The South Australian Naturalist. 39 



tlie slii|) was near the head of S])encer's Gulf, and early that 

 moi'iiing Brov,ii, Bauer. AVestal], and several of the crew landed 

 and set off to trami) to a noble-lookino- mountain off the eastern 

 side of the C4ulf . , The had a hot vralk of fifteen miles before 

 they came to the base of the mountain, and then a toilsome 

 ascent to the summit, which was not reached until 5 p.m. They 

 had now scaled the mountain mass which Flinders named Mount 

 Brown. It is 3.200 ft. in heig-ht, and therefore makes a noble 

 monument to the great man whose name it commemorates. 

 Brown and his fellow-excursionists were unable to find water 

 on the -mount as they had anticipated, and had to spend a 

 thirsty night on their elevated sleeping-place. The view they 

 gained over an extensive area of the interior was not, however, 

 ''Made green with the running of rivers. 

 And gracious with temperate air, 

 but gave every indication, later to be confirmed by resolute 

 explorers, that to the north and east lay a country, niggardly 

 supplied with moisture, and without that fertility that pours 

 treasures into the lap of the botanical collector. Next day they 

 made the descent, finding water, to their great relief, about 

 half-v\'ay down tlie mount, and reaching the ship late, and 

 weary, in the evening. The next' im]K)rtant episode we need 

 dvreli on was the meeting with the French navigator, Baudin, 

 on his ship, the "Le Geographe," in Encounter Bay. Flinders 

 boarded the French ship and took with him Brown, who spoke 

 French fluently, as interpreter. The voyage, so memorable to 

 South Australia, finished at Sydney on May 9, 1802. 



The "Investigator" started from Sydney on her second 

 voyage on July 22 following. The ship was steered along the 

 Queensland coast, entered the Gulf of Carpentaria, which was 

 carefully explored, and then reached Timor. Here her timbers 

 were found to be unsound. Flinders decided to return to 

 Sydney, via West and South Australia, but kept so far away 

 from our coast that it was not sighted. At Sydney, Brown and 

 Flinders parted. The latter left to return to England, which 

 he reached seven years later, after undergoing vicissitudes and 

 trials that broke down the body though it did not subdue the 

 indomitable spirit of that great man. 



Brown remained in Australia for more than two years after 

 Flinders' departure, during which time he made important 

 botanical surveys in New South AYales, along the banks of the 

 Hunter and on the Blue Mountains. He paid a brief visit to 

 the settlement that Collins tried to plant on the shores of Port 

 Phillip, where Sorrento novr is, and when the settlers were 

 removed to the banks of the River Derwent, on the site of what 



