few and sluggish rivers were lost in shallow lakes, to disappear by
evaporation; others again, believed it to be an immense bed of sand where
no rivers formed, and the thirsty sands absorbed the scanty rainfall; and
many imagined an inland sea connected with the ocean by subterranean
outlets: one and all agreed in its inhospitable nature.

There was nothing hopeful nor inspiriting in the outlook to induce men to
attempt to penetrate this silent desert, save the love of adventure, and
the gratification of a laudable curiosity.

The convicts, who in efforts to regain their liberty, from time to time
made desperate attempts to escape, either perished miserably or, daunted
by the sterile nature of the land and the hostility of the natives,
returned to give themselves up, before reaching any distance from the
settlement. The work of exploration was toilsome and difficult, from the
lack of beasts of burden. Each member of the party had a heavy pack to
carry, and when to that was added the cumbrous firearms and ammunition of
those times, a day's journey was no light labour. The weary system of
counting the paces all day must have considerably added to the monotony
of the march. Two thousand and two hundred paces over good ground were
allowed to a mile. When too, nature had barred the way with an apparently
insurmountable range, it is not to be wondered at that the area of
explored country was not very widely extended during the first twenty
years of settlement.

In striking contrast to other portions of the world's surface that have
been slowly explored and examined by the European nations, Australia has
throughout retained a character of its own. From the coastal formation of
most lands, fair indications could be obtained of the character of the
interior. Large rivers gave evidence of a defined system of drainage, the