led districts, his journal ends.

JOURNAL OF MR. STUART'S FIFTH EXPEDITION. FROM NOVEMBER, 1860, TO
SEPTEMBER, 1861.

When Mr. Stuart reached Adelaide, in October, 1860, on his return from
his last expedition, bringing with him the intelligence that he had
penetrated to the northward almost as far as the eighteenth degree of
south latitude, and had only been forced to retreat by the hostility of
the natives, the South Australian Parliament voted a sum of 2500 pounds
for a larger, better-armed, and more perfectly organized party, of which
he was to be the leader. The ill-fated Victorian expedition, under Burke
and Wills, had already started from Melbourne, on the previous 20th of
August, amid all the excitement of a popular ovation, but a messenger was
instantly despatched by the Victorian Government to overtake them, in
order to give them what information the South Australian Government
allowed to be known. On the 29th of November Mr. Stuart was ready to
start once more, and left Moolooloo with seven men and thirty horses,
arriving at Mr. Glen's station on the 1st of December, and at Goolong
Springs on the 4th. He was delayed at the latter place for several days,
in consequence of the horses, and more especially the town horses, being
unmanageable and unequal to their work. The party reached Welcome Springs
on the 8th, and Finniss Springs on the 11th. The water at Finniss Springs
seemed to have an injurious influence on the town horses, but those that
had been with Mr. Stuart on his previous journeys were not so much
affected. The following evening they arrived at Chambers Creek, where
they remained until the end of the month.

During their stay at Chambers Creek they were occupied in killing and
drying bullocks, mending saddles, weighing rations, shoeing horses, and
generally preparing to start. Several of the horses, which had been
knocked up and left behind on the way, had to be brought up; others
became quite blind, one was lost, and one died. On the 31st of December
four fresh horses arrived, which had been kindly sent up by Mr. Finke the
moment he heard of the difficulty in which Mr. Stuart was placed. The
party was also further increased, both by horses and men, so that when it
left Chambers Creek, on the 1st of January, 1861, it numbered twelve men
and forty-nine horses. The following is the list of those who started:--

John McDouall Stuart, Leader of the Expedition.
William Kekwick, Second in Command.
F.