Interior of New Holland. 
347 
course. It does not, therefore, appear to me that the two can be 
connected, and I think that an inspection of their relative positions 
on the map will bear me out in this observation. Again, it will be 
borne in mind that I twice essayed to cross the Stony. Desert, 
which I struck a second time more than a degree from the first 
point, and that there it had certainly an increased breadth, and 
appeared to trend gradually round to the north-east, opposite the 
lowest part of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The large river discovered 
on a recent expedition was 350 miles to the eastward of that part 
of the Stony Desert from which I turned the second time, and 
about 430 geographical miles from where I turned with Mr. 
Browne, and more than 550 miles from the bottom of the Gulf of 
Carpentaria. Whether the Stony Desert continues to any distance 
I cannot say, but my opinion is that it does, and that, as the 
lowest part of the interior, it receives all the waters falling inwards 
from the coast. Whether those waters are gradually lost by 
evaporation, or that they are carried to some still undiscovered 
sea, remains to be proved; but as it is difficult for others to eluci¬ 
date these things, I have thought myself called upon to throw 
every light I can on the probable character of the interior. All I 
can say is, that after having traversed a desert for 400 miles and 
failed to reach its northern limit, and after having found that it 
continued unaltered for four degrees of longitude, I cannot hope 
that it speedily closes in either to the east or west. The reader 
will be able to judge of these things as well as me, although he 
may not have given the subject the same anxious consideration. 
The researches of Dr. Leichardt will throw much light upon it, 
and my best wishes and most earnest prayers for his safety and 
success are his. It is the generous in heart, the persevering in 
difficulty, and the brave in danger, who merit both our admiration 
and respect, and such I am told he is and I believe him to be. 
When I reached the point of the creek from which I started on 
this last excursion, I felt my strength leaving me. I could not rise 
as I used to do into my saddle, nor could I lift logs without losing 
my breath. From the I7th of July to that moment I had cease¬ 
lessly labored. A few days only excepted, I had been constantly 
on horseback, and had braved the sun’s rays from the earliest dawn 
7 . 2 
