A lagoon5 is a shallow lake, it generally constitutes the back water of some river, and is speedily dried up. In Australia, there is no surface water, properly so called, of a permanent description.
But, although I am making these general observations on the rivers, and to a certain extent of climate of Australia, I would not be understood to mean more than that its seasons are uncertain, and that its summers are of comparatively long duration.
In reference to its rivers also, the Murray is an exception to the other known rivers of this extensive continent. The basins of that fine stream are in the deepest recesses6 of the Australian Alps — which rise to an elevation7 of 7000 feet above the sea. The heads of its immediate8 tributaries9, extend from the 36th to the 32nd parallel of latitude10, and over two degrees of longitude11, that is to say, from the 146 degrees to the 148 degrees meridian12, but, independently of these, it receives the whole westerly drainage of the interior, from the Darling downwards13. Supplied by the melting snows from the remote and cloud-capped chain in which its tributaries rise, the Murray supports a rapid current to the sea. Taking its windings14 into account, its length cannot be less than from 1300 to 1500 miles. Thus, then, this noble stream preserves its character throughout its whole line. Uninfluenced by the sudden floods to which the other rivers of which we have been speaking are subject, its rise and fall are equally gradual. Instead of stopping short in its course as they do, its never-failing fountains have given it strength to cleave15 a channel through the desert interior, and so it happened, that, instead of finding it terminate in a stagnant16 marsh17, or gradually exhausting itself over extensive plains as the more northern streams do, I was successfully borne on its broad and transparent18 waters, during the progress of a former expedition, to the centre of the land in which I have since erected19 my dwelling20.
As I have had occasion to remark, the rise and fall of the Murray are both gradual. It receives the first addition to its waters from the eastward21, in the month of July, and rises at the rate of an inch a day until December, in which month it attains22 a height of about seventeen feet above its lowest or winter level. As it rises it fills in succession all its lateral23 creeks24 and lagoons25, and it ultimately lays many of its flats under water.
The natives look to this periodical overflow26 of their river, with as much anxiety as did ever or now do the Egyptians, to the overflowing27 of the Nile. To both they are the bountiful dispensation of a beneficent Creator, for as the sacred stream rewards the husbandman with a double harvest, so does the Murray replenish28 the exhausted29 reservoirs of the poor children of the desert, with numberless fish, and resuscitates30 myriads31 of crayfish that had laid dormant32 underground; without which supply of food, and the flocks of wild fowl33 that at the same time cover the creeks and lagoons, it is more than probable, the first navigators of the Murray would not have heard a human voice along its banks; but so it is, that in the wide field of nature, we see the hand of an over-ruling Providence34, evidences of care and protection from some unseen quarter, which strike the mind with overwhelming conviction, that whether in the palace or in the cottage, in the garden, or in the desert, there is an eye upon us. Not to myself do I accord any credit in that I returned from my wanderings to my home. Assuredly, if it had not been for other guidance than the exercise of my own prudence35, I should have perished: and I feel satisfied the reader of these humble36 pages, will think as I do when he shall have perused37 them.
An inspection38 of the accompanying chart, will shew that the course of the Murray, as far as the 138 degrees meridian is to the W.N.W., but that, at that point, it turns suddenly to the south, and discharges itself into Lake Victoria, which again communicates with the ocean, in the bight of Encounter Bay. This outlet39 is called the “Sea mouth of the Murray,” and immediately to the eastward of it, is the Sand Hill, now called Barker’s Knoll40 — under which the excellent and amiable41 officer after whom it is named fell by the hands of the natives, in the cause of geographical42 research.
Running parallel with its course from the southerly bend, or great N.W. angle of the Murray, there is a line of hills, terminating southwards, at Cape43 Jarvis; but, extending northwards beyond the head of Spencer’s Gulf45. These hills contain the mineral wealth of South Australia, and immediately to the westward46 of them is the fair city of Adelaide.
On gaining the level interior, the Murray passes through a desert country to the 140 degrees meridian, when it enters the great fossil formation, of which I shall have to speak hereafter. In lat. 34 degrees, and in long. 142 degrees, the Darling forms a junction47 with it; consequently, as that river rises in latitude 27 degrees, and in long. 152 degrees, its direct course will be about S.W. There is a distance of nine degrees of latitude, therefore, between their respective sources, and, as the Darling forms a considerable angle with the Murray at this junction, it necessarily follows, as I have had occasion to remark, that the two rivers must receive all the drainage from the eastward, falling into that angle. If I have been sufficiently48 clear in explaining the geographical position and character of these two rivers, which in truth almost make an island of the S.E. angle of the Australian continent, it will only remain for me to add in this place, that neither the Murray nor the Darling receive any tributary49 stream from the westward or northward44, and at the time at which I commenced my last enterprise, the Darling was the boundary of inland discovery, if I except the journey of my gallant50 friend Eyre, to Lake Torrens, and the discovery by him of the country round Mount Serle. Sir Thomas Mitchell had traced the Darling, from the point at which I had been obliged from the want of good water to abandon it, in 1828, to lat. 32 degrees 26 minutes, and had marked down some hills to the westward of it. Still I do not think that I detract from his merit, and I am sure I do not wish to do so, when I say that his having so marked them can hardly be said to have given us any certain knowledge of the Cis-Darling interior.
More than sixteen years had elapsed from the period when I undertook the exploration of the Murray River, to that at which I commenced my preparations for an attempt to penetrate51 Central Australia. Desolate52, however, as the country for the most part had been, through which I passed, my voyage down that river had been the forerunner53 of events I could neither have anticipated or foreseen. I returned indeed to Sydney, disheartened and dissatisfied at the result of my investigations54. To all who were employed in that laborious55 undertaking56, it had proved one of the severest trial and of the greatest privation; to myself individually it had been one of ceaseless anxiety. We had not, as it seemed, made any discovery to gild57 our enterprise, had found no approximate country likely to be of present or remote advantage to the Government by which we had been sent forth58; the noble river on whose buoyant waters we were hurried along, seemed to have been misplaced, through such an extent of desert did it pass, as if it was destined59 thus never to be of service to civilized60 man, and for a short time the honour of a successful undertaking, as far as human exertion61 could ensure it, was all that remained to us after its fatigues62 and its dangers had terminated, as the reader will conclude from the tenour of the above passage; for, although at the termination of the Murray, we came upon a country, the aspect of which indicated more than usual richness and fertility, we were unable, from exhausted strength, to examine it as we could have wished, and thus the fruits of our labours appeared to have been taken from us, just as we were about to gather them. But if, amidst difficulties and disappointments of no common description, I was led to doubt the wisdom of Providence, I was wrong. The course of events has abundantly shewn how presumptuous63 it is in man to question the arrangements of that Allwise Power whose operations and purposes are equally hidden from us, for in six short years from the time when I crossed the Lake Victoria, and landed on its shores, that country formed another link in the chain of settlements round the Australian continent, and in its occupation was found to realize the most sanguine64 expectations I had formed of it. Its rich and lovely valleys, which in a state of nature were seldom trodden by the foot of the savage65, became the happy retreats of an industrious66 peasantry; its plains were studded over with cottages and corn-fields; the very river which had appeared to me to have been so misplaced, was made the high road to connect the eastern and southern shores of a mighty67 continent; the superfluous68 stock of an old colony was poured down its banks into the new settlement to save it from the trials and vicissitudes69 to which colonies, less favourably70 situated71, have been exposed; and England, throughout her wide domains72, possessed73 not, for its extent, a fairer or a more promising74 dependency than the province of South Australia. Such, there can be no doubt, have been the results of an expedition from which human foresight75 could have anticipated no practical good.
During my progress down the Murray River I had passed the junction of a very considerable stream with it3, in lat. 34 degrees 8 minutes and long. 142 degrees. Circumstances, however, prevented my examining it to any distance above its point of union with the main river. Yet, coming as it did, direct from the north, and similar as it was to the Darling in its upper branches, neither had I, nor any of the men then with me, and who had accompanied me when I discovered the Darling in 1828, the slightest doubt as to its identity. Still, the fact might reasonably be disputed by others, more especially as there was abundant space for the formation of another river, between the point where I first struck the Darling and this junction.
点击收听单词发音
1 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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2 torrents | |
n.倾注;奔流( torrent的名词复数 );急流;爆发;连续不断 | |
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3 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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4 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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5 lagoon | |
n.泻湖,咸水湖 | |
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6 recesses | |
n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 );(工作或业务活动的)中止或暂停期间;学校的课间休息;某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 );将(墙)做成凹形,在(墙)上做壁龛;休息,休会,休庭 | |
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7 elevation | |
n.高度;海拔;高地;上升;提高 | |
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8 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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9 tributaries | |
n. 支流 | |
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10 latitude | |
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区 | |
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11 longitude | |
n.经线,经度 | |
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12 meridian | |
adj.子午线的;全盛期的 | |
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13 downwards | |
adj./adv.向下的(地),下行的(地) | |
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14 windings | |
(道路、河流等)蜿蜒的,弯曲的( winding的名词复数 ); 缠绕( wind的现在分词 ); 卷绕; 转动(把手) | |
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15 cleave | |
v.(clave;cleaved)粘着,粘住;坚持;依恋 | |
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16 stagnant | |
adj.不流动的,停滞的,不景气的 | |
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17 marsh | |
n.沼泽,湿地 | |
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18 transparent | |
adj.明显的,无疑的;透明的 | |
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19 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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20 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
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21 eastward | |
adv.向东;adj.向东的;n.东方,东部 | |
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22 attains | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的第三人称单数 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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23 lateral | |
adj.侧面的,旁边的 | |
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24 creeks | |
n.小湾( creek的名词复数 );小港;小河;小溪 | |
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25 lagoons | |
n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 );潟湖;(大湖或江河附近的)小而浅的淡水湖;温泉形成的池塘 | |
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26 overflow | |
v.(使)外溢,(使)溢出;溢出,流出,漫出 | |
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27 overflowing | |
n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的,充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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28 replenish | |
vt.补充;(把…)装满;(再)填满 | |
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29 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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30 resuscitates | |
v.使(某人或某物)恢复知觉,苏醒( resuscitate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31 myriads | |
n.无数,极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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32 dormant | |
adj.暂停活动的;休眠的;潜伏的 | |
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33 fowl | |
n.家禽,鸡,禽肉 | |
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34 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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35 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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36 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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37 perused | |
v.读(某篇文字)( peruse的过去式和过去分词 );(尤指)细阅;审阅;匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览(某篇文字) | |
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38 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
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39 outlet | |
n.出口/路;销路;批发商店;通风口;发泄 | |
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40 knoll | |
n.小山,小丘 | |
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41 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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42 geographical | |
adj.地理的;地区(性)的 | |
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43 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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44 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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45 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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46 westward | |
n.西方,西部;adj.西方的,向西的;adv.向西 | |
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47 junction | |
n.连接,接合;交叉点,接合处,枢纽站 | |
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48 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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49 tributary | |
n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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50 gallant | |
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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51 penetrate | |
v.透(渗)入;刺入,刺穿;洞察,了解 | |
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52 desolate | |
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂 | |
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53 forerunner | |
n.前身,先驱(者),预兆,祖先 | |
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54 investigations | |
(正式的)调查( investigation的名词复数 ); 侦查; 科学研究; 学术研究 | |
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55 laborious | |
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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56 undertaking | |
n.保证,许诺,事业 | |
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57 gild | |
vt.给…镀金,把…漆成金色,使呈金色 | |
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58 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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59 destined | |
adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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60 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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61 exertion | |
n.尽力,努力 | |
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62 fatigues | |
n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 );杂役;厌倦;(士兵穿的)工作服 | |
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63 presumptuous | |
adj.胆大妄为的,放肆的,冒昧的,冒失的 | |
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64 sanguine | |
adj.充满希望的,乐观的,血红色的 | |
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65 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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66 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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67 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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68 superfluous | |
adj.过多的,过剩的,多余的 | |
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69 vicissitudes | |
n.变迁,世事变化;变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 );盛衰兴废 | |
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70 favourably | |
adv. 善意地,赞成地 =favorably | |
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71 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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72 domains | |
n.范围( domain的名词复数 );领域;版图;地产 | |
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73 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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74 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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75 foresight | |
n.先见之明,深谋远虑 | |
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