64 
MOUNT DECEPTION. 
July 12 . — We moved away early, steering for 
Mount Deception. Near its base, and emanating 
from it, we crossed the dry bed of a very large water- 
course, more resembling that of a river in character, 
its channel being wide, deep, and well-defined, and 
lined with the salt-water tea-tree ; whilst its course 
was marked by very large, green-looking gum-trees, 
the bed consisted of an earthy, micaceous slate of 
a reddish colour, and in very minute particles, almost 
in some places as fine as sand, but we could find no 
water in it anywhere. 
The range in which this watercourse has its 
source, is of the same slaty rock, and very rugged ; 
it could not be less than 3,000 feet in elevation, and 
its summit was only attainable by winding along- 
the steep and stony ridges that led round the deep 
gorges and ravines by which it was surrounded. 
From the top the view was extensive and unsatis- 
factory. Lake Torrens appearing as large and 
mysterious as ever, and bearing in its most northerly 
extreme visible W. 22° N. To the north wa s a 
low level cheerless waste, and to the east Flinders 
range trending more easterly, and then sweeping 
back to N. 28° W. but its appearance seemed to be 
changing and its character altering ; the ranges 
struck me as being more separated by ridges, with 
barren flats and valleys between, among which wind- 
ing to the N. W. were many large and deep water- 
courses, but which when traced up, often for many 
miles, I found to emanate from gorges of the hills, 
and to have neither water nor springs in them. 
