Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/543

Rh continued the work of investigating the interior of the great continent, and every year added something to the maps of the country.

"A most perilous journey was made in 1839 and 1840 by Mr. Eyre, who was afterwards governor of New Zealand and Jamaica. He explored a portion of the eastern shore of Spencer Gulf, and then turned to the westward along the shore of the Great Australian Bight, a distance of twelve hundred miles. Two hundred and fifty miles from the head of the gulf he had lost four of his best horses; and as he could not carry sufficient provisions for his party, he sent back his companion, Mr. Scott, and three others, and continued the journey with his overseer, two natives, and a native servant of his own.

"To make sure of water Mr. Eyre explored in advance of the party before moving the animals, and was sometimes gone five or six days without finding any. Most of the horses died of thirst, and the men only kept themselves alive by gathering dew with rags and a sponge.

"One night the two natives armed themselves with guns, killed the overseer, and ran away, leaving Mr. Eyre, with his servant, Wylie, two horses, and a very small stock of provisions; they had six hundred miles of unknown desert before them, and their whole supply of food was forty pounds of flour, four gallons of water, and part of a dead horse. They had to go one hundred and fifty miles before finding any more water, and after struggling on for a month, living on horse-flesh, fish, and occasional game, with a little flour paste, they were rescued by a whaling-ship just in time to save their lives. They remained two weeks on the ship, and then continued their journey, with more sufferings for twenty-three days, to King George Sound.