Had There Been Any Hill Or Even Small Eminence Within Thirty Or Forty
Miles Of Me They Must Now Have
Been discovered, but there was not the
least appearance of any such, and it was with infinite regret and pain
That I was forced to come to the conclusion, that the interior of this
vast country is a marsh and uninhabitable. How near these marshes may
approach the south-western coast, I know not; but I do not think that the
range of high and dry land in that quarter extends back north-easterly
for any great distance; it being known, that the coast from Cape
Bernouilli to the head of Spencer's Gulf is sandy and destitute of
water. [Note: The view from the top of Mount Brown (in lat. 32. 30. 15.
S.
and lon. 138. 0. 3/4. E. head of Spencer's Gulf) was very extensive,
its elevation not being less than three thousand feet; but neither
rivers nor lakes could be perceived, nor any thing of the sea to the
south-eastward. In almost every direction the eye traversed over an
uninterruptedly flat woody country, the sole exceptions being the ridge
of mountains, extending north and south; and the water of the gulf to
the south-westward. Flinder's Voy. Vol. I. p. 159.]
Perhaps there is no river, the history of which is known, that presents
so remarkable a termination as the present: its course in a straight
line from its source to its termination exceeds five hundred miles, and
including its windings, it may fairly be calculated to run at least
twelve hundred miles; during all which passage, through such a vast
extent
of country, it does not receive a single stream in addition to what it
derives from its sources in the eastern mountains.
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