LAKE TORRENS. 
59 
appeared to me that there was water in the bed of 
the lake at a distance of four or five miles from 
where I was, and at this point Lake Torrens was 
about fifteen or twenty miles across, having high 
land bounding it to the west, seemingly a continua- 
tion of the table land at the head of Spencer’s gulf 
on its western side. 
Foiled in the hope of reaching the water, I stood 
gazing on the dismal prospect before me with feel- 
ings of chagrin and gloom. I can hardly say I felt 
disappointed, for my expectations in this quarter 
had never been sanguine ; but I could not view 
unmoved, a scene which from its character and 
extent, I well knew must exercise a great influence 
over my future plans and hopes : the vast area of the 
lake was before me interminable as far as the eye 
could see to the northward, and the country upon 
its shore, was desolate and forbidding. 
It was evident, that I could never hope to take 
my party across the lake, and it was equally 
evident, that I should not be able to travel around 
its shores, from the total absence of all fresh water, 
grass, or wood, whilst the very saline nature of the 
soil in the surrounding country, made even the rain 
water salt, after lying for an hour or two upon the 
ground. My only chance of success now lay in the 
non-termination of Flinders range, and in the 
prospect it held out to me, that by continuing our 
course along it we might be able to procure grass 
and water in its recesses, until we were either taken 
