But all this was but the glamourie of the desert -- on closer examination the gigantic gums dwindled down to stunted bushes, and the mountainous ground to broken clods of earth.
But the greatest surprise reserved for Goyder was at Lake Torrens, where he found the water quite fresh.

He described the Lake as stretching from fifteen to twenty miles to the north-west, with a water horizon, with an extensive bay forming to the southward; while to the north, a bluff headland and perpendicular cliffs were clearly to be discerned with the telescope.

From the appearance of the flood-marks, Goyder came to the conclusion that there was little or no rise and fall in the lake, drawing the natural conclusion that its size was such as not to be influenced appreciably by flood waters, but that it absorbed them without showing any variation in its level.
Adelaide was overjoyed at the news.

The threatening desert that hemmed in their fair province to the north was suddenly converted into a land of milk and honey.

The Surveyor-General, Colonel Freeling, immediately started out, taking with him both a boat and an iron punt with which to float on these new waters.