Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/57

 there by Burke; but this endeavour is unsuccessful, owing to the want of water, and in the vain attempt the horses undergo the severe ordeal of being seventy-two hours without drinking. Landsborough therefore makes for the settlements on the Darling, and on the 1st of June arrives at the station of the Messrs. Williams on that river, where he learns for the first time of the sad fate of the expedition under Burke. His own expedition is finished by his arrival in Melbourne in August following.

Landsborough's description of the country between the gulf and the Thomson presents to us a new world. This extensive area he describes as magnificent, consisting of basaltic plains of good soil, very thickly grassed. There is no mention of any alloy of desert so common further south and west, so that we infer that this fine country prevails over the large area between 20° and 25° of latitude. A practical confirmation of its qualities appears in the fact that a foal which had been born at the Flinders, had followed its mother with the expedition to the station on the Darling. One of the most conspicuous of the grasses had a resemblance to sorghum, and the horses fed upon it with great avidity. With rare exceptions water was always abundant, and the climate was healthy as far as the brief experience of the travellers could decide. The whole country, however, was