It will be seen by these answers of King, that Mr. Burke assumed no topographical knowledge of the position.  The Melbourne Argus stated and repeated that he had mistaken the Flinders for the Albert.  Now the river in question was never mentioned as either, and the mistake, if made, was Mr. Wills’s and not Mr. Burke’s.  This portion of the map was said to have been lost on the morning of its arrival in Melbourne; and this I can readily believe, as also that more might have met with the same fate had I not fortunately been there.

. . .

Field book 8.

Camps 112 to 119.  South latitude 19 1/4 to 17 degrees 53 minutes.

Lower part of Cloncurry.

. . .

Field book 9.

Returning from Carpentaria to Cooper’s Creek.

Sunday, February, 1861.—­Finding the ground in such a state from the heavy falls of rain, that camels could scarcely be got along, it was decided to leave them at Camp 119, and for Mr. Burke and I to proceed towards the sea on foot.  After breakfast we accordingly started, taking with us the horse and three days’ provisions.  Our first difficulty was in crossing Billy’s Creek, which we had to do where it enters the river, a few hundred yards below the camp.  In getting the horse in here, he got bogged in a quicksand bank so deeply as to be unable to stir, and we only succeeded in extricating him by undermining him on the creek’s side, and then lugging him into the water.  Having got all the things in safety, we continued down the river bank, which bent about from east to west, but kept a general north course.  A great deal of the land was so soft and rotten that the horse, with only a saddle and about twenty-five pounds on his back, could scarcely walk over it.  At a distance of about five miles we again had him bogged in crossing a small creek, after which he seemed so weak that we had great doubts about getting him on.  We, however, found some better ground close to the water’s edge, where the sandstone rock crops out, and we stuck to it as far as possible.  Finding that the river was bending about so much that we were making very little progress in a northerly direction, we struck off due north and soon came on some table-land, where the soil is shallow and gravelly, and clothed with box and swamp gums.  Patches of the land were very boggy, but the main portion was sound enough; beyond this we came on an open plain, covered with water up to one’s ankles.  The soil here was a stiff clay, and the surface very uneven, so that between the tufts of grass one was frequently knee deep in water.  The bottom, however, was sound and no fear of bogging.  After floundering through this for several miles, we came to a path formed by the blacks, and there were distinct signs of a recent migration in a southerly direction.  By making use of this path we got on much better, for the ground was well