McKinlay, as the reader's eye rests on these words, is ON THE SPOT
INDICATED by the black; and should this prove to be correct, and
the party be saved, South Australia will have, in the cause of
humanity, reason to rejoice that the Parliament took such prompt
and vigorous measures to send out the relief expedition. The
Commissioner of Crown Lands telegraphed to Melbourne, without
delay, the substance of the trooper's letter; but it is not likely
that any practical use could be made of it there, though it would
revive the hopes of many of the friends of Burke and his party. If
the white men spoken of in the letter are where Mr. Goyder imagines
them to be, it is not very likely that Mr. Howitt's relief party
would find them; so that it may, after all, be the destiny of South
Australia not only to find men to cross the Australian continent,
but to relieve and restore other explorers who have failed in that
hazardous attempt.
Mr. Burke's party consists of himself as leader, Mr. Wills,
astronomer and surveyor, and who is second in command,--two men,
six camels, and one horse. Dr. Wills, who is now in Adelaide,
having come round from Melbourne with the additional camels, says
that the two camels which a short time since made their way into
this colony overland, and were brought to town from Truro, were two
out of the three that belonged to his son, and that they were
allowed to stray, by a man left in charge of them whilst Mr.
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