Chapter I: Preface

The rapid spread of education creates a continual demand for new books, of a character to gratify the taste of the young, and at the same time to satisfy the scruples of their instructors. The restless, inquiring spirit of youth craves, from its first development, food for the imagination, and even the simplest nursery rhymes owe their principal charm to their wonderful improbability. To these succeed the ever-interesting tales of Fairies and Enchanters; and the ardent boy only forsakes Ali Baba and Sindbad for the familiar and lifelike fictions of "Robinson Crusoe," and the hundred pleasant tales on the "Robinson Crusoe" model which have succeeded that popular romance.

It is the nature of man to soar above the common prose of every-day life in his recreations; from the weary school-boy, who relieves his mind, after arithmetical calculations and pages of syntax, by fanciful adventures amidst scenes of novelty and peril, and returns to his labors refreshed, to the over-tasked man of study or science, who wades through his days and nights of toil, cheered by the prospect of a holiday of voyaging or travelling over new scenes.

This spirit of inquiry has usually the happiest influence on the character of the young and old, and leads them--

"To know
The works of God, thereby to glorify
The great Work-Master."

In this belief, we are encouraged to continue to supply the young with books which do not profess to be true, though they are composed of truths. They are doubtless romantic, but cannot mislead the judgment or corrupt the taste; their aim being to describe the marvellous works of creation, and to lead the devout mind to say with the divine poet,--

"Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite
Thy power; what thought can measure thee, or tongue
Relate thee?"

A. B.

RICHMOND, _October_, 1858.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. page 1-16

The Rector and the Soldier.--The Mayburn Family.--A Mission
to India.--The Orphans of Wendon.--Ruth the Unlucky.--Jack's
Project.--The Addition to the Mayburn Establishment

CHAPTER II. 17-31

Departure from Wendon.--Embarkation in the _Amoor_.--Ruth's
Adventures in London.--The Deverell Family.--The Pleasures of
the Voyage.--Tropical Wonders.--The Flying-fish.--The Stormy
Petrel.--The Albatross.--Deverell's Plans.--The Indian
Ocean.--A Storm

CHAPTER III. 32-44

Melbourne.--The Squatters.--The Two Convicts.--A Painful
Separation.--The _Golden Fairy_.--Ruth's Misfortunes.--A
Nocturnal Alarm.--Ruth's Confession.--The Ship on Fire.

CHAPTER IV. 45-57

Insubordination of the Sailors.--Rapid Progress of the
Fire.--The Boats lowered.--Ruth's Prize.--A Man Saved.--Black
Peter.--The Adventure of a Reprobate Crew.--A Dangerous
Comrade

CHAPTER V. 58-71

Afloat on an Unknown Sea.--The Insubordinate Sailor.--The Coral
Reefs.--An Island in View.--The Perilous Landing.--Peter's
Rebellion.--The First Night on Shore.--Ruth among the
Crockery.--A Valuable Prize.--The March from the First
Encampment

CHAPTER VI. 72-84

A Pleasant Resting-place.--The Turtle.--A Knavish
Trick.--Destitution.--An Exploring Expedition.--Lake
Scenery.--A Wrecked Vessel.--Strange Footsteps.--A Prudent
Retreat.--Return of the Explorers

CHAPTER VII. 85-97

The Results of the Expedition.--The Long Vacation.--Removed
from the Landing-place.--Birds and their Nests.--Fishing.--Tapping
a Cask of Potatoes.--Tent-making.--The Shell Spades.--Digging
a Tank.--A Grand Attempt at Boat-building

CHAPTER VIII. 98-111

The Launch of the Boat.--An Alarming Catastrophe.--Disappointed
Hopes.--Jack's Perseverance.--A Peep at the Old Encampment.--Black
Peter again.--The Loss of the Boat.--Canoe-building.--The
Luggage-van

CHAPTER IX. 112-127

The Foray.--Young Potatoes.--More Intruders.--Ruth's Introduction
to the Savages.--The Sailing of the Fleet.--The Desert Shore.--The
Giant Ant-hill.--Once more at Sea.--A Storm, and the Loss of the
Catamaran

CHAPTER X. 128-142

A Total Wreck.--An Unknown Coast.--The Green Ants.--The White
Cockatoo.--Waifs.--The Gourd Tree.--The Fresh-water Rivulet.--A
River Voyage Projected

CHAPTER XI. 143-156

The Voyage up the River.--The Way to China.--The Note of a Strange
Bird.--A Hasty Flight.--A Tropical Storm.--The Loss of the
Canoes.--The Cave of the Bats.--A Toilsome Pilgrimage

CHAPTER XII. 157-172

Alligators.--The Giant's Staircase.--Access to a New Region.--The
Pheasant Cuckoo.--Wild Oats.--The Unequal Contest.--The First
Kangaroo.--Scenes of Arcadia.--A Hint at Cannibalism.--The Cockatoo
Watch.--The Enemy put to Flight

CHAPTER XIII. 173-186

Rope-making.--The Cavern of Illustrations.--Ruth at the
Water-pools.--Victualling the Fortress.--The Blockade.--Assault
and Battery.--Bloodshed.--The Close Siege.--Prospect of Famine

CHAPTER XIV. 187-202

Rambles through the Caves.--Fairy Bower.--A Rough Path to
Freedom.--Preparations for Flight.--The Use of the Rifle.--A
Case of Conscience.--Departure.--Travelling among the Bogs.--A
View of the River.--Making an Axe.--A New Plant

CHAPTER XV. 203-216

The Tea-Shrub.--Another Canoe.--A Skirmish with the
Natives.--Wounded Heroes.--An Attempt at Voyaging.--A Field of
Battle.--The Widowed Jin.--Wilkins's Sorrows.--Baldabella in
Society.--The Voyage Resumed

CHAPTER XVI. 217-228

The Mother and Child.--The Interior of the Country.--Another
Cataract.--The Pilgrim Troop.--The Difficult Ascent.--The Frilled
Lizard.--The Mountain-range.--The Kangaroo-chase.--The Pass of Erin

CHAPTER XVII. 229-241

The Dangerous Pass.--The Coupled Travellers.--The Mountain
Labyrinth.--The Emancipation of Ruth's Chickens.--A Combat _à
l'outrance_.--The Ornithorhyncus.--The Forest in the
Mountains.--Singing Birds.--The Laughing Jackass

CHAPTER XVIII. 242-254

The Tunnel through the Mountains.--The Chase of the Emu.--An
Encounter with the Natives.--The Rescue of Baldabella and her
Child.--Making a Bridge.--Canoes Again.--The Fishing of Baldabella

CHAPTER XIX. 255-268

A _Cache_.--The Black Forest.--A Site for the Hut.--The
Eagles.--Gerald's Accident.--A Subterranean Grotto.--The Pitcher
Plant.--A Potato Ground.--The Fig-tree.--Australian Jumbles.--The
Hungry Guest

CHAPTER XX. 269-280

The Reservoir.--The Rains.--The Native Companion.--The Employments
of Prison Life.--The Unlucky Chase.--Jack's Tale of Trouble.--Black
Peter's Temptations.--The Release of the Eagle.--The Rescue Party

CHAPTER XXI. 281-292

The Approach to the Prison.--Baldabella's Stratagem.--The Release
of the Captive.--Wilkins's Tale of Trials.--A Well.--The Potato
Crop.--The Flying Opossum.--The Salt Plant.--Preparations for a
Siege

CHAPTER XXII. 293-305

Peter's last Stratagem.--Firing the Fortress.--The Watch-tower.--The
Welcome Rain.--The Close Siege.--The Conflict.--The Defeat of
Peter.--The Fortress Abandoned.--Once more on the Road.--Resting in
the Wilds

CHAPTER XXIII. 306-317

A Bark Sledge.--The Friendly Tribe.--The Wild Melon.--A Nocturnal
Alarm.--The Wombats.--The Bivouac on the Heath.--The Savages
again.--Away to the South

CHAPTER XXIV. 318-330

The Dry Wilderness.--Despair.--The Coming-down of the Waters.--The
Discomfited Savages.--Hunger and Thirst.--The Footsteps in the
Mud.--A Pond.--The Talegalla and its Nest.--The Valley of
Promise.--The River to the South

CHAPTER XXV. 331-343

Boat-building again.--Unlucky Ruth.--The Woods on Fire.--Dangers on
Land and Water.--The Wounded Girl.--A Home among the Mountains.--The
Bottle-tree.--The Bee-hunt.--Bean-coffee.--The Lost Hunters

CHAPTER XXVI. 344-355

The Search for the Lost.--The Fig-tree.--Signals.--The Wanderers
Found.--The Wounded Boy.--The Sufferings of the Thirsty.--The Rescue
and Return.--The Kangaroo Conflict.--A Strange Meeting.--The
Bush-rangers.--The Miraculous Escape

CHAPTER XXVII. 356-369

The Eagle's Eyrie.--The Chaotic Solitude disturbed.--The Voluntary
Prisoners.--The Report of the Spy.--The Foe at the Gates.--A Traitor
in the Camp.--Dispersion of the Invaders.--A lucky Escape.--A
pleasant Voyage

CHAPTER XXVIII. 370-383

The Cookery disturbed.--A Signal-rocket.--A Surprise and
Capture.--Pillage.--The Taste of Gunpowder.--A Fatal Explosion.--The
Contrivances of Necessity.--A Region of Famine.--Renewed Hopes.--An
Unfair Advantage

CHAPTER XXIX. 384-396

A Seasonable Supply.--Visitors in the Night.--Captivity.--An Old
Acquaintance.--The Ranger's Settlement.--An Embassy to Daisy
Grange.--Jack in a New Office.--The Grateful Native Woman.--Davy's
Compunction.--Bush-ranging Life

CHAPTER XXX. 397-409

A Proposal of Marriage.--Bill's Rejection and
Revenge.--Pocket-picking.--Jack's Return.--Black Peter
again.--Bush-ranging Merriment.--A Flight in the Dark.--An
Emu-chase.--The disappointed Hunters.--Pursuit.--A Stratagem

CHAPTER XXXI. 410-422

The Sentinels in the Trees.--The End of Bill the Convict.--The
Bush-rangers deceived.--A strange New Animal.--A Bloody
Conflict.--The Mountain-pass.--The Fruit of the Acacia.--The
Travellers in Custody.--The Court of Justice

CHAPTER XXXII. 423-435

Travellers' Wonders.--The Detective Force.--A Trap for the
Rangers.--The Skirmish and the Victory.--Daisies in Australia.--The
Constancy of Susan Raine.--The Trial and Sentence of the
Natives.--Peter and his Colleagues

CHAPTER XXXIII. 436-453

A Chase over the Mountains.--The Frightful End of the
Bush-ranger.--Ruth's Opinion.--The Cereopsis.--A Description of the
Colony.--The Dingo.--The Cattle at Home.--The Park.--The Arrival at
Daisy Grange

CHAPTER XXXIV. 454-463

The Comforts of Civilization.--Susan Raine.--The Hamlet and the
Church.--Plans for the Future.--Mrs. Edward Deverell.--The Beauties
of Daisy Grange

THE KANGAROO HUNTERS.