It Is In General Badly Watered.
For Eight Miles And A Half On One Line We Did Not Find A Drop Of Water.
RICHMOND HILL
Having eluded our last search, Mr. Dawes and myself, accompanied by a sergeant
of marines and a private soldier, determined on another attempt,
to ascertain whether it lay on the Hawkesbury or Nepean. We set out
on this expedition on the 24th of May, 1791; and having reached the opposite
side of the mouth of the creek which had in our last journey prevented
our progress, we proceeded from there up to Richmond Hill by the river side;
mounted it; slept at its foot; and on the following day penetrated some miles
westward or inland of it until we were stopped by a mountainous country,
which our scarcity of provisions, joined to the terror of a river at our back,
whose sudden rising is almost beyond computation, hindered us from exploring.
To the elevation which bounded our research we gave the name of Knight Hill,
in honour of the trusty sergeant who had been the faithful indefatigable
companion of all our travels.
This excursion completely settled the long contested point about
the Hawkesbury and Nepean. We found them to be one river. Without knowing it,
Mr. Dawes and myself had passed Richmond Hill almost a year before
(in August 1790), and from there walked on the bank of the river to the spot
where my discovery of the Nepean happened, in June 1789. Our ignorance
arose from having never before seen the hill, and from the erroneous position
assigned to it by those who had been in the boats up the river.
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