430 
Miscellanea. 
with salt; and although the Lake appeared to be narrower here, 
than Mr. Poole expected to have seen it, he says that the country 
for twenty miles, as you approach Lake Torrens, is so peculiar, 
that any one looking down upon it from such lofty eminences as 
Mount Serle and Mount Hopeless, would naturally conclude that 
the whole was the large bed of a lake. Mr. Poole would have 
continued the examination of Lake Torrens more to the north, 
but he was apprehensive that his retreat would be cut off by the 
evaporation of the water left on the plains by the late rains ; and 
he consequently turned back, after a fatiguing journey of two 
hundred and fifty miles, during which he was exposed to great 
heat; and in his anxiety to accomplish what he knew was de¬ 
sirable, had almost exceeded the bounds of prudence, as regarded 
his personal safety. Both he and Mr. Browne, whom I sent with 
him, in consequence of his having been with me in the same di¬ 
rection, returned a good deal fatigued from this long excursion. 
I had, in the mean time, moved the party over the ranges to 
the plains, and had encamped on a creek, about ninety miles in 
advance from our late station. As it was clear we could not hope 
to find water in the sandy deserts into which we had penetrated, 
I sent Mr. Poole, on the 11th of December, to the north, di¬ 
recting him to keep nearer in to the ranges, with a view to his 
crossing any creeks issuing from them. On this occasion he 
gained lat. 29° 14", and succeeded in finding considerable sup¬ 
plies of water, in several creeks which he intersected. During 
Mr. Poole's absence, I made an excursion of from eighty to ninety 
miles to the eastward, to ascertain the nature of the country on 
both sides of me as I proceeded northwards, but with no favour¬ 
able result. 
On Mr. Poole's return, I moved on the party, and on the 11th 
of January, arrived at a long water-hole, in a creek, to which the 
creek, on which we have subsequently formed our Depot, is a 
tributary. 
On the 14tli of the month, I left the camp with a party of two 
men, and proceeded with Mr. Browne to the north; Mr. Poole 
who attended me the first day, was to return on the following 
day; and in the event of our finding water, was to have moved 
