Chapter 23:14, 15.)

OTHER PAINTINGS.

There were two other paintings, one on each of the rocks which stood on either side of the natural seat; they were carefully executed and yet had no apparent design in them; unless they were intended to represent some fabulous species of turtle; for the natives of Australia are generally fond of narrating tales of fabulous and extraordinary animals such as gigantic snakes, etc.

One of the party who appeared much amused at these different paintings walked straight up the cavern, gradually ascending the steps until he reached the slab at the end, and then, taking his hat off with a solemn air, seated himself; to his own, and our surprise, his bare head just touched the roof of the cave, and on examining this part of it we found it fairly polished, and very greasy, from all appearance caused by the constant rubbing against it of the head of a person whilst seated on the rock. This and other circumstances led us to conjecture that the cave was frequented by some wise man or native doctor who was resorted to by the inhabitants in cases of disease or witchcraft. We saw many footmarks about, and found other signs of the close presence of the natives, but they themselves remained invisible.

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.

The cave was situated in an exceedingly picturesque position, it occupied the corner leading from a wide valley to a narrow ravine, down which came bubbling along a clear deep stream, which passed within a few yards of the cave's mouth. After making sketches of the paintings and for a few minutes admiring this romantic spot we moved up the ravine, which appeared to lead by a gradual ascent to the summit of the mountain range that now completely hemmed us in both to the southward and eastward.

This ravine, in the luxuriance of its vegetation and the great size of the trees, as well as in its rapid stream, at times leaping in cascades or foaming in rapids, resembled those we had before seen in the sandstone ranges, but it differed from them in the greater height of the surrounding hills and cliffs which, being overshadowed with hanging trees and climbing plants, presented as rich a painting as the eye could behold: and, as these grew golden with the rays of the setting sun or were thrown into deep and massive shadows, I could not but regret that no Claude of the tropics had arisen to transfer to canvas scenes which words cannot express.

But however beautiful the scenery was the road we had to travel was so extremely inconvenient that the view scarcely made amends for it; we were continually compelled from old land-slips to cross from one side of the stream to the other, and this, from the depth of the ford and the slipperiness of the rocky bottom, was sometimes no easy task; moreover the ravine continued rapidly to contract in width and to become more rugged and precipitous; I therefore turned off to the right into a rocky amphitheatre which seemed well suited for encamping, and halted the party for the night; then, taking one of my men with me, I ascended the cliffs to see if I could make out any line by which to get clear of the precipices which embarrassed us, but on all sides I could descry nothing but lofty hills and frowning crags, except in the direction of the ravine which appeared to run directly into the heart of the mountain chain; I therefore turned about to rejoin the party, with the intention of continuing the same course the ensuing morning as we had done this evening.

NARROW ESCAPE.

Both myself and the man who was with me had however a narrow escape of being shot, for, as we were returning he let his rifle fall and it exploded, the ball striking the rocks close to us before it glanced into the air.

OTHER CAVES.

March 30.

At the earliest dawn we continued our course up the valley, which rapidly became narrower and more inclined so that it formed, as it were, a series of elevated terraces, at the edge of each of which was a little cascade. We found two caves in the cliffs on the right hand, both of which were painted all over but with no regularity of pattern: the only colours used were red, yellow, and white. The largest of the caves exceeded in breadth and depth any others I had seen, but it was only three feet high; in this one there were several drawings of fish, one of which was four feet in length; these I copied, although they were badly executed. The caves themselves cannot be considered as at all analogous to those I have before described.

INCREASING DIFFICULTIES OF ROUTE. IMPASSABLE SANDSTONE RANGES.

The difficulties of the road continued to increase rapidly, and the dimensions of the ravine became so contracted that I hesitated whether I should not turn up another which branched off to the right; previously however to taking this step I sent a man forward to examine the one we were in; he soon returned and reported that it terminated in a high cascade a few hundred yards further on. This intelligence confirming my previous opinion, I now moved up the ravine which came from the westward, but we had not proceeded for more than half a mile when the rugged nature of the country brought us to a complete stand; we found ourselves in a rocky area, bounded on all sides by cliffs, the only outlet from which was the path by which we had entered. I therefore halted the party for breakfast whilst I prepared to ascend some lofty pinnacles which lay to the south of us.

The state of my wound rendered this exertion one of great pain and difficulty; I however accomplished it, and found myself on the top of a high rocky eminence which bore the appearance of having fallen into ruins; the prospect from it was cheerless in the extreme; to the north lay the rich valley country far below us, and to the south and east nothing could be seen but barren sandstone rocks and ranges rising one above the other until they met the horizon at no great distance from the eye; the only outlet, except the ravine by which we had approached, appeared to be by the westward, and I descended to the party in this direction to see if I could find a route from where they were to the terrace leading to that point. I struck on a place up the cliffs where I imagined it possible to construct a road by which the ponies could ascend, and then returned to breakfast.

COUNTRY INACCESSIBLE FOR HORSES.

As soon as our scanty meal had been concluded all hands were employed in making this road; and sincerely did I pity the feeble men, whom I saw in the burning heat of a tropical sun, which was reflected with redoubled intensity from the bare sandstone rocks, toiling to displace large stones and obstacles which they had hardly sufficient strength to move; not a murmur however escaped them; they saw the necessity of the case and exerted their failing energies as readily as they had done when these were in full strength and vigour. The road was at last made and we moved on to the westward, toiling for the remainder of the day amongst steep precipices of barren sandstone rocks and hills, utterly inaccessible to horses, till, finding our efforts to proceed useless, I at last turned the party about and halted them for the night just above where we had breakfasted; intending with the earliest dawn to renew my search for a pass by which we might cross this mountain range.