We Ascended The Hill, And Had The Mortification To Perceive The
Termination Of Our Research, At Least Down This Branch Of The River:
The
whole country from the west north-west round to north was either a
complete marsh or lay under
Water, and this for a distance of
twenty-five or thirty miles, in those directions; to the south and
south-west the country appeared more elevated, but low marshy grounds
lay between us and it, which rendered it impossible for us to proceed
thither from our present situation. I therefore determined to return
back to the place where the two branches of the principal river
separated, and follow the south-west branch as far as it should be
navigable; our fears were however stronger than our hopes, lest it
would end in a similar manner to the one we had already traced, until it
became no longer navigable for boats.
In pursuance of this intention we descended the hill, which was named
Farewell Hill, from its being the termination of our journey in a
north-west direction at least for the present, and proceeded up the
south bank of the stream. We were able to reach only a short distance
from the spot where we stopped last night, having been obliged to unload
the horses no less than four times in the course of the day, added to
which, the travelling loaded through those dreadful marshes had
completely exhausted them: my own horse, in searching for a better
track, was nearly lost, and it consumed four hours to advance scarcely
half a mile.
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