the Kangaroo.

PREFACE.

The rapidly increasing prominence of the Australian colonies during the
past ten or twenty years has led to the preparation of the volume of
which this is the preface. Australia has a population numbering close
upon five millions and it had prosperous and populous cities, all of
them presenting abundant indications of collective and individual
wealth. It possesses railways and telegraphs by thousands of miles, and
the productions of its farms, mines, and plantations aggregate an
enormous amount. It has many millions, of cattle and sheep, and their
number is increasing annually at a prodigious rate.

Australia is a land of many wonders, and it is to tell the story of
these wonders and of the growth and development of the colonies of the
antipodes, that this volume has been written.

T. W. K.

CONTENTS.

I. WEST COAST OF AFRICA--Adventure in the South Atlantic Ocean
II. THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE--The Southern Ocean--Australia
III. A LAND OF CONTRADICTIONS--Transportation to Australia
IV. STRANGE ADVENTURES--Australian Aboriginals
V. ACROSS AUSTRALIA--Tallest Trees in the World
VI. AUSTRALIAN BLACKS--Throwing the Boomerang
VII. ADELAIDE TO MELBOURNE--The Rabbit Pest--Dangerous Exotics
VIII. CANNIBAL BLACKS--Melbourne and its Peculiarities
IX. "THE LAUGHING JACKASS"--Australian Snakes and Snake Stories
X. THE HARBOR OF MELBOURNE--Convict Hulks and Bushrangers
XI. GEELONG--Australian Gold Mines--Finding a Big Nugget
XII. A SOUTHERLY BURSTER--Western Victoria
XIII. JOURNEY UP COUNTRY--Anecdotes of Bush Life
XIV. LOST IN THE BUSH--Australian Horses
XV. EXPERIENCES AT A CATTLE STATION--A Kangaroo Hunt
XVI. HUNTING THE EMU AND OTHER BIRDS--An Australian Sheep Run
XVII. FROM MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY--Crossing the Blue Mountains
XVIII. SIGHTS OF SYDNEY--Botany Bay and Paramatta
XIX. COAL MINES AT NEWCASTLE--Sugar Plantation in Queensland--The End

ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.

"We passed a ship becalmed in the doldrums" Frontispiece. 18
"Harry had obtained a map of Australia" 56
A visit to the Zoological Garden 147
"There they go!" shouted Mr. Syme 242

THE LAND OF THE KANGAROO.

CHAPTER I.

WEST COAST OF AFRICA--ADVENTURE I