March 23, 1857.] ' DR. LEICHHARDT. 327 



of this expedition, it would be impossible to penetrate to any great distance 

 through the sterile regions of Central Australia. 



Mr. Sidney said that they had just learned from Lieut. Chimmo, that Mr. 

 Gregory had even missed the traces of the ' Torch ' party, which preceded him 

 a very short time. Therefore, they had very fair reason to conclude that many 

 traces of Leichhardt would also have escaped him, and that up to the present 

 time, no search had been made <&,t all. With respect to the manner in which 

 the proposed expedition should be conducted, he observed that the plan of pro- 

 ceeding was drawn up by gentlemen practically acquainted with the subject, 

 and who were as great authorities on Australian travel, as Kit Carson and Col. 

 Fremont were on travelling in America. As to the point on the coast where 

 the ship ought to meet the party sent in search, it should be selected by the 

 leader of the party. It would be better to leave that to him than to settle it 

 here at home. The blacks, it was well known, could live upon lizards and 

 grubs, and with a pound of flour to each man per day, there would be no diffi- 

 culty with regard to the support of the party. 



Mr. Galton, f.r.g.s. — ** Having devoted considerable attention to what I 

 have termed the * Art of Travel,' I must beg to express my opinion that the 

 arrangements which I have heard proposed this night for an expedition in search 

 of Dr. Leichhardt, and towards the equipment of which the English public is 

 asked to subscribe, do not appear to me to offer any probability of success. I 

 am very willing to grant that the gentlemen who have planned this expedition, 

 may personally be well-qualified explorers, but I cannot think otherwise than 

 that they are far too sanguine and enthusiastic in their estimate of what might 

 be accomplished by the means they propose. In the first instance, they expect 

 to reach in six months a distance which they assume Dr. Leichhardt to have 

 required three years to accomplish. This I think very unlikely. Again, it 

 is proposed to take a caravan of some sixty horses — a number that I believe 

 is very difficult for 15 men to manage efficiently in a broken country. Their 

 estimate, moreover, only professes to allow 1 lb. of solid food (flour) per diem 

 for each man. Human life cannot subsist on 1 lb. of flour per day. Those 

 who are interested in this subject may consult with great advantage the ex- 

 cellent paper by Dr. Chfistison in the Appendix to the Report of the Crimean 

 Commissioners, where questions of diet are thoroughly gone into and esta- 

 blished on a positive basis. By the facts adduced in that paper, it will be seen 

 that at least double the weight of solid food, that it is here proposed to carry, is 

 absolutely essential. Lastly, it is assumed that the track of Dr. Leichhardt 

 still remains so clearly defined, that the proposed party could follow it straight 

 onwards without difficulty or delay. Such might possibly be the case in cer- 

 tain woodland districts, but across most sandy tracts, it is clear that the clue 

 would be entirely broken, and that a pursuing party must, under these circum- 

 stances, be prepared to devote considerable time towards recovering it. They 

 would be like hounds slowly hunting on a cold scent, and coming perpetually 

 to fault, while, farther, it must be recollected, that questions of water and of 

 fodder do not admit of prolonged and careful search in desert districts. For 

 these reasons alone, and without entering deeper into the subject, it seems to 

 me, as I said before, that the means proposed for following up the tracks of 

 Dr. Leichhardt are entirely incommensurate with the difficulties of the case." 



Mr. Sidney said that the black men of the party would pick up food by the 

 way, and partly support themselves. 



Mr. Galton. — They would not be able to pick up much sustejiance, as they 

 travelled quickly on through a desert. 



Mr. T. Saunders, in reply to Lieut. Chimmo's assertion, that North 

 Australia was arid, barren, and unfit for human habitation, quoted the opinions 

 of Flinders, Stokes, and Leichhardt, to show that it was just the reverse. 

 He then reviewed at some length the course of Mr. Gregory's expedition, and 



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