thus being able to accomplish so
much, and he was glad to say that explorers since had followed up the
same plan with great success. (Cheers.) And they were still further
indebted to the Messrs. Chambers. They had not only assisted in
discovering far-off country, but had been the first to invest their
capital in stocking it and making it useful. He was sorry to see that
there were not more Messrs. Chambers to go and do likewise; but he
thought he saw signs of the spread of settlement further, for the toe of
the agriculturist was very near upon the heel of the sheep-farmer, and if
the sheep-farmers did not look out and get fresh fields and pastures new,
they would soon find that the agriculturist was all too near. That was a
question that he enlarged upon, especially in another place; but as
brevity seemed to be the order of the night, he would only ask them to
drink the health of The Early Explorers, coupled with the name of Mr.
John Chambers.

The toast was received with three cheers.

Band: Auld lang syne.

Mr. J. Chambers rose amid cheers, and said that he was proud to say that
he had been connected with the earliest of our explorations, having been
associated with the gallant Captain Sturt in his exploration of the
Murray. After his arrival in the colony he had first travelled with him
and the then Governor, the late Colonel Gawler, in exploring the south.
They had had no difficulties and dangers to encounter then that some of
the explorers of the present had to go through, and, although they
travelled with heavy bullock-drays, managed to have plenty of water and
food. Their principal difficulty lay in getting through the ranges to the
south, and the interminable creeks and gullies which they got into and
had to retrace their steps from. This was a small matter of exploration,
and might at the present day appear absurd; but then there were doubts
where the Angas was, and whether the Onkaparinga in Mount Barker District
was not the Angas, and when beyond the hills they did not know whether
Mount Barker was not Mount Lofty, and whether Mount Lofty was not some
other mount. It was, however, done, and, having settled these matters by
observation, they returned to Adelaide after an exploration of three
weeks. They were on their return made small lions of, although they had
not had to fight the natives, and had had bullock-drays with them, while
their horses were in rather better condition than when they went out.
Ther