30 
NOTES FROM THE MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA. [Nov. 9, 1857. 
cians in a degree ; it remains for us, therefore, before we give it up, to attempt 
to take it by sap. 
If the interior be really a waterless desert, I would say that it is probably 
still perfectly traversable. Observation has led me to the strong conviction 
that the surface-waterless-tertiary deserts of Australia abound with sub-surface 
water. I should expect to find it at depths in general of not more than 120 
feet. If it be so, a progressive system of wells, with depots, might be carried, 
with certainty and safety to the party employed, across every intervening 
desert. Twenty- four wells, about fifty miles from each other, would establish 
a practicable route (the whole way, if the country be surface-desert) from the 
south-western extremity of Lake Torrens to Stokes and Gregorys Victoria. 
The deserts of' Australia abound with wood-fuel, and if the water were 
sometimes salt, boilers and condensers, light enough for bullock drays, might 
avert the evil. 
I have no doubt whatever but that, in the worst of circumstances, Australia 
may be safely and surely traversed by patient ingenuity 7- ; and I would say 
that the honour of England (if there were no other motive) requires that it 
should be done. 
The President.- — With reference to the observations which have fallen from 
Colonel Gawler, I can, at this late hour, only say that I have come to another 
conclusion concerning the condition of Central Australia. But, whilst my 
own views are printed in the last Anniversary Address, I shall willingly stand 
corrected if his theory, founded upon a personal acquaintance with the country, 
should prove correct, and that our colonists should be enabled to travel 
across the interior of that great continent, which is generally - considered to be 
an impassable saline desert. 
The third Paper read was : — • 
3. Notes from the Mission to Central Africa . 
Communicated by the Earl of Clarendon, f.r.g.s., H.M. Secretary for 
Foreign Affairs. 
Dr. Vogel, who had arrived at Kuka after an absence of ten 
months and twelve days, wrote as follows on the 4th of Decem- 
ber, 1855 : — 
“ I am not able to give now a detailed account of what I have 
seen and done, as arranging my papers, reducing my observa- 
tions, and making a map, will take at least three weeks more 
time, but I will describe to you, as well as I can, the road I have 
taken.* 
“ On the 20th January I left Kuka for the town of Yacoba, 
accompanied by Corporal Macguire and four servants. On the 
road I had to pass through the capital of the large province of 
G-ombe, situated on a large tributary of the Chadda, called 
* For astronomical observations upon this route, see the first volume of ‘ The 
Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society.’ The observations of Dr. Vogel’s 
route from Kuka, south to Tubori, have not reached this Society for calculation. 
—Ed. 
