Page images
PDF
EPUB

3

point deviating from the main range of hills which bound the interior, although partial dry portions of level alluvial land extend from their base westerly to a distance which I estimate to exceed one hundred and fifty miles, before it is gradually lost in the waters which I am clearly convinced cover the interior.

The alteration in our course more easterly soon brought us into a very different description of country, forming a remarkable contrast to that which had so long occupied us. Numerous fine streams, running northerly, watered a rich and beautiful country, through which we passed, until the 7th September, when we crossed the meridian of Sydney, as also the most elevated known land in New South Wales, being then in latitude 31° 03′ S. We were afterwards considerably embarrassed and impeded by very lofty mountains. On the 20th September we gained the summit of the most elevated mountain in this extensive range, and from it we were gratified with a view of the ocean, at a distance of fifty miles, the country beneath us being formed into an immense triangular valley, the base of which extended along the coast, from the Three Brothers on the south, to high land north of Smoky Cape. We had the further gratification to find, that we were near the source of a large stream running to the

sea.

On descending the mountain, we followed the course of this river, increased by many accessions, until the 8th October, when we arrived on the beach near the entrance of the port which received it, having passed

over, since the 18th July, a tract of country near five hundred miles in extent from west to east.

not

This inlet is situated in latitude 31° 23′30′′ S., and longitude 152° 50′ 18′′ E., and had been previously noticed by capt. Flinders; but from the distance at which he was necessarily obliged to keep from the coast, he did discover that it had a navigable entrance. Of course, our most anxious attention was directed to this important point; and although the want of a boat rendered the examination as to the depth of water in the channel, incomplete, yet there appeared to be at low water at least three fathoms, with a safe though narrow entrance between the sand rollers on either hand. Having ascertained thus far, and that by its means the fine country on the banks, and in the neighbourhood of the river might be of future service to the colony, I took the liberty to name it Port Macquarie, in honour of your excellency, as the original promoter of the expedition.

On the 12th October we quitted Port Macquarie on our course for Sydney, and although no charts can be more accurate in their outline and principal points, than those of captain Flinders, we soon experienced how little the best marine charts can be depended upon, to show all the inlets and openings upon an extensive line of coast. The distance his ship was generally at from that portion of the coast we had to travel over, did not allow him to perceive openings, which, though doubtless of little consequence to shipping, yet presented the most serious difficulties to

travellers

travellers by land, and of which, if they had been laid down in the chart, I should have hesitated to have attempted the passage, without assistance to the sea-ward. As it is, we are indebted for our preservation, and that of the horses, to the providential discovery of a small boat on the beach, which the men with the most cheerful alacrity carried upwards of ninety miles on their shoulders, thereby enabling us to overcome obstacles otherwise insurmountable.

plants, besides many seeds, &c. and in the collection and preservation he has indefatigably en deavoured to obtain your excellency's approval of his services.

I confidently hope that the journal of the expedition will amply evince to your excellency the exemplary and praiseworthy conduct of the men employed on it, and I feel the sincerest pleasure in earnestly soliciting for them your excellency's favourable consideration.

Respectfully hoping, that on a perusal and inspection of the journals and charts of the expedition that the course I have pursued in the execution of your excellency's instruction will be honoured by your approbation, I beg leave to subscribe myself, with the greatest respect, Sir, your excellency's most obedient and humble servant,

Until within these few days, I hoped to have had the satisfaction to report the return of the expedition without accident to any individual composing it; but such is the ferocious treachery of the natives along the coast to the northward, that our utmost circumspection could not save us from having one man (W. Blake) severely wounded by them; but by the skilful care bestowed upon J. OXLEY, Surveyor-Gen. him by Dr. Harris (who accom- To his Exc. Governor Macquarie, panied the expedition as a volunteer, and to whom, upon this occasion and throughout the whole course of it, we are indebted for much valuable assistance), I trust his recovery is no longer doubtful.

The general merits of Mr. Evans are so well known to your excellency, that it will here be sufficient to observe, that by his zealous attention to every point that could facilitate the progress of the expedition, he has endeavoured to deserve a continuance of your excellency's approbation. Mr. Charles Frazier, the colonial botanist, has added near 700 new specimens to the already extended catalogue of Australian

(Signed)

&c. &c.

Extract of a General Order by the

Governor.

"Government-House, Sydney, May 31, 1819.-His excellency the governor having received and perused the journal of a tour lately made by Charles Throsby, esq. by the way of the Cow Pastures to Bathurst, in the new discovered country westward of the Blue Mountains, takes this early opportunity publicly to announce the happy result of an enterprise which promises to conduce, in a very eminent degree, to the future interest and prosperity of the colony.-The communication with the western country having been heretofore

heretofore over a long and difficult range of mountains, alike ungenial to man and cattle, from their parched and barren state, it became an object of great importance to discover another route, whereby those almost insurmountable barriers would be avoided, and a more practicable, and consequently less hazardous access effected to the rich and extensive plains of Bathurst.-His excellency adverts with pleasure to Mr. Throsby's general report of the capabilities, qualities, and features of the country intervening between the Cow Pastures and Bathurst; which he represents to be, with few exceptions, rich, fertile, and luxuriant, abounding with fine runs of water, and all the happy varieties of soil, hill, and valley, to render it nct only

delightful to the view, but highly suitable to all the purposes of pasturage and agriculture.-The importance of these discoveries is enhanced by the consideration that a continuous range of valuable country, extending from the Cow Pastures to the remote plains of Bathurst, is now fully ascertained, connecting those countries with present settlements on this side the Nepean.-His excellency the governor, highly appreciating Mr. Throsby's services on this occasion, offers him this public tribute of acknowledgment, for the zeal and perseverance by which he was actuated throughout this arduous undertaking; and desires his acceptance of one thousand acres of land in any part of the country discovered by himself that he may choose to select.

VOL. LXI.

2 N

MISCELLANIES.

MISCELLANIES.

MONASTIC SCHOOLS IN RUSSIA.

[Asiatic Journal, October.]

THE emperor of Russia has advanced 180,000 roubles, out of 300,000, the sum destined for the establishment and support of conventional schools, or seminaries, attached to the monasteries in Russia. In the ukase published upon the subject, his majesty expresses himself in the following terms" It is my personal wish to see schools of truth flourish. Minds are not truly enlightened, except by that divine light which shines in darkness, and which darkness cannot extinguish. Je sus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Education ought to be founded on practical Christianity.

[blocks in formation]

where he employed himself in new researches at the Temple of Karnack. Here, several feet under-ground, he found, surrounded by a wall, a range of sphynxes, about forty in number, with heads of lions on busts of women, of black granite, and for the greater part beautifully executed. While absent, on his second visit to Ybsambul, Mrs. Belzoni succeeded in digging up at the same place a statue of Jupiter Ammon, holding a ram's head on his knees. And on his second journey to Thebes in 1817, M. Belzoni discovered a colossal head of Orus, of fine granite, larger than the Memnon, measuring ten feet from the neck to the top of the mitre, with which it is crowned, exquisitely finished, and in fine preservation. He carried with him to Cairo one of the arms belonging to this statue. As he succeeded so well in removing the Memnon, may we not hope that he will be encouraged also to attempt the removal of this head, and that we may ere long see it placed beside its colossal brother in the British Museum.

After this, M. Belzoni proceeded again to Nubia, and, in spite of many hindrances and much inhospitality which he experienced, suceeded in opening the celebrated temple of Ybsam

bul,

bul, which no European had ever before entered. In this temple (the largest and most wonderful excavation in Egypt or in Nubia), he found fourteen chambers and a great hall; and in the latter, standing, eight colossal figures, each thirty feet high. The walls and pilasters are covered with hieroglyphics beautifully cut, and groups of large figures in fine preservation. At the end of the sanctuary he found four sitting figures about twelve feet high, cut out of the natural rock and well preserved. Belzoni's labour may be conceived when we state, that on commencing his operations, the bed of loose sand which he had to clear away was upwards of fifty feet deep. He carried hence two lions with the heads of vultures, and a small statue of Jupiter Ammon. From the superior style of sculpture found in this temple to any thing yet met with in Egypt, Mr. Salt infers that the arts descended hither from Ethiopia.

M. Belzoni, by a kind of tact which seems to be peculiarly his own, discovered, on his return to Thebes, six tombs in the valley of Biban El Moluck, or the tombs (or rather gates] of the kings (in a part of the mountains where ordinary observers would hardly have sought for such excavations), all in a perfect state, not having been viewed by previous intruders, and giving a wonderful display of Egyptian magnificence and posthumous splendor. From the front entrance to the innermost chamber in one of them, the length of passage, cut through the solid rock, is 309 feet: the chambers, which are numerous,

cut in a pure white rock, are covered with paintings al fresco, well executed, and with hieroglyphics quite perfect, and the colours as fresh as if newly laid on. In one of these chambers he found an exquisitely - beautiful sarcophagus of alabaster nine feet five inches long, three feet nine inches high, and two feet one inch wide, covered within and without with hieroglyphics in intaglio, sounding like a bell, and as transparent as glasssupposed, by M. Belzoni, to have been the depository of the remains of Apis. In the innermost room he found the carcase of a bull, embalmed with asphaltum, which seems to give some confirmation to his idea. We are happy to learn that this matchless production is now on its way to England, to be placed by the side of the sarcophagus supposed to have contained the remains of Alexander. Mr. Salt, assisted by Mr. Beechey (son of the wellknown artist of the same name), has, with much labour and care, copied several of the paintings within this tomb, which will byand-by be given to the public. These paintings are quite fresh and perfect. The colours employed are " vermilion, ochres, and indigo;" and yet they are not gaudy, owing to the judicious balance of colours, and the artful management of the blacks. It is quite obvious (says Mr. Salt) that they worked on a regular system, which had for its basis, as Mr. West would say, the colours of the rainbow; as there is not an ornament throughout their dresses where the red, yellow, and blue, are not alternately min2 N 2

gled,

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »