We had directed Kenny, the policeman, and Tampawang, to bivouac in the valley in which we ourselves intended to sleep, but we saw nothing of them on our arrival there. The night was bitter cold, insomuch that we could hardly keep ourselves warm, notwithstanding that we laid under shelter of a blazing log. As dawn broke upon us, we prepared for our departure, being anxious to escape from the misty1 valley to the clearer atmosphere on the higher ground. At eight a.m. we passed the Great Bend of the Murray, and I once more found myself riding over ground every inch of which was familiar to me, since not only on my several journeys down and up the river had I particularly noticed this spot, but I had visited it in 1840 with Colonel Gawler, the then Governor of South Australia; who, finding that he required relaxation2 from his duties, invited me to accompany him on an excursion he proposed taking to the eastward3 of the Mount Lofty Range, for the purpose of examining the country along the shores of Lake Victoria and the River Murray, as far as the Great Bend. It was a part of the province at that time but little known save by the overlanders, and the Governor thought that by personally ascertaining4 the capabilities5 of the country contiguous to the Murray, he might throw open certain parts of it for location. Being at that time Surveyor-General of the Province, I was glad of such an opportunity to extend my own knowledge of the province to the north and northeast of Adelaide, more especially as this journey gave me an opportunity to cross from the river to the hills westward6 of the Great Bend. Not only was the land on the Murray soon afterwards occupied to that point, but Colonel Gawler and I also visited the more distant country on that occasion. Since my return, indeed, from my recent labours, the line of the Murray is occupied to within a short distance of the remoter stations of the colony of New South Wales, and there can be no doubt but that in the course of a few years the stock stations from the respective colonies will meet. I was afraid, when I came the second time down the Murray, that I had exaggerated the number of acres in the valley, but on further examination, it appears to me that I did not do so; for as the traveller approaches Lake Victoria the flats are very extensive, but more liable to inundation7 than those on the higher points of the river, for being so little elevated above the level of the water, especially those covered with reeds, the smallest rise in the stream affects them. Lake Victoria, although it looks like a clear and open sea, as you look from the point of Pomundi, which projects into it to the south, is after all exceedingly shallow, and is rapidly filling up from the decay of seaweed and the deposits brought into it yearly by the floods of the Murray. No doubt but that future generations will see that fine sheet of water confined to a comparatively narrow bed, and pursuing its course through a rich and extensive plain. When such shall be the case, and that the strength of the Murray shall be brought to bear in one point only, it is probable its sea mouth will be navigable, and that the scenery on this river will be enlivened by the white sails of vessels8 on its ample bosom9. I can fancy that nothing would be more beautiful than the prospect10 of vessels, however small they might be, coming with swelling11 sails along its reaches. It may, however, be said, that it will be a distant day when such things shall be realized. There is both reason and truth in the remark; but Time, with his silent work, has already raised the flats in the valley of the Murray, and as we are now benefiting by his labours, so it is to be hoped will our posterity12. However that may be, for it is a matter only of curious speculation13, nothing will stay the progress of improvement in a colony which has received such an impulse as the province of South Australia. As men retain their peculiarities14, so, I believe, do communities; and where a desirable object is to be gained, I shall be mistaken if it is lost from a want of spirit in that colony. Purposing, however, to devote a few pages to the more particular notice of the state of South Australia, and the prospects15 it holds out to those who may desire to seek in other lands more comforts and a better fortune than they could command in their native country, I shall not here make any further observation.
The morning, which had been so cold, gradually became more genial16 as the sun rose above us, and both Mr. Eyre and myself forgot that we had so lately been shivering, under the influence of the more agreeable temperature which then prevailed.
As we turned the Great Bend of the Murray, and pursued an easterly course, we rode along the base of some low hills of tertiary fossil formation, the summits of which form the table land of the interior. We were on an upper flat, and consequently considerably17 above the level of the water as it then was. In riding along, Tenbury pointed18 out a line of rubbish and sticks, such as is left to mark the line of any inundation, and he told us, that, when he was a boy, he recollected19 the floods having risen so high in the valley as to wash the foot of these hills. He stated, that there had been no previous warning; that the weather was beautifully fine, and that no rain had fallen; and he added that the natives were ignorant whence the water came, but that it came from a long way off. According to Tenbury’s account, the river must have been fully20 five and twenty feet higher than it usually rises; and judging from his age, this occurrence might have taken place some twenty years before. As we proceed up the Darling, we shall see a clue to this phenomenon. But why, it may be asked, do not such floods more frequently occur? Is it that the climate is drier than it once was, and that the rains are less frequent? There are vestiges21 of floods over every part of the continent; but the decay of debris22 and other rubbish is so slow, that one cannot safely calculate how long it may have been deposited where they are so universally to be found.
After passing the Great Bend, as I have already stated, we turned to the eastward and overtook Mr. Poole at noon, not more than eight miles distant. Some of the bullocks had strayed, and he had consequently been prevented from starting so early as he would otherwise have done. The animals had, however, been recovered before we reached the party, and were yoked24 up; we pushed on therefore to a distance of nine miles, cutting across from angle to angle of the river, but ultimately turned into one of the flats and encamped for the night. We passed during the day through some low bushes of cypresses25 and other stunted27 shrubs28, but they were not so thick as to impede29 our heavy drays, by the weight of which every tree they came in contact with was brought to the ground. A meridian30 altitude of Vega placed us in lat. 34 degrees 4 minutes 20 seconds S., by which it appeared that we had made four miles of southing, the Great Bend being in lat. 34 degrees. Kenny and Tampawang had joined the party before we overtook it, and Flood arrived in the course of the afternoon. The cattle had an abundance of feed round our tents, and near a lagoon31 at the upper end of the flat. The thermometer stood at 40 degrees at 7 p.m., with the wind at west.
On the morning of the 26th we availed ourselves of the first favourable32 point to ascend33 from the river flats to the higher ground, since it prevented our following the windings34 of the river and shortened our day’s journey. In doing this we sometimes travelled at a considerable distance from the Murray — the surface of the country was undulating and sandy, with clumps35 of stunted cypress26 trees, and eucalyptus36 dumosa scattered37 over it. Low bushes of rhagodia, at great distances apart, were growing on the more open ground; the soil, consisting of a red clay and sand, only superficially covering the fossil formation beneath it. At 11 a.m. we entered a dense38 brush of cypress and eucalypti39 growing in pure sand. Fortunately for us the overlanders had cut a passage through it, so that we had a clear road before us, but the drays sunk deep into the loose sand in which these trees were growing, and the bullocks had a constant strain on the yoke23 for six miles. We then broke into more open ground, and ultimately reached the river in sufficient time to arrange the camp before sunset, although we had 2 1/2 miles to travel on a S.W. course before we found a convenient place to stop at. Our course during the day having been S.S.E., we had thus been obliged to turn back upon it, but this was owing to the direction the river here takes and was unavoidable. At 6 p.m. the thermometer stood at 55 degrees of Farenheit, the barometer40 at 30.000, and the boiling point of water by two thermometers with a difference of 2 degrees 212 minutes and 214 minutes, respectively, our distance from the sea coast being about 120 {180 in published text} miles as the crow flies.
It was generally thought in Adelaide that having started so late in the season, I should experience some difficulty in getting feed for the cattle. From my experience, however, of the seasons in the low region through which the Murray flows, I had no such anticipation41. The only fear I had, was, that we should be shut out from flats of the river by the floods, as I knew it would be on the rise at the time we should be upon it. To this point, however (and I may add, with few exceptions), we found an abundance of feed, both along the line of the Murray and the Darling, but at our present encampment our animals fared very indifferently, in consequence of the poor nature of the soil. Our tents were pitched at the northern extremity42 of a long flat, between the river and a serpentine43 lagoon, which left but a narrow embankment between itself and the stream. The soil of the flat was a cold white clay, on which there was scarcely any vegetation, so that the cattle wandered and kept us about an hour after our appointed hour of starting. There had been a sharp frost during the night, and the morning was bitterly cold. At sunrise the thermometer stood at 29 degrees, the dew point being 43 degrees, and the barometer at 29.700.
When we left this place, our course, for the first three miles, was along the embankment separating the river from the lagoon, and I remarked that although there was so little vegetation on the ground, there were some magnificent trees on the bank of the river itself, which gradually came up to the north-east. At three miles, however, our further course along the flats was checked by the hills of fossil formation, which approached the river so closely as to leave no passage for the drays between it and them. We were, therefore, obliged to ascend to the upper levels, in doing so we were also obliged to put two teams, or sixteen bullocks, to each dray, and even then found it difficult to master the ascent44.
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1
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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2
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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3
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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4
ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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5
capabilities
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| n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力 | |
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6
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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7
inundation
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| n.the act or fact of overflowing | |
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8
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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9
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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10
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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11
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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12
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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13
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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14
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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15
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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16
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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17
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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18
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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19
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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21
vestiges
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| 残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不 | |
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22
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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23
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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24
yoked
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| 结合（yoke的过去式形式） | |
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25
cypresses
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| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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26
cypress
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| n.柏树 | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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28
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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29
impede
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止 | |
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30
meridian
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| adj.子午线的；全盛期的 | |
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31
lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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32
favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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33
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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34
windings
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| （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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35
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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36
eucalyptus
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| n.桉树，桉属植物 | |
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37
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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38
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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39
eucalypti
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| n.桉树 | |
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40
barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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41
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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42
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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43
serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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44
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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