The result of this trip, satisfactory as it no doubt was to the leader, who thus saw his many gallant efforts at last crowned with success, had little or no other fruits to show, not even the negative one of proving that the desert they had passed through was an absolutely waterless waste. The very water that saved their lives they were passing by unheeded; and it was impossible for them to say whether similar formations did not exist on either hand of their line of march.

Like Warburton's, only without the suffering from starvation, it was a hasty flight on camels, through an unknown country, and, like his, barren of results beyond a thin line on the map of Australia.

Expeditions such as these must be looked at from two points of view; whilst admiring the fortitude and resolution possessed by the leader who takes his party through such a waste in safety, we must regret that fuller information and more patient deductions had not been gained. The fact of having the means, in their camels, to venture on long dry stages with impunity, led them to disdain the careful manner in which Forrest felt his way across; but in the end that explorer had certainly the best idea of the country he had travelled over.

Giles now retraced his steps from Western Australia to the overland line, following a track to the north of Forrest's route. He went by way of the Murchison, and crossed over to the Ashburton, which river he followed up to the head. Then striking to the south of east he came on to his former track of 1873, at the Alfred and Marie Range; the range he had so vainly striven to reach when the unfortunate man Gibson, met his death. He finally arrived at the Peake station, on the telegraph line.

Few watercourses were crossed, the country was suffering from extreme drought, and no discoveries of any importance were made.

The journeys of the late explorers had greatly lessened the area of the country in which fresh discoveries could be looked for; true, the results had not been encouraging. The utter and complete want of a river system, even of the rudest kind, in the western half of the interior of Australia, was plainly shown. No continuous line of country could even be traced as corresponding on the routes of the different travellers, and unfortunately, where good country was found, the want of surface water held out no encouragement for the grazier to follow up the explorers' footsteps. The reclamation of this country it was evident would have to be a work of time, and would be dependent greatly on the facility with which the underground supplies could be tapped. That these supplies exist, the pioneer work carried on, on the outskirts of the desert, has proved beyond a doubt; how far they will be carried into the interior remains to be seen.



CHAPTER XIII.



Further explorations around Lake Eyre—Lewis equipped by Sir Thomas Elder—He traces the lower course of the Diamantina—Expedition to Charlotte Bay under W. Hann—A survivor of the wreck of the Maria—Discovery of the Palmer—Gold prospects found—Arrival on the east coast—Dense scrub—Return—The Palmer rush—Hodgkinson sent out—Follows down the Diamantina—Discovery of the Mulligan—Mistaken for the Herbert—Private expedition—The Messrs. Prout—Buchanan—F. Scarr—The QUEENSLANDER expedition—A dry belt of country—Native rites—A good game bag—Arrival at the telegraph line—Alexander Forrest—The Leopold Range—Caught between the cliffs and the sea—Fine pastoral country found—Arrival at the Katherine—The Northern Territory and its future.

But although the country to the east of the telegraph line had up to the year 1874 received such a large share of attention, in fact, the principal share, there yet remained much unknown territory to investigate, and many geographical problems to determine. Chief amongst these was the definition of the many affluents of Lake Eyre.

The western district of Queensland was drained by rivers of great magnitude, that found their way through South Australia into the lake; but their many channels, and the direction and size of them had never been fully determined. To further this end, Sir Thomas Elder equipped Mr. Lewis, who, it will be remembered, did such good service on Colonel Warburton's expedition, and under his leadership an expedition was undertaken which resulted in much valuable information being gained. Starting from the overland telegraph line, Lewis skirted Lake Eyre to the north, and penetrated to Eyre's Creek, in Queensland territory, and traced that creek and the Diamantina into Lake Eyre; also confirming the opinion so often advanced that the waters of Cooper's Creek found their way into that receptacle, as well as the more westerly streams.

In Queensland the Government had decided upon further exploration of the northern promontory ending in Cape York. More than eight years had elapsed since the Jardines had made their dashing trip, and their report taken in conjunction with Kennedy's did not offer much inducement for anyone to follow up their footsteps; but as there was yet a tract of country at the base of the promontory comparatively unknown, a party was organised and placed under the leadership of Mr. William Hann, one of the pioneer squatters of the north of Queensland.

The object of the trip was in the main an examination of the country as far north as the 14th parallel, with a special view to its mineral and other resources; the discovery of gold so far north in Queensland having caused a hope to be entertained that its existence would continue along the promontory.

Hann had with him as geologist a Mr. Taylor, and as botanist, Dr. Tate, a survivor of the melancholy New Guinea expedition that left Sydney in the brig MARIA, only to suffer wreck on the Barrier Reef, where, in the sea and amongst the cannibals north of Rockingham Bay, most of the unfortunates left their bones. Apparently, his ardour for exploration had not been damped by his narrow escape.

One other member of the party, a Mr. Nation, was destined to meet a tragic death by starvation in the newly-settled district of the northern territory of South Australia. The party left Fossilbrook station, on Fossilbrook Creek, a tributary of the Lynd, which would be north of the starting point of the Jardines.

On leaving this creek they passed over much rugged and broken country, the scene of Leichhardt's first trip, and a spot which presented many indications of being auriferous. Here they devoted some days unsuccessfully to prospecting, and on resuming their northern journey came to a large river, which was named the Tate. Four days afterwards another one was struck, which received the name of the Walsh.

From the Walsh the party crossed to the upper part of the Mitchell River, and thence to a creek marked on Kennedy's map as "creek ninety yards wide," which was called the Palmer, and here Warner, the surveyor, found prospects of gold. Some further examination of the river resulted in likely-looking results being obtained, and the find is now a matter of history, verified by the discovery of one of the richest goldfields in Queensland on the waters of this river.

Above the Palmer, Hann came across a memorial of the trip of the Jardines in the tracks of some (or descendants) of the cattle, dropped by them, but he was unable to find them. This was on a creek which, he supposed, to be the one named by them the Kendall.

These animals had, no doubt, led a rather harassed life from the natives since they had last been seen by the whites.

On the 1st September, Hann reached his northern limit, the 14th parallel of latitude, and the next day commenced the ascent of the dividing range between eastern and western waters. A few days afterwards he sighted the sea, at Princess Charlotte's Bay.

From this point the party turned south, and soon came to a large river, which was named the Normanby, and here a slight skirmish occurred with the natives, with whom they had hitherto been on friendly terms. Whilst the men were collecting the horses in the morning, and not suspecting treachery, a body of blacks attempted to cut them off, each native being well armed with a bundle of spears. A few shots, however, at long distance were sufficient to disperse them, so that, fortunately, the affair ended without bloodshed.

On the 21st September, Hann came to the Endeavour, a river well-known in the history of Australia. Whilst entangled in the scrub on the upper reaches of this stream he had the misfortune to lose one of his best horses by poison, two others having also eaten of the weed.

At this point the party had terrible work to encounter; the old obstacles that had so retarded Kennedy were met with—scrub impenetrable, and steep ravines. Tracks had to be cut through the vines, and the horses led on foot down perilous descents. This went on for days, and an attempt to reach the sea coast and continue their intended route south, ended in involving them in a perfect sea of scrub, and the final conclusion that advance for white men and horses was impossible. Hann had reluctantly to make up his mind to return to the west, and abandon the fresh ground to the south of him.

After many entanglements in the ranges, and the usual confusion arising from the tortuous courses of the rivers, the watershed was at last crossed, and on the 28th October they camped once more on the Palmer River. From here they returned over the country formerly traversed on the outward course, and exploring came to an end.

The work had been very hard, especially during the time the party had been impeded in the scrubs of the east coast, which fully bore out the reports of the survivors of Kennedy's expedition as to the terribly toilsome nature of the labour to be undergone in cutting a track through them. Hann was lucky in not having his party attacked by sickness during his detention in such a dangerous locality; they all returned in safety.

The gold discoveries on the Palmer, and the rush there which occurred soon after this expedition, led to a vast deal of exploration being done under the name of prospecting. Small parties were out in all directions on the rivers named and crossed by Hann and the heads of those named by Leichhardt, the Lynd and the Gilbert, were ransacked and searched in every direction.

In 1875, the Queensland Government decided to send out an expedition to decide upon the amount of pastoral country existing to the westward of the Diamantina River, and see if it extended to the boundary of the colony. It was placed under the command of W. O. Hodgkinson, who had already seen considerable experience as an explorer, having been one of the members of the Burke and Wills party, and also a member of M'Kinlay's expedition when he traversed the continent. The second in charge was a mining surveyor and mineralogist, Mr. E. A. Kayzer.

Although the expedition was organised as early as September, it was not thought politic to start so soon before the impending wet season, so the party were directed to muster at the Etheridge (goldfield), and occupy the time between then and the end of the year, in examining and reporting on the country between there and Cloncurry gold-field, on the Cloncurry River, which was to be the final point of departure.

After some minor excursions in the neighbourhood of the Cloncurry, Hodgkinson and party left that place in May, 1876, and proceeded across the dividing watershed to the Diamantina River, and followed that river down to below the boundary of the colony of Queensland and South Australia, where it received the name of the Everett, from Lewis.

This much of the progress of the North West Expedition, as it was called, included little country not already known, and, moreover, at this time the district was being settled on in all parts by the pioneer squatters, the tracks of whose cattle were now up and down the whole length of the river.

From the lower Diamantina, Hodgkinson made west towards the boundary of the colony, and beyond Eyre's Creek found a fine watercourse running through good pastoral country, which he branded with the name of the Mulligan River. Following this river up, and finding it alternately well and poorly watered, the party crossed from the head of it on to the Herbert, unwitting that they had done so, and followed that river on until they overtook Buchanan, Landsborough's old companion, who, with a mob of cattle, was re-stocking the Herbert.

As this country had been at one time stocked, and stations formed and abandoned, exploration may be considered to have ceased. The surveys of Messrs. Scarr and Jopp soon explained the mistake fallen into by Hodgkinson as to the identity of Landsborough's Herbert and his own Mulligan. It will be remembered that in the central districts, the watersheds are so low and the size of the rivers so uncertain, that to find a watercourse dwindle away into nothing in one mile, and expand into a river the next is not at all surprising, so that to leave the head of a river and come on to another running in the same direction, it would appear quite feasible that it was the same river re-formed.

This was the last exploring expedition sent out by the Queensland Government; their colony being now nearly entirely known, and in fact the earlier squatters of the Herbert, before its abandonment in 1874, were settled some distance across into South Australian territory.

Unfortunately, the commercial depression of 1871 and 1872 led to the stations on the Herbert being thrown up, and the country, good as it was, lapsed into its original state of loneliness, and remained for many years quite unoccupied.

Although Queensland herself had little or no territory within her own borders left to explore, the energy and enterprise of her pioneers led to many private explorations being organized across the border into the colony of South Australia, or rather into the northern territory of that colony. Amongst those undertaken in the year 1878 may be instanced one which resulted in the loss of the entire party.

Induced by the favourable terms offered by the South Australian Government to pastoral lessees in the Northern Territory, two brothers named Prout started out with one man, looking for country across the Queensland border. They never returned, and it was not until they had been given up for months that some of their horses, and finally the bones of one of the brothers, were discovered by Mr. W. J. H. Carr Boyd.

It was evident, from the fragments of a diary recovered, that they had extended their researches far into South Australian territory, and met their death by thirst on their homeward way, probably from some of the waters they depended upon for their return having failed them.

In the same year Buchanan made an excursion to the overland line from the border of Queensland. Crossing from the Ranken—one of the main heads of the Georgina River, and so called after one of the pioneers of that district, J. C. L. Ranken—Buchanan on a westerly course, came to the head of a creek, running through fine open downs; following it down for some days he eventually lost its channel in flooded country, and striking across a belt of dry country arrived at Tennant's Creek station on the overland line. This creek, which received the name of Buchanan's Creek, was a most important discovery, affording in future a highway and stock route to the great pastoral district lying between the Queensland border and the overland line.

The next to attack this unknown strip was Frank Scarr, a Queensland surveyor. He tried to cross the line, to the south of Buchanan's track, but was prevented by the waterless belt of country existing there. During one of his excursions he found the horses of the ill-fated Prout Brothers, already alluded to.

Finding he could not reach the country he desired to, from the Queensland border, Scarr made north, and by means of Buchanan's Creek arrived at Tennant's Creek station; but owing to the dry season, did not extend his researches further.

In the same year, 1878, a project for an overland railway line, between Brisbane and Port Darwin, was inaugurated in the former city. The principle of building the line by means of land grants being one of the chief features of the scheme. Mr. Gresley Lukin, the then proprietor of the leading Brisbane newspaper, organised and equipped a party to explore a line of country, the object being to find out the nature and value of the land in the neighbourhood of the proposed line, and the geographical features of the unexplored portion.

The party left Blackall, then the furthest township to the westward in Queensland, the leader being Mr. E. Favenc, accompanied by Messrs. S. G. Briggs (surveyor), G. R. Hedley, and a black boy.

From Blackall the party struck across the settled pastoral districts until they arrived at Cork station, on the Diamantina. From there they kept a north-westerly route through the then unexplored country lying between the Burke and Herbert Rivers. From the Herbert the Ranken was followed up for some distance, and the route was then to Buchanan's Creek, and down that creek to the last permanent water. From here the party struck north, and some permanent waters were discovered, amongst them being the Corella Lagoon, the finest lagoon in that district. Two lakes of large extent were also seen and named, but, although at the time of the explorer's visit they were extensive sheets of water, seven or eight miles in circumference, they were so shallow for a mile from their shores, that at that distance, they were only knee deep.

A singular feature of the lakes of this depressed region, was the fringe of dead trees that surrounded them. From the age of the trees, and even borders of all the lake beds seen, both dry and full, it was evident that this must have been the result of an excessive flood, which had inundated this district during some past year.

From the Corella Lagoon, where some two or three hundred natives were assembled to celebrate the peculiar tribal rites common to that religion, and which have never been witnessed by whites, the expedition proceeded north, and discovered a large creek running from east to west, which received the name of Cresswell Creek. This creek, which ran through fine, open downs, was followed until its course was lost in the flooded country, which is the end of most inland creeks.

The last permanent water on it was named the Adder Waterholes, on account of the number of death-adders killed there. The first excursion from there towards the telegraph line, some ninety miles away, resulted, in such days of heat, in conjunction with cracked and fissured plains, that three horses died before returning to camp. The country was soft, and full of holes and hollows, and it being the height of summer, the horses could not travel long stages without water; so there was nothing to do but await at the Adder Waterholes the falling of a kindly thunderstorm, to assist them to bridge the gap that lay between them and the telegraph line.

During their detention at this camp many excursions were made, and the country traversed found to be mostly richly grassed downs; and where flooded country was crossed numbers of the dry beds of former lakes, surrounded by the customary belt of dead forest were noticed.

The long delay exhausted the supply of rations, but by means of game, horse-flesh, and the usual bush vegetable, "bluebush and pig-weed," the party fared sufficiently well.

"We made up a list of game that had already been shot for ration purposes, nearly all by Hedley, who was our chief reliance as a hunter, and the following is the account up to 11th December:—50 parrots (corellas and galars), 350 ducks (black ducks, teal, whistling ducks, wood ducks and widgeons), 150 pigeons (principally flock), 11 geese, 4 turkeys, 8 spoonbills, 7 water hens, 2 shags, 1 emu, 1 native companion, making a total of 584 birds, and in addition we had consumed 100 fish. All of them were shot for actual food, nothing had been wantonly destroyed. We considerably added to this menu afterwards, including such choice delicacies as eagle hawk and frogs. Crows and hawks we carefully reserved to the last when all else should fail. The absence of kangaroos and other marsupials is a marked feature in this list, there being none on these wide-stretching downs."

In January, 1879, the thunderstorms set in, and enabled the explorers to reach the line safely at Powell Creek Station. From here they travelled over known country to Port Darwin.

This expedition had the effect of opening up a good deal of pastoral country, which is now nearly all stocked.

As might have been expected, the party were most hospitably received at Palmerston, where the inhabitants, in addition to its chief feature of a railway survey, saw in this expedition one of the first steps to open up to the world the vast territory they possessed; for as yet the pastoral industry had been confined to one or two spirited attempts in the immediate neighbourhood of the goldfields, the great tableland at the back whereon there was so much valuable sheep country being, untouched.

Western Australia now sent out another of the exploring parties, which form such a feature of her history. In 1879, Alexander Forrest led an expedition from De Grey River to the telegraph line. The party left Anderson's Station on the De Grey River, on the 25th February, and reached Beagle Bay on the 10th April, the country passed over being like most of the land in the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, poor and indifferent.

From Beagle Bay they followed the coast round to the Fitzroy River, which empties into King's Sound, and journeyed up that river until they reached a range which gave the explorers some trouble; in fact, they spent six weeks of constant toil and trouble endeavouring to penetrate it.

On the 2nd June, Forrest bade good-bye to the Fitzroy, which he calls "the longest and largest river in Western Australia, flowing through magnificent flats;" and which he says they had then followed for 240 miles. Leaving the river the party struck north, looking for a pass through the precipitous bluffs of King Leopold Range, as it was named. The sea was, however, reached before this range was surmounted, and following down the angle now being formed, between the sea and the range, they at last found themselves enclosed in a perfect prison; romantic and pretty according to Forrest's description, but rather militating against their success. Here too the blacks approached them in threatening numbers, but after the display of a little policy, peace was preserved. The rugged nature of the country began to tell most severely on the horses, "how on earth," says Forrest, "they are going to take us on I really cannot think." On the 22nd June, they attacked a range, and finally after a steep climb, which witnessed the death of one of the horses, they reached the height of 800 feet, and camped; here Forrest determined to rest the horses and go ahead on foot, and explore the country. The result was that they came upon endless rugged zigzags, which so involved them that they gave it up in despair and returned to camp.

Forrest had most reluctantly to abandon any idea of crossing this range and return to the Fitzroy, where they arrived on the 8th of July. Following up a tributary of this river, the Margaret, they gradually managed to work round the southern end of the range, which still frowned defiance at them, and at last reached the summit of the tableland, and saw before them good grassy hills and plains. Of this country Forrest speaks most enthusiastically, and doubtless after their late terrible struggle with the range it must have appeared a perfect picture of enchantment to them.

On the 24th, they reached a fine river, running strong, and named by Forrest the Ord, and for a time he followed its course. Leaving, he continued his way to the overland telegraph line, which they were destined not to reach without a struggle. More rivers were crossed, and the country undulated between rough ridges and well-grassed flats, and at last, on the 18th August, the Victoria River of Captain Stokes was reached.

Now commenced their first privation for want of water. Their rations were almost expended, and one of the party seriously ill. Taking with him one man (Hicks), Forrest started for the line to obtain succour, leaving his party in camp to await his return.

The first stage was for twenty-nine miles, and then they fortunately found a small pool; on the next day a stage of thirty-two miles, through the level, grassy country, timbered with box and intersected by dry swamps, which is so familiar a feature in the Northern Territory, but at the end they had to camp without water. They now had no alternative but to push on to the line at all risks, as it was the nearest point where they could obtain supplies, and it was useless to think of going back without them. Unhappily, Forrest was unprovided with a map of the line, which led to his having to strike at random; and, as it happened in the end, resulted in his turning north instead of south, which brought about needless pain and suffering. Forrest's account of their terrible trip runs as follows:—

"August 31. An hour before daylight we started, steering east for fourteen miles before we rested. The country was similar to that passed over yesterday. During the mid-day halt we walked about searching for water in the dry swamps, but were unsuccessful. Here we killed a large snake, and made off it a miserable meal, thinking that it would relieve our thirst; it made us, however, a good deal worse than we were before. We had only two quarts of water with us, and we both decided not to touch this until reduced to the last extremity, as we knew not how far we might have to go before coming to water. At one o'clock we were in the saddle again, and continued on the same course until sundown, when we gave our horses a short rest. They were very tired, and did not seem able to keep up, in the state they were, for much longer. As for ourselves, we were so thirsty we could scarcely speak. We shot a hawk, and cut his throat in order to drink the blood, but it did us no good. What would we have given for water? No one can have an idea what thirst is unless he has experienced it under tropical heat. . . . After eating our hawk we saddled up, and steered east-north-east for two miles, when we reached a creek trending northwest. We thought there might be water in it lower down, so we followed it for a mile or two, when the horse I was riding knocked up, and by lying down compelled us to halt."

Forrest now decided to leave the creek, and walk all night, leading their worn out horses. Fortunately for them they had not far to go; in two miles Hicks called out that the line was in sight, and forgetting their thirst they cheered lustily. Within a short distance of where they struck the line, they came to one of the tanks stationed at intervals for the use of the repairing parties, and so their thirst was relieved; but owing to taking the wrong direction, they travelled away from the nearest station, Daly Waters, and it was four days before they overtook a repairing party, under Mr. Wood; who provided them with food and fresh horses to take back succour to their comrades.

Thus ended a most successful trip, as the country found by Forrest is amongst some of the most valuable in the northern part of Western Australia, and has since been stocked with both sheep and cattle, and large mineral wealth has been developed.

The whole of the northern part of the continent of Australia seemed for a time to suffer from a blight. The tracks of the explorers appeared to be checked by some fatal influence.

The Victoria that was thought to be such a grand discovery turned out but an ordinary coast stream, and on its further investigation to lead to nothing but disappointment. This deduction, however, under fuller knowledge is gradually departing, and there is little doubt that the time is not far away when it will attain its greatest development as a pastoral and mineral country.

There is no doubt that the east and west tracks of tile Queensland explorers, and of Alexander Forrest did more to throw open the country than did the north and south one of Stuart, although that was the most important ever made in the later days of Australia's history. Stuart showed the feasibility of crossing the continent in the centre, but even after the telegraph line was formed on his track, very little was known of the country on either side. The northern territory had, however, been the scene of many private expeditions beside those mentioned here. Some years before Alexander Forrest crossed over, two residents of the Northern Territory, Phillip Saunders and Adam Johns, accompanied by a third man, started from Roebourne in Western Australia, and crossed to the telegraph line successfully. They were prospecting for gold most of the way, but the line they took was unlucky, as although they passed through the now well-known Kimberly country, they failed to obtain anything like satisfactory prospects. They passed through much good pastoral country, but at that time stock country was of no value at such a remote distance from settlement.

There now remains but a few more explorations, and those mostly in the northern part of Australia. Whatever the yet large unknown tract of country in the interior will show in the future it is impossible now to do more than conjecture.

In 1884, Mr. Stockdale, who had had considerable experience in the other colonies, and was an old bushman, started on an expedition from Cambridge Gulf to explore the country in that neighbourhood, with a view to settlement. He proceeded there by the WHAMPOA, and on the 13th September he landed at the gulf, with his party of seven men and the necessary horses, this being, probably, the first landing that had taken place there since the days of Captain Stokes. Leaving the gulf, and crossing the range through a natural gap, which was named after the leader, they found themselves in well-grassed country, with a fine stream of water running through it. Their next halting-place was at a creek they called the Birdie, and they now found numerous camps of the natives, though as yet they did not come into contact with them. The next creek was named the Patrick, which was followed down for some distance through very good country. Here commenced the beginning of the trouble, which afterwards culminated in a tragedy, one of the men (Ashton) losing himself, and delaying the party by having to be sought for. They were now on a river which was called the Forrest, after the explorer, and here they rested for the sake of their horses. On leaving it they got into rather stony country until they arrived at the head of a creek called the Margaret, where they again rested.

From there they had to face great difficulties in the shape of mountainous country, the gullies and ravines reminding one of those described by Grey. On October the 14th, they came to a fine river, which they named the Lorimer, on which there was a waterfall one hundred feet high. The large creek next met with was called the Buchanan.

On the 21st of October a depot was formed, and the leader, with three men, went south, for the purpose of making a thorough inspection of the country, leaving the other men to await his return, having first taken the precaution to bury the main portion of their stock of provisions in case of accidents.

On November 2nd they narrowly escaped an encounter with the natives. By means of a little tact bloodshed was avoided. While amongst the cliffs they came upon some of the native drawings and paintings, which have always created so much interest.

On returning to the depot, after having passed through and discovered a fine amount of pastoral country, the leader found, much to his disgust, that the horses he had left to spell there had been used for kangaroo hunting, and were not in a fit condition to do much more work. This compelled him to shorten his trip and start towards the telegraph line.

On getting his party together again, which was a work of some difficulty, a start was effected in the direction of the Ord River, and on the road home the unfortunate occurrence happened that resulted in the death of two of the men, entirely the consequence of their own headstrong conduct. The account had better be given in the words of the leader. Speaking of one of the two men, he says:—

"He eats very heartily, and so does Ashton, and both have strong, lusty voices, but seem to have lost all heart, and the rest of the party are getting discouraged at the many and serious delays they are causing us. I have used every means to induce them to rally and pluck up heart, but it seems all to be totally lost upon them. It is a very trying situation for me, and I trust God will guide me, and help me to do what is right and just to all I have in my charge. Mulcahy acknowledged riding horses in depot out kangarooing, also to taking apples, biscuits, jam, flour and peas, and to be unworthy of forgiveness or to remain one of the party. We all forgave him the wrong he had done us freely and truly.

"December 17 (Wednesday). Fine morning after very cool night. Thermometer at daylight, 60 deg. Mulcahy and Ashton both looking better, but both came to me, and said if I would allow them they would take three weeks' rations and camp for a spell on the river, and perhaps I would send help after them. I tried all in my power to induce them to struggle on a little further, if only as far as the Wilson River, but could not alter their determination. Called the rest of the party together, and as they one and all thought it was best under the circumstances, I had to consent, so, with Mr. Ricketson's assistance, measured out to them twenty pannikins of flour, ten of white sugar, ten of peas, fifteen of dried apples, four pounds of tea, and a tin of preserved meat. Left them two double-barrel guns, etc., with about one hundred and fifty cartridges, fish-hooks, and lines, and camped on the Laurence River. We then packed up the remainder, and with sad hearts bade them good-bye, and firmly advised them to get either fish or game, as game is fairly plentiful around them. Ashton and Mulcahy both expressed a desire to write a few lines in my diary, and, in the presence of all hands, I allowed them. Ashton also forwarded by me a note to his aunt in England, but Mulcahy, although I earnestly desired him to, would not write to either wife or parents, all he would say being, 'They will see you at no loss, old man.'

"It is a dreadful state of affairs, the two biggest and strongest of our party collapsing like this, and has had a very depressing effect on me, though I must not show it, for fear of causing a despondent feeling in the others. I do hope we shall now have fair travelling, and reach Panton and Osman's station, and send back horses and relief to those left behind. They have had any amount of provisions, meat excepted sometimes five meals a day, and never less than three."

The two men were never found, although every endeavour was made to do so.

Stockdale, not finding Panton and Osman's station, had to leave some of his men in camp, and, after a hard struggle, reached the telegraph line with one companion, and sent back relief to the others, which duly reached them.



CHAPTER XIV.



The exploration of the Continent by land almost completed—Minor expeditions—The Macarthur and other rivers running into Carpentaria traced—Good country discovered and opened up—Sir Edward Pellew Group revisited—Lindsay sent out by the S.A. Government to explore Arnheim's Land—Rough country and great loss of horses—O'Donnell makes an expedition to the Kimberley district—Sturt and Mitchell's different experiences with the blacks—Difference in the East and West Coasts—Use of camels—Opinions about them—The future of the water supply— Adaptability of the country for irrigation—The great springs of the Continent—Some peculiarities of them—Hot springs and mound springs.

The whole of the continent being now known, and the mystery of the interior solved, there remained little more for the explorers of later years to do, but follow up the course of some tributary, stream or river, the origin of which, though, perhaps, guessed at, had never been finally settled, nor had the country drained by them been mapped or defined.

These explorations, useful though they have been in opening up fresh tracts of country for the pastoralist, have not the same amount of interest attaching to them possessed by the earlier travels. Much of the exploration of the past few years naturally centres round the northern portion of Australia; there, as the pioneer pushed out, the unknown parts had to yield up their secret, and the tracks of Macdowall Stuart were gradually elaborated. The South Australian Government had made many attempts to reach the Queensland border from their overland line, but without success. In 1778, they had dispatched two surveyors—Messrs. Barclay and Weinnecke—to proceed in that direction, starting from the neighbourhood of Alice Springs. Barclay had much dry country to contend with, and managed to reach close to Scarr's furthest point when he was making west in the same year, but failed to connect with the settlements of Queensland. He made no important discoveries, being amongst the country common to the central districts of Australia—alternate desert, and pastoral land, with few and insignificant watercourses. It being a matter of moment to settle the position of the border line between the two colonies, surveyor Weinnecke was again dispatched in 1880 to make another attempt. By following Scarr's route, via Buchanan's Creek, he succeeded in reaching the border. He travelled entirely over the country explored by Queensland parties. In 1883 Favenc traced the heads of the rivers running into the Gulf of Carpentaria, near the Queensland border, and in the following year undertook a more lengthened expedition from the tableland across the coast range to the mouth of the Macarthur River. The party left the Queensland border and crossed to the overland telegraph line, traversing mostly open downs country the whole of the way.

From the northern end of Newcastle Waters a fresh departure was as made, and the watercourse that supplies these lagoons followed up for some fifty miles. From there an easterly course was kept, and after some privation from want of water, reached a creek, which was christened Relief Creek, and which proved to be one of the head waters of the Macarthur. A large extent of valuable pastoral country was found in the basin drained by this river, and many fine permanent springs discovered. The party followed the river down to salt water, and returned by another route to Daly Waters telegraph station.

The South Australian Government soon after sent a survey steamer to the group called Sir Edward Pellew's Islands, which had not been visited since the days of Flinders. The mouth of the Macarthur was found and sounded, and shortly afterwards a township was formed at the head of navigation. The explorations conducted on this river led to a good road being formed from the interior tableland to the coast and the settlement of much new country.

The whole of the territory east of the overland line was now rapidly becoming settled, and the explorations made by Mr. Macphee east of Daly Waters may be said to have concluded the list of expeditions between the overland line and the Queensland border.

In 1883 the South Australian Government determined to complete the exploration of Arnheim's Land, and Mr. David Lindsay was dispatched on the mission. He left Palmerston on the 4th June, and proceeded, by way of the Katherine, to the country north of the Roper River. From there they proceeded to Blue Mud Bay, and, on the way, had a narrow escape from being massacred by the natives, who speared four horses, and made an attempt to surprise the camp. Lindsay got entangled in the broken tableland that caused such trouble to Leichhardt, and, with one misfortune and another, lost a great number of his horses-in fact, at one time, he anticipated having to abandon them all, and make his way into the telegraph station on foot. On the whole, the country passed over was favourable for settlement; in fact, the flats on some portions of his course were first-class sugar country.

Another journey was undertaken about this time by Messrs. O'Donnell and Carr Boyd into Western Australia, starting from the same place as Lindsay, namely, the Katherine telegraph station. The expedition succeeded in finding a large amount of pastoral country, but no new geographical discoveries of any importance were made.

Meantime, the discovery of gold in the Kimberley district of Western Australia led to that province being searched by small prospecting parties, and every creek and watercourse becoming known. This has left but little of the coastal lands still unexplored in Australia, and there is scant chance of anything noticeable being found in the interior beyond what we can fairly conjecture. The utmost an explorer can now hope to find there is some permanent lagoon or spring, affording a stand-by for the pastoralist. No such streams as the Murray or Darling will ever again gladden the eyes of the traveller in the interior,

The greater part of the territory still left to explore is situated in one colony—that of Western Australia, and, although the interior has been successively crossed by so many different men, there yet remains a large area which may be called unknown. Of what the end will be it is hard to say. Shall we find it bear out the gloomy predictions of Warburton and Giles? or the more hopeful one of Forest? One thing we do know—that, year after year, use is being found for the most repellent country. When we look back at the verdict pronounced against the interior of Australia by the early explorers, and how it has been falsified by time there is ground for hoping that even the most despised portions of our continent will yet be found available for something.

That, in spite of the monotony of the Great Plain, it is strange to note the fascination it has had for many of the most renowned explorers. Sturt, after being reduced to semi-blindness, found himself compelled to struggle with the desert once more. Eyre, left alone in the wilderness, after his awful experience at the head of the Great Bight, still longed to venture again, and accompanied his friend Sturt as far as ever his duties permitted him. Leichhardt died in harness somewhere in Australia, and Kennedy lost his life in his desire to emulate his former chief, Mitchell. Even the very sterility of the great solitude seems to have been, in its way, a lure to drag men back to encounter it once more.

Knowing now as much as we do of the interior, we can hardly help being amused at the theories propounded in the old days by some of the earlier travellers. Oxley was, we know, wedded to the idea of an inland sea. Sturt, too, when he looked on the stony desert, saw in it but the dry channel of some old ocean current; and Eyre was convinced that the interior was nothing but a parched and and desert. One after another, these fallacies were exploded, and now we find that human and animal life can as easily be adapted to the central plain as elsewhere.

But the want of knowledge displayed by the natives of anything beyond their immediate surroundings, was one great difficulty in the way of the explorers. The blackfellow of Australia seemed to partake largely of the country he lived in. His whole life was one fight for existence, and not even the sudden advent of a strange race could do more than stir him to a languid curiosity. Bounded, as he always had been, by his surroundings, and never venturing beyond tribal limits, what information he was able to impart was, as a rule, meagre and misleading, and without any good result in the way of assistance to the explorer. True, we find exceptions to this amongst them; two instances may be quoted as exemplifying two different phases of the native character. One is a picture from Sturt's journal, the other from Mitchell.

Sturt and his companions were returning to the depot from one of their northern efforts. Suddenly they came across a party of worn and thirsty natives. What little water the whites had with them they gave them, but it was only a mouthful a-piece, and the natives indicating by signs that they were bound for some distant waterhole, disappeared at a smart trot across the sandhills. They apparently expressed no surprise at the sudden meeting in the desert, although they could not have had the slightest conception of white men before. They seem to have accepted their presence and the friendly drink of water as only a part of their strange existence.

Far different was the conduct of the Darling River blacks, who so resented Mitchell's appearance, that they travelled over some hundreds of miles to attack him on his second visit. The ingenuity with which they planned an attack on the party was a rather remarkable thing in the annals of exploration. Thinking that the clothing of the whites rendered them secure against spears, two men were told off for each member of the party, one to hold the victim whilst the other clubbed him. Fortunately the scheme was fathomed by one of the lubras with the party; but it showed very deep-seated animosity and dislike.

The intercourse, then, that the travellers could expect from the natives was either passive ignorance or violent hostility. On the few occasions when their services were made use of it amounted only to finding some scanty well. Again, the nature of the country was so persistently opposed to all the pre conceived notions that the first arrivals brought to the country. It would seem but rational to suppose that a river or creek would ultimately lead to somewhere, a larger channel, or the sea; but the rivers of the plain lived and died without any defined end, and to follow their courses only resulted in disappointment. Add to all this a dry and hot climate, and we cannot wonder at the slow progress made in the advance of the first half of the century.

There is little doubt that had fortune turned the prows of the Dutch vessels on to the north-east coast, instead of the rough and rugged shores of the west, Australia would have seen settlement long before the date of Phillip's landing. But the Dutch found no inducements whatever on the west; their ships were wrecked, their crews attacked by the natives, and they had great difficulty in finding fresh water; so that it was little wonder that even their energy and adventurous spirit recognised but nothing in TERRA AUSTRALIS to repay them for the trouble of taking possession. The French, too, saw little in the unclaimed portion of the country they visited to do more than threaten an occupation, which never took place, and it is doubtful if the uninviting shores of Botany Bay would have held out any hope to a body of free immigrants.

In all these halts on the way to colonization, Australia seems to have borne but the aspect of her interior plains: formidable and repellent to the intruder. Starting from the south, the first travellers had to face all the loneliness and sterility of Lake Torrens and the other salt lakes, and it was many years before it was found out that beyond existed good habitable country. Eyre and Sturt both failed in their efforts to penetrate north, and it was astonishing how easily it was afterwards accomplished by two such comparatively inexperienced men as Burke and Wills. From the west, nature was all against the explorer, and it was only after the discovery of the Ashburton that Forest managed to reach the overland line, that river having helped him well into the centre of the colony. From the north, the penetration of the Great Plain was only attempted once by A. C. Gregory, and then he was repulsed. From the eastern shore, the steady progress, although not destined to finally succeed, gradually brought nearly half the continent under the sway of settlement, and the advance was mainly checked by the disappointment resulting from Kennedy's examination of the Barcoo, and its final course into a dreary desert. Of the many magnificent preparations made, it has not always been the lot of the best equipped parties to attain the greatest success, few men started with less outfit than did Macdowall Stuart, when he reached to and beyond central Mount Stuart; no men ever left better provided than did Burke and Wills, and their unfortunate death by starvation is too well known. The equipment of the explorer, especially as regards the use of camels, has been a matter of much dispute. M'Kinlay speaks highly in praise of them, Warburton and Giles both ascribe their safety to having them with them. But although they have been the means of achieving long stages over dry country, they are treacherous and dangerous animals to deal with. And should they make their escape, it would be impossible to recover them with only horses at command. Then, too, the possession of camels leads to hasty and hurried examination of country, and the mere fact of being in command of such means of locomotion entices a man to push on regardless of caution. M'Kinlay reports that the camels seem to thrive well on everything, but Warburton appeared to have great difficulty in obtaining feed for them in the sandhill country. Be this as it may, they have done good service in Australia, but it is not evident that they are always of equal good.

But the time will, without doubt, soon come when camels will no longer be required, and the scenes of the forced and painful marches of some of our explorers be watered by the springs now imprisoned hundreds of feet below the surface. Since these pages were commenced, one of the strongest outflows in the world has been struck near the foot of the range in Queensland, some hundreds of miles back from the central coast, in a place which witnessed the last expedition of Major Mitchell. This discovery, added to the many that have preceded it, leads to much thought as to the probability of future discoveries, and the wonderful springs that are already known to exist.

"Water! water! everywhere, and not a drop to drink." Although not absolutely true, in fact, or rather on the surface, this quotation might be uttered with a strong measure of truth by many a poor wretch perishing from thirst on a drought-blasted inland plain, whilst underneath him, at a greater or less distance, run sunless seas.

Of the magnitude of our great subterranean reservoir who shall tell? What craft will ever float on its dark surface, under domes of pendant stalactites, rippling for the first time the ice-cold waters, and disturbing the eyeless fish in their shadowy haunts? Only when here and there we tap it, and the mighty pressure sends up a thin column of water hundreds of feet in answer. Or when we notice the strong, constant springs that at intervals break through the surface crust to gladden us; or when the deeper internal fires burst forth, and hurl up its waters in scathing steam and boiling mud, can we guess of the great hidden sea beneath.

We have a problem given into our hands to solve; it is our heritage, and we have only just commenced to try and find the answer. In our fair continent there are thousands upon thousands of square miles of fertile country that Nature herself has planned and mapped out into wide fields, with gentle declivities and slopes, fit for the reception of the modest channel that shall convey the living water over the great pasture lands; and now we want the magician to come, and, with the wand of human skill, bring the interior waters to the surface, and make the desert blossom.

Of the great supply that lies awaiting us deep down in the earth's caverns we have incontestible proofs, and of the force latent in it to lift it to the surface, to be our willing slave and bondsman, we, too, have some dawning notion. Will years of study and observation give us the power to wield the wand at will? We cannot but believe it. Our vast and fertile downs were never destined to be idle and unproductive for months and months, dependent only on the niggard clouds o'erhead.

To make Australia the richest and most self-supporting country that sun ever shone upon, wherein every man could follow out the old saying of sitting under his own vine and fig tree, what is wanted? The answer to this problem is to bring to our rich alluvial surface the waters under the earth.

On the great inland plateau that occupies two-thirds of the entire continent, we find the soil teeming with elements of surpassing fertility. Even the grudging rainfall that comes so seldom has developed a wealth of indigenous herbage, grasses, and fodder plants unequalled in any other part of the globe. The earth seems to have put forth every inherent vitalising power it possesses to render its creatures independent of cruel seasons.

What traveller but has noticed the magical effect of rain upon the deep friable soil, formed by the denuded limestone rock. Almost instantaneously fresh life springs up. Within but a short time the dry and withered stalks of grass assume a deep rich green, the soft broad leaves and joints are replete with moisture. The bare ground is quickly coated with trailing vines and creepers, bearing succulent seed pods, grateful and moist. The rough-coated, staggering beast that could scarce drag its feeble legs out of the muddy waterhole, becomes in a few weeks strong and vigorous. What would not such a land be with a constant fertilizing stream of water through, and about it?

In approaching the subject of our subterranean water supply, the peculiar physical formation of Australia must be borne in mind. The great flat tableland that stretches in almost unvarying monotony from shore to shore, fringed round with its strip of coastal land, resembles—to use a homely simile—nothing so much as a narrow brimmed, flat crowned hat. The moisture-laden clouds that visit us, break on the sides of this hat, giving the brim, or coast, the full benefit of their precipitation; drifting over the plateau, or crown, with rapidly decreasing bulk. Thus, the great plain, in size the greatest, and in soil the richest part of us, is always labouring under the curse of irregular and inefficient rainfall; and whatever good we may do in the way of water storage and we may do so much-we have always the threat of many years of drought hanging over, during which our treasury of water will be drained, and not replenished.

Welling from the sides of the tableland we find large permanent springs, in many cases the sources of fine strong-flowing rivers, the component parts of whose waters now first see the light again after countless ages. Storms and floods may come and go unheeded, their steady flow is-maintained unchecked by summer or winter weather; for their birth is deep down in the earth, where meteorological disturbances are unknown. Like an old and battered tank, through whose cracked and leaky sides the water it contains is escaping, so these springs find vent through fissures in the mighty tableland, to flow down to the sea.

Up in the northern provinces where, perhaps, if anything, the contrast of these flowing streams beneath the parched surroundings is more striking than in the more temperate southern clime, there are some mighty leaks in the sides of the tableland. The Gregory River, in the Burke district of Queensland has one unvarying flow; a strong running stream, never lessened by the longest drought, but gliding beneath cool masses of tropical foliage and gurgling over rocky bars when all around is dry. What a great heritage here runs to waste unheeded.

In the northern territory, from out another vent, springs the Flora River, whose waters ripple over limestone bars in miniature cascades, from pool to pool, like pigmy reproductions of the lost terraces of New Zealand. Follow the edge of the great tableland around, and amongst the deep seams and fissures of its abrupt descent coastward, we suddenly come, midst rugged barreness and gloomy grandeur, upon these messengers from the inner earth. Some enjoying the sunlight, but for a brief span, disappearing again for ever as, suddenly as they were up-borne; others finding their way down to the habitable lowlands and to the sea. But, unfortunately, all these springs, some of great volume, find issue on the outer edge of the range; the gradual descent that marks the inner slope is not the scene of these outbursts. Here, and throughout the interior, the waters from below rise in a way that seems to best befit the weird solitude of the great plain.

At times, on a bare, baked mound elevated above the surface, there is a dwarf crater filled with water that never overflows, and when tapped and exhausted, rises once more to its former level. Again, canopied by giant ti-trees amid the shrill shrieking of thousands of noisy parrots, the traveller can pick his way along the treacherous paths that wind amongst the hot springs. Or at the foot of a low range a scanty trickle fills a rocky pool, and thence is lost.

In the bed of some far inland creek, the water rises in the sand in shallow pools, during the dark hours of night, to vanish once more beneath the sun. And in low caverns in the limestone hills, down some deep fissure, can be seen the waters of a stream, whose rise and course no man has ever traced. Again a solitary lagoon is found whereon no lily grows, and wherein no fish swims. Where the belated bushman camping for the night, finds the next morning that the water has sunk many feet, or perhaps has risen, when no rain has fallen far or near for months. All these signs and tokens from the great sea beneath us may serve as guides to the end.

When one comes to know the real value of water in a thirsty land, it almost seems like a crime on the part of Nature, that a spring should rise and flow for a comparatively short distance, to be lost in the sea. When by placing the source some fifteen or twenty miles away the course would run for hundreds of miles through a dry country. Can human ingenuity improve on nature?

In this case nature seems to have laid the ground work of a great comprehensive continental plain; to have put the lever ready for man to start it, and though the scheme is one of such magnitude that it may at first glance seem widely impossible, there is no reason, backed as it would be by natural forces, that it may not be an accomplishment of the future.

To fully understand the great problem of the water supply of Australia, it is necessary to comprehend and carry in mind the wonderfully unique river system of the continent. In an average area of 1,800 miles east and west, by 900 miles north and south, the whole drainage runs from north to south; that is to say, all that finds vent in the ocean. This, of course, is the surface formation carrying off the rainfall, and has no bearing on the outbreak of subterranean springs. But, as showing the upheaval of the land to the northward, it points out that naturally the flow of irrigation on a large scale will be from north to south.

It may be said that from the 18th parallel there is a steady slope southward, broken only by the subordinate natural features of the country, which necessarily form the irregularities of the smaller tributaries. In this great block of more than a million and a quarter of square miles there are then all the defined channels requisite for the carriage of water throughout the heart of the continent, but with the important fact wanting that they are destitute of a constant and steady supply from the doubtful rainfall. The tilt of the northern edge of the plateau puts their sources above the level of the great springs, and causes them to be dependent on these intermittent and often scanty rains. And we know that these rains have failed in producing any comprehendable system of drainage over one third of our continent, at, least, at present with our limited knowledge, the water system appears wasteful and purposeless throughout that region.

If then the underground sea that exists beneath could be, tapped as far north as possible, the water would rise to the surface at a much higher level, than would be possible elsewhere, and much greater use could be made of it, inasmuch as a larger area would lay below it for fertilization. Now, the question of the existence of this water supply at a uniform depth beneath the earth's surface can be proved by noting the existence of the springs that we know of, that have found their way without artificial aid to the light of day. Only those can be brought in evidence that are unmistakeably outside of local influence, and are unaffected by wet weather, or dry.

In the north, on the edge of the tableland, they are most numerous. On the east coast, at the head of the Burdekin River, there are unmistakeable signs of an upward effort of the imprisoned waters to free themselves. One main tributary, a creek called Fletcher's Creek, takes its rise in a labyrinth of basaltic rocks, that for years defied the efforts of the whites to penetrate. This stream rising from its cradle in the dead lava, winds in and out of the encompassing stretches of rocks, until it emerges on the outer country, where it feeds and maintains two large lakes, ere it is lost in the sandy bed of one of the anabranches of the Burdekin. It is one of the strongest and most consistent outbreaks in the north, and its volume and continuance show the strength of the source from which it emerges.

The head of the Burdekin itself is amongst lava beds, wherein there are many similar springs; most of these take the form of permanent lagoons. To the westward we find ourselves on a more arid surface, the formation of the ranges not being so favourable to the development of springs; and where they do occur, they are evidently the product of rainfall. On the watershed we are on a corner, as it were, of the inland plain, and our ascent has put us above the spring level. Lower down, if we follow the well-known Flinders River, we find in the hot springs at Mount Brown another upshoot from below that has evidently come from the neighbourhood of the internal fires themselves. From this point right away west, skirting the edge of the tableland, great rushes of water are comparatively common. Some find their way between basaltic columns, and after feeding the flow of some large river for many miles, die suddenly, leaving the lower part of the watercourse a barren, sandy channel. The heads of the Leichhardt and Gregory Rivers are particularly prolific in springs; the latter river, as I have already noticed, being one of the steadiest flowing rivers in Australia. Westward still, the heads of all the rivers, no matter what their lower course is like, abound in springs at the break of the descent from the tableland, and, as nearly as can be computed, all these occur at nearly about an identical altitude.

To travel west, through to the western shore of Australia, only gives us the same phenomena: everywhere the belt of springs is to be found about half-way between the edge of the tableland and the coast level, just where the abrupt descent terminates and a gentler slope is entered on. It would be wearisome to enumerate them all, the fact of their existence is so well-known in these days.

To fairly see what would be the result of bringing a little of the great sea of hidden waters to the surface, let us take an instance of one of the tributaries of that great artery of Australia, the Darling. The head waters of the Warrego rise in latitude 24 deg., and at its very head, within almost a stone's throw, are large springs, that find their way down the range into the lowest river. Thence, through coastal lands, to the eastern sea board. Now had these springs broken out on the higher level of the Warrego watershed, their waters would have benefited hundreds of miles of some of the fairest country in Australia, that now suffers under constant drought.

The preserving and regulating of their waters, after guiding them into the channels prepared by Nature, would be an after-work greatly assisted by the varied formation of the country through which their courses would run.



PART II.



MARITIME DISCOVERIES.



CHAPTER XV



To exhaustively deal with the early maritime discoveries of this continent would require from the historian a vast power of research, and especially of caution, in deciding or allotting to any one country the priority of position as the "first-finders;" and while we know of few studies affording more intellectual pleasure and enjoyment, we doubt if the result would even then set at rest the mystery which still enshrouds those narratives.

Since the commencement of this work, however, the following original paper has been considered worthy of attention, as it presents the most reasonable and logical theory yet put forward for the right to consider the French as the original discoverers, and readers will have pleasure in following out the various deductions as made by one of our fellow-colonists, E. Marin La Meslee, Member of the Societe de Geographie Commerciale de Paris, who has, by great research, compiled, in the following interesting article, the evidence relating to the voyage of the old Norman navigator, Paulmier de Gonneville, in 1503.

Without endorsing what is here put forward, there is much in its favour, and it shows a considerable degree of keen argument and cogent reasoning that, in any case, is a valuable contribution to this department of literature. Moreover, it may be the incentive for further exploration of the locality mentioned at some future time, with the view of solving the secrets of the strange carving and wonderful cave drawings, to which so much interest has been attracted.

* * * * *

Most of the modern histories of Australia contain, with regard to the voyage of De Gonneville, the same stereotyped remarks:—

"A claim has been set forth on behalf of a certain French sailor named De Gonneville, who is stated to have landed on the coast of Australia in 1503, but this claim can easily be dismissed, as there is little doubt that the country he describes is no other than the island of Madagascar."

This opinion, so generally entertained by modern writers is probably based on the authority of Admiral Burney, and the eminent English geographer, Mr. Major, who, in referring to Burney's remarks with regard to this voyage in his paper on "Early Voyages to Terra Australis," printed in 1861, merely endorses this statement without attempting to discuss it. The voyage of Jean Binot Paulmier de Gonneville is authenticated, however, beyond the possibility of a doubt, but the mystery to be cleared up as to what part of the Austral world the old Norman navigator landed upon requires careful handling and very close discussion.

De Gonneville left Honfleur in the month of June of the year 1503, in the good ship L'ESPOIR, and after having rounded the Cape of Good Hope he was assailed by tempestuous weather and driven into calm latitudes. After a tedious spell of calm weather, want of water forced him to make for the first land he could sight. The flight of some birds coming from the south decided him to run a course to the southward, and after a few days' sail he landed on the coast of a large territory, at the mouth of a fine river, which he compares to the river Orne, at Caen. There he remained for six months repairing his vessel, and making exploring excursions in the neighbourhood, holding meanwhile amicable intercourse with the inhabitants. He left this great Austral Land, to which he gave the name of "Southern Indies," as being situated, in his estimation, "not far from the true course to the East Indies," on the 3rd of July of the year 1504, taking with him two of the natives, one of whom was the son of the chief of the people among whom he had resided. On the return voyage no land was seen until the day after the Feast of St. Denis, I.E., the 10th of October of the same year; but on nearing the coast of France the ship was attacked off tile islands of Guernsey and jersey by an English privateer, who robbed the navigators of all they brought from the land they had visited, the most important loss being the journal of the expedition. On his arrival at Honfleur, De Gonneville immediately entered a plaint before the Admiralty Court of Normandy, and wrote a report of his voyage, which was signed by the principal officers of his vessel.

The following is a translation of the title of this document

"Judicial declaration made before the Admiralty Court of Normandy by Sieur de Gonneville, at the request of the King's procurator, respecting the voyage of the good ship L'ESPOIR, of the port of Honfleur, to the 'Southern Indies.'"

Extracts from this judicial declaration were published for the first time in 1663 by the bookseller Cramoisy, who had received them from a priest named J. B. Paulmier, then Canon of the Cathedral Church of St. Pierre de Lizieux. The document was addressed to Pope Alexander VII., and bears the title of:—

"Memorial for the establishment of a Christian mission in the third part of the world, or 'Terre Australe.' Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Alexander VII., by a priest originating from that country."

This priest was the direct descendant of one of the "Australians" (a term used for the first time by De Gonneville himself in referring to the inhabitants of "Terre Australe"), whom the Norman captain had brought to France, and to whom at his death he gave his name and fortune, in his desire to make some atonement for the wrong which the worthy sailor considered he had inflicted upon the native by taking him away from his country under a promise to return, which he was never able to redeem. De Gonneville married him to one of his relatives, and the priest in question was the grandson of the "Australian," whose native name was "Essomeric." Canon Paulmier appears to have been a man of mark in his time, since he was resident in France as representative of the King of Denmark. He was also a man of great learning, and Des Brosses informs us that he had made a particular study of geography and the history of voyages of discovery, with which he was perfectly acquainted.

The documents published by Des Brosses were translated and appeared for the first time in English in a work entitled "Terra Australis Cognita," by the Scotch geographer, Callender, who, like Des Brosses, was fully convinced that De Gonneville had landed somewhere on what is now known as the Australian Continent. This territory was named by Des Brosses AUSTRALASIA as far back as 1761, and was placed to the southward of the Little Moluccas, where our maps now show the north-western portion of the Australian Continent. Some English geographers, however, such as Admiral Burney and Flinders, differ from the conclusions arrived at by both Des Brosses and Callender. Burney inclines to the belief that the land visited by De Gonneville could be no other than Madagascar. After him, Major, than whom no higher or more respected authority exists in geographical matters of this kind, seems to have too readily accepted Burney's opinion. Perhaps they each considered the claim set up on behalf of De Gonneville as based on insufficient grounds, and were disposed to doubt, in the face of later knowledge of the natives of Australia, that De Gonneville could possibly have induced one of his relatives to marry a representative of these wretched races: and it must be admitted that herein lies the great stumbling block in the way of fixing the position of the territory upon which De Gonneville actually landed. It is also probable that Burney was led to the conclusion that Madagascar was the point visited by some inaccuracies in Callender's translation with regard to the kind of head-dress described as worn by the women, which would certainly appear to refer more to the inhabitants of the great African island than to the Australians. The mystery is a difficult one to clear up, but subsequent discoveries, and a closer scrutiny of the Norman captain's narrative, prove, we think, clearly that De Gonneville's "Southern Indies" could be no other than the Australian Continent, and that he landed in reality at the mouth of some of the rivers on the north-western coast.

In the first place, the judicial declaration cited above, which had been for more than three centuries and a half mislaid among the records of the Admiralty of Normandy, was discovered in the year 1873 by the French geographer, Benoit D'Avezac, who published it in a pamphlet in which he discusses this question, and concludes that the land visited by De Gonneville must have been some part of South America. But this official document, which is similar in almost all points to the memoirs of the priest, Paulmier, and establishes at once the fidelity of his extracts and the absolute truth of the voyage of the French captain, does not contain any additional information which could lead to such conclusion, based only on his description of the natives of the "Southern Indies." D'Avezac's contention cannot be sustained, and must give way before the evidence of other facts; but as the same arguments against his theory apply also to that of Burney and Major, we need not discuss it here for the present.

It is, however, necessary, in order that the reader may form a clear idea of the subject, to quote at length the original memoirs as published by the worthy priest. As the translation of Callender is, on the whole, a fairly good one—although it may be inferred that the Scotch geographer, who wrote in 1761, was better acquainted with the pure French of the eighteenth century than with the quaint terms of the old Norman dialect, in which De Gonneville's narrative is written—we shall transcribe here that portion which bears on the subject, reserving to ourselves the duty of pointing out the few inaccuracies which may have led Burney and others to erroneous conclusions.

EXTRACT FROM THE MEMOIRS OF J. B. PAULMIER.

It were to be wished that some better hand than mine were employed to give an account of these southern regions of the world; but I cannot, without being wanting to my character, to my birth, and to my profession, omit doing this duty to the natives of the Southern World. Soon after the Portuguese had discovered the way to the East Indies, some French merchants, invited by a prospect of sharing the gains of this trade, fitted out a ship, which, in its route to the Indies, being driven from the straight course by a tempest, was thrown upon this great southern land. The natives of this region received the French with the most cordial hospitality, and, during an abode of six months, did them every good office in their power. The French, willing to bring some of the natives home with them, prevailed upon the easy credulity of the chief of that nation to give them one of his sons, promising that they would return him to his country fully instructed in the European arts, particularly that of making war, which these Australians desired above all things. Thus was the Indian brought into France, where he lived long enough to converse with many who are yet living, and, being baptised, he received the name and surname of the captain who brought him over. His godfather, in order to acquit himself in some degree of what he owed to the Australians, procured him a small establishment in France, and married him to one of his own relations. One of the sons of this marriage was my grandfather. The solemn promise the French had given to the inhabitants to return him among them, and what I owe to my original country, induces me to give the following short account of the voyage, compiled from the memoirs of my own family:—

"The French having formed the design of following the steps of Vasco de Gama in the East Indies, equipped a vessel at Honfleur for that voyage, which, being commanded by the Sieur de Gonneville, weighed anchor in June, 1503, and, having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, was attacked by a furious storm, which, driving them far from their intended course, left them uncertain in what part of the world they were. Being in want of water, and their ship having suffered much by storm, the sight of some birds from the south induced them to hold their course that way, where they soon discovered a large country, to which they gave the name of Southern India, according to the usage of those days, when it was customary to give the name of India to every new discovered country. They cast anchor in a river, which they say was of the bigness of the Orne, near Caen. Here they spent six months refitting their ship, but the crew, being intimidated, obliged Gonneville to return to France. During his stay in this country he had time to form a most curious account of the country and the manners of its inhabitants, which he inserted in his journal; but, unfortunately, being just off the coast of France, he was taken near the isle of Guernsey by an English privateer, who robbed him of his journal and everything he had. On his landing he complained to the Admiralty, and, having emitted the following judicial declaration, at the request of the procurator of the King, he inserted it in a short relation of the discoveries he had made. This public act, authenticated by all the proper forms, is dated 19th July, 1505, and signed by the principal officers of the ship. From this the following are extracts:—

"ITEM. They say that during their stay in that country they conversed in all freedom with the natives, having gained their goodwill by some trifling presents. That the said Indians were simple people, leading a careless, easy life, subsisting by hunting and fishing, and on some roots and herbs which the soil furnishes spontaneously. Some wear mantles either of skins or of woven mats, and some of them are made of feathers, like those of the gypsies in our country, only they are shorter, with a kind of apron girt above the haunches, which the men wear down to the knee, and the women to the calf of the leg. The women wear collars made of bones and small shells. The men have no ornament of this sort, but carry a bow, and arrows pointed with sharp bones. They have also a sword, made of very hard wood, burned and sharpened at the end; and these are all their weapons. The women and girls go bare-headed, with their hair neatly tied up in tresses mixed with flowers of most beautiful colours. The men let their hair hang down, but they wear crowns of feathers, richly coloured.

"They say further, that having gone two days' journey into the country and along the coasts both to right and left, they found it very fertile, and full of many birds, beasts, and fish utterly unknown in Christendom. The late Nicole Le Fevre, of Honfleur, a volunteer in this voyage, had taken exact draughts of all these things. But everything was lost, together with the journals of the voyage when the ship was taken: and this makes their account very imperfect.

"ITEM. They say, further, that the country is not very populous, the natives living dispersed in villages consisting of thirty, forty, or eighty huts. Those huts are made of stakes drove into the ground, the intervals being filled up with herbs and leaves, and a hole at top to let out the smoke. The doors are formed of sticks neatly tied together, and are shut with wooden keepers like those of the stables in Normandy. The beds are made of soft mats, skins, or feathers. Their household utensils are formed of wood, even the pots with which they boil water but, to preserve them from burning, they are laid over with a kind of clay an inch thick.

"ITEM. They say that the country is divided into many cantons, each of which has its king, or chief. These kings are highly honoured and feared by their subjects, though no better dressed or lodged than they. They have power of life and death over the subjects, of which some of the crew saw a memorable example in the person of a young man of twenty years of age, who, in a fit of passion, had struck his mother. Though no complaint was made, yet the king sent for him and ordered him to be thrown into the river with a large stone tied to his neck, having previously called together the young men of that and the neighbouring villages to witness his punishment.

"The name of this king, to whose territory the ship came, was Arosca. His canton extended a day's journey within land, having about a dozen villages in it, each of which had its particular chief, but under Arosca. The said Arosca was, to appearance, about sixty, then a widower, but had six sons—from thirty to fifteen years of age—who came often to the ship. Arosca was of middle stature, thick set, of grave but pleasant countenance. He was then at peace with the neighbouring kings, but they and he were at war with the people in the inland country, against whom he marched twice, during the ship's stay there. Each time he had a body of 500 or 600 men with him, and when he returned the last time, there were great rejoicings made on account of a victory he had gained. There was nothing but excursions for a few days, in which they begged the French to march with them, in hopes of being assisted by their firearms, but the commander excused himself.

"ITEM. They say that there came five of their kings to see the ship, but they wore nothing to distinguish them but their plumes of feathers, which, contrary to those of their subjects, was of one colour. The principal inhabitants wore some feathers of the colour of the king's mixed with the others. Arosca had his of green.

"ITEM. They say that these friendly Indians received them as angels from Heaven, and were infinitely surprised at the bulk of the ship, the artillery, mirrors, and other things they saw on board. Above all, they were astonished at our method of communicating our thoughts to each other by letters from the ship to those on shore, not being able to divine how the letter could speak. For these reasons they greatly feared the French. At the same time they were so much beloved by them, on account of some axes, mirrors and knives they gave them, that they were always ready to do anything in their power to serve the strangers, bringing them great quantities of flesh and fish, fruits, and other provisions. Besides which, they brought them large quantities of skins, feathers, and roots, of dying in different colours, in exchange for which they received different kinds of hardware of small price, and thus the French got together above one hundred quintals of their goods.