We Had However Seen No Water, But
There Was Something In The Aspect Of The Whole Country That Flattered
Our Hopes Of Finding It In Some Of The Valleys That Lay In Our Course;
Nor Were We Disappointed:
After going rather more than four miles
farther, through a very open country, thickly covered with broom-grass
(killed by the frost), we ascended a rocky hill of moderate elevation,
connected with others lying east and west:
Opposite to us was a low
rocky range, the summits of which were clothed with iron bark and
casuarina trees. We saw from this hill Mount Melville bearing N. 175.,
Mount Cunningham N. 189 1/2., Mount Maude N. 192., a round mount
N. 218., named Mount Riley, a gap in a range N. 283., distance about
thirty miles: descending into the valley we found plenty of water, to our
great relief, as the horses were quite exhausted, and without this
seasonable supply would have been altogether unable to proceed farther.
The grass in the valley, although perished by the winter's frost, was
very
tolerable, and the worn out state of the horses made me determine to
remain here to-morrow, to recruit them a little before we proceeded
farther.
The country we have passed through this day afforded some of the most
beautiful specimens of acacia which we had yet seen, at the same time
that they were quite new in the species. The soil however was still of
the same description, red and sandy, but for the last five or six miles
more firm and compact; many of the plants were recognized as having been
originally seen in the neighbourhood of the Macquarie River, and not
since: this, with the more generally open appearance of the country,
gave us hopes that in a few days we should be fortunate enough to fall
in with that stream, which would free us from any farther apprehensions
of suffering from want of water; for in that event it is my intention to
keep in its immediate vicinity until our arrival at Bathurst. Our course
made good was N. 71. E., distance thirteen miles and a quarter.
August 8. - Made the usual observations to ascertain our situation, the
result of which placed us in lat. 32. 47. 58. S., long. 147. 23. E., and
the variation of the needle 5. 20. E. The valley in which we encamped is
enclosed by forest hills on all sides but the east, affording us plenty
of water from what is, even at this dry season, a perceptible stream.
The grass however was quite killed by the frost, and, although abundant,
did not afford such nourishment to the horses as their condition
required, insomuch that if we fall in with a part of the country that
has been burnt in the course of to-morrow's route, I shall give them a
day's rest.
Kangaroos of a very large size abound in every direction around us: our
dogs killed one weighing seventy or eighty pounds, which proved a great
and refreshing acquisition to us.
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