ide by way of the south coast, and offered me
the command of an expedition in that direction.

I readily accepted the offer, and at once busied myself with the
necessary preparations, but was far from being insensible to the
difficulties of the undertaking. Of the route nothing was known except
the disastrous experience of Mr. Eyre in 1840 and 1841. His remarkable
narrative--interesting to all concerned in the history of explorations or
in the records of energy, courage, and perseverance under the most
discouraging circumstances--might have acted as a warning to future
explorers against endeavouring to follow in his track. The fearful
privations he endured, his narrow escape from the most terrible of all
forms of death, were certainly not encouraging; but his experience might
often be of service to others, pointing out dangers to be avoided, and
suggesting methods of overcoming difficulties. At any rate, I was not
deterred from the attempt to trace once more the coast of the Great
Bight, and to reach the sister colony by that route. Eyre had not
discovered any rivers, although it was possible that he might have
crossed the sand-bars of rivers in the night. The difficulties he
laboured under in his almost solitary journey, and the sufferings he
endured, might have rendered him unable to make observations and
discoveries more practicable to a better equipped and stronger party,
while the deficiency of water on the route appeared to offer the greatest
impediment. We were not, however, deterred from the attempt, and on the
30th of March, 1870, we started from Perth on a journey which all knew to
be dangerous, but which we were sanguine enough to believe might produce
considerable results.

That we were not disappointed the result will prove. Indeed, the
difficulties were much fewer than we had been prepared to encounter; and
in five months from the date of departure from Perth we arrived safely at
Adelaide, completing a journey which Mr. Eyre had been more than twelve
months in accomplishing.

THE EXPLORING PARTY.

My party was thus composed: I was leader; the second in command was my
brother, Alexander Forrest, a surveyor; H. McLarty, a police constable;
and W. Osborne, a farrier and shoeing smith, these with Tommy Windich,
the native who had served me so faithfully on the previous expedition,
and another native, Billy Noongale, an intelligent young fellow,
accompanied us.

Before I enter upon the details of my journ