to dip away to the north-east, the barren hills all
diminishing in elevation, and the deep watercourses
from Flinders range all crossing the plains in that
direction. In one of these watercourses, the
Siccus (lat. about 31 degrees 55 minutes), whose section
nearly equals that of the Murray, there were indications
of not very remote floods having risen to between
twenty and thirty feet above its bed, plainly marked
by large gum-trees lodged in the forks of the standing
trees, and lying high up on its banks, on one of which
I remarked dead leaves still on the branches; and
in another creek (Pasmore River), lat. 31 degrees
29 minutes, a strong current was running at the spot
where we struck it (owing, I suppose, to recent heavy
rains among the hills from whence it has its source),
but below this point the bed was like that of all
the other creeks, as dry as if no rain had ever fallen,
and with occasional patches of various shrubs, and
salt water tea-tree growing in it. After crossing
the low ridge above Prewitt’s Springs, lat.
31 degrees 45 minutes, forming the left bank of the
basin of the Siccus, the plain extended between the
north and east as far as the eye could reach, and
the lurid glare of the horizon, as we advanced northward,
plainly indicated the approach of Lake Torrens, which,
from the direction I had followed, I expected to turn
about this point. I was obliged, however, to
continue a northerly course for the sake of water,
which I could only hope to find in the ravines of the
hills on our left, as high as the parallel of 30 degrees
59 minutes, where the lake was visible within fifteen
or sixteen miles, and appeared from the high land
to be covered with water, studded with islands, and
backed on the east by a bold rocky shore. These
appearances were, however, all deceptive, being caused
solely by the extraordinary refraction, as on riding
to the spot the following day, not a drop of water
was to be seen in any direction. The islands
turned out to be mere low sandy ridges, very scantily
clothed with stunted scrub on their summits, and no
distant land appeared any where between the north
and south-east, though from the hills above our camp
of the previous night, I could discern, with the aid
of a very powerful telescope, a ridge of low land,
either on the eastern side of the lake, or rising
out of it, distant at least seventy miles, rendered
visible at that distance by the excessive refractive
power of the atmosphere on the horizon. A salt
crust was seen at intervals on the surface of the
sand at the margin of the lake, or as it might more
properly be called, the Desert; but this appearance
might either be caused by water brought down by the
Siccus, and other large watercourses spreading over
the saline soil in times of flood, or by rain, and
appeared to me no proof of its ever being covered with
water for any period of time. A few pieces of
what appeared drift timber were also lying about its
surface. The sand, as we advanced farther east,