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.