*gg ON THE SEARCH FOR LEICHHARDT, [Nov. 22, 1858. 



In the first place, lie argues that Leichhardt could not have 

 reached Hely camp on the 15th of August. The rate of his pre- 

 vious joumeyings, and that of other travellers in the same country, 

 as Mitchell, Kennedy, and even Gregory, make it highly impro- 

 bable that 1 50 miles of direct distance could have been accomplished 

 by him in 11 days. 



Again, the country north-east of Mount Abundance had been 

 visited as far back as 1847, by many persons on the look out for 

 cattle runs, and the trees were known to bear marks of an M and 

 also of an H, and Leichhardt himself speaks of having found an 

 L on the Balonne. The axe marks are to be accounted for by the 

 fact of Kennedy having given axes to the natives thereabouts ; and, 

 if the saplings had not been cut by Kennedy himself, it is to be 

 remembered that, according to Mitchell, the natives of those parts 

 use saplings for the construction of their own huts. The loose 

 horses found by Gregory in Cooper Creek are ascribed by Mr. 

 Clarke to Captain Sturt's expedition. That explorer relates that he 

 turned out a roan horse that was unfit for further work " in pity " 

 at this very spot, and also that, 145 miles farther on, another horse 

 stole away from his party (as the same animal had often done 

 before), and Mr. Clarke thinks it must have tracked its way back 

 to the excellent pasturage where its roan companion had been left 

 behind.* 



Mr. Clarke considers it questionable whether Leichhardt went 

 to the Victoria at all. His method of travelling, which was cautious, 

 slow, and persevering, makes it likely enough that when he actually 

 came to the frightful desert he would have skirted it, looking out for 

 an opening, rather than have attempted to cross it at once. Mr. 

 Clarke concludes that it is somewhere between the head of the Yic- 

 toria and the head of the Clarke that Leichhardt's tracks are to be 

 looked for, not probably on Mitchell's route, but to the westward of 

 it, or else that, driven in by drought, Leichliardt may have taken a 

 course on the 148th meridian, without crossing the Maranoa. 



Captain Byron Drury, r.n,, f.r.g.s. — Upon tins subject perhaps I may 

 be permitted to say that I happened to be present when we took possession of 

 the whole of that part of the coast of North Australia. We found it was one 

 of the finest districts in Australia; and I must say that I think PortEssington, 

 with the exce])tiou of Fort Jackson, the finest harbour in Australia. I was 

 there during eighteen months, and we never had the slightest disease or illness in 

 our two ships' companies. I have heard that port cried down, 1 am sorry to 

 say, by my late friend Captain Stanley and others ; but from what I have 

 seen of it, I perfectly agree with the late Sir Gordon Bremer, that there is not 

 a place on the north coast of Australia better adapted for Europeans, in addi- 



What were the colours of the horses seen by Mr. Gregory ? — F. G. 



