am now departing this life, but all that I have to leave you, you will
find in the vineyard." The sons, supposing that he referred to some
hidden treasure, as soon as the old man was dead, set to work with
their spades and ploughs and every implement that was at hand, and
turned up the soil over and over again. They found indeed no treasure;
but the vines, strengthened and improved by this thorough tillage,
yielded a finer vintage than they had ever yielded before, and more
than repaid the young husbandmen for all their trouble. So truly is
industry in itself a treasure.--THE FABLES OF AESOP.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I. THE CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIA. Their semi-tropical climate
hitherto unrecognised by the people of Australia--Reasons advanced for
this statement; early gold-mining era influences still at work, and
Anglo-Saxon heredities--Hot months and cooler months; temperatures of
the Australian capital cities--Fluctuations of temperature and
barometric pressure not extreme--Equability of Australian climate a
marked feature--Not many successive days of great heat--Humidity of
atmosphere in different colonies--A dry heat always preferable to a
moist heat--Duration of the different seasons, and months apportioned
to each season--Prevailing winds, and ROLE of hot winds

CHAPTER II. THE ALPHABETICAL PENTAGON OF HEALTH FOR AUSTRALIA. The
Alphabetical Pentagon a convenient form of remembering that the FIVE
essentials of health--namely, Ablution: the Skin and the Bath; Bedroom