The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1913-01-17
A DESERT ENIGMA
Mystery of a Vanished Party of
Australian Explorers.
LEFT NOT A TRACE BEHIND.
The Leiehhardt Expedition Disappear
ed as Though II Had Been Swallowed
Up by the Earth, Which May Indeed
Have Been Its Fearful Fate.

ed as nou9n " f1do pcen oWaHoWcO
Up by the Earth. Which May Indeed
Have Been Its Fearful Fate.
There have been recorded many
strange tragedies or exploration In lone
and distant lands, but no one event OF
the kind has ever 80 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
1913.
Leichhardt's design was to march
right across the continent from the east
coast TO the west. and AZ he had al.
ready led a successful expedition near
ly 1900 miles through IA previously un.
known part OF Australia, IL 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 NUN
bercd six whites and two blacks, an
unusually large number for an explor
ing expedition OF this nature, and be
sides being amply provided with -four,
biscuit. tea. sugar and 80 on. they drove
along with them fifty bullocks and 270
goats They also had spare horses and
mules I'm abundance.
At that time the most westerly sta
ton I'm southern Queensland was oc
cupied by n squatter named McPher
son. who dwelt on Cocoon creek From
there Lelchhardt wrote n 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 hls companions, and this
Notwithstanding the fact that expedl
ton after expedition was afterward
sent out In search OF them.
Az completely as though they had
been swallowed up by the earth, they
vanished
mystery-its completeness. Had they
hsen killed by the natives. as was at
first wrongly reported, some relies 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 stock7 Some OF the
goats, at all events. must have been
left alive, one would have imagined,
for these are notoriously hardy AM
mails, able To pick up n living almost
anywhere Yet none Of these. nor any
OF the horses, mules or bullocks were
ever traced,
The probability Is that the I'll fated
expedition struck one OF those water
less patches OF country common In
parts OF Australia into which the
blacks never venture. II Is not difficult
I'm this case To- prophcsy 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 80
In the shadclcss bush, In that terrific
heat, death comes swiftly under such
circumstances About forty eight hours
is the limit OF human endurance
Usually half that time sutlices.
The explorers, we may be sure, would
struggle on To the last, however, nus
bnnding their water TO the uttermost
drop. The animals would be the first to
go, and the desperate eXpcdicnt OF
} drinking their blood would be resort
| ed to-
Hotter and hotter grows the air ms
the doomed 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 pltilesS
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 he years after
| ward, there arises SandStorm or eN
ceptional violence Ahe wind blows
with all the strength and fury of al
arctic blizzard. but driving before Il
sand, not snow.
when IL ceases the desert is there as
before: the same, yet different Noun
tains Of sand exist where before wer,
valleys.
The mummies have vanished frou
human ken forever. .-Pearson's Weekly