Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/348

324 warm; the north winds are hot, the south winds are cold, the east winds are healthy. The bees are without sting; the cherries grow with the stone outside; one of the birds has a broom in its mouth instead of a tongue. Many of the beautiful flowers are without smell; most of the trees are without shade, and shed their bark instead of their leaves; some, indeed, are without leaves; in others the leaves are vertical. And even the geological formation of the country, as far as ascertained, is most singular. In other parts of the world coal is black, but in Australia they have bituminous coal as white as chalk.

"'Taken as a whole, the country, as far as explored, exhibits less hill and dale, with less compact vegetation, than in most other parts of the world. In the interior there is a bare, barren, stony desert, totally unfit for man or beast. A more or less broken chain of mountains extends from Spencer Gulf, round the south coast, all along the eastern coast, and round the northern coast, nearly to Limming's Bight. The rivers are few in number; the watercourses are very low in summer, and frequently dried up; no dense forest exists, as in America; the herbage generally is thin, the grasses, although highly nutritious, growing in patches. The highest peak is Mount Kosciusko, 6510 feet above sea, at the head of the Murray, which is the largest Australian river, 2500 miles long.

"'Australia contains no antiquities, and the tourist who expects to find the ruins of temples, palaces, and pagodas is doomed to disappointment. It was discovered by the Portuguese about 1530, and visited by the Spaniards in 1605, and by several navigators down to Captain Cook in 1770, and settled in 1788. All its cities are of modern foundation and growth; and Australia may be compared, in a general way, to that part of the United States west of the Mississippi River,'

"We shall have an opportunity to verify many of these statements," said the Doctor, "when we travel in the interior." Then, turning to Frank, he asked that youth what he had learned concerning the government of the colonies.

"I learned that they are wholly independent of each other," was the reply, "and furthermore, that there is great jealousy between them. Each of the colonies must be considered in many respects a distinct province, having its own government, local laws, and customs regulations. With the exception of West Australia, they all enjoy responsible government, and that colony will no doubt have the same constitutional privileges as the others before many years. The form of government is a modification of the British Constitution, the sovereign being represented by the Governor, who is appointed by the Crown; the House of Lords by the legislative council, nominated or elected; and the House of Commons by the legislative assembly, elected by the people.

"The imperial laws are in force unless superseded by local enactments, and all acts passed by the colonial legislatures must receive the assent of the sovereign before they can become laws. In each of the colonies the qualifications for exercising the franchise are placed very low, and manhood suffrage is practically the rule. An effort has been made to league the Australian colonies into one great confederation;