of
what he was undertaking, that it would have been the greatest wonder
if he had returned alive to civilisation. He was accompanied by a
young man named Wills as surveyor and observer; he alone kept a diary,
and from his own statements therein he was frequently more than a
hundred miles out of his reckoning. That, however, did not cause his
or Burke's death; what really did so was bad management. The money
this expedition cost, variously estimated at from 40,000 to 60,000
pounds, was almost thrown away, for the map of the route of the
expedition was incorrect and unreliable, and Wills's journal of no
geographical value, except that it showed they had no difficulty with
regard to water. The expedition was, however, successful in so far
that Burke crossed Australia from south to north before Stuart, and
was the first traveller who had done so. Burke and Wills both died
upon Cooper's Creek after their return from Carpentaria upon the field
of their renown. Charles Gray, one of the party, died, or was killed,
a day or two before returning thither, and John King, the sole
survivor, was rescued by Alfred Howitt. Burke's and Stuart's lines of
travel, though both pushing from south to north, were separated by a
distance of over 400 miles in longitude. These travellers, or heroes I
suppose I ought to call them, were neither explorers nor bushmen, but
they were brave and undaunted, and they died in the cause they had
undertaken.

When it became certain in Melbourne that some mishap must have
occurred to these adventurers, Victoria, South Australia, and
Queensland each sent out relief parties. South Australia sent John
McKinlay, who found Gray's grave, and afterwards made a long
exploration to Carpentaria, where, not finding any vessel as he
expected, he had an arduous struggle to reach a Queensland cattle
station near Port Dennison on the eastern coast. Queensland sent
Landsborough by sea to Carpentaria, where he was landed and left to
live or die as he might, though of course he had a proper equipment of
horses, men, and gear. He followed up the Flinders River of Stokes,
had a fine country to traverse; got on to the head of the Warrego, and
finally on to the Darling River in New South Wales. He came across no
traces whatever of Burke. Victoria sent a relief expedition under
Walker, with several Queensland black troopers. Walker, crossing the
lower Barcoo, found a tree of Leichhardt's marked L, being the most
westerly known.