IT was the 23d of December, 1864, a dull, damp, dreary1 month in the northern hemisphere; but on the Australian continent it might be called June. The hottest season of the year had already commenced, and the sun’s rays were almost tropical, when Lord Glenarvan started on his new expedition.
Most fortunately the 37th parallel did not cross the immense deserts, inaccessible2 regions, which have cost many martyrs3 to science already. Glenarvan could never have encountered them. He had only to do with the southern part of Australia — viz., with a narrow portion of the province of Adelaide, with the whole of Victoria, and with the top of the reversed triangle which forms New South Wales.
It is scarcely sixty-two miles from Cape4 Bernouilli to the frontiers of Victoria. It was not above a two days’ march, and Ayrton reckoned on their sleeping next night at Apsley, the most westerly town of Victoria.
The commencement of a journey is always marked by ardor5, both in the horses and the horsemen. This is well enough in the horsemen, but if the horses are to go far, their speed must be moderated and their strength husbanded. It was, therefore, fixed6 that the average journey every day should not be more than from twenty-five to thirty miles.
Besides, the pace of the horses must be regulated by the slower pace of the bullocks, truly mechanical engines which lose in time what they gain in power. The wagon7, with its passengers and provisions, was the very center of the caravan8, the moving fortress9. The horsemen might act as scouts10, but must never be far away from it.
As no special marching order had been agreed upon, everybody was at liberty to follow his inclinations11 within certain limits. The hunters could scour12 the plain, amiable13 folks could talk to the fair occupants of the wagon, and philosophers could philosophize. Paganel, who was all three combined, had to be and was everywhere at once.
The march across Adelaide presented nothing of any particular interest. A succession of low hills rich in dust, a long stretch of what they call in Australia “bush,” several prairies covered with a small prickly bush, considered a great dainty by the ovine tribe, embraced many miles. Here and there they noticed a species of sheep peculiar14 to New Holland — sheep with pig’s heads, feeding between the posts of the telegraph line recently made between Adelaide and the coast.
Up to this time there had been a singular resemblance in the country to the monotonous15 plains of the Argentine Pampas. There was the same grassy16 flat soil, the same sharply-defined horizon against the sky. McNabbs declared they had never changed countries; but Paganel told him to wait, and he would soon see a difference. And on the faith of this assurance marvelous things were expected by the whole party.
In this fashion, after a march of sixty miles in two days, the caravan reached the parish of Apsley, the first town in the Province of Victoria in the Wimerra district.
The wagon was put up at the Crown Inn. Supper was soon smoking on the table. It consisted solely17 of mutton served up in various ways.
They all ate heartily18, but talked more than they ate, eagerly asking Paganel questions about the wonders of the country they were just beginning to traverse. The amiable geographer19 needed no pressing, and told them first that this part of it was called Australia Felix.
“Wrongly named!” he continued. “It had better have been called rich, for it is true of countries, as individuals, that riches do not make happiness. Thanks to her gold mines, Australia has been abandoned to wild devastating20 adventurers. You will come across them when we reach the gold fields.”
“Is not the colony of Victoria of but a recent origin?” asked Lady Glenarvan.
“Yes, madam, it only numbers thirty years of existence. It was on the 6th of June, 1835, on a Tuesday —”
“At a quarter past seven in the evening,” put in the Major, who delighted in teasing the Frenchman about his precise dates.
“No, at ten minutes past seven,” replied the geographer, gravely, “that Batman and Falckner first began a settlement at Port Phillip, the bay on which the large city of Melbourne now stands. For fifteen years the colony was part of New South Wales, and recognized Sydney as the capital; but in 1851, she was declared independent, and took the name of Victoria.”
“And has greatly increased in prosperity since then, I believe,” said Glenarvan.
“Judge for yourself, my noble friend,” replied Paganel. “Here are the numbers given by the last statistics; and let McNabbs say as he likes, I know nothing more eloquent21 than statistics.”
“Go on,” said the Major.
“Well, then, in 1836, the colony of Port Phillip had 224 inhabitants. To-day the province of Victoria numbers 550,000. Seven millions of vines produce annually22 121,— 000 gallons of wine. There are 103,000 horses spreading over the plains, and 675,272 horned cattle graze in her wide-stretching pastures.”
“Is there not also a certain number of pigs?” inquired McNabbs.
“Yes, Major, 79,625.”
“And how many sheep?”
“7,115,943, McNabbs.”
“Including the one we are eating at this moment.”
“No, without counting that, since it is three parts devoured23.”
“Bravo, Monsieur Paganel,” exclaimed Lady Helena, laughing heartily. “It must be owned you are posted up in geographical24 questions, and my cousin McNabbs need not try and find you tripping.”
“It is my calling, Madam, to know this sort of thing, and to give you the benefit of my information when you please. You may therefore believe me when I tell you that wonderful things are in store for you in this strange country.”
“It does not look like it at present,” said McNabbs, on purpose to tease Paganel.
“Just wait, impatient Major,” was his rejoinder. “You have hardly put your foot on the frontier, when you turn round and abuse it. Well, I say and say again, and will always maintain that this is the most curious country on the earth. Its formation, and nature, and products, and climate, and even its future disappearance25 have amazed, and are now amazing, and will amaze, all the SAVANTS in the world. Think, my friends, of a continent, the margin26 of which, instead of the center, rose out of the waves originally like a gigantic ring, which encloses, perhaps, in its center, a sea partly evaporated, the waves of which are drying up daily; where humidity does not exist either in the air or in the soil; where the trees lose their bark every year, instead of their leaves; where the leaves present their sides to the sun and not their face, and consequently give no shade; where the wood is often incombustible, where good-sized stones are dissolved by the rain; where the forests are low and the grasses gigantic; where the animals are strange; where quadrupeds have beaks27, like the echidna, or ornithorhynchus, and naturalists28 have been obliged to create a special order for them, called monotremes; where the kangaroos leap on unequal legs, and sheep have pigs’ heads; where foxes fly about from tree to tree; where the swans are black; where rats make nests; where the bower-bird opens her reception-rooms to receive visits from her feathered friends; where the birds astonish the imagination by the variety of their notes and their aptness; where one bird serves for a clock, and another makes a sound like a postilion cracking of a whip, and a third imitates a knife-grinder, and a fourth the motion of a pendulum29; where one laughs when the sun rises, and another cries when the sun sets! Oh, strange, illogical country, land of paradoxes30 and anomalies, if ever there was one on earth — the learned botanist31 Grimard was right when he said, ‘There is that Australia, a sort of parody32, or rather a defiance33 of universal laws in the face of the rest of the world.’”
Paganel’s tirade34 was poured forth35 in the most impetuous manner, and seemed as if it were never coming to an end. The eloquent secretary of the Geographical Society was no longer master of himself. He went on and on, gesticulating furiously, and brandishing36 his fork to the imminent37 danger of his neighbors. But at last his voice was drowned in a thunder of applause, and he managed to stop.
Certainly after such an enumeration38 of Australian peculiarities39, he might have been left in peace but the Major said in the coolest tone possible: “And is that all, Paganel?”
“No, indeed not,” rejoined the Frenchman, with renewed vehemence40.
“What!” exclaimed Lady Helena; “there are more wonders still in Australia?”
“Yes, Madam, its climate. It is even stranger than its productions.”
“Is it possible?” they all said.
“I am not speaking of the hygienic qualities of the climate,” continued Paganel, “rich as it is in oxygen and poor in azote. There are no damp winds, because the trade winds blow regularly on the coasts, and most diseases are unknown, from typhus to measles41, and chronic42 affections.”
“Still, that is no small advantage,” said Glenarvan.
“No doubt; but I am not referring to that, but to one quality it has which is incomparable.”
“And what is that?”
“You will never believe me.”
“Yes, we will,” exclaimed his auditors43, their curiosity aroused by this preamble44.
“Well, it is —”
“It is what?”
“It is a moral regeneration.”
“A moral regeneration?”
“Yes,” replied the SAVANT, in a tone of conviction. “Here metals do not get rust45 on them by exposure to the air, nor men. Here the pure, dry atmosphere whitens everything rapidly, both linen46 and souls. The virtue47 of the climate must have been well known in England when they determined48 to send their criminals here to be reformed.”
“What! do you mean to say the climate has really any such influence?” said Lady Helena.
“Yes, Madam, both on animals and men.”
“You are not joking, Monsieur Paganel?”
“I am not, Madam. The horses and the cattle here are of incomparable docility49. You see it?”
“It is impossible!”
“But it is a fact. And the convicts transported into this reviving, salubrious air, become regenerated50 in a few years. Philanthropists know this. In Australia all natures grow better.”
“But what is to become of you then, Monsieur Paganel, in this privileged country — you who are so good already?” said Lady Helena. “What will you turn out?”
“Excellent, Madam, just excellent, and that’s all.”
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1
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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geographer
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| n.地理学者 | |
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devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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naturalists
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| n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者 | |
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pendulum
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| n.摆，钟摆 | |
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paradoxes
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| n.似非而是的隽语，看似矛盾而实际却可能正确的说法( paradox的名词复数 )；用于语言文学中的上述隽语；有矛盾特点的人[事物，情况] | |
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botanist
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| n.植物学家 | |
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parody
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| n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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tirade
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| n.冗长的攻击性演说 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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enumeration
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| n.计数，列举；细目；详表；点查 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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measles
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| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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preamble
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| n.前言；序文 | |
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rust
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| n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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49
docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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50
regenerated
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| v.新生，再生( regenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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