Volume II Part 23 (1/2)

July 9.

By continuing the same line of route we crossed several minor rivulets, all flowing through open gra.s.sy vales bounded by finely undulating hills.

At about three miles we came to a deep chain of ponds, the banks being steep and covered with gra.s.s. Keeping a tributary to that channel on our left, we pa.s.sed some low hills of quartz; and a little beyond them we crossed poor hills of the same rock bearing an open box-forest.

THE WOODS.

After travelling through a little scrub we descended on one of the most beautiful spots I ever saw: The turf, the woods, and the banks of the little stream which murmured through the vale had so much the appearance of a well kept park that I felt loth to injure its surface by the pa.s.sage of our cartwheels. Proceeding for a mile and a half along the rivulet and through a valley wholly of the same description, we at length encamped on a flat of rich earth (nearly quite black) and where the anthisteria grew in greater luxuriance than I had ever before witnessed in Australian gra.s.ses. The earth indeed seemed to surpa.s.s in richness any that I had seen in New South Wales; and I was even tempted to bring away a specimen of it. Our dogs killed three kangaroos, and this good fortune was most timely as I had that very morning thought it advisable to reduce the allowance of rations.

July 10.

Tracing upwards the rivulet of the vale we left this morning we pa.s.sed over much excellent gra.s.sy land watered by it, the channel containing some very deep ponds surrounded by the white-barked eucalyptus.

CROSS A RANGE.

A hill on its bank consisted of a conglomerate in which the ferruginous matter predominated over the embedded fragments of quartz. The ground beyond was hilly, and we at length ascended a ridge, apparently an extremity of a higher range. On these hills grew the varieties of eucalypti known in the colony, such as ironbark, bluegum, and stringybark. The lower grounds were so wet and soft, and the watercourses in them so numerous, that I was desirous to follow a ridge as long as it would take us in the direction in which we were proceeding; and this range answered well for the purpose. Its crest consisted of ferruginous sandstone much inclined, the strike extending north-north-west. I found the opposite side much more precipitous, and that it overlooked a much lower country. In seeking a favourable line of descent for the carts, I climbed a still higher forest-hill on the left, which consisted chiefly of quartz-rock. I not only recognised from that hill some lofty points to the eastward, and obtained angles on them, but I also perceived very rugged summits of a range at a great distance in the south-west. Having selected among the various hills and dales before me that line of route which seemed the best and, having taken its bearing, I returned to conduct the carts by a pa.s.s along one side of that hill, having found it in a very practicable state for wheel-carriages. At three miles beyond the pa.s.s we crossed a deep creek running westward which I named the Avoca, and we encamped on an excellent piece of land beyond it.

KANGAROOS NUMEROUS.

This day we had even better fortune in our field sports than on the one before for, besides three kangaroos, we killed two emus, one of which was a female and esteemed a great prize, for I had discovered that the eggs found in the ovarium were a great luxury in the bush; and afforded us a light and palatable breakfast for several days.

July 11.

At the end of two miles on this day's journey we crossed a deep stream running westward. The height of its banks above the water was twelve feet, and they were covered with a rich sward. The land along the margins of the stream was as good as that we were now accustomed to see everywhere around us, so that it was no longer necessary to note the goodness or beauty of any place in particular. At four miles we pa.s.sed over a forest-hill composed of mica-slate and, after crossing another good valley at six miles, I saw before us, on gaining a low forest ridge, other gra.s.sy hills of still greater height, connected by a rock that cost us less trouble to ascend than I expected.

THE EARTH BECOMES SOFT AND IMPa.s.sABLE, EVEN ON THE SIDES OF HILLS.

It was in the valleys now that we met most difficulty, the earth having become so soft and wet that the carts could be got through some places only by the tedious process of dragging each successively with the united strength of several teams.

DISCOVER A n.o.bLE RANGE OF MOUNTAINS.

From a high forest-hill about a mile east of our route I first obtained a complete view of a n.o.ble range of mountains rising in the south to a stupendous height, and presenting as bold and picturesque an outline as ever painter imagined. The highest and most eastern summit was hid in the clouds although the evening was serene. It bore West of South 26 degrees 54 minutes; and the western extremity, which consisted of a remarkably round hill, bore 16 degrees 30 minutes South of West. Having descended from the range by an easy slope to the southward, we pa.s.sed through a beautiful valley in which we crossed, at a mile and a quarter from the hills, a fine stream flowing also westward; and in other respects similar to those we had already met. I named it Avon water and we encamped on its left bank.

CROSS ANOTHER STREAM.

July 12.

At two miles and a half from the spot where we had slept we crossed another stream flowing west-north-west which I named the Small-burn.

Beyond it the ground was good and gra.s.sy, but at this season very soft, so that the draught was most laborious for the cattle. At seven miles we crossed a wet flat with ponds of water standing on it, and beyond we entered on a clay soil altogether different from any hitherto pa.s.sed on this side the Yarrayne.

ANOTHER.

About eight miles from our camp we reached a fine running brook with gra.s.sy banks, its course being to the north-west. The bed consisted of red-sand and gravel, and the banks were about fourteen feet high, presenting fine swelling slopes covered with turf. On this stream, which I named the Dos casas, I halted, as it was doubtful whether some of the carts could be brought even so far before night, the ground having proved soft and rotten to such a degree, especially on the slopes of low hills, that in some cases the united strength of three teams had been scarcely sufficient to draw them through. It was night before the last cart arrived, and two bullocks had been left behind in an exhausted state.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.

July 13.

We had at length discovered a country ready for the immediate reception of civilised man; and destined perhaps to become eventually a portion of a great empire. Unenc.u.mbered by too much wood, it yet possessed enough for all purposes; its soil was exuberant and its climate temperate; it was bounded on three sides by the ocean; and it was traversed by mighty rivers, and watered by streams innumerable. Of this Eden I was the first European to explore its mountains and streams, to behold its scenery, to investigate its geological character and, by my survey, to develop those natural advantages certain to become, at no distant date, of vast importance to a new people. The lofty mountain range which I had seen on the 11th was now before us, but still distant between thirty and forty miles; and as the cattle required rest I determined on an excursion to its lofty eastern summit. Such a height was sure to command a view of the country between these mountains and the sea in the direction of Lady Julia Percy's Isles; and of that region between the range and those less connected forest-hills I had seen to the eastward.