and another from Mount Arden due north, they will meet
a little to the northward of the tropic, and there, I will be bound to
say, a fine country will be discovered. On what data he pledges himself
to the discovery of this fine country is not stated. It may, however, be
advisable to allow Mr. Sturt to realize the state of this fine country.

"This, however, is not to be done by pursuing the line of the Darling to
the latitude of Moreton Bay, which would lead him not far from the
eastern coast, where there is nothing of interest to be discovered, nor
does it appear advisable to pursue the Darling to the point to which he
and Major Mitchell have already been, for this reason. His preparations
will, no doubt, be made at Adelaide; from thence to the point in question
is about 600 miles, and from this point to the fine country, a little
beyond the tropic, is 700 miles, which together make a journey of 1300
miles. Now a line directly north from Adelaide, through Mount Arden, to
the point where it crosses the former in the fine country, is only 800
miles, making a saving, therefore, of 500 miles, which is of no little
importance in such a country as Australia.

"But Mr. Sturt assigns reasons for supposing that a range of mountains
will be found about the 29th parallel of latitude, and Mr. Eyre, whilst
exploring the Lake he discovered to the northward of the Gulf of St.
Vincent, Adelaide, notices mountains to the N.E., in about the latitude
of 28 degrees. Supposing, then, a range of mountains to exist about that
parallel, their direction will probably be found to run from N.E. to
S.W., which is that generally of the river Darling and its branches; and
in this case it may reasonably be concluded that these mountains form the
division of the waters, and that all the branches of the several rivers
(some of them of considerable magnitude) which have been known to fall
into the bays and gulfs on the W. and N.W. coasts, between the parallels
of 14 degrees and 21 degrees, have their sources on the northern side of
this range of mountains; but, even if no such range exists, it is pretty
evident, from what we know of the southern rivers, adjuncts chiefly of
the Darling, that somewhere about the latitudes of 28 degrees or 29
degrees the surface rises to a sufficient height to cause a division of
the waters, those on the northern side taking a northerly direction, and
those on the southern side a southerly one.

"To ascertain this point