Before starting on this route
he had already tried a passage northward between Gregory's and
Stuart's tracks; but he found this passage impracticable, from want
of water. He does not state anything that would enable us to form
an opinion of what his intentions might be after leaving Eyre's
Creek, beyond his saying that he meant to push northwards towards
the Gulf. Neither does it appear that he left any instructions or
directions upon the matter with Mr. Brahe. He merely informed the
latter that he meant to run no risks, and that he would be back
within a brief stated period, and that Mr. Brahe was not to wait
for him at the depot beyond three months. Mr. Brahe's statement, in
fact, throws very little light upon the probabilities of Mr.
Burke's future course, after leaving the depot at Cooper's Creek.
He accompanied him one day's journey, some twenty miles or so, on
his way towards the north. But he seems to know very little of what
Mr. Burke's ultimate intentions were. Perhaps, indeed, Mr. Burke
himself had no very definite scheme sketched out in his own mind,
as to any settled purpose for the future, beyond his trying to make
the best of his way in the direction of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
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