REMARKS ON CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. 683 
less fortunate, for instead of the pioneer settler we now, profiting 
by experience, find explorers, with more elaborate equipment, 
journeying in other latitudes, hopeful that a more fertile country 
will reward their labours. 
It would nevertheless appear that there are discoveries yet to 
be made that will open out an extended field for employment 
and enterprise. 
No settlement has yet been effected to the northward of the 
Great Australian Bight. 
The formation of crystalline limestone which there prevails 
extends northwards for over 100 miles ; this has been tested by 
the South Australian Government for water, to a depth of more 
than !,000 feet, but without success. There are no surface clays in 
which reservoirs could be made. The rainfall is less than 6 inches 
per annum, so this extent of country may be said to be water- 
less. Continuing northwards, after passing over these Limestone 
Plains, the traveller enters a sandhill country, covered with various 
leguminous trees and shrubs, and the ever-prevailing and dreaded 
spinifex. With the exception of a few outcrops of rock where 
water may be found, or an occasional native well, this tract ma 
be said to be almost waterless. Such waters are difficult to 
find, and for the most part they barely supply the wants of a 
passing caravan. This description of country continues with 
unbroken monotony to about south latitude 29° 15’, when moun- 
tain ranges of 2,000 feet are met with. These extend east and 
west almost uninterruptedly for a distance of over 200 miles ; 
they are known as the Musgrave, Mann, Tomkinson, and Cavanagh 
Ranges. Their rugged slopes are torn and riven by the torrents 
of water that pour down in times of the phenomenal rains which 
occasionally fall in those regions. Large creeks issue from the 
gorges, and, flowing southward, are swallowed up and absorbed 
by the vast hanks of sand which, rolling up from the southwards, 
defy the torrent to force its way through them. These ranges 
were discovered in 1874 by the expeditions under Gosse and Giles. 
Very heavy rains must have fallen just previous to their visit, 
for there was water in abundance, grass and herbage were green 
and luxuriant, nearly every creek and gully was a purling brook, 
and, for the time being, there was relief from the anxiety which 
the continued search for water entailed. 
These conditions prevailed until the west extremity of the 
range at Elder’s Creek was reached. Further progress westward 
was then checked by a waterless, sandy waste that appeared to 
extend indefinitely towards the west. 
Giles turned to the northward, and, after travelling over 80 
miles, discovered and named the Rawlinson Range, in latitude 
24° 40’, which, with the Petermann Range, extend in an east and 
west direction for nearly 200 miles. At the west extremity of 
