452 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [May 25, 1857. 



Clarendon a Minister of Foreign Affairs, wlio not less than the noble 

 Premier has been the consistent and ■vigorons supporter of every 

 measure tending to root out the trade in slaves ; and impressed as 

 our Government is vdth the desire to sow those seeds of civilisation 

 among the natives, and probably realise the cheering prospect of a 

 great production of the raw material necessary for our manufactures 

 by the independent nations of Africa, let us hope that, whilst the 

 Niger or Kwara Expedition under Baikie, to which I have adverted, 

 is working towards that good end upon the West, the benevolent 

 and enterprising Livingstone, already so dear to the natives, maybe 

 sent back to reside among his friends the Makololo, as the " Agent of 

 the Queen of the people who love the Black Man." 



AUSTEALIA. 



Although there are grounds for believing that in the sixteenth 

 century the Portuguese descried lands which, from their position in 

 old MS. maps, must have been Australia, our own great navigator 

 Cook was really the first to discover, examine, and describe large 

 portions of the coast of this vast continent.* 



Afterwards remaining for along time among the " terras reclusae " 

 of the world, this vast region, the interior of which proves to be a 

 worthless desert,f now offers to the world the glorious spectacle of 

 four great British colonies or separate governments on its eastern, 

 western, and southern shores, whilst it pours forth on the old 

 countries of Europe a shower of mineral wealth far exceeding in 

 amount anything hitherto recorded in the history of mankind. 



Thirteen years have elapsed since, as your President, I dwelt at 

 some length upon an Australian topic, which seemed to me of para- 

 mount importance — the retention of Port Essington, and the esta- 

 blishment of other settlements in Northern Australia. Having lived 

 to re-occupy this Chair, I will revert to the same theme ; whilst I 

 crave your indulgence if I previously engage your thoughts for a 

 few moments on another Australian subject to which I have also 

 given some attention — the gold produce of those countries. J 



* An ingenious paper or two have been written to show that the discoveries of 

 Cook may have been based upon a knowledge of those early documents^ but in a 

 forthcoming volume of the Hakluyt Society, our Associate, Mr. Major, will demon- 

 strate that such suggestions are entirely fallacious. 



t See Award of the Patron's Medal, p. 367. 



X For the first printed documents relating to Australian gold, see the following 

 Memoirs, viz. — Journal Royal Geographical Sodety, 1844, President's Address ; 

 Letter from myself to Sir C. Lemon, Transactions Roy. Geol. Soc. Cornwall, 

 1846 ; Letter to the Secretary for the Colonies, 1848; Report of the Nineteenth 



