gure of speech to say the
navies of Europe could be anchored. The buildings have been erected
with considerable taste. A fine esplanade has been laid out along the
sea front. The electric wire connects Palmerston with all the great
colonies of Australia. In constructing the overland telegraph from
South Australia, a great middle section of the continent was
discovered, capable of producing pasture for tens of millions of sheep
and millions of cattle and horses. The first section from the north,
of what will eventually be the Trans-Australian Railway, has been
commenced, and is being carried out with energy by Messrs. Miller, the
well-known Melbourne contractors for public works.

The total area of the northern territory of South Australia is 523,620
square miles. Within this vast expanse are stony wastes and waterless
tracts, vast rolling downs, wide grassy plains, rich alluvial flats,
large navigable rivers, and metalliferous areas, exceptionally rich in
tin, coal, copper, and silver. Thus far mining has been more
successful than agriculture. The Chinese have alone been able to
accomplish anything in cultivation. They have gathered harvests of
rice and sugar-cane from the limited areas which they have taken in
hand. On the banks of the rivers coffee could be grown in many places.

The climate is tropical, and malaria, with its fever and ague, is
prevalent. The mean temperature of the year is 75 degrees, and the
thermometer has never been seen lower than 68 degrees. The atmosphere
is dank, steamy, and heavy with moisture during the wet season, and
parching and malarial during the dry season.

From Port Darwin to the Cape of Good Hope, and thence to Sierra Leone,
the voyage lay for the most part within the zone of the South-east
Trades. Rodriguez Island was sighted on September 26th, and Mauritius
was reached on September 29th. It is a painful task to attempt to
describe scenes which would have been painted so much more effectively
by another. To give the daily life, which, needless to say, was very
sad, I will not attempt.

Mauritius is one of the few ports in which sailing ships still hold
the field against steamers. It was filled with a noble fleet. As a
mark of sympathy, which touched us deeply, their flags were hoisted at
half-mast as soon as our sad intelligence became known.

Viewed from the anchorage of Port Louis, the island of Mauritius
presents a scene of much beauty. A chain of peaks and craters of
pict