Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume I Part 21

March 28.

The first part of our journey was through a fertile valley, about four miles in length, through which wound a rapid stream. It was clothed with the richest gra.s.s, abounded in kangaroos, and was marked at its southern extremity by a very remarkable precipitous hill. The heights to the westward were all composed of basalt, whilst those to the eastward were sandstone. On pa.s.sing the ridge of hills which bounded this valley to the south we entered on a sandstone district, although the hills to the westward were still basaltic.

NATURAL GRAPERY. GRAPE-LIKE FRUIT.

I here halted the party for breakfast by the side of a stream and, on casting my eyes upwards, I found that I was in a sort of natural grapery, for the tree under which I lay was covered with a plant which bears a sort of grape and I believe is a species of cissus.

We met altogether with three varieties of this plant, all of which were creepers but differing from each other in their habits and in the size of their fruit. Two of them generally ran along the ground or amongst low shrubs and the third climbed high trees; this latter kind bore the finest fruit, and it was a plant of this description which I today found. Its fruit in size, appearance, and flavour resembled a small black grape, but the stones were different, being larger, and shaped like a coffee berry.

All three produced their fruit in bunches, like the vine, and, the day being very sultry, I do not know that we could have fallen upon anything more acceptable than this fruit was to us.

FORD THE GLENELG. ANOTHER RIVER.

After breakfast we continued our route through a barren, sandy district, heavily timbered; and in the course of the afternoon met either the Glenelg or a very considerable branch of that stream in south lat.i.tude 15 degrees 56 minutes, east longitude 125 degrees 8 minutes: it was 250 yards across and formed a series of rapids at this point, where it emerged from a rocky gorge. Just above the rapids we found a good ford, the average depth of which was not more than three feet. After crossing, the banks on the other side were clothed with a species of Casuarina which I did not observe elsewhere. The country on that side of the stream was sandy and, as I found by the time we had proceeded two or three miles that we were getting embarra.s.sed in a sandstone range, I halted the party for the night and went on to try if I could find a pa.s.s across it. My exertions were not however very successful: I came upon a path which I thought might be rendered practicable for the ponies over the first part of the range, but found no line by which we could proceed without making a road.

WEAKNESS OF THE MEN.

March 29.

At dawn this morning the men were at work forming the road; the poor fellows were however so much enfeebled from constant fatigue and very inefficient nutriment, whilst exposed to the great heat of a tropical climate, that they were unable to exert the same energy as formerly, and I could not but be struck with the great difference in their strength as evinced in their incapacity to move stones and other obstacles, which a few weeks ago they would have had little difficulty in lifting. The path was however soon made as pa.s.sable as our abilities permitted, and we started along it with the ponies; some of them were however no less reduced than the men and, in endeavouring to lead one of them up a rocky hill, it fell, and from weakness sank under its light load without making an effort to save itself; the spine was thus so severely injured as to render it unable to move the hinder extremities; we therefore killed the poor creature and moved on.

SANDSTONE CAVE.

Throughout the day we continued gradually the ascent of the range which we had yesterday commenced. The large valley we were in led us by a gentle slope winding higher and higher amongst the rocky hills; at first it had been so wide as to appear like a plain, but by degrees it contracted its dimensions, until, towards the afternoon, it suddenly a.s.sumed almost the character of a gorge. Just at this point we saw in the cliffs on our left hand a cave, which I entered in the hope of finding native paintings.

Nor was I disappointed for it contained several of a very curious character. This cave was a natural chasm in the sandstone rocks, elevated at its entrance several feet above the level of the ground, from which the ascent to it was by a natural flight of sandstone steps, irregular, of course, but formed of successive thin strata, resting one upon another, and thus const.i.tuting an easy ascent; these successive layers continued into the body of the cave, quite to the end, where was a central slab, more elevated than the others, and on each side of this two other larger ones which reached the top of the cave and partly served to support the immense sandstone slab that formed the roof.

ANOTHER PAINTED CAVE.

The cave was twenty feet deep and at the entrance seven feet high and about forty feet wide. As before stated the floor gradually approached the roof in the direction of the bottom of the cavern, and its width also contracted, so that at the extremity it was not broader than the slab of rock, which formed a natural seat.

FIGURE DRAWN ON THE ROOF.

The princ.i.p.al painting in it was the figure of a man, ten feet six inches in length, clothed from the chin downwards in a red garment which reached to the wrists and ankles; beyond this red dress the feet and hands protruded and were badly executed.

The face and head of the figure were enveloped in a succession of circular bandages or rollers, or what appeared to be painted to represent such. These were coloured red, yellow, and white; and the eyes were the only features represented on the face. Upon the highest bandage or roller a series of lines were painted in red, but, although so regularly done as to indicate that they have some meaning, it was impossible to tell whether they were intended to depict written characters or some ornament for the head. This figure was so drawn on the roof that its feet were just in front of the natural seat, whilst its head and face looked directly down on anyone who stood in the entrance of the cave, but it was totally invisible from the outside. The painting was more injured by the damp and atmosphere, and had the appearance of being much more defaced and ancient, than any of the others which we had seen.*

(*Footnote. This figure brings to mind the description of the Prophet Ezekiel: Men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity.

Chapter 23:14, 15.)

OTHER PAINTINGS.

There were two other paintings, one on each of the rocks which stood on either side of the natural seat; they were carefully executed and yet had no apparent design in them; unless they were intended to represent some fabulous species of turtle; for the natives of Australia are generally fond of narrating tales of fabulous and extraordinary animals such as gigantic snakes, etc.

One of the party who appeared much amused at these different paintings walked straight up the cavern, gradually ascending the steps until he reached the slab at the end, and then, taking his hat off with a solemn air, seated himself; to his own, and our surprise, his bare head just touched the roof of the cave, and on examining this part of it we found it fairly polished, and very greasy, from all appearance caused by the constant rubbing against it of the head of a person whilst seated on the rock. This and other circ.u.mstances led us to conjecture that the cave was frequented by some wise man or native doctor who was resorted to by the inhabitants in cases of disease or witchcraft. We saw many footmarks about, and found other signs of the close presence of the natives, but they themselves remained invisible.

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.

The cave was situated in an exceedingly picturesque position, it occupied the corner leading from a wide valley to a narrow ravine, down which came bubbling along a clear deep stream, which pa.s.sed within a few yards of the cave's mouth. After making sketches of the paintings and for a few minutes admiring this romantic spot we moved up the ravine, which appeared to lead by a gradual ascent to the summit of the mountain range that now completely hemmed us in both to the southward and eastward.

This ravine, in the luxuriance of its vegetation and the great size of the trees, as well as in its rapid stream, at times leaping in cascades or foaming in rapids, resembled those we had before seen in the sandstone ranges, but it differed from them in the greater height of the surrounding hills and cliffs which, being overshadowed with hanging trees and climbing plants, presented as rich a painting as the eye could behold: and, as these grew golden with the rays of the setting sun or were thrown into deep and ma.s.sive shadows, I could not but regret that no Claude of the tropics had arisen to transfer to canvas scenes which words cannot express.

But however beautiful the scenery was the road we had to travel was so extremely inconvenient that the view scarcely made amends for it; we were continually compelled from old land-slips to cross from one side of the stream to the other, and this, from the depth of the ford and the slipperiness of the rocky bottom, was sometimes no easy task; moreover the ravine continued rapidly to contract in width and to become more rugged and precipitous; I therefore turned off to the right into a rocky amphitheatre which seemed well suited for encamping, and halted the party for the night; then, taking one of my men with me, I ascended the cliffs to see if I could make out any line by which to get clear of the precipices which embarra.s.sed us, but on all sides I could descry nothing but lofty hills and frowning crags, except in the direction of the ravine which appeared to run directly into the heart of the mountain chain; I therefore turned about to rejoin the party, with the intention of continuing the same course the ensuing morning as we had done this evening.

NARROW ESCAPE.

Both myself and the man who was with me had however a narrow escape of being shot, for, as we were returning he let his rifle fall and it exploded, the ball striking the rocks close to us before it glanced into the air.

OTHER CAVES.

March 30.

At the earliest dawn we continued our course up the valley, which rapidly became narrower and more inclined so that it formed, as it were, a series of elevated terraces, at the edge of each of which was a little cascade.

We found two caves in the cliffs on the right hand, both of which were painted all over but with no regularity of pattern: the only colours used were red, yellow, and white. The largest of the caves exceeded in breadth and depth any others I had seen, but it was only three feet high; in this one there were several drawings of fish, one of which was four feet in length; these I copied, although they were badly executed. The caves themselves cannot be considered as at all a.n.a.logous to those I have before described.

INCREASING DIFFICULTIES OF ROUTE. IMPa.s.sABLE SANDSTONE RANGES.

The difficulties of the road continued to increase rapidly, and the dimensions of the ravine became so contracted that I hesitated whether I should not turn up another which branched off to the right; previously however to taking this step I sent a man forward to examine the one we were in; he soon returned and reported that it terminated in a high cascade a few hundred yards further on. This intelligence confirming my previous opinion, I now moved up the ravine which came from the westward, but we had not proceeded for more than half a mile when the rugged nature of the country brought us to a complete stand; we found ourselves in a rocky area, bounded on all sides by cliffs, the only outlet from which was the path by which we had entered. I therefore halted the party for breakfast whilst I prepared to ascend some lofty pinnacles which lay to the south of us.

The state of my wound rendered this exertion one of great pain and difficulty; I however accomplished it, and found myself on the top of a high rocky eminence which bore the appearance of having fallen into ruins; the prospect from it was cheerless in the extreme; to the north lay the rich valley country far below us, and to the south and east nothing could be seen but barren sandstone rocks and ranges rising one above the other until they met the horizon at no great distance from the eye; the only outlet, except the ravine by which we had approached, appeared to be by the westward, and I descended to the party in this direction to see if I could find a route from where they were to the terrace leading to that point. I struck on a place up the cliffs where I imagined it possible to construct a road by which the ponies could ascend, and then returned to breakfast.

COUNTRY INACCESSIBLE FOR HORSES.

As soon as our scanty meal had been concluded all hands were employed in making this road; and sincerely did I pity the feeble men, whom I saw in the burning heat of a tropical sun, which was reflected with redoubled intensity from the bare sandstone rocks, toiling to displace large stones and obstacles which they had hardly sufficient strength to move; not a murmur however escaped them; they saw the necessity of the case and exerted their failing energies as readily as they had done when these were in full strength and vigour. The road was at last made and we moved on to the westward, toiling for the remainder of the day amongst steep precipices of barren sandstone rocks and hills, utterly inaccessible to horses, till, finding our efforts to proceed useless, I at last turned the party about and halted them for the night just above where we had breakfasted; intending with the earliest dawn to renew my search for a pa.s.s by which we might cross this mountain range.

CHAPTER 10. RETURN TO HANOVER BAY.

UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH FOR A Pa.s.s.

March 31.

This day at dawn I sent out a party under Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton and Mr. Walker to try if any pa.s.s through the mountains could be found, but they returned in four or five hours to report that it was utterly impossible for horses to proceed further in the direction we desired. During their absence I had made a careful examination of the stores and found that, even at our reduced allowance, we had only provisions left for twenty days; our horses were also reduced in number to twelve, but these, excepting that their feet were sore, were rather improved in condition than otherwise since the commencement of the journey.

CAUSES FOR RETURNING.

My intention had always been, when I found myself reduced to such an extremity as the present, to proceed for a few days by forced marches towards the interior, accompanied by four men, and then, returning to the remainder of the party, to have taken all together back to the vessel; when there I knew I could have got four volunteers to accompany me and, having loaded the horses with ammunition and provisions, I had it in contemplation to have started with them again for Swan River. But these projects became now impracticable from the declining state of my health, consequent on having started too soon after having received my wound, to the exertions I was obliged daily to make whilst labouring under its effects, and to the want of those comforts which contribute so materially to restore an invalid to health. Our allowance of food too had been but scanty, and, whilst I fared as my men, who, unshattered in health, had yet grown thin and weak under privation, I, in proportion, had suffered far more.

PREPARATIONS TO RETURN.

Mr. Walker, who was aware of my design, came to me today and said he felt it his duty to recommend me without delay to return to the vessel; that as long as he thought the risk I ran was no more than he considered a man who had undertaken such a service should be prepared to incur, he had refrained from pressing this advice upon me, but in my present debilitated state exposure even for a single night might very probably cost me my life. To this opinion I felt constrained to yield, and Mr.

Walker, having at my desire repeated it in a letter this afternoon, I arranged my plans accordingly.

LIGHT EXPLORING PARTY SENT FORWARD UNDER LIEUTENANT LUs.h.i.+NGTON.

The march in advance, which, had my health permitted, I had intended to make myself, was now deputed to Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton: four of those men who remained the strongest of our enfeebled band were selected for an excursion of three days under him; after which we were to return to the vessel.

April 1 and 2.