The Well-Proved Charge Against Gray Of Cooking Flour For Himself Privately, For Which He Was Chastised By Poor Burke, Is One Instance.

Gray's excuse was that he was so ill, and his apologists point to the fact that he subsequently died.

Either Burke or Wills would have died on the spot, rather than have taken an ounce more than their meanest companion, and yet it has been asked why this man has had no monument. Again, in the unfortunate expedition of poor Kennedy (not far from their present camp), the storekeeper of the partyof the name of Niblett, was discovered to have largely pilfered from the stores for a considerable time previously. Who knows that, but for the deficiency his greed caused, more of that ill-fated party might have held out until the succour arrived, guided by the heroic black, Jacky, who risked his own life to save that of his master, and whose name is as worthy of being held up for honour as that of the white man's for contempt.

'February' 3. - This day was spent by the Brothers with their black-boys in hunting for a good crossing place, or as they described it, "doing a little water dogging." The river being two hundred yards wide, and running rapidly, made it a difficult matter, and after trying a number of places, it was found that as they were all alike, deep and wide, they might as well cross opposite the camp. This would not be without risk and danger, but the exigency of the party made it necessary. Their flour was nearly exhausted, and they had nothing else but the jerked meat of the beef they killed, and what they could catch in the bush, to depend on. In this last, however, as old hunters and bushmen, they were generally pretty successful, supplementing and eking out their ordinary rations very largely. The day previous their larder had been recruited by three iguanas' eggs, a brush turkey ('Megapodius Tumulus'), and nine turkeys' eggs. The rain came down as usual at intervals during the day, which, added to the almost incessant rain of the four previous days, brought the river down during the night, increasing its volume and current so much as to make it dangerous to attempt crossing.

'February' 4. - The river being too high to cross, the start for the Settlement was postponed, the fagged horses getting the benefit of the delay. A beast was killed in the evening. The weather clearing, Mr. Richardson was enabled to get correct observations for the latitude, having succeeded in putting his sextant into tolerable adjustment. The readings gave the latitude of camp 82 to be 11 degrees 11 minutes 39 seconds, or about 33 miles south from Cape York. Part of the day was employed in constructing a raft to float over the saddles, rations, etc. This was done by stretching a hide over a frame of wood, but not without some trouble, as it was found that the only wood light enough for the purpose, was dead nonda, and this being scarce, had to be searched for. Before evening, however, a raft was finished sufficiently light for the purpose.

'February' 5. - The river having sunk considerably during the night, the crossing was commenced this morning, despite the downpour of rain, which lasted all day without a break. The stream was one hundred and thirty yards wide, the banks fringed with scrub and vines, and the current still running rapidly. It required therefore strong and expert swimmers to get the horses across, the method being as follows: - One of the party went in first with a line made fast to the bit of the horse's bridle, and another followed, holding on to his tail by way of rudder. Now as a horse can swim faster than a man, and is of course heavier in the water, the leader has no easy task even if the horse swim honestly for the opposite bank, but should he turn back or boggle at all, man and line are alike powerless; the use of the rudder therefore will be seen. When the leader reaches the opposite bank, he has to scramble up nimbly, or he may have the horse on him, and arrived there, be in readiness with the line to assist him should he get entangled in the saplings and vines which fringe the banks. It will be remembered that in crossing the Batavia on the 11th January, two horses were drowned, in spite of every care and precaution. Here, however, they were fortunate enough to cross their four horses without accident, Mr. Scrutton, old Eulah, and the black-boys doing good service, being all excellent swimmers. The saddles and rations were then floated over in the raft, also without accident, and the advanced party (the Brothers and Eulah) camped on the north side, leaving the remainder of the party and cattle in charge of Mr. Scrutton. Even now, Frank Jardine was uncertain as to what stream they were on, and still leaned to the belief that it was the Escape, his faith in the result of the observations, having been shaken by the accident to the sextant. They failed to assist him in his opinion, which was sorely puzzled by the river running westward. He considered it, therefore, absolutely necessary to find the Settlement before moving the cattle forward, his horses being so weak, as to make it useless to travel on in uncertainty. The necessity for reaching their journey's end was becoming urgent, for their tea and sugar were exhausted, their flour nearly so, and some of the party were complaining of being unwell, and getting very weak.

'February' 6. - The second start was made this morning, the Brothers intending to find either the Settlement or the mouth of the Escape. Their course for the first 15 miles was N.N.East, over barren white sandy country, covered with brushwood and scrub. At 7 miles a large deep running creek was crossed, running westward.

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