SEVENTH ENTRY. 

 THE GREAT BARRIER REEF, 



(HE actual novelty of the Eastern and Australian 

 Mail Steam Company's route to Australia begins in 

 earnest after you have sailed from Singapore. In 

 the matter of travel, of course, in these latter days, nothing 

 remains novel long ; the world cannot afford time now for 

 old-fashioned nine days' wonders, nine hours or minutes 

 being the utmost allowable limit. In a year or two, prob- 

 ably the " short sea route to Australia " will be better known 

 than a hundred years ago was the highway from London to 

 York. On our way to the antipodes we met with shoals of 

 people, including the very old and very young of both sexes, 

 who were putting a girdle round the globe without thinking 

 anything of it. They were just taking a trip to Australia by 

 the Torres Straits route, and a trip home again by way of 

 Honolulu, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago, New 

 York, and the mighty Atlantic, and it was the E. and A. 

 Company they had to thank for making the girdle complete. 

 To Singapore you have a choice of routes. You may 

 purchase a ticket at Charing Cross, and rush through Paris 



