99 



pleasant nature, and the physical and mental relief on gaining 

 Yalata, where the camels were dispensed with, was of the most 

 refreshening kind. From that place a ride of 200 miles on 

 horseback brought us to Streaky Bay, but the journey was 

 broken for a day at Pinong to permit me to visit Lake 

 MacDonnell. From Streaky Bay the rest of the overland 

 journey was done in a mail car ; Port Lincoln was reached on 

 March 14th, and there ended my travels by land of about 1,000 

 miles occupying seven weeks. 



The length of time occupied in each day's journey, and the 

 mode of travel, rendered collecting an almost impossible task ; 

 the opportunities for doing so were after each day's travel, 

 when usually less than an hour of daylight remained to me, and 

 the few occasions on which a lengthier halt than usual was 

 made. The routine — Up at 4.30 a.m., start at 6, noonday halt 

 for lunch, travel to 3.30 or 4 p.m., whilst dinner and preparing 

 for the night invariably occupied us till after 5 p.m. — was 

 forced on us because of the limited time at my disposal, and the 

 absolute necessity there was of making rapid progress from one 

 watering place to another. Of the 34 days occupied in the 

 survey out from and into Fowler's Bay, only for five days were 

 the camels in camp, but these were not days of enforced idleness 

 for me, as an average of thirteen miles travel per day was done 

 in visiting geological sections. 



EoRM OF THE GrROUND OP THE BlTJfDA PlATEAL". 



The Bunda cliffs constitute the sea margin of an approxi- 

 mately level plateau, the elevation of which at their eastern 

 termination is 155 feet, but which gradually increases to 250 

 feet at Wilson's Bluff on the west, rising thence inland to 290 

 feet at the summit level of the dray road to Eucla. The first 

 45 miles from the Peelunibie sandhills, the coast cliffs are 

 crowned with loose sand, which forms a raised lip on the margin 

 of the plateau ; with the increasing height of the cliffs, the sand 

 becomes less in amount and discontinuous, and is finally seen in 

 dome-like patches, trailing away to the north-west. But for 

 these interruptions, the whole surface along the cliff edge is 

 almost level, showing only a slightly flowing outline. In these 

 particulars I am in accord with Mr. Eyre, who writes " there was 

 no perceptible inclination of the country in any direction, the 

 level land ran to the very borders of the sea, where it abruptly 

 terminated, forming steep and precipitous cliffs" (I. p. 324), and 

 " to the westward we found the country rising as we advanced, 

 and the cliffs becoming higher" (p. 325). The height of the 

 cliffs is stated by Elinders (I. p. 96) "to be nearly the same 

 throughout, being nowhere less by estimation than 400, nor 

 anywhere more than 600 feet." Eyre gives the general elevation 

 at from three to four hundred feet (p. 324.) 



