Ten days after the explorers left, the soldiers returned with three of
the delegates. On reaching the foot of the mountains, where it was
arranged that the soldiers were to leave the party and return home, these
three men were so thoroughly tired of their quest, and convinced of their
folly, that they had begged to be allowed to go back.
On the 9th February the remainder of the expedition reached Prospect Hill
more dead than alive. Wilson alone had kept heart, and managed to sustain
the flagging spirits of his companions sufficiently to enable them to
stagger in to the settlement.
Their report of the surroundings of the colony contained little more than
what was already known or guessed at. They described the country passed
over as alternating between barren, rocky ridges and spacious meadows.
Running creeks had been crossed, and they turned back on the bank of a
river which they described as being as large as the Hawkesbury, with
level country in view on the opposite side.
They had seen but few natives, and those they saw were clothed in skins
from head to foot. Amongst other novelties they had noticed the blue-gum
trees, the mountain wallaroo, which had drawn their attention from being
larger and fatter than those formerly familiar to them, a kind of
pheasant, as they described it, now known as the lyre-bird, a specimen of
which the brought back with them, and a kind of mole, the modern wombat,
one of which formed their last meal before reaching the settlement.
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