His ])rofessional experience has enabled liini to clotlie Iiis descri|!tions in 

 language at once intelligible and conclusive, and as his narrative is written 

 in the form of a journal, the occurrences of each day beino- committed to 



paper on the same night, the facts follow in natural and consecutive order. 



There is this peculiar advantage connected with the work too, which must give 

 it a preference over all others by which it has been preceded — namely, that 

 Major Mitchell possesses the fortunate talent of being his own artist, surveyor 

 meteorologist, and engraver. He has not had to trust to others for em- 

 bodying his ideas in a graphic form, but has made his own sketches of 

 scenery as well as of the natives, individually and collectively, of the extra- 

 ordinary accuracy of which Ave have had t!ie willing testimony of gentlemen 

 long resident in the Colony, and fully acquainted with the peculiarities of 

 the savage tribes by which it is inhabited — the splendour of its scenery, 

 and the varied eccentricities, if we may be allowed tlie phrase, of its surface 

 and climate — here rich and luxurious, there sterile and repulsive." — Bell's 

 Life in London, 1st Sept. 1838. 



" We have here a work worth hundreds of the volumes of those tradino- 

 tourists who travel for the purpose of book-making. A great variety of illus- 

 trations are interspersed throughout the work. On his arrival in England, 

 Colonel Mitchell received the assistance of several eminent scientific men, 

 in the classification of his natural history specimens ; his book has, therefore, 

 been rendered as complete as such a work could possibly be." — United Ser- 

 vice Gazette, 8th Sept. 1838. 



" It will not be expected of us that we enter into a minute examination of 

 tliese important volumes. To do so fairly and fully, as regards any half- 

 dozen chapters of them, would make a demand on our space which would 

 preclude that attention to variety which is necessary to this department of 

 our Journal. We shall, therefore, only add, on this point, that the details 

 and descriptions of each of the three expeditions are given in the natural and 

 most available, as well as the most trustworthy form, a journal written at the 

 time and place referred to; thus insuring to the narrative a specific truth 

 which can be obtained by no other means, and at the same time investing it 

 with a consecutive interest which laughs to scorn the puerile and feeble fictions 

 which so enervate and vulgarise the literary taste of the day. 



" In conclusion, we have no hesitation in pronouncing these volumes 

 of Major Mitchell, on Australia, to be at once by far the most important and 

 the most interesting that have yet appeared, in connection with this most im- 

 portant and interesting of all existing fields for emigration ; nor can it be 

 doubted that their publication will speedily lead to the most valuable results, 

 no less in a political than a social point of view." — jSaval and Blilitary 

 Gazette, 8th Sept. 1838. 



" In novelty and variety of scenery, character, and incident, these volumes 

 recall the idea of the older travellers, before travelling became a mode of 

 varying amusement — an excursion for the listless, the vacant, and the igno- 

 rant. With an interest that reminds us of the reading of other days, we follow 

 Major Mitchell and his band of convict explorers through tlie pathless wilds 

 of Australia, partaking of their hopes of discovery ; sympathizing with their 

 toils, their hardships, their short commons, and, more terrible, their severe 

 thirst in some of those arid wastes ; listening with curiosity, though with a 

 more discriminating attention than of yore, to strange descriptions of savage 

 life and savage men, and their fruitless efforts to check the progress of 

 civilization ; whilst, scattered thi'oughout the volumes, we meet incidental 

 sketches of colonial life, and gain glimpses of convict character. Their 

 generic character is discoieri/ — discovery not more important as an augmen- 

 tation of knowledge, than as having a direct bearing upon human affairs. The 

 subjects upon Avhich our author's enterprise has thrown a new light, are 

 zoology, botany, geology, geography, and man. * * * * * 



" Tiiough several topics remain untouched, we must close here ; remarking, 

 that the work is illustrated with a variety of plates, cuts, and plans, which, 

 like the text, and indeed, the idea and coniluct of the expeditions, display the 

 accomplished and practical surveyor." — Spectator, 8th Sept. 1838. 



