REFLECTIONS. 
23 
and in the enthusiasm of departure, my mind was 
kept constantly on the stretch, and I had no time 
for calm and cool consideration, but now that all was 
over and the journey actually commenced, I was 
again able to collect my thoughts and to turn my 
most serious and anxious attention to the duty 
I had undertaken. The last few days had been 
so fraught with interest and occupation, and 
the circumstances of our departure this morning, 
had been so exciting, that when left to my own 
reflections, the whole appeared to me more like a 
dream than a reality. The change was so great, 
the contrast so striking. From the crowded draw- 
ing room of civilized life, I had in a few hours been 
transferred to the solitude and silence of the wilds, 
and from being but an unit in the mass of a large 
community, I had suddenly become isolated with 
regard to the world, which, so far as I was con- 
cerned, consisted now only of the few brave men 
who accompanied me, and who were dependant for 
their very existence upon the energy and perseverance 
and prudence with which I might conduct the task 
assigned to me. With this small, but gallant and 
faithful band, I was to attempt to penetrate the vast 
recesses of the interior of Australia, to try to lift up 
the veil which has hitherto shrouded its mysteries 
from the researches of the traveller, and to endeavour 
to plant that flag which has floated proudly in all 
the known parts of the habitable globe, in the centre 
of a region as yet unknown, and unvisited save by 
the savage or the wild beast. 
