234 ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 



The earth is spanned and the ocean pierced by 

 the wires of the electric telegraph. Already, from 

 the banks of the Thames to the shores of the 

 Adriatic, our electric messenger will do our bidding. 

 The telegraph is making its way through Italy, and 

 it is dipping its wires in the Mediterranean, soon to 

 reach the coast of Africa. They will then run along 

 the African shores to Egypt and Turkey, and still on- 

 ward until they unite with the telegraphs of India, of 

 which three thousand miles are in progress. From 

 Hindostan these wondrous wires will run from island to 

 island in the Indian Archipelago, and thus connect 

 Australia and New Zealand with Europe. 



In a few years we may expect to have an instantaneous 

 report in London of the extraordinary " nugget" dis- 

 covered by some fortunate gold-digger ; and the exile 

 from his native land in the Islands of the South Pacific 

 Ocean, may learn every hour, if he will, of the doings 

 of his family and friends in some village home of 

 England. 



