The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1913-01-04
A DESERT ENIGMA
Mystery of a Vanished Party OF
Australian Explorers.
LEFT NOT A TRACE BEHIND.

/ The Letchharct Expedition disappear
ed as Though II Had Been Swallowed
Up by the Earth. Which May indeed
Have Been Its Fearful Fate.
There nave been recorded many
strange tragedies of exploration in lone
and distant lands. but no Que event OF
the kind mas ever so stirred mems minds
as did the total disappearance of the
well found and splendidly equipped ex
peditiou which DIR. Ludwig LEIGH
nardt. the Franklin of Australia. led
into the central deserts OF Australia In
lS4s.
I.eichhardt's design was to march
right across the continent from the east
coast 10 the west. and AZ he had al
ready led successful expedition near
| ~ 3an miles through previously un.
Known part OF Australia. it was gener-
| ally thought that be would be able to
accomplish the task
| Still. there were some who doubted
| aud prophesied disaster. and more than
one wealthy friend of the DOCTORS re-
| fused 10 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 Hour,
biscuit. ten. sugar and So on. they drove
along with them fifty bulocks and 21O
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 McPhar
son. who dwelt on Cocoon creek. From
there Leichhardt wrote II 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 MS 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
beeu 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 VIGOROUSLY 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
expedition struck one of those water
less patches or country common in
parts OF Australia. into which the
blacks never venture. 1t is not difficult
In this case to prophesy what would
have been their fate
Their reserve barrels once emptied of
their precious contents. the little water
carried by the men in their canteens
would not last more than day or so
In the shadeless bush. in that terrific
heat. death comes swiftly under such
circumstances. About forty eight hours
il the limit of human endurance
Usually half that time SutticeS
The explorers. we may be sure, would
struggle Oh to the last however. hus-
banding their water to the uttermost
drop The animals would be the first to
i. e
drinking their blood would be resort
Ell to.
Hotter and hotter grows the air a.
the dootued men stagger further and
further into the rainleSs desert.
Some lose their reason; all lose hope
Then comes the end. They separate
and struggle away in ones and twos.
and fall and die
Day after day the terrible and pitiless
sun looks down upon them lying there
and sees them dry and shrivel into
mummies
And still no rain falls.
But one day. it may be years after
ward. there arises sandstone of ex-
ceptiona violence The wind blows
with all the strength and fury of an
arctic blizzard. but driving before It
sand. not snow.
When it ceases the desert is there as
before; the same. yet different. Noun
tains of sand exist where before were
valleys.
The mummies have vanished from
human ken forever.-Pearson's Weekly
Very Encouraging.
Every time I've called on Miss Glib
Rleson lately she's been out" com