ents which they highly valued.

So ended the first of my expeditions; and a very short time elapsed
before I was called upon to undertake a longer, more hazardous, and more
important journey.

CHAPTER 3.

SECOND EXPEDITION. FROM PERTH TO ADELAIDE, ROUND THE GREAT BIGHT.

A new Exploration suggested.
Proposal to reach Adelaide by way of the South Coast.
The experience derived from Eyre's Expedition.
Survey of Port Eucla.
Official Instructions.
The Start.
Dempster's Station near Esperance Bay.
The Schooner at Port Eucla.
Journal of the Expedition.

Immediately on my return to Perth a new expedition was suggested by Dr.
Von Mueller, whose anxiety for the discovery of Leichardt was rather
increased than abated by the disappointment experienced. He proposed that
I should start from the upper waters of the Murchison River with a light
party and provisions for six months, and endeavour to reach Carpentaria.
He thought, not only would such an expedition almost certainly find some
traces of the lost explorer, but probably would make geographical
discoveries of the highest interest and importance. In a paper in the
Colonial Monthly he argued that:

"While those who searched after traces of the lost party did not solve
the primary objects of their mission, their labours have not been without
importance to geographical science. The course of one traveller connected
the southern interior of Queensland in a direct route with the vast
pastoral depressions about Lake Torrens; the researches of another
explorer, bent on ascertaining Leichardt's fate, unfolded to us a tract
of table country, now already occupied by herds and flocks, not less in
length than that of Sweden and Italy...We should bear fully in mind how a
line in Leichardt's intended direction would at once enable the squatters
of North-East Australia to drive their surplus of flocks and herds easily
across to the well-watered, hilly and grassy country within close
proximity to the harbour of the north-west coast."

I should have been well satisfied to undertake an expedition in the
proposed direction, starting from the head of the Murchison, and trying
to connect my route with that of Mr. A. Gregory's down Sturt Creek; but
the difficulty of obtaining funds and lack of support caused the project
to be set aside or at least delayed. Mr. Weld, then Governor of Western
Australia, who always heartily supported explorations, was in favour of
an attempt to reach Adela