elonged. At this settlement--the
only point of relief after eighteen months' travel--Leichhardt and his
exhausted party arrived.

"Of Leichhardt's sad fate, in the interior of Australia, no certain
tidings have ever been heard. I, who have wandered into and returned
alive from the curious regions he attempted and died to explore, have
unfortunately never come across a single record, nor any remains or
traces of the party."

Leichhardt started on his last sad venture with a party of eight,
including one or two native black-boys. They had with them about twenty
head of bullocks broken in to carry pack loads. "My first and second
expeditions," says Giles, "were conducted entirely with horses, but in
all subsequent journeys I was accompanied by camels." His object, like
that of Leichhardt, was to force his way across the thousand miles of
country that lay untrodden and unknown between the Australian telegraph
line and the settlements upon the Swan River. And Giles remarks that the
exploration of 1000 miles in Australia is equal to at least 10,000 miles
on any other part of the earth's surface--always excepting the Poles.

I continued residing on the shores of the lagoon in the hope that my
patient would eventually get better, when I proposed continuing my
journey north. I was still quite unable to understand his babblings,
although he was for ever mentioning the names of persons and places
unknown to me; and he constantly spoke about some exploring party. He
never asked me questions, nor did he get into serious trouble with the
natives, being privileged. He never developed any dangerous vices, but
was simply childlike and imbecile.

Gradually I had noticed that, instead of becoming stronger, he was fading
away. He was constantly troubled with a most distressing complaint, and
in addition to this he would be seized with fits of depression, when he
would remain in his hut for days at a time without venturing out. I
always knew what was the matter with him when he was not to be seen.
Sometimes I would go in to try and cheer him up, but usually it was a
hopeless effort on my part.

Of course he had a wife given him, and this young person seemed to
consider him quite an ordinary specimen of the white man. Indeed, she
was vastly flattered, rather than otherwise, by the attentions lavished
upon her husband by her people. One reason for this treatment was that
she was considered a privileged person to be related i