31st July.
We therefore proceeded by easy stages towards Adelaide, experiencing the
greatest hospitality at the stations on our route, while our reception in
the city was of the most flattering nature. His Excellency Sir Richard
Macdonald kindly gave me the use of an extensive paddock for the horses,
and provided quarters for the men during the period which necessarily
elapsed before the sale of the equipment of the expedition was effected.
I have also to express my acknowledgments of the kind assistance rendered
by the Honourable the Commissioner of Crown Lands, to the
Surveyor-General, and the Superintendent of Telegraphs, for valuable data
connected with the construction of the map of the route, as well as to
many other gentlemen whose cordial co-operation greatly facilitated my
arrangements. It is extremely gratifying to record my appreciation of the
untiring zeal and energy which distinguished every individual composing
the expedition; and it is to the unvarying and cheerful alacrity with
which each and all performed their respective duties, that, under
Providence, the rapidity and success of the journey is to be mainly
attributed. With reference to the probable fate of Dr. Leichhardt, it is
evident, from the existence of the marked camp, nearly eighty miles
beyond those seen by Mr. Hely, that the account given to that gentleman
by the natives of the murder of the party was untrue; and I am inclined
to think only a revival of the report current during Leichhardt's first
journey to Port Essington. Nor is it probable that they were destroyed
until they had left the Victoria, as, if killed by the natives, the
scattered bones of the horses and cattle would have been observed during
our search. I am therefore of opinion that they left the river at the
junction of the Alice, and, favoured by thunder-showers, penetrated the
level desert country to the north-west; in which case, on the cessation
of the rain, the party would not only be deprived of a supply of water
for the onward journey, but unable to retreat, as the shallow deposits of
rainwater would evaporate in a few days, and it is not likely that they
would commence a retrograde movement until the strength of the party had
been severely taxed in the attempt to advance. The character of the
country traversed, from the out-stations on the Dawson River to the head
of the Warrego River, was generally that of a grassy forest, with ridges
of dense brigalow scrub. A great portion is available for pastoral
purposes, but not well watered; and the soil being sandy, the grass would
soon be destroyed if too heavily stocked. As we advanced into the
interior it became more barren, and, except along the banks of the larger
watercourses, destitute of timber, and the character of the vegetation
indicated excessive droughts. North of latitude 26 degrees dense scrubs
of acacia prevailed on the level country beyond the influence of the
inundations, but to the southward sandy and stony deserts, with low
shrubby vegetation, were the characteristic feature. West of longitude
147 degrees, nearly to the boundary of South Australia, in 141 degrees,
the country is unfit for occupation, for, though in favourable seasons
there might in some few localities be abundance of feed for stock, the
uncertainty of rain and frequent recurrence of drought renders it
untenable, the grasses and herbage being principally annuals, which not
only die but are swept away by the hot summer winds, leaving the surface
of the soil completely bare. On Cooper's Creek, near the boundary, there
is a small tract of second-rate country, which, being abundantly supplied
with water, may eventually be occupied. The best part is, however, within
the province of South Australia. Between Cooper's Creek and Lake Torrens
about 120 miles of sandy country intervenes. This tract is destitute of
surface water, but as it is probable that it could be obtained by sinking
wells of moderate depth, I think it might be occupied to advantage during
the cool season, and thus relieve the stations which are now established
within Lake Torrens, though I fear that the summer heat would be too
great to admit of permanent occupation. The geological character of the
country is remarkably uniform. Carboniferous sandstones and shales,
containing occasional beds of coal, with superincumbent hills and ridges
of basalt, extend from Darling Downs to the 146th meridian, where these
rocks are covered by horizontal sandstones with beds of chert and
water-worn quartz pebbles. This latter formation extends as far as Mount
Hopeless, where the slate ranges of South Australia rise abruptly from
the plain. The sandy deserts and mud plains are only superficial
deposits, as the sandstones are often exposed where the upper formation
is intersected by gullies. The direction of the parallel ridges of drift
sand appear to be the result of the prevailing winds, and not the action
of water, it being sufficient to visit them on a windy day to be
convinced that it is unnecessary to seek for a more remote and obscure
cause than that which is in present operation. It is, perhaps, with
reference to the physical geography of Australia that the results of the
Expedition are most important; as by connecting successively the
explorations of Sir T. Mitchell, Mr. Kennedy, Captain Sturt, and Mr.
Eyre, the waters of the tropical interior of the eastern portion of the
Continent are proved to flow towards Spencer's Gulf, if not actually into
it, the barometrical observations showing that Lake Torrens, the lowest
part of the interior, is decidedly above the sea-level. Although only
about one-third of the waters of Cooper's Creek flow into Lake Torrens by
the channel of Streletzki Creek, there is strong evidence that the
remaining channels, after spreading their waters on the vast plains which
occupy the country between them and Sturt's Stony Desert, finally drain
to the south, augmented probably by the waters of Eyre's Creek, the Stony
Desert, and perhaps some other watercourses of a similar character coming
from the westward. This peculiar structure of the interior renders it
improbable that any considerable inland lakes should exist in connection
with the known system of waters; for, as Lake Torrens is decidedly only
an expanded continuation of Cooper's Creek, and therefore the culminating
point of this vast system of drainage, if there was sufficient average
fall of rain in the interior to balance the effects of evaporation from
the surface of an extensive sheet of water, the Torrens Basin, instead of
being occupied by salt marshes, in which the existence of anything beyond
shallow lagoons of salt-water is yet problematical, would be maintained
as a permanent lake. Therefore, if the waters flowing from so large a
tract of country are insufficient to meet the evaporation from the
surface of Lake Torrens, there is even less probability of the waters of
the western interior forming an inland lake of any magnitude, even should
there be so anomalous a feature as a depression of the surface in which
it could be collected, especially as our knowledge of its limits indicate
a much drier climate and less favourable conformation of surface than in
the eastern division of the continent. The undulations of the surface of
the country are nearly parallel to the meridian, gradually decreasing in
height from the dividing range between the eastern and western waters
till, instead of the waters of the rivers being confined to valleys, they
occupy plains formed by a slight flattening of the curvature of the
sphere. Thus the sides of the plain through which the river ran before it
turned west to Cooper's Creek were 150 feet below the tangential level of
the centre channels, and even the summit of the sandstone tableland which
rose beyond was below the visible horizon. It is this peculiar
conformation which causes the stream-beds to spread so widely when
following the course of the valleys from north to south, and it is only
where they break through the intervening ridges that the water is
confined sufficiently to form well-defined channels. The existence of
these extensive valleys trending north and south over so large a tract of
country render it by no means unlikely that they continue far beyond the
limits of present explorations, and it is not unreasonable to infer that
the great depression which has been traced nearly five hundred miles
north from Spencer's Gulf through Lake Torrens to the stony desert of
Sturt (or rather the mud plains contiguous to its western limit) may be
continuous for an equal distance beyond to the low land at the head of
the Gulf of Carpentaria; a theory also supported by the fact that the
rivers flowing into the Gulf either come from the east or west,
apparently from higher land in those directions, while there is not a
single watercourse from the south, or any indication of elevated country
in that direction. Captain Wickham having named an important river
discovered by him in H.M.S. Beagle, on the north-west coast, the
Victoria, several years prior to Sir T. Mitchell having attached that
name to the upper portion of Cooper's Creek, which had also been
previously discovered and named by Captain Sturt, I would suggest that
the term River Cooper be adopted for the whole of the main channel from
its sources, discovered by Sir T. Mitchell, to its termination in Lake
Torrens; as, while it does not interfere with the rule that the name
given by the first discoverer should be retained, will prevent the
recurrence of the misapprehension and inconvenience of having two
important rivers with the same designation on the maps of Australia. With
regard to the numbers and habits of the aborigines, I could collect
little information, as only a collective number of about 100 men, a few
women and children, were seen, in small scattered parties; but, judging
from the number of encampments seen, at least a thousand must visit the
banks of the river; and it is probable that the whole of the inhabitants
for at least 100 miles on each side are dependent on it for water during
the dry season. Neither sex wear any clothing. Their weapons and utensils
are similar to those used on the eastern coast; nor was there any
characteristic by which they could be observed to differ from the
aborigines of other portions of Australia. Fish, rats, grass seeds, and a
few roots, constitute their chief food. On the upper part of the river
they bury their dead, piling wood on the grave; near the junction of the
Thompson they suspend the bodies in nets, and afterwards remove the
bones; while on Cooper's Creek the graves are mounds of earth three to
four feet high, apparently without any excavation, and surmounted by a
pile of dead wood. In the last-named locality the number of burial mounds
which had been constructed about two years ago greatly exceed the
proportion of deaths which could have possibly occurred in any ordinary
season of mortality, even assuming the densest population known in any
other part of Australia; and it is not improbable that the seasons of
drought which proved so destructive to the tree vegetation higher up the
river may have been equally disastrous in its effects on the aboriginal
inhabitants of this portion of the interior.