Leave for Mount Olga.
Change of scene.
Desert oak-trees.
The Mann range.
Fraser's Wells.
Mount Olga's foot.
Gosse's expedition.
Marvellous mountain.
Running water.
Black and gold butterflies.
Rocky bath.
Ayers' Rock.
Appearance of Mount Olga.
Irritans camp.
Sugar-loaf Hill.
Collect plants.
Peaches.
A patch of better country.
A new creek and glen.
Heat and cold.
A pellucid pond.
Zoe's Glen.
Christy Bagot's Creek.
Stewed ducks.
A lake.
Hector's Springs and Pass.
Lake Wilson.
Stevenson's Creek.
Milk thistles.
Beautiful amphitheatre.
A carpet of verdure.
Green swamp.
Smell of camels.
How I found Livingstone.
Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit.
Cotton and salt bush flats.
The Champ de Mars.
Sheets of water.
Peculiar tree.
Pleasing scene.
Harriet's Springs.
Water in grass.
Ants and burrs.
Mount Aloysius.
Across the border.
The Bell Rock.
We left this pretty glen with its purling stream and reedy bed, and
entered very shortly upon an entirely different country, covered with
porcupine grass. We went north-west to some ridges at seventeen miles,
where there was excellent vegetation, but no water. I noticed to-day
for the first time upon this expedition some of the desert oak trees
(Casuarina Decaisneana). Nine miles farther we reached a round hill,
from which Mount Olga bore north. We were still a considerable
distance away, and as I did not know of any water existing at Mount
Olga, I was anxious to find some, for the horses had none where we
encamped last night. From this hill I could also see that the Musgrave
chain still ran on to the west; though broken and parted in masses, it
rose again into high mounts and points. This continuation is called
the Mann Range. Near the foot of the round hill I saw a small flat
piece of rock, barely perceptible among the grass; on it was an old
native fireplace and a few dead sticks. On inspection there proved to
be two fine little holes or basins in the solid rock, with ample water
for all my horses. Scrub and triodia existed in the neighbourhood, and
the feed was very poor. These were called Fraser's Wells. Mount Olga
was still fifty miles away. We now pushed on for it over some stony
and some scrubby country, and had to camp without water and with
wretched feed for the horses. Casuarina trees were often passed. We
generally managed to get away early from a bad camp, and by the middle
of the next day we arrived at the foot of Mount Olga. Here I perceived
the marks of a wagon and horses, and camel tracks; these I knew at
once to be those of Gosse's expedition. Gosse had come down south
through the regions, and to the watering places which I discovered in
my former journey. He had evidently gone south to the Mann range, and
I expected soon to overtake him. I had now travelled four hundred
miles to reach this mount, which, when I first saw it, was only
seventy-five or eighty miles distant.
The appearance of this mountain is marvellous in the extreme, and
baffles an accurate description. I shall refer to it again, and may
remark here that it is formed of several vast and solid, huge, and
rounded blocks of bare red conglomerate stones, being composed of
untold masses of rounded stones of all kinds and sizes, mixed like
plums in a pudding, and set in vast and rounded shapes upon the
ground. Water was running from the base, down a stony channel, filling
several rocky basins. The water disappeared in the sandy bed of the
creek, where the solid rock ended. We saw several quandongs, or native
peach-trees, and some native poplars on our march to-day. I made an
attempt to climb a portion of this singular mound, but the sides were
too perpendicular; I could only get up about 800 or 900 feet, on the
front or lesser mound; but without kites and ropes, or projectiles, or
wings, or balloons, the main summit is unscaleable. The quandong fruit
here was splendid--we dried a quantity in the sun. Some very beautiful
black and gold, butterflies, with very large wings, were seen here and
collected. The thermometer to-day was 95 degrees in the shade. We
enjoyed a most luxurious bath in the rocky basins. We moved the camp
to softer ground, where there was a well-grassed flat a mile and a
half away. To the east was a high and solitary mound, mentioned in my
first journal as ranges to the east of Mount Olga, and apparently
lying north and south; this is called Ayers' Rock; I shall have to
speak of it farther on. To the west-south-west were some pointed
ridges, with the long extent of the Mann Ranges lying east and west,
far beyond them to the south.
The appearance of Mount Olga from this camp is truly wonderful; it
displayed to our astonished eyes rounded minarets, giant cupolas, and
monstrous domes. There they have stood as huge memorials of the
ancient times of earth, for ages, countless eons of ages, since its
creation first had birth. The rocks are smoothed with the attrition of
the alchemy of years. Time, the old, the dim magician, has
ineffectually laboured here, although with all the powers of ocean at
his command; Mount Olga has remained as it was born; doubtless by the
agency of submarine commotion of former days, beyond even the epoch of
far-back history's phantom dream. From this encampment I can only
liken Mount Olga to several enormous rotund or rather elliptical
shapes of rouge mange, which had been placed beside one another by
some extraordinary freak or convulsion of Nature. I found two other
running brooks, one on the west and one on the north side. My first
encampment was on the south. The position of this extraordinary
feature is in latitude 25 degrees 20' and longitude 130 degrees 57'.
Leaving the mountain, we next traversed a region of sandy soil, rising
into sandhills, with patches of level ground between. There were
casuarinas and triodia in profusion--two different kinds of vegetation
which appear to thoroughly enjoy one another's company. We went to the
hills south south-westerly, and had a waterless camp in the porcupine,
triodia, spinifex, Festuca irritans, and everything-else-abominable,
grass; 95 degrees in shade. At about thirty-two miles from Mount Olga
we came to the foot of the hills, and I found a small supply of water
by digging; but at daylight next morning there was not sufficient for
half the horses, so I rode away to look for more; this I found in a
channel coming from a sugar-loaf or high-peaked hill. It was a
terribly rough and rocky place, and it was too late to get the animals
up to the ledges where the water was, and they had to wait till next
day.
From here I decided to steer for a notch in the Mann Range, nearly
south-west. The country consisted chiefly of sandhills, with casuarina
and flats with triodia. We could get no water by night. I collected a
great quantity of various plants and flowers along all the way I had
come in fact, but just about Mount Olga I fancied I had discovered
several new species. To-day we passed through some mallee, and
gathered quandongs or native peach, which, with sugar, makes excellent
jam; we also saw currajongs and native poplars. We now turned to some
ridges a few miles nearer than the main range, and dug a tank, for the
horses badly wanted water. A very small quantity drained in, and the
animals had to go a second night unwatered. It was now the 22nd of
September, and I had hoped to have some rain at the equinox, but none
had yet fallen. The last two days have been very warm and oppressive.
The country round these ridges was very good, and plenty of the little
purple vetch grew here. The tank in the morning was quite full; it
however watered only seventeen horses, but by twelve o'clock all were
satisfied, and we left the tank for the benefit of those whom it might
concern.
(ILLUSTRATION: ZOE'S GLEN.)
We were steering for an enticing-looking glen between two high hills
about south-south-west. We passed over sandhills, through scrubs, and
eventually on to open ground. At two or three miles from the new range
we crossed a kind of dry swamp or water flat, being the end of a gum
creek. A creek was seen to issue from the glen as we approached, and
at twelve miles from our last camp we came upon running water in the
three channels which existed. The day was warm, 94 degrees. The water
was slightly brackish. Heat and cold are evidently relative
perceptions, for this morning, although the thermometer stood at 58
degrees, I felt the atmosphere exceedingly cold. We took a walk up the
glen whence the creek flows, and on to some hills which environ it.
The water was rushing rapidly down the glen; we found several fine
rock-basins--one in particular was nine or ten feet deep, the pellucid
element descending into it from a small cascade of the rocks above;
this was the largest sheet of water per se I had yet discovered upon
this expedition. It formed a most picturesque and delightful bath, and
as we plunged into its transparent depths we revelled, as it were, in
an almost newly discovered element. I called this charming spot Zoe's
Glen. In our wanderings up the glen we had found books in the running
brooks, and sermons in stones. The latitude of this pretty little
retreat was 25 degrees 59'. I rode a mile or two to the east to
inspect another creek; its bed was larger than ours, and water was
running down its channel. I called it Christy Bagot's Creek. I flushed
up a lot of ducks, but had no gun. On my return Gibson and Jimmy took
the guns, and walked over on a shooting excursion; only three ducks
were shot; of these we made an excellent stew. A strong gale of warm
wind blew from the south all night. Leaving Zoe's Glen, we travelled
along the foot of the range to the south of us; at six or seven miles
I observed a kind of valley dividing this range running south, and
turned down into it. It was at first scrubby, then opened out. At four
miles Mr. Tietkens and I mounted a rocky rise, and he, being ahead,
first saw and informed me that there was a lake below us, two or three
miles away. I was very much gratified to see it, and we immediately
proceeded towards it. The valley or pass had now become somewhat
choked with low pine-clad stony hills, and we next came upon a running
creek with some fine little sheets of water; it meandered round the
piny hills and exhausted itself upon the bosom of the lake. I called
these the Hector Springs and Hector Pass after Hector Wilson*. On
arrival at the lake I found its waters were slightly brackish; there
was no timber on its shores; it lay close under the foot of the
mountains, having their rocky slopes for its northern bank. The
opposite shore was sandy; numerous ducks and other water-fowl were
floating on its breast. Several springs from the ranges ran into its
northern shore, and on its eastern side a large creek ran in, though
its timber did not grow all the way. The water was now eight or nine
miles round; it was of an oblong form, whose greatest length is east
and west. When quite full this basin must be at least twenty miles in
circumference; I named this fine sheet of water Lake Wilson*. The
position of this lake I made out to be in longitude 129 degrees 52'. A
disagreeable warm wind blew all day.
The morning was oppressive, the warm south wind still blowing. We left
Lake Wilson, named after Sir Samuel, who was the largest contributor
to this expedition fund, in its wildness, its loneliness, and its
beauty, at the foot of its native mountains, and went away to some low
hills south-south-west, where in nine miles we got some water in a
channel I called Stevenson's* Creek. In a few miles further we found
ourselves in a kind of glen where water bubbled up from the ground
below. The channel had become filled with reeds, and great quantities
of enormous milk or sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceous). Some of the
horses got bogged in this ravine, which caused considerable delay.
Eventually it brought us out into a most beautiful amphitheatre, into
which several creeks descended. This open space was covered with the
richest carpet of verdure, and was a most enchanting spot. It was
nearly three miles across; we went over to its southern side, and
camped under the hills which fenced it there, and among them we
obtained a supply of water. The grass and herbage here were
magnificent. The only opening to this beautiful oval was some distance
to the east; we therefore climbed over the hills to the south to get
away, and came upon another fine valley running westward, with a
continuous line of hills running parallel to it on the north. We made
a meandering course, in a south-westerly direction, for about fifteen
miles, when the hills became low and isolated, and gave but a poor
look out for water. Other hills in a more continuous line bore to the
north of west, to which we went. In three miles after this we came to
a valley with a green swamp in the middle; it was too boggy to allow
horses to approach. A round hill in another valley was reached late,
and here our pack-horses, being driven in a mob in front of us, put
their noses to the ground and seemed to have smelt something unusual,
which proved to be Mr. Gosse's dray track. Our horses were smelling
the scent of his camels from afar. The dray track was now
comparatively fresh, and I had motives for following it. It was so
late we had to encamp without finding the water, which I was quite
sure was not far from us, and we turned out our horses hoping they
might discover it in the night.
I went to sleep that night dreaming how I had met Mr. Gosse in this
wilderness, and produced a parody upon 'How I found Livingstone.' We
travelled nearly thirty miles to-day upon all courses, the country
passed over being principally very fine valleys, richly clothed with
grass and almost every other kind of valuable herbage. Yesterday, the
28th of September, was rather a warm day; I speak by the card, for at
ten o'clock at night Herr Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit had not
condescended to fall below 82 degrees. The horses found water in the
night, and in the morning looked sleek and full. I intended now, as I
said before, to follow Gosse's dray track, for I knew he could not be
very far in advance.
We followed the track a mile, when it turned suddenly to the
south-west, down a valley with a creek in it that lay in that
direction. But as a more leading one ran also in a more westerly
direction, I left the dray track almost at right angles, and proceeded
along the more westerly line. The valley I now traversed became
somewhat scrubby with mallee and triodia. In seven or eight miles we
got into much better country, lightly timbered with mulga and
splendidly grassed. Here also were some cotton and salt bush flats. To
my English reader I may say that these shrubs, or plants, or bushes
are the most valuable fodder plants for stock known in Australia; they
are varieties of the Atriplex family of plants, and whenever I can
record meeting them, I do it with the greatest satisfaction. At twelve
miles the hills to our north receded, and there lay stretched out
before us a most beautiful plain, level as a billiard table and green
as an emerald. Viewing it from the top of a hill, I could not help
thinking what a glorious spot this would make for the display of
cavalry manoeuvres. In my mental eye I could see
"The rush of squadrons sweeping,
Like whirlwinds o'er the plain;"
and mentally hear
"The shouting of the slayers,
The screeching of the slain."
I called this splendid circle the Champ de Mars; it is, I dare say,
fifteen or sixteen miles round. The hills on the northern side were
much higher than those near us, and appeared more inviting for water;
so we rode across the circle to them. In a kind of gully between the
hills, at four and a half miles, I found a rock-hole full of water in
a triodia creek; it was seven or eight feet deep, and almost hidden
amongst rocks and scrubs. The water drained into the hole from above.
By the time my horses were all satisfied they had lowered it very
considerably, and I did not think there would be a drink for them all
in the morning; but when we took them up next day I found the rocky
basin had been replenished during the night.
A valley led away from here, along the foot of the northern hills,
almost west. At five miles we crossed the channel of a fine little
creek, coming from thence; it had several sheets of water with rocky
banks, and there were numerous ducks on the waters. The timber upon
this creek was mostly blood-wood or red gum; the blood-wood has now
almost entirely supplanted the other eucalypts. There was another tree
of a very peculiar leaf which I have often met before, but only as a
bush; here it had assumed the proportions of a tree. This was one of
the desert acacias, but which of them I could not tell. Farther on
were several bare red hills, festooned with cypress pines, which
always give a most pleasing tone to any Australian view. These I
called Harriet's Springs. The creek meandered away down the valley
amongst pine-clad hills to the south-westward, and appeared to
increase in size below where we crossed it.
I ascended a hill and saw that the two lines of hills encircling the
Champ de Mars had now entirely separated, the space between becoming
gradually broader.
A pointed hill at the far end of the southern line bore west, and we
started away for it. We continued on this west course for fifteen or
sixteen miles, having the southern hills very close to our line of
march. Having travelled some twenty miles, I turned up a blind gully
or water-channel in a small triodia valley, and found some water lying
about amongst the grass. The herbage here was splendid. Ants and burrs
were very annoying, however; we have been afflicted with both of these
animal and vegetable annoyances upon many occasions all through these
regions. There was a high, black-looking mountain with a conical
summit, in the northern line of ranges, which bore north-westward from
here. I named it Mount Aloysius, after the Christian name of Sir A.F.
Weld, Governor of Western Australia. We had entered the territory of
the Colony of Western Australia on the last day of September; the
boundary between it and South Australia being the 129th meridian of
east longitude. The latitude by stars of this camp was 26 degrees 9'.
Leaving it early, we continued upon the same line as yesterday, and
towards the same hill, which we reached in five miles, and ascended.
It was nearly the most westerly point of the line of hills we had been
following. The summit of this hill I found to consist of great masses
of rifted stone, which were either solid iron or stone coated thickly
with it. The blocks rang with the sound of my iron-shod boots, while
moving over them, with such a musical intonation and bell-like clang,
that I called this the Bell Rock. Mount Aloysius bore north 9 degrees
west, distant about ten miles; here I saw it was quite an isolated
range, as, at its eastern and western extremities, open spaces could
be seen between it and any other hills.