[Note 32: Vide note to page 154,
Vol. I. (Note 11)]
On the northern side of the triangle I have alluded to, or on the line
between Mount Arden and Streaky Bay, a singularly high and barren range,
named the Gawler Range after His Excellency the Governor, was found
consisting of porphoritic granite, extending nearly all the way across,
and then stretching out to the north-west in lofty rugged outline as far
as the eye could reach; the most remarkable fact connected with this
range, was the arid and sterile character of the country in which it was
situated, as well as of the range itself, which consisted entirely of
rugged barren rocks, without timber or vegetation. There was not a stream
or a watercourse of any kind emanating from it; we could find neither
spring nor permanent fresh water, and the only supply we procured for
ourselves was from the deposits left by very recent rains, and which in a
few days more, would have been quite dried up. The soil was in many
places saline, and wherever water had lodged in any quantity (as in lakes
of which there were several) it was quite salt.
[Note 33: A small exploring party, under a Mr. Darke, was sent from Port
Lincoln in August, 1844, but after getting as far as the Gawler Range were
compelled by the inhospitable nature of the country to return. The
unfortunate leader was murdered by the natives on his route homewards.]
Continuing the line of coast to the westward, the expedition passed
through the most wretched and desolate country imaginable, consisting
almost entirely of a table-land, or of undulating ridges, covered for the
most part with dense scrubs, and almost wholly without either grass or
water. The general elevation of this country was from three to five
hundred feet, and all of the tertiary deposit, with primary rocks
protruding at intervals.
The first permanent fresh water met with on the surface was a small
fresh-water lake, beyond the parallel of 123 degrees E.; but from Mount
Arden to that point, a distance of fully 800 miles in a direct line, none
whatever was found on the surface (if I except a solitary small spring
sunk in the rock at Streaky Bay). During the whole of this vast distance,
not a watercourse, not a hollow of any kind was crossed; the only water
to be obtained was by digging close to the sea-shore, or the sand-hills
of the coast, and even by that means it frequently could not be procured
for distances of 150 to 160 miles together.
