sually kept somebody in the field, whose discoveries were intended to
throw light on the caprices of Lake Torrens, at one time a vast inland
sea, at another a dry desert of stones and baked mud. Hack, Warburton,
Freeling, Babbage, and other well-known names, are associated with this
particular district, and, in 1858, Stuart started to the north-west of
the same country, accompanied by one white man (Forster) and a native. In
this, the first expedition which he had the honour to command, he was
aided solely by his friend Mr. William Finke, but in his later journeys
Mr. James Chambers also bore a share of the expense.* (* It is greatly to
be regretted that both these gentlemen are since dead. Mr. Chambers did
not survive to witness the success of his friend's later expeditions, and
the news of Mr. Finke's death reached us while these sheets were going
through the press.) This journey was commenced in May, 1858, from Mount
Eyre in the north to Denial and Streaky Bays on the west coast of the
Port Lincoln country. On this journey Mr. Stuart accomplished one of the
most arduous feats in all his travels, having, with one man only (the
black having basely deserted them), pushed through a long tract of dense
scrub and sand with unusual rapidity, thus saving his own life and that
of his companion. During this part of the journey they were without food
or water, and his companion was thoroughly dispirited and despairing of
success. This expedition occupied him till September, 1858, and was
undertaken with the object of examining the country for runs. On his
return the South Australian Government presented him with a large grant
of land in the district which he had explored.

Mr. Stuart now turned his attention to crossing the interior, and, with
the assistance of his friends Messrs. Chambers and Finke, he was enabled
to make two preparatory expeditions in the vicinity of Lake Torrens--from
April 2nd to July 3rd, 1859, and from November 4th, 1859, to January
21st, 1860. The fourth expedition started from Chambers Creek (discovered
by Mr. Stuart in 1858, and since treated as his head-quarters for
exploring purposes), on March 2nd, 1860, and consisted of Mr. Stuart and
two men, with thirteen horses. Proceeding steadily northwards, until the
country which his previous explorations had rendered familiar was left
far behind, on April 23rd the great explorer calmly records in his
Journal the following important announcement: "To-day I fin