Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia | Page 6

of trees to the eastward. Emus and kangaroos were wandering
about the plains.
DIFFICULT SCRUB.
Two miles more brought us to an almost impenetrable belt of scrub
which lay east and west, directly athwart our path, so that we were
obliged to face it; and in two hours and a half I had forced my way
through it. The others followed, slowly emerging from the bush after
me and, as we were all totally exhausted, as well as dreadfully torn and
bruised, we halted at its edge for the night, and lighting our fires lay
down to court that repose we had so fairly earned. We had however

only walked fifteen and a half miles today.
April 4.
I again this morning used every effort to induce some more of the men
to abandon a portion of their loads. I represented to them their weak
state, the small supply of provisions they had with them, and the
difficulty they already found in keeping up with the party; but all these
arguments and every other I could make use of were unavailing; the
tenacity with which they clung to a worthless property, even at the risk
of their lives, is almost incredible, and it is to be borne in mind that this
property was not their own, but what they had taken from the wreck of
the boats. Did I even induce one to throw anything away another
avaricious fellow would pick it up; and their thoughts and conversation,
instead of running upon making the best of their way home and saying
their lives, consisted in conjectures as to what they would realize from
their ill-gotten and embarrassing booty.
SUPERIOR NATIVE PATH AND WELLS.
The course I pursued was one of 180 degrees and we soon fell in with
the native path which we had quitted yesterday; but it now became
wide, well beaten, and differing altogether by its permanent character
from any I had seen in the southern portion of this continent. For the
first five miles we traversed scrubby stony hills, thickly wooded with
banksia trees; but the limestone here again cropped out and we entered
a very fertile valley, running north and south and terminating in a larger
one which drained the country from east to west. This valley is
remarkable as containing one Xanthorrhoea (grass-tree) being the
farthest point to the north at which I have found this tree. In it also was
a gigantic ant's nest, being the most southerly one I had yet seen. All
these circumstances convinced me that we were about to enter a very
interesting region. And as we wound along the native path my wonder
augmented; the path increased in breadth and in its beaten appearance,
whilst along the side of it we found frequent wells, some of which were
ten and twelve feet deep and were altogether executed in a superior
manner.
NATIVE WARRAN GROUND. PLAINS ABOUNDING IN THE
WARRAN PLANT.
We now crossed the dry bed of a stream and from that emerged upon a
tract of light fertile soil, quite overrun with warran plants,* the root of

which is a favourite article of food with the natives. This was the first
time we had yet seen this plant on our journey, and now for three and a
half consecutive miles we traversed a fertile piece of land literally
perforated with the holes the natives had made to dig this root; indeed
we could with difficulty walk across it on that account, whilst this tract
extended east and west as far as we could see.
(*Footnote. The Warran in a species of Dioscorea, a sort of yam like
the sweet potato. It is known by the same name both on the east and
west side of the continent.)
It was now evident that we had entered the most thickly-populated
district of Australia that I had yet observed, and moreover one which
must have been inhabited for a long series of years, for more had here
been done to secure a provision from the ground by hard manual labour
than I could have believed it in the power of uncivilised man to
accomplish. After crossing a low limestone range we came down upon
another equally fertile warran ground, bounded eastward by a high
range of rocky limestone hills, luxuriantly grassed, and westward by a
low range of similar formation. The native path about two miles further
on crossed this latter range, and we found ourselves in a grassy valley,
about four miles wide, bounded seawards by sandy downs. Along its
centre lay a chain of reedy freshwater swamps, and native paths ran in
from all quarters to one main line of communication leading to the
southward.
DANGERS OF DELAY.
In these swamps we first found the yunjid, or flag (a species of