perfectly accessible by means of artesian wells.

If a suitable and efficient system of irrigation could be adopted it
would bring into use at once an enormous territory as large as
half-a-dozen of our largest Western States, which is now little better
than a dry desert, where in summer the grass becomes hay dried upon the
roots, but which in winter, when the rain falls, puts on an inviting
aspect of rich verdure.

The great dividing mountain chain of Australia is near the coast-line in
the south and east, averaging perhaps a hundred miles or more from the
sea. Nearly all the gold which the land has produced has come from the
valleys and hillsides of this range. The gold diggings of New South
Wales have proved to be very rich in some sections; but unlike those of
Queensland and Victoria,--the former six hundred miles north of Sydney,
and the latter six hundred miles south of it,--the precious metal is
here found mostly in alluvial deposits. A true fissure vein of
gold-bearing quartz, as we were informed, has never been found in New
South Wales. As a source of pecuniary and lasting income, her coal mines
are far more valuable than all the rest of her mineral deposits
combined.

Sydney holds high rank as a British colonial city, and deservedly so,
having special reason for pride in the complete system of her charitable
and educational organizations, her noble public buildings, and the
general character of her leading citizens. Land in the town and its
vicinity is held at prices averaging as high as in Boston or New York,
and the wealth of the people is represented to be very great in the
aggregate.

The City Hall, now in course of enlargement, is an admirable structure
of stone, grand in its architecture and most substantially constructed.
When finished it will equal the Hotel de Ville of Paris in size, and to
our taste surpass it architecturally. It is of the composite order, with
bold reliefs and pillared front, its whole effect being in strong
contrast to that of St. Andrew's Cathedral in George Street, which is
close at hand. The latter is in pure Gothic of the pointed style, and
although it is comparatively small, it will rank favorably in its
decorations and internal arrangements with any of the lately-built
English cathedrals. The view from the open cupola of the City Hall, at a
height of about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of George
Street, is unusually comprehensive, taking in not only the immed