Our
Course Was Alternately Over Wet Flats And Dry Brushes; But In The Latter
We Met With Difficulties Which We Did Not Anticipate, Namely, Dry Bogs
Of A Most Dangerous Description; They Are From Thirty To Forty Yards
Broad, And The Apparent Firmness Of Their Surface Treacherously Conceals
The Danger Beneath.
One was discovered before the horses were too far
advanced to retreat, and by unlading them, we passed safely over.
The horses were upon the other before we discovered the extent of our
danger, and it was only by instantly cutting away their loads and
harness, and by the exertion of all hands, that they were dragged out;
but they were so exhausted by the struggles they had themselves made,
that I found it would be highly imprudent to proceed farther, though we
had only gone five miles and a half. Such of the horses as had not come
up, their loads being carried over, crossed the bog half a mile higher,
where the ground was somewhat firmer. We had this day the misfortune to
find two of our horses much strained in their hind quarters. The soil of
the brushes is in general a light, sandy loam; on the plains it is an
alluvial mould, on a substratum of clay: the water on these plains is
seldom deeper than the ankles, but travelling over them is very
wearisome. Arbuthnot's Range was in sight during the whole day. The
country was so generally level, that it was impossible to discern any
inequality in it.
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