We proceed on, to-morrow,
slowly down the creek towards Adelaide by Mount Hopeless, and shall
endeavour to follow Gregory's track; but we are very weak. The two
camels are done up, and we shall not be able to travel faster than
four or five miles a day. Gray died on the road, from exhaustion
and fatigue. We have all suffered much from hunger. The provisions
left here will, I think, restore our strength. We have discovered a
practicable route to Carpentaria, the chief position of which lies
in the 140 degrees of east longitude. There is some good country
between this and the Stony Desert. From thence to the tropics the
land is dry and stony. Between the Carpentaria a considerable
portion is rangy, but well watered and richly grassed. We reached
the shores of Carpentaria on the 11th of February, 1861. Greatly
disappointed at finding the party here gone.
(Signed) ROBERT O'HARA BURKE, Leader.
April 22, 1861.
P.S. The camels cannot travel, and we cannot walk, or we should
follow the other party. We shall move very slowly down the creek.
. . .
My son's journal is now written in a more complete and
consecutive form. He had no instruments for observation or mapping,
so that his time and mind were concentrated on the one employment.
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