For ten days he forgot his sufferings, and regained some of his lost
strength, under the hospitable care of Captain Rossitur, who, it will be
remembered, was the first foreigner to anchor in Port Lincoln.
Provided with fresh clothes and provisions, with his horses newly shod,
Eyre recommenced his pilgrimage, and arrived in King George's Sound on
July 8th. Having successfully crossed from Port Lincoln to King George's
Sound, with incredible suffering, not alone to himself, but also to his
men and horses, so far as they accompanied him; added to which, his
obstinate persistence, led to the death of Baxter, who, against his own
convictions, went on with him, rather than leave him in his need.
It is generally said with regard to this journey of Eyre's, that it any
rate established the fact that no considerable creek flowed from the
interior to the south coast. But this had been pretty well-known before
by the maritime surveys, for it must be borne in mind that this portion
of the Australian shore in no way resembles the general coast line of
Australia. Granted that numbers of the largest rivers in the continent
were overlooked by the navigators, we must also remember that the
conditions here were essentially different.
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