Part 19 (1/2)

Having thus brought my narrative to a conclusion I shall trespass but little more on the patience of the reader It appears to me that a few observations are necessary to clear some parts, and to make up for omissions in the body of my work I have written it indeed under considerable disadvantage; for although I have in a great ht consequent on lance my eye so rapidly as I once did over such a voluminous document as this journal; and I feel that I owe it to the public, as well as to y for its iainst which, during the progress of the expedition, I had to contend The one was, the want of water; the other, the nature of the country That it was altogether ies of any kind, may readily be conceived from my description; and in the state in which I found it, horses were evidently unequal to the task I cannot help thinking that caht have done better; not only for their indurance, but because they carry more than a horse I should, undoubtedly, have been led to try those animals if I could have procured them; but that was impossible Certain however it is, that I went into the interior to ainst; for I think there can be no doubt, fro which this expedition was undertaken, was one of unusual dryness; but although the arid state of the country contributed so much to prevent its movements, I question whether, under opposite circumstances, it would have been possible to have pushed so far as the party succeeded in doing Certainly, if the ground had been kept in a state of constant saturation, travelling would have been out of the question; for the rain of July abundantly proved how impracticable any attempt to penetrate it under such circumstances would have been

It is difficult to say what kind of seasons prevail in Central Australia

That low region does not, as far as I can judge, appear to be influenced by tropical rains, but rather to be subject to sudden falls That the continent of Australia was at one time more humid than it now is, appears to be an admitted fact; the marks of floods, and the violence of torrents (none of which have been witnessed), are mentioned by every explorer as traceable over every part of the continent; but no instance of any general inundation is on record: on the contrary the seasons appear to be getting drier and drier every year, and the slowness hich any body exposed to the air decoue the extreme absence of moisture in the atmosphere It will be remembered that one ofthrough it in December, 1844

In July, 1845, when Mr Piesse was on his route ho party, he passed by the spot where this animal had fallen; and, in elucidation of what I have stated, I will here give the extract of a letter I subsequently received fro of the hual, he says: ”It appears to me that heat alone is rather a preservative from decomposition; of which I recollect an instance, in the bullock that died in the h the Pine scrub on the 1st of January, 1845 When I passed by the spot in the following July, the carcase was dried up like a mummy, and was in such a perfect state of preservation as to be easily recognised”

No stronger proof, I apprehend, could have been adduced of the dryness of the atmosphere in that part of the interior, orthe interval referred to; but the singular and unusual effects it had on ourselves, and on every thing around was equally corroborative of the fact The atmosphere on some occasions was so rarified, that we felt a difficulty in breathing, and a buzzing sensation on the crown of the head, as if a hot iron had been there

There were only two occasions on which the therrees in the shade, the solar intensity at the sarees The extremes between this last and our winter's cold, when the therrees I observe that Sir Thoan, in his tent at 117 degrees and when exposed to the wind at 129 degrees; but I presume that local causes, such as radiation from stones and sand, operated more powerfully with us than in his case Whilst ere at the Depot about May, the water of the creek becahtly putrid, and cleared itself like Tha the hotter months of our stay there, it evaporated at the rate of nearly an inch a day, as shewn by a rod Mr Browne placed in it to note the changes, but the a to the quiescent or boisterous state of the ation the air was seldo over it we had to attribute the loathsoenerally subsisted after we left that place, for the pools from which we took it were so shallow as to be stirred up to the consistency of white-wash by the play and action of the wind on their surfaces During our stay at the Depot the barometer never rose above 30260, or fell below 29540

Fro year, the prevailing winds were from ENE to ESE, after that month they were variable, but westerly winds predominated The south as always cold, and its approach was invariably indicated by the rise of the barometer

The rain of July coradually went round to the north-west; but more clouds rose froenerally speaking ithout a speck, and the dazzling brightness of the s we had to endure when out in the bush It was iht which ever way one turned, and its irritating effects were remarkable

It will be observable to those who cast their eyes over the chart of South Australia that the range of mountains between St Vincent's Gulf and the Murray river runs up northwards into the interior In like es crossed by the Expedition also ran in the same direction The Black Rock Hill, so narees 45 minutes and in the 139th meridian, and is the easterns Mount Gipps on the coonbaralba range is in lat 31 degrees 52 rees 41 es trend somewhat to the ard of south, and consequently, may run nearer to that (of which the Black Rock Hill forms so prominent a feature) than we may suppose, but there is a distance of nearly 150to be explored, before this point can be decided Nevertheless, it is more than probable the two chains are in soreatly resemble each other in their classification They are for the st which there is a general distribution of iron, and perhaps of otherthe progress of the Expedition, of which Piesse's knob is a remarkable specimen, was of the purest kind

It was, as has been found in South Australia, a surface deposit, protruding or cropping out of the ground in inetic; the veins of the es, as did a sies Generally speaking there was nothing bold or picturesque in the scenery of the Barrier Range, but the Rocky Glen and some few others of a sie ran parallel to the coast ranges, so there were other ranges to the eastward of the Barrier Range, running parallel to it, and they were separated by broad plains, partly open and partly covered with brush The general elevation of the ranges was about 1200 feet above the level of the sea, but some of the hills exceeded 1600 Mount Lyell was 2000; Mount Gipps 1500; Lewis's Hill 1000: but the general elevation of the range ht be rather under than over what I have stated It appears to ical formation of this portion of the continent is the saes terminate in the same kind of way to the north, that is to say, in detached flat-topped hills of co white and abrupt faces So tere, and so Mr Eyre tells us did the Mount Serle Range, and so tereto the ard of Lake Torrens

That they exhibit evidences of a past violent commotion of waters, I think any one ill follow my steps and view thee of hills I have called ”Stanley's Barrier Range,” and that all the mountain chains to the eastward and ard of it, were once sothe primeval period, a sea covered the deserts over which I wandered; but it is impossible for a writer, whatever powers of description he may have, to transfer to the minds of his readers the same vivid impressions his own may have received, on a view of any external object

From the remarks into which I have thus been led, as well as those which have escaped me in the course of this narrative, it will be seen that the impressions I had received as to the past and present state of the continent were rather strengthened than die of its internal structure

It is true, that I did not find an inland sea as I certainly expected to have done, but the country as a desert hat I had anticipated, although I could not have supposed it would have proved of such boundless extent

Viewing the objects for which the Expedition was equipped, and its results, there can, I think, be no doubt, as to the non-existence of any es in the interior of Australia, but, on the contrary, that its central regions are nearly if not quite on a sea level, and that the north coast is separated from the south as effectually as if seas rolled between them I have stated my opinion that that portion of the desert which I tried to cross continues with undiree with Captain Flinders, in supposing that if an inland sea exists any where, it exists underneath and behind that bank, (speaking from seaward) It would, I think, be unreasonable to suppose that such an immense tract of sandy desert, once undoubtedly a sea-bed, should i, indeed, the sterile character of the country to the north of Gawler's Range, to the ard of Port Lincoln, and along the whole of the south coast of Australia, nearly to King George's Sound, I must confess I have no hope of any inland fertile country I am aware it is the opinion of some of my friends that the Stony Desert may communicate with Lake Torrens Such ue the contrary, or answer for the changes in so extraordinary a region I only state thened by my view of the position I occupied, when at my farthest north; ill therefore refer to that position, and to the position of Lake Torrens, and see how far it is probable, that a large channel, such as I have described the Stony Dessert to be, should turn so abruptly, as it must do to connect itself with that basin; the evident fall of the interior, as far as that fact could be ascertained, being plainly from east to west

The western shore of Lake Torrens, as laid down by Mr Eyre, is in 137 degrees 40 rees of longitude Its southern extrerees of long and 24 degrees 40 minutes of latitude I was therefore within 20 miles as far to the ard of the westernraphical ain Lake Torrens, the Stony Desert le from its known course, and in such case hills must exist to the ard of where I was, for hills alone could so change the direction of a current, but the whole aspect of the interior would argue against such a conclusion I never lost sight of the probability of Lake Torrens being connected with some central feature, until my hopes were destroyed by the nature of the country I traversed, nor do I think it probable that in so level a region as that in which I left it, there is any likelihood of the Stony Desert changing its direction so much as to form any connection with the sandy basin to which I have alluded Nevertheless itto the ideas we ourselves have adopted, and it is difficult to transfer them to the mind of another In reference however to what I had previously stated, I would give the following quotation from Flinders His i the coast, in a greatinland, the only point we differ upon is as to the probable origin of the great sea-wall, which appeared to him to be of calcareous formation, and he therefore concluded that it had been a coral reef raised by some convulsion of nature Had Capt Flinders been able to exaht, he would have found that it was for the most part an oolitic limestone, with many shells imbedded in it, similar in substance and in for froth of these cliffs froues, and that of the level bank from New Cape Paisley, where it was first seen froht of this extraordinary bank is nearly the sa nowhere less by estimation than 400 feet, not anywhere ed tops of so the re course, the bank was the lireat an extent, and the evidently calcareous nature of the bank, at least in the upper 200 feet, would bespeak it to have been the exterior line of some vast coral reef, which is always more elevated than the interior parts, and co of the sea, or perhaps from some convulsion of nature, this bank ht above the surface, and however extraordinary such a change may appear, yet when it is recollected that branches of coral still exist, upon Bald Head, at the elevation of 400 feet or ree of probability, and it would farther see of the waters has not been at a period very remote, since these frail branches have yet neither been all beaten down nor mouldered away by the wind and weather

”If this supposition be well founded, itbeen perceived above the bank in the greater part of its course, assist in for some conjecture as to what e in such case, be other than flat sandy plains or water The bank may even be a narrow barrier between an interior and the exterior sea, andformed an idea of this probability at the tireat difficulty and risk, I should certainly have atte upon some part of the coast, to ascertain a fact of so es they would have been seen by that searching officer from the ocean, but it is clear that none exists; for Mr Eyre in his intercourse with the natives, during his journey fro from them that led him to suppose that there were any hills in the interior, or indeed that an inland sea was to be found there; even the existence of one may reasonably be doubted, and it ht is, as Captain Flinders has conjectured, a low sandy country, for the south coast of the continent froain the direct centre of the continent there can be very little doubt as to the character of the country round it The spirit of enterprise alone will now ever lead any radual development of the character of the yet unexplored interior will alone put an end to doubts and theories on the subject The desert of Australia is not more extensive than the deserts in other parts of the world Its character constitutes its peculiarity, and that may lead to some satisfactory conclusion as to hoas fores which traverse it were thrown up I would repeat that I ament, and that I should be indebted to any one better acquainted with the nature of these things than I am to point out wherein I am in error

It remains for me, before I close this part of my work, to make a few observations on the natives e coiven so full and so accurate an account of the natives of the Murray and Darling that it is needless for me to repeat his observations I would only remark that I attribute our friendly intercourse with theained over them by his judicious conduct as Resident Protector at the Murray I fully concur with hiood that resulted from the establishment of a post on that river, for the express pur pose of putting a stop to the ression of the overlanders and natives upon each other I have received too many kindnesses at the hands of the natives not to be interested in their social welfare, and most fully approved the wise policy of Captain Grey, in sending Mr Eyre to a place where his exertions were so eminently successful

In another place I may be led to make some remarks on the condition of the natives of South Australia, but at present I have only to observe upon that of the natives of the distant interior hom no white man had ever before come in contact