498 Appendix I. 



die in making trips to see his wife and family, who were at a station 

 about twenty- one miles off, being troubled with fears that they would 

 not get safely and comfortably to Adelaide, whither he wished to send 

 them. The explanation by which he subsequently endeavoured to 

 account for his delay was anything but satisfactory. In the despatch 

 already referred to, dated ..Dec. 29th, he alleged that he ' delayed start- 

 ing merely because the camels left behind by Mr. Brahe were too few in 

 number, and too inferior in carrying]powers, to carry out a really service- 

 able quantity of provisions.' When, however, he was examined by the 

 Commissioners appointed to inquire into the affair, he stated that he re- 

 mained at Menindie because he was waiting for the confirmation of his 

 appointment as third officer. When pressed to reconcile these two 

 statements, and reminded that, unless he could do so satisfactorily, he 

 * stood in an awkward position before the Commission,' he made no 

 reply. "When at last he did set out from Menindie, we have seen that 

 he advanced no further than Bullo, where he was joined by Brahe on 

 April 29th. In explanation of this circumstance, he urges that Burke 

 had left Menindie at a favourable season, when water was abimdant ; 

 while when he started the advance of summer had dried up all the 

 water-courses, and the ravages of scurvy had reduced the effective 

 strength of his party to an alarming extent. This statement is, no 

 doubt, substantially true ; but we need hardly observe that it rather 

 aggravates than extenuates his oiFence. Since he was well acquainted 

 with the country, and knew that the advance of summer would 

 immensely increase the difficulty of traversing it, he is all the more 

 inexcusable for not having attempted the journey before the hot weather 

 set in. When, after having been joined by Brahe, he paid a final visit 

 to Cooper's Creek, the careless manner in which he conducted the search 

 almost drives us to the conclusion that he was completely indifferent to 

 its result. It was at Brahe 's suggestion that he went back at all. Then 

 though both he and Brahe were mounted, and were accompanied by a 

 spare pack-horse, he did not, although the contingency of finding Burke's 

 party was the sole object of his journey, attempt to provide for it by 

 taking with him any stores of anj^ kind. On reaching the depot, he 

 stayed there only a quarter of an hour, and then, having failed in that 

 time to discover any trace of Burke's party, at once turned his back on 



