dant and conflicting as to carry no clear or positive conviction with it. At the close, therefore, of the thirty-fourth day of the inquiry, the jury, after an anxious summing up of the whole case on the part of the Commissioner, returned a verdict in these words: "We find Mr. William Frederick Windham to be of sound mind and capable of managing himself and his affairs." By the public, who had narrowly watched the proceedings from the commencement-with no sympathy, it must be confessed, for the depravities of the alleged lunatic, but with the keenest jealousy lest the cherished liberty of an Englishman to do what he likes with his own should be in the slightest degree infringed-this verdict was accepted with general approval.

What was thought of the whole matter in the graver quarters to which these popular impulses did not extend, may be gathered from the words of Lord Justice Knight Bruce, who, in refusing to exone

rate the alleged lunatic from the payment of the whole of the costs consequent upon the inquiry-costs amounting to something like 20,000l.--said :-"The jury had decided that Mr. Windham was not a congenital imbecile, and he (the Lord Justice) did not mean to impugn their decision, but if he were asked to go further he should not be prepared to do so. He did not doubt that there was a sufficient case for the inquiry, nor could he question the motives of the original petitioners when he considered what had occurred shortly after Mr. Windham came into possession of his property. Upon the whole, his opinion was that the original application was bona fide-not made from personal motives or considerations, but with a view to the best interests of this petitioner; and, whether the Court had or had not jurisdiction to entertain this application, he thought the petition ought to be dismissed, so far as it related to the question of costs."

A DEEPLY painful impression has been produced in England, by intelligence from Australia of the disastrous issue of the great expedition which had been despatched from Melbourne in the autumn of the year 1860, for the exploration of the interior of the huge islandcontinent of the southern hemisphere. This expedition, which henceforward will be historically distinguished as that of "Burke and Wills," had been organized with great care and at a very large expense by the Government of Victoria, in the proud and honourable hope that it might lead to discoveries which should exceed in extent and value any that had been made by preceding explorers; and have an issue more fortunate to the travellers than that of Leichardt and other heroic sufferers. One half of the ambitious hope was gratified. Burke and Wills accomplished what no other European, probably no other human being, had ever done; they traversed the immense Australian continent in a direct line from sea to sea, and thus for ever dispelled all the illusions that had previously existed as to the utterly waste, barren, and impracticable character of its central region. They achieved the great end for which they were employed-but at what a cost! The victory was nobly won-but who remained to

proclaim it? Of the whole expedition one man alone returned to tell the tale of triumph. The chiefs perished at the very moment when they had every rational right to believe that all the privations and perils of their bold adventure had been successfully overcome, and when (but for a most unhappy mismanagement) they ought to have been relieved from every danger and brought safely home to Melbourne. The history of the expedition, derived partly from official papers, but chiefly from the touching narrative of the survivor and the fragmentary memoranda of the commander and his only educated companion, is one of the deepest interest. here only be sketched in outline; but the reader who desires to know more of the particulars of an expedition which must ever hold a memorable place in the page of Australian history, will find them ably described in Wills's Australian Expedition.

It can

In September, 1858, a public meeting was held in Melbourne to provide means for organizing an elaborate scheme of exploration in the interior of the continent. Upwards of 3000l. were immediately raised by subscriptions for the purpose, and this sum was subsequently increased to 10,000l. by a supplementary grant voted by the provincial Legislature, by whom

the Governor was also authorized to expend a considerable sum in procuring camels from India for the purposes of the expedition. Some time necessarily elapsed in obtaining the camels and completing the arrangements for the undertaking. Some difficulty also arose in the selection of a suitable leader; but at length Mr. Robert O'Hara Burke, one of the superintendents of the colonial police force, who had served in the Irish Constabulary and the Austrian cavalry, was appointed to that honourable post; and under his guidance the expedition, gallantly equipped and with the striking novelty of a long train of camels, set out from Melbourne on the 20th of August, 1860, and, turning to the northward, struck away for Menindie, on the banks of the Darling, which it was arranged should be their first depôt. The personnel of the expedition consisted at this time of Mr. Burke, first in command, and of Mr. Landells, who had brought the camels from India, second in command. Mr. W. J. Wills, of the Melbourne Observatory, was appointed astronomical and meteorological observer; Dr. Herman Beckler, medical adviser and botanist; and Dr. Ludwig Becker, artist, naturalist, and geographical director. To these were added a foreman in the store department, with nine carefully selected assistants to take care of the stores, waggons, horses, &c.; and three natives of India to look after the camels. The stores, including twelve months' provisions, amounted to 21 tons. The plan of operations, after passing Menindie, was to proceed to Cooper's Creek, about one-third of the distance between Melbourne and the

Gulf of Carpentaria, where a second depôt was to be formed to serve as a basis of operations, as beyond this point the party would be entering upon a country that was wholly unknown. Unfortunately, however, in reaching the banks of the Darling, disputes broke out between the leader and certain of the officers, which led to the retirement of Mr. Landells and to a tender of resignation from Dr. Beckler. Some of the camels, too, had fallen into a condition that unfitted them to proceed. The expedition had already become disorganized and broken in its strength. Under these trying and embarrassing circumstances, Mr. Burke determined to divide the party which remained with him, and to push on with a portion to Cooper's Creek before the season advanced, leaving the rest to follow with the heavier supplies at leisure. He accordingly quitted the camp at Menindie on the 19th of October, accompanied by Mr. Wills and six men, and taking with him 16 camels and 15 horses. An experienced bushman, named Wright, and two natives went with them as far as a place called Torowoto, where Wright quitted the party, with instructions from Burke to follow shortly and take command of the depôt to be formed at Cooper's Creek. At this point Burke gave any of his men the option of returning with Wright; but they all declined Cooper's Creek was reached on the 20th of November. From that date till the 16th of December the time was occupied in making sur veying excursions to find a practicable line of route towards the north. At last, having chosen King and Gray to accompany himself and Wills across the great

Sahara of Australia, and appointed Brahe as the temporary head of the four men to be left behind, Burke started on his adventurous errand. This was on the 16th of December, 1860. He directed his line along the 140th degree of east longitude, considerably to the east of that marked on the map as "Sturt's." He took with him six camels, a horse, and twelve weeks' provisions, but no spirits of any kind. He expressed his belief that he should return within three months, though Brahe said he should not expect him so soon; and the two parties separated in good health and spirits. The difficulties encountered by Burke and his little party proved, on the whole, less than might have been expected. They travelled over a plain country, sometimes broken up into stony tracts, at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles a day, generally finding grass and water within the twenty-four hours. King (the only survivor of the party) says, We went by compass and observation. Mr. Wills took observations generally very regularly, and corrected his notes every evening in concert with Mr. Burke." They made no lengthened halts, but divided the day into three short stages, and occasionally travelled by night, to get more rapidly across the deserts. They saw plenty of kangaroos, emus, and ducks, but could not stop to shoot them; and they always carried water, that they might be able to avail themselves of a good camping ground, even where there might be no springs to be found. Thus they journeyed until they struck the course of a stream or estuary, which Wills pronounced to be the Albert River, but which some suppose to have been really

66

the Flinders River, while others would place it on the other side of the Albert, "more to the westward." They followed this downward, in the hope of coming to the sea, and actually got far enough to detect a slight rise and fall of tides, and to find the water salt. They seem indeed to have gone eighteen miles beyond the point at which these phenomena were observed, and Burke, though he confessed that he had not seen the ocean, pronounced himself perfectly satisfied with what he had done. "We have discovered," he says in one of the fragments of his journal, which has been preserved, "a practicable route to Carpentaria, the principal portion of which lies in the 140th meridian of east longitude. Between this and the Stony Desert there is some good country from there to the tropic. The country is dry and stony between the tropic and Carpentaria. A considerable portion is rangy (hilly), but it is well watered and richly grassed." cording to Burke's last despatch it was on the 11th of February, 1861, that the close vicinity of Carpentaria Gulf was gained, but it is probable from the dates given in Wills' journal that it was a few days later. At all events, about the middle of that month the party commenced their return homeward, leaving behind them a record of their visit, a few articles that could be spared, and some books, "a quantity of which," says King, we brought to amuse ourselves with, but no one read them." It was now that the suf ferings of this brave little company begun. Two-thirds of their provisions had been exhausted, yet one-half of their way was still before them. They were put, of

Ac

course, on short rations, and these were distributed by lot among the party, and eked out with "portulac, or nardoo," (the spores of a species of Marsitea, which the natives make into bread), and the flesh of a few crows and hawks. The rains had made the ground heavy, and the camels, enfeebled by over-work and fasting, could scarcely struggle through it. One by one these faithful animals sank under the exertion, until their number was at last reduced to two. Gray was the first of the men to fail. He had long been complaining of pains in the back and legs; but his companions, inexperienced as yet in the dull agony of starving, fancied he was shamming. Before long they learned too well that his sufferings were real. When he died, which was on the 17th of April, they had hardly strength to commit his body to the earth and four days afterwards, nearly naked and worn to shadows, they staggered into the camp at Cooper's Creek, where they had left the reserve party under Brahe, and where they of course expected to experience a relief from all their sufferings. What, then, must have been their feelings when they found that on the morning of that very day, the 21st of April, only seven hours before their arrival, Brahe with his party, had quitted the depôt and set out on his return to Menindie! Never, surely, was human endurance subjected to a severer test-never was misfortune borne with a nobler fortitude! Famished and exhausted, they were still alive-still without other help than the comparatively slender means which Brahe had left behind him in a hole in the ground, and which was indicated to them

by the words " 'Dig-April 21," which he had carved on a neighbouring tree. The gradual way in which the fearfulness of their situation dawned upon them is well described in King's affecting narrative. Still these brave men braced themselves up for a last struggle. From this moment, however, calamity dogged them at every step. Deeming themselves too weak to follow, with any hope of overtaking, the steps of the party who had just quitted the depôt, and who slept that very night at a distance no further off than 14 miles, they determined to rest awhile and refresh. They found the food that had been left for them in the hole or "cache," and after remaining some days to recruit, they resolved, by a strange fatality-which seemed henceforward to prevail to the end-not to return by the way they had come, but to endeavour to reach the outsettlements of South Australia, in the neighbourhood of Mount Hopeless, not above 150 miles distant. Wills and King were opposed to this project, but Burke persisted in it, and his companions unfor tunately yielded to his resolve. Had they taken the route to Menindie, they would almost immediately have met a party under Wright, which the authorities at Melbourne (alarmed by the accounts which had reached them of the perilous circumstances under which Burke had gone forward with the expedition) had dispatched for his relief. Enclosing a letter, descriptive of the route they intended to take, in a bottle which they deposited in the "cache," the three toil-worn men set out on a south-west course. But before doing so they neglected by fatal mischance to alter the