The Country For The First Two Miles,
While We Walked To The Northeast, Was Good, Full Of Grass And Without Rock
Or Underwood.
Afterwards it grew very bad, being full of steep, barren rocks, over which
we were compelled to clamber for seven miles, when it changed to
a plain country apparently very sterile, and with very little grass in it,
which rendered walking easy.
Our fatigue in the morning had, however,
been so oppressive that one of the party knocked up. And had not a soldier,
as strong as a pack-horse, undertaken to carry his knapsack in addition
to his own, we must either have sent him back, or have stopped at a place
for the night which did not afford water. Our two natives carried each
his pack, but its weight was inconsiderable, most of their provisions
being in the knapsacks of the soldiers and gamekeepers. We expected
to have derived from them much information relating to the country, as no one
doubted that they were acquainted with every part of it between the sea coast
and the river Hawkesbury. We hoped also to have witnessed their manner
of living in the woods, and the resources they rely upon in their journeys.
Nothing, however, of this sort had yet occurred, except their examining
some trees to see if they could discover on the bark any marks of the claws
of squirrels and opossums, which they said would show whether any of those
animals were hidden among the leaves and branches. They walked stoutly,
appeared but little fatigued, and maintained their spirits admirably,
laughing to excess when any of us either tripped or stumbled, misfortunes
which much seldomer fell to their lot than to ours.
[*Our method, on these expeditions, was to steer by compass, noting
the different courses as we proceeded; and counting the number of paces,
of which two thousand two hundred, on good ground, were allowed to be a mile.
At night when we halted, all these courses were separately cast up,
and worked by a traverse table, in the manner a ship's reckoning is kept,
so that by observing this precaution, we always knew exactly where we were,
and how far from home; an unspeakable advantage in a new country,
where one hill, and one tree, is so like another that fatal wanderings
would ensue without it. This arduous task was always allotted to Mr. Dawes
who, from habit and superior skill, performed it almost without a stop,
or an interruption of conversation: to any other man, on such terms,
it would have been impracticable.]
At a very short distance from Rose Hill, we found that they were in a country
unknown to them, so that the farther they went the more dependent on us
they became, being absolute strangers inland. To convey to their
understandings the intention of our journey was impossible. For, perhaps,
no words could unfold to an Indian the motives of curiosity which induce men
to encounter labour, fatigue and pain, when they might remain in repose
at home, with a sufficiency of food.
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