Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete

C >> Charles Sturt >> Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete

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CHAPTER IV.

Embarkation of the party in the boats, and voyage down the Morumbidgee--
The skiff swamped by striking on a sunken tree--Recovery of boat and its
loading--Region of reeds--Dangers of the navigation--Contraction of the
channel--Reach the junction of a large river--Intercourse with the natives
on its banks--Character of the country below the junction of the rivers--
Descent of a dangerous rapid--Warlike demonstrations of a tribe of
natives--Unexpected deliverance from a conflict with them--Junction of
another river--Give the name of the "Murray" to the principal stream.

The camp was a scene of bustle and confusion long before day-light. The
men whom I had selected to accompany me were in high spirits, and so eager
to commence their labours that they had been unable to sleep, but busied
themselves from the earliest dawn in packing up their various articles of
clothing, &c. We were prevented from taking our departure so early as I
had intended, by rain that fell about six. At a little after seven,
however, the weather cleared up, the morning mists blew over our heads,
and the sun struck upon us with his usual fervour. As soon as the minor
things were stowed away, we bade adieu to Harris and his party; and
shortly after, embarked on the bosom of that stream along the banks of
which we had journeyed for so many miles

Notwithstanding that we only used two oars, our progress down the river
was rapid. Hopkinson had arranged the loads so well, that all the party
could sit at their ease, and Fraser was posted in the bow of the boat,
with gun in hand, to fire at any new bird or beast that we might surprise
in our silent progress. The little boat, which I shall henceforward call
the skiff, was fastened by a painter to our stern.

SUPPOSED JUNCTION OF LACHLAN.

As the reader will have collected from what has already fallen under his
notice, the country near the depot was extensively covered with reeds,
beyond which vast plains of polygonum stretched away. From the bed of the
river we could not observe the change that took place in it as we passed
along, so that we found it necessary to land, from time to time, for the
purpose of noting down its general appearance. At about fifteen miles from
the depot, we came upon a large creek-junction from the N.E., which I did
not doubt to be the one M'Leay and I had crossed on the 25th of December.
It was much larger than the creek of the Macquarie, and was capable of
holding a very great body of water, although evidently too small to
contain all that occasionally rushed from its source. I laid it down as
the supposed junction of the Lachlan, since I could not, against the
corroborating facts in my possession, doubt its originating in the marshes
of that river. Should this, eventually, prove to be the case, the similar
termination of the two streams traced by Mr. Oxley will be a singular
feature in the geography of the interior.

EMUS--NATIVE TOMB.

We were just about to land, to prepare our dinner, when two emus swam
across the river ahead of us. This was an additional inducement for us to
land, but we were unfortunately too slow, and the birds escaped us. We had
rushed in to the right bank, and found on ascending it, that the reeds
with which it had hitherto been lined, had partially ceased. A large
plain, similar to those over which we had wandered prior to our gaining
the flooded region, stretched away to a considerable distance behind us,
and was backed by cypresses and brush. The soil of the plain was a red
sandy loam, covered sparingly with salsolae and shrubs; thus indicating
that the country still preserved its barren character, and that it is the
same from north to south. Among the shrubs we found a tomb that appeared
to have been recently constructed. No mound had been raised over the body,
but an oval hollow shed occupied the centre of the burial place, that was
lined with reeds and bound together with strong net-work. Round this, the
usual walks were cut, and the recent traces of women's feet were visible
upon them, but we saw no natives, although, from the number and size of
the paths that led from the river, in various directions across the plain,
I was led to conclude, that, at certain seasons, it is hereabouts
numerously frequented. Fraser gathered some rushes similar to those used
by the natives of the Darling in the fabrication of their nets, and as
they had not before been observed, we judged them, of course, to be a sign
of our near approach to that river.

ASPECT OF COUNTRY AND RIVER.

As soon as we had taken a hasty dinner, we again embarked, and pursued our
journey. I had hoped, from the appearance of the country to the north of
us, although that to the south gave little indication of any change, that
we should soon clear the reeds; but at somewhat less than a mile they
closed in upon the river, and our frequent examination of the
neighbourhood on either side of it only tended to confirm the fact, that
we were passing through a country subject to great and extensive
inundation. We pulled up at half-past five, and could scarcely find space
enough to pitch our tents.

The Morumbidgee kept a decidedly westerly course during the day. Its
channel was not so tortuous as we expected to have found it, nor did it
offer any obstruction to the passage of the boats. Its banks kept a
general height of eight feet, five of which were of alluvial soil, and
both its depth and its current were considerable. We calculated having
proceeded from 28 to 30 miles, though, perhaps, not more than half that
distance in a direct line. No rain fell during the day, but we experienced
some heavy squalls from the E.S.E.

THE SKIFF STRIKES AND SINKS--LABOUR IN RECOVERING ARTICLES LOST.

The second day of our journey from the depot was marked by an accident
that had well nigh obliged us to abandon the further pursuit of the river,
by depriving us of part of our means of carrying it into effect. We had
proceeded, as usual, at an early hour in the morning, and not long after
we started, fell in with the blacks who had visited us last, and who were
now in much better humour than upon that occasion. As they had their women
with them, we pushed in to the bank, and distributed some presents, after
which we dropped quietly down the river. Its general depth had been such
as to offer few obstructions to our progress, but about an hour after we
left the natives, the skiff struck upon a sunken log, and immediately
filling, went down in about twelve feet of water, The length of the
painter prevented any strain upon the whale-boat, but the consequence of
so serious an accident at once flashed upon our minds. That we should
suffer considerably, we could not doubt, but our object was to get the
skiff up with the least possible delay, to prevent the fresh water from
mixing with the brine, in the casks of meat. Some short time, however,
necessarily elapsed before we could effect this, and when at last the
skiff was hauled ashore, we found that we were too late to prevent the
mischief that we had anticipated. All the things had been fastened in the
boat, but either from the shock, or the force of the current, one of the
pork casks, the head of the still, and the greater part of the carpenter's
tools, had been thrown out of her. As the success of the expedition might
probably depend upon the complete state of the still, I determined to use
every effort for its recovery: but I was truly at a loss how to find it;
for the waters of the river were extremely turbid. In this dilemma, the
blacks would have been of the most essential service, but they were far
behind us, so that we had to depend on our own exertions alone. I directed
the whale-boat to be moored over the place where the accident had
happened, and then used the oars on either side of her, to feel along the
bottom of the river, in hopes that by these means we should strike upon
the articles we had lost. However unlikely such a measure was to prove
successful, we recovered in the course of the afternoon, every thing but
the still-head, and a cask of paint. Whenever the oar struck against the
substance that appeared, by its sound or feel to belong to us, it was
immediately pushed into the sand, and the upper end of the oar being held
by two men, another descended by it to the bottom of the river, remaining
under water as long as he could, to ascertain what was immediately within
arm's length of him. This work was, as may be imagined, most laborious,
and the men at length became much exhausted. They would not, however, give
up the search for the still head, more especially after M'Leay, in diving,
had descended upon it. Had he, by ascertaining his position, left it to us
to heave it up, our labours would soon have ended; but, in his anxiety for
its recovery, he tried to bring it up, when finding it too heavy, he let
it go, and the current again swept it away.

At sunset we were obliged to relinquish our task, the men complaining of
violent head-aches, which the nature of the day increased. Thinking our
own efforts would be unavailing, I directed two of the men to go up the
river for the blacks, at day-light in the morning, and set the reeds on
fire to attract their notice. The day had been cloudy and sultry in the
afternoon, the clouds collecting in the N.E.: we heard the distant
thunder, and expected to have been deluged with rain. None, however,
fell, although we were anxious for moisture to change the oppressive state
of the atmosphere. The fire I had kindled raged behind us, and threw dense
columns of smoke into the sky, that cast over the landscape a shade of the
most dismal gloom. We were not in a humour to admire the picturesque, but
soon betook ourselves to rest, and after such a day of labour as that we
had undergone, I dispensed with the night guard.

PILFERING OF NATIVES.

In the morning we resumed our search for the still head, which Hopkinson
at length fortunately struck with his oar. It had been swept considerably
below the place at which M'Leay had dived, or we should most probably have
found it sooner. With its recovery, all our fatigues were at once
forgotten, and I ordered the breakfast to be got ready preparatory to our
reloading the skiff. Fraser and Mulholland, who had left the camp at
daylight, had not yet returned. I was sitting in the tent, when Macnamee
came to inform me that one of the frying-pans was missing, which had
been in use the evening previous, for that he himself had placed it on the
stump of a tree, and he therefore supposed a native dog had run away with
it. Soon after this, another loss was reported to me, and it was at last
discovered that an extensive robbery had been committed upon us during
the night, and that, in addition to the frying-pan, three cutlasses, and
five tomahawks, with the pea of the steelyards, had been carried away.
I was extremely surprised at this instance of daring in the natives, and
determined, if possible, to punish it. About ten, Fraser and Mulholland
returned with two blacks. Fraser told me he saw several natives on our
side of the river, as he was returning, to whom those who were with him
spoke, and I felt convinced from their manner and hesitation, that they
were aware of the trick that had been played upon us. However, as Fraser
had promised them a tomahawk to induce them to accompany him, I fulfilled
the promise.

CONTINUE OUR VOYAGE.

Leaving this unlucky spot, we made good about sixteen miles during the
afternoon. The river maintained its breadth and depth nor were the reeds
continuous upon its banks. We passed several plains that were considerably
elevated above the alluvial deposits, and the general appearance of the
country induced me strongly to hope that we should shortly get out of the
region of reeds, or the great flooded concavity on which we had fixed our
depot; but the sameness of vegetation, and the seemingly diminutive size
of the timber in the distance, argued against any change for the better
in the soil of the interior. Having taken the precaution of shortening the
painter of the skiff, we found less difficulty in steering her clear
of obstacles, and made rapid progress down the Morumbidgee during the
first cool and refreshing hours of the morning. The channel of the river
became somewhat less contracted, but still retained sufficient depth for
larger boats than ours, and preserved a general westerly course. Although
no decline of country was visible to the eye, the current in places ran
very strong. It is impossible for me to convey to the reader's mind an
idea of the nature of the country through which we passed. On this day the
favourable appearances, noticed yesterday, ceased almost as soon as we
embarked. On the 10th, reeds lined the banks of the river on both sides,
without any break, and waved like gloomy streamers over its turbid waters;
while the trees stood leafless and sapless in the midst of them. Wherever
we landed, the same view presented itself--a waving expanse of reeds, and
a country as flat as it is possible to imagine one. The eye could seldom
penetrate beyond three quarters of a mile, and the labour of walking
through the reeds was immense; but within our observation all was green
and cheerless. The morning had been extremely cold, with a thick haze at
E.S.E. About 2 p.m. it came on to rain heavily, so that we did not stir
after that hour.

CONTRACTION OF THE CHANNEL.

I had remarked that the Morumbidgee was not, from the depot downwards, so
broad or so fine a river as it certainly is at the foot of the mountain
ranges, where it gains the level country. The observations of the last two
days had impressed upon my mind an idea that it was rapidly falling off,
and I began to dread that it would finally terminate in one of those fatal
marshes in which the Macquarie and the Lachlan exhaust themselves. My hope
of a more favourable issue was considerably damped by the general
appearance of the surrounding country; and from the circumstance of our
not having as yet passed a single tributary. As we proceeded down the
river, its channel gradually contracted, and immense trees that had been
swept down it by floods, rendered the navigation dangerous and intricate.
Its waters became so turbid, that it was impossible to see objects in it,
notwithstanding the utmost diligence on the part of the men.

About noon, we fell in with a large tribe of natives, but had great
difficulty in bringing them to visit us. If they had HEARD of white men,
we were evidently the first they had ever SEEN. They approached us in the
most cautious manner, and were unable to subdue their fears as long as
they remained with us. Collectively, these people could not have amounted
to less than one hundred and twenty in number.

ANOTHER ACCIDENT.

As we pushed off from the bank, after having stayed with them about half
an hour, the whaleboat struck with such violence on a sunken log, that she
immediately leaked on her starboard side. Fortunately she was going slowly
at the time, or she would most probably have received some more serious
injury. One of the men was employed during the remainder of the afternoon
in bailing her out, and we stopped sooner than we should otherwise have
done, in order to ascertain the extent of damage, and to repair it. The
reeds terminated on both sides of the river some time before we pulled up,
and the country round the camp was more elevated than usual, and bore the
appearance of open forest pasture land, the timber upon it being a dwarf
species of box, and the soil a light tenacious earth.

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY AND OF THE RIVER.

About a mile below our encampment of the 12th, we at length came upon a
considerable creek-junction from the S.E. Below it, the river increased
both in breadth and depth; banks were lofty and perpendicular, and even
the lowest levels were but partially covered with reeds. We met with fewer
obstructions in consequence, and pursued our journey with restored
confidence. Towards evening a great change also took place in the aspect
of the country, which no longer bore general marks of inundation. The
level of the interior was broken by a small hill to the right of the
stream, but the view from its summit rather damped than encouraged my
hopes of any improvement. The country was covered with wood and brush, and
the line of the horizon was unbroken by the least swell. We were on an
apparently boundless flat, without any fixed point on which to direct our
movements, nor was there a single object for the eye to rest upon, beyond
the dark and gloomy wood that surrounded us on every side.

Soon after passing this hill, the whale-boat struck upon a line of sunken
rocks, but fortunately escaped without injury. Mulholland, who was
standing in the bow, was thrown out of her, head foremost, and got a good
soaking, but soon recovered himself. The composition of the rock was
iron-stone, and it is the first formation that occurs westward of the
dividing range. We noticed a few cypresses in the distance, but the
general timber was dwarf-box, or flooded-gum, and a few of the acacia
longa scattered at great distances. In verifying our position by some
lunars, we found ourselves in 142 degrees 46 minutes 30 seconds of east
long., and in lat. 35 degrees 25 minutes 15 seconds S. the mean variation
of the compass being 4 degrees 10 minutes E. it appearing that we were
decreasing the variation as we proceeded westward.

On the 13th, we passed the first running stream that joins the
Morumbidgee, in a course of more than 340 miles. It came from the S.E.,
and made a visible impression on the river at the junction, although in
tracing it up, it appeared to be insignificant in itself. The circumstance
of these tributaries all occurring on the left, evidenced the level nature
of the country to the north. In the afternoon, we passed a dry creek also
from the S.E. which must at times throw a vast supply of water into the
river, since for many miles below, the latter preserved a breadth of
200 feet, and averaged from 12 to 20 feet in depth, with banks of from
15 to 18 feet in height. Yet, notwithstanding its general equality of
depth, several rapids occurred, down which the boats were hurried with
great velocity. The body of water in the river continued undiminished,
notwithstanding its increased breadth of channel; for which reason I
should imagine that it is fed by springs, independently of other supplies.
Some few cypresses were again observed, and the character of the distant
country resembled, in every particular, that of the interior between the
Macquarie and the Darling. The general appearance of the Morumbidgee, from
the moment of our starting on the 13th, to a late hour in the afternoon,
had been such as to encourage my hopes of ultimate success in tracing it
down; but about three o'clock we came to one of those unaccountable and
mortifying changes which had already so frequently excited my
apprehension. Its channel again suddenly contracted, and became almost
blocked up with huge trees, that must have found their way into it down
the creeks or junctions we had lately passed. The rapidity of the current
increasing at the same time, rendered the navigation perplexing and
dangerous. We Passed reach after reach, presenting the same difficulties,
and were at length obliged to pull up at 5 p.m., having a scene of
confusion and danger before us that I did not dare to encounter with the
evening's light; for I had not only observed that the men's eye-sight
failed them as the sun descended, and that they mistook shadows for
objects under water, and VICE-VERSA, but the channel had become so narrow
that, although the banks were not of increased height, we were involved in
comparative darkness, under a close arch of trees, and a danger was hardly
seen ere we were hurried past it, almost without the possibility of
avoiding it. The reach at the head of which we stopped, was crowded with
the trunks of trees, the branches of which crossed each other in every
direction, nor could I hope, after a minute examination of the channel,
to succeed in taking the boats safely down so intricate a passage.

DANGEROUS NAVIGATION OF THE MORUMBIDGEE.

We rose in the morning with feelings of apprehension, and uncertainty;
and, indeed, with great doubts on our minds whether we were not thus early
destined to witness the wreck, and the defeat of the expedition. The men
got slowly and cautiously into the boat, and placed themselves so as to
leave no part of her undefended. Hopkinson stood at the bow, ready with
poles to turn her head from anything upon which she might be drifting.
Thus prepared, we allowed her to go with the stream. By extreme care and
attention on the part of the men we passed this formidable barrier.
Hopkinson in particular exerted himself, and more than once leapt from the
boat upon apparently rotten logs of wood, that I should not have judged
capable of bearing his weight, the more effectually to save the boat.
It might have been imagined that where such a quantity of timber had
accumulated, a clearer channel would have been found below, but such was
not the case. In every reach we had to encounter fresh difficulties. In
some places huge trees lay athwart the stream, under whose arched branches
we were obliged to pass; but, generally speaking, they had been carried,
roots foremost, by the current, and, therefore, presented so many points
to receive us, that, at the rate at which we were going, had we struck
full upon any one of them, it would have gone through and through the
boat. About noon we stopped to repair, or rather to take down the remains
of our awning, which had been torn away; and to breathe a moment from the
state of apprehension and anxiety in which our minds had been kept during
the morning. About one, we again started. The men looked anxiously out
ahead; for the singular change in the river had impressed on them an idea,
that we were approaching its termination, or near some adventure. On a
sudden, the river took a general southern direction, but, in its tortuous
course, swept round to every point of the compass with the greatest
irregularity. We were carried at a fearful rate down its gloomy and
contracted banks, and, in such a moment of excitement, had little time to
pay attention to the country through which we were passing. It was,
however, observed, that chalybeate-springs were numerous close to the
water's edge. At 3 p.m., Hopkinson called out that we were approaching
a junction, and in less than a minute afterwards, we were hurried into a
broad and noble river.

JUNCTION OF A LARGE RIVER--CHARACTER OF THE RIVER.

It is impossible for me to describe the effect of so instantaneous a
change of circumstances upon us. The boats were allowed to drift along at
pleasure, and such was the force with which we had been shot out of the
Morumbidgee, that we were carried nearly to the bank opposite its
embouchure, whilst we continued to gaze in silent astonishment on the
capacious channel we had entered; and when we looked for that by which we
had been led into it, we could hardly believe that the insignificant gap
that presented itself to us was, indeed, the termination of the beautiful
and noble stream, whose course we had thus successfully followed. I can
only compare the relief we experienced to that which the seaman feels on
weathering the rock upon which he expected his vessel would have
struck--to the calm which succeeds moments of feverish anxiety, when the
dread of danger is succeeded by the certainty of escape.

To myself personally, the discovery of this river was a circumstance of a
particularly gratifying nature, since it not only confirmed the justness
of my opinion as to the ultimate fate of the Morumbidgee, and bore me out
in the apparently rash and hasty step I had taken at the depot, but
assured me of ultimate success in the duty I had to perform. We had got on
the high road, as it were, either to the south coast, or to some
important outlet; and the appearance of the river itself was such as to
justify our most sanguine expectations. I could not doubt its being the
great channel of the streams from the S.E. angle of the island. Mr. Hume
had mentioned to me that he crossed three very considerable streams, when
employed with Mr. Hovell in 1823 in penetrating towards Port Phillips, to
which the names of the Goulburn, the Hume, and the Ovens, had been given;
and as I was 300 miles from the track these gentlemen had pursued, I
considered it more than probable that those rivers must already have
formed a junction above me, more especially when I reflected that the
convexity of the mountains to the S.E. would necessarily direct the waters
falling inwards from them to a common centre.

We entered the new river at right angles, and, as I have remarked, at the
point of junction the channel of the Morumbidgee had narrowed so as to
bear all the appearance of an ordinary creek. In breadth it did not exceed
fifty feet, and if, instead of having passed down it, I had been making my
way up the principal streams, I should little have dreamt that so dark and
gloomy an outlet concealed a river that would lead me to the haunts of
civilized man, and whose fountains rose amidst snow-clad mountains. Such,
however, is the characteristic of the streams falling to the westward of
the coast ranges. Descending into a low and level interior, and depending
on their immediate springs for existence, they fall off, as they increase
their distance from the base of the mountains in which they rise, and in
their lower branches give little results of the promise they had
previously made.

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