Part 28 (2/2)
On the 9th and 10th October we had all scrubs; on the 11th, towards evening, we had soain hemmed in by salt lakes To save several , we atteh not very broad, was exceedingly long to the north and south, and lay right across our track Unfortunately a nu ca, 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 ca 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--sohed more--on our backs, when nearly up to our necks in the briny round However, ereno loss with the cainable Leaving the bog, we started up the shore of the lake, northerly, where we found so only twenty-fourto eat for three nights previously We saw some natives' smoke three or four es near it, I intend to send so to look for water
We had still soy 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 soranite rises; these had some bare rocks exposed here and there, but no indentations for holding water could be seen At fifteen or sixteen es, and entered scrubs andremained behind with their camels, and reported that they had found one sallons 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 sao or three dozen grass-trees to-day, also soain in scrubs where there was only a few leguminous bushes for the caht ht The last three days had been warrees 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 enerally where the yellow-barked eucalypts grew, and we passed nuht lodge for some time after a shower, but it was evident froetation that no rains could have visited the region for a year, or itseemed dry, sere, or dead On the 13th of October, at twelve ranite 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 the 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 ent over to the spot, while the party continuedwe found a very pretty piece of scenery Several hundred acres of bare rocks, with grassy flats sloping down fro little watercourses or flat water-channels; there were great numbers of crows, many fresh natives' tracks, and the s scrub Toround, while I searched the rocks He soon found a srassy water-channel, and called out tohiht, but I thought a supply ot with a shovel, and I decided to send hi the party back, for we had co, 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 ood hunt until either I found it or the party came I watched Toot a chance of riding Screechy he was in his glory, and as she was behind the o at the rate of twenty allop; butthe grassy water-channel, apparently in an instant, doent 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 ith a good body of water in it, evidently pere of the reatly pleased at Toood 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 uels, native black and fallen angels, and their sht they must have seen me on the top of the rocks, and desired toparty, however, turned out to be only to for water to the well They had vessels, usually called coolah sometimes made of bark, and are shaped likewater to their encah to see what I was, they ran away a short distance, then stopped, turned round, and looked atquite uncommon; a man ns for them to come to the well, but they dropped their bark coolas, and found theinal, construction They were made of small sheets of the yellow-tree bark, tied up at the ends with bark-string, thus forrass or leaves are put on top of the water to prevent it slopping over The woh to distinguish whether the women were beautiful or not; all I couldand fatter than the other Areat 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 ht line, ere only 180 miles from it
Almost immediately upon the arrival of the caravan, a nu 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 fellohat 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 as as full as ever, and with much purer water than foruether a rassy 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 re ht nativescut up a red handkerchief into as al brows, and they see three or four e piece of pearl oyster-shell depending fro round his neck, another had a queer orna 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 di most heartily He had a very theatrical air, and the extraordinary mouthpiece made hi this orna, 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 ain as usual
They seeave the, before we arrived here, Tos, 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 the to the that we should hand the eggs over to theht they went away; their camp could not be far off, as we continually heard the sounds of voices and could see their ca the h there was no dew to freeze, to us it appeared to be 100 degrees below zero The only anis, and homo sapiens Lowans and other desert birds and -places
Our sable friends caht a few more e had not previously seen; also two somewhat old and faded frail, if not fair, ones; soon after a little boy ca 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 feords 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 thatthere with nothing to eat in the ca 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 batchhad a small piece of coarse cloth on; another had a piece of horse's girth webbing On questioning theabout soiven on enerally 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 laa 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 i was more swollen after than before the extraction of the wood, but I hoped a day or tould put her right
Yesterday, the 15th of October, Mr Young et the na, with the accent on the second syllable It is a great relief to et it, as it savesonly one name by which to call the place fro, 16th, our usual visitors arrived; two are o ith us e 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 h I were her father She is a , but we can't understand a word she says She evidently takes a great interest in everything she sees at the calass, though the men always did
While ere at dinner to-day a sudden whirl-wind sprang up and sent a lot ofso wildly into the air, that I was in great consternation lest I should lose several sheets of ination 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 thescenery ae and pure water for our alhtful oasis in the desert to the weary traveller! The elder aboriginals, though the words of their mouths were smoother than butter, yet as 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 s 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 content near, but nevertheless, outside this peaceful scene amade by an ar 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 unarns to the two quiet and inoffensive ones that were in the carand and iuided 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 firearlance this force was nificent; they looked like what I should ied in battle line The men were closely packed in serried ranks, and it was evident they foranised force Immediate action becaht 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 iave the coe 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 toony 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 coion'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 ju, and though we could not get a word of English out of hi 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 froage 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 ofin such close quarters tomy rifle with one hand, while I endeavoured to free myself with the other, I could not point thehis head with the butt end of the weapon withround o suddenly, and slipped instantly behind one of the thick acacia bushes, and got away, just as the ar All this did not occupy many seconds of time, and I believetheir wounded, disappeared behind the trees and bushes beyond the bare rock where the battle was fought, and froed This was the best organised and inal force I ever saw They ested their plan of attack, and sent not only quiet and inoffensive spies into the cairl also, to lull any suspicions of their evil intentions we irl sat down by e, and as she waresticulated and i spears, pointed towards the natives' caround close to ht of the tribe As, however, I did not understand a word she said, I did not catch her , and she nearly covered ht her a bit of a juvenile bore
After the engagereat number of spears and other weapons, where the hostile arht, 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,spy, who had kept quiet all through the fray He seeo about together; shethe conflict, this little creature became almost frantic with excitement, and ran off to each man as about to fire, especially Nicholls, the cook, ho her s about like a croith a shi+rt on While the fight was in progress, in the forgetfulness of his excitation, an to speak apparently quite fluently in their language to the two spies, keeping up a running conversation with the of Talleyrand, ”Language was only given to hly understood by ly innocent and youthful Fowler's Bay native When I taxed him with his extraordinary conduct, he told o with them to their camp, but his natural timidity had deterred him and saved his life; for they would certainly have killed hione After the attack, Toh we did not recollect that he had done so The spy who had fastened on to ot away in an opposite direction to that taken by the defeated arirl remained some little tih we beca 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 lu, at earliest dawn, the screarated 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, h nothing disagreeable had occurred to onist did not reappear--he probably had a headache which kept hiirl a shi+rt when she first caiven her protector an old coat, which was rather an elongated affair; on their arrival this irl appeared in the coat, trailing two feet on the ground, and the h
I gave them some breakfast and they went away, but returned very punctually to dinner Then I deterer near us, so ordered them off, and they departed, apparently very reluctantly I felt very h no doubt they still continued watching us,the to plant various seeds round this well No doubt there hbourhood, as none of the natives have used our well since we ca 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, ast 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 orshi+p Nature, or the God of Nature, in our oay; 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 teiven; Its laht stars of heaven
Its walls are the cerulean sky, Its floor the earth so green and fair; Its dome is vast immensity: All nature worshi+ps there”
We, of a surety, have none of the grander features of Nature to adhty Pohich ses yet untrod, has left traces of its handywork here Even the great desert in which we have so long been buriedmind 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 enorions in which they exist are of so utterly worthless a kind, that it sees should never re-enter here And then our thoughts must naturally wander to the forhty shi+ps 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 adhts are uplifted in reverence and worshi+p to the Designer and Creator of such things, adapted, no doubt, by a wise selection fro fore that such instrus 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 civilisedwilderness, this country vast and desert idle, places scooped out of the solid rock, and the hty 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 ainst theeance must it have been proclaimed, by the sweat of their brows must they obtain their bread
No doubt it ith the intention of obtaining ours, thus reaping the harvest of unfurrowed fields, that these natives were induced to make somore 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”