During The
Wet Season The Rush Of Water Tears Off Large Rafts Of This Floating
Water-Grass, Which Accumulate In Any Favourable Locality.
The difficulty
of clearing a passage is extreme.
After cutting out a large mass with
swords, a rope is made fast, and the raft is towed out by hauling with
thirty or forty men until it is detached and floated down the stream.
Yesterday I cut a narrow channel from above stream in the hope that the
rush of water would loosen the mass of vegetation. After much labour, at
12.30 p.m. the whole obstruction appeared to heave. There was soon no
doubt that it was moving, and suddenly the entire dam broke up. Immense
masses were carried away by the rush of water and floated down the
river; these will, I fear, cause an obstruction lower down the stream.
"We got up steam, served out grog to all the men, and started at 2 P.M.
In half-an-hour's steaming we arrived at another block vegetation. In
one hour and three-quarters we cleared a passage, and almost immediately
afterwards we arrived at the first piece of dry ground that we have seen
for days. This piece of firm land was a few feet higher than the maximum
rise of the river, and afforded about half an acre. We stopped for the
night.
"March 1. - Started at 6.30 A.M., the river narrowing immediately, and
after a run of half a mile we found ourselves caught in a trap.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 44 of 782
Words from 11471 to 11727
of 207249
