1069.  Did he read it out for the purpose of being corrected if there was any statement in it that was not quite correct?—­I believe the reason was, in case the letter should be found, that he should not say anything to our disadvantage, mine or Mr. Burke’s; he thought that we would see it was the truth and nothing but the truth.—­[Watch produced]—­That is the watch Mr. Wills desired the survivor to give to his father, which I have done.

1070.  There was a pocket-book, was there not?—­Yes, which Mr. Burke gave me on the evening before his death, requesting me to deliver it to Sir William Stawell, but under any circumstances I was not to deliver it to any other gentleman of the committee.  I delivered it to Sir William Stawell this morning.

1071.  Did you know anything of the nature of the contents of it?  —­No, except what Mr. Burke read to me affecting myself, and which Sir William Stawell has read to me this morning.  The same book I showed to Mr. Howitt, telling him that it was Mr. Burke’s desire that I should deliver it to Sir William Stawell himself.  Mr. Burke also gave me his watch, and told me it was the property of the committee; the same I delivered to Mr. Howitt.

1072.  You kept possession of the book?—­Yes, and gave it over to Sir William Stawell this morning.

1073.  How did you preserve all those things while with the blacks?  —­I had a small canvas pouch, which I always carried about with me on my person.

1074.  Did they ever covet anything?—­Yes, they used often to make me show them the contents of it.

. . .

The letter and watch being handed to Mr. Burke, my son then lent him his pistol, the only defence he could have retained against hostile attack, and lying on the bare ground, resigned to his fate, urgently requested them to leave him.  Imagination, with all the aid of poetical fancy, can conceive no position to exceed this in utter desolation.  It has been said, and many may think, they ought not to have separated.  No consideration, or argument, should have induced his two companions to abandon him.  It was indeed a trying alternative, but falling in with the blacks appeared to be the only chance of rescue for the whole party; and had this fortunately happened before the sudden and total prostration of Burke, there can be no doubt they would have hastened immediately to bring the same succour to my son.  King informed me that Mr. Burke was dreadfully distressed, and that he had great difficulty in persuading him to go on.  At times he would stop and exclaim, “How can I leave him, that dear, good fellow?” He was usually in the habit of addressing him as “My dear boy,” for although twenty-seven, and wearing a beard, he had such a youthful appearance that few would have taken him for more than twenty when he left Melbourne.

During the whole journey, and through all their trials, King said that not an approach to altercation, or a word of difference, ever took place between my poor boy and his leader.  When I claimed the pistol above alluded to, it was considered of too much consequence to be surrendered without minute investigation.  To my first application I received the following diplomatic reply: