the Ashburton
Range. Here he made several attempts to the north and north-west, but
could discover neither water nor watercourses in those directions;
nothing indeed but plains, beautifully grassed, but heavy to ride over
and yielding under the horses' feet. Beyond these plains, the country
changed for the worse, and became sandy and scrubby. On the 16th of May
he encountered a new description of scrub that grew in a very obstructive
manner, and is now known as Stuart's Desert Hedgewood.

On the 23rd he found a magnificent sheet of permanent water which he
called the Newcastle Waters, and at first he judged that a clear way
north was now assured. But he was deluded, for beyond these waters he
could not advance his party a mile; north, north-east, and north-west,
there was the one outlook -- endless grassy plains, terminating in dense
scrubby forest country. He had to give up all hope for the present, and
return to Adelaide.

Such however was the confidence of the authorities in him, and such his
own energy, that in less than a month after his arrival in Adelaide he
was on his way to Chambers Creek to make preparations for a fresh
departure. His last two journeys had proved the existence of a long line
of good country, fairly well-watered; and although beyond it he had not
been able to gain a footing, still there was no knowing what a fresh
endeavour would bring to light.

He had brought his party back in safety, with the loss of only a few
horses, and had actually reached in point of position as low a latitude
as the Victorian explorers had done, and that with a more difficult
country to travel through, without camels, and with an inferior equipment
in all other respects.

It is not necessary again to follow Stuart's horse-tracks over the
northern way he was now pursuing for the third time. On the 14th of
April, 1862, we find him encamped at the northern end of Newcastle
Waters, once more about to force a passage through the forest of
waterless scrub to the north. On the second day he was partly successful,
finding an isolated waterhole, surrounded by conglomerate rocks. This he
called Frew's Pond; and it is now a well-known camping-place for
travellers on the overland telegraph line.

Past this spot he was not able to make any progress. Twice he made
strenuous but vain efforts to reach some tributary of the Victoria River.
He then spent many days riding through dense mulga and hedgewood scrub.
At length, after mu