GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. 



ing the Pentecost river, they came upon a great 

 horde of savages, who at sight of the white men 

 plunged into the water and swam away. Some 

 days later they reached the Forest, a clear river 

 over 200 feet broad. This and the Drysdale are 

 permanent, but flow through a poor region utterly 

 unsuited for grazing. Westward they crossed 

 an open level woodland with pine and cypress 

 trees, and quite well covered with grass. Be- 

 yond was a high and rocky table-land, scantily 

 watered, though kangaroos, ernus, and wild tur- 

 keys were seen. Nearly all the way to Prince 

 Regent river the party traveled through tall 

 grass. The species known as the black-oat grass 

 was from 9 to 12 feet high, and it was difficult 

 for the little caravan to force its way through 

 it. On March 31 they reached a little river, 

 bordered with palms, flowing northwestward. 

 At one point on this river, where many enormous 

 sandstone blocks were scattered over the plain, 

 they found numerous large holes in the bowlders, 

 in which the natives had stored the bones of 

 their dead. The skeletons were not preserved 

 intact, but the bones were packed closely to- 

 gether and large stones covered them, apparently 

 to prevent wild dingoes from scattering them. 

 From these natural mausoleums Mr. Bradshaw 

 named the stream Sepulchre creek. He also 

 found a hitherto unknown fish of fine flavor, 

 which he was not able to find in any of the other 

 rivers. He proved that the great desert of inner 

 Australia does not extend thus far to the north- 

 west, for the region through which he passed 

 was watered by scores of creeks and rivers, and 

 tropical vegetation luxuriantly flourished. 



One day the party came to an unexpected im- 

 pediment. A wall of high hills rose so precipi- 

 tously that it was impossible to lead the horses up 

 the slope. After hours of search a narrow valley 

 was discovered, between whose steep, high sides 

 they traveled for about a mile, until they reached 

 the summit of a comparatively level, well-grassed 

 plain. On this plateau they traveled for several 

 days, when they saw at the left a large creek, 

 which they followed till its waters fell in several 

 cataracts into the jagged abyss of a cleft in a 

 sandstone chain. They were surrounded by 

 rocky hills, and for four days they were busy 

 with axes, under the burning sun, cutting a road 

 for the horses. Soon afterward a river was 

 reached, which is one of the most important 

 tributaries of the Prince Regent. At the end of 

 a beautiful valley was a great shee't of water, and 

 near it a large sandstone rock, almost horizontal, 

 in the midst of which the natives had heaped up 

 a pile of great stones, and at its center a struc- 

 ture which, as seemed by the ashes lying about, 

 was used as an oven and perhaps as an altar. 

 A little beyond they ascended a mountain about 

 1,500 feet high. On all sides were great blocks 

 of black volcanic rock, lying on a thick carpet 

 of grass, while lagoons and water courses could 

 be descried on all sides through the papyrus 

 and palm trees that fringed them thickly, and 

 away toward the north and west terraces of 

 ragged hills cut through by numerous ravines 

 and valleys. Mr. Bradshaw was particularly 

 struck with the work of white ants in the western 

 part of the region he traversed. In one place, 

 for instance, he discovered a perpendicular 

 pillar with a diameter of about 3 feet, and nearly 



10 feet in height. It stood in the middle of an 

 enormous rock at least 40 feet from the nearest 

 bit of soil. All the material for the structure 

 must have been carried by these little insects 40 

 to 50 feet, involving enormous labor. 



They traveled for five days along Prince 

 Regent river to mountains through which the 

 river flows, and along the rocky walls that hem 

 :n the narrow river they found many caverns on 

 whose walls the natives had made paintings in 

 red, black, white, brown, yellow, and light blue. 

 There were figures of men with profiles well 

 drawn, and kangaroos, wallabies, crocodiles, and 

 other animals were graphically portrayed. A 

 kind of alphabetic characters appeared among 

 them. The noteworthy discovery was made 

 that for 50 miles Prince Regent river flows be- 

 tween two entirely different rock formations. 

 The right shore is composed of basaltic rocks, 

 and the left is sandstone. The territory on the 

 right bank is well wooded and grassed, "while on 

 the west there is found mostly only prickly 

 spinifex and black-oat grass, with bowlders 

 strewn over the country. Between the Prince 

 Regent and the Roe is an extensive table-land, 

 mostly basaltic, divided by rocky ravines, trav- 

 ersed by creeks, bordered with papyrus, box, 

 white gum, and mountain ebony. Less annoy- 

 ance was suffered from mosquitoes and sand flies 

 than was expected, except in swampy regions, 

 but the grass fly was very troublesome. No 

 centipedes or poisonous spiders or snakes were 

 encountered. The crocodiles in the fresh-water 

 ponds seemed harmless. Numerous alligators 

 were seen at the junction of salt and fresh water 

 in the rivers. Dingoes and emus were infrequent, 

 but the basalt regions were full of kangaroos 

 and wallabies, many of unusual size. 



An expedition furnished by Sir Thomas Elder, 

 and led by David Lindsay, for exploring central 

 West Australia arrived at Esperance Bay, Oct. 

 14, 1891. This lies in the southern coast of 

 West Australia, and forms a station of the over- 

 land telegraph from South to West Australia. 

 Mr. Lindsay says the region west of the bound- 

 ary of South Australia is characterized by sand 

 hills, covered with grass and acacia bushes, by 

 sandy stretches overgrown in places with spin- 

 ifex, by granite and diorite hills, single or in 

 groups, and farther south by sandstone hills 

 and a girdle of desert gums. Nowhere were 

 found open, permanent bodies of water. The 

 natives first encountered were numerous and 

 friendly, though shy, while farther on they 

 evinced hostility. The want of water finally 

 forced the travelers back, and into a south- 

 westerly course. The outcome of the expedition 

 proved so unsatisfactory that Sir Thomas Elder 

 refused further aid to carry it on. 



Recent measurements in the region between 

 Lakes Eyre and Amadeus have shown that the 

 greatest elevation in the interior is not Mount 

 Giles, in the Macdonald range, but Mount Wood- 

 roffe, of the Musgrave ran^e, which is 4,400 to 

 4,500 feet high. Mount Morris, in the west, is 

 4,100 to 4,200 feet high. The valleys here are 

 well covered with grass and bushes, 'but toward 

 the west, between the Deering hills and the 

 Mann range, the soil is poorer, and scrub and 

 spinifex prevail in the vegetation. 



The water discovered in 1875 by E. Giles in 



