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THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN AUSTRALASIA.

CHAPTER XV.

LEAVING BRISBANE.—THE REGIONS AROUND THE CITY.—QUEENSLAND SCRUB AND FOREST LAND.—FRUITS AND GARDEN PRODUCE.—TROUBLES OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.—IPSWICH AND ITS COAL-MINES.—WINE-MAKING IN AUSTRALIA.—CHARACTER OF AUSTRALIAN WINES.—THE LABOR QUESTION.—POLYNESIAN AND CHINESE LABORERS.—POPULATION OF QUEENSLAND.—NATIVES AND ABORIGINES.—PECULIARITIES OF THE BLACK RACE.—CATTLE-TRACKERS AND THEIR ABILITIES.—HOW THE ABORIGINALS LIVE.—THEIR HOMES, WEAPONS, AND MODE OF LIFE.—AUSTRALIAN MYTHS AND SUPERSTITIONS.—CURIOUS THEORIES OF RESURRECTION.—SMOKE AND FIRE SIGNALS.—HOW A WANDERING WHITE MAN SAVED HIS LIFE.—RELIGIOUS IDEAS.—HOW THE EEL MADE THE FROG LAUGH.—THE BUN-YIP AND HIS WONDERFUL ATTRIBUTES.

A RELIC OF OLD COLONIAL TIMES.

THE sights of Brisbane were soon exhausted, and our friends arranged to make a journey to the interior, in spite of the efforts of hospitable residents to detain them for several days in the capital. The trio agreed that nowhere else in the world was there a more hospitable population than in Australia, and in no other country was the stranger made more heartily welcome. They had already recorded this impres-