became more loose and drifting, and not a blade of
grass, or any species of vegetation, was visible,
rendering hopeless any attempt to cross it with horses.
This point of the lake shore, being by Mr. Eyre’s
chart about thirty miles to the westward of where
I found it, I thought it advisable to push further
north, in the direction of the highest point of the
range, which I imagined was probably his Mount Serle;
for though it was not to be expected that Mr. Eyre,
whose principal and almost sole object was to discover
a road to the interior, would, at the same time, have
been able to lay down the position of his route with
the same accuracy that might have been expected from
a surveyor; this difference of longitude prevented
my being certain of the identity of the spot, or that
the range on our left, might not after all, be another
long promontory running to the north, similar to that
on the western side of which was Mr. Eyre’s
course. The appearance of the country, however,
from the hills close under Mount Serle (for the perpendicular
cliffs on the east side of this range of hills prevented
my ascending to their summit without turning them
among the ranges, for which I had not time), convinced
me at once, from its perfect accordance with the description
given by Mr. Eyre, that his eastern arm of Lake Torrens
was the sandy desert I had left, its surface being
about three hundred feet above the level of the sea;
and our two converging lines having thus met at Mount
Serle, I knew it was useless to advance further in
the same direction to a spot which he had named, from
the impossibility of proceeding beyond it, “Mount
Hopeless.”
“I was thus forced to return to Pasmore River,
as the nearest point from whence I could cross to
the low hills to the eastward, south of Lake Torrens;
and from thence I sent back to the depot two men of
the party, and three horses—the former
for the sake of their rations, and the latter on account
of the probable difficulty I should have in procuring
water—taking on with me only Mr. Henderson
and Mr. Hawker on foot, with the light cart and one
policeman. The second evening I made the most
northern of these hills, but could not find a drop
of water in any of them; and having unluckily lost
the policeman, who had crossed in front of the dray
and got entangled in the dense scrub, I was detained
three days riding upon his tracks, until I had traced
them to our dray tracks from the depot at the Black
Rock Hill, which he reached in safety, after being
out five days without food. The cart, in the mean
time, had been obliged to leave the spot where I left
it, for want of water—having been out six
days without obtaining any but what we carried in the
kegs; and when I overtook it, we had not sufficient
provisions for another attempt, the period of one
month, for which they were intended to last, having
already nearly expired.