In Wet Seasons It Is A Bog; In Dry
Ones, There Is No Water.
Finding, as above remarked, that northerly and
north-east the country declined as it were to nothing, it was
Resolved
to pursue a more easterly course than that hitherto followed; and
instead of attempting to go round the morasses which we might meet with
to the north, to follow them southerly, a course which in time must
certainly take us to a more elevated country. Such a road is rendered
now absolutely necessary by the condition of the horses. Our dogs, which
had so long contributed to our support, had been for the last four days
dependant upon us for theirs, and we were too much indebted to their
exertions not to share our meals with them with cheerfulness. These
woods abound with kangaroo rats, and it is singular that, pinched as the
dogs were, they would not touch them even when cooked.
August 20. - This day after travelling upwards of nine miles, and having
pushed the horses at the risk of their lives through two minor branches
of the bog, what was our mortification to find, that we were within a
few hundred yards of the spot we set out from! We had first attempted
to cross the main bog northerly, and afterwards kept along its edge
southerly; and the result was, that we found it to extend in a complete
circle around us. From a slight rise in the centre of it, we could see
the country to the north-east, north, and north-west, low and uneven;
Hardwicke's Range distant about forty miles, bounding it between the
north and east. The result of this day's exertion quite subdued our
fortitude, and for a moment a feeling nearly allied to despair had
possession of our minds. We knew not which way to turn ourselves. To
return to Arbuthnot's Range, and again undergo what it had cost us so
much to overcome, could not be thought of for a moment; but upon that
mature reflection which our serious situation demanded, it was deemed
the most prudent plan to return so far back as would enable us to reach
the higher lands to the south-east. This we expected to do by Saturday
evening: twenty miles back we had left land of considerable elevation;
and we could only hope that in its vicinity we should find a dry ridge
on which to accomplish our purpose, and occasionally a patch of country
in which the horses might find subsistence; for they were at present
very much reduced.
August 23. - We returned yesterday to Parry's Rivulet, within twelve
miles of Weltden Valley, which was the whole distance we had gone in the
direction of our course towards the coast, although we had travelled
during the week upwards of seventy miles. The weather for the last four
days has been extremely tempestuous, with slight showers of hail and
rain: the winds were chiefly from the west and north-west, the
temperature being extremely cold for the latitude and season.
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