Part 15 (1/2)

”With hallowed lips and holy fire, Rejoice their hyue 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 round, 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 e 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 n to the matter of my travels, and does not ease , the 10th, I orse, and it was agony to have to rise, let alone to ride We reached the Lightning Rock at three prees The water was all but gone froing I was too ill to do anything A nu on this rock, and while Gibson was using the shovel, Mr Tietkens went to get soood It was s, 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 ain to---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 rees By the next day, 12th, the horses had considerably reduced the water, and by to-one This basin would be of some size were it cleaned out; we could not tell what depth it was, as it is now ales Its shape is elliptical, and is thirty feet long by fifteen broad, its sides being eveninwards--and the horses could only water by ju 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 hio back for hione ht Gibson was taken ill just as I had been; therefore poor Toby was never recovered We have still one little dog of ht in Adelaide, of the salish 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 howbooks yet It was very late e reached our old bough gunyah ca up farther, but, being behind, Mr Tietkens and Jian to unload, and some of the horses were hobbled out when I arrived; Gibson was still behind

For the second tie; shall I ever get away frorees in the shade

NextI 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 thelen When we arrived, there was plenty of water runningthe creek channel, and there were several nice ponds full, but e brought the second lot to the place an hour and a half afterwards, the stream had ceased to flow, and the nice ponds just ered e cease so suddenly The day was very hot, 110 degrees, e returned to caht of the water having so quickly disappeared, and I ondering 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 frorees of shade, afforded by the bough gunyah which Gibson had for when a most pronounced shock of earthquake occurred, the volcanic wave, which caused a sound like thunder, passing along frounyah so violently as towas the len to the east of us great concussions, and the sounds of s rocks hurled frolen 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 reat state of anxiety about the water supply, and Tietkens and I walked first after the horses, and then took thelen, where I was enchanted to behold the streae, and as fine as e first saw theular circumstance, and concluded that the earthquake had shaken the foundations of the hills, and thus forced the water up; but frolad to see it To-day was much cooler than yesterday At three pm 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 ca rocks came from over the hills to the north-east of us

Gibson was better on the 17th, and we len where the surface water existed We pitched our encaround, where there was a fine little pool of water in the creek bed, partly for a reeable little basin for a bath

The day was colen here is alreat quantities of wood away so as to approach the water easily The tea-tree is the only ti seven or eight inches through, but reen wood appears to burn al daain to-day we had our usual shock of earthquake and at the usual ti hills, broken and toppling rocks, with scared and agitated rock wallabies This seeerous 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 arden and other seeds I have now discovered that towards afternoon, when the heat is greatest the floater ceases in the creek daily; but at night, during thehours and up to abouton 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 round 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 sorassy country which, as Iso excellent here, the horses got so fresh, we had to build a yard with the tea-tree timber to run them in anted to catch any I still hope rain will fall, and lodge at Elder's Creek, a hundred ain Nearly every day the sky is overcast, and rain threatens to fall, especially towards the north, where a nues lie Mr Tietkens and I prepared to start northerly to-ot 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 soot none

The country passed over to-day was mostly red sandhills, recently burnt, and on that account free frorees east We next steered away for a dark-looking, bluff-ending hill, nearly north-north-east Before arriving at it we searched a a lot of pine-clad hills for water without effect, reaching the hill in twenty-twoour horses, we ascended the hill; frolasses, that to the north and round easterly and westerly a nues lay at a very considerable distance The nearest, which lay north, was evidently sixty or seventy th, but were not sufficiently raised above the ocean of scrubs, which occupied the intervening spaces, and rose into high and higher undulations, to allow ard 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, theand faintly waving apparently skywards in their vague and distantdesire in both of us to be off and reach them; but there were one or two preli 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 ain there h they were at least sixty ht easily reach them If, however, no water were found, they and perhaps we could never return

My reader ion with the sareatest 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 coht; and another hideous vegetation, which I call sage-bush, obstructs even ain, the ground being hot enough to burn the soles off one's boots, with the therrees in the sun, and the choking froh to ets 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 brokenthem 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 fro hill, and others with pines orna all day, and the horses doing forty-six ht the therrees 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 ain for the third night without water We were, however, nearing the depot again, and reached it, in sixteen h ere to have plenty of water to drink, a bath, and change of clothes

CHAPTER 26 FROM 23RD DECEMBER, 1873 TO 16TH JANUARY, 1874

Primitive laundry

Natives troublesome in our absence

The ives

Gibson's estiht 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