Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/41

Rh their disappearance. There were no natives about, and at the time it was considered a most extraordinary thing, and yet remains an unsolved mystery. There is the mysterious fate, too, of Leichardt, the explorer, no trace of whom has ever been discovered. It is one of the great aims of Baron von Mueller to send forth exploring parties to search for traces of that expedition, and many a time have I endeavoured to aid him by trying to induce people to support the project financially. The Baron always hopes that the remains of his friend and comrade may yet be found, and with them some record of his work. Then, too, there is the disappearance of Gibson, a member of Ernest Giles’ expedition in the interior of Australia. This happened quite near a place named Fort Mackellar, after my father, who had been one of the chief supporters of this expedition. It is strange that no trace of his remains has ever been found. I have heard Ernest Giles describe it all when dining with my family, and how he himself was so near starvation and so ravenous that seeing a young kangaroo dropped from its mother’s pouch he fell upon it there and then, and ate it up alive, fur and all! I can hear yet the clatter of falling knives and forks occasioned by this anecdote!

The coast became more barren and uninviting as we progressed, and the natives are said to be most fierce and treacherous; but towards the north of this Cape York district there are a few white settlers. We stopped at the Piper Bank Lightship to provision it, but the old man in charge was, for some reason, in such a towering rage that he would scarcely wait with his boat to get his stores. It was a ludicrous scene, and no one understood what ailed him. There was a small sailing boat tied on to the lightship, and it seems 2