The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-13 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

The Earl of Ellesmere, president, in the chair.
Mr. William Phelps, Mr. D. Robertson Blaine, and
Mr. Henry Donkin were officially introduced upon their
eledi or.
Captain L. A. Shadwell, R.N., C. 8., Captain A. P.
E. Wilmot, R.N.' the Rev. John Kennedy, M.A., Mr.
Norman Cowley, Mr. W. F. Gamut Farmer, M.
Ben-
jamin Ifill, Mr. J., H. Johnston, and Mr. Alfred Rus-
sell Wallace, were elected fellows.

The papers read were—
"l. Successful exploration of the River Murray by
Captain Cadell and Governor Sir H. Young in the
Lady Augusta steamer, communicated through the
Colonial-office." -
Sir RODERICK MURCHISON observed that he had re•
ceived a very interesting letter from Captain Cadell with
reference to the further examination of the river anti its
great tributaries. The original exploration of the Mur-
ray by Captain Sturt was also adverted to, in connection
with the results of his labours in the settlement of South
Australia and the great internal navigation now opened
up.
" 2. Observations on the proposed North Australian
expedition, under Captain Stokes, R.N., by Captain
Sturt." - -

St. E lmund's, Clifton-terrace, Feb. 12, 1854.
My dear Dr. Shaw,—l am so anxions to assist the
council of the Geographical Society, if I may be per-
mitted to say so, either in the event of its being called
on by the Duke of Newcastle for any further sugges-
tions as to the country to be explored by the contem-
plated expedition to Northern Australia, or in the event
of the council taking the subject again under considera-
tion, .that I have taken up my pen, in the hope that
I may lighten his labours, and perhaps throw some
new light on the question. It is one that I may say I
have unceasingly and carefully studied, with an earnest
desire to arrive at just conclusions, but,, unfortunately
for myself, I stand alone in this matter. The features
of the interior, over which I have wandered, are so diffe-
rent from those of other explorers, and the deductions I
have been led to arrive at are so contrary to the experience
of other travellers, that I confess I set forth my views with
diffidence and hesitation ; nevertheless I feel it to be my
duty to promote by any means in my power the suc-
cess of an undertaking which, if conducted byjudgment
and caution, will, in its successful issue, lead to the
most important geoaraphical and commercial results. If
I rightly understoodr the views of the Royal Geographi-
cal SJciety, as regards the line of exploration it intended
the expedition to take, if the direction of it bad still
remained in the hands of the society, and which, I
believe, the council did submit for the approval of
the Duke of Newcastle. was, closely to examine the
country between the Victoria and Albert rivers, and
to descend at some favourable points to the southern
interior, to ascertain, if possible, the northern limit of
the great central desert. Vonsideriii:( the limited funds
at the disposal of the Royal Geographical Society, no
line of route could, in my humble opinion, have been
more judiciously selected, embracing as it would have
done that portion of the continent from an examination
of which the most reasonable expectations of the dis-
covery of a fine country might have been encouraged.
As, however, the conduct of the expedition is now in
the hands of the Colonial Minister, and is to be carried
out on a scale commensurate with its importance, it will
embrace a wider field of exploration, and it is to a con-
sideration of the subject in this particular that I would
very respectfully draw the attention of the Society. In
my published account of my last central expedition,
I explained as fully as I could the ground on which
I based my conviction that the continent of Aus-
tralia had once been an archipelago of islands ; and
that at that period there must have been a broad
strait between the Gulf of Carpentaria and the great
Australian bight. lam satisfied, indeed, that the whole
country to the south, from the gulf which is now occu-
pied by the Darling and the. Murray, was then under
water. The strait extending from the gulf of Carpentaria
to the great Australian bight would have been in the
shape of an 5, only inverted thus-5 ; and the sea bed
of this strait now forms the great des, rt of the interior.
If this is true, the northern limit of the desert will sweep
the base of any high lands that may be to the north,
until it trends west parallel to the west coast, and ter-
minates at the bight. Having said thus much on the
probable character of the interior, I would draw the at-
tention of the council to three different points-1. The
exploration of the southern interior; 2. Tee examention
of Arnhem's Land; and, 3. The exploration of a line
of route inside beicharit's track to warns Moreton Bay.
As regards the first, it will be mine nbered that when
approaching the centre of the continent on my last
expe4tion, I crossed a stony plain, on which our
horses left no track, and which was totally destitute
of veget ttion • that from this plain I descended some
two or three feet to an earthy plain, cut by numerous
channels, but like the stony plain, extremely desti-
tute of vegetation. This last plain resembled the dried-
up bed of an immense muddy lake : so much, in-
deed, did the ground over which I trod resemble an
approach to a vast valley of water, that I momentarily
expected to see a mass of waters giittering away to the
westward of me. Now this earthy plain was, as far as I
could judge, the lowest part of the interior, as almost
immediately after crossing it we got on the southern fall
of waters, the fall having previously been to the north ;
it must, therefore, be the receptacle of all the interior
waters of the continent, excepting those at the south-
east angle. Now there can be no doubt but that both
the stony and earthy plain are at times under water to
the depth of 3 or 4 feet. and must present a breadth
of from 30 to 40 miles. Now, the dip of the continent
being to the westward, the question naturally arises,
where or to what points do these waters flow ? Do they
accumulate and form an inland sea, separated from
the ocean by the great Australians wall ? or do
they follow the principle of all the internal rivers of
the continent, an I spreading over still greater areas
are they lost by the joint effects of evaporation
and absorption ? This, I do not hesitate to say, is tile
greatest remaining geographical problem of the day,
the solution of which weal" renloun 1 as much to the
credit of the noble head of the Colonial Department and
to the country as to the in lividual who solved it. I
think it more than prole able that on the southern dice cf the
heights in which the Victoria has it s basin, a stream might
be discovered that would lead the party right into tile
desert. The determination of this question would open
out or close for ever the hope of inland communication
between Western Australia and Southern Australia, or
between the former and the south coast. It is true that
the whole of the west coast is barren and forbidding,
but the features of the country in Australia changes so
rapidly that there is no knowing what kind of region
exists behind. It may be a sea or it may be a desert,
it may be bad or it may be good land. How can
we tell but that an alluvial and luxuriant region has
been thrown up by gradual earthy depositions of the
great central stream? At all events, a descent to the
south from the head of the Victoria would strike the de-
sert sufficiently to-the westward of where I was to justify
a hope of a change of feature. 2dly. As regards the tract
of country between the Victoria and the Albert,
when I was on the Darling, in 1823, I observed vast
flights of birds migrating from the colony of New South
Wales to the north-west. In South Australia I
ob-
served the same kind of birds migrating about due north,
perhaps somewhat to the westward of that point—
now, these birds occupy the richest valleys in the
respective colonies they visit, frequenting indeed in
New South Wales valleys in which gold has since been
discovered. I inferred that at the point at which the two
points would meet would be country similar to that they
were known to resort to ire the located districts, for we
may draw fair and reasonable conclusions from the regu-
lar migration of the feathered tribes. I conclude, there-
fore, that about 3 or 4 degrees north of the tropic—
say in 20 deg., and in long. 136 deg. ; a fine country
would be found, and I still think so, although I failed
in gaining that point. It would, however, be some-
what to the south of the line of exploration from the
Victoria to the Albert ; but as the whole of Arnhem's
Land would have to be well examined, it would no doubt
fall under the notice of the explorer, and if a descent
could be made from it to the south-east, a line of com-
munication much nearer than any known would be
established between the east and north coast to the
Victoria. I speak of this as independent of the survey
of the Albert, and I cannot but think it would ere long
prove of vast commercial advantage. It would, how-
ever, be impossible to carry on such a survey without
the co-operation of a surveying vessel. It is considered
of real importance to prosecute this undertaking, the
combined surveys by sea and land are indispensably
necessary ; and I would fain believe that Sir F. Beau-
fort, the able head of the Hydrographical Department of
the Admiralty, would see that there is ample work to
be done on the N. and W. coast of the continent, and
whose heart and soul are in progress of maritime dis-
covery as mine is in inland—would give his cordial ap-
proval to such an arrangement.

I ail afraid, however, that I am trespassing too long
on the patience of the council, ;Ind have only to appre-
hend that I have been obscure in my remarks, hurriedly
as they have been made ; but I hope the Rug of Elles-
mere will impute it to my interest in the subject, and
excuie an intrusion, for which I should not otherwise
have any apology.—Believe me to remain, my dear Dr.
Shaw, yours very truly and faithfully

CHARLES STURT.
" 3. Remarks on the Exploration of North Australia,
by Capt. Stokes, R.N."

The PRESIDENT announced the publication of the
general index to the second ten volumes of the journal,
and likewise of the twenty-third volume of the society's
transactions, and congratulated the society upon the in-
creased size and value of this volume, and observed that,
having read it very attentively, he was happy to say that
it was perhaps the most valuable journal that had been
published by the society, containing as it does eleven
maps, with other illustrations. His lordship finally
mentioned that he had recommended, by the direction
of the council, to the Duke of Newcastle the appoint-
ment, besides Captain Stokes, of Captain Sturt, Dr.
Thomas Thomson, anti Mr. Thomas Baines, to accom-
pany the proposed North Australian expedition ; and
also expressed a hope that Mr. Wilson might be em-
ployed as one of the party in the capacity of a geologist
and mineralogist.

NAVAL COMFORTS.—The health and requirements of
the troops destined for Russia have been especially
cared for. Many necessaries, not to say luxuries, have
been ordered, and the humblest in the regiments is des-
tined to share in comforts which would have surprised
the commanders of byegone campaigns. Even the afire.
nuns of a sea voyage received attention at the hands of
the authorities, who have give l directions amongst
others to provile each man with sufficient marine soap
(under Gibh's patent) to last the trip. In this respect
the soldier is better off than the &allot-, who, we believe,
with a bare exception or so, is still obliged to use a soap ;
for his ablutions which la totally useless in salt water. -