Leave the Glenelg and travel eastward.
Cross the Crawford.
Boggy character of its sources.
Recross the Rifle range.
Heavy timber the chief impediment.
Travelling also difficult from the softness of the ground.
Excursion southward to Portland Bay.
Mount Eckersley.
Cross the Fitzroy.
Cross the Surry.
Lady Julia Percy's Isle.
Beach of Portland Bay.
A vessel at anchor.
House and farming establishment there.
Whale fishery.
Excursion to Cape Nelson.
Mount Kincaid.
A whale chase.
Sagacity of the natives on the coast.
Mount Clay.
Return to the camp.
Still retarded by the soft soil.
Leave one of the boats, and reduce the size of the boat carriage.
Excursion to Mount Napier.
Cross some fine streams.
Natives very timid.
Crater of Mount Napier or Murroa.
View from the summit.
Return to the Camp.
Mr. Stapylton's excursion to the north-west.
The Shaw.
Conduct the carts along the highest ground.
Again ascend Murroa and partially clear the summit.
Mount Rouse.
Australian Pyrenees.
Swamps harder than the ground around them.
Again reach the good country.
Mounts Bainbrigge and Pierrepoint.
Mount Sturgeon.
Ascend Mount Abrupt.
View of the Grampians from the summit.
Victoria range and the Serra.
Mud again, and a broken axle.
Mr. Stapylton examines the country before us.
At length get through the soft region.
Cattle quite exhausted.
Determine to leave them in a depot to refresh while I proceed forward.
Specimens of natural history.
Situation of depot camp at Lake Repose.
LEAVE THE GLENELG AND TRAVEL EASTWARD.
August 23.
Having at length disposed of the course of the Glenelg, my next object was to cross and examine the high ground which enclosed its basin on the east supplying those tributaries which the river received from its left bank, and evidently extending from the Grampians to Cape Bridgewater. I had named this the Rifle range in crossing that branch of it extending north-westward when I ascertained its characteristics to be lofty woods and swamps; but its ramifications in other directions and how it was connected backwards with the mountains still remained to be discovered; and from what I did know of this range I apprehended considerable difficulty in getting over it with our heavy carriages at such a season. That we might if possible escape the bogs, I devoted the day to an extensive reconnaissance of the country before us; my guide in this case being the river Crawford which, flowing in deep ravines, was likely to afford (so long as its general course continued to be nearly parallel to our route) one means at least of avoiding those soft swampy flats which could not possibly impede us so long as the side of such a ravine as that of the river was within reach. I had the good fortune to find that the range in general was firm under the hoof, and its direction precisely such as I wished. Extensive swamps occasionally appeared on my right; but I had on the left the deep ravines of the Crawford, and I travelled across the highest slopes of the ground. Having thus found good sound turf for twelve miles in the direction in which I wished to take the carriages, I returned on descending from a trap range where the rock consisted of granular felspar and hornblende with crystals of glassy felspar. On this hill the soil was exceedingly rich and the grass green and luxuriant. I obtained thence a most useful bearing on Mount Gambier, and saw also some heights to the eastward beyond the Rifle range. The timber grew to an enormous size on the ranges which I traversed this day; it consisted chiefly of that species of eucalyptus known as stringybark. Some of the trees we measured were 13 feet and one as much as 14 1/2 feet in circumference, and 80 feet was no uncommon height. The fallen timber was of such magnitude as to present a new impediment to our progress for we had not previously met with such an obstruction on any journey.
CROSS THE CRAWFORD.
August 24.
The carriages were taken across the Crawford without much delay considering its depth and the softness of the banks. The carts sank at least five feet in the water yet nothing was damaged for we had taken care to pack the flour and other perishable articles on the tops of the loads. We succeeded in crossing the rivulets at the heads of several ravines by filling up their channels with logs; and thus, after crossing the last of these, and ascending the steep bank beyond it, we encamped after a journey of seven miles. The weather had been stormy on both days since I crossed the Crawford, a circumstance very much against our progress. Near this camp we found a new Correa, resembling C. virens but having distinctly cordate toothed leaves with less down on their underside and a much shorter calyx.*
(*Footnote. C. cordifolia, Lindley manuscripts; stellato-tomentosa, foliis subsessilibus cordatis ovatis denticulatis obtusis planis supra glabris, corollis tubulosis cernuis, calyce truncato brevissimo.)
BOGGY CHARACTER OF ITS SOURCES.
August 25.