n and
certified to by another white man, who claim to have actually seen the
bun-yip in a small lake, and described him very minutely."

"And was the story really true?" Harry asked.

"Well, yes, I suppose it was. That is to say, I believe, as do many
others, that there is an amphibious animal living in some of the
Australian lakes and rivers of which no specimen has yet been taken. The
description of the bun-yip by those who claim to have seen him, and are
not carried away by their imaginations, is very much like that of a
Newfoundland dog or a seal. The seal exists in Australian waters, and I
think that is what the bun-yip will turn out to be if one ever allows
himself to be taken."

At the station at the end of the line of railway there was an encampment
of blacks, about half a mile away, and our young friends were quite
curious to see it.

Their curiosity was soon satisfied, as there was nothing particularly
attractive about the spot. The blacks were civilized enough to live in
tents, or, rather, they accepted the bounty of the government which
supplied them with tents, though it was evident that they did not intend
to give up their old way of living, inasmuch as they had two or three
bark shelters of the old-fashioned sort, in addition to the canvas house
supplied by the government. And we may remark here that the various
colonial governments provide for the support of all the aboriginals
living within their territory. Government officials take care of them,
supply them with food, clothing, and medical comforts, and assign
reservations of land to them, just as the Indian Department of the
United States assigns reservations to the red men. But with all the care
they receive, their number is steadily diminishing, and the day is not
far distant when the last of them will cease to exist.

A man who could speak the language of the aboriginals accompanied our
young friends in their visit to the encampment. At Harry's request, he
arranged with the men to give an exhibition of their skill in throwing
the spear, and after that was over he asked them to throw the boomerang.
While they were getting ready for their performance the interpreter
explained that the boomerang was a great deal of a mystery. He said that
no white man, even after years of practise, had ever been able to throw
this weapon with any degree of accuracy, and that no Australian black
could explain how the weapon was handled. If you ask one of them to