Directing our course for Mount Augustus, we pushed on at a rapid pace
with the object of ascending it if possible before sundown; but after
riding twenty miles, we found it to be farther off than we anticipated,
and accordingly altered our course and encamped at a pool in the river
about three miles north-east of the mount, in latitude 24 degrees 20
minutes, and at an elevation of 1500 feet above the sea.
We here met with strong evidences of the cannibalism of the natives; at a
recently occupied encampment we found several of the bones of a
full-grown native that had been cooked, the teeth marks on the edges of a
bladebone bearing conclusive evidence as to the purpose to which it had
been applied; some of the ribs were lying by the huts with a portion of
the meat still on them.
Nearly the whole of the country passed over this day was an alluvial flat
extending on the south-west to the grassy range already described, while
to the north and east it extended for many miles, branching out into the
numerous valleys that drain the different ranges in that direction; the
grass and vegetation on these flats is not so rank as on that traversed
the previous day, but more even, and the soil better adapted for
agriculture; the amount of good land on this part of the Lyons River was
estimated at 150 square miles, while on the tributaries between Mount
Thompson and Mount Augustus I have no doubt that there is as much more.
Water at this time was plentiful in the numerous channels that intersect
the plain, their permanency being the only matter of doubt--our limited
acquaintance with the nature of the seasons in these latitudes does not
enable us to decide with any degree of certainty; the pools lower down
the river are unquestionably of a permanent character, but many of them
were already becoming brackish.
The quantity of game seen in this part of the country was also a
favourable indication. Turkeys, and a new variety of pigeon, having a
brown back and slate-coloured breast, on the wing resembling a tame
pigeon, congregate in flights sometimes of a thousand together; emus,
cockatoos, quail, and parakeets are also very numerous, particularly the
latter.
3rd June.
A gentle ascent of two and a half miles brought us to the foot of Mount
Augustus, where, leaving our horses in charge of Fairburn and Dugel, we
commenced the ascent up the only accessible point on this side of the
hill; it required two hours' heavy toil to bring us to the summit, the
barometer gradually falling until it only registered 26.10, which,
compared with the simultaneous observations kept at Champion Bay by Mr.
H. Gray, gives an elevation of 3,480 feet above the level of the sea; the
last 500 feet of the summit being clothed in thickets of melaleuca,
amongst which grew a nondescript variety of red gum-tree, the only new
thing observed in this locality. The air was fortunately very clear,
enabling us to take bearings to almost every remarkable summit within
eighty miles, and in two instances to hills more than a hundred miles
distant.
From this commanding position I was enabled to sketch in the courses of
the rivers for more than twenty miles, some of them probably taking their
rise from 60 to 100 miles still further to the eastward. To the
north-east the country continued to improve in appearance until the view
was intercepted by bold ranges of trap and granite--one of which bearing
north 32 degrees east magnetic, distant nearly 100 miles, having a sharp
volcanic outline, reared its summit above all the rest. To the south-east
the country was not quite so promising, the ridges presenting naked stony
outlines, upon which was only a little scanty grass or a few bushes; to
the south it was almost an uninterrupted plain, extending nearly as far
as the Murchison River, over which lay our homeward course. Descending
the mount, we encamped at a spring in some fine feed close at its foot.