EXPLORATIONS IN AUSTRALIA.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 323, 23 November 1860, Page 4

EXPLORATIONS IN AUSTRALIA.

We copy the following interesting account of Mr. Stuart's journey from the Sydney Mail:—

We have Adelaide journals to the 13th instant.

Mb. Stuart.—The following is Mr. Stuart's account of his late exploration as given in a letter to Mr. Chambers :.

As Mr. Goyder is despatching a mail for town, I embrace the opportunity of writing to inform you that I arrived here on the Ist instant, after a fearful journey, in a very exhausted state. lam sorry to say that I have been unable to make the north-west coast. The difficulties have been more than I was able to overcome.

After making the centre, I was assailed by that dreadful disease, the scurvy, which completely prostrated me and rendered me quite helpless. Still I pei severed, and endeavored to reach the mouth of the Victoria River on a northwest course, but was obliged to relinquish the attempt three separate times through the want of water. The country in which I got the first course was an immense plain of red light soil, covered with nothing but spinefex and large gum-trees—not a blade of grass. On this the horses were three days without a drop of water; and had I not been fortunate enough to drop in with a native well, I should have lost nearly all of them. I then tried again twice to the eastward to round this horrid plain if I could. The result was the same.

I was now forced to go back into the centre. Three miles to the north of the centre is a high hill, on which I planted the flag and named it Central Mount Stuart. Prom this I could see ranges to the northeast, which gave me a better idea of the country for water, and I thought I might get an opening that would lead me to tbe north-west of Gum and Spinefex Plain. I therefore proceeded in that direction to latitude 19-22, longitude 134-18. From this I again made another attempt to make the •Victoria on a north-west course, but again I was obliged to retreat from the want of water. On this trip I regret to say that I had the misfortune to lose three horses, which perished from the want of water. We were one hundred arid eleven hours without a drop of water, under a burning hot sun, and a heavy sFj,ndy soil to travel on.

After this journey I gave up all hopes of making the Victoria, and tried for the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the hope of cutting a creek that was carrying off the surplus waters of the lake in a course more to the eastward. On it I reached latitude 18-47, and found myself upon long plains of alluvial soil covered with grass, and surrounded by low stony hills, with a few mulga and mallee bushes on them; but on the plains there is not a bush above two feet high. Not a drop of water could we find; my horses being without water two days and a night, and in such a weak state that I was afraid to risk their being without water for a longer time, in case I should lose the lot, and was, therefore, again compelled to fall back to the last water.

The next course I tried was W.N.W., towards somo very distant hills. One day's journey brought me to a creek, having very large and long waterholes, situate in latitude 18*50, longitude , running towards N.E. This I determined to follow, thinking it might be the fall of the country towards the Gulf.

Next morning I traversed it down, but found it running more to the east than I expected. At six miles the water ceased, the creek becoming narrower and deeper, and the bed sandy. I continued for fifteen miles, but from that there was no chance of water further down. It was running direct for the eastern and grassy plain. Seeing that, I determined to return to my last night's camp, and continue my former courses to the distant hills, which I supposed to be about thirty miles oft, but when within seven miles I was attacked by a number of natives, who endeavored to prevent me from crossing the creek. Three times they came rushing to the attack, but were repulsed. They also endeavored to surround us and cut us off from the horses, but that I prevented. They were the first natives I encountered, and were in appearance, tall powerful, muscular men—bold, daring, and courageous; not at all frightened by either us or the horses, but rushing boldly to the charge. It was nearly dark when they came upon us, when we were in the middle of a small scrub. There was no sign whatever of them being near as we approached the creek. The moment we entered the scrub they were upon us. Every bush seemed to have hidden a man, and upwards of thirty attacked us in front, and how many more there were endeavoring to surround and cut us • off from our pack-horses, I cannot tell. As soon as I was able to stop the mad career of those in my front I pushed the the horses across the creek to an open space of ground, which was a more favorable position for us. We now had them all in our rear. They set fire to the grass all round, and the shouting and yelling from numerous voices was most fearful. It was with difficulty we could restrain the horses from bolting away. It now became so dark that I was unable to see what their movements were, and thought it most prudent to continue on my course now that they kept without range of our guns, and we proceeded up the creek to our last night's encampment. They still followed us, but at a distance. Seeing that, and their number being so great, and the scrub extending nearly close to the creek, I did not think it prudent to remain there where I could be easily cut off. I therefore fell back upon a long open plain that i had crossed the day before. This we reached about eleven o'clock at night, and turned out the horses to feed. The natives seemed to have lost our track at where we camped before; for

I could hear nothing of them through the night, but immediately after sunrise we could see signal smokes springing up all around us. They were again upon our tracks.

During the night I took into consideration the position in which I was then placed —my horses tired and weary, three of them unable to be longer than one night without water; the men complaining six weeks before this of being so weak from want of sufficient food that they were unable to perform their duty (their movements were more those of men a hundred years old than young men of twenty-five); and myself being so unwell that I was unable to sit in the saddle the whole day without suffering the most excruciating pain; our provisions

scarcely sufficient to carry us back, and now ( being in the midst of hostile natives, who

were wily, bold, and daring—so much so that I could see at once that my party would.be. unable to cope with them, although we gained the advantage at first. In a short time they would be able to wear us out. If I proceeded, I should leave enemies behind, and in all probability meet with enemies in front. Thus would I have to fight my way to the coast and back again. To do that with only two men and myself, and having six packhorses to look alter, would be utterly impossible. I could only act on the defensive; we were sure to be cut off in some way or other. Could I have made friends of them, I would have gained the coast, but they would take no notice of all the signs of friendship I made. Even after they made their first charge upon us, I endeavored to conciliate them, but it was of no avail. We received a shower of boomerangs and spears for our trouble, one of which struck my horse. They were then within forty yards of us, and it was, high time to stop their further advance, which was accordingly done. If I proceeded, I was cut off by them ; all the information I had obtained would in all probability be lost. I therefore made up my mind with great reluctance, to return.

In returning, I was surprised at the extraordinary rapidity with which the waters were drying up. 1 was depending upon the winter rain to bring me back; none fell. We had not as much as would wet a shirt through from March to the 26th August ; I intended making another trial to the Victoria from a creek five days' journey to the south -west, in which I had found large holes of water; but when I returned to it I found it very much reduced, and saw that the case was hopeless. If I delayed, my return would have been cut off until rain fell, and we were unable to hold out till that time, which would not be before September. I was fortunate in arriving at this decision, for on returning I found many waterholes dry which I thought would have lasted much longer. A week's delay would have prevented my return. In many places we obtained scarcely enough water for the horses. I met no desert; but with three or four mulga scrubs, the broadest a little more than Finder's Range, and many not near so high. The saltbush and flat-topped hills ceased in latitude 20- and spinifex grass, sandstone, granite, quartz, slate, and ironstone, commenced and continued as far as 1 went.

The Register adds :—We understand from private sources that Mr. Stuart has discovered a large lake in the norther interior, the extent of which he could not see with the naked eye. He represents its waters as being blue, and therefore in all probability of considerable depth, and as containing large quantities of fish. It lay to the right of his track as he proceeded northwards. Mr. Stuart also came upon an extraordinary pillar of sandstone, perpectly isolated, and upwards of a hundred feet high. The fuller particulars we shall doubtless be able to lay before our readers in a day or two, as Mr. Stuart is busily engaged preparing his journal for publication.

Mr. Stuart.—We believe Mr. Stuart's party will very shortly set sail for Port Augusta,^ route for the interior. Mr. Chambers has almost every necessary article in store at the extreme limits of the settled country, and he has placed it at the disposal of the party on liberal terms. No time will therefore be lost, and we shall soon have the gallant Stuart once more traversing the great interior.— Advertiser.

The following observations on Australian explorations are extracted from the Melbourne Argus: —

By the gallant exploit of Mr. Stuart and his two companions, Mr. Kekwich and Mr. Head, we are enabled by the present homeward mail to lay before the European students of geographical discovery the most successful results which have been yet achieved in the history of Australian explorations. Our information, through the precautions of the South Australian Government, which would be laughable if they were not injurious to the interests of science, is not so full as we could wish; but, such as it is, coupled with the recent researches in Western Australia, it leaves no doubt that the vast interior of this continent is neither a desert nor a salt-marsh, but will shortly furnish, not only safe routes to the various fertile coasts, but also large tracts of habitable land within itself. Mr. Stuart, in planting his flag in the centre of Australia, and in travelling 1,300 miles due north of Adelaide, has been the most successful of Australian explorers. His journey is equivalent to crossing the continent from south to north. We hastened to say so on the mere receipt of a telegram from Adelaide announcing these facts; and no future explorers can deprive him of the high honor attached to the exploit. Our Victorian expedition, now on its way, cannot obliterate his route, or wipe Central Mount Stuart off the map. The information which was withheld could only be of service in showing what valuable results would flow from his achievements—what

future discoveries' were based upon his success. " Stuart crossed Australia" remains, whether one or fifty more explorers cross it. That they should''cross it by the assistance of Mr. Stuart is an additional honor, which the South Australian Government has thought fit to deprive him of.

In his route from Adelaide to lat. 18deg. 47min. and long. 134deg., Mr. Stuart may be said to have divided the continent into two pretty nearly equal portions. It there was anything worthy to be called a central desert, it would therefore have been met. But no desert was seen; and the most forbidding features were three or four tracts of scrub, the broadest not being more than 60 miles across. Within a mile or so of the precise centre, there is a high hill, from which ranges to the north-east were visible. As he advanced more to the northward, he found himself "upon long plains of alluvial soil, covered with grass," and came upon creeks " having very large and long waterholes." Singular to relate, the potato was found to grow wild here, though the natives used its apples, and apparently were ignorant of the virtues of the tubers. Game also existed in plenty, and the natives are represented as the strongest and best fed hitherto met throughout the continent. These features warrant us in rejecting all previous conceptions as to the interior of Australia, and leave scarcely a doubt but that in its main characteristics it differs little from the coast districts.

From Western Australia, also, we have equally encouraging accounts. A private exploring party has penetrated to a distance of 100 miles, due east of York, finding a well-watered and grassy country; and the natives offered to lead them 100 miles further in the same direction, promising that they would bring them to a splendid grassy country, with abundance of horse-feed all the way. Such a distance, in a direction due east from the coast, would place the traveller directly to the north of Eyre's desolate coast track from Adelaide to King George's Sound. This would lead us to infer that the fearful region through which he passed was confined to the coast, and that the country became more habitable to the north. Eyre had been turned aside from a more northerly course by a thicket, of whose extent he was unaware; and his long and unprecedented journey, made through the most forbidding tract of land on the face of the earth, has doubtless strengthened the belief in the existence of a great central desert, which was supposed, on the south coast, to come down to the water's edge. Of the vast consequences of the smallest information, the slightest hint, in exploring unknown regions, we have numerous instances; and Eyre himself, when he turned from the cheerless region of Mount. Hopeless, passed almost within a stone's -throw of permanent water and pasture Tilth title assurance that there are no large deserts to be crossed, the complete survey of t;he whole continent may be safely accomplished, with the assistance of one or two principal routes, or base lines, if we may so speak. Mr. Stuart's track from south to north undoubtedly furnishes one such base line; and if Mr. Burke will adopt a mc ire westerly direction, so as to fall in with the explorations of the Brothers Gregory on the western coast, nothing more would be w anting towards clearing up all doubts as to the main features of the interior. The recent researches of Messrs. Babbage, Hack, Parry, and Major Warburton, on the western and northern confines of South. Australia, when considered in connextion with the present discoveries of Mr. Stuart,, Tender it more than probable that the vast n-egion lying between South Australia and. Western Australia—between Mr. Stuart's ilate route and the western coast—is suitable, with, perhaps, some exceptional districts, for immediate occupation. There is reason to suppose that Eyre, in forcing his way from Adelaide to King George's Sound, unluckily hit on the most desolate of all ways; and that, had he abandoned the sea-shore and thrown himself on the interior, he would have encountered fewer difficulties. Indeed, Eyre's expedition was undertaken <on the supposition that a fertile district existed to the north-west of Adelaide: and a;t a meeting of the Royal Geographiical Society in 1858, we find Colonel G awler, Crovernor of South Australia during the period of Eyre's explorations, stating tb.e reasons for such a belief as, principalis the constantly observed change in the tern :perature of the wind from hot to cool and r. aoist, as it veered from north to west. "I". was," he continues, "so anxious that Mr. Eyre should take that direction, that I pres ssed him almost unreasonably to it. But Ids heart, rendered hopeless by Lake Torre ms, was then set on the Swan River, and .he took that ever-memorable tremendousjjoi irney." Nor were these symptoms confined to Adelaide. Eyre himself, when half-waj' on his immense journey, after he had m unded the Great Bight, and endured the sco, rching blasts which met him was surprised tc 'find the wind become cool and moist as it shifted to tho north; and he writes:—" Then ) was another thing connected with m 4 y present position which equally surprised me, and was quite as inexplicable. Whi. Ist engaged one morning in rambling abon t the encampment as far as I could venture '■ away, I met with several flights of a very la rge description of parrot, quite unknown to me, coming apparently from the north-easl ." There are, therefore, fair reasons for supposing that the vast region to the north of Eyre's route contains fertile tracts. We believe the Royal Geographical Society ha ye for some time entertained the proposa, I of completing the exploration of the nc )rth-west coast from Shark's Bay to the F itzroy, on some^ such plan as was carried out in the expedition to the Victoria; and nov / that the interior of Australia shows signs of being something better than it was supj, >osed to be, and that the colonies are doing their fair share of

continental exploration, we trust that the society will aid us to close up this last gap in the coast line, connecting, as it would, Western Australia with the luxuriant regions around: the Glenelg and Prince Regent's River,