On The 2nd Of July I Proceeded In The Boat Down The River, And In The
Course Of The Day Went Near Thirty Miles In A North-North-West Course,
For Ten Of Which There Had Been, Strictly Speaking, No Land, As The Flood
Made The Surrounding Country A Perfect Sea:
The banks of the river were
heavily timbered, and many large spaces within our view, covered with the
common reed, were also encircled by large trees.
On the third, the main
channel of the river was much contracted but very deep, the banks being
under water from a foot to eighteen inches; the stream continued for
about twenty miles on the same course as yesterday, when we lost sight of
land and trees, the channel of the river winding through reeds, among
which the water was about three feet deep, the current having the same
direction as the river. It continued in this manner for near four miles
more, when, without any previous change in the breadth, depth, and
rapidity of the stream, and when I was sanguine in my expectations of
soon entering the long-sought-for lake, it all at once eluded our farther
pursuit, by spreading at all points from north-west to north-east over
the plain of reeds which surrounded us; the river decreasing in depth
from upwards of twenty feet to less than five feet, and flowing over a
bottom of tenacious blue mud; and the current still running with nearly
the same rapidity, as when the water was confined within the banks of the
river. This point of junction with interior waters, or where the Macquarie
ceased to have the form of a river, is in lat. 30. 45. S., and
long. 147. 10. E.
To assert positively that we were on the margin of the lake, or sea, into
which this great body of water is discharged, might reasonably be deemed
a conclusion that has nothing but conjecture for its basis; but if an
opinion may he hazarded from actual appearances, which our subsequent
route tended more strongly to confirm, I feel confident we were in the
immediate vicinity of an inland sea, most probably a shoal one, and
gradually decreasing, or being filled up by the immense depositions from
the waters flowing into it from the higher lands, which, on this singular
continent, seem not to extend beyond a few hundred miles from the
seacoast; as westward of these bounding ranges, (which from the
observations I have been enabled to make, appear to me to run parallel to
the direction of the coast), there is not a single hill or other eminence
discoverable on this apparently boundless space, those isolated points
excepted, on which we remained until the 28th of July; the rocks, and
stones composing which, are a distinct species from those found on the
above ranges.
I trust your excellency will believe, that fully impressed with the
great importance of the question, as to the interior formation of this
great country, I was anxiously solicitous to remove all ground for farther
conjecture, by the most careful observations on the nature of the country;
which though it was to me a proof that the interior was covered with
water, yet I felt it my duty to leave no measure untried which would in
any way tend to a direct elucidation of the fact.
It was physically impracticable to gain the edge of these waters by
making a detour round the flooded portion of the country on the south-west
side of the river, as we proved it to be a barren wet marsh, overrun with
a species of polygonum, and not offering a single dry spot to which our
course might be directed; and that there was no probability of finding
any in that direction, I had a certain knowledge from the observations
made during the former expedition. To circle the flooded country to the
north-east yet remained to be tried; and when on the 7th of July I
returned to the tents, which I found pitched on the high land before
mentioned, and from whence we could see mountains at the distance of
eighty miles to the eastward, the country between being a perfect level,
Mr. Evans was sent forward to explore the country to the north-east, that
being the point on which I purposed to set forward.
On the 18th of July Mr. Evans returned, having been prevented from
continuing on a north-east course beyond two day's journey, by waters
running north-easterly through high reeds, and which were most probably
those of the Macquarie River; as during his absence it had swelled so
considerably as entirely to surround us, coming within a few yards of the
tent. Mr. Evans afterwards proceeded more easterly, and, at a distance of
fifty miles from the Macquarie River, crossed another much wider but not
so deep, running to the north: advancing still more easterly, he went
nearly to the base of the mountains seen from the tent, and returning a
more southerly route, found the country somewhat drier, but not in the
least more elevated.
The discretionary instructions with which your excellency was pleased to
furnish me, leaving me at liberty as to the course to be pursued by the
expedition on its return to Port Jackson, I determined to attempt making
the sea-coast on an easterly course, first proceeding along the base of
the high range before mentioned, which I still indulged hopes might lead
me to the margin of these, or any other interior waters which this
portion of New South Wales might contain; and embracing a low line of
coast on which many small openings remained unexamined, at the same time
that the knowledge obtained of the country to be encircled, might
materially tend to the advantage of the colony, in the event of any
communication with the interior being discovered.
We quitted this station on the 30th of July, being in latitude 31.
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