Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
- Page 341 of 914 - First - Home
At Midnight I Sent The Whole Party
Back To The Last Water, But Remained Myself To Take Care Of The Baggage
And Sheep.
I retained an allowance of a pint of water per day for six
days, this being the contemplated period of the overseer's absence.
My
situation was not at all enviable, but circumstances rendered it
unavoidable.
From the departure of my party, until their return, I spent a miserable
time, being unable to leave the camp at all. Shortly after the party
left, the sheep broke out of the yard, and missing the horses with which
they had been accustomed to travel and to feed, set off as rapidly as
they could after them; I succeeded in getting them back, but they were
exceedingly troublesome and restless, attempting to start off, or to get
down to the sea whenever my eye was off them for an instant, and never
feeding quietly for ten minutes together; finding at last that they would
be quite unmanageable, I made a very strong and high yard, and putting
them in, kept them generally shut up, letting them out only to feed for
two or three hours at once. This gave me a little time to examine my
maps, and to reflect upon my position and prospects, which involved the
welfare of others, as well as my own. We had still 600 miles of country
to traverse, measured in straight lines across the chart; but taking into
account the inequalities of the ground, and the circuit we were
frequently obliged to make, we could not hope to accomplish this in less
than 800 miles of distance.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 341 of 914
Words from 95217 to 95489
of 254601