Journal of the Central Australian Exploring 

 and Prospecting Association's Expedition, 

 1889, under command of William Henry 

 Tietkens. 



The journey of about 1,054 miles from Adelaide to Bond Springs 

 was of an uneventful character. The camels to be used upon the 

 expedition, belonging to Messrs. Chewings, were in readiness at the 

 Peake, which is the present terminus of the railway line from Ade- 

 laide, and as the greater portion of the stores were lying at Bond 

 Springs, having been left there by the first expedition when re- 

 called to Adelaide, the camels were not burdened with stores. 

 From the Finke to Bond Springs the weather was extremely hot, 

 the thermometer for several days recording 172° in the sun, and 

 upon one occasion 178°. The sand was so intensely hot that the 

 camels were unable to stand still during our short halt for midday 

 meals. The heat, dust, and flies by day, and the ants by night, 

 during the last 100 miles of the journey, made life anything but 

 agreeable, and we were thankful when we sighted our temporary 

 home at Bond Springs We could now fairly anticipate that the 

 hot season would be succeeded by cool weather, and that our 

 journey to the westward would be in the cool season. The stores 

 left at Bond Springs were found to be thrown together in a dis- 

 graceful state, and I was much grieved on examining the flour to 

 find our principal article of food for the next four months to be 

 both wevilled and maggotty. During our stay here several men 

 came in from the alluvial goldfields, about seventy miles to the 

 eastward. The largest nugget I saw weighed about 5dwts. These 

 diggers were not particularly sanguine of the success of the new 

 field. The water was fast drying up, and rations were at a ruinous 

 price. At the new township of Stuart there were four stores, and 

 a publichouse was in the course of erection. 



At Alice Springs I had the pleasure of meeting with a veteran 

 explorer in the person of John Ross, aged 72 years, who is still 

 hale, active, and strong. Took a number of photographs of the 

 station and neighborhood during my stay here. Having completed 

 the re-packing of the stores, and all the preliminaries having been 

 arranged for a four months' journey, on March 13th, I went down 

 to the Alice Springs telegraph station to forward dispatches and to 

 receive any letters or parcels that might have arrived by the mail 

 which reached there last night. Returned to Bond Springs, which 

 is twelve miles north of Alice Springs. I felt much disappointed 



