is worthy of a practical experiment in a
geographical point of view, as the knowledge of the direction that
mountains and rivers take, the bones and blood vessels of bodies
terrestrial give us at least a picture of the body of that skeleton. To
these Mr. Sturt will no doubt direct his particular attention, as
constituting the main object of such an expedition, and these, with the
great features of the country, its principal productions in the animal
and vegetable part of the creation, the state and condition of the
original inhabitants, will render a great service to the geography of the
southern part of Australia."

On this memorandum the Secretary of State observes, in a private letter
to Captain Grey, that came to hand before the receipt of Lord Stanley's
public despatch:--

"In considering Sir John Barrow's memorandum, enclosed in my public
despatch, you will see that a strong opinion is expressed against
ascending the Darling in the first instance, and in favour of making a
direct northerly course from Adelaide to Mount Arden. I do not wish this
to be taken as an absolute injunction, because I am aware that there may
be local causes why the apparently circuitous route may after all be the
easiest for the transport of provisions, and may really facilitate the
objects of the expedition. In like manner I do not wish to be understood
as absolutely prohibiting a return by Moreton Bay, extensive as that
deviation would be, if it should turn out that the exploration of the
mountain chain led the party so far to the eastward as to be able to
reach that point by a route previously known to Captain Sturt or to Major
Mitchell, more easily than they could return on their steps down the
Darling. What Captain Sturt will understand as absolutely prohibited, is
any attempt to conduct his party through the tropical regions to the
northward, so as to reach the mouths of any of the great rivers. The
present expedition will be limited in its object, to ascertaining the
existence and the character of a supposed chain of hills, or a succession
of separate hills, trending down from N.E. to S.W., and forming a great
natural division of the continent; to examining what rivers take their
source in those mountains, and what appears to be their course; to the
general lie of the country to the N.W. of the supposed chain; and to the
character of the soil and forests, as far as can be ascertained by such
an investigation as shall not draw the p