314 By Stream and Sea. 



with the land that its shortest distance is ten, and farthest 120 

 miles from shore. The ocean outside may be moaning 

 and bursting, but within the Barrier all is comparatively 

 calm. The channel is mostly shallow, but it varies in the 

 most extraordinary manner. Sometimes close to the wall 

 of the reef there is a sheer depth of sixty fathoms ; then the 

 water shoals suddenly away. No wonder that the steamers 

 adopt the precaution of anchoring after nightfall, unless the 

 moon is up. 



Every day now brings its new subject of interest. The 

 Barrier Reef shows above the sea at irregular intervals, now 

 black and low, now as an undefined something that, just 

 beneath the surface, night and day angers the water into 

 foam. A trusty pilot comes on board at Somerset, not to 

 leave the vessel until the reef is past. We are always within 

 sight of Queensland, and at each stopping place we hear 

 from the new arrivals more and more of the wonderful 

 riches of this colony, which stretches from close to the 

 equator, with a seaboard of 2250 miles, and teems with 

 capabilities that cry aloud for development. 



Birds from the land come out to criticise the sea-fowl, 

 never venturing, however, farther than the reefs, which in 

 the surf look like black pillows bordered with white lace. 

 Blue smoke ascending from the edges of the forests indicate 

 the camp fires of the natives, and sets the " colonials," who 

 gather as the voyage goes on, discussing, not the virtues, 

 alas ! but the ineradicable vices of the race. We have not 

 proceeded a hundred miles down the reef passage before we 

 are aware that it is not the fashion here to think or speak 

 anything good of the Australian aboriginal. The only 

 anxiety I could discover was that he and his should die 

 out as quickly as possible. All efforts to make something 

 of him seem to have failed. Reclaimed for a time, he 



