Part 33 (1/2)
A rocky cleft
Sandhills in sight
Enter the desert
The solitary caravan
Severe ridges of sand
Caht
In doubt, and resolved
Water by digging
More caion
Variable weather
Thick ice
A deadly Upas-tree
Though the camels returned early from where the water was found, soround on the banks of the creek, and as there were good bushes here also, we reht set in very close and oppressive, and a slight rain fell On theof May the 8th there was soround liable to be flooded, I decided to be off at once to soround, which we reached in about twothe ti, the rain caot 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 ophthalstone remarks in one of his works that, in Africa, attacks of ophthalhout the re, in fitful pauses, falling far, but faint and fine” By the nextit had flooded the sht trickling down the channel of the larger creek
The following day indy and cloudy, but no ether We res The position of the caitude 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 so up close to the creek, turned its course up to the north, and in two or three len, which had now a rushi+ng torrent roaring through its centre Here no doubt soreat quantities of mussel shells at deserted native calen, in which were quantities of good-sized fish The calen, 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 rushi+ng over the rocky bottolen, was music sweet, and sound melodious, to ears like ours, so unaccusto 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 strealittered in the sunlight, the slow andcaravan, as it wound so snake-like along the top of the precipitous wall, coranite of which it is composed, formed a picture fra to the traveller to remember, and a pleasure also to describe I have na 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 ere round not a hundred yards below us Ca down places of this kind, with loads on; but they have so many other splendid qualities, that I cannot censure the like cats or len it could be seen that this creek ran into a er 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 , I found the channel very broad and sandy-bedded, with fine vigorous eucalyptus ti 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 floas to the west Only a s down its bed, caused no doubt by the late rains The valley dohich 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 fro its banks In the ie 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 tiress up this river--I use the term in its Australian sense, for at this portion the Ashburton ht strea its bed The banks are low, the bed is broad We had to travel round 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 sht, 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 croas 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 cae 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 co from the east and north-east On the e 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 ood 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 carees 6' 8”, and longitude 119 degrees At this time I had a second attack of ophthal, 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 soht extend for a distance eastwards We took four ca the same animals which Alec and I took e found the Boundary Da the depot, ent up the most easterly of the creeks that came in at the Grand Junction In its channel I saw so--the Sonchus oleraceus I havemy explorations The trend of the creek was nearly frou confined by hills, ere 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 Thereanother large snake, but not of such dimensions as Nicholls's victilen ceased, and the creek ran through a country more open on the north bank We ca the dayso, 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 soht miles, and at twenty-one we enca day the country was almost identical in its nature, only that we found a s still the saony; I had no lotion to apply to theth 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 hted a range of soe having rounded, dome-like masses about it, and this lay across our path Alec ascended one of the hills, and infores in every direction but the east To the north they extended a great distance, but they rose into the highest points at two reh 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 reenerous 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 e 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 froet such information, as I had hoped to discover soht carry me some distance farther eastward; but noas evident they did not exist I called this range, whose ale, in consequence of htful 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 gloo for only a few ion By careful estimate it was quite fair to assume that we had passed the Tropic of Capricorn by sorees 15', and longitude about 119 degrees 37' I was in such pain that I ordered an instant retreat, et 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 reround 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 fewtracks, 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 fros that supplied the spot; the s 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 s rocks, a-tree, Ficus platypoda, was conspicuous It must have been a very pretty place I could hear the water rushi+ng and splashi+ng, 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, asentered 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 ent the deeper the water became Could any one have seen us we ot nearly up to their huo 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 thereeable for a blind man to slip off a ca up his eyelids with both hands, try to see as 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 beca in water deep enough for her to swiht 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 sain:--
”And now to issue frolen, No pathwaynice, 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 ith 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 Ca thing, other than flies, been seen, while ere 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 seeing, but it is certainly not always visible on the surface Once or twice before reaching the depot,one or two places with dried-up bulrushes growing in the bed, and water may have existed there in the sand In consequence ofso bad, we remained here for the next two days The heat and the flies were dreadful; and the therrees the next, in the shade It was iet a moment's peace or rest fro 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 see to die, rather than desist a moment froht, as ophthalh to set any one deranged
Every little sore or wound on the hands or face was covered by thes, they preferred walking to flying; one rierin 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, ere 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 vieas to be obtained frohbourhood, and an area of nearly 100 square ht 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 soh a low pass, which hems it in for some distance Two or three tributaries joined, and above them its bed had becohteen miles fros, which fell into a fine rock reservoir, and in this,themselves in their pure and pellucid pond Several of the fishes were over a foot long The water was ten or rew in the river-bed here; indeed, our progress was completely stopped by it, and we had to cut down tie for the ca 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 pers 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 so The only views from any of the hills near the river displayed an al scene; low hills near the banks of the river, and soround The river had always been in a confined valley from the time we first struck it, and it was nowof the 28th of May we had a frost for the first tirees To-day we crossed several more tributaries,the river split in two, at least here occurred the junction of two creeks of almost equal size, and it was difficult to detero any farther south, therefore I took the more northerly one; its trend, as our course for soood 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 beco, 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 frou now run the Ashburton up to its head, I could scarcely expect to find anyGibson'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 betas, no hureatly disappointed to find that the Ashburton River did not exist for a greater distance eastwards than this, as when I first struck it, it seeh it would carry me to the eastwards for hundreds of hty or a trifleof the past Itlike 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 forradually lower as we approach its tere 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 ht line from where the Ashburton debouches into the sea My ca of the 29th of May, a little ard of the bluff-faced hill before itude 119 degrees 58' We re the 30th The horizon to the east was fores; from themthat 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 es ran all round the eastern horizon, and another bluff-faced hill lay at the south-west end of theion had a most barren and wretched appearance, and there was little or no vegetation of any kind that the ca 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 e leave this ca of the 31st of May was again cold, the therrees, and we had a sharp frost I was truly delighted to welcoe, 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 severala dry water-channel, which, however, had soood carees 28', being still aes, where no definite view could be obtained On June the 1st we travelled nearly east-north-east towards another low ridge The ground becaht we had entered the desert in good earnest; but at about six rass, beingon a short distance we came upon a dry water-channel, at which we found a deep native ith bitter water in it We enca rees
We had not yet reached the low ridge, but arrived at it in two e bore 23 degrees north of east, and I decided to travel thither