st, and
adding their quota of detail to the skeleton lines of Leichhardt,
Gregory, and Burke and Wills; whilst private enterprise has, during
that time, been busy in further filling in the spaces, and utilizing
the knowledge gained by occupying the waste lands thus opened up.

It is questionable whether the amount of available country thus made
known has not been dearly purchased, by the very large sums that have
been expended, and the valuable lives that have been lost in its
exploration; the arid and waterless wastes of the interior, which
have now been proved equally subject to terrific droughts and
devastating floods, make it improbable that the Settlements of the
North Coast and the Southern Colonies can be connected by a
continuous line of occupation for many years to come; the rich
pastoral tracts of Arnheim's Land, the Victoria River, the Gulf
Coast, and Albert and Flinders Rivers, are thus the only localities
likely to be made use of for the present; these, however, have been
known since the first explorations of Leichhardt and Gregory; we are
forced, therefore, to the conclusion that the results of the
subsequent expeditions are not commensurate with their cost and
sacrifices, and to consider whether further exploration may not be
safely left to private enterprise.

Let us now glance at what has been done since 1860 in the way of
occupation. South Australia has founded on theNorth Coast a
Settlement at Adam Bay, on the Adelaide River, but its progress seems
to have been marked from the onset by misfortune. The officer
charged with its formation, in a short time managed to raise so
strong a feeling of dissatisfaction and dislike amongst the settlers
as to call for a Commission of Enquiry on his administration, which
resulted in his removal. His successor seems, by latest accounts to
have raised up no less dislike, the difference of his rule being
likened by the papers to that of the fabled kings, Log and Stork.
The site of the Settlement, Escape Cliffs, has been universally
condemned; one charge against the first Resident being, that it was
selected in opposition to the almost unanimous opinion of the
colonists. The subject was referred for final report to John
McKinley, the well-known Explorer, who, bearing out the general
opinion, at once condemned it, and set out to explore the country in
search for a better. In this he has not discovered any new locality,
but has recommended Anson Bay, at the mouth