Leave his
grasp, and then pulling up I tried to bring my friend to a parley at a
less dangerous distance.
Finding that I did not attempt to injure him, the native stood his
ground, though tremblingly, and kept incessantly vociferating, and waving
me away; to all my signs and inquiries, he was provokingly insensible,
and would not hear of anything but my immediate departure. Sometimes he
pointed to the north, motioning me to go in that direction, but the poor
wretch was in such a state of alarm and trepidation that I could make
nothing of him and left him. He remained very quietly until I had gone
nearly a quarter of a mile, and then thinking that he had a fair start,
he again took to his heels, and ran away as fast as he could in the
direction opposite to that I had taken.
Continuing our course northerly I steered for what appeared to be a small
lake not far away to the N. W. and crossed over some heavy ridges of
white sand; upon reaching the object of my search it proved to be a
winding arm of the main lake (Torrens) at first somewhat narrow, but
gradually enlarging as we traced it downwards. The bed of this arm was
coated over, as had been the dry part of the bed of the main lake, with a
very pungent salt, with mud and sand and water intermixed beneath the
upper crust.
Following the arm downwards I came to a long reach of water in its
channel, about two feet deep, perfectly clear, and as salt as the sea,
and I even fancied that it had that peculiar green tinge which sea-water
when shallow usually exhibits.
This water, however, was not continuous; a little further on, the channel
again became dry, as it increased in width in its approach to the main
lake, the bed of which, near its shores, was also dry. From a high bank
which I ascended, I had a full view of the lake stretching away to the
north-east, as far as the eye could reach, apparently about thirty miles
broad, and still seeming to be bounded on its western shores by a low
ridge, or table land, beyond which nothing could be seen. No hills were
visible any where, nor was there the least vegetation of any kind.
I was now upwards of 100 miles away from my party in a desert, without
grass or water, nor could I expect to obtain either until my return to
the creek, where I had left the twelve gallons, and this was about fifty
miles away. The main basin of Lake Torrens was still four or five miles
distant, and I could not expect to gain any thing by going down to its
shores; as on previous occasions, I had ascertained that to attempt to
cross it, or even to reach the water a few miles from its outer edge, was
quite impossible, from the boggy nature of its bed.
