Thursday, 18th June.-Thermometer last night 64°, this morning 66°; very windy morning. Thermometer 78°, cloudy day. Smoking Hollowback. Friday, 19th June.-Thermometer last night 76°, this morning 58°. A warm night, a few sprinkles of rain. Some natives commenced yelling near the camp this morning. Three only made their appearance. They were the least offensive and most civil met by us in any of our travels. We gave them some of the bones and odd pieces of horse-meat, which seemed to give them great satisfaction, and they ate some pieces raw. They only remained about three hours. The day was windy and disagreeable. A blast of wind blew my only thermometer, which was hanging on a small sapling, and dashed it so violently against the ground, that it broke. One of the natives, who visited us to-day, had long curls waving in the wind, which hung down below his shoulders; the other two had chignons. Still smoking Hollowback. Mr. Tietkens had been using a small pair of bright steel plyers, when these natives were here. When the natives were gone, the plyers had also departed. Saturday, 20th June.-Smoking horse and mending bags as usual. Sunday, 21st June.-Smoking Hollowback. Monday, 22nd June.-Smoking and packing up. On the road we Tuesday, 23rd June.-I now intended to go to the north-north-eastward, to King's Creek, in the Gill's Range, of my former expedition, and which I presumed to be the spot, from whence Mr. Gosse had reached this rock; of course my Lake Amadeus lay in the road, but Mr. Gosse must have crossed it with his waggon, and I had no doubt his crossing-place would suit me also, though I did not expect to find any water between here and Gill's Range. We only went four miles this evening, and let the horses go back to the rock without hobbles. Wednesday, 24th June. Started at twelve o'clock. got water by digging at a native well, to which Mr. Gosse's dray-track took us. When we reached King's Creek we found it dry. At Penny's Creek, four miles east of it, there was plenty of water. We had now a fair and fertile track to the River Finke, discovered by me upon my former expedition, getting water at Petermann's Creek, fish and water at Middleton's Ponds; thence down the Palmer by Rogers's Pass and Briscoe's Pass, and on to the Finke, where there is a fine permanent waterhole at the junction. He Friday, 10th July.-Being at Crown-Point on the Finke-River, we met Mr. Alfred Frost and his teams going to the Alice-Springs. was most hospitable and kind to us, and gave us plenty of white man's food, and we stayed a day with him and his party, and they gave us all the news of the world, and in return for their kindness we gave them all our remaining stock of Hollowback (for their dogs). Monday, 13th July.—At about twelve o'clock we reached the Charlotte-Waters Telegraph-Station, and were most kindly received, clothed and fed by my excellent friend and namesake, Mr. Christopher Giles, jun., and all the staff at that establishment testified their pleasure at our return. Our welcome at the Peake was also most gratifying, by Mr. and Mrs. Blood, at the Telegraph-Station, and by Mr. John Bagot, at his cattle-station, who also supplied us with many necessaries. I have now but a few concluding remarks to make, for my second expedition is at an end, and those who have had the patience to wade through the verbose and rambling narrative of my wanderings are doubtless as willing to arrive at its conclusion as I was. I may truly say, that for twelve months I have been the well-wrought slave, not only of the sextant, the compass and the pen, but also of the shovel, the axe and the needle; there has been a continual strain upon brain and muscle. The leader of such an expedition as mine, with only three companions at starting and two at the finish, could not stand by and give orders for certain work to be performed, but must join in it and with the good example of heart and hand assist and cheer those, with whom he is associated. To my friend and second, Mr. Tietkens, I am under great obligations, for I have always found him (as my readers have doubtless perceived) ever ready and ever willing for the most arduous and disagreeable of our many undertakings. My expedition has in its main objects been unsuccessful, and my most sanguine hopes have been destroyed; as for years I had cherished the thought of being the first to cross this Continent from east to west, and it may have been the hope of others also. I know, at starting, a great deal was expected from me; and if I have not fulfilled the hopes of my friends, I can only console them with the fact, that I could not even fulfil my own; but if it is conceded, that I have done my devoir as an Australian explorer should, then I shall be satisfied. Many trials and many bitter hours must the explorer of such a region experience, whether successful or unsuccessful in his attempt. The life of a man is to be held at no more than a moment's purchase, while engaged in such an enterprise; and it may be truly said, we have passed through a baptism worse indeed than that of fire-the baptism of no water. Three expeditions, starting almost simultanously from different points, to penetrate to the west, was a remarkable point in the history of the exploration of this Continent, and I with my diminutive force and sparse equipment had scarcely a right to contend in the same field, while the other expeditions were furnished with camels. It is with no feelings of envy whatever, that I hail my old friend Colonel Warburton as the victor in this contest, in which he also nearly fell upon the field of his renown. His gallant old hand has planted the flag, and his gallant old brows shall wear the crown— -the laurel-crown of triumph and of victory, for peace hath her victories no less renowned than war; and it will surprise no one, if our gracious Sovereign, with her honour-giving hand, should lay the glittering accolade of knighthood upon his shoulder; and, in such a case, the liberal and enlightened patron and patriot, at whose desire and support this great undertaking was accomplished, will not be forgotten. I, the defeated and unsuccessful, can lay no flattering unction to my soul, and having abandoned the task, shall return again into that seclusion and obscurity, unknowing and unknown, from whence I may for a brief moment meteor-like have emerged. That I shall ever again take the field is more than I can undertake to say. But I will now only add, that a line of permanent waters has been found to Sladen-Water and Fort McKellar, on the Rawlinson-Range, which latter cannot be further away from the Murchison-River than 350 or 400 miles; out of that distance, or rather into it, I penetrated 120 miles, and saw ranges lying about thirty miles further away; these I have named the Alfred and Marie Ranges, after their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. At what price these ranges were seen, I need not now repeat, but they are there, and it is highly probable, that water exists in them also. From these ranges, only one water between would carry the traveller to the River Murchison; but it is only with camels that there is much likelihood of a successful and permanently valuable issue. In case of any future attempt only one gentleman in the whole of Australia can supply the means of its accomplishment, and to him the country at large must be in future, as it is at present, indebted for ultimate discoveries. Of course that gentleman is the Hon. Thomas Elder. I have now to thank those gentlemen in Victoria, who so kindly subscribed to the fund for my expedition, and to the gentlemen of the late Ministry of South Australia, who subsidised the fund; and lastly, my most excellent friend, Baron Mueller, who raised the fund on my behalf, and generously brought me before the public as a man, suitable to undertake the exploration of the unknown portions of this Continent; and if the world's opinion will coincide with his upon the matter, I at least shall be satisfied. ERNEST GILES. |