MAJOR MITCHELL'S "AUSTRALIA FELIX" 95 



volunteered to go back and guide the rear contingent, were des- 

 patched with all available stores. The remainder with Major 

 Mitchell soon reached some of the remote outlying stations on the 

 Murrumbidgee, where their wants were hospitably supplied, and 

 without encountering any further difficulty they arrived in Sydney 

 early in November. 



The result of this triumphant march through the new country 

 was to dissipate the legends of its waterless sterility and general 

 unfitness for colonisation which had been so uniformly circulated 

 by Government official investigators. The colonists were delighted 

 at such abundant confirmation of Hume's predictions, and the 

 Legislative Council voted the gallant Major a douceur of 1,000. 

 When his narrative was published, and the great importance of the 

 results attained were fully apprehended, His Majesty conferred 

 upon him the honour of knighthood. 



