Journal of Landsborough's Expedition in Search of Burke and Wills.—
M'ICinlay's Journal of Exploration in the Interior of Australia.—J. 11I'Donall Stuart's Explorations across the Continent of Australia. — (Melbourne: F. F. Bailliere,)—These three volumes constitute a por- tion of the raw material out of which the history of the exploration of the great Australian continent will, probably at no very distant date, have to be constructed. Two out of the three expeditions which they record were sent out, one from Victoria and the other from South Australia, to search for the missing party under Burke and Wills. The Victorian party had no other object. Under the command of Lands- borough, it was sent round by sea to the Gulf of Carpentaria, with instructions to proceed in a southerly direction, in search of the traces of Burke and Wills. After making a comparatively short expedition in a south-westerly direction, Landsborongh retraced his steps to the gulf, and thence proceeded to the south-east until he reached settled country not far from the head of the Darling river. On neither of his journeys did he succeed in finding any traces of the object of his search. M'Kinlay started overland from Adelaide, with instruc- tions to search, in the first instance, for tidings of Burke and Wills, and ultimately to attempt to cross the continent on his own account, He had not been out long when he received in- formation from Adelaide of the issue a the Burke and Wills expedition, and at once addressed himself to the more difficult part of his under- taking. This he accomplished with complete success, arriving at the Gulf of Carpentaria at about the same point at which it had been reached by Burke. He did not retrace his steps, but bore away to the south-east, and reached Port Denison in safety. M'Douall Stuart, the most indefatigable of Australian explorers, left Adelaide soon after M'Kinlay, on a quite independent expedition, and, taking a more westerly course, succeeded in crossing the continent, reaching the shore of Van Diemen's Gulf at a point more than eight degrees west of the river Albert. He returned to Adelaide by the same route, and suffered terribly on the homeward journey from want of water, no rain having fallen for many months. The volumes before us contain what may be called the official journals of these expeditions, since they are composed of the documents which the leader of each party submitted, by way of a
report, to his respective chief. The information which they convey is, of course, capable of being communicated in a shape more amusing to the general public ; but, even in its present form, it possesses great interest for all who have paid any attention to the subject. Each volume is accompanied by a carefully drawn chart, which is, in the cases of Stuart and M'Kinlay at least, on a scale large enough to enable the reader to follow the daily track of the explorer with the utmost exact- ness.
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