Even at that
period, however, the eastern interior was not all entirely unknown, as
Mitchell's Victoria River or Barcoo, and the Cooper's and Eyre's
Creeks of Sturt had already been discovered. The last-named
watercourse lay nearly 1000 miles from the eastern coast, in latitude
25 degrees south, and it is reasonable to suppose that to such a point
Leichhardt would naturally direct his course--indeed in what was
probably his last letter, addressed to a friend, he mentions this
watercourse as a desirable point to make for upon his new attempt. But
where his wanderings ended, and where the catastrophe that closed his
own and his companions' lives occurred, no tongue can tell. After he
finally left the furthest outlying settlements at the Mount Abundance
station, he, like the lost Pleiad, was seen on earth no more. How
could he have died and where? ah, where indeed? I who have wandered
into and returned alive from the curious regions he attempted and died
to explore, have unfortunately never come across a single record or
any remains or traces of those long lost but unforgotten braves.
Leichhardt originally started on his last sad venture with a party of
eight, including one if not two native black boys.
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