AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. 
543 
had seemed to hem him in hopelessly from the coast before, was pene- 
trable in a northerly direction ; and instead, therefore, of further seeking 
to reach the Victoria River, he pressed forward through Arnheim’s Land, 
and came out upon the coast near Point Hotham, opposite Melville’s 
Island. Thus there is now a direct route from Adelaide to Port Essington, 
and more than three parts of the country through which it runs has been 
traversed by Stuart and his party six times, this being the third consecu- 
tive year that his expeditions have crossed and recrossed this continent. 
From these facts it will be seen that the exploration is one of vast im- 
portance to all the Australian colonies. The journeys of previous 
explorers who have crossed the continent have terminated at the Gulf of 
Carpentaria, where the country is low and swampy, and where ships 
trading with India and China would meet with difficulties in navigation. 
But a route is now opened from South Australia to a point on the coast 
six degrees beyond the head of the Gulf, which was the place reached 
by Burke, and afterwards by McKinlay ; and this route is found tra- 
versable during the driest of seasons. 
The peculiar features of travel in the interior of Australia are well 
illustrated by a reference to Mr. Stuart’s diary, which chronicles the move- 
ments of the party from day to day, the appearance of the country, and 
the natural productions met with, though these last are not described 
with any scientific accuracy. As far as Newcastle Water, in latitude 17° 
the route had been several times traversed, but from that point Mr. Stuart’s 
journey was through a new country. Here he "was in the middle of 
April, 1862, the weather very hot, strong winds often blowing during the day, 
and the falling of the wind at night being the signal for troops of mos- 
quitoes and flies to appear, much to the annoyance of the travellers. With 
such hot weather he dared not attempt to make the Victoria River, for 
the.horses would not stand a 140 miles’ journey without water, the discovery 
of which was always precarious. Indeed it may be said that a journey 
of exploration across the continent of Australia resolves itself into a 
constant search after this indispensable necessary. Water-holes were 
occasionally met with, sometimes, however, dry, and sometimes merely 
the deeper parts of the beds of dried-up creeks, and rivers through which 
water flows during the rainy season. The appearance of a few birds 
from time to time, such as slate-coloured cockatoos, pigeons, &c., announced 
the proximity of water, and was therefore always a welcome omen. To 
add to the difficulty, it was soon discovered that their water-bags, on 
which their progress, and indeed their very lives, depended, were not by 
any means satisfactory. On the 8th of May it appeared that the water- 
bags in a journey of 21 miles had leaked out one half of their contents, 
and the same circumstance was a frequent source of annoyance and per- 
plexity. It took two men nearly half a day to fill them, on account of 
the smallness of the orifices, and the American cloth with which they 
were lined not only did not render them water-tight, but allowed of the 
water getting between it and the leather, thus rendering the process of 
emptying them a matter of difficulty. 
Mr. Stuart bears a very pleasing testimony to the devotion of his 
party ; and his diary often records his approbation, which he frequently 
