328 GREGORY'S NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. [March 23, 1857. 



maintained that, with reference to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the south- 

 eastern affluents of the Victoria Kiver, he had failed in the objects entrusted 

 to him. The only thing he had accomplished was to determine the north- 

 west limits of the great desert, as Austin had the south-west limits, and Sturt 

 had the south-east. Mr. Grregory might have waited on the Gulf for the 

 arrival of his tender with supplies, and have employed his time in tracing 

 some of the numerous rivers falling into it, from their mouths to their sources 

 in the interior. 



The President, in bringing the discussion to a close, said that Mr. Gregory 

 appeared to have followed the instructions given to him by that most accom- 

 plished traveller. Captain Sturt. He had proceeded in two directions to ascer- 

 tain whether the interior of the country was a saline desert or not. Having 

 satisfied himself on that subject in two or three excursions to the southward, 

 he proceeded to the northward, to mark, as far as it was possible, the nature of 

 the affluents that fell into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Whether he had suffi- 

 ciently examined them, it was not for the Society to judge until they had re- 

 ceived the details of his journey. They all knew it was one of the most 

 remarkable journeys ever performed in that great continent. 



With respect to Dr. Leichhardt, he could not entertain hopes of his being 

 found alive, because from all that could be learned, the interior was one vast 

 saline desert ; it was only the coast region that was capable of sustaining 

 human life ; and if Dr. Leichhardt went to the westward, he must have gone 

 into the saline desert, and probably perished there with all his party. 



