Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia | Page 3

after
which we hauled her up. The custom had always been for the other boat
to lie off until I made the signal for them to run in, and it accordingly
was now waiting outside the breakers. Her crew had not seen our
misfortunes owing to the height of the surf, which, when we were
under it, shut us out from their view, and now perceiving that we were
on shore and the boat hauled up, they concluded all was right; and
notwithstanding I made every possible sign to them not to beach,
running as far as I could venture into the sea and shouting out to them,
my voice was drowned by the roar of the surge, and I saw them
bounding on to, what I thought, certain destruction. We of course were
all turned to render assistance. They fortunately kept rather to the south
of the spot on which we had beached, and where it was much less rocky,
so that the danger they incurred in reaching the shore was slight in
comparison to ours; yet some of the planks of this boat were split
throughout their entire length.
EXPLORE IN ITS VICINITY. COUNTRY ABOUT GANTHEAUME
BAY. GEOLOGICAL REMARKS. CROSS A DISTRICT OF RED
SANDSTONE.
Whilst all hands were employed in endeavouring to repair damages I
ascended a hill to reconnoitre our present position and found we were
in a country of a pleasing and romantic appearance, and although the
land was not good the nature of the soil made me aware that we were
most probably in the vicinity of a large tract of better quality; indeed
this was the only part of South-west Australia in which I had met with
the ancient red sandstone of the north-west coast; immediately behind
the sandhills on which I stood was a thick Casuarina scrub which
sloped down into a deep valley, and beyond this rose lofty and fantastic
hills. After I had for some time looked round on this scene I returned to
the party and received the report of the carpenters, who, having
examined the boats, stated their inability to render either of them fit for
sea. To this I had already made up my mind; and even if the boats had
been uninjured I doubt whether we could ever have got them off again

through the tremendous surf which was breaking on this part of the
shore; whilst to have moved them to any distance would, in our present
weak and enfeebled state, have been utterly impossible.
ESTUARY AND LANDING-PLACE AND SCENERY ABOUT IT.
No resource was now left to us but to endeavour to reach Perth by
walking; yet when I looked at the sickly faces of some of the party and
saw their wasted forms I much doubted if they retained strength to
execute such a task; but they themselves were in high spirits and talked
of the undertaking as a mere trifle. I gave orders for the necessary
preparations to be made and then started with two or three hands to
search for water. On reaching the valley I have before mentioned we
found a small stream, and following this to the northward for about a
mile came out upon one of the most romantic and picturesque-looking
estuaries I had yet seen: its shores abounded with springs and were
bordered by native paths, whilst the drooping foliage of several large
sorts of Casuarina, the number of wild swans on its placid bosom, and
the natives fishing in the distance, unconscious of our presence,
imparted to the whole scene a quiet and a charm which was deeply felt
by those who had now for so many days been either tossed about by the
winds and waves or had long been wandering over barren and
inhospitable shores. We did not indeed find much good land about this
estuary, but there were rich flats upon each side of it, whilst the nature
of the rocks and the lofty and peculiar character of the distant hills gave
promise of the most fertile region I had yet seen in extra-tropical
Australia.
We followed the shores of the estuary to the northward and eastward
until we saw a point where it appeared to separate into two branches.
The natives decamped as soon as they observed us coming, and Kaiber,
who watched them with the most intense interest, indulged in various
speculations as to the number they would bring back when they
returned. We joined the party and traced the shores of the estuary to its
mouth, which turned out to be the opening we saw in the morning: this
mouth is completely sheltered by a line of breakers and reefs, which,
although they present a most formidable appearance from the sea, can
be doubled by keeping pretty close along the shore