Part 13 (1/2)
I felt satisfied on mature reflection that if the country continued to any distance either to the northward or ard, such as we had found it on our recent journey, it would be highly i aside the al the drays over the heavy sand ridges by which our route would be intersected, little or no surface water now re as dry and parched as it had been before the fall of rain I deterain struck the tents to examine the country to the north-west, and not incautiously to hazard the safety of the party by leading it into a region froht find it difficult to retreat As soon therefore as I had run up the charts, I prepared for this journey Our position at the new Depot was in latitude 29 degrees 6 rees 5 minutes 8 seconds, it therefore appeared to rees to the west of north, I should gain the 138th meridian about the centre of the continent, and at the same time cross into the Tropics at the desired point, and I felt certain that if there were any es of hills to the ard of le of the continent I should be sure to discover the for this important journey, on which it was evident the success of the expedition would depend, I took e of the camp to Mr Stuart--I had established it on a small sandy rise, whereon we found five or six native huts This spot was at the northern extremity of the Park, but a little advanced into it Immediately in front of the tents there was a broad sheet of water shaded by gum-trees, and the low land between this and the sand hills was also chequered with therassy field or plain stood full in view, and theon it, but I directed Mr
Stuart never to peruard, and to have thehtly in the stockyard In order to provide for the further security of the camp, I marked out the lines, for the erection of a stockade, wherein I directed Mr Stuart to pitch one of the bell tents In this tent I instructed him to deposit the ar point in the event of any attack by the natives, in which case I told him his first step would be to secure the sheep I desired that the stockade ht be commenced as soon as I left, and that it should be built of palisades 4 1/2 feet above the ground, and arranged close together In such a fortification I considered that the men would be perfectly safe, and as the stockyard was in a short range of the carbines I felt the cattle would be sufficiently protected
I selected Flood, Lewis, and Joseph to accompany me, and took 15 weeks provisions This supply required all the horses but one, for although they had so long a rest at the old Depot they were far fro, since for the last three months they had lived on salsolaceous herbs, or on the shoots of shrubs, so that although apparently in good condition they had no work in thean were to prepare and paint the boat in the event of her being required
CHAPTER VIII
LEAVE THE DEPOT FOR THE NORTH-WEST--SCARCITY OF WATER--FOSSIL LIMESTONE--ARRIVE AT THE FIRST CREEK--EXTENSIVE PLAINS--SUCCESSION OF CREEKS--FLOODED CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY--POND WITH FISH--STERILE COUNTRY--GRassY PLAINS--INTREPID NATIVE--COUNTRY APPARENTLY IMPROVES--DISAPPOINTMENTS--WATER FOUND--APPEARANCE OF THE STONY DESERT--NIGHT THEREON--THE EARTHY PLAIN--HILLS RAISED BY REFRACTION--RECOMMENCEMENT OF THE SAND RIDGES--THEIR UNDEVIATING REGULARITY--CONJECTURES AS TO THE DESERT--RELATIVE POSITION OF LAKE TORRENS--CONCLUDING REMARKS
On theof the 14th Mr Browne and I mounted our horses, and left the ca the grassy plain in a NW direction, soon found ourselves amidst sand hills and scrub
As I have stated I had deterrees to the west of north, or in other words a north-west course, but the reader will readily believe that in such a country I had no distant object on which to rely We were therefore obliged to take fresh bearings with great precision from als, together with our latitude, we had to depend for our true position We were indeed like a shi+p at sea, without the advantage of a steady cohout the whole day of our departure from the camp we traversed a better country than that between it and Lake Torrens, insoes and flats succeeded each other, but the former were not so broken and precipitous or the latter so barren, as on our line to the ard, and about four ht At five miles we observed a new melaleuca, similar to the one I had re on the skirts of the flats, but the shrubs for the eues were srass was springing up on them At nine miles we crossed some stony plains, and halted after a ride of 26and bitterly cold wind blew fro in no enerally covered the sand ridges, which looked like ocean swells rising before us, and ht
At six miles we ca this we dug a hole and let the reer continuance, and halted after a long journey in a valley in which there was a kind of watercourse with plenty of water, our latitude being 28 degrees 21 minutes 39 seconds Before we left this place we cut a deep square hole, into which as before we drained the water, that by diht prevent the too speedy evaporation of it, in case of our being forced back from the want of water in the interior, since that ele e in the character of the country generally as we rode through it, but observed that it was ht, in which direction we passed several extensive plains There were heaps of small pebbles also of ironstone and quartz on some of the flats we crossed We halted at the foot of a sand hill, where there was a good deal of grass, after a vain search for water, of which we did not see a drop during the day The night of the 17th, like the preceding one, was bitterly cold, with the wind at SW During the early part of this day we passed over high ridges of sand, thickly covered with spinifex, and a new polygonureater extent than usual, and of ain fell off in quality and appearance, although on the whole the tract we had crossed on our present journey was certainly better than that we traversed in going to Lake Torrens We halted rather earlier than usual, at a creek containing a long pond of water between two and three feet deep The ground near it was barren, if I except the polygonu near it The horses however found a sufficiency to eat, and ere prevented the necessity of digging at this point, in consequence of the depth of the water We observed soround in several places as we rode along, and the flats were on many parts covered with small rounded nodules of li strewed over the fossil cliffs of the Murray It appeared to e was to the south, but it was exceedingly difficult in so level and ion to form a satisfactory opinion We saw several emus in the course of the day, and a solitary crow, but scarcely any other of the feathered tribe There was an universal sa on the sand hills and superseding the acacia
On the 18th thewas very cold, with the wind at cast, and a cloudy sky We started at eight; and after crossing three very high sand ridges, descended into a plain of about threeon either hand to the north and south for many miles At the further extre, or rather stretching, right across our course; but as they were thicker to the SW
than at the point towards which ere riding, I sent Flood to examine the plain in that direction In theat the trees, found that they were growing in the broad bed of a creek, and were overhanging a beautiful sheet of water, such as we had not seen for ether too important a feature to pass without further examination; I therefore crossed, and halted on its west bank, and as soon as Flood returned, (who had not seen any water,) but had ascertained that just below the trees, the creek spreads over the plain, I sent him with Mr Browne to trace it up northward, the fall of the country apparently being from that point
In the rass than they had had for some time On the opposite side of the creek, and somewhat above us, there were two huts, and the claws of crayfish were scattered about near the on the water, either unconscious of or indifferent to our presence This fine sheet of water was , but, as far as we could judge, it was shallow
Mr Browne returned totraced the creek upwards until he lost its channel, as Flood had done on a large plain, that extended northwards to the horizon He observed the country was very open in that direction, and had passed another pond of water, deeper but not so large as that at which we had stopped, and surprised an old native in his hut with two of his wives, from whom he learnt that there were both hills and fish to the north
Whilst Mr Broay, I debated within myself whether or not to turn fro to trace this creek up
The surface water was so very scarce, that I doubted the possibility of our getting on; but was reluctant to deviate from the line on which I had deterains anything in so doing From Mr Browne's account of the creek, its character appeared to be doubtful, so that I no longer hesitated on my onward course; but we remained stationary for the re of this day was beautifully fine, and during it eons came to the water Of the latter we shot several, but they were very wild and wary There was on the opposite side of the creek a long grassy flat, with box-trees growing on it, together with a new Bauhinia, whichhere for the first tirassy flat there were a number of the water-hens we had noticed on the little fresh-water creek near Lake Torrens These birds were running about like fowls all over the grass, but although they had been so taardens and to run about the streets of Adelaide, they were noild enough
Mr Browne reeneral custoards that sex, deficient in the two front teeth of the upper jaw, but that the teeth of the ured I was anxious to have seen these natives, and, as their hut was not very far from us, alked to it in the cool of the afternoon, but they had left, and apparently gone to the NE; we found sost the embers of sorees 3 minutes S, at a distance of 86of the 20th at an early hour, and after crossing that portion of the plain lying to the ard, ascended a small conical sand hill, that rose above the otherwise level sue From this little sand hill we had our anticipations confirmed as to the low nature of the country to the north as a her point to the ard, ent to, and found that the view extended to a reater distance from it The country was very depressed, both to the north and northwest The plains had aloons, since it was evident they were sometimes inundated, from the water mark on the sand hills, by which they were partly separated froe plain of about eight miles in breadth; but immediately at the foot of the hill, which was very abrupt (being the tere of which it was the northern extreonum flat We there saw a beautiful parrot, but could not procure it The plain we next rode across was evidently subject to floods in many parts; the soil was a rass here and there upon it, and box-trees stunted in their groere scattered very sparingly round about; but the country was otherwise denuded of tie bare patches on the plains, that had been full of water not long before, but too shallow to have lasted long, and were now dry We found several small pools, however, and halted at one, after a journey of 17of the 20th was exceedingly calm, with the wind from the west, but it had been previously from the opposite point The channel of the creek was broad, and we traced it to some distance on either hand, but it contained no water, excepting that at which we stopped; but at about two uht of our course, where we halted on our return
The Bauhinia here grew to the height of 16 to 20 feet, and was a very pretty tree; the ends of its branches were covered with seed-pods, both of this and the year before: it was a flat vessel, containing four or six flat hard beans I regretted, at this early stage of our journey, that the horses were not up to h ere very considerate with them, but the truth is, that they had for about two or three etables, in which there was no strength, they nevertheless looked in good condition They had becoly tractable, and never wandered far from our fires; Flood, however, watched theone far Since the three days' rain in July, the sky was but little clouded, butobserved, that from whatever quarter the wind blew, a bank of clouds would rise in the opposite direction--if from the east, in the west, and vice versa--but these clouds invariably ca in an upper current
On the 20th we commenced our journey early, that is to say, at 6 am; the sky was clear, the temperature mild, and the wind in the SE
quarter We crossed plains of still greater extent than any we had hitherto seen; their soil was sietation seemed to suffer from their liability to inundation The only trees now to be seen were a few box-trees along their skirts, and on the line of the creeks, which last were a perfectly new feature in the country, and surprised reatly The tract we passed over on this day was certainly onu rents and fissures in them, succeeded those I have already described At ten miles we intersected a creek of considerable size, but without any water; just belohere we crossed its channel it spreads over a large flat and is lost Proceeding onwards, at a mile and a half, we ascended a line of sand hills, and froround than that on which we had previously travelled At six rassy bed, on the banks of which we halted, at a small and er than usual and beautifully u to the NW There were many huts both above and below our bivouac, and well-trodden paths frole of the creek to the other All around us, indeed, there were traces of natives, nor can there be any doubt, but that at one season of the year or other, it is frequented by theuous elevation our view extended over an apparently interminable plain in the line of our course That of the creek was uain have halted on it on the 21st, but we did not, for shortly after we started it turned suddenly to the west, and ere obliged to leave it, and crossed successive plains of a description sietation upon the froe but shallow pool of water About a mile to the ard of this channel we ascended some hills, in the composition of which there was rassy plain of about three and a half miles in breadth At the farther extremity we crossed a line of sand hills, and at a round, and u plain, on our old bearing of 55 degrees to the west of north There we intersected another creek with two pools of water in it, and as there was also a sufficiency of grass we halted on its banks
The singular and rapid succession of these watercourses exceedingly perplexed h lands, and consequently in one not likely to give birth to such features, yet their existence was a most fortunate circumstance for us There can be no doubt but that the rain, which enabled us to break up the old Depot and resume our operations, had extended thus far, but all the surface water had dried up, and if we had not found these creeks our progress into the interior would have been checked In considering their probable origin, it struck ht have been formed by the rush of floods from the extensive plains we had lately crossed The whole country indeed over which we had passed from the first creek, ithout doubt very low, and must sometimes be almost entirely under water, but what, it may be asked, causes such inundation? Such indeed was the question I asked myself, but I must say I could arrive at no satisfactory conclusion
That these regions are subject to heavy rains I had not the slightest doubt, but could the effect of heavy rains have produced these creeks, short and uncertain in their course, rising apparently in one plain, to spread over and terone more to the ard in our course than we did, it is probable we should never have known of the existence of any of them I was truly thankful that we had thus fallen upon the how an to hope that we should find them a permanent feature in the country