a, Forrest, in
company with his brother, made another excursion to the north; he
penetrated some thirty miles inland, and found as before boundless
plains, beautifully grassed, though destitute of any signs of water.

After leaving Eucla, the explorers had a distressing stage to the head of
the Great Bight, where they finally obtained water by digging in the
sand. On this stage the horses suffered more than on any previous one,
having had to travel three days without a drink. From this point they
soon reached the settled districts of South Australia in safety.

Although this journey of Forrest's cannot strictly be called an exploring
expedition, inasmuch as he repeated the journey made under such terrible
conditions by Eyre travelling in the opposite direction, yet it is of
first-rate importance, inasmuch as, owing to the greater facilities he
enjoyed, he was able to pronounce a more final verdict than Eyre was able
to give. Forrest found that the gloomy thicket was a fringe confined to
the immediate coast-line. On every occasion that he penetrated it, he
came on good pastoral land beyond. He writes:--

"The country passed over between longitude 126 degrees 24 minutes and 128
degrees 30 minutes East as a grazing country far surpasses anything I
have ever seen. There is nothing in the settled portion of Western
Australia equal to it, either in extent or quality; but the absence of
permanent water is a great drawback...The country is very level, with
scarcely any undulation, and becomes clearer as you proceed north."

On his arrival in Adelaide he received a hearty welcome, and a similar
reception was accorded him on his return to Perth. Unfortunately this
expedition destroyed all hope of the existence of any river, the mouth of
which might have been crossed unwittingly by Eyre.

We now come to that exploit which gained for Forrest a place in the
foremost rank of Australian explorers. The western central desert had
long defied the explorers in their attempts to cross its dread confines.
But the young West Australian took his men and most of his horses through
the very heart of the terrible desert. We have seen how three expeditions
had started from the east for the purpose of making this continental
traverse, all differently composed -- one with the aid of camels only,
one with a composite equipment of both horses and camels, and the third
with only horses. The successful expedition to be now recorded travelled
from w