But their exhibit is a wonderful one--exhibit of their mines, that they
say are a-goin' to be the richest in the World.

And lots of pictures showin' their strange, melancholy Australian
scenery.

And their big trees. Why, one of these trees, they say, is the biggest
yet discovered in the World; it is 400 and 80 feet high.

And it wuz here that I see the very queerest thing that I ever did see
in my life; it wuz in their collection of strange stuffed birds, and
animals which wuz large, and complete, and rangin' from the Emu down to
a pure white hummin'-bird.

It wuz here that I see this Thing that Scientists hain't never
classified; it is about the size of a beaver--has fur like a seal, eyes
like a fish, is web-footed, lays eggs, and hatches its young and lives
in the water.

It is called a Platypus--there wuz four on 'em.

Queer creeter as I ever see. No wonder that Scientists furled their
spectacles in front of it, and sot down discouraged.

Wall, we hung round there till most night, and Josiah and I went home as
tired as two dogs, and tireder. And we both gin in that we hadn't seen
nothin' to what we might have seen there; as you may say, we hadn't done
any more justice to the contents of that buildin' than we would if we
had undertook to count the slate-stuns in our old creek back of our
house clear from Jonesville to Zoar--- more'n five miles of clear