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
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We Had Now Crossed The Level Bank Which Had So
Long Shut Out The Interior From Us; Gradually It Had Declined In
Elevation, Until At Last It Had Merged In The Surrounding Country, And We
Hardly Knew Where It Commenced, Or How It Ended.
The high bluff and
craggy hills, whose tops we had formerly seen, stood out now in bold
relief, with a low level tract of country stretching to their base,
covered with dwarf brush, heathy plants and grass-tree, with many
intervals of open grassy land, and abounding in kangaroos.
I named these
lofty and abrupt mountain masses the "Russell Range," after the Right
Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies - Lord John Russell.
They constitute the first great break in the character and appearance of
the country for many hundreds of miles, and they offer a point of great
interest, from which future researches may hereafter be made towards the
interior. Nearer to the coast, and on either side of Cape Pasley were
sand-drifts, in which I have no doubt that water might have been
procured. We found none where we were encamped, but had sufficient in the
kegs for our own use, and the horses were not thirsty; many and recent
tracks of natives were observed, but the people themselves were not seen.
The morning of the 27th was exceedingly cold; and as we left our
encampments early, neither I nor Wylie were inclined to ride for the
first few miles; it was as much as we could do to keep ourselves from
shivering whilst walking; the dews were so heavy, that we were soon wet
through by the spangles from the shrubs and grass, whilst the pace at
which we travelled was not sufficiently rapid to promote a quick
circulation, and enable us to keep ourselves warm.
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