"Major Mifcliell's work on the survej' of interior Australia is the most im- 

 (lortant in reference to that country that has issued from the press. It i» 

 copiously embellislied with well-executed lithographic plates and maps." — 

 Morning Heicihl, 12th Sept. 



" The three expeditions comprised in these volumes, may he briefly 

 described; but the interest of the details accumulated by jNIajor Mitchell 

 can be appreciated only by an attentive perusal of the work itself. The vast 

 tracts of country that had remained unexplored in Australia previously to 

 these enterprises — a country, as Major Mitchell observes, which is yet in the 

 same state as when it was formed by its Maker — presented a large field for 

 scientific inqiiirj'. The ability, perseverance, and zeal of Major Mitchell, 

 whose toils, dangers, and privations were of the most trying kind, eminently 

 justify the choice of such a man for a service of so much peril and 

 importance. ***** 



There is no attempt at fine writing throughout these valuable pages. Tlie 

 descriptions are all simple, brief, and unembellished. But the matter con- 

 tained in the volumes is fnll of interest, of a kind, too, so close and multi- 

 farious, that we could not hope to do justice to it by extracts. The scientific 

 details are also of considerable utility, and have been arranged with great 

 care by some distinguished friends, to whose assistance tlie author bears 

 testimony in his preface. A variety of lithographs of scenes taken on the 

 spot, diagrams, and plates illustrative of differeiit features of natural history, 

 increase the value of the work, which is one of the most amusing, as well as 

 instructive, books that has been issued for many seasons from our prolific 

 press." — Atlas, loth Sept. 



" The return home was scarcely less fruitful in interesting discoveries, 

 topographical, geological, and botanical, than the journey out; especiallj' 

 the route from the Murrumbidgee. At page 320 of this volume we have ii 

 most striking portrait of Moyengully, King of Nattai, and a formidable 

 looking gentleman he is. Judging from this and numerous other sketches 

 distributed throughout the work. Major Mitchell miist be a first-rate artist. 

 Most of the the engravings, and they are very numerous, are not only interest- 

 ing in subject, but both drawn and executed in a splendid and artist-like 

 manner." — United Service Gazette, 15th Sept. 1838. 



" The rapidly increasing importance of our Australian colonies renders 

 these volumes a valuable acquisition. They contain a great variety of parti- 

 culars respecting a country which yet remains, in most part, a terra incofj- 

 nita, and an aboriginal people who are still in a state of nature; and the 

 minute detail of the progress of an expedition which explored vast territories 

 never before trodden by whiteraen, are highly interesting." — Literary Gazette, 

 loth Sept. 1838. 



" The expedition lost an able assistant in the botanical department by 

 the death of Mr. Cunningham, who, having unfortunately parted from his 

 companions, was unable to regain their track, while they unsuccessfully 

 endeavoured to ])ursue his footmarks, and, after wandering some days, 

 during wliich his sufferings from thirst, hunger, and fatigue, must have been 

 great, he was unhappily killed by some natives with whom he had intended 

 to pass the niglit. ^lajor Mitchell, nevertheless, has collected in his travels 

 twenty-eight new genera of plants, and he met with some very rare trees, 

 ])articularly one bearing yellow flowers, of which it appears only one spe- 

 cimen was observed. 



" There are many very judicious remarks on the location of settlers and 

 tlie formation of villages, which it would be very advisable to attend to. 

 Some dilliculty now occurs in the opposition which is given to the direction 

 of roads though private property; but the obvious utility of good lines of 

 conununication must eventually impress individuals with the proi)riefy of 

 yielding their private claims for the ad\aiiccment of the public good." — 

 Literary Gazette, 22nd Sept. 1838. 



