Part 14 (1/2)

Soon after starting this , we came upon a camp of fifteen or twenty natives, on the bank of a deep reach of water, hemmed in by steep rocky hills, up which they hastily scra the suestures to express their disapproval of our visit, but would not hold any parley with us At five h a precipitous rocky defile, which induced us to make an atteher up; but after being for soed to have recourse to the bed of the river, although encureat difficulty in travelling; so that by sunset we had not accomplished more than six ht's carees 19 eneral course of the river during the day was very little to the south of east, its banks stillthe sa frequently observed at the height of thirty feet above the present streaently in a channel notthe whole of the valley, which averages a quarter of a s and reeds, and contain nu trout, similar to those found in the Lyons and Gascoyne Rivers A very handso a beautiful white flower, four to five inches across, having on the inside a delicate tinge of yellow, and yielding a sweet scent like violets Several natives were met in the course of the day, but would not come near us; in one instance, however, we came upon one so suddenly that he had only ti surrounded by the party After calling for soradually crept away ast the canes and disappeared Only one tributary of any size was observed to join the river in the course of the day's march, and that came in from the southward At 520 pm halted on the banks of a deep pool, surrounded by fine cajeput-trees and flooded-gu plentiful for our horses Camp 8

ENCOUNTER DIFFICULT COUNTRY

1st June

There was a decided improvement in the appearance of the valley as we continued to ascend the river, the deep pools were h lands on either bank still, however, retained their rugged outlines, and were clothed with little else but triodia Travelling along the bed of the river was nevertheless difficult and dangerous for the horses, on account of the immense quantity of rounded boulders of water-worn rocks that occupied a large portion of the channel, and frequently jammed the horses into narrow passes, where they could not be extricated withoutwith very severe falls, which very soon crippled an to be wrenched off by being caught in the deep clefts of the rocks, very soon expending all the extra sets brought with us Just before coe stream-bed, forty yards wide, was observed to corees 28 rees 31abundance of feed and water, we gladly availed ourselves of it to make it a day of rest; it also afforded me an opportunity to ascertain the rate of the chronoularly since landing

3rd June

Made an early start, and as the valley of the river was not quite so rugged as that we had passed over during the last two or three days, by noon we had accohtvery little froress towards the Lyons River (our more immediate destination), and to quit the valley was out of the question, as there is no feed or water out of it within a reasonable distance Both the valley and surrounding country are destitute of trees, and bold hills of metamorphic sandstone frequently jut out into the valley, and terh Towards the evening the river had been co frorees 27the forenoon the river beca a succession of rapids, over a bare, rocky channel; but after the noon halt the strearassy flats on either side, inMelaleuca leucodendron, with tall, straight ste Eucalyptus piperita White sandstone and shales began to make their appearance on the banks, and the water in the river had a saline taste Several of the horses began to show signs of beingfast in the th to extricate the relieved of their loads Ducks were plentiful, and tolerably tarees 33 rees 2 minutes by account

SANDSTONE CLIFFS

5th June

Having um-tree with NAE and the date, we made a start up the river, but at about a mile found the valley narrow in until the channel of the river, which was here full of water, alled in on both banks by perpendicular cliffs, froht's cali for many miles parallel to the river and about ten miles to the southward, which rendered it probable that soe would now be found in the character of the back country, enabling us to travel without being so frequently retarded by the rocks and bends of the river A suitable spot was accordingly selected for ascending out of the valley, which was accomplished with some difficulty, when the country was observed to be intersected for , however, to the south in a level plain, extending to the base of the range already referred to After four hours' heavy toiling, we at length reached the su been found in one of the rocky gullies by the way For the first half-round was stony and covered with stunted acacia, but it very quickly changed into a rich clayey loarasses,a round black seed the size of a pea, which we found scattered over nearly the whole surface of the plain for ether In the lower parts of the flat rainwater appeared to have re rass, which was replaced by atriplex bushes As we approached the foot of the range the ground becarass was still, however, to be found in the ravines leading out of the hills, and as our object was now to shape a course to the southward, we followed up one of the ht lead us through the range; ere, however, disappointed in finding that, after pushi+ng some distance up very steep and rocky passes, they all ter in parallel bands one above another to the height of 500 or 600 feet, and frequently extending without a break for ten or fifteen ued by the climb from the valley of the river, we encamped at 310 pm, within the hills, and without water Camp 12

FINE GRassY PLAIN FORTESCUE RIVER

6th June

A light drizzling rain cah to supply the horses, who raht in search of it that it was noon before they were all collected Quitting the range, which had been named after one of the e, we took a north-east course, crossing over twelve or fourteen aroo-grass reaching above the horses' backs; the soil being of the richest clay-loa ancient lava By 530 plen that had checked our course on the 5th The valley having again opened out, gave us easy access to its banks, which were here a rich black peat soil, containing nus Here was first observed a very handso to the height of forty feet and twenty inches diath

The river had again opened into deep reaches of water, and contained abundance of fish rese four and five pounds each The whole character of the country was evidently changing for the better; and as I have no doubt that at no distant period it will beco settlement, I named the river the Fortescue, after the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, under whose auspices the expedition took its origin, and the large expanse of fertile plain that lies between the river and the Hae, Chichester Downs

7th June

A quarter of a ht us to a fine tributary froe mill This had to be traced up for two miles before we could find a ford; it was found to take its rise in several deep pools, fed by springs issuing out of the plains crossed yesterday Sos were also observed to flow into the river froh a dense forest of s, etc At five ain presented a wide reach of water several th, after which it all at once broke up into nuu tobeen accidentally trodden upon by one of the horses, ere obliged to enca only rees 40 rees 17up the channel upon which we had encarassy plains, which we continued to traverse until noon, e struck on a well-defined streaht's ca abundant, we halted till 2, e resumed an easterly route to 530, over rather stony plains, yielding triodia Enca the horses up short to prevent their ra accomplished about twentythe day Carees 49 minutes 40 seconds