ard. As long as his own hands could toil he tended the vineyard,
and maintained his idle sons. But on his death-bed he feared for their
future. So he made them the victims of a pious fraud. "There is a great
sum in gold buried in the vineyard," he told them with his dying breath.
"But I cannot tell you where. You must find that for yourselves."

Tempted by the promise of quick fortune, the idle sons dug everywhere
in the vineyard to find the buried treasure. They never came across any
actual gold, but the good effect of their digging was such that the
vineyard prospered wonderfully and they grew rich from its fine crops.

So it was, in a way, with Australia. The gold discoverers did much good
by attracting people to the country in search of gold who, though they
found no gold, developed the other resources of a great country.

When the yields from the alluvial goldfields decreased there was a
great demand from the out-of-work diggers and others for land for
farming, and the agricultural era began in Australia. Since then the
growth of the country has been sound, and, if a little slow, sure. It
has been slow because the ideal of the people has always been a sound
and a general well-being rather than a too-quick growth. "Slow and
steady" is a good motto for a nation as well as an individual.

CHAPTER II

AUSTRALIA OF TO-DAY

The diggings--The Government at Melbourne--The sheep-runs--The
rabbits--The delights of Sydney.

If, by good luck, you were to have a trip to Australia now, you would
find, probably, the sea voyage, which takes up five weeks as a rule, a
little irksome. But fancy that over, and imagine yourself safely into
Australia of to-day. Fremantle will be the first place of call. It is
the port of Perth, which is the capital of West Australia. That great
State occupies nearly a quarter of the continent; but its population is
as yet the least important of the continental States, and not very much
ahead of the little island of Tasmania. Still, West Australia is
advancing very quickly. On the north it has great pearl fisheries;
inland it has goldfields, which take second rank in the world's list,
and it is fast developing its agricultural and pastoral riches.

Very soon it will be possible to leave the steamer at Fremantle and go
by train right across the continent to the Eastern cities. Now you must
travel by steamer to Port Adelaide, for Adelaide, the capital of South
Australia. It is a ch