and there are no towns or villages. But I thought you would like to see everything." 5. "Is all the country as bare and ugly as this?" "There are many fertile spots; but a great deal of it is stony or sandy desert; and in other parts, though there are trees, and shrubs, and grass, growing very thickly, yet there is no water for a great part of the year. There are large lakes; but most of them are salt. And, even where there is grass, it is of a prickly kind, with sharp points at the head of it, which lame horses and almost drive them mad if they travel far over it. It is called porcupine grass, because these prickly points are 'Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.' 6. "This is the chief reason why so little is known about the interior of the country. For seventy years or so, brave men have been trying to explore it; and a great deal has been done. But they all suffered great hardships, and many lost their lives. One, who had been very successful, started in good hope on his last expedition; but, after the first month, nothing was heard of him, and he was never seen again. Perhaps he perished for want of water: perhaps he was killed by the natives. We cannot tell. 7. "Two others, who really did cross the continent, and came out at the southern end of this Gulf of Carpentaria, lost their lives in returning. 8. "Others have been more fortunate; and, putting all their discoveries together, we know pretty well what the interior of Australia is like. Look at this map. These red lines show the tracks of the different explorers; and you can see how one or another has crossed the continent, or tried to cross and failed."1 9. ""Do you think," said I, "that there will ever be British settlements far inland?" "Most likely there will be sheep-farms, whereever water can be found; and very likely goldfields may be discovered. But the worst of it is, that you cannot be sure of the water, from one year to another: where you find a running stream one season, you may have a desert the next!" IO. "But there seem to be a good many rivers, running into this gulf." "True! But, remember, we are still in the rainy season, and the rivers are at their fullest. Come here, six months hence, and you will find most of their beds dry. Many of the streams never reach the sea; but are either lost in the sand, or run into the salt lakes." 1 See map in Wallace's Australasia, p. 107. II. I kept looking at the red lines on the map; and I saw that there was one black line among them. I asked Mr. Campbell what it was. "Ah," he replied, "that's the best thing that has been done for Australia in my time: that's the telegraph line, from Adelaide to Port Darwinright through the whole length of South Australia, where it joins the submarine cable to Europe. It runs along the track of the most successful of all the explorers, Mr. McDouall Stuart. We shall see the northern end of it very soon." 12. "But surely," said I, "this can't be South Australia; for we have just passed the most northern point of the continent." 13. "You may well think it strange. But though this is called the Northern Territory, it is part of the colony of South Australia! Fifty years ago, the whole of that colony was really in the south. But, twenty years later, a large tract of country was added to it, reaching across the centre of the continent, to its northern shores. Some day, perhaps, when a little of the rough land is covered with waving corn, and more of it with flocks of sheep, when the gold-fields are in full working, and when trading towns have grown up on the coast, it may be made into a separate colony, and be called North Australia," VII. WEST AUSTRALIA. 1. AFTER leaving the Gulf of Carpentaria, we went quickly round the north-western shore of South Australia, sailing almost due west, till, all of a sudden, we turned southward again, and steered through narrow channels, between Melville Island and the mainland, into the fine, sheltered harbour of Port Darwin. 2. ""You see that little town," said Mr. Campbell. "That is Palmerston. Little enough! Yet it is the chief town in these parts. Let us go ashore, and send a telegraph message to somebody." 3. 'So I sent my message, which I hope Johnny got the same day. "Well!" said Mr. Campbell, laughing, as we left the station, "now you see the use of submarine cables! Mr. Mansfield, junior, will have his mind set at rest about your safety, a couple of months sooner than he could have had a letter!" "I hope," said I, "it is sometimes of more use than that! Johnny could have waited!" 4. "Here is what is said of the good it did in the first year : "Within six months after the opening of the line, the Colony gained nearly a quarter of a million sterling”—(How much is that, Johnny ?)— "on their wheat harvest, through the telegraph enabling them to make sales in foreign markets.”1 5. 'We had a tedious voyage along the west coast. For some time we were out of sight of land; and, when we came near to it again, Mr. Campbell told me it was West Australia-"the oldest of the Colonies, next to New South Wales, but not so prosperous as its neighbours." 6. "Why does it not get on better?" I asked. ““For several reasons, I fancy. It has not much in its favour, except a fine climate, cooler and drier than the other parts of Australia. The soil is poor; it has no gold or other minerals ; and it is a long way off the other colonies. 7. ""Then, again, West Australia was the last colony to receive convicts." "Convicts! What are they?" 666 'They were English offenders, found guilty, or convicted, of serious crimes, who would now be sent to prison at home. In those days, they were transported, which meant that they were taken ' across' the sea, to some colony." 6.66 A good riddance for England, I should think," said I; "but not very good for the colony." 666 No, indeed! But all this is now at an end." Harcus' South Australia, p. 168. |