direction, in the shape in which Mr. Eyre has laid Lake Torrens down.  For this purpose Mr. Browne and I descended into it.  The bed was composed of sand and clay, the latter lying in large masses, and deeply grooved by torrents of rain.  There was not any great quantity of salt to be seen, but it was collected at the bottom of gutters, and, no doubt, was more or less mixed with the soil.  At about four miles we were obliged to dismount; and, tying our horses so as to secure them, walked on for another mile, when we found the ground too soft for our weight and were obliged to return; and, as it was now late, we commenced a search for water, and having found a small supply in a little hollow, at a short distance from the flag, we went to it and encamped.  The length of the chain line to the flag staff was 70 3/4 miles, which with the 61 we had measured from the Depot, made 131 3/4 miles in all; the direct distance, therefore, from the Depot to the flag staff, was about 115 miles, on a bearing of 9 1/2 degrees to the North of West or W. 3/4 N.

My object in the journey I had thus undertaken, was not so much to measure the distance between the two places, as to ascertain if the country to the north-west of Lake Torrens, on the borders of which I presumed I had arrived, was practicable or not, and whether it was connected with any more central body of water.  It behoved me to ascertain these two points with as little delay as possible, for the surface water was fast drying up, and we were in danger of having our retreat cut off.  Whether the country was practicable or not, in the direction I was anxious to take, it was clear that I could not have penetrated as far as I then was, with the heavy drays, with any prudence.

To be more satisfied, however, as to the nature of the country to the westward, I rode towards the N.E. angle of the Sandy Basin, on the morning of the 4th, sending Mr. Stuart southwards, to examine it in that direction; but, neither of these journeys proving satisfactory, I determined on fixing the position of the hills in reference to our chained line, and then return to the Depot, to prepare for a more extensive exploration of the N.W. interior.  I found the country perfectly impracticable to the N.W., and that it was impossible to ascertain the real character of this Sandy Basin.  On the other side of it the country appeared to be wooded; beyond the wood there was a sudden fall; and, as far as I could judge, this singular feature must have been connected with Spencer’s Gulf, before the passage that evidently existed once between them, was filled up.

On the 5th I ran a base line from the end of the chained line to the north-west, on a bearing of 317 degrees, to the only prominent sand hill in that direction, distant from the staff 5 1/2 miles, from the extremities of which the ranges bore as follow:—­

BEARINGS FROM THE FLAG STAFF AT THE TERMINATION OF THE CHAINED LINE.