Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 365 pages of information about Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1.

Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 365 pages of information about Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1.

The party now embarked consisted of: 

Lieutenant Grey. 
Lieutenant Lushington. 
Mr. Walker, our Surgeon. 
Mr. Powell, Surgeon. 
Corporal R. Auger, Corporal John Coles, and Private Mustard of the Corps
of Sappers and Miners. 
J.C.  Cox, a Stock-Keeper. 
Thomas Ruston, a Sailor who had been on the coast of Australia in the
Mermaid with Captain King. 
Evan Edwards, a Sailor. 
Henry Williams and R. Inglesby, Shoemakers.

There were besides on board a captain, a mate, seven men, and a boy.

The livestock I took from the Cape consisted altogether of thirty-one sheep, nineteen goats, and six dogs.  The dogs were as follows:  one greyhound; one dog bred between a greyhound and a foxhound; one between a greyhound and a sheepdog; a bull-terrier; a Cape wolf-dog; and a useful nondescript mongrel.

Re-embarkation for Hanover bay.

The plan that I had finally resolved on adopting was: 

To proceed in the first instance to Hanover Bay, there to select a good spot on which to form a temporary encampment; and, having landed the stock, to despatch Lieutenant Lushington with Cox and Williams in the vessel to Timor for ponies.

Plans on landing.

I selected Cox and Williams for this service because the former was used to the management of horses on board vessels, and the latter understanding Dutch was well calculated to act as interpreter at Timor.  During their absence I intended to practise the party in making short explorations in different directions.

Upon the return of the vessel I intended to move the whole party to some convenient spot to be chosen during their absence, then to advance, attended only by Coles, and to fix upon the next spot on our route which I designed to halt at.  This plan I intended to adhere to as much as possible throughout the whole expedition, namely, never to move the party from one place of halt until I had chosen the next one.  We bore with us tools and instruments of every description; so that we not only were fully capable of maintaining ourselves but could literally, if occasion had required it, have founded the nucleus of a colony.

Great then was my joy when all my preparations were completed and I felt the vessel gliding swiftly from Table Bay into that vast ocean at the other extremity of which lay the land I so longed to see, and to which I was now bound with the ardent hope of opening the way for the conversion of a barren wilderness into a fertile garden.

Part of my plan was not only to introduce all useful animals that I possibly could into this part of Australia, but also the most valuable plants of every description.  For this purpose, a collection had been made at Tenerife by Mr. Walker, under my direction, and another in South America,* including the seeds of the cotton plant.  From the Cape and from England I had also procured other useful plants, and had planned that the vessel, on quitting Timor with the horses, should be filled in every vacant space with young cocoa-nut trees and other fruits, together with useful animals such as goats and sheep, in addition to the stock we conveyed from the Cape.

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Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.