Page:Expeditions of Discovery in South Australia (IA jstor-1798142).pdf/12

 the country, the scarcity of water, and the great difficulty both in finding and obtaining access to it. As we advanced, the hills inclined considerably to the eastward, gradually becoming less elevated, until in latitude 29 20' S. they ceased altogether, and we found ourselves in a very low and level country, consisting of large stony plains, varied occasionally by sand; and the whole having evidently been subject to recent and extensive inundation. These plains are destitute of water, grass, and timber, and have only a few salsolaceous plants growing upon them; whilst their surface, whether stony or sandy, is quite smooth and even, as if washed so by the action of the water. Throughout this level tract of country were interspersed, in various directions, many small flat-topped elevations, varying in height from fifty to three hundred feet, and almost invariably exhibiting precipitous banks. These elevations are composed almost wholly of a chalky substance, coated over on the upper surface by stones or a sandy soil, and present the appearance of having formed a table-land that has been washed to pieces by the violent action of water—and of which these fragments now only remain. Upon forcing a way through this dreary region, in three different directions, I found that the whole of the low country round the termination of Flinders Range was completely surrounded by Lake Torrens, which, commencing not far from the head of Spencer's Gulf, takes a circuitous course of fully four hundred miles, with an apparent breadth of from twenty to thirty miles—following the sweep of Flinders Range, and almost encircling it in the form of a horseshoe.

"The greater part of the vast area contained in the bed of this immense lake is certainly dry on the surface, and consists of a mixture of sand and mud, of so soft and yielding a character as to render perfectly ineffective all attempts either to cross it or to reach the edge of the water, which appears to exist. at a distance of some miles from the outer margin. On one occasion only was I able to taste of its waters, in a small arm of the lake, near the most north-westerly part of it which I visited, and here the water was as salt as the sea. The lake, on its eastern and southern sides, is bounded by a high sandy ridge, with salsolæ and some brushwood growing upon it, but without any other vegetation. The other shores presented, as far as I could judge, a very similar appearance; and when I ascended Flinders Range, from which the views were very extensive, and the opposite shores of the lake distinctly visible—no rise or hill of any kind could ever be perceived, either to the W., the N., or the E.; the whole region round appeared to be one vast, low, and dreary waste. One very prominent summit in this range I have named Mount Stele; it is situated in 30° 30' S. latitude, and about 138° 40' E. longitude, and is the first point from which I obtained a view of Lake Torrens, to the eastward of Flinders Range, and discovered that I was hemmed in on every side by a barrier it was impossible to pass. I had now no alternative left me, but to conduct my party back to Mount Arden, and then decide what steps I should adopt to carry out the objects of the expedition. It was evident that to avoid Lake Torrens and the low desert by which it is surrounded, I must go very far either to the E. or to the W. before again attempting to penetrate to the interior.

"My party had already been upwards of three months absent from,