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CHAPTER XXIII.

AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATIONS.—THE BLUE MOUNTAINS FIRST TRAVERSED.—DISCOVERY OF THE LACHLAN, MACQUARIE, MURRUMBIDGEE, AND MURRAY RIVERS.—EXPLORATIONS OF STURT, MITCHELL, CUNNINGHAM, HUME, AND OTHERS.—EYRE'S JOURNEY ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST.—SUFFERINGS AND PERILS.—BURKE AND WILLS: HOW THEY PERISHED IN THE WILDERNESS.—MONUMENT TO THEIR MEMORY.—COLONEL WARBURTON AND HIS CAMEL TRAIN.—STRAPPED TO A CAMEL'S BACK.—PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT.—ABORIGINALS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—THROWING THE BOOMERANG.—A REMARKABLE EXHIBITION.—ORIGIN OF THE BOOMERANG.—DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS: A PUZZLE FOR THE NATURALISTS.—VISITING A COPPER-MINE.—MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE COLONY.—WESTERN AUSTRALIA.—ALBANY, ON KING GEORGE SOUND.—DESCRIPTION OF THE COLONY.—CURIOUS POISON-PLANTS.—FAREWELL TO AUSTRALIA.—THE END.

THE mention of the explorations that preceded the construction of the Australian overland telegraph drew the attention of our young friends to the men whose names are famous in the history of Australian discovery. They had already thought of the subject when they saw in Melbourne the bronze statue in memory of the explorers, Burke and Wills, but at that time they were too busy to make any extended investigation concerning it.

The result of their reading and other study of Australian explorations they briefly summed up as follows:

"For the first twenty-five years after the settlement at Sydney, in 1788, exploration was confined to the strip of land between the Blue Mountains and the sea; it was not until 1813 that the mountains were passed and the valley of the Fish River and the Bathurst plains visited. The Lachlan River was discovered in 1815, and the Macquarie shortly afterwards; both these rivers were traced to a marsh, and were supposed to lose themselves in an inland sea.

"The Murrumbidgee River was discovered in 1815, and the Murray in 1824, by Mr. Hamilton Hume. Afterwards Mr. Hume accompanied Captain Sturt, when the latter discovered the Darling River; later (in 1831) occurred Captain Sturt's descent of the Murray, which has been already mentioned. Major Mitchell, Mr. Cunningham, and other ex-