Page:History of West Australia.djvu/541

Rh experienced men are convinced that the country thereabouts is eminently worth exploiting, and will yet prove of great value to South Australia. A few months after his return Mr. Lindsay revisited Port Darwin to report for an English syndicate on the extensive gold-bearing areas in the Northern Territory. He carefully inspected several mines, and then proved his stamina and bravery by a notable ride. In company with a black boy, he set forth on horses from Port Darwin, and rode over the whole stretch of country between the north and south coasts of Australia. The season was a dry one, and those who have gone into the uninhabited interior will know what that means to the traveller. The total distance is 1,400 miles, over deserts and long waterless tracts. In one stage he travelled seventy-five miles without water, and in another, sixty miles. This, over loose sand and beneath a burning sun, is a hard trial for the horse, and demands excellent judgment from the rider. The journey from Port Darwin to Alice Springs was done in five weeks.

The whole of the year 1888 was spent in an expedition to the McDonnell Ranges in search of precious stones and minerals. In those massive and highly mineralised ranges which bisect North and South Australia he discovered the first deposit of payable mica in the continent, and also acquired much other valuable information, which has given rise to considerable speculation as to the great wealth of those regions. A shipment of 16 cwt. of mica was sent to London, but although the product was high class, and of large size, it brought on sale the paltry sum of 1s. 6d. per cwt. This was due to the operations of a "corner" of mica brokers; an industry was then and there strangled. Since that time a further attempt has been made, and similar mica now brings from 7s. to 10s. a lb.

Upon his return to the capital the Broken Hill silver boom was rising to its highest inflation. The principal stocks were held in Adelaide, and nearly the whole population dreamt dreams of illimitable silver wealth. Few escaped the abnormal fever, and the "corner" and stock exchanges daily rang with the turmoil of eager, elbowing crowds. It was very natural that Mr. Lindsay's adventurous temperament should lead him into this turgid throng. He went on the Exchange and became a sharebroker. During the period from 1889 to 1891 he made some heavy deals, and his total turnover of capital amounted to an immense sum. However, the finality of the reaction found him little better off than when he began.

The late Sir Thomas Elder, whose contributions of funds towards the exploration of Australia have been immense, and who, out of his princely wealth, laudably strove in every way to benefit the country wherein he amassed his fortune, now proposed to the South Australian branch of the Australasian Geographical Society to equip a party to complete the exploration of Australia, and to add to the scientific knowledge of her flora and fauna. The plan of the proposed expedition was to penetrate the unknown areas so that the whole continent might be topographically marked out. Gentlemen of scientific attainments were chosen to accompany the party, and David Lindsay was justly appointed the leader. This was the great opportunity of his career, and he was the most anxious of all to get to his task. That the expedition, the results of which were decidedly important, was not more significantly successful was not the fault of Lindsay. The party, which consisted of fourteen men and forty-four camels, was, perhaps, the best equipped which ever strove to explore Australia, but among the scientific officers were some whose characters unsuited them to a position in an Australian exploring expedition. Consequently friction arose, culminating in the dismissal of two officers and the subsequent resignation of two others.

At the beginning of the winter of 1891 Lindsay and his party left Adelaide and proceeded to the terminus of the transcontinental railway line at Warrina. There they mustered all their forces, their provisions and accoutrements. Then the leader despatched farewell telegrams to Adelaide and started on the lonely journey. He took a westerly course, his aim being to explore all that great unknown tract which lies between the explorations of Giles and Forrest, a total distance of 900 miles. He early recognised that the season was a most unpropitious one, and, unless rain quickly fell, that the plans of the expedition would have to be curtailed. Not having the pleasure of a sight of his journal we cannot here go into that detail of his travel which is so interesting, nor have we the space. At any rate, much new country was seen, and an account of it was given to the world. A striking feature of the journey was the wonderful powers of endurance shown by the camels, and the world's record, so far as is known, was made in the distance and time that they went without water. At Mount Squires, discovered by Ernest Giles in 1874, they obtained ample water in a huge rock-hole, and then the more inhospitable and deserted regions were entered. Mr. Linday sent casks of water twenty-five miles from Mount Squires, where, on the second day out, he gave the camels two and a half gallons of water each, and on the ninth day two and a half gallons more out of a small rock-hole. Thenceforth, for eighteen days, traversing sand hills in hot weather, and while heavily loaded, not a drop of water did the dromedaries have. This is a remarkable feat, and shows to what use the ships of the desert may be put. There was little more pasturage than water, which served to accentuate the trial. Mr. Lindsay proceeded to the Victoria Springs (which saved Giles in his trip in 1875), where he hoped to obtain the precious liquid, but they were dry. By sinking fifteen feet he was only able to obtain sixty gallons in twenty-four hours, and, helped by forty gallons from the casks, two and a half gallons each was all that could be given to the parched animals. They had now to hurry as rapidly as possible to the nearest certain water, which was at Fraser's Range. It took them eight days to accomplish this stage, and the camels at last obtained sufficient water and fair feed. They had thus travelled 550 miles in thirty-five days on seven and a half gallons of water each, and so carefully was their strength conserved by Mr. Lindsay that only one animal died from the effects of the severe strain.

Desiring to give the camels a thorough rest, Mr. Lindsay left them and the members of his party at Fraser's Range, and with a black boy pushed on to Esperance Bay to report progress and obtain instructions. This route was 160 miles long, and he arrived at the Port in October, 1891, after having passed over much new country in his travel from one colony to another. At Esperance he telegraphed to the Geographical Society at Adelaide, advising them that there had been a three years' drought in the interior, and that it was impossible for him to go back into the desert country. He expressed the opinion that there was auriferous country to be explored between Dundas and the Murchison, and if they were able to discover water after leaving Hampton Plains, said they could map out this belt. He obtained the sanction of the Society to thus alter his route, returned to the party at Fraser's Range, and made for Hampton plains, but