This man, whose name was Garbut, started a wild and improbable legend about the existence, in the interior, of a settlement of escaped convicts, amongst whom Leichhardt and his band were held prisoners, lest they should reveal the whereabouts of the runaways. Of course such a story, which might have obtained credence in the very early days, was at once scouted; but it, at any rate, turned public attention to the strange fact that, in spite of the many explorations of the past ten years, no sign nor token of the missing men had ever been seen. A. C. Gregory then with his brother and seven men started on the quest. They were equipped for rapid travelling, taking with them only pack horses to carry their provisions. The leader followed the now well-known track to the Warrego, and crossing the head of the Nive, reached the Barcoo waters on the 16th April. If the marked trees seen by Hely were Leichhardt's there was a great probability that they would thus be on his tracks to the west, and a sharp look-out was kept on both sides of river, which resulted in the discovery in about 241 deg. south latitude, and 145 deg. east longitude, of a tree marked L, on the eastern bank, and in the neighbourhood were stumps of trees, felled by an axe. Although Leichhardt could not have foreseen his fate, it is unfortunate that he did not mark his trees in a more unmistakeable manner, for a mysterious L without date seems to turn up in all parts of our continent. This memorial of the visit of some white men Gregory thought might be Leichhardt's, especially as the letter was very large, after the manner of some of the trees marked on that explorer's former journeys. It may be as well to mention here that this was all that was found, and the journey henceforth was only one of pure exploration. The travellers found the country suffering under a long-continued drought, and feed for the horses very hard to get. Necessarily, Gregory's picture of it is very different to Sir Thomas Mitchell's; but it would be scarcely worth while to compare the two statements now, considering that the reputation of the land as one of the best sheep-breeding districts in Australia has long since been established. Knowing what Kennedy had encountered on the lower part of the river, and anticipating finding more traces of Leichhardt to the westward. Gregory, on reaching the Thomson, followed that river up for some distance, but turned back disheartened at the want of grass, although the river was running from recent rains. It must be remembered that he was there in the beginning of the winter, when there is little or no spring in the grass, even after heavy rain.