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23 CHAPTER III. Geography of South Australia—Scarcity of rivers—Drying up of streams—Port Lincoln—Lake Torrens—The Murray—Overland journey —Dr. Imlay — Native canoe — Plain of Adelaide—Soil— The Glenelg. Oun knowledge of the interior of South Australia is ex tremely limited ; to use a common phrase, it might be compressed within a “ nut-shell.” The two hundred mil lions of acres contained within the geographical boun daries of the territory are completely a terra incognita, with the exception of the tract which borders upon the two gulfs, Spencer’s and St. Vincent’s. To assert, with this fact staring us in the face, as some writers have ven tured to do, that, from one end of South Australia to the other all is barrenness, would indeed be to draw a most lame and impotent conclusion. The progress of geogra phical discovery has been far slower in this self-supporting settlement than in any other of Australia, the colonists having been so busily engaged in speculation, in special surveys, and town allotments, that they had no time to spare for such secondary objects as rearing crops, esta blishing sheep and cattle stations, and exploring the interior, with a view to ascertain what extent of land they