CHAPTER V 



THE NEVER-NEVER I,AND 



They had told us of pastures wide and green, 



To be sought past the sunset's glow, 

 Of rifts in the ranges by opals lit, 



And gold 'neath the river's flow. 

 And thirst and hunger were banished words, 



When they spoke of that unknown West ; 

 No drought they dread, no flood they feared, 



Where the pelican builds her nest. 



MARY H. FOOTE. 



MORE than one-half of Australia consists of 

 country still unexplored or only partially 

 explored. Across the unexplored portions there 

 are written on the map such words as "great 

 sandy desert." Year by year, the dimensions of 

 these map areas are being reduced, and more is 

 being learned of the nature and resources of those 

 uninviting wastes from which the early explorers 

 turned back in despair, or where they laid down 

 their lives in the vain attempt to fathom secrets 

 that are still unsolved. The mystery of that un- 

 known region makes its appeal even to the Aus- 

 tralian who spends his life in the fringe of settled 

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