at none exists; for
Mr. Eyre in his intercourse with the natives, during his journey from
South Australia to King George's Sound, elicited nothing from them that
led him to suppose that there were any hills in the interior, or indeed
that an inland sea was to be found there; even the existence of one may
reasonably be doubted, and it may be that the country behind the Great
Australian Bight is, as Captain Flinders has conjectured, a low sandy
country, formed by a channel of 400 or 500 miles in breadth, separating
the south coast of the continent from the west and north ones. Although I
did not gain the direct centre of the continent there can be very little
doubt as to the character of the country round it. The spirit of
enterprise alone will now ever lead any man to gain it, but the gradual
development of the character of the yet unexplored interior will alone
put an end to doubts and theories on the subject. The desert of Australia
is not more extensive than the deserts in other parts of the world. Its
character constitutes its peculiarity, and that may lead to some
satisfactory conclusion as to how it was formed, and by what agent the
sandy ridges which traverse it were thrown up. I would repeat that I am
diffident of my own judgment, and that I should be indebted to any one
better acquainted with the nature of these things than I am to point out
wherein I am in error.

It remains for me, before I close this part of my work, to make a few
observations on the natives with whom we communicated beyond the river
tribes. Mr. Eyre has given so full and so accurate an account of the
natives of the Murray and Darling that it is needless for me to repeat
his observations. I would only remark that I attribute our friendly
intercourse with them to the great influence he had gained over them by
his judicious conduct as Resident Protector at the Murray. I fully concur
with him in the good that resulted from the establishment of a post on
that river, for the express pur pose of putting a stop to the mutual
aggression of the overlanders and natives upon each other. I have
received too many kindnesses at the hands of the natives not to be
interested in their social welfare, and most fully approved the wise
policy of Captain Grey, in sending Mr. Eyre to a place where his
exertions were so eminently successful.

In another place I may be led to make some remarks on the condition of
the natives of South Australia, but at present I hav