Page:Expeditions of Discovery in South Australia (IA jstor-1798142).pdf/7

 passing over a low barren country, through which were interspersed many salt lakes, to the coast, which I struck in latitude 34° 7', and following then its general direction, I crossed a succession of low hills wooded with casuarinæ—grassy, but very stony, and destitute of water, except what was left by the late rains in swamps that we met with occasionally behind the sand hummocks of the coast. These stony hills—which are of limestone formation—extend but a few miles inland, and are backed by a perfectly level and scrubby country to the eastward. I found this character of laud continue with little variation to about latitude 33°, when we left the stony hills, entering a lower and more sandy region, in which the scrub, consisting of the eucalyptus dumosa and tea tree, approached much nearer the sea, gradually supplanting the casuarinæ, until in 33° 40' the latter disappeared altogether, and the whole country, to the water's edge, became one mass of dense and almost impenetrable scrub. During our progress through the low country we had hitherto at intervals met with high bluffs of granite rising to a considerable height, and frequently visible at a very great distance, from the level nature of the surrounding land; these had now ceased, and in no direction could we obtain a view of higher or more promising ground.

"On the 25th August, I arrived with my party at Streaky Bay, and having ascertained, by reconnoitring the country a-head, the impracticability of taking our drays any farther to the westward without first cutting a road through the scrub—a work of great labour and time—I determined to form a dep6t at a spring we were fortunate enough to find about two miles S.E. of the most southerly bight of Streaky Bay, and, leaving my party here, to proceed myself on horseback and examine the country along the coast as far as I might find practicable. Being most anxious to have continued this examination to the head of the Great Bight, in longitude 131° E., I went fully prepared for remaining out the necessary length of time, taking with me one of my native boys, and a packhorse to carry our provisions. I found the country along the coast still continue of the same character—low, barren, sandy, densely covered with scrub, and destitute of water. So close, indeed, and so strong was the nature of the scrub, that we had much difficulty in forcing our way through it, even on horseback. This dreary region extended round Streaky Bay, Smoky Bay, Denial Bay, and as far as the 133rd parallel of longitude, a little beyond Point Bell, this being the most westerly point I could reach, as the scarcity of grass and the absence of all water compelled me to return in spite of my most anxious desire to have continued our route two degrees farther west. During the whole of our course from the lower extremity of Streaky Bay to Point Bell, we had only found water once, a little to the N.E. of Point Brown, and here it was so difficult of access, and in so small a quantity, that we could not obtain a sufficiency for our horses. This, added to the very fatiguing nature of the country, had so exhausted the horses that it was not without difficulty we succeeded in taking them back safely to the dep6t. They had been four whole days without a drop of water, and the greater part of that time without food also, during which period we had ridden, at the least, 140 miles over a very heavy country. At the time of our return, the scrub