ture course. Burke wished to go to Adelaide,
because, at Mount Hopeless--where Eyre had been forced to turn back in
1840--there was now a large sheep station, and he thought it could not
be more than 150 miles away. Wills was strongly averse to this proposal.
"It is true," he said, "Menindie is 350 miles away, but then we know the
road, and are sure of water all the way." But Burke was not to be
persuaded, and they set out for Mount Hopeless. Following Cooper's Creek
for many miles, they entered a region of frightful barrenness. Here, as
one of the camels became too weak to go farther, they were forced to
kill it and to dry its flesh. Still they followed the creek, till at
last it spread itself into marshy thickets and was lost; they then made
a halt, and found they had scarcely any provisions left, while their
clothes were rotten and falling to pieces. Their only chance was to
reach Mount Hopeless speedily; they shot their last camel, and, whilst
Burke and King were drying its flesh, Wills struck out to find Mount
Hopeless; but no one knew which way to look for it, and Wills, after
laboriously traversing the dry and barren wastes in all directions, came
back unsuccessful. A short rest was taken, and then the whole party
turned southward, determined this time to reach the mount. But they were
too weak to travel fast; day after day over these dreary plains, and
still no sign of a hill; till at length, when they were within fifty
miles of Mount Hopeless, they gave in. Had they only gone but a little
farther, they would have seen the summit of the mountain rising upon the
horizon; but just at this point they lost hope and turned to go back.
After a weary journey, they once more reached the fresh water and the
grassy banks of Cooper's Creek, but now with provisions for only a day
or two. They sat down to consider their position, and Burke said he had
heard that the natives of Cooper's Creek lived chiefly on the seed of a
plant which they called nardoo; so that, if they could only find a
native tribe, they might, perhaps, learn to find sufficient subsistence
from the soil around them. Accordingly, Burke and King set out to seek a
native encampment; and, having found one, they were kindly received by
the blacks, who very willingly showed them how to gather the little
black seeds from a kind of grass which grows close to the ground.

With this information they returned to Wills; and, as the nardoo seed
was abundant, they began