My Object Was To Make As Much Southing As
Possible Whilst We Could; So Having Two Natives And One Hundred
Gallons
of water (of which the horses were given three gallons each nightly), we
steered due South from the soaks,
And had a long day of tremendously steep
sand-ridges, up the North side of which the camels climbed with
difficulty. Riding the camels was out of the question, so we took the
horses in turn, Breaden and I steering hour about. Though crossing fresh
tracks and though the bucks were most anxious to follow them, we did not
turn from our course, for we had only left water the day before, and as
our rations were calculated to just, and only just, last out, no time
could be wasted. For the same reason we were travelling longer hours.
Our camp of the 28th was in lat. 21 degrees 4 minutes long. 128 degrees 33
minutes, and ahead of us to the South-West three miles distant was a range
of barren sandstone hills, for which we steered; the old man, though
contradicted by the young one, promising "gilli nappa," or creek water.
However, he fooled us, and after much climbing we reached a small, dry
well in a narrow gorge, quite inaccessible for camels.
It was now the young man's turn, who, seeing that we were not best
pleased with his mate's efforts, by every sort of sign assured us that
water existed in another range to the East. So turning in that direction
over monstrous high ridges, crossing them obliquely, in five miles we cut
a small watercourse, and following it up to its head found ourselves on
the top of a range of barren sandstone hills, over which were dotted
white-stemmed stunted gums - a most desolate place. The travelling was
very trying to the camels, who were continually missing their footing on
loose boulders and stones, in the bed of the creek. Sheer steps in the
rock on either hand precluded us from marching over the hills, excepting
up the watercourse.
From the summit, other similar hills could be seen to the East - hills of
quite a respectable height, all bare and rocky. Numerous small gorges and
glens head from the East watershed; without any hesitation our guides
started down one, and before long we came to a little pool in the rocky
bed. Here we watered our animals and replenished our tanks and bags;
and a nice job we had to make some of the camels approach the pool; on
either side were steep cliffs, and to reach the water numerous cracks
and gaps in the bed-rock had to be crossed, not wide or deep, but
sufficiently so to scare Bluey and some of the others. The open desert
life seems to make camels, and horses too, very nervous when anything
the least unusual has to be faced. The echoes amongst the rocks, and
the rather gloomy gorges, seemed to make them "jumpy"; a stone
rattling down behind them would be sufficient to cause a panic.
Leaving the pool, we followed the gorge until it ran out as a deep,
sandy channel down the valley formed by the horseshoe of the ranges.
The ranges I named the Erica Ranges, after one of my sisters.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 209 of 244
Words from 108650 to 109199
of 127189
