From The Forest Land We
Immediately Entered A Thick Brush, And After Cutting Our Way For Near Two
Miles, The
Evening advancing, I thought it best to send back the horses
to the forest land, where there was plenty of
Grass, and proceeded myself
with some men to cut the road to the river; an object, which in about
another mile we effected. We happened to make it near the spot wished for.
The tide was going out, the water having fallen near three feet; though
not perfectly good it was drinkable, and would doubtless be sweet at
low-water. A small island here divides the river into two branches: below
the island the water appeared very deep, as did also the north side of the
island. Its breadth might be nearly a quarter of a mile; both banks were
very thick of brush, and the soil rich. About three quarters of a mile
down the reach, the bank on the southern side appears to become a little
more open, and, as I intended halting tomorrow, I determined to cut a road
to it, and clear the way as far as possible down the banks before we
proceeded on Monday. Our distance from this spot to the coast line did
not exceed eight or ten miles. It was nearly dark before we returned to
the place which we had fixed to encamp on, amidst abundance of fine grass
and good water.
October 4. - We could distinctly hear, during the night, the murmurs of
the surf on the beach, and the sound was most grateful to our ears, as
the welcome harbinger of the point to which eighteen weeks of anxious
pilgrimage had been directed. I accompanied the men who had been
appointed to cut the road along the banks of the river. We had performed
about a mile when we were stopped by a large stream from the southward. It
was therefore necessary to carry the road along the banks, which we did
for nearly two miles, when we left of for the day and returned to our
tent. I caused the main branch of the river to be sounded near the
junction of the southern branch which I had named King's River,
(after my friend who is now surveying the coast of this continent),
and found, at one third ebb, four fathoms. King's River appeared equally
deep, and was about one hundred yards broad; the water at this time of the
tide brackish: the country covered with brush, the soil very rich; and a
few ceder trees were scattered among the other timber. The vines were of
enormous size, and in many instances had entirely enveloped the trees to
which they had attached themselves, a small part of their trunks only
being here and there visible.
October 5. - Sent a party to cut the road up King's River. After advancing
between four and five miles, a small piece of forest ground was
discovered, which determined me to remove the horses and baggage thither,
since the distance which the people had to go to their work occasioned
much delay. A great many natives' canoes were seen on the river to-day
fishing, and as the use of these canoes to cross King's River would have
been very desirable, we endeavoured to tempt their owners to visit us,
but without success; it being out of our power to make them understand
our meaning.
October 6. - We set out this morning with an intention of proceeding up
the west bank of King's River by the road already cut, but before we had
arrived at it, two natives in a canoe were induced to cross over to us.
Their vessel we detained, making them a present of a tomahawk. The moment
they saw one of the horses (which happened to be a white one), descending
the bank for the purpose of being unladen, they made signs expressive of
their idea, that we were going to put the horses in the canoe,
which they immediately quitted and swam to the opposite shore. As it was
extremely probable that many smaller branches would fall into King's
River, I determined to cross it at its mouth, and so proceed along the
banks of the main river. It was two o'clock before we had got every thing
over, when, upon examining the road which we had to travel, we found that
about half a mile lower down another small stream joined the river. To
this latter stream we therefore cut a road, keeping the canoe for farther
use. By its means we found that after we should cross this last stream,
we should get into an open forest country, with good grass: and we hoped
that we should meet with no farther obstructions in our progress, which
the thickness of the country and the intersection of streams rendered
extremely tedious. The river at low-water was sufficiently fresh for us
to drink. From the limited observations I was enabled to make, the depth
at that time of tide was from two to three fathoms, and the rise of tide
was five feet: but the tides appeared very irregular, being evidently
influenced by the great body of fresh water in the river. What land we saw
or passed over was a rich vegetable mould; the brush extremely thick on
both sides, with fine timber of various kinds. I do not think the higher
forest ground was more than a mile or two back from us. King's River, and
that which we shall cross tomorrow, are formed by numerous smaller runs
of water from the valleys in the higher grounds to the southward and
south-west.
October 7. - We crossed the small stream mentioned yesterday, by the
help of our friendly canoe, in safety. The horses however having had
little or nothing to eat the night preceding, I halted for a couple of
hours to refresh them. The horse which had been so weakly, that nothing
but the short stages we were obliged to make enabled him to keep up with
us, in crossing the stream landed on a small muddy patch, dry at low
water:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 74 of 94
Words from 74393 to 75419
of 95539
