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THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN AUSTRALASIA.

interior town. After an early breakfast they were taken in a light but strong wagon, drawn by two powerful horses, to the station of their host.

The road lay through an undulating country in which there was an agreeable diversity of open areas interspersed with gum forest and occasional scrub. The road was good for a track in the bush, but was cut up with numerous gullies, ruts, and holes, which gave a liberal amount of exercise to the occupants of the vehicle. Mr. Watson said it was an excellent road in the dry season, but anything but agreeable after heavy rains had converted it into a long stretch of mud. "One of my neighbors used to say," he continued, "that the road between our houses was ten miles long, twenty feet wide, and two feet deep; and he was not far from the mark."

PETS AT THE STATION.

We will let Frank tell the story of what they saw and heard at the station; and we may add that where he found his memory at fault while writing his account of the sheep and cattle raising business, he refreshed it by glancing at several books on the subject, and particularly at "Advance Australia!" by the Hon. Harold Finch-Hatton.

"We stopped several times on our way from Roma," said Frank in his narrative, "as our host seemed to know everybody in the country, and wished us to meet as many of his acquaintances as we could. Every one was hospitable, and it was not easy to get away; partly for this reason and partly in consequence of the distance, it was almost sundown when we reached the station, which was quite a village of houses.