Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume 2.djvu/145

 of that colony, in the same quantity that it did in the years 1817 and 1818, it can scarcely be doubted that a like considerable inundation will again take place in that part of the interior; and when it is considered (as Captain Sturt informs us) that a space, twenty miles in breadth, and more than fifty in length, is subject to be thus deluged, can it be a subject of surprise that the late indefatigable surveyor-general, when he descended in his boat to such an expanse of water, to which he could perceive neither boundary nor shore, should, with no previous knowledge of such a water, or of the features of the surrounding country, have conceived himself in the 'vicinity of an inland sea or lake,' of the temporary or more permanent existence of which he did not, nor could he have offered an opinion?

Captain Sturt now directed his expedition to the north-west, with a view to further discoveries, aware as he was, from the observations he had previously made during his own short excursion, that a clear open country was before him in that direction. In their route his party traversed plains 'covered with a black scrub,' yet furnishing in parts some good grass. The detached hills already spoken of, as relieving the otherwise monotonous aspect of that part of the interior, and in the neighbourhood of which Captain Sturt had directed his course, he describes 'as gentle picturesque elevations, for the most part covered with verdure.' Of two of these isolated spots, the one 'Oxley's Table Land,' the other 'New Year's Range,' it appears our indefatigable officer determined the positions; these were as follows—

In continuing their journey westerly over this level country, its total want of water, excepting in creeks where the supply was both bad and uncertain, became a source of considerable annoyance to the party; who ultimately were obliged to follow one of the water-courses, which, when tracing it to the north-west, brought them (on the 2d of February) to the left bank of a large river, the appearance of which 'raised their most sanguine expectations.' To the utter disappointment of the travellers, however, its waters were found perfectly salt; and this circumstance was the more severely felt, as the horses of the expedition had travelled long in an excessively heated atmosphere, and had been without water a considerable time. After making some arrangement in favour of his exhausted animals, Captain Sturt, accompanied by Mr. Hume, proceeded to explore this river, to which he gave the name of Darling. They followed it in the direction of its course (south-westerly), about forty miles, and throughout found its waters not only not drinkable, but rather becoming, as they advanced more