40' 



(b) NARRATIVE. 



By Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S., Director South Australian 



Museum. 



Plates XXI. to XXX. 



The party left Farina on September 11, 1916, and 

 traversing most uninteresting country reached Mount Lynd- 

 hurst Station by way of Higgins Dam and Leslies Well on 

 the following day. Passing Frome Well and Waters Well, 

 we reached the Nob on the 14th, whence the route lay over 

 stony ground with low hills rising gently to the north-east 

 and dipping suddenly. Next day several "whirlies" appeared, 

 the wind drawing up the sand into rapidly-moving columns 

 like waterspouts at sea : we also encountered gossamer driven 

 before the wind, each piece six or more feet in length, gener- 

 ally with a tuft at each end, one, of course, contain- 

 ing the young spider. Watering at Wades Tank on 

 the 15th, we reached the Devils Village, possibly named from 

 a rugged escarpment, recalling the Teufel's Mauer on the 

 Danube. After leaving Trinity we entered a salt marsh 

 country, a weird district, the ground being encrusted and 

 resembling a snow scene, and freely pierced with springs, 

 each issuing from a low mound. The Petermorra Bore is 

 responsible for a fine sheet of water and running creek ; as 

 usual with these artesian bores, we had to move a long way 

 from the bore head to find the water sufficiently cool for 

 the hand to tolerate. On September 18 we arrived at Mount 

 Hopeless Station, having travelled over the most dreary 

 country it has been my lot to traverse. No wonder Sturt 

 should have bestowed such a name — no tree, no bush, no 

 water ; and we had difficulty in scraping up sufficient material 

 for fire to boil the billy. Next day we reached a waterhole, 

 and later the crossing between Lakes Blanche and Callabonna, 

 all dry ; but the water at the well was deliciously clear and 

 cool, and we speedily replaced the muddy water in our can- 

 teens. Leaving this encrusted and barren area, our route 

 now lay up Strzelecki Creek, also dry, but of greater interest, 

 and yielding a little more for the collector. In places large 

 shallow pools of muddy water still remained, but they were 

 for the greater part unapproachable, owing to the boggy 

 nature of the surrounding ground, and strewn with the car- 

 cases of dead cattle, bogged during the drought period. The 

 water in these pools is salter than the sea. 



