The horses took their last +drink at the little sweet-watered tarn, and we moved away for our new +home to the south. + + +CHAPTER 1.6. FROM 15TH OCTOBER, 1872 TO 31ST JANUARY, 1873. + +Move the camp to new creek. +Revisit the pass. +Hornets and diamond birds. +More ornamented caves. +Map study. +Start for the mountain. +A salt lake. +A barrier. +Brine ponds. +Horses nearly lost. +Exhausted horses. +Follow the lake. +A prospect wild and weird. +Mount Olga. +Sleepless animals. +A day's rest. +A National Gallery. +Signal for natives. +The lake again. +High hill westward. +Mount Unapproachable. +McNicol's range. +Heat increasing. +Sufferings and dejection of the horses. +Worrill's Pass. +Glen Thirsty. +Food all gone. +Review of our situation. +Horse staked. +Pleasure of a bath. +A journey eastward. +Better regions. +A fine creek. +Fine open country. +King's Creek. +Carmichael's Crag. +Penny's Creek. +Stokes's Creek. +A swim. +Bagot's Creek. +Termination of the range. +Trickett's Creek. +George Gill's range. +Petermann's Creek. +Return. +Two natives. +A host of aborigines. +Break up the depot. +Improvement in the horses. +Carmichael's resolve. +Levi's Range. +Follow the Petermann. +Enter a glen. +Up a tree. +Rapid retreat. +Escape glen. +A new creek. +Fall over a bank. +Middleton's Pass. +Good country. +Friendly natives. +Rogers's Pass. +Seymour's Range. +A fenced-in water-hole. +Briscoe's Pass. +The Finke. +Resight the pillar. +Remarks on the Finke. +Reach the telegraph line. +Native boys. +I buy one. +The Charlotte Waters. +Colonel Warburton. +Arrive at the Peake. +News of Dick. +Reach Adelaide. + +It was late in the day when we left Glen Edith, and consequently very +much later by the time we had unpacked all the horses at the end of +our twenty-nine mile stage; it was then too dark to reach the lower or +best water-holes. To-day there was an uncommon reversal of the usual +order in the weather--the early part of the day being hot and sultry, +but towards evening the sky became overcast and cloudy, and the +evening set in cold and windy. Next morning we found that one horse +had staked himself in the coronet very severely, and that he was quite +lame. I got some mulga wood out of the wound, but am afraid there is +much still remaining. This wood, used by the natives for spear-heads, +contains a virulent poisonous property, and a spear or stake wound +with it is very dangerous. The little mare that foaled at Mount Udor, +and was such an object of commiseration, has picked up wonderfully, +and is now in good working condition. I have another mare, Marzetti, +soon to foal; but as she is fat, I do not anticipate having to destroy +her progeny. We did not move the camp to-day. Numbers of bronze-winged +pigeons came to drink, and we shot several of them. The following day +Mr. Carmichael and I again mounted our horses, taking with us a week's +supply of rations, and started off intending to visit the high +mountain seen at our last farthest point. We left Alec Robinson again +in charge of the camp, as he had now got quite used to it, and said he +liked it. He always had my little dog Monkey for a companion. When +travelling through the spinifex we carried the little animal. He is an +excellent watchdog, and not a bird can come near the camp without his +giving warning. Alec had plenty of firearms and ammunition to defend +himself with, in case of an attack from the natives. This, however, I +did not anticipate; indeed, I wished they would come (in a friendly +way), and had instructed Alec to endeavour to detain one or two of +them until my return if they should chance to approach. Alec was a +very strange, indeed disagreeable and sometimes uncivil, sort of man; +he had found our travels so different from his preconceived ideas, as +he thought he was going on a picnic, and he often grumbled and +declared he would like to go back again. However, to remain at the +camp, with nothing whatever to do and plenty to eat, admirably suited +him, and I felt no compunction in leaving him by himself. I would not +have asked him to remain if I were in any way alarmed at his position. + +We travelled now by a slightly different route, more easterly, as +there were other ridges in that direction, and we might find another +and better watering place than that at the pass. It is only at or near +ridges in this strange region that the traveller can expect to find +water, as in the sandy beds of scrub intervening between them, water +would simply sink away. We passed through some very thick mulga, +which, being mostly dead, ripped our pack-bags, clothes, and skin, as +we had continually to push the persistent boughs and branches aside to +penetrate it. We reached a hill in twenty miles, and saw at a glance +that no favourable signs of obtaining water existed, for it was merely +a pile of loose stones or rocks standing up above the scrubs around. +The view was desolate in the extreme; we had now come thirty miles, +but we pushed on ten miles for another hill, to the south-east, and +after penetrating the usual scrub, we reached its base in the dark, +and camped. In the morning I climbed the hill, but no water could be +seen or procured. This hill was rugged with broken granite boulders, +scrubby with mulga and bushes, and covered with triodia to its summit. +To the south a vague and strange horizon was visible; it appeared +flat, as though a plain of great extent existed there, but as the +mirage played upon it, I could not make anything of it. My old friend +the high mountain loomed large and abrupt at a great distance off, and +it bore 8 degrees 30' west from here, too great a distance for us to +proceed to it at once, without first getting water for our horses, as +it was possible that no water might exist even in the neighbourhood of +such a considerable mountain. The horses rambled in the night; when +they were found we started away for the little pass and glen where we +knew water was to be got, and which was now some thirty miles away to +the west-north-west. We reached it somewhat late. The day was hot, +thermometer 98 degrees in shade, and the horses very thirsty, but they +could get no water until we had dug a place for them. Although we had +reached our camping ground our day's work was only about to commence. +We were not long in obtaining enough water for ourselves, such as it +was--thick and dirty with a nauseous flavour--but first we had to tie +the horses up, to prevent them jumping in on us. We found to our grief +that but a poor supply was to be expected, and though we had not to +dig very deep, yet we had to remove an enormous quantity of sand, so +as to create a sufficient surface to get water to run in, and had to +dig a tank twenty feet long by six feet deep, and six feet wide at the +bottom, though at the top it was much wider. I may remark--and what I +now say applies to almost every other water I ever got by digging in +all my wanderings--that whenever we commenced to dig, a swarm of large +and small red hornets immediately came around us, and, generally +speaking, diamond birds (Amadina) would also come and twitter near, +and when water was got, would drink in great numbers. With regard to +the hornets, though they swarmed round our heads and faces in clouds, +no one was ever stung by them, nature and instinct informing them that +we were their friends. We worked and waited for two hours before one +of our three horses could obtain a drink. The water came so slowly in +that it took nearly all the night before the last animal's thirst was +assuaged, as by the time the third got a drink, the first was ready to +begin again, and they kept returning all through the night. We rested +our horses here to-day to allow them to fill themselves with food, as +no doubt they will require all the support they can get to sustain +them in their work before we reach the distant mountain. We passed the +day in enlarging the tank, and were glad to find that, though no +increase in the supply of water was observable, still there seemed no +diminution, as now a horse could fill himself at one spell. We took a +stroll up into the rocks and gullies of the ridges, and found a +Troglodytes' cave ornamented with the choicest specimens of aboriginal +art. The rude figures of snakes were the principal objects, but hands, +and devices for shields were also conspicuous. One hieroglyph was most +striking; it consisted of two Roman numerals--a V and an I, placed +together and representing the figure VI; they were both daubed over +with spots, and were painted with red ochre. Several large rock-holes +were seen, but they had all long lain dry. A few cypress pines grew +upon the rocks in several places. The day was decidedly hot; the +thermometer stood at 100 degrees in the shade at three o'clock, and we +had to fix up a cloth for an awning to get sufficient shade to sit +under. Our only intellectual occupation was the study of a small map +of Australia, showing the routes of the Australian explorers. How +often we noted the facility with which other and more fortunate +travellers dropped upon fine creeks and large rivers. We could only +envy them their good fortune, and hope the future had some prizes in +store for us also. The next morning, after taking three hours to water +our horses, we started on the bearing of the high mount, which could +not be seen from the low ground, the bearing being south 18 degrees +west. We got clear of the low hills of the glen, and almost +immediately entered thick scrubs, varied by high sandhills, with +casuarina and triodia on them. At twelve miles I noticed the sandhills +became denuded of timber, and on our right a small and apparently +grassy plain was visible; I took these signs as a favourable +indication of a change of country. At three miles farther we had a +white salt channel right in front of us, with some sheets of water in +it; upon approaching I found it a perfect bog, and the water brine +itself. We went round this channel to the left, and at length found a +place firm enough to cross. We continued upon our course, and on +ascending a high sandhill I found we had upon our right hand, and +stretching away to the west, an enormous salt expanse, and it appeared +as if we had hit exactly upon the eastern edge of it, at which we +rejoiced greatly for a time. Continuing on our course over treeless +sandhills for a mile or two, we found we had not escaped this feature +quite so easily, for it was now right in our road; it appeared, +however, to be bounded by sandhills a little more to the left, +eastwards; so we went in that direction, but at each succeeding mile +we saw more and more of this objectionable feature; it continually +pushed us farther and farther to the east, until, having travelled +about fifteen miles, and had it constantly on our right, it swept +round under some more sandhills which hid it from us, till it lay east +and west right athwart our path. It was most perplexing to me to be +thus confronted by such an obstacle. We walked a distance on its +surface, and to our weight it seemed firm enough, but the instant we +tried our horses they almost disappeared. The surface was dry and +encrusted with salt, but brine spurted out at every step the horses +took. We dug a well under a sandhill, but only obtained brine. + +This obstruction was apparently six or seven miles across, but whether +what we took for its opposite shores were islands or the main, I could +not determine. We saw several sandhill islands, some very high and +deeply red, to which the mirage gave the effect of their floating in +an ocean of water. Farther along the shore eastwards were several high +red sandhills; to these we went and dug another well and got more +brine. We could see the lake stretching away east or east-south-east +as far as the glasses could carry the vision. Here we made another +attempt to cross, but the horses were all floundering about in the +bottomless bed of this infernal lake before we could look round. I +made sure they would be swallowed up before our eyes. We were +powerless to help them, for we could not get near owing to the bog, +and we sank up over our knees, where the crust was broken, in hot salt +mud. All I could do was to crack my whip to prevent the horses from +ceasing to exert themselves, and although it was but a few moments +that they were in this danger, to me it seemed an eternity. They +staggered at last out of the quagmire, heads, backs, saddles, +everything covered with blue mud, their mouths were filled with salt +mud also, and they were completely exhausted when they reached firm +ground. We let them rest in the shade of some quandong trees, which +grew in great numbers round about here. From Mount Udor to the shores +of this lake the country had been continually falling. The northern +base of each ridge, as we travelled, seemed higher by many feet than +the southern, and I had hoped to come upon something better than this. +I thought such a continued fall of country might lead to a +considerable watercourse or freshwater basin; but this salt bog was +dreadful, the more especially as it prevented me reaching the mountain +which appeared so inviting beyond. + +Not seeing any possibility of pushing south, and thinking after all it +might not be so far round the lake to the west, I turned to where we +had struck the first salt channel, and resolved to try what a more +westerly line would produce. The channel in question was now some +fifteen miles away to the north-westward, and by the time we got back +there the day was done and "the darkness had fallen from the wings of +night." We had travelled nearly fifty miles, the horses were almost +dead; the thermometer stood at 100 degrees in the shade when we rested +under the quandongs. In the night blankets were unendurable. Had there +been any food for them the horses could not eat for thirst, and were +too much fatigued by yesterday's toil to go out of sight of our +camping place. We followed along the course of the lake north of west +for seven miles, when we were checked by a salt arm running +north-eastwards; this we could not cross until we had gone up it a +distance of three miles. Then we made for some low ridges lying +west-south-west and reached them in twelve miles. There was neither +watercourse, channel, nor rock-holes; we wandered for several miles +round the ridges, looking for water, but without success, and got back +on our morning's tracks when we had travelled thirty miles. From the +top of these ridges the lake could be seen stretching away to the west +or west-south-west in vast proportions, having several salt arms +running back from it at various distances. Very far to the west was +another ridge, but it was too distant for me to reach now, as to-night +the horses would have been two nights without water, and the +probability was they would get none there if they reached it. I +determined to visit it, however, but I felt I must first return to the +tank in the little glen to refresh the exhausted horses. From where we +are, the prospect is wild and weird, with the white bed of the great +lake sweeping nearly the whole southern horizon. The country near the +lake consists of open sandhills, thickly bushed and covered with +triodia; farther back grew casuarinas and mulga scrubs. + +It was long past the middle of the day when I descended from the hill. +We had no alternative but to return to the only spot where we knew +water was to be had; this was now distant twenty-one miles to the +north-east, so we departed in a straight line for it. I was heartily +annoyed at being baffled in my attempt to reach the mountain, which I +now thought more than ever would offer a route out of this terrible +region; but it seemed impossible to escape from it. I named this +eminence Mount Olga, and the great salt feature which obstructed me +Lake Amadeus, in honour of two enlightened royal patrons of science. +The horses were now exceedingly weak; the bogging of yesterday had +taken a great deal of strength out of them, and the heat of the last +two days had contributed to weaken them (the thermometer to-day went +up to 101 degrees in shade). They could now only travel slowly, so +that it was late at night when we reached the little tank. Fifty miles +over such disheartening country to-day has been almost too much for +the poor animals. In the tank there was only sufficient water for one +horse; the others had to be tied up and wait their turns to drink, and +the water percolated so slowly through the sand it was nearly midnight +before they were all satisfied and begun to feed. What wonderful +creatures horses are! They can work for two and three days and go +three nights without water, but they can go for ever without sleep; it +is true they do sleep, but equally true that they can go without +sleeping. If I took my choice of all creation for a beast to guard and +give me warning while I slept, I would select the horse, for he is the +most sleepless creature Nature has made. Horses seem to know this; for +if you should by chance catch one asleep he seems very indignant +either with you or himself. + +It was absolutely necessary to give our horses a day's rest, as they +looked so much out of sorts this morning. A quarter of the day was +spent in watering them, and by that time it was quite hot, and we had +to erect an awning for shade. We were overrun by ants, and pestered by +flies, so in self-defence we took another walk into the gullies, +revisited the aboriginal National Gallery of paintings and +hieroglyphics, and then returned to our shade and our ants. Again we +pored over the little German map, and again envied more prosperous +explorers. The thermometer had stood at 101 degrees in the shade, and +the greatest pleasure we experienced that day was to see the orb of +day descend. The atmosphere had been surcharged all day with smoke, +and haze hung over all the land, for the Autochthones were ever busy +at their hunting fires, especially upon the opposite side of the great +lake; but at night the blaze of nearer ones kept up a perpetual light, +and though the fires may have been miles away they appeared to be +quite close. I also had fallen into the custom of the country, and had +set fire to several extensive beds of triodia, which had burned with +unabated fury; so brilliant, indeed, was the illumination that I could +see to read by the light. I kindled these fires in hopes some of the +natives might come and interview us, but no doubt in such a poorly +watered region the native population cannot be great, and the few who +do inhabit it had evidently abandoned this particular portion of it +until rains should fall and enable them to hunt while water remained +in it. + +Last night, the 23rd October, was sultry, and blankets utterly +useless. The flies and ants were wide awake, and the only thing we +could congratulate ourselves upon, was the absence of mosquitoes. At +dawn the thermometer stood at 70 degrees and a warm breeze blew gently +from the north. The horses were found early, but as it took nearly +three hours to water them we did not leave the glen till past eight +o'clock. This time I intended to return to the ridges we had last +left, and which now bore a little to the west of south-west, +twenty-one miles away. We made a detour so as to inspect some other +ridges near where we had been last. Stony and low ridgy ground was +first met, but the scrubs were all around. At fifteen miles we came +upon a little firm clayey plain with some salt bushes, and it also had +upon it some clay pans, but they had long been dry. We found the +northern face of the ridges just as waterless as the southern, which +we had previously searched. The far hills or ridges to the west, which +I now intended to visit, bore nearly west. Another salt bush plain was +next crossed; this was nearly three miles long. We now gave the horses +an hour's spell, the thermometer showing 102 degrees in the shade; +then, re-saddling, we went on, and it was nine o'clock at night when +we found ourselves under the shadows of the hills we had steered for, +having them on the north of us. + +I searched in the dark, but could find no feature likely to supply us +with water; we had to encamp in a nest of triodia without any water, +having travelled forty-eight miles through the usual kind of country +that occupies this region's space. At daylight the thermometer +registered 70 degrees, that being the lowest during the night. On +ascending the hill above us, there was but one feature to gaze +upon--the lake still stretching away, not only in undiminished, but +evidently increasing size, towards the west and north-west. Several +lateral channels were thrown out from the parent bed at various +distances, some broad and some narrow. A line of ridges, with one hill +much more prominent than any I had seen about this country, appeared +close down upon the shores of the lake; it bore from the hill I stood +upon south 68 degrees west, and was about twenty miles off. A long +broad salt arm, however, ran up at the back of it between it and me, +but just opposite there appeared a narrow place that I thought we +might cross to reach it. + +The ridge I was on was red granite, but there was neither creek nor +rock-hole about it. We now departed for the high hill westward, +crossing a very boggy salt channel with great difficulty, at five +miles; in five more we came to the arm. It appeared firm, but +unfortunately one of the horses got frightfully bogged, and it was +only by the most frantic exertions that we at length got him out. The +bottom of this dreadful feature, if it has a bottom, seems composed +entirely of hot, blue, briny mud. Our exertions in extricating the +horse made us extremely thirsty; the hill looked more inviting the +nearer we got to it, so, still hoping to reach it, I followed up the +arm for about seven miles in a north west direction. It proved, +however, quite impassable, and it seemed utterly useless to attempt to +reach the range, as we could not tell how far we might have to travel +before we could get round the arm. I believe it continues in a +semicircle and joins the lake again, thus isolating the hill I wished +to visit. This now seemed an island it was impossible to reach. We +were sixty-five miles away from the only water we knew of, with no +likelihood of any nearer; there might certainly be water at the mount +I wished to reach, but it was unapproachable, and I called it by that +name; no doubt, had I been able to reach it, my progress would still +have been impeded to the west by the huge lake itself. I could get no +water except brine upon its shores, and I had no appliances to distil +that; could I have done so, I would have followed this feature, +hideous as it is, as no doubt sooner or later some watercourses must +fall into it either from the south or the west. We were, however, a +hundred miles from the camp, with only one man left there, and +sixty-five from the nearest water. I had no choice but to retreat, +baffled, like Eyre with his Lake Torrens in 1840, at all points. On +the southern shore of the lake, and apparently a very long way off, a +range of hills bore south 30 degrees west; this range had a pinkish +appearance and seemed of some length. Mr. Carmichael wished me to call +it McNicol's Range, after a friend of his, and this I did. We turned +our wretched horses' heads once more in the direction of our little +tank, and had good reason perhaps to thank our stars that we got away +alive from the lone unhallowed shore of this pernicious sea. We kept +on twenty-eight miles before we camped, and looked at two or three +places, on the way ineffectually, for some signs of water, having gone +forty-seven miles; thermometer in shade 103 degrees, the heat +increasing one degree a day for several days. When we camped we were +hungry, thirsty, tired, covered all over with dry salt mud; so that it +is not to be wondered at if our spirits were not at a very high point, +especially as we were making a forced retreat. The night was hot, +cloudy, and sultry, and rain clouds gathered in the sky. At about 1 +a.m. the distant rumblings of thunder were heard to the +west-north-west, and I was in hopes some rain might fall, as it was +apparently approaching; the thunder was not loud, but the lightning +was most extraordinarily vivid; only a few drops of rain fell, and the +rest of the night was even closer and more sultry than before. + +Ere the stars had left the sky we were in our saddles again; the +horses looked most pitiable objects, their flanks drawn in, the +natural vent was distended to an open and extraordinary cavity; their +eyes hollow and sunken, which is always the case with horses when +greatly in want of water. Two days of such stages will thoroughly test +the finest horse that ever stepped. We had thirty-six miles yet to +travel to reach the water. The horses being so jaded, it was late in +the afternoon when they at last crawled into the little glen; the last +few miles being over stones made the pace more slow. Not even their +knowledge of the near presence of water availed to inspirit them in +the least; probably they knew they would have to wait for hours at the +tank, when they arrived, before their cravings for water could be +appeased. The thermometer to-day was 104 degrees in the shade. When we +arrived the horses had walked 131 miles without a drink, and it was no +wonder that the poor creatures were exhausted. When one horse had +drank what little water there was, we had to re-dig the tank, for the +wind or some other cause had knocked a vast amount of the sand into it +again. Some natives also had visited the place while we were away, +their fresh tracks were visible in the sand around, and on the top of +the tank. They must have stared to see such a piece of excavation in +their territory. When the horses did get water, two of them rolled, +and groaned, and kicked, so that I thought they were going to die; one +was a mare, she seemed the worst, another was a strong young horse +which had carried me well, the third was my old favourite +riding-horse; this time he had only carried the pack, and was badly +bogged; he was the only one that did not appear distressed when filled +with water, the other two lay about in evident pain until morning. +About the middle of the night thunder was again heard, and flash after +flash of even more vivid lightnings than that of the previous night +enlightened the glen; so bright were the flashes, being alternately +fork and sheet lightning, that for nearly an hour the glare never +ceased. The thunder was much louder than last night's, and a slight +mizzling rain for about an hour fell. The barometer had fallen +considerably for the last two days, so I anticipated a change. The +rain was too slight to be of any use; the temperature of the +atmosphere, however, was quite changed, for by the morning the +thermometer was down to 48 degrees. + +The horses were not fit to travel, so we had to remain, with nothing +to do, but consult the little map again, and lay off my position on +it. My farthest point I found to be in latitude 24 degrees 38' and +longitude 130 degrees. For the second time I had reached nearly the +same meridian. I had been repulsed at both points, which were about a +hundred miles apart, in the first instance by dry stony ranges in the +midst of dense scrubs, and in the second by a huge salt lake equally +destitute of fresh water. It appears to me plain enough that a much +more northerly or else more southerly course must be pursued to reach +the western coast, at all events in such a country, it will be only by +time and perseverance that any explorer can penetrate it. I think I +remarked before that we entered this little glen through a pass about +half-a-mile long, between two hills of red sandstone. I named this +Worrill's Pass, after another friend of Mr. Carmichael. The little +glen in which we dug out the tank I could only call Glen Thirsty, for +we never returned to it but ourselves and our horses, were choking for +water. Our supply of rations, although we had eked it out with the +greatest possible economy, was consumed, for we brought only a week's +supply, and we had now been absent ten days from home, and we should +have to fast all to-morrow, until we reached the depot; but as the +horses were unable to carry us, we were forced to remain. + +During the day I had a long conversation with Mr. Carmichael upon our +affairs in general, and our stock of provisions in particular; the +conclusion we arrived at was, that having been nearly three months +out, we had not progressed so far in the time as we had expected. We +had found the country so dry that until rains fell, it seemed scarcely +probable that we should be able to penetrate farther to the west, and +if we had to remain in depot for a month or two, it was necessary by +some means to economise our stores, and the only way to do so was to +dispense with the services of Alec Robinson. It would be necessary, of +course, in the first place, to find a creek to the eastward, which +would take him to the Finke, and by the means of the same watercourse +we might eventually get round to the southern shores of Lake Amadeus, +and reach Mount Olga at last. + +In our journey up the Finke two or three creeks had joined from the +west, and as we were now beyond the sources of any of these, it would +be necessary to discover some road to one or the other before Robinson +could be parted with. By dispensing with his services, as he was +willing to go, we should have sufficient provisions left to enable us +to hold out for some months longer: even if we had to wait so long as +the usual rainy season in this part of the country, which is about +January and February, we should still have several months' provisions +to start again with. In all these considerations Mr. Carmichael fully +agreed, and it was decided that I should inform Alec of our resolution +so soon as we returned to the camp. After the usual nearly three +hours' work to water our horses, we turned our backs for the last time +upon Glen Thirsty, where we had so often returned with exhausted and +choking horses. + +I must admit that I was getting anxious about Robinson and the state +of things at the camp. In going through Worrill's Pass, we noticed +that scarcely a tree had escaped from being struck by the lightning; +branches and boughs lay scattered about, and several pines from the +summits of the ridges had been blasted from their eminence. I was not +very much surprised, for I expected to be lightning-struck myself, as +I scarcely ever saw such lightning before. We got back to Robinson and +the camp at 5 p.m. My old horse that carried the pack had gone quite +lame, and this caused us to travel very slowly. Robinson was alive and +quite well, and the little dog was overjoyed to greet us. Robinson +reported that natives had been frequently in the neighbourhood, and +had lit fires close to the camp, but would not show themselves. +Marzetti's mare had foaled, the progeny being a daughter; the horse +that was staked was worse, and I found my old horse had also ran a +mulga stake into his coronet. I probed the wounds of both, but could +not get any wood out. Carmichael and I both thought we would like a +day's rest; and if I did not do much work, at least I thought a good +deal. + +The lame horses are worse: the poisonous mulga must be in the wounds, +but I can't get it out. What a pleasure it is, not only to have plenty +of water to drink, but actually to have sufficient for a bath! I told +Robinson of my views regarding him, but said he must yet remain until +some eastern waters could be found. On the 30th October, Mr. +Carmichael and I, with three fresh horses, started again. In my +travels southerly I had noticed a conspicuous range of some elevation +quite distinct from the ridges at which our camp was fixed, and lying +nearly east, where an almost overhanging crag formed its north-western +face. This range I now decided to visit. To get out of the ridges in +which our creek exists, we had to follow the trend of a valley formed +by what are sometimes called reaphook hills; these ran about +east-south-east. In a few miles we crossed an insignificant little +creek with a few gum-trees; it had a small pool of water in its bed: +the valley was well grassed and open, and the triodia was also absent. +A small pass ushered us into a new valley, in which were several +peculiar conical hills. Passing over a saddle-like pass, between two +of them, we came to a flat, open valley running all the way to the +foot of the new range, with a creek channel between. The range +appeared very red and rocky, being composed of enormous masses of red +sandstone; the upper portion of it was bare, with the exception of a +few cypress pines, moored in the rifled rock, and, I suppose, proof to +the tempest's shock. A fine-looking creek, lined with gum-trees, +issued from a gorge. We followed up the channel, and Mr. Carmichael +found a fine little sheet of water in a stony hole, about 400 yards +long and forty yards wide. This had about four feet of water in it; +the grass was green, and all round the foot of the range the country +was open, beautifully grassed, green, and delightful to look at. +Having found so eligible a spot, we encamped: how different from our +former line of march! We strolled up through the rocky gorge, and +found several rock reservoirs with plenty of water; some palm-like +Zamias were seen along the rocks. Down the channel, about south-west, +the creek passed through a kind of low gorge about three miles away. +Smoke was seen there, and no doubt it was an encampment of the +natives. Since the heavy though dry thunderstorm at Glen Thirsty, the +temperature has been much cooler. I called this King's Creek. Another +on the western flat beyond joins it. I called the north-west point of +this range Carmichael's Crag. The range trended a little south of +east, and we decided to follow along its southern face, which was +open, grassy, and beautifully green; it was by far the most agreeable +and pleasant country we had met. + +(ILLUSTRATION: PENNY'S CREEK.) + +At about five miles we crossed another creek coming immediately out of +the range, where it issued from under a high and precipitous wall of +rock, underneath which was a splendid deep and pellucid basin of the +purest water, which came rushing into and out of it through fissures +in the mountain: it then formed a small swamp thickly set with reeds, +which covered an area of several acres, having plenty of water among +them. I called this Penny's Creek. Half a mile beyond it was a similar +one and reed bed, but no such splendid rock reservoir. Farther along +the range other channels issued too, with fine rock water-holes. At +eighteen miles we reached a much larger one than we had yet seen: I +hoped this might reach the Finke. We followed it into the range, where +it came down through a glen: here we found three fine rock-holes with +good supplies of water in them. The glen and rock is all red +sandstone: the place reminded me somewhat of Captain Sturt's Depot +Glen in the Grey ranges of his Central Australian Expedition, only the +rock formation is different, though a cliff overhangs both places, and +there are other points of resemblance. I named this Stokes's Creek. + +We rested here an hour and had a swim in one of the rocky basins. How +different to regions westward, where we could not get enough water to +drink, let alone to swim in! The water ran down through the glen as +far as the rock-holes, where it sank into the ground. Thermometer 102 +degrees to-day. We continued along the range, having a fine stretch of +open grassy country to travel upon, and in five miles reached another +creek, whose reed beds and water filled the whole glen. This I named +Bagot's Creek. For some miles no other creek issued, till, approaching +the eastern end of the range, we had a piece of broken stony ground +and some mulga for a few miles, when we came to a sudden fall into a +lower valley, which was again open, grassy, and green. We could then +see that the range ended, but sent out one more creek, which meandered +down the valley towards some other hills beyond; this valley was of a +clayey soil, and the creek had some clay holes with water in them. +Following it three miles farther, we found that it emptied itself into +a much larger stony mountain stream; I named this Trickett's Creek, +after a friend of Mr. Carmichael's. The range which had thrown out so +many creeks, and contained so much water, and which is over forty +miles in length, I named George Gill's Range, after my brother-in-law. +The country round its foot is by far the best I have seen in this +region; and could it be transported to any civilised land, its +springs, glens, gorges, ferns, Zamias, and flowers, would charm the +eyes and hearts of toil-worn men who are condemned to live and die in +crowded towns. + +The new creek now just discovered had a large stony water-hole +immediately above and below the junction of Trickett's Creek, and as +we approached the lower one, I noticed several native wurleys just +deserted; their owners having seen us while we only thought of them, +had fled at our approach, and left all their valuables behind. These +consisted of clubs, spears, shields, drinking vessels, yam sticks, +with other and all the usual appliances of well-furnished aboriginal +gentlemen's establishments. Three young native dog-puppies came out, +however, to welcome us, but when we dismounted and they smelt us, not +being used to such refined odours as our garments probably exhaled, +they fled howling. The natives had left some food cooking, and when I +cooeyed they answered, but would not come near. This creek was of some +size; it seemed to pass through a valley in a new range further +eastwards. It came from the north-west, apparently draining the +northern side of Gill's Range. I called it Petermann's Creek. We were +now sixty-five miles from our depot, and had been most successful in +our efforts to find a route to allow of the departure of Robinson, as +it appeared that this creek would surely reach the Finke, though we +afterwards found it did not. I intended upon returning here to +endeavour to discover a line of country round the south-eastern +extremity of Lake Amadeus, so as to reach Mount Olga at last. We now +turned our horses' heads again for our home camp, and continued +travelling until we reached Stokes's Creek, where we encamped after a +good long day's march. + +This morning, as we were approaching Penny's Creek, we saw two natives +looking most intently at our outgoing horse tracks, along which they +were slowly walking, with their backs towards us. They neither saw nor +heard us until we were close upon their heels. Each carried two +enormously long spears, two-thirds mulga wood and one-third reed at +the throwing end, of course having the instrument with which they +project these spears, called by some tribes of natives only, but +indiscriminately all over the country by whites, a wommerah. It is in +the form of a flat ellipse, elongated to a sort of tail at the holding +end, and short-pointed at the projecting end; a kangaroo's claw or +wild dog's tooth is firmly fixed by gum and gut-strings. The +projectile force of this implement is enormous, and these spears can +be thrown with the greatest precision for more than a hundred yards. +They also had narrow shields, three to four feet long, to protect +themselves from hostile spears, with a handle cut out in the centre. +These two natives had their hair tied up in a kind of chignon at the +back of the head, the hair being dragged back off the forehead from +infancy. This mode gave them a wild though somewhat effeminate +appearance; others, again, wear their hair in long thick curls +reaching down the shoulders, beautifully elaborated with iguanas' or +emus' fat and red ochre. This applies only to the men; the women's +hair is worn either cut with flints or bitten off short. So soon as +the two natives heard, and then looking round saw us, they scampered +off like emus, running along as close to the ground as it is possible +for any two-legged creature to do. One was quite a young fellow, the +other full grown. They ran up the side of the hills, and kept +travelling along parallel to us; but though we stopped and called, and +signalled with boughs, they would not come close, and the oftener I +tried to come near them on foot, the faster they ran. They continued +alongside us until King's Creek was reached, where we rested the +horses for an hour. We soon became aware that a number of natives were +in our vicinity, our original two yelling and shouting to inform the +others of our advent, and presently we saw a whole nation of them +coming from the glen or gorge to the south-west, where I had noticed +camp-fires on my first arrival here. The new people were also shouting +and yelling in the most furious and demoniacal manner; and our former +two, as though deputed by the others, now approached us much nearer +than before, and came within twenty yards of us, but holding their +spears fixed in their wommerahs, in such a position that they could +use them instantly if they desired. The slightest incident might have +induced them to spear us, but we appeared to be at our ease, and +endeavoured to parley with them. The men were not handsome or fat, but +were very well made, and, as is the case with most of the natives of +these parts, were rather tall, namely five feet eight and nine inches. +When they had come close enough, the elder began to harangue us, and +evidently desired us to know that we were trespassers, and were to be +off forthwith, as he waved us away in the direction we had come from. +The whole host then took up the signal, howled, yelled, and waved +their hands and weapons at us. Fortunately, however, they did not +actually attack us; we were not very well prepared for attack, as we +had only a revolver each, our guns and rifles being left with +Robinson. As our horses were frightened and would not feed, we hurried +our departure, when we were saluted with rounds of cheers and +blessings, i.e. yells and curses in their charming dialect, until we +were fairly out of sight and hearing. On reaching the camp, Alec +reported that no natives had been seen during our absence. On +inspecting the two lame horses, it appeared they were worse than ever. + +We had a very sudden dry thunderstorm, which cooled the air. Next day +I sent Alec and Carmichael over to the first little five-mile creek +eastwards with the two lame horses, so that we can pick them up en +route to-morrow. They reported that the horses could scarcely travel +at all; I thought if I could get them to Penny's Creek I would leave +them there. This little depot camp was at length broken up, after it +had existed here from 15th October to 5th November. I never expected, +after being nearly three months out, that I should be pushing to the +eastwards, when every hope and wish I had was to go in exactly the +opposite direction, and I could only console myself with the thought +that I was going to the east to get to the west at last. I have great +hopes that if I can once set my foot upon Mount Olga, my route to the +west may be unimpeded. I had not seen all the horses together for some +time, and when they were mustered this morning, I found they had all +greatly improved in condition, and almost the fattest among them was +the little mare that had foaled at Mount Udor. Marzetti's mare looked +very well also. + +It was past midday when we turned our backs upon Tempe's Vale. At the +five-mile creek we got the two lame horses, and reached King's Creek +somewhat late in the afternoon. As we neared it, we saw several +natives' smokes, and immediately the whole region seemed alive with +aborigines, men, women, and children running down from the highest +points of the mountain to join the tribe below, where they all +congregated. The yelling, howling, shrieking, and gesticulating they +kept up was, to say the least, annoying. When we began to unpack the +horses, they crowded closer round us, carrying their knotted sticks, +long spears, and other fighting implements. I did not notice any +boomerangs among them, and I did not request them to send for any. +They were growing very troublesome, and evidently meant mischief. I +rode towards a mob of them and cracked my whip, which had no effect in +dispersing them. They made a sudden pause, and then gave a sudden +shout or howl. It seemed as if they knew, or had heard something, of +white men's ways, for when I unstrapped my rifle, and holding it up, +warning them away, to my great astonishment they departed; they +probably wanted to find out if we possessed such things, and I trust +they were satisfied, for they gave us up apparently as a bad lot. + +It appeared the exertion of travelling had improved the go of the lame +horses, so I took them along with the others in the morning; I did not +like the idea of leaving them anywhere on this range, as the natives +would certainly spear, and probably eat them. We got them along to +Stokes's Creek, and encamped at the swimming rock-hole. + +After our frugal supper a circumstance occurred which completely put +an end to my expedition. Mr. Carmichael informed me that he had made +up his mind not to continue in the field any longer, for as Alec +Robinson was going away, he should do so too. Of course I could not +control him; he was a volunteer, and had contributed towards the +expenses of the expedition. We had never fallen out, and I thought he +was as ardent in the cause of exploration as I was, so that when he +informed me of his resolve it came upon me as a complete surprise. My +arguments were all in vain; in vain I showed how, with the stock of +provisions we had, we might keep the field for months. I even offered +to retreat to the Finke, so that we should not have such arduous work +for want of water, but it was all useless. + +It was with distress that I lay down on my blankets that night, after +what he had said. I scarcely knew what to do. I had yet a lot of +horses heavily loaded with provisions; but to take them out into a +waterless, desert country by myself, was impossible. We only went a +short distance--to Bagot's Creek, where I renewed my arguments. Mr. +Carmichael's reply was, that he had made up his mind and nothing +should alter it; the consequence was that with one companion I had, so +to speak, discharged, and another who discharged himself, any further +exploration was out of the question. I had no other object now in view +but to hasten my return to civilisation, in hopes of reorganising my +expedition. We were now in full retreat for the telegraph line; but as +I still traversed a region previously unexplored, I may as well +continue my narrative to the close. Marzetti's foal couldn't travel, +and had to be killed at Bagot's Creek. + +On Friday, the 8th November, the party, now silent, still moved under +my directions. We travelled over the same ground that Mr. Carmichael +and I had formerly done, until we reached the Petermann in the Levi +Range. The natives and their pups had departed. The hills approached +this creek so close as to form a valley; there were several +water-holes in the creek; we followed its course as far as the valley +existed. When the country opened, the creek spread out, and the water +ceased to appear in its bed. We kept moving all day; towards evening I +saw some gum-trees under some hills two or three miles southwards, and +as some smoke appeared above the hills, I knew that natives must have +been there lately, and that water might be got there. Accordingly, +leaving Carmichael and Robinson to go on with the horses, I rode over, +and found there was the channel of a small creek, which narrowed into +a kind of glen the farther I penetrated. The grass was burning on all +the hillsides, and as I went still farther up, I could hear the voices +of the natives, and I felt pretty sure of finding water. I was, +however, slightly anxious as to what reception I should get. I soon +saw a single native leisurely walking along in front of me with an +iguana in his hand, taking it home for supper. He carried several +spears, a wommerah, and a shield, and had long curled locks hanging +down his shoulders. My horse's nose nearly touched his back before he +was aware of my presence, when, looking behind him, he gave a sudden +start, held up his two hands, dropped his iguana and his spears, +uttered a tremendous yell as a warning to his tribe, and bounded up +the rocks in front of us like a wallaby. I then passed under a +eucalyptus-tree, in whose foliage two ancient warriors had hastily +secreted themselves. I stopped a second and looked up at them, they +also looked at me; they presented a most ludicrous appearance. A +little farther on there were several rows of wurleys, and I could +perceive the men urging the women and children away, as they doubtless +supposed many more white men were in company with me, never supposing +I could possibly be alone. While the women and children were departing +up the rocks, the men snatched up spears and other weapons, and +followed the women slowly towards the rocks. The glen had here +narrowed to a gorge, the rocks on either side being not more than +eighty to a hundred feet high. It is no exaggeration to say that the +summits of the rocks on either side of the glen were lined with +natives; they could almost touch me with their spears. I did not feel +quite at home in this charming retreat, although I was the cynosure of +a myriad eyes. The natives stood upon the edge of the rocks like +statues, some pointing their spears menacingly towards me, and I +certainly expected that some dozens would be thrown at me. Both +parties seemed paralysed by the appearance of the other. I scarcely +knew what to do; I knew if I turned to retreat that every spear would +be launched at me. I was, metaphorically, transfixed to the spot. I +thought the only thing to do was to brave the situation out, as + + "Cowards, 'tis said, in certain situations + Derive a sort of courage from despair; + And then perform, from downright desperation, + Much bolder deeds than many a braver man would dare." + +(ILLUSTRATION: ESCAPE GLEN--THE ADVANCE.) + +(ILLUSTRATION: ESCAPE GLEN--THE RETREAT.) + +(ILLUSTRATION: MIDDLETON'S PASS AND FISH PONDS.) + +I was choking with thirst, though in vain I looked for a sheet of +water; but seeing where they had dug out some sand, I advanced to one +or two wells in which I could see water, but without a shovel only a +native could get any out of such a funnel-shaped hole. In sheer +desperation I dismounted and picked up a small wooden utensil from one +of the wurleys, thinking if I could only get a drink I should summon +up pluck for the last desperate plunge. I could only manage to get up +a few mouthfuls of dirty water, and my horse was trying to get in on +top of me. So far as I could see, there were only two or three of +these places where all those natives got water. I remounted my horse, +one of the best and fastest I have. He knew exactly what I wanted +because he wished it also, and that was to be gone. I mounted slowly +with my face to the enemy, but the instant I was on he sprang round +and was away with a bound that almost left me behind; then such +demoniacal yells greeted my ears as I had never heard before and do +not wish to hear again; the echoes of the voices of these now +indignant and infuriated creatures reverberating through the defiles +of the hills, and the uncouth sounds of the voices themselves smote so +discordantly on my own and my horse's ears that we went out of that +glen faster, oh! ever so much faster, than we went in. I heard a +horrid sound of spears, sticks, and other weapons, striking violently +upon the ground behind me, but I did not stop to pick up any of them, +or even to look round to see what caused it. Upon rejoining my +companions, as we now seldom spoke to one another, I merely told them +I had seen water and natives, but that it was hardly worth while to go +back to the place, but that they could go if they liked. Robinson +asked me why I had ridden my horse West Australian--shortened to W.A., +but usually called Guts, from his persistent attention to his +"inwards"--so hard when there seemed no likelihood's of our getting +any water for the night? I said, "Ride him back and see." I called +this place Escape Glen. In two or three miles after I overtook them, +the Petermann became exhausted on the plains. We pushed on nearly +east, as now we must strike the Finke in forty-five to fifty miles; +but we had to camp that night without water. The lame horses went +better the farther they were driven. I hoped to travel the lameness +out of them, as instances of that kind have occurred with me more than +once. We were away from our dry camp early, and had scarcely proceeded +two miles when we struck the bank of a broad sandy-bedded creek, which +was almost as broad as the Finke itself: just where we struck it was +on top of a red bank twenty or thirty feet high. The horses naturally +looking down into the bed below, one steady old file of a horse, that +carried my boxes with the instruments, papers, quicksilver, etc., went +too close, the bank crumbled under him, and down he fell, raising a +cloud of red dust. I rode up immediately, expecting to see a fine +smash, but no, there he was, walking along on the sandy bed below, as +comfortable as he had been on top, not a strap strained or a box +shifted in the least. The bed here was dry. Robinson rode on ahead and +shortly found two fine large ponds under a hill which ended abruptly +over them. On our side a few low ridges ran to meet it, thus forming a +kind of pass. Here we outspanned; it was a splendid place. Carmichael +and Robinson caught a great quantity of fish with hook and line. I +called these Middleton's Pass and Fish Ponds. The country all round +was open, grassy, and fit for stock. The next day we got plenty more +fish; they were a species of perch, the largest one caught weighed, I +dare say, three pounds; they had a great resemblance to Murray cod, +which is a species of perch. I saw from the hill overhanging the water +that the creek trended south-east. Going in that direction we did not, +however, meet it; so turning more easterly, we sighted some pointed +hills, and found the creek went between them, forming another pass, +where there was another water-hole under the rocks. This, no doubt, +had been of large dimensions, but was now gradually getting filled +with sand; there was, however, a considerable quantity of water, and +it was literally alive with fish, insomuch that the water had a +disagreeable and fishy taste. Great numbers of the dead fish were +floating upon the water. Here we met a considerable number of natives, +and although the women would not come close, several of the men did, +and made themselves useful by holding some of the horses' bridles and +getting firewood. Most of them had names given them by their +godfathers at their baptism, that is to say, either by the officers or +men of the Overland Telegraph Construction parties. This was my +thirty-second camp; I called it Rogers's Pass; twenty-two miles was +our day's stage. From here two conspicuous semi-conical hills, or as I +should say, truncated cones, of almost identical appearance, caught my +attention; they bore nearly south 60 degrees east. + +(ILLUSTRATION: JUNCTION OF THE PALMER AND FINKE.) + +Bidding adieu to our sable friends, who had had breakfast with us and +again made themselves useful, we started for the twins. To the south +of them was a range of some length; of this the twins formed a part. I +called it Seymour's Range, and a conic hill at its western end Mount +Ormerod. We passed the twins in eleven miles, and found some water in +the creek near a peculiar red sandstone hill, Mount Quin; the general +course of the creek was south 70 degrees east. Seymour's Range, +together with Mounts Quin and Ormerod, had a series of watermarks in +horizontal lines along their face, similar to Johnston's Range, seen +when first starting, the two ranges lying east and west of one +another; the latter-named range we were again rapidly approaching. Not +far from Mount Quin I found some clay water-holes in a lateral +channel. The creek now ran nearly east, and having taken my latitude +this morning by Aldeberan, I was sure of what I anticipated, namely, +that I was running down the creek I had called Number 2. It was one +that joined the Finke at my outgoing Number 2 camp. We found a +water-hole to-day, fenced in by the natives. There was a low range to +the south-west, and a tent-shaped hill more easterly. We rested the +horses at the fenced-in water-hole. I walked to the top of the tent +hill, and saw the creek went through another pass to the north-east. +In the afternoon I rode over to this pass and found some ponds of +water on this side of it. A bullock whose tracks I had seen further up +the creek had got bogged here. We next travelled through the pass, +which I called Briscoe's Pass, the creek now turning up nearly +north-east; in six miles further it ran under a hill, which I well +remembered in going out; at thirteen miles from the camp it ended in +the broader bosom of the Finke, where there was a fine water-hole at +the junction, in the bed of the smaller creek, which was called the +Palmer. The Finke now appeared very different to when we passed up. It +then had a stream of water running along its channel, but was now +almost dry, except that water appeared at intervals upon the surface +of the white and sandy bed, which, however, was generally either salty +or bitter; others, again, were drinkable enough. Upon reaching the +river we camped. + +My expedition was over. I had failed certainly in my object, which was +to penetrate to the sources of the Murchison River, but not through +any fault of mine, as I think any impartial reader will admit. Our +outgoing tracks were very indistinct, but yet recognisable; we camped +again at Number 1. Our next line was nearly east, along the course of +the Finke, passing a few miles south of Chambers's Pillar. I had left +it but twelve weeks and four days; during that interval I had +traversed and laid down over a thousand miles of previously totally +unknown country. Had I been fortunate enough to have fallen upon a +good or even a fair line of country, the distance I actually travelled +would have taken me across the continent. + +I may here make a few remarks upon the Finke. It is usually called a +river, although its water does not always show upon the surface. +Overlanders, i.e. parties travelling up or down the road along the +South Australian Trans-Continental Telegraph line, where the water +does show on the surface, call them springs. The water is always +running underneath the sand, but in certain places it becomes +impregnated with mineral and salty formations, which gives the water a +disagreeable taste. This peculiar drain no doubt rises in the western +portions of the McDonnell Range, not far from where I traced it to, +and runs for over 500 miles straight in a general south-westerly +direction, finally entering the northern end of Lake Eyre. It drains +an enormous area of Central South Australia, and on the parallels of +24, 25, 26 degrees of south latitude, no other stream exists between +it and the Murchison or the Ashburton, a distance in either case of +nearly 1,100 miles, and thus it will be seen it is the only Central +Australian river. + +On the 21st of November we reached the telegraph line at the junction +of the Finke and the Hugh. The weather during this month, and almost +to its close, was much cooler than the preceding one. The horses were +divided between us--Robinson getting six, Carmichael four, and I five. +Carmichael and Robinson went down the country, in company, in advance +of me, as fast as they could. I travelled more slowly by myself. One +night, when near what is called the Horse-shoe bend of the Finke, I +had turned out my horses, and as it seemed inclined to rain, was +erecting a small tent, and on looking round for the tomahawk to drive +a stake into the ground, was surprised to notice a very handsome +little black boy, about nine or ten years old, quite close to me. I +patted him on the head, whereupon he smiled very sweetly, and began to +talk most fluently in his own language. I found he interspersed his +remarks frequently with the words Larapinta, white fellow, and +yarraman (horses). He told me two white men, Carmichael and Robinson, +and ten horses, had gone down, and that white fellows, with horses and +camel drays (Gosse's expedition), had just gone up the line. While we +were talking, two smaller boys came up and were patted, and patted me +in return. + +The water on the surface here was bitter, and I had not been able to +find any good, but these little imps of iniquity took my tin billy, +scratched a hole in the sand, and immediately procured delicious +water; so I got them to help to water the horses. I asked the elder +boy, whom I christened Tommy, if he would come along with me and the +yarramans; of these they seemed very fond, as they began kissing while +helping to water them. Tommy then found a word or two of English, and +said, "You master?" The natives always like to know who they are +dealing with, whether a person is a master or a servant. I replied, +"Yes, mine master." He then said, "Mine (him) ridem yarraman." "Oh, +yes." "Which one?" "That one," said I, pointing to old Cocky, and +said, "That's Cocky." Then the boy went up to the horse, and said, +"Cocky, you ridem me?" Turning to me, he said, "All right, master, you +and me Burr-r-r-r-r." I was very well pleased to think I should get +such a nice little fellow so easily. It was now near evening, and +knowing that these youngsters couldn't possibly be very far from their +fathers or mothers, I asked, "Where black fellow?" Tommy said, quite +nonchalantly, "Black fellow come up!" and presently I heard voices, +and saw a whole host of men, women, and children. Then these three +boys set up a long squeaky harangue to the others, and three or four +men and five or six boys came running up to me. One was a middle-aged, +good-looking man; with him were two boys, and Tommy gave me to +understand that these were his father and brothers. The father drew +Tommy towards him, and ranged his three boys in a row, and when I +looked at them, it was impossible to doubt their relationship--they +were all three so wonderfully alike. Dozens more men, boys, and women +came round--some of the girls being exceedingly pretty. To feed so +large a host, would have required all my horses as well as my stock of +rations, so I singled out Tommy, his two brothers, and the other +original little two, at the same time, giving Tommy's father about +half a damper I had already cooked, and told him that Tommy was my +boy. He shook his head slowly, and would not accept the damper, +walking somewhat sorrowfully away. However, I sent it to him by Tommy, +and told him to tell his father he was going with me and the horses. +The damper was taken that time. It did not rain, and the five +youngsters all slept near me, while the tribe encamped a hundred yards +away. I was not quite sure whether to expect an attack from such a +number of natives. I did not feel quite at ease; though these were, so +to say, civilised people, they were known to be great thieves; and I +never went out of sight of my belongings, as in many cases the more +civilised they are, the more villainous they may be. In the morning +Tommy's father seemed to have thought better of my proposal, thinking +probably it was a good thing for one of his boys to have a white +master. I may say nearly all the civilised youngsters, and a good many +old ones too, like to get work, regular rations, and tobacco, from the +cattle or telegraph stations, which of course do employ a good many. +When one of these is tired of his work, he has to bring up a +substitute and inform his employer, and thus a continual change goes +on. The boys brought up the horses, and breakfast being eaten, the +father led Tommy up to me and put his little hand in mine; at the same +time giving me a small piece of stick, and pretending to thrash him; +represented to me that, if he didn't behave himself, I was to thrash +him. I gave the old fellow some old clothes (Tommy I had already +dressed up), also some flour, tea, and sugar, and lifted the child on +to old Cocky's saddle, which had a valise in front, with two straps +for the monkey to cling on by. A dozen or two youngsters now also +wanted to come on foot. I pretended to be very angry, and Tommy must +have said something that induced them to remain. I led the horse the +boy was riding, and had to drive the other three in front of me. When +we departed, the natives gave us some howls or cheers, and finally we +got out of their reach. The boy seemed quite delighted with his new +situation, and talked away at a great rate. As soon as we reached the +road, by some extraordinary chance, all my stock of wax matches, +carried by Badger, caught alight; a perfect volcano ensued, and the +novel sight of a pack-horse on fire occurred. This sent him mad, and +away he and the two other pack-horses flew down the road, over the +sandhills, and were out of sight in no time. I told the boy to cling +on as I started to gallop after them. He did so for a bit, but +slipping on one side, Cocky gave a buck, and sent Tommy flying into +some stumps of timber cut down for the passage of the telegraph line, +and the boy fell on a stump and broke his arm near the shoulder. I +tied my horse up and went to help the child, who screamed and bit at +me, and said something about his people killing me. Every time I tried +to touch or pacify him it was the same. I did not know what to do, the +horses were miles away. I decided to leave the boy where he was, go +after the horses, and then return with them to my last night's camp, +and give the boy back to his father. When he saw me mount, he howled +and yelled, but I gave him to understand what I was going to do and he +lay down and cried. I was full of pity for the poor little creature, +and I only left him to return. I started away, and not until I had +been at full gallop for an hour did I sight the runaway horses. Cocky +got away when the accident occurred, and galloped after and found the +others, and his advent evidently set them off a second time. Returning +to the boy, I saw some smoke, and on approaching close, found a young +black fellow also there. He had bound up the child's arm with leaves, +and wrapped it up with bits of bark; and when I came he damped it with +water from my bag. I then suggested to these two to return; but oh no, +the new chap was evidently bound to seek his fortune in London--that +is to say, at the Charlotte Waters Station--and he merely remarked, +"You, mine, boy, Burr-r-r-r-r, white fellow wurley;" he also said, +"Mine, boy, walk, you, yarraman--mine, boy, sleep you wurley, you +Burr-r-r-r-r yarraman." All this meant that they would walk and I +might ride, and that they would camp with me at night. Off I went and +left them, as I had a good way to go. I rode and they walked to the +Charlotte. I got the little boy regular meals at the station; but his +arm was still bad, and I don't know if it ever got right. I never saw +him again. + +At the Charlotte Waters I met Colonel Warburton and his son; they were +going into the regions I had just returned from. I gave them all the +information they asked, and showed them my map; but they and Gosse's +expedition went further up the line to the Alice springs, in the +McDonnell Ranges, for a starting-point. I was very kindly received +here again, and remained a few days. My old horse Cocky had got bad +again, in consequence of his galloping with the packhorses, and I left +him behind me at the Charlotte, in charge of Mr. Johnston. On arrival +at the Peake, I found that Mr. Bagot had broken his collar-bone by a +fall from a horse. I drove him to the Blinman Mine, where we took the +coach for Adelaide. At Beltana, before we reached the Blinman Mine, I +heard that my former black boy Dick was in that neighbourhood, and Mr. +Chandler, whom I had met at the Charlotte Waters, and who was now +stationed here, promised to get and keep him for me until I either +came or sent for him: this he did. And thus ends the first book of my +explorations. + + +AUSTRALIA TWICE TRAVERSED. + +BOOK 2. + + +NOTE TO THE SECOND EXPEDITION. + +In a former part of my narrative I mentioned, that so soon as I had +informed my kind friend Baron von Mueller by wire from the Charlotte +Waters Telegraph Station, of the failure and break up of my +expedition, he set to work and obtained a new fund for me to continue +my labours. Although the greatest despatch was used, and the money +quickly obtained, yet it required some months before I could again +depart. I reached Adelaide late in January, 1873, and as soon as funds +were available I set to work at the organisation of a new expedition. +I obtained the services of a young friend named William Henry +Tietkins--who came over from Melbourne to join me--and we got a young +fellow named James Andrews, or Jimmy as we always called him. I bought +a light four-wheeled trap and several horses, and we left Adelaide +early in March, 1873. We drove up the country by way of the Burra +mines to Port Augusta at the head of Spencer's Gulf, buying horses as +we went; and having some pack saddles on the wagon, these we put on +our new purchases as we got them. + +Before I left Adelaide I had instructed Messrs. Tassie & Co., of Port +Augusta, to forward certain stores required for our journey, which +loading had already been despatched by teams to the Peake. We made a +leisurely journey up the country, as it was of no use to overtake our +stores. At Beltana Mr. Chandler had got and kept my black boy Dick, +who pretended to be overjoyed to see me, and perhaps he really was; +but he was extra effusive in his affection, and now declared he had +been a silly young fool, that he didn't care for wild blacks now a +bit, and would go with me anywhere. When Mr. Chandler got him he was +half starved, living in a blacks' camp, and had scarcely any clothes. +Leaving Beltana, in a few days we passed the Finniss Springs Station, +and one of the people there made all sorts of overtures to Dick, who +was now dressed in good clothes, and having had some good living +lately, had got into pretty good condition; some promises must have +been made him, as when we reached the Gregory, he bolted away, and I +never saw him afterwards. + +The Gregory was now running, and by simply dipping out a bucketful of +water, several dozens of minnows could be caught. In this way we got +plenty of them, and frying them in butter, just as they were, they +proved the most delicious food it was possible to eat, equal, if not +superior, to whitebait. Nothing of a very interesting nature occurred +during our journey up to the Peake, where we were welcomed by the +Messrs. Bagot at the Cattle Station, and Mr. Blood of the Telegraph +Department. Here we fixed up all our packs, sold Mr. Bagot the wagon, +and bought horses and other things; we had now twenty packhorses and +four riding ditto. Here a short young man accosted me, and asked me if +I did not remember him, saying at the same time that he was "Alf." I +fancied I knew his face, but thought it was at the Peake that I had +seen him, but he said, "Oh no, don't you remember Alf with Bagot's +sheep at the north-west bend of the Murray? my name's Alf Gibson, and +I want to go out with you." I said, "Well, can you shoe? can you ride? +can you starve? can you go without water? and how would you like to be +speared by the blacks outside?" He said he could do everything I had +mentioned, and he wasn't afraid of the blacks. He was not a man I +would have picked out of a mob, but men were scarce, and as he seemed +so anxious to come, and as I wanted somebody, I agreed to take him. We +got all our horses shod, and two extra sets of shoes fitted for each, +marked, and packed away. I had a little black-and-tan terrier dog +called Cocky, and Gibson had a little pup of the same breed, which he +was so anxious to take that at last I permitted him to do so. + +Our horses' loads were very heavy at starting, the greater number of +the horses carrying 200 pounds. The animals were not in very good +condition; I got the horse I had formerly left here, Badger, the one +whose pack had been on fire at the end of my last trip. I had decided +to make a start upon this expedition from a place known as Ross's +Water-hole in the Alberga Creek, at its junction with the Stevenson, +the Alberga being one of the principal tributaries of the Finke. The +position of Ross's Water-hole is in latitude 27 degrees 8' and +longitude 135 degrees 45', it lying 120 to 130 miles in latitude more +to the south than the Mount Olga of my first journey, which was a +point I was most desirous to reach. Having tried without success to +reach it from the north, I now intended to try from a more southerly +line. Ross's Water-hole is called ninety miles from the Peake, and we +arrived there without any difficulty. The nights now were exceedingly +cold, as it was near the end of July. When we arrived I left the +others in camp and rode myself to the Charlotte Waters, expecting to +get my old horse Cocky, and load him with 200 pounds of flour; but +when I arrived there, the creek water-hole was dry, and all the horses +running loose on the Finke. I got two black boys to go out and try to +get the horse, but on foot in the first place they could never have +done it, and in the second place, when they returned, they said they +could not find him at all. I sent others, but to no purpose, and +eventually had to leave the place without getting him, and returned +empty-handed to the depot, having had my journey and lost my time for +nothing. + +There was but poor feed at the water-hole, every teamster and +traveller always camping there. Some few natives appeared at the camp, +and brought some boys and girls. An old man said he could get me a +flour-bag full of salt up the creek, so I despatched him for it; he +brought back a little bit of dirty salty gravel in one hand, and +expected a lot of flour, tea, sugar, meat, tobacco, and clothes for +it; but I considered my future probable requirements, and refrained +from too much generosity. A nice little boy called Albert agreed to +come with us, but the old man would not allow him--I suppose on +account of the poor reward he got for his salt. A young black fellow +here said he had found a white man's musket a long way up the creek, +and that he had got it in his wurley, and would give it to me for +flour, tea, sugar, tobacco, matches, and clothes. I only promised +flour, and away he went to get the weapon. Next day he returned, and +before reaching the camp began to yell, "White fellow mukkety, white +fellow mukkety." I could see he had no such thing in his hands, but +when he arrived he unfolded a piece of dirty old pocket handkerchief, +from which he produced--what? an old discharged copper revolver +cartridge. His reward was commensurate with his prize. + +The expedition consisted of four members--namely, myself, Mr. William +Henry Tietkins, Alfred Gibson, and James Andrews, with twenty-four +horses and two little dogs. On Friday, the 1st of August, 1873, we +were prepared to start, but rain stopped us; again on Sunday some more +fell. We finally left the encampment on the morning of Monday, the +4th. + + +CHAPTER 2.1. FROM THE 4TH TO THE 22ND AUGUST, 1873. + +Leave for the west. +Ascend the Alberga. +An old building. +Rain, thunder, and lightning. +Leave Alberga for the north-west. +Drenched in the night. +Two lords of the soil. +Get their conge. +Water-holes. +Pretty amphitheatre. +Scrubs on either side. +Watering the horses. +A row of saplings. +Spinifex and poplars. +Dig a tank. +Hot wind. +A broken limb. +Higher hills. +Flat-topped hills. +Singular cones. +Better country. +A horse staked. +Bluff-faced hills. +The Anthony Range. +Cool nights. +Tent-shaped hills. +Fantastic mounds. +Romantic valley. +Picturesque scene. +A gum creek. +Beautiful country. +Gusts of fragrance. +New and independent hills. +Large creek. +Native well. +Jimmy's report. +The Krichauff. +Cold nights. +Shooting blacks. +Labor omnia vincit. +Thermometer 28 degrees. +Dense scrubs. +Small creek. +Native pheasant's nest. +Beautiful open ground. +Charming view. +Rocks piled on rocks. + +On Monday, the 4th August, 1873, my new expedition, under very +favourable circumstances, started from Ross's Water-hole in the +Alberga. The country through which the Alberga here runs is mostly +open and stony, but good country for stock of all kinds. The road and +the telegraph line are here thirteen miles apart. At that distance up +the creek, nearly west, we reached it. The frame of an old building +was convenient for turning into a house, with a tarpaulin for a roof, +as there appeared a likelihood of more rain. Some water was got in a +clay-pan in the neighbourhood. + +A misty and cloudy morning warned us to keep under canvas: rain fell +at intervals during the day, and at sundown heavy thunder and bright +lightning came from the north-west, with a closing good smart shower. +The next morning was fine and clear, though the night had been +extremely cold. The bed of this creek proved broad but ill-defined, +and cut up into numerous channels. Farther along the creek a more +scrubby region was found; the soil was soft after the rain, but no +water was seen lying about. The creek seemed to be getting smaller; I +did not like its appearance very much, so struck away north-west. The +country now was all thick mulga scrub and grassy sandhills; amongst +these we found a clay-pan with some water in it. At night we were +still in the scrub, without water, but we were not destined to leave +it without any, for at ten o'clock a thunderstorm from the north-west +came up, and before we could get half our things under canvas, we were +thoroughly drenched. Off our tarpaulins we obtained plenty of water +for breakfast; but the ground would not retain any. Sixteen miles +farther along we came down out of the sandhills on to a creek where we +found water, and camped, but the grass was very poor, dry, and +innutritious. More rain threatened, but the night was dry, and the +morning clear and beautiful. This creek was the Hamilton. Two of its +native lords visited the camp this morning, and did not appear at all +inclined to leave it. The creek is here broad and sandy: the timber is +small and stunted. Towards evening the two Hamiltonians put on airs of +great impudence, and became very objectionable; two or three times I +had to resist their encroachments into the camp, and at last they +greatly annoyed me. I couldn't quite make out what they said to one +another; but I gathered they expected more of their tribe, and were +anxiously looking out for them in all directions. Finally, as our guns +wanted discharging and cleaning after the late showers, we fired them +off, and so soon as the natives saw us first handle and then discharge +them, off they went, and returned to Balclutha no more. + +(ILLUSTRATION: AN INCIDENT OF TRAVEL.) + +Going farther up the creek, we met some small tributaries with fine +little water-holes. Some ridges now approached the creek; from the top +of one many sheets of water glittered in stony clay-pans. More +westerly the creek ran under a hill. Crossing another tributary where +there was plenty of water, we next saw a large clay-hole in the main +creek--it was, however, dry. When there was some water in it, the +natives had fenced it round to catch any large game that might come to +drink; at present they were saved the trouble, for game and water had +both alike departed. Mr. Tietkens, my lieutenant and second in +command, found a very pretty amphitheatre formed by the hills; we +encamped there, at some clay-pans; the grass, however, was very poor; +scrubs appeared on the other side of the creek. A junction with +another creek occurred near here, beyond which the channel was broad, +flat, sandy, and covered indiscriminately with timber; scrubs existed +on either bank. We had to cross and recross the bed as the best road. +We found a place in it where the natives had dug, and where we got +water, but the supply was very unsatisfactory, an enormous quantity of +sand having to be shifted before the most willing horse could get down +to it. We succeeded at length with the aid of canvas buckets, and by +the time the whole twenty four were satisfied, we were also. The grass +was dry as usual, but the horses ate it, probably because there is no +other for them. Our course to-day was 8 degrees south of west. Close +to where we encamped were three or four saplings placed in a row in +the bed of the creek, and a diminutive tent-frame, as though some one, +if not done by native children, had been playing at erecting a +miniature telegraph line. I did not like this creek much more than the +Alberga, and decided to try the country still farther north-west. This +we did, passing through somewhat thick scrubs for eighteen miles, when +we came full upon the creek again, and here for the first time since +we started we noticed some bunches of spinifex, the Festuca irritans, +and some native poplar trees. These have a straight stem, and are in +outline somewhat like a pine-tree, but the foliage is of a fainter +green, and different-shaped leaf. They are very pretty to the eye, but +generally inhabit the very poorest regions; the botanical name of this +tree is Codonocarpus cotinifolius. At five miles farther we dug in the +bed of the creek, but only our riding-horses could be watered by +night. White pipeclay existed on the bed. The weather was oppressive +to-day. Here my latitude was 26 degrees 27', longitude 134 degrees. It +took all next day to water the horses. Thermometer 92 degrees in +shade, hot wind blowing. The dead limb of a tree, to which we fixed +our tarpaulin as an awning for shade, slipped down while we were at +dinner; it first fell on the head of Jimmy Andrews, which broke it in +half; it also fell across my back, tearing my waistcoat, shirt, and +skin; but as it only fell on Jimmy's head of course it couldn't hurt +him. The country still scrubby on both sides: we now travelled about +north-north-west, and reached a low stony rise in the scrubs, and from +it saw the creek stretching away towards some other ridges nearly on +the line we were travelling. We skirted the creek, and in eleven miles +we saw other hills of greater elevation than any we had yet seen. + +Reaching the first ridge, we got water by digging a few inches into +the pipeclay bed of the creek; a more extended view was here obtained, +and ranges appeared from west, round by north-west, to north; there +were many flat-topped hills and several singular cones, and the +country appeared more open. I was much pleased to think I had +distanced the scrubs. One cone in the new range bore north 52 degrees +west, and for some distance the creek trended that way. On reaching +the foot of the new hills, I found the creek had greatly altered its +appearance, if indeed it was the same. It is possible the main creek +may have turned more to the west, and that this is only a tributary, +but as we found some surface water in a clay-hole, we liked it better +than having to dig in a larger channel. Here for the first time for +many weeks we came upon some green grass, which the horses greedily +devoured. The country here is much better and more open. On mustering +the horses this morning, one was found to be dead lame, with a mulga +stake in his coronet, and as he could not travel we were forced to +remain at the camp; at least the camp was not shifted. This horse was +called Trew; he was one of the best in the mob, though then I had not +found out all his good qualities--he now simply carried a pack. Mr. +Tietkens and I mounted our horses and rode farther up the creek. The +channel had partly recovered its appearance, and it may be our old one +after all. Above the camp its course was nearly north, and a line of +low bluff-faced hills formed its eastern bank. The country towards the +new ranges looked open and inviting, and we rode to a prominent cone +in it, to the west-north-west. The country was excellent, being open +and grassy, and having fine cotton and salt bush flats all over it: +there was surface water in clay-pans lying about. I called this the +Anthony Range. We returned much pleased with our day's ride. + +The nights were now agreeably cool, sometimes very dewy. The lame +horse was still very bad, but we lightened his load, and after the +first mile he travelled pretty well. We steered for the singular cone +in advance. Most of the hills, however, of the Anthony Range were +flat-topped, though many tent-shaped ones exist also. I ascended the +cone in ten miles, west of north-west from camp. The view displayed +hills for miles in all directions, amongst which were many bare rocks +of red colour heaped into the most fantastically tossed mounds +imaginable, with here and there an odd shrub growing from the +interstices of the rocks; some small miniature creeks, with only myal +and mulga growing in them, ran through the valleys--all of these had +recently been running. We camped a mile or two beyond the cone in an +extremely pretty and romantic valley; the grass was green, and Nature +appeared in one of her smiling moods, throwing a gleam of sunshine on +the minds of the adventurers who had sought her in one of her +wilderness recesses. The only miserable creature in our party was the +lame horse, but now indeed he had a mate in misfortune, for we found +that another horse, Giant Despair, had staked himself during our day's +march, though he did not appear lame until we stopped, and his hobbles +were about to be put on. Mr. Tietkens extracted a long mulga stick +from his fetlock: neither of the two staked horses ever became sound +again, although they worked well enough. In the night, or rather by +morning (daylight), the thermometer had fallen to 30 degrees, and +though there was a heavy dew there was neither frost nor ice. + +We now passed up to the head of the picturesque valley, and from there +wound round some of the mounds of bare rocks previously mentioned. +They are composed of a kind of a red conglomerate granite. We turned +in and out amongst the hills till we arrived at the banks of a small +creek lined with eucalyptus or gum-trees, and finding some water we +encamped on a piece of beautiful-looking country, splendidly grassed +and ornamented with the fantastic mounds, and the creek timber as back +and fore grounds for the picture. Small birds twittered on each bough, +sang their little songs of love or hate, and gleefully fled or pursued +each other from tree to tree. The atmosphere seemed cleared of all +grossness or impurities, a few sunlit clouds floated in space, and a +perfume from Nature's own laboratory was exhaled from the flowers and +vegetation around. It might well be said that here were + + "Gusts of fragrance on the grasses, + In the skies a softened splendour; + Through the copse and woodland passes + Songs of birds in cadence tender." + +The country was so agreeable here we had no desire to traverse it at +railway speed; it was delightful to loll and lie upon the land, in +abandoned languishment beneath the solar ray. Thirty or forty miles +farther away, west-north-westward, other and independent hills or +ranges stood, though I was grieved to remark that the intermediate +region seemed entirely filled with scrub. How soon the scenery +changes! Travelling now for the new hills, we soon entered scrubs, +where some plots of the dreaded triodia were avoided. In the scrubs, +at ten miles we came upon the banks of a large gum-timbered creek, +whose trees were fine and vigorous. In the bed we found a native well, +with water at no great depth; the course of this creek where we struck +it, was south-south-east, and we travelled along its banks in an +opposite, that is to say, north-north-west direction. That line, +however, took us immediately into the thick scrubs, so at four miles +on this bearing I climbed a tree, and saw that I must turn north to +cut it again; this I did, and in three miles we came at right angles +upon a creek which I felt sure was not the one we had left, the scrub +being so thick one could hardly see a yard ahead. Here I sent Jimmy +Andrews up a tree; having been a sailor boy, he is well skilled in +that kind of performance, but I am not. I told him to discover the +whereabouts of the main creek, and say how far off it appeared. That +brilliant genius informed me that it lay across the course we were +steering, north, and it was only a mile away; so we went on to it, as +we supposed, but having gone more than two miles and not reaching it, +I asked Jimmy whether he had not made some mistake. I said, "We have +already come two miles, and you said it was scarcely one." He then +kindly informed me that I was going all wrong, and ought not to go +that way at all; but upon my questioning him as to which way I should +go he replied, "Oh, I don't know NOW." My only plan was to turn east, +when we soon struck the creek. Then Jimmy declared if we had KEPT +NORTH LONG ENOUGH, we would have come to it AGIN. + +Though Jimmy was certainly a bit of a fool, he was not perhaps quite a +fool of the greatest size. Little fools and young fools somehow seem +to pass muster in this peculiar world, but to be old and a fool is a +mistake which is difficult, if not impossible, to remedy. It was too +late to go any farther; we couldn't get any water, but we had to camp. +I intended to return in the morning to where we first struck this +creek, and where we saw water in the native well. I called this the +Krichauff. The mercury went down to 28 degrees by daylight the next +morning, but neither ice nor frost appeared. This morning Mr. +Tietkens, when out after the horses, found a rather deep native well +some distance up the creek, and we shifted the camp to it. On the way +there I was behind the party, and before I overtook them I heard the +report of firearms. On reaching the horses, Jimmy Andrews had his +revolver in his hand, Mr. Tietkens and Gibson being away. On inquiring +of Jimmy the cause of the reports and the reason of his having his +revolver in his hand, he replied that he thought Mr. Tietkens was +shooting the blacks, and he had determined to slaughter his share if +they attacked him. Mr. Tietkens had fired at some wallabies, which, +however, did not appear at dinner. On arrival at the new well, we had +a vast amount of work to perform, and only three or four horses got +water by night. + +I told Mr. Tietkens not to work himself to death, as I would retreat +in the morning to where there was water, but he persisted in working +away by himself in the night, and was actually able to water all the +horses in the morning. Labor omnia vincit. Last night there was a +heavy fall of dew, thermometer 28 degrees, but no frost or ice. I was +delighted to turn my back upon this wretched place. + +The object of our present line was to reach the new hills seen from +the Anthony Range. Three of them appeared higher than, and isolated +from, the others. They now bore west of us--at least they should have +done so, and I hoped they did, for in such thick scrubs it was quite +impossible to see them. No matter for that, we steered west for them +and traversed a region of dense scrubs. I was compelled to ride in +advance with a bell on my stirrup to enable the others to hear which +way to come. In seventeen miles we struck a small gum creek without +water, but there was good herbage. In the scrubs to-day we saw a +native pheasant's nest, the Leipoa ocellata of Gould, but there were +no eggs in it. This bird is known by different names in different +parts of Australia. On the eastern half of the continent it is usually +called the Lowan, while in Western Australia it is known as the Gnow; +both I believe are native names. Another cold night, thermometer 26 +degrees, with a slight hoar frost. Moving on still west through +scrubs, but not so thick as yesterday, some beautiful and open ground +was met till we reached the foot of some low ridges. + +From the top of one of these, we had before us a most charming view, +red ridges of extraordinary shapes and appearance being tossed up in +all directions, with the slopes of the soil, from whence they seemed +to spring, rising gently, and with verdure clad in a garment of grass +whose skirts were fringed with flowers to their feet. These slopes +were beautifully bedecked with flowers of the most varied hues, +throwing a magic charm over the entire scene. Vast bare red + + "Rocks piled on rocks stupendous hurled, + Like fragments of an earlier world," + +appeared everywhere, but the main tier of ranges for which I had been +steering was still several miles farther away to the west. Thinking +that water, the scarcest here of Nature's gifts, must surely exist in +such a lovely region as this, it was more with the keen and critical +eye of the explorer in search of that element, than of the admirer of +Nature in her wildest grace, that I surveyed the scene. A small gum +creek lay to the south, to which Mr. Tietkens went. I sent Gibson to a +spot about two miles off to the west, as straight before us in that +direction lay a huge mass of rocks and bare slabs of stone, which +might have rock reservoirs amongst them. To the north lay a longer +jumble of hills, with overhanging ledges and bare precipices, which I +undertook to search, leaving Jimmy to mind the horses until some of us +returned. Neither Mr. Tietkens nor Gibson could find any water, and I +was returning quite disappointed, after wandering over hills and +rocks, through gullies and under ledges, when at length I espied a +small and very fertile little glen whose brighter green attracted my +notice. Here a small gully came down between two hills, and in the bed +of the little channel I saw a patch of blacker soil, and on reaching +it I found a small but deep native well with a little water at the +bottom. It was an extraordinary little spot, and being funnel shaped, +I doubted whether any animal but a bird or a black man could get down +to it, and I also expected it would prove a hideous bog; but my little +friend (W.A.) seemed so determined to test its nature, and though it +was nearly four feet to the water, he quietly let his forefeet slip +down into it, and though his hindquarters were high and dry above his +head he got a good drink, which he told me in his language he was very +thankful for. I brought the whole party to the spot, and we had +immediately to set to work to enlarge the well. We found the water +supply by no means abundant, as, though we all worked hard at it in +turns with the shovel, it did not drain in as fast as one horse could +drink; but by making a large hole, we expected sufficient would drain +in during the night for the remainder of the horses. We did not cease +from our work until it was quite dark, when we retired to our +encampment, quite sufficiently tired to make us sleep without the aid +of any lullaby. + + +CHAPTER 2.2. FROM 22ND AUGUST TO 10TH SEPTEMBER, 1873. + +A poor water supply. +Seeds planted. +Beautiful country. +Ride westward. +A chopped log. +Magnetic hill. +Singular scenery. +Snail-shells. +Cheering prospect westward. +A new chain of hills. +A nearer mountain. +Vistas of green. +Gibson finds water. +Turtle backs. +Ornamented Troglodytes' caves. +Water and emus. +Beef-wood-trees. +Grassy lawns. +Gum creek. +Purple vetch. +Cold dewy night. +Jumbled turtle backs. +Tietkens returns. +I proceed. +Two-storied native huts. +Chinese doctrine. +A wonderful mountain. +Elegant trees. +Extraordinary ridge. +A garden. +Nature imitates her imitator. +Wild and strange view. +Pool of water. +A lonely camp. +Between sleeping and waking. +Extract from Byron for breakfast. +Return for the party. +Emus and water. +Arrival of Tietkens. +A good camp. +Tietkens's birthday creek. +Ascend the mountain. +No signs of water. +Gill's range. +Flat-topped hill. +The Everard range. +High mounts westward. +Snail shells. +Altitude of the mountain. +Pretty scenes. +Parrot soup. +The sentinel. +Thermometer 26 degrees. +Frost. +Lunar rainbow. +A charming spot. +A pool of water. +Cones of the main range. +A new pass. +Dreams realised. +A long glen. +Glen Ferdinand. +Mount Ferdinand. +The Reid. +Large creek. +Disturb a native nation. +Spears hurled. +A regular attack. +Repulse and return of the enemy. +Their appearance. +Encounter Creek. +Mount Officer. +The Currie. +The Levinger. +Excellent country. +Horse-play. +Mount Davenport. +Small gap. +A fairy space. +The Fairies' Glen. +Day dreams. +Thermometer 24 degrees. +Ice. +Mount Oberon. +Titania's spring. +Horses bewitched. +Glen Watson. +Mount Olga in view. +The Musgrave range. + +Upon inspection this morning we found but a poor supply of water had +drained into our tank in the night, and that there was by no means +sufficient for the remaining horses; these had no water yesterday. We +passed the forenoon in still enlarging the tank, and as soon as a +bucketful drained in, it was given to one of the horses. We planted +the seeds of a lot of vegetables and trees here, such as Tasmanian +blue gum, wattle, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, maize, etc.; and then +Mr. Tietkens and I got our horses and rode to the main hills to the +west, in hopes of discovering more water. We started late, and it was +dark when we reached the range. The country passed over between it and +our encampment, was exceedingly beautiful; hills being thrown up in +red ridges of bare rock, with the native fig-tree growing among the +rocks, festooning them into infinite groups of beauty, while the +ground upon which we rode was a perfect carpet of verdure. We were +therefore in high anticipation of finding some waters equivalent to +the scene; but as night was advancing, our search had to be delayed +until the morrow. The dew was falling fast, the night air was cool, +and deliciously laden with the scented exhalations from trees and +shrubs and flowers. The odour of almonds was intense, reminding me of +the perfumes of the wattle blooms of the southern, eastern, and more +fertile portions of this continent. So exquisite was the aroma, that I +recalled to my mind Gordon's beautiful lines:-- + + "In the spring when the wattle gold trembles, + Twixt shadow and shine, + When each dew-laden air draught resembles; + A long draught of wine." + +So delightful indeed was the evening that it was late when we gave +ourselves up to the oblivion of slumber, beneath the cool and starry +sky. We made a fire against a log about eighteen inches thick; this +was a limb from an adjacent blood-wood or red gum-tree, and this +morning we discovered that it had been chopped off its parent stem +either with an axe or tomahawk, and carried some forty or fifty yards +from where it had originally fallen. This seemed very strange; in the +first place for natives, so far out from civilisation as this, to have +axes or tomahawks; and in the second place, to chop logs or boughs off +a tree was totally against their practice. By sunrise we were upon the +summit of the mountain; it consisted of enormous blocks and boulders +of red granite, so riven and fissured that no water could possibly +lodge upon it for an instant. I found it also to be highly magnetic, +there being a great deal of ironstone about the rocks. It turned the +compass needle from its true north point to 10 degrees south of west, +but the attraction ceased when the compass was removed four feet from +contact with the rocks. The view from this mount was of singular and +almost awful beauty. The mount, and all the others connected with it, +rose simply like islands out of a vast ocean of scrub. The beauty of +the locality lay entirely within itself. Innumerable red ridges +ornamented with fig-trees, rising out of green and grassy slopes, met +the eye everywhere to the east, north, and northeast, and the country +between each was just sufficiently timbered to add a charm to the +view. But the appearance of water still was wanting; no signs of it, +or of any basin or hollow that could hold it, met the gaze in any +direction, This alone was wanting to turn a wilderness into a garden. + +There were four large mounts in this chain, higher than any of the +rest, including the one I was on. Here we saw a quantity of what I at +first thought were white sea-shells, but we found they were the +bleached shells of land snails. Far away to the north some ranges +appeared above the dense ocean of intervening scrubs. To the south, +scrubs reigned supreme; but to the west, the region for which I was +bound, the prospect looked far more cheering. The far horizon, there, +was bounded by a very long and apparently connected chain of +considerable elevation, seventy to eighty miles away. One conspicuous +mountain, evidently nearer than the longer chain, bore 15 degrees to +the south of west, while an apparent gap or notch in the more distant +line bore 23 degrees south of west. The intervening country appeared +all flat, and very much more open than in any other direction; I could +discern long vistas of green grass, dotted with yellow immortelles, +but as the perspective declined, these all became lost in lightly +timbered country. These grassy glades were fair to see, reminding one +somewhat of Merrie England's glades and Sherwood forests green, where +errant knight in olden days rode forth in mailed sheen; and memory +oft, the golden rover, recalls the tales of old romance, how ladie +bright unto her lover, some young knight, smitten with her glance, +would point out some heroic labour, some unheard-of deed of fame; he +must carve out with his sabre, and ennoble thus his name. He, a giant +must defeat sure, he must free the land from tain, he must kill some +monstrous creature, or return not till 'twas slain. Then she'd smile +on him victorious, call him the bravest in the land, fame and her, to +win, how glorious--win and keep her heart and hand! + +Although no water was found here, what it pleases me to call my mind +was immediately made up. I would return at once to the camp, where +water was so scarce, and trust all to the newly discovered chain to +the west. Water must surely exist there, we had but to reach it. I +named these mounts Ayers Range. Upon returning to our camp, six or +seven miles off, I saw that a mere dribble of water remained in the +tank. Gibson was away after the horses, and when he brought them, he +informed me he had found another place, with some water lying on the +rocks, and two native wells close by with water in them, much +shallower than our present one, and that they were about three miles +away. I rode off with him to inspect his new discovery, and saw there +was sufficient surface water for our horses for a day or two. + +These rocks are most singular, being mostly huge red, rounded solid +blocks of stone, shaped like the backs of enormous turtles. I was much +pleased with Gibson's discovery, and we moved the camp down to this +spot, which we always after called the Turtle Back. The grass and +herbage were excellent, but the horses had not had sufficient water +since we arrived here. It is wonderful how in such a rocky region so +little water appears to exist. The surface water was rather difficult +for the horses to reach, as it lay upon the extreme summit of the +rock, the sides of which were very steep and slippery. There were +plenty of small birds; hawks and crows, a species of cockatoo, some +pigeons, and eagles soaring high above. More seeds were planted here, +the soil being very good. Upon the opposite or eastern side of this +rock was a large ledge or cave, under which the Troglodytes of these +realms had frequently encamped. It was ornamented with many of their +rude representations of creeping things, amongst which the serpent +class predominated; there were also other hideous shapes, of things +such as can exist only in their imaginations, and they are but the +weak endeavours of these benighted beings to give form and semblance +to the symbolisms of the dread superstitions, that, haunting the +vacant chambers of their darkened minds, pass amongst them in the +place of either philosophy or religion. + +Next morning, watering all our horses, and having a fine open-air bath +on the top of the Turtle Back, Mr. Tietkens and I got three of them +and again started for Ayers Range, nearly west. Reaching it, we +travelled upon the bearing of the gap which we had seen in the most +distant range. The country as we proceeded we found splendidly open, +beautifully grassed, and it rose occasionally into some low ridges. At +fifteen miles from the Turtle Back we found some clay-pans with water, +where we turned out our horses for an hour. A mob of emus came to +inspect us, and Mr. Tietkens shot one in a fleshy part of the neck, +which rather helped it to run away at full speed instead of detaining, +so that we might capture it. Next some parallel ridges lying north and +south were crossed, where some beefwood, or Grevillea trees, +ornamented the scene, the country again opening into beautiful grassy +lawns. One or two creek channels were crossed, and a larger one +farther on, whose timber indeed would scarcely reach our course; as it +would not come to us, we went to it. The gum-timber upon it was thick +and vigorous--it came from the north-westward. A quantity of the so +called tea-tree [Melaleuca] grew here. In two miles up the channel we +found where a low ridge crossed and formed a kind of low pass. An old +native well existed here, which, upon cleaning out with a quart pot, +disclosed the element of our search to our view at a depth of nearly +five feet. The natives always make these wells of such an abominable +shape, that of a funnel, never thinking how awkward they must be to +white men with horses--some people are so unfeeling! It took us a long +time to water our three horses. There was a quantity of the little +purple vetch here, of which all animals are so fond, and which is so +fattening. There was plenty of this herb at the Turtle Back, and +wherever it grows it gives the country a lovely carnation tinge; this, +blending with the bright green of the grass, and the yellow and other +tinted hues of several kinds of flowers, impresses on the whole region +the appearance of a garden. + +In the morning, in consequence of a cold and dewy night, the horses +declined to drink. Regaining our yesterday's course, we continued for +ten miles, when we noticed that the nearest mountain seen from Ayers +Range was now not more than thirty miles away. It appeared red, bald, +and of some altitude; to our left was another mass of jumbled turtle +backs, and we turned to search for water among them. A small gum creek +to the south-south-east was first visited and left in disgust, and all +the rocks and hills we searched, were equally destitute of water. We +wasted the rest of the day in fruitless search; Nature seemed to have +made no effort whatever to form any such thing as a rockhole, and we +saw no place where the natives had ever even dug. We had been riding +from morning until night, and we had neither found water nor reached +the mountain. We returned to our last night's camp, where the sand had +all fallen into the well, and we had our last night's performance with +the quart pot to do over again. + +In the morning I decided to send Mr. Tietkens back to the camp to +bring the party here, while I went to the mountain to search for +water. We now discovered we had brought but a poor supply of food, and +that a hearty supper would demolish the lot, so we had to be sadly +economical. When we got our horses the next morning we departed, each +on his separate errand--Mr. Tietkens for the camp, I for the mountain. +I made a straight course for it, and in three or four miles found the +country exceedingly scrubby. At ten miles I came upon a number of +native huts, which were of large dimensions and two-storied; by this I +mean they had an upper attic, or cupboard recess. When the natives +return to these, I suppose they know of some water, or else get it out +of the roots of trees. The scrubs became thicker and thicker, and only +at intervals could the mountain be seen. At a spot where the natives +had burnt the old grass, and where some new rich vegetation grew, I +gave my horse the benefit of an hour's rest, for he had come +twenty-two miles. The day was delightful; the thermometer registered +only 76 degrees in the shade. I had had a very poor breakfast, and now +had an excellent appetite for all the dinner I could command, and I +could not help thinking that there is a great deal of sound philosophy +in the Chinese doctrine, That the seat of the mind and the intellect +is situate in the stomach. + +Starting again and gaining a rise in the dense ocean of scrub, I got a +sight of the mountain, whose appearance was most wonderful; it seemed +so rifted and riven, and had acres of bare red rock without a shrub or +tree upon it. I next found myself under the shadow of a huge rock +towering above me amidst the scrubs, but too hidden to perceive until +I reached it. On ascending it I was much pleased to discover, at a +mile and a half off, the gum timber of a creek which meandered through +this wilderness. On gaining its banks I was disappointed to find that +its channel was very flat and poorly defined, though the timber upon +it was splendid. Elegant upright creamy stems supported their +umbrageous tops, whose roots must surely extend downwards to a +moistened soil. On each bank of the creek was a strip of green and +open ground, so richly grassed and so beautifully bedecked with +flowers that it seemed like suddenly escaping from purgatory into +paradise when emerging from the recesses of the scrubs on to the banks +of this beautiful, I wish I might call it, stream. + +Opposite to where I struck it stood an extraordinary hill or ridge, +consisting of a huge red turtle back having a number of enormous red +stones almost egg-shaped, traversing, or rather standing in a row +upon, its whole length like a line of elliptical Tors. I could compare +it to nothing else than an enormous oolitic monster of the turtle kind +carrying its eggs upon its back. A few cypress pine-trees grew in the +interstices of the rocks, giving it a most elegant appearance. Hoping +to find some rock or other reservoir of water, I rode over to this +creature, or feature. Before reaching its foot, I came upon a small +piece of open, firm, grassy ground, most beautifully variegated with +many-coloured vegetation, with a small bare piece of ground in the +centre, with rain water lying on it. The place was so exquisitely +lovely it seemed as if only rustic garden seats were wanting, to prove +that it had been laid out by the hand of man. But it was only an +instance of one of Nature's freaks, in which she had so successfully +imitated her imitator, Art. I watered my horse and left him to graze +on this delectable spot, while I climbed the oolitic's back. There was +not sufficient water in the garden for all my horses, and it was +actually necessary for me to find more, or else the region would be +untenable. + +The view from this hill was wild and strange; the high, bald forehead +of the mountain was still four or five miles away, the country between +being all scrub. The creek came from the south-westward, and was lost +in the scrubs to the east of north. A thick and vigorous clump of +eucalypts down the creek induced me first to visit them, but the +channel was hopelessly dry. Returning, I next went up the creek, and +came to a place where great boulders of stone crossed the bed, and +where several large-sized holes existed, but were now dry. Hard by, +however, I found a damp spot, and near it in the sand a native well, +not more than two feet deep, and having water in it. Still farther up +I found an overhanging rock, with a good pool of water at its foot, +and I was now satisfied with my day's work. Here I camped. I made a +fire at a large log lying in the creek bed; my horse was up to his +eyes in most magnificent herbage, and I could not help envying him as +I watched him devouring his food. I felt somewhat lonely, and +cogitated that what has been written or said by cynics, solitaries, or +Byrons, of the delights of loneliness, has no real home in the human +heart. Nothing could appal the mind so much as the contemplation of +eternal solitude. Well may another kind of poet exclaim, Oh, solitude! +where are the charms that sages have seen in thy face? for human +sympathy is one of the passions of human nature. Natives had been here +very recently, and the scrubs were burning, not far off to the +northwards, in the neighbourhood of the creek channel. As night +descended, I lay me down by my bright camp fire in peace to sleep, +though doubtless there are very many of my readers who would scarcely +like to do the same. Such a situation might naturally lead one to +consider how many people have lain similarly down at night, in fancied +security, to be awakened only by the enemies' tomahawk crashing +through their skulls. Such thoughts, if they intruded themselves upon +my mind, were expelled by others that wandered away to different +scenes and distant friends, for this Childe Harold also had a mother +not forgot, and sisters whom he loved, but saw them not, ere yet his +weary pilgrimage begun. + +Dreams also, between sleeping and waking, passed swiftly through my +brain, and in my lonely sleep I had real dreams, sweet, fanciful, and +bright, mostly connected with the enterprise upon which I had +embarked--dreams that I had wandered into, and was passing through, +tracts of fabulously lovely glades, with groves and grottos green, +watered by never-failing streams of crystal, dotted with clusters of +magnificent palm-trees, and having groves, charming groves, of the +fairest of pines, of groves "whose rich trees wept odorous gums and +balm." + + "And all throughout the night there reigned the sense + Of waking dream, with luscious thoughts o'erladen; + Of joy too conscious made, and too intense, + By the swift advent of this longed-for aidenn." + +On awaking, however, I was forced to reflect, how "mysterious are +these laws! The vision's finer than the view: her landscape Nature +never draws so fair as fancy drew." The morning was cold, the +thermometer stood at 28 degrees, and now-- + + "The morn was up again, the dewy morn; + With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom, + Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn, + And smiling, as if earth contained no tomb: + And glowing into day." + +With this charming extract from Byron for breakfast I saddled my +horse, having nothing more to detain me here, intending to bring up +the whole party as soon as possible. + +(ILLUSTRATION: TIETKEN'S BIRTHDAY CREEK AND MOUNT CARNARVON.) + +(ILLUSTRATION: ON BIRTHDAY CREEK.) + +I now, however, returned by a more southerly route, and found the +scrubs less thick, and came to some low red rises in them. Having +travelled east, I now turned on the bearing for the tea-tree creek, +where the party ought now to be. At six miles on this line I came upon +some open ground, and saw several emus. This induced me to look around +for water, and I found some clay-pans with enough water to last a +week. I was very well pleased, as this would save time and trouble in +digging at the tea-tree. The water here was certainly rather thick, +and scarcely fit for human organisms, at least for white ones, though +it might suit black ones well enough, and it was good enough for our +horses, which was the greatest consideration. I rested my horse here +for an hour, and then rode to the tea-tree. The party, however, were +not there, and I waited in expectation of their arrival. In about an +hour Mr. Tietkens came and informed me that on his return to the camp +the other day he had found a nice little water, six miles from here, +and where the party was, and to which we now rode together. At this +agreeable little spot were the three essentials for an explorer's +camp--that is to say, wood, water, and grass. From there we went to my +clay pans, and the next day to my lonely camp of dreams. This, the +30th August, was an auspicious day in our travels, it being no less +than Mr. Tietkens's nine-and-twentieth birthday. We celebrated it with +what honours the expedition stores would afford, obtaining a flat +bottle of spirits from the medical department, with which we drank to +his health and many happier returns of the day. In honour of the +occasion I called this Tietkens's Birthday Creek, and hereby proclaim +it unto the nations that such should be its name for ever. The camp +was not moved, but Mr. Tietkens and I rode over to the high mountain +to-day, taking with us all the apparatus necessary for so great an +ascent--that is to say, thermometer, barometer, compass, field +glasses, quart pot, waterbag, and matches. In about four miles we +reached its foot, and found its sides so bare and steep that I took +off my boots for the ascent. It was formed for the most part like a +stupendous turtle back, of a conglomerate granite, with no signs of +water, or any places that would retain it for a moment, round or near +its base. Upon reaching its summit, the view was most extensive in +every direction except the west, and though the horizon was bounded in +all directions by ranges, yet scrubs filled the entire spaces between. +To the north lay a long and very distant range, which I thought might +be the Gill's Range of my last expedition, though it would certainly +be a stretch either of imagination or vision, for that range was +nearly 140 miles away. + +To the north-westward was a flat-topped hill, rising like a table from +an ocean of scrub; it was very much higher than such hills usually +are. This was Mount Conner. To the south, and at a considerable +distance away, lay another range of some length, apparently also of +considerable altitude. I called this the Everard Range. The horizon +westward was bounded by a continuous mass of hills or mountains, from +the centre of which Birthday Creek seemed to issue. Many of the mounts +westward appeared of considerable elevation. The natives were burning +the scrubs west and north-west. On the bare rocks of this mountain we +saw several white, bleached snail-shells. I was grieved to find that +my barometer had met with an accident in our climb; however, by +testing the boiling point of water I obtained the altitude. + +Water boiled at 206 degrees, giving an elevation of 3085 feet above +the level of the sea, it being about 1200 feet above the surrounding +country. The view of Birthday Creek winding along in little bends +through the scrubs from its parent mountains, was most pleasing. Down +below us were some very pretty little scenes. One was a small sandy +channel, like a plough furrow, with a few eucalyptus trees upon it, +running from a ravine near the foot of this mount, which passed at +about a mile through two red mounds of rock, only just wide enough +apart to admit of its passage. A few cypress pines were growing close +to the little gorge. On any other part of the earth's surface, if, +indeed, such another place could be found, water must certainly exist +also, but here there was none. We had a perfect bird's-eye view of the +spot. We could only hope, for beauty and natural harmony's sake, that +water must exist, at least below the surface, if not above. Having +completed our survey, we descended barefooted as before. + +On reaching the camp, Gibson and Jimmy had shot some parrots and other +birds, which must have flown down the barrels of their guns, otherwise +they never could have hit them, and we had an excellent supper of +parrot soup. Just here we have only seen parrots, magpies and a few +pigeons, though plenty of kangaroo, wallaby, and emu; but have not +succeeded in bagging any of the latter game, as they are exceedingly +shy and difficult to approach, from being so continually hunted by the +natives. I named this very singular feature Mount Carnarvon, or The +Sentinel, as soon I found + + "The mountain there did stand + T sentinel enchanted land." + +The night was cold; mercury down to 26 degrees. What little dew fell +became frosted; there was not sufficient to call it frozen. I found my +position here to be in latitude 26 degrees 3', longitude 132 degrees +29'. + +In the night of the 1st September, heavy clouds were flying fastly +over us, and a few drops of rain fell at intervals. About ten o'clock +p.m. I observed a lunar rainbow in the northern horizon; its diameter +was only about fifteen degrees. There were no prismatic colours +visible about it. To-day was clear, fine, but rather windy. We +travelled up the creek, skirting its banks, but cutting off the bends. +We had low ridges on our right. The creek came for some distance from +the south-west, then more southerly, then at ten miles, more directly +from the hills to the west. The country along its banks was excellent, +and the scenery most beautiful--pine-clad, red, and rocky hills being +scattered about in various directions, while further to the west and +south-west the high, bold, and very rugged chain rose into peaks and +points. We only travelled sixteen miles, and encamped close to a +pretty little pine-clad hill, on the north bank of the creek, where +some rocks traversed the bed, and we easily obtained a good supply of +water. The grass and herbage being magnificent, the horses were in a +fine way to enjoy themselves. + +This spot is one of the most charming that even imagination could +paint. In the background were the high and pointed peaks of the main +chain, from which sloped a delightful green valley; through this the +creek meandered, here and there winding round the foot of little +pine-clad hills of unvarying red colour, whilst the earth from which +they sprung was covered with a carpet of verdure and vegetation of +almost every imaginable hue. It was happiness to lie at ease upon such +a carpet and gaze upon such a scene, and it was happiness the more +ecstatic to know that I was the first of a civilised race of men who +had ever beheld it. My visions of a former night really seemed to be +prophetic. The trend of the creek, and the valley down which it came, +was about 25 degrees south of west. We soon found it became contracted +by impinging hills. At ten miles from camp we found a pool of water in +the bed. In about a couple of miles farther, to my surprise I found we +had reached its head and its source, which was the drainage of a big +hill. There was no more water and no rock-holes, neither was there any +gorge. Some triodia grew on the hills, but none on the lower ground. +The valley now changed into a charming amphitheatre. We had thus +traced our Birthday Creek, to its own birthplace. It has a short +course, but a merry one, and had ended for us at its proper beginning. +As there appeared to be no water in the amphitheatre, we returned to +the pool we had seen in the creek. Several small branch creeks running +through pretty little valleys joined our creek to-day. We were now +near some of the higher cones of the main chain, and could see that +they were all entirely timberless, and that triodia grew upon their +sides. The spot we were now encamped upon was another scene of +exquisite sylvan beauty. We had now been a month in the field, as +to-morrow was the 4th of September, and I could certainly congratulate +myself upon the result of my first month's labour. + +The night was cold and windy, dense nimbus clouds hovered just above +the mountain peaks, and threatened a heavy downpour of rain, but the +driving gale scattered them into the gelid regions of space, and after +sunrise we had a perfectly clear sky. I intended this morning to push +through what seemed now, as it had always seemed from the first moment +I saw this range, a main gap through the chain. Going north round a +pointed hill, we were soon in the trend of the pass; in five miles we +reached the banks of a new creek, running westerly into another, or +else into a large eucalyptus flat or swamp, which had no apparent +outlet. This heavy timber could be seen for two or three miles. +Advancing still further, I soon discovered that we were upon the reedy +banks of a fast flowing stream, whose murmuring waters, ever rushing +idly and unheeded on, were now for the first time disclosed to the +delighted eyes of their discoverer. + +Here I had found a spot where Nature truly had + +"Shed o'er the scene her purest of crystal, her brightest of green." + +This was really a delightful discovery. Everything was of the best +kind here--timber, water, grass, and mountains. In all my wanderings, +over thousands of miles in Australia, I never saw a more delightful +and fanciful region than this, and one indeed where a white man might +live and be happy. My dreams of a former night were of a verity +realised. + +Geographically speaking, we had suddenly come almost upon the extreme +head of a large water course. Its trend here was nearly south, and I +found it now ran through a long glen in that direction. + +We saw several fine pools and ponds, where the reeds opened in the +channel, and we flushed up and shot several lots of ducks. This creek +and glen I have named respectively the Ferdinand and Glen Ferdinand, +after the Christian name of Baron von Mueller. (The names having a +star * against them in this book denote contributors to the fund +raised by Baron Mueller* for this expedition.--E.G.) The glen extended +nearly five miles, and where it ended, the water ceased to show upon +the surface. At the end of the glen we encamped, and I do not remember +any day's work during my life which gave me more pleasure than this, +for I trust it will be believed that:-- + + "The proud desire of sowing broad the germs of lasting worth + Shall challenge give to scornful laugh of careless sons of earth; + Though mirth deride, the pilgrim feet that tread the desert plain, + The thought that cheers me onward is, I have not lived in vain." + +After our dinner Mr. Tietkens and I ascended the highest mountain in +the neighbourhood--several others not far away were higher, but this +was the most convenient. Water boiled at its summit at 204 degrees, +which gives an altitude above sea level of 4131 feet, it being about +1500 feet above the surrounding country. I called this Mount +Ferdinand, and another higher point nearly west of it I called Mount +James-Winter*. The view all round from west to north was shut out. To +the south and south-east other ranges existed. The timber of the +Ferdinand could be traced for many miles in a southerly direction; it +finally became lost in the distance in a timbered if not a scrubby +country. This mountain was highly magnetic. I am surprised at seeing +so few signs of natives in this region. We returned to the camp and +sowed seeds of many cereals, fodder plants, and vegetables. A great +quantity of tea-tree grew in this glen. The water was pure and fresh. + +Two or three miles farther down, the creek passed between two hills; +the configuration of the mountains now compelled me to take a +south-westerly valley for my road. In a few miles another fine +creek-channel came out of the range to the north of us, near the foot +of Mount James-Winter; it soon joined a larger one, up which was +plenty of running water; this I called the Reid*. We were now +traversing another very pretty valley running nearly west, with fine +cotton and salt-bush flats, while picturesque cypress pines covered +the hills on both sides of us. Under some hills which obstructed our +course was another creek, where we encamped, the grass and herbage +being most excellent; and this also was a very pretty place. Our +latitude here was 26 degrees 24'. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ENCOUNTER WITH THE NATIVES AT "THE OFFICER," MUSGRAVE +RANGE.) + +Gibson went away on horseback this morning to find the others, but +came back on foot to say he had lost the one he started with. We +eventually got them all, and proceeded down the creek south, then +through a little gap west, on to the banks of a fine large creek with +excellent timber on it. The natives were burning the grass up the +channel north-westerly. Mr. Tietkens and I rode up in advance to +reconnoitre; we went nearly three miles, when we came to running +water. At the same time we evidently disturbed a considerable number +of natives, who raised a most frightful outcry at our sudden and +unexpected advent amongst them. Those nearest to us walked slowly into +the reeds, rushes, tea-trees, and high salt bushes, but deliberately +watching our every movement. While watering our horses a great many +from the outskirts ran at us, poising and quivering their spears, some +of which were over ten feet long; of these, every individual had an +extraordinary number. When they saw us sitting quietly, but not +comfortably, on our horses, which became very frightened and +impatient, they renewed their horrible yells and gesticulations, some +waving us away, others climbing trees, and directing their spears at +us from the branches. Another lot on the opposite side of the creek +now came rushing up with spears advanced and ensigns spread, and with +their yells and cries encouraged those near to spear us. They seemed, +however, to have some doubts of the nature or vulnerability of our +horses. At the head of our new assailants was one sophisticated enough +to be able to call out, "Walk, white fellow, walk;" but as we still +remained immobile, he induced some others to join in making a rush at +us, and they hurled their jagged spears at us before we could get out +of the way. It was fortunate indeed that we were at the extreme +distance that these weapons can be projected, for they struck the +ground right amongst our horses' hoofs, making them more restive than +ever. + +I now let our assailants see we were not quite so helpless as they +might have supposed. I unslipped my rifle, and the bullet, going so +suddenly between two of these worthies and smashing some boughs just +behind them, produced silence amongst the whole congregation, at least +for a moment. All this time we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of +Gibson and Jimmy, as my instructions were that if we did not return in +a given time, they were to follow after us. But these valiant +retainers, who admitted they heard the firing, preferred to remain out +of harm's way, leaving us to kill or be killed, as the fortunes of war +might determine; and we at length had to retreat from our sable +enemies, and go and find our white friends. We got the mob of horses +up, but the yelling of these fiends in human form, the clouds of smoke +from the burning grass and bushes, and the many disagreeable odours +incident to a large native village, and the yapping and howling of a +lot of starving dogs, all combined to make us and our horses +exceedingly restless. They seemed somewhat overawed by the number of +the horses, and though they crowded round from all directions, for +there were more than 200 of them, the women and children being sent +away over the hills at our first approach, they did not then throw any +more spears. I selected as open a piece of ground as I could get for +the camp, which, however, was very small, back from the water, and +nearly under the foot of a hill. When they saw us dismount, for I +believe they had previously believed ourselves and our horses to form +one animal, and begin to unload the horses, they proceeded properly to +work themselves up for a regular onslaught. So long as the horses +remained close, they seemed disinclined to attack, but when they were +hobbled and went away, the enemy made a grand sortie, rushing down the +hill at the back of the camp where they had congregated, towards us in +a body with spears fitted in pose and yelling their war cries. + +Our lives were in imminent danger; we had out all the firearms we +could muster; these amounted to two rifles, two shot guns, and five +revolvers. I watched with great keenness the motion of their arms that +gives the propulsion to their spears, and the instant I observed that, +I ordered a discharge of the two rifles and one gun, as it was no use +waiting to be speared first. I delayed almost a second too long, for +at the instant I gave the word several spears had left the enemy's +hands, and it was with great good fortune we avoided them. Our shots, +as I had ordered, cut up the ground at their feet, and sent the sand +and gravel into their eyes and faces; this and the noise of the +discharge made the great body of them pause. Availing ourselves of +this interval, we ran to attack them, firing our revolvers in quick +succession as we ran. This, with the noise and the to them +extraordinary phenomenon of a projectile approaching them which they +could not see, drove them up into the hills from which they had +approached us, and they were quiet for nearly an hour, except for +their unceasing howls and yells, during which time we made an attempt +at getting some dinner. That meal, however, was not completed when we +saw them stealing down on us again. Again they came more than a +hundred strong, with heads held back, and arms at fullest tension to +give their spears the greatest projective force, when, just as they +came within spear shot, for we knew the exact distance now, we gave +them another volley, striking the sand up just before their feet; +again they halted, consulting one another by looks and signs, when the +discharge of Gibson's gun, with two long-distance cartridges, decided +them, and they ran back, but only to come again. In consequence of our +not shooting any of them, they began to jeer and laugh at us, slapping +their backsides at and jumping about in front of us, and indecently +daring and deriding us. These were evidently some of those lewd +fellows of the baser sort (Acts 17 5). We were at length compelled to +send some rifle bullets into such close proximity to some of their +limbs that at last they really did believe we were dangerous folk +after all. Towards night their attentions ceased, and though they +camped just on the opposite side of the creek, they did not trouble us +any more. Of course we kept a pretty sharp watch during the night. The +men of this nation were tall, big, and exceedingly hirsute, and in +excellent bodily condition. They reminded me of, as no doubt they are, +the prototypes of the account given by the natives of the Charlotte +Waters telegraph station, on my first expedition, who declared that +out to the west were tribes of wild blacks who were cannibals, who +were covered with hair, and had long manes hanging down their backs. + +None of these men, who perhaps were only the warriors of the tribe, +were either old or grey-haired, and although their features in general +were not handsome, some of the younger ones' faces were prepossessing. +Some of them wore the chignon, and others long curls; the youngest +ones who wore curls looked at a distance like women. A number were +painted with red ochre, and some were in full war costume, with +feathered crowns and head dresses, armlets and anklets of feathers, +and having alternate stripes of red and white upon the upper portions +of their bodies; the majority of course were in undress uniform. I +knew as soon as I arrived in this region that it must be well if not +densely populated, for it is next to impossible in Australia for an +explorer to discover excellent and well-watered regions without coming +into deadly conflict with the aboriginal inhabitants. The aborigines +are always the aggressors, but then the white man is a trespasser in +the first instance, which is a cause sufficient for any atrocity to be +committed upon him. I named this Encounter Creek The Officer.* There +was a high mount to the north-east from here, which lay nearly west +from Mount James-Winter, which I called Mount Officer.* + +Though there was a sound of revelry or devilry by night in the enemy's +camp, ours was not passed in music, and we could not therefore listen +to the low harmonics that undertone sweet music's roll. Gibson got one +of the horses which was in sight, to go and find the others, while Mr. +Tietkens took Jimmy with him to the top of a hill in order to take +some bearings for me, while I remained at the camp. No sooner did the +natives see me alone than they recommenced their malpractices. I had +my arsenal in pretty good fighting order, and determined, if they +persisted in attacking me, to let some of them know the consequences. +I was afraid that some might spear me from behind while others engaged +me in front. I therefore had to be doubly on the alert. A mob of them +came, and I fired in the air, then on the ground, at one side of them +and then at the other. At last they fell back, and when the others and +the horses appeared, though they kept close round us, watching every +movement, yelling perpetually, they desisted from further attack. I +was very gratified to think afterwards that no blood had been shed, +and that we had got rid of our enemies with only the loss of a little +ammunition. Although this was Sunday, I did not feel quite so safe as +if I were in a church or chapel, and I determined not to remain. The +horses were frightened at the incessant and discordant yells and +shrieks of these fiends, and our ears also were perfectly deafened +with their outcries. + +We departed, leaving the aboriginal owners of this splendid piece of +land in the peaceful possession of their beautiful hunting grounds, +and travelled west through a small gap into a fine valley. The main +range continued stretching away north of us in high and heavy masses +of hills, and with a fine open country to the south. At ten miles we +came to another fine creek, where I found water running; this I called +the Currie*. It was late when, in six miles further, we reached +another creek, where we got water and a delightful camp. I called this +the Levinger*. The country to-day was excellent, being fine open, +grassy valleys all the way; all along our route in this range we saw +great quantities of white snail-shells, in heaps, at old native +encampments, and generally close to their fireplaces. In crevices and +under rocks we found plenty of the living snails, large and brown; it +was evident the natives cook and eat them, the shells turning white in +the fire, also by exposure to the sun. On starting again we travelled +about west-north-west, and we passed through a piece of timbered +country; at twelve miles we arrived at another fine watercourse. The +horses were almost unmanageable with flashness, running about with +their mouths full of the rich herbage, kicking up their heels and +biting at one another, in a perfect state of horse-play. It was almost +laughable to see them, with such heavy packs on their backs, +attempting such elephantine gambols; so I kept them going, to steady +them a bit. The creek here I called Winter* Water. At five miles +farther we passed a very high mountain in the range, which appeared +the highest I had seen; I named it Mount Davenport. We next passed +through a small gap, over a low hill, and immediately on our +appearance we heard the yells and outcries of natives down on a small +flat below. All we saw, however, was a small, and I hope happy, +family, consisting of two men, one woman, and another youthful +individual, but whether male or female I was not sufficiently near to +determine. When they saw us descend from the little hill, they very +quickly walked away, like respectable people. Continuing our course in +nearly the same direction, west-north-west, and passing two little +creeks, I climbed a small hill and saw a most beautiful valley about a +mile away, stretching north-west, with eucalyptus or gum timber up at +the head of it. The valley appeared entirely enclosed by hills, and +was a most enticing sight. Travelling on through 200 or 300 yards of +mulga, we came out on the open ground, which was really a sight that +would delight the eyes of a traveller, even in the Province of +Cashmere or any other region of the earth. The ground was covered with +a rich carpet of grass and herbage; conspicuous amongst the latter was +an abundance of the little purple vetch, which, spreading over +thousands of acres of ground, gave a lovely pink or magenta tinge to +the whole scene. I also saw that there was another valley running +nearly north, with another creek meandering through it, apparently +joining the one first seen. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE FAIRIES' GLEN.) + +Passing across this fairy space, I noticed the whitish appearances +that usually accompany springs and flood-marks in this region. We soon +reached a most splendid kind of stone trough, under a little stony +bank, which formed an excellent spring, running into and filling the +little trough, running out at the lower end, disappearing below the +surface, evidently perfectly satisfied with the duties it had to +perform. + +This was really the most delightful spot I ever saw; a region like a +garden, with springs of the purest water spouting out of the ground, +ever flowing into a charming little basin a hundred yards long by +twenty feet wide and four feet deep. There was a quantity of the +tea-tree bush growing along the various channels, which all contained +running water. + +The valley is surrounded by picturesque hills, and I am certain it is +the most charming and romantic spot I ever shall behold. I immediately +christened it the Fairies' Glen, for it had all the characteristics to +my mind of fairyland. Here we encamped. I would not have missed +finding such a spot, upon--I will not say what consideration. Here +also of course we saw numbers of both ancient and modern native huts, +and this is no doubt an old-established and favourite camping ground. +And how could it be otherwise? No creatures of the human race could +view these scenes with apathy or dislike, nor would any sentient +beings part with such a patrimony at any price but that of their +blood. But the great Designer of the universe, in the long past +periods of creation, permitted a fiat to be recorded, that the beings +whom it was His pleasure in the first instance to place amidst these +lovely scenes, must eventually be swept from the face of the earth by +others more intellectual, more dearly beloved and gifted than they. +Progressive improvement is undoubtedly the order of creation, and we +perhaps in our turn may be as ruthlessly driven from the earth by +another race of yet unknown beings, of an order infinitely higher, +infinitely more beloved, than we. On me, perchance, the eternal +obloquy of the execution of God's doom may rest, for being the first +to lead the way, with prying eye and trespassing foot, into regions so +fair and so remote; but being guiltless alike in act or intention to +shed the blood of any human creature, I must accept it without a sigh. + +The night here was cold, the mercury at daylight being down to 24 +degrees, and there was ice on the water or tea left in the pannikins +or billies overnight. + +This place was so charming that I could not tear myself away. Mr. +Tietkens and I walked to and climbed up a high mount, about three +miles north-easterly from camp; it was of some elevation. We ascended +by a gorge having eucalyptus and callitris pines halfway up. We found +water running from one little basin to another, and high up, near the +summit, was a bare rock over which water was gushing. To us, as we +climbed towards it, it appeared like a monstrous diamond hung in +mid-air, flashing back the rays of the morning sun. I called this +Mount Oberon, after Shakespeare's King of the Fairies. The view from +its summit was limited. To the west the hills of this chain still run +on; to the east I could see Mount Ferdinand. The valley in which the +camp and water was situate lay in all its loveliness at our feet, and +the little natural trough in its centre, now reduced in size by +distance, looked like a silver thread, or, indeed, it appeared more as +though Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, had for a moment laid her +magic silver wand upon the grass, and was reposing in the sunlight +among the herbage and the flowers. The day was lovely, the sky serene +and clear, and a gentle zephyr-like breeze merely agitated the +atmosphere. As we sat gazing over this delightful scene, and having +found also so many lovely spots in this chain of mountains, I was +tempted to believe I had discovered regions which might eventually +support, not only flocks and herds, but which would become the centres +of population also, each individual amongst whom would envy me us +being the first discoverer of the scenes it so delighted them to view. +For here were:-- + + "Long dreamy lawns, and birds on happy wings + Keeping their homes in never-rifled bowers; + Cool fountains filling with their murmuring + The sunny silence 'twixt the charming hours." + +In the afternoon we returned to the camp, and again and again wondered +at the singular manner in which the water existed here. Five hundred +yards above or below there is no sign of water, but in that +intermediate space a stream gushes out of the ground, fills a splendid +little trough, and gushes into the ground again: emblematic indeed of +the ephemeral existence of humanity--we rise out of the dust, flash +for a brief moment in the light of life, and in another we are gone. +We planted seeds here; I called it Titania's Spring, the watercourse +in which it exists I called Moffatt's* Creek. + +The night was totally different from the former, the mercury not +falling below 66 degrees. The horses upon being brought up to the camp +this morning on foot, displayed such abominable liveliness and +flashness, that there was no catching them. One colt, Blackie, who was +the leader of the riot, I just managed at length to catch, and then we +had to drive the others several times round the camp at a gallop, +before their exuberance had in a measure subsided. It seemed, indeed, +as if the fairies had been bewitching them during the night. It was +late when we left the lovely spot. A pretty valley running north-west, +with a creek in it, was our next road; our track wound about through +the most splendidly grassed valleys, mostly having a trend westerly. +At twelve miles we saw the gum timber of a watercourse, apparently +debouching through a glen. Of course there was water, and a channel +filled with reeds, down which the current ran in never-failing +streams. This spot was another of those charming gems which exist in +such numbers in this chain. This was another of those "secret nooks in +a pleasant land, by the frolic fairies planned." I called the place +Glen Watson*. From a hill near I discovered that this chain had now +become broken, and though it continues to run on still farther west, +it seemed as though it would shortly end. The Mount Olga of my former +expedition was now in view, and bore north 17 degrees west, a +considerable distance away. I was most anxious to visit it. On my +former journey I had made many endeavours to reach it, but was +prevented; now, however, I hoped no obstacle would occur, and I shall +travel towards it to-morrow. There was more than a mile of running +water here, the horses were up to their eyes in the most luxuriant +vegetation, and our encampment was again in a most romantic spot. Ah! +why should regions so lovely be traversed so soon? This chain of +mountains is called the Musgrave Range. A heavy dew fell last night, +produced, I imagine, by the moisture in the glen, and not by +extraneous atmospheric causes, as we have had none for some nights +previously. + + +CHAPTER 2.3. FROM 10TH SEPTEMBER TO 30TH SEPTEMBER, 1873. + +Leave for Mount Olga. +Change of scene. +Desert oak-trees. +The Mann range. +Fraser's Wells. +Mount Olga's foot. +Gosse's expedition. +Marvellous mountain. +Running water. +Black and gold butterflies. +Rocky bath. +Ayers' Rock. +Appearance of Mount Olga. +Irritans camp. +Sugar-loaf Hill. +Collect plants. +Peaches. +A patch of better country. +A new creek and glen. +Heat and cold. +A pellucid pond. +Zoe's Glen. +Christy Bagot's Creek. +Stewed ducks. +A lake. +Hector's Springs and Pass. +Lake Wilson. +Stevenson's Creek. +Milk thistles. +Beautiful amphitheatre. +A carpet of verdure. +Green swamp. +Smell of camels. +How I found Livingstone. +Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit. +Cotton and salt bush flats. +The Champ de Mars. +Sheets of water. +Peculiar tree. +Pleasing scene. +Harriet's Springs. +Water in grass. +Ants and burrs. +Mount Aloysius. +Across the border. +The Bell Rock. + +We left this pretty glen with its purling stream and reedy bed, and +entered very shortly upon an entirely different country, covered with +porcupine grass. We went north-west to some ridges at seventeen miles, +where there was excellent vegetation, but no water. I noticed to-day +for the first time upon this expedition some of the desert oak trees +(Casuarina Decaisneana). Nine miles farther we reached a round hill, +from which Mount Olga bore north. We were still a considerable +distance away, and as I did not know of any water existing at Mount +Olga, I was anxious to find some, for the horses had none where we +encamped last night. From this hill I could also see that the Musgrave +chain still ran on to the west; though broken and parted in masses, it +rose again into high mounts and points. This continuation is called +the Mann Range. Near the foot of the round hill I saw a small flat +piece of rock, barely perceptible among the grass; on it was an old +native fireplace and a few dead sticks. On inspection there proved to +be two fine little holes or basins in the solid rock, with ample water +for all my horses. Scrub and triodia existed in the neighbourhood, and +the feed was very poor. These were called Fraser's Wells. Mount Olga +was still fifty miles away. We now pushed on for it over some stony +and some scrubby country, and had to camp without water and with +wretched feed for the horses. Casuarina trees were often passed. We +generally managed to get away early from a bad camp, and by the middle +of the next day we arrived at the foot of Mount Olga. Here I perceived +the marks of a wagon and horses, and camel tracks; these I knew at +once to be those of Gosse's expedition. Gosse had come down south +through the regions, and to the watering places which I discovered in +my former journey. He had evidently gone south to the Mann range, and +I expected soon to overtake him. I had now travelled four hundred +miles to reach this mount, which, when I first saw it, was only +seventy-five or eighty miles distant. + +The appearance of this mountain is marvellous in the extreme, and +baffles an accurate description. I shall refer to it again, and may +remark here that it is formed of several vast and solid, huge, and +rounded blocks of bare red conglomerate stones, being composed of +untold masses of rounded stones of all kinds and sizes, mixed like +plums in a pudding, and set in vast and rounded shapes upon the +ground. Water was running from the base, down a stony channel, filling +several rocky basins. The water disappeared in the sandy bed of the +creek, where the solid rock ended. We saw several quandongs, or native +peach-trees, and some native poplars on our march to-day. I made an +attempt to climb a portion of this singular mound, but the sides were +too perpendicular; I could only get up about 800 or 900 feet, on the +front or lesser mound; but without kites and ropes, or projectiles, or +wings, or balloons, the main summit is unscaleable. The quandong fruit +here was splendid--we dried a quantity in the sun. Some very beautiful +black and gold, butterflies, with very large wings, were seen here and +collected. The thermometer to-day was 95 degrees in the shade. We +enjoyed a most luxurious bath in the rocky basins. We moved the camp +to softer ground, where there was a well-grassed flat a mile and a +half away. To the east was a high and solitary mound, mentioned in my +first journal as ranges to the east of Mount Olga, and apparently +lying north and south; this is called Ayers' Rock; I shall have to +speak of it farther on. To the west-south-west were some pointed +ridges, with the long extent of the Mann Ranges lying east and west, +far beyond them to the south. + +The appearance of Mount Olga from this camp is truly wonderful; it +displayed to our astonished eyes rounded minarets, giant cupolas, and +monstrous domes. There they have stood as huge memorials of the +ancient times of earth, for ages, countless eons of ages, since its +creation first had birth. The rocks are smoothed with the attrition of +the alchemy of years. Time, the old, the dim magician, has +ineffectually laboured here, although with all the powers of ocean at +his command; Mount Olga has remained as it was born; doubtless by the +agency of submarine commotion of former days, beyond even the epoch of +far-back history's phantom dream. From this encampment I can only +liken Mount Olga to several enormous rotund or rather elliptical +shapes of rouge mange, which had been placed beside one another by +some extraordinary freak or convulsion of Nature. I found two other +running brooks, one on the west and one on the north side. My first +encampment was on the south. The position of this extraordinary +feature is in latitude 25 degrees 20' and longitude 130 degrees 57'. + +Leaving the mountain, we next traversed a region of sandy soil, rising +into sandhills, with patches of level ground between. There were +casuarinas and triodia in profusion--two different kinds of vegetation +which appear to thoroughly enjoy one another's company. We went to the +hills south south-westerly, and had a waterless camp in the porcupine, +triodia, spinifex, Festuca irritans, and everything-else-abominable, +grass; 95 degrees in shade. At about thirty-two miles from Mount Olga +we came to the foot of the hills, and I found a small supply of water +by digging; but at daylight next morning there was not sufficient for +half the horses, so I rode away to look for more; this I found in a +channel coming from a sugar-loaf or high-peaked hill. It was a +terribly rough and rocky place, and it was too late to get the animals +up to the ledges where the water was, and they had to wait till next +day. + +From here I decided to steer for a notch in the Mann Range, nearly +south-west. The country consisted chiefly of sandhills, with casuarina +and flats with triodia. We could get no water by night. I collected a +great quantity of various plants and flowers along all the way I had +come in fact, but just about Mount Olga I fancied I had discovered +several new species. To-day we passed through some mallee, and +gathered quandongs or native peach, which, with sugar, makes excellent +jam; we also saw currajongs and native poplars. We now turned to some +ridges a few miles nearer than the main range, and dug a tank, for the +horses badly wanted water. A very small quantity drained in, and the +animals had to go a second night unwatered. It was now the 22nd of +September, and I had hoped to have some rain at the equinox, but none +had yet fallen. The last two days have been very warm and oppressive. +The country round these ridges was very good, and plenty of the little +purple vetch grew here. The tank in the morning was quite full; it +however watered only seventeen horses, but by twelve o'clock all were +satisfied, and we left the tank for the benefit of those whom it might +concern. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ZOE'S GLEN.) + +We were steering for an enticing-looking glen between two high hills +about south-south-west. We passed over sandhills, through scrubs, and +eventually on to open ground. At two or three miles from the new range +we crossed a kind of dry swamp or water flat, being the end of a gum +creek. A creek was seen to issue from the glen as we approached, and +at twelve miles from our last camp we came upon running water in the +three channels which existed. The day was warm, 94 degrees. The water +was slightly brackish. Heat and cold are evidently relative +perceptions, for this morning, although the thermometer stood at 58 +degrees, I felt the atmosphere exceedingly cold. We took a walk up the +glen whence the creek flows, and on to some hills which environ it. +The water was rushing rapidly down the glen; we found several fine +rock-basins--one in particular was nine or ten feet deep, the pellucid +element descending into it from a small cascade of the rocks above; +this was the largest sheet of water per se I had yet discovered upon +this expedition. It formed a most picturesque and delightful bath, and +as we plunged into its transparent depths we revelled, as it were, in +an almost newly discovered element. I called this charming spot Zoe's +Glen. In our wanderings up the glen we had found books in the running +brooks, and sermons in stones. The latitude of this pretty little +retreat was 25 degrees 59'. I rode a mile or two to the east to +inspect another creek; its bed was larger than ours, and water was +running down its channel. I called it Christy Bagot's Creek. I flushed +up a lot of ducks, but had no gun. On my return Gibson and Jimmy took +the guns, and walked over on a shooting excursion; only three ducks +were shot; of these we made an excellent stew. A strong gale of warm +wind blew from the south all night. Leaving Zoe's Glen, we travelled +along the foot of the range to the south of us; at six or seven miles +I observed a kind of valley dividing this range running south, and +turned down into it. It was at first scrubby, then opened out. At four +miles Mr. Tietkens and I mounted a rocky rise, and he, being ahead, +first saw and informed me that there was a lake below us, two or three +miles away. I was very much gratified to see it, and we immediately +proceeded towards it. The valley or pass had now become somewhat +choked with low pine-clad stony hills, and we next came upon a running +creek with some fine little sheets of water; it meandered round the +piny hills and exhausted itself upon the bosom of the lake. I called +these the Hector Springs and Hector Pass after Hector Wilson*. On +arrival at the lake I found its waters were slightly brackish; there +was no timber on its shores; it lay close under the foot of the +mountains, having their rocky slopes for its northern bank. The +opposite shore was sandy; numerous ducks and other water-fowl were +floating on its breast. Several springs from the ranges ran into its +northern shore, and on its eastern side a large creek ran in, though +its timber did not grow all the way. The water was now eight or nine +miles round; it was of an oblong form, whose greatest length is east +and west. When quite full this basin must be at least twenty miles in +circumference; I named this fine sheet of water Lake Wilson*. The +position of this lake I made out to be in longitude 129 degrees 52'. A +disagreeable warm wind blew all day. + +The morning was oppressive, the warm south wind still blowing. We left +Lake Wilson, named after Sir Samuel, who was the largest contributor +to this expedition fund, in its wildness, its loneliness, and its +beauty, at the foot of its native mountains, and went away to some low +hills south-south-west, where in nine miles we got some water in a +channel I called Stevenson's* Creek. In a few miles further we found +ourselves in a kind of glen where water bubbled up from the ground +below. The channel had become filled with reeds, and great quantities +of enormous milk or sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceous). Some of the +horses got bogged in this ravine, which caused considerable delay. +Eventually it brought us out into a most beautiful amphitheatre, into +which several creeks descended. This open space was covered with the +richest carpet of verdure, and was a most enchanting spot. It was +nearly three miles across; we went over to its southern side, and +camped under the hills which fenced it there, and among them we +obtained a supply of water. The grass and herbage here were +magnificent. The only opening to this beautiful oval was some distance +to the east; we therefore climbed over the hills to the south to get +away, and came upon another fine valley running westward, with a +continuous line of hills running parallel to it on the north. We made +a meandering course, in a south-westerly direction, for about fifteen +miles, when the hills became low and isolated, and gave but a poor +look out for water. Other hills in a more continuous line bore to the +north of west, to which we went. In three miles after this we came to +a valley with a green swamp in the middle; it was too boggy to allow +horses to approach. A round hill in another valley was reached late, +and here our pack-horses, being driven in a mob in front of us, put +their noses to the ground and seemed to have smelt something unusual, +which proved to be Mr. Gosse's dray track. Our horses were smelling +the scent of his camels from afar. The dray track was now +comparatively fresh, and I had motives for following it. It was so +late we had to encamp without finding the water, which I was quite +sure was not far from us, and we turned out our horses hoping they +might discover it in the night. + +I went to sleep that night dreaming how I had met Mr. Gosse in this +wilderness, and produced a parody upon 'How I found Livingstone.' We +travelled nearly thirty miles to-day upon all courses, the country +passed over being principally very fine valleys, richly clothed with +grass and almost every other kind of valuable herbage. Yesterday, the +28th of September, was rather a warm day; I speak by the card, for at +ten o'clock at night Herr Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit had not +condescended to fall below 82 degrees. The horses found water in the +night, and in the morning looked sleek and full. I intended now, as I +said before, to follow Gosse's dray track, for I knew he could not be +very far in advance. + +We followed the track a mile, when it turned suddenly to the +south-west, down a valley with a creek in it that lay in that +direction. But as a more leading one ran also in a more westerly +direction, I left the dray track almost at right angles, and proceeded +along the more westerly line. The valley I now traversed became +somewhat scrubby with mallee and triodia. In seven or eight miles we +got into much better country, lightly timbered with mulga and +splendidly grassed. Here also were some cotton and salt bush flats. To +my English reader I may say that these shrubs, or plants, or bushes +are the most valuable fodder plants for stock known in Australia; they +are varieties of the Atriplex family of plants, and whenever I can +record meeting them, I do it with the greatest satisfaction. At twelve +miles the hills to our north receded, and there lay stretched out +before us a most beautiful plain, level as a billiard table and green +as an emerald. Viewing it from the top of a hill, I could not help +thinking what a glorious spot this would make for the display of +cavalry manoeuvres. In my mental eye I could see + + "The rush of squadrons sweeping, + Like whirlwinds o'er the plain;" + +and mentally hear + + "The shouting of the slayers, + The screeching of the slain." + +I called this splendid circle the Champ de Mars; it is, I dare say, +fifteen or sixteen miles round. The hills on the northern side were +much higher than those near us, and appeared more inviting for water; +so we rode across the circle to them. In a kind of gully between the +hills, at four and a half miles, I found a rock-hole full of water in +a triodia creek; it was seven or eight feet deep, and almost hidden +amongst rocks and scrubs. The water drained into the hole from above. +By the time my horses were all satisfied they had lowered it very +considerably, and I did not think there would be a drink for them all +in the morning; but when we took them up next day I found the rocky +basin had been replenished during the night. + +A valley led away from here, along the foot of the northern hills, +almost west. At five miles we crossed the channel of a fine little +creek, coming from thence; it had several sheets of water with rocky +banks, and there were numerous ducks on the waters. The timber upon +this creek was mostly blood-wood or red gum; the blood-wood has now +almost entirely supplanted the other eucalypts. There was another tree +of a very peculiar leaf which I have often met before, but only as a +bush; here it had assumed the proportions of a tree. This was one of +the desert acacias, but which of them I could not tell. Farther on +were several bare red hills, festooned with cypress pines, which +always give a most pleasing tone to any Australian view. These I +called Harriet's Springs. The creek meandered away down the valley +amongst pine-clad hills to the south-westward, and appeared to +increase in size below where we crossed it. + +I ascended a hill and saw that the two lines of hills encircling the +Champ de Mars had now entirely separated, the space between becoming +gradually broader. + +A pointed hill at the far end of the southern line bore west, and we +started away for it. We continued on this west course for fifteen or +sixteen miles, having the southern hills very close to our line of +march. Having travelled some twenty miles, I turned up a blind gully +or water-channel in a small triodia valley, and found some water lying +about amongst the grass. The herbage here was splendid. Ants and burrs +were very annoying, however; we have been afflicted with both of these +animal and vegetable annoyances upon many occasions all through these +regions. There was a high, black-looking mountain with a conical +summit, in the northern line of ranges, which bore north-westward from +here. I named it Mount Aloysius, after the Christian name of Sir A.F. +Weld, Governor of Western Australia. We had entered the territory of +the Colony of Western Australia on the last day of September; the +boundary between it and South Australia being the 129th meridian of +east longitude. The latitude by stars of this camp was 26 degrees 9'. +Leaving it early, we continued upon the same line as yesterday, and +towards the same hill, which we reached in five miles, and ascended. +It was nearly the most westerly point of the line of hills we had been +following. The summit of this hill I found to consist of great masses +of rifted stone, which were either solid iron or stone coated thickly +with it. The blocks rang with the sound of my iron-shod boots, while +moving over them, with such a musical intonation and bell-like clang, +that I called this the Bell Rock. Mount Aloysius bore north 9 degrees +west, distant about ten miles; here I saw it was quite an isolated +range, as, at its eastern and western extremities, open spaces could +be seen between it and any other hills. + + +CHAPTER 2.4. FROM 30TH SEPTEMBER TO 9TH NOVEMBER, 1873. + +Native encampment. +Fires alight. +Hogarth's Wells. +Mount Marie and Mount Jeanie. +Pointed ranges to the west. +Chop a passage. +Traces of volcanic action. +Highly magnetic hills. +The Leipoa ocellata. +Tapping pits. +Glen Osborne. +Cotton-bush flats. +Frowning bastion walls. +Fort Mueller. +A strong running stream. +Natives' smokes. +Gosse returning. +Limestone formation. +Native pheasants' nests. +Egg-carrying. +Mount Squires. +The Mus conditor's nest. +Difficulty with the horses. +A small creek and native well. +Steer for the west. +Night work. +Very desolate places. +A circular storm. +The Shoeing Camp. +A bare hill. +The Cups. +Fresh looking creek. +Brine and bitter water. +The desert pea. +Jimmy and the natives. +Natives prowling at night. +Searching for water. +Horses suffering from thirst. +Horseflesh. +The Cob. +The camp on fire. +Men and horses choking for water. +Abandon the place. +Displeasing view. +Native signs. +Another cup. +Thermometer 106 degrees. +Return to the Cob. +Old dry well. +A junction from the east. +Green rushes. +Another waterless camp. +Return to the Shoeing Camp. +Intense cold. +Biting dogs' noses. +A nasal organ. +Boiling an egg. +Tietkens and Gibson return unsuccessful. +Another attempt west. +Country burnt by natives. + +We had now been travelling along the northern foot of the more +southerly of the two lines of hills which separated, at the west end +of the Champ de Mars; and on reaching the Bell Rock, this southern +line ceased, while the northern one still ran on, though at diminished +elevation, and we now travelled towards two hills standing together +about west-north-west. On reaching them, in thirteen miles, I found a +native encampment; there were several old and new bough gunyahs, and +the fires were alight at the doors? of many of them. We could not see +the people because they hid themselves, but I knew quite well they +were watching us close by. There was a large bare slab of rock, in +which existed two fine cisterns several feet in depth, one much longer +than the other, the small one containing quite a sufficient supply for +all my horses. I called these Hogarth's Wells, and the two hills Mount +Marie and Mount Jeanie. I was compelled to leave one of these +receptacles empty, which for ages the simple inhabitants of these +regions had probably never seen dry before. Some hills lay +south-westerly, and we reached them in nine miles; they were +waterless. Southward the country appeared all scrub. The western +horizon was broken by ranges with some high points amongst them; they +were a long way off. To the west-north-west some bald ranges also ran +on. I made across to them, steering for a fall or broken gap to the +north-north-west. This was a kind of glen, and I found a watercourse +in it, with a great quantity of tea-tree, which completely choked up +the passage with good-sized trees, whose limbs and branches were so +interwoven that they prevented any animal larger than a man from +approaching the water, bubbling along at their feet. We had to chop a +passage to it for our horses. The hills were quite destitute of +timber, and were composed of huge masses of rifted granite, which +could only have been so riven by seismatic action, which at one time +must have been exceedingly frequent in this region. + +I may mention that, from the western half of the Musgrave Range, all +the Mann, the Tomkinson, and other ranges westward have been shivered +into fragments by volcanic force. Most of the higher points of all the +former and latter consist of frowning masses of black-looking or +intensely red ironstone, or granite thickly coated with iron. Triodia +grows as far up the sides of the hills as it is possible to obtain any +soil; but even this infernal grass cannot exist on solid rock; +therefore all the summits of these hills are bare. These shivered +masses of stone have large interstices amongst them, which are the +homes, dens, or resorts of swarms of a peculiar marsupial known as the +rock wallaby, which come down on to the lower grounds at night to +feed. If they expose themselves in the day, they are the prey of +aborigines and eagles, if at night, they fall victims to wild dogs or +dingoes. The rocks frequently change their contours from earthquake +shocks, and great numbers of these creatures are crushed and smashed +by the trembling rocks, so that these unfortunate creatures, beset by +so many dangers, exist always in a chronic state of fear and anxiety, +and almost perpetual motion. These hills also have the metallic clang +of the Bell Rock, and are highly magnetic. In the scrubs to-day Gibson +found a Lowan's or scrub pheasant's nest. These birds inhabit the most +waterless regions and the densest scrubs, and live entirely without +water. + +This bird is figured in Gould's work on Australian ornithology; it is +called the Leipoa ocellata. Two specimens of these birds are preserved +in the Natural History Department of the British Museum at Kensington. +We obtained six fresh eggs from it. I found another, and got five +more. We saw several native huts in the scrubs, some of them of large +dimensions, having limbs of the largest trees they could get to build +them with. When living here, the natives probably obtain water from +roots of the mulga. This must be the case, for we often see small +circular pits dug at the foot of some of these trees, which, however, +generally die after the operation of tapping. I called the spot Glen +Osborne*; we rested here a day. We always have a great deal of sewing +and repairing of the canvas pack-bags to do, and a day of rest usually +means a good day's work; it rests the horses, however, and that is the +main thing. Saturday night, the 4th October, was a delightfully cool +one, and on Sunday we started for some hills in a south-westerly +direction, passing some low ridges. We reached the higher ones in +twenty-two miles. Nearing them, we passed over some fine cotton-bush +flats, so-called from bearing a small cotton-like pod, and immediately +at the hills we camped on a piece of plain, very beautifully grassed, +and at times liable to inundation. It was late when we arrived; no +water could be found; but the day was cool, and the night promised to +be so too; and as I felt sure I should get water in these hills in the +morning, I was not very anxious on account of the horses. These hills +are similar to those lately described, being greatly impregnated with +iron and having vast upheavals of iron-coated granite, broken and +lying in masses of black and pointed rock, upon all their summits. +Their sides sloped somewhat abruptly, they were all highly magnetic, +and had the appearance of frowning, rough-faced, bastion walls. Very +early I climbed up the hills, and from the top I saw the place that +was afterwards to be our refuge, though it was a dangerous one. This +is called the Cavanagh Range, but as, in speaking of it as my depot, +it was called Fort Mueller*, I shall always refer to it by that name. +What I saw was a strong running stream in a confined rocky, scrubby +glen, and smokes from natives' fires. When bringing the horses, we had +to go over less difficult ground than I had climbed, and on the road +we found another stream in another valley, watered the horses, and did +not then go to my first find. There was fine open, grassy country all +round this range; we followed the creek down from the hills to it. On +reaching the lower grassy ground, we saw Mr. Gosse's dray-track again, +and I was not surprised to see that the wagon had returned upon its +outgoing track, and the party were now returning eastwards to South +Australia. I had for some days anticipated meeting him; but now he was +going east, and I west, I did not follow back after him. Shortly +afterwards, rounding the spurs of these hills, we came to the channel +of the Fort Mueller creek, which I had found this morning, and though +there was no surface-water, we easily obtained some by digging in the +sandy creek-bed. A peculiarity of the whole of this region is, that +water cannot exist far from the rocky foundations of the hills; the +instant the valleys open and any soil appears, down sinks the water, +though a fine stream may be running only a few yards above. Blankets +were again required for the last two nights. I found my position here +to be in latitude 26 degrees 12', longitude 127 degrees 59' 0". + +Leaving this encampment, we struck away for a new line of ranges. The +country was very peculiar, and different from any we had yet met; it +was open, covered with tall triodia, and consisted almost entirely of +limestone. At intervals, eucalyptus-trees of the mallee kind, and a +few of the pretty-looking bloodwood-trees and some native poplars were +seen; there was no grass for several miles, and we only found some +poor dry stuff for the horses in a patch of scrub, the ground all +round being stony and triodia-set. To-day we came upon three Lowans' +or native pheasants' nests. These birds, which somewhat resemble +guinea-fowl in appearance, build extraordinarily large nests of sand, +in which they deposit small sticks and leaves; here the female lays +about a dozen eggs, the decomposition of the vegetable matter +providing the warmth necessary to hatch them. These nests are found +only in thick scrubs. I have known them five to six feet high, of a +circular conical shape, and a hundred feet round the base. The first, +though of enormous size, produced only two eggs; the second, four, and +the third, six. We thanked Providence for supplying us with such +luxuries in such a wilderness. There are much easier feats to perform +than the carrying of Lowans' eggs, and for the benefit of any readers +who don't know what those eggs are like, I may mention that they are +larger than a goose egg, and of a more delicious flavour than any +other egg in the world. Their shell is beautifully pink tinted, and so +terribly fragile that, if a person is not careful in lifting them, the +fingers will crunch through the tinted shell in an instant. Therefore, +carrying a dozen of such eggs is no easy matter. I took upon myself +the responsibility of bringing our prize safe into camp, and I +accomplished the task by packing them in grass, tied up in a +handkerchief, and slung round my neck; a fine fardel hanging on my +chest, immediately under my chin. A photograph of a person with such +an appendage would scarcely lead to recognition. We used some of the +eggs in our tea as a substitute for milk. A few of the eggs proved to +possess some slight germs of vitality, the preliminary process being +the formation of eyes. But explorers in the field are not such +particular mortals as to stand upon such trifles; indeed, parboiled, +youthful, Lowans' eyes are considered quite a delicacy in the camp. + +At early dawn there was brilliant lightning to the west, and the +horizon in that direction became cloudy. Thunder also was heard, but +whatever storm there might have been, passed away to the south of us. +In the course of a few miles we left the limestone behind, and +sandhills again came on. We went over two low ridges, and five or six +miles of scrub brought us to the hills we were steering for. Some +pine-clad bare rocks induced us to visit them to see if there were +rock-holes anywhere. Mr. Tietkens found a native well under one of the +rocks, but no water was seen in it, so we went to the higher hills, +and in a gully found but a poor supply. There was every appearance of +approaching rain, and we got everything under canvas, but in the night +of the 9th October a heavy gale of wind sprang up and blew away any +rain that might have fallen. As, however, it was still cloudy, we +remained in camp. + +From the highest hill here, called Mount Squires, the appearance of +the country surrounding was most strange. To the west, and round by +north-west to north, was a mass of broken timbered hills with scrubby +belts between. The atmosphere was too hazy to allow of distinct +vision, but I could distinguish lines of hills, if not ranges, to the +westward for a long distance. The view was by no means encouraging, +but as hills run on, though entirely different now from those behind +us, our only hope is that water may yet be discovered in them. The +whole region round about was enveloped in scrubs, and the hills were +not much more than visible above them. + +The sky had remained cloudy all yesterday, and I hoped, if the wind +would only cease, rain would surely fall; so we waited and hoped +against hope. We had powerful reverberations of thunder, and forked +and vivid lightnings played around, but no rain fell, although the +atmosphere was surcharged with electricity and moisture. The +wished-for rain departed to some far more favoured places, some +happier shores from these remote; and as if to mock our wishes, on the +following morning we had nearly three minutes' sprinkling of rain, and +then the sky became clear and bright. + +By this time we had used up all the water we could find, and had to go +somewhere else to get more. A terrible piece of next-to-impassable +scrub, four or five miles through, lay right in our path; it also rose +and fell into ridges and gullies in it. We saw one of the Mus +conditor, or building rats' nests, which is not the first we have seen +by many on this expedition. The scrub being so dense, it was +impossible to see more than two or three of the horses at a time, and +three different times some of them got away and tried to give us the +slip; this caused a great deal of anxiety and trouble, besides loss of +time. Shortly after emerging from the scrubs, we struck a small creek +with one or two gumtrees on it; a native well was in the bed, and we +managed to get water enough for the horses, we having only travelled +six miles straight all day. This was a very good, if not actually a +pretty, encampment; there was a narrow strip of open ground along the +banks, and good vegetation for the horses. We slept upon the sandy bed +of the creek to escape the terrible quantities of burrs which grew all +over these wilds. + +We steered away nearly west for the highest hills we had seen +yesterday; there appeared a fall or gap between two; the scrubs were +very thick to-day, as was seen by the state of our pack-bags, an +infallible test, when we stopped for the night, during the greater +part of which we had to repair the bags. We could not find any water, +and we seemed to be getting into very desolate places. A densely +scrubby and stony gully was before us, which we had to get through or +up, and on reaching the top I was disappointed to find that, though +there was an open valley below, the hills all round seemed too much +disconnected to form any good watering places. Descending, and leaving +Gibson and Jimmy with the horses, Mr. Tietkens and I rode in different +directions in search of water. In about two hours we met, in the only +likely spot either of us had seen; this was a little watercourse, and +following it up to the foot of the hills found a most welcome and +unexpectedly large pond for such a place. Above it in the rocks were a +line of little basins which contained water, with a rather pronounced +odour of stagnation about it; above them again the water was running, +but there was a space between upon which no water was seen. We +returned for the horses and camped as near as we could find a +convenient spot; this, however, was nearly a mile from the water. The +valley ran north-east and south-west; it was very narrow, not too +open, and there was but poor grass and herbage, the greater portion of +the vegetation being spinifex. At eight o'clock at night a +thunderstorm came over us from the west, and sprinkled us with a few +drops of rain; from west the storm travelled north-west, thence north +to east and south, performing a perfect circle around; reaching its +original starting point in about an hour, it disappeared, going +northerly again. The rest of the night was beautifully calm and clear. +Some of our horses required shoeing for the first time since we had +left the telegraph line, now over 600 miles behind us. From the top of +a hill here the western horizon was bounded by low scrubby ridges, +with an odd one standing higher than the rest; to one of these I +decided to go next. Some other hills lay a little more to the south, +but there was nothing to choose between them; hills also ran along +eastward and north-eastwards. At eight o'clock again to-night a +thunderstorm came up from the westward; it sprinkled us with a few +drops of rain, and then became dispersed to the south and south-east. + +The following day we passed in shoeing horses, mending pack-bags, +restuffing pack-saddles, and general repairs. While out after the +horses Mr. Tietkens found another place with some water, about two +miles southerly on the opposite or west side of the valley. Finishing +what work we had in hand, we remained here another day. I found that +water boiled in this valley at 209 degrees, making the approximate +altitude of this country 1534 above sea level. This we always called +the Shoeing Camp. We had remained there longer than at any other +encampment since we started; we arrived on the 14th and left on the +18th October. + +Getting over a low fall in the hills opposite the camp, I turned on my +proper course for another hill and travelled fifteen miles; the first +three being through very fine country, well grassed, having a good +deal of salt bush, being lightly timbered, and free from spinifex. The +scrub and triodia very soon made their appearance together, and we +were forced to camp in a miserable place, there being neither grass +nor water for the unfortunate horses. + +The next morning we deviated from our course on seeing a bare-looking +rocky hill to the right of our line of march; we reached it in ten +miles. Searching about, I found several small holes or cups worn into +the solid rock; and as they mostly contained water, the horses were +unpacked, while a farther search was made. This hill was always after +called the Cups. I rode away to other hills westward, and found a +fresh-looking creek, which emptied into a larger one; but I could find +nothing but brine and bitter water. For the first time on this journey +I found at this creek great quantities of that lovely flower, the +desert pea, Clianthus Dampierii. The creek ran south-westward. I +searched for hours for water without success, and returned to the +party at dusk. Mr. Tietkens had found some more water at another hill; +and he and Gibson took some of the horses over to it, leaving Jimmy +alone. + +Jimmy walked over to one cup we had reserved for our own use, to fill +the tin-billy for tea. Walking along with his eyes on the ground, and +probably thinking of nothing at all, he reached the cup, and, to his +horror and amazement, discovered some thirty or forty aboriginals +seated or standing round the spot. As he came close up to, but without +seeing them, they all yelled at him in chorus, eliciting from him a +yell in return; then, letting fall the tin things he was carrying, he +fairly ran back to the camp, when he proceeded to get all the guns and +rifles in readiness to shoot the whole lot. But Mr. Tietkens and +Gibson returning with the horses, having heard the yells, caused the +natives to decamp, and relieved poor Jimmy's mind of its load of care +and fear. No doubt these Autocthones were dreadfully annoyed to find +their little reservoirs discovered by such water-swallowing wretches +as they doubtless thought white men and horses to be; I could only +console myself with the reflection, that in such a region as this we +must be prepared to lay down our lives at any moment in our attempts +to procure water, and we must take it when we find it at any price, as +life and water are synonymous terms. I dare say they know where to get +more, but I don't. Some natives were prowling about our encampment all +the first half of the night, and my little dog kept up an incessant +barking; but the rest was silence. + +We used every drop of water from every cup, and moved away for the +bitter water I found yesterday. I thought to sweeten it by opening the +place with a shovel, and baling a lot of the stagnant water out; but +it was irreclaimable, and the horses could not drink it. + +Mr. Tietkens returned after dark and reported he had found only one +poor place, that might yield sufficient for one drink for all the +horses; and we moved down three miles. It was then a mile up in a +little gully that ran into our creek. Here we had to dig out a large +tank, but the water drained in so slowly that only eight horses could +be watered by midday; at about three o'clock eight more were taken, +and it was night before they were satisfied; and now the first eight +came up again for more, and all the poor wretches were standing in and +around the tank in the morning. The next day was spent in doling out a +few quarts of water to each horse, while I spent the day in a +fruitless search for the fluid which evidently did not exist. Six +weeks or two months ago there must have been plenty of water here, but +now it was gone; and had I been here at that time, I have no doubt I +might have passed across to the Murchison; but now I must retreat to +the Shoeing Camp. When I got back at night, I found that not half the +horses had received even their miserable allowance of three quarts +each, and the horse I had ridden far and fast all day could get none: +this was poor little W.A. of my first expedition. One little wretched +cob horse was upon the last verge of existence; he was evidently not +well, and had been falling away to a shadow for some time; he was for +ever hiding himself in the scrubs, and caused as much trouble to look +after him as all the others put together. He was nearly dead; water +was of no use to him, and his hide might be useful in repairing some +packbags, and we might save our stores for a time by eating him; so he +was despatched from this scene of woe, but not without woeful cruelty; +for Jimmy volunteered to shoot him, and walked down the creek a few +yards to where the poor little creature stood. The possibility of any +one not putting a bullet into the creature's forehead at once, never +occurred to me; but immediately after we heard the shot, Jimmy came +sauntering up and said, "Oh! he wants another dose." I jumped up and +said, "Oh, you young--" No, I won't say what I told Jimmy. Then Gibson +offered to do it, and with a very similar result. With suaviter in +modo, sed fortiter in re, I informed him that I did not consider him a +sufficiently crack shot to enable him to win a Wimbledon shield; and +what the deuce did he--but there, I had to shoot the poor miserable +creature, who already had two rifle bullets in his carcass, and I am +sure with his last breath he thanked me for that quick relief. There +was not sufficient flesh on his bones to cure; but we got a quantity +of what there was, and because we fried it we called it steak, and +because we called it steak we said we enjoyed it, though it was +utterly tasteless. The hide was quite rotten and useless, being as +thin and flimsy as brown paper. It was impossible now to push farther +out west, and a retreat to the Shoeing Camp had to be made, though we +could not reach it in a day. Thermometer while on this creek 99, and +100 degrees in shade. This place was always called the Cob. + +We had great difficulty in driving the horses past the Cups, as the +poor creatures having got water there once, supposed it always existed +there. Some of these little indents held only a few pints of water, +others a few quarts, and the largest only a few gallons. Early the +second day we got back, but we had left so little water behind us, +that we found it nearly all gone. Six days having elapsed makes a +wonderful difference in water that is already inclined to depart with +such evaporation as is always going on in this region. We now went to +where Mr. Tietkens had found another place, and he and Gibson took the +shovel to open it out, while Jimmy and I unpacked the horses. Here +Jimmy Andrews set fire to the spinifex close to all our packs and +saddles, and a strong hot wind blowing, soon placed all our belongings +in the most terrible jeopardy. The grass was dry and thick, and the +fire raged around us in a terrific manner; guns and rifles, riding- +and pack-saddles were surrounded by flames in a moment. We ran and +halloed and turned back, and frantically threw anything we could catch +hold of on to the ground already burnt. Upsetting a couple of packs, +we got the bags to dash out the flames, and it was only by the most +desperate exertions we saved nearly everything. The instant a thing +was lifted, the grass under it seemed to catch fire spontaneously; I +was on fire, Jimmy was on fire, my brains were in a fiery, whirling +blaze; and what with the heat, dust, smoke, ashes, and wind, I thought +I must be suddenly translated to Pandemonium. Our appearance also was +most satanic, for we were both as black as demons. + +There was no shade; we hadn't a drop of water; and without speaking a +word, off we went up the gully to try and get a drink; there was only +just enough thick fluid for us, the horses standing disconsolately +round. The day was hot, the thermometer marked 105 degrees. There was +not sufficient water here for the horses, and I decided, as we had not +actually dug at our old camp, to return there and do so. This we did, +and obtained a sufficiency at last. We were enabled to keep the camp +here for a few days, while Mr. Tietkens and I tried to find a more +northerly route to the west. Leaving Gibson and Jimmy behind, we took +three horses and steered away for the north. Our route on this trip +led us into the most miserable country, dry ridges and spinifex, +sandhills and scrubs, which rolled along in undulations of several +miles apart. We could get no water, and camped after a day's journey +of forty miles. + +Though the day had been very hot, the night became suddenly cool. In +the morning of the 28th of October, at five miles we arrived at a +scrubby sand ridge, and obtained a most displeasing view of the +country further north. The surface seemed more depressed, but entirely +filled up with dense scrubs, with another ridge similar to the one we +were on bounding the view; we reached it in about eight miles. The +view we then got was precisely similar to that behind us, except that +the next undulation that bounded the horizon was fifteen to eighteen +miles away. We had now come fifty-one miles from the Shoeing Camp; +there was no probability of getting water in such a region. To the +west the horizon was bounded by what appeared a perfectly flat and +level line running northwards. This flat line to the west seemed not +more than twenty-five to thirty miles away; between us and it were a +few low stony hills. Not liking the northern, I now decided to push +over to the western horizon, which looked so flat. I have said there +were some stony hills in that direction; we reached the first in +twenty miles. The next was formed of nearly bare rock, where there +were some old native gunyahs. Searching about we found another of +those extraordinary basins, holes, or cups washed out of the solid +rock by ancient ocean's force, ages before an all-seeing Providence +placed His dusky children upon this scene, or even before the waters +had sufficiently subsided to permit either animal or man to exist +here. From this singular cup we obtained a sufficient supply of that +fluid so terribly scarce in this region. We had to fill a canvas +bucket with a pint pot to water our horses, and we outspanned for the +remainder of the day at this exceedingly welcome spot. There were a +few hundred acres of excellent grass land, and the horses did +remarkably well during the night. The day had been very hot; the +thermometer in the shade at this rock stood at 106 degrees. + +This proved a most abominable camp; it swarmed with ants, and they +kept biting us so continually, that we were in a state of perpetual +motion nearly all the time we were there. A few heat-drops of rain +fell. I was not sorry to leave the wretched place, which we left as +dry as the surrounding void. We continued our west course over +sandhills and through scrub and spinifex. The low ridges of which the +western horizon was formed, and which had formerly looked perfectly +flat, was reached in five miles; no other view could be got. A mile +off was a slightly higher point, to which we went; then the horizon, +both north and west of the same nature, ran on as far as could be +seen, without any other object upon which to rest the eye. There were +a few little gullies about, which we wasted an hour amongst in a +fruitless search for water. The Bitter Water Creek now lay south of +us; I was not at all satisfied at our retreat from it. I was anxious +to find out where it went, for though we had spent several days in its +neighbourhood, we had not travelled more than eight or ten miles down +it; we might still get a bucket or two of water for our three horses +where I had killed the little cob. We therefore turned south in hopes +that we might get some satisfaction out of that region at last. We +were now, however, thirty-nine or forty miles from the water-place, +and two more from the Cob. I was most anxious on account of the water +at the Shoeing Camp; it might have become quite exhausted by this +time, and where on earth would Gibson and Jimmy go? The thermometer +again to-day stood at 106 degrees in the shade. + +It was late at night when we reached the Cob tank, and all the water +that had accumulated since we left was scarcely a bucketful. + +Though the sky was quite overcast, and rain threatened to fall nearly +all night, yet none whatever came. The three horses were huddled up +round the perfectly empty tank, having probably stood there all night. +I determined to try down the creek. One or two small branches enlarged +the channel; and in six or seven miles we saw an old native well, +which we scratched out with our hands; but it was perfectly dry. At +twelve miles another creek joined from some hills easterly, and +immediately below the junction the bed was filled with green rushes. +The shovel was at the Shoeing Camp, the bed was too stony to be dug +into with our hands. Below this again another and larger creek joined +from the east, or rather our creek ran into it. There were some large +holes in the new bed, but all were dry. We now followed up this new +channel eastwards, as our horses were very bad, and this was in the +direction of the home camp. We searched everywhere, up in hills and +gullies, and down into the creek again, but all without success, and +we had a waterless camp once more. The horses were now terribly bad, +they have had only the third of a bucket of water since Wednesday, it +being now Friday morning. We had still thirty miles to go to reach the +camp, and it was late when the poor unfortunate creatures dragged +themselves into it. Fortunately the day had been remarkably cool, +almost cold, the thermometer only rose to 80 degrees in the shade. The +water had held out well, and it still drained into the tank. + +On the following morning, the 1st November, the thermometer actually +descended to 32 degrees, though of course there was neither frost nor +ice, because there was nothing fluid or moist to freeze. I do not +remember ever feeling such a sensation of intense cold. The day was +delightfully cool; I was most anxious to find out if any water could +be got at the junction of the two creeks just left. Mr. Tietkens and +Gibson took three fresh horses, and the shovel, on Monday, the 3rd of +November, and started out there again. + +Remaining at the camp was simple agony, the ants were so numerous and +annoying; a strong wind was blowing from the eastwards, and the camp +was in a continual cloud of sand and dust. + +The next day was again windy and dusty, but not quite so hot as +yesterday. Jimmy and I and the two dogs were at the camp. He had a +habit of biting the dogs' noses, and it was only when they squealed +that I saw what he was doing; to-day Cocky was the victim. I said, +"What the deuce do you want to be biting the dog's nose for, you might +seriously injure his nasal organ?" "Horgin," said Jimmy, "do you call +his nose a horgin?" I said, "Yes, any part of the body of man or +animal is called an organ." "Well," he said, "I never knew that dogs +carried horgins about with them before." I said, "Well, they do, and +don't you go biting any of them again." Jimmy of course, my reader can +see, was a queer young fellow. On one occasion further back, a good +many crows were about, and they became the subject of discussion. I +remarked, "I've travelled about in the bush as much as most people, +and I never yet saw a little crow that couldn't fly;" then Jimmy said, +"Why, when we was at the Birthday, didn't I bring a little crow hin a +hague hin?" I said, "What's hin a hague hin?" To which he replied, "I +didn't say "hin a hague hin," I says "Hand her hague hin." After this, +whenever we went hunting for water, and found it, if there was a +sufficient quantity for us we always said, "Oh, there's enough to boil +a hague in anyhow." Late in the evening of the next day, Jimmy and I +were watching at the tank for pigeons, when the three horses Mr. +Tietkens took away came up to drink; this of course informed me they +had returned. The horses looked fearfully hollow, and I could see at a +glance that they could not possibly have had any water since they +left. Mr. Tietkens reported that no water was to be got anywhere, and +the country to the west appeared entirely waterless. + +I was, however, determined to make one more attempt. Packing two +horses with water, I intended to carry it out to the creek, which is +forty miles from here. At that point I would water one horse, hang the +remainder of the water in a tree, and follow the creek channel to see +what became of it. I took Gibson and Jimmy, Mr. Tietkens remaining at +the camp. On arriving at the junction of the larger creek, we followed +down the channel and in five miles, to my great surprise, though the +traveller in these regions should be surprised at nothing, we +completely ran the creek out, as it simply ended among triodia, +sandhills, and scrubby mulga flats. I was greatly disappointed at this +turn of affairs, as I had thought from its size it would at least have +led me to some water, and to the discovery of some new geographical +features. Except where we struck it, the country had all been burnt, +and we had to return to that spot to get grass to camp at. Water +existed only in the bags which we carried with us. I gave the horse I +intend riding to-morrow a couple of buckets of water. I suppose he +would have drank a dozen--the others got none. The three of us +encamped together here. + + +CHAPTER 2.5. FROM 9TH NOVEMBER TO 23RD DECEMBER, 1873. + +Alone. +Native signs. +A stinking pit. +Ninety miles from water. +Elder's Creek. +Hughes's Creek. +The Colonel's range. +Rampart-like range. +Hills to the north-east. +Jamieson's range. +Return to Fort Mueller. +Rain. +Start for the Shoeing Camp once more. +Lightning Rock. +Nothing like leather. +Pharaoh's inflictions. +Photophobists. +Hot weather. +Fever and philosophy. +Tietkens's tank. +Gibson taken ill. +Mysterious disappearance of water. +Earthquake shock. +Concussions and falling rocks. +The glen. +Cut an approach to the water. +Another earthquake shock. +A bough-house. +Gardens. +A journey northwards. +Pine-clad hills. +New line of ranges. +Return to depot. + +The following day was Sunday, the 9th of November, but was not a day +of rest to any of us. Gibson and Jimmy started back with the +packhorses for the Shoeing Camp, while I intended going westward, +westward, and alone! I gave my horse another drink, and fixed a +water-bag, containing about eight gallons, in a leather envelope up in +a tree; and started away like errant knight on sad adventure bound, +though unattended by any esquire or shield-bearer. I rode away west, +over open triodia sandhills, with occasional dots of scrub between, +for twenty miles. The horizon to the west was bounded by open, +undulating rises of no elevation, but whether of sand or stone I could +not determine. At this distance from the creek the sandhills mainly +fell off, and the country was composed of ground thickly clothed with +spinifex and covered all over with brown gravel. I gave my horse an +hour's rest here, with the thermometer at 102 degrees in the shade. +There was no grass, and not being possessed of organs that could +digest triodia he simply rested. On starting again, the hills I had +left now almost entirely disappeared, and looked flattened out to a +long low line. I travelled over many miles of burnt, stony, brown, +gravelly undulations; at every four or five miles I obtained a view of +similar country beyond; at thirty-five miles from the creek the +country all round me was exactly alike, but here, on passing a rise +that seemed a little more solid than the others, I noticed in a kind +of little valley some signs of recent native encampments; and the +feathers of birds strewn about--there were hawks', pigeons', and +cockatoos' feathers. I rode towards them, and right under my horse's +feet I saw a most singular hole in the ground. Dismounting, I found it +was another of those extraordinary cups from whence the natives obtain +water. This one was entirely filled up with boughs, and I had great +difficulty in dragging them out, when I perceived that this orifice +was of some depth and contained some water; but on reaching up a drop, +with the greatest difficulty, in my hand, I found it was quite putrid; +indeed, while taking out the boughs my nasal horgin, as Jimmy would +call it, gave me the same information. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE STINKING PIT.) + +I found the hole was choked up with rotten leaves, dead animals, +birds, and all imaginable sorts of filth. On poking a stick down into +it, seething bubbles aerated through the putrid mass, and yet the +natives had evidently been living upon this fluid for some time; some +of the fires in their camp were yet alight. I had very great +difficulty in reaching down to bale any of this fluid into my canvas +bucket. My horse seemed anxious to drink, but one bucketful was all he +could manage. There was not more than five or six buckets of water in +this hole; it made me quite sick to get the bucketful for the horse. +There were a few hundred acres of silver grass in the little valley +near, and as my horse began to feed with an apparent relish, I +remained here, though I anticipated at any moment seeing a number of +natives make their appearance. I said to myself, "Come one, come all, +this rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I." No enemies came, +and I passed the night with my horse feeding quietly close to where I +lay. To this I attributed my safety. + +Long before sunrise I was away from this dismal place, not giving my +horse any more of the disgusting water. In a mile or two I came to the +top of one of those undulations which at various distances bound the +horizon. They are but swells a little higher than the rest of the +country. How far this formation would extend was the question, and +what other feature that lay beyond, at which water could be obtained, +was a difficult problem to solve. From its appearance I was compelled +to suppose that it would remain unaltered for a very considerable +distance. From this rise all I could see was another; this I reached +in nine miles. Nearly all the country hereabout had been burnt, but +not very recently. The ground was still covered with gravel, with here +and there small patches of scrub, the country in general being very +good for travelling. I felt sure it would be necessary to travel 150 +miles at least before a watered spot could be found. How ardently I +wished for a camel; for what is a horse where waters do not exist +except at great distances apart? I pushed on to the next rising +ground, ten miles, being nearly twenty from where I had camped. The +view from here was precisely similar to the former ones. My horse had +not travelled well this morning, he seemed to possess but little +pluck. Although he was fat yesterday, he is literally poor now. This +horse's name was Pratt; he was a poor weak creature, and died +subsequently from thirst. I am afraid the putrid water has made him +ill, for I have had great difficulty in getting him to go. I turned +him out here for an hour at eleven o'clock, when the thermometer +indicated 102 degrees in the shade. The horse simply stood in the +shade of a small belt of mulga, but he would not try to eat. To the +south about a mile there was apparently a more solid rise, and I +walked over to it, but there was no cup either to cheer or inebriate. +I was now over fifty miles from my water-bag, which was hanging in a +tree at the mercy of the winds and waves, not to mention its removal +by natives, and if I lost that I should probably lose my life as well. +I was now ninety miles from the Shoeing Camp, and unless I was +prepared to go on for another hundred miles; ten, fifteen, twenty, or +fifty would be of little or no use. It was as much as my horse would +do to get back alive. From this point I returned. The animal went so +slowly that it was dusk when I got back to the Cup, where I observed, +by the removal of several boughs, that natives had been here in my +absence. They had put a lot of boughs back into the hole again. I had +no doubt they were close to me now, and felt sure they were watching +me and my movements with lynx-like glances from their dark metallic +eyes. I looked upon my miserable wretch of a horse as a safeguard from +them. He would not eat, but immediately hobbled off to the pit, and I +was afraid he would jump in before I could stop him, he was so eager +for drink. It was an exceedingly difficult operation to get water out +of this abominable hole, as the bucket could not be dipped into it, +nor could I reach the frightful fluid at all without hanging my head +down, with my legs stretched across the mouth of it, while I baled the +foetid mixture into the bucket with one of my boots, as I had no other +utensil. What with the position I was in and the horrible odour which +rose from the seething fluid, I was seized with violent retching. The +horse gulped down the first half of the bucket with avidity, but after +that he would only sip at it, and I was glad enough to find that the +one bucketful I had baled out of the pit was sufficient. I don't think +any consideration would have induced me to bale out another. + +Having had but little sleep, I rode away at three o'clock next +morning. The horse looked wretched and went worse. It was past midday +when I had gone twenty miles, when, entering sandhill country, I was +afraid he would knock up altogether. After an hour and a half's rest +he seemed better; he walked away almost briskly, and we reached the +water-bag much earlier than I expected. Here we both had a good drink, +although he would have emptied the bag three times over if he could +have got it. The day had been hot. + +When I left this singular watercourse, where plenty of water existed +in its upper portions, but was either too bitter or too salt for use, +I named it Elder's Creek. The other that joins it I called Hughes's +Creek, and the range in which they exist the Colonel's Range. + +There was not much water left for the horse. He was standing close to +the bag for some hours before daylight. He drank it up and away we +went, having forty miles to go. I arrived very late. Everything was +well except the water supply, and that was gradually ceasing. In a +week there will be none. The day had been pleasant and cool. + +Several more days were spent here, re-digging and enlarging the old +tank and trying to find a new. Gibson and I went to some hills to the +south, with a rampart-like face. The place swarmed with pigeons, but +we could find no water. We could hear the birds crooning and cooing in +all directions as we rode, "like the moan of doves in immemorial elms, +and the murmurings of innumerable bees." This rampart-like ridge was +festooned with cypress pines, and had there been water there, I should +have thought it a very pretty place. Every day was telling upon the +water at the camp. We had to return unsuccessful, having found none. +The horses were loose, and rambled about in several mobs and all +directions, and at night we could not get them all together. The water +was now so low that, growl as we may, go we must. It was five p.m. on +the 17th of November when we left. The nearest water now to us that I +knew of was at Fort Mueller, but I decided to return to it by a +different route from that we had arrived on, and as some hills lay +north-easterly, and some were pretty high, we went away in that +direction. + +We travelled through the usual poor country, and crossed several dry +water-channels. In one I thought to get a drink for the horses. The +party having gone on, I overtook them and sent Gibson back with the +shovel. We brought the horses back to the place, but he gave a very +gloomy opinion of it. The supply was so poor that, after working and +watching the horses all night, they could only get a bucketful each by +morning, and I was much vexed at having wasted time and energy in such +a wretched spot, which we left in huge disgust, and continued on our +course. Very poor regions were traversed, every likely-looking spot +was searched for water. I had been steering for a big hill from the +Shoeing Camp; a dry creek issued from its slopes. Here the hills +ceased in this northerly direction, only to the east and south-east +could ranges be seen, and it is only in them that water can be +expected in this region. Fort Mueller was nearly fifty miles away, on +a bearing of 30 degrees south of east. We now turned towards it. A +detached, jagged, and inviting-looking range lay a little to the east +of north-east; it appeared similar to the Fort Mueller hills. I called +it Jamieson's* Range, but did not visit it. Half the day was lost in +useless searching for water, and we encamped without any; thermometer +104 degrees at ten a.m. At night we camped on an open piece of +spinifex country. We had thunder and lightning, and about six +heat-drops of rain fell. + +The next day we proceeded on our course for Fort Mueller; at twelve +miles we had a shower of rain, with thunder and lightning, that lasted +a few seconds only. We were at a bare rock, and had the rain lasted +with the same force for only a minute, we could have given our horses +a drink upon the spot, but as it was we got none. The horses ran all +about licking the rock with their parched tongues. + +Late at night we reached our old encampment, where we had got water in +the sandy bed of the creek. It was now no longer here, and we had to +go further up. I went on ahead to look for a spot, and returning, met +the horses in hobbles going up the creek, some right in the bed. I +intended to have dug a tank for them, but the others let them go too +soon. I consoled myself by thinking that they had only to go far +enough, and they would get water on the surface. With the exception of +the one bucket each, this was their fourth night without water. The +sky was now as black as pitch; it thundered and lightened, and there +was every appearance of a fall of rain, but only a light mist or heavy +dew fell for an hour or two; it was so light and the temperature so +hot that we all lay without a rag on till morning. + +At earliest dawn Mr. Tietkens and I took the shovel and walked to +where we heard the horsebells. Twelve of the poor animals were lying +in the bed of the creek, with limbs stretched out as if dead, but we +were truly glad to find they were still alive, though some of them +could not get up. Some that were standing up were working away with +their hobbled feet the best way they could, stamping out the sand +trying to dig out little tanks, and one old stager had actually +reached the water in his tank, so we drove him away and dug out a +proper place. We got all the horses watered by nine o'clock. It was +four a.m. when we began to dig, and our exercise gave us an excellent +appetite for our breakfast. Gibson built a small bough gunyah, under +which we sat, with the thermometer at 102 degrees. + +In the afternoon the sky became overcast, and at six p.m. rain +actually began to fall heavily, but only for a quarter of an hour, +though it continued to drip for two or three hours. During and after +that we had heavy thunder and most vivid lightnings. The thermometer +at nine fell to 48 degrees; in the sun to-day it had been 176 degrees, +the difference being 128 degrees in a few hours, and we thought we +should be frozen stiff where we stood. A slight trickle of surface +water came down the creek channel. The rain seemed to have come from +the west, and I resolved to push out there again and see. This was +Friday; a day's rest was actually required by the horses, and the +following day being Sunday, we yet remained. + +MONDAY, 24TH NOVEMBER. + +We had thunder, lightnings, and sprinklings of rain again during last +night. We made another departure for the Shoeing Camp and Elder's +Creek. At the bare rock previously mentioned, which was sixteen miles +en route 30 degrees north of west, we found the rain had left +sufficient water for us, and we camped. The native well was full, and +water also lay upon the rock. The place now seemed exceedingly pretty, +totally different from its original appearance, when we could get no +water at it. How wonderful is the difference the all-important element +creates! While we were here another thunderstorm came up from the west +and refilled all the basins, which the horses had considerably +reduced. I called this the Lightning Rock, as on both our visits the +lightning played so vividly around us. Just as we were starting, more +thunder and lightnings and five minutes' rain came. + +From here I steered to the one-bucket tank, and at one place actually +saw water lying upon the ground, which was a most extraordinary +circumstance. I was in great hopes the country to the west had been +well visited by the rains. The country to-day was all dense scrubs, in +which we saw a Mus conditor's nest. When in these scrubs I always ride +in advance with a horse's bell fixed on my stirrup, so that those +behind, although they cannot see, may yet hear which way to come. +Continually working this bell has almost deprived me of the faculty of +hearing; the constant passage of the horses through these direful +scrubs has worn out more canvas bags than ever entered into my +calculations. Every night after travelling, some, if not all the bags, +are sure to be ripped, causing the frequent loss of flour and various +small articles that get jerked out. This has gone on to such an extent +that every ounce of twine has been used up; the only supply we can now +get is by unravelling some canvas. Ourselves and our clothes, as well +as our pack-bags, get continually torn also. Any one in future +traversing these regions must be equipped entirely in leather; there +must be leather shirts and leather trousers, leather hats, leather +heads, and leather hearts, for nothing else can stand in a region such +as this. + +We continued on our course for the one-bucket place; but searching +some others of better appearance, I was surprised to find that not a +drop of rain had fallen, and I began to feel alarmed that the Shoeing +Camp should also have been unvisited. One of the horses was unwell, +and concealed himself in the scrubs; some time was lost in recovering +him. As it was dark and too late to go on farther, we had to encamp +without water, nor was there any grass. + +The following day we arrived at the old camp, at which there had been +some little rain. The horses were choking, and rushed up the gully +like mad; we had to drive them into a little yard we had made when +here previously, as a whole lot of them treading into the tank at once +might ruin it for ever. The horse that hid himself yesterday knocked +up to-day, and Gibson remained to bring him on; he came four hours +after us, though we only left him three miles away. There was not +sufficient water in the tank for all the horses; I was greatly grieved +to find that so little could be got. + +The camp ground had now become simply a moving mass of ants; they were +bad enough when we left, but now they were frightful; they swarmed +over everything, and bit us to the verge of madness. It is eleven days +since we left this place, and now having returned, it seems highly +probable that I shall soon be compelled to retreat again. Last night +the ants were unbearable to Mr. Tietkens and myself, but Gibson and +Jimmy do not appear to lose any sleep on their account. With the aid +of a quart pot and a tin dish I managed to get some sort of a bath; +but this is a luxury the traveller in these regions must in a great +measure learn to do without. My garments and person were so perfumed +with smashed ants, that I could almost believe I had been bathing in a +vinegar cask. It was useless to start away from here with all the +horses, without knowing how, or if any, rains had fallen out west. I +therefore despatched Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy to take a tour round to +all our former places. At twenty-five miles was the almost bare rocky +hill which I called par excellence the Cups, from the number of those +little stone indentures upon its surface, which I first saw on the +19th of October, this being the 29th of November. If no water was +there, I directed Mr. Tietkens then only to visit Elder's Creek and +return; for if there was none at the Cups, there would be but little +likelihood of any in other places. + +Gibson and I had a most miserable day at the camp. The ants were +dreadful; the hot winds blew clouds of sandy dust all through and over +the place; the thermometer was at 102 degrees. We repaired several +pack-bags. A few mosquitoes for variety paid us persistent attentions +during the early part of the night; but their stings and bites were +delightful pleasures compared to the agonies inflicted on us by the +myriads of small black ants. Another hot wind and sand-dust day; still +sewing and repairing pack-bags to get them into something like order +and usefulness. + +At one p.m. Mr. Tietkens returned from the west, and reported that the +whole country in that direction had been entirely unvisited by rains, +with the exception of the Cups, and there, out of several dozen rocky +indents, barely sufficient water for their three horses could be got. +Elder's Creek, the Cob tank, the Colonel's Range, Hughes's Creek, and +all the ranges lying between here and there, the way they returned, +were perfectly dry, not a drop of moisture having fallen in all that +region. Will it evermore be thus? Jupiter impluvius? Thermometer +to-day 106 degrees in shade. The water supply is so rapidly decreasing +that in two days it will be gone. This is certainly not a delightful +position to hold, indeed it is one of the most horrible of imaginable +encampments. The small water supply is distant about a mile from the +camp, and we have to carry it down in kegs on a horse, and often when +we go for it, we find the horses have just emptied and dirtied the +tank. We are eaten alive by flies, ants, and mosquitoes, and our +existence here cannot be deemed a happy one. Whatever could have +obfuscated the brains of Moses, when he omitted to inflict Pharaoh +with such exquisite torturers as ants, I cannot imagine. In a fiery +region like to this I am photophobist enough to think I could wallow +at ease, in blissful repose, in darkness, amongst cool and watery +frogs; but ants, oh ants, are frightful! Like Othello, I am perplexed +in the extreme--rain threatens every day, I don't like to go and I +can't stay. Over some hills Mr. Tietkens and I found an old rocky +native well, and worked for hours with shovel and levers, to shift +great boulders of rock, and on the 4th of December we finally left the +deceitful Shoeing Camp--never, I hope, to return. The new place was no +better; it was two and a half miles away, in a wretched, scrubby, +rocky, dry hole, and by moving some monstrous rocks, which left holes +where they formerly rested, some water drained in, so that by night +the horses were all satisfied. There was a hot, tropical, sultry +feeling in the atmosphere all day, though it was not actually so hot +as most days lately; some terrific lightnings occurred here on the +night of the 5th of December, but we heard no thunder. On the 6th and +7th Mr. Tietkens and I tried several places to the eastwards for +water, but without success. At three p.m. of the 7th, we had thunder +and lightning, but no rain; thermometer 106 degrees. On returning to +camp, we were told that the water was rapidly failing, it becoming +fine by degrees and beautifully less. At night the heavens were +illuminated for hours by the most wonderful lightnings; it was, I +suppose, too distant to permit the sound of thunder to be heard. On +the 8th we made sure that rain would fall, the night and morning were +very hot. We had clouds, thunder, lightning, thermometer 112 degrees +and every mortal disagreeable thing we wanted; so how could we expect +rain? but here, thanks to Moses, or Pharaoh, or Providence, or the +rocks, we were not troubled with ants. The next day we cleared out; +the water was gone, so we went also. The thermometer was 110 degrees +in the shade when we finally left these miserable hills. We steered +away again for Fort Mueller, via the Lightning Rock, which was +forty-five miles away. We traversed a country nearly all scrub, +passing some hills and searching channels and gullies as we went. We +only got over twenty-one miles by night; I had been very unwell for +the last three or four days, and to-day I was almost too ill to sit on +my horse; I had fever, pains all over, and a splitting headache. The +country being all scrub, I was compelled as usual to ride with a bell +on my stirrup. Jingle jangle all day long; what with heat, fever, and +the pain I was in, and the din of that infernal bell, I really thought +it no sin to wish myself out of this world, and into a better, cooler, +and less noisy one, where not even:-- + + "To heavenly harps the angelic choir, + Circling the throne of the eternal King;" + +should:-- + + "With hallowed lips and holy fire, + Rejoice their hymns of praise to sing;" + +which revived in my mind vague opinions with regard to our notions of +heaven. If only to sit for ever singing hymns before Jehovah's throne +is to be the future occupation of our souls, it is doubtful if the +thought should be so pleasing, as the opinions of Plato and other +philosophers, and which Addison has rendered to us thus:-- + + "Eternity, thou pleasing, dreadful thought, + Through what variety of untried being, + Through what new scenes and changes must we pass + The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me," etc. + +But I am trenching upon debatable ground, and have no desire to enter +an argument upon the subject. It is doubtless better to believe the +tenets taught us in our childhood, than to seek at mature age to +unravel a mystery which it is self-evident the Great Creator never +intended that man in this state of existence should become acquainted +with. However, I'll say no more on such a subject, it is quite foreign +to the matter of my travels, and does not ease my fever in any way--in +fact it rather augments it. + +The next morning, the 10th, I was worse, and it was agony to have to +rise, let alone to ride. We reached the Lightning Rock at three p.m., +when the thermometer indicated 110 degrees. The water was all but gone +from the native well, but a small quantity was obtained by digging. I +was too ill to do anything. A number of native fig-trees were growing +on this rock, and while Gibson was using the shovel, Mr. Tietkens went +to get some for me, as he thought they might do me good. It was most +fortunate that he went, for though he did not get any figs, he found a +fine rock water-hole which we had not seen before, and where all the +horses could drink their fill. I was never more delighted in my life. +The thought of moving again to-morrow was killing--indeed I had +intended to remain, but this enabled us all to do so. It was as much +as I could do to move even the mile, to where we shifted our camp; +thermometer 108 degrees. By the next day, 12th, the horses had +considerably reduced the water, and by to-morrow it will be gone. This +basin would be of some size were it cleaned out; we could not tell +what depth it was, as it is now almost entirely filled with the debris +of ages. Its shape is elliptical, and is thirty feet long by fifteen +broad, its sides being even more abrupt than perpendicular--that is to +say, shelving inwards--and the horses could only water by jumping down +at one place. There was about three feet of water, the rest being all +soil. To-day was much cooler. I called this Tietkens's Tank. On the +14th, the water was gone, the tank dry, and all the horses away to the +east, and it was past three when they were brought back. +Unfortunately, Gibson's little dog Toby followed him out to-day and +never returned. After we started I sent Gibson back to await the poor +pup's return, but at night Gibson came without Toby; I told him he +could have any horses he liked to go back for him to-morrow, and I +would have gone myself only I was still too ill. During the night +Gibson was taken ill just as I had been; therefore poor Toby was never +recovered. We have still one little dog of mine which I bought in +Adelaide, of the same kind as Toby, that is to say, the small +black-and-tan English terrier, though I regret to say he is decidedly +not, of the breed of that Billy indeed, who used to kill rats for a +bet; I forget how many one morning he ate, but you'll find it in +sporting books yet. It was very late when we reached our old bough +gunyah camp; there was no water. I intended going up farther, but, +being behind, Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy had began to unload, and some of +the horses were hobbled out when I arrived; Gibson was still behind. +For the second time I have been compelled to retreat to this range; +shall I ever get away from it? When we left the rock, the thermometer +indicated 110 degrees in the shade. + +Next morning I was a little better, but Gibson was very ill--indeed I +thought he was going to die, and would he had died quietly there. Mr. +Tietkens and I walked up the creek to look for the horses. We found +and took about half of them to the surface water up in the narrow +glen. When we arrived, there was plenty of water running merrily along +the creek channel, and there were several nice ponds full, but when we +brought the second lot to the place an hour and a half afterwards, the +stream had ceased to flow, and the nice ponds just mentioned were all +but empty and dry. This completely staggered me to find the drainage +cease so suddenly. The day was very hot, 110 degrees, when we returned +to camp. + +I was in a state of bewilderment at the thought of the water having so +quickly disappeared, and I was wondering where I should have to +retreat to next, as it appeared that in a day or two there would +literally be no water at all. I felt ill again from my morning's walk, +and lay down in the 110 degrees of shade, afforded by the bough gunyah +which Gibson had formerly made. + +I had scarcely settled myself on my rug when a most pronounced shock +of earthquake occurred, the volcanic wave, which caused a sound like +thunder, passing along from west to east right under us, shook the +ground and the gunyah so violently as to make me jump up as though +nothing was the matter with me. As the wave passed on, we heard up in +the glen to the east of us great concussions, and the sounds of +smashing and falling rocks hurled from their native eminences rumbling +and crashing into the glen below. The atmosphere was very still +to-day, and the sky clear except to the deceitful west. + +Gibson is still so ill that we did not move the camp. I was in a great +state of anxiety about the water supply, and Tietkens and I walked +first after the horses, and then took them up to the glen, where I was +enchanted to behold the stream again in full flow, and the sheets of +surface water as large, and as fine as when we first saw them +yesterday. I was puzzled at this singular circumstance, and concluded +that the earthquake had shaken the foundations of the hills, and thus +forced the water up; but from whatsoever cause it proceeded, I was +exceedingly glad to see it. To-day was much cooler than yesterday. At +three p.m. the same time of day, we had another shock of earthquake +similar to that of yesterday, only that the volcanic wave passed along +a little northerly of the camp, and the sounds of breaking and falling +rocks came from over the hills to the north-east of us. + +Gibson was better on the 17th, and we moved the camp up into the glen +where the surface water existed. We pitched our encampment upon a +small piece of rising ground, where there was a fine little pool of +water in the creek bed, partly formed of rocks, over which the purling +streamlet fell, forming a most agreeable little basin for a bath. + +The day was comparatively cool, 100 degrees. The glen here is almost +entirely choked up with tea-trees, and we had to cut great quantities +of wood away so as to approach the water easily. The tea-tree is the +only timber here for firewood; many trees are of some size, being +seven or eight inches through, but mostly very crooked and gnarled. +The green wood appears to burn almost as well as the dead, and forms +good ash for baking dampers. Again to-day we had our usual shock of +earthquake and at the usual time. Next day at three p.m., earthquake, +quivering hills, broken and toppling rocks, with scared and agitated +rock wallabies. This seemed a very ticklish, if not extremely +dangerous place for a depot. Rocks overhung and frowned down upon us +in every direction; a very few of these let loose by an earthquake +would soon put a period to any further explorations on our part. We +passed a great portion of to-day (18th) in erecting a fine large +bough-house; they are so much cooler than tents. We also cleared +several patches of rich brown soil, and made little Gardens (de +Plantes), putting in all sorts of garden and other seeds. I have now +discovered that towards afternoon, when the heat is greatest the flow +of water ceases in the creek daily; but at night, during the morning +hours and up to about midday, the little stream flows murmuring on +over the stones and through the sand as merrily as one can wish. Fort +Mueller cannot be said to be a pretty spot, for it is so confined by +the frowning, battlemented, fortress-like walls of black and broken +hills, that there is scarcely room to turn round in it, and attacks by +the natives are much to be dreaded here. + +We have had to clear the ground round our fort of the stones and huge +bunches of triodia which we found there. The slopes of the hills are +also thickly clothed with this dreadful grass. The horses feed some +three or four miles away on the fine open grassy country which, as I +mentioned before, surrounds this range. The herbage being so excellent +here, the horses got so fresh, we had to build a yard with the +tea-tree timber to run them in when we wanted to catch any. I still +hope rain will fall, and lodge at Elder's Creek, a hundred miles to +the west, so as to enable me to push out westward again. Nearly every +day the sky is overcast, and rain threatens to fall, especially +towards the north, where a number of unconnected ridges or low ranges +lie. Mr. Tietkens and I prepared to start northerly to-morrow, the +20th, to inspect them. + +We got out in that direction about twenty miles, passed near a hill I +named Mount Scott*, and found a small creek, but no water. The country +appeared to have been totally unvisited by rains. + +We carried some water in a keg for ourselves, but the horses got none. +The country passed over to-day was mostly red sandhills, recently +burnt, and on that account free from spinifex. We travelled about +north, 40 degrees east. We next steered away for a dark-looking, +bluff-ending hill, nearly north-north-east. Before arriving at it we +searched among a lot of pine-clad hills for water without effect, +reaching the hill in twenty-two miles. Resting our horses, we ascended +the hill; from it I discovered, with glasses, that to the north and +round easterly and westerly a number of ranges lay at a very +considerable distance. The nearest, which lay north, was evidently +sixty or seventy miles off. These ranges appeared to be of some +length, but were not sufficiently raised above the ocean of scrubs, +which occupied the intervening spaces, and rose into high and higher +undulations, to allow me to form an opinion with regard to their +altitude. Those east of north appeared higher and farther away, and +were bolder and more pointed in outline. None of them were seen with +the naked eye at first, but, when once seen with the field-glasses, +the mind's eye would always represent them to us, floating and faintly +waving apparently skywards in their vague and distant mirage. This +discovery instantly created a burning desire in both of us to be off +and reach them; but there were one or two preliminary determinations +to be considered before starting. We are now nearly fifty miles from +Fort Mueller, and the horses have been all one day, all one night, and +half to-day without water. There might certainly be water at the new +ranges, but then again there might not, and although they were at +least sixty miles off, our horses might easily reach them. If, +however, no water were found, they and perhaps we could never return. +My reader must not confound a hundred miles' walk in this region with +the same distance in any other. The greatest walker that ever stepped +would find more than his match here. In the first place the feet sink +in the loose and sandy soil, in the second it is densely covered with +the hideous porcupine; to avoid the constant prickings from this the +walker is compelled to raise his feet to an unnatural height; and +another hideous vegetation, which I call sage-bush, obstructs even +more, although it does not pain so much as the irritans. Again, the +ground being hot enough to burn the soles off one's boots, with the +thermometer at something like 180 degrees in the sun, and the choking +from thirst at every movement of the body, is enough to make any one +pause before he foolishly gets himself into such a predicament. +Discretion in such a case is by far the better part of valour--for +valour wasted upon burning sands to no purpose is like love's labour +lost. + +Close about in all directions, except north, were broken masses of +hills, and we decided to search among them for a new point of +departure. We re-saddled our horses, and searched those nearest, that +is to say easterly; but no water was found, nor any place that could +hold it for an hour after it fell from the sky. Then we went +north-west, to a bare-looking hill, and others with pines ornamenting +their tops; but after travelling and searching all day, and the horses +doing forty-six miles, we had to camp again without water. + +In the night the thermometer went down to 62 degrees. I was so cold +that I had to light a fire to lie down by. All this day was uselessly +lost in various traverses and searchings without reward; and after +travelling forty-two miles, the unfortunate horses had to go again for +the third night without water. We were, however, nearing the depot +again, and reached it, in sixteen miles, early the next morning. +Thankful enough we were to have plenty of water to drink, a bath, and +change of clothes. + + +CHAPTER 2.6. FROM 23RD DECEMBER, 1873 TO 16TH JANUARY, 1874. + +Primitive laundry. +Natives troublesome in our absence. +The ives. +Gibson's estimate of a straight heel. +Christmas day, 1873. +Attacked by natives. +A wild caroo. +Wild grapes from a sandal-wood tree. +More earthquakes. +The moon on the waters. +Another journey northwards. +Retreat to the depot. +More rain at the depot. +Jimmy's escape. +A "canis familiaris". +An innocent lamb. +Sage-bush scrubs. +Groves of oak-trees. +Beautiful green flat. +Crab-hole water. +Bold and abrupt range. +A glittering cascade. +Invisibly bright water. +The murmur in the shell. +A shower bath. +The Alice Falls. +Ascend to the summit. +A strange view. +Gratified at our discoveries. +Return to Fort Mueller. +Digging with a tomahawk. +Storing water. +Wallaby for supper. +Another attack. +Gibson's gardens. +Opossums destructive. +Birds. +Thoughts. +Physical peculiarities of the region. +Haunted. +Depart. + +The way we wash our clothes is primitive--it can only be done at a +depot. When we have sufficient water, we simply put them into it, and +leave them until we want to change again, and then do the same with +those we take off; sometimes they sweeten for several days, oftener +much less. It is an inexpensive method, which, however, I suppose I +must not claim as an invention. On the 23rd, when we arrived, Gibson +informed us that the natives had been exceedingly troublesome, and had +thrown several spears and stones down from the rocks above, so that he +and Jimmy had had to defend themselves with firearms. Our bough-house +was a great protection to them, and it appeared also that these +wretches had hunted all the horses away from their feeding ground, and +they had not been seen for three days, and not having come up to water +all the time we were away. At four p.m. we had our afternoon +earthquake, and Gibson said the shock had occurred twice during our +absence. The hostility of the natives was very annoying in more senses +than one, as it would delay me in carrying out my desire to visit the +new and distant ranges north. Christmas had been slightly anticipated +by Gibson, who said he had made and cooked a Christmas pudding, and +that it was now ready for the table. We therefore had it for dinner, +and did ample justice to Gibson's cookery. They had also shot several +rock-wallabies, which abound here. They are capital eating, especially +when fried; then they have a great resemblance to mutton. + +Gibson and Jimmy did not agree very well; Jimmy always had some tale +of woe to pour into my ear whenever I returned from an outside trip. +He was a very clean young fellow, but Gibson would never wash himself; +and once when Jimmy made some remark about it, Gibson said to me, "I +can't think what you and Tietkens and Jimmy are always washing +yourselves for." "Why," I said, "for health and cleanliness, to be +sure." "Oh," said he, "if I was to bathe like you do, it would give me +the 'ives'." I often showed the others how to mend their boots. One +day, sitting in the shade of our bough-house, we were engaged in +cobbling. Gibson used to tread so unevenly on his boots that the heels +were turned nearly upwards, and he walked more on the uppers than on +the soles, therefore his required all the more repairing. Picking up +one of my boots that I had just mended, Gibson looked very hard at it, +and at last said, "How do you manage to wear your boots so straight?" +"Oh," I said, "perhaps my legs are straight." He rejoined, "Well, +ain't mine straight too?" I said, "I don't know; I don't see them +often enough to tell," alluding to his not bathing. "Well," he said at +last, with a deep sigh, "By G--"--gum, I suppose he meant--"I'd give a +pound to be able to wear my boots as straight as you. No, I'm damned +if I wouldn't give five-and-twenty bob!" We laughed. We had some rolls +of smoked beef, which caused the ants to come about the camp, and we +had to erect a little table with legs in the water, to lay these on. +One roll had a slightly musty smell, and Gibson said to me, "This +roll's rotten; shall I chuck it away?" "Chuck it away," I said; "why, +man, you must be cranky to talk such rubbish as throwing away food in +such a region as this!" "Why," said he, "nobody won't eat it." "No," +said I, "but somebody will eat it; I for one, and enjoy it too." +Whereupon he looked up at me, and said, "Oh, are you one of them as +likes yer meat 'igh?" I was annoyed at his stupendous stupidity, and +said, "One of them! Who are you talking about? Who are THEY I'd like +to know? When we boil this meat, if we put a piece of charcoal in the +pot, it will come out as sweet as a nut." He merely replied, with a +dubious expression of face, "Oh!" but he ate his share of it as +readily as anybody else. The next day, Christmas eve, I sent Mr. +Tietkens and Gibson on two of the horses we had lately brought back, +to find the mob, which they brought home late, and said the tracks of +the natives showed that they had driven the horses away for several +miles, and they had found them near a small creek, along the south +face of the range, where there was water. While they were away some +ducks visited the camp, but the tea-tree was too thick to allow us to +shoot any of them. The day was cool, although there is a great +oppression in the atmosphere, and it is impossible to tell by one's +feelings what might be the range of the thermometer, as I have often +felt it hotter on some days with the thermometer at 96 or 98 degrees +than when it ranged up to 108 or 110 degrees. The afternoons are +excessively relaxing, for although the mercury falls a little after +three o'clock, still the morning's heat appears to remain until the +sun has actually set. It is more than probable that the horses having +been hunted by the natives, and having found more water, will not come +back here of their own accord to water any more; so I shall keep one +tied up at the camp, to fetch the others up with every morning. + +And now comes Thursday, 25th December, Christmas Day, 1873. Ah, how +the time flies! Years following years, steal something every day; at +last they steal us from ourselves away. What Horace says is, Eheu +fugaces, anni labuntur postume, postume:--Years glide away, and are +lost to me, lost to me. + +While Jimmy Andrews was away after the others, upon the horse that was +tied up all night, we were startled out of our propriety by the howls +and yells of a pack of fiends in human form and aboriginal appearance, +who had clambered up the rocks just above our camp. I could only see +some ten or a dozen in the front, but scores more were dodging in and +out among the rocks. The more prominent throng were led by an ancient +individual, who, having fitted a spear, was just in the act of +throwing it down amongst us, when Gibson seized a rifle, and presented +him with a conical Christmas box, which smote the rocks with such +force, and in such near proximity to his hinder parts, that in a great +measure it checked his fiery ardour, and induced most of his more +timorous following to climb with most perturbed activity over the +rocks. The ancient more slowly followed, and then from behind the +fastness of his rocky shield, he spoke spears and boomerangs to us, +though he used none. He, however, poured out the vials of his wrath +upon us, as he probably thought to some purpose. I was not linguist +enough to be able to translate all he said; but I am sure my free +interpretation of the gist of his remarks is correct, for he +undoubtedly stigmatised us as a vile and useless set of lazy, +crawling, white-faced wretches, who came sitting on hideous brutes of +hippogryphs, being too lazy to walk like black men, and took upon +ourselves the right to occupy any country or waters we might chance to +find; that we killed and ate any wallabies and other game we happened +to see, thereby depriving him and his friends of their natural, lawful +food, and that our conduct had so incensed himself and his noble +friends, who were now in the shelter of the rocks near him, that he +begged us to take warning that it was the unanimous determination of +himself and his noble friends to destroy such vermin as he considered +us, and our horses to be, and drive us from the face of the earth. + +It appeared to me, however, that his harangue required punctuation, so +I showed him the rifle again, whereupon he incontinently indulged in a +full stop. The natives then retired from those rocks, and commenced +their attack by throwing spears through the tea-tree from the opposite +side of the creek. Here we had the back of our gunyah for a shield, +and could poke the muzzles of our guns and rifles through the +interstices of the boughs. We were compelled to discharge our pieces +at them to ensure our peace and safety. + +Our last discharge drove away the enemy, and soon after, Jimmy came +with all the horses. Gibson shot a wallaby, and we had fried chops for +our Christmas dinner. We drew from the medical department a bottle of +rum to celebrate Christmas and victory. We had an excellent dinner +(for explorers), although we had eaten our Christmas pudding two days +before. We perhaps had no occasion to envy any one their Christmas +dinner, although perhaps we did. Thermometer 106 degrees in the shade. +On this occasion Mr. Tietkens, who was almost a professional, sang us +some songs in a fine, deep, clear voice, and Gibson sang two or three +love songs, not altogether badly; then it was Jimmy's turn. He said he +didn't know no love songs, but he would give us Tommy or Paddy +Brennan. This gentleman appears to have started in business as a +highwayman in the romantic mountains of Limerick. One verse that Jimmy +gave, and which pleased us most, because we couldn't quite understand +it, was + + "It was in sweet Limerick (er) citty + That he left his mother dear; + And in the Limerick (er) mountains, + He commenced his wild caroo-oo." + +Upon our inquiring what a caroo was, Jimmy said he didn't know. No +doubt it was something very desperate, and we considered we were +perhaps upon a bit of a wild caroo ourselves. + +The flies had now become a most terrible plague, especially to the +horses, but most of all to the unfortunate that happens to be tied up. +One horse, when he found he could not break away, threw himself down +so often and so violently, and hurt himself so much, that I was +compelled to let him go, unless I had allowed him to kill himself, +which he would certainly have done. + +A small grape-like fruit on a light green bush of the sandal-wood +kind, having one soft stone, was got here. This fruit is black when +ripe, and very good eating raw. We tried them cooked with sugar as +jam, and though the others liked them very much, I could not touch +them. The afternoons were most oppressive, and we had our usual +earthquakes; one on the 28th causing a more than usual falling of +rocks and smashing of tea-trees. + +For a few days I was taking a rest. I was grieved to find that the +water gradually ceased running earlier than formerly--that is to say, +between eleven and twelve--the usual time had been between two and +three p.m.; but by the morning every little basin was refilled. The +phases of the moon have evidently something to do with the water +supply. As the moon waxes, the power of the current wanes, and vice +versa. On the 1st January, 1874, the moon was approaching its full, a +quarter's change of the moon being the only time rain is likely to +fall in this country; rain is threatening now every day. After a hot +and sultry night, on the 2nd, at about two o'clock, a fine +thunder-shower from the east came over the range, and though it did +not last very long, it quite replenished the water supply in the +creek, and set it running again after it had left off work for the +day. This shower has quite reanimated my hopes, and Mr. Tietkens and I +at once got three horses, and started off to reach the distant range, +hoping now to find some water which would enable us to reach it. For +ten miles from the camp the shower had extended; but beyond that +distance no signs of it were visible anywhere. On the 4th we found a +clay-pan, having a clay-hole at one end with some mud in it, and which +the natives had but just left, but no water; then another, where, as +thunderstorms were flying about in all directions, we dug out a clay +tank. While at work our clothes were damped with a sprinkling, but not +enough rain fell to leave any on the ground. It seemed evident I must +pack out water from Fort Mueller, if ever I reached the new feature, +as Nature evidently did not intend to assist, though it seemed +monstrous to have to do so, while the sky was so densely overcast and +black, and threatening thunderstorms coming up from all directions, +and carrying away, right over our heads, thousands of cubic acres of +water which must fall somewhere. I determined to wait a few days and +see the upshot of all these threatenings. To the east it was +undoubtedly raining, though to the west the sky was beautifully clear. +We returned to the native clay-pan, hoping rain might have fallen, but +it was drier than when we left it. The next morning the clear sky +showed that all the rains had departed. We deepened the native +clay-hole, and then left for the depot, and found some water in a +little hole about ten miles from it. We rested the horses while we dug +a tank, and drained all the water into it; not having a pickaxe, we +could not get down deep enough. + +From here I intended to pack some water out north. While we were +digging, another thunderstorm came up, sprinkling us with a few drops +to show its contempt; it then split in halves, going respectively +north and south, apparently each dropping rain on the country they +passed over. + +On reaching the camp, we were told that two nice showers had fallen, +the stream now showing no signs of languishing all the day long. With +his usual intelligence, Jimmy Andrews had pulled a double-barrelled +gun out from under a heap of packbags and other things by the barrel; +of course, the hammer got caught and snapped down on the cartridge, +firing the contents, but most fortunately missing his body by half an +inch. Had it been otherwise, we should have found him buried, and +Gibson a lunatic and alone. No natives had appeared while we were +away; as I remembered what the old gentleman told me about keeping +away, so I hoped he would do the same, on account of my parting +remarks to him, which it seems he must have understood. + +In the middle of the night my little dog Cocky rushed furiously out of +the tent, and began to bark at, and chase some animal round the camp; +he eventually drove it right into the tent. In the obscured moonlight +I supposed it was a native dog, but it was white, and looked exactly +like a large fat lamb. It was, at all events, an innocent lamb to come +near us, for as it sauntered away, I sent a revolver bullet after it, +and it departed at much greater speed, squealing and howling until out +of earshot. + +On the 7th Mr. Tietkens and I again departed for the north. That night +we got wet through; there was plenty of water, but none that would +remain. Being sure that the native clay-hole would now be full, we +passed it on our left, and at our outmost tank at nineteen miles were +delighted to find that both it and the clay-pan near it were full. We +called this the Emu Tank. We now went to the bare red hill with pines, +previously mentioned, and found a trickling flow of water in a small +gully. I hope it will trickle till I return. We are now fifty miles +from Fort Mueller, and the distant ranges seemed even farther away +than that. + +Moving north, we went over a mass of open-rolling sandhills with +triodia, and that other abominable plant I call the sage-bush. In +appearance it is something like low tea-tree, but it differs entirely +from that family, inasmuch as it utterly abhors water. Although it is +not spiny like the triodia, it is almost as annoying, both to horse +and man, as it grows too high for either to step over without +stretching, and it is too strong to be easily moved aside; hence, +horse-tracks in this region go zigzag. + +At thirty-five miles the open sandhills ceased, and scrubs came on. It +was a cool and cloudy day. We passed through a few groves of the +pretty desert oak-trees, which I have not seen for some time; a few +native poplars and currajongs were also seen to-day. The horses +wandered a long way back in the night. + +After travelling fifteen miles, we were now rapidly approaching the +range, and we debouched upon a eucalyptus flat, which was covered with +a beautiful carpet of verdure, and not having met with gumtrees for +some time, those we saw here, looked exceedingly fine, and the bark +dazzling white. Here we found a clay crab-hole. These holes are +so-called in parts of Australia, usually near the coasts, where +freshwater crabs and crayfish bury themselves in the bottoms of places +where rain water often lodges; the holes these creatures make are +tubes of two, three, or four feet deep, whose sides and bottom are +cemented, and which hold water like a glass bottle; in these tubes +they remain till rain again lodges above, when for a time they are +released. The crab-hole we found contained a little water, which our +horses drank with great avidity. The range was now only six or seven +miles off, and it stood up bold and abrupt, having steep and deep +gorges here and there, in its southern front. It was timberless and +whitish-looking, and I had no doubt of finding water at it. I was +extremely annoyed to discover that my field glasses, an excellent +pair, had been ripped off my saddle in the scrubs, and I should now be +disappointed in obtaining any distant view from the summit. + + "They were lost to the view like the sweet morning's dew; + They had been, and were not, was all that I knew." + +From the crab-hole, in seven miles we reached a gorge in the mountain +side, travelling through scrub, over quartz, pebbly hills, and +occasional gum flats, all trending west, probably forming a creek in +that direction. + +In the gorge facing us we could discover a glittering little thread of +water pouring down in a cascade from the top of the mountain into the +gorge below, and upon reaching it we found, to our great delight, that +we were upon the stony bank of a beautiful and pellucid little stream, +whose almost invisibly bright water was so clear that not till our +horses splashed it up with their feet could we quite realise this +treasure trove. It was but a poor place for the horses to graze, on +account of the glen being so stony and confined, but there was no +occasion for them to ramble far to get plenty of grass, or a shady +place either. We had some dinner and a most agreeable rest,-- + + "'Neath the gum-trees' shade reclining, + Where the dark green foliage twining, + Screened us from the fervid shining + Of the noontide sun." + +This spot was distant about ninety miles from Fort Mueller, in a +straight line. The day was cool and breezy. After our dinner we walked +up to the foot of the cascade, along the margin of the transparent +stream, which meandered amongst great boulders of rock; at the foot we +found the rocks rose almost perpendicularly from a charming little +basin, into which the stream from above and the spray from below +mingled with a most melodious sound, so pleasant to the ear at any +time, but how much more to our drought-accustomed senses; continually +sounding like the murmur in the sea-shell, which, as the poets say, +remembering its ancient and august abode, still murmurs as it murmured +then. The water fell from a height of 150 feet; the descent was not +quite unbroken. A delightful shower of spray fell for many yards +outside the basin, inviting to a bath, which we exquisitely enjoyed; +the basin was not more than six feet deep. I am quite delighted with +this new feature. There were gorges to the right of us, gorges to the +left of us, and there was a gorge all round us. I shall not stay now +to explore them, but will enter upon the task con amore when I bring +the whole party here. I called these the Alice Falls, after one of my +sisters. It was impossible to ascend the mountain via the cascade, so +we had to flank it to reach the top. The view from thence, though +inspiriting, was still most strange. Ranges upon ranges, some far and +some near, bounded the horizon at all points. There was a high, +bold-looking, mount or range to the north-west forty or fifty miles +off. Up to a certain time we always called this the North-West +Mountain, as it bore in that direction when first seen, until we +discovered its proper name, when I christened it Mount Destruction. +Other ranges intervened much nearer. The particular portion of the +range we were now on, was 1000 feet above the surrounding level. I +found the boiling-point of water on this summit was 206 degrees, being +the same as upon the summit of the Sentinel--that is to say, 3085 feet +above the sea. The country intervening between this and the other +ranges in view, appeared open and good travelling ground. The ranges +beyond this have a brownish tinge, and are all entirely different from +those at Fort Mueller. The rock formation here is a white and pinkish +conglomerate granite. All the ranges visible are entirely timberless, +and are all more or less rounded and corrugated, some having conical +summits, and some looking like enormous eggs standing up on end; this +for the first view. We descended, caught our horses, and departed for +Fort Mueller, much gratified at the discoveries already made at this +new geographical feature. On the road back I recovered my glasses. The +day was most deliciously cool, there was a sweet perfume in the air, +the morning was like one of those, so enjoyable in the spring, in the +far-off agricultural districts of the fertile portions of the southern +and eastern Colonies. When we reached the red bare hill, fifty miles +from home, we found the water had ceased to flow. + +At our Emu Tank all the outside surface water was gone, the tank only +holding some. Our three horses greatly reduced its volume, and, +fearing it would all evaporate before we could return, we cut a +quantity of bushes and sticks to protect it from the sun. Remounting, +we now made for the native clay-hole that we had avoided in going out. +The outside water was now all but gone, but the hole still contained +some, though not sufficient for all the horses; we set to work and +chopped out another hole with a tomahawk, and drained all the thick +water off the clay-pan into it. Then we cut boughs, bushes, and sticks +to cover them, and proceeded homewards. On reaching the ten-mile or +kangaroo tank, we found to our disgust that the water was nearly all +gone, and our original tank not large enough, so we chopped out +another and drained all the surplus water into it. Then the boughs and +bushes and sticks for a roof must be got, and by the time this was +finished we were pretty well sick of tank making. Our hands were +blistered, our arms were stiff, and our whole bodies bathed in streams +of perspiration, though it was a comparatively cool day. We reached +home very late on the 13th, having left the range on the 10th. I was +glad to hear that the natives had not troubled the camp in my absence. +Another circumstance gratified us also, and that was, Gibson had shot +a large wallaby; we had not tasted meat since we left on the 7th. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ATTACK AT FORT MUELLER.) + +To-day, 14th, we were getting all our packs and things ready for a +start into the new and northern regions, when at eleven a.m. Mr. +Tietkens gave the alarm that all the rocks overhead were lined with +natives, who began to utter the most direful yells so soon as they +found themselves discovered. Their numbers were much larger than +before, and they were in communication with others in the tea-tree on +the opposite side of the creek, whose loud and inharmonious cries made +even the heavens to echo with their sounds. They began operations by +poising their spears and waving us away. We waited for some little +time, watching their movements, with our rifles in our hands. A flight +of spears came crashing through the flimsy sides of our house, the +roof and west gable being the only parts thickly covered, and they +could see us jumping about inside to avoid their spears. Then a flight +of spears came from the concealed enemy in the tea-tree. Mr. Tietkens +and I rushed out, and fired right into the middle of the crowd. From +the rocks behind which they hid, they sent another flight of spears; +how we escaped them I can't imagine. In the meantime Gibson and Jimmy +were firing through the boughs, and I decided that it was for us to +take the aggressive. We rushed up the rocks after the enemy, when they +seemed to drop like caterpillars, as instantaneously, they were all +down underneath us right at the camp. I was afraid they would set fire +to it; we however finally drove them from our stronghold, inducing +them to decamp more or less the worse, and leave behind them a +considerable quantity of military stores, in the shape of spears, +wommerahs, waddies, wallabies' skins, owls, fly-flappers, red ochre, +and numerous other minor valuables. These we brought in triumph to the +camp. It always distressed me to have to fire at these savages, and it +was only when our lives were in most imminent danger that we did so, +for, as Iago says, though in the trade of war I have slain men, yet do +I hold it very stuff o' the conscience to do no contrived murder. I +lack iniquity, sometimes, to do me service. We then went on with our +work, though expecting our foes to return, but we were not again +molested, as they now probably thought we were vipers that would not +stand too much crowding. + +Three horses were missing, therefore we could not leave that day, and +when they were found on the next, it was too late to start. I tied one +of these wretches up all night, so as to get the mob early to-morrow. +I was very uneasy about the water in our tanks, as every hour's delay +was of the greatest consequence. I had no very great regret at leaving +this depot, except that I had not been able to push out more than 150 +miles to the west from it. I now thought by going to the new northern +range, that my progress thence might be easier. We may perhaps have +paid the passing tribute of a sigh at leaving our little gardens, for +the seeds planted in most of them had grown remarkably well. The +plants that throve best here were Indian gram, maize, peas, spinach, +pumpkins, beans, and cucumbers; melons also grew pretty well, with +turnips and mustard. Only two wattles out of many dozens sown here +came up, and no eucalypts have appeared, although the seeds of many +different kinds were set. Gibson had been most indefatigable in +keeping the little gardens in order, and I believe was really grieved +to leave them, but the inexorable mandates of circumstance and duty +forced us from our pleasant places, to wander into ampler realms and +spaces, where no foot has left its traces. Departing, still we left +behind us some lasting memorials of our visit to this peculiar place, +which, though a city of refuge to us, was yet a dangerous and a +dreadful home. The water supply was now better than when we arrived. + + "Our fount disappearing, + From the rain-drop did borrow, + To me comes great cheering, + I leave it to-morrow." + +There were a number of opossums here which often damaged the garden +produce in the night. There were various dull-plumaged small birds, +with hawks, crows, and occasionally ducks, and one abominable croaking +creature at night used to annoy me exceedingly, and though I often +walked up the glen I could never discover what sort of bird it was. It +might have been a raven; yes, a raven never flitting may be sitting, +may be sitting, on those shattered rocks of wretchedness--on that +Troglodytes' shore, where in spirit I may wander, o'er those arid +regions yonder; but where I wish to squander, time and energies no +more. Though a most romantic region, its toils and dangers legion, my +memory oft besieging, what time cannot restore; again I hear the +shocks of the shattering of the rocks, see the wallabies in flocks, +all trembling at the roar, of the volcanic reverberations, or +seismatic detonations, which peculiar sensations I wish to know no +more. The horses were mustered at last, and at length we were about to +depart, not certainly in the direction I should have wished to go, but +still to something new. + +Fort Mueller, of course, was named after my kind friend the Baron*, +who was a personal contributor to the fund for this expedition. It was +really the most astonishing place it has ever been my fortune to +visit. Occasionally one would hear the metallic sounding clang, of +some falling rock, smashing into the glen below, toppled from its +eminence by some subterranean tremour or earthquake shock, and the +vibrations of the seismatic waves would precipitate the rocks into +different groups and shapes than they formerly possessed. I had many +strange, almost superstitious feelings with regard to this singular +spot, for there was always a strange depression upon my spirits whilst +here, arising partly perhaps from the constant dread of attacks from +the hostile natives, and partly from the physical peculiarities of the +region itself. + + "On all there hung a shadow and a fear, + A sense of mystery, the spirit daunted, + And said, as plain as whisper in the ear, + This region's haunted." + +On the 16th we departed, leaving to the native owners of the soil, +this singular glen, where the water flowed only in the night, where +the earthquake and the dry thunderstorm occurred every day, and turned +our backs for the last time upon + + "Their home by horror haunted, + Their desert land enchanted," + +and plunged again into the northern wilderness. + + +CHAPTER 2.7. FROM 16TH JANUARY TO 19TH FEBRUARY, 1874. + +The Kangaroo Tanks. +Horses stampede. +Water by digging. +Staggering horses. +Deep rock-reservoir. +Glen Cumming. +Mount Russell. +Glen Gerald. +Glen Fielder. +The Alice Falls. +Separated hills. +Splendid-looking creek. +Excellent country. +The Pass of the Abencerrages. +Sladen Water. +An alarm. +Jimmy's anxiety for a date. +Mount Barlee. +Mount Buttfield. +"Stagning" water. +Ranges continue to the west. +A notch. +Dry rocky basins. +Horses impounded. +Desolation Glen. +Wretched night. +Terrible Billy. +A thick clump of gums. +A strong and rapid stream. +The Stemodia viscosa. +Head-first in a bog. +Leuhman's Spring. +Groener's and Tyndall's Springs. +The Great Gorge. +Fort McKellar. +The Gorge of Tarns. +Ants again. +Swim in the tarn. +View from summit of range. +Altitude. +Tatterdemalions. +An explorer's accomplishments. +Cool and shady caves. +Large rocky tarn. +The Circus. +High red sandhills to the west. +Ancient lake bed. +Burrowing wallabies. +The North-west Mountain. +Jimmy and the grog bottle. +The Rawlinson Range. +Moth- and fly-catching plant. +An inviting mountain. +Inviting valley. +Fruitless search for water. +Ascend the mountain. +Mount Robert. +Dead and dying horses. +Description of the mob. +Mount Destruction. +Reflections. +Life for water. +Hot winds. +Retreat to Sladen Water. +Wild ducks. +An ornithological lecture. +Shift the camp. +Cockatoo parrots. +Clouds of pigeons. +Dragged by Diaway. +Attacked by the natives. + +It was late on the 16th of January when we left Fort Mueller. We +reached our first or Kangaroo Tanks in eleven miles, so called as we +saw several kangaroos there on our first visit; but only having +revolvers, we could not get near enough to shoot any of them. The +water had remained in them quite as well as I could expect, but we did +not use it that night. The horses were evidently inclined to ramble +back, so we short-hobbled them; but as soon as it became dusk, they +all went off at a gallop. Mr. Tietkens and I went after them, but the +wretches would not allow us to get up with them. The moment they heard +us breaking any sticks in the scrubs behind them, off they started +again; we had to go five or six miles before we could get hold of any +of them, and it being cloudy and dark, we hardly knew which way to +drive them back; at length we saw the reflection of a fire, and it +proved we were taking them right; it was midnight when we got back. We +tied one up and waited for morning, when we found they were all gone +again, but having one to ride we thought to get them pretty soon. It +now appeared that in the scrubs and darkness last night we had missed +three. Now we had to use our tank water, the three missing horses not +being found by night. The missing horses were found the next day, the +18th, and we continued our journey from these now empty tanks at +twelve o'clock, and reached the native clay-pan tanks by night. The +second one we had dug, though well shaded, was quite dry, and the +native hole contained only sufficient for about half the horses. Some +drank it all up, the rest going without, but we consoled them with the +assurance that they should have some when we reached the top or Emu +Tank. We wanted to fill up our own water-bags, as our supply was +exhausted. On reaching it, however, to our disgust we found it +perfectly dry, and as we couldn't get any water, the only thing to do +was to keep pushing on, as far and as fast as we could, towards the +Alice Falls. We got some water by digging in a small Grevillea +(beef-wood-tree), water-channel, about three miles this side of it. +The horses were exceedingly thirsty, and some of them when they got +water were afflicted with staggers. The grass was beautifully green. +The last few days have been comparatively cool. As the horses had two +heavy days' stages, I did not move the camp, but Mr. Tietkens and I +rode off to the main range to explore the gorges we had formerly seen +to the east. The country at the foot of the range was very stony, +rough, and scrubby. We reached the mouth of the most easterly gorge, +tied up our horses, and walked up. We very soon came upon a fine deep +long rock-reservoir with water running into and out of it. I could not +touch the bottom with over twenty feet of string. The rocky sides of +this gorge rose almost perpendicularly above us, and the farther we +went up, the more water we saw, until our passage was completely +stopped by the abruptness of the walls and the depth of the water at +their feet; I called this Glen Cumming*. The particular part or hill +of the range on which this reservoir exists I named Mount Russell*; +this was the most eastern mount of the range. We then turned westerly +towards the Alice Falls, and in a mile and a half we came to another +gorge, where there was a cascade falling into a very clear round basin +over twenty feet deep, washed out of solid white stone. There were +numerous other basins, above and below the large one. I called this +place Glen Gerald. Proceeding on our way, we came to another cascade +and basin; the fall of water was from a lesser height. I called this +Glen Fielder. From here we went to the Alice Falls, rested the horses, +and had a swim and delicious shower bath. A warm wind from the +south-east prevailed all day. + +I wished to find a road through or over this range, but will evidently +have to go farther to the west, where at seven or eight miles there +are apparently two separate hummocks. We returned to camp quite +charmed with our day's ramble, although the country was very rough and +stony. The vegetation about here is in no way different from any which +exists between this range and Mount Olga. Making a move now in the +direction of the two apparently separated hills, we passed through +some scrub of course, and then came to grassy gum-tree or eucalyptus +flats, with water-channels. At twelve miles we came fairly on to the +banks of a splendid-looking creek, with several sheets of water; its +bed was broad, with many channels, the intermediate spaces being +thickly set with long coarse green rushes. The flow of the water was +to the north, and the creek evidently went through a glen or pass; the +timber grew thick and vigorous; the water had a slightly brackish +taste. All through the pass we saw several small sheets of water. One +fine hole had great quantities of ducks on it, but Gibson, who started +to shoot some of them, couldn't get his gun to go off, but the ducks' +firearms acted much better, for they went off extremely well. + +We encamped at a place near a recent native camp, where the grass was +very good. This was evidently a permanently watered pass, with some +excellent country round it to the south. + +The range appeared to continue to the west, and this seemed the only +pass through it. I called this the Pass of the Abencerrages--that is +to say, the Children of the Saddle. The creek and its waters I named +Sladen Water, after the late Sir Charles Sladen*. This evening, having +had a comfortable bath, I was getting my blankets ready for bed when +Jimmy Andrews came rushing over to me. I immediately grabbed a rifle, +as I thought it was an attack by the natives. He merely begged to know +what day of the month it was, and requested me to mention the fact, +with day and date in my journal, that--yes, Gibson was actually seen +in the act of bathing. I thought Jimmy was joking, as this I could not +believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes, but +there was the naked form, the splashing water, and the swimming dog. +It was a circumstance well worth recording, for I am sure it is the +first full bodied ablution he has indulged in since leaving Mount +Olga, eighteen weeks to a day, and I am not at all sure that he bathed +there. It was therefore with great pleasure that I recorded the +unusual circumstance. When Jimmy left me grinning, and I had time to +get over my surprise, and give mature consideration to this unusual +matter, it did seem to me better, having the welfare of the whole of +the members of my expedition at heart--I say, it did appear better, on +the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number, that +Gibson should endure the agony of an all-over wash, than that we +should be attacked and perhaps killed by the natives. + +The flies on this range are evidently very numerous, for their +attention to our eyes is not only persistent but very annoying. + +This morning I made the latitude of this pass to be 24 degrees 58', +and longitude 127 degrees 55'. We followed this creek; travelling +along its banks, we found native huts very numerous, and for a few +miles some sheets of water were seen; the bed then became too sandy; +its course was about north-west. In eight or nine miles we found that +sandhill and casuarina country existed, and swallowed up the +unfortunate creek. The main line of ranges continued westerly, and, +together with another range in front of us to the north, formed a kind +of crescent. No pass appeared to exist between them. I now went to the +eastern end of a range that lay to the north of us, and passing over a +low ridge had a good view of the surrounding country. Ranges appeared +in almost all directions; the principal ones lay to the west and +north-west. One conspicuous abrupt-faced mount bore north 17 degrees +east; this I named Mount Barlee. There were others to the +east-north-east, and the long sweep of the range from which we had +come to the south. One hill near us looked inviting, and we found a +deep rocky gorge with water in its neighbourhood. In fact there were +several fine rocky basins ten and twelve feet deep, though they were +very rough places to get horses to. I called the high hill Mount +Buttfield. It appeared as if no rain had fallen here lately; the water +in all these holes was greenish and stagnant, or stagning as Gibson +and Jimmy called it. The grass, such as there was, was old, white, and +dry. The country down below, north-wards, consisted of open, sandy, +level, triodia ground, dotted with a few clumps of the desert oak, +giving a most pleasing appearance to the eye, but its reality is +startlingly different, keeping, as it were, the word of promise to the +eye, but breaking it to the hope. While the horses were being +collected this morning I ascended Mount Buttfield, and found that +ranges continued to the west for a considerable distance. I now +decided to make for a notch or fall in the main range we had left, +which now bore nearly west, as there appeared to be a creek issuing +from the hills there. Travelling over casuarina sandhills and some +level triodia ground, we found there was a creek with eucalypts on it, +but it was quite evident that none of the late showers had fallen +there. Hardly any grass was to be found, the ground being open and +stony, with thorny vegetation. + +In the main channel we could only find deep, rocky, dry basins, but up +a small branch gorge I found three small basins with a very limited +supply of water, not sufficient for my horses both now and in the +morning, so we thought it better that they should do without it +to-night. Above the camp there was a kind of pound, so we put all the +horses up there, as it was useless to let them ramble all over the +country in the night. The ants were excessively troublesome here. I +could not find sufficient shade for the thermometer to-day, but kept +it as cool as I could for fear of its bursting. + +This glen, or rather the vegetation which had existed in it, had been +recently burned by the natives, and it had in consequence a still more +gloomy and dreary appearance. I called it by its proper name, that is +to say, Desolation Glen. + +I could get no rest last night on account of the ants, the wretches +almost ate me alive, and the horses tried so often to pass by the camp +that I was delighted at the reappearance of the morn. Mr. Tietkens +also had to shift his camp, and drove the horses back, but ants as big +as elephants, or an earthquake that would destroy the world, would +never wake Gibson and Jimmy. It was difficult to get the horses to the +place where the water was, and we could only manage three at a time. +There was fortunately just enough water, though none to spare. One old +fool of a horse must needs jump into an empty rock basin; it was deep +and funnel shaped, so that he could not stand when he got there, so he +fell, and had knocked himself about terribly before we could get him +out. Indeed, I never thought he could come out whole, and I was +preparing to get him out in pieces when he made one last super-equine +exertion, and fell up and out at the same time. + +The delay in watering the horses, and extracting Terrible Billy from +the basin, made it twelve o'clock before we could turn our backs upon +this hideous place, hoping to find no more like it. We travelled along +the stony slope of the range nearly west, and in less than two miles +we crossed a small creek-channel with a thick clump of gum-trees right +under the range. The tops of a second clump were also visible about +half a mile off. Mr. Tietkens went to search down Desolation Creek. I +directed Gibson to go on with the horses to the foot of a hill which I +pointed out to him, and to remain there until I overtook him. Up the +creek close to the clump of timber the whole glen was choked with a +rank vegetation, beneath which the water ran in a strong and rapid +stream that issued to the upper air from the bottom of the range. In +trying to cross this channel, my horse became entangled in the dense +vegetation, whose roots, planted in rich and oozy soil, induced the +tops of this remarkable plant to grow ten, twelve, and fifteen feet +high. It had a nasty gummy, sticky feel when touched, and emitted a +strong, coarse odour of peppermint. The botanical name of this plant +is Stemodia viscosa. This vegetation was not substantial enough to +sustain my horse, and he plunged so violently that he precipitated me +head-first into the oozy, black, boggy mass, and it appeared as though +he must be swallowed up alive. I had in such a place great difficulty +in getting my saddle, rifle, revolver, and other gear off the animal's +back. I gave up all hopes of recovering the horse, for he had ceased +struggling, and was settling down bodily in the morass. + +I left him and ran shouting after Gibson and Jimmy, but they were too +far away; Mr. Tietkens, however, on his way after them, heard me and +rode up. His astonishment was great indeed when I showed him the +horse, now deeply imbedded in the bog. The vegetation could hold us up +above the running stream, and at last, but how I never could make out, +by dint of flogging, helping to lift, and yelling at him, the +creature, when he found we were trying to help him, interested himself +once more in the matter, and at length we got him out of this +bottomless pit. He was white when he went in, but coal black when he +came out. There were no rock-holes at the head of this spring; the +water drains from underneath the mountains, and is permanent beyond a +doubt. I called this Luehman's Springs. The water appears on the +surface for a little over a mile. Having re-saddled my dirty black +beast, we went to the next gorge, where the clump of eucalyptus was +very thick and fine-looking; the water here springing from the hills +as at the last, we were mighty skeery how we approached this. A fine +stream of water ran here. + +After this we found five other glens with running springs, in about as +many miles; they were named respectively, but afterwards, Groener's +and Tyndall's Springs, the Great Gorge, Fort McKellar*, where I +subsequently had a depot, and the Gorge of Tarns. Fort McKellar is the +most western water suitable for a depot, and is the most agreeable +encampment. Many of these glens had fine rock-holes as well as running +springs; most of the channels were full of bulrushes and the peculiar +Stemodia. This plant is of a dark-green colour, of a pulpy nature, +with a thick leaf, and bears a minute violet-coloured flower. It +seemed very singular that all these waters should exist close to the +place I called Desolation Glen; it appeared as if it must be the only +spot on the range that was destitute of water. After some time spent +in exploring these charming places, it was time to look about for the +horses, and though Gibson had crossed all these channels within sight +of their waters, he never stopped for a moment to see if the horses +would drink. We expected to overtake him in a mile or two, as the hill +pointed out to him was now close at hand. The country was so solid and +stony that we could not follow the tracks of the horses for any +distance, they could only be picked up here and there, but the country +being open, though rising and falling into gullies and ridges, we +thought to see them at any moment, so that, as we had found so many +waters and the day was Sunday, I wanted to camp early and rest. +Gibson, however, kept driving on, driving on, going in no particular +direction--north, north-north-west, north-west, south-west, north +again; and having got such a start of us, it was just night when we +overtook him, still driving on up a dry creek, going due south, slap +into the range amongst rocks and stones, etc. I was greatly annoyed, +for, having found six splendid permanent waters, we had to camp +without a drop of water either for ourselves or our horses, the +animals being driven about the whole day when they might have had a +fine day's rest, with green grass and splendid water. It is impossible +to drill sense into some people's heads; but there--perhaps I had no +sense in coming into such a region myself. + +A fierce, warm south wind blew all night; the ants were dreadful, and +would not allow me to sleep for a minute, though the others did not +seem to feel them. The range still continued to the west, and other +creeks were visible in that direction, but I decided to return to the +last water I had seen--that is to say, at the Gorge of Tarns. Not +being able to sleep, I went after the horses long before daylight, and +found they had wandered a terrible distance, although short-hobbled. I +soon found out the cause, for one horse had been loose all night with +his pack on, and had consequently led the others a fine jaunt. When +all were found and packed, we returned to the gorge which, in +consequence of its having so many splendid basins of deep water, I +named as before said. On arriving, we fixed our camp close up to the +large basins, but the horses could water a mile below, where some +tea-tree grew, and where the water reappeared upon the surface after +sinking beneath it. There was some good feed here for the horses, but +it was over a very limited area. + +We had a swim in the fine rocky tarn, and we were delighted to be +joined by Gibson in our ablutions. Could the bottom of this pool be +cleared of the loose blocks of stone, gravel, and sand, it would +doubtless be found of very great depth; but the rains and floods of +ages have nearly filled it with stones, loosened from the upper rocks, +and it is only in the crevices between the rocks at the bottom that +one can discover the depth to be greater than seven feet. Shade here +is very scarce when the sun is overhead, except up around the large +basin, where there are caves and overhanging rocky ledges, under which +we sit, and over which the splashing waters from their sources above +fall into the tarn below. + +The view from the top of the range was very similar to that from Mount +Buttfield, only that now to the south we could see an horizon of +scrub. To the north, the natives were burning the spinifex, and this +produced such a haze that no definite view could be obtained. Other +portions of the range quite prevented a western view. The altitude of +this summit was a little over 3000 feet above sea level. + +Not being able to glean any farther information about the surrounding +country, we (con)descended to work in the shady caves, swimming and +working alternately during the day, for we had plenty of the +ever-recurring tasks to do, namely, the repairing of pack-bags and +clothes, and the unravelling of canvas for twine. + +The first night we passed here was close and hot. We had so much of +sewing to do that we set to work with a will; our clothes also require +as much attention as the pack-bags and pack-saddles. No one could +conceive the amount of tearing and patching that is for ever going on; +could either a friend or stranger see us in our present garb, our +appearance would scarcely be thought even picturesque; for a more +patched and ragged set of tatterdemalions it would be difficult to +find upon the face of the earth. We are not, indeed, actually +destitute of clothes, but, saving our best for future emergencies, we +keep continually patching our worst garments, hence our peculiar +appearance, as our hats, shirts, and trousers, are here and there, so +quilted with bits of old cloth, canvas, calico, basil, greenhide, and +old blanket, that the original garment is scarcely anywhere visible. +In the matter of boots the traveller must be able to shoe himself as +well as his horses in these wild regions of the west. The explorer +indeed should be possessed of a good few accomplishments--amongst +these I may enumerate that he should be able to make a pie, shoe +himself or his horse, jerk a doggerel verse or two, not for himself, +but simply for the benefit or annoyance of others, and not necessarily +for publication, nor as a guarantee of good faith; he must be able to +take, and make, an observation now and again, mend a watch, kill or +cure a horse as the times may require, make a pack-saddle, and +understand something of astronomy, surveying, geography, geology, and +mineralogy, et hoc, simile huic. + +With regard to shoeing oneself, I will give my reader some idea of +what strength is required for boots in this country. I repaired mine +at Fort Mueller with a double sole of thick leather, with sixty +horseshoe nails to each boot, all beautifully clenched within, giving +them a soft and Turkish carpet-like feeling to the feet inside; then, +with an elegant corona of nail-heads round the heel and plates at the +toes, they are perfect dreadnoughts, and with such understandings I +can tread upon a mountain with something like firmness, but they were +nearly the death of me afterwards for all that. + +In the shade of our caves here the thermometer does not rise very +high, but in the external glen, where we sleep in the open air, it is +no cooler. + +On the 29th we left this cool and shady spot--cool and shady, however, +only amongst the caves--and continued our march still westward, along +the slopes of the range. + +In eight miles we crossed ten creeks issuing from glens or gorges in +the range; all that I inspected had rocky basins, with more or less +water in them. Other creeks were seen ahead, but no view could be got +of any horizon to the west; only the northern and eastern ones being +open to our view. The country surrounding the range to the north +appeared to consist of open red sandhills, with casuarina in the +hollows between. At sixteen miles I found a large rocky tarn in a +creek-gorge; but little or no grass for the horses--indeed, the whole +country at the foot of this range is very bare of that commodity, +except at Sladen Water, where it is excellent. + +Since we left Sladen Water the horses have not done well, and the +slopes of this range being so rough and stony, many of them display +signs of sorefootedness. I cannot expect the range to continue farther +than another day's stage; and though I cannot see its end, yet I feel +'tis near. + +Many delays by visiting places caused it to be very late when we sat +down amongst stones and triodia to devour our frugal supper. A +solitary eagle was the monarch of this scene; it was perched upon the +highest peak of a bare ridge, and formed a feathery sky-line when +looking up the gorge--always there sat the solemn, solitary, and +silent bird, like the Lorelei on her rock-- above--beautifully, there, +as though he had a mission to watch the course of passing events, and +to record them in the books of time and fate. There was a larger and +semicircular basin still farther up the gorge; this I called the +Circus, but this creek and our rock-hole ever after went by the name +of the Circus. In a few miles the next day I could see the termination +of the range. In nine miles we crossed three creeks, then ascended a +hill north of us, and obtained at last a western view. It consisted +entirely of high, red sandhills with casuarinas and low mallee, which +formed the horizon at about ten miles. The long range that had brought +us so far to the west was at an end; it had fallen off slightly in +altitude towards its western extremity, and a deep bed of rolling +sandhill country, covered with desert vegetation, surrounded it on all +sides. Nearer to us, north-westerly, and stretching nearly to west, +lay the dry, irregular, and broken expanse of an ancient lake bed. On +riding over to it we found it very undefined, as patches of sandhills +occurred amongst low ridges of limestone, with bushes and a few low +trees all over the expanse. There were patches of dry, soda-like +particles, and the soil generally was a loose dust coloured earth. +Samphire bushes also grew in patches upon it, and some patches of our +arch-enemy, triodia. Great numbers of wallaby, a different kind from +the rock, were seen amongst the limestone rises; they had completely +honeycombed all we inspected. Water there was none, and if Noah's +deluge visited this place it could be conveniently stowed away, and +put out of sight in a quarter of an hour. + +Returning to the horses, we turned southerly to the most westerly +creek that issues from the range. I found some water up at the head of +it in rock-holes; but it was so far up easterly, that we could not +have been more than five or six miles across the hills from our last +night's encampment at the Circus. There was only a poor supply of +water in two small holes, which could not last longer than three days +at the most. The thermometer ranged up to 104 degrees to-day. Some of +the horses are now terribly footsore. I would shoe them, only that we +are likely to be in the sandhills again immediately. I did not exactly +know which way to go. Mr. Tietkens and I ascended the highest hill in +this part of the range. I had yesterday seen something like the top of +a ridge south-westerly; I now found it was part of a low distant +range, and not of a very promising nature. There was a conspicuous +mountain, which now bore north-east about fifty miles away, and I +fancied I saw the refracted tops of other ranges floating in the +mirage. I thought, from the mountain just mentioned, I might discover +others, which might lead me away to the west. Up to the present time +we had always called this, in consequence of its bearing when first +seen, the North-west Mountain. I thought a change of country might be +met with sooner in a north or north-westerly direction than in a west +or south-westerly one, as the sources of the Murchison River must be +met somewhere in the former direction. I tried the boiling-point of +water here, and found that the ebullition occurred at two degrees +higher than at the Alice Falls, which indicated a fall of nearly 1000 +feet, the western end of the range being much lower than the middle or +eastern. We had still a couple of bottles of spirit left in the +medical department, and as nobody seemed inclined to get ill, we +opened one here. Jimmy Andrews having been a sailor boy, I am afraid +had learnt bad habits, as he was very fond of grog. When we opened the +last bottle at Christmas, and Jimmy had had a taste, he said, "What's +the use of only a nobbler or two? I wouldn't give a d--," dump, I +suppose he meant, "for grog unless I could get drunk." I said, "Well, +now, my impression is that it would require very little grog to do +that." He said, "Why, I'd drink six bottles off and never know it." I +said, "Well, the next bottle we open you shall have as much out of it +as you can take in one drink, even if you drink the whole bottle." He +replied, "Oh, all right, I'll leave a nobbler for you, you know, Mr. +Giles; and I'd like to give Tietkens a taste; but that [adjective] +Gibson, I'll swear he won't git none." So we opened the bottle, and I +said, "Now then, Jimmy, here's your grog, let's see how much you can +drink." "Oh!" said he," I ain't going to drink it all at once." "All +right," I said, "if you don't, we shall--so now is your chance." Jimmy +poured out a good stiff glass and persisted in swallowing it raw. In +five minutes he was fast asleep, and that was all he got out of the +bottle; he never woke till morning, and then--well, the bottle was +empty then. + +My readers will form a better idea of this peculiar and distant +mountain range when I tell them that it is more than sixty miles long, +averaging five or six miles through. It is of a bold and rounded form; +there is nothing pointed or jagged in its appearance anywhere, except +where the eagle sat upon the rock at the Circus; its formation is +mostly a white conglomerate, something between granite, marble, and +quartz, though some portions are red. It is surrounded, except to the +east, by deserts, and may be called the monarch of those regions where +the unvisited mountains stand. It possesses countless rocky glens and +gorges, creeks and valleys, nearly all containing reservoirs of the +purest water. When the Australian summer sunset smooths the roughness +of the corrugated range, like a vast and crumpled garment, spread by +the great Creator's hand, east and west before me stretching, these +eternal mountains stand. It is a singular feature in a strange land, +and God knows by what beady drops of toilsome sweat Tietkens and I +rescued it from its former and ancient oblivion. Its position in +latitude is between the 24th and 25th parallels, and its longitude +between 127 degrees 30' and 128 degrees 30'. I named it the Rawlinson +Range, after Sir Henry Rawlinson, President of the Royal Geographical +Society of London. I found a singular moth- and fly-catching, plant in +this range; it exudes a gummy substance, by which insects become +attached to the leaves. The appearance of this range from a distance +is white, flat, corrugated, rounded, and treeless. It rises between +1100 and 1200 feet in its highest portions, about the centre, in the +neighbourhood of Fort McKellar, above the surrounding country, though +its greatest elevation above the sea is over 3000 feet. + +On the 1st of February, after a very hot night, we made a late start +for the North-west Mountain, which now bore nearly north-east. It took +some miles to get clear of the stones of the range, the appearance of +the new feature we were steering for being most inviting. Its +corrugated front proclaimed the existence of ravines and gorges, while +a more open valley ran between it and some lower hills immediately to +the west of it. + +The horses were so delighted to get off the stones, that they +travelled uncommonly fast, and we got over twenty-eight miles by +night, though the country was exceedingly heavy travelling, being all +high, red sandhills, and until near the end of our day's stage we +could scarcely ever see the mountain at all. We encamped without +water, but I expected to get some early next day at the mountain. Two +of the horses lay down at the camp all night, being thirsty, tired, +and footsore; there was no grass for them. The thermometer to-day +indicated 108 degrees in the shade. A great number of the horses, from +being footsore, were lying down this morning, and when mustered they +all looked excessively hollow and thirsty. If no water be found at +this mountain, how many of them will be alive in a couple of days? +Yesterday we made twenty-eight, and to-day at twenty-three, miles we +reached the foot of the mount. There was an inviting valley, up which +we took the horses a mile. Then, leaving Gibson and Jimmy to await our +return, Mr. Tietkens and I rode away in search of water. It was +evident that only a trifling shower, if any, had visited this range, +for not a drop of water could be found, nor any rock reservoirs where +it might lodge. We parted company, and searched separately, but when +we met again we could only report to each other our non-success. It +was now past two o'clock, our horses had been ridden somewhat fast +over the most horrible and desolate stony places, where no water is, +and they were now in a very exhausted state, especially Mr. +Tietkens's. + +There were yet one or two ravines in the southern face of the range, +and while I ascended the mountain, Mr. Tietkens and the others took +the horses round that way and searched. From the summit of this +sterile mount I had expected at least a favourable view, but to my +intense disappointment nothing of the kind was to be seen. Two little +hills only, bearing 20 and 14 degrees west of north, were the sole +objects higher than the general horizon; the latter was formed +entirely of high, red sandhills, with casuarina between. To the east +only was a peaked and jagged range, which I called Mount Robert, after +my brother; all the rest was a bed of undulating red sand. What was to +be hoped from a region such as this? Could water exist in it? It was +scarcely possible. For an independent watercourse I could not hope, +because in the many hundreds of miles westward from the telegraph line +which we had travelled, no creek had been met, except in the immediate +vicinity of ranges, and not a drop of water, so to speak, had I +obtained away from these. I was upon the point of naming this Mount +Disappointment, it looked so inviting from a distance, and yet I could +find no water; and if none here, what possibility could there be of +getting any in the midst of the dense bed of sandhills beyond? I did +not test the boiling-point of water, for I had none to boil, but the +elevation was about 1100 feet above the surrounding country. From a +distance this mount has a very cheering and imposing appearance, and I +would have gone to it from almost any distance, with a full belief in +its having water about it. But if, indeed, the inland mountain has +really voice and sound, what I could gather from the sighings of the +light zephyrs that fanned my heated brow, as I stood gazing hopelessly +from this summit, was anything but a friendly greeting, it was rather +a warning that called me away; and I fancied I could hear a voice +repeating, Let the rash wand'rer here beware; Heaven makes not +travellers its peculiar care. + +Descending now, I joined the others at the foot of the hill, when Mr. +Tietkens and Gibson informed me they had searched everywhere, but in +vain. The horses were huddled together in the shade of a thicket, +three or four of them lying down with their packs on, and all looking +the pictures of wretchedness and woe. It was now past four o'clock, +and there was no alternative but to retreat. + +The Gorge of Tarns, thirty miles away, about south-south-west, was the +nearest water, but between us and it was another low range with a kind +of saddle or break in the middle. I wished, if possible, to get over +this before night, so we turned the horses' heads in that direction. +One fine horse called Diamond seemed suffering more than the rest. Mr. +Tietkens's riding-horse, a small blue roan, a very game little animal +that had always carried him well, albeit not too well treated, was +also very bad, and two others were very troublesome to drive along. +The saddle in the low range was a most difficult and stony pass; so +dreadfully rough and scrubby was it, I was afraid that night would +descend upon us before we could reach the southern side. Mr. +Tietkens's Bluey gave in here, and fell heavily down a stony slope +into a dense thicket of scrub; we had the greatest difficulty in +getting him out, and it was only by rolling him over the stones and +down the remainder of the slope, for he could not stand, that we got +him to the bottom. He was severely cut and bruised in the descent. We +just managed to get clear of the stones by dark, and unpacked the +exhausted animals, which had been travelling almost ever since +daylight. We had no water except a mouthful for the little dog. The +thermometer stood at 108 degrees, ourselves and our horses were +choking for water. + +In the morning several of the horses were lying dying about the camp; +Bluey, Diamond, a little cob--mate or brother of the one killed on +Elder's Creek--and one or two more, while those that were able had +wandered away. Though we were up and after them at three in the +morning, it was ten before I could despatch Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy +with the main mob. Poor little Bluey died soon after sunrise. Gibson +was after the absent horses, which he brought at length, and we packed +up and went after the others. Gibson's usual riding-horse, Trew, was +very bad, and quite unable to carry him. Mr. Tietkens was now riding +an old horse which I had purchased in Victoria, and had owned for some +time; he was called Widge. I had him out on my former expedition. He +was a cool, calculating villain, that no ordinary work could kill, and +he was as lively as a cricket when Mr. Tietkens rode him away; he +usually carried a pack. Jimmy carried the little dog Cocky, now nearly +dead from thirst and heat, though we had given him the last drop of +water we possessed. Dogs, birds, and large beasts in Australia often +die of heat, within sight of water. Jimmy was mounted on a gray-hipped +horse, which was also out on my former trip; he carried his rider well +to the end. Gibson I had mounted on a young bay mare, a creature as +good as they make them; she was as merry and gay, as it is possible +for any of her sex, even of the human kind, to be. Her proper name was +the Fair Maid of Perth; but somehow, from her lively, troublesome, and +wanton vagaries, they called her the Sow-Cow. My own riding-horse, a +small, sleek, cunning little bay, a fine hack with excellent paces, +called W.A., I also had out previously. He would pull on his bridle +all day long to eat, he would even pretend to eat spinifex; he was now +very bad and footsore. Gibson and I overtook Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy, +and we pushed on as fast as we could, the distance we had now to go, +not being more than ten or eleven miles. The sandhills were +exceedingly high and severe, but all the horses got over the last one. + +We were now in full view of the range, with the Gorge of Tarns not +more than five miles away. But here Diamond and another, Pratt, that I +had out by myself at the stinking pit in November, fell, never to +rise. We took off their packs and left them on the ground. The +thermometer then stood at 106 degrees in the shade. We pushed on, +intending to return immediately with water to the relief of these +unfortunates. The pack-horses now presented a demoralised and +disorganised rout, travelling in a long single file, for it was quite +impossible to keep the tail up with the leaders. I shall try to give +my reader some slight idea of them, if description is sufficiently +palpable to do so. The real leader was an old black mare, blear-eyed +from fly-wounds, for ever dropping tears of salt rheum, fat, large, +strong, having carried her 180 pounds at starting, and now desperately +thirsty and determined, knowing to an inch where the water was; on she +went, reaching the stony slopes about two miles from the water. Next +came a rather herring-gutted, lanky bay horse, which having been +bought at the Peake, I called Peveril; he was generally poor, but +always able, if not willing, for his work. Then came a big bay cob, +and an old flea-bitten gray called Buggs, that got bogged in the +Stemodia viscosa Creek, and a nuggetty-black harness-horse called +Darkie, always very fat. These last three carried 200 pounds each at +starting. Then Banks, the best saddle-horse I have, and which I had +worked too much in dry trips before reaching this range; he was very +much out of sorts and footsore. Then an iron-grey colt, called Diaway, +having been very poor and miserable when first purchased, but he was a +splendid horse. Then came the sideways-going old crab, Terrible Billy. +He was always getting into the most absurd predicaments--poor old +creature; got down our throats at last!--falling into holes, and up +and down slopes, going at them sideways, without the slightest +confidence in himself, or apparent fear of consequences; but the old +thing always did his work well enough. Blackie next, a handsome young +colt with a white stripe down his face, and very fast; and Formby, a +bay that had done excellent harness-work with Diamond on the road to +the Peake; he was a great weight-carrier. The next was Hollow Back, +who had once been a fine-paced and good jumping horse, but now only +fit for packing; he was very well bred and very game. The next was +Giant Despair, a perfect marvel. He was a chestnut, old, large-framed, +gaunt, and bony, with screwed and lately staked feet. Life for him +seemed but one unceasing round of toil, but he was made of iron; no +distance and no weight was too much for him. He sauntered along after +the leaders, looking not a whit the worse than when he left the last +water, going neither faster nor slower than his wont. He was +dreadfully destructive with his pack-bags, for he would never get out +of the road for anything less than a gum-tree. Tommy and Badger, two +of my former expedition horses; Tommy and Hippy I bought a second time +from Carmichael, when coming up to the Peake. Tommy was poor, old, and +footsore, the most wonderful horse for his size in harness I ever saw. +Badger, his mate, was a big ambling cob, able to carry a ton, but the +greatest slug of a horse, I ever came across; he seems absolutely to +require flogging as a tonic; he must be flogged out of camp, and +flogged into it again, mile after mile, day after day, from water and +to it. He was now, as usual, at the tail of the straggling mob, except +Gibson's former riding-horse called Trew. He was an excellent little +horse, but now so terribly footsore he could scarcely drag himself +along; he was one of six best of the lot. If I put them in their order +I should say, Banks, the Fair Maid of Perth, Trew, Guts (W.A.), +Diaway, Blackie and Darkie, Widge, the big cob Buggs--the flea-bitten +grey--Bluey, Badger, who was a fine ambling saddle-horse, and Tommy; +the rest might range anyhow. The last horse of all was the poor little +shadow of a cob, the harness-mate of the one killed at Elder's Creek. +On reaching the stones this poor little ghost fell, never again to +rise. We could give him no relief, we had to push on. Guts gave in on +the stones; I let him go and walked to the water. I need scarcely say +how thirsty we all were. On reaching the water, and wasting no time, +Mr. Tietkens and I returned to the three fallen horses, taking with us +a supply of water, and using the Fair Maid, Widge, Formby, and Darkie; +we went as fast as the horses could go. On reaching the little cob we +found him stark and stiff, his hide all shrivelled and wrinkled, mouth +wide open, and lips drawn back to an extraordinary extent. Pushing on +we arrived where Diamond and Pratt had fallen. They also were quite +dead, and must have died immediately after they fell; they presented +the same appearance as the little cob. Thus my visit to the North-west +Mountain had cost the lives of four horses, Bluey, Diamond, Pratt, and +the cob. The distance they had to travel was not great--less than +ninety miles--and they were only two nights without water; but the +heat was intense, the country frightful, and to get over the distance +as soon as possible, we may have travelled rather fast. The horses had +not been well off for either grass or water at starting, and they were +mostly footsore; but in the best of cases, and under the most +favourable start from a water, the ephemeral thread of a horse's life +may be snapped in a moment, in the height of an Australian summer, in +such a region as this, where that detestable vegetation, the triodia, +and high and rolling sandhills exist for such enormous distances. The +very sight of the country, in all its hideous terrors clad, is +sufficient to daunt a man and kill a horse. I called the vile mountain +which had caused me this disaster, Mount Destruction, for a visit to +it had destroyed alike my horses and my hopes. I named the range of +which it is the highest point, Carnarvon Range. + +We returned again to the Gorge of Tarns, as Mr. Tietkens very tritely +remarked, sadder but wiser men. Our position here is by no means +enviable, for although there is plenty of permanent water in this +range, it appears to be surrounded by such extensive deserts that +advance or retreat is equally difficult, as now I had no water in +tanks or otherwise between this and Fort Mueller, and not a horse +might ever reach that goal. I am again seated under the splashing +fountain that falls from the rocks above, sheltered by the sunless +caverns of this Gorge of Tarns, with a limpid liquid basin of the +purest water at my feet, sheltered from the heated atmosphere which +almost melts the rocks and sand of the country surrounding us--sitting +as I may well declare in the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, +but we cannot shut out from the mind the perils we have endured, the +perils we may yet have to endure. For the present our wants and those +of our gallant horses are supplied, but to the traveller in such a +wilderness, when he once turns his back upon a water, the +ever-recurring question presents itself, of when and where shall I +obtain more? The explorer is necessarily insatiable for water; no +quantity can satisfy him, for he requires it always and in every +place. Life for water he will at any moment give, for water cannot be +done without. Thermometer in outer shade 106 degrees; in the caverns +98 degrees. + +We shall have to remain here for a few days. The bare rocks in this +glen and the walls of stone that form it become so heated during the +day that the nights passed in it are most oppressive. The rocks have +not time to cool before the sun is upon them again, and at evening, +when descending from the caves, we find the thermometer actually rises +in the night air. In the caves during to-day it was 98 degrees, and at +eight o'clock at night outside it was 101 degrees. We are pestered +here terribly by flies, but not plagued by either ants or mosquitoes. +This evening Gibson and Jimmy shot three wallabies. This range swarms +also with pigeons in every gorge and glen, and they come in clouds at +night and morning for water. Unfortunately nearly all our sporting +ammunition is gone, though I have a good supply of defensive. To-day +the thermometer in the caves was only 88 degrees while in the outside +shade 104 degrees, the cause being hot winds from the south-east. +While here we shod the most tender-footed of our horses. There was a +good deal of thunder and lightning. The daytime in this gorge is less +oppressive than the night. The sun does not appear over the eastern +hills until nearly nine o'clock, and it passes behind the western ones +at about 4.15 p.m. The horses cannot recover well here, the ground +being too stony, and the grass and herbage too poor; therefore I shall +retreat to the Pass of the Abencerrages and the pleasant encampment of +Sladen Water. One horse, Tommy, was still very bad, and had to be left +on the road, not from want of water, but old age and exhaustion. I +sent for him the next day, and he rejoined the mob. We got back on the +12th of February; there was a fine lot of ducks when we arrived, but +those sportsmen Gibson and Jimmy went blazing away as usual without +getting one, wasting the powder and shot, which has now become such a +scarcity, and losing and making the ducks wild into the bargain. The +birds were so frightened that they split into several mobs, and only +one mob of eight remained at the pass. I wanted to get these, and went +to some trouble to do so. I first walked away and got a horse, and +riding him bare-backed I drove the ducks quietly down to the camp +water-hole, but the moment they arrived, I being behind with the +horse, Gibson and Jimmy must needs go blazing away at them again, +although they knew they could never hit any of them; and just as I +arrived I heard the report and saw all the ducks come flying overhead +up the pass. They went up therefore through the regions of the air +singing sweetly as they went, but I did not sing so sweetly on the +occasion. Then ensued quite a scientific little ornithological lecture +on my part, referring mostly to the order of ducks, and the species +known as wild ones more particularly, and I explained the subject to +them in such a plain and forcible manner that both of them admitted +they quite understood what I was talking about, which is a great +matter for lecturers to consider, because if, after a forcible +harangue, a speaker's audience is in any way mystified, or not in +touch with him as to the meaning of his remarks, why, then, his time +and labour are both lost; therefore I purposely refrained from any +ambiguity, and delivered my figures of speech and rounded periods in +words suitable for the most ordinary comprehension, and I really think +it had a good effect on both of them. Of course I addressed them more +in sorrow than in anger, although the loss of eight ducks was a +frightfully heavy one to all of us; but I was partially consoled with +the thought that they would have to bear their share of the loss. A +few hours afterwards I went after the ducks again, and by good fortune +bagged six in one shot; one got away in the bushes, and the other flew +away; and he seemed to me to have a very crooked flew at that. These +were the fattest birds I ever ate. We had a fine supper of ducks, +their flavour being sup(p)er-excellent. + +(ILLUSTRATION: DRAGGED BY DIAWAY.) + +(ILLUSTRATION: ATTACK AT SLADEN WATER.) + +The ants were terribly troublesome at this waterhole, although we +slept on the damp sand; so we shifted the camp up to the sweet +water-hole, and selected as open a piece of ground as possible, as I +intended the camp to remain here for a week or two. More thunder and +lightning, with great heat and a few drops of rain. Thermometer, 106 +degrees. There were countless numbers of the little cockatoo parrots +here; they are very shy, and even when Gibson or Jimmy lets off a gun +at them, a dozen or two are sure to fall; it takes some time, however, +before another shot can be had at them. I fancy they are migrating. +The pigeons swarm at night to water. I intend to visit the ridges +which I mentioned as lying to the south-west, from the west end of +this range. We shod the old black mare, Diaway, and old Buggs, to take +with us. The 18th of February, 1874, was like to have proved a most +eventful day in my life, for it was very nearly the termination of it. +I was riding Diaway, the colt just shod; he is seldom ridden, though a +very fine hack, as he is such a splendid weight-carrier as a +packhorse; he is rather skittish, and if anything goes wrong with his +pack, he'll put it right (on the ground) almost instantaneously. I was +driving all the horses up to the camp, when one broke from the mob, +and galloped across the creek. There was a bank of stones about three +feet high, which was hidden by a growth of rushes; Diaway went +bounding over the great bushes and inequalities of the channel, and +reached the bank without seeing it, until too late, when he made a +bound at, but fell on the top of, it, rolling over upon me at the same +time. He scrambled up, but left me on the broad of my back. On my feet +were those wonderful boots before described, with the sixty horseshoe +nails in each, and it was no wonder that one of my feet got caught in +the stirrup on the off side of the horse. It is one of the most +horrible positions that the mind can well imagine, to contemplate +being dragged by a horse. I have been dragged before now, and only +escaped by miracles on each occasion. In this case, Diaway, finding me +attached to him, commenced to lash out his newly shod heels at me, +bounding away at the same time into a dense thicket of scrub close by. +Mr. Tietkens and the others seeing the accident came running up +behind, as Diaway and I were departing. Fortunately I was not dragged +far, but was literally kicked free from and by, the frightened and +uncontrolled animal. The continual kickings I received--some on my +legs and body, but mostly upon that portion of the frame which it is +considered equally indecorous to present either to a friend or an +enemy--at length bent one or two of the nail-heads which held me, and, +tearing the upper leather off my boot, which fortunately was old, +ripped it off, leaving me at length free. As I lay on my excoriated +back, I saw Diaway depart without me into the scrub, with feelings of +the most profound delight, although my transports were considerably +lessened by the agonising sensations I experienced. Mr. Tietkens +helped me to hobble over to the camp in a most disorganised state, +though thanking Providence for so fortunate an escape. Had Diaway but +entered the scrub not two yards from where I was released, I could not +have existed more than a minute. The following day Mr. Tietkens was +getting everything ready to go with me to the south-west ridges, +though I had great doubts of my ability to ride, when we became aware +of the presence of a whole host of natives immediately below the camp. +All the morning the little dog had been strangely perturbed, and we +knew by the natives' fires that they were in our immediate +neighbourhood. There was so much long grass and tall rushes in the +creek bed, that they could approach very close before we could +possibly see them. So soon as they found themselves detected, as usual +they set up the most horrible yells, and, running up on the open +ground, sent a flight of spears at us before a rifle or a gun could be +seized, and we had to jump behind a large bush, that I left standing +on purpose, to escape. Our stand of arms was there, and we immediately +seized them, sending the bullets flying just above their heads and at +their feet. The report of the weapons and the whirring sound of the +swiftly passing shots made them pause, and they began an harangue, +ordering us out of their territories, to the south. Seeing us, +however, motionless and silent, their courage returned, and again they +advanced, uttering their war cries with renewed energy. Again the +spears would have been amongst us; but I, not relishing even the idea +of barbed spears being stuck through my body, determined not to permit +either my own or any of my party's lives to be lost for the sake of +not discharging my firearms. Consequently we at length succeeded in +causing a rout, and driving the enemy away. There were a great number +of natives in the bushes, besides those who attacked us. There were +not many oldish men among them, only one with grey hair. I am reminded +here to mention that in none of my travels in these western wilds have +I found any places of sepulture of any kind. The graves are not +consumed by the continual fires that the natives keep up in their +huntings, for that would likewise be the fate of their old and +deserted gunyahs, which we meet with frequently, and which are neither +all nor half destroyed. Even if the natives put no boughs or sticks +upon their graves, we must see some mounds or signs of burial-places, +if not of bones or skulls. My opinion is, that these people eat their +aged ones, and most probably those who die from natural causes also. + +It was a cool, breezy day, and, in consequence of the hostile action +of the natives, I did not depart on the south-west excursion. I was +not sorry to delay my departure, for I was in great pain all over. I +now decided to leave Mr. Tietkens and take Jimmy with me. I cannot say +I anticipate making any valuable discovery on this trip; for had there +been ranges of any elevation to the westward, or beyond the ridges in +question, I should in all probability have seen them from the end of +this range, and should have visited them in preference to Mount +Destruction. I felt it incumbent on me to visit them, however, as from +them I might obtain a view of some encouraging features beyond. + + +CHAPTER 2.8. FROM 20TH FEBRUARY TO 12TH MARCH, 1874. + +Journey south-west. +Glens and springs. +Rough watering-place. +A marble bath. +Glassy rocks. +Swarms of ants. +Solitary tree. +An oven. +Terrible night. +And day. +Wretched appearance of the horses. +Mountains of sand. +Hopeless view. +Speculations. +In great pain. +Horses in agony. +Difficulty in watering them. +Another night of misery. +Dante's Inferno. +The waters of oblivion. +Return to the pass. +Dinner of carrion. +A smoke-house. +Tour to the east. +Singular pinnacle. +Eastern ranges. +A gum creek. +Basins of water. +Natives all around. +Teocallis. +Horrid rites. +A chip off the old block. +A wayside inn. +Gordon's Springs. + +Taking Jimmy and three horses, we travelled, after clearing the pass, +on the south slopes of the range westward, crossing several small +creek-channels, which might or might not have waters in them. At +twelve miles we came to a green-looking channel and found water, +running so far down as a rocky hole, near where we crossed. We +outspanned here for an hour, as I found riding very severe toil after +my late kicking. I named this secluded but pretty little spot, Glen +Helen. It was very rough travelling ground--worse than on the northern +side of the range. Three miles farther, we crossed another running +water, and called it Edith Hull's Springs. At ten miles farther, after +crossing several channels, we turned up one, and got some water in a +very rough and stony gorge off the main channel, which was dry. There +was very poor feed, but we were compelled to remain, as there was no +other creek in sight for some miles, and the horses, although shod, +could only travel slowly over the terribly rough ground. When we +turned them out, they preferred to stand still, rather than roam about +among the rocks and boulders for food. The day was cool; the southern +horizon, the only one we could see, was bounded entirely by red +sandhills and casuarina timber. The horses ate nothing all night, and +stood almost where they were hobbled. + +In this region, and in the heat of summer, the moment horses, no +matter how fat and fresh they may be, are taken away from their +companions to face the fearful country that they know is before them, +they begin to fret and fall away visibly. They will scarcely eat, and +get all the weaker in consequence, and then they require twice as much +water as they otherwise would if their insides were partly filled with +grass. When I released our three from the hobbles this morning, they +immediately pretended to feed; but this old ruse has been experienced +before, and time was now up, to move on again. They were very thirsty, +and nearly emptied the rock basin, where we had a kind of bath before +starting. Along the foot-hills over which we were obliged to travel, +the country was much rougher than yesterday; so much so, that I kept +away as much as possible. At twenty miles we turned up a +creek-channel, which proved to be a dreadful gorge, being choked up +with huge boulders of red and white granite. Among these I found a +fine rock tarn; indeed, I might call it a marble bath, for the rock +was almost pure white, and perfectly bare all round. The water was +considerably over our heads, and felt as cold as ice. It was a +dreadful place to get horses up to, and two of them fell two or three +times on the glassy, shelving, and slippery rocks. The old grey, +Buggs, hurt himself a good deal. + +Time seems to fly in these places, except when you want it to do so, +and by the time the horses got down from the water the day was nearly +gone. The feed for them was very little better than at our last +night's camp, nor was the glen any less stony or rough. The day was 12 +degrees hotter than yesterday; the thermometer indicated 104 degrees. +The ants in this glen were frightful; they would not allow me a +moment's rest anywhere. There was but one solitary eucalyptus or +gum-tree, and in its scanty shade they swarmed in countless myriads. +The sun poured his fiery beams full down upon us, and it was not until +he departed over the cliffs to the west that we had a moment's +respite; the place was a perfect oven. + +I passed the time mostly in the marble bath, and then took a walk up +to the top of the range and could see the hills I desired to visit; +they now bore nearly south-west. So long as the sun's rays were +pouring down upon their unsheltered hides, the horses would not +attempt to eat, but when he departed they fed a little on the coarse +vegetation. This glen, like all the others in this range, swarmed with +pigeons, and we got enough for breakfast at one shot. During the hot +months, I believe whites could live entirely on pigeons in this range. +At the camp at Sladen Water they came to the water in clouds, their +very numbers sometimes preventing us getting a good shot, and we had +been living entirely on them, for now we had no other meat. +Unfortunately, our ammunition is almost exhausted, but so long as it +lasts we shall have birds. When it is gone we must eat horseflesh, and +should have been driven to do so before now, only for these birds. I +have an old horse now fattening for the knife, and I am sorry, i.e. +happy, to say, whenever I inspect him he looks better. The one I mean +is the old sideways-going Terrible Billy. Poor old creature! To work +so many years as he has done for man, and then to be eaten at last, +seems a hard fate; but who or what can escape that inexorable shadow, +death? + +It may be the destiny of some of ourselves to be eaten; for I fully +believe the natives of these regions look upon all living organisms as +grist for their insatiable mills. As night came on, I was compelled to +lie down at last, but was so bitten and annoyed by the ants, that I +had to keep moving about from place to place the whole night long, +while the [in]sensible Jimmy lay sleeping and snoring, though swarmed +over and almost carried away by the ants, as peacefully as though he +had gone to rest under the canopy of costly state, and lulled with +sounds of sweetest melody. I could not help moralising, as I often +stood near him, wondering at his peace and placidity, upon the +differences of our mental and physical conditions: here was one human +being, young and strong, certainly, sleeping away the, to me, dreary +hours of night, regaining that necessary vigour for the toils of the +coming day, totally oblivious of swarms of creeping insects, that not +only crawled all over him, but constantly bit into his flesh; while +another, who prided himself perhaps too much upon the mental powers +bestowed by God upon him, was compelled by the same insects to wander +through the whole night, from rock to rock and place to place, unable +to remain for more than a moment or two anywhere; and to whom sleep, +under such circumstances, was an utter impossibility. Not, indeed, +that the loss of sleep troubles me, for if any one could claim to be +called the sleepless one, it would be I--that is to say, when engaged +in these arduous explorations, and curtained by night and the stars; +but, although I can do without sleep, I require a certain amount of +horizontal repose, and this I could not obtain in this fearful glen. +It was, therefore, with extreme pleasure that I beheld the dawn, +and:-- + + "To the eastward where, cluster by cluster, + Dim stars and dull planets that muster, + Waxing wan in a world of white lustre, + That spread far and high." + +No human being could have been more pleased than I at the appearance +of another day, although I was yet doomed to several hours more misery +in this dreadful gorge. The pigeons shot last night were covered +within and without by ants, although they had been put in a bag. The +horses looked wretched, even after watering, and I saw that it was +actually necessary to give them a day's rest before I ventured with +them into the frightful sandhills which I could see intervened between +us and the distant ridges. Truly the hours I spent in this hideous +gorge were hours of torture; the sun roasted us, for there was no +shade whatever to creep into; the rocks and stones were so heated that +we could neither touch, nor sit upon them, and the ants were more +tormenting than ever. I almost cried aloud for the mountains to fall +upon me, and the rocks to cover me. I passed several hours in the +marble bath, the only place the ants could not encroach upon, though +they swarmed round the edge of the water. But in the water itself were +numerous little fiendish water-beetles, and these creatures bit one +almost as badly as the ants. In the bath I remained until I was almost +benumbed by the cold. Then the sunshine and the heat in the gorge +would seem delightful for a few minutes, till I became baked with heat +again. The thermometer stood at 106 degrees in the shade of the only +tree. At three p.m. the horses came up to water. I was so horrified +with the place I could no longer remain, though Jimmy sat, and +probably slept, in the scanty one tree's shade, and seemed to pass the +time as comfortably as though he were in a fine house. In going up to +the water two of the horses again fell and hurt themselves, but the +old blear-eyed mare never slipped or fell. At four p.m. we mounted, +and rode down the glen until we got clear of the rough hills, when we +turned upon our proper course for the ridges, which, however, we could +not see. In two or three miles we entered the sandhill regions once +more, when it soon rose into hills. The triodia was as thick and +strong as it could grow. The country was not, so to say, scrubby, +there being only low bushes and scrubs on the sandhills, and casuarina +trees of beautiful outline and appearance in the hollows. When the +horses got clear of the stones they began to eat everything they could +snatch and bite at. + +At fifteen miles from the gorge we encamped on a patch of dry grass. +The horses fed pretty well for a time, until the old mare began to +think it time to be off, and she soon would have led the others back +to the range. She dreaded this country, and knew well by experience +and instinct what agony was in store for her. Jimmy got them back and +short-hobbled them. There were plenty of ants here, but nothing to be +compared to the number in the gorge, and having to remove my blankets +only three or four times, I had a most delightful night's rest, +although, of course, I did not sleep. The horses were sulky and would +not eat; therefore they looked as hollow as drums, and totally unfit +to traverse the ground that was before them. However, this had to be +done, or at least attempted, and we got away early. We were in the +midst of the sandhills, and here they rose almost into mountains of +sand. It was most fatiguing to the horses, the thermometer 104 degrees +in the shade when we rested at twenty-two miles. Nor was this the +hottest time of the day. We had been plunging through the sand +mountains, and had not sighted the ridges, for thirty-seven miles, +till at length we found the nearest were pretty close to us. They +seemed very low, and quite unlikely to produce water. Reaching the +first, we ascended it, and I could see at a glance that any prospect +of finding water was utterly hopeless, as these low ridges, which ran +north and south, were merely a few oblique-lying layers of upheaved +granite, not much higher than the sandhills which surrounded them, and +there was no place where water could lodge even during rains. Not a +rise could be seen in any direction, except, of course, from where we +had come. We went on west five or six miles farther to the end of +these, just about sundown: and long, indeed, will that peculiar sunset +rest in my recollection. The sun as usual was a huge and glaring ball +of fire that with his last beams shot hot and angry glances of hate at +us, in rage at our defiance of his might. It was so strange and so +singular that only at this particular sunset, out of the millions +which have elapsed since this terrestrial ball first floated in ether, +that I, or indeed any White man, should stand upon this wretched hill, +so remote from the busy haunts of my fellow men. My speculations upon +the summit, if, indeed, so insignificant a mound can be said to have a +summit, were as wild and as incongruous as the regions which stretched +out before me. In the first place I could only conclude that no water +could exist in this region, at least as far as the sand beds extend. I +was now, though of course some distance to the south also, about +thirty miles to the west of the most western portion of the Rawlinson +Range. + +From that range no object had been visible above the sandhills in any +westerly direction, except these ridges I am now upon, and from these, +if any other ranges or hills anywhere within a hundred miles of the +Rawlinson existed, I must have sighted them. The inference to be drawn +in such a case was, that in all probability this kind of country would +remain unaltered for an enormous distance, possibly to the very banks +of the Murchison River itself. The question very naturally arose, +Could the country be penetrated by man, with only horses at his +command, particularly at such a heated time of year? Oh, would that I +had camels! What are horses in such a region and such a heated +temperature as this? The animals are not physically capable of +enduring the terrors of this country. I was now scarcely a hundred +miles from the camp, and the horses had plenty of water up to nearly +halfway, but now they looked utterly unable to return. What a strange +maze of imagination the mind can wander in when recalling the names of +those separated features, the only ones at present known to supply +water in this latitude--that is to say, the Murchison River, and this +new-found Rawlinson Range, named after two Presidents of the Royal +Geographical Society of London. The late and the present, the living +and the dead, physically and metaphysically also, are not these +features, as the men, separated alike by the great gulf of the +unknown, by a vast stretch of that undiscovered country from whose +bourne no traveller returns? + +The sun went down, and I returned to my youthful companion with the +horses below. We were fifty-one miles from the water we had left. The +horses were pictures of misery, old Buggs's legs had swelled greatly +from the contusions he had received in falling on the slippery rocks. +The old black mare which I rode, though a sorry hack, looked worse +than I had ever seen her before, and even the youthful and +light-heeled and -hearted Diaway hung his head, and one could almost +span him round the flanks. The miserable appearance of the animals was +caused as much by want of food as want of water, for they have +scarcely eaten a mouthful since we left the pass; indeed, all they had +seen to eat was not inviting. + +We slowly left these desolate ridges behind, and at fifteen miles we +camped, Jimmy and I being both hungry and thirsty. Our small supply of +water only tantalised, without satisfying us whenever we took a +mouthful. We now found we had nothing to eat, at least nothing cooked, +and we had to sacrifice a drop of our stock of water to make a +Johnny-cake. It was late by the time we had eaten our supper, and I +told Jimmy he had better go to sleep if he felt inclined; I then +caught and tied up the horses, which had already rambled some distance +away. When I got back I found Jimmy had literally taken me at my word; +for there he was fast asleep among the coals and ashes of the fire, in +which we had cooked our cake. I rolled him over once or twice to +prevent him catching fire, but he did not awake. The night was very +warm; I tried to lay down on my rug, but I was in such pain all over +from my recent accident, that I could not remain still. I only waited +to allow Jimmy a little sleep, or else he would have fallen off his +horse, and caused more delay. I walked to, and tried to console, the +horses. Sleepless and restless, I could no longer remain. + +Fast asleep is Armor lying--do not touch him, do not wake him; but +Armor had to be awakened. But first I saddled and put up everything on +the horses. Jimmy's lips were cracked and parched, and his tongue dry +and half out of his mouth; I thought the kindest way to wake him was +to pour a little water into his mouth. Up he jumped in a moment, and +away we went at three o'clock in the morning, steering by the stars +until daylight; slowly moving over sandhill after sandhill. Soon after +sunrise we fell in with our outgoing track, and continued on, though +we had great trouble to keep the horses going at all, until we reached +our old encampment of the night before last, being now only fifteen +miles from the water. For the last few miles the horses had gone so +dreadfully slow, I thought they would give in altogether. So soon as +they were unsaddled they all lay down, shivering and groaning +fearfully. + +To see a horse in a state of great thirst is terrible, the natural +cavity opens to an extraordinary size, and the creature strains and +makes the most lamentable noises. Mares are generally worse in these +cases than horses. Old Buggs and the mare were nearly dead. Diaway +suffered less than the others. We had yet a small quantity of water in +our bag, and it was absolutely necessary to sacrifice it to the horses +if we wished them ever to return. We had but three pints, which we +gave to Buggs and the mare, Diaway getting none. What the others got +was only just enough to moisten their tongues. Leaving this place at +eleven a.m., we reached the gorge at sundown, travelling at the rate +of only two miles an hour. The day was hot, 104 degrees at eleven a.m. +When we took the saddles off the horses, they fell, as they could only +stand when in motion--old Buggs fell again in going up the gorge; they +all fell, they were so weak, and it took nearly an hour to get them up +to the bath. They were too weak to prevent themselves from slipping +in, swimming and drinking at the same time; at last old Buggs touched +the bottom with his heels, and stood upon his hind-legs with his +forefeet against the rock wall, and his head bent down between, and +drank thus. I never saw a horse drink in that fashion before. + +It was very late when we got them back to the camp-tree, where we let +them go without hobbles. The ants were as rampant as ever, and I +passed another night in walking up and down the glen. Towards midnight +the horses came again for water, but would not return, preferring to +remain till morning rather than risk a passage down in the dark. + +I went right up to the top of the mountain, and got an hour's peace +before the sun rose. In the morning all the horses' legs were puffed +and swelled, and they were frightened to move from the water. I had +great trouble in getting them down at all. It was impossible to ride +them away, and here we had to remain for another day, in this Inferno. +Not Dante's, gelid lowest circle of Hell, or city of Dis, could cause +more anguish, to a forced resident within its bounds, than did this +frightful place to me. Even though Moses did omit to inflict ants on +Pharaoh, it is a wonder Dante never thought to have a region of them +full of wicked wretches, eternally tortured with their bites, and +stings, and smells. Dante certainly was good at imagining horrors. But +imagination can't conceive the horror of a region swarming with ants +and then Dante never lived in an ant country, and had no conception +what torture such creatures can inflict. The smaller they are the more +terrible. My only consolation here was my marble bath, which the +horses had polluted; within its cool and shady depths I could alone +find respite from my tormentors. Oh, how earnestly did I wish that its +waters were the waters of oblivion, or that I could quaff some kind +nepenthe, which would make me oblivious of my woes, for the persistent +attacks of the ants unceasingly continued + +"From night till morn, from morn till dewy eve." + +Here of course we had no dewy eve. Only one slight source of pleasure +at length occurred to me, and that was, that Jimmy began to shift +about a bit at last. On the 26th, with what delight I departed from +this odious gorge after another night of restlessness, agony, and +misery, may perhaps be imagined, though of course I was indebted to +the glen for water, and unless we actually give up our lives, we +cannot give up that. There was a good deal of water in this bath, as +may be supposed when horses could swim about in it. I called it +Edith's Marble Bath, after my niece, having named Glen Edith also +after her on my former expedition. The stone here is not actually +marble, though very like it. I saw no limestone in this range; the +only approach to it is in the limestone formation in the bed of the +ancient Lake Christopher, mentioned as lying to the west of the +Rawlinson Range. The stone here was a kind of milky quartz. We kept +away as much as possible off the rough slopes of the range, and got to +Glen Helen at night, but old Buggs knocked up, and we had to lead, +beat, and drive him on foot, so that it was very late before we got to +the glen. We got all three horses back to the pass early the next day. +No natives had appeared, but the horses had never been seen since I +left. Oh, didn't I sleep that night! no ants. Oh, happiness! I hadn't +slept for a week. + +The next day, the 28th of February, Gibson and Jimmy went to look for +the mob of horses. There was a watering-place about two miles and a +half south from here, where emus used to water, and where the horses +did likewise; there they found all the horses. There was a very marked +improvement in their appearance, they had thriven splendidly. There is +fine green feed here, and it is a capital place for an explorer's +depot, it being such an agreeable and pretty spot. Gibson and Jimmy +went to hunt for emus, but we had none for supper. We got a supply of +pigeons for breakfast. Each day we more deeply lament that the end of +our ammunition is at hand. For dinner we got some hawks, crows, and +parrots. I don't know which of these in particular disagreed with me, +but I suppose the natural antipathy of these creatures to one another, +when finding themselves somewhat crowded in my interior, was casus +belli enough to set them quarrelling even after death and burial; all +I knew was the belli was going on in such a peculiar manner that I had +to abandon my dinner almost as soon as I had eaten it. It is now +absolutely necessary to kill a horse for food, as our ammunition is +all but gone. Mr. Tietkens and I went to find a spot to erect a +smoke-house, which required a soft bank for a flue; we got a place +half a mile away. Thermometer 104 degrees. Mr. Tietkens and I +commenced operations at the smoke-house, and the first thing we did +was to break the axe handle. Gibson, who thought he was a carpenter, +blacksmith, and jack-of-all-trades by nature, without art, volunteered +to make a new one, to which no one objected. The new handle lasted +until the first sapling required was almost cut in two, when the new +handle came in two also; so we had to return to the camp, while Gibson +made another handle on a new principle. With this we worked while +Gibson and Jimmy shod a couple of horses. A pair of poking brutes of +horses are always away by themselves, and Mr. Tietkens and I went to +look for, but could not find them. We took the shovel and filled up +the emu water-hole with sand, so that the horses had to show +themselves with the others at the pass at night. For two or three days +we shod horses, shot pigeons, and worked at the smoke-house. I did not +like the notion of killing any of the horses, and determined to make a +trip eastwards, to see what the country in that direction was like. We +chopped up some rifle bullets for shot, to enable Gibson and Jimmy to +remain while we were away, as a retreat to Fort Mueller from here was +a bitter idea to me. Before I can attempt to penetrate to the west, I +must wait a change in the weather. The sky was again becoming cloudy, +and I had hopes of rain at the approaching equinox. + +The three horses we required for the trip we put down through the +north side of the pass. On March 10th, getting our horses pretty +easily, we started early. As soon as we got clear of the pass on the +north side, almost immediately in front of us was another pass, lying +nearly east, which we reached in five miles. I called this the Weld +Pass. From hence we had a good view of the country farther east. A +curved line of abrupt-faced hills traversed the northern horizon; they +had a peculiar and wall-like appearance, and seemed to end at a +singular-looking pinnacle thirty-four or five miles away, and lying +nearly east. This abrupt-faced range swept round in a half circle, +northwards, and thence to the pinnacle. We travelled along the slopes +of the Rawlinson Range, thinking we might find some more good gorges +before it ended, we being now nearly opposite the Alice Falls. One or +two rough and stony gullies, in which there was no water, existed; the +country was very rough. I found the Rawlinson Range ended in fifteen +or sixteen miles, at the Mount Russell* mentioned before. Other ranges +rose up to the east; the intervening country seemed pretty well filled +with scrub. We pushed on for the pinnacle in the northern line, but +could not reach it by night as we were delayed en route by searching +in several places for water. The day was hot, close, cloudy, and +sultry. In front of us now the country became very scrubby as we +approached the pinnacle, and for about three miles it was almost +impenetrable. We had to stop several times and chop away limbs and +boughs to get through, when we emerged on the bank of a small gum +creek, and, turning up its channel, soon saw some green rushes in the +bed. A little further up we saw more, brighter and greener, and +amongst them a fine little pond of water. Farther up, the rocks rose +in walls, and underneath them we found a splendid basin of overflowing +water, which filled several smaller ones below. We could hear the +sound of splashing and rushing waters, but could not see from whence +those sounds proceeded. This was such an excellent place that we +decided to remain for the rest of the day. The natives were all round +us, burning the country, and we could hear their cries. This morning +we had ridden through two fresh fires, which they lit, probably, to +prevent our progress; they followed us up to this water. I suppose +they were annoyed at our finding such a remarkably well-hidden place. +It is a very singular little glen. There are several small mounds of +stones placed at even distances apart, and, though the ground was +originally all stones, places like paths have been cleared between +them. There was also a large, bare, flat rock in the centre of these +strange heaps, which were not more than two and a half feet high. I +concluded--it may be said uncharitably, but then I know some of the +ways and customs of these people--that these are small kinds of +teocallis, and that on the bare rock already mentioned the natives +have performed, and will again perform, their horrid rites of human +butchery, and that the drippings of the pellucid fountains from the +rocky basins above have been echoed and re-echoed by the dripping +fountains of human gore from the veins and arteries of their bound and +helpless victims. Though the day was hot, the shade and the water were +cool, and we could indulge in a most luxurious bath. The largest basin +was not deep, but the water was running in and out of it, over the +rocks, with considerable force. We searched about to discover by its +sound from whence it came, and found on the left-hand side a crevice +of white quartz-like stone, where the water came down from the upper +rocks, and ran away partly into the basins and partly into rushes, +under our feet. On the sloping face of the white rock, and where the +water ran down, was a small indent or smooth chip exactly the size of +a person's mouth, so that we instinctively put our lips to it, and +drank of the pure and gushing element. I firmly believe this chip out +of the rock has been formed by successive generations of the native +population, for ages placing their mouths to and drinking at this +spot; but whether in connection with any sacrificial ceremonies or no, +deponent knoweth, and sayeth not. The poet Spenser, more than three +hundred years ago, must have visited this spot--at least, in +imagination, for see how he describes it:-- + + "And fast beside there trickled softly down, + A gentle stream, whose murmuring waves did play + Amongst the broken stones, and made a sowne, + To lull him fast asleep, who by it lay: + The weary traveller wandering that way + Therein might often quench his thirsty heat, + And then by it, his weary limbs display; + (Whiles creeping slumber made him to forget + His former pain), and wash away his toilsome sweet." + +(ILLUSTRATION: GILL'S PINNACLE.) + +There is very poor grazing ground round this water. It is only +valuable as a wayside inn, or out. I called the singular feature which +points out this water to the wanderer in these western wilds, Gill's +Pinnacle, after my brother-in-law, and the water, Gordon's Springs, +after his son. In the middle of the night, rumblings of thunder were +heard, and lightnings illuminated the glen. When we were starting on +the following morning, some aborigines made their appearance, and +vented their delight at our appearance here by the emission of several +howls, yells, gesticulations, and indecent actions, and, to hem us in +with a circle of fire, to frighten us out, or roast us to death, they +set fire to the triodia all round. We rode through the flames, and +away. + + +CHAPTER 2.9. FROM 12TH MARCH TO 19TH APRIL, 1874. + +The Rebecca. +The Petermann range. +Extraordinary place. +The Docker. +Livingstone's Pass. +A park. +Wall-like hills. +The Ruined Rampart. +Pink, green, and blue water. +Park-like scenery. +The Hull. +A high cone. +Sugar-loaf Peak. +Pretty hills and grassy valleys. +Name several features. +A wild Parthenius. +Surprise a tribe of natives. +An attack. +Mount Olga in view. +Overtaken by the enemy. +Appearance of Mount Olga. +Breakfast interrupted. +Escape by flight. +The depot. +Small circles of stone. +Springs. +Mark a tree. +Slaughter Terrible Billy. +A smoke signal. +Trouble in collecting the horses. +A friendly conference. +Leave Sladen Water. +Fort McKellar. +Revisit the Circus. +The west end of the range. +Name two springs. + +The country towards the other ranges eastwards appeared poor and +scrubby. We went first to a hill a good deal south of east, and +crossed the dry bed of a broad, sandy, and stony creek running north. +I called it the Rebecca. From it we went to a low saddle between two +hills, all the while having a continuous range to the north; this was +the extension beyond the pinnacle of the wall-like crescent. A +conspicuous mount in this northern line I called Mount Sargood*. From +this saddle we saw a range of hills which ran up from the south-west, +and, extending now eastwards, formed a valley nearly in front of us. I +called this new feature the Petermann Range. In it, a peculiar notch +existed, to which we went. This new range was exceedingly wall-like +and very steep, having a serrated ridge all along; I found the notch +to be only a rough gully, and not a pass. We continued along the +range, and at four miles farther we came to a pass where two high +hills stood apart, and allowed an extremely large creek--that is to +say, an extremely wide one--whose trend was northerly, to come +through. Climbing one of the hills, I saw that the creek came from the +south-west, and was here joined by another from the south-east. There +was an exceedingly fine and pretty piece of park-like scenery, +enclosed almost entirely by hills, the Petermann Range forming a kind +of huge outside wall, which enclosed a mass of lower hills to the +south, from which these two creeks find their sources. This was a very +extraordinary place; I searched in vain in the pass for water, and +could not help wondering where such a watercourse could go to. The +creek I called the Docker*. The pass and park just within it I called +Livingstone Pass and Learmonth* Park. Just outside the pass, +northerly, was a high hill I called Mount Skene*. + +(ILLUSTRATION: VIEW ON THE PETERMANN RANGE.) + +Finding no water in the pass, we went to the more easterly of the two +creeks; it was very small compared with the Docker. It was now dusk, +and we had to camp without water. The day was hot. This range is most +singular in construction; it rises on either side almost +perpendicularly, and does not appear to have very much water about it; +the hills indeed seem to be mere walls, like the photographs of some +of the circular ranges of mountains in the moon. There was very fine +grass, and our horses stayed well. We had thunder and lightning, and +the air became a little cooled. The creek we were on appeared to rise +in some low hills to the south; though it meandered about so much, it +was only by travelling, we found that it came from a peculiar ridge, +upon whose top was a fanciful-looking, broken wall or rampart, with a +little pinnacle on one side. When nearly abreast, south, of this +pinnacle, we found some water in the creek-bed, which was now very +stony. The water was impregnated with ammonia from the excreta of +emus, dogs, birds, beasts, and fishes, but the horses drank it with +avidity. Above this we got some sweet water in rocks and sand. I +called the queer-looking wall the Ruined Rampart. There was a quantity +of different kinds of water, some tasting of ammonia, some saltish, +and some putrid. A few ducks flew up from these strange ponds. There +was an overhanging ledge and cave, which gave us a good shade while we +remained here, the morning being very hot. I called these MacBain's* +Springs. + +Following the creek, we found in a few miles that it took its rise in +a mass of broken table-lands to the south. We still had the high walls +of the Petermann to the north, and very close to us. In five miles we +left this water-shed, and descended the rough bed of another creek +running eastwards; it also had some very queer water in it--there were +pink, green, and blue holes. Ducks were also here; but as we had no +gun, we could not get any. Some sweet water was procured by scratching +in the sand. This creek traversed a fine piece of open grassy +country--a very park-like piece of scenery; the creek joined another, +which we reached in two or three miles. The new creek was of enormous +width; it came from the low hills to the south and ran north, where +the Petermann parted to admit of its passage. The natives were burning +the country through the pass. Where on earth can it go? No doubt water +exists in plenty at its head, and very likely where the natives are +also; but there was none where we struck it. I called this the Hull*. + +The main range now ran on in more disconnected portions than formerly; +their general direction was 25 degrees south of east. We still had a +mass of low hills to the south. We continued to travel under the lea +of the main walls, and had to encamp without water, having travelled +twenty-five miles from the Ruined Rampart. A high cone in the range I +called Mount Curdie*. The next morning I ascended the eastern end of +Mount Curdie. A long way off, over the tops of other hills, I could +see a peak bearing 27 degrees south of east; this I supposed was, as +it ought to be, the Sugar-loaf Hill, south westward from Mount Olga, +and mentioned previously. To the north there was a long wall-like line +stretching across the horizon, ending about north-east; this appeared +to be a disconnected range, apparently of the same kind as this, and +having gaps or passes to allow watercourses to run through; I called +it Blood's Range. I could trace the Hull for many miles, winding away +a trifle west of north. It is evident that there must exist some +gigantic basin into which the Rebecca, the Docker, and the Hull, and +very likely several more further east, must flow. I feel morally sure +that the Lake Amadeus of my former journey must be the receptacle into +which these creeks descend, and if there are creeks running into the +lake from the south, may there not also be others running in, from the +north and west? The line of the southern hills, connected with the +Petermann wall, runs across the bearing of the Sugar-loaf, so that I +shall have to pass over or through them to reach it. The outer walls +still run on in disconnected groups, in nearly the same direction as +the southern hills, forming a kind of back wall all the way. + +Starting away from our dry encampment, in seven miles we came to where +the first hills of the southern mass approached our line of march. +They were mostly disconnected, having small grassy valleys lying +between them, and they were festooned with cypress pines, and some +pretty shrubs, presenting also many huge bare rocks, and being very +similar country to that described at Ayers Range, through which I +passed in August. Here, however, the rocks were not so rounded and did +not present so great a resemblance to turtles. At two miles we reached +a small creek with gum timber, and obtained water by digging. The +fluid was rather brackish, but our horses were very glad of it, and we +gave them a couple of hours' rest. I called this Louisa's Creek. A +hill nearly east of Mount Curdie I called Mount Fagan; another still +eastward of that I called Mount Miller. At five miles from Louisa's +Creek we struck another and much larger one, running to the north; and +upon our right hand, close to the spot at which we struck it, was a +rocky gorge, through and over which the waters must tumble with a +deafening roar in times of flood. Just now the water was not running, +but a quantity was lodged among the sand under the huge boulders that +fill up the channel. I called this the Chirnside*. A hill in the main +range eastward of Mount Miller I called Mount Bowley. At ten miles +from Louisa's Creek we camped at another and larger watercourse than +the Chirnside, which I called the Shaw*. All these watercourses ran up +north, the small joining the larger ones--some independently, but all +going to the north. Crossing two more creeks, we were now in the midst +of a broken, pine-clad, hilly country, very well grassed and very +pretty; the hills just named were on the north, and low hills on the +south. Ever since we entered the Livingstone Pass, we have traversed +country which is remarkably free from the odious triodia. Travelling +along in the cool of the next morning through this "wild Parthenius, +tossing in waves of pine," we came at six miles along our course +towards the Sugar-loaf, to a place where we surprised some natives +hunting. Their wonderfully acute perceptions of sight, sound, and +scent almost instantly apprised them of our presence, and as is usual +with these persons, the most frantic yells rent the air. Signal fires +were immediately lighted in all directions, in order to collect the +scattered tribe, and before we had gone a mile we were pursued by a +multitude of howling demons. A great number came running after us, +making the most unearthly noises, screeching, rattling their spears +and other weapons, with the evident intention of not letting us depart +out of their coasts. They drew around so closely and so thick, that +they prevented our horses from going on, and we were compelled to get +out our revolvers for immediate use; we had no rifles with us. A +number from behind threw a lot of spears; we were obliged to let the +pack-horse go--one spear struck him and made him rush and jump about. +This drew their attention from us for a moment; then, just as another +flight of spears was let fly at us, we plunged forward on our horses, +and fired our revolvers. I was horrified to find that mine would not +go off, something was wrong with the cartridges, and, though I snapped +it four times, not a single discharge took place. Fortunately Mr. +Tietkens's went off all right, and what with that, and the pack-horse +rushing wildly about, trying to get up to us, we drove the wretches +off, for a time at least. They seemed far more alarmed at the horses +than at us, of whom they did not seem to have any fear whatever. We +induced them to retire for a bit, and we went on, after catching the +packhorse and breaking about forty of their spears. I believe a wild +Australian native would almost as soon be killed as have his spears +destroyed. The country was now much rougher, the little grassy valleys +having ceased, and we had to take to the hills. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ATTACK AT THE FARTHEST EAST.) + +While travelling along here we saw, having previously heard its +rustle, one of those very large iguanas which exist in this part of +the country. We had heard tales of their size and ferocity from the +natives near the Peake (Telegraph Station); I believe they call them +Parenties. The specimen we saw to-day was nearly black, and from head +to tail over five feet long. I should very much have liked to catch +him; he would make two or three good meals for both of us. +Occasionally we got a glimpse of the Sugar-loaf. At nine miles from +where we had encountered the enemy, we came to a bold, bare, rounded +hill, and on ascending it, we saw immediately below us, that this +hilly country ceased immediately to the east, but that it ran on +south-easterly. Two or three small creeks were visible below, then a +thick scrubby region set in, bounded exactly to the east by Mount Olga +itself, which was sixty miles away. There was a large area of bare +rock all about this hill, and in a crevice we got a little water and +turned our horses out. While we were eating our dinner, Mr. Tietkens +gave the alarm that the enemy was upon us again, and instantly we +heard their discordant cries. The horses began to gallop off in +hobbles. These wretches now seemed determined to destroy us, for, +having considerably augmented their numbers, they swarmed around us on +all sides. Two of our new assailants were of commanding stature, each +being nearly tall enough to make two of Tietkens if not of me. These +giants were not, however, the most forward in the onslaught. The +horses galloped off a good way, with Tietkens running after them: in +some trepidation lest my revolver should again play me false, though +of course I had cleaned and re-loaded it, I prepared to defend the +camp. The assailants immediately swarmed round me, those behind +running up, howling, until the whole body were within thirty yards of +me; then they came on more slowly. I could now see that aggression on +my part was the only thing for it; I must try to carry the situation +with a coup. I walked up to them very fast and pointed my revolver at +them. Some, thinking I was only pointing my finger, pointed their +fingers at me. They all had their spears ready and quivering in their +wommerahs, and I am sure I should in another instant have been +transfixed with a score or two of spears, had not Mr. Tietkens, having +tied up the horses, come running up, which caused a moment's +diversion, and both our revolvers going off properly this time, we +made our foes retreat at a better pace than they had advanced. Some of +their spears were smashed in their hands; most of them dropped +everything they carried, and went scudding away over the rocks as fast +as fear and astonishment would permit. We broke all the spears we +could lay our hands on, nearly a hundred, and then finished our +dinner. + +I would here remark that the natives of Australia have two kinds of +spears--namely, the game- and the war-spear. The game-spear is a +thick, heavy implement, barbed with two or three teeth, entirely made +of wood, and thrown by the hand. These are used in stalking large +game, such as emus, kangaroos, etc., when the hunter sneaks on the +quarry, and, at a distance of forty to fifty yards, transfixes it, +though he may not just at the moment kill the animal, it completely +retards its progress, and the hunter can then run it to earth. The +war-spears are different and lighter, the hinder third of them being +reed, the other two-thirds mulga wood; they are barbed, and thrown +with a wommerah, to a distance up to 150 yards, and are sometimes ten +feet long. + +After our meal we found a better supply of water in a creek about two +miles southward, where there was both a rock reservoir and sand water. +We had now come about 130 miles from Sladen Water, and had found +waters all the way; Mount Olga was again in sight. The question was, +is the water there permanent? Digging would be of no avail there, it +is all solid rock; either the water is procured on the surface or +there is none. I made this trip to the east, not with any present +intention of retreat, but to discover whether there was a line of +waters to retreat upon, and to become acquainted with as much country +as possible. + +(ILLUSTRATION: MOUNT OLGA, FROM SIXTY MILES TO THE WEST.) + +The sight of Mount Olga, and the thoughts of retreating to the east, +acted like a spur to drive me farther to the west; we therefore turned +our backs upon Mount Olga and the distant east. I named this gorge, +where we found a good supply of water, Glen Robertson*, and the creek +that comes from it, Casterton Creek. Mount Olga, as I said, bore +nearly due east; its appearance from here, which we always called the +farthest east, was most wonderful and grotesque. It seemed like five +or six enormous pink hay-stacks, leaning for support against one +another, with open cracks or fissures between, which came only about +half-way down its face. I am sure this is one of the most +extraordinary geographical features on the face of the earth, for, as +I have said, it is composed of several enormous rounded stone shapes, +like the backs of several monstrous kneeling pink elephants. At sixty +miles to the west its outline is astonishing. The highest point of +all, which is 1500 feet above the surrounding country, looked at from +here, presents the appearance of a gigantic pink damper, or Chinese +gong viewed edgeways, and slightly out of the perpendicular. We did +not return to the scene of our fight and our dinner, but went about +two miles northerly beyond it, when we had to take to the rough hills +again; we had to wind in and out amongst these, and in four miles +struck our outgoing tracks. We found the natives had followed us up +step by step, and had tried to stamp the marks of the horses' hoofs +out of the ground with their own. They had walked four or five +abreast, and consequently made a path more easy for us to remark. We +saw them raising puffs of smoke behind us, but did not anticipate any +more annoyance from them. We pushed on till dark, to the spot where we +had met them in the morning; here we encamped without water. + +Before daylight I went for the horses, while Mr. Tietkens got the swag +and things ready to start away. I returned, tied up the horses, and we +had just begun to eat the little bit of damper we had for breakfast, +when Mr. Tietkens, whose nervous system seems particularly alive to +any native approach, gave the alarm, that our pursuers were again upon +us, and we were again saluted with their hideous outcries. Breakfast +was now a matter of minor import; instantly we slung everything on to +the horses, and by the time that was done we were again surrounded. I +almost wished we had only one of our rifles which we had left at home. +We could do nothing with such an insensate, insatiable mob of wretches +as these; as a novelist would say, we flung ourselves into our saddles +as fast as we could, and fairly gave our enemies the slip, through the +speed of our horses, they running after us like a pack of yelping +curs, in maddening bray. The natives ran well for a long distance, +nearly three miles, but the pace told on them at last and we +completely distanced them. Had we been unsuccessful in finding water +in this region and then met these demons, it is more than probable we +should never have escaped. I don't sigh to meet them again; the great +wonder was that they did not sneak upon and spear us in the night, but +the fact of our having a waterless encampment probably deterred them. +We kept at a good pace till we reached the Chirnside, and gave our +horses a drink, but went on twenty miles to Louisa's Creek before we +rested. We only remained here an hour. We saw no more of our enemies, +but pushed on another twenty-two miles, till we reached the Hull, +where we could find no water. + +On the subject of the natives, I may inform my reader that we often +see places at native camps where the ground has been raised for many +yards, like a series of babies' graves; these are the sleeping-places +of the young and unmarried men, they scoop the soil out of a place and +raise it up on each side: these are the bachelors' beds--twenty, +thirty, and forty are sometimes seen in a row; on top of each raised +portion of soil two small fires are kept burning in lieu of blankets. +Some tribes have their noses pierced, others not. Some have front +teeth knocked out, and others not. In some tribes only women have +teeth knocked out. + +Our supply of food now consisted of just sufficient flour to make two +small Johnny-cakes, and as we still had over eighty miles to go, we +simply had to do without any food all day, and shall have precisely +the same quantity to-morrow--that is to say, none. In eleven or twelve +miles next morning we reached the caves near the Ruined Rampart, where +we rested and allowed the horses to feed. At night we camped again +without food or water. The morning after, we reached Gill's Pinnacle +early, and famished enough to eat each other. We mixed up, cooked, and +ate our small remnant of flour. The last two days have been reasonably +cool; anything under 100 degrees is cool in this region. We found that +during our absence the natives had placed a quantity of gum-leaves and +small boughs into the interstices of the small mounds of stone, or as +I call them, teocallis, which I mentioned previously; this had +evidently been done so soon as we departed, for they were now dead and +dry. After bathing, remounting, we made good another twenty miles, and +camped in triodia and casuarina sandhills. We reached the camp at the +pass by nine a.m. on the 19th, having been absent ten days. Gibson and +Jimmy were there certainly, and nothing had gone wrong, but these two +poor fellows looked as pale as ghosts. Gibson imagined we had gone to +the west, and was much perturbed by our protracted absence. + +The water in the open holes did not agree with either Gibson or Jimmy, +and, when starting, I had shown them where to dig for a spring of +fresh water, and where I had nearly got a horse bogged one day when I +rode there, to see what it was like. They had not, however, made the +slightest effort to look for or dig it out. I gave them the last of +our medical spirits, only half a bottle of rum, at starting. They had +shot plenty of parrots and pigeons, and one or two ducks; but, now +that the ammunition is all but gone, a single shot is of the greatest +consideration. We have only a few pounds of flour, and a horse we must +kill, in order to live ourselves. A few finishing touches to the +smoke-house required doing; this Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy went to do, +while Gibson and I cut up a tarpaulin to make large water-bags, and +with a small lot of new canvas made four pairs of water-bags that +would hold seven to eight gallons each. These, when greased with horse +fat or oil, ought to enable me to get out some distance from the +western extremity of this range. Poor old Terrible Billy came to water +early, and I was much pleased with his appearance, but his little +house not being quite ready and the bags not completed, he has a day +or so longer of grace. I had looked forward eagerly to the time of the +autumnal equinox, in hopes of rain. But all we got, however, was three +dry thunderstorms and a few drops of rain, which fell upon us en route +to some more favoured land. The next day being Sunday, we had a day of +rest. + +Near the place to which I had been dragged, there were several little +heaps of stones, or rather, as a general rule, small circles of +piled-up stones removed from where they had formerly lain, with the +exception of a solitary one left in the centre. For what purpose the +natives could have made or cleared these places I cannot tell; they +were reserved for some ceremonies, no doubt, like those at Gill's +Pinnacle. The last few days have been very cool, the thermometer +indicating one day only 78 degrees in the shade. On the 25th Gibson +took the shovel to open out the springs formerly mentioned; they lie +in the midst of several little clumps of young eucalyptus suckers, the +ground all round being a morass, in which a man might almost sink, +were it not for the thick growth of rushes. The water appears to flow +over several acres of ground, appearing and disappearing in places. +The moment a small space was cleared of the rushes, it became evident +that the water was perpetually flowing, and we stood on rushes over +our ankles in black soil. Gibson dug a small tank, and the water soon +cleared for itself a beautiful little crystal basin of the purest +liquid, much more delicious and wholesome than the half brackish water +in the bed of the creek. These springs have their origin at the foot +of the hill on the eastern side of this pass, and percolate into the +creek-bed, where the water becomes impregnated with salt or soda. The +water in the open holes in the creek-bed is always running; I thought +the supply came from up the creek--now, however, I find it comes from +these fresh-water springs. I branded a tree in this pass E. Giles with +date. + +On the 25th March the plump but old and doomed Terrible Billy +confidingly came to water at eleven o'clock at night. He took his last +drink, and was led a captive to the camp, where he was tied up all +night. The old creature looked remarkably well, and when tied up close +to the smoke-house--innocent, unsuspecting creature of what the craft +and subtilty of the devil or man might work against him--he had begun +to eat a bunch or two of grass, when a rifle bullet crashing through +his forehead terminated his existence. There was some little fat about +him; it took some time to cut up the meat into strips, which were hung +on sticks and placed in tiers in the pyramidal smoke-house. + +We had a fine supper of horse-steaks, which we relished amazingly. +Terrible Billy tasted much better than the cob we had killed at +Elder's Creek. What fat there was on the inside was very yellow, and +so soft it would not harden at all. With a very fat horse a salvage of +fat might be got on portions of the meat, but nearly every particle of +the fat drips into oil. The smoke-house is now the object of our +solicitude; a column of smoke ascends from the immolated Billy night +and day. Our continual smoke induced some natives to make their +appearance, but they kept at a very respectful distance, coming no +nearer than the summit of the hills, on either side of the pass, from +whence they had a good bird's-eye view of our proceedings. They +saluted us with a few cheers, i.e. groans, as they watched us from +their observatory. + +The weather is now beautifully cool, fine, and clear. We had now +finished smoking Terrible Billy who still maintained his name, for he +was terribly tough. I intended to make an attempt to push westward +from the end of this range, and all we required was the horses to +carry us away; but getting them was not the easiest thing in the +world, for they were all running loose. Although they have to come to +the pass to get water, there is water for more than a mile, and some +come sneaking quietly down without making the slightest noise, get a +drink, and then, giving a snort of derision to let us know, off they +go at a gallop. They run in mobs of twos and threes; so now we have +systematically to watch for, catch, and hobble them. I set a watch +during the night, and as they came, they were hobbled and put down +through the north side of the pass. They could not get back past the +camp without the watchman both hearing and seeing them; for it was now +fine moonlight the greater part of the night. We had ten or twelve +horses, but only two came to-night for water, and these got away +before we could catch them, as two of the party let them drink before +catching them. None came in the day, and only two the next night; +these we caught, hobbled, and put with the others, which were always +trying to get back past the camp, so to-night I had a horse saddled to +be sure of catching any that came, and keeping those we had. During my +watch, the second, several horses tried to pass the camp. I drove them +back twice, and had no more trouble with them; but in the morning, +when we came to muster them, every hoof was gone. Of course nobody had +let them go! Every other member of the party informed me that they +were ready to take their dying oaths that the horses never got away in +their watches, and that neither of them had any trouble whatever in +driving them back, etc.; so I could only conclude that I must have let +them all go myself, because, as they were gone, and nobody else let +them go, why, of course, I suppose I must. After breakfast Mr. +Tietkens went to try to recover them, but soon returned, informing me +he had met a number of natives at the smoke-house, who appeared very +peaceably inclined, and who were on their road down through the pass. +This was rather unusual; previous to our conflict they had never come +near us, and since that, they had mostly given us a wide berth, and +seemed to prefer being out of the reach of our rifles than otherwise. +They soon appeared, although they kept away on the east side of the +creek. They then shouted, and when I cooeyed and beckoned them to +approach, they sat down in a row. I may here remark that the word +cooey, as representing the cry of all Australian aborigines, belonged +originally to only one tribe or region, but it has been carried about +by whites from tribe to tribe, and is used by the civilised and +semi-civilised races; but wild natives who have never seen whites use +no such cry. There were thirteen of these men. Mr. Tietkens and I went +over to them, and we had quite a friendly conference. Their leader was +an individual of a very uncertain age--he might have been forty, or he +might have been eighty (in the shade). (This was written some time +before the "Mikado" appeared.--E.G.) His head was nearly bald on the +crown, but some long grizzly locks depended below the bald patch. + +The others were generally much younger, but some of them, though not +clean past their youth, yet had about them some smacks of the saltness +of age. The old man was the most self-possessed; the others displayed +a nervous tremor at our approach; those nearest us sidled closer to +their more remote and, as they no doubt thought, fortunate fellows; +they were all extremely ill-favoured in face, but their figures were +not so outres, except that they appeared emaciated and starved, +otherwise they would have been men of good bulk. Their legs were +straight, and their height would average five feet nine inches, all +being much taller than Mr. Tietkens or I. Two remained at a distance; +these had a great charge to superintend, it being no less than that of +the trained wild dogs belonging to the tribe. There were three large +dogs, two of a light sandy, and one of a kind of German colley colour. +These natives were armed with an enormous number of light barbed +spears, each having about a dozen. They do not appear to use the +boomerang very generally in this part of the continent, although we +have occasionally picked up portions of old ones in our travels. Mr. +Tietkens gave each of these natives a small piece of sugar, with which +they seemed perfectly charmed, and in consequence patted the seat of +their intellectual--that is to say, digestive--organs with great +gusto, as the saccharine morsels liquefied in their mouths. They +seemed highly pleased with the appearance and antics of my little dog, +who both sat and stood up at command in the midst of them. + +They kept their own dogs away, I presume, for fear we might want to +seize them for food--wild dog standing in about the same relation to a +wild Australian native, as a sheep would to a white man. They eat all +the grown dogs they can catch, but keep a few pups to train for +hunting, and wonderful hunting dogs they are. Hence their fear of our +taking their pets. The old gentleman was much delighted with my watch. +I then showed them some matches, and the instantaneous ignition of +some grass in the midst of them was rather too startling a phenomenon +for their weak minds; some of them rose to depart. The old man, +however, reassured them. I presented him with several matches, and +showed him how to use them; he was very much pleased, and having no +pockets in his coat--for I might have previously remarked they were +arrayed in Nature's simple garb--he stuck them in his hair. Mr. +Tietkens, during this time, was smoking, and the sight of smoke +issuing from his mouth seemed to disturb even the old man's assumed +imperturbability, and he kept much closer to me in consequence. I next +showed them a revolver, and tried to explain the manner of using it. +Most of them repeated the word bang when I said it; but when I fired +it off they were too agitated to take much notice of its effect on the +bark of a tree, which might otherwise have served to point a moral or +adorn a tale in the oral traditions of their race for ever. At the +report of the revolver all rose and seemed in haste to go, but I would +not allow my dear old friend to depart without a few last friendly +expressions. One of these natives was pitted with small-pox. They +seemed to wish to know where we were going, and when I pointed west, +and by shaking my fingers intimated a long way, many of them pulled +their beards and pointed to us, and the old man gave my beard a slight +pull and pointed west; this I took to signify that they were aware +that other white people like us lived in that direction. The +conference ended, and they departed over the hills on the east side of +the pass, but it was two hours before they disappeared. + +All the horses which had escaped in hobbles the other night now came +to water, and were put through the pass again. During the day we +secured the remainder, and had them altogether at last. It was noon of +the 7th April when we left this delectable pass, again en route for +the west, hoping to see Sladen Water and the Pass of the Abencerrages +no more. At fourteen miles we were delayed by Banks, carrying my +boxes, as a strap broke, and he set to work to free himself of +everything. Fortunately, one box with the instruments, quicksilver, +etc., remained firm; everything got bucked and kicked out of the +other; buckskin gloves, matches, mineral collection, rifle cartridges, +bottles of medicine, eye-water, socks, specimens of plants, etc., all +sent flying about in the thick triodia, for the brute went full gallop +all round the mob of horses, trying to get rid of the other box and +his saddle. In spite of all his efforts they remained, and it was +wonderful how many things we recovered, though some were lost. By this +time it was dusk, and the evening set in very cool. I now intended to +encamp at the fine spring I named Fort McKellar, four miles east of +the Gorge of Tarns. There was a fine and heavy clump of eucalyptus +timber there, and a very convenient and open sheet of water for the +use of the camp. I had always looked upon this as an excellent and +desirable spot for an encampment, though we had never used it yet. The +grass, however, is neither good nor abundant; the country around being +stony and sterile, except down the immediate valley of the channel, +which was not wide enough to graze a mob of horses for long. We +reached it again on the 9th of April. + +My reader will remember that in January I had found a creek with a +large, rocky tarn of water, which I called the Circus; it was the last +westerly water on the range, and I was anxious to know how it was +holding out, as it must be our point of departure for any farther +efforts to the west. It was twenty miles from here, and Gibson and I +rode up the range to inspect it. On our road we revisited the Gorge of +Tarns; the water there had shrunk very much. Here we had left some +useless articles, such as three pack-saddle frames, a broken +thermometer, and sundry old gear; all these things the natives had +carried away. I had a good swim in the old tarn, and proceeded, +reaching the Circus early in the afternoon. There was the solitary +eagle still perched upon its rock. The water had become greatly +reduced; ten weeks and two days had elapsed since I was here; and in +another fortnight it would all be gone. If I intend doing anything +towards the west it must be done at once or it will be too late. The +day was warm--102 degrees. A large flock of galars, a slate-coloured +kind of cockatoo, and a good talking bird, and hundreds of pigeons +came to water at night; but having no ammunition, we did not bring a +gun. The water was so low in the hole that the horses could not reach +it, and had to be watered with a canvas bucket. I have said +previously, that at the extremity of this range there lay an ancient +lake bed, but I had only been a mile or two upon it. Further on there +were indications of salt, and as we were quite out of that commodity, +we rode over to try and procure some, but none existed, and we had to +be satisfied with a quantity of samphire bushes and salt-bush leaves, +which we took home with us, returning to Fort McKellar the following +day. I called the salt feature Lake Christopher. We remained at the +depot for a day or two, preparing for a start to the west, and cut +rails, and fixed up some palisading for the fort. I delayed entering +that evidently frightful bed of sand which lay to the west, in hopes +of a change, for I must admit I dreaded to attempt the western country +while the weather was still so hot and oppressive. Though the +thermometer may not appear to rise extraordinarily high in this +region, yet the weight and pressure of the atmosphere is sometimes +almost overpowering. Existence here is in a permanent state of +languor, and I am sure the others in the party feel it more than I do, +being consumed with the fire or frenzy of renown for opening unknown +lands, all others have to pale their ineffectual fires before it. No +doubt, not being well fed is some cause for our feelings of lassitude. +The horses are also affected with extreme languor, as well as the men. +The thermometer to-day registered only 99 degrees. The horses are +always trying to roam away back to Sladen Water, and Mr. Tietkens and +I had a walk of many miles after them to-day. I was getting really +anxious about the water at the Circus. I scarcely dare to grapple with +that western desert in such weather, yet, if I do not, I shall lose +the Circus water. + +Although we were near the change of the moon, I despaired of a change +of weather. I did not ask for rain, for it would be useless on the +desert sands; I only wanted the atmosphere to become a little less +oppressive. I had not been round the extreme western end of the range, +though we had been to it, and I thought perhaps some creek might be +found to contain a good rock-hole, perhaps as far to the west, if not +farther, than the Circus; on the opposite side of the range, Mr. +Tietkens and Gibson, who volunteered, went to see what they could +discover, also to visit the Circus so as to report upon it. Jimmy and +I remained and erected some more woodwork--that is to say, rails and +uprights--for the fort. We walked over to re-inspect--Jimmy had not +seen them--two glens and springs lying within a couple of miles to the +east of us, the first being about three-quarters of a mile off. I now +named it Tyndall's Springs. Here a fine stream of running water +descends much further down the channel than at any other spring in the +range, though it spreads into no open sheets of water as at the depot; +there was over a mile of running water. The channel is thickly set +with fine tall bulrushes. There is a very fine shady clump of +gum-trees here, close to the base of the range. The next spring, about +a mile farther east, I called Groener's Springs; it had not such a +strong flow of water, but the trees in the clump at the head of it +were much larger and more numerous than at the last. Some of the +trees, as was the case at Fort McKellar, were of very considerable +size. Late at night Mr. Tietkens and Gibson returned, and reported +that, although they had discovered a new rock-hole with seven or eight +feet of water in it, it was utterly useless; for no horses could get +within three-quarters of a mile of it, and they had been unable to +water their horses, having had to do so at the Circus. They said the +water there was holding out well; but Gibson said it had diminished a +good deal since he and I were there a week ago. On the 19th April I +told the party it was useless to delay longer, and that I had made up +my mind to try what impression a hundred miles would make on the +country to the west. I had waited and waited for a change, not to say +rain, and it seemed as far off as though the month were November, +instead of April. I might still keep on waiting, until every ounce of +our now very limited supply of rations was gone. We were now, and had +been since Billy was killed, living entirely on smoked horse; we only +had a few pounds of flour left, which I kept in case of sickness; the +sugar was gone; only a few sticks of tobacco for Mr. Tietkens and +Gibson--Jimmy and I not smoking--remained. I had been disappointed at +the Charlotte Waters at starting, by not being able to get my old +horse, and had started from the Alberga, lacking him and the 200 +pounds of flour he would have carried--a deficiency which considerably +shortened my intended supply. A comparatively enormous quantity of +flour had been lost by the continual rippings of bags in the scrubs +farther south, and also a general loss in weight of nearly ten per +cent., from continual handling of the bags, and evaporation. We had +supplemented our supplies in a measure at Fort Mueller and the Pass, +with pigeons and wallabies, as long as our ammunition lasted, and now +it was done. When I made known my intention, Gibson immediately +volunteered to accompany me, and complained of having previously been +left so often and so long in the camp. I much preferred Mr. Tietkens, +as I felt sure the task we were about to undertake was no ordinary +one, and I knew Mr. Tietkens was to be depended upon to the last under +any circumstances, but, to please Gibson, he waived his right, and, +though I said nothing, I was not at all pleased. + + +CHAPTER 2.10. FROM 20TH APRIL TO 21ST MAY, 1874. + +Gibson and I depart for the west. +His brother with Franklin. +Desert oaks. +Smoked horse. +Ants innumerable. +Turn two horses back. +Kegs in a tree. +No views. +Instinct of horses. +Sight a distant range. +Gibson's horse dies. +Give him the remaining one. +The last ever seen of him. +Alone in the desert. +Carry a keg. +Unconscious. +Where is the relief party. +A dying wallaby. +Footfalls of a galloping horse. +Reach the depot. +Exhausted. +Search for the lost. +Gibson's Desert. +Another smoke-house. +Jimmy attacked at Fort McKellar. +Another equine victim. +Final retreat decided upon. +Marks of floods. +Peculiarity of the climate. +Remarks on the region. +Three natives visit us. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE CIRCUS.) + +APRIL 20TH, 1874. + +Gibson and I having got all the gear we required, took a week's supply +of smoked horse, and four excellent horses, two to ride, and two to +carry water, all in fine condition. I rode the Fair Maid of Perth, an +excellent walker; I gave Gibson the big ambling horse, Badger, and we +packed the big cob, a splendid bay horse and fine weight-carrier, with +a pair of waterbags that contained twenty gallons at starting. The +other horse was Darkie, a fine, strong, nuggetty-black horse, who +carried two five-gallon kegs of water and our stock of smoked horse, +rugs, etc. We reached the Circus, at twenty miles, early, and the +horses had time to feed and fill themselves after being watered, +though the grass was very poor. + +21ST APRIL. + +While I went for the horses Gibson topped up the water-bags and kegs, +and poured a quantity of water out of the hole on to a shallow place, +so that if we turned any horses back, they could drink without +precipitating themselves into the deep and slippery hole when they +returned here. As we rode away, I remarked to Gibson that the day, was +the anniversary of Burke and Wills's return to their depot at Cooper's +Creek, and then recited to him, as he did not appear to know anything +whatever about it, the hardships they endured, their desperate +struggles for existence, and death there, and I casually remarked that +Wills had a brother who also lost his life in the field of discovery. +He had gone out with Sir John Franklin in 1845. Gibson then said, "Oh! +I had a brother who died with Franklin at the North Pole, and my +father had a deal of trouble to get his pay from government." He +seemed in a very jocular vein this morning, which was not often the +case, for he was usually rather sulky, sometimes for days together, +and he said, "How is it, that in all these exploring expeditions a lot +of people go and die?" I said, "I don't know, Gibson, how it is, but +there are many dangers in exploring, besides accidents and attacks +from the natives, that may at any time cause the death of some of the +people engaged in it; but I believe want of judgment, or knowledge, or +courage in individuals, often brought about their deaths. Death, +however, is a thing that must occur to every one sooner or later." To +this he replied, "Well, I shouldn't like to die in this part of the +country, anyhow." In this sentiment I quite agreed with him, and the +subject dropped. At eleven miles we were not only clear of the range, +but had crossed to the western side of Lake Christopher, and were +fairly enclosed in the sandhills, which were of course covered with +triodia. Numerous fine casuarinas grew in the hollows between them, +and some stunted blood-wood-trees, (red gum,) ornamented the tops of +some of the sandhills. At twenty-two miles, on a west course, we +turned the horses out for an hour. It was very warm, there was no +grass. The horses rested in the shade of a desert oak-tree, while we +remained under another. These trees are very handsome, with round +umbrageous tops, the leaves are round and fringe-like. We had a meal +of smoked horse; and here I discovered that the bag with our supply of +horseflesh in it held but a most inadequate supply for two of us for a +week, there being scarcely sufficient for one. Gibson had packed it at +starting, and I had not previously seen it. The afternoon was +oppressively hot--at least it always seems so when one is away from +water. We got over an additional eighteen miles, making a day's stage +of forty. + +The country was all sandhills. The Rawlinson Range completely +disappeared from view, even from the tops of the highest sandhills, at +thirty-five miles. The travelling, though heavy enough, had not been +so frightful as I had anticipated, for the lines of sandhills mostly +ran east and west, and by turning about a bit we got several hollows +between them to travel in. Had we been going north or south, +north-easterly or south-westerly, it would have been dreadfully +severe. The triodia here reigns supreme, growing in enormous bunches +and plots, and standing three and four feet high, while many of the +long dry tops are as high as a man. This gives the country the +appearance of dry grassy downs; and as it is dotted here and there +with casuarina and blood-wood-trees, and small patches of desert +shrubs, its general appearance is by no means displeasing to the eye, +though frightful to the touch. No sign of the recent presence of +natives was anywhere visible, nor had the triodia been burnt for +probably many years. At night we got what we in this region may be +excused for calling a grass flat, there being some bunches of a thin +and wiry kind of grass, though white and dry as a chip. I never saw +the horses eat more than a mouthful or two of it anywhere, but there +was nothing else, and no water. + +22ND. + +The ants were so troublesome last night, I had to shift my bed several +times. Gibson was not at all affected by them, and slept well. We were +in our saddles immediately after daylight. I was in hopes that a few +miles might bring about a change of country, and so it did, but not an +advantageous one to us. At ten miles from camp the horizon became +flatter, the sandhills fell off, and the undulations became covered +with brown gravel, at first very fine. At fifty-five miles it became +coarser, and at sixty miles it was evident the country was becoming +firmer, if not actually stony. Here we turned the horses out, having +come twenty miles. I found one of our large waterbags leaked more than +I expected, and our supply of water was diminishing with distance. +Here Gibson preferred to keep the big cob to ride, against my advice, +instead of Badger, so, after giving Badger and Darkie a few pints of +water each, Gibson drove them back on the tracks about a mile and let +them go, to take their own time and find their own way back to the +Circus. They both looked terribly hollow and fatigued, and went away +very slowly. Sixty miles through such a country as this tells +fearfully upon a horse. The poor brutes were very unwilling to leave +us, as they knew we had some water, and they also knew what a fearful +region they had before them to reach the Circus again. + +We gave the two remaining horses all the water contained in the two +large water-bags, except a quart or two for ourselves. This allowed +them a pretty fair drink, though not a circumstance to what they would +have swallowed. They fed a little, while we remained here. The day was +warm enough. The two five-gallon kegs with water we hung in the +branches of a tree, with the packsaddles, empty water-bags, etc. of +the other two horses. Leaving the Kegs--I always called this place by +that name--we travelled another twenty miles by night, the country +being still covered with small stones and thickly clothed with the +tall triodia. There were thin patches of mulga and mallee scrub +occasionally. No view could be obtained to the west; all round us, +north, south, east, and west, were alike, the undulations forming the +horizons were not generally more than seven or eight miles distant +from one another, and when we reached the rim or top of one, we +obtained exactly the same view for the next seven or eight miles. The +country still retained all the appearance of fine, open, dry, grassy +downs, and the triodia tops waving in the heated breeze had all the +semblance of good grass. The afternoon had been very oppressive, and +the horses were greatly disinclined to exert themselves, though my +mare went very well. It was late by the time we encamped, and the +horses were much in want of water, especially the big cob, who kept +coming up to the camp all night, and tried to get at our water-bags, +pannikins, etc. The instinct of a horse when in the first stage of +thirst in getting hold of any utensil that ever had water in it, is +surprising and most annoying, but teaching us by most persuasive +reasons how akin they are to human things. We had one small water-bag +hung in a tree. I did not think of this just at the moment, when my +mare came straight up to it and took it in her teeth, forcing out the +cork and sending the water up, which we were both dying to drink, in a +beautiful jet, which, descending to earth, was irrevocably lost. We +now had only a pint or two left. Gibson was now very sorry he had +exchanged Badger for the cob, as he found the cob very dull and heavy +to get on; this was not usual, for he was generally a most willing +animal, but he would only go at a jog while my mare was a fine walker. +There had been a hot wind from the north all day. The following +morning (23rd) there was a most strange dampness in the air, and I had +a vague feeling, such as must have been felt by augurs, and seers of +old, who trembled as they told, events to come; for this was the last +day on which I ever saw Gibson. It was a lamentable day in the history +of this expedition. The horizon to the west was hid in clouds. We left +the camp even before daylight, and as we had camped on the top of a +rim, we knew we had seven or eight miles to go before another view +could be obtained. The next rim was at least ten miles from the camp, +and there was some slight indications of a change. + +(ILLUSTRATION: FIRST VIEW OF THE ALFRED AND MARIE RANGE.) + +We were now ninety miles from the Circus water, and 110 from Fort +McKellar. The horizon to the west was still obstructed by another rise +three or four miles away; but to the west-north-west I could see a +line of low stony ridges, ten miles off. To the south was an isolated +little hill, six or seven miles away. I determined to go to the +ridges, when Gibson complained that his horse could never reach them, +and suggested that the next rise to the west might reveal something +better in front. The ridges were five miles away, and there were +others still farther preventing a view. When we reached them we had +come ninety-eight miles from the Circus. Here Gibson, who was always +behind, called out and said his horse was going to die, or knock up, +which are synonymous terms in this region. Now we had reached a point +where at last a different view was presented to us, and I believed a +change of country was at hand, for the whole western, down to the +south-western, horizon was broken by lines of ranges, being most +elevated at the south-western end. They were all notched and +irregular, and I believed formed the eastern extreme of a more +elevated and probably mountainous region to the west. The ground we +now stood upon, and for a mile or two past, was almost a stony hill +itself, and for the first time in all the distance we had come, we had +reached a spot where water might run during rain, though we had not +seen any place where it could lodge. Between us and the hilly horizon +to the west the country seemed to fall into a kind of long valley, and +it looked dark, and seemed to have timber in it, and here also the +natives had formerly burnt the spinifex, but not recently. The hills +to the west were twenty-five to thirty miles away, and it was with +extreme regret I was compelled to relinquish a farther attempt to +reach them. Oh, how ardently I longed for a camel! how ardently I +gazed upon this scene! At this moment I would even my jewel eternal, +have sold for power to span the gulf that lay between! But it could +not be, situated as I was; compelled to retreat--of course with the +intention of coming again with a larger supply of water--now the +sooner I retreated the better. These far-off hills were named the +Alfred and Marie Range, in honour of their Royal Highnesses the Duke +and Duchess of Edinburgh. Gibson's horse having got so bad had placed +us both in a great dilemma; indeed, ours was a most critical position. +We turned back upon our tracks, when the cob refused to carry his +rider any farther, and tried to lie down. We drove him another mile on +foot, and down he fell to die. My mare, the Fair Maid of Perth, was +only too willing to return; she had now to carry Gibson's saddle and +things, and we went away walking and riding by turns of half an hour. +The cob, no doubt, died where he fell; not a second thought could be +bestowed on him. + +When we got back to about thirty miles from the Kegs I was walking, +and having concluded in my mind what course to pursue, I called to +Gibson to halt till I walked up to him. We were both excessively +thirsty, for walking had made us so, and we had scarcely a pint of +water left between us. However, of what we had we each took a +mouthful, which finished the supply, and I then said--for I couldn't +speak before--"Look here, Gibson, you see we are in a most terrible +fix with only one horse, therefore only one can ride, and one must +remain behind. I shall remain: and now listen to me. If the mare does +not get water soon she will die; therefore ride right on; get to the +Kegs, if possible, to-night, and give her water. Now the cob is dead +there'll be all the more for her; let her rest for an hour or two, and +then get over a few more miles by morning, so that early to-morrow you +will sight the Rawlinson, at twenty-five miles from the Kegs. Stick to +the tracks, and never leave them. Leave as much water in one keg for +me as you can afford after watering the mare and filling up your own +bags, and, remember, I depend upon you to bring me relief. Rouse Mr. +Tietkens, get fresh horses and more water-bags, and return as soon as +you possibly can. I shall of course endeavour to get down the tracks +also." + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE LAST EVER SEEN OF GIBSON.) + +He then said if he had a compass he thought he could go better at +night. I knew he didn't understand anything about compasses, as I had +often tried to explain them to him. The one I had was a Gregory's +Patent, of a totally different construction from ordinary instruments +of the kind, and I was very loth to part with it, as it was the only +one I had. However, he was so anxious for it that I gave it him, and +he departed. I sent one final shout after him to stick to the tracks, +to which he replied, "All right," and the mare carried him out of +sight almost immediately. That was the last ever seen of Gibson. + +I walked slowly on, and the further I walked the more thirsty I +became. I had thirty miles to go to reach the Kegs, which I could not +reach until late to-morrow at the rate I was travelling, and I did not +feel sure that I could keep on at that. The afternoon was very hot. I +continued following the tracks until the moon went down, and then had +to stop. The night was reasonably cool, but I was parched and choking +for water. How I longed again for morning! I hoped Gibson had reached +the Kegs, and that he and the mare were all right. I could not sleep +for thirst, although towards morning it became almost cold. How I +wished this planet would for once accelerate its movements and turn +upon its axis in twelve instead of twenty-four hours, or rather that +it would complete its revolution in six hours. + +APRIL 24TH TO 1ST MAY. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ALONE IN THE DESERT.) + +So soon as it was light I was again upon the horse tracks, and reached +the Kegs about the middle of the day. Gibson had been here, and +watered the mare, and gone on. He had left me a little over two +gallons of water in one keg, and it may be imagined how glad I was to +get a drink. I could have drunk my whole supply in half an hour, but +was compelled to economy, for I could not tell how many days would +elapse before assistance could come: it could not be less than five, +it might be many more. After quenching my thirst a little I felt +ravenously hungry, and on searching among the bags, all the food I +could find was eleven sticks of dirty, sandy, smoked horse, averaging +about an ounce and a half each, at the bottom of a pack-bag. I was +rather staggered to find that I had little more than a pound weight of +meat to last me until assistance came. However, I was compelled to eat +some at once, and devoured two sticks raw, as I had no water to spare +to boil them in. + +After this I sat in what shade the trees afforded, and reflected on +the precariousness of my position. I was sixty miles from water, and +eighty from food, my messenger could hardly return before six days, +and I began to think it highly probable that I should be dead of +hunger and thirst long before anybody could possibly arrive. I looked +at the keg; it was an awkward thing to carry empty. There was nothing +else to carry water in, as Gibson had taken all the smaller +water-bags, and the large ones would require several gallons of water +to soak the canvas before they began to tighten enough to hold water. +The keg when empty, with its rings and straps, weighed fifteen pounds, +and now it had twenty pounds of water in it. I could not carry it +without a blanket for a pad for my shoulder, so that with my revolver +and cartridge-pouch, knife, and one or two other small things on my +belt, I staggered under a weight of about fifty pounds when I put the +keg on my back. I only had fourteen matches. + +After I had thoroughly digested all points of my situation, I +concluded that if I did not help myself Providence wouldn't help me. I +started, bent double by the keg, and could only travel so slowly that +I thought it scarcely worth while to travel at all. I became so +thirsty at each step I took, that I longed to drink up every drop of +water I had in the keg, but it was the elixir of death I was burdened +with, and to drink it was to die, so I restrained myself. By next +morning I had only got about three miles away from the Kegs, and to do +that I travelled mostly in the moonlight. The next few days I can only +pass over as they seemed to pass with me, for I was quite unconscious +half the time, and I only got over about five miles a day. + +To people who cannot comprehend such a region it may seem absurd that +a man could not travel faster than that. All I can say is, there may +be men who could do so, but most men in the position I was in would +simply have died of hunger and thirst, for by the third or fourth +day--I couldn't tell which--my horse meat was all gone. I had to +remain in what scanty shade I could find during the day, and I could +only travel by night. + +When I lay down in the shade in the morning I lost all consciousness, +and when I recovered my senses I could not tell whether one day or two +or three had passed. At one place I am sure I must have remained over +forty-eight hours. At a certain place on the road--that is to say, on +the horse tracks--at about fifteen miles from the Kegs--at twenty-five +miles the Rawlinson could again be sighted--I saw that the tracks of +the two loose horses we had turned back from there had left the main +line of tracks, which ran east and west, and had turned about +east-south-east, and the tracks of the Fair Maid of Perth, I was +grieved to see, had gone on them also. I felt sure Gibson would soon +find his error, and return to the main line. I was unable to +investigate this any farther in my present position. I followed them +about a mile, and then returned to the proper line, anxiously looking +at every step to see if Gibson's horse tracks returned into them. + +They never did, nor did the loose horse tracks either. Generally +speaking, whenever I saw a shady desert oak-tree there was an enormous +bulldog ants' nest under it, and I was prevented from sitting in its +shade. On what I thought was the 27th I almost gave up the thought of +walking any farther, for the exertion in this dreadful region, where +the triodia was almost as high as myself, and as thick as it could +grow, was quite overpowering, and being starved, I felt quite +light-headed. After sitting down, on every occasion when I tried to +get up again, my head would swim round, and I would fall down +oblivious for some time. Being in a chronic state of burning thirst, +my general plight was dreadful in the extreme. A bare and level sandy +waste would have been Paradise to walk over compared to this. My arms, +legs, thighs, both before and behind, were so punctured with spines, +it was agony only to exist; the slightest movement and in went more +spines, where they broke off in the clothes and flesh, causing the +whole of the body that was punctured to gather into minute pustules, +which were continually growing and bursting. My clothes, especially +inside my trousers, were a perfect mass of prickly points. + +My great hope and consolation now was that I might soon meet the +relief party. But where was the relief party? Echo could only +answer--where? About the 29th I had emptied the keg, and was still +over twenty miles from the Circus. Ah! who can imagine what twenty +miles means in such a case? But in this April's ivory moonlight I +plodded on, desolate indeed, but all undaunted, on this lone, +unhallowed shore. At last I reached the Circus, just at the dawn of +day. Oh, how I drank! how I reeled! how hungry I was! how thankful I +was that I had so far at least escaped from the jaws of that howling +wilderness, for I was once more upon the range, though still twenty +miles from home. + +There was no sign of the tracks, of any one having been here since I +left it. The water was all but gone. The solitary eagle still was +there. I wondered what could have become of Gibson; he certainly had +never come here, and how could he reach the fort without doing so? + +I was in such a miserable state of mind and body, that I refrained +from more vexatious speculations as to what had delayed him: I stayed +here, drinking and drinking, until about ten a.m., when I crawled away +over the stones down from the water. I was very footsore, and could +only go at a snail's pace. Just as I got clear of the bank of the +creek, I heard a faint squeak, and looking about I saw, and +immediately caught, a small dying wallaby, whose marsupial mother had +evidently thrown it from her pouch. It only weighed about two ounces, +and was scarcely furnished yet with fur. The instant I saw it, like an +eagle I pounced upon it and ate it, living, raw, dying--fur, skin, +bones, skull, and all. The delicious taste of that creature I shall +never forget. I only wished I had its mother and father to serve in +the same way. I had become so weak that by late at night, I had only +accomplished eleven miles, and I lay down about five miles from the +Gorge of Tarns, again choking for water. While lying down here, I +thought I heard the sound of the foot-falls of a galloping horse going +campwards, and vague ideas of Gibson on the Fair Maid--or she without +him--entered my head. I stood up, and listened, but the sound had died +away upon the midnight air. On the 1st of May, as I afterwards found, +at one o'clock in the morning, I was walking again, and reached the +Gorge of Tarns long before daylight, and could again indulge in as +much water as I desired; but it was exhaustion I suffered from, and I +could hardly move. + +My reader may imagine with what intense feelings of relief I stepped +over the little bridge across the water, staggered into the camp at +daylight, and woke Mr. Tietkens, who stared at me as though I had been +one, new risen from the dead. I asked him had he seen Gibson, and to +give me some food. I was of course prepared to hear that Gibson had +never reached the camp; indeed I could see but two people in their +blankets the moment I entered the fort, and by that I knew he could +not be there. None of the horses had come back, and it appeared that I +was the only one of six living creatures--two men and four +horses--that had returned, or were now ever likely to return, from +that desert, for it was now, as I found, nine days since I last saw +Gibson. + +Mr. Tietkens told me he had been in a great state of anxiety during my +absence, and had only returned an hour or two before from the Circus. +This accounted for the sounds I heard. He said he had planted some +smoked horsesticks, and marked a tree. This was a few hours after I +had left it in the morning. He said he saw my foot-marks, but could +not conclude that I could be on foot alone, and he thought the tracks +must be older than they looked. Any how, we had missed meeting one +another somewhere on the range. We were both equally horrified at +Gibson's mischance. When we woke Jimmy up he was delighted to see me, +but when told about Gibson, he said something about he knowed he +worn't no good in the bush, but as long as I had returned, etc., etc. +I told them both just what had occurred out there; how Gibson and I +had parted company, and we could only conclude that he must be dead, +or he would long before have returned. The mare certainly would have +carried him to the Circus, and then he must have reached the depot; +but it was evident that he had gone wrong, had lost himself, and must +now be dead. I was too much exhausted and too prostrate to move from +the camp to search for him to-day, but determined to start to-morrow. +Mr. Tietkens got everything ready, while I remained in a state of +semi-stupor. I was cramped with pains in all my joints, pains in the +stomach, and violent headaches, the natural result of having a +long-empty stomach suddenly filled. Gibson's loss and my struggles +formed the topic of conversation for most of the day, and it naturally +shed a gloom over our spirits. Here we were, isolated from +civilisation, out of humanity's reach, hundreds of miles away from our +fellow creatures, and one of our small party had gone from us. It was +impossible for him to be still in existence in that fearful desert, as +no man would or could stay there alive: he must be dead, or he would +have returned as I did, only much sooner, for the mare he had, would +carry him as far in a day as I could walk in a week in this country. + +The days had not lately been excessively hot, Mr. Tietkens said 96 to +98 degrees had been the average, but to-day it was only 90 degrees. +This afternoon it was very cloudy, and threatened to rain. I was now, +however, in hopes that none would fall. That evil spirit of this +scene--Mount Destruction--frowned upon us, and now that Gibson was +dead, exploration was ended; we had but to try to find his remains, +and any little trifling shower that fell would make it all the more +difficult to trace him, while a thorough downpour would obliterate the +tracks of our lost companion, entirely from the surface of the sandy +waste into which he had so unfortunately strayed. Before daylight on +the 2nd we were awoke by the sprinkling of a light shower of rain, +which was of not the slightest use; but it continued so long, making +everything wet and clammy, that I felt sure we should have some +trouble in following Gibson's tracks. The rain ceased about seven +o'clock. Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy got all the things we required, and +the horses. I was so weak I could do nothing. We took three +pack-horses to carry water, and two riding-horses, Blackie and Diaway, +to ride, with Widge, Fromby, and Hippy. Though Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy +had not been attacked during my absence, the natives were always +prowling about, and I did not like the idea of leaving Jimmy alone; +but as he said he was willing to remain, we left him. I had to be +literally put on to my horse Blackie, and we rode away. Not to worry +my reader more than I can help, I may say we had to return to the +Kegs, to get the bags left there, and some indispensable things; also +Gibson's saddle, which he left nine or ten miles beyond the Kegs in a +tree. Going all that distance to get these things, and returning to +where Gibson's tracks branched off, we had to travel 115 miles, which +made it the third night the horses had been out. We gave them some of +the water we carried each night, and our supply was now nearly all +gone. It was on the 6th May when we got back to where Gibson had left +the right line. We fortunately had fine, cool weather. As long as +Gibson remained upon the other horse-tracks, following them, though +not very easy, was practicable enough; but the unfortunate man had +left them, and gone away in a far more southerly direction, having the +most difficult sandhills now to cross at right angles. He had burnt a +patch of spinifex, where he left the other horse-tracks, and must have +been under the delusion that they were running north, and that the +main line of tracks must be on his right, instead of his left hand, +and whether he made any mistake or not in steering by the compass, it +is impossible to say, but instead of going east as he should, he +actually went south, or very near it. In consequence of small +reptiles, such as lizards, always scratching over all horse tracks in +this region during the night, and also the slight rain we had the +other morning, combined with wind, the shifting nature of the sandy +soil, and the thick and bushy spinifex, we could make but poor headway +in following the single track, and it was only by one of us walking +while the other brought on the horses, that we could keep the track at +all. Although we did not halt during the whole day, we had not been +able to track him by night more than thirteen miles. Up to this point +there was evidently no diminution of the powers of the animal he +bestrode. We camped upon the tracks the fourth night without water, it +being impossible to follow in the moonlight. We gave our horses all +our remaining stock of water. + +We began to see that our chance of finding the remains of our lost +companion was very slight. I was sorry to think that the unfortunate +man's last sensible moments must have been embittered by the thought +that, as he had lost himself in the capacity of a messenger for my +relief, I too must necessarily fall a victim to his mishap. + +I called this terrible region that lies between the Rawlinson Range +and the next permanent water that may eventually be found to the west, +Gibson's Desert, after this first white victim to its horrors. + +Gibson, having had my horse, rode away in my saddle with my field +glasses attached; but everything was gone--man and horse alike +swallowed in this remorseless desert. The weather was cool at night, +even cold, for which I was most thankful, or we could not have +remained so long away from water. We consulted together, and could +only agree that unless we came across Gibson's remains by mid-day, we +must of necessity retreat, otherwise it would be at the loss of fresh +lives, human and equine, for as he was mounted on so excellent an +animal as the Fair Maid, on account of whose excellence I had chosen +her to ride, it seemed quite evident that this noble creature had +carried him only too well, and had been literally ridden to death, +having carried her rider too far from water ever to return, even if he +had known where it lay. What actual distance she had carried him, of +course it was impossible to say; going so persistently in the wrong +direction, he was simply hastening on to perish. I felt more at ease +walking along the track than riding. We could only go slowly, mile +after mile, rising sand-ridge after sand-ridge, until twelve o'clock, +not having been able to trace him more than seven or eight miles since +morning. We could not reach the Circus by night, for we were nearly +fifty miles from it, and in all probability we should get no water +there when we returned. We had to abandon any further attempt. The +mare had carried him God knows where, and we had to desist from our +melancholy and unsuccessful search. Ah! who can tell his place of +rest, far in the mulga's shade? or where his drooping courser, bending +low, all feebly foaming fell? I may here remark, that when we +relinquished the search, Gibson's tracks were going in the direction +of, though not straight to, the dry ridges that Jimmy and I visited in +February. These were now in sight, and no doubt Gibson imagined they +were the Rawlinson Range, and he probably ended his life amongst them. +It was impossible for us to go there now; I had difficulty enough to +get away from them when I purposely visited them. We now made a +straight line for the western end of the Rawlinson, and continued +travelling until nearly morning, and did not stop till the edge of +Lake Christopher was reached. This was the fifth night from water, and +the horses were only just able to crawl, and we camped about ten miles +from the Circus, we hoped to get water for them there. During our +night march, before reaching the lake--that is, owing to the horses we +were driving running along them, away from our line--we crossed and +saw the tracks of the two loose horses, Badger and Darkie; they were +making too southerly ever to reach the Rawlinson. Where these two +unfortunate brutes wandered to and died can never be known, for it +would cost the lives of men simply to ascertain. + +On reaching the Circus next morning, the 8th, there was only mud and +slime, and we had to go so slowly on, until we reached the Gorge of +Tarns very late, reaching the depot still later. I was almost more +exhausted now than when I walked into it last. Jimmy was all right +with the little dog, and heartily glad at our return, as he thought it +was the end of our troubles. Jimmy was but young, and to be left alone +in such a lonely spot, with the constant dread of hostile attacks from +the natives, would not be pleasant for any one. Our stock of poor old +Terrible Billy was all but gone, and it was necessary to kill another +horse. Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy had partially erected another +smoke-house, and to-morrow we must work at it again. The affairs of +the dead must give place to those of the living. I could not endure +the thought of leaving Gibson's last resting-place unknown, although +Bunyan says, "Wail not for the dead, for they have now become the +companions of the immortals." As I have said, my mind could not rest +easy without making another attempt to discover Gibson; but now that +the Circus water was gone, it would be useless to go from here without +some other water between, for where we left his tracks was seventy +miles away, and by the time we could get back to them it would be time +to return. In the early part of the day we got sticks and logs, and +erected a portion of the smoke-house, while Jimmy got the horses. I +then determined to go with Mr. Tietkens to where he and Gibson had +found a rock-hole, which they said was unapproachable. I was +determined to see whether it could be used, so we delayed killing +another horse until our return, and in consequence we had to draw upon +our small stock of flour. In the afternoon we took five more horses, +intending to load them with water at the hole if possible; but I found +it utterly useless. I called the most western hill of this range Mount +Forrest, and the most western watercourse Forrest's Creek. + +(ILLUSTRATION: JIMMY AT FORT MCKELLAR.) + +When we arrived again at the fort, on Monday, I knew something had +happened, for Jimmy was most profuse in his delight at seeing us +again. It appeared that while we were preparing to start on Saturday, +a whole army of natives were hidden behind the rocks, immediately +above the camp, waiting and watching until we departed, and no sooner +were we well out of sight and sound, than they began an attack upon +poor Jim. According to him, it was only by the continued use of rifle +bullets, of which, fortunately, I had a good supply--and, goodness +knows, the ground in and around the fort was strewn with enough +discharged cartridges--that he could keep them at bay at all. If he +had killed ten per cent, for all the cartridges he fired away, I +should think he would have destroyed the whole tribe; but he appeared +to have been too flurried to have hit many of them. They threw several +spears and great quantities of stones down from the rocks; it was +fortunate he had a palisade to get inside of. Towards night he seems +to have driven them off, and he and the little dog watched all night. +It must indeed have been something terrible that would keep Jimmy +awake all night. Before daylight on Sunday the natives came to attack +him again; he had probably improved in his aim by his previous day's +practice, for at length he was able to drive them away screeching and +yelling, the wounded being carried in the arms of the others. One +fellow, Jimmy said, came rushing up to give him his quietus, and began +dancing about the camp and pulling over all the things, when Jimmy +suddenly caught up a shot gun loaded with heavy long-shot cartridges, +of which I had about a dozen left for defence, and before the fellow +could get away, he received the full charge in his body. Jimmy said he +bounded up in the air, held up his arms, shrieked, and screamed, but +finally ran off with all the others, and they had not troubled him +since. I gave the lad great praise for his action. He had had a most +fortunate escape from most probably a cruel death, if indeed these +animals would not have actually eaten him. + +We finished the smoke-house this afternoon, and, having secured the +new victim we were going to slay, tied him up all night. This time it +was Tommy. I had brought him originally from Victoria, and he had been +out on my first expedition. He was now very old and very poor, two +coincidences that can only be thoroughly comprehended by the +antiquated of the human race; and for my part I would rather be killed +and eaten by savages, than experience such calamities at an advanced +period of life. Tommy did not promise much oil. I shot him early, and +we got him into the smoke-house with the exception of such portions as +we kept fresh, by the afternoon. We had to boil every bone in his body +to get sufficient oil to fry steaks with, and the only way to get +one's teeth through the latter was to pound them well before cooking. +I wish I had a sausage machine. The thermometer to-day only 78 +degrees. Had Gibson not been lost I should certainly have pushed out +west again and again. To say I was sorry to abandon such a work in +such a region, though true, may seem absurd, but it must be remembered +I was pitted, or had pitted myself, against Nature, and a second time +I was conquered. The expedition had failed in its attempt to reach the +west, but still it had done something. It would at all events leave a +record. Our stores and clothes were gone, we had nothing but +horseflesh to eat, and it is scarcely to be wondered at if neither Mr. +Tietkens nor Jimmy could receive my intimation of my intention to +retreat otherwise than with pleasure, though both were anxious, as I +was, that our efforts should be successful. In our present +circumstances, however, nothing more could be done. In vain the strong +will and the endeavour, which for ever wrestled with the tides of +fate. + +We set to work to shoe some of the horses. When Tommy is smoked we +shall depart. He proved to have more flesh on his bones than I +anticipated, and he may last us for a month. The next few days got hot +and sultry, and rain again threatened. If we could only get a good +fall, out to the west we would go again without a further thought; for +if heavy rain fell we would surely find some receptacle at the Alfred +and Marie Range to help us on? But no, the rain would not come. Every +drop in this singular region seems meted and counted out, yet there +are the marks of heavy floods on all the watercourses. The question of +when did the floods occur, which caused these marks, and when, oh +when, will such phenomena occur again, is always recurring to me. The +climate of this region too seems most extraordinary; for both last +night and the night before we could all lie on our blankets without +requiring a rag to cover us, while a month ago it was so cold at night +that we actually wanted fires. I never knew the nights so warm in May +in any other parts I have visited, and I cannot determine whether this +is a peculiarity of the region, or whether the present is an unusual +season throughout this half of the continent. With the exception of a +few showers which fell in January, not a drop of rain to leave water +has fallen since I left the telegraph line. + +I cannot leave this singular spot without a few remarks on its +peculiarities and appearance, for its waters are undoubtedly +permanent, and may be useful to future travellers. In the first place +Fort McKellar bears 12 degrees east of south from the highest ridge of +Mount Destruction, in the Carnarvon Range; that mountain, however, is +partially hidden by the intervening low hills where Mr. Tietkens's +riding-horse Bluey died. In consequence I called it Bluey's Range. +This depot is amongst a heavy clump of fine eucalypts, which are only +thick for about a quarter of a mile. From beneath this clump a fine +strong spring of the purest water flows, and just opposite our fort is +a little basin with a stony bottom, which we had to bridge over to +reach the western bank. The grazing capabilities of the country are +very poor, and the horses only existed here since leaving the pass. On +the 20th it was a month since Gibson and I departed for the west. This +morning three natives came up near the camp, but as they or their +tribe had so lately attacked it, I had no very loving feelings for +them, although we had a peaceable interview. The only information I +could glean from them was that their word for travelling, or going, or +coming, was "Peterman". They pointed to Mount Destruction, and +intimated that they were aware that we had "Petermaned" there, that we +had "Petermaned" both from the east and to the west. Everything with +them was "Peterman". It is singular how identical the word is in sound +with the name of the late Dr. Petermann, the geographer. In looking +over Gibson's few effects, Mr. Tietkens and I found, in an old +pocketbook, a drinking song and a certificate of his marriage: he had +never told us anything about this. + + +CHAPTER 2.11. FROM 21ST MAY TO 20TH JULY, 1874. + +Depart for civilisation. +The springs at the pass. +Farewell to Sladen Water. +The Schwerin Mural Crescent. +The return route. +Recross the boundary line. +Natives and their smokes. +A canine telegram. +New features. +The Sugar-loaf. +Mount Olga once more. +Ayers' Rock. +Cold weather. +A flat-topped hill. +Abandon a horse. +A desert region. +A strange feature. +Lake Amadeus again. +A new smoke-house. +Another smoked horse. +The glue-pot. +An invention. +Friendly natives. +A fair and fertile tract. +The Finke. +A white man. +A sumptuous repast. +Sale of horses and gear. +The Charlotte. +The Peake. +In the mail. +Hear of Dick's death. +In Adelaide. +Concluding remarks. + +On the afternoon of Thursday, 21st May, we began our retreat, and +finally left Fort McKellar, where my hopes had been as high as my +defeat was signal. On arriving at the pass we camped close to the +beautiful fresh-water springs, where both Mr. Tietkens and Gibson, had +planted a patch of splendid soil, Gibson having done the same at Fort +McKellar with all kinds of seeds; but the only thing that came up well +here was maize. That looked splendid, and had grown nearly three feet +high. The weather was now delightful, and although in full retreat, +had there been no gloom upon our feelings, had we had any good food to +eat, with such fine horses as Banks, and Diaway, W.A., Trew, Blackie, +etc. to ride, and a line of well-watered country before us for +hundreds of miles, we might have considered our return a pleasure +trip; but gloom covered our retreat, and we travelled along almost in +silence. The pass was a place I greatly liked, and it was free from +ants. There was a long line of fine eucalyptus timber and an extensive +piece of ground covered with rushes, which made it look very pretty; +altogether it was a most desirable spot for an explorer's camp, and an +excellent place for the horses, as they soon got fat here. It is +impossible that I should ever forget Sladen Water or the Pass of the +Abencerrages: "Methinks I am as well in this valley as I have been +anywhere else in all our journey; the place methinks suits with my +spirit. I love to be in such places, where there is no rattling with +coaches, nor rumbling with wheels. Methinks here one may, without much +molestation, be thinking what he is, and whence he came; what he has +done, and to what the king has called him" (Bunyan). On the Queen's +birthday we bade it a last farewell, and departed for the east and +civilisation, once more. We now had the route that Mr. Tietkens and I +had explored in March--that is to say, passing and getting water at +all the following places:--Gill's Pinnacle, the Ruined Rampart, +Louisa's Creek, and the Chirnside. The country, as I have said before, +was excellent and good for travelling over. The crescent-shaped and +wall-like range running from the Weld Pass to Gill's Pinnacle, and +beyond it, I named the Schwerin Mural Crescent; and a pass through it +I named Vladimar Pass, in honour of Prince Vladimar, son of the +Emperor of Russia, married to the Princess of Schwerin. When we +reached the place where we first surprised the natives hunting, in +March, we made a more northerly detour, as our former line had been +through and over very rough hills, and in so doing we found on the 1st +of June another splendid watering-place, where several creeks joined +and ran down through a rocky defile, or glen, to the north. There was +plenty of both rock and sand water here, and it was a very pretty and +excellent little place. I called it Winter's* Glen, and the main creek +of the three in which it lies, Irving Creek. This water may easily be +found by a future traveller, from its bearing from a high, +long-pointed hill abruptly ending to the west, which I named Mount +Phillips. This is a very conspicuous mount in this region, being, like +many of the others named on this line, detached to allow watercourses +to pass northwards, and yet forming a part of the long northern wall, +of which the Petermann Range is formed. This mount can be distinctly +seen from Mount Olga, although it is seventy miles away, and from +whence it bears 4 degrees north of west. The water gorge at Winter's +Glen bears west from the highest point of Mount Phillips, and four +miles away. We were now again in the territories of South Australia, +having bid farewell to her sister state, and turned our backs upon +that peculiar province of the sun, the last of austral lands he shines +upon. We next paid a visit to Glen Robertson, of 15th March, as it was +a convenient place from which to make a straight line to the +Sugar-loaf. To reach it we had to make a circuitous line, under the +foot of the farthest east hill, where, it will be remembered, we had +been attacked during dinner-time. We reached the glen early. There was +yet another detached hill in the northern line, which is the most +eastern of the Petermann Range. I named it Mount McCulloch. It can +also easily be distinguished from Mount Olga. From Glen Robertson +Mount McCulloch bore 3 degrees east of north. We rested here a day, +during which several natives made their appearance and lit signal +fires for others. There is a great difference between signal and +hunting fires; we were perfectly acquainted with both, as my reader +may imagine. One aboriginal fiend, of the Homo sapiens genus, while we +were sitting down sewing bags as usual, sneaked so close upon us, down +the rocks behind the camp, that he could easily have touched or +tomahawked--if he had one--either of us, before he was discovered. My +little dog was sometimes too lazy to obey, when a little distance off, +the command to sit, or stand up; in that case I used to send him a +telegram, as I called it--that is to say, throw a little stone at him, +and up he would sit immediately. This sneak of a native was having a +fine game with us. Cocky was lying down near Mr. Tietkens, when a +stone came quietly and roused him, causing him to sit up. Mr. Tietkens +patted him, and he lay down again. Immediately after another stone +came, and up sat Cocky. This aroused Mr. Tietkens's curiosity, as he +didn't hear me speak to the dog, and he said, "Did you send Cocky a +telegram?" I said, "No." "Well then," said he, "somebody did twice: +did you, Jimmy?" "No." "Oh!" I exclaimed, "it's those blacks!" We +jumped up and looked at the low rocks behind us, where we saw about +half-a-dozen sidling slowly away behind them. Jimmy ran on top, but +they had all mysteriously disappeared. We kept a sharp look out after +this, and fired a rifle off two or three times, when we heard some +groans and yells in front of us up the creek gorge. + +Having got some rock water at the Sugar-loaf or Stevenson's Peak in +coming out, we went there again. On the road, at nine miles, we +crossed another large wide creek running north. I called it the +Armstrong*; there was no water where we crossed it. At twenty miles I +found another fine little glen, with a large rock-hole, and water in +the sand of the creek-bed. I called this Wyselaski's* Glen, and the +creek the Hopkins. It was a very fine and pretty spot, and the grass +excellent. On reaching the Peak or Sugar-loaf, without troubling the +old rocky shelf, so difficult for horses to approach, and where there +was very little water, we found another spot, a kind of native well, +half a mile west of the gorge, and over a rise. We pushed on now for +Mount Olga, and camped in casuarina and triodia sandhills without +water. The night of the 5th June was very cold and windy; my only +remaining thermometer is not graduated below 36 degrees. The mercury +was down in the bulb this morning. Two horses straying delayed us, and +it was quite late at night when Mount Olga was reached. I was very +much pleased to see the little purling brook gurgling along its rocky +bed, and all the little basins full. The water, as when I last saw it, +ended where the solid rock fell off. The country all around was +excessively dry, and the grass withered, except in the channel of the +creek, where there was some a trifle green. From here I had a desire +to penetrate straight east to the Finke, as a considerable distance +upon that line was yet quite unknown. One of our horses, Formby, was +unwell, and very troublesome to drive. We are nearly at the end of our +stock of Tommy, and Formby is a candidate for the smoke-house that +will evidently be elected, though we have yet enough Tommy for another +week. While here, I rode round northward to inspect that side of this +singular and utterly unclimbable mountain. Our camp was at the south +face, under a mound which lay up against the highest mound of the +whole. On the west side I found another running spring, with some much +larger rock-basins than at our camp. Of course the water ceased +running where the rock ended. Round on the north side I found a still +stronger spring, in a larger channel. I rode completely round the mass +of this wonderful feature; its extraordinary appearance will never be +out of my remembrance. It is no doubt of volcanic origin, belched out +of the bowels, and on to the surface, of the earth, by the sulphurous +upheavings of subterraneous and subaqueous fires, and cooled and +solidified into monstrous masses by the gelid currents of the deepmost +waves of the most ancient of former oceans. As I before remarked, it +is composed of mixed and rounded stones, formed into rounded shapes, +but some upon the eastern side are turreted, and some almost pillars, +except that their thickness is rather out of proportion to their +height. The highest point of the whole, as given before, is 1500 feet +above the ground, while it is 2800 feet above the sea-level. Could I +be buried at Mount Olga, I should certainly borrow Sir Christopher +Wren's epitaph, Circumspice si monumentum requiris. To the eastward +from here, as mentioned in my first expedition, and not very far off, +lay another strange and singular-looking mound, similar perhaps to +this. Beyond that, and still further to the east, and a very long way +off, was another mount or hill or range, but very indistinct from +distance. + +On the 9th we went away to the near bare-looking mountain to the east; +it was twenty miles. We found a very fine deep pool of water lying in +sand under the abrupt and rocky face of the mount upon its southern +side. There was also a fine, deep, shady, and roomy cave here, +ornamented in the usual aboriginal fashion. There were two marks upon +the walls, three or four feet long, in parallel lines with spots +between them. + +Mr. Gosse had been here from the Gill's Range of my former expedition, +and must have crossed the extremity of Lake Amadeus. He named this +Ayers' Rock. Its appearance and outline is most imposing, for it is +simply a mammoth monolith that rises out of the sandy desert soil +around, and stands with a perpendicular and totally inaccessible face +at all points, except one slope near the north-west end, and that at +least is but a precarious climbing ground to a height of more than +1100 feet. Down its furrowed and corrugated sides the trickling of +water for untold ages has descended in times of rain, and for long +periods after, until the drainage ceased, into sandy basins at its +feet. The dimensions of this vast slab are over two miles long, over +one mile through, and nearly a quarter of a mile high. The great +difference between it and Mount Olga is in the rock formation, for +this is one solid granite stone, and is part and parcel of the +original rock, which, having been formed after its state of fusion in +the beginning, has there remained, while the aged Mount Olga has been +thrown up subsequently from below. Mount Olga is the more wonderful +and grotesque; Mount Ayers the more ancient and sublime. There is +permanent water here, but, unlike the Mount Olga springs, it lies all +in standing pools. There is excellent grazing ground around this rock, +though now the grass is very dry. It might almost be said of this, as +of the Pyramids or the Sphinx, round the decay of that colossal rock, +boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away. This +certainly was a fine place for a camp. The water was icy cold; a +plunge into its sunless deeps was a frigid tonic that, further west in +the summer heats, would have been almost paradisiacal, while now it +was almost a penalty. The hill or range further east seems farther +away now than it did from Mount Olga. It is flat on the summit, and no +doubt is the same high and flat-topped mount I saw from the Sentinel +in August last. We are encamped in the roomy cave, for we find it much +warmer than in the outer atmosphere, warmth being as great a +consideration now, as shade had formerly been. + +We started for the flat-topped hill on the 11th of June. The country +was all extremely heavy sandhills, with casuarina and triodia; we had +to encamp among them at twenty-three miles, without water. The next +morning Formby knocked up, and lay down, and we had to leave him in +the scrub. To-day we got over thirty miles, the hill being yet seven +or eight miles off. It looks most repulsive, so far as any likelihoods +of obtaining water is concerned. The region was a perfect desert, +worse for travelling, indeed, than Gibson's Desert itself. Leaving +Jimmy with the horses, Mr. Tietkens and I rode over to the mount, and +reached it in seven miles. At a mile and a half from it we came to an +outer escarpment of rocks; but between that and the mount more +sandhills and thick scrub exist. We rode all round this strange +feature; it was many hundreds of feet high, and for half its height +its sides sloped; the crown rested upon a perpendicular wall. It was +almost circular, and perfectly flat upon the top, apparently having +the same kind of vegetation and timber upon its summit as that upon +the ground below. I don't know that it is accessible; it seemed not; I +saw no place, and did not attempt to ascend it. + +To the north, and about fifteen miles away, the not yet ended Amadeus +Lake was visible. To the east timbered ridges bounded the view. There +were a few dry clay-pans here, but no water. We were sixty miles from +the rock, and to all appearance we might have to go sixty, or a +hundred, or more miles before we should reach water. The only water I +knew on this line of latitude was at the Finke itself, nearly 200 +miles away. + +We must return to our Rock of Ages, for we must smoke another horse, +and we have no water to push any farther here. We returned to Jimmy +and the horses, and pushed back for the rock as fast as we could. When +we reached the spot where we had left Formby he had wandered away. We +went some distance on his tracks, but could not delay for a further +search. No doubt he had lain down and died not far off. I was sorry +now I had not smoked him before we started, though he was scarcely fit +even for explorers' food. We got back to the rock on the 15th, very +late at night, hungry and thirsty. The next day we worked at a new +smoke-house, and had to shift the camp to it, so as to be near, to +keep a perpetual cloud rising, till the meat is safe. The smoke-house +is formed of four main stakes stuck into the ground and coming nearly +together at the top, with cross sticks all the way down, and covered +over with tarpaulins, so that no smoke can escape except through the +top. The meat is cut into thin strips, and becomes perfectly permeated +with smoke. So soon as all was ready, down went poor Hollow Back. He +was in what is called good working condition, but he had not a vestige +of fat about him. The only adipose matter we could obtain from him was +by boiling his bones, and the small quantity of oil thus obtained +would only fry a few meals of steaks. When that was done we had to fry +or parboil them in water. Our favourite method of cooking the +horseflesh after the fresh meat was eaten, was by first boiling and +then pounding with the axe, tomahawk head, and shoeing hammer, then +cutting it into small pieces, wetting the mass, and binding it with a +pannikin of flour, putting it into the coals in the frying-pan, and +covering the whole with hot ashes. But the flour would not last, and +those delicious horse-dampers, though now but things of the past, were +by no means relegated to the limbo of forgotten things. The boiled-up +bones, hoofs, shanks, skull, etc., of each horse, though they failed +to produce a sufficient quantity of oil to please us, yet in the cool +of the night resolved themselves into a consistent jelly that stank +like rotten glue, and at breakfast at least, when this disgusting +stuff was in a measure coagulated, we would request one another with +the greatest politeness to pass the glue-pot. Had it not been that I +was an inventor of transcendent genius, even this last luxury would +have been debarred us. We had been absent from civilisation, so long, +that our tin billies, the only boiling utensils we had, got completely +worn or burnt out at the bottoms, and as the boilings for glue and oil +must still go on, what were we to do with billies with no bottoms? +Although as an inventor I can allow no one to depreciate my genius, I +will admit there was but one thing that could be done, and those muffs +Tietkens and Jimmy actually advised me to do what I had invented, +which was simply--all great inventions are simple--to cover the +bottoms with canvas, and embed the billies half-way up their sides in +cold ashes, and boil from the top instead of the bottom, which of +course we did, and these were our glue- and flesh-pots. The tongue, +brains, kidneys, and other titbits of course were eaten first. + +On the 19th some natives began to yell near the camp, but three only +made their appearance. They were not only the least offensive and most +civil we had met on any of our travels, but they were almost endearing +in their welcome to us. We gave them some of the bones and odd pieces +of horse-meat, which seemed to give them great satisfaction, and they +ate some pieces raw. They were in undress uniform, and "free as Nature +first made man, ere the vile laws of servitude began, when, wild in +the woods, the noble savage ran." They were rather good, though +extremely wild-looking young men. One of them had splendid long black +curls waving in the wind, hanging down nearly to his middle; the other +two had chignons. They remained with us only about three hours. The +day was windy, sand-dusty, and disagreeable. One blast of wind blew my +last thermometer, which was hanging on a sapling, so violently to the +ground that it broke. + +Mr. Tietkens had been using a small pair of bright steel plyers. When +the endearing natives were gone it was discovered that the plyers had +departed also; it was only Christian charity to hope that they had NOT +gone together. It was evident that Mr. Gosse must have crossed an +eastern part of Lake Amadeus to get here from Gill's Range, and as he +had a wagon, I thought I would be so far beholden to him as to make +use of his crossing-place. + +We left the Rock on the 23rd, but only going four miles for a start, +we let the horses go back without hobbles to feed for the night. Where +the lake was crossed Mr. Gosse had laid down a broad streak of bushes +and boughs, and we crossed without much difficulty, the crossing-place +being very narrow. Leaving the dray track at the lower end of King's +Creek of my former journey, we struck across for Penny's Creek, four +miles east of it, where the splendid rocky reservoir is, and where +there was delicious herbage for the horses. We had now a fair and +fertile tract to the River Finke, discovered by me previously, getting +water and grass at Stokes's, Bagot's, Trickett's, and Petermann's +Creeks; fish and water at Middleton's and Rogers's Pass and Ponds. +Thence down the Palmer by Briscoe's Pass, and on to the junction of +the Finke, where there is a fine large water-hole at the junction. + +On the 10th of July travelling down the Finke near a place called +Crown Point on the telegraph line, we saw a white man riding towards +us. He proved to be a Mr. Alfred Frost, the owner of several fine +horse-teams and a contractor to supply loading for the Government to +several telegraph stations farther up the line. I had known him +before; he was most kind. He was going ahead to select a camp for his +large party, but upon our telling him of our having nothing but +horse-flesh, he immediately returned with us, and we met the advancing +teams. He called a halt, ordered the horses to be unyoked, and we were +soon laughing and shaking hands with new-found friends. Food was the +first order Mr. Frost gave, and while some were unyoking the horses, +some were boiling the tea-billies, while old Frost was extracting a +quart of rum for us from a hogshead. But we did not indulge in more +than a sip or two, as bread and meat was what we cared for most. In +ten minutes the tea was ready; some splendid fat corned beef, and +mustard, and well-cooked damper were put before us, and oh, didn't we +eat! Then pots of jams and tins of butter were put on our plates +whole, and were scooped up with spoons, till human organisms could do +no more. We were actually full--full to repletion. Then we had some +grog. Next we had a sleep, and then at sundown another exquisite meal. +It made our new friends shudder to look at our remaining stock of +Hollow Back, when we emptied it out on a tarpaulin and told them that +was what we had been living on. However, I made them a present of it +for their dogs. Most of the teamsters knew Gibson, and expressed their +sorrow at his mishap; some of them also knew he was married. + +The natives up the line had been very aggressive at the telegraph +stations, while we were absent, and all our firearms, etc., were +eagerly purchased, also several horses and gear. Mr. Frost fell in +love with Banks at a glance, and, though I tried not to part with the +horse, he was so anxious to buy him that I could not well refuse, +although I had intended to keep him and West Australian. Trew, one of +the best horses, had been staked early in the journey and his foot was +blemished, otherwise he was a splendid horse. All the best horses were +wanted--Diaway, Blackie, etc., but I kept W.A., Widge, and one or two +more of the best, as we still had several hundreds of miles to go. + +When we parted from our friends we only had a few horses left. We +reached the Charlotte Waters about twelve o'clock on July 13th, having +been nearly a year absent from civilisation. Our welcome here by my +friend and namesake, Mr. Christopher Giles, was of the warmest, and he +clothed and fed us like a young father. He had also recovered and kept +my old horse Cocky. The whole of the establishment there, testified +their pleasure at our return. On our arrival at the Peake our +reception by Mr. and Mrs. Blood at the telegraph station was most +gratifying. Mr. John Bagot also supplied us with many necessaries at +his cattle-station. The mail contractor had a light buggy here, and I +obtained a seat and was driven by him as far as the Blinman Copper +Mine, via Beltana, where I heard that my black boy Dick had died of +influenza at a camp of the semi-civilised natives near a hill called +by Eyre, Mount Northwest. From the Blinman I took the regular mail +coach and train nearly 300 miles to Adelaide. Mr. Tietkens and Jimmy +came behind and sold the remaining horses at the Blinman, where they +also took the coach and joined me in Adelaide a week later. + +I have now but a few concluding remarks to make; for my second +expedition is at an end, and those of my readers who have followed my +wanderings are perhaps as glad to arrive at the end as I was. I may +truly say that for nearly twelve months I had been the well-wrought +slave not only of the sextant, the compass, and the pen, but of the +shovel, the axe, and the needle also. There had been a continual +strain on brain and muscle. The leader of such an expedition as this +could not stand by and simply give orders for certain work to be +performed; he must join in it, and with the good example of heart and +hand assist and cheer those with whom he was associated. To my friend +and second, Mr. Tietkens, I was under great obligations, for I found +him, as my readers will have seen, always ready and ever willing for +the most arduous and disagreeable of our many undertakings. My +expedition had been unsuccessful in its main object, and my most +sanguine hopes had been destroyed. I knew at starting a great deal was +expected from me, and if I had not fulfilled the hopes of my friends, +I could only console them by the fact that I could not even fulfil my +own. But if it is conceded that I had done my devoir as an Australian +explorer, then I am satisfied. Nothing succeeds like success, but it +is not in the power of man--however he may deserve--to command it. +Many trials and many bitter hours must the explorer of such a region +experience. The life of a man is to be held at no more than a moment's +purchase. The slightest accident or want of judgment may instantly +become the cause of death while engaged in such an enterprise, and it +may be truly said we passed through a baptism worse indeed than that +of fire--the baptism of no water. That I should ever again take the +field is more than I would undertake to say:-- + + "Yet the charmed spell + Which summons man to high discovery, + Is ever vocal in the outward world; + But those alone may hear it who have hearts, + Responsive to its tone." + +I may add that I had discovered a line of waters to Sladen Water and +Fort McKellar, and that at a distance of 150 miles from there lies the +Alfred and Marie Range. At what price that range was sighted I need +not now repeat. It is highly probable that water exists there also. + +It was, however, evident to me that it is only with camels there is +much likelihood of a successful and permanently valuable issue in case +of any future attempt. There was only one gentleman in the whole of +Australia who could supply the means of its accomplishment; and to him +the country at large must in future be, as it is at present, indebted +for ultimate discoveries. Of course that gentleman was the Honourable +Sir Thomas Elder. To my kind friend Baron Mueller I am greatly +indebted, and I trust, though unsuccessful, I bring no discredit upon +him for his exertions on my behalf. + +The map and journal of my expedition, as per agreement, was handed +over to the South Australian Government, and printed as Parliamentary +Papers; some few anecdotes of things that occurred have since been +added. It was not to be supposed that in a civilised community, and +amongst educated people, that such a record should pass unnoticed. I +received many compliments from men of standing. The truest, perhaps, +was from a gentleman who patted me on the back and said, "Ah, Ernest, +my boy, you should never have come back; you should have sent your +journal home by Tietkens and died out there yourself." His Excellency +Sir George Bowen, the Governor of Victoria, was very kind, and not +only expressed approval of my exertions, but wrote favourable +despatches on my behalf to the Colonial Office. (This was also the +case subsequently with Sir William Robinson, K.C.M.G., the Governor of +Western Australia, after my arrival at Perth.) Sir Graham Berry, the +present Agent-General for the Colony of Victoria, when Premier, showed +his good opinion by doing me the good turn of a temporary appointment, +for which I shall ever feel grateful. + +What was generally thought of my work was the cause of subsequent +explorations, as Sir Thomas Elder, the only camel-owner in Australia, +to whom, through Baron von Mueller, I was now introduced, desired me +to take the field again; and it was soon arranged that he would equip +me with camels, and send me in command of a thoroughly efficient +exploring expedition. Upon this occasion I was to traverse, as near as +possible, the country lying under the 29th parallel of latitude, and I +was to force my way through the southern interior to the City of Perth +in Western Australia, by a new and unknown route. But, previous to +beginning the new expedition, Sir Thomas desired me to execute a +commission for a gentleman in England, of a squatting nature, in the +neighbourhood of Fowler's Bay, of Flinders, on the western coast of +South Australia, and near the head of the Great Australian Bight. This +work was done entirely with horses, though I had two camels, or rather +dromedaries--a bull and a cow, which had a young calf. There was no +pack-saddle for the bull, and the cow being very poor, I had not yet +made use of them. After I had completed my surveys near Fowler's Bay, +and visited the remote locality of Eucla Harbour, discovered by +Flinders and mentioned by Eyre in his travels in 1841, at the boundary +of the two colonies of South, and Western Australia, I had to proceed +to Sir Thomas Elder's cattle and sheep station, and camel depot, at +Beltana, to fit out for the new expedition for Perth. Beltana station +lies about 300 miles nearly north from the city of Adelaide, while +Fowler's Bay lies 450 miles about west-north-west from that city; and +though Beltana is only 370 or 380 miles in a straight line across the +country from Fowler's Bay, yet the intervening country being mostly +unknown, and the great salt depression of Lake Torrens lying in the +way, I had to travel 700 miles to reach it. As this was my first +attempt with camels, I shall now give an account of my journey there +with them and three horses. This undertaking was my third expedition, +and will be detailed in the following book. + + +BOOK 3. + + +CHAPTER 3.1. FROM 13TH MARCH TO 1ST APRIL, 1875. + +Leave Fowlers Bay. +Camels and horses. +A great plain. +A black romance. +An oasis. +Youldeh. +Old Jimmy. +Cockata blacks. +In concealment. +Flies, ants, and heat. +A line of waters to the east. +Leave depot. +The camels. +Slow progress. +Lose a horse loaded with water. +Tinkle of a bell. +Chimpering. +Heavy sand-dunes. +Astray in the wilds. +Pylebung. +A native dam. +Inhuman mutilations. +Mowling and Whitegin. +The scrubs. +Wynbring. +A conspicuous mountain. +A native family. +March flies. + +While at Fowler's Bay I had heard of a native watering-place called +Youldeh, that was known to one or two white people, and I found that +it lay about 130 miles inland, in a north-north-westerly direction; my +object now being to push across to Beltana to the eastwards and +endeavour to find a good travelling route by which I could bring my +projected large camel expedition back to the water at Youldeh, as a +starting depot for the west. + +Leaving the bay on Saturday, the 13th of March, 1875, I had a strong +party with me as far as Youldeh. My second in command, Mr. Roberts, +Mr. Thomas Richards, police trooper--who, having previously visited +Youldeh, was going to show me its whereabouts--and Mr. George Murray; +I had with me also another white man, Peter Nicholls, who was my cook, +one old black fellow and two young ones. The old man and one young +fellow went on, one day in advance and led the two camels, the calf +running loose. We all rode horses, and had several pack-horses to +carry our provisions and camp necessaries. The weather was exceedingly +hot, although the previous summer months had been reasonably cool, the +heat having been tempered by southerly sea breezes. Nature now seemed +to intend to concentrate all the usual heat of an Australian summer +into the two remaining months that were left to her. The thermometer +usually stood for several hours of each day at 104, 105, and 106 +degrees in the shade. + +After leaving Colona, an out sheep station belonging to Fowler's Bay, +lying some thirty-five miles north-west from it, and where Mr. Murray +resided, we traversed a country alternating between belts of scrub and +grassy flats or small plains, until at twenty miles from Colona we +reached the edge of a plain that stretched away to the north, and was +evidently of a very great extent. The soil was loose and yielding, and +of a very poor quality. Although this plain was covered with +vegetation, there was no grass whatever upon it; but a growth of a +kind of broom, two to three feet high, waving in the heated breezes as +far as the eye could reach, which gave it a billowy and extraordinary +appearance. The botanical name of this plant is Eremophila scoparia. + +At fifty miles from Colona and eighty-five from the bay, we reached a +salt lagoon, which, though several miles long, and perhaps a mile +wide, Mr. Murray's black boy informed us was the footmark or track of +a monstrous animal or snake, that used to haunt the neighbourhood of +this big plain, and that it had been driven by the Cockata blacks out +of the mountains to the north, the Musgrave Ranges of my last +expedition, and which are over 400 miles from the bay. He added that +the creature had crawled down to the coast, and now lived in the sea. +So here was reliable authority for the existence of a sea serpent. We +had often heard tales from the blacks, when sitting round our camp +fires at night, about this wonderful animal, and whenever any native +spoke about it, it was always in a mysterious undertone. What the name +of this monster was, I cannot now remember; but there were syllables +enough in it to make a word as long as the lagoon itself. The tales +that were told of it, the number of natives it had devoured, how such +and such a black fellow's father had encountered and speared it, and +how it had occasionally created floods all over the country when it +was angry, would have made an excellent novel, which might be produced +under the title of a "Black Romance." When we laughed at, or joked +this young black fellow who now accompanied us, on the absurdity of +his notions, he became very serious, for to him and his +co-religionists it was no laughing matter. Another thing was rather +strange, and that was, how these coast natives should know there were +any mountains to the north of them. I knew it, because I had been +there and found them; but that they should know it was curious, for +they have no intercourse with the tribes of natives in the country to +the north of them; indeed it required a good deal of persuasion to +induce the young blacks who accompanied us to go out to Youldeh; and +if it had not been that an old man called Jimmy had been induced by +Mr. Richards to go with the camels in advance, I am quite sure the +young ones would not have gone at all. + +After crossing the salt lagoon or animals' track, and going five miles +farther, about north-north-east, we arrived at some granite rocks +amongst some low hills, which rose up out of the plain, where some +rock water-holes existed, and here we found the two blacks that had +preceded us, encamped with the camels. This pretty little place was +called Pidinga; the eye was charmed with flowering shrubs about the +rocks, and green grass. As the day was very hot, we erected tarpaulins +with sticks, this being the only shade to sit under. There were a few +hundred acres of good country round the rocks; the supply of water was +limited to perhaps a couple of thousand gallons. From Pidinga our +route to Youldeh lay about north-north-west, distant thirty-three +miles. For about twenty-five miles we traversed an entirely open +plain, similar to that just described, and mostly covered with the +waving broom bushes; but now upon our right hand, to the north, and +stretching also to the west, was a dark line of higher ground formed +of sandhills and fringed with low scrub, and timber of various kinds, +such as cypress pines (callitris), black oak (casuarinas) stunted +mallee (eucalyptus), and a kind of acacia called myal. This new +feature, of higher ground, formed the edge of the plain, and is the +southern bank of a vast bed of sandhill country that lies between us +and the Musgrave Ranges nearly 300 miles to the north. + +Having reached the northern edge of the plain we had been traversing, +we now entered the bed of sandhills and scrub which lay before us, +and, following the tracks of the two black fellows with the camels, as +there was no road to Youldeh, we came in five miles to a spot where, +without the slightest indication to point out such a thing, except +that we descended into lower ground, there existed a shallow native +well in the sandy ground of a small hollow between the red sandhills, +and this spot the blacks said was Youldeh. The whole region was +glowing with intense heat, and the sand was so hot, that neither the +camels nor the horses could endure to remain standing in the sun, but +so soon as they were unpacked and unsaddled, sought the shade of the +large and numerous leguminous bushes which grew all round the place. +As there were five whites and four blacks, we had plenty of hands to +set about the different tasks which had to be performed. In the first +place we had to dig out the old well; this some volunteered to do, +while others erected an awning with tarpaulins, got firewood, and +otherwise turned the wild and bushy spot into a locality suitable for +a white man's encampment. Water was easily procurable at a depth of +between three and four feet, and all the animals drank as much as they +desired, being watered with canvas buckets; the camels appeared as +though they never would be satisfied. + +It was only their parching thirst that induced the horses to remain +anywhere near the camels, and immediately they got sufficient water, +they de-camped, though short-hobbled, at a gallop over the high red +sandhills from whence we had come; my riding-horse, Chester, the worst +of the mob, went nearly mad at the approach of the camels. There was +not a sign of a blade of grass, or anything else that horses could +eat, except a few yellow immortelles of a large coarse description, +and these they did not care very much for. The camels, on the +contrary, could take large and evidently agreeable mouthfuls of the +leaves of the great bushes of the Leguminosae, which abounded. The +conduct of the two kinds of animals was so distinctly different as to +arouse the curiosity of all of us; the camels fed in peaceful content +in the shade of the bushes from which they ate, and never went out of +sight, seeming to take great interest in all we did, and evidently +thoroughly enjoying themselves, while the horses were plunging about +in hobbles over the sandhills, snorting and fretting with fright and +exertion, and neither having or apparently desiring to get anything to +eat. Their sole desire was to get away as far as possible from the +camels. The supply of water here seemed to be unlimited, but the sandy +sides of the well kept falling in; therefore we got some stakes of +mallee, and saplings of the native poplar (Codonocarpus cotinifolius, +of the order of Phytolacceae), and thoroughly slabbed it, at least +sufficiently for our time. This place, as I said before, was +exceedingly hot, lying at the bottom of a hollow amongst the +sandhills, and all we could see from the tops of any of those near us +was a mass of higher, darker, and more forbidding undulations of a +similar kind. These undulations existed to the east, north, and west, +while to the south we could but dimly see the mirage upon the plain we +had recently traversed. The water here was fresh and sweet, and if the +temperature had not been quite so hot, we might have enjoyed our +encampment here; but there was no air, and we seemed to be at the +bottom of a funnel. The old black fellow, Jimmy, whom Mr. Richards had +obtained as a guide to show me some waters in the country to the +eastwards, informed us, through the interpretation of Mr. Murray, that +he knew of only one water in any direction towards the west, and this +he said was a small rock water-hole called Paring. + +The following day Mr. Murray and I rode there with old Jimmy, and +found it to be a wretched little hole, lying nearly west-north-west +about fourteen miles away; it contained only a few gallons of water, +which was almost putrid from the number of dead and decaying birds, +rats, lizards, rotten leaves, and sticks that were in it; had it been +full it would have been of no earthly use to me. Old Jimmy was not +accustomed to riding, and got out of his latitude once or twice before +we reached the place. He was, however, proud of finding himself in the +novel position, albeit rather late in life, of riding upon horseback, +and if I remember rightly did not tumble off more than three or four +times during the whole day. Jimmy was a very agreeable old gentleman; +I could not keep up a conversation with him, as I knew so few words of +his language, and he knew only about twenty of mine. It was evident he +was a man of superior abilities to most of his race, and he looked +like a thoroughbred, and had always been known to Mr. Richards as a +proud and honourable old fellow. He was, moreover, the father of a +large family, namely five, which is probably an unprecedented number +amongst the aboriginal tribes of this part of Australia, all of whom +he had left behind, as well as his wife, to oblige me; and many a time +he regretted this before he saw them again, and after; not from any +unkindness on my part, for my readers will see we were the best of +friends the whole time we were together. On this little excursion it +was very amusing to watch old Jimmy on horseback, and to notice the +look of blank amazement on his face when he found himself at fault +amongst the sandhills; the way he excused himself for not going +straight to this little spot was also very ingenuous. In the first +place he said, "Not mine young fellow now; not mine like em pony"--the +name for all horses at Fowler's Bay--"not mine see 'em Paring long +time, only when I am boy." Whereby he intended to imply that some +allowance must be made for his not going perfectly straight to the +place. However, we got there all right, although I found it to be +useless. When asked concerning the country to the north, he declared +it was Cockata; the country to the west was also Cockata, the dreaded +name of Cockata appearing to carry a nameless undefined horror with +it. The term of Cockata blacks is applied by the Fowler's Bay natives +to all other tribes of aboriginals in the country inland from the +coast, and it seems, although when Fowler's Bay country was first +settled by the whites these natives attacked and killed several of the +invaders, they always lived in terror of their enemies to the north, +and any atrocity that was committed by themselves, either cannibalism, +theft, or murder, was always put down to the account of the Cockatas. +Occasionally a mob of these wilder aboriginals would make a descent +upon the quieter coast-blacks, and after a fight would carry off women +and other spoils, such as opossum rugs, spears, shields, +coolamins--vessels of wood or bark, like small canoes, for carrying +water--and they usually killed several of the men of the conquered +race. After remaining at this Paring for about an hour, we remounted +our horses and returned to the camp at Youldeh. The party remained +there for a few days, hoping for a change in the weather, as the heat +was now very great and the country in the neighbourhood of the most +forbidding and formidable nature to penetrate. It consisted of very +high and scrubby red sandhills, and it was altogether so unpleasing a +locality that I abandoned the idea of pushing to the north, to +discover whether any other waters could be found in that direction, +for the present, and postponed the attempt until I should return to +this depot en route for Perth, with the whole of my new +expedition--deciding to make my way now to the eastwards in order to +reach Beltana by a route previously untravelled. + +Upon the morning after my return from Paring, all the horses were +away--indeed, as I have said before, there was nothing for them to eat +at this place, and they always rambled as far as they could possibly +go from the camp to get away from the camels, although those more +sensible animals were, so to say, in clover. We had three young black +fellows and old Jimmy, and it was the young ones' duty to look after +and get the horses, while old Jimmy had the easier employment of +taking care of the camels. This morning, two of the young blacks were +sent out very early for the horses, whilst the other and old Jimmy +remained to do anything that might be required at the camp. The +morning was hot and oppressive, we sat as comfortably as we could in +the shade of our awning; by twelve o'clock no signs of black boys or +horses had made their appearance. At one o'clock we had dinner, and +gave old Jimmy and his mate theirs. I noticed that the younger black +left the camp with a bit of a bundle under his shirt and a canvas +water-bag; I and some of the others watched whither he went, and to +our surprise we found that he was taking food and water to the other +two boys, who should have been away after the horses, but were quietly +encamped under a big bush within a quarter of a mile of us and had +never been after the horses at all. Of course we were very indignant, +and were going to punish them with a good thrashing, when one of them +informed us that it was no use our hammering them, for they could not +go for the horses because they were too much afraid of the Cockata +blacks, and unless we sent old Jimmy or a white man they would not go +out of sight of the camp. This showed the state of superstition and +fear in which these people live. Indeed, I believe if the whole +Fowler's Bay tribes were all encamped together in one mob round their +own fires, in their own country, and any one ran into the camp and +shouted "Cockata," it would cause a stampede among them immediately. +It was very annoying to think that the horses had got so many hours' +start away from the camp, and the only thing I could do was to send a +white man, and Jimmy, with these boys to find the absent animals. Mr. +Roberts volunteered, and had to camp away from water, not returning +until late the following day, with only about a third of the mob. The +next day all were found but three--one was a police horse of Mr. +Richards's, which was never seen after, and two colts of mine which +found their way back to, and were eventually recovered at, Fowler's +Bay by Mr. Roberts. While encamped here we found Youldeh to be a +fearful place, the ants, flies, and heat being each intolerable. We +were at the bottom of a sandy funnel, into which the fiery beams of +the sun were poured in burning rays, and the radiation of heat from +the sandy country around made it all the hotter. Not a breath of air +could be had as we lay or sat panting in the shade we had erected with +our tarpaulins. There was no view for more than a hundred yards +anywhere, unless one climbed to the top of a sandhill, and then other +sandhills all round only were to be seen. The position of this place I +found to be in latitude 30 degrees 24' 10" and approximate longitude +131 degrees 46'. On the 23rd of March Mr. Murray, Jimmy, and I, went +to the top of a sandhill overlooking the camp and had a long +confabulation with Jimmy--at least Mr. Murray had, and he interpreted +the old fellow's remarks to me. It appeared that he knew the country, +and some watering-places in it, for some distance to the eastward, and +on making a kind of map on the sand, he put down several marks, which +he called by the following names, namely, Chimpering, Pylebung, +Mowling, Whitegin, and Wynbring; of these he said Pylebung and +Wynbring were the best waters. By his account they all lay due east +from hence, and they appeared to be the most wonderful places in the +world. He said he had not visited any of these places since he was a +little boy with his mother, and it appeared his mother was a widow and +that these places belonged to her country, but that she had +subsequently become the wife of a Fowler's Bay native, who had taken +her and her little Jimmy away out of that part of the country, +therefore he had not been there since. He said that Pylebung was a +water that stood up high, and that Cockata black fellows had made it +with wooden shovels. This account certainly excited my curiosity, as I +had never seen anything which could approximate to Jimmy's +description; he also said it was mucka pickaninny, only big one, which +meant that it was by no means a small water. Chimpering and Whitegin, +he said, were rock-holes, but Wynbring, the farthest water he knew, +according to his account was something astounding. He said it was a +mountain, a waterhole, a lake, a spring, and a well, all in one, and +that it was distant about six sleeps from Youldeh; this, according to +our rendering, as Jimmy declared also that it was mucka close up, only +long way, we considered to be about 120 miles. Beyond Wynbring Jimmy +knew nothing whatever of the country, and I think he had a latent idea +in his mind that there really was nothing beyond it. The result of our +interview was, that I determined to send all the party back to +Fowler's Bay, except one white man and old Jimmy, also all the horses +except three, and to start with this small party and the camels to the +eastward on the following day. I selected Peter Nicholls to accompany +me. I found the boiling-point of water at the camp was 211 degrees +making its altitude above the sea 509 feet. The sandhills were about +100 feet high on the average. + +The two camels and the calf, were sent to me by Sir Thomas Elder, from +Adelaide, while I was at Fowler's Bay, by an Afghan named Saleh +Mahomet, who returned to, and met me at, Beltana, by the ordinary way +of travellers. There was only a riding-saddle for the cow, the bull +having come bare-backed; I therefore had to invent a pack- or +baggage-saddle for him, and I venture to assert that 999,999 people +out of every million would rather be excused the task. In this work I +was ably seconded by Mr. Richards, who did most of the sewing and +pad-making, but Mr. Armstrong, one of the owners and manager of the +Fowler's Bay Station, though he supplied me in profusion with every +other requisite, would not let me have the size of iron I wished, and +I had to take what I could get, he thinking it the right size; and +unfortunately that which I got for the saddle-trees was not stout +enough, and, although in other respects the saddle was a brilliant +success, though made upon a totally different principle from that of +an Afghan's saddle, when the animal was loaded, the weakness of the +iron made it continually widen, and in consequence the iron pressed +down on the much-enduring creature's body and hurt him severely. + +We frequently had to stop, take his load and saddle off and bend the +iron closer together again, so as to preserve some semblance of an +arch or rather two arches over his back, one before and one behind his +hump. Every time Nicholls and I went through this operation we were +afraid the iron would give, and snap in half with our pressure, and so +it would have done but that the fiery rays of the sun kept it almost +at a glowing heat. This and the nose ropes and buttons getting so +often broken, together with making new buttons from pieces of stick, +caused us many harassing delays. + +On the 24th of March, 1875, we bade good-bye to the friends that had +accompanied us to this place, and who all started to return to the bay +the same day. With Peter Nicholls, old Jimmy as guide, the two camels +and calf, and three horses, I turned my back upon the Youldeh camp, +somewhat late in the day. Nicholls rode the old cow, Jimmy and I +riding a horse each, the third horse carrying a load of water. Two of +these horses were the pick of the whole mob I had; they were still +terribly frightened at the camels, and it was almost impossible to sit +my horse Chester when the camels came near him behind; the horse +carrying the water followed the two riding-horses, but towards dusk he +got frightened and bolted away into the scrubs, load of water and all. +We had only come seven miles that afternoon, and it was our first +practical acquaintance with camels; Jimmy and I had continually to +wait till Nicholls and the camels, made their appearance, and whenever +Nicholls came up he was in a fearful rage with them. The old cow that +he was riding would scarcely budge for him at all. If he beat her she +would lie down, yell, squall, spit, and roll over on her saddle, and +behave in such a manner that, neither of us knowing anything about +camels, we thought she was going to die. The sandhills were +oppressively steep, and the old wretch perspired to such a degree, and +altogether became such an unmanageable nuisance, that I began to think +camels could not be half the wonderful animals I had fondly imagined. + +The bull, Mustara, behaved much better. He was a most affectionate +creature, and would kiss people all day long; but the Lord help any +one who would try to kiss the old cow, for she would cover them all +over with--well, we will call it spittle, but it is worse than that. +The calf would kiss also when caught, but did not care to be caught +too often. Mustara had a good heavy load--he followed the cow without +being fastened; the calf, with great cunning, not relishing the idea +of leaving Youldeh, would persistently stay behind and try and induce +his mother not to go on; in this he partially succeeded, for by dusk, +just as I found I had lost the pack-horse with the water, and was +waiting till Nicholls, who was following our horse tracks, came up to +us, we had travelled at no better speed than a mile an hour since we +left the camp. The two remaining horses were so restless that I was +compelled to stand and hold them while waiting, old Jimmy being away +in the darkness to endeavour to find the missing one. By the time +Nicholls arrived with the camels, guided now by the glare of a large +fire of a Mus conditor's nest which old Jimmy ignited, the horse had +been gone about two hours; thus our first night's bivouac was not a +pleasant one. There was nothing that the horses would eat, and if they +had been let go, even in hobbles, in all probability we should never +have seen them again. Old Jimmy returned after a fruitless search for +the absent horse. The camels would not feed, but lay down in a sulky +fit, the two horses continually snorting and endeavouring to break +away; and thus the night was passing away, when we heard the tinkle of +a bell--the horse we had lost having a bell on his neck--and Jimmy and +Nicholls went away through the darkness and scrubs in the direction it +proceeded from. I kept up a large fire to guide them, not that old +Jimmy required such artificial aid, but to save time; in about an hour +they returned with the missing horse. When this animal took it into +his head to bolt off he was out of earshot in no time, but it seems he +must have thought better of his proceedings, and returned of his own +accord to where he had left his mates. We were glad enough to secure +him again, and the water he carried. + +The next morning we were under weigh very early, and, following the +old guide Jimmy, we went in a south-east direction towards the first +watering place that he knew, and which he said was called Chimpering. +Many times before we reached this place the old fellow seemed very +uncertain of his whereabouts, but by dodging about amongst the +sandhills--the country being all rolling hummocks of red sand covered +with dense scrubs and the universal spinifex--he managed to drop down +upon it, after we had travelled about thirty miles from Youldeh. +Chimpering consisted of a small acacia, or as we say a mulga, hollow, +the mulga being the Acacia aneura; here a few bare red granite rocks +were exposed to view. In a crevice between two of these Jimmy showed +us a small orifice, which we found, upon baling out, to contain only +three buckets of a filthy black fluid that old Jimmy declared was +water. We annoyed him fearfully by pretending we did not know what it +was. Poor old chap, he couldn't explain how angry he was, but he +managed to stammer out, "White fellow--fool; pony drink 'em." The day +was excessively hot, the thermometer stood at 106 degrees in the +shade. The horses or ponies, as universally called at Fowler's Bay, +drank the dirty water with avidity. It was early in the day when we +arrived, and so soon as the water was taken, we pushed on towards the +next place, Pylebung. At Youldeh our guide had so excited my curiosity +about this place, that I was most anxious to reach it. Jimmy said it +was not very far off. + +On the night of the 26th March, just as it was getting dark and having +left Chimpering twenty-five miles behind us, we entered a piece of +bushy mulga country, the bushes being so thick that we had great +difficulty in forcing our way through it in the dark. Our guide seemed +very much in the dark also; his movements were exceedingly uncertain, +and I could see by the stars that we were winding about to all points +of the compass. At last old Jimmy stopped and said we had reached the +place where Pylebung ought to be, but it was not; and here, he said, +pointing to the ground, was to be our wurley, or camp, for the night. +When I questioned him, and asked where the water was, he only replied, +which way? This question I was altogether unable to answer, and I was +not in a very amiable frame of mind, for we had been traversing +frightful country of dense scrubs all day in parching thirst and +broiling heat. So I told Nicholls to unpack the camels while I +unsaddled the horses. All the animals seemed over-powered with +lassitude and exhaustion; the camels immediately lay down, and the +horses stood disconsolately close to them, now no longer terrified at +their proximity. + +Nicholls and I extended our rugs upon the ground and lay down, and +then we discovered that old Jimmy had left the camp, and thought he +had given us the slip in the dark. We had been lying down some time +when the old fellow returned, and in the most voluble and excited +language told us he had found the water; it was, he said, "big one, +watta, mucka, pickaninny;" and in his delight at his success he began +to describe it, or try to do so, in the firelight, on the ground; he +kept saying, "big one, watta--big one, watta--watta go that way, watta +go this way, and watta go that way, and watta go this way," turning +himself round and round, so that I thought it must be a lake or swamp +he was trying to describe. However, we got the camels and horses +resaddled and packed, and took them where old Jimmy led us. The moon +had now risen above the high sandhills that surrounded us, and we soon +emerged upon a piece of open ground where there was a large white +clay-pan, or bare patch of white clay soil, glistening in the moon's +rays, and upon this there appeared an astonishing object--something +like the wall of an old house or a ruined chimney. On arriving, we saw +that it was a circular wall or dam of clay, nearly five feet high, +with a segment open to the south to admit and retain the rain-water +that occasionally flows over the flat into this artificial receptacle. + +In spite of old Jimmy's asseverations, there was only sufficient water +to last one or two days, and what there was, was very thick and +whitish-coloured. The six animals being excessively thirsty, the +volume of the fluid gradually diminished in the moonlight before our +eyes; the camels and horses' legs and noses were all pushing against +one another while they drank. + +This wall, or dam, constructed by the aboriginals, is the first piece +of work of art or usefulness that I had ever seen in all my travels in +Australia; and if I had only heard of it, I should seriously have +reflected upon the credibility of my informant, because no attempts of +skill, or ingenuity, on the part of Australian natives, applied to +building, or the storage of water, have previously been met with, and +I was very much astonished at beholding one now. This piece of work +was two feet thick on the top of the wall, twenty yards in the length +of its sweep, and at the bottom, where the water lodged, the +embankment was nearly five feet thick. The clay of which this dam was +composed had been dug out of the hole in which the water lay, with +small native wooden shovels, and piled up to its present dimensions. + +Immediately around this singular monument of native industry, there +are a few hundred acres of very pretty country, beautifully grassed +and ornamented with a few mulga (acacia) trees, standing picturesquely +apart. The spot lies in a basin or hollow, and is surrounded in all +directions by scrubs and rolling sandhills. How we got to it I can +scarcely tell, as our guide kept constantly changing his course, so +that the compass was of little or no use, and it was only by the +sextant I could discover our whereabouts; by it I found we had come +fifty-eight miles from Youldeh on a bearing of south 68 degrees east, +we being now in latitude 30 degrees 43' and longitude 132 degrees 44'. +There was so little water here that I was unable to remain more than +one day, during which the thermometer indicated 104 degrees in the +shade. + +To the eastward of this dam there was a sandhill with a few black oaks +(casuarinas) growing upon it, about a quarter of a mile away. A number +of stones of a calcareous nature were scattered about on it; on going +up this hill the day we rested the animals here, I was surprised to +find a broad path had been cleared amongst the stones for some dozens +of yards, an oak-tree at each end being the terminal points. At the +foot of each tree at the end of the path the largest stones were +heaped; the path was indented with the tramplings of many natives' +feet, and I felt sure that it was one of those places where the men of +this region perform inhuman mutilations upon the youths and maidens of +their tribe. I questioned old Jimmy about these matters, but he was +like all others of his race, who, while admitting the facts, protest +that they, individually, have never officiated at such doings. + +Upon leaving Pylebung Jimmy informed me that Mowling was the next +watering-place, and said it lay nearly east from here; but I found we +went nearly north-east to reach it; this we did in seventeen miles, +the country through which we passed being, as usual, all sandhills and +scrub. Mowling consisted of a small acacia hollow, where there were a +few boulders of granite; in these were two small holes, both as dry as +the surface of the rocks in their vicinity. On our route from +Pylebung, we had seen the tracks of a single bullock; he also had +found his way to Mowling, and probably left it howling; but it must +have been some time since his visit. + +From hence old Jimmy led us a good deal south of east, and we arrived +at another exposure of granite rocks in the dense scrubs. This place +Jimmy called Whitegin. It was ten or eleven miles from Mowling. There +was a small crevice between the rounded boulders of rock, which held +barely sufficient water for the three horses, the camels getting none, +though they persisted in bothering us all the afternoon, and appeared +very thirsty. They kept coming up to the camp perpetually, pulling our +canvas bucket and tin utensils about with their lips, and I found the +cunning of a camel in endeavouring to get water at the camp far +exceeded that of any horse. + +There were a few dozen acres of pretty ground here with good grass and +herbage on it. We had a great deal of trouble to-day in getting the +camels along; the foal or calf belonging to the old riding-cow got +itself entangled in its mother's nose-rope, and as we did not then +understand the management of camels, and how their nose-ropes should +be adjusted, we could not prevent the little brute from tearing the +button clean through the cartilage of the poor old cow's nose; this +not only caused the animal frightful pain, but made her more obstinate +and stubborn and harder to get along than before. The agony the poor +creature suffered from flies must have been excruciating, as after +this accident they entered her nostrils in such numbers that she often +hung back, and would cough and snort until she had ejected a great +quantity of blood and flies from her nose. + +For the last few miles we had not been annoyed by quite so much +spinifex as usual, but the vast amount of dead wood and underbrush was +very detrimental to the progress of the camels, who are not usually in +the habit of lifting their feet very high, though having the power, +they learn it in time, but not before their toes got constantly +entangled with the dead sticks, which made them very sore. + +The scrub here and all the way we had come consisted mostly of mallee +(Eucalyptus dumosa) mulga, prickly bushes (hakea), some +grevillea-trees, and a few oaks (casuarinas). This place, Whitegin, +was eighty-five miles straight from Youldeh; we had, however, +travelled about 100 miles to reach it, as Jimmy kept turning and +twisting about in the scrubs in all directions. On leaving Whitegin we +travelled several degrees to north of east, the thermometer in the +shade while we rested there going up to 103 degrees. Jimmy said the +next place we should get water at was Wynbring, and from what we could +make out of his jargon, he seemed to imply that Wynbring was a large +watercourse descending from a mountain and having a stony bed; he also +said we were now close up, and that it was only a pickaninny way. +However, the shades of night descended upon us once more in the scrubs +of this desert, and we were again compelled to encamp in a place +lonely, and without water, amidst the desolations of this +scrub-enthroned tract. Choking with thirst and sleepless with anxiety, +we pass the hours of night; no dews descend upon this heated place, +and though towards dawn a slightly cooler temperature is felt, the +reappearance of the sun is now so near, that there has been no time +for either earth or man to be benefited by it. Long before the sun +himself appears, those avant-couriers of his fiery might, heated glow, +and feverish breeze, came rustling through the foliage of the +mallee-trees, which give out the semblance of a mournful sigh, as +though they too suffered from the heat and thirst of this desolate +region, in which they are doomed by fate to dwell, and as though they +desired to let the wanderers passing amongst them know, that they also +felt, and were sorry for, our woes. + +The morning of March 31st was exceedingly hot, the thermometer at dawn +standing at 86 degrees. We were up and after the camels and horses +long before daylight, tracking them by the light of burning torches of +great bunches and boughs of the mallee trees--these burn almost as +well green as dry, from the quantity of aromatic eucalyptic oil +contained in them--and enormous plots of spinifex which we lighted as +we passed. + +Having secured all the animals, we started early, and were moving +onwards before sunrise. From Whitegin I found we had come on a nearly +north-east course, and at twenty-eight miles from thence the scrubs +fell off a trifle in height and density. This morning our guide +travelled much straighter than was usual with him, and it was evident +he had now no doubt that he was going in the right direction. About +ten o'clock, after we had travelled thirteen or fourteen miles, Jimmy +uttered an exclamation, pointed out something to us, and declared that +it was Wynbring. Then I could at once perceive how excessively +inaccurate, the old gentleman's account of Wynbring had been, for +instead of its being a mountain, it was simply a round bare mass of +stone, standing in the centre of an open piece of country, surrounded +as usual by the scrubs. When we arrived at the rock, we found the +large creek channel, promised us had microscopicated itself down to a +mere rock-hole, whose dimensions were not very great. The rock itself +was a bare expanse of granite, an acre or two in extent, and was +perhaps fifty feet high, while the only receptacle for water about it +was a crevice forty feet long, by four feet wide, with a depth of six +feet in its deepest part. The hole was not full, but it held an ample +supply for all our present requirements. + +There were a few low sandhills near, ornamented with occasional +mulga-trees, and they made the place very pretty and picturesque. +There were several old and new native gunyahs, or houses, if such a +term can be applied to these insignificant structures. Australian +aborigines are a race who do not live in houses at all, but still the +common instincts of humanity induce all men to try and secure some +spot of earth which, for a time at least, they may call home; and +though the nomadic inhabitants or owners of these Australian wilds, do +not remain for long in any one particular place, in consequence of the +game becoming too wild or destroyed, or water being used up or +evaporated, yet, wherever they are located, every man or head of a +family has his home and his house, to which he returns in after +seasons. The natives in this, as in most other parts of Australia, +seldom hunt without making perpetual grass or spinifex fires, and the +traveller in these wilds may be always sure that the natives are in +the neighbourhood when he can see the smokes, but it by no means +follows that because there are smokes there must be water. An +inversion of the terms would be far more correct, and you might safely +declare that because there is water there are sure to be smokes, and +because there are smokes there are sure to be fires and because there +are fires there are sure to be natives, the present case being no +exception to the rule, as several columns of smoke appeared in various +directions. Old Jimmy's native name was Nanthona; in consequence he +was generally called Anthony, but he liked neither; he preferred +Jimmy, and asked me always to call him so. When at Youldeh the old +fellow had mentioned this spot, Wynbring, as the farthest water he +knew to the eastwards, and now that we had arrived at it, he declared +that beyond it there was nothing; it was the ultima thule of all his +geographical ideas; he had never seen, heard, or thought of anything +beyond it. It was certainly a most agreeable little oasis, and an +excellent spot for an explorer to come to in such a frightful region. +Here were the three requisites that constitute an explorer's +happiness--that is to say, wood, water, and grass, there being +splendid green feed and herbage on the few thousand acres of open +ground around the rock. The old black guide had certainly brought us +to this romantic and secluded little spot, with, I suppose I may say, +unerring precision, albeit he wound about so much on the road, and +made the distance far greater than it should have been. I was, +however, struck with admiration at his having done so at all, and how +he or any other human being, not having the advantages of science at +his command to teach him, by the use of the heavenly bodies, how to +find the position of any locality, could possibly return to the places +we had visited in such a wilderness, especially as it was done by the +recollection of spots which, to a white man, have no special features +and no guiding points, was really marvellous. We had travelled at +least 120 miles eastward from Youldeh, and when there, this old fellow +had told us that he had not visited any of the places he was going to +take me to since his boyhood; this at the very least must have been +forty years ago, for he was certainly fifty, if not seventy, years +old. The knowledge possessed by these children of the desert is +preserved owing to the fact that their imaginations are untrammelled, +the denizens of the wilderness, having their mental faculties put to +but few uses, and all are concentrated on the object of obtaining food +for themselves and their offspring. Whatever ideas they possess, and +they are by no means dull or backward in learning new ones, are ever +keen and young, and Nature has endowed them with an undying mental +youth, until their career on earth is ended. As says a poet, speaking +of savages or men in a state of nature:-- + + "There the passions may revel unfettered, + And the heart never speak but in truth; + And the intellect, wholly unlettered, + Be bright with the freedom of youth." + +Assuredly man in a savage state, is by no means the unhappiest of +mortals. Old Jimmy's faculties of memory were put to the test several +times during the eight days we were travelling from Youldeh to this +rock. Sometimes when leading us through the scrubs, and having +travelled for some miles nearly east, he would notice a tree or a +sandhill, or something that he remembered, and would turn suddenly +from that point in an entirely different direction, towards some high +and severe sandhill; here he would climb a tree. After a few minutes' +gazing about, he would descend, mount his horse, and go off on some +new line, and in the course of a mile or so he would stop at a tree, +and tell us that when a little boy he got a 'possum out of a hole +which existed in it. At another place he said his mother was bitten by +a wild dog, which she was digging out of a hole in the ground; and +thus we came to Wynbring at last. + +A conspicuous mountain--indeed the only object upon which the eye +could rest above the dense scrubs that surrounded us--bore south 52 +degrees east from this rock, and I supposed it was Mount Finke. Our +advent disturbed a number of natives; their fresh footprints were +everywhere about the place, and our guide not being at ease in his +mind as to what sort of reception he might get from the owners of this +demesne, told me if I would let him have a gun, he would go and hunt +them up, and try to induce some of them to come to the camp. The old +chap had but limited experience of firearms, so I gave him an unloaded +gun, as he might have shot himself, or any other of the natives, +without intending to do any harm. Away he went, and returned with five +captives, an antiquated one-eyed old gentleman, with his three wives, +and one baby belonging to the second wife, who had been a woman of +considerable beauty. She was now rather past her prime. What the +oldest wife could ever have been like, it was impossible to guess, as +now she seemed more like an old she-monkey than anything else. The +youngest was in the first flush of youth and grace. The new old man +was very tall, and had been very big and powerful, but he was now +shrunken and grey with age. He ordered his wives to sit down in the +shade of a bush near our camp; this they did. I walked towards the old +man, when he immediately threw his aged arms round me, and clasped me +rapturously to his ebony breast. Then his most ancient wife followed +his example, clasping me in the same manner. The second wife was +rather incommoded in her embrace by the baby in her arms, and it +squalled horridly the nearer its mother put it to me. The third and +youngest wife, who was really very pretty, appeared enchantingly +bashful, but what was her bashfulness compared to mine, when compelled +for mere form's sake to enfold in my arms a beautiful and naked young +woman? It was really a distressing ordeal. She showed her appreciation +of our company by the glances of her black and flashing eyes, and the +exposure of two rows of beautifully even and pearly teeth. + +However charming woman may look in a nude or native state, with all +her youthful graces about her, still the poetic line, that beauty +unadorned, adorned the most, is not entirely true. Woman never appears +so thoroughly charming as when her graces are enveloped in a becoming +dress. These natives all seemed anxious that I should give them names, +and I took upon myself the responsibility of christening them. The +young beauty I called Polly, the mother Mary, the baby Kitty, the +oldest woman Judy, and to the old man I gave the name of Wynbring +Tommy, as an easy one for him to remember and pronounce. There exists +amongst the natives of this part of the continent, an ancient and +Oriental custom which either compels or induces the wife or wives of a +man who is in any way disfigured in form or feature to show their +love, esteem, or obedience, by becoming similarly disfigured, on the +same principle that Sindbad the Sailor was buried with his wife. In +this case the two elder wives of this old man had each relinquished an +eye, and no doubt the time was soon approaching when the youngest +would also show her conjugal fidelity and love by similar mutilation, +unless the old heathen should happen to die shortly and she become +espoused to some other, rejoicing in the possession of a full +complement of eyes--a consummation devoutly to be wished. + +The position of this rock and watering-place I found to be in latitude +30 degrees 32' and longitude 133 degrees 30'. The heat still continued +very great, the thermometer at its highest reading never indicating +less than 104 degrees in the shade while we were here. The flies at +this place, and indeed for weeks before we reached it, were terribly +numerous, and we were troubled also with myriads of the large March +flies, those horrid pests about twice the size of the blowfly, and +which bite men, horses, and camels, and all other animals +indiscriminately. These wretches would not allow either us or the +animals a moment's respite, from dawn to dusk; they almost ate the +poor creatures alive, and kept them in a state of perpetual motion in +their hobbles during daylight all the while we were here. In the +daytime it was only by continued use of our hands, in waving a +handkerchief or bough, that we kept them partially off ourselves, for +with all our efforts to drive them away, we were continually bitten +and stung almost to madness. I have often been troubled by these flies +in other parts of Australia, but I never experienced so much pain and +annoyance as at this place. The hideous droning noise which a +multitude of these insects make is quite enough to destroy one's +peace, but when their incessant bites are added, existence becomes a +burden. + +Since we left Youldeh, and there also, the days had been frightfully +hot, and the nights close, cloudy, and sultry. The only currents of +air that ever stirred the foliage of the trees in the daytime were +like the breath from a furnace, while at night there was hardly any at +all. The 1st of April, the last day we remained here, was the hottest +day we had felt. Life was almost insupportable, and I determined to +leave the place upon the morrow. There had evidently been some rain at +this rock lately, as the grass and herbage were green and luxuriant, +and the flies so numerous. It was most fortunate for us, as my +subsequent narrative will show, that we had some one to guide us to +this spot, which I found by observation lay almost east of Youldeh, +and was distant from that depot 110 miles in a straight line. Old +Jimmy knew nothing whatever of the region which lay beyond, and though +I endeavoured to get him to ask the old man and his wives where any +other waters existed, all the information I could gather from these +persons was, that there was a big mountain and no water at it. The old +man at last found enough English to say, "Big fellow Poonta (stones, +hills, or mountains) and mucka carpee," which means no water. I gave +these poor people a little damper and some tea each, and Polly some +sugar, when they departed. Old Jimmy seemed very unwilling to go any +farther eastwards, giving me to understand that it was a far better +plan to return to Fowler's Bay, and that he would show me some new +watering-places if I would only follow him. To this, of course, I +turned a deaf ear. + +The nearest water on the route I desired to travel, was at Sir Thomas +Elder's cattle station, at the Finniss Springs, under the Hermit Hill, +distant from this rock about 250 miles in a straight line; but as the +mountain to the south-east looked so conspicuous and inviting, I +determined to visit it, in spite of what the old black fellow had said +about there being no water, though it lay considerably out of the +straight road to where I wanted to go. It looked high and rugged, and +I thought to find water in some rock-hole or crevice about it. + + +CHAPTER 3.2. FROM 2ND APRIL TO 6TH MAY, 1875. + +Leave Wynbring. +The horses. +Mountains of sand. +Mount Finke. +One horse succumbs. +Torchlight tracking. +Trouble with the camels. +A low mount. +Dry salt lagoons. +200 miles yet from water. +Hope. +Death of Chester. +The last horse. +A steede, a steede. +Ships of the desert. +Reflections at night. +Death or Water. +The Hermit Hill. +Black shepherds and shepherdesses. +The Finniss Springs. +Victims to the bush. +Footprints on the sands of time. +Alec Ross. +Reach Beltana. + +On the 2nd April we departed from this friendly depot at Wynbring +Rock, taking our three horses, the two camels and the calf. The +morning was as hot as fire; at midday we watered all our animals, and +having saddled and packed them, we left the place behind us. On the +two camels we carried as much water as we had vessels to hold it, the +quantity being nearly fifty gallons. The horses were now on more +friendly terms with them, so that they could be led by a person on +horseback. Old Jimmy, now no longer a guide, was not permitted to take +the lead, but rode behind, to see that nothing fell off the camels' +saddles. I rode in advance, on my best horse Chester, a fine, well-set +chestnut cob, a horse I was very fond of, as he had proved himself so +good. Nicholls rode a strong young grey horse called Formby; he also +had proved himself to my satisfaction to be a good one. Jimmy was +mounted on an old black horse, that was a fine ambler, the one that +bolted away with the load of water the first night we started from +Youldeh. He had not stood the journey from Youldeh at all well; the +other two were quite fresh and hearty when we left Wynbring. + +By the evening of the 2nd we had made only twenty-two miles. We found +the country terrific; the ground rose into sandhills so steep and +high, that all our animals were in a perfect lather of sweat. The +camels could hardly be got along at all. At night, where we were +compelled by darkness to encamp, there was nothing for the horses to +eat, so the poor brutes had to be tied up, lest they should ramble +back to Wynbring. There was plenty of food for the camels, as they +could eat the leaves of some of the bushes, but they were too sulky to +eat because they were tied up. The bull continually bit his nose-rope +through, and made several attempts to get away, the calf always going +with him, leaving his mother: this made her frantic to get away too. +The horses got frightened, and were snorting and jumping about, trying +to break loose all night. The spot we were in was a hollow, between +two high sandhills, and not a breath of air relieved us from the +oppression of the atmosphere. Peter Nicholls and I were in a state of +thirst and perspiration the whole night, running about after the +camels and keeping the horses from breaking away. If the cow had got +loose, we could not have prevented the camels clearing off. I was +never more gratified than at the appearance of the next morning's +dawn, as it enabled us to move away from this dreadful place. It was +impossible to travel through this region at night, even by moonlight; +we should have lost our eyes upon the sticks and branches of the +direful scrubs if we had attempted it, besides tearing our skin and +clothes to pieces also. Starting at earliest dawn, and traversing +formidably steep and rolling waves of sand, we at length reached the +foot of the mountain we had been striving for, in twenty-three miles, +forty-five from Wynbring. I could not help thinking it was the most +desolate heap on the face of the earth, having no water or places that +could hold it. The elevation of this eminence was over 1000 feet above +the surrounding country, and over 2000 feet above the sea. The country +visible from its summit was still enveloped in dense scrubs in every +direction, except on a bearing a few degrees north of east, where some +low ridges appeared. I rode my horse Chester many miles over the +wretched stony slopes at the foot of this mountain, and tied him up to +trees while I walked to its summit, and into gullies and crevices +innumerable, but no water rewarded my efforts, and it was very evident +that what the old black fellow Wynbring Tommy, had said, about its +being waterless was only too true. After wasting several hours in a +fruitless search for water, we left the wretched mount, and steered +away for the ridges I had seen from its summit. They appeared to be +about forty-five miles away. As it was so late in the day when we left +the mountain, we got only seven miles from it when darkness again +overtook us, and we had to encamp. + +On the following day, the old horse Jimmy was riding completely gave +in from the heat and thirst and fearful nature of the country we were +traversing, having come only sixty-five miles from Wynbring. We could +neither lead, ride, nor drive him any farther. We had given each horse +some water from the supply the camels carried, when we reached the +mountain, and likewise some on the previous night, as the heavy +sandhills had so exhausted them, this horse having received more than +the others. Now he lay down and stretched out his limbs in the agony +of thirst and exhaustion. I was loth to shoot the poor old creature, +and I also did not like the idea of leaving him to die slowly of +thirst; but I thought perhaps if I left him, he might recover +sufficiently to travel at night at his own pace, and thus return to +Wynbring, although I also knew from former sad experience in Gibson's +Desert, that, like Badger and Darkie, it was more than probable he +could never escape. His saddle was hung in the fork of a +sandal-wood-tree, not the sandal-wood of commerce, and leaving him +stretched upon the burning sand, we moved away. Of course he was never +seen or heard of after. + +That night we encamped only a few miles from the ridges, at a place +where there was a little dry grass, and where both camels and horses +were let go in hobbles. Long before daylight on the following morning, +old Jimmy and I were tracking the camels by torchlight, the +horse-bells indicating that those animals were not far off; the +camel-bells had gone out of hearing early in the night. Old Jimmy was +a splendid tracker; indeed, no human being in the world but an +Australian aboriginal, and that a half or wholly wild one, could track +a camel on some surfaces, for where there is any clayey soil, the +creature leaves no more mark on the ground than an ant--black children +often amuse themselves by tracking ants--and to follow such marks as +they do leave, by firelight, was marvellous. Occasionally they would +leave some marks that no one could mistake, where they passed over +sandy ground; but for many hundreds beyond, it would appear as though +they must have flown over the ground and had never put their feet to +the earth at all. By the time daylight appeared, old Jimmy had tracked +them about three miles; then he went off, apparently quite regardless +of any tracks at all, walking at such a pace, that I could only keep +up with him by occasionally running. We came upon the camels at length +at about six miles from the camp, amongst some dry clay-pans, and they +were evidently looking for water. The old cow, which was the only +riding camel, was so poor and bony, it was too excruciating to ride +her without a saddle or a pad of some sort, which now we had not got, +so we took it in turns to ride the bull, and he made many attempts to +shake us off; but as he had so much hair on his hump, we could cling +on by that as we sat behind it. It was necessary for whoever was +walking to lead him by his nose-rope, or he would have bolted away and +rubbed his encumbrance off against a tree, or else rolled on it. In +consequence of the camels having strayed so far, it was late in the +day when we again started, the two horses looking fearfully hollow and +bad. The morning as usual was very hot. There not being now a horse a +piece to ride, and the water which one camel had carried having been +drank by the animals, Peter Nicholls rode the old cow again, both she +and the bull being much more easy to manage and get along than when we +started from Youldeh. Our great difficulty was with the nose-ropes; +the calf persisted in getting in front of its mother and twisting her +nose-rope round his neck, also in placing itself right in between the +fore-legs of the bull. This would make him stop, pull back and break +his rope, or else the button would tear through the nose; this caused +detention a dozen times a day, and I was so annoyed with the young +animal, I could scarcely keep from shooting it many times. The young +creature was most endearing now, when caught, and evidently suffered +greatly from thirst. + +We reached the ridges in seven miles from where we had camped, and had +now come ninety miles from Wynbring. We could find no water at these +ridges, as there were no places that could hold it. Here we may be +said to have entered on a piece of open country, and as it was +apparently a change for the better from the scrubs, I was very glad to +see it, especially as we hoped to obtain water on it. Our horses were +now in a terrible state of thirst, for the heat was great, and the +region we had traversed was dreadfully severe, and though they had +each been given some of the water we brought with us, yet we could not +afford anything like enough to satisfy them. From the top of the ridge +a low mount or hill bore 20 degrees north of east; Mount Finke, behind +us, bore 20 degrees south of west. I pushed on now for the hill in +advance, as it was nearly on the route I desired to travel. The +country being open, we made good progress, and though we could not +reach it that night, we were upon its summit early the next morning, +it being about thirty miles from the ridges we had left, a number of +dry, salt, white lagoons intervening. This hill was as dry and +waterless as the mount and ridges, we had left behind us in the +scrubs. Dry salt lagoons lay scattered about in nearly all directions, +glittering with their saline encrustations, as the sun's rays flashed +upon them. To the southward two somewhat inviting isolated hills were +seen; in all other directions the horizon appeared gloomy in the +extreme. We had now come 120 miles from water, and the supply we had +started with was almost exhausted; the country we were in could give +us none, and we had but one, of two courses to pursue, either to +advance still further into this terrible region, or endeavour to +retreat to Wynbring. No doubt the camels could get back alive, but +ourselves and the horses could never have recrossed the frightful bed +of rolling sand-mounds, that intervened between us and the water we +had left. My poor old black companion was aghast at such a region, and +also at what he considered my utter folly in penetrating into it at +all. Peter Nicholls, I was glad to find, was in good spirits, and +gradually changing his opinions with regard to the powers and value of +the camels. They had received no water themselves, though they had +laboured over the hideous sandhills, laden with the priceless fluid +for the benefit of the horses, and it was quite evident the latter +could not much longer live, in such a desert, whilst the former were +now far more docile and obedient to us than when we started. Whenever +the horses were given any water, we had to tie the camels up at some +distance. The expression in these animals' eyes when they saw the +horses drinking was extraordinary; they seemed as though they were +going to speak, and had they done so, I know well they would have +said, "You give those useless little pigmies the water that cannot +save them, and you deny it to us, who have carried it, and will yet be +your only saviours in the end." After we had fruitlessly searched here +for water, having wasted several hours, we left this wretched hill, +and I continued steering upon the same course we had come, namely, +north 75 degrees east, as that bearing would bring me to the +north-western extremity of Lake Torrens, still distant over 120 miles. +It was very probable we should get no water, as none is known to exist +where we should touch upon its shores. Thus we were, after coming 120 +miles from Wynbring, still nearly 200 miles from the Finniss Springs, +the nearest water that I knew. It was now a matter of life and death; +could we reach the Finniss at all? We could neither remain here, nor +should we survive if we attempted to retreat; to advance was our only +chance of escape from the howling waste in which we were almost +entombed; we therefore moved onwards, as fast and as far as we could. +On the following morning, before dawn, I had been lying wakefully +listening for the different sounds of the bells on the animals' necks, +and got up to brighten up the camp fire with fresh wood, when the +strange sound of the quacking of a wild duck smote upon my ear. The +blaze of firelight had evidently attracted the creature, which +probably thought it was the flashing of water, as it flew down close +to my face, and almost precipitated itself into the flames; but +discovering its error, it wheeled away upon its unimpeded wings, and +left me wondering why this denizen of the air and water, should be +sojourning around the waterless encampment of such hapless travellers +as we. The appearance of such a bird raised my hopes, and forced me to +believe that we must be in the neighbourhood of some water, and that +the coming daylight would reveal to us the element which alone could +save us and our unfortunate animals from death. But, alas! how many +human hopes and aspirations are continually doomed to perish +unfulfilled; and were it not that "Hope springs eternal in the human +breast," all faith, all energy, all life, and all success would be at +an end, as then we should know that most of our efforts are futile, +whereas now we hope they may attain complete fruition. Yet, on the +other hand, we learn that the fruit of dreamy hoping is waking blank +despair. We were again in a region of scrubs as bad and as dense as +those I hoped and thought, I had left behind me. + +Leaving our waterless encampment, we continued our journey, a +melancholy, thirsty, silent trio. At 150 miles from Wynbring my poor +horse Chester gave in, and could go no farther; for some miles I had +walked, and we had the greatest difficulty in forcing him along, but +now he was completely exhausted and rolled upon the ground in the +death agony of thirst. It was useless to waste time over the +unfortunate creature; it was quite impossible for him ever to rise +again, so in mercy I fired a revolver-bullet at his forehead, as he +gasped spasmodically upon the desert sand: a shiver passed through his +frame, and we left him dead in the lonely spot. + +We had now no object but to keep pushing on; our supply of water was +all but gone, and we were in the last stage of thirst and +wretchedness. By the night of that day we had reached a place 168 +miles from Wynbring, and in all that distance not a drop of water had +been found. We had one unfortunate horse left, the grey called Formby, +and that poor creature held out as long and on as little water as I am +sure is possible in such a heated and horrid region. On the following +morning the poor beast came up to Nicholls and I, old Jimmy being +after the camels which were close by, and began to smell us, then +stood gazing vacantly at the fire; a thought seemed to strike him that +it was water, and he put his mouth down into the flames. This idea +seems to actuate all animals when in the last stage of thirst. We were +choking with thirst ourselves, but we agreed to sacrifice a small +billyful of our remaining stock of water for this unfortunate last +victim to our enterprise. We gave him about two quarts, and bitterly +we regretted it later, hoping he might still be able to stagger on to +where water might be found; but vain was the hope and vain the gift, +for the creature that had held up so long and so well, swallowed up +the last little draught we gave, fell down and rolled and shivered in +agony, as Chester had done, and he died and was at rest. A singular +thing about this horse was that his eyes had sunk into his head until +they were all but hidden. For my own part, in such a region and in +such a predicament as we were placed, I would not unwillingly have +followed him into the future. + +The celebrated Sir Thomas Mitchell, one of Australia's early +explorers, in one of his journeys, after finding a magnificent country +watered by large rivers, and now the long-settled abodes of +civilisation, mounted on a splendid horse, bursts into an old cavalier +song, a verse of which says: + + "A steede, a steede of matchless speede, + A sworde of metal keane; + All else to noble mindes is drosse; + All else on earthe is meane." + +I don't know what he would have thought had he been in my case, with +his matchless "steede" dead, and in the pangs of thirst himself, his +"sworde of metal keane" a useless encumbrance, 168 miles from the last +water, and not knowing where the next might be; he would have to admit +that the wonderful beasts which now alone remained to us were by no +means to be accounted "meane," for these patient and enduring +creatures, which were still alive, had tasted no water since leaving +Wynbring, and, though the horses were dead and gone, stood up with +undiminished powers--appearing to be as well able now to continue on +and traverse this wide-spread desert as when they left the last oasis +behind. We had nothing now to depend upon but our two "ships of the +desert," which we were only just beginning to understand. I had been a +firm believer in them from the first, and had many an argument with +Nicholls about them; his opinion had now entirely altered. At Youldeh +he had called them ugly, useless, lazy brutes, that were not to be +compared to horses for a moment; but now that the horses were dead +they seemed more agreeable and companionable than ever the horses had +been. + +When Jimmy brought them to the camp they looked knowingly at the +prostrate form of the dead horse; they kneeled down close beside it +and received their loads, now indeed light enough, and we went off +again into the scrubs, riding and walking by turns, our lives entirely +depending on the camels; Jimmy had told us they were calmly feeding +upon some of the trees and bushes in the neighbourhood when he got +them. That they felt the pangs of thirst there can be no doubt--and +what animal can suffer thirst like a camel?--as whenever they were +brought to the camp they endeavoured to fumble about the empty +water-bags, tin pannikins, and any other vessel that ever had +contained water. + +The days of toil, the nights of agony and feverish unrest, that I +spent upon this journey I can never forget. After struggling through +the dense scrubs all day we were compelled perforce to remain in them +all night. It was seldom now we spoke to one another, we were too +thirsty and worn with lassitude to converse, and my reflections the +night after the last horse died, when we had come nearly 200 miles +without water, of a necessity assumed a gloomy tinge, although I am +the least gloomy-minded of the human race, for we know that the tone +of the mind is in a great measure sympathetic with the physical +condition of the body. If the body is weak from exhaustion and +fatigue, the brain and mind become dull and sad, and the thoughts of a +wanderer in such a desolate region as this, weary with a march in heat +and thirst from daylight until dark, who at last sinks upon the heated +ground to watch and wait until the blazing sunlight of another day, +perhaps, may bring him to some place of rest, cannot be otherwise than +of a mournful kind. The mind is forced back upon itself, and becomes +filled with an endless chain of thoughts which wander through the +vastness of the star-bespangled spheres; for here, the only things to +see, the only things to love, and upon which the eye may gaze, and +from which the beating heart may gather some feelings of repose, are +the glittering bands of brilliant stars shining in the azure vault of +heaven. From my heated couch of sandy earth I gazed helplessly but +rapturously upon them, wondering at the enormity of occupied and +unoccupied space, revolving thoughts of past, present, and future +existencies, and of how all that is earthly fadeth away. But can that +be the case with our world itself, with the sun from which it obtains +its light and life, or with the starry splendours of the worlds beyond +the sun? Will they, can they, ever fade? They are not spiritual; +celestial still we call them, but they are material all, in form and +nature. We are both; yet we must fade and they remain. How is the +understanding to decide which of the two holds the main spring and +thread of life? Certainly we know that the body decays, and even the +paths of glory lead but to the grave; but we also know that the mind +becomes enfeebled with the body, that the aged become almost idiotic +in their second childhood; and if the body is to rise again, how is +poor humanity to distinguish the germ of immortality? Philosophies and +speculations upon the future have been subjects of the deepest thought +for the highest minds of every generation of mankind; and although +creeds have risen and sunk, and old religions and philosophies have +passed away, the dubious minds of mortal men still hang and harp upon +the theme of what can be the Great Beyond. The various creeds, of the +many different nations of the earth induce them to believe in as many +differing notions of heaven, but all and each appear agreed upon the +point that up into the stars alone their hoped-for heaven is to be +found; and if all do not, in this agree, still there are some aspiring +minds high soaring above sublunary things, above the petty disputes of +differing creeds, and the vague promises they hold out to their +votaries, who behold, in the firmament above, mighty and mysterious +objects for veneration and love. + +These are the gorgeous constellations set thick with starry gems, the +revolving orbs of densely crowded spheres, the systems beyond systems, +clusters beyond clusters, and universes beyond universes, all +brilliantly glittering with various coloured light, all wheeling and +swaying, floating and circling round some distant, unknown, motive, +centre-point, in the pauseless measures of a perpetual dance of joy, +keeping time and tune with most ecstatic harmony, and producing upon +the enthralled mind the not imaginary music of the spheres. + +Then comes the burning wish to know how come these mighty mysterious +and material things about. We are led to suppose as our own minds and +bodies progressively improve from a state of infancy to a +certain-point, so it is with all things we see in nature; but the +method of the original production of life and matter is beyond the +powers of man to discover. Therefore, we look forward with anxiety and +suspense, hope, love, and fear to a future time, having passed through +the portals of the valley of death, from this existence, we shall +enjoy life after life, in new body, after new body, passing through +new sphere, after new sphere, arriving nearer and nearer to the +fountain-head of all perfection, the divinely great Almighty source of +light and life, of hope and love. + +These were some of my reflections throughout that weary night; the +stars that in their constellations had occupied the zenith, now have +passed the horizon's verge; other and fresh glittering bands now +occupy their former places--at last the dawn begins to glimmer in the +east, and just as I could have fallen into the trance of sleep, it was +time for the race for life, again to wander on, so soon as our animals +could be found. + +This was the eighth day of continued travel from Wynbring; our water +was now all gone, and we were yet more than 100 miles from the Finniss +Springs. I had been compelled to enforce a most rigid and inadequate +economy with our water during our whole march; when we left the camp +where the last horse died very little over three pints remained; we +were all very bad, old Jimmy was nearly dead. At about four o'clock in +the afternoon we came to a place where there was a considerable fall +into a hollow, here was some bare clay--in fact it was an enormous +clay-pan, or miniature lake-bed; the surface was perfectly dry, but in +a small drain or channel, down which water could descend in times of +rain, by the blessing of Providence I found a supply of yellow water. +Nicholls had previously got strangely excited--in fact the poor fellow +was light-headed from thirst, and at one place where there was no +water he threw up his hat and yelled out "Water, water!" he walking a +little in advance; we had really passed the spot where the water was, +but when Nicholls gave the false information I jumped down off my +camel and ran up to him, only to be grievously disappointed; but as I +went along I caught sight of a whitish light through the mulga trees +partially behind me, and without saying a word for fear of fresh +disappointment, I walked towards what I had seen; Nicholls and Jimmy, +who both seemed dazed, went on with the camels. + +What I had seen, was a small sheet of very white water, and I could +not resist the temptation to drink before I went after them. By the +time I had drank they had gone on several hundred yards; when I called +to them and flung up my hat, they were so stupid with thirst, and +disappointment, that they never moved towards me, but stood staring +until I took the camels' nose-rope in my hand, and, pointing to my +knees, which were covered with yellow mud, simply said "water"; then, +when I led the camels to the place, down these poor fellows went on +their knees, in the mud and water, and drank, and drank, and I again +knelt down and drank, and drank. Oh, dear reader, if you have never +suffered thirst you can form no conception what agony it is. But talk +about drinking, I couldn't have believed that even thirsty camels +could have swallowed such enormous quantities of fluid. + +It was delightful to watch the poor creatures visibly swelling before +our eyes. I am sure the big bull Mustara must have taken down fifty +gallons of water, for even after the first drink, when we took their +saddles off at the camp, they all three went back to the water and +kept drinking for nearly an hour. + +We had made an average travelling of twenty-eight miles a day from +Wynbring, until this eighth day, when we came to the water in +twenty-four miles, thus making it 220 miles in all. I could not +sufficiently admire and praise the wonderful powers of these +extraordinary, and to me entirely new animals. During the time we had +been travelling the weather had been very hot and oppressive, the +thermometer usually rising to 104 degrees in the shade when we rested +for an hour in the middle of the day, but that was not the hottest +time, from 2.40 to 3 p.m. being the culminating period. The country we +had traversed was a most frightful desert, yet day after day our noble +camels kept moving slowly but surely on, with undiminished powers, +having carried water for their unfortunate companions the horses, and +seeing them drop one by one exhausted and dying of thirst; still they +marched contentedly on, carrying us by turns, and all the remaining +gear of the dead horses, and finally brought us to water at last. We +had yet over eighty miles to travel to reach the Finniss, and had we +not found water I am sure the three human beings of the party could +never have got there. The walking in turns over this dreadful region +made us suffer all the more, and it was dangerous at any time to allow +old Jimmy to put his baking lips to a water-bag, for he could have +drank a couple of gallons at any time with the greatest ease. For some +miles before we found the water the country had become of much better +quality, the sandhills being lower and well grassed, with clay flats +between. We also passed a number with pine-trees growing on them. +Rains had evidently visited this region, as before I found the water I +noticed that many of the deeper clay channels were only recently dry; +when I say deeper, I mean from one to two feet, the usual depth of a +clay-pan channel being about as many inches. The grass and herbage +round the channel where I found the water were beautifully green. + +Our course from the last hill had been about north 75 degrees east; +the weather, which had been exceedingly oppressive for so many weeks, +now culminated in a thunderstorm of dust, or rather sand and wind, +while dark nimbus clouds completely eclipsed the sun, and reduced the +temperature to an agreeable and bearable state. No rain fell, but from +this change the heats of summer departed, though the change did not +occur until after we had found the water; now all our good things came +together, namely, an escape from death by thirst, a watered and better +travelling country, and cooler weather. Here we very naturally took a +day to recruit. Old Jimmy was always very anxious to know how the +compass was working, as I had always told him the compass would bring +us to water, that it knew every country and every water, and as it did +bring us to water, he thought what I said about it must be true. I +also told him it would find some more water for us to-morrow. We were +always great friends, but now I was so advanced in his favour that he +promised to give me his daughter Mary for a wife when I took him back +to Fowler's Bay. Mary was a very pretty little girl. But "I to wed +with Coromantees? Thoughts like these would drive me mad. And yet I +hold some (young) barbarians higher than the Christian cad." After our +day's rest we again proceeded on our journey, with all our water +vessels replenished, and of course now found several other places on +our route where rain-water was lying, and it seemed like being +translated to a brighter sphere, to be able to indulge in as much +water-drinking as we pleased. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE HERMIT HILL AND FINNISS SPRINGS.) + +At one place where we encamped there was a cane grass flat, over a +mile long, fifty to a hundred yards wide, and having about four feet +of water in it, which was covered with water-fowl; amongst these a +number of black swans were gracefully disporting themselves. Peter +Nicholls made frantic efforts to shoot a swan and some ducks, but he +only brought one wretchedly small teal into the camp. We continued on +our former course until we touched upon and rounded the north-western +extremity of Lake Torrens. I then changed my course for the Hermit +Hill, at the foot of which the Finniss Springs and Sir Thomas Elder's +cattle station lies. Our course was now nearly north. On the evening +of the third day after leaving the water that had saved us, we fell in +with two black fellows and their lubras or wives, shepherding two +flocks of Mr. Angas's sheep belonging to his Stuart's Creek station. +As they were at a water, we encamped with them. Their lubras were +young and pretty; the men were very hospitable to us, and gave us some +mutton, for which we gave them tobacco and matches; for their kindness +I gave the pretty lubras some tea and sugar. Our old Jimmy went up to +them and shook hands, and they became great friends. These blacks +could not comprehend where we could possibly have come from, Fowler's +Bay being an unknown quantity to them. We had still a good day's stage +before us to reach the Finniss, but at dusk we arrived, and were very +kindly received and entertained by Mr. Coulthard, who was in charge. +His father had been an unfortunate explorer, who lost his life by +thirst, upon the western shores of the Lake Torrens I have mentioned, +his tin pannikin or pint pot was afterwards found with his name and +the date of the last day he lived, scratched upon it. Many an +unrecorded grave, many a high and noble mind, many a gallant victim to +temerity and thirst, to murder by relentless native tribes, or sad +mischance, is hidden in the wilds of Australia, and not only in the +wilds, but in places also less remote, where the whistle of the +shepherd and the bark of his dog, the crack of the stockman's whip, or +the gay or grumbling voice of the teamster may now be heard, some +unfortunate wanderer may have died. As the poet says:-- + + "Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid, + Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; + Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, + Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre." + +If it is with a thought of pity, if it is with a sigh of lament, that +we ponder over the fate of the lost, over the deaths in the long +catalogue of the victims to the Australian bush, from Cunningham (lost +with Mitchell) and Leichhardt, Kennedy and Gilbert, Burke, Wills, +Gray, Poole, Curlewis and Conn, down to Coulthard, Panter, and Gibson, +it must be remembered that they died in a noble cause, and they sleep +in honourable graves. Nor must it be forgotten that they who return +from confronting the dangers by which these others fell, have suffered +enough to make them often wish that they, too, could escape through +the grave from the horrors surrounding them. I have often been in such +predicaments that I have longed for death, but having as yet returned +alive, from deserts and their thirst, from hostile native tribes and +deadly spears, and feeling still "the wild pulsation which in +manhood's dawn I knew, when my days were all before me, and my years +were twenty-two,"--as long as there are new regions to explore, the +burning charm of seeking something new, will still possess me; and I +am also actuated to aspire and endeavour if I cannot make my life +sublime, at least to leave behind me some "everlasting footprints on +the sands of time." + +At the Finniss Springs I met young Alec Ross, the son of another +explorer, who was going to join my party for the new expedition to +Perth. My destination was now Beltana, 140 miles from hence. I got a +couple of horses for Nicholls and myself from Mr. Coulthard, Jimmy +being stuck up on the top of the old riding cow camel, who could +travel splendidly on a road. When I arrived at Beltana I had travelled +700 miles from Fowler's Bay. + + +BOOK 4. + + +CHAPTER 4.1. FROM 6TH MAY TO 27TH JULY, 1875. + +Fourth expedition. +The members. +Departure. +Squabbles. +Port Augusta. +Coogee Mahomet. +Mr. Roberts and Tommy. +Westward ho!. +The equipment. +Dinner and a sheep. +The country. +A cattle ranch. +Stony plateau. +The Elizabeth. +Mr. Moseley. +Salt lakes. +Coondambo. +Curdling tea. +An indented hill. +A black boy's argument. +Pale-green-foliaged tree. +A lost officer. +Camels poisoned. +Mount Finke in the winter. +Wynbring. +A new route. +A good Mussulman. +Depart from Wynbring. +New places. +Antediluvian cisterns. +Still westwards. +Lake Bring. +Rain and a bath. +A line cut in the scrubs. +High sandhills. +Return to Youldeh. +Waking dreams. +In depot. +Fowler's Bay once more. +The officers explore to the north. +Jimmy and Tommy. +Jimmy's bereavement. +At the bay. +Richard Dorey. +Return to Youldeh. +Tommy's father. +The officer's report Northwards. +Remarks. + +Sir Thomas Elder was desirous that the new expedition for Perth, for +which camels were to be the only animals taken, should start from +Beltana by the 1st of May. I was detained a few days beyond that time, +but was enabled to leave on Thursday, May the 6th. The members of the +party were six in number, namely myself, Mr. William Henry Tietkens, +who had been with me as second on my last expedition with horses--he +had been secured from Melbourne by Sir Thomas Elder, and was again +going as second; Mr. Jess Young, a young friend of Sir Thomas's lately +arrived from England; Alexander Ross, mentioned previously; Peter +Nicholls, who had just come with me from Fowler's Bay, and who now +came as cook; and Saleh, the Afghan camel-driver as they like to be +called. I also took for a short distance, until Alec Ross overtook me, +another Afghan called Coogee Mahomet, and the old guide Jimmy, who was +to return to the bosom of his family so soon as we arrived anywhere +sufficiently near the neighbourhood of his country. Poor old Jimmy had +been ill at Beltana, and suffered greatly from colds and influenza. +The Beltana blacks did not treat him so well as he expected, and some +of them threatened to kill him for poking his nose into their country, +consequently he did not like the place at all, and was mighty glad to +be taken away. Thus, as I have said, on the 6th of May, 1875, the +caravan departed from Beltana, but we did not immediately leave +civilisation or the settled districts, as I had to travel 150 miles +down the country nearly south, to Port Augusta at the head of +Spencer's Gulf, where I intended to take in my stores, and loading for +the inland voyage, as most of my equipment was forwarded by Sir Thomas +from Adelaide to that port. + +Nothing very particular occurred on the road down, except some +continual squabbles between myself, and Saleh and Coogee, on account +of the extraordinary and absurd manner in which these two men wanted +to load and work the camels. In the first place, we had several young +camels or colts in the mob, some of these were bulls and others +bullocks. The Afghans have a way when travelling of bringing the +camels up to the camp and making them lie down by their loads all +night, whether they have had time to fill themselves or not. This +system was so revolting to my notions of fair play that I determined +to alter it at once. + +Another thing that annoyed me was their absurd and stupid custom of +hobbling, and unhobbling, while the camels were lying down. This may +be necessary for the first few days after the creatures are handled, +but if they are never accustomed to have their legs and feet touched +while they are standing up, of course they may paw, or strike and kick +like a young horse; and if a camel is a striker, he is rather an +awkward kind of a brute, but that is only the case with one in a +thousand. The Afghans not only persist in hobbling and unhobbling +while the camels are lying down, but never think of taking the hobbles +entirely off at all, as they unfasten the hobble from one leg and put +both on the other, so that the poor brutes always have to carry them +on one leg when they are travelling. I quickly put a stop to this, but +Coogee Mahomet exclaimed, "Oh, master! you mustn't take off a hobble, +camel he keek, he keek, you mustn't." To which I replied, "Let him +kick, and I hope he will kick you to death first, so that there will +be one Afghan less in the world, but every hobble shall come off every +camel every day." This Coogee was a most amusing though lazy, indolent +beggar. He never ceased to brag of what he could make camels do; he +wished to ingratiate himself with me in the hope I would take him with +me, but I had already determined to have only one of his countrymen. +He said if he came with me he could make the camels go 200, 300, 400 +or 500 miles with heavy loads without water, by just talking to them +in his language. He used to say, "You know, master, camel he know me, +and my countrymen; camel he un'stand my language, he no like +Englishman, Englishman, he no un'stand riding camel, he no un'stand +loading camel, only my countryman he un'stand camel," etc., etc.; but +with all his bragging about the camels going so long without water, +when we had been only four days gone from Beltana, Saleh and Coogee +had held a council and decided that I must be remonstrated with, in +consequence of my utter ignorance, stupidity, and reckless treatment +of the camels. Accordingly on the fourth morning, the weather having +been delightfully cool and the camels not requiring any water, Coogee +came to me and said, "Master, when you water camel?" "What?" I said +with unfeigned astonishment, "Water the camels? I never heard of such +a thing, they will get no water until they reach Port Augusta." This +completely upset Mr. Coogee, and he replied, "What! no water till Port +Gusta? camel he can't go, camel he always get water three, four time +from Beltana to Port Gusta." "Well," I said, "Coogee, they will get +none now with me till they walk to Port Augusta for it." Then Coogee +said, "Ah! Mr. Gile, you very smart master, you very clever man, only +you don't know camel, you'll see you'll kill all Sir Thomas Elder +camel; you'll no get Perth, you and all you party, and all you camel +die; you'll see, you'll see; you no give poor camel water, camel he +die, then where you be?" I was rather annoyed and said, "You stupid +ass, it was only yesterday you said you could take camels, 300, 400, +500 miles without water, with heavy loads, and now they have no loads +and we have only come about seventy miles, you say they will die if I +don't give them water. How is it that all your countrymen continually +brag of what camels can do, and yet, when they have been only three +days without water, you begin to cry out that they want it?" + +To this he only condescended to reply, "Ah! ah! you very clever, +you'll see." Of course the camels went to the port just as well +without water as with it. Alec Ross overtook us on the road, and +brought a special little riding-camel (Reechy) for me. I got rid of +Mr. Coogee before we arrived at the port. We remained a little over a +week, as all the loads had to be arranged and all the camels' +pack-saddles required re-arranging. Saleh and another of his +countryman who happened to be there, worked hard at this, while the +rest of the party arranged the loads. + +While at Port Augusta, Mr. Charles Roberts, who had been with me, and +with whom I left all the horses at Youldeh, arrived, by the usual road +and brought me a young black boy, Master Tommy Oldham, with whom I had +travelled to Eucla from Fowler's Bay with the three horses that had +died on my journey to Beltana. He was very sorry to hear of the loss +of Chester and Formby, the latter having been his riding-horse. Old +Jimmy was immensely delighted to meet one of his own people in a +strange place. Tommy was a great acquisition to the party, he was a +very nice little chap, and soon became a general favourite. + +Everything being at length ready, the equipment of the expedition was +most excellent and capable. Sir Thomas had sent me from Adelaide +several large pairs of leather bags, one to be slung on each side of a +camel; all our minor, breakable, and perishable articles were thus +secure from wet or damp. In several of these large bags I had wooden +boxes at the bottom, so that all books, papers, instruments, glass, +etc., were safe. At starting the loads were rather heavy, the +lightest-weighted camels carrying two bags of flour, cased in raw-hide +covers, the two bags weighing about 450 pounds, and a large tarpaulin +about 60 pounds on top, or a couple of empty casks or other gear, +which did not require to be placed inside the leather bags. The way +the camels' loads are placed by the Afghan camel-men is different +from, and at first surprising to persons accustomed to, pack-horse +loads. For instance, the two bags of flour are carried as +perpendicularly as possible. As a general rule, it struck me the way +they arranged the loads was absurd, as the whole weight comes down on +the unfortunate animal's loins; they use neither bags nor trunks, but +tie up almost every article with pieces of rope. + +My Afghan, Saleh, was horrified at the fearful innovations I made upon +his method. I furnished the leather bags with broad straps to sustain +them, having large rings and buckles to pass them through and fasten +in the ordinary way of buckle and strap; this had the effect of making +the loads in the bags and trunks lie as horizontally as possible along +the sides of the pads of the pack-saddles. Saleh still wanted to +encumber them with ropes, so that they could not be opened without +untying about a thousand knots. I would not permit such a violation of +my ideas, and told him the loads should be carried as they stood upon +the ground; his argument always was, a la Coogee Mahomet, "Camel he +can't carry them that way," to which I invariably replied, "Camel he +must and camel he shall," and the consequence was that camel he did. + +When we left Port Augusta, I had fifteen pack- or baggage-camels and +seven riding ones. The two blacks, Jimmy and Tommy, rode on one +animal, while the others had a riding-camel each. The weight of the +loads of the baggage-camels on leaving, averaged 550 pounds all round. +All the equipment and loads being in a proper state, and all the men +and camels belonging to the new expedition for Perth being ready, we +left Port Augusta on the 23rd of May, 1875, but only travelled about +six miles, nearly west-north-west, to a place called Bowman's or the +Chinaman's Dam, where there was plenty of surface water, and good +bushes for the camels; here we encamped for the night. A few ducks +which incautiously floated too near fell victims to our sportsmen. The +following day we passed Mr. Bowman's station, had some dinner with +him, and got a fat sheep from one of his paddocks. On the 25th we +encamped close to a station in the neighbourhood of Euro Bluff, a hill +that exists near the south-western extremity of Lake Torrens; we now +travelled about north-north-west up Lake Torrens, upon the opposite or +western side to that on which we had lately travelled down, to Port +Augusta, as I wished to reach a watercourse (the Elizabeth), where I +heard there was water. On the 28th of May we encamped on the banks of +Pernatty Creek, where we obtained a few wild ducks; the country here +was very good, being open salt-bush country. The next morning we met +and passed a Government Survey party, under the command of Mr. Brooks, +who was engaged in a very extensive trigonometrical survey. In an hour +or two after, we passed Mr. Bowman's Pernatty cattle-station; there +was no one at home but a dog, and the appearance of the camels seemed +to strike him dumb. There were some nice little sheets of water in the +creek-bed, but scarcely large enough to be permanent. The country was +now a sort of stony plateau, having low, flat-topped, tent-shaped +table-lands occurring at intervals all over it; it was quite open, and +no timber existed except upon the banks of the watercourses. + +On the 30th of May we reached the Elizabeth; there was an old hut or +two, but no people were now living there. The water was at a very low +ebb. We got a few ducks the first day we arrived. As some work had to +be done to the water-casks to enable us to carry them better, we +remained here until the 2nd of June. The Elizabeth comes from the +table-lands near the shores of Lake Torrens to the north-eastward and +falls into the northern end of Pernatty Lagoon. Here we were almost as +far north as when at Beltana, our latitude being 31 degrees 10' 30". +The weather was now, and had been for several weeks--indeed ever since +the thunderstorm which occurred the day we came upon the clay-channel +water--very agreeable; the nights cold but dewless. When at Port +Augusta, I heard that a Mr. Moseley was out somewhere to the west of +the Elizabeth, well-sinking, on a piece of country he had lately taken +up, and that he was camped at or near some rain-water. I was anxious +to find out where he was; on the 31st of May I sent Alec Ross on the +only track that went west, to find if any water existed at a place I +had heard of about twenty-five miles to the west, and towards which +the only road from here led. Alec had not been gone long, when he +returned with Mr. Moseley, who happened to be coming to the Elizabeth +en route for Port Augusta. He camped with us that night. He informed +me his men obtained water at some clay-pans, called Coondambo, near +the edge of Lake Gairdner, another large salt depression similar to +Lake Torrens, and that by following his horses' tracks they would +lead, first to a well where he had just succeeded in obtaining water +at a depth of eighty-five feet, and thence, in seven miles farther, to +the Coondambo clay-pans. I was very glad to get this information, as +even from Coondambo the only water to the west beyond it, that I knew +of, was Wynbring, at a distance of 160 or 170 miles. + +Leaving the Elizabeth on June the 2nd, we went sixteen miles nearly +west, to a small clay water-hole, where we encamped. On the 3rd we +travelled twenty-five miles nearly west, passing a deserted +sheep-station belonging to Mr. Litchfield about the middle of the day; +the country was very poor, being open, bare, stony ground, with +occasional low, flat-topped table-lands, covered very sparsely with +salsolaceous vegetation. We next arrived at the north-east corner of +Lake Hart, and proceeded nearly west along its northern shore; thence +by the southern shores of Lakes Hanson and Younghusband, all salt +lakes, where one of the party must have been taken ill, for he +suddenly broke out into a doggerel rhyme, remarking that:-- + + "We went by Lake Hart, which is laid on the chart, + And by the Lake Younghusband too; + We next got a glance on, the little Lake Hanson, + And wished..." + +Goodness only knows what he wished, but the others conveyed to him +their wish that he should discontinue such an infliction on them. + +On June the 6th we arrived at the place where Mr. Moseley had just +finished his well; but his men had deserted the spot and gone +somewhere else, to put down another shaft to the north-eastwards. The +well was between eighty and ninety feet deep, the water whitish but +good; here we encamped on a bushy sort of flat. The next morning, +following some horse tracks about south-west, they took us to the +Coondambo clay-pans; the water was yellow and very thick, but there +was plenty of it for all our purposes, though I imagined it would not +last Mr. Moseley and his men very long. Two or three of his horses +were running at this water; here were several large shallow, +cane-grass clay flats which are also occasionally filled with +rain-water, they and Coondambo being situated close to the northern +shore of Lake Gairdner. + +We left Coondambo on the 8th; on the 9th rain pretended to fall, and +we were kept in camp during the day, as a slight spitting fell, but +was totally useless. On the 11th we encamped again near Lake +Gairdner's shore; this was the last we should see of it. Our latitude +here was 31 degrees 5', and longitude 135 degrees 30' 10". We had seen +no water since leaving Coondambo, from whence we carried a quantity of +the thick yellow fluid, which curdled disagreeably when made into tea, +the sugar having the chemical property of precipitating the sediment. +We were again in a scrubby region, and had been since leaving +Coondambo. Our course was now nearly north-north-west for sixteen or +seventeen miles, where we again camped in scrubs. The following day we +got to a low rocky hill, or rather several hills, enveloped in the +scrub; there were numerous small indentations upon the face of the +rocks, and we got some water for the camels, though they had to climb +all over the rocks to get it, as there was seldom more than three or +four gallons in any indent. We got some pure water for ourselves, and +were enabled to dispense with the yellow clayey fluid we had carried. +From these hills we travelled nearly west-north-west until, on the +15th, we fell in with my former tracks in April, when travelling from +Wynbring. Old Jimmy was quite pleased to find himself again in country +which he knew something about. We could again see the summit of Mount +Finke. The only water I knew of in this wretched country being at +Wynbring, I determined to follow my old route. On the 16th we passed a +place where we had formerly seen a small portion of bare rock, and +now, in consequence of the late sprinkling showers on the 9th and +10th, there were a few thimblefuls of water on it. This set Jimmy into +a state of excitement; he gesticulated and talked to Tommy in their +language at a great rate, and Tommy said, "Ah, if you found water +here, when you come before, Chester and Formby wouldn't die." "Well," +I said, "Tommy, I don't see much water here to keep anything alive, +even if it had been here then." He only sapiently shook his head and +said, "But if you got plenty water then that's all right." I found +Tommy's arguments were exactly similar to those of all other black +boys I have known, exceedingly comical, but all to their own way of +thinking. + +Soon after this, I was riding in advance along the old track, when old +Jimmy came running up behind my camel in a most excited state, and +said, "Hi, master, me find 'im, big one watta, plenty watta, mucka +(not) pickaninny (little); this way, watta go this way," pointing to a +place on our left. I waited until the caravan appeared through the +scrub, then old Jimmy led us to the spot he had found. There was a +small area of bare rock, but it was too flat to hold any quantity of +water, though some of the fluid was shining on it; there was only +enough for two or three camels, but I decided to camp there +nevertheless. What water there was, some of the camels licked up in no +time, and went off to feed. They seemed particularly partial to a low +pale-green-foliaged tree with fringelike leaves, something like fennel +or asparagus. I have often gathered specimens of this in former +journeys, generally in the most desert places. The botanical name of +this tree is Gyrostemon ramulosus. After hobbling out the camels, and +sitting down to dinner, we became aware of the absence of Mr. Jess +Young, and I was rather anxious as to what had become of him, as a new +arrival from England adrift in these scrubs would be very liable to +lose himself. However, I had not much fear for Mr. Young, as, having +been a sailor, and carrying a compass, he might be able to recover us. +Immediately after our meal I was going after him, but before it was +finished he came, without his camel, and said he could not get her on, +so had tied her up to a tree and walked back, he having gone a long +way on my old tracks. I sent Tommy and another riding-camel with him, +and in a couple of hours they returned with Mr. Young's animal. + +The following morning, the 17th, much to my distress, one of our young +bull camels was found to be poisoned, and could not move. We made him +sick with hot butter and gave him a strong clyster. Both operations +produced the same substance, namely, a quantity of the chewed and +digested Gyrostemon; indeed, the animal apparently had nothing else in +his inside. He was a trifle better by night, but the following +morning, my best bull, Mustara, that had brought me through this +region before, was poisoned, and couldn't move. I was now very sorry I +had camped at this horrid place. We dosed Mustara with butter as an +emetic, and he also threw up nothing but the chewed Gyrostemon; the +clyster produced the same. It was evident that this plant has a very +poisonous effect on the camels, and I was afraid some of them would +die. I was compelled to remain here another day. The first camel +poisoned had got a little better, and I hoped the others would escape; +but as they all seemed to relish the poisonous plant so much until +they felt the effects, and as there were great quantities of it +growing on the sandhills, I was in great anxiety during the whole day. +On the 19th I was glad to find no fresh cases, though the two camels +that had suffered were very weak and afflicted with spasmodic +staggerings. We got them away, though they were scarcely able to carry +their loads, which we lightened as much as possible; anything was +better than remaining here, as others might get affected. + +On this day's march we passed the spot where I had put the horse's +packsaddle in the sandal-wood-tree, and where my first horse had given +in. The saddle was now of no use, except that the two pads, being +stuffed with horsehair, made cushions for seats of camels' +riding-saddles; these we took, but left the frame in the tree again. +That night we camped about five miles from Mount Finke, and I was glad +to find that the two poisoned bulls had greatly recovered. + +The following day, Mr. Young and I ascended Mount Finke, and put up a +small pile of stones upon its highest point. The weather, now cool and +agreeable, was so different from that which I had previously +experienced upon this dreadful mount. Upon that visit the whole region +was in an intense glow of heat, but now the summer heats were past; +the desolate region around was enjoying for a few weeks only, a slight +respite from the usual fiery temperature of the climate of this part +of the world; but even now the nature of the country was so terrible +and severe, the sandhills so high, and the scrub so thick, that all +the new members of the party expressed their astonishment at our ever +having got out of it alive. This mountain, as before stated, is +forty-five miles from Wynbring. On the 22nd of June, just as we got in +sight of the rock, some heavy showers of rain descended; it came down +so fast that the camels could drink the water right at their feet, and +they all got huddled up together in a mob, breaking their nose-ropes, +some laying down to enable them to drink easier, as loaded camels, +having a breast-rope from the saddles, cannot put their heads to the +ground without hurting, and perhaps cutting, themselves. The rain +ceased for a bit, and we made off to my old camp, and got everything +under canvas just as another heavy shower came down. Of course the +rock-hole was full to overflowing, and water was lying about in all +directions. During the 23rd several smart showers fell, and we were +confined to our canvas habitations for nearly the whole day. + +As this spot was so excellent for all kinds of animals, I gave my +friends a couple of days' rest, in the first place because they had +had such poor feeding places for several nights before our arrival +here, and I also wished, if possible, to meet again with the Wynbring +natives, and endeavour to find out from them whether any other waters +existed in this country. Old Jimmy, when he discovered, through Tommy +Oldham, what I wanted the natives for, seemed surprised and annoyed +that I should attempt to get information from them while he was with +me in his own territories. He said he would take me to several waters +between here and Youldeh, by a more northerly route than he had +previously shown; he said that water existed at several places which +he enumerated on his fingers; their names were Taloreh, Edoldeh, +Cudyeh, Yanderby, Mobing, Bring, Poothraba, Pondoothy, and Youldeh. I +was very glad to hear of all these places, and hoped we should find +they were situated in a more hospitable country than that through +which we had formerly come. On the 25th Mr. Young shot an emu, and we +had fried steaks, which we all relished. Saleh being a good Mussulman, +was only just (if) in time to run up and cut the bird's throat before +it died, otherwise his religious scruples would have prevented him +from eating any of it. All the meat he did eat, which was smoked beef, +had been killed in the orthodox Mohammedan style, either by himself or +one of his co-religionists at Beltana. It was cured and carried on +purpose. None of the natives I had formerly seen, or any others, made +their appearance, and the party were disappointed by not seeing the +charming young Polly, my description of whom had greatly raised their +curiosity. + +(ILLUSTRATION: WYNBRING ROCK.) + +On the 26th of June we departed from the pretty little oasis of +Wynbring, leaving its isolated and water-giving rock, in the silence +and solitude of its enveloping scrubs, abandoning it once again, to +the occupation of primeval man, a fertile little gem in a desolate +waste, where the footsteps of the white man had never been seen until +I came, where the wild emu, and the wilder black man, continually +return to its life-sustaining rock, where the aboriginal inhabitants +will again and again indulge in the wild revelries of the midnight +corroborree dance, and where, in an existence totally distinct from +ours of civilisation, men and women live and love, and eat and drink, +and sleep and die. But the passions are the same in all phases of the +life of the human family, the two great master motives, of love and +hunger, being the mainspring of all the actions of mankind. + +Wynbring was now behind us, and Jimmy once more our guide, +philosopher, and friend. He seemed much gratified at again becoming an +important member of the expedition, and he and Tommy, both upon the +same riding-camel, led the way for us, through the scrubs, in the +direction of about west-north-west. In seven or eight miles we came to +a little opening in the scrub, where Jimmy showed us some bare flat +rocks, wherein was a nearly circular hole brimful of water. It was, +however, nearly full also of the debris of ages, as a stick could be +poked into mud or dirt for several feet below the water, and it was +impossible to say what depth it really was; but at the best it could +not contain more than 200 or 300 gallons. This was Taloreh. Proceeding +towards the next watering-place, which old Jimmy said was close up, in +a rather more northerly direction, we found it was getting late, as we +had not left Wynbring until after midday; we therefore had to encamp +in the scrubs, having come about fifteen miles. It is next to +impossible to make an old fool of a black fellow understand the value +of the economy of time. I wanted to come on to Edoldeh, and so did old +Jimmy; but he made out that Edoldeh was close to Taloreh, and every +mile we went it was still close up, until it got so late I ordered the +party to camp, where there was little or nothing that the camels could +eat. Of course it was useless to try and make Jimmy understand that, +having thousands of miles to travel with the camels, it was a great +object to me to endeavour to get them bushes or other food that they +could eat, so as to keep them in condition to stand the long journey +that was before them. Camels, although exceedingly ravenous animals, +will only eat what they like, and if they can't get that, will lie +down all night and starve, if they are too short-hobbled to allow them +to wander, otherwise they will ramble for miles. It was therefore +annoying the next morning to find plenty of good bushes at Edoldeh, +two miles and a half from our wretched camp, and whither we might have +come so easily the night before. To-day, however, I determined to keep +on until we actually did reach the next oasis; this Jimmy said was +Cudyeh, and was of course still close up. We travelled two and a half +miles to Edoldeh, continued eighteen miles beyond it, and reached +Cudyeh early in the afternoon. This place was like most of the little +oases in the desert; it was a very good place for a camp, one singular +feature about it being that it consisted of a flat bare rock of some +area, upon which were several circular and elliptical holes in various +places. The rock lay in the lowest part of the open hollow, and +whenever rain fell in the neighbourhood, the water all ran down to it. +In consequence of the recent rains, the whole area of rock was two +feet under water, and the extraordinary holes or wells that existed +there looked like antediluvian cisterns. Getting a long stick, and +wading through the water to the mouths of these cisterns, we found +that, like most other reservoirs in a neglected native state, they +were almost full of soil and debris, and the deepest had only about +three feet of water below the surface of the rock. Some of these holes +might be very deep, or they might be found to be permanent wells if +cleaned out. + +Next day we passed another little spot called Yanderby, with rock +water, at ten miles; thence in three more we came to Mobing, a much +better place than any of the others: indeed I thought it superior to +Wynbring. It lies about north 62 degrees west from Wynbring and is +fifty miles from it; the latitude of Mobing is 30 degrees 10' 30". At +this place there was a large, bare, rounded rock, very similar to +Wynbring, except that no rock-holes to hold any surface water existed; +what was obtainable being in large native wells sunk at the foot of +the rock, and brimful of water. I believe a good supply might be +obtained here. There were plenty of good bushes in the neighbourhood +for the camels, and we had an excellent camp at Mobing. As usual, this +oasis consisted merely of an open space, lightly timbered with the +mulga acacia amongst the sandhills and the scrubs. + +The day after, we were led by old Jimmy to a small salt lake-bed +called Bring, which was dry; it lay about south-west from Mobing. +Round at the southern shore of this lake Jimmy showed us a small +rock-hole, with a few dozen gallons of water in it. In consequence of +Mr. Young not being well, we encamped, the distance from Mobing being +nine miles. This also was a rather pretty camp, and excellent for the +camels. Towards evening some light showers of rain fell, and we had to +erect our tarpaulins and tents, which we only do in times of rain. +More showers fell the next day, and we did not shift our quarters. A +very shallow sheet of water now appeared upon the surface of the lake +bed, but it was quite salt. We made some little dams with clay, where +the water ran into the lake, and saved enough water to indulge in a +sort of bath with the aid of buckets and waterproof sheeting. This was +the last day of June. Unfortunately, though Chairman of the Company, I +was unable to declare a dividend for the half-year. + +The 1st of July broke with a fine and beautiful morning, and we left +Lake Bring none the worse for our compulsory delay. I was anxious to +reach Youldeh so soon as possible, as I had a great deal of work to do +when I arrived there. To-day we travelled nearly west seventeen or +eighteen miles, and encamped without an oasis. On the 2nd we passed +two rocky hills, named respectively Pondoothy and Poothraba, Pondoothy +was an indented rock-crowned hill in the scrubs. Standing on its +summit I descried an extraordinary line cut through the scrubs, which +ran east by north, and was probably intended by the natives for a true +east line. The scrub timber was all cut away, and it looked like a +survey line. Upon asking old Jimmy what it was done for, and what it +meant, he gave the usual reply, that Cockata black fellow make 'em. It +was somewhat similar to the path I had seen cleared at Pylebung in +March last, and no doubt it is used for a similar purpose. Leaving +this hill and passing Poothraba, which is in sight of it, we continued +our nearly west course, and camped once more in the scrubs. The +country was very difficult for the loaded camels, it rose into such +high ridges or hills of sand that we could only traverse it at a +snail's pace. It was of course still covered with scrubs, which +consisted here, as all over this region, mostly of the Eucalyptus +dumosa, or mallee-trees, of a very stunted habit; occasionally some +patches of black oaks as we call them, properly casuarinas, with +clumps of mulga in the hollows, here and there a stunted cypress pine, +callitris, some prickly hakea bushes, and an occasional so called +native poplar, Codonocarpus cotinifolius, a brother or sister tree to +the poisonous Gyrostemon. The native poplar is a favourite and +harmless food for camels, and as it is of the same family as the +Gyrostemon, my friend Baron von Mueller argues that I must be mistaken +in the poison plant which affected the camels. He thinks it must be a +plant of the poisonous family of the Euphorbiaceae, and which +certainly grows in these regions, and which I have collected specimens +of, but I cannot detect it. + +We were now nearly in the latitude of Youldeh, and had only to push +west to reach it; but the cow camel that Jimmy and Tommy rode, being +very near calving, had not travelled well for some days, and gave a +good deal of trouble to find her of a morning. I wished to get her to +Youldeh before she calved, as I intended to form a depot there for a +few weeks, during which time I hoped the calf would become strong +enough to travel. On the morning of the 5th, only about half the mob +were brought up to the camp, and, as Mr. Tietkens' and my riding +camels were amongst them, we rode off to Youldeh, seven or eight miles +away, telling the others to come on as soon as they could. Mr. Young, +Saleh, and Tommy were away after the absent animals. On arriving I +found Youldeh much the same as when I left it, only now the weather +was cool, and the red sandhills, that had formerly almost burnt the +feet of men and animals, were slightly encrusted with a light +glittering mantle of hoar-frost in the shaded places, under the big +leguminous bushes, for that morning Herr Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit had +fallen to 28 degrees. My old slabbed well had got filled up with sand, +and it was evident that many natives had visited the place since I +left on the 24th of March, 103 days ago. We managed to water our +camels, as they lay down on the top of the well, and stretched their +long necks down into it. We then quietly waited till long past midday +for the caravan to come up. We had nothing to do, and nothing to eat; +we could not dig out the well, for we had no shovel. At last Mr. +Tietkens got alarmed at the non-arrival of the party, and he went back +to the camp, taking my riding-camel with him, as she would not remain +quiet by herself. I remained there mighty hungry, and made some black +smoke to endeavour to attract any natives that might be in the +neighbourhood. I have before remarked that the natives can make +different coloured smokes, of different form, and make them ascend in +different ways, each having a separate meaning: hurried alarm, and +signal fires are made to throw up black and white smokes. No signals +were returned, and I sat upon a sandhill, like Patience on a monument, +and thought of the line, "That sitting alone with my conscience, is +judgment sufficient for me." I could not perceive any dust or sand of +the approaching caravan; darkness began to creep over this solitary +place and its more solitary occupant. I thought I had better sleep, +though I had no bedding, to pass the time away till morning. I coiled +myself up under a bush and fell into one of those extraordinary waking +dreams which occasionally descend upon imaginative mortals, when we +know that we are alive, and yet we think we are dead; when a confused +jumble of ideas sets the mind "peering back into the vistas of the +memories of yore," and yet also foreshadowing the images of future +things upon the quivering curtains of the mental eye. At such a time +the imagination can revel only in the marvellous, the mysterious, and +the mythical. The forms of those we love are idealised and +spiritualised into angelic shapes. The faces of those we have +forgotten long, or else perchance have lost, once more return, +seraphic from the realms of light. The lovely forms and winning graces +of children gone, the witching eyes and alluring smiles of women we +have loved, the beautiful countenances of beloved and admired youth, +once more we seem to see; the youthful hands we have clasped so often +in love and friendship in our own, once more we seem to press, +unchanged by time, unchanged by fate, beckoning to us lovingly to +follow them, still trying with loving caress and youthful smiles to +lead us to their shadowy world beyond. O youth, beautiful and undying, +the sage's dream, the poet's song, all that is loving and lovely, is +centred still in thee! O lovely youth, with thine arrowy form, and +slender hands, thy pearly teeth, and saintly smile, thy pleading eyes +and radiant hair; all, all must worship thee. And if in waking hours +and daily toil we cannot always greet thee, yet in our dreams you are +our own. As the poet says:-- + + "In dreams you come as things of light and lightness! + We hear your voice in still small accents tell, + Of realms of bliss and never-fading brightness, + Where those who loved on earth together dwell." + +Then, while lying asleep, engrossed by these mysterious influences and +impressions, I thought I heard celestial sounds upon mine ear; +vibrating music's rapturous strain, as though an heavenly choir were +near, dispensing melody and pain. As though some angels swept the +strings, of harps ethereal o'er me hung, and fann'd me, as with +seraph's wings, while thus the voices sweetly sung: "Be bold of heart, +be strong of will, for unto thee by God is given, to roam the desert +paths of earth, and thence explore the fields of heaven. Be bold of +heart, be strong of will, and naught on earth shall lay thee low." +When suddenly I awoke, and found that the party with all the camels +had arrived, my fire was relit, and the whole place lately so silent +was now in a bustle. I got up, and looked about me in astonishment, as +I could not at first remember where I was. But I soon discovered that +the musical sounds I had heard were the tintinabulations of my +camel-bells, tinkling in the evening air, as they came closer and +closer over the sandhills to the place where I lay dreaming, and my +senses returned at length to their ordinary groove. + +We were safely landed at the Youldeh depot once more; and upon the +whole I may say we had had an agreeable journey from Port Augusta. +Jimmy and Tommy's cow calved soon after arrival. I was glad to find +she had delayed; now the calf will be allowed to live, as she will be +here for some little time. On the following morning I christened the +calf Youldeh, after her birthplace; she was not much bigger than a +cat. On the 6th, 7th, and 8th, we all remained in depot, doing various +kinds of work, re-digging and re-slabbing the well, making two large +canvas troughs for the camels to drink out of, making some covers and +alterations to some water-beds I had for carrying water, and many +other things. I had some camels to deliver at Fowler's Bay, and some +private business, necessary to be done before a magistrate, which +compelled me personally to return thither; otherwise I should have +gone away to the north to endeavour to discover another depot in that +direction. But now I committed this piece of work to my two officers, +Messrs. Tietkens and Young, while Alec Ross and I went south to the +Bay. Both parties started from Youldeh on the 9th. I took old Jimmy +with me to return him, with thanks, to his family. Tietkens and Young +took Tommy with them, as that young gentleman had no desire whatever +to return or to leave me. Between ourselves, when I first got him in +February, I had caused him to commit some very serious breaches of +aboriginal law, for he was then on probation and not allowed to come +near women or the blacks' camp. He was also compelled to wear a great +chignon, which made him look more like a girl than a boy. This I cut +off and threw away, much to the horror of the elders of his tribe, +who, if they could catch, would inflict condign punishment upon him. +When he and old Jimmy met at Port Augusta, and Jimmy saw him without +his chignon and other emblems of novice-hood, that old gentleman +talked to him like a father; but Tommy, knowing he had me to throw the +blame on, quietly told the old man in plain English to go to blazes. +The expression on old Jimmy's face at thus being flouted by a black +boy, was indescribable; he thought it his duty to persecute Tommy +still farther, but now Tommy only laughed at him and said I made him +do it, so old Jimmy gave him up at last as a bad job. Poor old fellow, +he was always talking about his wife and children; I was to have Mary, +and Peter Nicholls Jinny. Alec, Jimmy, and I reached the bay on the +14th, but at Colona, on the 12th, we heard there had been a sad +epidemic amongst the natives since I left, and poor old Jimmy had lost +two of his children, both Mary and Jinny. When he heard this, the poor +old fellow cried, and looked at me, as much as to say if I had not +taken him away he might have saved them. It was but poor consolation +to tell him, what he could not understand, that those whom the gods +love die young. I suffered another loss, as a bright little black boy +called Fry, a great favourite of mine, with splendid eyes and teeth, +whom I had intended to bring with me as a companion for Tommy, was +also dead. I parted from old Jimmy the best of friends, but he was +like Rachael weeping for her children, and would not be comforted. I +gave him money and presents, and dresses for his wife, and anything he +asked for, but this was not very much. + +Our stay at Fowler's Bay was not extended longer than I could help. +Mr. Armstrong, the manager, made me a present of a case of brandy, and +as I wanted to take some stores to Youldeh, he allowed me to take back +the camels I had brought him, and sent a man of his--Richard Dorey--to +accompany me to Youldeh, and there take delivery of them. + +On the 17th we left the bay, and the spindrift and the spray of the +Southern Ocean, with the glorious main expanding to the skies. We +stayed at Colona with Mr. Murray a couple of days, and finally left it +on the 21st, arriving with Dorey and his black boy at Youldeh on the +25th. + +Tommy Oldham's father had also died of the epidemic at the bay. +Richard Dorey's black boy broke the news to him very gently, when +Tommy came up to me and said, "Oh, Mr. Giles, my"--adjective [not] +blooming--"old father is dead too." I said, "Is that how you talk of +your poor old father, Tommy, now that he is dead?" To this he replied, +much in the same way as some civilised sons may often have done, +"Well, I couldn't help it!" + +I have stated that when I went south with Alec Ross to Fowler's Bay I +despatched my two officers, Mr. Tietkens and Mr. Young, with my black +boy Tommy, to endeavour to discover a new depot to the north, at or as +near to the 29th parallel of latitude as possible. When I returned +from the bay they had returned a day or two before, having discovered +at different places two native wells, a small native dam, and some +clay-pans, each containing water. This was exceedingly good news, and +I wasted no time before I departed from Youldeh. I gave my letters to +Richard Dorey, who had accompanied me back from Fowler's Bay. I will +give my readers a condensation of Mr. Tietkens's report of his journey +with Mr. Young and Tommy. + +On leaving Youldeh, in latitude 30 degrees 24' 10" and longitude 131 +degrees 46'--they took four camels, three to ride and one to carry +water, rations, blankets, etc.--they went first to the small rock-hole +I had visited with Mr. Murray and old Jimmy, when here in the summer. +This lay about north 74 degrees west, was about fourteen miles +distant, and called Paring. Tommy followed our old horse-tracks, but +on arrival found it dry. The following day they travelled north, and +passed through a country of heavy sandhills and thick scrubs, having +occasional open patches with limestone cropping out, and camped at +twenty-four miles. Continuing their journey the next morning, they +went over better and more open country, and made twenty-four or -five +miles of northing. Some more good country was seen the following day, +but no water, although they saw native tracks and native huts. The +next day they sighted two small flat-topped hills and found a native +well in their neighbourhood; this, however, did not promise a very +good supply of water. The views obtainable from the little hills were +not very inviting, as scrubs appeared to exist in nearly every +direction. This spot was eighty-two miles from Youldeh, and lay nearly +north 10 degrees west. They continued north for another twenty-five +miles, to latitude 28 degrees 52' and longitude about 131 degrees 31', +when they turned to the south-west for eighteen miles, finding a small +native dam with some water in it; then, turning slightly to the north +of west, they found some clay-pans with a little more water. They now +went forty-four miles nearly west from the little dam, and, although +the country seemed improving, they could discover no more water. From +their farthest westerly point in latitude 28 degrees 59' they turned +upon a bearing of south 55 degrees east direct for the native well +found near the little flat-topped hills before mentioned. In their +progress upon this line they entered, at forty-five miles and straight +before them, upon a small open flat space very well grassed, and very +pretty, and upon it they found another native well, and saw some +natives, with whom they held a sort of running conversation. There +were several wells, all containing water. Tommy managed to elicit from +the natives the name of the place, which they said was Ooldabinna. +This seemed a very fortunate discovery, as the first well found near +the flat tops was by no means a good one. Here they encamped, being +highly pleased with their successful journey. They had now found a new +depot, ninety-two miles, lying north 20 degrees west from Youldeh. +From hence they made a straight line back to the camp, where they +awaited my return from the bay. + +I was much pleased with their discovery, and on Tuesday, the 27th +July, having nineteen camels and provisions for eight months, and a +perfect equipment for carrying water, we left Youldeh. Richard Dorey, +with his camels and black boy, went away to the south. My caravan +departed in a long single string to the north, and Youldeh and the +place thereof knew us no more. + + +CHAPTER 4.2. FROM 27TH JULY TO 6TH OCTOBER, 1875. + +Ooldabinna depot. +Tietkens and Young go north. +I go west. +A salt expanse. +Dense scrubs. +Deposit two casks of water. +Silence and solitude. +Native footmarks. +A hollow. +Fine vegetation. +A native dam. +Anxiety. +A great plain. +A dry march. +Return to the depot. +Rain. +My officers' report. +Depart for the west. +Method of travelling. +Kill a camel. +Reach the dam. +Death or victory. +Leave the dam. +The hazard of the die. +Five days of scrubs. +Enter a plain. +A terrible journey. +Saleh prays for a rock-hole. +A dry basin at 242 miles. +Watering camels in the desert. +Seventeen days without water. +Saved. +Tommy finds a supply. +The Great Victoria Desert. +The Queen's Spring. +Farther still west. + +On leaving Youldeh I had the choice of first visiting the native well +my two officers had found at the flat tops, eighty-two miles, or the +further one at Ooldabinna, which was ninety-two. I decided to go +straight for the latter. The weather was cool, and the camels could +easily go that distance without water. Their loads were heavy, +averaging now 550 pounds all round. The country all the way consisted +first, of very high and heavy sandhills, with mallee scrubs and thick +spinifex, with occasional grassy flats between, but at one place we +actually crossed a space of nearly ten miles of open, good grassy +limestone country. We travelled very slowly over this region. There +was a little plant, something like mignonette, which the camels were +extremely fond of; we met it first on the grassy ground just +mentioned, and when we had travelled from fifteen to eighteen miles +and found some of it we camped. It took us five days and a half to +reach Ooldabinna, and by the time we arrived there I had travelled +1010 miles from Beltana on all courses. I found Ooldabinna to consist +of a small, pretty, open space amongst the scrubs; it was just dotted +over with mulga-trees, and was no doubt a very favourite resort of the +native owners. + +On the flat there was a place where for untold ages the natives have +obtained their water supplies. There were several wells, but my +experience immediately informed me that they were simply rockholes +filled with soil from the periodical rain-waters over the little flat, +the holes lying in the lowest ground, and I perceived that the water +supply was very limited; fortunately, however, there was sufficient +for our immediate requirements. The camels were not apparently thirsty +when we arrived, but drank more the following day; this completely +emptied all the wells, and our supply then depended upon the soakage, +which was of such a small volume that I became greatly disenchanted +with my new home. There was plenty of the mignonette plant, and the +camels did very well; I wanted water here only for a month, but it +seemed probable it would not last a week. We deepened all the wells, +and were most anxious watchers of the fluid as it slowly percolated +through the soil into the bottom of each. After I had been here two +days, and the water supply was getting gradually but surely less, I +naturally became most anxious to discover more, either in a west or +northerly direction; and I again sent my two officers, Messrs. +Tietkens and Young, to the north, to endeavour to discover a supply in +that direction, while I determined to go myself to the west on a +similar errand. I was desirous, as were they, that my two officers +should share the honour of completing a line of discovery from +Youldeh, northwards to the Everard and Musgrave Ranges, and thus +connect those considerable geographical features with the coast-line +at Fowler's Bay; and I promised them if they were fortunate and +discovered more water for a depot to the north, that they should +finish their line, whether I was successful to the west or not. This, +ending at the Musgrave Ranges would form in itself a very interesting +expedition. Those ranges lay nearly 200 miles to the north. As the +Musgrave Range is probably the highest in South Australia and a +continuous chain with the Everard Range, seventy or eighty miles this +side of it, I had every reason to expect that my officers would be +successful in discovering a fresh depot up in a northerly direction. +Their present journey, however, was only to find a new place to which +we might remove, as the water supply might cease at any moment, as at +each succeeding day it became so considerably less. Otherwise this was +a most pleasant little oasis, with such herbage for the camels that it +enabled them to do with very little water, after their first good +skinful. + +We arrived here on Sunday, the 1st of August, and both parties left +again on the 4th. Mr. Tietkens and Mr. Young took only their own +riding and one baggage camel to carry water and other things; they had +thirty gallons of water and ten days' provisions, as I expected they +would easily discover water within less than 100 miles, when they +would immediately return, as it might be necessary for them to remove +the whole camp from this place. I trusted all this to them, requesting +them, however, to hold out here as long as possible, as, if I returned +unsuccessful from the west, my camels might be unable to go any +farther. + +I was sure that the region to the west was not likely to prove a +Garden of Eden, and I thought it was not improbable that I might have +to go 200 miles before I found any water. If unsuccessful in that way +I should have precisely the same distance to come back again; +therefore, with the probabilities of such a journey before me, I +determined to carry out two casks of water to ninety or a hundred +miles, send some of the camels back from that point and push on with +the remainder. I took six excellent camels, three for riding and three +for carrying loads--two carrying thirty gallons of water each, and the +third provisions, rugs, gear, etc. I took Saleh, my only Afghan +camel-man--usually they are called camel-drivers, but that is a +misnomer, as all camels except riding ones must be led--and young Alec +Ross; Saleh was to return with the camels from the place at which I +should plant the casks, and Alec and I were to go on. The northern +party left on the same day, leaving Peter Nicholls, my cook, and Tommy +the black boy, to look after the camels and camp. + +(ILLUSTRATION: LITTLE SALT LAKE.) + +I will first give an outline of my journey to the west. The country, +except in the immediate neighbourhood of the wells, was, as usual in +this region, all sandhills and scrub, although at eighteen miles, +steering west, I came upon the shores of a large salt depression, or +lake-bed, which had numerous sandhill islands scattered about it. It +appeared to extend to a considerable distance southerly. By digging we +easily obtained a quantity of water, but it was all pure brine and +utterly useless. After this we met lake-bed after lake-bed, all in a +region of dense scrubs and sandhills for sixty miles, some were small, +some large, though none of the size of the first one. At seventy-eight +miles from Ooldabinna, having come as near west as it is possible to +steer in such a country on a camel--of course I had a Gregory's +compass--we had met no signs of water fit for man or animal to drink, +though brine and bog existed in most of the lake-beds. The scrubs were +very thick, and were chiefly mallee, the Eucalyptus dumosa, of course +attended by its satellite spinifex. So dense indeed was the growth of +the scrubs, that Alec Ross declared, figuratively speaking, "you could +not see your hand before you." We could seldom get a view a hundred +yards in extent, and we wandered on farther and farther from the only +place where we knew that water existed. At this distance, on the +shores of a salt-lake, there was really a very pretty scene, though in +such a frightful desert. A high, red earthy bank fringed with feathery +mulga and bushes to the brink, overlooking the milk-white expanse of +the lake, and all surrounded by a strip of open ground with the scrubs +standing sullenly back. The open ground looked green, but not with +fertility, for it was mostly composed of bushes of the dull green, +salty samphire. It was the weird, hideous, and demoniacal beauty of +absolute sterility that reigned here. From this place I decided to +send Saleh back with two camels, as this was the middle of the fourth +day. Saleh would have to camp by himself for at least two nights +before he could reach the depot, and the thought of such a thing +almost drove him distracted; I do not suppose he had ever camped out +by himself in his life previously. He devoutly desired to continue on +with us, but go he must, and go he did. We, however, carried the two +casks that one of his camels had brought until we encamped for the +fourth night, being now ninety miles from Ooldabinna. + +After Saleh left us we passed only one more salt lake, and then the +country became entirely be-decked with unbroken scrub, while spinifex +covered the whole ground. The scrubs consisted mostly of mallee, with +patches of thick mulga, casuarinas, sandal-wood, not the sweet-scented +sandal-wood of commerce, which inhabits the coast country of Western +Australia, and quandong trees, another species of the sandal-wood +family. Although this was in a cool time of the year--namely, near the +end of the winter--the heat in the day-time was considerable, as the +thermometer usually stood as high as 96 degrees in the shade, it was +necessary to completely shelter the casks from the sun; we therefore +cut and fixed over them a thick covering of boughs and leaves, which +was quite impervious to the solar ray, and if nothing disturbed them +while we were absent, I had no fear of injury to the casks or of much +loss from evaporation. No traces of any human inhabitants were seen, +nor were the usually ever-present, tracks of native game, or their +canine enemy the wild dingo, distinguishable upon the sands of this +previously untrodden wilderness. The silence and the solitude of this +mighty waste were appalling to the mind, and I almost regretted that I +had sworn to conquer it. The only sound the ear could catch, as hour +after hour we slowly glided on, was the passage of our noiseless +treading and spongy-footed "ships" as they forced their way through +the live and dead timber of the hideous scrubs. Thus we wandered on, +farther from our camp, farther from our casks, and farther from +everything we wished or required. A day and a half after Saleh left +us, at our sixth night's encampment, we had left Ooldabinna 140 miles +behind. I did not urge the camels to perform quick or extraordinary +daily journeys, for upon the continuance of their powers and strength +our own lives depended. When the camels got good bushes at night, they +would fill themselves well, then lie down for a sleep, and towards +morning chew their cud. When we found them contentedly doing so we +knew they had had good food. I asked Alec one morning, when he brought +them to the camp, if he had found them feeding; he replied, "Oh, no, +they were all lying down chewing their KID." Whenever the camels +looked well after this we said, "Oh, they are all right, they've been +chewing their 'kid.'" + +No water had yet been discovered, nor had any place where it could +lodge been seen, even if the latter rain itself descended upon us, +except indeed in the beds of the salt-lakes, where it would +immediately have been converted into brine. On the seventh day of our +march we had accomplished fifteen miles, when our attention was drawn +to a plot of burnt spinifex, surrounded by the recent foot-prints of +natives. This set us to scan the country in every direction where any +view could be obtained. Alec Ross climbed a tree, and by the aid of +field-glasses discovered the existence of a fall of country into a +kind of hollow, with an apparently broken piece of open grassy ground +some distance to the south-west. I determined to go to this spot, +whatever might be the result, and proceeded towards it; after +travelling five miles, and closely approaching it, I was disgusted to +find that it was simply the bed of a salt-lake, but as we saw numerous +native foot-prints and the tracks of emus, wild dogs, and other +creatures, both going to and coming from it, we went on until we +reached its lonely shore. There was an open space all round it, with +here and there a few trees belonging to the surrounding scrubs that +had either advanced on to, or had not receded from the open ground. +The bed of the lake was white, salty-looking, and dry; There was, +however, very fine herbage round the shores and on the open ground. +There was plenty of the little purple pea-vetch, the mignonette plant, +and Clianthus Dampierii, or Sturt's desert-pea, and we turned our four +fine camels out to graze, or rather browse, upon whatever they chose +to select, while we looked about in search of the water we felt sure +must exist here. + +The day was warm for this time of year, the thermometer standing at 95 +degrees in the shade. But before we went exploring for water we +thought it well to have some dinner. The most inviting looking spot +was at the opposite or southern end of the lake, which was +oval-shaped; we had first touched upon it at its northern end. Alec +Ross walked over to inspect that, and any other likely places, while I +dug wells in the bed of the lake. The soil was reasonably good and +moist, and on tasting it I could discover no taint of salt, nor had +the surface the same sparkling incrustation of saline particles that I +had noticed upon all the other lake-beds. At ten or eleven inches I +reached the bedrock, and found the soil rested upon a rotten kind of +bluish-green slate, but no water in the numerous holes I dug rewarded +me, so I gave it up in despair and returned to the camp to await +Alec's report of his wanderings. On the way I passed by some black +oak-trees near the margin, and saw where the natives had tapped the +roots of most of them for water. This I took to be a very poor sign of +any other water existing here. I could see all round the lake, and if +Alec was unsuccessful there was no other place to search. Alec was a +long time away, and it was already late when he returned, but on his +arrival he rejoiced me with the intelligence that, having fallen in +with a lot of fresh native tracks, all trending round to the spot that +looked so well from this side, he had followed them, and they led him +to a small native clay-dam on a clay-pan containing a supply of yellow +water. This information was, however, qualified by the remark that +there was not enough water there for the whole of our mob of camels, +although there was plenty for our present number. We immediately +packed up and went over to our new-found treasure. + +This spot is 156 miles straight from our last watering-place at +Ooldabinna. I was very much pleased with our discovery, though the +quantity of water was very small, but having found some, we thought we +might find more in the neighbourhood. At that moment I believe if we +had had all our camels here they could all have had a good drink, but +the evaporation being so terribly rapid in this country, by the time I +could return to Ooldabinna and then get back here, the water would be +gone and the dam dry. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" +is, however, a maxim that explorers must very often be contented to +abide by. Our camels got as much water as they chose to drink; they +were not very big animals, but I am sure 150 gallons was consumed +amongst the four. They were hobbled out in the excellent herbage, +which was better here than where we first outspanned them. There was +splendid grass as well as herbage, but camels seldom, if ever, touch +it. The clianthus pea and the vetch pea they ate ravenously, and when +they can get those they require very little water. + +No natives appeared to be now in the immediate neighbourhood. This was +a very pretty and charming little oasis-camp. We got a few +bronze-winged pigeons that came by mistake to water that night. The +following morning we found the camels had decamped, in consequence of +their having had long hobbles allowed them, as we did not suppose they +would ramble away from such splendid herbage and water. Alec went +after them very early, but had not returned by midday. During his +absence I was extremely anxious, for, if he should be unable to track, +and should return without them, our case would be almost hopeless. If +camels are determined to stampede and can get a good start, there is +frequently no overtaking them on foot. They are not like horses, which +will return of their own accord to water. Camels know their own powers +and their own independence of man, and I believe that a camel, if not +in subjection, might live for months without water, provided it could +get succulent food. How anxiously I listened as hour after hour I +maundered about this spot for the tinkling sound of the camels' bells! +How often fancy will deceive even the strongest minds! Twenty times +during that morning I could have sworn I heard the bells, and yet they +were miles out of earshot. When Alec and I and the camels were all +here together I thought this a very pretty place, but oh, how hideous +did it appear while I was here alone, with the harrowing thought of +the camels being lost and Alec returning without them. Death itself in +any terrors clad would have been a more welcome sight to me then and +there, than Alec Ross without the camels. But Alec Ross was a right +smart chance of a young bushman, and I knew that nothing would prevent +him from getting the animals so long as their hobbles held. If, +however, they succeeded in breaking them, it would be good-bye for +ever. As they can go in their hobbles, unless short, if they have a +mind to stampede, as fast as a man can walk in this region, and with a +whole night's start with loose legs, pursuit would be hopeless. But +surely at last I hear the bells! Yes; but, strange to say, I did not +hear them until Alec and the camels actually appeared through the edge +of scrub. Alec said they had gone miles, and were still pushing on in +single file when he got up to them. + +Now that I had found this water I was undecided what to do. It would +be gone before I could return to it, and where I should find any more +to the west it was impossible to say; it might be 100, it might be +200, it might even be 300 miles. God only knows where the waters are +in such a region as this. I hesitated for the rest of the day--whether +to go still farther west in search of water, or to return at once and +risk the bringing of the whole party here. Tietkens and Young, I +reflected, have found a new depot, and perhaps removed the whole party +to it. Then, again, they might not, but have had to retreat to +Youldeh. Eventually I decided to go on a few miles more to the west, +in order to see whether the character of the country was in any way +altered before I returned to the depot. + +We went about forty miles beyond the dam; the only alteration in the +country consisted of a return to the salt-lake system that had ceased +for so many miles prior to our reaching our little dam. At the +furthest point we reached, 195 miles from the depot; it was upon the +shore of another salt lake, no water of any kind was to be procured. +The only horizon to be seen was about fifteen miles away, and was +simply the rim of an undulation in the dreary scrubs covered with the +usual timber--that is to say, a mixture of the Eucalyptus dumosa or +mallee, casuarinas or black oaks, a few Grevilleas, hakea bushes, with +leguminous trees and shrubs, such as mulga, and a kind of harsh-, +silver wattle, looking bush. On the latter order of these trees and +plants the camels find their sustenance. Two stunted specimens of the +native orange-tree or capparis were seen where I had left the two +casks. From my furthest point west, in latitude 29 degrees 15' and +longitude 128 degrees 3' 30", I returned to the dam and found that +even during my short absence of only three and a half days the +diminution of the volume of water in it was amazing, and I was +perfectly staggered at the decrease, which was at the rate of more +than an inch per day. The dimensions of this singular little dam were +very small: the depth was its most satisfactory feature. It was, as +all native watering places are, funnel-shaped, and to the bottom of +the funnel I could poke a stick about three feet, but a good deal of +that depth was mud; the surface was not more than eight feet long, by +three feet wide, its shape was elliptical; it was not full when we +first saw it, having shrunk at least three feet from its highest +water-mark. I now decided to return by a new and more southerly route +to the depot, hoping to find some other waters on the way. At this dam +we were 160 miles from Eucla Harbour, which I visited last February +with my black boy Tommy and the three horses lost in pushing from +Wynbring to the Finniss. North from Eucla, running inland, is a great +plain. I now wished to determine how far north this plain actually +extended. I was here in scrubs to the north of it. The last night we +camped at the dam was exceedingly cold, the thermometer falling to 26 +degrees on the morning of the 16th of August, the day we left. I +steered south-east, and we came out of the scrubs, which had been +thinning, on to the great plain, in forty-nine or fifty miles. +Changing my course here to east, we skirted along the edge of the +plain for twenty-five miles. It was beautifully grassed, and had +cotton and salt-bush on it: also some little clover hollows, in which +rainwater lodges after a fall, but I saw none of any great capacity, +and none that held any water. It was splendid country for the camels +to travel over; no spinifex, no impediments for their feet, and no +timber. A bicycle could be ridden, I believe, over the whole extent of +this plain, which must be 500 or 600 miles long by nearly 200 miles +broad, it being known as the Hampton plains in Western Australia, and +ending, so to say, near Youldeh. Having determined where the plain +extends at this part of it, I now changed my course to east north-east +for 106 miles, through the usual sandhill scrubs and spinifex region, +until we reached the track of the caravan from Youldeh, having been +turned out of our straight course by a large salt lake, which most +probably is the southern end of the one we met first, at eighteen +miles west from Ooldabinna. By the tracks I could see that the party +had not retreated to Youldeh, which was so far re-assuring. On the +22nd of August we camped on the main line of tracks, fifteen miles +from home, when, soon after we started, it became very cloudy, and +threatened to rain. The weather for the last six days has been very +oppressive, the thermometer standing at 92 to 94 degrees, every day +when we outspanned, usually from eleven to half-past twelve, the +hottest time of the day not having then been reached. As we approached +the depot, some slight sprinklings of rain fell, and as we drew nearer +and nearer, our anxiety to ascertain whether our comrades were yet +there increased; also whether our camels, which had now come 196 miles +from the dam, could get any water, for we had found none whatever on +our return route. On mounting the last sandhill which shut out the +view, we were pleased to see the flutterings of the canvas habitations +in the hollow below, and soon after we were welcomed by our friends. +Saleh had returned by himself all right, and I think much to his +surprise had not been either killed, eaten, or lost in the bush. I was +indeed glad to find the party still there, as I had great doubts +whether they could hold out until my return. They were there, and that +was about all, for the water in all the wells was barely sufficient to +give our four camels a drink; there remained only a bucket or two of +slush rather than water in the whole camp. It appeared, however, as +though fortune were about to favour us, for the light droppings of +rain continued, and before night we were compelled to seek the shelter +of our tents. I was indeed thankful to Heaven for paying even a part +of so longstanding a debt, although it owes me a good many showers +yet; but being a patient creditor, I will wait. We were so anxious +about the water that we were continually stirring out of the tents to +see how the wells looked, and whether any water had yet ran into them, +a slight trickling at length began to run into the best-catching of +our wells, and although the rain did not continue long or fall +heavily, yet a sufficiency drained into the receptacle to enable us to +fill up all our water-holding vessels the next morning, and give a +thorough good drink to all our camels. I will now give an account of +how my two officers fared on their journey in search of a depot to the +north. + +Their first point was to the little native dam they had seen prior to +the discovery of this place, and there they encamped the first night, +ten miles from hence on a bearing of north 9 degrees east. Leaving the +dam, they went north for twenty-five miles over high sandhills and +through scrubs, when they saw some fresh native tracks, and found a +small and poor native well, in which there was only a bucketful or two +of water. They continued their northern course for twenty-five miles +farther, when they reached a hollow with natives' foot-marks all over +it, and some diamond sparrows, Amadina of Gould. Again they were +unsuccessful in all their searches for water. Going farther north for +fifteen miles, they observed some smoke to the north-east, and reached +the place in six or seven miles. Here they found and surprised a large +family of natives, who had apparently only recently arrived. A wide +and deep hollow or valley existed among high sandhill country, +timbered mostly with a eucalyptus, which is simply a gigantic species +of mallee, but as it grows singly, it resembles gum-trees. Having +descended into this hollow, a mile and a half wide, they saw the +natives, and were in hopes of obtaining some information from them, +but unfortunately the whole mob decamped, uttering loud and prolonged +cries. Following this valley still northwards they reached its head in +about six miles, but could discover no place where the natives +obtained their supplies of water. At this point they were travelling +over burnt scrubby sandhill country still north, when the natives who +had appeared so shy came running after them in a threatening manner, +howling at them, and annoying them in every possible way. These +people, who had now arrayed themselves in their war-paint, and had all +their fighting weapons in hand, evidently meant mischief; but my +officers managed to get away from them without coming to a hostile +encounter. They endeavoured to parley with the natives and stopped for +that purpose, but could gain no information whatever as to the waters +in their territories. Four miles north were then travelled, over burnt +country, and having failed in discovering any places or even signs, +otherwise than the presence of black men, of places where water could +be obtained, and being anxious about the state of the water supply at +the depot, as I had advised them not to remain too long away from this +point, whose position is in latitude 27 degrees 48' and longitude 131 +degrees 19', they returned. The Musgrave Range, they said, was not +more than 100 miles to the north of them, but they had not sighted it. +They were greatly disappointed at their want of success, and returned +by a slightly different route, searching in every likely-looking place +for water, but finding none, though they are both of opinion that the +country is watered by native wells, and had they had sufficient time +to have more thoroughly investigated it, they would doubtless have +been more successful. The Everard Range being about sixty miles south +from the Musgrave chain, and they not having sighted it, I can +scarcely think they could have been within 100 miles of the Musgrave, +as from high sandhills that high feature should be visible at that +distance. + +When Alec Ross and I returned from the west the others had been back +some days, and were most anxious to hear how we had got on out west. + +The usual anxiety at the camp was the question of water supply; I had +found so little where I had been, and the water here was failing +rapidly every day. Had it not been for last night's rain, we should be +in a great difficulty this morning. Now, however, we had got our +supply replenished by the light rain, and for the moment all was well; +but it did not follow that because it rained here it must also rain at +the little dam 160 miles away. Yet I decided to take the whole party +to it, and as, by the blessing of Providence, we now had sufficient +water for the purpose, to carry as much as we possibly could, so that +if no rain had fallen at the dam when we arrived there, we should give +the camels what water they carried and keep pushing on west, and trust +to fate, or fortune, or chance, or Providence, or whatever it might +be, that would bring us to water beyond. On the 24th August, having +filled up everything that could hold a drop of water, we departed from +this little isolated spot, having certainly 160 miles of desert +without water to traverse, and perhaps none to be found at the end. +Now, having everything ready, and watered our camels, we folded our +tents like the Arabs, and as silently stole away. In consequence of +having to carry so much water, our loads upon leaving Ooldabinna were +enormously heavy, and the weather became annoyingly hot just as we +began our journey. The four camels which Alec Ross and I had out with +us looked wretched objects beside their more fortunate companions that +had been resting at Ooldabinna, and were now in excellent condition; +our unfortunates, on the contrary, had been travelling for seventeen +days at the rate of twenty-three miles per day, with only one drink of +water in the interval. These four were certainly excellent animals. +Alec rode my little riding cow Reechy. I had a splendid gelding, which +I named the Pearl Beyond all Price, though he was only called the +Pearl. He was a beautiful white camel. Another cow I called the Wild +Gazelle, and we had a young bull that afterwards became Mr. Tietkens's +riding camel. It is unnecessary to record each day's proceedings +through these wretched scrubs, as the record of "each dreary to-morrow +but repeats the dull tale of to-day." But I may here remark that +camels have a great advantage over horses in these dense wildernesses, +for the former are so tall that their loads are mostly raised into the +less resisting upper branches of the low trees of which these scrubs +are usually composed, whereas the horses' loads being so much nearer +the ground have to be dragged through the stouter and stronger lower +limbs of the trees. Again, camels travel in one long single file, and +where the leading camel forces his way the others all follow. It is of +great importance to have some good leading camels. My arrangement for +traversing these scrubs was as follows:--Saleh on his riding gelding, +the most lion-hearted creature in the whole mob, although Saleh was +always beating or swearing at him in Hindostanee, led the whole +caravan, which was divided into three separate lots; at every sixth +there was a break, and one of the party rode ahead of the next six, +and so on. The method of leading was, when the scrubs permitted, the +steersman would ride; if they were too thick for correct steering, he +would walk; then a man riding or leading a riding camel to guide +Saleh, who led the baggage mob. Four of us used to steer. I had taught +Alec Ross, and we took an hour about, at a time. Immediately behind +Saleh came three bull camels loaded with casks of water, each cask +holding twenty gallons. These used to crash and smash down and through +the branches, so that the passage was much clearer after them. All the +rest of the equipment, including water-beds, boxes, etc., was encased +in huge leather bags, except one cow's load; this, with the bags of +flour on two other camels, was enveloped in green hide. The fortunate +rider at the extreme end had a somewhat open groove to ride in. This +last place was the privilege of the steersman when his hour of agony +was up. After the caravan had forced its way through this forest +primeval, there was generally left an open serpentine line about six +feet above the ground, through the trees, and when a person was on +this line they could see that something unusual must have passed +through. On the ground was a narrower line about two feet wide, and +sometimes as much as a foot deep, where one animal after another had +stepped. In my former journals I mentioned that the spinifex wounded +the horses' feet, and disfigured their coronets, it also used to take +a good deal of hair off some of the horses' legs; but in the case of +the camels, although it did not seem to excoriate them, it took every +hair off their legs up to three feet from the ground, and their limbs +turned black, and were as bright and shiny as a newly polished boot. +The camels' hair was much finer than that of the horses', but their +skin was much thicker, and while the horses' legs were punctured and +suppurating, the camels' were all as hard as steel and bright as +bayonets. + +What breakfast we had was always taken very early, before it was light +enough to track the camels; then, while some of the party went after +them, the others' duty was to have all the saddles and packs ready for +instant loading. Our shortest record of leaving a camp (On a piece of +open ground.) was half an hour from the instant the first camel was +caught, but it usually took the best part of an hour before a +clearance could be effected. Upon leaving Ooldabinna we had our +westerly tracks to follow; this made the road easier. At the +ninety-mile place, where I left the two water casks, we were glad to +find them all safe, and in consequence of the shade we had put over +them, there had been no loss of water from evaporation. On the sixth +night from Ooldabinna we were well on our way towards the little dam, +having come 120 miles. The heat had been very oppressive. At dusk of +that day some clouds obscured the sky, and light rain fell, continuing +nearly all night. On the seventh day, the 30th of August, there was +every appearance of wet setting in. I was very thankful, for now I +felt sure we should find more water in the little dam than when I left +it. We quietly ensconced ourselves under our tents in the midst of the +scrubs, and might be said to have enjoyed a holiday as a respite and +repose, in contrast to our usual perpetual motion. The ground was far +too porous to hold any surface water, and had our camels wanted it +never so much, it could only be caught upon some outspread tarpaulins; +but what with the descending moisture, the water we carried and the +rain we caught, we could now give them as much as they liked to drink, +and I now felt sure of getting more when we arrived at the little dam. +During the night of the 29th one of our best cow-camels calved. +Unfortunately the animal strained herself so severely in one of her +hips, or other part of her hind legs, that she could not rise from the +ground. She seemed also paralysed with cold. Her little mite of a calf +had to be killed. We milked the mother as well as we could while she +was lying down, and we fed and watered her--at least we offered her +food and water, but she was in too great pain to eat. Camel calves +are, in proportion to their mothers, the most diminutive but pretty +little objects imaginable. I delayed here an additional day on the +poor creature's account, but all our efforts to raise her proved +unsuccessful. I could not leave the poor dumb brute on the ground to +die by inches slowly, by famine, and alone, so I in mercy shot her +just before we left the place, and left her dead alongside the progeny +that she had brought to life in such a wilderness, only at the expense +of her own. She had been Mr. Tietkens's hack, and one of our best +riding camels. We had now little over forty miles to go to reach the +dam, and as all our water had been consumed, and the vessels were +empty, the loads now were light enough. On the 3rd of September we +arrived, and were delighted to find that not only had the dam been +replenished, but it was full to overflowing. A little water was +actually visible in the lake-bed alongside of it, at the southern end, +but it was unfit for drinking. + +The little reservoir had now six feet of water in it; there was +sufficient for all my expected requirements. The camels could drink at +their ease and pleasure. The herbage and grass was more green and +luxuriant than ever, and to my eyes it now appeared a far more pretty +scene. There were the magenta-coloured vetch, the scarlet desert-pea, +and numerous other leguminous plants, bushes, and trees, of which the +camels are so fond. Mr. Young informed me that he had seen two or +three natives from the spot at which we pitched our tents, but I saw +none, and they never returned while we were in occupation of their +property. This would be considered a pretty spot anywhere, but coming +suddenly on it from the dull and sombre scrubs, the contrast makes it +additionally striking. In the background to the south were some high +red sandhills, on which grew some scattered casuarina of the black oak +kind, which is a different variety from, and not so elegant or shady a +tree as, the finer desert oak, which usually grows in more open +regions. I have not as yet seen any of them on this expedition. All +round the lake is a green and open space with scrubs standing back, +and the white lake-bed in the centre. The little dam was situated on a +piece of clay ground where rain-water from the foot of some of the +sandhills could run into the lake; and here the natives had made a +clumsy and (ab)original attempt at storing the water, having dug out +the tank in the wrong place, at least not in the best position for +catching the rain-water. I felt sure there was to be a waterless track +beyond, so I stayed at this agreeable place for a week, in order to +recruit the camels, and more particularly to enable another cow to +calve. During this interval of repose we had continued oppressive +weather, the thermometer standing from 92 and 94 to 96 degrees every +afternoon, but the nights were agreeably cool, if not cold. We had +generally very cloudy mornings; the flies were particularly numerous +and troublesome, and I became convinced that any further travel to the +west would have to be carried on under very unfavourable +circumstances. This little dam was situated in latitude 29 degrees 19' +4", and longitude 128 degrees 38' 16", showing that we had crossed the +boundary line between the two colonies of South and Western Australia, +the 129th meridian. I therefore called this the Boundary Dam. It must +be recollected that we are and have been for 7 1/2 degrees of +longitude--that is to say, for 450 miles of westing, and 130 miles of +northing--occupying the intervening period between the 9th of June, to +the 3rd of September, entirely enveloped in dense scrubs, and I may +say that very few if any explorers have ever before had such a region +to traverse. I had managed to penetrate this country up to the present +point, and it was not to be wondered at if we all ardently longed for +a change. Even a bare, boundless expanse of desert sand would be +welcomed as an alternative to the dark and dreary scrubs that +surrounded us. However, it appeared evident to me, as I had traversed +nothing but scrubs for hundreds of miles from the east, and had found +no water of any size whatever in all the distance I had yet come, that +no waters really existed in this country, except an occasional native +well or native dam, and those only at considerable distances apart. +Concluding this to be the case, and my object being that the +expedition should reach the city of Perth, I decided there was only +one way to accomplish this--namely, to go thither, at any risk, and +trust to Providence for an occasional supply of water here and there +in the intermediate distance. I desired to make for a hill or mountain +called Mount Churchman by Augustus Churchman Gregory in 1846. I had no +written record of water existing there, but my chart showed that Mount +Churchman had been visited by two or three other travellers since that +date, and it was presumable that water did permanently exist there. +The hill was, however, distant from this dam considerably over 600 +miles in a straight line, and too far away for it to be possible we +could reach it unless we should discover some new watering places +between. I was able to carry a good supply of water in casks, +water-beds and bags; and to enable me to carry this I had done away +with various articles, and made the loads as light as possible; but it +was merely lightening them of one commodity to load them with a +corresponding weight of water. At the end of a week I was tired of the +listless life at the camp. The cow camel had not calved, and showed no +greater disposition to do so now than when we arrived, so I determined +to delay no longer on her account. The animals had done remarkably +well here, as the feed was so excellent. The water that had been lying +in the bed of the lake when we arrived had now dried up, and the +quantity taken by ourselves and the camels from the little dam was +telling very considerably upon its store--a plain intimation to us +that it would soon become exhausted, and that for the sustenance of +life more must be procured. Where the next favoured spot would be +found, who could tell? The last water we had met was over 150 miles +away; the next might be double that distance. Having considered all +these matters, I informed my officers and men that I had determined to +push westward, without a thought of retreat, no matter what the result +might be; that it was a matter of life or death for us; we must push +through or die in the scrubs. I added that if any more than one of the +party desired to retreat, I would provide them with rations and +camels, when they could either return to Fowler's Bay by the way we +had come, or descend to Eucla Station on the coast, which lay south +nearly 170 miles distant. + +I represented that we were probably in the worst desert upon the face +of the earth, but that fact should give us all the more pleasure in +conquering it. We were surrounded on all sides by dense scrubs, and +the sooner we forced our way out of them the better. It was of course +a desperate thing to do, and I believe very few people would or could +rush madly into a totally unknown wilderness, where the nearest known +water was 650 miles away. But I had sworn to go to Perth or die in the +attempt, and I inspired the whole of my party with my own enthusiasm. +One and all declared that they would live or die with me. The natives +belonging to this place had never come near us, therefore we could get +no information concerning any other waters in this region. Owing to +the difficulty of holding conversation with wild tribes, it is highly +probable that if we had met them we should have got no information of +value from them. When wild natives can be induced to approach and +speak to the first travellers who trespass on their domains, they +simply repeat, as well as they can, every word and action of the +whites; this becomes so annoying that it is better to be without them. +When they get to be more intimate and less nervous they also generally +become more familiar, and want to see if white people are white all +over, and to satisfy their curiosity in many ways. This region +evidently does not support a very numerous tribe, and there is not +much game in it. I have never visited any part of Australia so devoid +of animal life. + +On the 10th of September everything was ready, and I departed, +declaring that:-- + + "Though the scrubs may range around me, + My camel shall bear me on; + Though the desert may surround me, + It hath springs that shall be won." + +Mounting my little fairy camel Reechy, I "whispered to her westward, +westward, and with speed she darted onward." The morning was cloudy +and cool, and I anticipated a change from the quite sufficiently hot +weather we had lately had, although I did not expect rain. We had no +notion of how far we might have to go, or how many days might elapse +before we came to any other water, but we left our friendly little dam +in high hopes and excellent spirits, hoping to discover not only +water, but some more agreeable geographical features than we had as +yet encountered. I had set my own and all my companions' lives upon a +cast, and will stand the hazard of the die, and I may add that each +one displayed at starting into the new unknown, the greatest desire +and eagerness for our attempt. On leaving the depot I had determined +to travel on a course that would enable me to reach the 30th parallel +of latitude at about its intersection with the 125th meridian of +longitude; for I thought it probable the scrubs might terminate sooner +in that direction than in one more northerly. Our course was therefore +on a bearing of south 76 degrees west; this left the line of salt +lakes Alec Ross and I had formerly visited, and which lay west, on our +right or northwards of us. Immediately after the start we entered +thick scrubs as usual; they were mostly composed of the black oak, +casuarina, with mulga and sandal-wood, not of commerce. We passed by +the edge of two small salt depressions at six and nine miles; at ten +miles we were overtaken by a shower of rain, and at eleven miles, as +it was still raining slightly, we encamped on the edge of another +lake. During the evening we saved sufficient water by means of our +tarpaulins for all our own requirements. During the night it also +rained at intervals, and we collected a lot of water and put it into a +large canvas trough used for watering the camels when they cannot +reach the water themselves. I carried two of these troughs, which held +sufficient water for them all when at a watered camp, but not +immediately after a dry stage; then they required to be filled three +or four times. On the following morning, however, as we had but just +left the depot, the camels would not drink, and as all our vessels +were full, the water in the trough had to be poured out upon the +ground as a libation to the Fates. In consequence of having to dry a +number of things, we did not get away until past midday, and at eleven +miles upon our course, after passing two small salt lagoons, we came +upon a much larger one, where there was good herbage. This we took +advantage of, and encamped there. Camels will not eat anything from +which they cannot extract moisture, by which process they are enabled +to go so long without water. The recent rain had left some sheets of +water in the lake-bed at various places, but they were all as salt as +brine--in fact brine itself. + +The country we passed through to-day was entirely scrubs, except where +the salt basins intervened, and nothing but scrubs could be seen +ahead, or indeed in any other direction. The latitude of the camp on +this lake was 29 degrees 24' 8", and it was twenty-two miles from the +dam. We continued our march and proceeded still upon the same course, +still under our usual routine of steering. By the fifth night of our +travels we had met no water or any places that could hold it, and +apparently we had left all the salt basins behind. Up to this point we +had been continually in dense scrubs, but here the country became a +little more open; myal timber, acacia, generally took the places of +the mallee and the casuarinas; the spinifex disappeared, and real +grass grew in its place. I was in hopes of finding water if we should +debouch upon a plain, or perhaps discover some ranges or hills which +the scrubs might have hidden from us. On the sixth day of our march we +entered fairly on a plain, the country being very well grassed. It +also had several kinds of salsolaceous bushes upon it; these furnish +excellent fodder plants for all herbivorous animals. Although the soil +was not very good, being sand mixed with clay, it was a very hard and +good travelling country; the camels' feet left scarcely any impression +on it, and only by the flattened grass and crushed plants trodden to +earth by our heavy-weighing ships, could our trail now be followed. +The plain appeared to extend a great distance all around us. A solemn +stillness pervaded the atmosphere; nobody spoke much above a whisper. +Once we saw some wild turkey bustards, and Mr. Young managed to wing +one of them on the seventh day from the dam. On the seventh night the +cow, for which we had delayed there, calved, but her bull-calf had to +be destroyed, as we could not delay for it on the march. The old cow +was in very good condition, went off her milk in a day or two, and +continued on the journey as though nothing had occurred. On the eighth +we had cold fowl for breakfast, with a modicum of water. On the ninth +and tenth days of our march the plains continued, and I began to think +we were more liable to die for want of water on them than in the dense +and hideous scrubs we had been so anxious to leave behind. Although +the region now was all a plain, no views of any extent could be +obtained, as the country still rolled on in endless undulations at +various distances apart, just as in the scrubs. It was evident that +the regions we were traversing were utterly waterless, and in all the +distance we had come in ten days, no spot had been found where water +could lodge. It was totally uninhabited by either man or animal, not a +track of a single marsupial, emu, or wild dog was to be seen, and we +seemed to have penetrated into a region utterly unknown to man, and as +utterly forsaken by God. We had now come 190 miles from water, and our +prospects of obtaining any appeared more and more hopeless. Vainly +indeed it seemed that I might say--with the mariner on the +ocean--"Full many a green spot needs must be in this wide waste of +misery, Or the traveller worn and wan never thus could voyage on." But +where was the oasis for us? Where the bright region of rest? And now, +when days had many of them passed away, and no places had been met +where water was, the party presented a sad and solemn procession, as +though each and all of us was stalking slowly onward to his tomb. Some +murmurs of regret reached my ears; but I was prepared for more than +that. Whenever we camped, Saleh would stand before me, gaze fixedly +into my face and generally say: "Mister Gile, when you get water?" I +pretended to laugh at the idea, and say. "Water? pooh! There's no +water in this country, Saleh. I didn't come here to find water, I came +here to die, and you said you'd come and die too." Then he would +ponder awhile, and say: "I think some camel he die to-morrow, Mr. +Gile." I would say: "No, Saleh, they can't possibly live till +to-morrow, I think they will all die to-night." Then he: "Oh, Mr. +Gile, I think we all die soon now." Then I: "Oh yes, Saleh, we'll all +be dead in a day or two." When he found he couldn't get any +satisfaction out of me he would begin to pray, and ask me which was +the east. I would point south: down he would go on his knees, and +abase himself in the sand, keeping his head in it for some time. +Afterwards he would have a smoke, and I would ask: "What's the matter, +Saleh? what have you been doing?" "Ah, Mr. Gile," was his answer, "I +been pray to my God to give you a rock-hole to-morrow." I said, "Why, +Saleh, if the rock-hole isn't there already there won't be time for +your God to make it; besides, if you can get what you want by praying +for it, let me have a fresh-water lake, or a running river, that will +take us right away to Perth. What's the use of a paltry rock-hole?" +Then he said solemnly, "Ah, Mr. Gile, you not religious." + +On the eleventh day the plains died off, and we re-entered a new bed +of scrubs--again consisting of mallee, casuarinas, desert sandal-wood, +and quandong-trees of the same family; the ground was overgrown with +spinifex. By the night of the twelfth day from the dam, having daily +increased our rate of progress, we had traversed scrubs more +undulating than previously, consisting of the usual kinds of trees. At +sundown we descended into a hollow; I thought this would prove the bed +of another salt lake, but I found it to be a rain-water basin or very +large clay-pan, and although there were signs of the former presence +of natives, the whole basin, grass, and herbage about it, were as dry +as the desert around. Having found a place where water could lodge, I +was certainly disappointed at finding none in it, as this showed that +no rain whatever had fallen here, where it might have remained, when +we had good but useless showers immediately upon leaving the dam. From +the appearance of the vegetation no rains could possibly have visited +this spot for many months, if not years. The grass was white and dry, +and ready to blow away with any wind. + +(ILLUSTRATION: IN QUEEN VICTORIA'S DESERT.) + +We had now travelled 242 miles from the little dam, and I thought it +advisable here to give our lion-hearted camels a day's respite, and to +apportion out to them the water that some of them had carried for that +purpose. By the time we reached this distance from the last water, +although no one had openly uttered the word retreat, all knowing it +would be useless, still I was not unassailed by croakings of some of +the ravens of the party, who advised me, for the sake of saving our +own and some of the camels' lives, to sacrifice a certain number of +the worst, and not give these unfortunates any water at all. But I +represented that it would be cruel, wrong, and unjust to pursue such a +course, and yet expect these neglected ones still to travel on with +us; for even in their dejected state some, or even all, might actually +go as far without water as the others would go with; and as for +turning them adrift, or shooting them in a mob--which was also +mooted--so long as they could travel, that was out of the question. So +I declined all counsel, and declared it should be a case of all sink +or all swim. In the middle of the thirteenth day, during which we +rested for the purpose, the water was fairly divided among the camels; +the quantity given to each was only a little over four gallons--about +equivalent to four thimblesful to a man. There were eighteen grown +camels and one calf, Youldeh, the quantity given was about eighty +gallons. To give away this quantity of water in such a region was like +parting with our blood; but it was the creatures' right, and carried +expressly for them; and with the renewed vigour which even that small +quantity imparted to them, our own lives seemed to obtain a new lease. +Unfortunately, the old cow which calved at Youldeh, and whose she-calf +is the prettiest and nicest little pet in the world, has begun to fail +in her milk, and I am afraid the young animal will be unable to hold +out to the end of this desert, if indeed it has an end this side of +Perth. The position of this dry basin is in latitude 30 degrees 7' 3", +and longitude 124 degrees 41' 2". Since reaching the 125th meridian, +my course had been 5 degrees more southerly, and on departing from +this wretched basin on the 22nd of September, with animals greatly +refreshed and carrying much lighter loads, we immediately entered +dense scrubs, composed as usual of mallee, with its friend the +spinifex, black oaks, and numerous gigantic mallee-like gum-trees. It +seemed that distance, which lends enchantment to the view, was the +only chance for our lives; distance, distance, unknown distance seemed +to be our only goal. The country rose immediately from this depression +into high and rolling hills of sand, and here I was surprised to find +that a number of the melancholy cypress pines ornamented both the +sandy hills and the spinifex depressions through and over which we +went. Here, indeed, some few occasional signs and traces of the former +presence of natives existed. The only water they can possibly get in +this region must be from the roots of the trees. A great number of the +so-called native poplar-trees, of two varieties, Codonocarpus, were +now met, and the camels took huge bites at them as they passed by. The +smaller vegetation assumed the familiar similitude to that around the +Mount Olga of my two first horse expeditions. Two wild dog puppies +were seen and caught by my black boy Tommy and Nicholls, in the scrubs +to-day, the fourteenth from the dam. Tommy and others had also found a +few Lowans', Leipoa ocellata, nests, and we secured a few of the +pink-tinted eggs; this was the laying season. These, with the turkey +Mr. Young had shot on the plain, were the only adjuncts to our +supplies that we had obtained from this region. After to-day's stage +there was nothing but the native poplar for the camels to eat, and +they devoured the leaves with great apparent relish, though to my +human taste it is about the most disgusting of vegetables. The +following day, fifteenth from water, we accomplished twenty-six miles +of scrubs. Our latitude here was 30 degrees 17'. The country continued +to rise into sandhills, from which the only views obtainable presented +spaces precisely similar to those already traversed and left behind to +the eastwards, and if it were only from our experience of what we had +passed, that we were to gather intelligence of what was before us in +the future, then would our future be gloomy indeed. + +At twelve o'clock on the sixteenth day some natives' smoke was seen +straight on our course, and also some of their foot-marks. The days +throughout this march had been warm; the thermometer at twelve +o'clock, when we let the camels lie down, with their loads on, for an +hour, usually stood at 94, 95, or 96 degrees, while in the afternoon +it was some degrees hotter. On Saturday, the 25th of September, being +the sixteenth day from the water at the Boundary Dam, we travelled +twenty-seven miles, still on our course, through mallee and spinifex, +pines, casuarinas, and quandong-trees, and noticed for the first time +upon this expedition some very fine specimens of the Australian +grass-tree, Xanthorrhoea; the giant mallee were also numerous. The +latter give a most extraordinary appearance to the scenes they adorn, +for they cheat the eye of the traveller into the belief that he is +passing through tracts of alluvial soil, and gazing, upon the +water-indicating gum-trees. This night we reached a most abominable +encampment; there was nothing that the camels could eat, and the +ground was entirely covered with great bunches of spinifex. Before us, +and all along the western horizon, we had a black-looking and scrubby +rise of very high sandhills; each of us noticed its resemblance to +those sandhills which had confronted us to the north and east when at +Youldeh. By observation we found that we were upon the same latitude, +but had reached a point in longitude 500 miles to the west of it. It +is highly probable that no water exists in a straight line between the +two places. Shortly before evening, Mr. Young was in advance steering, +but he kept so close under the sun--it being now so near the equinox, +the sun set nearly west, and our course being 21 degrees south of +west--I had to go forward and tell him that he was not steering +rightly. Of course he became indignant, and saying, "Perhaps you'll +steer, then, if you don't think I can!" he handed me the compass. I +took it in silence and steered more southerly, in the proper direction +of our course; this led us over a long white ridge of sand, and +brought us to the hollow where, as I said before, we had such a +wretched encampment. I mention this as a circumstance attaches to it. +The fate of empires at times has hung upon a thread, and our fate now +hung upon my action. We had come 323 miles without having seen a drop +of water. There was silence and melancholy in the camp; and was it to +be wondered at if, in such a region and under such circumstances, +there was:-- + + "A load on each spirit, a cloud o'er each soul, + With eyes that could scan not, our destiny's scroll." + +Every man seemed to turn his eyes on me. I was the great centre of +attraction; every action of mine was held to have some peculiar +meaning. I was continually asked night after night if we should get +water the following day? The reply, "How can I tell?" was +insufficient; I was supposed to know to an inch where water was and +exactly when we could reach it. I believe all except the officers +thought I was making for a known water, for although I had explained +the situation before leaving the dam, it was only now that they were +beginning to comprehend its full meaning. Towards the line of dark +sandhills, which formed the western horizon, was a great fall of +country into a kind of hollow, and on the following morning, the +seventeenth day from the dam, Mr. Tietkens appeared greatly impressed +with the belief that we were in the neighbourhood of water. I said +nothing of my own impressions, for I thought something of the kind +also, although I said I would not believe it. It was Mr. Tietkens's +turn to steer, and he started on foot ahead of the string of camels +for that purpose. He gave Tommy his little riding-bull, the best +leading camel we have, and told him to go on top of a white sandhill +to our left, a little south of us, and try if he could find any fresh +blacks' tracks, or other indications of water. I did not know that +Tommy had gone, nor could I see that Tietkens was walking--it was an +extraordinary event when the whole string of camels could be seen at +once in a line in this country--and we had been travelling some two +miles and a half when Alec Ross and Peter Nicholls declared that they +heard Tommy calling out "water!" I never will believe these things +until they are proved, so I kept the party still going on. However, +even I, soon ceased to doubt, for Tommy came rushing through the +scrubs full gallop, and, between a scream and a howl, yelled out quite +loud enough now even for me to hear, "Water! water! plenty water here! +come on! come on! this way! this way! come on, Mr. Giles! mine been +find 'em plenty water!" I checked his excitement a moment and asked +whether it was a native well he had found, and should we have to work +at it with the shovel? Tommy said, "No fear shovel, that fellow water +sit down meself (i.e. itself) along a ground, camel he drink 'em +meself." Of course we turned the long string after him. Soon after he +left us he had ascended the white sandhill whither Mr. Tietkens had +sent him, and what sight was presented to his view! A little open oval +space of grass land, half a mile away, surrounded entirely by +pine-trees, and falling into a small funnel-shaped hollow, looked at +from above. He said that before he ascended the sandhill he had seen +the tracks of an emu, and on descending he found the bird's track went +for the little open circle. He then followed it to the spot, and saw a +miniature lake lying in the sand, with plenty of that inestimable +fluid which he had not beheld for more than 300 miles. He watered his +camel, and then rushed after us, as we were slowly passing on +ignorantly by this life-sustaining prize, to death and doom. Had Mr. +Young steered rightly the day before--whenever it was his turn during +that day I had had to tell him to make farther south--we should have +had this treasure right upon our course; and had I not checked his +incorrect steering in the evening, we should have passed under the +northern face of a long, white sandhill more than two miles north of +this water. Neither Tommy nor anybody else would have seen the place +on which it lies, as it is completely hidden in the scrubs; as it was, +we should have passed within a mile of it if Mr. Tietkens had not sent +Tommy to look out, though I had made up my mind not to enter the high +sandhills beyond without a search in this hollow, for my experience +told me if there was no water in it, none could exist in this terrible +region at all, and we must have found the tracks of natives, or wild +dogs or emus leading to the water. Such characters in the book of +Nature the explorer cannot fail to read, as we afterwards saw numerous +native foot-marks all about. When we arrived with the camels at this +newly-discovered liquid gem, I found it answered to Tommy's +description. It is the most singularly-placed water I have ever seen, +lying in a small hollow in the centre of a little grassy flat, and +surrounded by clumps of the funereal pines, "in a desert inaccessible, +under the shade of melancholy boughs." While watering my little camel +at its welcome waters, I might well exclaim, "In the desert a fountain +is springing"--though in this wide waste there's too many a tree. The +water is no doubt permanent, for it is supplied by the drainage of the +sandhills that surround it, and it rests on a substratum of impervious +clay. It lies exposed to view in a small open basin, the water being +only about 150 yards in circumference and from two to three feet deep. +Farther up the slopes, at much higher levels, native wells had been +sunk in all directions--in each and all of these there was water. One +large well, apparently a natural one, lay twelve or thirteen feet +higher up than the largest basin, and contained a plentiful supply of +pure water. Beyond the immediate precincts of this open space the +scrubs abound. + +It may be imagined how thankful we were for the discovery of this only +and lonely watered spot, after traversing such a desert. How much +longer and farther the expedition could have gone on without water we +were now saved the necessity of guessing, but this I may truly say, +that Sir Thomas Elder's South Australian camels are second to none in +the world for strength and endurance. From both a human and humane +point of view, it was most fortunate to have found this spring, and +with it a respite, not only from our unceasing march, but from the +terrible pressure on our minds of our perilous situation; for the +painful fact was ever before us, that even after struggling bravely +through hundreds of miles of frightful scrubs, we might die like dogs +in the desert at last, unheard of and unknown. On me the most severe +was the strain; for myself I cared not, I had so often died in spirit +in my direful journeys that actual death was nothing to me. But for +vanity, or fame, or honour, or greed, and to seek the bubble +reputation, I had brought six other human beings into a dreadful +strait, and the hollow eyes and gaunt, appealing glances that were +always fixed on me were terrible to bear; but I gathered some support +from a proverb of Solomon: "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy +strength is small." Mount Churchman, the place I was endeavouring to +reach, was yet some 350 miles distant; this discovery, it was +therefore evident, was the entire salvation of the whole party. + +During our march for these sixteen or seventeen days from the little +dam, I had not put the members of my party upon an actual short +allowance of water. Before we watered the camels we had over 100 +gallons of water, yet the implied restraint was so great that we were +all in a continual state of thirst during the whole time, and the +small quantity of water consumed--of course we never had any tea or +coffee--showed how all had restrained themselves. + +(ILLUSTRATION: QUEEN VICTORIA'S SPRING.) + +Geographical features have been terribly scarce upon this expedition, +and this peculiar spring is the first permanent water I have found. I +have ventured to dedicate it to our most gracious Queen. The great +desert in which I found it, and which will most probably extend to the +west as far as it does to the east, I have also honoured with Her +Majesty's mighty name, calling it the Great Victoria Desert, and the +spring, Queen Victoria's Spring. In future times these may be +celebrated localities in the British Monarch's dominions. I have no +Victoria or Albert Nyanzas, no Tanganyikas, Lualabas, or Zambezes, +like the great African travellers, to honour with Her Majesty's name, +but the humble offering of a little spring in a hideous desert, which, +had it surrounded the great geographical features I have enumerated, +might well have kept them concealed for ever, will not, I trust, be +deemed unacceptable in Her Majesty's eyes, when offered by a loyal and +most faithful subject. + +On our arrival here our camels drank as only thirsty camels can, and +great was our own delight to find ourselves again enabled to drink at +will and indulge in the luxury of a bath. Added to both these +pleasures was a more generous diet, so that we became quite enamoured +of our new home. At this spring the thorny vegetation of the desert +grew alongside the more agreeable water-plants at the water's edge, so +that fertility and sterility stood side by side. Mr. Young planted +some seeds of numerous vegetables, plants, and trees, and among others +some of the giant bamboo, Dendrocalamus striatus, also Tasmanian blue +gum and wattles. I am afraid these products of Nature will never reach +maturity, for the natives are continually burning the rough grass and +spinifex, and on a favourably windy occasion these will consume +everything green or dry, down to the water's edge. There seems to be +very little native game here, though a number of bronze-winged pigeons +came to water at night and morning. There are, however, so many small +native wells besides the larger sheet, for them to drink at, and also +such a quantity of a thorny vegetation to screen them, that we have +not been very successful in getting any. Our best shot, Mr. Young, +succeeded in bagging only four or five. It was necessary, now that we +had found this spring, to give our noble camels a fair respite, the +more so as the food they will eat is very scarce about here, as we +have yet over 300 miles to travel to reach Mount Churchman, with every +probability of getting no water between. There are many curious flying +and creeping insects here, but we have not been fortunate in catching +many. Last night, however, I managed to secure and methylate a +good-sized scorpion. After resting under the umbrageous foliage of the +cypress-pines, among which our encampment was fixed for a week, the +party and camels had all recovered from the thirst and fatigue of our +late march, and it really seemed impossible to believe that such a +stretch of country as 325 miles could actually have been traversed +between this and the last water. The weather during our halt had been +very warm, the thermometer had tried to go over 100 degrees in the +shade, but fell short by one degree. Yesterday was an abominable day; +a heated tornado blew from the west from morning until night and +continued until this morning, when, without apparent change otherwise, +and no clouds, the temperature of the wind entirely altered and we had +an exceedingly cool and delightful day. We found the position of this +spring to be in latitude 30 degrees 25' 30" and longitude 123 degrees +21' 13". On leaving a depot and making a start early in the morning, +camels, like horses, may not be particularly inclined to fill +themselves with water, while they might do so in the middle of the +day, and thus may leave a depot on a long dry march not half filled. +The Arabs in Egypt and other camel countries, when starting for a +desert march, force the animals, as I have seen--that is, read of--to +fill themselves up by using bullocks' horns for funnels and pouring +the water down their throats till the creatures are ready to burst. +The camels, knowing by experience, so soon as the horns are stuck into +their mouths, that they are bound for a desert march, fill up +accordingly. + +Strange to say, though I had brought from Port Augusta almost every +article that could be mentioned for the journey, yet I did not bring +any bullocks' horns, and it was too late now to send Tommy back to +procure some; we consequently could not fill up our camels at +starting, after the Arab fashion. In order to obviate any disadvantage +on this account, to-day I sent, with Mr. Tietkens and Alec Ross, three +camels, loaded with water, to be deposited about twenty-five miles on +our next line of route, so that the camels could top up en passant. +The water was to be poured into two canvas troughs and covered over +with a tarpaulin. This took two days going and coming, but we remained +yet another two, at the Queen's Spring. + +Before I leave that spot I had perhaps better remark that it might +prove a very difficult, perhaps dangerous place, to any other +traveller to attempt to find, because, although there are many white +sandhills in the neighbourhood, the open space on which the water lies +is so small in area and so closely surrounded by scrubs, that it +cannot be seen from any conspicuous one, nor can any conspicuous +sandhill, distinguishable at any distance, be seen from it. It lies at +or near the south-west end of a mass of white-faced sandhills; there +are none to the south or west of it. While we remained here a few +aboriginals prowled about the camp, but they never showed themselves. +On the top of the bank, above all the wells, was a beaten corroborree +path, where these denizens of the desert have often held their feasts +and dances. Tommy found a number of long, flat, sword-like weapons +close by, and brought four or five of them into the camp. They were +ornamented after the usual Australian aboriginal fashion, some with +slanting cuts or grooves along the blade, others with square, +elliptical, or rounded figures; several of these two-handed swords +were seven feet long, and four or five inches wide; wielded with good +force, they were formidable enough to cut a man in half at a blow. + +This spring could not be the only water in this region; I believe +there was plenty more in the immediate neighbourhood, as the natives +never came to water here. It was singular how we should have dropped +upon such a scene, and penetrated thus the desert's vastness, to the +scrub-secluded fastness of these Austral-Indians' home. Mr. Young and +I collected a great many specimens of plants, flowers, insects, and +reptiles. Among the flowers was the marvellous red, white, blue, and +yellow wax-like flower of a hideous little gnarled and stunted +mallee-tree; it is impossible to keep these flowers unless they could +be hermetically preserved in glass; all I collected and most carefully +put away in separate tin boxes fell to pieces, and lost their colours. +The collection of specimens of all kinds got mislaid in Adelaide. Some +grass-trees grew in the vicinity of this spring to a height of over +twenty feet. On the evening of the 5th of October a small snake and +several very large scorpions came crawling about us as we sat round +the fire; we managed to bottle the scorpions, but though we wounded +the snake it escaped; I was very anxious to methylate him also, but it +appeared he had other ideas, and I should not be at all surprised if a +pressing interview with his undertaker was one of them. + +One evening a discussion arose about the moon, and Saleh was trying to +teach Tommy something, God knows what, about it. Amongst other +assertions he informed Tommy that the moon travelled from east to +west, "because, you see, Tommy," he said, "he like the sun--sun travel +west too." Tommy shook his head very sapiently, and said, "No, I don't +think that, I think moon go the other way." "No fear," said Saleh, +"how could it?" Then Peter Nicholls was asked, and he couldn't tell; +he thought Saleh was right, because the moon did set in the west. So +Tommy said, "Oh, well, I'll ask Mr. Giles," and they came to where Mr. +T, Mr. Y., and I were seated, and told us the argument. I said, "No, +Saleh, the moon travels just the other way." Then Tommy said, "I tole +you so, I know," but of course he couldn't explain himself. Saleh was +scandalised, and all his religious ideas seemed upset. So I said, +"Well, now, Saleh, you say the moon travels to the west; now do you +see where she is to-night, between those two stars?" "Oh, yes," he +said, "I see." I said, "If to-morrow night she is on the east side of +that one," pointing to one, "she must have travelled east to get +there, mustn't she?" "Oh, no," said Saleh, "she can't go there, she +must come down west like the sun," etc. In vain we showed him the next +night how she had moved still farther east among the stars; that was +nothing to him. It would have been far easier to have converted him to +Christianity than to make him alter his original opinion. With regard +to Tommy's ideas, I may say that nearly all Australian natives are +familiar with the motions of the heavenly bodies, knowing the +difference between a star and a planet, and all tribes that I have +been acquainted with have proper names for each, the moon also being a +very particular object of their attention. + +While at this water we occasionally saw hawks, crows, corellas, a +pink-feathered kind of cockatoo, and black magpies, which in some +parts of the country are also called mutton birds, and pigeons. One +day Peter Nicholls shot a queer kind of carrion bird, not so large as +a crow, although its wings were as long. It had the peculiar dancing +hop of the crow, its plumage was of a dark slate colour, with whitish +tips to the wings, its beak was similar to a crow's. + +We had now been at this depot for nine days, and on the 6th of October +we left it behind to the eastward, as we had done all the other +resting places we had found. I desired to go as straight as possible +for Mount Churchman. Its position by the chart is in latitude 29 +degrees 58', and longitude 118 degrees. Straight lines on a map and +straight lines through dense scrubs are, however, totally different, +and, go as straight as we could, we must make it many miles farther +than its distance showed by the chart. + + +CHAPTER 4.3. FROM 6TH TO 18TH OCTOBER, 1875. + +Depart for Mount Churchman. +Yellow-barked trees. +Wallaby traps. +Sight a low hill. +Several salt lakes. +Another hill. +Camels bogged. +Natives' smoke. +Bare rocks. +Grass-trees. +Clayey and grassy ground. +Dryness of the region. +Another mass of bare rocks. +A pretty place. +Crows and native foot-tracks. +Tommy finds a well. +Then another. +Alone on the rocks. +Voices of the angels. +Women coming for water. +First natives seen. +Arrival of the party. +Camels very thirsty but soon watered. +Two hundred miles of desert. +Natives come to the camp. +Splendid herbage. +A romantic spot. +More natives arrive. +Native ornaments. +A mouthpiece. +Cold night. +Thermometer 32 degrees. +Animals' tracks. +Natives arrive for breakfast. +Inspection of native encampment. +Old implements of white men in the camp. +A lame camel. +Ularring. +A little girl. +Dislikes a looking-glass. +A quiet and peaceful camp. +A delightful oasis. +Death and danger lurking near. +Scouts and spies. +A furious attack. +Personal foe. +Dispersion of the enemy. +A child's warning. +Keep a watch. +Silence at night. +Howls and screams in the morning. +The Temple of Nature. +Reflections. +Natives seen no more. + +On the 6th October, as I have said, we departed, and at once entered +into the second division of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's great +Australian desert. That night we camped at the place where Mr. +Tietkens and Alec Ross, albeit a short measure for twenty-five miles, +had left the two troughs full of water. I had instructed them to +travel west-north-west. The country of course was all scrubs and +sandhills. We saw a few currajong-trees during our day's stage, and +where we camped there were a number of well-grown eucalyptus-trees +with yellow bark. These seemed to me very like the yellow jacket +timber that grows on watercourses in parts of New South Wales and +Queensland. The water I had sent out to this place was just sufficient +to fill up the camels. The following day, at three miles from the +camp, we came to some large granite boulders in the scrubs; but there +were no receptacles for holding water at any time. At sixteen miles we +reached a dry salt lake on our left hand; this continued near our line +for four miles. Both yesterday and to-day we saw some native wallaby +traps in the dense scrubs; these are simply long lines of sticks, +boughs, bushes, etc., which, when first laid down, may be over a foot +high; they are sometimes over a quarter of a mile long. These lines +meet each other at nearly right angles, and form a corner. For a few +yards on each side of the corner the fence is raised to between four +and five feet, made somewhat substantial and laid with boughs. Over +this is thrown either a large net or a roofing of boughs. I saw no +signs of nets in this region. The wallaby are hunted until they get +alongside the fences; if they are not flurried they will hop along it +until they get to a part which is too high, or they think it is; then +they go up into the trap, where there is a small opening, and get +knocked on the head for their pains by a black man inside. At twenty +miles we actually sighted a low hill. Here was a change. At four miles +farther we reached its foot; there were salt lake depressions nearly +all round us. Here we found a small quantity of the little pea-vetch, +which is such excellent food for the camels. + +From the summit of this little hill, the first I had met for nearly +800 miles--Mount Finke was the last--another low scrubby ridge lay to +the westward, and nearly across our course, with salt lakes +intervening, and others lying nearly all round the horizon. At the +foot of the little hill we encamped. A few hundred acres of ground +were open, and there were clay-pans upon it, but no rain could have +fallen here for ages I should imagine. The hill was only 200 feet +high, and it was composed of granite stones. I was glad, however, to +see some granite crop out, as we were now approaching the western +coast-line formation; this I have always understood to be all granite, +and it was about time that something like a change of country should +occur. The following day, in making for the low range, we found +ourselves caught in the ramifications of some of the saline +depressions, and had to go a long way round to avoid them. Just before +we reached the low range we passed the shore of another salt lake, +which had a hard, firm, and quartz-pebbly bed, and we were enabled to +travel across it to the hills; these we reached in sixteen miles from +our last camp. The view from the summit was as discouraging as ever. +To the west appeared densely scrubby rises, and to the south many salt +channels existed, while in every other direction scrubs and scrubby +rises bounded the view. This low range was about 300 feet high; the +ridges beyond continued on our course, a little north of west for two +or three miles, when we again entered the sandy scrubs, and camped, +after travelling twenty-eight miles. Our position here was in latitude +30 degrees 10' 5", and longitude 122 degrees 7' 6". The next day we +had scrubs undulating as usual, and made a day's stage of twenty-four +miles, sighting at twelve miles three low ranges, northerly, +north-easterly, and east-north-easterly, the most easterly appearing +to be the highest. They were from twenty to thirty miles away from our +line. + +On the 9th and 10th October we had all scrubs; on the 11th, towards +evening, we had some scrubby ridges in front of us, and were again +hemmed in by salt lakes. To save several miles of roundabout +travelling, we attempted to cross one of these, which, though not very +broad, was exceedingly long to the north and south, and lay right +across our track. Unfortunately a number of the leading camels became +apparently hopelessly embedded in a fearful bog, and we had great +difficulty in getting them safely out. It was only by the strenuous +exertions of all hands, and by pulling up the camels' legs with ropes, +and poking tarpaulins into the vacated holes, that we finally rescued +them without loss. We then had to carry out all their loads ourselves, +and also the huge and weighty pack-saddles. We found it no easy matter +to carry 200 pounds, half a load--some of the water-casks weighed +more--on our backs, when nearly up to our necks in the briny mud, on +to the firm ground. However, we were most fortunate in having no loss +with the camels, for a camel in a bog is the most helpless creature +imaginable. Leaving the bog, we started up the shore of the lake, +northerly, where we found some more of the little pea-vetch, and +encamped, making only twenty-four miles straight from last camp. The +camels have had nothing to eat for three nights previously. We saw +some natives' smoke three or four miles away from where we camped, and +as there were ridges near it, I intend to send some one there in the +morning to look for water. + +We had still some miles to go, to get round the northern end of the +boggy lake. Alec Ross and Tommy walked across, to hunt up any traces +of natives, etc., and to look for water. On clearing this boggy +feature, we ascended into some densely scrubby granite rises; these +had some bare rocks exposed here and there, but no indentations for +holding water could be seen. At fifteen or sixteen miles, having +passed all the ridges, and entered scrubs and mallee again, Alec and +Tommy overtook us, Mr. Young having remained behind with their camels, +and reported that they had found one small rock-hole. Alec said it had +twenty or thirty gallons of water in it, but Tommy said there was only +a little drop, so I did not think it worth while to delay by sending +any camels back so far for so little reward. We saw two or three dozen +grass-trees to-day, also some quandong and currajong trees, and camped +again in scrubs where there was only a few leguminous bushes for the +camels to eat. We had travelled twenty-eight miles, which only made +twenty-four straight. The last three days had been warm, the +thermometer going up to 98 degrees in the shade each day at about +twelve o'clock; the camels were very thirsty, and would not feed as +the provender was so very poor. + +During the last few days we had met with occasional patches of grassy +and clayey ground, generally where the yellow-barked eucalypts grew, +and we passed numerous small clay-channels and pans, in which +rain-water might lodge for some time after a shower, but it was +evident from the appearance of the grass and vegetation that no rains +could have visited the region for a year, or it might be for a hundred +years; every vegetable thing seemed dry, sere, or dead. On the 13th of +October, at twelve miles from camp, we passed over some more scrubby +granite ridges, where some extent of bare rock lay exposed. I searched +about it, but the indents were so small and shallow that water could +not remain in them for more than a week after rains had filled them. +While I was searching on foot, Mr. Young and Tommy, from their camels' +backs, saw another mass of bare rocks further away to the north-west. +I took Tommy with me, on Reechy, and we went over to the spot, while +the party continued marching on; on arriving we found a very pretty +piece of scenery. Several hundred acres of bare rocks, with grassy +flats sloping down from them to the west, and forming little +watercourses or flat water-channels; there were great numbers of +crows, many fresh natives' tracks, and the smoke of several fires in +the surrounding scrub. Tommy took the lower ground, while I searched +the rocks. He soon found a small native well in a grassy +water-channel, and called out to me. On joining him I found that there +was very little water in sight, but I thought a supply might be got +with a shovel, and I decided to send him on my camel to bring the +party back, for we had come over 200 miles from Queen Victoria's +Spring, and this was the first water I had seen since leaving there. +We gave little Reechy, or as I usually called her Screechy, all the +water we could get out of the well, with one of Tommy's boots; she +drank it out of his hat, and they started away. I fully believed there +was more water about somewhere, and I intended having a good hunt +until either I found it or the party came. I watched Tommy start, of +course at full speed, for when he got a chance of riding Screechy he +was in his glory, and as she was behind the mob, and anxious to +overtake them, she would go at the rate of twenty miles an hour, if +allowed to gallop; but much to my surprise, when they had gone about +200 yards along the grassy water-channel, apparently in an instant, +down went Reechy on her knees, and Tommy, still in the saddle, yelled +out to me, "Plenty water here! plenty water here!" Reechy, who had not +had half enough at the first place, would not go past this one. + +I walked down and saw a large well with a good body of water in it, +evidently permanently supplied by the drainage of the mass of bare +rocks in its vicinity. I was greatly pleased at Tommy's discovery, and +after giving Reechy a thorough good drink, off he went like a rocket +after the party. I wandered about, but found no other water-place; and +then, thinking of the days that were long enough ago, I sat in the +shade of an umbrageous acacia bush. Soon I heard the voices of the +angels, native black and fallen angels, and their smokes came +gradually nearer. I thought they must have seen me on the top of the +rocks, and desired to make my further acquaintance. The advancing +party, however, turned out to be only two women coming for water to +the well. They had vessels, usually called coolamins--these are small +wooden troughs, though sometimes made of bark, and are shaped like +miniature canoes--for carrying water to their encampment. When they +came near enough to see what I was, they ran away a short distance, +then stopped, turned round, and looked at me. Of course I gave a +gentle bow, as to something quite uncommon; a man may bend his lowest +in a desert to a woman. I also made signs for them to come to the +well, but they dropped their bark coolamins and walked smartly off. I +picked up these things, and found them to be of a most original, or +rather aboriginal, construction. They were made of small sheets of the +yellow-tree bark, tied up at the ends with bark-string, thus forming +small troughs. When filled, some grass or leaves are put on top of the +water to prevent it slopping over. The women carry these troughs on +their heads. I was not near enough to distinguish whether the women +were beautiful or not; all I could make out was that one was young and +fatter than the other. Amongst aborigines of every clime fatness goes +a great way towards beauty. The youngest and fattest was the last to +decamp. + +These were the first natives I had seen upon this expedition; no +others appeared while I was by myself. In about four hours the party +arrived; they had travelled six miles past the place when Tommy +overtook them. We soon watered all the camels; they were extremely +thirsty, for they had travelled 202 miles from Queen Victoria's +Spring, although, in a straight line, we were only 180 miles from it. +Almost immediately upon the arrival of the caravan, a number of native +men and one young boy made their appearance. They were apparently +quiet and inoffensive, and some of them may have seen white people +before, for one or two spoke a few English words, such as "white +fellow," "what name," "boy," etc. They seemed pleased, but astonished +to see the camels drink such an enormous quantity of water; they +completely emptied the well, and the natives have probably never seen +it empty before. The water drained in pretty fast: in an hour the well +was as full as ever, and with much purer water than formerly. There +was plenty of splendid herbage and leguminous bushes here for the +camels. It is altogether a most romantic and pretty place; the little +grassy channels were green and fresh-looking, and the whole space for +a mile around open, and dotted with shady acacia trees and bushes. +Between two fine acacias, nearly under the edge of a huge, bare +expanse of rounded rock, our camp was fixed. The slope of the whole +area is to the west. + +It reminded me of Wynbring more than any other place I have seen. At +first only eight natives made their appearance, and Mr. Young cut up a +red handkerchief into as many strips. These we tied around their regal +brows, and they seemed exceedingly proud of themselves. Towards +evening three or four more came to the camp; one had a large piece of +pearl oyster-shell depending from a string round his neck, another had +a queer ornament made of short feathers also depending from the neck; +it looked like the mouth of a porte-monnaie. When I wished to examine +it, the wearer popped it over his mouth, and opened that extensive +feature to its fullest dimensions, laughing most heartily. He had a +very theatrical air, and the extraordinary mouthpiece made him look +like a demon in, or out of, a pantomime. In taking this ornament off +his neck he broke the string, and I supplied him with a piece of +elastic band, so that he could put it on and off without undoing it, +whenever he pleased; but the extraordinary phenomenon to him of the +extension of a solid was more than he was prepared for, and he +scarcely liked to allow it to touch his person again. I put it over my +head first, and this reassured him, so that he wore it again as usual. +They seemed a very good-natured lot of fellows, and we gave them a +trifle of damper and sugar each. During the morning, before we arrived +here, Tommy had been most successful in obtaining Lowans' eggs, and we +had eleven or twelve with us. When the natives saw these, which no +doubt they looked upon as their own peculiar and lawful property, they +eyed them with great anxiety, and, pointing to them, they spoke to one +another, probably expecting that we should hand the eggs over to them; +but we didn't do it. At night they went away; their camp could not be +far off, as we continually heard the sounds of voices and could see +their camp fires. Before sunrise the following morning the mercury +fell to 32 degrees; although there was no dew to freeze, to us it +appeared to be 100 degrees below zero. The only animals' tracks seen +round our well were emus, wild dogs, and Homo sapiens. Lowans and +other desert birds and marsupials appear never to approach the +watering-places. + +Our sable friends came very early to breakfast, and brought a few more +whom we had not previously seen; also two somewhat old and faded +frail, if not fair, ones; soon after a little boy came by himself. +This young imp of Satan was just like a toad--all mouth and stomach. +It appeared these natives practise the same rites of incision, +excision, and semi-circumcision as the Fowler's Bay tribes; and Tommy, +who comes from thence, said he could understand a few words these +people spoke, but not all; he was too shy to attempt a conversation +with them, but he listened to all they said, and occasionally +interpreted a few of their remarks to us. These principally referred +to where he could have come from and what for. To-day Alec Ross and +Peter Nicholls walked over to the natives' encampment, and reported +that most of the men who had been to our camp were sitting there with +nothing to eat in the camp; the women being probably out on a hunting +excursion, whilst they, as lords of creation, waited quietly at their +club till dinner should be announced. They got very little from me, as +I had no surplus food to spare. Nicholls told me they had some tin +billies and shear-blades in the camp, and I noticed that one of the +first batch we saw had a small piece of coarse cloth on; another had a +piece of horse's girth webbing. On questioning the most civilised, and +inquiring about some places, whose native names were given on my +chart, I found they knew two or three of these, and generally pointed +in the proper directions. It was evident they had often seen white +people before, if, they had never eaten any. + +One of our cow camels had been very lame for two or three days, and +now we found she had a long mulga stake stuck up through the thick +sole of her spongy foot. I got a long piece out with knife and plyers, +but its removal did not appear to improve her case, for the whole +lower part of her leg was more swollen after than before the +extraction of the wood, but I hoped a day or two would put her right. +Yesterday, the 15th of October, Mr. Young managed to get the name of +this place from the natives. They call it Ularring, with the accent on +the second syllable. It is a great relief to my mind to get it, as it +saves me the invidious task of selecting only one name by which to +call the place from the list of my numerous friends. This morning, +16th, our usual visitors arrived; two are most desirous to go westward +with us when we start. A little later a very pretty little girl came +by herself. She was about nine or ten years old, and immediately +became the pet of the camp. All the people of this tribe are +excessively thin, and so was this little creature. She had splendid +eyes and beautiful teeth, and we soon dressed her up, and gave her a +good breakfast. In an hour after her arrival she was as much at home +in my camp as though I were her father. She is a merry little thing, +but we can't understand a word she says. She evidently takes a great +interest in everything she sees at the camp, but she didn't seem to +care to look at herself in a glass, though the men always did. + +While we were at dinner to-day a sudden whirl-wind sprang up and sent +a lot of my loose papers, from where I had been writing, careering so +wildly into the air, that I was in great consternation lest I should +lose several sheets of my journal, and find my imagination put to the +test of inventing a new one. We all ran about after the papers, and so +did some of the blacks, and finally they were all recovered. Mr. Young +cut my initials and date thus: E. over G. over 75., upon a Grevillea +or beef-wood-tree, which grew close to the well. While here we have +enjoyed delightful weather; gentle breezes and shady tree(es), quiet +and inoffensive aboriginals, with pretty children in the midst of a +peaceful and happy camp, situated in charming scenery amidst fantastic +rocks, with beautiful herbage and pure water for our almighty beasts. +What a delightful oasis in the desert to the weary traveller! The +elder aboriginals, though the words of their mouths were smoother than +butter, yet war was in their hearts. They appeared to enjoy our +company very well. "Each in his place allotted, had silent sat or +squatted, while round their children trotted, in pretty youthful play. +One can't but smile who traces the lines on their dark faces, to the +pretty prattling graces of these small heathens gay." + +The 16th October, 1875, was drawing to a close, as all its +predecessors from time's remotest infancy have done; the cheery voice +of the expedition cook had called us to our evening meal; as usual we +sat down in peaceful contentment, not dreaming that death or danger +was lurking near, but nevertheless, outside this peaceful scene a +mighty preparation for our destruction was being made by an army of +unseen and unsuspected foes. + + "The hunting tribes of air and earth + Respect the brethren of their birth; + Man only mars kind Nature's plan, + And turns the fierce pursuit on man." + +(ILLUSTRATION: ATTACK AT ULARRING.) + +Our supper was spread, by chance or Providential interference, a +little earlier than usual. Mr. Young, having finished his meal first, +had risen from his seat. I happened to be the last at the festive +board. In walking towards the place where his bedding was spread upon +the rocks, he saw close to him, but above on the main rock, and at +about the level of his eyes, two unarmed natives making signs to the +two quiet and inoffensive ones that were in the camp, and +instantaneously after he saw the front rank of a grand and imposing +army approaching, guided by the two scouts in advance. I had not much +time to notice them in detail, but I could see that these warriors +were painted, feathered, and armed to the teeth with spears, clubs, +and other weapons, and that they were ready for instant action. Mr. +Young gave the alarm, and we had only just time to seize our firearms +when the whole army was upon us. At a first glance this force was most +imposing; the coup d'oeil was really magnificent; they looked like +what I should imagine a body of Comanche Indians would appear when +ranged in battle line. The men were closely packed in serried ranks, +and it was evident they formed a drilled and perfectly organised +force. Immediate action became imminent, and as most fortunately they +had thought to find us seated at supper, and to spear us as we sat in +a body together, we had just time, before fifty, sixty, or a hundred +spears could be thrown at us, as I immediately gave the command to +fire, to have the first discharge at them. Had it been otherwise not +one of us could possibly have escaped their spears--all would +certainly have been killed, for there were over a hundred of the +enemy, and they approached us in a solid phalanx of five or six rows, +each row consisting of eighteen or twenty warriors. Their project no +doubt was, that so soon as any of us was speared by the warriors, the +inoffensive spies in the camp were to tomahawk us at their leisure, as +we rolled about in agony from our wounds; but, taken by surprise, +their otherwise exceedingly well-organised attack, owing to a slight +change in our supper-hour, was a little too late, and our fire caused +a great commotion and wavering in their legion's ordered line. One of +the quiet and inoffensive spies in the camp, as soon as he saw me jump +up and prepare for action, ran and jumped on me, put his arms round my +neck to prevent my firing, and though we could not get a word of +English out of him previously, when he did this, he called out, +clinging on to me, with his hand on my throat, "Don't, don't!" I don't +know if I swore, but I suppose I must, as I was turned away from the +thick array with most extreme disgust. I couldn't disengage myself; I +couldn't attend to the main army, for I had to turn my attention +entirely to this infernal encumbrance; all I could do was to yell out +"Fire! fire for your lives." I intended to give the spy a taste of my +rifle first, but in consequence of his being in such close quarters to +me, and my holding my rifle with one hand, while I endeavoured to free +myself with the other, I could not point the muzzle at my assailant, +and my only way of clearing myself from his hold was by battering his +head with the butt end of the weapon with my right hand, while he +still clung round my left side. At last I disengaged myself, and he +let go suddenly, and slipped instantly behind one of the thick acacia +bushes, and got away, just as the army in front was wavering. All this +did not occupy many seconds of time, and I believe my final shot +decided the battle. The routed army, carrying their wounded, +disappeared behind the trees and bushes beyond the bare rock where the +battle was fought, and from whence not many minutes before they had so +gallantly emerged. This was the best organised and most disciplined +aboriginal force I ever saw. They must have thoroughly digested their +plan of attack, and sent not only quiet and inoffensive spies into the +camp, but a pretty little girl also, to lull any suspicions of their +evil intentions we might have entertained. Once during the day the +little girl sat down by me and began a most serious discourse in her +own language, and as she warmed with her subject she got up, +gesticulated and imitated the action of natives throwing spears, +pointed towards the natives' camp, stamped her foot on the ground +close to me, and was no doubt informing me of the intended onslaught +of the tribe. As, however, I did not understand a word she said, I did +not catch her meaning either; besides, I was writing, and she nearly +covered me with dust, so that I thought her a bit of a juvenile bore. + +After the engagement we picked up a great number of spears and other +weapons, where the hostile army had stood. The spears were long, +light, and barbed, and I could not help thinking how much more I liked +them on my outside than my in. I destroyed all the weapons I could lay +hold of, much to the disgust of the remaining spy, who had kept quiet +all through the fray. He seems to be some relative of the little girl, +for they always go about together; she may probably be his intended +wife. During the conflict, this little creature became almost frantic +with excitement, and ran off to each man who was about to fire, +especially Nicholls, the cook, with whom she seemed quite in love, +patting him on the back, clapping her small hands, squeaking out her +delight, and jumping about like a crow with a shirt on. While the +fight was in progress, in the forgetfulness of his excitation, my +black boy Tommy began to speak apparently quite fluently in their +language to the two spies, keeping up a running conversation with them +nearly all the time. It seemed that the celebrated saying of +Talleyrand, "Language was only given to man to conceal his thought," +was thoroughly understood by my seemingly innocent and youthful +Fowler's Bay native. When I taxed him with his extraordinary conduct, +he told me the natives had tried to induce him to go with them to +their camp, but his natural timidity had deterred him and saved his +life; for they would certainly have killed him if he had gone. After +the attack, Tommy said, "I tole you black fellow coming," though we +did not recollect that he had done so. The spy who had fastened on to +me got away in an opposite direction to that taken by the defeated +army. The other spy and the girl remained some little time after the +action, and no one saw them depart, although we became at last aware +of their absence. We kept watch during the night, as a precaution +after such an attack, although I had not instituted watching +previously. There was a dead silence in the direction of the enemy's +encampment, and no sounds but those of our camel-bells disturbed the +stillness of the luminous and lunar night. + +On the following morning, at earliest dawn, the screams and howls of a +number of the aborigines grated harshly upon our ears, and we expected +and prepared for a fresh attack. The cries continued for some time, +but did not approach any nearer. After breakfast, the little girl and +her protector, the quietest of the two spies, made their appearance at +the camp as composedly as though nothing disagreeable had occurred to +mar our friendship, but my personal antagonist did not reappear--he +probably had a headache which kept him indoors. I had given the girl a +shirt when she first came to the camp, and Peter Nicholls had given +her protector an old coat, which was rather an elongated affair; on +their arrival this morning, these graceful garments had been +exchanged, and the girl appeared in the coat, trailing two feet on the +ground, and the man wore the shirt, which scarcely adorned him enough. +I gave them some breakfast and they went away, but returned very +punctually to dinner. Then I determined not to allow them to remain +any longer near us, so ordered them off, and they departed, apparently +very reluctantly. I felt very much inclined to keep the little girl. +Although no doubt they still continued watching us, we saw them no +more. + +I got Mr. Young to plant various seeds round this well. No doubt there +must be other waters in this neighbourhood, as none of the natives +have used our well since we came, but we could not find any other. + +The following day was Sunday. What a scene our camp would have +presented to-day had these reptiles murdered us! It does not strike +the traveller in the wilderness, amongst desert scenes and hostile +Indians, as necessary that he should desire the neighbourhood of a +temple, or even be in a continual state of prayer, yet we worship +Nature, or the God of Nature, in our own way; and although we have no +chapel or church to go to, yet we are always in a temple, which a +Scottish poet has so beautifully described as "The Temple of Nature." +He says:-- + + "Talk not of temples; there is one, + Built without hands, to mankind given; + Its lamps are the meridian sun, + And the bright stars of heaven. + Its walls are the cerulean sky, + Its floor the earth so green and fair; + Its dome is vast immensity: + All nature worships there." + +We, of a surety, have none of the grander features of Nature to +admire; but the same Almighty Power which smote out the vast Andean +Ranges yet untrod, has left traces of its handywork here. Even the +great desert in which we have so long been buried must suggest to the +reflecting mind either God's perfectly effected purpose, or His +purposely effected neglect; and, though I have here and there found +places where scanty supplies of the element of water were to be found, +yet they are at such enormous distances apart, and the regions in +which they exist are of so utterly worthless a kind, that it seems to +be intended by the great Creator that civilised beings should never +re-enter here. And then our thoughts must naturally wander to the +formation and creation of those mighty ships of the desert, that alone +could have brought us here, and by whose strength and incomprehensible +powers of endurance, only are we enabled to leave this desert behind. +In our admiration of the creature, our thoughts are uplifted in +reverence and worship to the Designer and Creator of such things, +adapted, no doubt, by a wise selection from an infinite variety of +living forms, for myriads of creative periods, and with a +foreknowledge that such instruments would be requisite for the +intelligent beings of a future time, to traverse those areas of the +desert earth that it had pleased Him in wisdom to permit to remain +secluded from the more lovely places of the world and the familiar +haunts of civilised man. Here, too, we find in this fearful waste, +this howling wilderness, this country vast and desert idle, places +scooped out of the solid rock, and the mighty foundations of the round +world laid bare, that the lower organism of God's human family may +find their proper sustenance; but truly the curse must have gone forth +more fearfully against them, and with a vengeance must it have been +proclaimed, by the sweat of their brows must they obtain their bread. +No doubt it was with the intention of obtaining ours, thus reaping the +harvest of unfurrowed fields, that these natives were induced to make +so murderous an attack upon us. We neither saw nor heard anything more +of our sable enemies, and on the 18th we departed out of their coasts. +This watering place, Ularring, is situated in latitude 29 degrees 35', +and longitude 120 degrees 31' 4". + + +CHAPTER 4.4. FROM 18TH OCTOBER TO 18TH NOVEMBER, 1875. + +Depart from Ularring. +Re-enter scrubs. +Scrubs more dense. +A known point. +Magnetic rocks. +Lowans' eggs. +Numbers of the birds. +Crows, hawks. +Natives and water. +Induce natives to decamp. +Unusually vigorous growth of scrubs. +Alec sights Mount Churchman. +Bronze-winged pigeons. +Pigeon Rocks. +Depart. +Edge of a cliff. +Mount Churchman in view. +Some natives arrive. +A wandering pet. +Lake Moore. +Rock-holes. +Strike old dray tracks. +An outlying sheep-station. +The first white man seen. +Dinner of mutton. +Exploring at an end. +Civilisation once more. +Tootra. +All sorts and conditions come to interview us. +A monastery. +A feu-de-joie. +The first telegraph station. +Congratulatory messages. +Intimations of receptions. +A triumphal march. +Messrs. Clunes Brothers. +An address. +Culham. +White ladies. +Newcastle. +A triumphal arch. +A fine tonic. +Tommy's speech. +Unscientific profanity. +Guildford on the Swan. +Arrival at Perth. +Reception by the Mayor. +The city decorated. +Arrival at the Town Hall. +A shower of garlands. +A beautiful address. +A public reception at Fremantle. +Return to Perth. +And festivities. +Remarks. + +(ILLUSTRATION: FORCING A PASSAGE THROUGH THE SCRUBS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.) + +On the 18th we departed. Mount Churchman was now not much more than +150 miles away. I felt sure we should reach it at last. It was late in +the day when we left the camp, and immediately re-entered the dense +and odious scrubs, which were more than usually thick. We passed a +small salt-lake bed on our right, and made good twenty miles by night, +which fell with cold and wind and threatened rain. At three or four +miles the next morning, we saw some bare granite rocks to the south, +and noticed the tops of some low ranges to the north, but these were +partially hidden by some nearer ridges. The summit of one of these was +a mass of exposed rock, similar in appearance to Ularring and +remarkably high, but as it was five or six miles away from our line, +which was now nearly west, we did not visit it. At fifteen miles from +camp we sighted from the top of an undulation in the scrub, a pointed +hill a little south of west, also another higher and longer, and lying +more southerly. We could not reach the pointed hill by night. The +country is now more densely scrubby than ever, and although we toiled +the whole day, we only made good twenty-four miles. Upon nearing the +hill the following morning we saw some grass-trees and passed between +two salt-lakes. At ten miles Mr. Young and I were upon the top of the +hill; the scrubs surrounding it were so terribly thick that I thought +we should have to chop our way through them, and we had the greatest +difficulty in getting the caravan to move along at all. I was much +surprised at the view I obtained here; in the first place as we were +now gradually approaching Mount Churchman, the hill to the south was, +or should have been, Mount Jackson, but according to my chart there +were no hills visible in any easterly or northeasterly direction from +Mount Jackson, whereas from the range to the south, not only the hill +I was upon, but all the others in various directions, must also have +been seen from it. This was rather puzzling, and the only way I could +account for the anomaly was that either Gregory had never ascended +Mount Jackson at all, though according to his map he calls the whole +eastern country beyond it sand plains, or these hills have been thrown +up since 1846. The latter I cannot believe. The composition of this +hill was almost iron itself, and there were some fused stones like +volcanic slag upon it. It was too magnetic for working angles with a +compass; it was between 500 and 600 feet above the surrounding +regions. The horizon from east, north-east, round by north, thence to +the west and south, was bounded by low ranges, detached into seven +groups; the white beds of small lakes were visible running up to the +northern, or north eastern group, the intervening country being, as +usual, all scrubs, which grew even to the summits of the hills. The +view from this hill was enough to terrify the spectator; my only +consolation in gazing at so desolate a scene, was that my task was +nearly accomplished, and nothing should stop me now. A second pointed +hill lay nearly west, and we pushed on to this, but could not reach it +by night. + +To-day we managed to get thirty-four Lowans' eggs, yesterday we had +secured twenty-seven. These birds swarm in these scrubs, and their +eggs form a principal item in the daily fare of the natives during the +laying season. We seldom see the birds, but so long as we get the eggs +I suppose we have no great cause of complaint. In the morning we +reached and ascended the second hill. Some other hills a few miles +away ended nearly west, and bare granite rocks appeared a few miles +beyond them, which I determined to visit. This hill was of similar +formation to the last-described. The far horizon to the west being all +scrub, Mount Churchman should have been visible, but it was not. The +sight of the country from any of these hills is truly frightful; it +seemed as though the scrubs were to end only with our journey. On +descending, we pushed on for the rocks, and reached them in twelve +miles from the last camp. As we neared them, we could distinguish a +large extent of bare rock, and it seemed likely that we should find +water, as we saw a number of crows and hawks, and we soon became aware +of the presence of natives also, for they began to yell so soon as +they perceived our approach. A well was soon found, and our camp fixed +beside it. The natives were numerous here, but whether they were our +old enemies or not I could not say; yet I fancied I recognised one or +two among them, and to let them see that our ammunition was not yet +exhausted, I fired my rifle in the air. This had the effect of +inducing them, whether friends or foes, to decamp, and we were not +troubled with them while we were here. I did not wish for a repetition +of the Ularring affair. The well was shallow, with a good supply of +water, and there were a few scores of acres of open ground around the +rocks, though the scrubs came as close as possible. This spot was +seventy-seven miles from Ularring; our well was situated at what may +be called the north-east corner of these rocks; at the south-west end +there is another and larger valley, where I saw two wells. On Sunday, +the 22nd of October, we rested here. The old lame cow is still very +bad, I am afraid she cannot travel much farther. Yesterday and to-day +were rather warm, the thermometer indicating 94 and 96 degrees in the +shade. The upheaval of the few hills we have lately passed seems to +have induced an unusually vigorous growth of scrubs, for they are now +denser and more hideous than ever. + +Alec Ross stated that he had seen, from the last hill, another, far +away, due west, but nobody else saw it. If such a hill exists it is +over eighty miles away from where seen, and it must be Mount +Churchman. No views to any distance could be had from these rocks, as +the undulations of the scrubs occur continuously throughout the +desert, at almost regular intervals of a few miles, from seven to +twenty. + +After dinner on the 23rd I had intended to leave this place, but upon +mustering the camels I found that not only was the lame cow worse, but +another of the cows had calved, and our family was increased by the +advent of a little cow-calf about the size of a rabbit. This prevented +our departure. The calf was killed, and the mother remained with her +dead offspring, whereby she comprehended her loss, and this will +prevent her endeavouring to return to it after we leave. We obtained a +good many bronze-winged pigeons here, and I called the place the +Pigeon Rocks. Their position is in latitude 29 degrees 58' 4" and +longitude 119 degrees 15' 3". To-day the thermometer rose to 100 +degrees in the shade, and at night a very squally thunderstorm, coming +from the west, agreeably cooled the atmosphere, although no rain fell. +On the 24th we left the Pigeon Rocks, still steering west, and +travelled twenty-five miles through the dense scrubs, with an +occasional break, on which a few of the yellow-bark gum-trees grew. +They are generally of a vigorous and well grown habit. The poor old +lame cow followed as usual, but arrived at the camp a long while after +us. The next day we progressed twenty-five miles to the westward, and +at evening we tore through a piece of horrible scrub, or thickets, and +arrived at the edge of a cliff which stood, perpendicularly, 200 feet +over the surrounding country. This we had to circumnavigate in order +to descend. + +Right on our course, being in the proper latitude, and twenty-seven or +twenty-eight miles away, was a small hill, the object I had traversed +so many hundreds of miles of desert to reach, and which I was +delighted to know, was Mount Churchman. The country between the cliff +and Mount Churchman was filled to overflowing with the densest of +scrubs; Nature seemed to have tried how much of it she could possibly +jam into this region. We encamped at the foot of the cliff. We got +several Lowans'--or, as the West Australians call them, Gnows'--eggs, +thirty yesterday, and forty-five to-day. At night the old lame cow did +not arrive at the camp, nor was she with the mob the next morning; I +wished her to remain at the Pigeon Rocks, but of course she persisted +in following her kindred so long as she could, but now she has +remained behind of her own accord, she will no doubt return there, and +if she recovers will most probably go back to Beltana by herself, +perhaps exploring a new line of country on the way. + +(ILLUSTRATION: FIRST VIEW OF MT. CHURCHMAN.) + +The following day we hoped to reach Mount Churchman, but the scrubs +were so frightful we could not get there by night, though we travelled +without stopping for twelve hours. To-day we got only twenty eggs. +To-night and last night a slight dew fell, the first for a long time. +Early on the morning of the 27th of October I stood upon the summit of +Mount Churchman; and, though no mention whatever is made upon the +chart of the existence of water there, we found a native well which +supplied all our wants. In the afternoon some natives made their +appearance; they were partly clothed. The party consisted of an oldish +man, a very smart and good-looking young fellow, and a handsome little +boy. The young fellow said his own name was Charlie, the boy's Albert, +and the older one's Billy. It is said a good face is the best letter +of introduction, but Charlie had a better one, as I had lost a little +ivory-handled penknife on the road yesterday, and they had come +across, and followed our tracks, and picked it up. Charlie, without a +moment's questioning, brought it to me; he was too polite, too +agreeable altogether, and evidently knew too much; he knew the country +all the way to Perth, and also to Champion Bay. It occurred to me that +he had been somebody's pet black boy, that had done something, and had +bolted away. He told me the nearest station to us was called Nyngham, +Mount Singleton on the chart, in a north-west direction. The station +belonged, he said, to a Mr. Cook, and that we could reach it in four +days, but as I wished to make south-westerly for Perth, I did not go +that way. The day was very warm, thermometer 99 degrees in shade. + +(ILLUSTRATION: THE FIRST WHITE MAN MET IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.) + +This mount is called Geelabing on the chart, but Charlie did not know +it by that name. He and the other two came on and camped with us that +night. Our course was nearly south-west; we only travelled eleven +miles. The following day our three friends departed, as they said, to +visit Nyngham, while we pursued our own course, and reached the shores +of the dry salt-lake Moore. In about thirty miles we found some rock +water-holes, and encamped on the edge of the lake, where we saw old +horse and cattle tracks. We next crossed the lake-bed, which was seven +miles wide. No doubt there is brine in some parts of it, but where I +crossed it was firm and dry. We left it on the 30th of October, and +travelling upon a course nearly west-south-west, we struck some old +dray tracks, at a dried-up spring, on the 3rd of November, which I did +not follow, as they ran eastwards. From there I turned south, and +early on the 4th we came upon an outlying sheep station; its buildings +consisting simply of a few bark-gunyahs. There was not even a single, +rude hut in the dingle; blacks' and whites' gunyahs being all alike. +Had I not seen some clothes, cooking utensils, etc., at one of them, I +should have thought that only black shepherds lived there. A shallow +well, and whip for raising the water into a trough, was enclosed by a +fence, and we watered our camels there. The sheep and shepherd were +away, and although we were desperately hungry for meat, not having had +any for a month, we prepared to wait until the shepherd should come +home in the evening. While we were thinking over these matters, a +white man came riding up. He apparently did not see us, nor did his +horse either, until they were quite close; then his horse suddenly +stopped and snorted, and he shouted out, "Holy sailor, what's that?" +He was so extraordinarily surprised at the appearance of the caravan +that he turned to gallop away. However, I walked to, and reassured +him, and told him who I was and where I had come from. Of course he +was an Irishman, and he said, "Is it South Austhralia yez come from? +Shure I came from there meself. Did yez crass any say? I don't know, +sure I came by Albany; I never came the way you've come at all. Shure, +I wilcome yez, in the name of the whole colony. I saw something about +yez in the paper not long ago. Can I do anything for yez? This is not +my place, but the shepherd is not far; will I go and find him?" +"Faith, you may," I said, "and get him to bring the flock back, so +that we can get a sheep for dinner." And away he went, and soon +returned with the shepherd, sheep, black assistants and their wives; +and we very soon had a capital meal of excellent mutton. While it was +in process of cooking the shepherd despatched a black boy to the +nearest farm, or settlement, for coffee, butter, sugar, eggs, etc. The +messenger returned at night with everything. Exploring had now come to +an end; roads led to, and from, all the other settled districts of the +colony, and we were in the neighbourhood of civilisation once more. +This out-station was the farthest attempt at settlement towards the +east, in this part of the colony. It was called Tootra, and belonged +to the Messrs. Clunes Brothers, who live lower down the country. + +On the 6th of November we passed by the farm where the black boy had +got the coffee, sugar, etc.; it belonged to a Mr. Joyce. We did not +stay there very long, the people did not seem to know what to make of, +and never said anything to, us. That evening we reached Mr. Clarke's +homestead, called Inderu, where we were treated with the greatest +kindness by every member of the family. They gave us eggs, butter, +jam, and spirits, and despatched a messenger with a letter to Sir +Thomas Elder's agent at Fremantle. Here we were also met by young Mr. +Lefroy, son of the Hon. O'Grady Lefroy, Treasurer and acting Colonial +Secretary for the Colony, who took us off to his station, Walebing, +where we remained some days, thoroughly enjoying a recruiting at so +agreeable a place. We had to depart at last, and were next entertained +by Mr. and Mrs. McPherson, as we passed by their station called +Glentromie. So soon as the news spread amongst the settlers that a +caravan of camels had arrived, bushmen and girls, boys and children, +came galloping from all parts, while their elders drove whatever +vehicles they could lay their hands on, to come and see the new +arrivals. The camels were quite frightened at the people galloping +about them. Our next reception was at a Spanish Benedictine Monastery +and Home for natives, called New Norcia. This Monastery was presided +over by the Right Reverend Lord Bishop Salvado, the kindest and most +urbane of holy fathers. We were saluted on our arrival, by a regular +feu-de-joie, fired off by the natives and half-castes belonging to the +mission. The land and property of this establishment is some of the +best in the Colony. Here was the first telegraph station we had +reached, and I received a number of congratulatory telegrams from most +of the leading gentlemen in Perth; from His Excellency the Governor's +private secretary, the Press, and my brother-explorer Mr. John +Forrest. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ARRIVAL AT CULHAM (SAMUEL PHILLIPS'S.)) + +Intimations of intended receptions, by corporations, and addresses to +be presented, with invitations to banquets and balls, poured in, in +overwhelming numbers; so that on leaving the Monastery I knew the +series of ordeals that were in store for me. His Excellency the +Governor, Sir William Robinson, K.C.M.G., most kindly despatched Mr. +John Forrest with a carriage to meet us. From the Monastery our +triumphal march began. The appearance of a camel caravan in any +English community, away from camel countries, is likely to awaken the +curiosity of every one; but it is quite a matter of doubt whether we, +or the camels caused the greater sensation as we advanced. A few miles +from the monastery we passed the station of Messrs. Clunes Brothers, +at whose farthest out-station we had first come upon a settlement. +These gentlemen were most kind and hospitable, and would not accept +any payment for two fine wether sheep which we had eaten. A short +distance from their residence we passed a district country +school-house, presided over by Mr. J.M. Butler, and that gentleman, on +behalf of Messrs. Clunes, the residents of the locality, his scholars, +and himself, presented us with a congratulatory address. Pushing +onwards towards the metropolis we arrived, on Saturday, November 13th, +at Mr. Samuel Phillips's station, Culham, where that gentleman invited +us to remain during Sunday. Here, for the first time, we had the +pleasure of enjoying the society of ladies, being introduced to Mrs. +Phillips, her sister-in-law Mrs. Fane, and their several daughters. +The whole family combined to make us welcome, and as much at home as +possible. Here also Mr. Forrest joined us, and welcomed us to his own +native land. The camels were put into an excellent paddock, and +enjoyed themselves almost as much as their masters. Culham is nine or +ten miles from Newcastle, the first town site we should reach. We were +invited thither by the Mayor and Council, or rather the Chairman and +Council of the Municipality. + +At Newcastle we were received under a triumphal arch, and the Chairman +presented us with an address. We were then conducted to a sumptuous +banquet. Near the conclusion, the Chairman rose to propose our +healths, etc.; he then gratified us by speaking disparagingly of us +and our journey; he said he didn't see what we wanted to come over +here for, that they had plenty of explorers of their own, etc. This +was something like getting a hostile native's spear stuck into one's +body, and certainly a fine tonic after the champagne. Several +gentlemen in the hall protested against these remarks. I made a short +reply; Mr. Tietkens put a little humour into his, and all coolness +wore away, especially when Tommy made a speech. He was a great +favourite with the "General," and was well looked after during the +repast. When we had all said our say, Tommy was urged to speak; he was +very bashful, and said, "I don't know what to say;" the people near +him said, "Never mind, Tommy, say anything;" so he rose in his seat +and simply said "Anything," whereupon everybody laughed, and joviality +was restored. In the evening a ball took place in our honour; the old +Chairman went to bed, and we all danced till morning. Never after did +we hear anything but compliments and commendations, as what was then +said was against the sense of the whole Colony. The next town we +arrived at was Guildford; on the road the caravan passed by a +splitters' camp, the men there came round the camels, and as usual +stared wide-eyed with amazement. One of them begged Alec Ross, who was +conducting the camels, to wait till a mate of theirs who was away +returned, so that he might see them; but as we were bound to time and +had our stages arranged so that we should reach Perth by a certain +time, this could not be done, and the camels went on. By-and-by a man +came galloping up as near as his horse would come to the camels, and +called out: "Hi there, hold on, you *** wretches; do you think I'd a +galloped after yer ter see such little *** things as them? why, they +ain't no bigger nor a *** horse [there were camels seven feet high in +the mob]; why, I thought they was as big as *** clouds, or else I'd +never a come all this *** way to see them," etc. He interspersed this +address with many adjectives, but as nobody took the slightest notice +of him, he started away, banning and blaspheming as he went, and for +an uneducated, unscientific West Australian, his, was not a bad effort +at profanity. + +(ILLUSTRATION: ARRIVAL AT PERTH.) + +(ILLUSTRATION: ARRIVAL AT THE TOWN HALL, PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.) + +At Guildford, a town-site on the Swan, we were publicly received by +the Mayor, Mr. Spurling, the Town Council, various bodies and lodges, +and a detachment of volunteers. We were presented with addresses from +the Town Council, and Mr. Spurling made a most handsome speech, which +removed any remains of the taste of the Newcastle tonic. The Lodges of +Oddfellows and Good Templars also presented us with addresses. The +Chairman of the latter made a little Good Templar capital out of the +fact of our having achieved such a great feat entirely on water. To +this I replied, that it was true we had accomplished our journey on +water, and very little of it, but that if we had had anything stronger +we should certainly have drunk it, if only to make our water supply +last the longer. Then a banquet was spread, which was attended also by +ladies, and was a most agreeable entertainment, and the evening wound +up with a ball. Guildford being only ten or eleven miles from Perth, +at about three p.m. of the next day we approached the city, riding our +camels, and having the whole of the caravan in regular desert-marching +order. A great number of people came out, both riding and driving, to +meet us, and escorted us into the city; Mr. Forrest was now on +horseback and riding alongside of me. + +After traversing the long wooden causeway that bridges the Swan, we +soon reached the city bounds, and were met by the Mayor, Mr. George +Shenton, and the other members of the City Council, companies of +volunteers lined the streets on either side, and the various bodies of +Freemasons, Oddfellows, and Good Templars, accompanied by the brass +band of the latter, took a part in the procession. A great crowd of +citizens assembled, and the balconies of the houses on both sides were +thronged with the fair sex, and garlands of flowers were showered down +upon us. The streets of the city were decorated with flags and +streamers, and scrolls of welcome were stretched across. The +procession moved along to the Town Hall amidst general cheering. We +were ushered into the spacious hall, and placed on a raised platform, +then we were introduced to most of the gentlemen present. The Mayor +then addressed me in most eulogistic terms, and presented me with an +address on vellum, beautifully illuminated and engrossed, on behalf of +the corporation and citizens of Perth, congratulating myself, and +party on our successful exploration across the unknown interior from +South Australia, and warmly expressing the good feelings of welcome +entertained by the citizens towards us. + +After this a round of festivities set in; among these were a public +banquet and ball in our honour by the Mayor and Corporation of the +city of Perth and a dinner and ball at Government House. A public +reception also awaited us at Fremantle, on the coast. On our arrival +at the long, high, wooden structure that spans the broad mouth of the +river at Fremantle, we were again met by eager crowds. Mr. Forrest +rode near me on this occasion also. When entering Perth, I had a great +deal of trouble to induce my riding-camel, Reechy, to lead, but when +entering Fremantle she fairly jibbed, and I had to walk and lead her, +so that I was hidden in the crowd, and Mr. Tietkens, coming next to +me, appeared to be the leader, as his camel went all right. The +balconies and verandahs here were also thronged with ladies, who +showered down heaps of garlands while they cheered. I was completely +hidden, and they threw all the flowers down on Tietkens, so that he +got all the honour from the ladies. Here another beautiful address was +presented to me by Mr. John Thomas, the Chairman of the Town Council, +and a public banquet was given us. On returning to Perth, we had +invitations from private individuals to balls, dinners, pic-nics, +boating and riding parties, and the wife of the Honourable O'Grady +Lefroy started the ball giving immediately after that at Government +House. Mr. Forrest gave us a dinner at the Weld Club. + +Since our arrival in the settled parts of Western Australia, we have +had every reason to believe that our welcome was a genuine one, +everybody having treated us with the greatest kindness and courtesy. +His Excellency the Governor ordered that all our expenses down the +country, from where Mr. Forrest met us, should be defrayed by the +Government; and having been so welcomed by the settlers on our arrival +at each place, I had no occasion to expend a penny on our march +through the settled districts of the Colony. + +In concluding the tale of a long exploration, a few remarks are +necessary. In the first place I travelled during the expedition, in +covering the ground, 2500 miles; but unfortunately found no areas of +country suitable for settlement. This was a great disappointment to +me, as I had expected far otherwise; but the explorer does not make +the country, he must take it as he finds it. His duty is to penetrate +it, and although the greatest honour is awarded and the greatest +recompense given to the discoverer of the finest regions, yet it must +be borne in mind, that the difficulties of traversing those regions +cannot be nearly so great as those encountered by the less fortunate +traveller who finds himself surrounded by heartless deserts. The +successful penetration of such a region must, nevertheless, have its +value, both in a commercial and a geographical sense, as it points out +to the future emigrant or settler, those portions of our continent +which he should rigorously avoid. It never could have entered into any +one's calculations that I should have to force my way through a region +that rolls its scrub-enthroned, and fearful distance out, for hundreds +of leagues in billowy undulations, like the waves of a timbered sea, +and that the expedition would have to bore its way, like moles in the +earth, for so long, through these interminable scrubs, with nothing to +view, and less to cheer. Our success has traced a long and a dreary +road through this unpeopled waste, like that to a lion's abode, from +whence no steps are retraced. The caravan for months was slowly but +surely plodding on, under those trees with which it has pleased +Providence to bedeck this desolate waste. But this expedition, as +organised, equipped, and intended by Sir Thomas Elder, was a thing of +such excellence and precision, it moved along apparently by mechanical +action; and it seemed to me, as we conquered these frightful deserts +by its power, like playing upon some new fine instrument, as we +wandered, like rumour, "from the Orient to the Drooping West,"-- + + "From where the Torrens wanders, + 'Midst corn and vines and flowers, + To where fair Perth still lifts to heaven + Her diadem of towers." + +The labours of the expedition ended only at the sea at Fremantle, the +seaport of the west; and after travelling under those trees for +months, from eastern lands through a region accurst, we were greeted +at last by old Ocean's roar; Ocean, the strongest of creation's sons, +"that rolls the wild, profound, eternal bass in Nature's anthem." The +officers, Mr. Tietkens and Mr. Young, except for occasional outbursts +of temper, and all the other members of the expedition, acted in every +way so as to give me satisfaction; and when I say that the personnel +of the expedition behaved as well as the camels, I cannot formulate +greater praise. + +It will readily be believed that I did not undertake a fourth +expedition in Australia without a motive. Sir Thomas Elder had ever +been kind to me since I had known him, and my best thanks were due to +him for enabling me to accomplish so difficult an undertaking; but +there were others also I wished to please; and I have done my best +endeavours upon this arduous expedition, with the hope that I might +"win the wise, who frowned before to smile at last." + + +BOOK 5. + + +CHAPTER 5.1. FROM 18TH NOVEMBER, 1875, TO 10TH APRIL, 1876. + +Remarks on the last expedition. +Departure of my two officers. +Expedition leaves Perth. +Invited to York. +Curiosity to see the caravan. +Saleh and Tommy's yarns. +Tipperary. +Northam. +Newcastle again. +A pair of watch(ful) guards. +St. Joseph's. +Messrs. Clunes. +The Benedictine monastery. +Amusing incident. +A new road. +Berkshire Valley. +Triumphal arch. +Sandal-wood. +Sheep poison. +Cornamah. +A survey party. +Irwin House. +Dongarra. +An address presented. +A French gentleman. +Greenough Flats. +Another address. +Tommy's tricks. +Champion Bay. +Palmer's camp. +A bull-camel poisoned. +The Bowes. +Yuin. +A native desperado captured. +His escape. +Cheangwa. +Native girls and boys. +Depart for the interior. +Natives follow us. +Cooerminga. +The Sandford. +Moodilah. +Barloweerie Peak. +Pia Spring. +Mount Murchison. +Good pastoral country. +Farewell to the last white man. + +After having crossed the unknown central interior, and having +traversed such a terrible region to accomplish that feat, it might be +reasonably supposed that my labours as an explorer would cease, and +that I might disband the expedition and send the members, camels, and +equipment back to Adelaide by ship, especially as in my closing +remarks on my last journey I said that I had accomplished the task I +had undertaken, and effected the object of my expedition. This was +certainly the case, but I regarded what had been done as only the half +of my mission; and I was as anxious now to complete my work as I had +been to commence it, when Sir Thomas Elder started me out. The +remaining portion was no less than the completion of the line I had +been compelled to leave unfinished by the untimely loss of Gibson, +during my horse expedition of 1874. My readers will remember that, +having pushed out west from my depot at Fort McKellar, in the +Rawlinson Range, I had sighted another line of hills, which I had +called the Alfred and Marie Range, and which I had been unable to +reach. It was therefore my present wish and intention to traverse that +particular region, and to connect my present explorations with my +former ones with horses. By travelling northwards until I reached the +proper latitude, I might make an eastern line to the Rawlinson Range. +That Gibson's Desert existed, well I knew; but how far west from the +Rawlinson it actually extended, was the problem I now wished to solve. +As Sir Thomas Elder allowed me carte blanche, I began a fresh journey +with this object. The incidents of that journey this last book will +record. + +My readers may imagine us enjoying all the gaieties and pleasures such +a city as Perth, in Western Australia, could supply. Myself and two +officers were quartered at the Weld Club; Alec Ross and the others had +quarters at the United Service Club Hotel nearly opposite; and taking +it altogether, we had very good times indeed. The fountains of +champagne seemed loosened throughout the city during my stay; and the +wine merchants became nervous lest the supply of what then became +known as "Elder wine" should get exhausted. I paid a visit down the +country southwards, to Bunbury, The Vasse, and other places of +interest in that quarter. Our residence at Perth was extended to two +months. Saleh was in his glory. The camels were out in a paddock, +where they did not do very well, as there was only one kind of acacia +tree upon which they could browse. Occasionally Saleh had to take two +or three riding camels to Government House, as it became quite the +thing, for a number of young ladies to go there and have a ride on +them; and on those days Saleh was resplendent. On every finger, he +wore a ring, he had new, white and coloured, silk and satin, clothes, +covered with gilt braid; two silver watches, one in each side-pocket +of his tunic; and two jockey whips, one in each hand. He used to tell +people that he brought the expedition over, and when he went back he +was sure Sir Thomas Elder would fit him out with an expedition of his +own. Tommy was quite a young coloured swell, too; he would go about +the town, fraternise with people, treat them to drinks at any hotel, +and tell the landlord, when asked for payment, that the liquor was for +the expedition. Every now and again I had little bills presented to me +for refreshments supplied to Mr. Oldham. Alec Ross expended a good +deal of his money in making presents to young ladies; and Peter +Nicholls was quite a victim to the fair sex of his class. I managed to +escape these terrible dangers, though I can't tell how. + +Both my officers left for South Australia by the mail steamer. Mr. +Tietkens was the more regretted. I did not wish him to leave, but he +said he had private business to attend to. I did not request Mr. Young +to accompany me on my return journey, so they went to Adelaide +together. The remainder of the party stayed until the 13th of January, +1876, when the caravan departed from Perth on its homeward route to +South Australia, having a new line of unexplored country to traverse +before we could reach our goal. My projected route was to lie nearly +400 miles to the north of the one by which I arrived; and upon leaving +Perth we travelled up the country, through the settled districts, to +Champion Bay, and thence to Mount Gould, close to the River Murchison. + +Before leaving the city I was invited by the Mayor and Municipality of +the town of York, to visit that locality; this invitation I, of +course, accepted, as I was supposed to be out on show. My party now +consisted of only four other members besides myself, namely, young +Alec Ross, now promoted to the post of second in command, Peter +Nicholls, still cook, Saleh, and Tommy Oldham. At York we were +entertained, upon our arrival, at a dinner. York was a very agreeable +little agricultural town, the next in size to Fremantle. Bushmen, +farmers, and country people generally, flocked in crowds to see both +us and the camels. It was amusing to watch them, and to hear the +remarks they made. Saleh and Tommy used to tell the most outrageous +yarns about them; how they could travel ten miles an hour with their +loads, how they carried water in their humps, that the cows ate their +calves, that the riding bulls would tear their riders' legs off with +their teeth if they couldn't get rid of them in any other way. These +yarns were not restricted to York, they were always going on. + +The day after leaving York we passed Mr. Samuel Burgess's +establishment, called Tipperary, where we were splendidly entertained +at a dinner, with his brothers and family. The Messrs. Burgess are +among the oldest and wealthiest residents in the Colony. From hence we +travelled towards a town-site called Northam, and from thence to +Newcastle, where we were entertained upon our first arrival. A lady in +Newcastle, Mrs. Dr. Mayhew, presented me with a pair of little spotted +puppies, male and female, to act for us, as she thought, as watch(ful) +guards against the attacks of hostile natives in the interior. And +although they never distinguished themselves very much in that +particular line, the little creatures were often a source of amusement +in the camp; and I shall always cherish a feeling of gratitude to the +donor for them. + +At ten miles from Newcastle is Culham, the hospitable residence of the +well-known and universally respected Squire Phillips, of an old Oxford +family in England, and a very old settler in the Colony of Western +Australia. On our arrival at Culham we were, as we had formerly been, +most generously received; and the kindness and hospitality we met, +induced us to remain for some days. When leaving I took young Johnny +Phillips with me to give him an insight into the mysteries of camel +travelling, so far as Champion Bay. On our road up the country we met +with the greatest hospitality from every settler, whose establishment +the caravan passed. At every station they vied with each other as to +who should show us the greatest kindness. It seems invidious to +mention names, and yet it might appear as though I were ungrateful if +I seemed to forget my old friends; for I am a true believer in the +dictum, of all black crimes, accurst ingratitude's the worst. Leaving +Culham, we first went a few miles to Mr. Beare's station and +residence, whither Squire Phillips accompanied us. Our next friend was +Mr. Butler, at the St. Joseph's schoolhouse, where he had formerly +presented me with an address. Next we came to the Messrs. Clunes, +where we remained half an hour to refresh, en route for New Norcia, +the Spanish Catholic Benedictine Monastery presided over by the good +Bishop Salvado, and where we remained for the night; the Bishop +welcoming us as cordially as before. Our next halt was at the +McPhersons', Glentromie, only four or five miles from the Mission. Our +host here was a fine, hospitable old Scotchman, who has a most +valuable and excellent property. From Glentromie we went to the Hon. +O'Grady Lefroy's station, Walebing, where his son, Mr. Henry Lefroy, +welcomed us again as he had done so cordially on our first visit. At +every place where we halted, country people continually came riding +and driving in to see the camels, and an amusing incident occurred +here. Young Lefroy had a tidy old housekeeper, who was quite the +grande dame amongst the young wives and daughters of the surrounding +farmers. I remained on Sunday, and, as usual, a crowd of people came. +The camp was situated 200 yards from the buildings, and covered a good +space of ground, the camels always being curled round into a circle +whenever we camped; the huge bags and leather-covered boxes and +pack-saddles filling up most of the space. On this Sunday afternoon a +number of women, and girls, were escorted over by the housekeeper. +Alec and I had come to the camp just before them, and we watched as +they came up very slowly and cautiously to the camp. I was on the +point of going over to them, and saying that I was sorry the camels +were away feeding, but something Alec Ross said, restrained me, and we +waited--the old housekeeper doing the show. To let the others see how +clever she was, she came right up to the loads, the others following, +and said, "Ah, the poor things!" One of the new arrivals said, "Oh, +the poor things, how still and quiet they are," the girls stretching +their necks, and nearly staring their eyes out. Alec and I were +choking with laughter, and I went up and said, "My dear creature, +these are not the camels, these are the loads; the camels are away in +the bush, feeding." The old lady seemed greatly annoyed, while the +others, in chorus, said, "Oh, oh! what, ain't those the camels there?" +etc. By that time the old lady had vanished. + +Up to this point we had returned upon the road we had formerly +travelled to Perth; now we left our old line, and continued up the +telegraph line, and main overland road, from Perth to Champion Bay. +Here we shortly entered what in this Colony is called the Victoria +Plains district. I found the whole region covered with thick timber, +if not actual scrubs; here and there was a slight opening covered with +a thorny vegetation three or four feet high. It struck me as being +such a queer name, but I subsequently found that in Western Australia +a plain means level country, no matter how densely covered with +scrubs; undulating scrubs are thickets, and so on. Several times I was +mystified by people telling me they knew there were plains to the +east, which I had found to be all scrubs, with timber twenty to thirty +feet high densely packed on it. The next place we visited, was Mr. +James Clinche's establishment at Berkshire Valley, and our reception +there was most enthusiastic. A triumphal arch was erected over the +bridge that spanned the creek upon which the place was located, the +arch having scrolls with mottoes waving and flags flying in our +honour. Here was feasting and flaring with a vengeance. Mr. Clinche's +hospitality was unbounded. We were pressed to remain a week, or month, +or a year; but we only rested one day, the weather being exceedingly +hot. Mr. Clinche had a magnificent flower and fruit garden, with +fruit-trees of many kinds en espalier; these, he said, throve +remarkably well. Mr. Clinche persisted in making me take away several +bottles of fluid, whose contents need not be specifically +particularised. Formerly the sandal-wood-tree of commerce abounded all +over the settled districts of Western Australia. Merchants and others +in Perth, Fremantle, York, and other places, were buyers for any +quantity. At his place Mr. Clinche had a huge stack of I know not how +many hundred tons. He informed me he usually paid about eight pounds +sterling per measurement ton. The markets were London, Hong Kong, and +Calcutta. A very profitable trade for many years was carried on in +this article; the supply is now very limited. + +There was a great deal of the poison-plant all over this country, not +the Gyrostemon, but a sheep-poisoning plant of the Gastrolobium +family; and I was always in a state of anxiety for fear the camels +should eat any of it. The shepherds in this Colony, whose flocks are +generally not larger than 500, are supposed to know every individual +poison-plant on their beat, and to keep their sheep off it; but with +us, it was all chance work, for we couldn't tie the camels up every +night, and we could not control them in what they should eat. Our next +friends were a brother of the McPherson at Glentromie and his wife. +The name of this property was Cornamah; there was a telegraph station +at this place. Both here and at Berkshire Valley Mrs. McPherson and +Miss Clinche are the operators. Next to this, we reached Mr. Cook's +station, called Arrino, where Mrs. Cook is telegraph mistress. Mr. +Cook we had met at New Norcia, on his way down to Perth. We had lunch +at Arrino, and Mrs. Cook gave me a sheep. I had, however, taken it out +of one of their flocks the night before, as we camped with some black +shepherds and shepherdesses, who were very pleased to see the camels, +and called them emus, a name that nearly all the West Australian +natives gave them. + +After leaving Arrino we met Mr. Brooklyn and Mr. King, two Government +surveyors, at whose camp we rested a day. The heat was excessive, the +thermometer during that day going up 115 degrees in the shade. The +following day we reached a farm belonging to Mr. Goodwin, where we had +a drink of beer all round. That evening we reached an establishment +called Irwin House, on the Irwin River, formerly the residence of Mr. +Lock Burgess, who was in partnership there with Squire Phillips. Mr. +Burgess having gone to England, the property was leased to Mr. Fane, +where we again met Mrs. Fane and her daughters, whom we had first met +at Culham. This is a fine cattle run and farming property. From thence +we went to Dongarra, a town-site also on the Irwin. On reaching this +river, we found ourselves in one of the principal agricultural +districts of Western Australia, and at Dongarra we were met by a +number of the gentlemen of the district, and an address was presented +to me by Mr. Laurence, the Resident Magistrate. After leaving +Dongarra, we were entertained at his house by Mr. Bell; and here we +met a French gentleman of a strong Irish descent, with fine white eyes +and a thick shock head, of red hair; he gazed intently both at us and +the camels. I don't know which he thought the more uncouth of the two +kinds of beasts. At last he found sufficient English to say, "Do dem +tings goo faar in a deayah, ehah?" When he sat down to dinner with us, +he put his mutton chop on his hand, which he rested on his plate. The +latter seemed to be quite an unknown article of furniture to him, and +yet I was told his father was very well to do. + +The next town-site we reached was the Greenough--pronounced +Greenuff--Flats, being in another very excellent agricultural +district; here another address was presented to me, and we were +entertained at an excellent lunch. As usual, great numbers of people +came to inspect us, and the camels, the latter laying down with their +loads on previous to being let go. Often, when strangers would come +too near, some of the more timid camels would jump up instantly, and +the people not being on their guard, would often have torn faces and +bleeding noses before they could get out of the way. On this occasion +a tall, gaunt man and his wife, I supposed, were gazing at Tommy's +riding camel as she carried the two little dogs in bags, one on each +side. Tommy was standing near, trying to make her jump up, but she was +too quiet, and preferred lying down. Any how, Tommy would have his +joke--so, as the man who was gazing most intently at the pups said, +"What's them things, young man?" he replied, "Oh, that's hee's +pickaninnies"--sex having no more existence in a black boy's +vocabulary than in a highlander's. Then the tall man said to the wife, +"Oh, lord, look yer, see how they carries their young." Only the pup's +heads appeared, a string round the neck keeping them in; "but they +looks like dogs too, don't they?" With that he put his huge face down, +so as to gaze more intently at them, when the little dog, who had been +teased a good deal and had got snappish, gave a growl and snapped at +his nose. The secret was out; with a withering glance at Tommy and the +camels, he silently walked away--the lady following. + +All the riding camels and most of the pet baggage camels were +passionately fond of bread. I always put a piece under the flap of my +saddle, and so soon as Reechy came to the camp of a morning, she would +come and lie down by it, and root about till she found it. Lots of the +people, especially boys and children, mostly brought their lunch, as +coming to see the camels was quite a holiday affair, and whenever they +incautiously began to eat in the camp, half a dozen camels would try +to take the food from them. One cunning old camel called Cocky, a huge +beast, whose hump was over seven feet from the ground, with his head +high up in the air, and pretending not to notice anything of the kind, +would sidle slowly up towards any people who were eating, and swooping +his long neck down, with his soft tumid lips would take the food out +of their mouths or hands--to their utter astonishment and dismay. +Another source of amusement with us was, when any man wanted to have a +ride, we always put him on Peter Nicholls's camel, then he was led for +a certain distance from the camp, when the rider was asked whether he +was all right? He was sure to say, "Yes." "Well, then, take the +reins," we would say; and so soon as the camel found himself free, he +would set to work and buck and gallop back to the camp; in nine cases +out of ten the rider fell off, and those who didn't never wished to +get on any more. With the young ladies we met on our journeys through +the settled districts, I took care that no accidents should happen, +and always gave them Reechy or Alec's cow Buzoe. At the Greenough, a +ball was given in the evening. (I should surely be forgetting myself +were I to omit to mention our kind friend, Mr. Maley, the miller at +Greenough, who took us to his house, gave us a lunch, and literally +flooded us with champagne.) We were now only a short distance from +Champion Bay, the town-site being called Geraldton; it was the 16th +February when we reached it. Outside the town we were met by a number +of gentlemen on horseback, and were escorted into it by them. + +On arrival we were invited to a lunch. Champion Bay, or rather +Geraldton, is the thriving centre of what is, for Western Australia, a +large agricultural and pastoral district. It is the most busy and +bustling place I have seen on this side of the continent. It is +situated upon the western coast of Australia, in latitude 28 degrees +40' and longitude 114 degrees 42' 30", lying about north-north-west +from Perth, and distant 250 miles in a straight line, although to +reach it by land more than 300 miles have to be traversed. I delayed +in the neighbourhood of Geraldton for the arrival of the English and +Colonial mails, at the hospitable encampment of Mr. James Palmer, a +gentleman from Melbourne, who was contractor for the first line of +railway, from Champion Bay to Northampton, ever undertaken in Western +Australia. + +While we delayed here, Mr. Tietkens's fine young riding bull got +poisoned, and though we did everything we possibly could for him, he +first went cranky, and subsequently died. I was very much grieved; he +was such a splendid hack, and so quiet and kind; I greatly deplored +his loss. The only substance I could find that he had eaten was +Gyrostemon, there being plenty of it here. Upon leaving Mr. Palmer's +camp we next visited a station called the Bowes--being on the Bowes +Creek, and belonging to Mr. Thomas Burgess, whose father entertained +us so well at Tipperary, near York. Mr. Burgess and his wife most +cordially welcomed us. This was a most delightful place, and so +homelike; it was with regret that I left it behind, Mrs. Burgess being +the last white lady I might ever see. + +Mr. Burgess had another station called Yuin, about 115 miles easterly +from here, and where his nephews, the two Messrs. Wittenoom, resided. +They also have a station lying north-east by north called Cheangwa. On +the fifth day from the Bowes we reached Yuin. The country was in a +very dry state. All the stock had been removed to Cheangwa, where +rains had fallen, and grass existed in abundance. At Yuin Mr. Burgess +had just completed the erection of, I should say, the largest +wool-shed in the Colony. The waters on the station consist of shallow +wells and springs all over it. It is situated up the Greenough River. +Before reaching Cheangwa I met the elder of the two Wittenooms, whom I +had previously known in Melbourne; his younger brother was expected +back from a trip to the north and east, where he had gone to look for +new pastoral runs. When he returned, he told us he had not only been +very successful in that way, but had succeeded in capturing a native +desperado, against whom a warrant was out, and who had robbed some +shepherds' huts, and speared, if not killed, a shepherd in their +employ. Mr. Frank Wittenoom was leading this individual alongside of +his horse, intending to take him to Geraldton to be dealt with by the +police magistrate there. But O, tempora mutantur! One fine night, when +apparently chained fast to a verandah post, the fellow managed to slip +out of his shackles, quietly walked away, and left his fetters behind +him, to the unbounded mortification of his captor, who looked +unutterable things, and though he did not say much, he probably +thought the more. This escape occurred at Yuin, to which place I had +returned with Mr. E. Wittenoom, to await the arrival of Mr. Burgess. +When we were all conversing in the house, and discussing some +excellent sauterne, the opportunity for his successful attempt was +seized by the prisoner. He effected his escape through the good +offices of a confederate friend, a civilised young black fellow, who +pretended he wanted his hair cut, and got a pair of sheep shears from +Mr. Wittenoom during the day for that apparent purpose, saying that +the captive would cut it for him. Of course the shears were not +returned, and at night the captive or his friend used them to prise +open a split link of the chain which secured him, and away he went as +free as a bird in the air. + +I had Mr. Burgess's and Mr. Wittenoom's company to Cheangwa, and on +arrival there my party had everything ready for a start. We arranged +for a final meeting with our kind friends at a spring called Pia, at +the far northern end of Mr. Wittenoom's run. A great number of natives +were assembled round Cheangwa: this is always the case at all frontier +stations, in the Australian squatting bush. Some of the girls and +young women were exceedingly pretty; the men were not so attractive, +but the boys were good-looking youngsters. The young ladies were +exceedingly talkative; they called the camels emus, or, as they +pronounced it, immu. Several of these girls declared their intention +of coming with us. There were Annies, and Lizzies, Lauras, and Kittys, +and Judys, by the dozen. One interesting young person in undress +uniform came up to me and said, "This is Judy, I am Judy; you +Melbourne walk? me Melbourne walk too!" I said, "Oh, all right, my +dear;" to this she replied, "Then you'll have to gib me dress." I gave +her a shirt. + +When we left Cheangwa a number of the natives persisted in following +us, and though we outpaced them in travelling, they stopping to hunt +on the way, they found their way to the camp after us. By some of the +men and boys we were led to a water-hole of some length, called +Cooerminga, about eleven miles nearly north from Cheangwa. As the day +was very warm, we and the natives all indulged promiscuously in the +luxury of swimming, diving, and splashing about in all directions. It +might be said that:-- + + "By yon mossy boulder, see an ebony shoulder, + Dazzling the beholder, rises o'er the blue; + But a moment's thinking, sends the Naiad sinking, + With a modest shrinking, from the gazer's view." + +The day after we crossed the dry channel of what is called the River +Sandford, and at two or three miles beyond it, we were shown another +water called Moodilah, six miles from our last night's encampment. We +were so hampered with the girls that we did not travel very rapidly +over this part of the continent. Moodilah lay a little to the east of +north from Cooerminga; Barloweerie Peak bore north 37 degrees west +from camp, the latitude of which was 27 degrees 11' 8". On Saturday, +the 8th of April, we went nearly north to Pia Spring, where the +following day we met for the last time, Messrs. Burgess and Wittenoom. +We had some bottles of champagne cooling in canvas water-buckets, and +we had an excellent lunch. The girls still remained with us, and if we +liked we might have stayed to "sit with these dark Orianas in groves +by the murmuring sea." + +On Sunday, the 9th of April, we all remained in peace, if not +happiness, at Pia Spring; its position is in latitude 27 degrees 7' +and longitude 116 degrees 30'. The days were still very hot, and as +the country produced no umbrageous trees, we had to erect awnings with +tarpaulins to enable us to rest in comfort, the thermometer in the +shade indicating 100 degrees. Pia is a small granite rock-hole or +basin, which contains no great supply of water, but seems to be +permanently supplied by springs from below. From here Mount Murchison, +near the eastern bank of the River Murchison, bore north 73 degrees +east, twenty-three or twenty-four miles away, and Barloweerie, behind +us, bore south 48 degrees west, eight miles. + +(ILLUSTRATION: FAREWELL TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA.) + +The country belonging to Mr. Burgess and the Messrs. Wittenoom +Brothers appeared to me the best and most extensive pastoral property +I had seen in Western Australia. Water is obtained in wells and +springs all over the country, at a depth of four or five feet; there +are, besides, many long standing pools of rain-water on the runs. Mr. +Burgess told me of a water-hole in a creek, called Natta, nine or ten +miles off, where I intend to go next. On Monday, the 10th of April, we +bade farewell to our two kind friends, the last white men we should +see. We finished the champagne, and parted. + + +CHAPTER 5.2. FROM 10TH APRIL TO 7TH MAY, 1876. + +The natives continue with us. +Natta water-hole. +Myriads of flies. +Alec returns to Cheangwa. +Bashful Tommy. +Cowra man. +Native customs and rites. +Red granite mounds. +Loads carried by women. +Laura and Tommy. +"Cowra" remains. +Pretty amphitheatre. +Mount Hale range. +Flooded grassy flat. +Clianthus or desert pea. +Natives show us water. +New acquaintances. +Tell-tale fat. +Timber of the Murchison. +A waterhole. +Fine vegetation. +Mount Gould and Mount Hale. +A new tribe of natives. +Melbourne. +Pretty girls brought to the camp. +A picturesque place. +Plague of flies. +Angels' faces. +Peterman. +Ascend Mount Gould. +A high peak. +Country beautifully green. +Natives less friendly. +Leave Mount Gould. +Saleh's ponds. +Mount Labouchere. +Sandal-wood-trees. +Native well in a thicket. +An Australian scene. +The Valley of the Gascoyne. +Beautiful trees. +A fire-brand. +Stony pass. +Native orange. +A second anniversary. +Ascent of the peak. +Severe country for camels' feet. +Grassy plain. +The Lyon's river. +Native fires. +Another anniversary. +A new watercourse. +A turkey bustard. +An extraordinary scene. +Remarks upon the country. + +The harem elected to continue with us. Natta was reached in about nine +miles, north-east by north from Pia. On the way we passed some +excellent and occasionally flooded country, and saw some sheets of +rain-water on which were numerous ducks, but our sportsmen were not so +fortunate as to bag any, the birds being so exceedingly shy. I got a +few afterwards, when we reached Natta. The thermometer to-day, 96 +degrees. The country was beautifully green, and the camels beginning +to show great signs of improvement. The only drawbacks to our +enjoyments were the myriads of flies by day and mosquitoes at night. +It now turned out that Alec Ross had forgotten something, that he +wanted at Cheangwa, and we waited here until he returned. During his +absence we actually got enough ducks to give us all a most excellent +dinner, and some to spare for the girls, who left all the hunting to +the men and boys, and remained very comfortably in the camp. Peter +Nicholls was quite in his glory among them. Tommy, being a very +good-looking boy, was an object of great admiration to a good many of +them; but he was so bashful he wouldn't even talk to them, though they +tried very hard to make love to him. Alec having returned, we left +Natta on the 14th, and went about north-east by east, to a small +brackish water in a little creek channel, which we reached in about +fifteen miles. Here our native escort was increased by the arrival of +a young black gentleman, most beautifully dressed in fat and red +ochre, with many extraordinary white marks or figures all over his +back; we were informed that he was a "cowra man." I had heard this +expression before, and it seems it is a custom with the natives of +this part of the country, like those of Fowler's and Streaky Bays on +the south coast, to subject the youths of the tribe to a mutilating +operation. After this they are eligible for marriage, but for a +certain time, until the wounds heal, they are compelled to absent +themselves from the society of women. They go about the country +solitary and wretched, and continually utter a short, sharp "cowra +cry" to warn all other men to keep their women away, until the time of +their probation is over. Married men occasionally go on "cowra" also, +but for what reason, I do not know. The time of our new arrival, it +appeared, was just up, and he seemed very glad indeed of it, for he +was evidently quite a society young man, and probably belonged to one +of the first families. He talked as though he knew the country in +advance for hundreds of miles, and told us he intended to come with +us. + +The country we were now passing through was all covered with low +timber, if indeed the West Australian term of thicket was not more +applicable. There was plenty of grass, but as a rule the region was +poor; no views could be had for any distance. I was desirous of making +my way to, or near to, Mount Hale, on the Murchison River. None of our +natives knew any feature beyond, by its European name. A low line of +hills ran along westerly, and a few isolated patches of granite hills +occurred occasionally to the east of our line of march. We reached a +chain of little creeks or watercourses, and on the 15th camped at a +small water-hole in latitude 26 degrees 46', and longitude about 116 +degrees 57'. From hence we entered thickets, and arrived at the foot +of some red granite mounds, where our cowra man said there was plenty +of water in a rock-hole. It turned out, however, as is usually the +case with these persons, that the information was not in strict +accordance with the truth, for the receptacle he showed us was +exceedingly small, and the supply of water which it contained was +exceedingly smaller. + +Mount Murchison bore south 14 degrees west; the latitude of the camp +at these rocks was 26 degrees 36' 8". A lot of stony hills lay in +front of us to the north. Our Cheangwa natives, like the poor, were +always with us, although I was anxious to get rid of them; they were +too much of a good thing; like a Portuguese devil, when he's good he's +too good. Here I thought it advisable to try to induce them to return. +A good many of the girls really cried; however, by the promise of some +presents of flour, tea, sugar, shirts, tobacco, red handkerchiefs, +looking glasses, etc., we managed to dry their tears. It seemed that +our little friends had now nearly reached the boundary of their +territories, and some of the men wanted to go back, perhaps for fear +of meeting some members of hostile tribes beyond; and though the men +do occasionally go beyond their own districts, they never let the +women go if they can help it; but the women being under our +protection, didn't care where they went. Many of them told me they +would have gone, perhaps not in such poetic phrase as is found in +Lallah Rookh, east, west--alas! I care not whither, so thou art safe +and I with thee. It was, however, now agreed that they should return. +The weight of the loads some of these slim-figured girls and young +wives carried, mostly on their heads, was astonishing, especially when +a good-sized child was perched astride on their shoulders as well. The +men, of course, carried nothing but a few spears and sticks; they +would generally stay behind to hunt or dig out game, and when +obtained, leave it for the lubras or women to bring on, some of the +women following their footsteps for that purpose. + +The prettiest of these girls, or at least the one I thought the +prettiest, was named Laura; she was a married young lady with one +child. They were to depart on the morrow. At about eleven or twelve +o'clock that night, Laura came to where my bed was fixed, and asked me +to take her to see Tommy, this being her last opportunity. "You little +viper," I was going to say, but I jumped up and led her quietly across +the camp to where Tommy was fast asleep. I woke him up and said, +"Here, Tommy, here's Laura come to say 'good-bye' to you, and she +wants to give you a kiss." To this the uncultivated young cub replied, +rubbing his eyes, "I don't want to kiss him, let him kiss himself!" +What was gender, to a fiend like this? and how was poor Laura to be +consoled? + +Our cowra and a friend of his, evidently did not intend to leave us +just yet; indeed, Mr. C. gave me to understand, that whithersoever I +went, he would go; where I lodged, he would lodge; that my people +should be his people; I suppose my God would be good enough for him; +and that he would walk with me to Melbourne. Melbourne was the only +word they seemed to have, to indicate a locality remote. Our course +from these rocks was nearly north, and we got into three very pretty +circular spaces or amphitheatres; round these several many-coloured +and plant-festooned granite hills were placed. Round the foot of the +right-hand hills, between the first and second amphitheatre, going +northerly, Mr. C. showed us three or four rock water-holes, some of +which, though not very large in circumference, were pretty deep, and +held more than sufficient for double my number of camels. Here we +outspanned for an hour and had some dinner, much to the satisfaction +of our now, only two attendants; we had come about six miles. From a +hill just above where we dined, I sighted a range to the north, and +took it to be part of the Mount Hale Range; Mount Hale itself lying +more easterly, was hidden by some other hills just in front. After +dinner we proceeded through, or across, the third amphitheatre, the +range in front appearing thirty to forty miles away. That night we +encamped in a thicket, having travelled only sixteen or seventeen +miles. In a few miles, on the following day, we came on to a line of +white or flood gum-trees, and thought there was a river or creek ahead +of us; but it proved only a grassy flat, with the gum-trees growing +promiscuously upon it. A profusion of the beautiful Sturt, or +desert-pea, or Clianthus Dampierii, grew upon this flat. A few low, +red granite hills to the north seemed to form the bank or edge of a +kind of valley, and before reaching them, we struck a salt +watercourse, in which our two satellites discovered, or probably knew +of before, a fresh waterhole in rock and sand in the channel of the +creek, with plenty of water in, where we encamped. The day was +exceedingly hot, and though near the end of the hot months, our +continued northerly progress made us painfully aware that we were +still in the region of "sere woodlands and sad wildernesses, where, +with fire, and fierce drought, on her tresses, insatiable summer +oppresses." Our latitude here was 26 degrees 14' 50". + +Immediately upon arrival, our cowra man and his friend seemed aware of +the presence of other natives in the neighbourhood, and began to make +signal smokes to induce their countrymen to approach. This they very +soon did, heralding their advent with loud calls and cries, which our +two answered. Although I could not actually translate what the jabber +was all about, I am sure it was a continual question as to our +respectability, and whether we were fit and presentable enough to be +introduced into their ladies' society. The preliminaries and doubts, +however, seemed at last to be overcome, and the natives then made +their appearance. With them came also several of their young women, +who were remarkably good-looking, and as plump as partridges; but they +were a bit skeery, and evidently almost as wild as wild dogs. Our two +semi-civilised barbarians induced them to come nearer, however, and +apparently spoke very favourably about us, so that they soon became +sociable and talkative. They were not very much dressed, their +garments being composed of a very supple, dark kind of skin and hair, +which was so thickly smeared over with fat and red ochre, that if any +one attempted to hold them, it left a tell-tale mark of red fat all +over their unthinking admirers. The following day they wanted to +accompany us, but I would not permit this, and they departed; at +least, we departed, and with us came two men, who would take no +denial, or notice of my injunction, but kept creeping up after us +every now and then. Our cowra led us by evening to a small--very +small, indeed--rock-hole, in which there was scarcely sufficient water +for our four followers. It took me considerably out of my road to +reach it, and I was greatly disgusted when I did so. It lay nearly +north-west by west from the last camp, and was in latitude 26 degrees +7' 9". Mount Hale now bore a little to the north of east from us, and +the timber of the Murchison could be seen for the first time from some +hills near the camp. + +I now steered nearly north-east, for about fifteen miles, until we +struck the river. The country here consisted of extensive grassy +flats, having several lines of gum-timber traversing it, and +occasionally forming into small water-channels; the entire width of +the river-bed here was between five and six miles. We went about three +miles into it, and had to encamp without water, none of the channels +we had passed having any in. I sent Alec Ross still further +northwards, and he found a small rain water-hole two miles farther +north-north-easterly; we went there on the following morning. The +grass and vegetation here, were very rich, high, and green. One of the +little dogs, Queenie, in running after some small game, was lost, and +at night had not returned to the camp, nor was she there by the +morning; but when Saleh and Tommy went for the camels, they found her +with them. I did not intend to ascend Mount Hale, but pushed for Mount +Gould, which bore north 55 degrees east. After crossing the Murchison +channel and flats--fine, grassy, and green--we entered thickets of +mulga, which continued for fifteen miles, until we arrived on the +banks of a watercourse coming from the north, towards the Murchison +near Mount Hale, and traversing the country on the west side of Mount +Gould. Mount Gould and Mount Hale are about twenty-two miles apart, +lying nearly north-north-east and south-south-west from one another, +and having the Murchison River running nearly east and west between, +but almost under the northern foot of Mount Hale. These two mounts +were discovered by H.C. Gregory in 1858. + +We reached the Mount Gould creek on the 22nd of April, and almost so +soon as we appeared upon its banks, we flushed up a whole host of +natives who were living and hunting there. There were men, women, and +children in scores. There was little or no water in the many channels +of the new creek; and as there appeared yet another channel near Mount +Gould, we went towards it; the natives surrounding us, yelling and +gesticulating in the most excited state, but they were, so to say, +civil, and showed us some recent rain water in the channel at Mount +Gould's foot, at which I fixed the camp. As these were the same +natives or members of the same tribes, that had murdered one if not +both the young Clarksons, I determined to be very guarded in my +dealings with them. The men endeavoured to force their way into the +camp several times. I somewhat more forcibly repelled them with a +stick, which made them very angry. As a rule, very few people like +being beaten with a stick, and these were no exception. They did not +appear in the least degree afraid, or astonished, at the sight of the +camels. When they were hobbled out several of the men not only went to +look at them, but began to pull them about also, and laughed heartily +and in chorus when a camel lay down for them. One or two could say a +few words of English, and said, "Which way walk? You Melbourne walk?" +the magic name of Melbourne being even in these people's mouths. This +is to be accounted for by the fact that Mr. E. Wittenoom had returned +from thence not long before, and having taken a Cheangwa black boy +with him, the latter had spread the news of the wonders he had seen in +the great metropolis, to the uttermost ends of the earth. + +There was not very much water where we camped, but still ample for my +time. The grass and herbage here were splendid and green. When the men +found I would not allow them to skulk about the camp, and apparently +desired no intercourse with them, some of them brought up first one, +then another, and another, and another, very pretty young girls; the +men leading them by the hand and leaving them alone in the camp, and +as it seemed to them that they were required to do or say something, +they began to giggle. The men then brought up some very nice-looking +little boys. But I informed them they might as well go; girls and boys +went away together, and we saw nothing more of them that evening. This +was a very pretty and picturesque place. Mount Gould rose with rough +and timbered sides to a pointed ridge about two miles from the camp. +The banks of the creek were shaded with pretty trees, and numerous +acacia and other leguminous bushes dotted the grassy flooded lands on +either side of the creek. The beauty of the place could scarcely be +enjoyed, as the weather was so hot and the flies such awful plagues, +that life was almost a misery, and it was impossible to obtain a +moment's enjoyment of the scene. The thermometer had stood at 103 +degrees in the shade in the afternoon, and at night the mosquitoes +were as numerous and almost more annoying than the flies in the day. +The following day being Sunday, we rested, and at a very early hour +crowds of black men, women, boys, and children, came swarming up to +the camp. But the men were not allowed to enter. There was no +resisting the encroachments of the girls; they seemed out of their +wits with delight at everything they saw; they danced and pirouetted +about among the camels' loads with the greatest glee. Everything with +them was, "What name?" They wanted to know the name of everything and +everybody, and they were no wiser when they heard it. Some of these +girls and boys had faces, in olive hue, like the ideal representation +of angels; how such beauty could exist amongst so poor a grade of the +human race it is difficult to understand, but there it was. Some of +the men were good-looking, but although they had probably been +beautiful as children, their beauty had mostly departed. There were +several old women at the camp. They were not beautiful, but they were +very quiet and retiring, and seemed to feel gratification at the +pleasures the young ones enjoyed. Sometimes they would point out some +pretty girl or boy and say it was hers, or hers; they were really very +like human beings, though of course no one can possibly be a real +human being who does not speak English. A custom among the natives +here is to cicatrise in parallel horizontal lines the abdomens of the +female portion of the community. The scars of the old being long +healed left only faint raised lines, intended to hide any natural +corrugations; this in a great measure it did, but the younger, +especially those lately operated on, had a very unsightly appearance. +Surely these people cannot deem these the lines of beauty. These young +ladies were much pleased at beholding their pretty faces in a +looking-glass for the first time. They made continual use of the word +"Peterman." This was a word I had first heard from the natives of the +Rawlinson Range, upon my last horse expedition of 1874. It seems to +signify, where are you going? or where have you come from? or +something to that effect; and from the fact of their using it, it +appears that they must speak the same language as the natives of the +Rawlinson, which is over 600 miles away to the eastward, and is +separated from their territory by a vast and dreary desert. The day +was again distressingly hot; the thermometer in the afternoon rising +to 104 degrees in the shade, which so late in April is something +extraordinary. The girls seemed greatly to enjoy sitting in the fine +shade made by our awnings. The common house-fly swarmed about us in +thousands of decillions, and though we were attended by houris, I at +least did not consider myself in Paradise. The latitude of this camp +was 25 degrees 46' 37", and longitude 117 degrees 25'. Next day Alec +Ross and I climbed to the top of Mount Gould; this was rather rough +work, the height being between 1100 and 1200 feet above the +surrounding country, and 2600 feet above the sea level. The country +immediately to the eastward was flat and grassy, but with the +exception of a few miles from the foot of the mount, which was open +and clear, the whole region, though flat, is thickly covered with +mulga or thickets; this, in Western Australian parlance, is called a +plain. Mount Hale appeared much higher than this hill. + +The only other conspicuous object in view was a high peak to the +north-north-east. The timber of the River Murchison could be traced +for some miles as coming from the eastwards, and sweeping under the +northern foot of Mount Hale. The creek the camp is situated on came +from the north-east. The creek we first saw the natives on, comes from +the north, and the two join before reaching the Murchison. Mount Gould +is almost entirely composed of huge blocks of almost pure iron, which +rendered the compass useless. The creek the camp is on appears to come +from some low hills to the north east-wards, and on leaving this place +I shall follow it up. Some recent rains must have fallen in this +neighbourhood, for the whole country is beautifully green. The flies +at the camp to-day were, if possible, even more numerous than before. +They infest the whole air; they seem to be circumambient; we can't +help eating, drinking, and breathing flies; they go down our throats +in spite of our teeth, and we wear them all over our bodies; they +creep up one's clothes and die, and others go after them to see what +they died of. The instant I inhale a fly it acts as an emetic. And if +Nature abhors a vacuum, she, or at least my nature, abhors these +wretches more, for the moment I swallow one a vacuum is instantly +produced. Their bodies are full of poisonous matter, and they have a +most disgusting flavour, though they taste sweet. They also cause +great pains and discomfort to our eyes, which are always full of them. +Probably, if the flies were not here, we might think we were overrun +with ants; but the flies preponderate; the ants merely come as +undertakers and scavengers; they eat up or take away all we smash, and +being attracted by the smell of the dead victims, they crawl over +everything after their prey. The natives appear far less friendly +to-day, and no young houris have visited us. Many of the men have +climbed into trees in the immediate neighbourhood of the camp, not +being allowed in, and are continually peering down at us and our +doings, and reporting all our movements to their associates. At our +meal-times they seem especially watchful, and anxious to discover what +it is we eat, and where it comes from. Some come occasionally creeping +nearer to our shady home for a more extensive view. Wistfully gazing +they come-- + + "And they linger a minute, + Like those lost souls who wait, + Viewing, through heaven's gate, + Angels within it." + +By the morning of the following day I was very glad to find that the +natives had all departed. Saleh and Tommy were away after the camels, +and had been absent so many hours that I was afraid these people might +have unhobbled the camels and driven them off, or else attacked the +two who were after them. We waited, therefore, for their return in +great anxiety, hour after hour. As they only took one gun besides +their revolvers, I was afraid they might not be able to sustain an +attack, if the natives set upon them. After the middle of the day they +turned up, camels and all, which put an end to our fears. + +We departed from Mount Gould late in the day, and travelled up the +creek our camp was on, and saw several small ponds of clear +rain-water, but at the spot where we camped, after travelling fifteen +miles, there was none. Mount Gould bore south 56 degrees west from +camp. The travelling for about twenty miles up the creek was pretty +good. At twenty-seven miles we came to the junction with another +creek, where a fine permanent rocky pool of fresh water, with some +good-sized fish in it, exists. I named this fine watering-place +Saleh's Fish-ponds, after my Afghan camel-driver, who was really a +first-rate fellow, without a lazy bone in his body. The greatest +requirement of a camel caravan, is some one to keep the saddles in +repair, and so avert sore backs. Saleh used to do this admirably, and +many times in the deserts and elsewhere I have known him to pass half +the night at this sort of work. The management of the camels, after +one learns the art, is simple enough; they are much easier to work +than a mob of pack-horses; but keeping the saddles right is a task of +the hardest nature. In consequence of Saleh's looking after ours so +well, we never had any trouble with sore-backed camels, thus escaping +a misfortune which in itself might wreck a whole caravan. We kept on +farther up our creek, and at a place we selected for a camp we got +some water by digging in the channel at a depth of only a few inches +in the sandy bed. The country now on both sides of the creek was both +stony and scrubby. Following it up, at ten miles farther, we reached +its head amongst the mass of hills which, by contributing lesser +channels, combine to form its source. Here we re-sighted the +high-peaked mount first seen from Mount Gould, and I decided to visit +it. It is most probably the mountain seen from a distance by H.C. +Gregory, and named by him Mount Labouchere. We were now among a mass +of dreadfully rough and broken hills, which proved very severe to the +camels' feet, as they had continually to descend into and rise again +out of, sharp gullies, the stones being nearly up-edged. The going up +and down these short, sharp, and sometimes very deep, stony +undulations, is a performance that these excellent animals are not +specially adapted for. Heavily-loaded camels have only a rope crupper +under their tails to keep the saddles and loads on, and in descending +these places, when the animals feel the crupper cutting them, some of +them would skip and buck, and get some of their loading off, and we +had a great deal of trouble in consequence. + +Both yesterday and to-day, the 27th of April, we saw several stunted +specimens of the sandal-wood-tree of commerce, santalum. In the +afternoon, getting over the highest part of the hills, the country +fell slightly towards the north, and we reached a small creek with +gum-trees on it, running to the north-north-west; it was quite dry; no +rain appeared to have visited it or the country surrounding it for +centuries. As the sharp stones had not agreed with the camels, we +encamped upon it, although we could get no water. The latitude of our +camp on this dry creek was 25 degrees 19'. The flies and heat were +still terrible. Leaving the creek and steering still for the high peak +of Mount Labouchere, we came, at thirteen miles, upon a native well in +the midst of a grassy flat among thickets. The peak bore 6 degrees 30' +east of north from it. This well appeared to have been dug out of +calcareous soil. We did not use it, but continued our journey over and +through, both stony and occasionally sandy thickets, to some low hills +which rose before us to the north. On ascending these, a delightful +and truly Australian scene was presented to our view, for before us +lay the valley of the Gascoyne River. This valley is three or four +miles wide, and beautifully green. It is bounded on the north, +north-easterly, and north-westerly, by abrupt-faced ranges of hills, +while down through the centre of the grassy plain stretch serpentine +lines of vigorous eucalyptus-trees, pointing out the channels of the +numerous watercourses into which the river splits. The umbrageous and +evergreen foliage of the tops, the upright, creamy white stems of +these elegant gum-trees, contrasted remarkably and agreeably with the +dull and sombre hues of the treeless hills that formed the background, +and the enamelled and emerald earth that formed the groundwork of the +scene. We lost no time in descending from the hills to the beautiful +flat below, and discovered a fine long reach of water in the largest +channel, where there were numbers of wild ducks. The water was +slightly brackish in taste. It appeared to continue for a considerable +distance upon either hand, both east and west. The herbage was +exceedingly fine and green, and it was a most excellent place for an +encampment. The trees formed the greatest charm of the scene; they +were so beautifully white and straight. It could not be said of this +place that: + + "The gnarled, knotted trunks Eucalyptian, + Seemed carved like weird columns Egyptian; + With curious device, quaint inscription, + And hieroglyph strange." + +The high Mount Labouchere bore 8 degrees 20' east of north, the +latitude was 25 degrees 3', longitude 117 degrees 59', and the +variation 4 degrees 28' west. The wind blew fiercely from the east, +and seemed to betoken a change in the weather. From a hill to the +north of us we could see that small watercourses descended from low +hills to the north and joined the river at various points, one of +which, from a north-easterly direction, I shall follow. The country in +that direction seemed very rough and stony. We shot a number of ducks +and pigeons here. No natives came near us, although Saleh picked up a +burning fire-stick close to the camp, dropped by some wandering +savage, who had probably taken a very keen scrutiny and mental +photograph of us all, so as to enable him to give his +fellow-barbarians a full, true, and particular account of the wild and +hideous beings who had invaded their territory. The water-hole was +nearly three miles long; no other water was to be found in any of the +other channels in the neighbourhood. We have seen no other native game +here than ducks and pigeons. We noticed large areas of ground on the +river flats, which had not only been dug, but re-dug, by the natives, +and it seems probable that a great portion of their food consists of +roots and vegetables. I remained here two days, and then struck over +to the creek before mentioned as coming from the north-east. At eight +miles it ran through a rough stony pass between the hills. A few +specimens of the native orange-tree, capparis, were seen. We encamped +in a very rough glen without water. The country is now a mass of +jumbled stones. Still pushing for the peak, we moved slowly over +hills, down valleys, and through many rocky passes; generally +speaking, the caravan could proceed only along the beds of the +trumpery watercourses. By the middle of the 1st of May, the second +anniversary of the day I crawled into Fort McKellar, after the loss of +Gibson, we crawled up to the foot of Mount Labouchere; it seemed very +high, and was evidently very rough and steep. Alec Ross and Saleh +ascended the mount in the afternoon, and all the satisfaction they +got, was their trouble, for it was so much higher than any of its +surroundings that everything beyond it seemed flattened, and nothing +in particular could be seen. It is composed of a pink and +whitish-coloured granite, with quantities of calcareous stone near its +base, and it appears to have been formed by the action of submarine +volcanic force. No particular hills and no watercourses could be seen +in any northerly direction. The Gascoyne River could be traced by its +valley trend for twenty-five or thirty miles eastwards, and it is most +probable that it does not exist at all at fifty miles from where we +crossed it. The elevation of this mountain was found to be 3400 feet +above sea level, and 1800 feet above the surrounding country. The +latitude of this feature is 24 degrees 44', and its longitude 118 +degrees 2', it lying nearly north of Mount Churchman, and distant 330 +miles from it. There were no signs of water anywhere, nor could any +places to hold it be seen. It was very difficult to get a camel +caravan over such a country. The night we encamped here was the +coolest of the season; the thermometer on the morning of the 2nd +indicated 48 degrees. On the stony hills we occasionally saw stunted +specimens of the scented commercial sandal-wood and native +orange-trees. Leaving the foot of this mountain with pleasure, we went +away as north-easterly as we could, towards a line of hills with a gap +or pass in that direction. We found a small watercourse trending +easterly, and in it I discovered a pool of clear rain-water, all among +stones. We encamped, although it was a terribly rough place. Arriving +at, and departing from, Mount Labouchere has made some of the camels +not only very tender-footed, but in consequence of the stony layers +lying so up-edged, has cut some of them so badly that the caravan +might be tracked by a streak of blood on the stones over which we have +passed. This was not so much from the mere stones, but from the camels +getting their feet wedged into clefts and dragging them forcibly out. +Some were so fortunate as to escape without a scratch. We made very +little distance to-day, as our camp is not more than five miles from +the summit of the mountain, which bore south 61 degrees west from us. +We rested at this little pond for a day, leaving it again upon the +4th. + +Following the watercourse we were encamped upon, it took us through a +pass, among the rough hills lying north-easterly. So soon as we +cleared the pass, the creek turned northerly, and ran away over a fine +piece of grassy plain, which was a kind of valley, between two lines +of hills running east and west, the valley being of some width. The +timber of the creek fell off here, and the watercourse seemed to +exhaust itself upon the valley in a westerly direction, but split into +two or three channels before ending, if, indeed, it does end here, +which I doubt, as I believe this valley and creek, form the head of +the Lyons River, as no doubt the channel forms again and continues its +course to the west. To-day on our journey I noticed some native +poplar-trees. We left all the water-channels on our left hand, and +proceeded north across the plain, towards a low part or fall, between +two ranges that run along the northern horizon. The valley consists of +grassy flats, though somewhat thickly timbered with mulga. Some +natives' fires were observed in the hills on our line of march. That +night we encamped without water, in a low part of the hills, after +travelling nineteen or twenty miles. The night became very cloudy, and +so was the next morning. We had more rough, stony, and scrubby hills +to traverse. At six miles we got over these and down into another +valley, but even in this, the country was all scrub and stones. We +encamped at a dry gum-creek, where there was good herbage and bushes +for the camels; but the whole region being so rough, it does not +please either us or the camels at all. They can't get soft places to +stand on while they are feeding, nor are their sleeping places like +feather-beds either. At night a very slight sprinkling of rain fell +for a minute or two. + +May the 6th was the anniversary of the departure of the caravan from +Beltana in South Australia, whither we were now again endeavouring to +force our way by a new line. More hills, rough and wretched, were +travelled over to-day. In five miles we got to a new watercourse, +amongst the hills, which seemed inclined to go north-easterly, so we +followed it. It meandered about among the hills and through a pass, +but no water was seen, though we were anxiously looking for it at +every turn. Alec shot a wild turkey or bustard to-day. After going +thirteen or fourteen miles, and finding no water, I camped, and as we +had none for ourselves, I sent Alec Ross, Saleh, and Tommy into the +hills with the camels to a place about ten miles back, where I had +seen a small native well. They returned the following day, having +found a good-sized water-hole, and brought a supply to the camp. The +last two nights were cloudy, and I could get no observations for +latitude. While the camels were away I ascended a hill close by the +camp; the scene was indeed most extraordinary, bald and abrupt hills, +mounts, and ranges being thrown up in all directions; they resemble +the billows of a tempestuous ocean suddenly solidified into stone, or +as though a hundred thousand million Pelions had been upon as many +million Ossas hurled, and as though the falling masses, with +superincumbent weight, falling, flattened out the summits of the +mountains low but great. + +Our creek, as well as I could determine, seemed to be joined by others +in its course north-easterly. I was surprised to find a creek running +in that direction, expecting rather to find the fall of the whole +region to the opposite point, as we are now in the midst of the +hill-country that forms the watershed, that sends so many rivers into +the sea on the west coast. The hills forming these watersheds are +almost uniformly composed of granite, and generally lie in almost +parallel lines, nearly east and west. They are mostly flat-topped, and +at various points present straight, rounded, precipitous, and +corrugated fronts, to the astonished eyes that first behold them. A +few small water-channels rise among them, and these, joining others of +a similar kind, gather strength and volume sufficient to form the +channels of larger watercourses, which eventually fall into some +other, dignified by the name of a river, and eventually discharge +themselves into the sea. Between the almost parallel lines of hills +are hollows or narrow valleys, which are usually as rough and stony as +the tops of the hills themselves; and being mostly filled with scrubs +and thickets, it is as dreadful a region for the traveller to gaze +upon as can well be imagined; it is impossible to describe it. There +is little or no permanent water in the whole region; a shower +occasionally falls here and there, and makes a small flood in one or +other of the numerous channels; but this seems to be all that the +natives of this part of the country have to depend upon. If there were +any large waters, we must come upon them by signs, or instinct, if not +by chance. The element of chance is not so great here as in hidden and +shrouded scrubs, for here we can ascend the highest ground, and any +leading feature must instantly be discovered. The leading features +here are not the high, but the low grounds, not the hills, but the +valleys, as in the lowest ground the largest watercourses must be +found. Hence we follow our present creek, as it must run into a larger +one. I know the Ashburton is before us, and not far off now; and as it +is the largest river? in Western Australia, it must occupy the largest +and lowest valley. The number of inhabitants of this region seems very +limited; we have met none, an occasional smoke in the distance being +the only indication of their existence. In the hot months of the year +this region must be vile in the extreme, and I consider myself most +fortunate in having the cool season before me to traverse it in. It is +stony, sterile, and hideous, and totally unsuited for the occupation +or habitation of the white man. + + +CHAPTER 5.3. FROM 7TH MAY TO 10TH JUNE, 1876. + +Depart for higher ground. +Rainfalls. +Ophthalmia. +Romantic glen. +Glen Ross. +Camels on the down grade. +Larger creek. +The Ashburton. +No natives. +Excellent bushes for camels. +A strange spot. +Junction of several creeks. +Large snake. +Grand Junction Depot. +A northerly journey. +Milk thistle. +Confined glen. +Pool of water. +Blind with ophthalmia. +Leading the blind. +Dome-like masses. +Mount Robinson and The Governor. +Ophthalmia range. +Rocky spring. +Native fig-trees. +A glen full of water. +Camels nearly drowned. +Scarcity of living things. +And of water. +Continued plague of flies. +A pretty view. +Tributaries join. +Nicholls's Fish ponds. +Characteristics of watering places. +Red hill. +Another spring. +Unvarying scene. +Frost, thermometer 28 degrees. +A bluff hill. +Gibson's Desert again. +Remarks upon the Ashburton. +The desert's edge. +Barren and wretched region. +Low ridges and spinifex. +Deep native well. +Thermometer 18 degrees. +Salt bush and Acacia flats. +A rocky cleft. +Sandhills in sight. +Enter the desert. +The solitary caravan. +Severe ridges of sand. +Camels poisoned in the night. +In doubt, and resolved. +Water by digging. +More camels attacked. +A horrible and poisonous region. +Variable weather. +Thick ice. +A deadly Upas-tree. + +Though the camels returned early from where the water was found, some +of them required a rest on the soft ground on the banks of the creek, +and as there were good bushes here also, we remained for the rest of +the day. The night set in very close and oppressive, and a slight rain +fell. On the morning of May the 8th there was some appearance of more +rain, and as we were camped upon ground liable to be flooded, I +decided to be off at once to some higher ground, which we reached in +about two miles down the creek. While we were packing up, and during +the time we were travelling, the rain came down sufficiently heavily +to wet us all thoroughly. We got to the side of a stony hill, put up +our tents and tarpaulins, and then enjoyed the rain exceedingly, +except that our senses of enjoyment were somewhat blunted, for all of +us had been attacked with ophthalmia for several days previously. +Livingstone remarks in one of his works that, in Africa, attacks of +ophthalmia generally precede rain. The rain fell occasionally +throughout the remainder of the day and during the night. "All night +long, in fitful pauses, falling far, but faint and fine." By the next +morning it had flooded the small lateral channels; this, however, +caused a very slight trickling down the channel of the larger creek. +The following day was windy and cloudy, but no more rain fell; about +an inch and a half had fallen altogether. We remained in camp to-day, +and dried all our things. The position of the camp was in latitude 24 +degrees 12' 8" and longitude about 118 degrees 20'. + +(ILLUSTRATION: GLEN ROSS.) + +On the 10th of May we left, still following our creek about +east-north-east. We have had, a line of hills to the north of us for +some distance, but now at five miles this fell off, and some other +hills on the south, running up close to the creek, turned its course +up to the north, and in two or three miles it ran into a most +picturesque and romantic glen, which had now a rushing torrent roaring +through its centre. Here no doubt some permanent water exists, as we +not only saw great quantities of mussel shells at deserted native +camps, but Alec Ross saw a large rocky water reservoir in the glen, in +which were quantities of good-sized fish. The camels could not pass +through this glen, it was too rocky; they therefore had to travel +along the top of a precipice of red and white granite. That overlooked +it on the eastern side. The noise of waters rushing over the rocky +bottom of this stone-bound glen, was music sweet, and sound melodious, +to ears like ours, so unaccustomed to the beautiful cadences of +Nature's pure and soothing voice. The atmosphere was pure and clear, +the breeze fresh, the temperature such as man may enjoy; and this was +one of those few and seldom-met-with, places where the wanderer's eye +may rest for a moment with pleasure as it scans the scene around. The +verdure of the glen, the bright foliage of the trees that lined the +banks of the stream below, the sparkling water as it danced and +glittered in the sunlight, the slow and majestic motion of the passing +caravan, as it wound so snake-like along the top of the precipitous +wall, combined with the red and white colouring of the rifted granite +of which it is composed, formed a picture framed in the retina of his +eye, which is ever pleasing to the traveller to remember, and a +pleasure also to describe. I have named this pretty place Glen Ross, +after my young friend Alec. We got the caravan easily enough up on top +of the wall, the difficulty was to get it down again. A very steep +place had to be negotiated, and we were more than an hour in +descending to ground not a hundred yards below us. Camels are not +designed for going down places of this kind, with loads on; but they +have so many other splendid qualities, that I cannot censure them for +not possessing the faculty of climbing like cats or monkeys. + +From a hill near the mouth of this glen it could be seen that this +creek ran into a much larger one, in the course of three or four +miles. There also appeared a kind of valley in which the new creek +lay; it and its valley seemed to run east and west. On arrival at this +new feature the following morning, I found the channel very broad and +sandy-bedded, with fine vigorous eucalyptus timber growing upon either +bank. I was at once certain that this new feature was the upper +portion of the Ashburton River, which enters the sea upon the west +coast. It has always been supposed to be the largest river in Western +Australia. No traveller had ever reached so high a point up it +previously; of course its flow was to the west. Only a small stream of +water was running down its bed, caused no doubt by the late rains. The +valley down which it runs is so confined and stony, that no sufficient +areas of country suitable for occupation can be had on it, in this +neighbourhood. Its course was nearly from the east, and we followed +along its banks. In the immediate neighbourhood there was very fine +grass and herbage. I struck it in latitude 24 degrees 5', and +longitude 118 degrees 30'. A branch creek joins it from the north-east +at nine miles. I encamped upon it for the first time on the 11th of +May. In our progress up this river--I use the term in its Australian +sense, for at this portion the Ashburton might be termed a dry river +only--we found a slight stream of water trickling along its bed. The +banks are low, the bed is broad. We had to travel mainly in the sandy +bed, as this proved the best travelling ground in general, the valley +being both narrow and stony. On the second day it appeared that the +only water that ran down the bed came from another creek, which joined +from the south; above that spot the Ashburton channel was quite dry, +although we occasionally found small ponds of water in the sand here +and there. At night, on the 12th, there was none where we camped; the +river still ran nearly east and west. That hideous and objectionable +vegetation, the Triodia irritans, or spinifex, was prevalent even in +places where the waters sometimes flowed. We have had plenty of this +enemy ever since we left Mount Gould. No natives were seen, or appear +to exist here. A few strips of good country occur occasionally on the +banks of the river, but not in areas of sufficient extent to be of any +use for occupation. Neither man, beast, bird, nor fish was to be seen, +only an odd and apparently starving crow was occasionally heard. As we +travelled farther up the river, there was even less appearance of rain +having fallen; but the grass and herbage is green and fresh, and it +may be it was visited by rains previously. There are excellent acacia +and other leguminous bushes for the camels. + +On the 13th of May we came to a very strange spot, where a number of +whitish, flat-topped hills hemmed in the river, and where the +conjunction of three or four other creeks occurred with the Ashburton, +which now appeared to come from the south, its tributaries coming from +the east and north-east. On the most northerly channel, Peter Nicholls +shot a very large snake; it was nearly nine feet long, was a foot +round the girth, and weighed nearly fifty pounds. It was a perfect +monster for Australia. Had we been without food, what a godsend it +would have been to us! It would have made two or three good meals for +the whole party. I called this place the Grand Junction Depot, as the +camp was not moved from there for thirteen days. The position of the +camp at this Grand Junction was in latitude 24 degrees 6' 8", and +longitude 119 degrees. At this time I had a second attack of +ophthalmia; but on the 15th, thinking I was recovering, I went away in +company with Alec Ross to penetrate as far north as the 23rd parallel +of latitude, as I was in hopes of finding some new hills or ranges in +that locality that might extend for a distance eastwards. We took four +camels with us, three being the same animals which Alec and I took +when we found the Boundary Dam. + +Leaving the depot, we went up the most easterly of the creeks that +came in at the Grand Junction. In its channel I saw some of the milk +or sow-thistle plant growing--the Sonchus oleraceus. I have met this +plant in only four places during my explorations. The trend of the +creek was nearly from the east-north-east. At six miles the gum-timber +disappeared from the creek, and the channel being confined by hills, +we were in a kind of glen, with plenty of running water to splash +through. A great quantity of tea-tree--Melaleuca--grew in the creek +bed. There we saw another large snake, but not of such dimensions as +Nicholls's victim. At ten miles up from the depot the glen ceased, and +the creek ran through a country more open on the north bank. We camped +at about twenty miles. During the day we saw some native poplars, +quandong, or native peach, capparis, or native orange, and a few +scented sandal-wood-trees; nearly all of these different kinds of +trees were very stunted in their growth. At night my eyes were so much +inflamed and so painful with ophthalmia, that I could scarcely see. +The next day we steered north-north-east, the ground being very stony +and bad for travelling. We passed some low hills at seven or eight +miles, and at twenty-one we encamped in a dry, stony creek channel. +The following day the country was almost identical in its nature, only +that we found a small pool of water at night in a creek, our course +being still the same. My eyes had been so bad all day, I was in agony; +I had no lotion to apply to them. At length I couldn't see at all, and +Alec Ross had to lead the camels, with mine tied behind them. I not +only couldn't see, I couldn't open my eyes, and had no idea where I +was going. That day Alec sighted a range of somewhat high hills to our +left; he next saw another range having rounded, dome-like masses about +it, and this lay across our path. Alec ascended one of the hills, and +informed me that he saw an extensive mass of hills and ranges in every +direction but the east. To the north they extended a great distance, +but they rose into the highest points at two remarkable peaks to the +north-west, and these, although I cannot be certain exactly where they +are situated, I have named respectively Mount Robinson and The +Governor, in the hope that these designations will remain as lasting +memorials of the intelligent and generous interest displayed by +Governor Robinson in the exploration of the province under his sway. +The country to the east is all level; no ranges whatever appear in +that direction. From what Alec saw and described to me, it was evident +that we were upon the edge of the desert, as if the ranges ceased to +the east, it was not likely that any watercourses could exist without +them. No watercourses could be seen in any direction, except that from +which we had come. It was a great disappointment to me to get such +information, as I had hoped to discover some creeks or rivers that +might carry me some distance farther eastward; but now it was evident +they did not exist. I called this range, whose almost western end Alec +ascended, Ophthalmia Range, in consequence of my suffering so much +from that frightful malady. I could not take any observations, and I +cannot be very certain where this range lies. I wanted to reach the +23rd parallel, but as the country looked so gloomy and forbidding +farther north, it was useless plunging for only a few miles more into +such a smashed and broken region. By careful estimate it was quite +fair to assume that we had passed the Tropic of Capricorn by some +miles, as my estimated latitude here was 23 degrees 15', and longitude +about 119 degrees 37'. I was in such pain that I ordered an instant +retreat, my only desire being to get back to the depot and repose in +the shade. + +This was the 18th of May, and though the winter season ought to have +set in, and cool weather should have been experienced, yet we had +nothing of the kind, but still had to swelter under the enervating +rays of the burning sun of this shadeless land; and at night, a +sleeping-place could only be obtained by removing stones, spinifex, +and thorny vegetation from the ground. The latter remark, it may be +understood, does not apply to only this one place or line of travel; +it was always the case. After returning for a few miles on our +outcoming tracks, Alec found a watercourse that ran south-westerly, +and as it must eventually fall into the Ashburton, we followed it. In +travelling down its course on the 22nd the creek became enclosed by +hills on either side, and we found an extraordinary rocky spring. The +channel of the creek dropped suddenly down to a lower level, which, +when in flood, must no doubt form a splendid cascade. Now a person +could stand on a vast boulder of granite and look down at the waters, +as they fell in little sprays from the springs that supplied the spot; +the small streams rushing out from among the fissures of the broken +rocks, and all descending into a fine basin below. To Alec's eyes was +this romantic scene displayed. The rocks above, below, and around, +were fringed and decked with various vegetations; shrubs and small +trees ornamented nearly the whole of the surrounding rocks, amongst +which the native fig-tree, Ficus platypoda, was conspicuous. It must +have been a very pretty place. I could hear the water rushing and +splashing, but could not see anything. It appeared also that the water +ran out of the basin below into the creek channel, which goes on its +course apparently through or into a glen. I describe this peculiar +freak of nature from what Alec told me; I hope my description will not +mislead others. Soon after we found that this was the case, as we now +entered an exceedingly rough and rocky glen full of water--at least so +it appeared to Alec, who could see nothing but water as far down as he +could look. At first the water was between three and four feet deep; +the farther we went the deeper the water became. Could any one have +seen us we must have presented a very novel sight, as the camels got +nearly up to their humps in water, and would occasionally refuse to go +on; they would hang back, break their nose-ropes, and then lie quietly +down until they were nearly drowned. We had to beat and pull them up +the best way we could. It was rather disagreeable for a blind man to +slip off a camel up to his neck in cold water, and, lifting up his +eyelids with both hands, try to see what was going on. Having, +however, gone so far, we thought it best to continue, as we expected +the glen to end at any turn; but the water became so deep that Alec's +riding cow Buzoe, being in water deep enough for her to swim in, if +she could swim, refused to go any farther, and thought she would like +to lie down. This she tried, but the water was too deep for her to +keep her head above it, and after being nearly smothered she got up +again:-- + + "And now to issue from the glen, + No pathway meets the wand'rers' ken, + Unless they climb, with footing nice, + A far-projecting precipice." + +It would be out of all propriety to expect a camel to climb a +precipice; fortunately at a few yards further a turn of the glen +showed Alec a place on the southern bank where a lot of rocks had +fallen down. It was with the greatest difficulty we got to it, and +with still greater that at last we reached the top of the cliff, and +said good-bye to this watery glen. Our clothes, saddles, blankets, and +food were soaked to a pulp. We could not reach the depot that night, +but did so early on the following day. I called this singular glen in +which the camels were nearly drowned, Glen Camel. + +No natives had visited the camp, nor had any living thing, other than +flies, been seen, while we were away, except a few pigeons. The camp +at this depot was fixed on the soft, sandy bed of the Ashburton, close +to the junction of the east creek, which Alec and I had followed up. +It had been slightly flooded by the late rains, and two open ponds of +clear water remained in the bed of the Ashburton. It seems probable +that water might always be procured here by digging, but it is +certainly not always visible on the surface. Once or twice before +reaching the depot, we saw one or two places with dried-up bulrushes +growing in the bed, and water may have existed there in the sand. In +consequence of my eyes being so bad, we remained here for the next two +days. The heat and the flies were dreadful; and the thermometer +indicated 93 degrees one day and 95 degrees the next, in the shade. It +was impossible to get a moment's peace or rest from the attacks of the +flies; the pests kept eating into our eyes, which were already bad +enough. This seemed to be the only object for which these wretches +were invented and lived, and they also seemed to be quite ready and +willing to die, rather than desist a moment from their occupation. +Everybody had an attack of the blight, as ophthalmia is called in +Australia, which with the flies were enough to set any one deranged. +Every little sore or wound on the hands or face was covered by them in +swarms; they scorned to use their wings, they preferred walking to +flying; one might kill them in millions, yet other, and hungrier +millions would still come on, rejoicing in the death of their +predecessors, as they now had not only men's eyes and wounds to eat, +but could batten upon the bodies of their slaughtered friends also. +Strange to say, we were not troubled here with ants; had we been, we +should only have required a few spears stuck into us to complete our +happiness. A very pretty view was to be obtained from the summit of +any of the flat-topped hills in this neighbourhood, and an area of +nearly 100 square miles of excellent country might be had here. + +On Friday, the 26th of May, we left the depot at this Grand Junction. +The river comes to this place from the south for some few miles. In +ten miles we found that it came through a low pass, which hems it in +for some distance. Two or three tributaries joined, and above them its +bed had become considerably smaller than formerly. At about eighteen +miles from the depot we came upon a permanent water, fed by springs, +which fell into a fine rock reservoir, and in this, we saw many fish +disporting themselves in their pure and pellucid pond. Several of the +fishes were over a foot long. The water was ten or more feet deep. A +great quantity of tea-tree, Melaleuca, grew in the river-bed here; +indeed, our progress was completely stopped by it, and we had to cut +down timber for some distance to make a passage for the camels before +we could get past the place, the river being confined in a glen. Peter +Nicholls was the first white man who ever saw this extraordinary +place, and I have called it Nicholls's Fish Ponds after him. It will +be noticed that the characteristics of the only permanent waters in +this region are rocky springs and reservoirs, such as Saleh's Fish +Ponds, Glen Ross, Glen Camel, and Nicholls's Fish Ponds will show. +More junctions occurred in this neighbourhood, and it was quite +evident that the main river could not exist much farther, as +immediately above every tributary its size became manifestly reduced. + +On the 27th of May we camped close to a red hill on the south bank of +the river; just below it, was another spring, at which a few reeds and +some bulrushes were growing. The only views from any of the hills near +the river displayed an almost unvarying scene; low hills near the +banks of the river, and some a trifle higher in the background. The +river had always been in a confined valley from the time we first +struck it, and it was now more confined than ever. On the morning of +the 28th of May we had a frost for the first time this year, the +thermometer indicating 28 degrees. To-day we crossed several more +tributaries, mostly from the north side; but towards evening the river +split in two, at least here occurred the junction of two creeks of +almost equal size, and it was difficult to determine which was the +main branch. I did not wish to go any farther south, therefore I took +the more northerly one; its trend, as our course for some days past +had been, was a good deal south of east; indeed, we have travelled +about east-south-east since leaving the depot. In the upper portions +of the river we found more water in the channel than we had done lower +down; perhaps more rain had fallen in these hills. + +By the 29th, the river or creek-channel had become a mere thread; the +hills were lowering, and the country in the glen and outside was all +stones and scrub. We camped at a small rain-water hole about a mile +and a half from a bluff hill, from whose top, a few stunted gum-trees +could be seen a little farther up the channel. Having now run the +Ashburton up to its head, I could scarcely expect to find any more +water before entering Gibson's Desert, which I felt sure commences +here. So far as I knew, the next water was in the Rawlinson Range of +my former horse expedition, a distance of over 450 miles. And what the +nature of the country between was, no human being knew, at least no +civilised human being. I was greatly disappointed to find that the +Ashburton River did not exist for a greater distance eastwards than +this, as when I first struck it, it seemed as though it would carry me +to the eastwards for hundreds of miles. I had followed it only eighty +or a trifle more, and now it was a thing of the past. It may be said +to rise from nowhere, being like a vast number of Australian rivers, +merely formed in its lower portions by the number of tributaries that +join it. There are very few pretty or romantic places to be seen near +it. The country and views at the Grand Junction Depot form nearly the +only exceptions met. From that point the river decreased in size with +every branch creek that joined it, and now it had decreased to +nothing. No high ranges form its head. The hills forming its +water-shed become gradually lower as we approach its termination, or +rather beginning, at the desert's edge. The desert's edge is a raised +plateau of over 2000 feet above the sea-level--the boiling point of +water being 208 degrees = 2049 feet--and being about 350 miles in a +straight line from where the Ashburton debouches into the sea. My camp +upon the evening of the 29th of May, a little westward of the +bluff-faced hill before mentioned, was in latitude 24 degrees 25' and +longitude 119 degrees 58'. We remained here during the 30th. The +horizon to the east was formed by a mass of low ranges; from them we +saw that several diminutive watercourses ran into our exhausted +channel. I could not expect that any hills would extend much farther +to the east, or that I should now obtain any water much farther in +that direction. A line of low ridges ran all round the eastern +horizon, and another bluff-faced hill lay at the south-west end of +them. The whole region had a most barren and wretched appearance, and +there was little or no vegetation of any kind that the camels cared to +eat. Feeling certain that I should now almost immediately enter the +desert, as the explorer can scent it from afar, I had all our +water-vessels filled, as fortunately there was sufficient water for +the purpose, so that when we leave this camp we shall not be entirely +unprepared. + +The morning of the 31st of May was again cold, the thermometer falling +to 27 degrees, and we had a sharp frost. I was truly delighted to +welcome this long-expected change, and hoped the winter or cool season +had set in at last. This day we travelled east, and went over low, +rough ridges and stony spinifex hills for several miles. At about +eleven miles, finding a dry water-channel, which, however, had some +good camel shrubs upon its banks, we encamped in latitude 24 degrees +28', being still among low ridges, where no definite view could be +obtained. On June the 1st we travelled nearly east-north-east towards +another low ridge. The ground became entirely covered with spinifex, +and I thought we had entered the desert in good earnest; but at about +six miles we came upon a piece of better country with real grass, +being much more agreeable to look at. Going on a short distance we +came upon a dry water-channel, at which we found a deep native well +with bitter water in it. We encamped in latitude 24 degrees 24'. The +night and following morning were exceedingly cold--the thermometer +fell to 18 degrees. + +We had not yet reached the low ridge, but arrived at it in two miles +on the morning of the 2nd. From it another low ridge bore 23 degrees +north of east, and I decided to travel thither. + +To-day we had a good deal of country covered with ironstone gravel; we +passed a few grassy patches with, here and there, some salt bush and +acacia flats; there were also many desert shrubs and narrow thickets. +The camp was fixed nearly under the brow of the ridge we had steered +for, and it was quite evident, though a few ridges yet appeared for a +short distance farther east, that we had at length reached the +desert's edge and the commencement of the watershed of the western +coast. It will be observed that in my journey through the scrubs to +Perth, I had met with no creeks or water-sheds at all, until after I +reached the first outlying settlement. + +The question which now arose was, what kind of country existed between +us and my farthest watered point in 1874 at the Rawlinson Range? In a +perfectly straight line it would be 450 miles. The latitude of this +camp was 24 degrees 16' 6". I called it the Red Ridge camp. Since my +last attack of ophthalmia, I suffer great pain and confusion when +using the sextant. The attack I have mentioned in this journey was by +no means the only one I have had on my numerous journeys; I have +indeed had more or less virulent attacks for the last twenty years, +and I believe the disease is now chronic, though suppressed. From the +Red Ridge camp we went about eight miles east-north-east, and I found +under a mass of low scrubby hills or rises tipped with red sandstone, +a rocky cleft in the ground, round about which were numerous old +native encampments; I could see water under a rock; the cleft was +narrow, and slanted obliquely downwards; it was not wide enough to +admit a bucket. There was amply sufficient water for all my camels, +but it was very tedious work to get enough out with a quart pot; the +rock was sandstone. There was now no doubt in my mind, that all beyond +this point was pure and unrelieved desert, for we were surrounded by +spinifex, and the first waves of the dreaded sandhills were in view. +The country was entirely open, and only a sandy undulation to the +eastward bounded the horizon. The desert had to be crossed, or at +least attempted, even if it had been 1000 miles in extent; I therefore +wasted no time in plunging into it, not delaying to encamp at this +last rocky reservoir. After watering our camels we made our way for +about four miles amongst the sandhills. As we passed by, I noticed a +solitary desert oak-tree, Casuarina decaisneana, and a number of the +Australian grass-trees, Xanthorrhoea. The country was almost destitute +of timber, except that upon the tops of the parallel lines of red +sandhills, which mostly ran in a north-east and south-west direction, +a few stunted specimens of the eucalypt, known as blood-wood or red +gum existed. This tree grows to magnificent proportions in Queensland, +and down the west coast from Fremantle, always in a watered region. +Heaven only knows how it ever got here, or how it could grow on the +tops of red sandhills. Having stopped to water our camels at the rocky +cleft, our first day's march into the desert was only eleven miles. +Our camp at night was in latitude 24 degrees 12' 22". + +The next day all signs of rises, ridges, hills, or ranges, had +disappeared behind the sandhills of the western horizon, and the +solitary caravan was now launched into the desert, like a ship upon +the ocean, with nothing but Providence and our latitude to depend +upon, to enable us to reach the other side. + +The following morning, Sunday, the 4th June, was remarkably warm, the +thermometer not having descended during the night to less than 60 +degrees, though only two mornings ago it was down to 18 degrees. I now +travelled so as gradually to reach the 24th parallel, in hopes some +lines of hills or ranges might be discovered near it. Our course was +east by north. We had many severe ridges of sand to cross, and this +made our rate of travelling very slow. We saw one desert oak-tree and +a few currajong-trees of the order of Sterculias, some grass-trees, +quandong, or native peach, Fusanus, a kind of sandal-wood, and the red +gum or blood-wood-trees; the latter always grows upon ground as high +as it can get, and therefore ornaments the tops of the sandhills, +while all the first-named trees frequent the lower ground between +them. To-day we only made good twenty miles, though we travelled until +dark, hoping to find some food, or proper bushes for the camels; but, +failing in this, had to turn them out at last to find what sustenance +they could for themselves. On the following morning, when they were +brought up to the camp--at least when some of them were--I was +informed that several had got poisoned in the night, and were quite +unable to move, while one or two of them were supposed to be dying. +This, upon the outskirt of the desert, was terrible news to hear, and +the question of what's to be done immediately arose; but it was +answered almost as soon, by the evident fact that nothing could be +done, because half the camels could not move, and it would be worse +than useless to pack up the other half and leave them. So we quietly +remained and tended our sick and dying ones so well, that by night one +of the worst was got on his legs again. We made them sick with hot +water, butter, and mustard, and gave them injections with the clyster +pipe as well; the only substance we could get out of them was the +chewed-up Gyrostemon ramulosus, which, it being nearly dark, we had +not observed when we camped. We drove the mob some distance to another +sandhill, where there was very little of this terrible scourge, and +the next morning I was delighted to find that the worst ones and the +others were evidently better, although they were afflicted with +staggers and tremblings of the hind limbs. I was rather undecided what +to do, whether to push farther at once into the desert or retreat to +the last rocky cleft water, now over five-and-twenty miles behind us. +But, as Othello says, once to be in doubt is once to be resolved, and +I decided that, as long as they could stagger, the camels should +stagger on. In about twelve miles Alec Ross and Tommy found a place +where the natives had formerly obtained water by digging. Here we set +to work and dug a well, but only got it down twelve feet by night, no +water making its appearance. The next morning we were at it again, and +at fifteen feet we saw the fluid we were delving for. The water was +yellowish, but pure, and there was apparently a good supply. We had, +unfortunately, hit on the top of a rock that covered nearly the whole +bottom, and what water we got came in only at one corner. Two other +camels were poisoned in the night, but those that were first attacked +were a trifle better. + +On the 8th of June more camels were attacked, and it was impossible to +get out of this horrible and poisonous region. The wretched country +seems smothered with the poisonous plant. I dread the reappearance of +every morning, for fear of fresh and fatal cases. This plant, the +Gyrostemon, does not seem a certain deadly poison, but as I lost one +camel by death from it, at Mr. Palmer's camp, near Geraldton, and so +many are continually becoming prostrated by its virulence, it may be +well understood how we dread the sight of it, for none can tell how +soon or how many of our animals might be killed. As it grows here, all +over the country, the unpoisoned camels persist in eating it; after +they have had a shock, however, they generally leave it entirely +alone; but there is, unfortunately, nothing else for them to eat here. + +The weather now is very variable. The thermometer indicated only 18 +degrees this morning, and we had thick ice in all the vessels that +contained any water overnight; but in the middle of the day it was +impossible to sit with comfort, except in the shade. The flies still +swarmed in undiminished millions; there are also great numbers of the +small and most annoying sand-flies, which, though almost too minute to +be seen, have a marvellous power of making themselves felt. The well +we put down was sunk in a rather large flat between the sandhills. The +whole country is covered with spinifex in every direction, and this, +together with the poisonous bushes and a few blood-wood-trees, forms +the only vegetation. The pendulous fringe instead of leaves on the +poison bush gives it a strange and weird appearance, and to us it +always presents the hideous, and terrible form of a deadly Upas-tree. + + +CHAPTER 5.4. FROM 11TH JUNE TO 23RD AUGUST, 1876. + +Farther into the desert. +Sandhills crowned with stones. +Natives' smokes and footprints seen. +Weakened camels. +Native well. +Ten days' waterless march. +Buzoe's grave. +A region of desolation. +Eagles. +Birds round the well. +Natives hovering near. +Their different smokes. +Wallaby. +Sad Solitude's triumphant reign. +The Alfred and Marie range once more. +The Rawlinson range and Mount Destruction. +Australia twice traversed. +Fort McKellar. +Tyndall's Springs. +A last search after Gibson. +Tommy's Flat. +The Circus. +The Eagle. +Return to Sladen Water. +The Petermann tribes. +Marvellous Mount Olga. +Glen Watson. +Natives of the Musgrave range. +A robbery. +Cattle camps. +The missing link. +South for the Everard range. +Everard natives. +Show us a watering-place. +Alec and Tommy find water. +More natives. +Compelled to give up their plunder. +Natives assist at dinner. +Like banyan-trees. +A bad camping-place. +Natives accompany us. +Find the native well. +The Everard revisited. +Gruel thick and slab. +Well in the Ferdinand. +Rock-hole water. +Natives numerous and objectionable. +Mischief brewing. +A hunt for spears. +Attack frustrated. +Taking an observation. +A midnight foe. +The next morning. +Funeral march. +A new well. +Change of country. +Approaching the telegraph line. +The Alberga. +Decrepit native women. +The Neales. +Mount O'Halloran. +The telegraph line. +Dry state of the country. +Hann's Creek. +Arrival at the Peake. + +On the 11th of June I was delighted to be able to be again upon the +move, and leave this detestable poisonous place and our fifteen-foot +shaft behind. Our only regret was that we had been compelled to remain +so long. The camels had nearly all been poisoned, some very much worse +than others; but all looked gaunt and hollow-eyed, and were +exceedingly weak and wretched, one remarkable exception being noticed +in Alec Ross's riding-cow, old Buzoe, who had either not eaten the +poison plant, or had escaped untouched by it. Our course was now east +by north, and as we got farther into the desert, I noticed that +occasionally some of the undulations of sand were crowned with stones, +wherever they came from. Where these stones crop up a growth of +timber, generally mulga, occurs with them. It is sandstone that tips +these rises. Some smokes of native fires were seen from our line of +march, in northerly and southerly directions, and occasionally the +footprints upon the sands, of some wandering child of the desert. +These were the only indications we could discover of the existence of +primordial man upon the scene. We passed a few grass-trees, which are +usually called "black boys" in almost every part of the continent +where they exist, and they seem to range over nearly the whole of +Australia, from Sydney to Perth, south of the Tropic. The camels were +so weak that to-day we could only accomplish about eighteen miles. At +five miles, on the following morning, we passed a hollow with some +mulga acacia in it. Near them Alec and I found a place where the +number of deserted huts, or gunyahs of the natives induced us to look +about for a well or some other kind of watering-place. An old well was +soon found, which was very shallow; the water was slightly brackish +and not more than three feet below the surface. How I wished I had +known of its existence before, it being not twenty-five miles from our +poison camp, and that some good acacia bushes grew here also; as it +was, I made no use of it. The weather being cool, and the camels +having filled themselves with water at the deep well, they would not +drink. That afternoon we got into a hollow where there was a low ridge +of flat-topped cliffs, and a good deal of mulga timber in it. Very +likely in times of rain a flow of water might be found here, if there +ever are times of rain in such a region. We just cleared the valley by +night, having travelled nearly twenty miles. My latitude here was 23 +degrees 56' 20" and not desiring to go any farther north, I inclined +my course a little southerly--that is to say, in an east by south +direction. + +We had left the deep well on the 9th June, and not until ten days of +continuous travelling had been accomplished--it being now the +18th--did we see any more water. That evening we reached a little +trifling water-channel, with a few small scattered white gum-trees, +coming from a low stony mulga-crowned ridge, and by digging in it we +found a slight soakage of water. Here we dug a good-sized tank, which +the water partly filled, and this enabled us to water all the camels. +They had travelled 230 miles from our deep well. For the last two or +three days poor old Buzoe, Alec Ross's riding cow, has been very ill, +and almost unable to travel; she is old and worn out, poor old +creature, having been one of Sir Thomas Elder's original importations +from India. She had always been a quiet, easy-paced old pet, and I was +very much grieved to see her ailing. I did not like to abandon her, +and we had to drag her with a bull camel and beat her along, until she +crossed this instalment of Gibson's Desert: but she never left this +spot, which I have named Buzoe's Grave. I don't think this old cow had +been poisoned--at least she never showed any signs of it; I believe it +was sheer old age and decay that assailed her at last. The position of +this welcome watered spot was in latitude 24 degrees 33', and +longitude 123 degrees 57'. It was by wondrous good fortune that we +came upon it, and it was the merest chance that any water was there. +In another day or two there would have been none; as it was, only a +little rainwater, that had not quite ceased to drain down the +half-stony, half-sandy bed of the little gully, was all we got. The +weather had been very disagreeable for some days past, the thermometer +in the early dawn generally indicating 18 degrees while in the middle +of the day the heat was oppressive. + +The flies were still about us, in persecuting myriads. The nature of +the country during this march was similar to that previously +described, being quite open, it rolled along in ceaseless undulations +of sand. The only vegetation besides the ever-abounding spinifex was a +few blood-wood-trees on the tops of some of the red heaps of sand, +with an occasional desert oak, an odd patch or clump of mallee-trees, +standing desolately alone, and perhaps having a stunted specimen or +two of the quandong or native peach-tree, and the dreaded Gyrostemon +growing among them. The region is so desolate that it is horrifying +even to describe. The eye of God looking down on the solitary caravan, +as with its slow, and snake-like motion, it presents the only living +object around, must have contemplated its appearance on such a scene +with pitying admiration, as it forced its way continually on; onwards +without pausing, over this vast sandy region, avoiding death only by +motion and distance, until some oasis can be found. Slow as eternity +it seems to move, but certain we trust as death; and truly the +wanderer in its wilds may snatch a fearful joy at having once beheld +the scenes, that human eyes ought never again to see. On the 15th of +June we found a hollow in which were two or three small salt-lake +beds, but these were perfectly dry; on the 16th also another solitary +one was seen, and here a few low rises lay across a part of the +eastern horizon. On the 17th a little water left in the bottom of a +bucket overnight was frozen into a thick cake in the morning, the +thermometer indicating 18 degrees. The nights I pass in these fearful +regions are more dreadful than the days, for "night is the time for +care, brooding o'er days misspent, when the pale spectre of despair +comes to our lonely tent;" and often when I lay me down I fall into a +dim and death-like trance, wakeful, yet "dreaming dreams no mortals +had ever dared to dream before." + +The few native inhabitants of these regions occasionally burn every +portion of their territories, and on a favourably windy day a spinifex +fire might run on for scores of miles. We occasionally cross such +desolated spaces, where every species of vegetation has been by flames +devoured. Devoured they are, but not demolished, as out of the roots +and ashes of their former natures, phoenix-like, they rise again. A +few Australian eagles are occasionally seen far up in the azure sky, +hovering with astonished gaze, over the unwonted forms below; and as +the leading camels of the caravan frighten some wretched little +wallaby from its lair under a spinifex bunch, instantly the eagle +swoops from its height, and before the astonished creature has had +time to find another refuge he is caught in the talons of his foe. We +also are on the watch, and during the momentary struggle, before the +eagle can so quiet his victim as to be able to fly away with it, up +gallops Reechy, Alec and Tommy, and very often we secure the prize. +Round this spot at Buzoe's Grave, just while the water lasts I +suppose, there were crows, small hawks, a few birds like cockatoos, +and many bronze-winged pigeons. Some natives also were hovering near, +attracted probably by the sight of strange smoke. The natives of these +regions signal with different kinds of smoke by burning different +woods or bark, and know a strange smoke in an instant. Some smokes +which they make, go up like a thin white column, others are dark and +tower-like, while others again are broad and scattered. These natives +would not come to visit us. The small marsupial wallaby, which I +mentioned just now, exists throughout the whole of these deserts; they +live entirely without water, as do many small birds we occasionally +see where there is a patch of timber. The wallabies hide during the +day amongst the spinifex bushes, and feed, like other rodents, on +their roots at night. Another way of getting some of these wallabies +was by knocking them over, blackfellow fashion, with a short stick, +when startled from their hiding-places. Tommy used to work very hard +at this game, and we usually got one a day for food for our little +dogs. They are exceedingly good eating, being very like rabbits in +size and taste. We remained at this little oasis, I suppose I may call +it--at least it was so to us, though I should not like to return to it +with any expectation of getting water again, for when we left, the +water had ceased to drain in, and there were only a few pints of thick +muddy fluid left in the tank at the end of our three days' rest. The +place might well be termed the centre of silence and solitude; despair +and desolation are the only intruders here upon sad solitude's +triumphant reign. Well may the traveller here desire for more +inhabited lands; rather to contend with fierce and warlike men; to +live amongst far noisier deaths, or die amid far louder dangers! I +often declare that:-- + + "I'll to Afric lion haunted, + Baboons blood I'll daily quaff; + And I'll go a tiger-hunting + On a thorough-bred giraffe." + +Whenever we had east winds in this region, the weather was cool and +agreeable; but when they blow from any other quarter, it becomes much +hotter, and the flies return in myriads to annoy us. Where they get +to when an east wind blows, the east wind only knows. + +Leaving Buzoe's Grave, which had proved a godsend to us, with a swarm +of eagles, crows, hawks, vultures, and at night wild dogs, eating up +her carcase, in four days' farther travel we neared the spot from the +west, where the Alfred and Marie Ranges lie. The first sight of these +ranges from the east, had cost my former horse expedition into this +region so dear. I could not help believing that the guiding hand of a +gracious Providence had upon that occasion prevented me from obtaining +my heart's desire to reach them; for had I then done so, I know now, +having proved what kind of country lay beyond that, neither I nor any +of my former party would ever have returned. Assuredly there is a +Providence that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will. These +hills were in reality much lower than they appeared to be, when looked +at from the east; in fact, they were so low and uninteresting, that I +did not investigate them otherwise than with field-glasses. We passed +by the northern end, and though the southern end was a little higher, +I could see that there were no watering-places possible other than +chance rock receptacles, and of these there were no signs. At the +northern end we came upon a small shallow kind of stony pan, where a +little rain-water was yet lying, proving that the rains we had +experienced in May, before leaving the western watershed, must have +extended into the desert. We reached this drop of water on the 25th of +June, and the camels drank it all up while we rested on the 26th. +After five days' more travelling over the same kind of desert as +formerly described, except that the sand-mounds rose higher yet in +front of us, still progressing eastwards, the well-remembered features +of the Rawlinson Range and the terrible Mount Destruction rose at last +upon my view. + +On reaching the range, I suppose I may say that the exploring part of +my expedition was at an end, for I had twice traversed Australia; and +although many hundreds of miles had yet to be travelled before we +should reach the abodes of civilisation, the intervening country had +all been previously explored by myself. For a full account of my +former explorations into this region, I must refer my reader to the +chapters on my second expedition. The first water we reached in the +Rawlinson Range was at a rock-hole about ten miles eastwards from the +Circus water, the place from whence Gibson and I started to explore to +the west. His death, the loss of all the horses, and my struggles to +regain my depot on foot, are they not written in the chronicles of +that expedition? + +On reaching my former depot at Fort McKellar, I found the whole place +so choked up with shrubs and bushes, that it was quite impossible to +camp there, without wasting a week in cutting the vegetation away, +although it had formerly been sufficiently open for an explorer's +camp. The spring was running as strong as ever. The bridge had been +washed away. However, at less than a mile from it, there was Tyndall's +Spring, with an open shady space, among the clump of fine gum-trees, +which gave us an excellent camping-place. Here the camp remained for +some days. A line of green bulrushes fringed this spring. While the +main party camped here, I once more tried to find some remains or +traces of my lost companion Gibson, taking with me only Tommy Oldham. +It was quite a forlorn hope, as Gibson had gone away with only one +horse; and since we reached the range, we had passed over places where +I knew that all the horses I then had with me had gone over the +ground, but no signs of former horse-tracks could be seen, therefore +the chance of finding any traces of a single animal was infinitesimal. +Tommy and I expended three days in trying to discover traces, but it +was utterly useless, and we returned unsuccessful to the depot. + +Singular to say, on this attempt I found a place west from the end, +the Rawlinson Range, where there were some rock-holes on a grassy +mulga flat, but we did not require the water, as the camels would not +drink. Had I come upon this spot when I was in this region before, it +might have saved Gibson and all the horses that were lost with him. I +called this little watered spot, Tommy's Flat; the latitude of it is +24 degrees 52' 3". It bears 9 degrees south of west from a peculiar +red sandhill that is visible from any of the hills at the western +extremity of the Rawlinson Range; and lies in a flat or hollow between +the said red sandhill, and the nearest of a few low stony hills, about +four miles farther away to the west. On visiting the Circus, I found +the water-hole was full and deep. This was very different from its +state when I had seen it last. The recording eagle still was sitting +immovable on his crag, Prometheus-like, apparently chained to the +rock. + +On the 11th of July, the main party having been encamped at Tyndall's +Springs for seven days, we departed for Sladen Water, at the Pass of +the Abencerrages. All the other places previously mentioned on the +range, had plenty of water running on for ever, though at the Pass the +supply was rather lower than I had seen it previously. There was, +however, quite enough for all our requirements. The little sweet-water +spring was bubbling up, and running over as of yore. Both at Fort +McKellar and here I found that the bones of the horses we had smoked +and eaten had been removed by the natives, or wild dogs. At Fort +McKellar the smoke-house frame had either fallen or been knocked down; +while here, at the Pass, the natives had removed the timber, and +placed portions of it in different places and positions. We saw none +of the natives belonging to the range, although their smokes were a +very short distance away. Sladen Water was always a favourite spot +with me, and we rested a day at it for old association's sake. + +On the 14th of July we left the place, and travelled along my former +route, via Gill's Pinnacle, and all the other watering-places +mentioned in my preceding narrative. The Petermann Range looked green +and beautiful. It had evidently been visited by rains. A portion of +the Rawlinson and the Petermann Ranges were the only spots for +hundreds of miles of which this could be said. The Hull here runs near +the boundary of the two colonies of South, and Western Australia, and +crossing it, we entered the former province once more. When nearly at +the eastern end of the Petermann--that is to say, close to Mount +Phillips--we camped in Winter's Glen, where the whole tribes of the +Petermann were located. They instantly armed themselves, and +endeavoured to prevent our progress. Several of them recognised me, +and I them; for in my first visit to this range, with Tietkens, we had +three encounters with them. They evidently intended mischief again; +but they kept off until morning, and we then, being in full marching +order, with our firearms in our hands, and all walking alongside of +the camels and ready for attack, managed to pass away from them +without a collision. Leaving their country behind us, we went via the +Sugar-loaf, and thence to the Musgrave Ranges, not now revisiting the +marvellous Mount Olga; we entered the range near Glen Watson. There +was plenty of water in the glen, but the country, in general, about +the range, was in a very dry state. As, however, it has permanent +springs, we had no difficulty from want of water. When nearly at the +eastern end of the Musgrave Range, a number of natives came to +interview the caravan, and actually pulled some coats and blankets off +Nicholls's and Tommy's riding camels, and ran away with them. They had +previously begged Nicholls to shoot kangaroos for them, thereby +showing that they remembered the use of firearms, which formerly I had +been compelled to teach them. + +(ILLUSTRATION: GLEN FERDINAND.) + +I was away from the party when this robbery was committed. Near the +eastern end of this range it will be remembered I had formerly +discovered a large watercourse, with a fine spring running along its +bed, which I called the Ferdinand; here we encamped again. From hence +I determined to reach the South Australian Telegraph Line upon a new +route, and to follow the Ferdinand, which runs to the south. A mass of +hills that I had formerly seen and named the Everard Ranges, lay in +that direction, and I desired to visit them also. At and around the +water at Glen Ferdinand, as well as at other places on this range, +considerable quantities of dung, old tracks, and sleeping camps of +cattle were found, but no live animals were seen. + +After resting a day at Glen Ferdinand we departed, following the banks +of the creek. Just at leaving, an old black man and two lads made +their appearance. This old party was remarkably shy; the elder boy +seemed a little frightened, and didn't relish being touched by a white +man, but the youngest was quite at his ease, and came up to me with +the audacity and insouciance of early youth, and pulled me about. When +I patted him, he grinned like any other monkey. None of them were +handsome; the old man was so monkey-like--he would have charmed the +heart of Professor Darwin. I thought I had found the missing link, and +I had thoughts of preserving him in methylated spirits, only I had not +a bottle large enough. + +Following the channel of the Ferdinand nearly south, we came to some +limestone rises with one or two native wells, but no water was seen in +them. The country was good, grassy, nearly level, with low, sandy, +mulga rises, fit for stock of any kind. There were a few detached +granite hills, peeping here and there amongst the tree-tops. The +creek-channel appeared to run through, or close to, some of the hills +of the Everard Ranges; and I left it to visit them. At one of the +outcropping granite mounds, at about forty-eight miles from Glen +Ferdinand, Alec Ross found a large native well, which bore 12 degrees +east of south from Mount Ferdinand, a conspicuous point overlooking +the glen. We did not require to use this well, but there was plenty of +water in it. Arriving at the first hills of the Everard, I found they +were all very peculiar, bare, red, granite mounds, being the most +extraordinary ranges one could possibly imagine, if indeed any one +could imagine such a scene. They have thousands of acres of bare rock, +piled up into mountainous shapes and lay in isolated masses, forming +something like a broken circle, all round a central and higher mass. +They have valleys filled with scrubs between each section. Numerous +rocky glens and gorges were seen, having various kinds of shrubs and +low trees growing in the interstices of the rocks. Every thing and +every place was parched, bare, and dry. We searched in many places for +water without success. + +At length some natives made their appearance, and showed us where +water could be had by digging. This was a most disagreeable and +awkward spot to get the camels to, but after a great deal of labour in +making a tank, and rolling boulders of rock out of the way, we were +enabled to give them a drink. There was but a very poor supply. + +The water we got here was in a small gum-creek under the highest hill +in the centre of the group upon its northern face. The summit of the +hill above it bore 21 degrees east of south, from Mount Ferdinand, in +the Musgrave Ranges, and it is sixty-four miles from my camp at Glen +Ferdinand water. Alec and Tommy searched for, and found, some other +water in rock-holes at the back or south side of this central hill, +nearly three miles round. Several more natives came to the camp, and +some of them worked a little at watering the camels, but were greatly +scandalised at seeing them drink such enormous quantities, and no +doubt, in their heart of hearts, they were grieved that they had shown +us the place. And in order to recoup themselves in some measure for +their romantic generosity, they quietly walked away with several +unconsidered trifles out of the camp, such as ration bags, towels, +socks, etc. These thefts always occur when I am away. I made one old +gentleman who took some things disgorge his loot, and he and his +friend who had dined with us went away, in the last stage of +displeasure. There are apparently but few natives about here just now; +had there been more of them we might have had some trouble, as indeed +I subsequently had at the rock-holes at the back of this hill. + +The following day we went round to Alec's rock-holes, intending to +have dinner, water the camels if they would drink, and fill our casks +before plunging again into the scrubs that extended everywhere to the +south. To the east a flat-topped, bluff-faced hill was visible. While +we were at dinner several natives came and assisted us, and pointed in +a direction a little west of south, where they said water existed. The +whole space round the foot of the rocks here is choked up with a thick +and vigorous growth of the native fig-trees, which grow somewhat like +banyan-trees, except that suckers do not descend from the upper +branches and take root in the ground alongside the parent stem; but +the roots of this tree run along the rocks to find crevices with soil, +and then a fresh growth springs up; in general it does not grow very +high, twenty feet is about the limit. There was a small creek channel, +and mulga scrubs to the west of it, that grew right up to the bank, +and any party camping here would be completely hemmed in. I am +particular in describing the place, as on a subsequent occasion, +myself and the party then with me, escaped death there. I will relate +the circumstances further on. Now we left the place after dinner, and +the natives accompanied us; we camped in mulga scrubs at about ten +miles from the rocks. These young darkies seemed very good, and +friendly fellows; in all wild tribes of Australian natives, the boys +and very young men, as well as the girls and women, seem to take +immediately to white men. The young children, however, are generally +very much frightened; but it is the vile and wicked old men that are +the arch-villains of the piece, and who excite the passions of the +juniors of the tribe to commit all sorts of atrocities. + +These fellows were the best of friends with my men and myself; we were +laughing and joking and generally having a good time. I amused them +greatly by passing a stick through my nose; I had formerly gone +through an excruciating operation for that purpose, and telling them I +once had been a black fellow. They spoke but little English, and it +was mostly through a few words that Alec Ross knew, of the Peake, +Macumba, or Alberga tribes that we could talk to each other at all. +After this we got them map-making on the sand. They demonstrated that +the Ferdinand, which we had left, and had still on our right or west +of us, running south, swept round suddenly to the eastwards and now +lay across the country in front of us; that in its further progress it +ran into, and formed a lake, then continuing, it at last reached a big +salt lake, probably Lake Eyre; they also said we should get water by +digging in the sand in the morning, when we struck the Ferdinand +channel again. Soon after we started and were proceeding on our +course, south 26 degrees west, from the rock-water, the natives all +fell back and we saw no more of them. In twenty miles we came to the +creek, and turning down its channel eastwards we found the well of +which they had told us. There was plenty of water in it, no doubt, but +we did not require it. The well seemed rather deep. We followed the +creek for some distance, at length it became very undefined, and the +gum timber disappeared. Only a few acacia bushes now indicated the +flow of the water over the grassy mulga flats, which wound about so +much around sandhills in the scrub, that I left the creek, and pushed +on now for the South Australian Telegraph Line. + +I will now give a rapid account of what I said was a narrow escape +from death at those rock-holes we had just left. I may say in passing, +that what I have recorded as my travels and explorations in Australia +in these volumes, are probably not half of what I have really +performed, only I divide them under the two headings of public and +private explorations. + +In the month of December, 1882, I was in this part of the world again. +During the six years that had elapsed since my last visit in 1876, a +survey party had reached these ranges on a trigonometrical survey, and +upon its return, the officer in charge reported having had some +trouble and a collision with the natives of the Everard Range. I +suppose my second visit occurred two years after that event. I was +accompanied on that journey by a very young friend, named Vernon +Edwards, from Adelaide, and two young men named Perkins and Fitz, the +latter being cook, and a very good fellow he proved to be, but Perkins +was nothing of the sort. I had a black boy named Billy, and we had +twelve camels. I approached the Everard Range from the south-westward, +having found a good watering-place, which I called Verney's Wells, in +that direction. There, we met a lot of natives who did not belong to +the Everard Range tribes. At Verney's Wells we had a grand corrobboree +in the warm moonlight; my young men and black boy stripped themselves, +and young and old, black and white, danced and yelled, and generally +made the night hideous with their noise till early morning. After the +ball a grand supper was laid for our exhausted blackmen and brothers. +The material of this feast was hot water, flour, and sugar mixed into +a consistent skilly. I had told the cook to make the gruel thick and +slab, and then pour it out on sheets of bark. Our guests supplied +themselves with spoons, or rather we cut them out of bark for them, +and they helped themselves ad lib. A dozen pounds of flour sufficed to +feed a whole multitude. We left Verney's Wells and made up to the well +in the Ferdinand that I have just mentioned. This we opened out with +shovels, and found a very good supply of water. From thence we +proceeded to my old dinner-camp at the range, where, as I said before, +the whole space about, was filled up with fig-trees. Almost +immediately upon our appearance, we heard the calls and cries and saw +the signal smokes, of the natives. We had to clear a space for the +camp and put up an awning. The water in the two lower holes was so low +that the camels could not reach it, nor could we get enough out with a +bucket. There was plenty of water in the holes above, and as it was +all bare rock we set to work, some of the natives assisting, to bale +the water out of some of the upper holes and splash it over the rocks +into the lower. The weather was very hot, and some of the old men sat +or lay down quite at their ease in our shade. The odours that exude +from the persons of elderly black gentlemen, especially those not +addicted to the operation of bathing, would scarcely remind one of the +perfumes of Araby the Blest, or Australia Felix either, therefore I +ordered these intruders out. Thereupon they became very saucy and +disagreeable, and gave me to understand that this was their country +and their water--carpee--and after they had spoken in low guttural +tones to some of the younger men, the latter departed. Of course I +knew what this meant; they were to signal for and collect, all the +tribe for an attack. I could read this purpose in their glances. I +have had so much to do with these Australian peoples that, although I +cannot speak all their languages--for nearly every ten miles a totally +different one may be used--yet a good deal of the language of several +tribes is familiar to me, and all their gestures speak to me in +English. I could at any rate now see that mischief was brewing. Near +sundown we spread a large tarpaulin on the ground to lay our blankets, +rugs, etc., to sleep on. When I had arranged my bed, several old men +standing close by, the master-fiend, deliberately threw himself down +on my rugs. I am rather particular about my rugs and bedding, and this +highly though disagreeably perfumed old reptile, all greasy with +rotten fat, lying down on and soiling them, slightly annoyed me; and +not pretending to be a personification of sweetness and light, I think +I annoyed him a great deal more, for I gave him as good a thrashing +with a stick as he ever received, and he went away spitting at us, +bubbling over with wrath and profanity, and called all the tribe after +him, threatening us with the direst retribution. They all went to the +west, howling, yelling, and calling to one another. + +Young Verney Edwards was always most anxious to get a lot of natives' +spears and other weapons, and I said, "Now, Verney, here's a chance +for you. You see the blacks have cleared out to the west, now if you +go up the foot of the hill to the east, the first big bushy tree you +see, you will find it stuck thick with spears. You can have them all +if you like. But," I added, "it's just suppertime now, you had better +have supper first." "Oh no," he said, "I'll go and get them at once if +you think they are there," and away he went. I was expecting the enemy +to return, and we had all our firearms in readiness alongside of us on +the tarpaulin where we sat down to supper. I had a cartridge-pouch +full of cartridges close to my tin plate, and my rifle lay alongside +also. Jimmy Fitz, Perkins, Billy the black boy, and I, had just begun +to eat when we heard a shot from Verney's revolver. I did not take +very much notice, as he was always firing at wallaby, or birds, or +anything; but on another shot following we all jumped up, and ran +towards him. As we did so we heard Verney calling and firing again; +Perkins seized my cartridge pouch in his excitement, and I had to get +more cartridges from my saddle. In the meantime shots were going off, +howls and yells rent the air, and when I got up the enemy had just +formed in line. Another discharge decided the conflict, and drove them +off. + +When Verney left the camp he found a bushy tree, as I had told him, +stuck full of spears, and while he was deliberating as to which of +those weapons he should choose, being on the west side of the bush, he +suddenly found himself surrounded by a host of stealthy wretches, most +of whom were already armed, all running down towards the camp. Some +ran to this bush for their weapons, and were in the act of rushing +down on to the camp, and would have speared us as we sat at supper, at +their ease, from behind the thick fig-trees' shelter. Verney was so +astounded at seeing them, and they were so astounded at seeing him, +that it completely upset their tactics; for they naturally thought we +were all there, and when Verney fired, it so far checked the advance +column, that they paused for a second, while the rear guard ran up. +Then some from behind threw spears through the bush at Verney. He +fired again, and called to us, and we arrived in time to send the +enemy off, as fast as, if not faster, than they had come. It was a +very singular circumstance that turned these wretches away; if Verney +hadn't gone for the spears, they could have sneaked upon, and killed +us, without any chance of our escape. We must have risen a good deal +in their estimation as strategists, for they were fairly +out-generalled by chance, while they must have thought it was design. +After the dispersion, they reappeared on the top of the rocks some +distance away, and threw spears down; but they were too far off; and +when we let them see how far our rifle bullets could be sent, they +gave several parting howls and disappeared. + +I decided to keep watch to-night; there was a star passing the +meridian soon after eleven, and I wished to take an observation by it. +I told the others to turn in, as I would watch till then. Nearly at +the time just mentioned, I was seated cross-legged on my rugs facing +the north, taking my observation with the sextant and artificial +horizon, when I thought I saw something faintly quivering at the +corner of my left eye. I kept the sextant still elevated, and turned +my head very slowly half way round, and there I saw the enemy, +creeping out of the mulga timber on the west side of the little creek +channel, and ranging themselves in lines. It was a very dusky, cloudy, +but moonlight night. I dared not make any quick movement, but slowly +withdrawing my right hand from the sextant, I took hold of my rifle +which lay close alongside. A second of time was of the greatest +importance, for the enemy were all ranged, and just ready balancing +their spears, and in another instant there would have been a hundred +spears thrown into the camp. I suddenly put down the sextant, and +having the rifle almost in position, I grabbed it suddenly with my +left hand and fired into the thickest mob, whereupon a horrible +howling filled the midnight air. Seizing Verney's rifle that was close +by, I fired it and dispersed the foe. All the party were lying fast +asleep on the tarpaulin, but my two shots quickly awoke them. I made +them watch in turns till morning, with orders to fire two rifle +cartridges every half hour, and the agony of suspense in waiting to +hear these go off, kept me awake the whole night, like Carlyle and his +neighbours' fowls. + +Our foes did not again appear. At the first dawn of light, over at +some rocky hills south-westward, where, during the night, we saw their +camp fires, a direful moaning chant arose. It was wafted on the hot +morning air across the valley, echoed again by the rocks and hills +above us, and was the most dreadful sound I think I ever heard; it was +no doubt a death-wail. From their camp up in the rocks, the chanters +descended to the lower ground, and seemed to be performing a funereal +march all round the central mass, as the last tones we heard were from +behind the hills, where it first arose. + +To resume: we left the almost exhausted channel of the Ferdinand, and +pushed on for the Telegraph Line. In the sandhills and scrub we came +upon an open bit of country, in latitude 27 degrees 35' 34", and found +a shallow well, at which we encamped on the evening of August 11th. In +sixty miles farther, going nearly east by north, the nature of the +country entirely altered; the scrubs fell off, and an open stony +country, having low, flat-topped ridges or table-lands, succeeded. +This was a sure indication of our near approach to the Telegraph Line, +as it is through a region of that kind, that the line runs in this +latitude. I turned more northerly for a waterhole in the Alberga, +called Appatinna, but we found it quite dry. There were two decrepit +old native women, probably left there to starve and die by their +tribe. I gave them some food and water, but they were almost too far +gone to eat. From thence, travelling south-easterly, we came upon the +Neale's River, in forty miles. At twenty miles farther down the +Neale's, which was quite dry as far as we travelled on it, going +easterly, we arrived at Mount O'Halloran, a low hill round whose base +the Trans-Continental Telegraph Line and road sweeps, at what is +called the Angle Pole, sixty miles from the Peake Telegraph Station. +We were very short of water, and could not find any, the country being +in a very dry state. We pushed on, and crossed the stony channel of a +watercourse called the St. Cecilia, which was also dry. The next water +that I knew of, between us and the Peake, was a spring near Hann's +Creek, about thirty miles from the Peake. However, on reaching Hann's +Creek, we found sufficient water for our requirements, although it was +rather brackish. Moving on again we reached the Peake Telegraph +Station on the 23rd of August, and were most cordially received and +welcomed by my old friend Mr. Chandler, Mr. Flynn, the police trooper, +and every one else at that place. + + +CHAPTER 5.5. FROM 23RD AUGUST TO 20TH SEPTEMBER, 1876. + +Depart for the south. +Arrive at Beltana. +Camels returned to their depot. +The Blinman Mine. +A dinner. +Coach journey to the Burra-Burra Mines. +A banquet and address. +Rail to Adelaide. +Reception at the Town Hall. +A last address. +Party disbanded. +Remarks. +The end. + +Being among such good friends at the Peake, we naturally remained a +few days before we left for Adelaide; nothing remarkable occurred on +the road down. At Beltana the camels were returned to their depot. The +Blinman Copper Mine is about thirty miles from there, and was then, +the terminus of the mail coach line from Adelaide. The residents of +the Blinman invited Alec Ross and myself to a dinner, presided over by +my very good friend Mr. J.B. Buttfield, the Resident Police +Magistrate. Then we all took the mail coach, and reached the +Burra-Burra Copper Mines, on the evening of the next day. Here a +banquet was held in our honour, at which a number of ladies attended, +and I was presented with a very handsome address. The Burra Mines are +a hundred miles from Adelaide. + +Next day we took the train for the city. At the town of Gawler, or, as +it used to be called, Gawlertown, twenty-five miles from the +metropolis, a number of gentlemen were assembled to welcome us on the +platform. Our healths were drank in champagne, and an address +presented to me. Pursuing our journey, Adelaide was reached by midday. +A number of people were waiting the arrival of the train, and when we +alighted we were welcomed with cheers. Carriages were in attendance to +take us to the Town Hall, where we were welcomed by Caleb Peacock, +Esquire, the Mayor,--who first invited us to refreshments, and then +presented us to the citizens, who were crowded in the large hall. Mr. +Peacock made a very eloquent and eulogistic speech, and presented me +with a very handsome address on behalf of himself, the Corporation, +and the citizens of Adelaide. The next day the party was disbanded, +and the expedition was at an end. + +A few closing remarks, I suppose I may make. We again joined the great +family of civilised mankind; and if I have any readers who have +followed my story throughout its five separate phases, I may account +myself fortunate indeed. A long array of tautological detail is +inseparable from the records of Australian, as well as any other +exploration, because it must be remembered that others, who come +after, must be guided by the experiences and led to places, and +waters, that the first traveller discovers; and am I to be blamed if I +have occasionally mixed up my narrative with an odd remark, anecdote, +or imaginative idea? These, I trust, will not in my reader's opinion +detract from any merits it may possess. I have collected many +thousands of plants and hundreds of entomological and geological +specimens; a great portion of the list of the former and all of the +latter have unfortunately been lost, only a list of plants collected +during my first and second expeditions now remains, which appears at +the end of these volumes. + +It is with regret I have had to record the existence of such large +areas of desert land encountered in my travels in Australia. The +emigrant, however, need have no fear on that account. The scenes of +his avocations will be far removed from them. They are no more a check +to emigration now than fifty years ago. As a final remark, I may say +my former companion in the field, Mr. W.H. Tietkens, has just returned +from a fresh exploration of the country in the vicinity of Lake +Amadeus, and the report of his travels should be looked forward to +with pleasure by all who take any interest in our Colonial +dependencies. + +If my narrative has no other recommendation, it may at least serve to +while away a vacant hour, and remind my readers of something better, +they have read before. It was not for what I had written, that I hoped +to reap the good opinion of the world, but for what I have done, and +that I have recorded. Any one who is sufficiently interested to read +these pages, may well understand the trials and dangers that have +beset my path. The number of miles of previously unknown country that +I have explored reaches to the sum of many thousands. The time I +expended was five of the best years of my life. As a recognition of my +labours, I have received the Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal +Geographical Society of London; and the late King Victor Emanuel sent +me a decoration and diploma of Knighthood, of the Order of the Crown +of Italy. + +To a man accustomed to camels for exploration, the beautiful horse +sinks into the insignificance of a pigmy when compared to his majestic +rival, the mighty ship of the desert, and assuredly had it not been +for these creatures and their marvellous powers, I never could have +performed the three last journeys which complete my public +explorations in Australia. + +I have called my book The Romance of Exploration; the romance is in +the chivalry of the achievement of difficult and dangerous, if not +almost impossible, tasks. Should I again be called on to enter the +Field of Discovery, although to scenes remote from my former +Australian sphere, I should not be the explorer I have represented +myself in these pages, if, even remembering the perils of my former +adventures, I should shrink from facing new. An explorer is an +explorer from love, and it is nature, not art, that makes him so. + +The history of Australian exploration, though not yet quite complete, +is now so far advanced towards its end, that only minor details now +are wanting, to fill the volume up; and though I shall not attempt to +rank myself amongst the first or greatest, yet I think I have reason +to call myself, the last of the Australian explorers. + +As a last remark, I may say the following lines may convey some of my +real feelings towards:-- + + + AUSTRALIA. + + What though no hist'ries old, + Rest o'er that land of gold; + And though no bard has told + Tales, of her clime: + + What though no tow'r display, + Man's work of other days; + And, though her sun's bright rays + In the old time; + + Gleam'd on no mighty fanes, + Built by the toiling pains + Of slaves, in galling chains, + In the earth's prime. + + Hers is a new bright land; + By God's divine command, + Where each industr'us hand, + Willing to toil; + + What though no song records, + Deeds of her martial hordes, + Who made, with conquering swords, + Heroes sublime. + + Gathers the fruits of peace, + Gathers the golden fleece, + And the fair earth's increase, + From the rich soil. + + Hers is a flow'ry crown; + Science and Hope look down + On each new glitt'ring town, + Whose structures rise; + + And to Time's latest age, + Hers shall, the brightest page, + Written by bard or sage, + Be, 'neath the skies. + +*** + + +APPENDIX. + + + +APPENDIX. + +LIST OF PLANTS + +COLLECTED BY ERNEST GILES, F.R.G.S., + +DURING HIS FIRST AND SECOND EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS, + +1872-1874. + +(ARRANGED BY BARON VON MUELLER.) + +[Further arranged according to Flora of South Australia, Author: +J.M. Black and Supplement (1965).] + +DILLENIACEAE: + +Hibbertia glaberrima, F.M., Fragm. 3, 1. + Mount Olga, Glen of Palms. + +[Brassicaceae =] CRUCIFERAE: + +Menkea sphaerocarpa, F.M., Fragm. 8, 223. + Near Mount Olga. +[Lepidium oxytrichum] Lepidium papillosum, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 370. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Lepidium rotundum] Lepidium phlebopetalum, F.M., Plants of Vict. 1, +47. + Between the River Finke and Lake Eyre. +[Blennodia trisecta] Sisymbrium trisectum, F.M., Transact. Vict. Inst. 1, +114. + Near Lake Eyre and Mount Olga. + +[Capparidaceae] CAPPARIDEAE: + +Cleome viscosa, L. Sp. Pl., 938. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Capparis mitchellii] Capparis Mitchelli, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. +1, 315. + MacDonnell's Range, Mount Udor. + +[Pittosporaceae] PITTOSPOREAE: + +Pittosporum phillyroides, Cand. Prodr. 1, 347. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, also on Gosse's Range. + +DROSERACEAE: + +[Drosera indica] Drosera Indici, L. Sp., 403. + Rawlinson's Range. +[?] Drosera Burmanni, Vahl., Symb. 3, 50. + MacDonnell's Range. + +[Polygalaceae] POLYGALEAE: + +[?] Comesperma silvestre, Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 342. + Between MacDonnell's and Gill's Ranges. + +VIOLACEAE: + +[?] Ionidium aurantiacum, F.M. in Benth. Fl. Austr. 1, 102. + MacDonnell's Range. + +GERANIACEAE: + +Oxalis corniculata L. Sp., 624. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. + +TILIACEAE: + +[?] Corchorus sidoides, F.M., Fragm. 3, 9. + MacDonnell's Range. + +MALVACEAE: + +Hibiscus Farragei, F.M., Fragm. 8, 241. + MacDonnell's Range. +Hibiscus Sturtii, Hook. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 363. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Hibiscus brachychlaenus] Hibiscus microchlaenus, F.M., Fragm. 2, +116. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Gossypium sturtianum] Gossypium Sturtii, F.M., Fragm. 3, 6. + On Mount Olga, also towards the Alberga, Gosse's Range, and + MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Abutilon diplotrichum, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 380. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke. +Abutilon halophilum, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 381. + Near Lake Eyre. +Sida cardiophylla, F.M., Fragm. 8, 242. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Sida platycalyx] Sida inclusa, Benth., Flor. Austr. 1, 197. + Rawlinson's Range, MacDonnell's Range. +Sida cryphiopetala, F.M., Fragm. 2, 4. + MacDonnell's Range. +Sida virgata, Hook. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 361. + Mount Olga. +Sida petrophila, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 381. + MacDonnell's Range. +[Sida trichopoda] Sida corrugata, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. 2, 13. + Lake Eyre, Mount Olga, Gosse's Range, MacDonnell's Range, + Lake Amadeus. +Malvastrum spicatum, As. Gr. Plant Fendl., 23. + Near Lake Eyre. +Plagianthus glomeratus, Benth. in Journ. of Linn. Soc. 6, 103. + Near Lake Eyre. + +STERCULIACEAE: + +[?] Keraudrenia nephrosperma, Benth., Fl. Austr. 1, 246. + Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Keraudrenia Hookeriana, Walp. Annal. 2, 164. + MacDonnell's Range. +Rulingia magniflora F.M., Fragm. 8, 223. + Mount Olga. +[?] Rulingia loxophylla, F.M., Fragm. 1, 68. + MacDonnell's Range. +Brachychiton Gregorii, F.M. in Hook. Kew Mis. 9, 199. + Mount Stevenson, MacDonnell's Range, Carmichael's Creek, + Mount Udor. The specific position, in the absence of flowers and + fruit, not to be ascertained beyond doubts from the material + secured. + +FRANKENIACAE: + +Frankenia pauciflora, Cand. Prodr. 1, 350. + Lake Eyre, River Finke. + +[Zygophyllaceae] ZYGOPHYLLEAE: + +Tribulus terrestris, L. Sp., 554. + Rawlinson's Range. +Tribulus Hystrix, R. Br., App. to Sturt's Centr. Austr., 6. + Near Lake Amadeus. +[Zygophyllum aurantiacum] Zygophyllum fruticulosum, Cand. Prodr. 1, +705. + Near Lake Eyre. + +SAPINDACEAE: + +Atalaya hemiglauca, F.M. in Benth. Fl. Austr 1, 463. + MacDonnell's Range and Lake Amadeus. +Dodonaea viscosa, L. Mantiss., 231 + Alberga, Mount Olga, Rawlinson's Range, Barrow's Range, D. + microzyga, F.M., Plants of Stuart's Exped., 1862. page 12, is + known from the Neale River. +[?] Diplopeltis Stuartii, F.M., Fragm. 3, 12. + MacDonnell's Range. + +[Phytolaccaceae] PHYTOLACCEAE: + +Codonocarpus cotinifolius, F.M., Plants of Vict. 1, 200. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Gyrostemon ramulosus, Desf. in Mem. Du Mus. 6, 17, t. 6. + Glen of Palms. +[Gyrostemon australasicus] Cyclotheca Australasica, Mog. in Cand. +Prodr. 13, Sect. 2, 38. + Mount Olga, Rawlinson's Range, Barrow's Range. + +[Caryophyllaceae] CARYOPHYLLEAE: + +Polycarpaea corymbosa, Lam. 3, N., 2798. + Glen of Palms. + +[Aizoaceae] FICOIDEAE: + +Trianthema crystallina, Vahl., Symb. 1, 32. + Near Lake Eyre. +Aizoon zygophylloides, F.M., Fragm. 7, 129. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke. + +[Portulacaceae] PORTULACEAE: + +[Calandrinia balonensis] Calandrinia Balonnensis, Lindl. in Mitch. +Trop. Austr., 148. + MacDonnell's Range. +Portulaca oleracea, L. Sp. Pl., 638. + Towards MacDonnell's Range. + +[Chenopodiaceae] SALSOLACEAE: + +Rhagodia nutans, R. Br., Prodr., 408. + Lake Eyre. +Rhagodia spinescens, R. Br., Prodr., 408. + Lake Eyre. +Chenopodium carinatum, R. Br., Prodr., 407. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Babbagia dipterocarpa, F.M., Rep. on Babb. Pl., 21. + Lake Eyre. +Kochia villosa, Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 91. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. + +[Amaranthaceae] AMARANTACEAE: + +Hemichroa mesembryanthema, F.M., Fragm. 8, 38. + Lake Eyre. +[Amaranthus mitchellii] Euxolus Mitchelli, Amarantus Mitchelli, Benth., +Fl. Austr. 5, 214. + Lake Eyre. +Alternanthera nodiflora, R. Br., Prodr., 417. + MacDonnell's Range. +Ptilotus obovatus, F.M., Fragm. 6, 228. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; MacDonnell's and + Rawlinson's Ranges. +[Ptilotus polystachyus] Ptilotus alopecuroides, F.M., Fragm. 6, 227. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Ptilotus nobilis, F.M., Fragm. 6, 227. + Mount Olga. +Ptilotus Hoodii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 232. + Mount Olga. +Ptilotus helipteroides, F.M., Fragm. 6, 231. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; also Barrow's Range. +[Ptilotus gaudichaudii] Ptilotus hemisteirus, F.M., Fragm. 6, 231. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. + +[Nyctaginaceae] NYCTAGINEAE: + +[Boerhavia repanda] Boerhaavia repanda, Willd., Sp. Pl., 1, 22. + Lake Eyre. +[Boerhavia diffusa] Boerhaavia diffusa, L. Sp. Pl., 4. + Lake Amadeus. + +[not a family] LEGUMINOSAE: + +[Fabaceae (=Papilionaceae)] + +Daviesia arthropoda, F.M., Fragm. 8, 225. + Mount Olga. +Brachysema Chambersii, F.M. in Benth. Fl. Austr. 2, 13. + Mount Olga; MacDonnell's Range. +Isotropis atropurpurea, F.M., Fragm. 3, 16. + Mount Olga. +[?] Burtonia polyzyga, Benth., Fl. Austr. 2, 51. + MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Mirbelia oxyclada, F.M., Fragm. 4, 12. + MacDonnell's and Rawlinson's Ranges. +Gastrolobium grandiflorum, F.M., Fragm. 3, 17. + Glen of Palms. +Psoralea patens, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. 2, 9. + Between Lake Eyre and Mount Olga. P. balsamica is known + from MacDonnell's Range. +[Crotalaria cunninghamii] Crotalaria Cunninghami, R. Br., App. to +Sturt's Exped., 8. + Rawlinson's Range. +Crotalaria dissitiflora, Benth. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 386. + Lake Eyre. +[Clianthus dampieri] Clianthus Dampierii, A. Cunn. in Trans. Hort. Soc. +Lond., Sec. Ser. 1, 522. + Mount Whitby. +Swainsona phacoides, Benth. in Mitch. Trop. Aust., 363. + MacDonnell's Range. +Swainsona unifoliolata, F.M., Fragm., 8, 226. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; also on Rawlinson's + Range. Several other species of Swainsona, but in an imperfect + state, occur in the collection, also a species of Tephrosia. +Lotus Australis, Andr., Bot. Reg., t. 624. + Lake Eyre. +[?] Caulinia prorepens, F.M., Fragm. 8, 225. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[?] Indigofera monophylla, Cand. Prodr. 2, 222. + MacDonnell's Range. +Indigofera brevidens, Benth. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 385. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke; also Glen of Palms, + MacDonnell's Range, Rawlinson's Range, between Mount Olga + and Barrow's Range. (I. villosa is also known from MacDonnell's + Range.) +Erythrina Vespertilio, Benth. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 218. + MacDonnell's Range, Mount Udor. + +[Caesalpiniaceae] + +[?] Bauhinia Leichhardtii, F.M. in Transact. Vict. Inst. 3, 50. + Occurs also in many of the central regions of the continent. +Cassia notabilis, F.M., Fragm. 3, 28. + Mount Olga, Rawlinson's Range. +Cassia venusta, F.M., Fragm. 1, 165. + MacDonnell's Range. +Cassia pleurocarpa, F.M., Fragm. 1, 223. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke; also between the + Alberga and Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. +Cassia desolata, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 389. + Mount Olga, Rawlinson's Range. +Cassia artemisioides, Gaud. in Cand. Prodr. 2, 495. + From the Alberga to Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +Petalostylis labicheoides, R. Br., App. to Sturt's Centr. Austr., 17. + Glen of Palms; between the Alberga and Mount Olga, and + towards Barrow's Range. + +[Mimosaceae] + +[Acacia victoriae] Acacia Sentis, F.M. in Journ. Linn. Soc. 3, 128. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[Acacia maitlandii] Acacia patens, F.M. in Journ. Linn. Soc. 3, 120. + Mount Olga and MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Acacia spondylophylla, F.M., Fragm. 8, 243. + Glen of Palms; MacDonnell's and Rawlinson's Ranges. +[?] Acacia lycopodifolia, A. Cunn. in Hook. Icon., 172. + MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Acacia minutifolia, F.M., Fragm. 8, 243. + Mount Olga. +Acacia strongylophylla, F.M., Fragm. 8, 226. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, Glen of Palms, + MacDonnell's Range. +Acacia salicina, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. 2, 20. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range; + also towards Lake Amadeus and Barrow's Range. +Acacia aneura, F.M. in Linnaea 26, 627. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. + +Numerous other species of Acacia were gathered, but not found in +flower or fruit, hence are not with certainty referable to the respective +species of this great genus. + +EUPHORBIACEAE: + +[?] Adriana tomentosa, Gaud. in Ann. Sc. Nat., Prem. Ser. 6, 223. + From the Alberga to Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range, Barrow's + Range. +[Euphorbia drummondii] Euphorbia Drummondi, Boiss., Cent. Euph., +14. + Finke's River. +[Euphorbia clutioides] Euphorbia eremophila, A. Cunn. in Mitch. Austr., +348. + Lake Eyre; MacDonnell's Range. + +[Urticaceae] URTICEAE: + +Ficus platypoda, A. Cunn. in Hook. Lond. Journ. 6, 561. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, Ayers Range, Gill's + Range. +[?] Ficus orbicularis, A. Cunn. in Hook. Lond. Journ. 7, 426. + Glen of Palms. +Parietaria debilis, G. Forst., Prodr., 73. + Mount Olga. + +RHAMNACEAE: + +Spyridium spathulatum, F.M. in Benth. Fl. Austr. 1, 430. + Glen of Palms. + +MYRTACEAE: + +[Calytrix longiflora] Calycothrix longiflora, F.M., Fragm. 1, 12. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; MacDonnell's Range. +Thryptomene Maisonneuvii, F.M., Fragm. 4, 64. + On Mount Olga, also towards the Alberga. +[Micromyrtus flaviflora] Thryptomene flaviflora, F.M., Fragm. 8, 13. + MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Baeckea polystemonea, F.M., Fragm. 2, 124. + MacDonnell's Range. +Eucalyptus pachyphylla, F.M. in Journ. Linn. Soc. 3, 98. + Glen of Palms. + +STACKHOUSIACEAE: + +Macgregoria racemigera, F.M. in Caruel's Giorn., 1873, page 129. + MacDonnell's Range; between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[?] Stackhousia megaloptera, FM., Fragm. 8, 35. + MacDonnell's Range. + +CUCURBITACEAE: + +[Melothria maderaspatana] Mukia scabrella, Arn. in Hook. Journ. 3, +276. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Cucumis melo] Cucumis trigonus, Roxb., Flor. Indic. 3, 722. + MacDonnell's Range. + +LORANTHACEAE: + +[Lysiana exocarpi] Loranthus Exocarpi, Behr in Linn. 20, 624. + Musgrave Range. + +SANTALACEAE: + +Santalum lanceolatum, R. Br., Prodr., 256. + Mount Olga, Rawlinson's Range, Lake Amadeus. +Santalum acuminatum, A. de Cand. Prodr. 14, 684. + Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range, Mount Udor, Lake Amadeus, + Musgrave Range, Fort Mueller, Petermann's Range. +[Anthobolus leptomerioides] Anthobolus exocarpoides, F.M., Fragm. +9, ined. + MacDonnell's Range. + +PROTEACEAE: + +[Hakea francisiana] Hakea multilineata, Meissn. in Lehm. Pl. Preiss. +2, 261. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Hakea suburea] Hakea lorea, R. Br., Prot. Nov., 25. + Glen of Palms, MacDonnell's, Petermann's, and Rawlinson's + Ranges. +Grevillea stenobotrya F.M., Fragm. 9, ined. + MacDonnell's Range. +Grevillea juncifolia, Hook. in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 341. + Glen of Palms, MacDonnell's Range, Mount Olga, and towards + the Alberga. +Grevillea pterosperma, F.M. in Trans. Phil. Soc. Vict. 1, 22. + Mount Olga. +[?] Grevillea Wickhami, Meissn. in Cand. Prodr. 14, 380. + Glen of Palms, Gosse's Range, MacDonnell's Range; towards + Lake Amadeus. + +[Thymelaeaceae] THYMELEAE: + +Pimelea trichostachya, Lindl. in Mitch. Trop, Austr., 355. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, Gosse's Range. +Pimelea ammocharis, F.M. in Hook. Kew Misc. 9, 24. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. + +[Apiaceae =] UMBELLIFERAE: + +[Trachymene glaucifolia] Didiscus glaucifolius, F.M. in Linnaea 25, +395. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Hydrocotyle trachycarpa, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 394. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. + +RUBIACEAE: + +Pomax umbellata, Soland. in Gaertn. Fruct. 1, 112. + MacDonnell's Range. +[Canthium latifolium] Plectronia latifolia, Benth. et Hook. Gen. Pl. 2, +110. + MacDonnell's Range. + +[Asteraceae =] COMPOSITAE: + +[?] Aster subspicatus, F.M., Fragm. 5, 68. + MacDonnell's Range. +[Aster stuartii] Aster megalodontus, F.M., Fragm. 8, ined. + Mount Olga. +[?] Aster Ferresii, F.M., Fragm. 5, 75. + MacDonnell's Range. +Calotis lappulacea, Benth. in Hueg. Enum., 60. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Pluchea rubelliflora] Pluchea Eyrea, F.M., Rep. on Babb. Pl., 2. + Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Minuria leptophylla, Cand. Prodr. 5, 298. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke, thence to Mount Olga + and Lake Amadeus. +Flaveria Australasica, Hook., in Mitch. Trop. Austr., 118. + Lake Eyre. +[Gnephosis skirrophora] Gnephosis codonopappa, F.M., Fragm. 9, +ined. + Beyond Lake Eyre. +Angianthus tomentosus, Wendl. Coll. 2, 31, t. 48. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[Calocephalus multiflorus] Calocephalus platycephalus, Benth., Fl. +Austr. 3, 576. + MacDonnell's Range. +Myriocephalus Stuartii, Benth., Fl. Austr. 3, 560. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Pterocaulon sphacelatum] Pterocaulon sphacelatus, Benth. et Hook., +Gen. Pl. 2, 295. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, also on Rawlinson's + Range. +Ixiolaena tomentosa, Sond. et Muell. in Linnaea 25, 504. + Lake Eyre. +[?] Helichrysum Thomsoni, F.M., Fragm. 8, 45. + MacDonnell's Range, Mount Olga. +Helichrysum Ayersii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 167. + Mount Olga. +Helichrysum semifertile, F.M., Rep. on Babb. Plants, page 14. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Helichrysum davenportii] Helichrysum Davenporti, F.M., Fragm. 3, 32. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Helichrysum Cassinianum, Gaud. in Freyc. Voy. Bot., 466, t. 87. + MacDonnell's Range; also between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[?] Helichrysum lucidum, Henck. Adumb. Ann., 1806. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, Glen of Palms, + Rawlinson's Range. +Helichrysum apiculatum, Cand. Prodr. 6, 195. + Rawlinson's Range. +Helichrysum rutidolepsis, Cand. Prodr. 6, 194. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Helipterum stuartianum] Helipterum floribundum, Cand. Prodr. 6, 217. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Helipterum Tietkensii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 227. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Helipterum albicans] Helipterum incanum, Cand. Prodr. 6, 215. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Helipterum stipitatum, F.M. in Benth. Fl. Austr. 3, 643. + MacDonnell's Range. +Helipterum Charsleyae, F.M., Fragm. 8, 168. + Lake Amadeus. +Gnaphalium luteo-album, L. Sp. Pl., 1196. + Mount Olga. +Gnaphalium Japonicum, Thunb., Fl. Jap., 311. + Mount Olga. +Senecio Gregorii, F.M. in Greg. Rep. On Leich. Search, page 7. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. +Senecio lautus, G. Forst., Prodr., 91. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Senecio magnificus, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 418. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Erechtites runcinifolius] Erechtites picridioides, Turcz. in Bull. de +Mosc., 1851, part 1, 200. + Mount Olga. +Sonchus oleraceus, Linne, Sp. Pl., 1116. + Mr. Giles records this in his journal as abundant on the banks of + the Finke River, towards its source. + +CAMPANULACEAE: + +[?] Wahlenbergia gracilis, A. de Cand. Monogr. des Camp., 142. + Mount Olga, Barrow's Range, Lake Amadeus. +[?] Lobelia heterophylla, Labill. Specim. 1, 52, t. 74. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +Isotoma petraea, F.M, in Linnaea 25, 420. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. + +[Goodeniaceae] GOODENOVIACEAE: + +[Brunoniaceae] + +Brunonia Australis, Sm. in Transact. Linn. Soc. 10, 367, t. 28. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. + +[Goodeniaceae] + +[?] Goodenia Vilmoriniae, F.M., Fragm. 3, 19, t. 16. + Mount Olga. +Goodenia heterochila, F.M., Fragm. 3, 142. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[?] Goodenia Mueckeana, F.M., Fragm. 8, 56. + Between Mount Udor and Gill's Range, also on or near Mount + Olga. +Goodenia Ramelii, F.M., Fragm. 3, 20 t. 17. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; also on Rawlinson's + Range and towards Barrow's Range. +Leschenaultia divaricata, F.M., Fragm. 3, 33. + Lake Amadeus. +[?] Leschenaultia striata, F.M., Fragm. 8, 245. + Mount Olga. +[Catosperma goodeniaceum] Catosperma Muelleri, Benth., Fl. Austr. +4, 83. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Scaevola collaris, F.M., Rep. on Babb. Plants, 15. + Lake Eyre. +Scaevola spinescens, R. Br., Prodr., 568. + Lake Eyre. +Scaevola depauperata, R. Br., Append. to Sturt's Centr. Austr., 20. + MacDonnell's Range. +[Velleia connata] Velleya connata, F.M. in Hook. Kew Misc. 8, 162. + MacDonnell's Range. + +[Stylidaceae] STYLIDEAE: + +[?] Stylidium floribundum, R. Br., Prodr., 569. + MacDonnell's Range. + +[Boraginaceae] ASPERIFOLIAE: + +[?] Heliotropium asperrimum, R. Br., Prodr., 493. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, MacDonnell's Range. +Heliotropium undulatum, Vahl., Sym. 1, 13. + Near Lake Eyre. +[Cynoglossum australe] Cynoglossum Drummondi, Benth., Fl. Austr. 4, +409. + On Mount Olga and towards the Alberga. +[Trichodesma zeylanicum] Trichodesma Zeilanicum, R. Br., Prodr., +496. + From the Alberga to Mount Olga and MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Halgania anagalloides, Endl. in Ann. des Wien. Mus. 2, 204. + MacDonnell's Range. +Halgania cyanea, Lindl. Bot. Reg. 25, App., 40. + MacDonnell's and Petermann's Ranges. + +[Lamiaceae =] LABIATIAE: + +Plectranthus parviflorus, Henck. Adumb., 1806. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[?] Microcorys Macredieana, F.M., Fragm. 8, 231. + Rawlinson's Range. +Prostanthera striatiflora, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 425. + From the Alberga to Mount Olga; also on Gosse's Range and + MacDonnell's Range. +Prostanthera Wilkieana, F.M., Fragm. 8, 230. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +Teucrium racemosum, R. Br., Prodr., 504. + Lake Eyre, Lake Amadeus, Finke River. + +VERBENACEAE: + +[Newcastelia bracteosa] Newcastlia bracteosa, F.M., Fragm. 8, 49. + MacDonnell's Range; between Mount Olga and Warburton's + Range; Gill's Range. +[Newcastelia cephalantha] Newcastlia cephalantha, F.M., Fragm. 9, +ined. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Newcastelia spodiotricha] Newcastlia spodiotricha, F.M., Fragm. 3, +21, t. 21. + MacDonnell's and Rawlinson's Ranges. +[Dicrastylis doranii] Dicrastylis Dorani, F.M., Fragm. 8, 230. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Dicrastylis exsuccosa] Dicrastylis ochrotricha, F.M., Fragm. 4, 161. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +Dicrastylis Beveridgei, F.M., Fragm. 8, 50. + Between Mount Udor and Gill's Range, also on Mount Olga. +Dicrastylis Gilesii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 229. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; Glen of Palms. +[Dicrastylis lewellinii] Chloanthes Lewellini, F.M., Fragm. 8, 50. + Mount Olga; MacDonnell's Range. + +[Myoporaceae] MYOPORINAE: + +[Eremophila macdonnellii] Eremophila Macdonnelli, F.M., Rep. on +Babb. Plants, 18. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke. +Eremophila Willsii, F.M., Fragm. 3, 21, t. 20. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; Rawlinson's Range. +[Eremophila gilesii] Eremophila Berryi, F.M., Fragm. 8, 228. + Musgrave Range. +[Eremophila goodwinii] Eremophila Goodwini, F.M., Rep. on Babb. +Plants, 17. + Beyond Lake Eyre, Glen of Palms, MacDonnell's Range. +Eremophila maculata, F.M. in Papers of the Roy. Soc. of Tasm. 3, +297. + Lake Eyre. +[Eremophila glabra] Eremophila Brownii, F.M. in Papers of the Roy. +Soc. of Tasm. 3, 297. + MacDonnell's Range. +Eremophila Sturtii, R. Br., App. to Sturt's Centr. Austr., 85. + MacDonnell's Range. +Eremophila Gilesii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 49. + MacDonnell's Range. +Eremophila longifolia, F.M. in Papers of the Roy. Soc. of Tasm. 3, +295. + Gosse's Range; MacDonnell's Range. +[Eremophila serrulata] Eremophila latifolia, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 428. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Eremophila alternifolia, R. Br., Prodr., 518. + Mount Olga. +Eremophila Latrobei, F.M. in Papers of the Roy. Soc. of Tasm. 3, 294. + Mount Olga; Rawlinson's Range; MacDonnell's Range. +Eremophila Elderi, F.M., Fragm. 8, 228. + Rawlinson's Range. +[?] Eremophila Hughesii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 228. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Eremophila gibsonii] Eremophila Gibsoni, F.M., Fragm. 8, 227. + Between Mount Olga and the Alberga. +Eremophila scoparia, F.M. in Papers of the Roy. Soc. of Tasm. 3, 296. + About Lake Eyre. +[Myoporum montanum] Myoporum Cunninghami, Benth. in Hueg. +Enum., 78. + Glen of Palms. + +[Oleaceae] JASMINEAE: + +Jasminum lineare, R. Br., Prodr., 521. + MacDonnell's Range; Gosse's Range. +[?] Jasminum calcareum, F.M., Fragm. 1, 212. + MacDonnell's Range. + +CONVOLVULACEAE: + +Convolvulus erubescens, Sims, Bot. Mag., t. 1067. + MacDonnell's Range. +Evolvulus linifolius, L. Sp. Pl., 392. + MacDonnell's Range. +[Bonamia rosea] Breweria rosea, F.M., Fragm. 1, 233. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga, Glen of Palms, + MacDonnell's Range. + +BIGNONIACEAE: + +[Pandorea doratoxylon] Tecoma Australis, R. Br., Prodr., 471. + Mount Olga, Rawlinson's Range. + +[Asclepiadaceae] ASCLEPIADEAE: + +Sarcostemma Australe, R. Br., Prodr., 463. + Rawlinson's Range. +[Leichhardtia australis] Marsdenia Leichhardtiana, F.M., Fragm. 5, +160. + MacDonnell's Range. + +ACANTHACEAE: + +[Rostellularia pogonanthera] Justicia procumbens, L. Fl. Zeil., 19. + Mount Olga and towards Lake Eyre. + +[Gentianaceae] GENTIANEAE: + +[Centurium spicatum] Erythraea Australis, R. Br., Prodr., 451. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range, MacDonnell's Range. + +[Schrophulariaceae] SCROPHULARINAE: + +Mimulus gracilis, R. Br., Prodr., 439. + Rawlinson's Range. +Stemodia viscosa, Roxb., Pl. Coromand. 2, 33, t. 163. + Rawlinson's Range. +[?] Stemodia pedicellaris, F.M., Fragm. 8, 231. + Rawlinson's Range. + +SOLANACEAE: + +Anthotroche Blackii, F.M., Fragm. 8, 232. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[?] Anthocercis Hopwoodii, F.M., Frag. 2, 138. + Near Mount Liebig. +Nicotiana suaveolens, Lehm., Hist. Nicot., 43. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; Glen of Palms; Lake + Amadeus. +Solanum esuriale, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. 2, 43. + Lake Eyre; thence to MacDonnell's Range. +Solanum ferocissimum, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. 2, 58. + MacDonnell's Range. +Solanum ellipticum, R. Br., Prodr., 446. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; thence to Barrow's + Range, MacDonnell's Range. +Solanum petrophilum, F.M. in Linnaea 25, 433. + Mount Olga. +Solanum lacunarium, F.M. in Trans. Phil. Soc. Vict. 1, 18. + Lake Eyre. +[Datura leichhardtii] Datura Leichhardti, F.M. in Trans. Phil. Soc. +Vict. 1, 20. + Between the River Finke and the Glen of Palms. + +PRIMULACEAE: + +Samolus repens, Pers. Synops. 1, 171. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. + +[Casuarinaceae] CASUARINEAE: + +Casuarina Decaisneana, F.M., Fragm. 1, 61. + From the Alberga and Finke River to Mount Olga; Gardiner's and + MacDonnell's Ranges; Glen of Palms; also near Musgrave's + Range and on Rawlinson's, Petermann's, and Barrow's Ranges; + Gibson's Desert. + +[?] CYCADEAE: + +[?] Encephalartos Macdonnelli, F.M. in Vers. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, +15, 376. + On Neale's River, found by J.M. Stuart, and probably the same + species on Gill's Range. + +[Cupressaceae] CONIFERAE: + +Callitris verrucosa, R. Br. in Memoir. du Mus. Paris 13, 74. + It is supposed that it is this species, which was seen on the River + Finke, Lake Amadeus, and in the MacDonnell's, Gill's, + Rampart's, Musgrave's and Gosse's Ranges, as it is the only + one hitherto recorded from Central Australian collections. + +LILIACEAE: + +[?] Thysanotus sparteus, R. Br., Prodr., 283. + Between Mount Olga and Barrow's Range. +[?] Anguillaria Australis, F.M. Fragm. 7, 74. + Between Lake Eyre and the River Finke. A species of + Xanthorrhoea, reaching a height of twelve feet, was seen on the + ranges along Rudall's Creek, but no specimen for examination + was secured. + +[?] PALMAE: + +[?] Livistona Mariae, F.M., Fragm. 9, ined. + Glen of Palms. Height up to 60 feet. + +TYPHACEAE: + +Typha Muelleri, Rohrb. in Verhandl. Brandenb., 1869, page 95. + It is probably this species which is recorded in the Journal as + occurring in the swamps of Rawlinson's Range. + +[Poaceae =] GRAMINEAE: + +[?] Andropogon laniger, Desf., Fl. Atlant. 2, 379. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Eriachne scleranthoides, F.M., Fragm. 8, 233. + Mount Olga. +[?] Pappophorum commune, F.M. in Greg. Rep. on Leichh. Search, +App., page 10. + MacDonnell's Range. +[?] Panicum Pseudo-Neurachne, F.M., Fragm. 8, 199. + Lake Amadeus. +[?] Eleusine cruciata, Lam. Encyc., t. 48, f. 2. + Lake Eyre; between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +[Aristida browniana] Aristida stipoides, R. Br., Prodr., 174. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Bromus arenarius, Labill., Specim. 1, 23, t. 28. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Festuca irritans, F.M., Chath. Isl. Veget., 59 (Triodia irritans, +R. Br. Pr., 182). + Dispersed widely through the deserts, and called Spinifex by the + explorers. + +CYPERACEAE: + +[?] Cyperus textilis, Thunb., Prodr. Pl. Cap., 18. + MacDonnell's Range. + +[Class: Pteropsida] FILICES: + +[Polypodiaceae] + +Cheilanthes tenuifolia, Swartz, Syn. Fil., 129. + Rawlinson's Range; between the Alberga and Mount Olga. +Cheilanthes vellea, F.M., Fragm. 5, 123. + Between the Alberga and Mount Olga; also on MacDonnell's + Range. C. Reynoldsii, discovered by Mr. Gosse, does not occur + in Mr. Giles's collection, and is probably very local. + +Mr. Giles's collection contains also species of the genera Vigna, +Tephrosia, Melaleuca, Callistemon, Haloragis, Pterigeron, +Brachycome, Dampiera, Ipomoea, Morgania, Enchylaena, and +Atriplex; as also additional species of Rulingia, Abutilon, Sida, +Dodonaea, Euphorbia, Spyridium, Acacia (many), Eucalyptus, +Scaevola, Goodenia, Eremophila, Heliotropium, Rhagodia, Ptilotus, +Hakea, and Panicum, but none in a state sufficiently advanced to +admit of ascertaining their precise specific position. + + +INDEX. + +Acacia aneura. + +Alberga Creek. + +Alfred and Marie Range. + +Alice Falls, the. + +Alone in the desert. + +Aloysius, Mount. + +An expanse of salt. + +Angle Pole, the. + +Anthony Range. + +Ants and their nests. + +Appatinna. + +Armstrong Creek. + +Arrino. + +Ashburton River. +--, head waters. + +Australian grass-tree. + +Ayers's Range. + +Ayers's Rock. + +Bagot's Creek. + +Bark Coolamins. + +Barlee, Mount. + +Barloweerie Peak. + +Bell Rock. + +Berkshire Valley. + +Bitter Water Creek. + +Black family, a. +--oak. + +Blood's Range. + +Bluey's Range. + +Boundary Dam. + +Bowes Creek. + +Bowley, Mount. + +Bowman's Dam. + +Brachychiton. + +Bring Lake. + +Briscoe's Pass. + +Butterflies. + +Buttfield, Mount. + +Buzoe's Grave. + +Callitris. + +Camel Glen. + +Camels decamped. +-- poisoned. + +Canis familiaris. + +Capparis. + +Carnarvon, Mount. +--Range. + +Carmichael Creek. + +Carmichael's Crag. + +Casterton Creek. + +Casuarina Decaisneana. + +Casuarinas. + +Chamber's Pillar. + +Champ de Mars. + +Champion Bay. + +Chandler's Range. + +Charlotte Waters Station. + +Cheangwa. + +Chimpering. + +Chinaman's Dam. + +Chirnside Creek. + +Christening natives. + +Christmas Day. + +Christopher Lake. + +Christopher's Pinnacle. + +Christy Bagot's Creek. + +Churchman, Mount. + +Circus, the. + +Clay crabhole, a. +--pans. + +Clianthus Dampierii. + +Cob, the. + +Cockata blacks. + +Codonocarpus cotinifolius. + +Colona. + +Colonel's Range. + +Conner, Mount. + +Cooerminga. + +Coondambo clay-pans. + +Corkwood-tree. + +Corrobboree, a grand. + +Cowra man, a. + +Cudyeh. + +Culham. + +Cumming, Glen. + +Cups, the. + +Curdie, Mount. + +Curious mound-springs. + +Currajong-tree. + +Currie, the. + +Cypress pines. + +Davenport, Mount. + +Desert oak. + +Desolation Creek. +--Glen. + +Destruction, Mount. + +Diamond bird (Amadina). + +Docker, The. + +Dog-puppies. + +Dongarra. + +Dry salt lagoons. + +Eagle-hawk. + +Earthquake, a shock. + +Edith, Glen. +--Hull's Springs. + +Edith's Marble Bath. + +Edoldeh. + +Ehrenberg Ranges. + +Elder's Creek. + +Elizabeth Watercourse. + +Ellery's Creek. + +Emus. + +Emu Tank. + +Encounter Creek. + +Eremophila scoparia. + +Escape Glen. + +Eucalyptus. +--dumosa. + +Euphorbiaceae. + +Euro Bluff. + +Everard Ranges. + +Fagan, Mount. + +Fairies' Glen. + +Ferdinand Creek. +--Glen. +--Mount. + +Festuca irritans. + +Fielder, Glen. + +Fig-tree. + +Finke, Mount. +--River. + +Finniss Springs. + +Fish plentiful. +--ponds. + +Flies, myriads of. + +Forrest's Creek. + +Forrest, Mount. + +Fort McKellar. + +Fort Mueller. + +Fowler's Bay. + +Fraser's Wells. + +Fremantle, reception at. + +Friendly natives. + +Fusanus. + +Gardiner's Range. + +Gascoyne River Valley. + +Geelabing, Mount. + +George Gill's Range. + +Gerald, Glen. + +Geraldton. + +Gibson, Last seen of. + +Gibson's Desert. + +Gibson's Christmas pudding. + +Gill's Pinnacle. + +Glen Camel. +--Cumming. +--Edith. +--Ferdinand. +--Fielder. +--Gerald. +--Helen. +--Osborne. +--of Palms. +--Robertson. +--Ross. +--Thirsty. +--Watson. +--Wyselaski. + +Glentromie. + +Glowworms. + +Gordon's Springs. + +Gorge of Tarns. + +Gosse's Range. + +Gould, Mount. + +Governor, the. + +Grand Junction Depot. + +Great Gorge. + +Great Victoria Desert. + +Greenough Flats. + +Grevillea-trees. + +Groener's Springs. + +Guildford, reception at. + +Gum-trees. + +Gyrostemon. +--ramulosus. + +Hakea. + +Hale, Mount. + +Hamilton Creek. + +Hampton Plain. + +Hann's Creek. + +Harriet's Springs. + +Hector Pass. +--Springs. + +Helen, Glen. + +Hermit Hill, the. + +Hogarth's Wells. + +Hopkin's Creek. + +Horses badly bogged. +--fall lame. + +Hostility of the natives. + +Hughes's Creek. + +Hull Creek, the. + +Humphries, Mount. + +Inderu. + +Interview with natives. + +Irving Creek. + +Irwin House. + +Irwin River. + +Jamieson's Range. + +James Winter, Mount. + +Jeanie, Mount. + +Johnstone's Range. + +Kangaroos and emus plentiful. + +Kangaroo tanks. + +King's Creek. + +Krichauff Creek. +--Range. + +Labouchere, Mount. + +Lake Bring. +--Amadeus. +--Christopher. +--Eyre. +--Gairdner. +--Hanson. +--Hart. +--Moore. +--of salt. +--Torrens. +--Wilson. +--Younghusband. + +Laurie's Creek. + +Learmonth Park. + +Leguminosae, the. + +Leipoa ocellata. + +Levinger, The. + +Lightning Rock. + +Livingstone Pass. + +Louisa's Creek. + +Lowan or native pheasants. + +Lowans' nests. + +Luehman's Springs. + +Lunar rainbow, a. + +Lyons River. + +MacBain's Springs. + +Mann Range. + +Margaret, Mount. + +Maria, palm. + +Marie, Mount. + +McCulloch, Mount. + +McDonnell Range. + +McMinn's Creek. + +McNicol's Range. + +Melaleuca. + +Melaleuca-tree. + +Middleton's Pass. + +Miller, Mount. + +Mobing. + +Moffat's Creek. + +Moloch horridus. + +Moodilah. + +Mosquitoes. + +Mount Aloysius. +--Ayers. +--Barlee. +--Bowley. +--Buttfield. +--Camnarvon. +--Churchman. +--Conner. +--Curdie. +--Davenport. +--Destruction. +--Fagan. +--Ferdinand. +--Finke. +--Forrest. +--Geelabing. +--Gould. +--Gould Creek. +--Hale. +--Humphries. +--James Winter. +--Jeanie. +--Labouchere. +--Margaret. +--Marie. +--McCulloch. +--Miller. +--Murchison. +--Musgrave. +--Oberon. +--Officer. +--O'Halloran. +--Olga. +--Ormerod. +--Peculiar. +--Phillips. +--Quin. +--Robert. +--Robinson. +--Russell. +--Sargood. +--Scott. +--Skene. +--Solitary. +--Squires. +--Udor. + +Mowling. + +Mulga apple. +--tree, its habits and value. +--wood as a poison. + +Murchison, Mount. +--River. + +Musgrave, Mount. +--Range. + +Mus conditor. + +Myal. + +Native art. + +Native attack at Farthest East. +--at Fort McKellar. +--at Fort Mueller. +--and rout at Sladen Water. +--at Ularring. +--beauty. +--caves. +--dam, a. +--figs. +--fires. +--gunyahs. +--huts; ancient and modern. +--interview. +--mode of wearing the hair. +--orange-tree. +--peach. +--pheasant's nest. +--poplar-trees. +--sleeping places. +--swords. +--thieves. + +Natives troublesome. + +Native well. +--wurleys. + +Natta. + +Neale's River. + +Newcastle, reception at. + +New Norcia. + +Nicholls's Fish Ponds. + +Oberon, Mount. + +Officer, the. +--, Mount. + +Olga, Mount. + +Ooldabinna. + +Ophthalmia Range. + +Opossums. + +Ormerod, Mount. + +Osborne, Glen. + +Palmer Creek. + +Palms, Glen of. + +Paring. + +Pass of the Abencerrages. + +Peake Creek. +--Station. + +Peculiar, Mount. + +Penny's Creek. + +Perth, reception at. + +Pernatty Creek. + +Petermann's Creek. + +Petermann's Range. + +Phillips Creek. +--Mount. + +Pia Spring. + +Pidinga. + +Pigeon Rocks. + +Poisoned camels. + +Poison plant. + +Pondoothy Hill. + +Poothraba Hill. + +Port Augusta. + +Purple vetch. + +Pylebung. + +Quandong-trees. + +Queen Victoria's Spring. + +Quin, Mount. + +Range, Petermann's. + +Rawlinson Range. + +Rebecca, The. + +Red gum, the. + +Red hornets. + +Red Ridge Camp. + +Reid Creek. + +Ross, Glen. + +River Irwin. +--Finke, general remarks. +--Murchison. +--Sandford. + +Robert, Mount. + +Robertson, Glen. + +Robinson, Mount. + +Rock wallaby. + +Roger's Pass. + +Roman numerals. + +Ross's Water-hole. + +Rudall's Creek. + +Ruined Rampart, the. + +Russell, Mount. + +St. Cecilia, watercourse. + +Saleh's Fish Ponds. + +Salt bog. +--bushes. + +Sandal-wood. + +Sandflies. + +Sandford River. + +Salt lagoons. + +Salt lake, a. + +Sargood, Mount. + +Schwerin Mural Crescent. + +Scorpion, a. + +Scott, Mount. + +Scrub pheasant. +--wallaby. + +Sentinel, the. + +Seymour's Range. + +Shaw Creek. + +Shoeing Camp. + +Skene, Mount. + +Sladen Water. + +Snakes. + +Sonchus oleraceus. + +Solitary, Mount. + +Sow thistle. + +Spear-heads of mulga wood. + +Squires, Mount. + +Stemodia viscosa, the. + +Stevenson's Creek. + +Stinking pit, the. + +Stokes's Creek. + +Storm, effect of. + +Surprise the natives. + +Taloreh. + +Tarn of Auber. + +The Circus. + +The Cob. + +The Cups Hill. + +The Officer. + +The Sentinel. + +Thirsty, Glen. + +Thunderstorm. + +Tietkens's Birthday Creek. +--Tank. + +Tipperary. + +Titania's Spring. + +Tommy's Flat. + +Tootra. + +Trickett's Creek. + +Triodia or Festuca irritans. + +Troglodytes' Cave. + +Turtle Back Rocks. + +Tyndall's Springs. + +Udor, Mount. + +Ularring. + +Vale of Tempe. + +Verney's Wells. + +Victoria plains. + +Vladimar Pass. + +Walebing. + +Wallaby traps. + +Warlike Natives. + +Water scarce. + +Watson, Glen. + +Weld Pass. + +Whitegin. + +Wild ducks. + +Wild turkey bustards. + +Winter Water. + +Winter's Glen. + +Wommerah, the. + +Worrill's Pass. + +Wynbring. +--Rock. + +Wyselaski's Glen. + +Xanthorrhoea. + +Yanderby. + +York, entertained at. + +Youldeh. + +Yuin. + +Zoe's Glen. + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Australia Twice Traversed, by Ernest Giles + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRALIA TWICE TRAVERSED *** + +This file should be named strtt10.txt or strtt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, strtt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, strtt10a.txt + +Produced by Sue Asscher asschers@bigpond.com + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + |