The
men were in the habit of taking a cart down to the beach frequently,
where, by wading up to their knees in the sea at low water, they were
enabled to fill it. This supply lasted for two or three days.
Many drays might easily be loaded, one after the other, from these oyster
beds. The natives of the district do not appear to eat them, for I never
could find a single shell at any of their encampments. It is difficult to
account for the taste or prejudice of the native, which guides him in his
selection or rejection of particular kinds of food. What is eaten readily
by the natives in one part of Australia is left untouched by them in
another, thus the oyster is eaten at Sydney, and I believe King George's
Sound, but not at Streaky Bay. The unio or freshwater muscle is eaten in
great numbers by all the natives of New South Wales and South Australia;
but Captain Grey found that a Perth native, who accompanied him on one of
his expeditions, would not touch this kind of food even when almost
starving. Snakes are eaten by some tribes, but not by others; and so with
many other kinds of food which they make use of.
About three o'clock, Mr. Scott arrived with the dray, after a long and
harassing stage of twenty miles over a low, stony, and scrubby tract of
country, between Mount Hall and Streaky Bay, and which extended beyond
our track to the coast hummocks to the west. These latter appeared
somewhat high, and under them we had seen many salt-water lakes from the
summit of Mount Hall.
My party were now once more all assembled together, after having been
separated for nearly seven weeks; during which, neither division knew
what had befallen the other, and both were necessarily anxious to be
reunited again, since, in the event of any mischance occurring to either,
the other would have been placed in circumstances of much difficulty, if
not of danger; and the whole object of the undertaking would have been
frustrated.
The great delay caused by my having been obliged to send over from Port
Lincoln to Adelaide for supplies, had thrown us very late in the season;
the summer was rapidly advancing, the weather even now, being frequently
intensely hot, whilst the grass was gradually drying up and losing its
nourishment. Our sending to Adelaide had, however, obtained for us the
valuable services of the WATERWITCH to assist us in tracing round the
desert line of coast to the north-west, and had enabled us to procure a
larger and more varied supply of stores, than we could possibly have
brought up from Port Lincoln in a single dray. We were now amply
furnished with conveniences of every kind; and both men and horses were
in good plight and ready to enter upon the task before them.
Chapter X.
COUNTRY BETWEEN STREAKY BAY AND BAXTER'S RANGE - ITS SCRUBBY
CHARACTER - GAWLER RANGE - MOUNT STURT - ASCEND A PEAK - SALT
LAKES - BEAUTIFUL FLOWER - ASCEND ANOTHER HILL - MOUNT BROWN SEEN - EXTENSIVE
VIEW TO THE NORTH - LAKE GILLES - BAXTER'S RANGE.
During the time that I had been occupied in conducting my division of the
party from Baxter's Range to Port Lincoln, the overseer had been engaged
in guiding the other portion across to Streaky Bay, upon my former track
from thence to Mount Arden, in September 1839. The following brief
extracts from my Journal of that period, whilst crossing from Streaky Bay
to Mount Arden, will convey an idea of the character of the country
extending between these two points; and of the great difficulty, indeed
almost the impossibility of forcing a passage, except immediately after
the occurrence of heavy rains.
1839, Sept. 18. - We left the depot near Streaky Bay, at a course nearly
due east, and passing through alternations of brush and of open grassy
plains, upon the skirts of which grew a few casuarinae; halted after a
stage of eighteen miles, at an opening in the brush, where we had good
grass, but no water; we were consequently obliged to watch the horses
during the night, to prevent their straying. From this camp Mount Hall
bore S. 2 degrees E. and Mount Cooper S. E. the variation of the compass
being 2 degrees 22 minutes E.
September 19. - Travelling east through the same kind of country for
fifteen miles, we halted upon a high scrubby ridge; having a few grassy
openings at intervals, and with large sheets of granite exposed in some
parts of its surface. In the holes among these rocks we procured a supply
of water that had been deposited by the late rains; but which a few warm
days would have dried up. The latitude of the water was 32 degrees 48
minutes S. and from it Mount Hall bore S. 38 degrees W., Mount Cooper S.
15 degrees W. Before us to the north-east were visible many peaks of a
range, with a high and broken outline, which I named the Gawler range,
after His Excellency Colonel Gawler, the Governor of South Australia. One
very high peak in this range I named Mount Sturt, after my friend Captain
Sturt; it bore from our present camp E. 10 degrees N. and had been
previously seen from the summit of Mount Hall.
September 20. - Our route to-day was through a perfect desert, very
scrubby and stony, with much prickly grass growing upon the sand ridges,
which alternated with the hard limestone flats; there were very few clear
intervals of country upon our whole course; and for the last five miles
the heavy sand and dense scrub made it very difficult to get on at all.
After a long stage of twenty-five miles nearly due east, we halted at a
high ridge similar to that upon which we encamped last night, with sheets
of granite exposed on its surface, and rain water lodged in the hollows.
The horses were all completely knocked up with the severe labour of this
day's stage; I ascertained the latitude of the camp to be 32 degrees 47
minutes 40 seconds S. and the variation of the compass which increased as
we advanced to the eastward, was now 4 degrees 12 minutes E. The Gawler
range was now distinctly visible, extending from N. 15 degrees W. to N.
65 degrees E. and presenting the broken and picturesque outline of a vast
mountain mass rising abruptly out of the low scrubby country around.
