Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/485

 remove large stones to enable tliem to pass along a ridj^e which had deep precipices at its sides. On the IDfch they "began to ascend the second ridge of the mountains,*' and obtained a view of the settlements they had left behind them. Mount Banks bore N.W., Grose Head N.E., Pros- pect Hill E. by S. ; the seven Hills E.N.E. ; Windnor N.E. by E. **At a little distance from the spot at whicdi they began the ascent they found a pjramidieal heap of stones, the work evidently of some European, This pile they con- cluded to be the one erected by Mr- Bass, to mark the end of his journey," but it was afterwards attributed to Caley, and it become known as *" Caley 's EepLilso/* Congratulat- ing themselves on having penetrated further than any other European, the}' proceeded by daily journeys of from three to five miles, and on the 28tli they ** contrived to get their horses down the mountain by cutting a small trench with a hoe, which kept them from slipping, where they again tasted fresh grass for the first time since they left the forest land on the other side of the mountain.'* They had passed the mountain barrier and left Mount York behind them. On Monday the Blst May, computing that they had travelled ^' fifty miles through the mountain/' and being then in fine *' forest or grass land/' they *' conceived that they had sufficiently accomplished the design of their under- taking, and on the following day they bent their steps 'homewards.*' On the (ith June they *' reached their homes, all in good health." The Si^tlfwtf Gffzette triumphantly recorded their ** return from their trackless journey without the sliglitest injury/' after discovering ** a prodigious extent of fine level country/' In Nov. 1818 Macquarie despatched Mr. G. W. Evans, an Assistant'Surveyor, with five men, and two months' provis- ions, to follow the marked path of the volunteers. Follow- ing their track to the end, Evans continued liis journey for twenty-one days more., and described the country he saw as extension of tillage and pasture lands for a century to come.'' ^He returned after an al>sence of seven weeks. In a government Order (l*^th Feb. 1814) Macquarie, ** in con- Bideration of the importance of these discoveries, and Balculating upon the eifect they may ia^ ou Xife VmVc^^
 * ' equal to every demand which tliis colony may have for