geographical boundary, formed by the peculiar face of the
country; consisting of stony plains and bare ridges, and establishing a
natural division in the courses of the rivers, the routes of traffic,
and the intercourse of the people.

Moreton Bay, which is situated on the eastern shore of the Australian
continent, about five hundred miles north of Sydney, was first settled
as a penal colony in the year 1824, and retained its position, as one of
the vilest hells and sinks of iniquity, until the year 1842; when, to
satisfy the enterprizing demand of the settlers for new country to
occupy with their herds, convicts were withdrawn, and the district
thrown open to free settlement. The country to the back of this, and
skirting the coast, is mostly undulating; in some parts very broken and
hilly, and traversed by rivers of considerable size. Parallel to the
coast line, at an average distance of from fifty to seventy miles, the
land rises abruptly and almost precipitously, in what is called the
"Main Range," to an altitude of some three thousand feet, and extends in
rich and fertile plains for thousands of square miles. This table-land,
covered with the most luxurient pasturage, and displaying an unbroken
extent of splendid country, like a succession of highly cultivated
parks, is known as the "Darling Downs," and at the time of Mr.
Ferguson's settlement of Acacia creek was conceived to be only a
trackless waste, offering no inducement to squatters to risk their lives
and property in its settlement or exploration. Such, however, was the
rapidity, when its value became known, with which flocks after flocks
poured into "the Downs," following the footsteps of the first pioneer,
that in the course of a few years, what was before an unknown
wilderness, became one of the most favoured and thriving of the pastoral
districts of the colony. It was approaching this delectable land, then,
that we left our young heroes, when making this digression.

They had journeyed some time over these dividing plains, depending more
in their course upon the position of the sun, than on any visible road
or track, when they determined to push on for Warwick; as, owing to the
dilatory manner in which they had been riding, they had still a long
distance to proceed, and the sun was fast sinking on the horizon. They
accordingly urged their horses into a sharp canter; and soon emerged
from the barren part through which they had been journeying, into the
mor