Should any one be interested I was researching locations for my Roughing It gazetteer, specifically Virginia City. It seems the National Park Service has references for a Pony Express Station in Nebraska referred to as the Virginia City Station. I had created an entry with a link to the NPS source. That link was broken and I could find no other mention of such a station.
Mark Twain is welcome in Melbourne even though there is a problem between the US and Britain, Venezuela's border with British Guiana. The Melbourne Cup, a horse race run on Guy Fawkes' Day, is reportedly Australia's biggest annual event.
Twain is in the town of Wagga-Wagga and tells the story of the Sir Roger Tichborne impostor, a local butcher by the name of Arthur Orton. In Melbourne Twain tries to identify an impostor of himself, reported dead while on a lecture tour of Australia. The resolution of this mystery occurs in chapter 25.
Twain is too ill to visit Queensland, rather he takes the train to Melbourne. Because of differences in railway track gauges passengers and freight need to be transferred to different trains. Twain was required to do this at Albury.
Australian invests in public works such as government buildings, hospitals and parks. The Governors were generally "away" leaving the lieutenant-governors in charge. Apparently, governors did return for the Governor's Ball, a major event. Twain goes on and tells the tale of Cecil Rhodes' first fortune.
A comparison of Hindoo mythology with Christian. Who was infused with greater strength, Samson or Hanuman? From Rasmussen: "...Clemens dreams that the visible universe is the physical body of God... human beings and other creatures are mere microbes. A missionary, Mr. X., finds Clemens's dream similar to sacred Hindu accounts of their origins. He thinks that one reason Christianity does not catch on in India is that its miracles pale next to those of Hindu legends."
Australians resemble Americans but Sydney is an English city albeit with American trimmings. Squatters are of a different sort, however. It is the Australian term for wealthy landowners. Important differences also exist for pronunciations.
Not about his travels but about the initial colonization of Australia with English convicts and their harsh treatment with the cat-o-nine-tails. The British colony founded by Captain Cook in 1770 and the establishment of the Australian and Tasmanian penal colonies. Twain then goes on to the corrupt "protection" organization, the New South Wales Corps and the setting of rum as the national currency. The state of New South Wales, by the establishment of mining and wool ranching, eventually developed into a thriving region.
September 15th, the Warrimoo approaches Sydney harbor. Twain relates the story of the ship, the Dunbar (Twain refers to the ship as the Duncan Dunbar which was actually a different ship), breaking up on the rocks at the harbor entrance in 1857. Twain writes of the beauty of Sydney but Australia's interior brings to mind Nevada's dust storms, the Zephyrs.
Twain become acquainted with an English naturalist who lives in New Zealand and learns of the natural history of Australasia, particularly the platypus, Ornithorhyncus.