AND EXPLORATION. 155 Another important discovery — that of the Nepean River 1789 — ^was made by Captain Tench in June, 1789. Having been J^ne. placed in command of the redoubt at Rose Hill shortly before that date, he was unable to join the expedition which re- sulted in the discovery of the Hawkesbury ; but the success achieved on that occasion inspired him with the ambition of acquiring some distinction in the capacity of an explorer. " Stimulated/^ as he put it, '^ by a desire of acquiring a Tench's further knowledge of the country/^ he set out from Rose ^'^p®*"*^**"- Hill at daybreak on the 26th June, accompanied by the assistant surgeon of the settlement, the surgeon's mate of the Sirius, two marines, and a convict. They directed their march to a hill five miles oflf, in a westerly direction, which commanded ^' a view of the great chain of mountains called Carmarthen Hills, extending from north to south further than the eye can reach.^^ Here they paused, gazing for a time at "the wild abyss" of impassable ranges which The ranges rose up before them, and considering the direction they should take. After some consultation, they determined to steer west and by north by compass, the make of the land in that quarter indicating the existence of a river. They continued their march all day — through a country untrodden before by an European foot. Save that a melancholy crow now and then flew croaking overhead, or in the bush. a kangaroo was seen to bound at a distance, the picture of solitude was complete and undisturbed. At four o'clock in the afternoon we halted near a small pond of water, where we took up our resi- dence for the night, lighted our fire, and prepared to cook our sup- per — ^that was, to broil over a couple of ramrods a few slices of salt pork and a crow which we had shot. At daylight we renewed our peregrination ; and in an hour afterwards we found ourselves on through brushwood, shrubs of considerable size in its way had been broken down, and from the openings there left I could form some comparative esti- mate of its bulk. These tracks were first seen by a man who had joined me at the Cape, and who had there been on the frontier during the Caffre war ; he told me that he had seen the spur of a buffalo, imagining that they were here as plentiful as in Africa. I conceived at the time that he had made some mistake, and paid no attention to him until I afterwards twice saw the same traces myself. — Journals, p. 242. Digitized by Google
