- It was the Queen's birth-day, and we celebrated it with what - as
our only remaining luxury - we were accustomed to call a fat cake, made of
four pounds of flour and some suet, which we had saved for the express
purpose, and with a pot of sugared tea.
We had for several months been
without sugar, with the exception of about ten pounds, which was reserved
for cases of illness and for festivals. So necessary does it appear to
human nature to interrupt the monotony of life by marked days, on which
we indulge in recollections of the past, or in meditations on the future,
that we all enjoyed those days as much, and even more, than when
surrounded with all the blessings of civilized society; although I am
free to admit, that fat-cake and sugared tea in prospectu might induce us
to watch with more eagerness for the approach of these days of feasting.
There were, besides, several other facts interesting to the psychologist,
which exhibited the influence of our solitary life, and the unity of our
purpose, on our minds. During the early part of our journey, I had been
carried back in my dreams to scenes of recent date, and into the society
of men with whom I had lived shortly before starting on my expedition. As
I proceeded on my journey, events of earlier date returned into my mind,
with all the fantastic associations of a dream; and scenes of England,
France, and Italy passed successively. Then came the recollections of my
University life, of my parents and the members of my family; and, at
last, the days of boyhood and of school - at one time as a boy afraid of
the look of the master, and now with the independent feelings of the man,
communicating to, and discussing with him the progress of my journey, the
courses of the rivers I had found, and the possible advantages of my
discoveries. At the latter part of the journey, I had, as it were,
retraced the whole course of my life, and I was now, in my dreams, almost
invariably in Sydney, canvassing for support, and imagining that,
although I had left my camp, yet that I should return with new resources
to carry us through the remainder of our journey. It was very remarkable,
that all my companions were almost invariably anticipating the end of our
journey, dreaming that they reached the sea-coast, and met with ships, or
that they were in Port Essington and enjoying the pleasures of civilized
life; whilst I, on awaking, found my party and my interests on the place
where I had left them in my dreams. During the leisure moments of the
day, or at the commencement of night, when seated at my fire, all my
thoughts seemed riveted to the progress and success of my journey, and to
the new objects we had met with during the day. I had then to compel
myself to think of absent friends and past times, and the thought that
they supposed me dead or unsuccessful in my enterprize, brought me back
immediately to my favourite object.
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