ton Bay.
The Comet.
State of Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land.
Lighthouses in Bass Strait.

EXPLORATION OF INTERIOR.

The most interesting topic of conversation on our arrival at Sydney was
the projected expedition into the interior. Two candidates for this
important and deeply interesting undertaking had presented
themselves--Mr. E.J. Eyre and Sir Thomas Mitchell, both experienced
Australian explorers. The latter proposed to start from Fort Bourke on
the Darling; and the former from Moreton Bay. In my own humble opinion,
strengthened by recent experience, neither of these are practicable
routes;* or at any rate, they are not the best that could be selected.
The centre of the continent must be reached by the shortest possible
journey; it being advisable to avoid the despondency that seizes on a
party during a protracted expedition, and to keep up throughout a certain
degree of excitement. As, therefore, the greatest indentation on the
shores of the continent is the Gulf of Carpentaria, the head of the
Albert River, which discharges its waters into the bottom of it, is
unquestionably the best point of departure that could be selected, being
one-half the distance of Fort Bourke from the centre, and two-thirds
nearer than Moreton Bay.

(*Footnote. Whilst this sheet was going through the press, the report of
our greatest Australian traveller, Captain Sturt, reached England;
wherein he writes, speaking of his furthest (February 1845) in latitude
28 degrees South and longitude about 141 degrees 22 minutes East having
apparently entered the central desert, as follows: "I could see no change
in the terrible desert to which I had penetrated. The horizon was
unbroken by a single mound, from north round to north again, and it was
as level as that of the ocean. My view to the north extended about eight
miles, but I did not venture to compass that distance, only perhaps to
have overlooked a similar heart-rending and desolate scene." This bears
out the opinion expressed in the text. I do not hesitate, however, in the
face of the interesting evidence brought forward by Captain Sturt, still
to doubt the existence of an inland sea. I think the high temperature he
experienced contradicts such an hypothesis; and I believe the large
expanse of water, reported by the natives, to be the Gulf of Carpentaria,
which bore about north (true) six hundred miles from his position,
Moreton Bay being nearly equidistant on an east bearing, whilst Ade