The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-07 00:00:00

PORT PHILLIP-PROGRESS OF

DISCOVERY.
(From the PortlPhillip Herald.)
We have sincere gratification in announcing the ar-
rival in Melbourne of Count Streleski, the enterprising
pedestrian naturalist, and his friends and compagnons do
voyage, Messrs. Macarthur and Riley, from an explora-
tory tour through the terra incognita on the south-east
coast of New South Wales ; in the course of which they
have made several highly-important discoveries, and
have undergone excessive privations. The present
tour was undertaken by Count Streleski in continuation
of those geognostic and mineralogical researches which
had previously carried him over 2,000 miles within the
limits of the colony, and now induced him to start from
the Murrumbidgee, to explore the unknown, and by
white men untrodden territory lying between the Hume
and the south-eastern coast of New South Wales. At
Ellerslie, a station belonging to H. H. Macarthur, Esq.,
AI.C., the Count was joined by Mr. James Macarthur
and Mr. Riley, both of whom were eager to share with the
Count the toils and gratification of such an undertaking.
The party seems to have started well provided with
provisions and pack-horses, and well mounted, except-
ing the Count, who having with him a considerable num-
ber of valuable instruments, necessary for the prose-
cution of his observations, which, on account of their
delicate construction, required the greatest care of car-
riage, preferred pursuing his journey on foot with his
budget on his back. From Ellerslie the party de-
scended into the beautiful valley of the Hume, or
Murray, and followed its picturesque windings for
about fifty miles. Here the travellers encamped ; the
Count and Mr. Macarthur ascended the Australian
Alps, and on the 12th of February, at noon, they
found themselves sitting on the most elevated peak
of Australia, at the height of 7,800 feet above the
level of the sea, beyond the reach of vegetation,
surrounded by perpetual snows, with a serene and
lucid sky above them, and below an unbroken view
over an extent of about 4,000 square miles. On the
summit of the Alps Count Streleski secured many
valuable meteorological and magnetic observations.
From the Snowy Range, retracing their steps for
about thirty miles to the westward, the party struck for
the south, through a broken and uninhabited country,
opening, as it were, by their first track, perhaps nsfuturo
communication with the Murray. In three days' jour-
ney from Omen, in a south-east direction, the party
crossed the dividing range, and in four days more found
themselves in a new and splendid country, clothed with
the richest pasture, and intersected with numerous
rivers—an immense inland lake and its ramified lagoons ;
in fact opening up in every direction fresh fields for the
operations of the settler, such as no other part of the
colony, which had come under the notice of the travel-
lers, presented. The country, from latitude 37 deg.
10 min. S., assumed the most cheering and gratif3-
ing aspect, but the rivers which beset the country
from N.W. to S.E. greatly retarded the progress of
the travellers, whose provisions now began to fail.
On the Gth of April it was determined to place 'all
hands on half-rations (a biscuit and a slice of bacon
per day), but new difficulties and new delayssoon rendered
it evident that even with this precautionary measure, it
would be impossible to make the stock of provisions
last out the journey. The greatest impediment the
travellers had to contend with was the exhausted state
of their horses ; each day saw one or other of the party
dismounted, to follow the Count on foot—but this, far
from removing, only increased the impediments to their
progress, for the men unaccustomed to walk, like the
horses, began to feel the effects of the wear and tear of
the journey. In this situation it became necessary for
the travellers to relinquish their original intention of
prosecuting their researches as far as Wilson's Promon-
tory, and thence commencing the exploration of the
sea coast, its inlets and outlets, and to take, instead
of the straight course for Western Port, the nearest
point whence fresh supplies could be obtained. The
open forests, plains, and valleys, through which the
party, if well supplied with provisions, might have trn-
yelled at leisure, had now to be exchanged for a rocky
and mountainous pith, through which a passage could
not be effected without infinite difficulty. The horses,
now completely exhausted, served more to retard than
to accelerate the progress of the travellers, and they
were finally obliged to abandon them in a valley or
tolerable pasture and well watered, about 75 miles
beyond Western Port. Here, also, they were forced to
leave the packs with the wearing men's apparel, and the
Count's mineralogical and botanical collections, taking
with them only their blankets and the residue of their bread,
which, notwithstanding the allowance had been greatly
restricted, did not last longer than four days from this time-
From this place the Count and his companions took, and
at all hazards maintained, a direct course to Western Port,
in the hope of bringing their sufferings to a close as
speedily as possible; but, unfortunately, this course led
them for days together through a dense scrub, which It is
almost impossible to penetrate. The party was now in rs
most deplorable condition. Messrs. Macarthur and Riley
and their attendants had become so exhausted as to be,,
unable to cope with the difficulties which beset their pro-
gress,. The Count, being more inured to the fatigue and
privations attendant upon a pedestrian journey through the
wilds of our inhospitable interior, alone retained possession
of his strength, and although burdenned with a load of in-
struments and papers of 45 pounds' weight, continued to
pioneer his exhausted companions day after day through
an almost impervious fea-tree scrub, closely interwoven c i h
climbing grasses, vines, willows, fern, and reeds. Hire the
Count was to:be seen breaking a passage with his hands
and knees through the centre of the scrub ; there throw-
ing himself a:, full length among the dense underwood ;
and thus opening, by the weight of his body, a pathway
for his companions in distress. In this condition the
party, inch by inch, forced their way, the incessant rains
preventing them from taking rest by night_
their
.jor day. Their
Their
~f
provisions during the last eighteen days o
consisted only of a very scanty supply of the native bear
or monkey, but for which, the only game the country
inust have perished from utter
which the travellers described
afforded,
starvation. t h
e
as somewhat of the toughest, was but scantily obtained,
Thistra v e lfloeords
and the nutriment it afforded was altogether insufficient
for the maintenance of the health and strength necessary
for lergingsuch fatigue. Oa the 22d day after they
had u
Westernn abandoned( their horses, they came in sight of
Port, and the sensations which were created
)
by the first view of the water on which a small vessel
was riding at anchor, and the blue smoke curling
among the trees, may be more easily imagined than de-
scribed. It was upon Mr. I3arry's tent the party bad
stumbled, and to his hospitality and kind attention to
their wants they owe their recovery to health and vigour.

Vegetables and animals arc prepared for almost
all climates, and for temperatures higher than the beat of
any country. Dr. Reeve found 'arm in a spring at 250
&grecs ; Lord Bite confervre and beetles in the boiling
springs of Albano, that died when plunged into cold water.
A species of diara will flower and produce seed in the hot
springs of Iceland, which boil an egg in four minutes.
One plant, uredo nivalis, which is a mere microscopic gl
bule, is said to grow and flower under the snow. Some
cold-blooded animals bear heat very badly. Dr. Edwards
sno that frogs die in a few seconds in water at 107 deg.
'Yet a species of tccnia has been found alive in a boiled
carp ; but then the carp which it inhabits will live in water
as hot as human blood:Elliotson's Iluntax Physiology.
INDIA-RUBBER PAVEMENT!—Amongst the
marvels of the times, a patent has actually been taken out
for paving the streets of London with India-rubber,. and
persons are sanguine as to its success.
many The ieresciitnotibfic
be a substratum of wood, on which is to be put
a facing of eqoutchouc mixed with iron filings and sawdust
to a depth of several inches. This, it is calculated, will
resist the ill influence of all weathers, and make tke most
delightful and durable pavement.