The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-12 00:00:00

scientific attainments, but they have invariably

possessed a practical experience of _ exploring,

which has rendered their services valuable, or they

have shown an innate ability, a perseverance, and.
a general aptness for their position, by which they

-
have been enabled to render inestimable service to

the cause of exploration. Mr. Burke, however, as
would appear from all accounts, is possessed of
none of these qualifications. His unfitness for the
leadership of the expedition will not, of course,
_ _ _

prove Mr. Landells' competency for the duties he
had to perform, although as yet there is certainly
nothing to disprove it. There seems to have been a
sort of implied understanding of a divided command
between these two gentlemen, or at least that Mr.
Landells was to have the sole control of the camels.

The Exploration Committee in their wisdom never
contemplated the contingency that Mr. Landells'
duties, as comptroller of the camels, would fre-

quently clash with those of Mr. Burke as leader of
the expedition; that Mr. Landells might consider
that the efficiency of the camels would be impaired
by their not being supplied with their usual medi-
cal comforts in the shape of "arrack,"and that Mr.
Burke might, though he had never seen a troupe
of camels in his life, nor ever have been acquainted
with their habits, have despised this mode of treat-
ment as fanciful. This, however, ridiculous it

may appear, was one of the causes of the outbreak.
By some mischance, the shepherds at one of our
out-stations got drunk on the arrack provided
for the camels ; and Mr. Burke, with a charac-
teristic impetuosity, declared that it should be left
behind, and in effect that the camels and the effi-
ciency of the expedition should suffer from the mis-
conduct of the shepherds. We are not sufficiently
acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the camel to
know whether that animal requires this stimulant
in the prosecution of its labours ; but this was
certainly a point upon which Mr. Burke's in-
terference was out of place. Or else, what was
the value of Mr. Landells' appointment? Or
what was the occasion for the committee to
give Mr. Landells £6OO a-year for his ser-
vices, with compensation to his wife, in the
event of his, death? It proves this much, that
the duties of Mr. Landells, in his relation to
Mr. Burke, have not been properly defined by
the Exploration Committee, and that thus the
efficiency of the expedition has been seriously
impaired. Mr. Landells is not the only one
who has seceded from the party. Dr. Beckler, the
medical attendant and botanist, has resigned
because Mr. Landells had left, and because he did
not consider the expedition safe under the leader-
ship of Mr. Burke, and four or five of the working
party originally taken from Melbourne have either
resigned or been dismissed since then. Our last
accounts from the expedition are that it had
reached Menindie, about 450 miles from Melbourne,
that a depot had been formed there, and that Mr.
Burke had started for Cooper's Creek, the furthest
point in the interior that has yet been reached in
that direction. From here his instructions
are to make for the Gulf of Carpentaria
by the most practicable route. Up to the
time Mr. Landells left the party the camels
were found to be efficient, and it is
to be hoped that they may prove of service to the
party. Independently of the effort at exploration
which is being made in this colony, great exertions
are being made in South Australia in the same
work, Mr. Stuart, a South Australian explorer,
has made two or three attempts to reach the inte-
rior of the continent„ and in his last expedition he
declares that he travelled over two-thirds of the dis-
tance between Adelaide and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
He says that he met with no interior desert such
as was supposed to exist, but that he came upon large
tracts of well watered and apparently fruitful coun-
try. There is some reason, however, to believe that
Mr. Stuart's exploration has not been so exten-
sive as it is assumed by some, especially our South
Australian neighbours, to be At present we have
only his word for it, as his journal and maps have
been placed in the hands of the South Australian
Government, who have not made them public,
whether from a personal feeling to Mr. Stuart, or
from jealousy of the Victoria expedition, is not
clearly discernable. Mr. Stuart expests a reward
from the South Australian Government, and per-
haps has a right to insist upon his. secret being
kept for the present. He has again set out with the
view of more thoroughly exploring the interior, and
this time he is assisted by Government. It is to
be hoped that, notwithstanding the reverses which
have happened to our Victorian Expedition,
some good will result from it.