AND EXPUOHATION. 157 Tlie unsncoessf nl attempts made by Dawes and others to 1791 reach the Blue Monntams did not, however, deter PhiDip ApriL from making an effort to do so ; and for that purpose he equipped another expedition, which set out from Rose Hill on the 11th April, 1791*. The party comprised, besides Phuiip*a him s e lf. Tench and Dawes, Judire- Advocate Collins and his to the mountAlns. serrant, three convicts who were considered good shots, eight soldiers with two Serjeants, and Surgeon White ; provisions for seven days being taken with them. " Every man (the Governor excepted) ^^ — Tench tells us — '^ carried his own knapsack, which contained provisions for ten days ; if to Heavy this be added a gun, a blanket, and a canteen, the weight SS^*^ vill fall nothing short of forty pounds. Slung to the knap- sack are the cooking kettle and the hatchet, with which the wood to kindle the nightly fire and build the nightly hut is to be cut down." Two friendly natives, Colebe and Balle- deny — ^the latter had been living at Phillip's house for some time — being anxious to go with them, were allowed to do so, as "much information was expected from them." This was the first occasion on which convicts and blacks were Employ, employed in the work of exploration ; but they were fre- SmS^e and quently taken on subsequent expeditionsi The line of march eJ^SaSon. taken by Phillip was from Rose Hill to the Hawkesbury, opposite Bichmond Hill, then across the river, and so on to the mountains. Foreseeing that a few hours' rain at that time of the year might flood the river and so render their return a difficult matter, he proposed to cross it with only croaAng half-a-dozen persons, leaving the rest to construct a raft of * ^"* tenant Dawes putit, k I'effet de lea reconnditre, avec nn gros detachment de tronpes et dee vivres pour dix joumdes de marche ; mais, aprte neuf jonn de fatignee et de dast^n, il revint an Port Jackson, sans avoir pa elit de nenf miUes dans rint^rieur des montMnes. D'apr^s s'a?inoer an delit de nenf miUes dans rint^rieur des montagnes. D'apr^s wa rapport, il avoit ^t^ arrStd par dee ravins impraticables, par des chalnes de nxmeis trt»-haate8, trte eecarp^es et bord^ee de pr^oipicee. Hnit mois aprfes Texp^ition da Lieatenant Dawes, c'est k dire aa mois d*aAat 1790, le Gapitaine Tench partit lai-mdme avec une forte escorte de eoUato et tooa lee objeta n^oeesaries poor tenter de nouveaa le passage des montagDes bleuee ; mais cette excursion ne fut pas plus hearense que la pnaakre, — ^Voyi^, vol. i, p. 380.
- Hnnter, p. 512^ Tench, Complete Acoonnt, p. 112,
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