escaped through the Great
Australian Bight. From what I could judge, the desert I traversed is
about the breadth of that remarkable line of coast, and I am inclined to
think that it (the desert) retains its breadth the whole way, as it comes
gradually round to the south, thus forming a double curve, from the Gulf
of Carpentaria, on the N.E. angle of the continent, to the Great Bight on
its south-west coast; but my readers will, as they advance into my
narrative, see the grounds upon which I have rested these ideas. If such
an hypothesis is correct, it necessarily follows, that the north and
north-west coasts of the Continent were once separated from the south and
east coasts by water; and as I have stated my impression that the current
from the north, passed through vast openings, both to the eastward and
westward of the province of South Australia, it as necessarily follows,
that that province must also have been an island. I hope it will be
understood that I started with the supposition that the continent of
Australia was formerly an archipelago of islands, but that some
convulsion, by which the central land has been raised, has caused the
changes I have suggested. It was still a matter of conjecture what the
real character of Central Australia really was, for its depths had been
but superficially explored before my recent attempt. My own opinion, when
I commenced my last expedition, inclined me to the belief, and perhaps
this opinion was fostered by the hope that such would prove to be the
case, as well as by the reports of the distant natives, which invariably
went to confirm it, that the interior was occupied by a sea of greater or
less extent, and very probably by large tracts of desert country.

With such a conviction I commenced my recent labours, although I was not
prepared for the extent of desert I encountered--with such a conviction I
returned to the abodes of civilized man. I am still of opinion that there
is more than one sea in the interior of the Australian continent, but
such may not be the case. All I can say is, Would that I had discovered
such a feature, for I could then have done more upon its waters tenfold,
than I was enabled to accomplish in the gloomy and burning deserts over
which I wandered during more than thirteen months. My readers, however,
will judge for themselves as to the probable correctness of my views, and
also as to the probable character of the yet unexplored interior, from
the da