361 



Prefacing his paper with some remarks as to the discovery of South 

 Australia, a country less known than either New South Wales or 

 Victoria, he alluded to the researches of Captain Flinders, R.N., who 

 in 1801-2 discovered the coast of that country and Kangaroo Island, 

 and the large gulfs of Spencer and St. Vincent, the whole of which he 

 carefully surveyed, giving hi§ name to the Flinders' Fiange, at the head 

 of Spencer's Gulf, a rauge which culminates in Mount Brown, 4,000ft, 

 ahove the sea level ; and who, on putting in on his way home to the 

 Island of Mauritids, then in French occupation, was basely imprisoned 

 by the French authorities, who seized his charts, and then pirated and 

 published them, giving French names to English discoveries ; and to 

 the exploring expedition of Captain Sturt, who in 1828 discovered the 

 Murray River, the only large river in Australia, and from thence 

 penetrated westward across the Mount Lofty Ranges to the fertile 

 Adelaide plains, now thickly occupied by thriving agriculturists, 

 ■whilst northwards extends a large extent of territory swarming with 

 the sheep and cattle of enterprising settlers. 



The more immediate object of his communication was an expedition 

 made by himself when Surveyor-General of South Australia, to 

 ascertain the truth or otherwise of the statement that a large inland 

 lake existed in the far north, a report that caused great excitement in 

 Adelaide in 1857. The expedition was fitted out under Sir Henry's 

 superintendence, and after first crossing the Flinders' Range and 

 encountering various diliiculties by the way iu its progress northwards 

 from the absence of water, bad tracks aod the hindrances caused by 

 the transport of a boat with which to navigate the inland waters, at 

 last after a journey of some 550 miles came in sight of the long-looked- 

 for sheet of water. The spirits of the expedition caused by the first 

 view of this seemingly large lake rose to the boiling point, but soon 

 fell to zero, for after wading into it some five miles they ascertained 

 that it was only a few inches deep, and that it was merely a gathering 

 of surface water caused by an exceptionally wet season, soon to be 

 entirely absorbed by the tropical heat of an Australian summer. 



Sir Henry Freeling's paper was followed by one from the 

 Secretary, the Eev. H. H. Win WOOD, giving the general results of 

 the explorations at Pen pits, during the autumn of last year of the 

 Committee appointed by the Somerset Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. 



