The return to the main depôt, left in charge of Kennedy, was soon accomplished, and on the 19th this was reached, and the occupants found safe and unmolested, although the absence of Mitchell had now extended over the four months. As a proof of the capabilities of the country he had travelled over, Mitchell brought back all his animals in first-rate condition, having lost only one horse, and that was through an accident.
The final return was made down the yet unexplored Maranoa, at the head of which the depôt had been fixed so long; and on the 4th November they arrived at the Balonne, having passed through splendidly-grassed and well-watered country the whole way. The party took up their old camp at St. George's Bridge, where they learnt from the natives that a party of whites had been in the neighbourhood during their absence. Kennedy was dispatched to inspect the Mooni ponds, or river, which they understood was to the eastward of them. He found them occupied by cattle stations to within a day's ride of the camp, so that the explorer's work may be considered as at an end.
This expedition, it may well be supposed, fully confirmed Mitchell's reputation. Once more he had been the means of assuring the colonists that away towards the setting sun the flocks and herds might advance unchecked, so far as he had been, and as he thought, across the great continent. Added to which, he felt convinced, and expected the public also to feel the same, that along the banks of the Victoria was the great high road to the north coast.
This was the last expedition of the Surveyor-General, and the year before concluded the active work of his old rival in the field, Charles Sturt. Both men had done wonders in the cause of exploration; but the genii of plentiful seasons and bountiful vegetation seems to have been the forerunner of Sir Thomas, whilst a demon of drought and aridity stalked in front of Sturt.
CHAPTER VII.
Kennedy traces the Victoria in its final course south—Re-named the Barcoo—First notice of the PITURI chewing natives—Leichhardt's second Expedition—Failure and Return—Leichhardt's last Expedition—His absolute disappearance—Conjectures as to his fate—Kennedy starts from Rockingham Bay to Cape York—Scrubs and swamps—Great exertions—Hostile natives—Insufficiency of supplies provided—Dying horses—Main party left in Weymouth Bay—Another separation at Shelburne Bay—Murder of Kennedy at the Escape River—Rescue of Jacky the black boy—His pathetic tale of suffering—Failure to find the camp at Shelburne Bay—Rescue of but two survivors at Weymouth Bay—The remainder starved to death—Von Mueller in the Australian Alps—Western Australia—Landor and Lefroy, in 1843—First expedition of the brothers Gregory, in 1846—Salt lakes and scrub—Lieutenant Helpman sent to examine the coal seam discovered—Roe, in 1848—His journey to the east and to the south—A. C. Gregory attempts to reach the Gascoyne—Foiled by the nature of the country—Discovers silver ore on the Murchison—Governor Fitzgerald visits the mine—Wounded by the natives—Rumour of Leichhardt having been murdered by the blacks—Hely's expedition in quest of him—Story unfounded—Austin's explorations in Western Australia—Terrible scrubs—Poison camp— Determined efforts to the north—Heat and thirst—Forced to return.
The importance of deciding the final course of the Victoria was at once recognised, and Kennedy was chosen to lead a lightly equipped party. However convinced Sir Thomas Mitchell was of the affluent of the Victoria being in the Gulf of Carpentaria, others did not at once fall in with the notion. It was evident that the vast flooded plains, and many channels of Cooper's Creek absorbed immense quantities of water from the interior, and apparently this water came from the north-east. What more probable than that the Victoria was lost there.
Kennedy followed the old track to the river, found by Mitchell, and reaching his lowest camp on the 13th of August, commenced to run the river down from there. On the first day's journey he met a native, from whom he learnt the aboriginal name of the Victoria, the BARCOO.
On the 15th Kennedy noticed with anxiety that the valley of the river certainly fell to the south, and that ever since it had turned from its northerly course, it was making for the point where Sturt turned back on Cooper's Creek. He consequently began to dread that he might follow the course of it, so far as not to be able to carry out the second part of his instructions, namely, to look for a road to the Gulf, not having enough means with him for both journeys. He decided to follow with two men along the Barcoo, far enough to the south to leave no doubt about its not being a north coast river. After two days' journey, the direction of the Barcoo turned west, and even north of west, and the bed contained fine reaches of water, one hundred, and one hundred and twenty yards wide. Kennedy turned back for the whole of his party, considering that his duty was to follow such a river, no matter in what direction it led him.
On the 30th August, they came upon a large tributary from the N.N.E., which was named the Thomson, and they found the country very different from the grassy plains of the upper reaches.