Fred asked who gave it the appellation of Australia.
"The name was given by Captain Flinders, of whom we were speaking a few moments ago," replied the Doctor. "His memory is preserved in a river and a mountain-range of the continent whose coast he explored. On his return to Europe he was captured by the French, and was held a prisoner from 1806 to 1810. He died in England in 1814, shortly after publishing his book, 'A Voyage to Terra Australis.'"
"There is a great part of the country not yet explored," said Frank, as the Doctor paused. "A writer on this subject says that the unexplored region of the present day is almost entirely confined to Western Australia and a large part of the northern territory of South Australia. New South Wales and Victoria have an area of four hundred thousand square miles, almost every mile of which is fairly known; Queensland may still have a small extent of unknown land in the far northern peninsula; South Australia has at least two hundred and fifty thousand miles unexplored or but little known; and West Australia has fully half a million square miles that have been crossed at intervals by the tracks of a few explorers. In round figures, the extent of unexplored or partially known country in Australia is more than double that of the thoroughly known portion. The continent is almost fairly bisected by the overland telegraph line, which follows closely the track of Macdouall Stuart, the explorer, and the telegraph may be considered a line of demarcation between the explored and unexplored portions."
"And have you ascertained why the continent has not yet been thoroughly examined?" Doctor Bronson queried.
CLEARING IN AN AUSTRALIAN FOREST.
"I have," Fred replied, with alacrity, "and I presume Frank has done so too. It is because there is no water in the interior of the continent, or but very little. If you look on the map you will see very few rivers, and none of those that exist is of great size. Australia is nearly as large as Europe, and see the difference in the rivers. Europe has the Danube, Rhine, Volga, Don, Vistula, Seine, Rhone—all large rivers—together with more than twice as many of lesser note, but all of them important; while Australia has only a single river of consequence, the Murray. There are hundreds of miles of coast line together where not a single stream, great or small, flows into the sea, and some of the interior rivers dry up and disappear in the hot season."
"I read about that too," said Frank; "the Murray and its tributaries, the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee, are lasting streams; but the Darling, a river of considerable size, flowing into the Murray from the north, has the Australian peculiarity of disappearing into quicksands and marshes. With the exception of the Murray, all the other permanent streams of Australia are short, and of little consequence; and, like the rivers of New Zealand, they have been clogged with water-cress, which was introduced from England in the expectation that it would be a great luxury."