Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/274

168 PHILLIP 1788-03 with much, less difficulty than when starting from Rose Hill. The ftrt of But neither Phillip nor any of his officers had yet learned Sot kSJji?!! the art of making their way through an unknown country, such as that which lay around them. They could not go five miles into the bush without running the risk of losing themselves. When they went on an overland expedition, one man of the party was told off to count his paces in order that they might have some idea as to where they were and how far they had travelled ; a small pocket compass being No inrtru- the Only instrument they had to guide them. Exploring in that fashion was mere groping in the dark. The explana- tory notes made by Lieutenant Dawes on his map — the first exploring map constructed in the colony — show how much the land lay in darkness before him, with here and there a ray of light breaking through it. It was a matter of com- mon occurrence for men to lose themselves in the bush, even in the neighbourhood of Sydney Cove and within sight of the harbour ; so much so that the annual returns of casualties included a column under the heading — " Lost in the Bush. Value of his ^^^ work actually accomplished by Phillip in this direction work. during his five years of office was nevertheless of the highest importance. Apart from the elaborate surveys of Botany Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay, which were made by Captain Hunter under his direction — his exploration of the Hawkesbury and of the country which lay between it and Sydney Cove not only rescued the settlement from the peril of ultimate failure, but it may be said to have laid the found- FoundaUon atiou of all subsequont discoveries. No one can read the quent dia- joumals of Australian explorers without observing how much they were all indebted to the labours of those who had suc- cessively gone before them. If Oxley paved the way for Cunningham, Sturt, and Mitchell, they in their turn acted as unseen guides to Eyre and Grey, who again inspired Leichhardt, Burke, Stuart, and others with the hope of pene- trating the continent from sea to sea. But Oxley, with whom the history of scientific exploration may be said to Digitized by Google