Page:Expeditions of Discovery in South Australia (IA jstor-1798142).pdf/8

 still continued very dense near the sea; and the only improvement I had observed in the character of the country was, that the land a few miles back from the coast was gradually becoming more elevated, and the intervals of plains or small openings among the scrub were getting somewhat larger and more numerous than we had met with before j but no heights were visible, nor were there the least indications of a probability of water being found more to the westward. Having observed from a height to the southward of our dep6t a high and very distant peak to the eastward, I had sent my overseer out in that direction to reconnoitre the country during my absence to the westward. On his return he reported that he found water at intervals, but only in small quantities, left by the rains in clefts of rocks, and even this, he stated, was rapidly drying up. This information, added to the unfavourable state of the wind for some days past, and the fact of our supplies being reduced to rather a low ebb, decided me at once to move on the party and push across as rapidly as possible.

"On the afternoon of the 8th September we evacuated our depôt, and steered easterly, through a barren and scrubby country, very low and level, with occasional heights of granite, in the clefts of which we usually found a little water deposited by the rains. At about longitude 135° 25' E., we came to a singular mass of lofty ranges extending far to the northward and to the eastward. These ranges were devoid of timber, of a barren appearance, and consisted of granite and porphyritic granite, but principally the latter. There were neither creeks nor springs emanating from them, and the land around, to their very base, was low, barren, and scrubby, the hills themselves being nearly overrun with the prickly grass. I took the liberty of distinguishing this very remarkable range with the name of his Excellency the Governor, as it constitutes the principal feature in this part of the country, and exhibits a succession of lofty rugged ranges, one behind the other, stretching through a vast extent of country, and thus forming a striking and singular contrast to the low and level waste around.

"In this vicinity, and among the hills, we met with several small salt water lakes, with salsolaceous plants growing around their margins; but we were entirely dependent on the deposit of water left by the rains among the rocks for our supply of fresh water. The supply was thus very precarious, being only procurable in small quantities at a time, and frequently at very considerable intervals apart—and even this was evidently rapidly disappearing before the rays of a very hot sun, so that I feel assured had we delayed even a few days longer at Streaky Bay, we never could have succeeded in forcing a passage across. On the 29th September we formed a depôt, being anxious, before leaving this vicinity, to see a little more of the interior to the northward. I detained my party in camp for a week, and proceeded on horseback about ninety miles beyond the dep6t. In the course of this ride I ascended two or three heights in the ranges under which I was travelling, and from one of them it was evident that a lake of considerable size extended to the N. and N.W.: but as my time was very limited, and the lake at a considerable distance, I was obliged to forego my wish to visit it. I have, how-