Volltext Seite (XML)
28 the boat struck, and the prey seemed within grasp, their shouts of satisfaction bode no good omen. But the little vessel was soon struggling again with the rapids. Wearily enough did they pass the sterile country, the almost interminable realm of Mallee scrub. Be coming faint with shortened allowance, the limbs of the sturdy explorers waxed weaker and weaker. Their sunken, glassy eye, and listless expression told the tale of hunger. The ravings of some indicated loss of intellect. But there was no reproach for their leader. So tender was their regard, that even in the selfishness of starvation the men agreed not to touch the last remaining luxury,—six pounds of sugar ; that was to be the portion of the kind captain. Often when the palsied arm dropped the oar, and the aching back tired of labor, the cheerful voice of the courageous Sturt would tell them of the dangers they had passed, the approach of their Depot, the heroism of their life. The sympathy thus expressed, the encouragement thus given, would brighten the dull eye, bring a smile on the pallid cheek, and tighten the grasp by the blistered hand. The cliffs recede, the Darling is in the rear, the JVIurrumbidgee is before them, the Depot is gained. In the seventy-seven days they had pulled two thousand miles. Well indeed might the gallant Napier exclaim, “ It is impossible to read the account of captain Sturt’s expedition down the Murray, without feeling much admiration for our countryman and his companions ; who, casting themselves upon a great river, with little besides their courage to sus tain their efforts, allowed the stream to bear them, reckless and resolved, into the heart of the desert ; an intrepid enterprise ! unani mated by the glory of battle, yet accompanied by the hardships of a campaign—without splendour, and without reward. ” It is unnecessary to add that the immediate consequence of this great discovery was, the exploration of Sturt’s ranges by the gulf, and the subsequent coloni zation of South Australia. major Mitchell’s Australia felix. But the most effective exploration of this country was by Major Mitchell, afterwards Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, an enthusiastic admirer of the Australian wilds, and one ardently engaged in developing the resources of his adopted country. As a parent, a citizen, a gentleman, a scholar, he has em balmed his memory alike in the archives of philosophy, the annals of colonial history, the hearts of friends, and the sanctity of home. From
