Up To This Point, It Had Received No Accession Of Waters
From Either Side; But On The Contrary, Was Constantly Dissipating Itself
In Lagoons And Swamps.
"The impossibility of proceeding farther in conjunction with the boats
being evident, I determined upon mature deliberation to haul
Them up; and
divesting ourselves of every thing that could possibly be spared, proceed
with the horses loaded with the additional provisions from the boats, on
such a course towards the coast as would intersect any stream that might
arise from the divided waters of the Lachlan.
"In pursuance of this plan, I quitted the river on the 17th of May,
taking a south-west course towards Cape Northumberland, as the best
adapted to answer my intended purpose. I will not here detail the
difficulties and privations we experienced in passing through a barren
and desolate country, without any water but such rain as was found
remaining in holes and the crevices of rocks. I continued this course
until the 9th of June, when having lost two horses through fatigue and
want, and the others being in a deplorable condition, I changed our
course to north, along a range of lofty hills running in that direction,
as they afforded the only means of procuring water until we should fall
in with some stream. On this course I continued until the 23rd of June,
when we again fell in with a stream, which we had at first some
difficulty to recognise as the Lachlan, it being little larger than one
of the branches of it where we quitted it on the 17th of May.
"I did not hesitate a moment to pursue the course of this stream, not
that the nature of the country or its own appearance in any manner
indicated that it would become navigable, or even permanent; but I was
unwilling that the smallest doubt should remain whether any navigable
waters fall westward into the sea, between the limits pointed out in my
instructions.
"I continued along the banks of the stream until the 8th of July, it
having taken during this period a westerly direction, and passed through
a perfectly level country, barren in the extreme, and being evidently at
periods entirely under water. To this point the river had been gradually
diminishing, and spreading its waters over stagnated lagoons and
morasses, without receiving any tributary stream that we knew of, during
the whole extent of its course. The banks were not more than three feet
high, and the marks of flood on the shrubs and bushes showed that at
times it rose between two and three feet higher, causing the whole
country to become a marsh, and altogether uninhabitable.
"Farther progress westward, had it been possible, was now useless, as
there was neither hill nor rising ground of any kind within the compass
of our view, which was bounded only by the horizon in every quarter, and
entirely devoid of timber, unless a few diminutive gum, trees on the very
edge of the stream might be so termed. The water in the bed of the
lagoon, as it might now be properly denominated, was stagnant, its
breadth about twenty feet, and the heads of grass growing in it showed it
to be about three feet deep.
"This unlooked for and truly singular termination of a river, which
we had anxiously hoped, and reasonably expected, would have led to a far
different conclusion, filled us with the most painful sensations. We were
full five hundred miles west of Sydney, and nearly in its latitude; and
it had taken us ten weeks of unremitted exertion to proceed so far. The
nearest part of the coast about Cape Bernoulli, had it been accessible,
was distant above one hundred and eighty miles. We had demonstrated
beyond a doubt, that no river could fall into the sea between Cape Otway
and Spencer's Gulf, at least none deriving its waters from the eastern
coast; and that the country south of the parallel of 34 degrees, and west
of the meridian 147. 30. E. was uninhabitable, and useless for all the
purposes of civilized men.
"It now became my duty to make our remaining resources as extensively
useful to the colony as our circumstances would allow; these were much
diminished: an accident which happened to one of the boats in the outset
of the expedition had deprived us of one third of our dry provisions, of
which we had originally a supply for only eighteen weeks, and we had been
consequently for some time living on a reduced ration of two quarts of
flour per man, per week. To return to the depot by the route we had come
would have been as useless as impossible; and, seriously considering
the spirit of your excellency's instructions, I determined, after the
most mature deliberation, to take such a route, on our return, as would I
hoped comport with your excellency's views, had our then situation ever
been contemplated.
"Returning up the Lachlan, I recommenced the survey of it from the point
at which it was made on the 23rd of June, intending to continue up its
banks until its connection with the marshes where we quitted it on the
17th of May was satisfactorily established, as also to ascertain if any
streams might have escaped our research. The connection with all the
points of the survey previously determined, was completed between the
19th of July and the 3rd of August. In the space passed over within that
period, the river had divided itself into various branches, and formed
three fine lakes, which, with one near the termination of our journey
westward, were the only considerable pieces of water we had yet seen; and
I now estimated that the river, from the place where it was first made
by Mr. Evans, had run a course, including all its windings, of upwards of
one thousand two hundred miles; a length altogether unprecedented, when
the single nature of the river is considered, and that its original
source constitutes its only supply of water during that extent.
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