154 EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. [March 14, 1859. 



still forming on the whole a continnons dividing water-parting 

 from along the west shore of Lake Torrens (about lat. 30^^ 30', 

 long. IS?'' 30') to lat. 28° south and long. 133'' east, being the 

 farthest point on Mr. Stuart's map. The fact of the waters flowing 

 from that range to the north-east and north, together with the ap- 

 parently feasible tale of the natives of large bodies of water existing 

 still farther to the north and north-west, as well as the improved 

 country generally existing at the north side of that range, con- 

 trasted as it is with the extremely barren and desert country 

 south of it towards Lake Gairdner and the sea — to which region 

 the journeys of former explorers were principally confined — all 

 form a strong body of evidence tending to invest the hitherto 

 supposed interior desert of Australia with a character at once novel, 

 important, and interesting. 



" At the same time, whilst admitting the great results attained by 

 Mr. Stuart with comparatively insignificant means, but by the 

 exertion of a courage, energy, and judgment scarcely paralleled in 

 the previous history of Australian explorations, it is necessary to 

 bear in mind that the chart of his track has been constructed with 

 the aid only of a compass, and the dead reckoning which he kept. 

 Under such circumstances I shall not be surprised to learn here- 

 after that his distances are over-stated, as is so often the case when 

 travellers rely entirely on dead reckoning. Nevertheless, although 

 there may be considerable room for improvement of his chart in this 

 respect, it will under all circumstances be a great monument of 

 what can be achieved by the indomitable pluck of one man, imbued 

 with a thorough spirit of self-reliance." 



The President. — We return our thanks to the Secretary of the Colonies 

 for sending to us these voluminous and interesting communications, and also 

 to the gallant explorers of these hitherto unknown tracts of South Australia.. 

 The gentleman who in the tirst instance most distinguished himself in these 

 researches, and to whose merits I adverted last session, is Mr. Herschel Bab- 

 hage, who had undertaken his journey with a fair prospect of success. He 

 had zealously prepared all the requisites to enable him to get through the 

 southern saline district from Port Augusta, and 1 give him credit for the enter- 

 prise, zeal, and talent he exhibited in getting out of a most difficult position. 

 No sooner was he free of his heavy drays, than, taking to horses, he went 

 forward to the north, and fixed with more accuracy than any other person 

 the latitude and longitude of various places, giving us a clear account of the 

 chief fresh springs, the nature of the rocks, and of the natural productions of 

 the country, and delineating the form of the saline sheet of water named by 

 him Lake Gregory as separated from Lake Torrens. It was when he reached 

 his northernmost point on Lake Gregory that he was recalled, Major War- 

 burton taking the command of the expedition. All that tract of country 

 which extends 100 miles inland has now been determined, first by the dis- 

 coveries of Mr. Babbage, and secondly by those of Major Warburton and 

 others ; and the results quite coincide with the original observations of that 



