24 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



the leaves until we left him. Proceeding in the direction in which he 

 had pointed for water, we came into the bounds of the rainfall, and one 

 of the packhorses, who kept persistently at the outside of the party, 

 on the lookout for water, found a narrow channel full of it before we 

 came up to it. Here we remained, and, with thought for the future, 

 excavated a small tank, into which we led the water from some claypans. 

 Here our difficulties were over, because it rained heavily in the night, 

 leaving a supply of water ahead of us on the way next day, so that 

 without difficulty we struck Cooper's Creek about half a mile above 

 Camp 60 of Burke, which we had steered for, and which Mr. Welch, 

 our surveyor, had cleverly hit off. (n) 



From Burke's 60th camp we followed the course of Cooper's Creek, 

 passing his first depot and then coming to his second depot. Fort Wills, 

 which was three miles beyond my Camp 30. The country we crossed 

 consisted in great part of earthy plains, cracked and fissured in all 

 directions, and often without any trace of vegetation ; while in other 

 places the dried stalks of plants, higher than a horse, showed what the 

 country would be like after floods. This was varied by occasional 

 sandhills or stony ridges. Where we camped the night before reaching 

 Burke's second depot there was a fine sheet of water between rocky 

 banks. 



Among the many questions which I put to Brahe about Cooper's 

 Creek on our way up there was one the reply to which surprised me. 

 I asked him about fish and fishing, and he told me that, although he 

 had seen the blacks with fish, none of the party had caught any, ex- 

 cepting when they bailed out a small hole and caught a few small ones. 

 When we camped at that fine reach of water with rocky banks I felt 

 certain that there must be fish in it, and as soon as I had unsaddled 

 my horse and let him go I got out a fishing line, and, having shot one 

 of the ever-present crows, baited my hook and dropped it into the 

 water. I immediately caught a good-sized fish, and then others of the 

 party became fishermen, with much success. We camped there again 

 on our way back to Menindie, and a large haul of fish was caught. So 

 far as I remember it was over a hundredweight. It must be remembered 

 that this " Fish Pond," as we called the place, was only three miles 

 from Burke's depot. Poor Wills, in one of the last pathetic entries in 

 his journal, speaks of the craving which he felt for fat and sugar. These 

 fish, which occur in all the waters at Cooper's Creek, are extraordinarily 



(n) Brahe brought down with him the field-books of Wills up to the time when 

 Burke started northward. We therefore knew where to look for the Camp 60' 

 of Burke. 



