In Passing Along We Shot Some Ducks, Which Boladeree Refused To Swim For
When Requested, And Told Us In A
Surly tone that they swam for what was killed,
and had the trouble of fetching it ashore, only for the
White men to eat it.
This reproof was, I fear, too justly founded; for of the few ducks we had been
so fortunate as to procure, little had fallen to their share except the offals,
and now and then a half-picked bone. True, indeed, all the crows and hawks
which had been shot were given to them; but they plainly told us that
the taste of ducks was more agreeable to their palates, and begged they might
hereafter partake of them. We observed that they were thoroughly sick
of the journey, and wished heartily for its conclusion: the exclamation of
"Where's Rose Hill, where?" was incessantly repeated, with many inquiries
about when we should return to it.
Saturday April 16th, 1791. It was this morning resolved to abandon
our pursuit and to return home; at hearing of which our natives expressed
great joy. We started early; and reached Rose Hill about three o'clock,
just as a boat was about to be sent down to Sydney. Colbee and Boladeree
would not wait for us until the following morning, but insisted on going down
immediately to communicate to Baneelon and the rest of their countrymen
the novelties they had seen.
The country we passed through was, for the most part, very indifferent,
according to our universal opinion. 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.
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