Page:Expeditions of Discovery in South Australia (IA jstor-1798142).pdf/20

and provisions calculated for nine weeks. Upon entering within the limits of Western Australia, I found the country extending around the Great Australian Bight, for upwards of five hundred miles, to consist entirely of the fossil formation, with a considerable elevation above the level of the sea, varying, perhaps, from two hundred to three hundred feet, and forming for the most part a country which presented the appearance of an elevated and almost level table-land. This extensive region is of the most desolate and barren character imaginable; almost entirely without grass, destitute of timber, and in many parts densely covered with an impenetrable scrub. There was no surface water, neither were there creeks or watercourses of any description. The only supply of water procured by the party through this dreary waste was obtained by digging in the drifts of pure white sand found along the coast at places where the great fossil bank receded a little from the immediate margin of the sea. The supply thus obtained was very precarious; and, during the progress of" our journey, we crossed over, at various times, intervals of sixty, one hundred and thirty-six, and one hundred and fifty miles in extent, throughout which it was impossible to procure a drop of water in any way. In this fearful country our horses suffered most severely, and on two different occasions were seven days without any water, and almost without food also. From this cause we lost many valuable animals; and our progress was impeded by the frequent and long delays necessary to recruit those that were still left alive. Our journey thus became protracted to a period far beyond what had been calculated upon; and it became imperative, not merely to economise the provisions we had brought with us, but, eventually, to destroy two of our horses as an additional supply of food to the party. In the midst of these difficulties, and then barely half-way across the Great Bight, my very small party was broken up by an event as distressing as it was tragical, and I was left alone with a native of King George's Sound. This melancholy occurrence, added to the weak and jaded condition of the few remaining horses, effectually prevented my examination of the country beyond the line of my immediate route; in fact, from the time of our entering the colony of Western Australia, such was the dreadful nature of the country, that the whole party were obliged to walk; and it was not until our arrival at East Mount Barren that myself and the native boy could venture to ride. The first improvement observed in the face of the country was the finding a narrow strip of grassy land immediately to the eastward of Point Malcolm; but it was not until we had passed Cape Arid that we met with the first permanent surface water, in the shape of a small fresh-water lake. The character of the country was now changed, and consisted of open, elevated, sandy downs, covered with shrubs and underwood, and generally based upon an oolitic foundation, with here and there a few granite bluffs. We now crossed on our route many salt-water creeks or inlets, most of which received drainage of either brackish or fresh-water from the interior. The first of these occurs immediately E. of Cape Arid; but it is very small, and separated from the sea by a bar of sand. Others, as we advanced farther to the westward, were of a more considerable size, and bore the appearance of being connected with the sea. These might,