xpected to assist my
son, and plenty of work was laid out for all, until Mr. Burke's
return, had the authorities known how to employ the proper people
and employed them in time.

There can be no doubt that Brahe received MOST POSITIVE ORDERS TO
REMAIN AT COOPER'S CREEK UNTIL THE RETURN OF THE EXPLORING PARTY
FROM THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA. Three and four months were named as
the possible time of absence. Brahe did remain over four months;
but even then it was in his power to have waited much longer, and
he ought to have done so. But the man was over-weighted; the
position was too much for him, and he gave way when a stronger mind
might have stood firm. The worst point about him appears to be his
want of consistency and miserable prevarication; but this may have
been weakness rather than absolute absence of principle, or of any
due sense of right or wrong. He was unfit to direct, but he might
have been directed. Mr. Burke has been blamed for trusting Brahe;
but he was the best of those who remained behind, and there were
not many to choose from. King has since told me that it was by my
son's advice Brahe was appointed, and that the arrival of the party
from Menindie was considered so certain, that the appointment was
looked upon only as a temporary affair. It has been also said that
King might have been left behind in charge, and Brahe taken on.
This arrangement, eligible in some respects, was open to objection
in others. Brahe could travel by compass and observation, which
King could not; and one so qualified might be wanted for a journey
to Menindie.

The details of the journey are given as follows, in my son's Field
Books, numbered from 1 to 7 consecutively, transcribed by Dr.
Mueller, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Cooper. I was associated with them as a
matter of personal delicacy to the memory of the deceased explorer.

MR. WILLS'S JOURNAL.

FIELD BOOK 1.

COOPER'S CREEK TO CARPENTARIA.

[The omissions in this diary are supplied by the information
contained in the maps, with the exception of the last two days on
the shore of the Gulf.]

Sunday, 16th December, 1860.--The horse having been shod and our
reports finished, we started at 6.40 A.M. for Eyre's Creek, the
party consisting of Mr. Burke, myself, King, and Charley, having
with us six camels, one horse, and three months' provisions. We
followed down the creek to the point where the sandstone ranges
cross the creek, and were accompanied to that place by Brahe, who