gretted having left the shady banks of the
river.

_Dec. 31._ I had no inducement to proceed further into the interior. I
had been sufficiently disappointed in the termination of this excursion,
and the track before me was still less inviting. Nothing but a dense
forest, and a level country, existed between me and a distant hill. I
had learnt, by experience, that it was impossible to form any opinion of
the probable features of so singular a region as that in which I was
wandering, from previous appearances, or to expect the same result, as
in other countries, from similar causes. In a geographical point of
view, my journey had been more successful, and had enabled me to put to
rest for ever a question of much previous doubt. I had gained a
knowledge of more than 100 miles of the western interior, and had
ascertained that no sea, indeed, that little water existed on its
surface; and that, although it is flat generally, it still has
elevations of considerable magnitude upon it.

Although I had passed over much barren ground, I had likewise noticed
soil that was far from poor, and the vegetation upon which in ordinary
seasons would, I am convinced, have borne a very different aspect.

Yet, upon the whole, the space I traversed is unlikely to become the
haunts of civilized man, or will only become so in isolated spots, as a
chain of connection to a more fertile country; if such a country exist
to the westward.

[A report of better country to the North induced Sturt to turn in that
direction.]

_Jan. 14._ Nothing could exceed in dreariness the appearance of the
tracks through which we journeyed on this and the two following days.
The creek on which we depended for a supply of water, gave such alarming
indications of a total failure that I at one time had serious thoughts
of abandoning my pursuit of it. We passed hollow after hollow that had
successively dried up, although originally of considerable depth; and,
when we at length found water, it was doubtful how far we could make use
of it. Sometimes in boiling, it left a sediment nearly equal to half its
body; at other times it was so bitter as to be quite unpalatable. That
on which we subsisted was scraped up from small puddles, heated by the
sun's rays; and so uncertain were we of finding water at the end of the
day's journey, that we were obliged to carry a supply on one of the
bullocks. There was scarcely a living creature, even of the feathered
race, to be seen to