April, 1908.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 185 



waited four months, and left the depot on the morning of 21st 

 April, 186 1, and on the very evening of that day Burke returned, 

 with Wills and King — Grey had died a few days earlier. After a 

 vain attempt to press southwards, Burke and his two companions 

 returned to Cooper's Creek, and here Burke and Wills died. 



As soon as Mr. Howitt heard Brahe"s account of what 

 had happened, he communicated with the Melbourne committee, 

 and, after being reinforced, started northwards again, reached 

 Cooper's Creek in September, rescued King and brought him 

 safely back to Melbourne. Howitt returned in November and 

 within two weeks he was once more leading a party into the 

 interior, partly with the object of gaining more information as to 

 the country lying around Cooper's Creek, but mainly that he might 

 bring the remains of Burke and Wills down to Melbourne. 



It was during this second visit, when he was free from the 

 necessity of constantly pushing ahead every day, lest he should 

 be too late to rescue any members of the expedition who might 

 be yet alive, that Mr. Howitt began to study the native tribes 

 with whom he came in contact, and here he gained his first in- 

 sight into the social organization of the Dieri tribe. 



After his return to Melbourne, in recognition of his sterling 

 work, he was appointed Police Magistrate and Warden of the 

 Goldfields in Gippsland — a post that he filled with conspicuous 

 success during twenty-six years of incessant work, from 1863 to 

 1889, his headquarters being successively in Omeo, Bairnsdale, 

 and Sale. The district under his charge extended from Wilson's 

 Promontory to Cape Howe. He was living in what was then 

 practically a wild, almost unexplored country, that was gradually 

 being exploited by miners and settlers in search of land. Every 

 year he travelled thousands of miles on horseback, and it was 

 during these journeys that most of his botanical and geological 

 observations were made. His capacity for work was phenomenal, 

 and not a little of his reading was done on horseback. 



It was some years after he had begun to accumulate notes 

 before he actually published anything, his first paper being 

 entitled " Notes on the Geology of Part of the Mitchell River 

 Division of the Gippsland Mining District." This appeared in 

 the " Progress Reports " of the Geological Survey of Victoria for 

 1874, in which also he had a second paper dealing with " The 

 Geology of the Ovens District, with Remarks on the Deep 

 Leads." From this time onwards he was a constant contributor, 

 on questions dealing with the general geology of Gippsland and 

 the microscopical examination of rocks, to the publications of the 

 Department, the Royal Society of Victoria, the Australasian 

 Science Association, and, occasionally, the Quarterly Journal oj 

 Geological Science. 



Thanks to his early training in Germany, he was able to work 

 effectually even in this remote part of Australia, and it is a 



