t of further delay, he started with Wills and two men for
Carpentaria. The others were left, with verbal instructions, to wait
three months for him. Thus, dispersed and neglected, he left the costly
equipment containing within itself all the elements of successful
geographical research. Certainly this was not the plan that had been
anticipated by the promoters and organisers. We have now, at this stage,
the spectacle of the main body loitering on the outskirts of the settled
districts, four men killing time on the banks of Cooper's Creek, and the
leader and three others scampering across the continent, all four of them
utterly inexperienced in bushcraft.

As might have been expected the results of the journey are most barren:
Wills's diary is sadly uninteresting, and Burke made only a few scanty
notes, at the end of which he writes: "28th March. At the conclusion of
report it would be as well to say that we reached the sea, but we could
not obtain a view of the open ocean, although we made every endeavour to
do so."

Shortly condensing Wills's diary, we gather the following account of
their route. The first point they intended to reach was Eyre's Creek, but
before arriving at it, they discovered a fine watercourse coming from the
north, which took them a long distance in the direction they desired to
follow. This watercourse, which McKinlay afterwards called the Mueller,
began in time to lead their steps too much to the eastward, in which
direction lay its source. They therefore quitted it and kept due north,
following a tributary well-supplied with both grass and water. This
tributary led them well on to the northern dividing range, which they
crossed without difficulty, coming down on to the head of the Cloncurry
River. By tracing that river down they reached the Flinders River, which
they followed down to the mangroves and salt water. They were, however,
considerably out in their longitude, for they thought that they were on
the Albert, over one hundred miles to the westward.

[Illustration. Scenes on Cooper's Creek (After Howitt).
1. Burke's Grave.
2. Where King was Found.
3. Grave of Wills.]

Having sighted salt water, if not the open sea, they commenced the
retreat. Gray and King were the two men who were with Burke and Wills;
and for equipment they had started with six camels, one horse, and three
months' provisions. Short rations and fatiguing marches now began to
tell, and during the struggle back to the D