beautifully grassed, and, as spaces of enormous extent still remained
to be explored, I decided to continue in the field, provided I could
secure the use of camels. These volumes will contain the narratives of
my public explorations. In the preface to this work I have given an
outline of the physical and colonial divisions of Australia, so that
my reader may eventually follow me, albeit in imagination only, to the
starting points of my journeys, and into the field of my labours also.


PREFACE.

The Island Continent of Australia contains an area of about three
millions of square miles, it being, so to say, an elliptically-shaped
mass about 2500 miles in length from east to west, and 2000 from north
to south. The degrees of latitude and longitude it occupies will be
shown by the map accompanying these volumes.

The continent is divided into five separate colonies, whose respective
capitals are situated several hundreds of miles apart. The oldest
colony is New South Wales. The largest in area is Western Australia,
next comes South Australia; then Queensland, New South Wales, and
lastly Victoria, which, though the smallest in area, is now the first
in importance among the group. It was no wonder that Mitchell, the
Surveyor-General of New South Wales, designated that region "Australia
Felix."

It may be strange, but it is no less true, that there is almost as
great a difference between the fiscal laws and governments of the
various Australian Colonies as between those of foreign States in
Europe--the only thing in common being the language and the money of