Part 18 (2/2)
About a mile further on, we found the barrel of water, and relieved our suffering horses, and thus benefited by the prudent exertions of Mr
Piesse Nothing, indeed, appeared to have escaped the anxious solicitude of that zealous officer to relieve our wants
I reached Cawndilla at 9 as of a water-hole, about six inches deep, it being all that reued to push on to the Darling, a further distance of seven miles, where Mr Piesse then was
The drays came up a little after noon; the cattle almost frantic from the want of water It ith difficulty the ed headlong into the creek and drank greedily of the putrid water that rest the letters I now received was one fro me, that supplies had been forwarded to the point I had specified, according to the request contained in estions had been acted upon, and that the Governor had availed hie of the party: thus satisfied that he was on the Darling, I sent Mr Browne and Mr Stuart in advance, to apprise him of our approach
On their arrival at his ca to et the unaffected joy he evinced at seeing ain He had maintained a friendly intercourse with the natives, and had acquitted himself in a manner, as creditable to himself, as it had been beneficial to me
Mr Piesse was the bearer of numerous letters from my family and friends, and I was in soence they conveyed: that my wife and children ell, and the colony was in themy absence, that stupendous mine had been discovered, which has yielded such profit to the owners--and the pastoral pursuits of the colonists were in an equally flourishi+ng condition Mr Browne, too, received equally glad tidings from his brother, who informed him of his intention to meet the party on its way ho; and found a nust thehted at our return
Mr Piesse had constructed a large and cohs--which was much cooler than canvass In this we made ourselves coenerous supplies of eatables and drinkables than those to which we had been accustomed would conduce to our early restoration to health I could not but fancy that the berries Mr Browne had procured forto work beneficially--although I was still unable tostationary until after Christers with letters for the Governor, advising him of my safety, and to relieve the anxiety of ree to the Anabranch of the Darling, and send it on to Lake Victoria by other natives, ere to be rewarded for their trouble For this service our ers were to receive two blankets and two to closed they started off with it I had proposed to Mr Browne to be himself the bearer of it, but he would not leave ers, I gave them in advance the tomahawks they were to have received on their return Our tent was generally full of natives; so men, especially the two sons of the Boocolo Topar made his appearance two or three days after our arrival, but Toonda was absent on the Murray: the for a theft, I had him turned out of the tent and banished the camp The old Boocolo came daily to see us, and as invariably laid down on the lower part of my mattrass
On the 23rd I sent Mr Stuart to verify his fore, and Mr Browne kindly superintended the chaining of the distance between a tree I hadand Sir Thomas Mitchell's last camp This tree was about a quarter of a mile below the junction of the Williorara, and had cut on it, (G A E, Dec 24, 1843,) the distance between the two points was threeChristmas Day, I issued a double allowance to the men, and ordered that preparations should beAbout 2 pers, who insisted that they had taken the letter-bag to the point agreed upon, although it was an evident impossibility that they could have done so I therefore evinced ive thereatly importuned me Mr Browne, however, explained to the Boocolo why I refused, and charged the natives with having secreted it so consultation with the natives, which ter fro time in a corner of my hut; they then came forward and said, that my decision was perfectly just, for that the reed upon, but had left the bag of letters with a tribe on the Darling, and therefore, that they had been fully rewarded by the present of the tomahawks This decided opinion settled the dispute at once, and the parties quietly acquiesced
I had, as stated, been obliged to turn Topar out of my tent, and expel him the camp for theft, but at the same time Mr Browne explained to the natives why I did so, and told theressed, and they appeared fully to concur in the justice of my conduct There is no doubt indeed but that they punish each other for sih perhaps the moral turpitude of the action is not understood by the at this time had ceased to flow, and formed a chain of ponds
The Williorara was quite dry frooons and creeks in the neighbourhood The natives having cleared the river of the fish that had been brought down by the floods, now subsisted for the most part on herbs and roots of various kinds, and on the caterpillar of the guround with their switches, having a hook at the end I do not think they could procure ani no ducks or kangaroos in the neighbourhood, in any great quantity at all events
I thus early began to feel the benefit of a change of diet in the direat hopes that I should yet be able to ride into Adelaide The ues, but both Mr Browne and Mr Stuart continued to co pains in their li sufficiently recruited to enable us to resuress homewards, we broke up our camp at the junction of the Williorara on the 26th of the month as I had proposed, under more favourable circu beautifully fine and the temperature pleasant When I was carried out of my tent to the cart, I was surprised to see the verdure of that very ground against the barrenness of which I had had to declai year; I rass, and looking the very reverse of what they had done before; so hazardous is it to give an opinion of such a country froetation ht forth by flood or heavy rains
We passed two tribes of natives, e staid for a short tist these natives we did not notice the same disproportion in the sexes as in the interior, but not only ast these tribes but with those of Williorara and Cawndilla, we observed that many had lost an eye by inflammation from the attacks of flies I was really surprised that any of them could see, forthan those brutes are in every part of the interior
On the 27th we passed two of our old encampments, and halted after a journey of 16 miles in the close vicinity of a tribe of natives, about fifty in number, the reat thieves too, but we reduced the had less water than in the previous year before the flood, but its flats were covered with grass, of which hundreds of tons an to improve in condition
About this tily oppressive, and heavy thunder-clouds hung about, but no rain fell
Our journey on the 28th was comparatively short We passed the location of another tribe during the day, and recovered our letter-bag, which had been left by ourto it Here the old Boocolo left us and returned to Williorara
The last days of 1845 and the few first of 1846 were exceedingly oppressive, and the heat was alreat as in the interior itself
On the 5th of January we crossed over fro to its ancient channel, and on the 6th Mr Browne left for Adelaide On the 8th I reached Lake Victoria, where I learnt that our old friend Nadbuck had been speared by a native, whose jealousy he had excited, but that his wound was not mortal He was sonal fire in the hope that he would have seen it, and, had they not been spoiled, I should have thrown up a rocket at night However Nadbuck heard of our return, and et to us, and tears chased each other down the old ain assuredly these poor people of the desert have the s; for not only was his reception of us such as I have described, but the natives one and all exhibited the utmost joy at our safety, and cheered us on every part of the river
It blew very heavily on the night of the 10th, but , and the day turned out cooler than usual The lagoons of the Murray were full of fish and wild fowl, and ht back enabled my sable friends to capture an abundance of the for into the water, and they very soon appreciated the value of such instrue of the party, and pushed on to Moorundi, and arrived at the settle loud shouts, on the 15th Here my kind friends land on leave of absence, and Mr Nation was filling his appointment as Resident
On the 17th I mounted my horse for the first time since I had been taken ill in Noveood friends Mr Charles Cae to convey ht on the 19th of January, and, on crossing its threshold, raised my wife froe of my considerate friends roll rapidly away
CHAPTER IV
REMARKS ON THE SEASON--DRY STATE OF THE ATMOSPHERE--THERMOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS--WINDS IN THE INTERIOR--DIRECTION OF THE RANGES--GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS--NON-EXISTENCE OF ANY CENTRAL CHAIN--PROBABLE COURSE OF THE STONY DESERT--WHETHER CONNECTED WITH LAKE TORRENS--OPINIONS OF CAPTAIN FLINDERS--NO INFORMATION DERIVED FROM THE NATIVES--THE NATIVES--THEIR PERSONAL APPEARANCE--DISPROPORTION BETWEEN THE sexES--THE WOMEN--CUSTOMS OF THE NATIVES--THEIR HABITATIONS--FOOD--LANGUAGE--CONCLUSION