unfortunate government expedition left Melbourne loaded with
camp-followers and impedimenta, and by the time they reached a few
stages beyond Cooper's Creek were well-nigh exhausted. Burke, the
leader of the expedition, in desperation started with his two men,
Wills and King, and bravely struck out for the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Through desert and fertile plains, not altogether destitute of
water, they reached in safety the northern shore of Australia; but
the energy, the courage, and the strength that took them this long,
weary journey did not suffice to carry them back over double the
distance to their camp. Brave hearts! they struggled on; but King
only, and as a worn-out man, ever saw Cooper's Creek again. Belt's
plan would have solved the problem without loss of life and at a
tenth of the cost." He always regretted that he had not the means
of carrying it out independently of government assistance.

After eight years in Australia Belt returned to England, married,
and was successively manager of mining companies in Nova Scotia,
North Wales, and Nicaragua, sandwiching in between these
appointments a visit to Brazil to report upon some gold mines in
the province of Maranham. In whatever part of the world his work
took him he turned for rest and relaxation to the branches of
natural science for which the locality offered the greatest
opportunity.

In Nova Scotia he began those investigations into the cause and
phenomena of the glacial period which were to be the study of the
last years of his life, and to which he himself attached the
greatest importance. In Wales he took up the question of the age of
the rocks in the neighbourhood of Dolgelly, and after much study of
their fossils proposed the now accepted classification of the