IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES OF THE EXPLORING EXPEDITION UNDER SIR THOMAS MITCHELL. [Prom the Australian.] (Concluded from our last.) Camp on the River Balonne, in long. 148dg. 46' 45" E., lat. 28dg. 2' S. 9th November, 1846.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 152, 13 January 1847, Page 4

IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES OF THE EXPLORING EXPEDITION UNDER SIR THOMAS MITCHELL. [Prom the Australian.] (Concluded from our last.) Camp on the River Balonne, in long. 148dg. 46' 45" E., lat. 28dg. 2' S. 9th November, 1846.

Sib, — The three remarkable summits of high land tc which I alluded in my last despatch are three volcanic cones, which I named Mounts Pluto, Hutton, and Playfair. These form an obtuse angled triangle, and the longest side being towards the west, I hoped to find in the neighbourhood a branch of high land extending north-west forming a division of the waters, the discovery of which I found necessary before I could hope to discover rivers running in that direction. I take leave to add, that this was the chief object of the present journey,, as it was of my journey in 1831. No person had seen that interior country, nor the waters properly belonging to the basin of Carpentaria ; 1 have now the satisfaction to inform your Excellency that the result has exceeded my most sanguine expectations. I crossed a range of clay ironstone which extends northward from Mount Playfair ; it is covered with dense scrubs, and in it I found sources of the Warrego ; a river flowing south-west. On the western side I followed down the head of a river falling N.W., which from its magnitude and the fine forest country along its banks promised well ; but the i bed was full of sand and quite dry, and after pursuing its course a whole day I found it to turn towards the south, and at length even to the east. Passing the night by this river, (without water) I left it, calling at the Nive, and hastened back next morning to where I had se n a gap in a' westerly range connected with th«it to the northward, and arrived by sun-set near the gap in a valley, where I found lagoons of water and green flats in the midst of a brigalow scrub. This was in long. 146dg. 42* 25" E., lat. 24dg, 50* 35" S. On ascending the range early next morning, I saw open downs and plains with a line of river in the midst, the whole extending to the N. N. W. as far as the horizon. Following down the little stream from the valley in which I had passed the night, I soon reached the open country, and during ten successive days I pursued the course of that river, through the same sort of country, each day as far as my horse could carry me, and in the same direction, again approaching the Tropic of Capricorn. In some parts the river formed splendid reaches, as broad and important as the river Murray ; in others it spread into four or five channels, some of them several miles apart : but the whole country is better watered than any other portion of Australia I have seen, by numerous tributaries arising in the Downs. The soil consists of rich clay, and the hollows give birth to water courses, in most of which water was abundant. I found, at length, that I might travel in any direction and find water at hand, without having to seek the river except when I wished to ascertain its general course, and observe its i character. The grass consists of panicum and several new sorts, one of which springs green from the old stem. The plains were verdant ; I indeed the luxuriant pasturage surpassed in quality, as it did in extent, anything of the kind I had ever seen. The myall tree and salt bush (acacia pendula, and salsols), (so essential to a good run), are also there. New birds, and new plants, marked this out as an essentially different region from any I had previously explored ; and although I could not follow the river throughout its long course at that advanced season, I was convinced that its estuary wu in the Gulf of Carpentaria ; at all eventi, the country is open and well watered for a direct route thereto. That the river is the most important of Australia, increasing ts it does, by successive tributaries, and not a mere product of distant ranges, admit! cf no dispute ; and the downs and plains of Central Australia, through which it flows, seems sufficient to supply the whole world with animal food. The natives are few and inoffensive ; 1 happened to surprise one tribe at a lagoon, who iftd£*Mfctfi|MMriq;e that such stranger* Jl^^^^^^^^Brtur number beinu

so small, they seemed inclined to follow us. I crossed the river at the lowest point I reached, in a great southern bend, in long. 144dg. 34' E., lat. 24dg. 14' S., and from rising ground beyond the left bank, I could trace its downward course far to the northward. I saw no callitris (pine of the colonists) in all that country, but a range showing sandstone cliffs appeared to the southward in long, about 145dg. E., lat. 24dg. 30* S. The country to the northward of the river is, upon the whole the best, yet in riding ninety miles due east from where I crossed the southern bend, I found plenty of water and excellent grass ; a red gravel there approaches the river, throwing it off to the northward. Ranges extending N. N. W. were occasionally visible from the country to the northward. The discovery of this river and the country through which it flows, was more gratifying to me after having been disappointed in the courses of so many others. The Cogoon, th* Maranoa, the Warrego, the Salvator, the Claude, the Belyando and the Nive, are nevertheless important rivers, and a thorough | investigation of the mountain ranges in which they originate, will enable me, I trust, to lay before your Excellency such a map of those parts of Australia, as may greatly facilitate the immediate and permanent occupation of j the country, and the extension through it of j of a thoroughfare to the Gulf of Carpentaria, to which the direct way is thus laid open. With a deep sense of gratitude to the Al- j mighty, and loyalty to my gracious Sovereign, I named the river watering the best portion of the largest island in the world, the Victoria ; and hastened back to my party on the Salvator. I reached that camp on the Bth ultimo, having be.en absent about a month, found the cattle and horses refreshed, and in condition for pursuing our route homewards. In nine days we reached the depot camp, where I left Mr. Kennedy with the • heavy drays and cattle, and received the agreeable intelligence that during the long period in which that party have been stationary, the natives had given no trouble ; that the men were all well, and the old cattle in good condition. I had straightened the route in returning, so that it is now a most convenient road, well watered by permanent supplies. Mr. Kennedy's enquiries amongst the natives led to a very important discovery which we have since made, namely, that the Maranoa turns south about thirty miles below where he had his camp, and johrs-the Bj|lonne only a day's journey above this spot whence I write. We have explored and surveyed the Maranoa d ownwards, thus avoiding in travelling by it, parts of the old route where we feared that ponds formerly small would be dried up. We have also discovered on the banks of this river much rich pastoral laud, and about lat. 26deg 30' S. open downs resembling on a smaller scale those on the Victoria ; and whether the | vast extent of intervening country may not admit of a direct passage across from these to the central Downs, without crossing the Plu- ! tonic ranges, remains to be ascertained during a season when the water holes are better filled. Into that country the channels of the Warrego and Nive turned when I had to leave them ; much native smoke arose there ; and I regret that I cannot now explore the course of these two rivers. W The survey of the Maranoa forms a line permanently supplied with water and grass, from this camp to the farthest limits I have reached — and directly in prolongation of my road across the Hawkesbury and Hunter, intended originalty to have been made to Liverpool plains. One link only is still wanting to complete the chain ; it is from this natural bridge on the Balonne to the furthest point reached by me in my journey of 1831, a distance of about seventy miles ; aud I hope to find the country in that direction, passable for this party on its wajj^meward^s.^ I h ~ave Ttht honor to T>e, Sir, Your Excellency's most obedient humbU servant, T> L. Mitchell, t Surveyor General. - To his Excellency iie Governor of New Soutlj Wales.