MR HARGREAVES' EXPLORATION.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 133, 6 August 1864, Page 3

MR HARGREAVES' EXPLORATION.

The following account of this gentleman's tour on the western coast of Australia may not be uninteresting to our readers. The Register says: —"Mr Hargraves returned to Adelaide on Saturday. having reached the port on that day by the steamer Lubra, from Port Lincoln. Mr Hargraves commenced his great exploratory tour at Cape Jervis, and progressing northward examined the country in every direction till he reached Tanunda, taking sections of the geological strata of the country at various points. We learn that gold is to be found, more or less, throughout this part of the colony; but the chief deposits of the precious metal are in the watersheds of the Torrens and Onkaparinga, the latter being payable in many places. The same may be said of several sections which are private property. From the neighbourhood of Tanunda Mr Hargraves proceeded northward, keeping as near as possible to the eastern side of the range, and extending his explorations to a point 540 miles from Adelaide, or 600 miles from the point of departure near Cape Jervis. After visitiug Blanchewater, Mr Hargraves returned, through what is known as the middle track, by way of the Blinman and Pichirichi Pass to Port Augusta. From that place Mr Hargraves proceeded by sea to Port Lincoln, where he again resumed his labors of exploration, extending his researches towards Franklin Harbor, but we believe, without success in the way of gold discovery. The country is likely to be largely productive of copper, and contains a considerable area of good | agricultural land, now only occupied as sheep j runs. In an area of forty miles, by eight to ten miles, between Port Lincoln and the Devil's j Peak, the land is described as being equal to that of the Willunga district. Bevond the tract specified the country appears to be uninviting, I except for purely pastoral purposes, and not first- j class even for such. The extraordinary preva- j lence of copper in the country beyond Port j Augusta will," in all probability, form a promi- j nent feature in the official reports of Mr Har- j graves, who is said to have met with bismuth also, of very high percentage, in more than one locality. In consequence of the steamer Lubra's ! detention in the upper part of Spencer's Gulf, j Mr Hargraves had been waiting her arrival at j Port Lincoln from the 9th inst"

♦ War and Religion.—There is an organisation called the " Christian Commission," which, in pious emulation, is running the Sanitary Commission very hard. Many tens of thousands of greenbacks have been subscribed to purchase bibles, testaments, and to print tracts for distribution amongst the soldiers. It does not appear to strike anyone —and this is a matter which should come home to my own countrymen as well as to the Americans—that war is a matter with which religion can have nothing to do, and that to strive to introduce any element of piety ; or morality into warfare is a hypocrisy aud a mockery at which the devils of the pit must grin. 1 admit war to be an institution of immense antiquity, and of the most conservative consistency. The naked savage of New Zealand and the bearded tatterdemalion of the Potomac, the Zouave and the Sepoy, the burnoused Kabile and the kilted Highlander, all own a common creed in killing. There was never anything so catholic as war; and if after many thousands of years of civilisation, mankind ore pretty nearly j unanimous as to there being no way of settling national difficulties save by shooting and stabbing, I suppose that war must be regarded as ineviable. But I cannot look upon it as holy and apostolic. I would rather not see any blessings invited upon regimental colors. As well might one pray Heaven to bless gunpowder and Greek fire. I j would rather not have any military chaplains. Their office seems to be a wicked anomaly. Much better would it be to have a war troubadour to each regiment, who should sing the song | of «« Boland " to the tune of " Yankee Doodle," I and excite the warriors to fierceness in the strife, | and tell them if they are killed their reward j shall be to dwell in a Walhalla of heroes, there to quaflf eternal cocktail out of the skulls of their i enemies. I know well enough what the answer will be to this: It is possible to carry on hostili- j ties without resorting to acts of barbarism. Is it ? Civilised nations carry on war in a civilised ! manner. Do they ? Oh, lie of lies; oh, casuistry | of casuistries ! There is one of Mr Gardner's I photographs representing a dead soldier on the field of Antietam. A shell has caught him in j the middle, ripped him up, and scattered his j bowels about. There they are most beautifully j depicted. This is what your civilisation has come to. A free government, religious toleration, universal education, wise laws, national wealth, camera obscura, collodion, and a skilful photographic manipulator at forty dollars per j week; and the result of all these wonderful j engines of amelioration is a poor devil with a hole in his stomach and his entrails protruding. His entrails madam. In the photograph I can see a locket, hung by a riband round the dead boy's neck. He is but a boy. The locket contains, perchance, the portrait of a mother, sister, sweetheart, or some rubbish of that kind. This j is civilisation in warfare. I suppose that a shell \ is a more civilised implement of destruction than a dart, or a pike, or a tomahawk. Conical bullets are more humane, of course, than slugs; and a swamp angel is a mild and sugary angel in com-; parison with a battering-ram. Still we go on i prating about civilisation in war, while the same hideous gashes are made, while the same maggots ! fester in the same wounds, while it is the same death that overtakes him who is slain by a Malay . kreese and him who falls by a Colt's revolver. | And yet I have heard Christian clergvmen j spouting vehement platitades about the God of j battles. Pagans and Canibals, Brahmins, and j Bonzes and Talapoins and Medicine-men can | spout as fluently and vehemently the same plati- j tudes in their several jargons. As though there j ever was, or ever could be, a god of battles, any j more than there could be a god of blood and famine and desolation. — 0. A. Sola. Quin being asked by a lady why there were j more women in the world than men, replied, " It, is in conformity with the arrangements of nature, madam ; we always see more of heaven than of j earth." * ! What constellation is like an empty fire-place? I —The great bear. | Who is the greatest man ?—The lover j he is a man of tremendous sighs. j

The Dumtan Times of 2nd inst., says:—"Th l river is now as low as we have seen it, am ! though doubtless it was lower in Havtley an< Reilly's year, yet it is better to secure what cai now be had instead of waiting for a further fall Not an hour should be lost in washing up, bu the washdirt should be removed to places abovi flood level. No doubt, if men are penniless they will, for the sake of obtaining a few pound; place their washdirt at the edge of the river foi the convenience of washing. Our advice, how ever, to all those who are not immediate!} pressed for money, " Remove as much of th< auriferous gravel as you can." You will have I water for washing purposes near enough to yoi I in a few weeks, and when this does take plac< ! you will deeply regret that you had not securec ! more of the golden treasures that will then b< \ covered by the swollen waters of the Molyneux This is by far the wisest plan, and an odd cradlefu washed now and again will sufficiently indicat< the quality of the stuff which is being piled up It should be remembered that the fall of the rivei in Hai tley and Reilly's year was so exceptiona as to lead to the exclamation by some of the ok residents on its banks that it almost seemed a; though it had been an interposition of Providence to bring to light the foul murder of whicr. Fratson was found guilty. We trust that oui miners will take the hiut, and take care to prevent the recurrence of the winter '63, when bj the sudden rise of the river, piles of washdirt, cradles, toms, and everything else on its banfcs were swept away. It is a sure sign when a man slips down in the mud, that he had a drop too much. A gentleman, who has recently lost an eye, begs to intimate that he has now •' a vacancy for a pupil."