sons emaciated, their
spirits wholly spent. From sheer weariness they fell asleep at the
oar. No murmur, however, escaped them.

"I must tell the captain to-morrow," said one, thinking that Sturt
was asleep, "that I can pull no more." But when the morrow came he
said no word, but pulled on with his remaining strength. One man went
mad. The last ounce of flour was consumed when relief arrived, and
the weary explorers at last reached Sydney with their great news.

The result of this discovery was soon seen. In 1836 a shipload of
English emigrants arrived off Kangaroo Island, and soon a flourishing
colony was established at the mouth of the Murray River, the site of
the new capital being called Adelaide, after the wife of William IV.

After this Sturt tried to cross Australia from south to north; but
though he opened up a good deal of new country, he failed to reach
the coast. He was rewarded by the President of the Royal Geographical
Society, who described him as "one of the most distinguished explorers
and geographers of our age."

The feat of crossing Australia from south to north, from shore to shore,
was reserved for an Irishman called Burke in the year 1861. The story
of his expedition, though it was successful, is one of the saddest
in the history of discovery. The party left Melbourne in the highest
spirits. No expense had been spared to give them a good outfit; camels
had been imported from India, with native drivers, and food was
provided for a year. The men of Melbourne turned out in their hundreds
to see the start of Burke with his four companions, his camels, and
his horses. Starting in August 1860, the expedition arrived at
Cooper's Creek in November with half their journey done. But it was
not till December that the party divided, and Burke with his companions,
Wills, King, and Gray, six camels, and two horses, with food for three
months, started off for the coast, leaving the rest at Cooper's Creek
to await their return in about three months. After hard going they
reached a channel with tidal waters flowing into the Gulf of
Carpentaria on 28th March, but they could not get a view of the open
ocean because of boggy ground.

[Illustration: THE BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION LEAVING MELBOURNE, 1860.
From a drawing by Wm. Strutt, an acquaintance of Burke.]

They accomplished their task, but the return journey was disastrous.
Short rations soon began to tell, for they had taken longer than they
had calculated