From that day the fate of Leichardt and his companions has been involved
in mystery. He was then on the Cogoon River, in Eastern Australia, at
least 1500 miles from the nearest station on the western side of the
continent. His last letter gives no clue to the track he intended to
pursue. If a westerly course had been struck he would have nearly
traversed the route which subsequently Warburton travelled; but no trace
of him has ever been discovered. Several expeditions were undertaken to
ascertain his fate; at various times expectations were aroused by finding
trees marked L; but Leichardt himself, on previous journeys, had met with
trees so marked, by whom is unknown. Natives found in the remote interior
were questioned; they told vague stories of the murder of white men, but
all investigations resulted in the conclusion that the statements were as
untrustworthy as those generally made to explorers who question
uninformed, ignorant natives. The white man's experience is usually that
a native only partially comprehends the question; he does not understand
what is wanted, but is anxious to please, as he expects something to eat,
and he says what he thinks is most likely to be satisfactory.

Leichardt was certainly ill-provided for an expedition of the magnitude
he contemplated, and it appears to be at the least as probable that he
succumbed to the hardships he encountered, or was swept away by a flood,
as that he was murdered by the blacks. Twenty-seven years have elapsed
since he disappeared in the interior; yet the mystery attending his fate
has not ceased to excite a desire to know the fate of so daring an
explorer, and ascertain something definite respecting his course--a
desire which was one of the principal motives that prompted my first
expedition into the unknown interior dividing the west from the east.

In 1872, Mr. Giles headed an exploring party from Melbourne, which
succeeded in making known a vast district hitherto unexplored; but his