from Alice Springs, a station on the
telegraph line close to the tropic of Capricorn.

The country immediately round Alice Springs was very beautiful, but a
journey of only a few days served to bring the expedition into a dry and
barren plain, so desolate that Warburton declared it could never be
traversed without the assistance of camels. After travelling about four
hundred miles, he reached those formidable ridges of fiery red sand in
which the waters of Sturt's Creek are lost, and where A. C. Gregory was
in 1856 compelled to turn back. In traversing this district, the party
suffered many hardships; only two out of seventeen camels survived, and
the men were themselves frequently on the verge of destruction. It was
only by exercising the greatest care and prudence that Warburton
succeeded in bringing his party to the Oakover River, on the north-west
coast, and when he arrived once more in Adelaide it was found that he
had completely lost the sight of one eye.

#8. Giles and Forrest.#--Towards the close of the same year, 1873, a young
Victorian named Giles started on a similar trip, intending to cross from
the middle of the telegraph line to West Australia. He held his course
courageously to the west, but the country was of such appalling
barrenness that, after penetrating half-way to the western coast, he
was forced to abandon the attempt and return. But when three years
afterwards he renewed his efforts, he succeeded, after suffering much
and making long marches without water. He had more than one encounter
with the natives, but he had the satisfaction of crossing from the
telegraph line to the West Australian coast, through country never
before traversed by the foot of civilised man. In 1874 this region
was successfully crossed by Forrest, a Government surveyor of West
Australia, who started from Geraldton, to the south of Shark Bay, and,
after a journey of twelve hundred miles almost due east, succeeded in
reaching the telegraph line. His entry into Adelaide was like a
triumphal march, so great were the crowds that went out to escort him to
the city. Forrest was then a young man, but a most skilful and sagacious
traveller. Lightly equipped, and accompanied by only one or two
companions, he has on several occasions performed long journeys through
the most formidable country with a celerity and success that are indeed
surprising.

His brother, Alexander Forrest, and a long list of bold and skilful
bushmen, have