igh up in the roll of Fame;
to him who had well nigh reached the topmost step of the ladder, and
whose hand had all but grasped the pinnacle, the necessity must be great,
and the struggle of feeling severe, that forces him to bear back, and
abandon his task.

Let any man lay the map of Australia before him, and regard the blank
upon its surface, and then let me ask him if it would not be an
honourable achievement to be the first to place foot in its centre.

Men of undoubted perseverance and energy in vain had tried to work their
way to that distant and shrouded spot. A veil hung over Central Australia
that could neither be pierced or raised. Girt round about by deserts, it
almost appeared as if Nature had intentionally closed it upon civilized
man, that she might have one domain on the earth's wide field over which
the savage might roam in freedom.

I had traced down almost every inland river of the continent, and had
followed their courses for hundreds of miles, but, they had not led me to
its central regions. I had run the Castlereagh, the Macquarie, the
Lachlan, the Murrumbidgee, the Hume, the Darling, and the Murray down to
their respective terminations, but beyond them I had not passed--yet--I
looked upon Central Australia as a legitimate field, to explore which no
man had a greater claim than myself, and the first wish of my heart was
to close my services in the cause of Geography by dispelling the mists
that hung over it.

True it is that my friend Eyre had penetrated high up to the north of
Mount Arden, and there can be no doubt but that his ardent and chivalrous
spirit would have carried him far beyond the point he attained, if he had
not met unconquerable difficulties. I thought that a cooler and more
leisurely progress would enable me to feel my way into a country, whose
inhospitable character developed itself more the more it was penetrated.
I had adopted certain opinions, the correctness of which I was anxious to
test, and I thought the investigations I desired to make, were not only
worthy the pursuit of private ambition, but deserving the attention of
Her Majesty's Government. With these feelings I could not but be grateful
to Lord Stanley, for having entertained my proposition, and given me an
opportunity to distinguish myself. It is not because his Lordship is no
longer at the head of the Colonial Office, that I should refrain from
making my acknowledgments to him, and expressing the sense I enterta