Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/538

514 Provisions were exhausted, and when aid reached them they were at the point of starvation.

"In 1843, this same Captain Sturt offered to lead an expedition from South Australia to the interior of the continent; his offer was accepted, and in 1844 the expedition started on its way. Unfortunately summer was approaching, and the party was destined to suffer terribly from heat and thirst. For six months it was encamped in one spot, unable to move; there was little or no water in the country, and four months passed without a drop of rain or even of dew. Sturt reported that the heat drew every screw and nail in their boxes; the horn handles of their instruments, as well as their combs, were split into fine laminæ; the lead dropped out of their pencils; their signal-rockets were entirely spoiled; their hair, as well as the wool of their sheep, ceased to grow; and their nails became as brittle as glass. Their flour lost more than eight per cent. of its original weight, and other provisions in greater proportion. The mean of the thermometer during December, January, and February was 101°, 104°, and 101° respectively in the shade, and in the sun it sometimes reached 160°.

"Sturt did everything that lay within human power to reach the centre of the continent, but was unable to get nearer than within one hundred and fifty miles of it. Some of his men died, and he turned back when at a point where it was absolutely certain that no water lay beyond.

"His draughtsman on that expedition was John McDouall Stuart, the man who was the first to cross the continent from south to north, and whom I asked you not to confound with Captain Sturt. Stuart tried three times before he succeeded; at last, on July 10, 1862, he reached the sea, at the mouth of the Adelaide River, in Van Dieman's Gulf, on the north coast.

"Very soon after the result of Stuart's expedition became known, it was proposed to build a telegraph line across the continent, following Stuart's track, to meet the cable from Singapore to Port Darwin, and thus connect the colonies with the rest of the telegraphic world. The work was planned and completed by Mr. Charles Todd, superintendent of telegraphs, and was begun in 1870. On August 22, 1872, the first message was sent over the completed line, and congratulations were exchanged between London and Adelaide."

"Didn't the blacks give you a great deal of trouble?" Frank asked.

"Less than was feared," was the reply. "We managed to give them a wholesome dread of the 'white fellow's devil,' as they called it, and