WILD TURKEYS SEEN.
April 6.
We moved off this morning on a course of 180 degrees. The first mile of
our journey was over low scrubby ironstone hills. We then came down upon
rich flats through which the main branch of the Hutt ran; and followed
the course of this branch for about two miles. It was not running but
there were many pools with water in its bed: the flats were rich and
grassy and on the hills to the westward (the Menai Hills) we descried
wild turkeys, being the farthest point north at which I had seen this
bird.
As I saw that the ground in front of us was very steep and abrupt, so
that the weak and weary would have found it a difficult task to master
such an ascent, I turned off on a course of 168 degrees, ascending a
sandy tableland covered with scrub. When we had walked three miles in
this direction the table-hill of Captain King bore east by south distant
five miles. We now proceeded parallel to the sea, which was distant one
mile through an indifferent country. This course continued for about five
miles, and on the ranges to the eastward the country still appeared to be
grassy and good.
RELUCTANCE OF THE MEN TO HASTEN ONWARDS. DIFFICULTY OF URGING THE PARTY
FORWARD.
Although we had walked very slowly many of the party were completely
exhausted, and one or two of the discontented ones pretended to be
dreadfully in want of water, notwithstanding they carried canteens and
had only walked eight miles since leaving the bank of a river; I was
therefore obliged to halt, and could not get them to move for three
hours. I am sorry to say that some who should have known much better
endeavoured to instil into the minds of the men that it was preferable
only to walk a few miles a day and not to waste their strength by long
marches; utterly forgetting that most of the party had now only seven or
eight pounds of fermented flour left, and that if they did not make play
whilst they had strength their eventually reaching Perth was quite
hopeless. This however was a very popular doctrine for thoughtless and
weary men, who were overloaded and yet from a feeling of avarice would
not abandon any portion of what they were carrying. The majority of the
party not only adopted these views in theory but doggedly carried them
into practice; and from this moment I abandoned all hope of getting the
whole party into the settled districts in safety. Poor fellows! most of
them paid dearly for the mistaken notions they now adopted. Mr. Smith,
with his usual spirit, was for pushing on, although his strength was
inadequate to the task. I laid under the shade of a bush lost in gloomy
reveries and temporary unpopularity; Kaiber by my side lulled me with
native songs composed for the occasion, and in prospective I saw all the
dread sufferings which were to befall the doomed men who sat around me,
confident of their success under the new plan; but like all prophets I
was without honour amongst my own acquaintance; and after considering the
matter under every point of view I thought it better for the moment to
succumb to the general feeling, yet to lose no opportunity on every
subsequent occasion of endeavouring to rouse the party into a degree of
energy suited to our desperate circumstances.
At the end of the three hours I again begged several of the party, who
appeared to be in an exhausted state, to abandon a portion of their
useless loads; but they were quite sure that by making short marches, not
exhausting their strength, and now and then halting for a day or two to
refresh, they could carry them into Perth, and therefore refused to part
with them. Mr. Smith and myself found that stopping in this way and
getting cold rendered our limbs so stiff and painful when we walked on
again that we could scarcely move; and I suspect that such was the case
with the other men, for when we started again I could hardly get them
along. One man of the name of Stiles, who was a stout supporter of the
new theory, made us stop for him nearly every five minutes.
THE BOWES RIVER.
After walking one mile we fortunately came to a very deep valley, having
such steep limestone cliffs on each side that it assumed quite the
character of a ravine: it was about a mile wide and in it was a
watercourse winding through deep flats. We however only found water in
pools; the course of the stream was very tortuous and its mouth was
almost blocked up by sandhills. The valley itself was both picturesque
and fertile, and the appearance of the country to the east and north-east
was highly promising. The stream I called the Bowes.
NATIVE RESTING-PLACE. NATIVE HUTS.
This spot was a favourite halting-place of the natives; and from the
number of huts and other indications which we saw the district must be
very densely populated. The huts were of the same superior construction
as those which we had seen near the Hutt, and the traces were very
recent, but the natives themselves were either at a distance or kept
carefully out of our way. The valley that we were now in, as well as the
other limestone valleys in this province, partook exactly of the
character of those in the carboniferous limestone districts of England
inasmuch as they were deep gorges, or ravines, now traversed by
watercourses or streams apparently much too insignificant to have grooved
them out.
PROVOKING INDOLENCE OF THE MEN.
Our finding water here was fortunate for I now showed the men that, had
they walked one mile farther instead of halting in the manner they had
done, they would have had abundance of it, and would have been, at this
moment, at least, five miles nearer home. I also directed Mr. Walker to
examine Stiles and to state whether he was in good health or not. He did
so and reported him quite well. I therefore when we started again gave
Stiles warning that I should not halt every minute for him but would
leave him behind, at the same time ordering him to walk in front of the
party, next after me.
I continued a course of 180 degrees up a steep limestone range, behind
which apparently ran a branch of the watercourse we had just passed: a
good country lay to the eastward of us. Stiles now delayed us so much
that some of his comrades spoke to him very warmly on the subject, whilst
others still held to the opinion that walking a few miles a day and
sometimes halting a day or two to refresh was the true mode of
proceeding. We only made two miles this evening and I threw myself on the
ground so worn and harassed that I could not sleep.
AN EXTENSIVE FERTILE COUNTRY.
Sunday April 7.
Before the sun had appeared above the horizon I managed to get the party
fairly started, and we followed a course of 180 degrees over elevated
sandy downs which rested on a limestone formation. The first four miles
of our journey was not very encouraging; we could only see as far to the
eastward as the flat-topped range; and although the slopes of these hills
looked very fertile I had no means of judging how far back this good
country extended; we had however been creeping gradually up an ascent,
and when we gained the summit of this I turned to look to the northward
after the straggling party, who were slowly mounting the hill, some of
them staggering along under loads so heavy that I should have hated the
tyranny of any man who could have compelled them to carry such a weight;
but as it was I could only grieve to see men, from the hope of gain,
rushing so inevitably on their fate. Having gazed till weary at this
painful picture of the weakness of human nature, I turned to the
north-eastward, and there burst upon my sight a most enchanting view. In
the far east, that is, some twenty or five-and-twenty miles away,
stretched a lofty chain of mountains, flat-topped and so regular in their
outline that they appeared rather the work of art than of nature. Between
this range and the nearest one lay a large rich valley vying with the
most fertile I have ever seen in an extra-tropical country. In front of
us lay another valley which drained a portion of the large one, and in
both rose gently swelling hills and picturesque peaks, wooded in the most
romantic manner. Whilst I stood and looked on this scene, my woes were
forgotten. Such moments as these repay an explorer for much toil and
trouble.
THE VICTORIA RANGE AND DISTRICT. THE PROVINCE OF VICTORIA.
The distant range I at once named the Victoria in honour of Her Majesty;
and being now certain that the district we were in was one of the most
fertile in Australia I named it the Province of Victoria. There is no
other part of extra-tropical Australia which can boast of the same number
of streams in an equal extent of coast frontage, or which has such
elevated land so near the sea; and I have seen no other which has so
large an extent of good country. It is however bounded both to the north
and south by comparatively-speaking unproductive districts; but what the
character of the country to the north-east and south-east may be still
remains to be ascertained.
Another mile on a course of 180 degrees brought us to the valley in our
front; it was of the same rich and romantic character as that which I
have just described, being in depth about two hundred feet, down
limestone rocks, in places assuming the character of cliffs. In its
bottom was a watercourse containing water in pools only; but it must be
borne in mind that it was now the very end of the dry season. The party
all came up, and we laid ourselves down under the grateful shade of the
mimosas. Those who chose took their fill of water. I had made a rule
never to taste it except to wash out my mouth from sunrise until we
halted for the night; for I found that drinking water promoted profuse
perspiration and more ardent thirst, and I preferred practising a little
self-denial to enduring the greater pangs arising from indulgence.
Whilst I stretched my weary length along under the pleasant shade I saw
in fancy busy crowds throng the scenes I was then amongst. I pictured to
myself the bleating sheep and lowing herds wandering over these fertile
hills; and I chose the very spot on which my house should stand,
surrounded with as fine an amphitheatre of verdant land as the eye of man
has ever gazed on. The view was backed by the Victoria Range, whilst
seaward you looked out through a romantic glen upon the great Indian
Ocean. I knew that within four or five years civilization would have
followed my tracks, and that rude nature and the savage would no longer
reign supreme over so fine a territory. Mr. Smith entered eagerly into my
thoughts and views: together we built these castles in the air, trusting
we should see happy results spring from our present sufferings and
labours, but within a few weeks from this day he died in the wilds he was
exploring.
THE BULLER RIVER.
The stream we were on I named the Buller; we rested some time by it and
when we moved on some of the advocates of the eight or ten mile a day
system very unwillingly followed the party. We fell in with a native path
which wound up through a thick scrub in pleasing sinuosities, and emerged
upon a tableland similar to the one we had traversed this morning.
THE CHAPMAN RIVER.
I now followed a course of 169 degrees, and after walking three miles
more we arrived at the edge of a valley of the same character as that
wherein the Buller flowed, and through it we had another view of the
fertile country to the eastward: into this valley we descended and,
finding a watercourse running through it with water in pools, I seated
myself with such of the party as were up, about half a quarter of a mile
from the Mount Fairfax of Captain King, and named this stream the
Chapman.
SEARCH FOR A MISSING MAN.
Mr. Walker now came up with the remainder of the party and reported that
Stiles was missing. As he could have no difficulty in finding us I merely
took the precaution to make the men sit in such positions that he could
distinguish us from the summit of the opposite cliffs when he arrived
there, and we patiently awaited that moment. Time however wore on, and
some of the men finding a species of geranium with a root not unlike a
very small and tough parsnip, we prepared and ate several messes of this
plant. At length, no signs of Stiles having been seen, I sent Mr. Walker,
Corporal Auger, and Kaiber to the top of the cliffs we had descended to
try if they could discern anything of him or his tracks. During their
absence I expressed, in the hearing of some of the men, my anxiety lest
he should have lingered behind and have fallen in with the natives; upon
which they smiled and said that "Tom Stiles was a man who did not care
about the natives; and that only that morning he had said he didn't mind
for all the natives in the island, d--- them;" and that they thought he
had stopped behind on purpose.
GATHERING OF NATIVES. SCENE WITH NATIVES.
The absence of Mr. Walker and his party continued much longer than I
expected, and just at the moment that I had become rather alarmed about
it Coles reported to me that he saw natives on the opposite cliff,
jumping about and running up and down brandishing their spears in the
manner they do before and after a fight. Coles was at this time posted as
sentry on a terrace just above where we were, and the ascent to which was
very difficult. I got up on this as fast as I could; it was only two or
three yards broad and ran apparently along the whole length of the
valley. The natives used it as a path, and a very steep hill rose behind
it. I could not however make out the natives, and as the opposite cliffs
were a long way off I thought that Coles might have been mistaken. When I
told him this he merely said "Look there, then, Sir," and pointed to the
top of Mount Fairfax, distant about 400 yards due north of us, and sure
enough there were a party of natives, well armed and going through a
variety of ceremonies which the experience of centuries had proved to be
highly efficacious in getting rid of evil spirits. In the present
instance however their wonted efficacy failed, but the natives appeared
every moment to be getting more vehement in their gestures.
Our situation by no means pleased me: Stiles and a separate party of our
own men had mysteriously disappeared in the direction where Coles had
first seen the natives, by whom we were in a manner surrounded, and that
in an abominable position, for they could steal amongst the underwood
close above us in our rear, and annoy us with missiles of all sorts;
whilst from the extent and thickness of the scrub it was impossible to
occupy it effectually against treacherous (or rather, bold and skilful)
enemies. On the other hand I could not quit my present position and
occupy a more favourable one, for, in the event of Mr. Walker and
Corporal Auger being pressed by the natives and retreating on us, it was
our duty to be at that spot where they would calculate on finding us and
an effectual assistance. I made therefore the best disposition of my
little force I could, and, occupying the centre of the party, I had the
satisfaction of seeing our wild friends on Mount Fairfax, blowing
strongly at us and capering more furiously than ever when they beheld our
unaccountable manoeuvres.
THEIR MANOEUVRES.
It was fortunate that poor Kaiber was absent, for so fearful an
exhibition of sorcery would have altogether upset his nerves; but the
British soldiers and sailors I had with me remained surprisingly calm;
whilst the natives, having exhibited their antics for a few minutes more,
suddenly withdrew in a hurried manner. I therefore made up my mind for a
surprise, and we anxiously waited to see from what quarter the attack
would come.
CONTINUATION OF SEARCH FOR THE MISSING MAN. RETURN OF PARTY FROM SEARCH.
The cause of their disappearance was however soon explained. Mr. Walker,
Corporal Auger, and Kaiber came winding down the hills under Mount
Fairfax, and gave the following account of their proceedings: On
ascending the cliffs opposite to us they had found Stiles's tracks, and
had followed them until they reached the sea beach; on passing the stream
on their way there they found a place where he had halted and made up all
his flour into dampers; but on coming out on the shore they saw a large
party of natives seated on the sandhills in front, whilst others were
fishing in the sea at this point; and the tracks of Stiles turned off
into the interior: this hero, who wished to encounter all the natives of
the island single-handed, had evidently fled from them. Mr. Walker had
been unable to follow his tracks any further and had therefore thought it
most prudent to return to the main party.
From the circumstances of Stiles having thrown away part of his clothes,
and having made such a large quantity of dough to bake into dampers at
the first convenient opportunity, together with various expressions he
had dropped in the presence of the men, there could be no doubt but that
he had purposely quitted the party; yet to abandon him to his fate
amongst natives, who were by no means friendly in their gestures and
appearance, required a degree of resolution I was unprepared at that
moment to exercise. To leave him without a search was to sacrifice one
life, to allow one man to perish, whilst occupying one or two days in
looking for him would merely increase the temporary sufferings of the
rest; whilst the loss of time would probably occasion no other bad result
than a little more personal privation; and this, in order to try to save
the life of a fellow-creature, I conceived it to be my own duty and that
of the rest of the party to undergo. Influenced by these reasons I
desired all hands to prepare to start in search of Stiles.
Strange however to say, my resolution was scarcely made known ere much
grumbling arose; and this chiefly amongst those men who had lately been
loudest in their praises of the system of only marching a few miles a day
and occasionally halting for a day or two where we could get native roots
to eat, in fact, amongst those whose foolish ideas had led Stiles to
desert the party. We however moved on in the direction of the spot where
Kaiber had lost the tracks, and on our way over the high ground we met a
native with his spear and a handful of fish; he was lost in thought and
we were close to him before he saw us: when he did so he took no notice
whatever of us, but without even quickening his pace continued in his
original line of direction, which crossed ours obliquely. As he evidently
did not wish to communicate with us I directed the men not to take the
least notice of him, and thus we passed one another. He must have been a
very brave fellow to act so coolly as he did when an array so strange to
him met his eye.
ANOTHER PARTY OF NATIVES.
On arriving at the beach to the south of a bay or harbour,* which the
pressure of circumstances precluded me from examining, we could find
nothing of Stiles's tracks: he appeared to have gone off due east in the
hope of crossing our route, but, being in advance of us, and consequently
not finding our traces, it was impossible to say in which direction he
might have turned. The natives now mustered a very large force and
occupied the high hills (almost cliffs) which lay a few hundred yards to
our left, and, as they had such an advantageous position and could at any
moment surprise us amongst the low sandhills where we were searching for
Stiles's footsteps, our situation was one of great danger. At length,
finding it impossible to keep the men steady, I moved them up to the
higher ground, where we could have met the natives upon a footing of
equality. They appeared, although very numerous, to be now by no means
hostile, merely standing on a high hill, watching us and calling out
"Yoongar kaw," or "Oh, people!" whilst Kaiber, who knew nothing of their
vile magical practices, and therefore regarded them as mere ordinary
flesh and blood, was very ready to communicate with them; but as they
made no other advances, I thought it better merely to remain near them
for the night, occasionally firing a gun in hopes Stiles might hear it,
and with this intention I selected a spot for our encampment.
(*Footnote. For a further description of this harbour, which has been
since denominated Port Grey, see the account of the schooner Champion's
Expedition in the 6th chapter.)
April 8.
We started very early this morning and Kaiber exerted himself to the
utmost to find Stiles's traces. At the end of three miles, on a course of
180 degrees, we descended from the elevated scrubby plains we had been
moving along to the lowlands, and on reaching this came upon the bed of a
small watercourse. I here halted the party; and as it was uncertain when
we might again fall in with water I commenced a search for it with
Kaiber, but after travelling rapidly over a good deal of ground without
seeing either water or any traces of Stiles we rejoined the party very
much fatigued.
THE MAN FOUND.
For the next two and a half miles we wound along low, grassy, swampy
plains, thinly wooded with clumps of Acacias, and then entered upon low
scrubby plains bounding the sea-shore. I here caught sight of Stiles just
ahead of us and coming in from the eastward: he was very glad once more
to find himself in safety; and his comrades seemed pleased to see him
again, although many a suppressed murmur had met my ears during our
morning's walk at the trouble I was taking to look for him.
THE GREENOUGH RIVER.
Four miles further over similar plains in a south by east direction
brought us to a river, about five-and-twenty yards wide, which I named
the Greenough; and travelling up it a short distance we found a spot
where we could cross by stepping from rock to rock. Its waters were quite
salt. I continued our route for about three miles, when I found it was
impossible to induce some of the men to walk any further; they laid
sullenly down and were so fully convinced that I was pursuing a wrong
system in marching so far in a day, and never halting for two or three
days to refresh, as they wished, that I could do nothing with them, and
was therefore forced to sit down too. Corporal Auger soon afterwards
found water near us, and I moved the party down to it.
Finding water in some degree revived their spirits and I contrived to get
them to proceed seven miles more before nightfall, the way being over
sandy open plains very favourable for walking.
MORE NATIVE HUTS.
We passed a large assemblage of native huts of the same permanent
character as those I have before mentioned: there were two groups of
those houses close together in a sequestered nook in a wood, which taken
collectively would have contained at least a hundred and fifty natives.
We halted for the night in the dry bed of a watercourse, abounding in
grass, so that we again enjoyed the luxury of a soft bed. At first I
thought that we were near natives from hearing a plaintive cry like that
of a child, but Kaiber assured me that it was the cry of the young of the
wild turkey.
CROSS THE HEADS OF TWO BAYS.
In the course of this day we travelled across the heads of two bays,
which were indistinctly visible through the woods.
FERTILE VALLEY.
April 9.
The first three miles of our route this day lay over sandy scrubby
plains; we saw however a good country to the eastward. I found that a man
of the name of Charley Woods was much knocked up; he was a supporter of
the eight or nine miles a day system, and had a very heavy load with no
portion of which could I induce him to part; he however insisted on
sitting down every half mile and detaining the party, and as I found that
they got more worn out and weaker, and the impression in favour of long
rests and short marches became much stronger, I thought it more prudent
to acquiesce for the present.
We now reached a very thick belt of trees, pushing through which was a
task of great difficulty, but at length we emerged upon some clear hills
overlooking a very extensive and fertile valley, from which arose so
dense a fog that portions of it appeared to be a large lake. Into this
valley we descended, and the remainder of the day until near noon was
spent by me in endeavouring to get the men to move.
THE IRWIN RIVER. AUSTRALIND.
We this morning for the first time met with Zamia trees, and about 12
P.M. came down upon the large sandy bed of a dried up river which I named
the Irwin after my friend Major Irwin, the Commandant at Swan River;
following this for half a mile we found a native well, dug to a
considerable depth in the bed, but all our scraping here was vain. Water
was found at a great depth, but so shallow that we could not dip it up.
Some of the men saw four native boys playing in the grassy plains near
us; directly however the little fellows perceived us, they scampered off
at their utmost speed, and no doubt ever since that period they have been
firm believers in the existence of ghosts.
The men now began to complain much of the want of water, and I for some
time followed the traces of these native boys, who had come from the
southward and eastward, in the hope that their tracks would lead us to
it, but the grumbling and discontent of some of the men was so great that
I found it almost impossible to induce them to move. My object was to get
them to walk to a high peaked hill distant about five miles from us in a
due south-east direction, and under which I felt certain, from its
height, that we should find water, but I was obliged at last to give up
this idea: Charles Woods would not stir at all, and several of the men
followed his example; they laid down on the ground and no inducement
could prevail on them either to move or to abandon a portion of their
loads; and this obstinacy on their part was accompanied in some instances
with the most blasphemous and horrid expressions. Indeed I could not
conceal from myself the fact of its being the general impression that my
mode of proceeding was "killing the men," and that consequently some of
them had arrived at the resolution of compelling me by their conduct to
adopt their favourite system of short marches and long halts. But I was
still aware of the disastrous consequences which must necessarily result
from such a mode of proceeding, and determined to have nothing to do with
it.
In the course of the afternoon I managed to get the party to move about a
mile and a half in an easterly direction, but they here again sat down
and could neither be induced to walk or to part with their bundles.
SEARCH FOR WATER.
As they had not tasted water today I selected the best walkers, namely,
Corporals Auger and Coles, Hackney, Henry Woods, and Kaiber, and went off
to look for some to bring to the rest. We were now on a well-beaten
native path which traversed a fertile tract of country, and along this we
continued our route, walking as rapidly as we could, for night was coming
on apace. From this path we made frequent divergencies but found no
water; in one instance we met with a native well of great depth, where a
party of them had been drinking a few days before, but it was now quite
dry.
FIND IT AT WATER PEAK. WATER PEAK HILL.
We therefore continued our search, and just as it was growing dark had
made about seven miles of a circuitous course and found ourselves at the
foot of the high-peaked hill seen this morning, named by me Water Peak. I
still hurried along the native path, and was so wrapped up in the
thoughts of our present position that I passed, without seeing it, a
beautiful spring that rose to within a few inches of the surface. Near
this the natives had built a small hut, covered with boughs, concealed in
which they might kill the birds and animals which came to drink at this
lone water; the keen eye of Coles in a moment detected the little pool,
and our thirst was soon assuaged.
For a few minutes we lay on the bank of this clear spring, resting our
wearied limbs and admiring the scenery around us. There is a something in
the wild luxuriance of a totally new and uncultivated country which words
cannot convey to the inhabitant of an old and civilized land, the rich
and graceful forms of the trees, the massy moss-grown trunks which cumber
the soil, the tree half uptorn by some furious gale and still remaining
in the falling posture in which the winds have left it, the drooping
disorder of dead and dying branches, the mingling of rich grasses and
useless weeds, all declare that here man knows not the luxuries the soil
can yield him: it was over such a scene, rendered still more lovely by
the falling shadows of night, that our eyes now wandered.
BENIGHTED IN RETURNING TO THE PARTY.
I roused the men again and we commenced our return to the party, loaded
with a supply of water. It was now dark and we soon wandered from the
path. Kaiber took a star for his guide and led us straight across the
country; but our route lay through a warran ground, full of holes, and in
the darkness of the night we every now and then had a tremendous tumble,
so that at the end of about four miles I thought that it would be
imprudent to proceed farther, as we every moment were in danger of
breaking a limb or seriously injuring ourselves. I therefore halted for
the night, and as we were unable to light a fire both on account of the
heavy dew and of having no proper materials with us, the first portion of
it passed wretchedly enough, indeed, weary as I was, I found it necessary
to walk about in order to preserve some slight degree of warmth in my
frame.
At length however the men, who were much too cold to sleep, got up and,
renewing their efforts, succeeded in kindling a blaze. Kaiber soon
collected plenty of wood, and as I was unable to sleep I passed the night
in meditating on our present state.
POSITION AND PROSPECTS.
I felt sure that if the men persisted in their resolution of moving
slowly a lingering and dreadful death awaited us all; yet my opinion was
a solitary one. Mr. Walker had in many instances plainly and publicly
shown that he on this point differed with me; and he was a medical man,
and one who certainly never shrank from any danger or toil which he
thought it his duty to encounter. The most therefore I could say against
those who were opposed to my system of moving was that I conceived them
to be guilty of a grievous error in judgment; but it was not until our
separate opinions had been tested by the future that it could be
definitely pronounced who was right. Nevertheless those who have been
much with men compelled to make long marches cannot fail to have remarked
how readily and foolishly they find excuses to enable them to obtain a
halt, and such persons would probably have agreed with me in suspecting
that natural indolence of disposition, strengthened by fatigue and
privation, might induce men to adopt, without a very strict
investigation, any opinion falling in with their immediate feelings of
feebleness.
Being firmly convinced that these men intended to pursue a plan of
operations which would entail great misery both upon themselves and the
others, I considered that I ought undoubtedly to endeavour to save them
from the danger which I foresaw impending over them; and this could only
be accomplished by my making forced marches to Perth and sending out
supplies to meet them before they were reduced to the last extremities.
Had I foreseen a week ago that I should be compelled eventually to adopt
such a step I would then have taken with me all such as were willing to
march and have left the others; but this time had passed. My movement to
Perth must now be accomplished with the greatest expedition or it would
be useless; and to take anyone with me who was so much reduced as to have
delayed, impeded, or perhaps altogether to have arrested our progress,
would have sacrificed the lives of all.