Explorations in Australia | Page 5

I am of opinion I shall be able to show most favourable
results. I should have been glad for this information to have
accompanied my works, but I find I cannot postpone them longer for
that purpose, as parties have already taken advantage of the delay
occasioned by my illness at the time of, and since, my arrival home to
collect what scraps of information they could obtain, with the intention
of publishing them as my travels. I leave the reward of such conduct to
a discriminating public; I shall not fail to carry out my intention with
regard to a Telegraph line; and should I have no opportunity of
submitting it to the public, I shall take care to advance the matter in
such channels as may be most likely to lead to a successful issue. I beg
reference to my map accompanying this work, which will at once show
the favourable geographical situation of the Adelaide River for a
settlement, and the short and safe route it opens up for communication
and trading with India: indeed when I look upon the present system of
shipping to that important empire, I cannot over-estimate the
advantages that such an extended intercourse would create."

Mr. Stuart is also very anxious for the formation of a new colony on the
scene of his discoveries on the River Adelaide, and would fain have
been one of the first pioneers of such an enterprise, but his health has
been so much shattered by his last journey that he can only now hope to
see younger men follow in the path which he had made his own. He
writes as follows:--
"Judging from the experience I have had in travelling through the
Continent of Australia for the last twenty-two years, and also from the
description that other explorers have given of the different portions
they have examined in their journeys, I have no hesitation in saying,
that the country that I have discovered on and around the banks of the
Adelaide River is more favourable than any other part of the continent
for the formation of a new colony. The soil is generally of the richest
nature ever formed for the benefit of mankind: black and alluvial, and
capable of producing anything that could be desired, and watered by
one of the finest rivers in Australia. This river was found by Lieutenant
Helpman to be about four to seven fathoms deep at the mouth, and at
one hundred and twenty miles up (the furthest point he reached) it was
found to be about seven fathoms deep and nearly one hundred yards
broad, with a clear passage all the way up. I struck it about this point,
and followed it down, encamping fifteen miles from its mouth, and
found the water perfectly fresh, and the river broader and apparently
very deep; the country around most excellent, abundantly supplied with
fresh water, running in many flowing streams into the Adelaide River,
the grass in many places growing six feet high, and the herbage very
close--a thing seldom seen in a new country. The timber is chiefly
composed of stringy-bark, gum, myall, casurina, pine, and many other
descriptions of large timber, all of which will be most useful to new
colonists. There is also a plentiful supply of stone in the low rises
suitable for building purposes, and any quantity of bamboo can be
obtained from the river from two to fifty feet long. I measured one
fifteen inches in circumference, and saw many larger. The river
abounds in fish and waterfowl of all descriptions. On my arrival from
the coast I kept more to the eastward of my north course, with the
intention of seeing further into the country. I crossed the sources of the
running streams before alluded to, and had great difficulty in getting
more to the west. They take their rise from large bodies of springs

coming from extensive grassy plains, which proves there must be a
very considerable underground drainage, as there are no hills of
sufficient elevation to cause the supply of water in these streams. I feel
confident that, if a new settlement is formed in this splendid country, in
a few years it will become one of the brightest gems in the British
Crown. To South Australia and some of the more remote Australian
colonies the benefits to be derived from the formation of such a colony
would be equally advantageous, creating an outlet for their surplus beef
and mutton, which would be eagerly consumed by the races in the
Indian Islands, and payment made by the shipment of their useful
ponies, and the other valuable products of those islands; indeed I see
one of the finest openings I am aware of for trading between these
islands and a colony formed where