ood of Lake Gairdner. Before
this, however, he had found and named Chambers Creek. From Lake Gairdner,
he steered for Fowler's Bay, and his description of some of the country
he passed is anything but inviting. From a spur of the high peak that he
named Mount Finke, he saw:--

"A prospect gloomy in the extreme: I could see a long distance, but
nothing met the eye save a dense scrub, as black and dismal as night."

[Map. Stuart's Routes 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862; Burke and Wills's
Route 1860 and 1861.]

From this point the party passed into a sandy spinifex desert, which
Stuart says was worse than Sturt's; there had been a little salt-bush
there, but here there was nothing but spinifex to be found, and the
barren ground provided no food of any kind for the horses.

The state of affairs was becoming desperate with the little band, as
their provisions were nearly finished; and though the leader was tempted
to persist in the search for good pastoral country, he was at last forced
to abandon the search and beat a hasty retreat. Dense scrub and the same
"dreary dismal desert," as he calls it in his Journal, surrounded them
day after day. Tired out and half-starved they reached the coast, and had
but two meals left to carry them to Streaky Bay, where they found relief
at Gibson's station. Here the sudden change from starvation to a full
diet invalided most of them, and Stuart himself was very ill for some
days. Finally they reached Thompson's station at Mount Arden, and there
Stuart's first expedition terminated.

But this severe test only whetted Stuart's appetite for further
exploration, and in April, 1859, he made another start. After crossing
over some of the already-traversed country, Hergott, one of his
companions, found the now well-known springs that bear his name. Stuart
crossed his former discovery of Chambers Creek, and made for the
Davenport Range, discovered by Warburton, finding many of the mound
springs that characterize some parts of the interior. On the 6th of June
he discovered a large creek, which he called the Neale. It ran through
very good country, and Stuart followed it down, hoping to find it
increase in volume and value as he went. In this he was not disappointed,
as large plains covered with salt-bush and grass were found, and the
party encountered several more springs. After satisfying himself of the
extent and economic value of the country he had found, Stuart was obliged
to return; for his