1868.] 



Exploration of Central Australia, 



355 



for many miles a promising appearance. Observations made in other parts 

 of the north-west littorale of Australia confirm this view, and some of the 

 rivers have been supposed to take their origin in high granite and trap 

 ranges three hundred miles from the coast. They would in this case be 

 only four hundred miles from our point C, towards which the high western 

 tableland, of which these ranges are probably the watershed, inclines until 

 again reaching the lowest part near Stuart's hot springs and the lake district 

 forming the receptacle of the drainage from the Barcoo River. The course 

 proposed passes very nearly through the centre of the unknown interior, and 

 offers therefore, as an inspection of the map will show, an opportunity for 

 exploring these unknown regions, and most likely also for tracing the limits 

 of Mr. Gregory's sandy deserts in the north-west. With reference to the 

 south-west extremity, I accept for the greater part the suppositions thrown 

 out by the Rev. J. E. T. Woods respecting its nature, first ably set forth in 

 a letter addressed to the ' Melbourne Argus ' some years ago, and again re- 

 peated in his excellent work on xiustrahan exploration (vol. ii. p. 511), from 

 which we quote the following passage. Mr. Woods says, — " If the western 

 end of the tableland be on an average two thousand feet high, there must be a 

 drainage to the interior nearly equal to that which causes so many rivers on 

 the west coast. The watershed has never yet been crossed from the west 

 side ; but one cannot help remarking that wherever it has been crossed 

 elsewhere good land has been found. It is no evidence against the existence 

 of a river that none are found on the south coast, especially in the Austra- 

 lian Bight, where it would be most likely to appear. Many places in the 

 interior have an extensive drainage, which never reaches the sea. The 

 Barcoo drains into Lake Eyre, which is the receptacle of many other streams. 

 A stream from the west coast might empty itself into Lake Gairdner*. There 

 must at any rate be some important drainage in connexion with that large 

 sheet of water." It is scarcely needful to add anything to the reasons here 

 set forth for the necessity of the existence of a large drainage area in the 

 south-western extremity of the continent ; but it may perhaps be not out 

 of place to recall to mind here that the Barcoo River (Cooper's Creek) 

 drains a territory of nearly nine degrees of longitude and seven degrees of 

 latitude before emptying itself into Lakes Eyre and Gregory, forming, after 

 its bifurcation near the locality where the final scenes of the Burke and 

 Wills tragedy were enacted, an immense river delta, far exceeding any of 

 the well-known deltas in the worldf. If we now place a drainage system, 

 in dimensions similar to that just spoken of, to the west of Lakes Eyre 

 and Gairdner, it would in all probability be intersected by the course 

 proposed through the western interior. An expedition, after having once 

 struck such a river-system, would of course have to follow up the discovery ; 

 and would, in its further course towards south-west, have mainly to be 



'f I rather feel inclined to believe that the receptacle spoken of is formed by some 

 lalies to the nortli of the Australian Biglit, yet undiscoTerecl. 



■\ According to the rcceiit exploration of Major Warburton, 

 VOL. XVI. 2 L 



