State of the stock.

For the next few days we had almost uninterrupted bad weather.  The party were all occupied in preparing the saddles, etc.  The ponies having eaten off the grass in the ravine, we were compelled, about the 28th, to move them to the higher grounds.  These at our first arrival on this coast were perfectly dry and burnt up; but since the heavy rains had set in they teemed with running springs, along the margins of which grew a scanty coating of grass.  Being obliged to send the horses to a distance to graze delayed us a great deal for one portion of our party was occupied in attending upon them.  Our sheep also now began to die off:  they had up to this time improved rapidly and were doing very well, having, during the absence of the vessel, been regularly tended and driven to the high dry ground to feed; but now the pressure of business was so great that we were compelled in some degree to neglect them, and from this they suffered.  The goats had from some cause never succeeded well.

From the period of their being landed many of the horses had declined very much, and several of them were by this time reduced to a very weakly state.  This originated from the heavy rains and the excessive cold which accompanied them, as well as from some food they had eaten which had not agreed with them.  On the 28th and 29th the rains increased in violence and duration; but we still continued our occupations of completing the packsaddles and arranging the stores in such small packages that they could easily in case of necessity be transported on men’s shoulders.

Final arrangements for the march.

Having provided every requisite for the party, such as food, working utensils, soap, tobacco, etc., all of which were arranged in their respective packages, I issued an order that nothing but certain articles of clothing for each individual were to be put upon the ponies.  This step was rendered the more necessary from their weakness and their diminutive size having greatly abridged our intended means of transport.  Numerous requests were now made to me to be allowed to put various articles upon the horses, all of which I felt myself obliged to meet by a steady refusal; but this refusal, dictated entirely by the necessity of the case, raised angry and discontented feelings, tending to diminish materially the individual zeal and energy which were so much required at this juncture to ensure our success.

Departure for the interior.  Difficulties of the route.

On the 29th we began in the afternoon to load our horses.  Mr. Walker’s pathway was completed by means of a number of circuitous and sharp turnings:  it led directly up the face of cliffs which were almost precipitous and 180 feet in height.  To commemorate the completion of this really laborious undertaking I named the valley Walker’s Valley.