146 AUSTRALIA AND THE AUSTRALIAN'S. 



with accurate charts, and lighthouscd capes, and islands 

 of even a few acres all well known to the navigators 

 of to-day, by which even circumnavigation of our 

 globe is brought up to the pleasure of a picnic excur- 

 sion, I cannot but wonder at and admire the intre- 

 pidity of such men as Columbus and Jacques Cartier, 

 Dampier and Cook, and a host of others who have, by 

 their self-sacrificing zeal, made known the existence of 

 broad continents and islands innumerable, abounding 

 with mineral wealth and fertile soil, with great rivers 

 of pure water, magnificent scenery, with a boundless 

 store of native fruits and animals, which the Divine 

 Hand had supplied for the support and pleasure of 

 civilized humanity or aboriginal tribes. 



Among these worthies, the two men whose names 

 are at the head of this chapter are deserving of a 

 place. Their efforts may not have been on so ex- 

 tended a scale as some whom I have mentioned above, 

 nor may the results have been equal. Their spirit 

 was the same, however, and their end was that of 

 many who have undertaken that kind of work a 

 work which must be done by some noble souls such as 

 they, or our earth for the greater part might remain a 

 vast howling wilderness forever. 



While the coasts of Australia were well known, and 

 the southern portions of the continent settled, towns 



