Smyrna times., 1913-01-01
4 DESERT ENIGMA
Mystery of a Vanished Party of
Australian Explorers.
LEFT NOT A TRACE BEHIND.

The Leiehhardt Expedition Disappear
ed as Though It Had Been Swallowed
Up by the Earth, Which May Indeed
Have Been Its Fearful Fate.
There have been recorded many
strange tragedies of exploration in lone
and distant lands. but no one event of
the kind has ever SO stirred mems minds
as did the total disappearance of the |
well found and splendidly equipped ex-
peditiOn which DR.. Ludwig LEIGH |
hardt. the Franklin of Australia, led |
into the central deserts of Australia in |
184S
Leichhardt's design was to march !
right across the continent from the east |
coast to the west. and as heohad al |
ready led a successful expedition near
ly 5000 miles through previously un-
known part Of Australia. it was gener-
ally thought that he would be able to
accomplish the task.
Still. there were some who doubted
and prophesied disaster. and more than
one wealthy friend of the doctors re-
fused to subscribe toward the expedi-
ton on the ground that they were not
going to help him to commit suicide.
| The members of the expedition num-
bered six whites and two blacks, an
unusually large number for an explOr-
/ ing expedition of this nature and be-
sides being amply provided with flour,
biscuit, tea, sugar and so on. they drove
along with them fifty bullocks and 270
goats. They also had spare horses and
mules in abundance.
At that time the most westerly sta
ton in southern Queensland was Oc-
cupied by a squatter named McPher-
son, who dwelt on Cocoon creek. From
there Leichhardt wrote a brief letter as
he was about to start into the unknown
land beyond.
That was the last ever heard Of him
or of any of his companions, and this
Notwithstanding the fact that expedi-
ton after expedition was afterward
sent out in search of them.
AS completely as though they had
been swallowed up by the earth, they
vanished
This is the most puzzling part of the
mystery-its completeness. Had they
been killed by the natives. as was at
first wrongly reported, some relics Of
the explorers would long since have
been recovered from them. In some
. shape the iron work of the implements
. and arms they had with them would
. have survived.
, And what of the stock? Some of the
goats, at all events. must have been
, left alive, one would have imagined,
, for these are notoriously hardy ami
: mails, able to pick up living almost
anywhere. Yet none of these. nor any
. of the horses, mules or bullocks were
! ever traced.
. The probability is that the ill fated
I expedition struck one of those water
r less patches of country common in
parts of Australia. into which the
d blacks never venture. 1t is not difficult
$ in this case to prophesy what would
e have been their fate.
: Their reserve barrels once emptied o1
: their precious contents. the little water
q carried by the men in their canteenS
:. would not last more than day or so
,. In the shadeless bush, in that terrific
e heat. death comes swiftly under sucl
Il circumstances. About forty-eight hour
n is the limit of human endurance
o Usually half that time suffices.
d The explorers. we may be sure. woulC
n struggle on to the last. however, bus
# banding their water to the uttermos
e drop. The animals would be the first t.
a go. and the desperate expedient o
) drinking their blood would be resort
ed to.
d Hotter and hotter grows the air
e the doomed men stagger further AM
Is further into the rainless desert.
W Some lose their reason; all lose hops
a Then comes the end. They separat
[t and struggle away in ones and twos
70 and fall and die
Day after day the terrible and pitiles
q sun looks down upon them lying ther
ot and sees them dry and shrivel int
le mummies.
Ie And still no rain falls.
H. But one day, it may be years aftei
TX ward, there arises a sandstorm Of el
10 ceptional violence. The wind blow
"a with all the strength and fury of a
AZ arctic blizzard, but driving before
,k sand. not snow
re- When it ceases the desert is there q
ne before; the same. yet different. MouI
ne tains of sand exist where before weI
valleys.
th The mummies have vanished frol
m human ken forever.-Pearson's Week.,
lo "
Very Encouraging.