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 theory and practice tend away from repression and subordination and towards self-discipline; outward authority seeks gradually to efface itself in favour of the authority of the child's own developed character.

In a summary of lectures on "Discipline," by Lieut.-Colonel R. O. Hume, the storming of Badajos by Wellington's army on the night of 6th-7th April, 1812, is referred to "as one of the most glorious feats of arms recorded in our military history." Col. Hume cites this at the end of his summary, and tells the recruits to whom he addresses himself that their training in "implicit obedience" is but to fit them for like glorious deeds.

Col. Hume's illustration is an unfortunate one for advocates of the moral benefits of military discipline. The historian of the Peninsular War thus describes the scene that followed the storming of Badajos:—

"Now commenced that wild and desperate wickedness which tarnished the lustre of the soldier's heroism. All, indeed, were not alike; hundreds risked and many lost their lives in striving to stop the violence, but madness generally prevailed, and as the worst men were leaders here all the dreadful passions of human nature were displayed. Shameless rapacity, brutal intemperance, savage lust, cruelty and murder, shrieks and piteous lamentations, groans, shouts, imprecations, the hissing of fires bursting from the houses, the crashing of doors and windows, and the report of muskets used in violence, resounded for two days and nights in the streets of Badajos! On the third, when the city was sacked, when the soldiers were exhausted by their own excesses, the tumult rather subsided than was quelled. The wounded men were then attended to, the dead disposed of."

The French and German nations have not found the moral benefits of conscription; indeed there is abundant testimony of a directly opposite character. Bebel used, once a year, to make a long speech in the Reichstag on instances of immorality in the army. Anatole France, the great French author, characterises the barracks as "an abomination, the most hideous invention of modern civilisation"; while Drumont, a strong Nationalist, said: "Compulsory military service, far from being a school of morals, is a school of drunkenness, idleness and debauchery."

Very numerous instances of ill-treatment by officers in conscript armies have taken place, and this is one factor in the causation of the high rate of suicide among conscript soldiers. The comparative rates are:—

These, be it remembered, are all, or nearly all, in their prime, when the hold on life should be strongest. The suicide rate for the

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 rest of the population of the United Kingdom is only one-half that of the army.

4. That it is beneficial physically. Physical exercise taken in moderation is, of course, beneficial, but it does not follow that military drill is the best form of exercise. (Let us hear what experts say). Speaking on November 28th, 1913, the British Minister for Education (Mr. J. A. Pease) said: "Nor was military training calculated to improve physique. His experts at the Board of Education told him that no military system equalled the Swedish drill now given in the schools." Sandow gives similar testimony:—"It must never be forgotten for a single moment that military drill and physical culture are two absolutely different things, and must be kept separate…Physical culture has for its entire aim the proper and healthy development of the human body; military drill has for its object the teaching of precision and rhythm in movement."

Moreover, the military system rejects those who most need building up physically, only affecting those who pass a certain physical test.

"But," it may be said, "all this, while germane to the subject, is beside the mark in the present crisis. The British Empire is at stake, and conscription for the war may be necessary; if so, nothing is too precious to be risked in so vital a cause." A gain, it is sometimes argued, "If Great Britain had had conscription, the war would not have occurred."

Those who make this latter assertion base it on the assumption that England's army would have been so strong that the German military party would not have risked a war. There are doubtless many ways of looking at the matter, but space precludes any lengthy discussion of what is now after all an academic consideration. Two of the principal theories as to the origin of the war are:—First, that the German Government has deliberately watched and worked for war, with a view to world domination, and, second, that the Germans feared aggression by Russia, and think they are fighting a war of defence. Take it either way. If England had begun to institute conscription, and Germany was determined on war, war would have come sooner or later, and Germany might—probably would—have struck before England's conscript army had come into being. Or, if the theory of a defensive and desperately hazardous war on the part of Germany against Russia (backed by the other Entente Powers) be accepted, would the extra danger caused by the existence of a million, or a million and a half, British conscripts have prevented war?

Lord Roberts spoke officially as President of the National Service League at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 22nd October, 1912, and was heartily applauded. In the course of his speech, he said: "Germany strikes when Germany's hour has struck. That is the time-honoured policy of her Foreign Office. That was the policy relentlessly pursued by Bismarck and Moltke in 1866 and 1870; it has been her policy, decade by decade, since that date; it is her policy at the present hour. And, gentlemen, it is an excellent policy. It is, or should be, the policy of every nation prepared to play a great part in history." In the same speech he demanded an army "strong enough also to make our strength felt on the mainland of Europe should we ever appear

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 there as the armed ally of another Power, as we were on the verge of doing last autumn." The National Service League denied that, in advocating such a policy, there was any intention of aggression, but there is little doubt as to the construction which Germans would place on such remarks from one occupying so prominent a place in English public life. At the best, the assertion that British conscription would have prevented the war is "not proven;" at the worst, it would be possible to argue that, if at any time a British Cabinet with aggressive designs came into power, conscription would furnish the means for action.

The Universal Service League has urged "the adoption for the period of the present war of the principle of universal compulsory war service, whether abroad or at home." The reasons usually given are the need for preserving Great Britain and Australia from alien rule.

Leaving for the moment the question of the period during which conscription would be in force, let us examine these reasons. Some conscriptionists admit the extreme difficulty of seizing and holding England. It would, indeed, be a hopeless undertaking. Germany has had forty years' experience of attempting to Teutonise and subdue Alsace-Lorraine, with, to say the least of it, very unsatisfactory results. Is it likely that the German Government would try the same experiment with forty millions of people accustomed to freedom? But those who picture Germany taking Great Britain frequently state that she will begin by making sure of the coast opposite—Belgium, Holland, Northern France, perhaps Denmark. This trifling programme being accomplished, then ho! for the British Isles and the Over-Seas Dominions.

This brings us to the second reason. The armies and fleets of the Allies have all been swept aside, to the last submarine and the last soldier. Germany's fleet has in some marvellous manner survived the catastrophes that disposed of the Allies fleets; from her present disorganised and scattered mercantile marine, and with the aid of commandeered vessels and coerced British and foreign sailors, she has equipped a fleet of perhaps 500 ships to carry, say, half a million men, with horses, guns, stores and ammunition for the invasion and occupation of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa; for doubtless similar fears are being expressed in each of the Dominions. It took England, with the sea clear and her huge mercantile marine to assist, about three months to land a quarter of a million men in South Africa at the time of the Boer War. If Germany attempted the conquest and subduing of Australia only, the undertaking would be enormously difficult, even if Great Britain's other Dominions, together with France, Italy and Russia, merely looked on. The journey to Australia is very much longer than that to South Africa, and the task of keeping up supplies would be enormous.

The obstacles assumed as removed in the last two paragraphs place the proposition of a successful occupation of Australia, or, indeed, of Great Britain, out of court. But there are other very serious difficulties. The re-adjustment of German finance will require wise statesmanship and unremitting effort over a long period. But perhaps the greatest obstacle of all is the German people themselves; they have fought this war energetically because

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 they consider they are fighting a war of defence; a definite aggressive expedition to conquer a continent 12,000 miles away would appear a very different proposition; they MIGHT be drawn into it, but!

Conscription "for the war." And what after the war? The clash of ideas will come in each country; broadly speaking, those who favour the reduction and gradual abolition of armaments, together with a policy of international co-operation, will be ranged on the one side; those who advocate retaining the strongest possible armies and navies and the maintenance of the old international system, with all its unsatisfactory features, on the other.

The "thin end of the wedge" method is a favourite one with advocates of conscription, and it is easier to secure the continuance of a measure than to introduce it. Many of those who now desire the passing of an act to make men compulsorily liable for service at home or abroad for the period of the war only doubtless do so without any mental reservations. But it is well to recall something of the past history of the conscription movement in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, and to remember that radical changes of attitude in politics are not infrequent. A striking instance of the latter is furnished by the change of front of the present Minister of Defence, Senator Pearce; less than a score of years ago he was a strong anti-militarist, speaking against any form of militarism; to-day he has power to detain any one in Australia in custody, without the semblance of a trial, and without even giving reasons.

The full history of the conscription movement in the British Empire has not been written, perhaps never will be. But enough is known to put lovers of democracy on their guard. The democratic element in Great Britain has, in the main, opposed conscription, while some of its chief supporters are members of the aristocracy and military officers. There is, too, a close unofficial connection between the National Service League and the great armament firms. The League was formed in 1902, with the Duke of Wellington as president; he was supported by the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Fife, Lord Meath, Earl Wemyss, and Lord Newton. In later years Lord Roberts became president. The latter advocated four to six months' training as the irreducible minimum, and stated that "once the principle of compulsion is accepted, there will be no difficulty in adjusting the details.…to reduce theory into practice." Lord Dudley, ex-Governor-General of Australia, is reported as saying, in reference to compulsory military training in Australia, that "it was tactful and politic not to make the term of service too arduous at first, and to let it grow."

Mr. W. M. Hughes, M.H.R., in 1907 introduced a motion in the House to the effect that "all able-bodied adult males should be trained to the use of arms, and instructed in such military or naval drill as may be necessary for the purpose." In doing so, he stated that it was the fourth occasion upon which he had submitted a similar motion. Mr. Hughes is, or was, one of the

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 of the Australian National Defence League, N.S.W. Division. In the August, 1908, issue of its organ, "The Call," the League congratulated "the parent League" ("The National Service League of G.B.") on the "great progress it has made in the last twelve months." The Universal Service League originated in New South Wales, and some of its leading members are, or were, also members of the Australian National Defence League, notably the Hon. J. C. Watson.

Lord Roberts wrote to Col. Allan Bell in New Zealand: "I hope your efforts to get universal training in New Zealand will be ultimately successful; for, if you fail there, it will mean we shall not get it here in England." Col. Heard, Acting Commandant of the New Zealand Forces, speaking at a dinner at Wellington in September, 1913, said:—We soldiers have come out from the old country for the reason which appeals to us very much.…We want the people at home to recognise that they ought to have some kind of a citizen army. Therefore we have come out here to help you set up your citizen army, so that you can show an example to the old country."

There are some of the known facts; Australians must judge for themselves their significance, and the probable ultimate effect of conscription in Australia, bearing in mind the words spoken by the late Field-Marshal Lord (then Sir Garnet) Wolseley' in 1882. "One of the most distinguished generals in the world, who was a German, said once to me that no one could realise the burden which universal service was to Germany except those who really knew what it was. The burdens were very great, and the system drove from that country its finest men, so that it was regarded by a large section of the people with detestation and horror. They had only to go to such places as Hamburg to see thousands of able-bodied men leaving the country to escape from that 'infernal and cursed burden of universal military service.'"

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text: Garman and Worse/Chapter I

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter I


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 by and by returned, bearing with him an old flattened pint pot, no marks upon it—further evidence that it was a white, and felt convinced that the grave we saw was that of a white man. Plenty of clover and grasses the whole distance travelled, about eighteen miles. Kept watch as usual, but did not intend doing so; but just as we were retiring a fire suddenly struck up, and we thought some of the natives had followed us, or some others had come to the lake, rather a strange matter after dark. The fire soon after disappeared, which made us more certain still that it was natives. Intend spelling the camels for a few days to recruit them; one on arrival was completely done up, and none of the others looking very sprightly.

21st. Up in good time. Before starting for the grave, went round the lake, taking Mr. Hodgkinson with me, to see if natives were really on the lake, as I did not intend saddling the camels to-day if there were no natives here, intending to leave our camp unprotected; rather unwise, but being so short of hands could not help it, the grave being much out of sight. Found no natives round the lake, nor any very recent traces, saving that some of the trees were still burning that they, when here last, had lighted. We started at once for the grave, taking a canteen of water with us, and all the arms. On arrival removed the earth


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 carefully, and close to the top of the ground found the body of a European, enveloped in a flannel shirt with short sleeves, a piece of the breast of which I have taken; the flesh, I may say, completely cleared from the bones, and very little hair but what must have been decomposed; what little there was I have taken. Description of body, skull, etc.:—Marked with slight sabre cuts, apparently two in number, one immediately over the left eye, the other on the right temple, inclining over right ear, more deep than the left. Decayed teeth existed on both sides of lower jaw, and right of upper; the other teeth were entire and sound. In the lower jaw were two teeth, one on each side (four between in front) rather projecting, as is sometimes called, in the upper jaw, "back teeth." I have measured the bones of the thigh and leg, as well as the arm, with a cord, not having any other method of doing it. Gathered all the bones together and buried them again, cutting a lot of boughs and other wood, and putting over top of the earth. Body lies with head south, feet north, lying on face, head severed from body. On a small tree, immediately south, we marked—"MK. Oct. 21, 1861." Immediately this was over we questioned the native further on the subject of his death. He says he was killed by a stroke from what the natives use as a sword (an instrument of semicircular form), five to eight feet


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 long, and very formidable. He showed us where the whites had been in camp when attacked. We saw lots of fish-bones, but no evidence then on the trees to suppose whites had been there. They had certainly chosen a very bad camp, in the centre of a box shrub, with native huts within 150 to 200 yards of them. On further examination, we found the dung of camels and horse or horses, evidently tied up a long time ago. Between that and the grave we found another grave, evidently dug with a spade or shovel, and a lot of human hair of two colours, that had become decomposed on the skin of the skull, and fallen off in flakes—some of which I have also taken. I fancy they must all have been murdered here; dug out the new formed grave with a stick (the only instrument we had), but found no remains of bodies save one little bone. The black accounted for this in this manner, he says they had eaten them. Found in an old fire-place, immediately adjoining, what appeared to be bones very well burned, but not in any quantity. In and about the last grave named, a piece of light blue tweed, and fragments of paper, and small pieces of a nautical almanack were found, and an exploded "Eley's cartridge." No appearance on any of the trees of bullet marks, as if a struggle had taken place. On a further examination of the blacks' camp, where the pint pot was found, there was also found a tin


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 canteen, similar to what is used for keeping naphtha in, or some such stuff, both of which we keep. The native says that any memos, the whites had are back on the last camp we were at on the lake, with the natives, as well as the iron-work of saddles, which, on our return, we mean to endeavour to recover if the blacks can be found; it may be rash, but there is necessity for it. I intend, before returning, to have a further search. No natives yet seen here.

22nd. Breakfasted, and are just about to get in the horses to have a further search, when the natives make their appearance within half a mile of us, making for some of their old huts. Immediately on observing us, made off at full speed. Mounted the horses and soon overtook one fellow in much fear. In the pursuit, the black fellow with us was thrown from his horse; the horse followed, and came up with us just as we pulled the frightened fellow up. Immediately after, our black fellow came up, mounted his horse, and requested us at once to shoot the savage, as he knew him to be one of the murderers of the man or party; but we declined, thinking we might be able to glean something of the others from him. On taking him back from where we caught him to the camp, he brought us to a camp (old) of the natives, and there dug up a quantity of baked horsehair, for saddle stuffing. He says everything


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter II

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter II


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter III

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter III


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter IV

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter IV


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 of the saddlery was burned, the iron-work kept, and the other bodies eaten—a sad end of the poor fellows. He stated that there is a pistol north-east of us, at a creek, which I have sent him to fetch; and a rifle or gun at the lake we last passed, which, with the other articles, we will endeavour to recover. Exceedingly hot; windy, and looks as if it would rain. The natives describe the country from south to north of east as being destitute of water or creeks, which I afterwards found cause to doubt. I have marked a tree here on north side—"MK, Oct. 22-61; west side, Dig 1ft.;" where I will bury a memo., in case anyone should see my tracks, that they may know the fate of the party we are in search of. There are tens of thousands of the flock pigeon here; in fact, since we came north of Lake Torrens, they have been very numerous, and at the same time very wary. Mr. Hodgkinson has been very successful in killing as many of them as we can use, mixed with a little bacon. Before the native went to fetch the pistol he displayed on his body, both before and behind, the marks of ball and shot wounds now quite healed. One ball, inside of left knee, so disabled him that he had to be carried about (as he states) for some considerable time; he has also the mark of a pistol bullet on right collar bone; and on his breast a number of shot—some now in the flesh, but healed. His family,


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter V

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter V


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter VI

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter VI


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter VII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter VII


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter VIII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter VIII


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter IX

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter IX


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter X

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter X


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XI

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XI


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XII


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 consisting of four lubras and two boys, remained close to our camp awaiting his return, which he said (from pointing to the sun) would be 10 or 11 o'clock next day. When called at 10·40 to take my watch, I had not been on duty ten minutes when I observed a signal fire in the direction he had gone, about six miles distant, and wondered he did not make his appearance but all was quiet for the rest of the night, excepting that at intervals the fire was replenished.

23rd, 4 Just as we were getting up, not very clear yet, headed by the fellow I yesterday sent for the pistol, came about forty others bearing torches, shields, etc., etc., etc., shouting and kicking up a great noise, and evidently endeavouring to surround us. I immediately ordered them back, also telling the native that was with me to tell them that if they did not keep back I would fire upon them, which they one and all disregarded—some were then within a few paces of us, the others at various other distances. I requested Hodgkinson and Middleton to be ready with their arms and fire when desired. Seeing nothing else left but to be butchered ourselves, I gave the word "Fire!" A few of those closest retired a few paces, and were being encouraged on to the attack, when we repeated our fire; and until several rounds were fired into them (and, no doubt, many


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XIII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XIII


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XIV

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XIV


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XV

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XV


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XVI

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XVI


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XVII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XVII


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XVIII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XVIII


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XIX

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XIX


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XX

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XX


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXI

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXI


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXII


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Rh felt the effects) they did not wholly retire. I am afraid the "messenger," the greatest vagabond of the lot, escaped scathless. They then took to the lake, and a few came round the western side of it, southward, whom we favoured with a few dropping shots to show the danger they were in, by the distance the rifles would carry on the water. They then cleared off, and we finished with them. I then buried the memo., for any person that might happen to follow my footsteps, at the same time informing them to beware of the natives as we had, in self-defence, to fire upon them. I have no doubt, from the manner they came up, that they at once considered us an easy prey; but I fancy they miscalculated, and I hope it may prove a useful lesson to them in future.

We here transfer from Mr. Hodgkinson's journal a description of this "messenger," who was no other than the Keri Keri, already alluded to.

"'Oct. 22nd., Kadhiberri. We had just saddled the horses this morning, purposing to ride some few miles beyond Burke Swamp, when our attention was attracted by some natives walking from the north towards the whirlies where I had found the pannican and canteen. They were five in number, a man and four lubras (women), and did not at first perceive our presence on the lake. The flutter of our blankets, which were hanging on the branch of a tree, at length attracted their pursuit, and away they posted in the direction from which they had come. Mr. McKinlay, Bullenjani (a native), and I were after them at mil gallop in an instant, but Bullenjani,"


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXIII

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXIII


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXIV

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXIV


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXV

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXV


text: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXVI

title: Garman and Worse/Chapter XXVI


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 "forced a maniacal laugh from him. With a few shrill cries he let his lubras know no immediate harm was intended, and forth from their place of concealment came these hideous objects of his solicitude. On being questioned as to the white fellows, he led us to an adjacent sand hill, and without hesitation commenced scratching on a spot from which he brought to view a quantity of burnt horsehair, used for the stuffing of saddles. He was then taken to our camp, fed, and more closely examined. A wound on his knee attracting our attention, he showed how he had been shot, by pointing to my gun, and carried from the spot on another native's back. Besides the wound on his knee, there was another bullet-mark on his chest, re-issuing between the shoulders, and four buckshot still protruding from the centre of his back. He corroborated all Bullenjani had said relative to the massacre and its cannibalistic denouement, distinctly stated that four whites were killed, and ultimately departed, leaving his lubras as a hostage, for the purpose of fetching a pistol in the possession of his tribe. … He said his name was Keri Keri.'"

Got breakfast ready and over without further molestation, and started at 10·30, on a bearing of 197°. At 11·15 reached a recently-flooded richly-grassed flat, surrounded by a margin of trees; the main bulk of it lying south of our course; thence, bearing 202°, stopping twenty minutes for camels, and proceeding, and at 12·30, crossing north-west end of another dry lake or grassed and clovered flat, similar to the other. At 1·20, made a large box creek, with occasional gums, about from fifty to sixty yards wide, and eighteen to twenty feet deep, sandy bottom, where we struck it perfectly dry, where a stream flows to west of north, with immense side creeks (I fancy Cooper's Creek is a


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 branch of it). Followed its bed in its course northward, and at 2 reached a water-hole with no very considerable quantity of water. Watered the camels and horses. This creek is named Werridi Marara. From thence, Lake Buphanan bears 232° 30'; Kadhiberri 41°; Lake Moolion-dhurunnie, 296°. Crossed the creek and went on a bearing of 215° 30 till 6, striking same creek and following its bed (dry) for about two miles, and reached Dharannie Creek; a little indifferent water in its bed, very steep banks, about thirty feet high and sixty yards broad. The bed of the creek, from where we struck it at 6 , was chiefly rocky or conglomerate stone, resembling burned limestone.

24th. Left at 7·15 15, bearing 215°; travelling one hour and twenty minutes over splendid grassy flats with low intervening sand-ridges. At 9·55 made Arannie, a recently-dried lake (abundance of clover and grasses), three miles long by one broad, at right angles to our course, and struck it quarter of a mile from its northern extremity. At 10·22 made Ity-a-mudkie, another recently dried lake; plenty of luxuriant feed. At 10·50 reached its western border, at a creek called Anti-wocarra, with no great quantiiy of water, flowing from 320°. At 1 left Anti-wocarra. At 1·55 made a large flooded flat, recently under water, with a great abundance of


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 clover and grasses reaching as far as the eye can trace. At right angles to our course, at 2·15, reached its western border, and at 2·25 reached the depôt at Lake Buchanan, or Cudgeecudgeena—the place where I directed the camp to be shifted to,—and found everything in good order, much to my satisfaction. My black female messengers it appears did not go back at once to our camp with the note I gave them, and consequently they did not get here till Sunday.

25th. At camp very much the appearance of rain, but none has fallen. Clearing off any heavy trees round our camp that could be used by natives as places of concealment. Have made up my mind to send a party into the settled districts, as far as Blanchewater, with such information regarding the object of my search and as much general information as is in my power, with copy of journal and tracing showing our route, which Mr. Hodgkinson will be better able to do neatly at Blanchewater than here in the tents; although he has made here on the spot such a one as would give a very good idea of all that is necessary. No part of this country has had any rain for very many months; the grasses and herbage, generally, on the hilly ground, being like tinder. If it had an ordinary share it would be an excellent healthy stock country. From the number of natives, and their excellent condition, I am satisfied that many


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 lakes and creeks in this part are permanent; and as I mean to give it a good look over I have come to the conclusion that I will require a further supply of flour, tea, sugar, and a few little et ceteras, and will therefore send horses with the party that goes to Blanchewater, under the guidance of Mr. Hodgkinson, to bring up additional supplies, trusting to get them there, and at the same time hoping this course may meet the approbation of the Government; for in so doing I adopt the course I would pursue on my own account, and therefore do it on theirs. The men are in excellent health and good spirits, and the animals, except the camels (they cannot stand the heavy hills of sand if at all hot, which it was on our last trip), are all in good condition—many of them much better than when we left Adelaide. The wind is blowing from all parts of the compass, but rather cool. For days previous it kept from the north, and generally very hot indeed. As yet no rare specimens obtained of birds, animals, or anything else.

COPY OF LETTER BURIED AT LAKE MASSACRE.

S. A. B. R. Expedition.

"To the Leader of any Expedition seeking tidings of Burke and party. "Sir,—I reached this water on the 19th inst., and by means of a native guide discovered a European camp one mile north, on west side of flat. At or near this camp traces of horses, camels, and whites were found. Hair, apparently belonging to Mr. Wills, Charles Gray, and Mr. Burke or King was


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   picked from the surface of a grave dug by a spade, and from the skull of a European buried by the natives. Other less important traces—such as a pannican, oil can, saddle stuffing, etc., have been found. Beware of the natives; upon whom we have had to fire. We do not intend to return to Adelaide, but proceed to west of north. From information, all Burke's party were killed and eaten. I have, etc., JNO. McKINLAY.

P.S.—All the party in good health. If you had any difficulty in reaching this spot, and wish to return to Adelaide by a more practicable route, you may do so for at least three months to come by driving west for eighteen miles, then south of west, cutting our dray track within thirty miles. Abundance of water and feed at easy stages.

Mr. McKinlay gives some of his views and plans after the return of the party sent south to Blanchewater for additional supplies.

29th. At 7·30 two natives arrived on opposite side of the lake, bringing the joyous tidings that the party under charge of Mr. Hodgkinson had camped at a creek called Keradinte, about eight miles from this, last night, so that I expect them every hour. I was heartily glad to hear of them. At 9·30 Mr. Hodgkinson and party arrived safe, for which I was truly thankful. I was afraid something had happened to them, from their apparent long absence. I am sorry that the native, Jack, that accompanied them from this, deserted about the inner stations, having heard some idle report of something having happened to the party here. Mr. Hodgkinson has brought back with him nearly


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 everything I required. By him I also received some Adelaide papers, in which were some Melbourne telegrams, one of which announced the rescue by Mr. Howitt of one of Burke's party, King; so that I have been deceived as to appearances at Lake Kadhiberri respecting the different colours of hair found. Still I am under the impression that when Burke's diary is published that it will show of some affray with the natives about that place, or they would not have acted towards us when there as they did. By receipt of such intelligence, and that now the whole of the unfortunate party are accounted for, it renders my journey to Cooper's Creek as I intended, useless for any purpose of relief. Had they on their arrival from the north coast at Cooper's Creek depôt only pushed westward this length, they could, with the greatest ease to themselves, have made the Adelaide stations. I am quite surprised that they could not get south by Strzelecki's Creek, being under the impression that two-thirds of the water of Cooper's Creek was drained off by that watercourse southward. My impression from observation here is, that a very great portion of the waters of Cooper's Creek is drained northwards from this. Before leaving this it is my intention to push eastward some distance to ascertain the character of the country, and on my return to push westward for some distance to ascertain if the


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 Stony Desert exists so far southward as this. I will then proceed northward and examine the waters reported by the natives to exist in that quarter, and ascertain if they are likely to be of permanent use to South Australia. From them, I shall be entirely guided by the appearance of the country there as to my future movements. I am now satisfied that water can be had by digging. By the time I return from the east and westward the horses that have been down to the settled districts will have so far recovered from their fatigue, and be again able to proceed northward.

[The indefatigable leader now gets ready for Cooper's Creek, rain or no rain.]

Sunday, Dec.1. A little rain during the night, but not enough to wet a sheet of paper. At sunrise temperature 70°, calm. At noon slight breeze, southerly; temperature 110°. Found suspended the spring of one of Terry's breech-loading rifles round the neck of a native. He describes the remaining portions of the rifle out to the north-east, which will be nearly in our north course. Highest temperature during the afternoon in the sun, 129°; at sunset, 90°.

2nd. Wind south-south-east, temperature at sunrise 77°, sky completely overcast. Start out eastward to examine the country, with two camels, five horses, and sufficient food for one and a half weeks, taking with me Middleton, Poole, Frank


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 (native), and a native of this place. My main object in going out now is—firstly, to ascertain if there is a likelihood of a flood down Cooper's Creek this season, after all the rain that has fallen along the eastern side of the continent some months back, and which I thought possible might have fallen as well on and to west of coast range, so to secure to us an open retreat in the event of our being able to make some considerable advance northward, and being detained some time; and secondly, to ascertain if any one was as yet stationed on Cooper's Creek, in order to intimate to such my intentions of proceeding northward for some distance, and the almost certainty of my crossing any track which either of the search parties from the northern coast could possibly make en route to Cooper's Creek or even Eyre's Creek. Started at 9·15, and passed through nothing but sandhill and flooded flat country till 3 , and arrived at Tac Wilten Creek, containing little water, but drinkable. For the first few miles the sand hills were further apart, with, in the interval, salt-bush and grassy flats. Watered the horses and camels, crossed the creek, passed up the south side, crossed a sand hill, crossed the creek, went a short distance on north side of creek, recrossed it, and went up south side to water. This is a long narrow strip of water, not deep, and drying up fast. A number of natives here. Crossed creek again and went to Aunrinnie, arrived at


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 north-east end of water, and crossed creek 4·30 Distance about twenty-five miles. The water here, although enough, is quite unfit for use, the horses and camels refusing it, but there is good green feed in the flat.

3rd. Started at 8, passed over sand hills till 8·43 and made large lake, dry, Cullamun by name, destitute of vegetation, and no margin of trees; passed over sand hills and flooded flat to a creek very broad, deep, and well defined by timber, and trending northward; not much water at present, good here, but unfit for use above and below, like that of last night. Creek called A-ga-boog-ana. Distance, about eight miles. I went there rather out of my course to water the camels, being the nearest in going anything like the course I wished; passed sand hills through south end of large dry lake at 11·22, and again sand hills; then through large flooded swamp, Narrogoonnoo Mooku, with no marginal trees; southern end a good deal of cane grass; then again sand hills till 12·46; then large cracked flooded plain, Wandra-brin-nannie, till arrived at a creek with no water; crossed and rode up creek on south side to east of north to Barka Water, no feed. Got down into the bed of the creek and rode up about three-quarters of a mile to a water called Moollaney, pretty good; no great quantity, and but little feed. Total distance, about twenty-five miles. A lot of stones of a fruit


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 found here of a very ornamental little tree, from six to fifteen feet high, which I have secured.

4th. At or rather before daylight Middleton, in attending to the camels, unfortunately got his foot seriously injured by a considerable sized stick which was stuck in the ground, its end penetrating deeply into the foot as he was returning to the camp down the steep bank. I am afraid I will have to return with him. I have pulled out several ragged pieces of wood from the wound; a lot of small tendons protrude. I will try one day up the creek, and see if he can stand it. Started at 9·40 leaving creek on right, crossed small flooded flat to sand hill, then good low sand hills, firm travelling; passed a water called Appo-more-millia, about one and a half miles to our right in the creek. Crossed creek in the centre of a cracked flooded flat, bearing to the north by west; passed over sand hills and a heavy flooded, cracked, and timbered flat, in which is a creek bearing north-east, with sandy hillocks and native whirlies. Bore south to creek Goonnooboorroo, with little water. Distance, about sixteen miles to-day. Middleton's foot pains him much.

5th. Obliged to camp with Middleton. On a large gum tree marked "MK Dec. 4, 5, 1861." One large creek comes in here from the south, and immediately below this, about 100 yards, another from same quarter. Bronze wing


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 and crested pigeons here; also some beautiful parrots, black ducks, teal, whistlers, painted widgeons, and wood-duck in small number, also parroquets and quail. Some dry grass here on top of banks up to my waist, further out there is some good tussocky grasses, and there has been plenty of oats. Secured seeds from the bean tree, and the stones of the fruit before alluded to. Fish in water here, although there is only a small quantity and drying up fast. In looking for the horses in the morning up the main creek, found about three-quarters of a mile from this where Burke had camped in the bed, and had dug for water. From the appearance of their camp and quantity of camel dung, he slept more than one night here. I think when they camped there, there was water both below and above; it is now quite dry, however. A small quantity of sewing twine was found at this camp.

6th. Middleton's foot a little easier. Thought of returning, as he is quite unfit for work, but have made up my mind now to go on and ascertain the facts I went out to obtain. I therefore started at 8·25 for the upper waters of the creek, keeping on the south bank; crossed several creeks until 12 o'clock, when we found in the camp a little above Pardulli a gum tree marked "W.I. Wills, N.N.W., xlv. yds., A.H." Turned out our horses here for some time; between the last crossing of the creek and this I got a view of a couple of red


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 sand bluffs, and distant sand hills or hills of some kind to north-west. Started from Wills' grave at 4·10 and crossed creek, struck the creek again at 5·35 with plenty of water to Howitt's camp, xxxii.; thence on to Burke's grave, striking dry creek, and following it to Yarrowanda; arrived here at 7·10

7th. Started at 7·7 and came to Burke's grave, about two miles on south bank of creek. On the north-east side of a box tree, at upper end of water-hole, native name Yae-ni-mem-gi, found marked on tree, "R.O'H.B., 21-9-61., A.H." Deposited a document, in case of the return of any party. Saw a cobby horse on arrival here last night; tried to catch him. Saw the tracks of cattle up the creek short distance from him, they had gone further up the creek to a water, Culli-muno. Spelled to-day.

8th. Started back for camp; passed large numbers of natives; marked small gum sapling "MK" roughly; made for heavy creek that joins another at Strzelecki's Creek, and camped at a water called Tac-durrie, a small water about two miles from Goone-borrow in the main creek. Distance travelled to-day about twenty-seven and a half miles.

COPY OF DOCUMENT LEFT AT COOPER'S CREEK, DATED 7TH DECEMBER, 1861.

"To the Leader of the Party out for the remains of the lost Burke and Wills, but more especially to the Officer in charge of the Depôt likely to be formed on this creek.


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   "Sir,—I beg to state that I have had communication with Adelaide, and have received papers from there intimating the relief of King, the only survivor of the Melbourne Gulf of Carpentaria party, and an announcement that the Melbourne Government were likely to have the remains of the late gentlemen removed from this creek to Melbourne to receive a public burial and monument to their memory; and at the same time stating their intention of establishing a depôt somewhere on this creek to await the arrival of one or other of the parties (in search of the late Burke and Wills) from Rockhampton, or the Albert, on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

"I beg to state I am with my party stationed on a lake about eighty-five miles westerly of this, and immediately on my return there I start northward; and for the first part of my journey a little to east of north, and will at every suitable camp on my route bury documents conveying the intelligence meant to be conveyed to either of the parties by the depot party likely to be formed here of the fate of the late party, by which means they will be put in possession of the facts, and can return to the Albert or go on through to Adelaide. There is at present, and will be for some time to come, easy access to Adelaide by my route, which the wheel tracts of my cart have clearly defined.

"By this means of intimation to the parties in question, it will relieve the party about to be stationed here from the necessity of passing a summer in this hot region. My course will intersect any course either of the parties out from the northward can make between Eyre's Creek and the late Burke's depot on this creek.

"I beg to remain, sir, "Your most obedient servant, "JOHN McKINLAY, "Leader of the S. A. B. R. Expedition."

9th. Started 7·25, followed creek down, and passed Goonooboorroo water-hole; passed flooded


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 cracked flats and sand hills to Molanny Creek. Distance travelled to-day, seventeen miles.

10th. Started and crossed creek at 7·30 over sand hills, then through bed of large dry lake or swamp; name of swamp Wando Binannie, a good deal cracked, and bad travelling. From thence through low sand hills, flooded box flats, steep sand hills; crossed Narro Dhaerrie swamp, crossed creek at east end of main water, this drying up fast, crossed creek twice, and camped on south side of lower end of Tac Wilten.

11th. Started at 6·30, crossed creek and flat, over sand hills and flooded flat, with large salt-bush and polygonum; timber to the right, and some samphire bushes; crossed my old single track with alternate sand hills and cracked flooded flats, and arrived at our depôt camp on Lake Buchanan at 11 Distance, about nineteen miles.


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 LAKE BUCHANAN TO LAKE HODGKINSON.

expedition breaks up at length from Lake Buchanan, after a two months' camping, and takes a course about north-north-east, to a fine sheet of water about sixteen miles in circumference, named after the second in command, Lake Hodgkinson, We are now in the very heart of the summer, and our travellers experience all the defects of this remarkable country. The heat is frequently intense, almost beyond the endurance of either man or beast, and aggravated by the total want of shelter of any kind, which was most commonly their lot in camping or marching over such an open country. The country was not without attractions, especially those of a utilitarian


text: Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia/Chapter 4


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 ADELAIDE TO BLANCHEWATER.

The reader has learned from our Introduction the lamentable mischance that left Burke and his party to perish at Cooper's Creek. The intelligence received in the colonies that Brahe and Wright had left the depot at the Cooper without learning anything of the missing party, excited general concern. The Victoria Government took prompt measures to prosecute a further search; and in order to make this search as complete as possible, expeditions were organized to proceed by both the north and the south. Mr. Alfred Howitt, an experienced Australian explorer, was ordered off at once to Cooper's Creek, while further expeditions were being prepared for a march to commence from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mr. Walker was fitted out for a journey from Rockhampton, on the eastern coast of


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 Queensland, to the River Albert, at the head of the Gulf, and Mr. Landsborough was despatched from Brisbane in a small brig, the "Firefly," also to the same part of the gulf, where he was to begin a journey towards the south. The government armed steamer, "Victoria," was also sent to hover about the same rendezvous with suitable supplies for rendering assistance to the cause generally.

Howitt, as we have seen, accomplished the object of all this enterprise by finding the unfortunate party in the person of its sole survivor, King, who for between two and three months since the death of his leaders, had been living with the Aborigines of the Cooper, kindly enough cared for, indeed, by the natives, after their rude fashion, but so haggard and emaciated as to be hardly recognizable as a human being. This intelligence arrived too late to prevent the other expeditions, a circumstance the less to be regretted when we consider the important results they accomplished. Walker executed his mission successfully, reaching, on the 7th December, 1861, a depôt formed on the Albert by Landsborough, after detecting the traces of Burke's party at the Flinders, on his way. Landsborough set out from this depot in October, and after proceeding 210 miles in a southerly direction towards the Central Mount Stuart, returned to the depot,


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 danger to his small party from the Aborigines, and also finding a scarcity of water, as the time (December) was towards the end of the dry season. The country otherwise, however, was of the most promising description. He reached the depôt on the 19th January, 1862, and on the 10th February took his course across Australia by way of the Flinders, guided to this course by the information given by Walker. It was only on reaching the settlements of the Darling, four months afterwards, that he learned the fate of Burke's party.

The Queensland Government co-operated with that of Victoria in forwarding the northern expedition. That of South Australia organized a special "Burke Relief Expedition" of its own. The parliament of the colony promptly voted the necessary funds, and the charge of the party was offered to Mr. John McKinlay. That gentleman being at the time in Melbourne, the offer was made to him through the electric telegraph. It was accepted as quickly as made, and within three weeks, as Mr. Davis tells us, of the parliamentary vote, Mr. McKinlay and his party were already at Kapunda, fifty miles beyond Adelaide, all prepared for the great journey before them. It was not indeed contemplated at starting that they would have to cross the entire of Australia, but they were equipped for that contingency, and their leader having decided further on to accomplish


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 that object, they did accomplish it most creditably, and have proved, continues Davis, that the unsettled parts of the interior, between Blanchewater and Carpentaria consist of something else than a howling desert.

"Started from Adelaide with the camels, etc., on 16th August, 1860," says Mr. McKinlay, in his official journal, "and overtook the remnant of the party, horses, cart, etc., nothing of any particular note occurring on the journey to Blanchewater (Mr. Baker's station) more than ordinary on such journeys." This is all very well in an official document. Not so, however, with Mr. Davis, who finds a world of pleasant incident in the region of the settlements, and a great deal more of hospitality than in the unexplored world beyond. Here are the occurrences en route to Blanchewater, the outside settlement for the time being in the colony's progress, Mr. Davis being narrator.

On the 14th August, 1861, the horses, carts, and six of the "Burke Relief Party," under the command of Mr. John McKinlay, started overland for Gawler, a town some twenty-five miles distant from Adelaide, where they were hospitably received by Mr. R. T. Poole, of the Willaston Hotel, and whose son, Mr. R. Poole, better known as "Bobby," formed one of the party. Nothing


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 God, and let to-morrow be like to-day. Let thine eyes consider the acts of God; it is He who smiteth him that is smitten."

5. The author of the Maxims contained in the demotic papyrus of the Louvre.

"Curse not thy master before God."

It was in this style that in all periods of their history, in the earliest not less confidently than in the latest, the Egyptians spoke of the Nutar in the singular number. There can, I trust, be no doubt who that Power is which, in our translations, we do not hesitate to call God. It is unquestionably the true and only God, who "is not far from any one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being," whose "eternal power and Godhead" and government of the world were made known through "that Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world." In the extracts which I have quoted, and in many similar passages, we recognize the elements of true religion, free from all admixture of mythology. But if such be the Power, what are the "powers" (nutriu), and what are their relations to it?

The Powers.

In the formation of a theory of the universe, the notion of Power productive of results may, according as it is defined, lead to very different consequences. It may be conceived very much in the same sense as a


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 could exceed the kindness shown to Mr. McKinlay and his six companions by Mr. and Mrs. Poole, who did everything that could conduce to their comfort and enjoyment—pigeon match in the morning, champagne lunch after, and other little pleasantnesses for the jolly fellows who were there.

16th.—On the 16th Mr. McKinlay and two others of his party started by train with four camels to Kapunda,some twenty-five miles further, where the horses, with the detachment, would be ready to receive him, having preceded him the day before. On arrival at Kapunda, a little incident occurred to one of the crew—a young lady stepped out of the train, who proved to be the idol of his affections. Poor fellow! his look of agony! little did he think he should have to say again the word farewell. But the lady was not to be deprived of her "last fond look," and she pressed to the front at the start in the morning, seeing us all off, and one of us more particularly, with a reciprocal good-bye, and a vigorous agitation of kerchiefs.

An accident happened just now, the cart, after having been packed as full as possible, was found, on its arrival at the "Sir John Franklin Hotel" from the railway terminus, to have its axle bent to that extent that it would not be safe to proceed; so that Mr. McKinlay, with the driver, was obliged


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 to remain to get new axles, wheels, etc., whilst the camels and horses proceeded on to a sheep station some nine miles up country named Anlaby, where the greatest kindness was shown to all by Mr. Buchanan, a fine specimen of the Australian sheep farmers, and a friend of Mr. McKinlay's. Let us here pay a passing mark of respect to him and his excellent wife, and thank them for the hospitality they lavished on us. The worthy host brought forth the "stirrup cup," and long will his fine, open, manly face be remembered by all, as he drank "God speed." May his shadow never be less, and may prosperity ever attend him and his!

At Kapunda we were met by a member of the clerical profession, a wandering preacher, a most curious specimen of the order; his stories were all harmless, only a bore, though he doubtless meant well. He subsequently joined the party at Buchanan's, and then ensued the most charming religious controversy, with one of our party, ever heard—the parson in downright earnest, and his opponent, I must say, very much the reverse. It served to pass away the evening; but as most of those arguments generally end, so this did also, both were, at the close, exactly of the same opinion as they were at the beginning. This parson was somewhat of an oddity.

17th and 18th.—On Sunday afternoon, after


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 we had had a sermon from his reverence, Mr. McKinlay arrived with the cart.

19th.—Monday; started for Tottle Creek; roads very bad indeed, and the cart got bogged up to the axle, causing much delay; and during the detention the camels thought they would have a little fun on their own account, and so they did, for they commenced fighting like fury, till they were separated and tied up. Soon, however, the order was given to start with them and horses, and not wait for the carts; so off they went, got to Tottle Creek, put up at a roadside public house, where bottled porter was the order of the evening, and very acceptable it was.

Here very nearly occurred a sad accident, and had it not been for Mr. McKinlay, who fortunately happened to be standing close by, Mr. Hodgkinson would have been trampled to death by one of the camels, a very spiteful one; he (Mr. Hodgkinson) was hobbling him, when he struck him with his foot with such force as to knock all the wind out of him, and would have proceeded to trample on him had not Mr. McKinlay caught hold of our comrade and pulled him from under the feet of the infuriated beast, the man who had hold of the brute's nose-string pulling the camel round the other way; thus he was saved and soon recovered, and then put on the hobbles in spite of him. This camel was very


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 Cause, and lead, as the notion of Cause will always lead reflecting men, in spite of the protests of critical philosophers, to the admission of One First Cause or Power from which all others are derived. But, as we know equally well from the history of speculation, the notions of Power and Substance may be identified, and it is easy to imagine one universal Force in nature, in itself eternal and unchangeable, but manifesting itself in the most different forms. In both cases the result is Unity; Theistic in the first case, Pantheistic in the second. I shall have occasion to speak of the complete and final triumph of the latter of these conceptions. But the triumph did not take place till a comparatively late period, and till then the Egyptian religion may be considered as susceptible of either a Theistic or a Pantheistic interpretation. In either case the gods of the mythology represent the real or imaginary powers of the universe; and what these powers were in the most primitive conception entertained of them by the Egyptians, can only be discovered by the same scientific process which has been applied with such success to the mythology of the Indo-European races.

Myth and Legend.

The most common opinion held by the best scholars only a few years ago was, that however many gods the Egyptians might have, they had no mythology properly speaking. The only myth they were supposed to


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 unruly for a long time, the man in charge of him did not like fondling him as was done with all the others.

20th.—Cart came in about 11 Up and stirring early, and after packing the animals started for "Gum Creek," one of Mr. Levi's stations, under the management of Mr. Love, a very jolly, good fellow, who tried to make everybody as comfortable as possible, and he succeeded. This was a long stage of twenty miles, and here again the cart got into a mess, and bullocks were obliged to be sent to drag it out of the bog.

21st. Started for Booberowie, a station of Dr. Brown's, where the party had to sleep in the kitchen; this would probably not have happened had the Doctor been at home, but unfortunately he was absent from the station, and the nice little beds they saw through the windows, in which they hoped to have rested their weary limbs, remained untenanted, kitchen table and floor being used instead.

McKinlay went, it was omitted to be mentioned, to the Burra, a small town some few miles to the east of this track, for some odds and ends that had been forgotten; here he joined again, and here the pastor took his final leave of us for the Burra. He is a natural wonder.

22nd. We left this station. A few blessings, not loud but deep, were devoted, to the hospitable


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 or kitchentable beds, to say nothing of the hard floor, and everybody as fatigued in the morning as when he turned in the night before. The cart, of course, soon got bogged, and caused a delay on a plain for several hours; the sun very hot. Here they were overtaken by a good Samaritan, who shared his fine damper, mutton, and tea with them. He instituted quite a pic-nic alongside his cart. Men remained, with the horses and the camels lying down, all jolly and happy.

On the move again as soon as the cart came up, and camped on Mr. James' Run, Kanowie. Did not go up to the house, but for the first time erected tents in a paddock, and all turned in after a good supper. But, alas! man proposes, and God disposes; for all had to turn out almost as soon as they had got between the blankets, to go off after the horses and camels, as there was the greatest row with them possible, as the camels had got amongst the horses and started them off at score. The night too was rather dark, and, dear reader, you may imagine it was no sinecure to go after them, tumbling down holes and over stones, logs, etc. However, after a long hunt, found and brought them all back but one, which we supposed had been beaten by the savage fellows, and thinking discretion the better part of valour, had bolted. Brought back the tidings to McKinlay, who said it could not be helped. All


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 possess was that about Osiris, and even this was imagined to have been brought into shape through Hellenic influences. This opinion is altogether an erroneous one: it confuses the notion of myth with that of mythological tale or legend; and whilst the Egyptians really had an abundance of legendary tales, their myths are simply innumerable. The tale of Osiris is as old as Egyptian civilization itself; that is, very much more than two thousand years before Hellenic influences came into operation.

Several mythological tales of considerable extent are now well known to us. The legend of the revolt of the first men against the god Rā and his destruction of them was discovered by M. Naville in one of the tombs at Bibān-el-molūk. A long narrative of the victories of Horus was copied by the same accomplished scholar from the walls of the temple at Edfu. It is written in the style of the heroic annals of the kings of Egypt, and accounts for the names of geographical localities by the exploits of the divine warrior. The tale of Osiris, as told in the Greek work attributed to Plutarch, is made up out of several genuine Egyptian legends, and the wanderings of the widowed Isis formed the subject of many legendary narratives. But the religious texts are literally crowded with allusions to mythological legends, and these allusions, though they are necessarily obscure to us, must have been familiar to the Egyptians.


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 glad enough to turn in again this time, and with more success, as no accident occurred any more that night.

Up early and two or three sent after the missing camel. He was found some eight or ten miles on the road, going quietly along in his hobbles. He was soon caught and brought back. This little freak of (Mr. Cassim) the camel detained us here all day, as he did not arrive at the camp till nearly 4

25th. Off in the morning on the road for Maranaric, and camped without tents. The cart, as usual, not up to-night. One of the fellows with a native black went after the camels, just to see where they were, as it was rather scrubby, when the wicked one (Siva) rushed at the two men and made them go for their lives, scrambling over logs and stumps and stones, much to the enjoyment of those in camp, who were watching their eccentric movements. Here it was necessary to walk about four miles to the station for supper—pleasant that after the day's work.

26th. Camels this morning not to be found, the horses and cart proceed without them to the camp at Lower Pekuna, a very nice one, there being an old shepherd's hut close by with a good well of water. Turned off the road some way to camp here on account of the water. Began forth


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 with to demolish the old hut and get logs on the fire, which soon was blazing away in grand style. The pots were quickly on and the supper got ready, to which ample justice was done. The camels did not come in till nearly 9, the men having been delayed from not finding them for several hours, and from their having had again a good general fight on the road. The two men with them were very nearly done up from fatigue in walking the stage, which was a long one, and running all over the country in the first place to catch these animals. However, a good supper and a sound sleep recruited them, and in the morning they were all right again.

Stayed here all day, Mr. McKinlay trying to buy some bullocks for the cart instead of the horses, the bullocks being more able to tackle the heavy roads. Here all the men took advantage of the spell and fine weather, and a general wash of all the clothes took place.

27th. Off again to-day for Price Morris Place, and camped there on a gentle rise, the weather very cold and wet. Pitched tents and got as cozy as circumstances would permit. This was a very bleak dirty camp. Here Wylde got a tremendous kick on his breast, fortunately rather high, so he did not feel it so much. It was a most wretched night, cold and raining, and the tents all blowing about.


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 28th. A long day's stage to-day, and after a bad night very trying for all. Nothing of importance occurred to-day, but everything " went merry as the marriage bell."

29th. Start this morning after a good night. And here a new hand in the shape of a native joined the expedition; Frank by name, and not a bad sort of fellow; speaks English well and rides well. He will be of great use. Here at Wirrandery the hostess was very kind to one or two who were in early—tea and cakes, with the invariable damper and mutton of every Australian sheep-station, being the order of the day.

30th. Left here for a very pretty place called Willow Creek. The camp was really picturesque. Did not arrive here till late, and off again very early in the morning. There are some copper mines here, and report speaks well of them. And here another black fellow was added to the store; one of the roughest specimens of the genus homo you would see in a day's march, even in Australia; hair long and matted. The miners had rigged him out with some old clothes much too large for him, and a wild-looking specimen "Jack" presented. The good people at Wirrandery call it eleven miles to Willow Creek; it is twenty-three good English miles, as all tried the distance when in camp. Supper as usual, al fresco.

31st. Left Willow Creek early in the morning


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 The mythological legend grew out of the myth, but must not be confounded with it. The myth was in Egypt, what it was everywhere else, a mere phrase, often consisting of not more than a single word, descriptive of some natural phenomenon, such as the rising or setting of the sun, the struggle between light and darkness, and the alternate victory of the one or the other. The science of Language has established the fact that all names were general terms; and one of the most eminent masters of the science begins a work on "Proper Names" by laying it down as a first principle that for the etymologist there are no such things as "proper names," but only "appellatives." These appellatives, when applied to natural phenomena, are either such predicates as the most prosaic observer might use at the present day, or they are metaphorical. An early stage of language is always highly metaphorical, its terms being derived from sensuous perception, and being ill adapted to express abstract ideas. Many roots were required to express the different stages or determinations of a single notion. Even in reference to so simple a notion as that expressed by the verb to see, the Greeks had recourse to no less than three roots (in, , ), according as the action was considered as continued, completed or momentary. We ourselves say I go, but I went; je vais, nous allons,


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 for Warcowei, under the superintendence of Mr. John Roe, a jolly good fellow. As usual, the cart in a fix, and could not be extricated; the driver rode into "Warcowie about 4 for assistance; so immediately some of the party mounted, and rode out for that purpose. The business took a long time to do; it was quite dark when finished, so determined to camp there for the night, and proceed to the station in the morning. Middleton, however, rode in for something to eat and drink, and returned about 8, when three or four remained in charge of the cart, and Middleton and Davis returned to the station with all the horses, leaving the bullocks. Mr. McKinlay did not accompany the party to the station, as he was away in another direction to buy some bullocks.

Sept. 1st and 2nd. Remained at Warcowie, waiting for McKinlay. Pitched tents and did not trouble the good people at the station any more. McKinlay arrived, and was unsuccessful in his attempt to get more bullocks.

3rd. Again on the move this morning; the horses were not to be found; the camels, however, led the way to Mr. George Marchant's station, Perriwallia. Found him and several neighbours mustering cattle. All hospitality; gave us anything he had. As the camels were in long before the rest, and all the grub was with the horses, and they did not arrive till late at night, after this


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 first arrival I had turned in for the night. Mr. Marchant let McKinlay have what bullocks he required.

4th. Start this morning for another out-station of Mr. Marchant's, Yudnapunda; a long delay on the way occasioned again by the cart. The men with the camels stop several times, and once three or four hours, much to their annoyance; and when they did come up they brought word that one of the camels was to return to the cart with Mr. McKinlay' s blankets, as, horribile dictu, the cart had both shafts broken and could come no further, and Mr. McKinlay had determined to fit it with a pole for bullocks. This, of course, would take some time, as he had to send a considerable distance, to Mr. Frank Marchant's station, Areola, for the iron-work for the cart. Hodgkinson started with the camel, and Davis took on the other three. The devil's own work to get the wild one packed; he kept rolling off his load. Had they not managed to get the "Rarey strap" on him, and so keep him down, he never would have been packed, and very likely some accident would have happened. He is a real varmint. Arrived, however, with the three, after a good deal of trouble, at Yudnapunda hut, where all the horsemen were regaling themselves with mutton and damper. Quickly unloaded, and joined them.

Stopped here till the morning of the 10th,


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 when Mr. McKinlay arrived with the cart all put to rights, and here we first met Mr. Jacobs, of Parallanah, a station some way farther up, and where he has invited the party to call en route.

10th. Off this night to Belcrackna Creek; rather pretty some part of the way; had to sleep for the first time without water; turned in about 10 o'clock, after a long stirring march.

11th. Proceed now to Willielpa, one of Mr. Chambers' stations, over which reigns supreme a certain Mr. Tom Coffin, quite a character in his way, and quite a curiosity to look at, with very long yellow hair, and nose to match. Fell in with a native well on the march, in which was a dead dog, but we drank the water, and thought it splendid. Who was that general of old who said that the river in which hundreds of the enemy were floating about was the best water he ever tasted? Tom produced milk, bread, and butter, things we had not tasted for some time.

12th. The next stage was Chambers' Creek, some twenty-five miles from Tom Coffin's, which we left the following morning for John's Creek; thence to McTaggart's station, passing through Mr. McCullum's on the way.

13th. At Mr. McCullum's station Mr. McKinlay procured the services of a bullock-driver, and bought his team from him. Ned Palmer was the beau ideal of a bullock-driver; hardy,


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86, good-tempered, could swear as none but bullock-drivers can, and a very pleasant little fellow he was during the rest of the journey, and could spin his yarn with the best, and it lost nothing by his telling it. But to return to the track, McTaggart was very hospitable, and welcomed the party heartily.

15th. Made tracks now for Jacob's station, the gentleman last seen at Yudnapunda station. At this station, Parallanah, are many Aborigines about half-tamed. Here you might see a man with a cap on, and nothing else, or perhaps a tailcoat only, the women with a blanket or piece of cloth just thrown over their shoulders. But this is only just at the station; as soon as they arrive at their whirlies, off goes everything, and they appear strictly in a state of nature—unadorned, but whether it may be considered adorned the most in this case, I leave for abler hands to decide. This tribe is ugly in the extreme, and badly made.

Stopped here till the morning of the 20th, making, mending, and repairing, etc.; and about 10 started on course. To-day Hodgkinson killed a fine kangaroo with Davis's revolver (a very fine weapon by Colt); it was certainly forty yards off. Distance travelled to-day about twenty-two miles.

21st. Arrived at Parabandara. Fine water,


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 j'irai. As the motives for applying an appellative to a phenomenon are many, it is evident that many myths may refer to the same phenomenon under different names. And every myth which involves a metaphor naturally suggests a legend, which in its turn is susceptible of an indefinite amount of development in the hands of poets or other mythographers, long after the primitive meaning of the myth has been forgotten.

It is therefore only through a radical misconception of the nature of a myth that attempts can be made to discover a consistent system in the mythology of any country. One myth was originally quite independent of every other.

Another serious mistake is to suppose that all the details of a mythological legend are of equal importance. The Psalmist speaks of a tabernacle in the heavens set for the sun, whom he compares to "a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race." Call the sun the Bridegroom or the Racer (and he is so named in several mythologies), and a series of images will at once be suggested correlative to each of these names, and adventures will be invented to suit them. But these details are no real part of the myth, and frequently conceal its true meaning. One of the chief difficulties in dealing with a myth lies in distinguishing the essential from the non-essential portions of the legend to which it has given rise.


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 which was procured from some rocks above the camp. Left this camp tolerably early, but could not find the camels for some time; Davis found them, and returned just in time to find every pot and pan packed, and the cook oblivious of his existence. Pleasant, with a fourteen miles' stretch before you. I am afraid he made use of some colloquial expletives.

22nd. Now off for Blanchewater. This station is the last, or was last year, where the white man dwells permanently; here also were some of the Aborigines—ugly enough, and of anything but a sweet-smelling savour; the men have their front teeth knocked out, denoting that they have arrived at the age of manhood.

Here are taken in the stores—tobacco, sugar, tea, flour, horseshoes, soap, etc., etc., etc., too numerous to mention, enough for six months. Here Hodgkinson takes his place as second in command, as he appeared shortly after on his charger; it was the general opinion that he should have booked an inside place. Middleton takes his place with the camels. The stores had been sent up to Port Augusta, and thence per bullock dray to Blanchewater. Some of the flour had been spoiled by coming in contact with some paraffine oil. This flour was left behind, and Mr. Dean, the overseer, kindly provided us with some instead.


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 On the other hand, the moment we understand the nature of a myth, all impossibilities, contradictions and immoralities disappear. If a mythical personage really be nothing more than a name of the sun, his birth may be derived from ever so many different mothers. He may be the son of the Sky or of the Dawn or of the Sea or of Night. He may be identical with other mythical personages which are also names of the sun, and yet be absolutely different from them, as the midday sun differs from the rising and from the setting sun, or the sun of to-day from that of yesterday. He may be the husband of his own mother without the guilt or stain of incest. All myths are strictly true, but they can only be harmonized when translated into the language of physical reality.

All phenomena which attracted sufficient attention furnished matter for myths. It had been remarked, for instance, that certain stars never set, whereas all others, after performing their course, sink below the horizon. The Egyptians expressed this by the myth of the Crocodile of the West which fed upon the Achmu Uretu (the setting stars). Thunder and lightning, storm and wind and cloud and rain, were no doubt duly personified, but they occupy a very small part of the mythology, which is almost exclusively


text: Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia/Chapter 1


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Rh other a sceptre, on which was perched a cuckoo, like the Latin woodpecker Picus on his wooden post. About the pomegranate there was a myth which Pausanias declines to tell, but he does record the myth of the cuckoo. "They say that when Zeus loved the yet virgin Hera, he changed himself into a cuckoo, which she pursued and caught to be her playmate." Pausanias admits that he did not believe this legend. Probably it was invented to account for the companionship of the cuckoo, which, like the cow, was one of the sacred animals of Hera. Myths of this class are probably later than the period in which the divine relationships of gods and animals had passed out of the totemistic into the Samoan condition of belief. The more general explanation is, that the cuckoo, as a symbol of the vernal season, represents the heaven in its wooing of the earth. On the whole, as we have tried to show, the symbolic element in myth is late, and was meant to be explanatory of rites and usages whose original significance was forgotten.

An extremely wild legend of Zeus was current among the Galatæ, where Pausanias expressly calls it a "local myth," differing from the Lydian variant. Zeus in his sleep became, by the earth, father of Attes, a being both male and female in his nature. Agdistis was the local name of this enigmatic character, whom the gods feared and mutilated. From the blood grew up, as in so many myths, an almond tree. The daughter of Sangarius, Nana, placed some of the fruit in her bosom, and thereby became pregnant, like the girl in the Kalewala by the berry, or the mother of


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pennine Chain


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 Huitzilopochtli, in Mexico, by the floating feather. The same set of ideas recurs in Grimm's Märchen Machandelboom, if we may suppose that in an older form the juniper tree and its berries aided the miraculous birth. It is customary to see in these wild myths a reflection of the Phrygian religious tradition, which leads up to the birth of Atys, who again is identified with Adonis as a hero of the spring and the reviving year. But the story has been introduced in this place as an example of the manner in which floating myths from all sources gravitate towards one great name and personality, like that of Zeus. It would probably be erroneous to interpret these and many other myths in the vast legend of Zeus, as if they had originally and intentionally described the phenomena of the heavens. They are, more probably, mere accretions round the figure of Zeus conceived as a personal god, a "magnified non-natural man."

Another example of local accretion is the fable that Zeus, after carrying off Ganymede to be his cup-bearer, made atonement to the royal family of Troy by the present of a vine of gold fashioned by Hephæstus.


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Rh The whole of the myth of Callisto, again, whom Zeus loved, and who bore Arcas, and later was changed into a bear, and again into a star, is clearly of local Arcadian origin. If the Arcadians, in very remote times, traced their descent from a she-bear, and if they also, like other races, recognised a bear in the constellation, they would naturally mix up those fables later with the legend of the all-powerful Zeus.

So far we have studied some of the details in the legend of Zeus which did not conspicuously win their way into the national literature. The object has been to notice a few of the myths which appear the most ancient, and the most truly native and original. These are the traditions preserved in mystery-plays, tribal genealogies, and temple legends, the traditions surviving from the far-off period of the village Greeks. It has already been argued, in conformity with the opinion of C. O. Müller, that these myths are most antique and thoroughly local. "Any attempt to explain these myths in order, such, for instance, as we now find them in the collection of Apollodorus, as a system of thought and knowledge, must prove a fruitless task." Equally useless is it to account for them all as stories originally told to describe, consciously or unconsciously, or to explain any atmospheric and meteorological phenomena. Zeus is the bright sky; granted, but the men who told how he became an ant, or a cuckoo, or celebrated a sham wedding with a wooden image, or offered Troy a golden vine, "the


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182 work of Hephæstus," like other articles of jewellery, were not thinking of the bright sky when they repeated the story. They were merely strengthening some ancient family or tribal tradition by attaching it to the name of a great, powerful, personal being, immortal and accomplished to perfection in all the supernatural arts of the sorcerer. This being, not the elemental force that was Zeus, not the power "making for righteousness" that is Zeus, not the pure spiritual ruler of the world, the Zeus of philosophy, is the hero of the myths that have been investigated.

In the tales that actually won their way into national literature, beginning with Homer, there is observable the singular tendency to combine, in one figure, the highest religious ideas with the fables of a capricious, and often unjust and lustful supernatural being. Taking the myths first, their contrast with the religious conception of Zeus will be the more remarkable.

Zeus is the king of all gods and father of some, but he cannot keep his subjects and family always in order. In the first book of the Iliad, Achilles reminds his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, how she once "rescued the son of Cronus, lord of the storm-clouds, from shameful wreck, when all other Olympians would have bound him, even Hera, and Poseidon, and Pallas Athene." Thetis brought the hundred-handed Briareus to the help of the out-numbered and over-mastered Zeus. Then Zeus, according to the Scholiast, hung Hera out of heaven in chains, and gave Apollo and Poseidon for slaves to Laomedon, king of Troy. So lively was the recollection of this coup d'état in


text: Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Woodhouse, James


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Rh Olympus, that Hephæstus implores Hera (his mother in Homer) not to anger Zeus, "lest I behold thee, that art so dear, chastised before mine eyes, and then shall I not be able to save thee for all my sorrow." He then reminds Hera how Zeus once tossed him out of heaven (as the master of life tossed Ataentsic in the Iroquois myth), and how he fell in Lemnos, "and little life was left in me." The passage is often interpreted as if the fall of Hephæstus, the fire-god, were a myth of lightning; but in Homer assuredly the incident has become thoroughly personal, and is told with much humour. The offence of Hera was the raising of a magic storm (which she could do as well as any Lapland witch) and the wrecking of Heracles on Cos. For this she was chained and hung out of heaven, as on the occasion already described. The constant bickerings between Hera and Zeus in the Iliad are merely the reflection in the upper Olympian world of the wars and jealousies of men below. Ilios is at war with Argos and Mycenæ, therefore the chief protecting gods of each city take part in the strife. This conception is connected with the heroic genealogies. Noble and royal families, as in most countries, feigned a descent from the gods. It followed that Zeus was a partisan of his "children," that is, of the royal houses in the towns where he was the most favoured deity. Thus Hera when she sided with Mycenæ had a double cause of anger, and there is an easy answer to the question, quo numine læso? She had her own


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 Rh and 130 men each, were built in the Pitcher yard at Northfleet in Kent. The Earl of Balcarras, of 1417 tons, built in 1815 at Bombay, was the largest ship owned by the Company, She was built of India teak, copper-fastened throughout, and mounted batteries on two decks. Her crew of 133 men was made up as follows: Commander, 6 mates, 2 surgeons, 6 midshipmen, purser, gunner, carpenter, master-at-arms, armour, butcher, baker, poulterer, caulker, cooper, 2 stewards, 2 cooks, 8 boatswains, gunner's, carpenter's, caulker's, and cooper's mates, 6 quartermasters, sailmaker, 7 servants for the commander and officers, and 78 seamen before the mast.

These facts illustrate not only the manner in, which the ships of the East India Company were officered and manned, but also the extravagant scale upon which the affairs of the Company were administered. Of course, a gross monopoly like this, legalized though it was by Acts of Parliament, could not continue indefinitely among a free and intelligent people. For many years mutterings of discontent, gathering in force and volume, had been heard from all parts of Great Britain, indicating the disapproval of the people concerning the methods of the Company. At last, in 1832, these mutterings burst into a storm of indignation from the people through their representatives in Parliament, which swept the frigates of the Honorable John Company off the face of the deep; for in that year commerce to the Orient was thrown open to all British ships, and knowing their utter inability to compete successfully with free and intelligent personal energy, the East India Company condemned or sold their

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184 quarrel to abet, and she had her jealousy to incite her the more; for to become father of the human families Zeus must have been faithless to her. Indeed, in a passage (possibly interpolated) of the fourteenth Iliad he acts as his own Leporello, and recites the list of his conquests. The Perseidæ. the Heraclidæ, the Pirithoidæ, with Dionysus, Apollo, and Artemis spring from the amours there recounted. Moved by such passions, Hera urges on the ruin of Troy, and Zeus accuses her of a cannibal hatred. "Perchance wert thou to enter within the gates and long walls, and devour Priam raw, and Priam's sons, and all the Trojans, then mightest thou assuage thine anger." That great stumbling-block of Greek piety, the battle in which the gods take part, was explained as a physical allegory by the Neo-Platonists. It is in reality only a refraction of the wars of men, a battle produced among the heavenly folk by men's battles, as the earthly imitations of rain in the Vedic ritual beget rain from the firmament. The favouritism which Zeus throughout shows to Athene is explained by that rude and ancient myth of her birth from his brain after he had swallowed her pregnant mother.

But Zeus cannot allow the wars of the gods to go on unreproved, and he asserts his power, and threatens to cast the offenders into Tartarus, "as far beneath


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 34 entire fleet. Sixteen ships were broken up for their massive copper fastenings and other valuable material, while forty-six were sold, and no finer tribute can be offered to the excellent construction of these vessels than the figures which they realized at what may justly be called a forced sale.

Naturally these ships were not all sold at the some moment, as some of them were on their way to China and India when the crash came; in fact, it required about three years to close them all out; still, it was well known that the Court of Directors had decreed that they must all be sold, and this gave bargain hunters a chance to practise their wiles. At first two or three of the ships were put up at public auction; the bids were few and meagre, indicating an assumed and perhaps preconcerted apathy. Negotiations of a less public nature ensued, which resulted as follows: The Buckinghamshire, of 1369 tons, then eighteen years old, was sold to Thacker & Mangels for £10,550. The Canning, 1326 tons, seventeen years old, sold for breaking up to Joseph Somes at £5750. The Minerva, 976 tons, eighteen years old, ready for sea, to Henry Templer, at £11,800; this ship, after thirty-seven years of service in the India trade was wrecked off the Cape of Good Hope in 1850. The Earl of Balcarras, 1417 tons, nineteen years old, to Thomas A. Shuter for £15,700; this ship after fifty-two years' service, became a receiving hulk on the west coast of Africa. The Bombay, 1246 tons, twenty-two years old, sold to Duncan Dunbar for £11,000, was wrecked after fifty-nine years of service. The Lowther Castle, 1408 tons, nineteen years old, went

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title: Author:Albert Horatio Gallatin


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 Rh to Joseph Somes for £13,950. The Waterloo, 1325 tons, eighteen years old, was sold for breaking up at £7200. The Thames, 1360 tons, thirteen years old, went to James Chrystall at £10,700. The remaining ships of the fleet brought equally good prices. Thus ended the maritime exploits of the "United Company of Merchant Venturers of England trading to the East Indies"; although its influence upon the merchant marine of Great Britain continued for many years.

With the opening of the China and India trade to all British ships, there came the long-wished for competition—one of the hinges upon which commerce swings—and a number of British ship-owners, hardly known before, now came into prominence. Among them were Green, Wigram, Dunbar, and Somes, of London, and the Smiths, of Newcastle. So strongly was the example of the East India Company impressed upon their minds that they still continued to construct frigate-built ships, though with some slight effort toward economy and speed. Many of the former captains, officers, and seamen of the East India Company sailed for the private firms, and so the personnel of the British merchant marine was much benefited. The private ships, of course, were not permitted to fly the naval pennant, but in other respects the service remained pretty nearly, the same. Much of the wasteful extravagance was naturally eliminated, and the "indulgences" were substantially reduced, but the time-honored practice of "making snug for the night" was too ancient and comfortable a custom to be very speedily abolished.

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Rh When Rome had completed the organisation of her power round the Mediterranean, there followed a long transitional epoch, during which the oceanic development of Western civilisation was gradually preparing. The transition began with the Roman road system, constructed for the greater mobility of the marching legions. After the close of the Punic Wars four Latin-speaking provinces encircled the Western Mediterranean—Italy, Southern Gaul, Eastern and Southern Spain, and Carthaginian Africa. The outer boundary of the African province was protected by the Sahara Desert, and Italy had in rear the Adriatic moat, but in Gaul and Spain Rome found herself the uncomfortable neighbour of independent Celtic tribes. Thus the familiar dilemma of Empire presented itself; to advance and end the menace, or to entrench and shut it out, but leave it in being. A still virile people chose the former course, and the frontier and the roads were carried through to the ocean along a thousand miles of frontage between Cape St. Vincent and the mouths of the Rhine. As a consequence the Latin portion of the Empire came to be based on two features of Physical Geography: on the one hand was the Latin Sea—the Western Mediterranean; and on the other hand was the


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 36 Joseph Somes, one of the promoters of Lloyd's Register, bought a number of the Company's old ships, as we have seen, and in addition he built the Maria Somes, Princess Royal, Sir George Seymour, and Castle Eden. Thomas and William Smith, of Newcastle, were an old ship-building firm, who had in 1808, at their yard in St. Peter's, constructed the frigate Bucephalus, 970 tons, 52 guns, for the Royal Navy, while in later years they built many merchant vessels. The finest of their new ships were the Marlborough and the Blenheim, of 1350 tons each, built under special government survey and granted certificates as frigates equipped for naval service. This firm also built the Gloriana, 1057 tons, Hotspur, 1142 tons, and St. Lawrence, 1049 tons, all of the frigate type, though employed as merchantmen.

Duncan Dunbar owned a number of fine ships and eventually became the largest ship-owner of his time in Great Britain. Many of his vessels were built in India. The Marion, 684 tons, built in Calcutta in 1834, was in active service until 1877, when she was wrecked on the Newfoundland coast. The David Malcolm was built in 1839, and the Cressy, 720 tons, and the Hyderabad, 804 tons, in 1843, at Sunderland.

Robert Wigram and Richard Green, at one time partners, built and owned their own ships, known as the "Blackwall frigates." In 1834–35, they brought out the Malabar, Monarch, and Windsor Castle, and subsequently the Carnatic, Prince of Wales, Agamemnon, Alfred, and others, from 1200 to 1400 tons each. As late as 1849 the Alfred, of

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