BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION 277 



progress towards their goal. Wills, unable to travel, was left 

 behind, while Burke and King went back to the depot in search of 

 the natives. BURKE DIED next morning, and King returned to 

 where WILLS had been left, and found him also DEAD. BRAKE'S 

 PARTY, all this time, had not been far away. In fact, had the Gulf 

 party waited at the depot till 8th May, they would have been found 

 by Brahe and Wright who, after they had effected a junction, visited 

 the depot together on that date. Strange to say, Brahe and Wright 

 observed no trace of the Gulf party's recent occupation of the 

 camp, and they themselves left no trace by which King, who 

 returned a few days later, could gather that they had been on 

 the spot. 



Before it was too late, KING again fell in with the blacks, who 

 supported him for nearly three months, until he was RESCUED by 

 A. W. Ho WITT'S search party on i$tb September. 



One of BRAKE'S PARTY, named Patton, died at the depot. 

 WRIGHT'S PARTY, which was to have brought on the bulk of the 

 provisions to the depot, but failed to do so, was delayed by an out- 

 break of scurvy and the death of three of its members, Messrs. 

 Stone and Purcell and Dr. Beckler. 



In some respects the story of Burke and Wills is strikingly 

 parallel to that of Kennedy. Both expeditions were marked by 

 the high courage of their leaders, by their many mistakes in judg- 

 ment, by the hamper of over-equipment, by the frequency of 

 harrowing delays and disappointments, leading to fatal results, 

 and by sufferings beyond the capacity of the human frame. But 

 they differed widely as regards the attitude observed by the 

 aboriginal NATIVES. The northern tribes dogged Kennedy's 

 footsteps day after day, malignantly watching for signs of exhaus- 

 tion which would give them the opportunity to attack with 

 impunity. On the other hand, the tribe into whose hands Burke, 

 Wills and King fell, treated their guests with what was nothing 

 short of philanthropy, considering their own limited means. 



It has already been pointed out, in the case of the survivors of 

 the " Maria" that even two neighbouring tribes might act on 

 diametrically opposite principles. In one case there was barbarous 

 murder, and in the other, help unceasing and unselfish. 



