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coast, which he followed to the Peelunibie sand patch at the 

 Head of the Bight, where water was procured by digging in 

 the sand. 



His observations are the most meagre, but he describes the 

 country as generally level, open, and grassy, and entirely 

 destitute of water. He perpetuates, moreover, the error o£ 

 Flinders respecting the height of Bunda Cliffs, and overlooks 

 the partial correction given by Eyre. 



Cornish surveyed a north and south line on the meridian of 

 Ooldea Water, which passes through for many miles the 

 eastern portion of the Bunda Plateau. His observations on 

 the country have not been published. 



Mr. Muir has lately travelled sheep from the Head of the 

 Bight to Eucla, following pretty nearly the course of 

 Delisser's surveyed line ; but his actual route was determined 

 by the position of the few rock holes which occur on either 

 side, though not distant more than a few miles. 



This region may be said to have been much travelled during 

 the construction of the telegraph line, which traverses the 

 Plateau at an average distance of ten miles from the coast, and 

 follows Delisser's chief east-and-west line to within 45 miles- 

 from Eucla. By a fortunate circumstance it passes through 

 the very best country. 



In the latter part of 1878 Messrs. Eairlie and "Woolley and 

 a black started from Eucla in a N.N.E. direction in search of 

 sheep country. The party not returning within a specified 

 time, and one of their horses having come back, their Eucla 

 friends, anxious for their safety, dispatched Messrs. Muir and 

 Clark in search of them, who found Mr. Eairlie's dray at 80 miles 

 out, but lack of water necessitated their return. However, a 

 search party with camels was immediately sent out, and though 

 the lost men were tracked to 100 miles out, and back to within 

 three miles of their dray, neither men nor horses were found. No 

 doubt of their sad fate is to be entertained, as the country has 

 been graphically described to me by more than one of the 

 searching parties, and briefly as a level stony desert, without 

 water and trees, and the scantiest of vegetation. I exhibit to 

 you memorials of this journey in the form of three species of 

 fossils obtained at the last camp of the ill-fated explorers. 

 They conclusively prove that the stony surface in this distant 

 place is of the same nature as that of the top of the Bunda 

 Cliffs. 



Lastly, I was employed by the Government to examine the 

 Bunda Plateau, with the view of forming an opinion as to the 

 applicability of the artesian principle to obtain water. I was 

 accompanied by Mr. Barron, trigonometrical surveyor, and 

 John London, as general assistant, proceeding to Eowler's 



H 



