Suffering agonies from
the want of it, we dared not give it to them freely. Having tied them up
to some low bushes, we gave each in turn about four gallons, and then
driving them away for half a mile to where there was a little withered
grass, we watched them until the evening, and again gave each about four
gallons more of water.
Whilst thus engaged, a very fine looking native with his wife and family,
passed us and halted for a few moments to observe us, and procure a drink
from the well we had made. This man did not seem at all alarmed, and made
signs that he was going to sleep, a little further along the coast, where
there was also water, pointing to the white sandhills about five miles
from us. The language he spoke seemed to be the same as that of the other
natives we had met with along the Great Bight, nor did the King George's
Sound native understand him a bit better than he had done the others.
At night one of our two remaining sheep was killed, and the overseer and
myself proceeded to watch the horses for the night. The poor creatures
were scarcely able to crawl, yet were restless and uneasy, and fed but
little, they had tasted water and they were almost mad for it, so that it
was a severe task to both myself and the overseer to keep them from
returning to the well. The single sheep now left had also given us a good
deal of trouble, it was frightened at being alone, and frustrated all our
efforts to yard it, preferring to accompany and remain with the
horses, - an arrangement we were obliged to acquiesce in.
March 31. - The morning broke wild and lowering, and the sand blew
fearfully about from the drifts among which the water was. Our well had
tumbled in during the night, and we had to undergo considerable labour
before we could water the horses. After clearing it out, we gave each of
them seven gallons, and again sent them away to the grass, letting the
native boys watch them during the day, whilst we rested for a few hours,
shifted our camp to a more sheltered place, weighed out a week's
allowance of flour at half a pound each per day, and made sundry other
necessary arrangements.
Fearful of losing our only remaining sheep, if left to wander about, we
made a strong yard to put it into at nights, for a long time, however, we
could not get it to go near the yard, and only succeeded at last by
leading in a horse first, behind which it walked quite orderly.
April 1. - The last night had been bitterly cold and frosty, and as we
were badly clad, and without the means of making a large or permanent
fire, we all felt acutely the severity of the weather. After breakfast, I
left the overseer and natives to clear out the well, which had again
fallen in, and water the horses, whilst I walked five miles along the
beach to the westward, and then turned inland to examine the sand-drifts
there and search for grass. Behind the drifts I found some open sandy
plains, with a coarse kind of dry grass upon them, and as they were not
far from where the natives had dug wells for water, I thought the place
might suit us to encamp at for a time when we left our present position.
In returning to the camp, through the scrub behind the coast, I shot a
fine wallabie, and saw several others; but having only cartridges with
me, I did not like to cut up the balls for ammunition.
April 2. - Another severe cold frosty night made us fully sensible that
the winter was rapidly closing in upon us, notwithstanding the
ill-provided and unprotected state we were in to encounter its
inclemencies. Our well had again tumbled in, and gave us a good deal of
trouble, besides, each successive clearing out deepened it considerably,
and this took us to a level where the brackish water mixed with the
fresh; from this cause the water was now too brackish to be palatable,
and we sunk another well apart from that used for the horses, at which to
procure any water we required for our own use. During the afternoon I
shot a wallabie behind the camp, but the place being densely scrubby, and
the animal not quite dead, I did not get it.
On the 3rd, I sent the overseer out in one direction and I went myself
out in another, to examine the country and try to procure wallabies for
food. We both returned late, greatly fatigued with walking through dense
scrubs and over steep heavy sand ridges, but without having fired a shot.
Our mutton (excepting the last sheep) being all used on the 4th, we were
reduced to our daily allowance of half a pound of flour each, without any
meat.
On the 5th, the overseer and one of the native boys got ready to go back
for some of the stores and other things we had abandoned, forty-seven
miles away. As they were likely to have severe exercise, and to be away
for four days, I gave them five pounds extra of flour above their daily
allowance, together with the wallabie which I had shot, and which had not
yet been used; they drove before them three horses to carry their supply
of water, and bring back the things sent for.
As soon as they were gone, with the assistance of the two native boys who
were left, I removed the camp to the white sand-drifts, five miles
further west.
