Copy 1, Volume 1
Three expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia, with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales / By Major T. L. Mitchell.
- Thomas Mitchell
- Date:
- 1839
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Three expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia, with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales / By Major T. L. Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.
7/440
![His professional experience lias enabled liini to clothe liis descriptions in languao’e at once intelligible and conclusive, and as bis narrative is written in the form of a journal, the occurrences of each day being committed to pajier on the same night, the facts follow in natural and consecutive order.— Tliere is this peculiar advantage connected with the work too, which must give it a preference over all others by which it has been preceded—namely, that Major Mitchell possesses the fortunate talent of being his own artist, surveyor, meteorologist, and engraver. He has not had to trust to others for em¬ bodying his ideas in a graphic form, but has made bis own sketches of scenery as well as of the natives, individually and collectively, of the extra¬ ordinary accuracy of which we have had the willing testimony of gentlemen long resident in the Colony, and fully acquainted with the peculiarities of the savage tribes by which it is inhabited—the splendour of its scenery, and the varied eccentricities, if we may be allowed the phrase, of its surface and climate—here ricli and luxurious, there sterile and repulsive/’—BelTs Life in London, 1st Sept. 1838. “ We h ave here a work worth hundreds of the volumes of those tradino* tourists who travel for the purpose of book-making. A great variety of illus¬ trations are interspersed throughout the work. On his arrival in England, Colonel Mitchell received the assistance of several eminent scientific men, in the classification of his natural history specimens ; his book has, therefore, been rendered as complete as such a work could possibly be.”—United Ser¬ vice Gazette, 8th Sept. 1838. “ It will not be expected of us that we enter into a minute examination of these important volumes. To do so fairly and fully, as regards any half- dozen chapters of them, would make a demand on our space which would preclude that attention to variety which is necessary to this department of our Journal. We shall, therefore, only add, on this point, that the details and descriptions of each of the three expeditions are given in the natural and most available, as well as the most trustworthy form, a journal written at the time and place referred to; thus insuring to the narrative a specific truth which can be obtained by no other means, and at the same time investing it with a consecutive interest which laughs to scorn the puerile and feeble fictions which so enervate and vulgarise the literary taste of the day. “ In conclusion, we have no hesitation in pronouncing these volumes of Major Mitchell, on Australia, to be at once by far the most important and the most interesting that have yet appeared, in connection with this most im¬ portant and interesting of all existing fields for emigration ; nor can it be doubted that their publication will speedily lead to the most valuable results, no less in a political than a social point of view.”—JSaval and Military Gazette, 8th Sept. 1838. “ In novelty and variety of scenery, character, and incident, these volumes recall the idea of the older travellers, before travelling became a mode of varying amusement—ati excursion for the listless, the vacant, and the igno¬ rant. With an interest that reminds us of the reading of other days, we follow Major Mitchell and his band of convict ex])lorers through the pathless wilds of Australia, partaking of their hopes of discovery ; sympathizing with their toils, their hardships, their short commons, and, more terrible, their severe thirst in some of those arid wastes ; listening with curiosity, though with a more discriminating attention than of yore, to strange descriptions of savage life and savage men, and their fruitless ettorts to check the progress of civilization ; whilst, scattered throughout the volumes, we meet incidental sketches of colonial life, and gain glimpses of convict character. Their generic character is discovery—discovery not more important as an augmen¬ tation of knowledge, than as having a direct bearing upon human affairs, The subjects upon which our author’s enter\)rise has thrown a new light, are zoology, botany, geology, geography, and man. *' * * * * “ Though several topics remain untouched, we must close here ; remarking, that the work is illustrated with a variety of plates, cuts, and plans, which, like the text, and indeed, the idea and conduct of the expeditions, display the accom))lished and practical surveyor.”—Spectator, 8th Sept. 1838,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2933567x_0001_0007.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
