to cross the continent, a similar expedition, sent out from Melbourne and commanded by Burke and Wills, came to a sad end. Reaching Cooper's Creek, after much trouble, caused by the bad behaviour of some members of the unwieldy party, Burke and Wills left their main stores, and pushed on with one horse and six camels for the Gulf of Carpentaria. The man in charge of the stores was told to await their return.

9. In six weeks they reached the sea-shore near the mouth of the river Flinders, and were thus the first to cross the continent. Their homeward journey was fraught with hardships. Four of their camels broke down, and had to be left behind. They had to kill their horses for food. They became so weak as to be hardly able to dig a grave for one of the four who died. Four days later, however, they reached their depôt-to find the party gone.

10. They had gone that very morning, leaving food, but no clothes, tea, or spirits. The three men and their two sickly camels were too weak to follow them. In vain they tried to reach a sheep station, only 150 miles away. Their camels broke down and had to be shot. Some friendly natives gave them seeds, which, while appeasing hunger, gave no strength. After a fruitless struggle of six weeks, both Burke and Wills died. Their sad story was told by the third man, who was found three months afterwards with a body of natives.

II. As soon as news reached Melbourne that these explorers had been left to their fate, four other parties were sent out in search, two from Melbourne, one from Adelaide, and a fourth from Queensland. All these parties were successful in exploring tracts hitherto unsurveyed, and in returning home in safety.

12. The establishment of the electric telegraph stations between the city of Adelaide and the river of that name, gave starting points for other explorers to traverse the country to the west of this line. In 1872, Giles, starting to discover the sources of the

Murchison River, came upon the great salt lake Amadeus, and found the whole country around it a hopeless desert of sandstone ridges, scrub, and prickly grass.

13. Next year, Giles started once more further south with the same result, and then turning northward, came upon a fine, hilly country with rocky gorges, running streams, and good sheep pasture. This, however, was only a flowery oasis in a vast and dreary desert. Losing his companions and horses, Giles carried a load of 50 lbs. for seven days, during five of which he tasted no food, and was only able to walk five or six miles a day.

14. In 1873, Col. Warburton, journeying westward, further north through a fearful desert, underwent like hardships, and reached the coast of West Australia after losing all but three out of his seventeen camels. He was the first to cross the continent from east to west. In 1875, Giles, starting from the head of St. Vincent's Gulf, reached Perth, the capital of West Australia, after a journey of 2500 miles, throughout which he found no land fit for settlers. For upwards of a thousand miles he had to bore his way through scrub.

CHAPTER XLIII.

AUSTRALIA-VIII.

Productions.

I. As the results of the explorations made by the travellers already named, and by others of less note, it is now known that nearly half of Australia is wholly useless for settlers. Even the great Sahara of Northern Africa is not so hopeless as a great part of the interior of Australia, since much of the latter is covered with the prickly grass, or thorny shrubs, which are painful to traverse, whilst elsewhere dense scrub hides from

view all the country, and forces travellers to burrow like moles.

2. In the scrub, the osier-like sticks getting under the saddle, wrench their loads from the pack-horses and allow them to run away,-thus wasting precious days in search. In other parts, stinging ants are so troublesome, that the weary dare not lie down to rest in the shade, but, to escape these tormenting pests, must lie in the full glare of the pitiless sun. Water, sought for days, when found often proves brine.

3. Happily there is little if any need of further exposure to hardship in these terrible deserts, as enough is now known for all practical purposes, and what remains to be discovered will be found out little by little as needed. We may well be proud to claim as countrymen the heroes and martyrs whose self-sacrifice for the good of their fellows, here very scantily recorded, has in so few years made known what in other ages would have taken centuries to reveal.

4. Though a hundred years* have not yet passed since the first settlement of 1000 persons at Botany † Bay, there are now more than two million Europeans in Australia. Two-fifths of these are settled in Victoria, the smallest and most southerly of the five colonies into which the land is divided. Onesixth of the whole population is to be found in the two chief cities, Melbourne and Sydney.

5. Somewhat more than a fortieth of all the area of Australia has already been sold to settlers. Of this part, one-tenth is used for tillage, the rest for pasturage. From this it is clear that wool is at present the main product of the colonists. The climate is exactly suited to sheep, and enables the finest breeds to be reared, and their fleeces to reach perfection.

6. Cattle, pigs, and horses are also great sources of wealth-the last named being bred chiefly for sale in India-the first enabling a great export trade to be

carried on in hides, tallow, and tinned meats. Wheat, too, of fine quality, is largely grown and exported, as also maize, wine, tobacco, and sugar.

7. By means of telegraphic cables, stretching from Australia, by Java and India, to Europe and America, our southern kinsfolk can learn what crops have run short in the northern lands. As our northern autumn is their spring or sowing time, they can then sow more of such crops as are likely to be most wanted, and hence to fetch the best prices.

8. Have the vines of southern Europe been attacked with disease, blighted by late frosts, or harmed by rain or wind? the Australian vinegrower takes double pains to attend to his vineyard, and to increase the quantity and improve the quality of his wines. Does a series of floods lessen the crops of Russian or Canadian wheat, oats, or barley? forthwith the settlers in South Australia lay down a larger number of acres in wheat, oats, or barley, to meet the wants of their northern customers.

9. Next in value to wool come minerals-chiefly gold, copper, and coal. It was the discovery of rich goldfields, in 1851, which caused a sudden rush of people from all parts of the world to Victoria-to the mines of Ballarat, Sandhurst, Bendigo, Gippsland, and Maryborough. Besides gold, New South Wales has an enormous coalfield, while South Australia is rich in copper, Queensland in tin, as well as gold.

CHAPTER XLIV.

NEW SOUTH WALES-I.

1. This, the oldest of all the colonies, till 1851 comprised most of Victoria and Queensland. Its area, even now, is nearly four times that of Great Britain. Its greatest length from north to south is 900 miles, and its breadth is little less. Its eastern