stone. Both theories have been since found to be partially true. The first is realised in Lake Eyre, whose extent is not yet fully known. On the other hand, it is certain that there exists a desert of sand, as well as great shingle plains, which have received the name of the Stony Desert. The former is thickly covered with spinifex grass, but many parts are mere barren sandy wastes. The nature and extent of the Stony Desert are thus described by Father Woods: "It is most probably a series of plains instead of one vast desert, and is not all equally thickly strewn with stones or destitute of vegetation. . . . The stones again are not in every place of equal size. They are very small in some localities, and form almost boulders in others." The same author informs us that the desert sometimes, rises into ridges from one to two hundred feet high, covered with stone fragments; but where it is all of the same level, it assumes the appearance of an immense sea-beach, with large fragments of rock scattered over the surface or buried in the ground, as if by the force of waters. The favourite theory with regard to this desert is that the stones are "the remains left by some long-continued current of water running through the centre of the continent."

Burke and his party, with no trustworthy knowledge of the thousands of miles which they were to traverse, addressed themselves to the hitherto unaccomplished task of crossing the Australian continent from sea to sea. The following brief account of their journey from Melbourne northward to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and of the disasters which attended their return, is taken for the most part from the narrative of the explorers themselves.

It will be well in the outset to say a few words on the previous career of the two who most distinguished themselves during the exploration. Mr. Jackson's book, "Robert O'Hara Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition of 1860," supplies us with the following facts: Robert O'Hara Burke was the third son of Thomas Hardiman Burke, the representative of one of the oldest families in the west of Ireland. He was born in 1821, at St. Cleran's, county of Galway. After studying at Woolwich Academy and in Belgium, he served as lieutenant in the seventh regiment of Hungarian Hussars in the Austrian service; and on returning to his native land, obtained an appointment in the Irish Constabulary. Shortly after his emigration to Australia in 1853, he procured an important position in the police force of Victoria. When the Crimean war broke out, he went home on leave of absence, hoping to obtain a commission and take part in the struggle. His expectations met with disappointment, and he returned to Australia. In 1860, he was appointed to the arduous post of leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition.

William John Wills was born at Totness, Devonshire, in 1834, and studied for the medical profession. In 1852, he emigrated with his father to Australia, where his talents and attainments enabled him to secure a position in the Melbourne Observatory. Requesting an appointment in the Exploring Expedition, he was nominated astronomical and meteorological observer and third in command, the second officer being a gentleman named Landells, who imported

from India the camels of the Expedition. Wills was but twentyseven years of age when he perished with Burke on the homeward journey from Carpentaria.

On the 20th of August, 1860, in the midst of enthusiastic cheers, the Expedition defiled from the Royal Park of Melbourne. It consisted of fifteen men, who carried with them on camels and horses twelve months' provisions. Early in September they quitted the colony of Victoria and entered the territory of New South Wales, crossing the Murray, the most considerable of the Australian rivers. They directed their course towards the Darling, a tributary of the Murray, and at Menindie, about 120 miles north of the point where the large river receives the waters of the smaller, Burke established his first depôt. Here, owing to some disputes with the leader, Landells, the second officer, and Dr. Beckler, the medical adviser of the Expedition, resigned and refused to leave the settled districts. Wills succeeded as second in command.

Wishing to find for the ready conveyance of the heavy baggage a direct and well-watered route to Cooper's Creek (native name, the Barcoo), a river with lake, about 400 miles north of Menindie, Burke divided his men, and leaving nearly half behind under the temporary charge of Dr. Beckler, pushed on himself in company with Wills and six others. He took with him sixteen camels, and about the same number of horses. A Mr. Wright, of Menindie, undertook to guide him. After travelling upwards of 200 miles through a country which was for the most part splendidly grassed and abundantly supplied with water, he reached a swamp, called Torowotto, towards the end of October. From this place he sent back Wright with a despatch to Menindie. He appointed Wright third officer of the Expedition, and instructed him to bring up to Cooper's Creek, as soon as possible, the remainder of the stores and camels. Burke was afterwards blamed for entrusting post of such importance to a man, of whom he had no previous personal knowledge. The sudden resignation, however, of Landells and Dr. Beckler rendered the appointment of a third officer necessary, and Burke declared in his despatch that Wright bore "the very highest character." The latter proved unfit for so responsible a position. Instead of obeying the strict injunctions which he had received to follow his leader with the stores without delay, he allowed most unaccountably three months to pass before starting for Cooper's Creek. He was thereby the cause of nearly all the disasters that attended the Exploration.

Burke's party reached Cooper's Creek without accident on the 11th of November. They established a depôt on the banks of the stream beside a fine, deep reach about a mile long. Here the pasturage was excellent, and brushwood abounded. In the valleys, formed by sand-hills, through which the stream flowed, large and numerous box-trees lent their shade to the waters. This depôt became so infested with rats that it had to be abandoned; and a permanent one was formed lower down the creek.

Pending the arrival of Wright with the rest of the Expedition, frequent excursions were made to the north to discover the nature of

the country. Wills advanced on one occasion ninety miles without finding water. The three camels he brought with him strayed into the brushwood and escaped; this obliged him to return. The camels subsequently found their way to the settled districts. It was only with much difficulty and danger that Wills and the man who accompanied him made their way back to Cooper's Creek. They took only forty-eight hours to reach it, although the summer heat was 130° in the sun, and 112° in the shade.

The country between Menindie and Cooper's Creek had been traversed by Burke in twenty-two days, yet six weeks had now elapsed since Wright's departure, and there was still no sign of his coming. Tired of waiting, and anxious to avail himself of heavy rain-falls to the north, Burke resolved on leaving half of his present party at the depôt, and undertaking with the rest to explore towards Carpentaria. Two horses were killed and dried for food; and a supply of provisions, calculated to last for three months, was carefully packed.

The 16th of December was the date fixed on for the departure of the advanced exploring party. On the morning of that day, after appointing William Brahé to the command of the depôt till Wright made his appearance, Burke shook hands with the men he left behind. One of them, an Irishman, who had known him since he was a boy, shed tears when bidding him good-bye. "Never mind, Patten," said Burke, "I shall return soon, but if I am not here in a few months, you may go back to the Darling." Poor Burke probably had a presentiment that he would never see him again.

It was characteristic of Burke that he inspired much affection in all who knew him intimately. He was a great favourite with the members of the Irish Constabulary force who served under him, several of whom followed him when he emigrated to Australia. Again, as Mr. Jackson informs us in the work already cited, his old nurse, Ellen Doherty, quitted her quiet and comfortable home on the family estate of St. Cleran's, and at the age of sixty-five made her way to Australia to see once more, before she died, her "dear Master Robert." Her affectionate longings met with a sad disappointment; she unfortunately did not arrive in Melbourne before his departure on the expedition which proved fatal to him. Her case, however, attracted notice and sympathy, and she was comfortably provided for by the Victorian Government.

The advanced exploring party consisted of Burke, Wills, King, and Gray. Brahé accompanied his leader twenty-two miles down the creek towards the west, and was desired by him, when parting, not to leave the depôt at Cooper's Creek unless compelled "by absolute necessity." Wills requested Brahé to remain for four months. In point of fact, he remained for more than four months, though when he commenced his return to the Darling, his provisions would have allowed him to remain much longer. Had he prolonged his stay by one day more, he would have saved the lives of Burke and Wills. In describing their setting out on this long and arduous journey, Father Woods says: "The little band, with their train of camels, were utterly ignorant of what was before them. They knew nothing from

actual experience, and what they could have learned from others would give them only false impressions. So they slowly wended their way, with doubt and anxiety, towards the reputed deserts which had already baffled so many. Considering how many, there is something admirable in the attempt being made by so weak and inexperienced a party-something wonderful in its success-something very mournful in its fatality. To be successful and then to die, as men do in battle, might be an enviable lot; but to be successful and then perish by such a death as that of the explorers! Well may we pity them, as they go down into the desert with their little train of camels and their small resources." (The Discovery and Exploration of Australia, vol. ii., chap. 22.)

The following order was observed by the exploring party: Burke and Wills walked on ahead, armed each with rifle and revolver, and steering in turn by a pocket compass; King led six camels; and Gray had charge of a horse. Wills examined the country, and every evening, after taking astronomical observations, wrote his diary. Burke wrote but little; he considered it enough to hear Wills read his notes and to suggest the changes he judged necessary. Their daily rations were a pound of bread, the same quantity of meat, and occasionally a little rice. They slept in the open air.

The diary, written by Wills, will supply us with the particulars of their progress. On the day of departure a large tribe of blacks came pestering us to go to their camp and have a dance, which we declined. They were very troublesome, and nothing but the threat to shoot them will keep them away; they are, however, easily frightened, and, although fine-looking men, decidedly not of a warlike disposition. They show the greatest inclination to take whatever they can, but will run no unnecessary risk in so doing. They seldom carry any weapon except a shield and large kind of boomerang (club), which, I believe, they use in killing rats, &c.; sometimes, but very seldom, they have a large spear; reed spears seem to be quite unknown to them. They are undoubtedly a finer and better-looking race of men than the blacks on the Murray and the Darling, and more peaceful; but in other respects, I believe, they did not compare favourably with them; for from the little we have seen of them, they appear to be mean-spirited and contemptible in every respect (Diary).

The country they passed through before they reached the Stony Desert in the north-west consisted of a series of plains, lightly timbered, richly grassed, and abounding with lagoons and water-courses. Pigeons, remarkable for their beautiful and graceful plumage, redbreasted cockatoos, and wild fowl of every description, swarmed on the waters, and sometimes flew overhead in such numbers as to darken the air. The explorers came occasionally upon valleys, traversed by streams, and presenting pictures of the most pleasing woodland scenery.

On the 22nd of December they reached the confines of the Stony Desert, whose level, desolate wastes, thickly covered with rounded pieces of quartz and sandstone, they saw stretching away for miles.

and miles before them. They struck across it in a west-north-west direction. Wills says in his Diary: "I know not whether it arose from our exaggerated anticipation of horrors or not, but we thought it far from bad travelling ground; and as to pasturage, it is only the actually stony ground that is bare." After crossing something more than twenty miles of the desert, they came upon 66 a fine creek with a splendid sheet of water." It was named after Gray, one of the party. Here they rested for a day (December 24th), to celebrate Christmas. "This was doubly pleasant," says the Diary, "as we had never in our most sanguine moments anticipated finding such a delightful oasis in the desert. Our camp was really an agreeable place, for we had all the advantages of food and water attending the position of a large creek or river, and were, at the same time, free from the annoyance of the numberless ants, flies, and mosquitoes that are invariably met with amongst timber or heavy scrub."

Next day they traversed soft clay plains, and came upon an encampment of blacks, who beckoned them away to the north-east; but they held on their course of north-west by north, and soon met a magnificent creek running in the direction of the savages. As the day was very hot, and the camels tired from travelling over the loose, yielding soil of the earthy plains, they halted beside this stream at one o'clock in the afternoon, and remained there for the rest of the day. Starting next morning at five o'clock, they kept along the banks of the creek, which were very steep, and rose to the height of from twenty to thirty feet above the water. Fine lines of timber and extensive tracts of box-forest with grassy plains were seen in the neighbourhood of this stream. After crossing to the opposite bank at the first fording-place they met, they advanced in a due north direction; but coming again on the creek, and finding that it turned too much to the east, they quitted it on the 30th of December. They took with them a ten days' supply of water, as hills were visible to the north, which appeared to be stony. During the six or seven days that followed they travelled through a dreary desert, destitute of vegetation.

On the 7th of January, they entered the tropics. From this point the country underwent a striking change for the better. They first traversed "fine open plains of firm argillaceous soil," subject to inundations from the numerous creeks that intersected them. A few extracts from the Diary will give a fair idea of the rich and fertile country through which they now passed.

"January 8.-As we proceeded, the country improved at every step; flocks of pigeons rose and flew off to the eastward, and fresh plants met our view on every rise; everything green and luxuriant. The horse licked his lips, and tried all he could to break his nosestring in order to get at the food. We camped at the foot of a sandy rise, where there was a large stony pan with plenty of water, and where the feed was equal in quality and superior as to variety to any that I have seen in Australia, excepting, perhaps, on some soils of volcanic origin.

"January 9.-Traversed six miles of undulating plains covered