AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 30, 4 February 1880, Page 2

AUSTR ALIAN EXPLORATION.

<t la an article on the recently organised parity formed for the purpose of 'exploring the Australian continent, the •< He.rald "..says :t -, . , „: r ;. v: - ...-,_■ - "" Last year part of the still ; unknown country in the north-west was explored by Mr Alexander Forrest, well known as a leader of former, expeditions in the interior of Western Australia, and he has published' in the Dacepaber number of the Mcl bourne " Vicbrian Review " bo one notes from the journal of his experieaees in this last enterprise. The beginning of the Journey was on the sea-

board, where they discovered fioely- ; graßfo4plfi^B. j A-fteporig travel they were interrupted by lofty ranges, which I walh of immense height; extending •*■ tW '"'-in'", unknown distance. With great diflM ! cult i y Ihey found a barely accessible passage. " The soenery was'amazingly beautiful. It is impossible to describe the loveliness of the r gprgeß,,cpyered~ with a' luxuriant growth of tall trees and a tangle of exquisitely colored creepers, with waterfalls and streams pFT crystal purity flowing down them. I felt as if I had found my way into an earthly paradise." But after for many days seeking. , a passage, they found it impossible to "get their horses through the cliffs and jangle. It was necessary either to return, or proceed to explore the level, and probably arid country inland, and the latter course they decided upon, although' Mr Forrest's brother bed been sun-struck, many of the horseahad died of fatigue, and the provisions ' were bo; reduced ■■ that for the- first time they had to kill one of the horses for food. The usual misfortunes befell the party. Most of 1 the men from sickness and want of food grew too weak to travel, and water could no where be lit upon. The only chance now' Was for somebody to push od to the telegraph line, supposed,, to be a hundred miles' ahead, and by following which assistance might be reached, and help brought to the party. This happily was accomplished, and all were rescued. The leader, with a companion started in search of the telegraph line. He thus. describes what followed ;,— - * t ■■'> ■" '„'. _■'■■'■' "The weather was fearfully hot. The country we were crossing was level plains for milee, parched and waterless. The heat dried up the water in the drums. We began to suffer agonies of thirst. For forty hours not a drop of water had passed our lips, f I thought we must have perished, but we still continued to struggle on by day and night for bare life., pur tongues Bwelled in our mouths, and our senses begso to reel. We managed to shoot a' hawk, and, cutting his throat, suoked his blood, -but it did not afford us any relief. We dould no longer speak to one another. We tried to gain, some relief from' the torture by sucking, a stone, but the (salivary glands refused, to work, and the atones dropped from oor mouths as dry as when. they were put in. To heighten the horror of our' situation, oar horses were knocked up, and we. were obliged to lead them., Still we toiled on, as I judged from my bearings that the line was not now far ahead. After a walk of about two miles we struck the line. We both fell on our knees, and thanked God for our escape from death; Had we succumbed 00 this terrible journey the whole party would have perished in the desert. Follbwing the lioo up for three miles, we came upon an iron tack full of wafer. Men and horses rushed to it to drink, I, thought the horses would never have enough. . They drank each, 1 should judge, fully fifteen gallons. As for ourselves, n full gallon each did not satisfy the eager.; craving, for the; precious fluid. We retarded to the tank again and again, as if, like the horses, we naver could have enough. We supped at night on a litlla damper and a piece of an owl, which we had luckily shot and roasted." Perilous work, indeed, it has ever been, that of Australian exploration — perilous as that of Polar discovery, and with sufferings even more various and protracted. In 1827, the theory was still held of an island sea, : and. Captain ! Sturt proceeded' to: test, .itcKy Itracing the course of. the Murrnmbidgee. He boated down that .impetuous stream, j with its channel full of rooks and "snags" and the natives then numerous angry, and "threatening, v along "the banks.- On the seventh day they suddenly emerged through a rgloomygppge into a broad and noble river. ' It : was : what is now called the Murray, and was. then theGpolwa. In 33 days tbey> glided into, | Lake Alexandria. But there wrb no time to examine the discovery, Provisions had already run short, and, unless they oould row. back against the current, and on famine allowance, within the same, time they, took coming down with the current in) their favour, starving was inevitable. They only succeeded by rowing day and night, and when relieved by the

jdrays, found ; one man ; bad lost his treason from the incessant toil. la 1845, 'Captain. Stars and another partywere ibelßag^red^byUhefßea^for^ixiyonihV :in an oasis in the, JSjtony Desert, near jCooper's Q^efe^^R.aui^V* 1 not fall in the whole timb/ The feat was so excessive {that it burst tWtbermometer land the party^ retired by day into a bhamber Jxcpated ,m^Mhe elrth. Scurvy w^Vpambtig^heini ;bnd th^j well on which they depenqd was x fe|f?Br)ying up. |Th>^e turC^f^ain, saved' t&m.J\ ' In|lß39r^frptain<(now Sjr George?) Grey^vwaa exploring in North SW^St Australia^ where, ..in a similar expedition three years JIB- had been wounded by tbe spear of a native. The depot of provisions was on a small/ island near the coaat^ and _-when the party returned it' ; w|aV 'found 'that a hurricane- had destroyed -'everything but a cask of meat and V half cask of flour— the oni^sußtenance. : for;;thirteen half-star ;yed men^ia tiie, jp^?ntfy*:of ,600 miles, now necessary .^.ouilio;?-n"e.areßt help, and over an arid county. 'When 150 miles from Perth, th air strength gaveway* Captain Grey, with iik -of: his men, reeumedlihe effort; and r at last, when utterly "faint, brie 1 of them, a native,' discovered a mud-hole; 'into which he plunged his face with sooh avidity for the moisture flfiat 1 hia 'ba'(i.!fc;>, be pallet! .oat by the hair of hiSv head. They were so haggard and wasted when they reached Perth that their leader was not known by his frienda in? thia town. Frightful also were the suffrings of Mr Eyre in his journey, in 1840," across the waterless desert at the head of the great Bight. Ho had [three companions, a white man 'and two datives. The natives murdered; the white man and 'fled. Mr Eyre waa finally rescued on the brink of de»th by the rare accident of a ship|pafl«inp, and passing near enough for his signal of distress to be seen. We knbii how Burke and Willis, Rafter crossing the continent, perished on their return by the misconduct of the man who;: was to have met them with supplies at Cooper's Creek, and who had abandoned his post. As for Leiohardt and his party, their fate is known to all. r . . -.'