Compared with the great size of the island continent, it will be seen that but an insignificant portion had, by the end of the eighteenth century come under the sway of colonisation. The rivers Hawkesbury, Nepean, and Grose, with other minor tributaries in the neighbourhood of Sydney. To the north, the river Hunter, and to the south, the district now known as the Illawarra. This was the sum total of the known country inside the coastal line; and with all the wish to extend their knowledge of their wide domain, the administrative demands of the little colony pressed too heavily on the authorities to permit them to devote much time to extended exploration. CHAPTER II. The great drought of 1813--The development of country by stocking-- Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth cross the Blue Mountains--Reach the head of coast waters and return--Surveyor Evans sent out--Crosses the watershed and finds the Macquarie River--Construction of road over the range--Settlement of Bathurst--Visit of Governor Macquarie--Second expedition under Evans--Discovery of the Lachlan River--Surveyor-General Oxley explores the Lachlan--Finds the river terminates in swamps--Returns by the Macquarie--His opinion of the interior--Second expedition down the Macquarie--Disappointment again--Evans finds the Castlereagh--Liverpool Plains discovered--Oxley descends the range and finds Port Macquarie-- Returns to Newcastle-Currie and Ovens cross the Morumbidgee--Brisbane Downs and Monaroo--Hume and Hovell cross to Port Phillip--Success of the expedition. The first ten years of the present century were singularly devoid of excursions inland. The strip of country between the range and the sea, sufficing for the immediate wants of the settlers, and the discovery of the Hunter River having opened so much new country for their use, no actual necessity compelled them at this period to go further a-field. This lack of urgent need, combined with the bad success that had attended all efforts to penetrate the mountains, had somewhat damped the ardour of the colonists. But throughout these years the stock steadily increased, and the severe drought in 1813 led some of the settlers to make another attempt to find out new pasture lands. The victory that at last crowned the struggle may be said to have at once inaugurated a new phase of exploration The days of expeditions on foot, when each man carried his own supply of provisions, and the limit of their journey only extended a little over a hundred miles, were past. Horses were now destined to play an important part in the outfit of the explorer, and take their share of sacrificing their lives in the cause.