AND 'EXPLORATION. * 1 63 • May, 1791 .* The two oflScers, accompanied by two soldiers, 1701 started from Rose Hill, intending to make for that part of May. the river opposite Richmond Hill at which Phillip's party had arrived. The journey resulted in their ascertaining that the two rivers were in reality but one.t Tench's nar- Nepean and rative of this expedition is distinguished by a sympathetic onTriver!*'^ expression of his gratitude towards certain natives whom they met on their arrival at Richmond Hill. Finding it necessary to cross the river at that place, they were obliged . to seek their assistance; and so far from taking advantage of helpless strangers, they cheerfully helped them out of Fnendiy their difficulty. After the party had been ferried across the river, the natives brought over the knapsacks and guns which had been left behind, and delivered them to their owners without making any attempt to seize or even handle them : — During this long trial of their patience and courtesy, in the latter part of which I was entirely in their power from their having possession of our arms, they had manifested no ungenerous sign of taking advantage of the helplessness and dependence of our situa- tion, no rude curiosity to pry into the packages with which they Their kind- were entrusted, and no sordid desire to possess the contents of "J^ty!^ them; although among them were articles exposed to view of which it afterwards appeared they knew the use and longed for the benefit Let the banks of those rivers ** known to song"; let him whose travels have lain among polished nations, produce me a brighter example of disinterested urbanity than was shown by these denizens of a barbarous clime )iO a set of destitute wanderers on the side of the Hawkesbury. This is a well deserved tribute to the merits of the abo- riginal character; but it is not more emphatic than similar
- Tenoh, Complete Account, p. 127; Honter, p. 630.
t " The Nepean or Cowjpasture River is a fine stream, rising a few miles north of Bemma and flowing in a northerly direction through a fine agri- coltaral district into the Hawkesbury River, between Penrith and Rich- mond, or at the confluence of the Grose River. The Nepean is, in fact, only another name for the nnper end of the Hawkesbury. It is fed by numerous tributary streams, the nrincipal of which are the Wattle, Mount Hunter, Stonequarry, and Myrtle Creeks; and the Warragamba, Bargo, Cordeaux, and the Cataract Rivers. The Nepean flows past the townships of Picton, Riversford, and Camden. "—Whitworth, New South Wales Gazetteer. Digitized by Google
