Beyond Anker's Gate was the trackless forest, of which none but the Bushmen knew anything.

They did not understand what he meant by a map; all they could tell him was that the range of mountainous hills continued westerly and southerly for an unascertained distance, and that the country was uninhabited except by wandering gipsy tribes.
South was the sea, the salt water; but they never went down to it, or near it, because there was no sustenance for their flocks and herds.
Till now, Felix did not know that he was near the sea; he resolved at once to visit it.

As nearly as he could discover, the great fresh water Lake did not reach any farther south; Wolfstead was not far from its southern margin.

He concluded, therefore, that the shore of the Lake must run continually westward, and that if he followed it he should ultimately reach the very creek from which he had started in his canoe.
How far it was he could not reckon.
There were none of the shepherds who could be sent with a letter; they were not hunters, and were unused to woodcraft; there was not one capable of the journey.

Unless he went himself he could not communicate with Aurora.