27th September.
At 7.0 a.m. set out on a north course; at 8.5, finding the thicket almost
impassable, I ascended a cypress-tree, where a most cheerless view met my
sight to the north, east, and west; not a break was visible--nothing but
thicket in all directions, with scarcely an undulation of any kind; the
view to the north-west was most extensive--nearly twenty miles of thicket
could be seen, with a surface as level as the sea. Not considering it
prudent to proceed onwards, the thicket being too dense to advance
without the greatest difficulty, the saddle-bags being almost torn to
pieces, and the horses quite worn out with continual exertions in
dragging their packs through the thickets, we were compelled to return to
the well passed yesterday morning. The country seen to the northwards was
of too flat and sandy a character to give any hope of finding water or
grass--and without these requisites, it would be incurring great risk of
losing the horses, and of course defeating the object of the expedition;
therefore, taking advantage of the partially cleared tracts of yesterday,
we reached the watering place at 4.30 p.m.
28th September.
This day we employed ourselves in repairing our pack-saddles, which it
was found necessary to restuff, as they had been padded with coarse
rushes; the saddle-bags had been torn to pieces, and the repairs of these
required more time than could be afforded in an evening's bivouac.
29th September.
Started at 8.35 a.m.; pursued a general course of 310 degrees, gradually
ascending the sandy downs on the north side of the valley for three
miles; it then turned to the north of west, and we again descended, and
found the bottom occupied by a narrow samphire flat, 50 to 100 yards
wide, over which the water runs during heavy rains, but it was now dry,
and in some parts covered with a thin crust of salt; 11.26 passed a
native well of slightly brackish water, amongst loose blocks of red
sandstone; a small well was passed at 11.50; the samphire flat then
changed to a small sandy channel, among large blocks of sandstone
belonging to the coal-formation: in one place the slate also cropped out.
Abundance of brackish water lay in small pools along the course of the
stream-bed, which at 1.0 p.m. changed its direction nearly west; we
followed it through a scrubby valley, with high hills on both sides, till
4.45, when we bivouacked just below the junction of a small gully from
the northwards, with a very remarkable sandstone hill about
three-quarters of a mile south; below this spot the valley trended to the
south-west, and was bounded on the north-west by flat-tapped sandstone
hills.
30th September.
Not being more than ten to fifteen miles from the sea, I steered north
330 degrees east magnetic. Starting at 8.5, and having ascended the high
land, passed through a thick line of wattles and dwarf gum, growing on
the eastern face of the limestone range, which forms the high barren
range along this part of the coast. The country was covered with thick
scrub, and some patches of gum and wattle thicket; about noon it was more
open, and ascending an elevated sandy ridge, saw apparently a high range
of hills extending north-north-west as far as Shark Bay, and terminated
by a very abrupt and detached hill; but the excessive refraction caused
by the heated and nearly level plain which intervened more than doubled
their real height. We descended gradually over a succession of sandy
hills or ridges till 2.0 p.m., when the lowest part of the plain was
reached; we found it occupied by a small patch of spear-wood; the soil
was hard dry clay, but on proceeding a little farther we found a patch of
moist ground, encircled by a ridge of sand; at one foot deep we found
water, but in such small quantity that we could only obtain sufficient
for ourselves, and should have had to wait at least two hours to have
given each horse only one gallon. Proceeding onwards, in hope of finding
a more plentiful supply, we found the country became drier and full of
circular hollows, filled with fine clumps of green wattle and a little
grass; in one of these we bivouacked at 5.0, and dug six feet for water
in red sand, but without any appearance of obtaining it even at double
that depth.