boy. They narrowly escaped being drowned in the sea, and later in being killed by the natives when the wind drove them ashore. In the following year Doctor Bass went in a whale-boat, with a crew of six men and provisions for six weeks, and found that the coast trended so far to the west as to indicate the separation of Tasmania from the mainland, and in the next year (1798) he obtained a sloop, and in company with Captain Flinders actually sailed through the strait and determined the question."
"I see you have been reading to advantage," the Doctor remarked. "And please add to your notes that this same Doctor Bass is supposed to have died a slave in the mines of Chili. He was arrested at Valparaiso in consequence of a dispute with the authorities, and was never again seen or heard of by his friends. There was a rumor that he had been sent to the mines, and that was all."
"If the Australian continent were divided into one hundred equal parts," said Frank, "Victoria would include three, New South Wales ten, Queensland twenty-three. South Australia thirty, and West Australia thirty-four. The greatest length of Australia is about 2400 miles, and its greatest width, between Cape York on the north and Wilson's Promontory on the south, is 1971 miles. It has about 7750 miles of coast-line, and an area of 2,944,628 square miles. A good idea of the extent of Australia may be had by comparing it with other countries. It is about twenty-six times the area of Great Britain and Ireland, fifteen times the size of France, about one-sixth smaller than the whole of the United States of America, and only about one-fifth smaller than the whole of Europe."
Fred asked who gave it the appellation of Australia.
"The name was given by Captain Flinders, of whom we were speaking a few moments ago," replied the Doctor. "His memory is preserved in a river and a mountain-range of the continent whose coast he explored. On his return to Europe he was captured by the French, and was held a prisoner from 1806 to 1810. He died in England in 1814, shortly after publishing his book, 'A Voyage to Terra Australis.'"
"There is a great part of the country not yet explored," said Frank, as the Doctor paused. "A writer on this subject says that the unexplored region of the present day is almost entirely confined to Western Australia and a large part of the northern territory of South Australia. New South Wales and Victoria have an area of four hundred thousand square miles, almost every mile of which is fairly known; Queensland may still have a small extent of unknown land in the far northern pen-
