Dense scrub and the same "dreary dismal desert," as he calls it in his Journal, surrounded them day after day.

Tired out and half-starved they reached the coast, and had but two meals left to carry them to Streaky Bay, where they found relief at Gibson's station.

Here the sudden change from starvation to a full diet invalided most of them, and Stuart himself was very ill for some days.

Finally they reached Thompson's station at Mount Arden, and there Stuart's first expedition terminated.
But this severe test only whetted Stuart's appetite for further exploration, and in April, 1859, he made another start.

After crossing over some of the already-traversed country, Hergott, one of his companions, found the now well-known springs that bear his name.