CHAPTER XXIII

AUSTRALIA

Early in the sixteenth century the island of Australia became known to the Portuguese; later the Dutch, who had valuable possessions in the East Indies, sent exploring expeditions to spy out the new land, and named it New Holland. But not until after Captain Cook, of the English navy, had explored the eastern part did any one think the country to be more than a barren waste spa.r.s.ely inhabited by savages. Indeed, various European nations who were even then seeking lands for colonization thought it too worthless to claim.

In April, 1770, Captain Cook made his first landing on the east coast and, finding at one place a profusion of beautiful flowers, named the indentation Botany Bay. He spent a considerable time in exploring the eastern coast and also the Great Barrier Reef. In going through one of the pa.s.sages across the Barrier Reef his vessel ran aground, and in order to lighten it he was obliged to throw overboard six of his heaviest cannon. In late years efforts have been made to secure these cannon as souvenirs, but the search for them has proved unavailing. One may easily imagine that they have been long since entombed in thick growths of coral.

On his return home, Cook gave such a glowing account of the great island that the English Government forthwith sent out a body of soldiers to take possession of the country and to make settlements. Because it is well watered, the southeastern part was selected as best adapted for colonization. For a long time this part of Australia was utilized chiefly as a penal colony, but the fruitful land and salubrious climate quickly attracted free emigrants from England. Then gold was discovered, and thousands of people rushed to the new Eldorado, not only from Great Britain but from all parts of the world. Almost in a twinkling it changed from "our remotest colony" to a great country producing annually millions of wealth.

So far as its surface features are concerned, one may regard Australia as a continent not quite so large as the United States. The eastern part is diversified by low ranges of mountains fantastically scored and carved by rivers which are swift and impa.s.sable torrents during the season of rains, and trickling streams, or dry washes, the rest of the year. This is the region that has produced a wealth of gold and wool and a stock of hardy people that for intelligence and strength of character can scarcely be matched elsewhere.

The central part of the continent is a dish-shaped table-land. Its surface is sandy here, stony there, but intensely hot and desolate everywhere--desolate of everything that adds to the comfort of man, but full of about everything that contributes to his misery. The "bush"

which covers so much of this region is chiefly acacia, and the acacia is chiefly thorns. The rivers that flow into the interior from the coast highlands seem at first sight to be formidable streams so far as appearance goes. One, the Murray, is more than a thousand miles in length. But even the Murray will match the description which an English traveller gave to Platte River--"A mile wide, an inch deep, and bottom on top!"

The few lakes of the interior are great "sinks," or marshes, much like Humboldt Sink, in Nevada. They are shallow, reed-grown, and briny, and they are bordered by mud flats and quicksands between which there is little to choose. An unfortunate victim will sink in the one quite as quickly as in the other. But even the lakes are gradually going the way of all lakes. In this case, however, their disappearance is due largely to the dust storms that little by little are burying them.

Only a very small part of the central region can be reclaimed; for where there is so little rain there can be but little either of surface or of ground waters. During the intensely hot summer season the smaller streams disappear entirely and the larger ones become a succession of stagnant pools along the dry washes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circ.u.mference]

The eastern part of the continent, on account of its greater extent of coast, is far richer in resources than the central section. It contains not only a greater proportion of land fit for grazing and cultivation, but also very rich mines. Perhaps these have not a greater wealth of minerals than the mines of the central section, but they are so situated that they can be more easily worked.

The great island of Tasmania ought also to be included in the Australian continent; for it is separated from it by a narrow and not very deep strait. In its general features Tasmania resembles eastern Australia; and, indeed, it is one of the most productive and delightful parts of the world.

Of the whole Australian continent scarcely one part in fourteen is fit for human habitation, not because the soil is lacking in elements of fertility but because there is not enough rainfall. As a matter of fact, the rain-bearing winds bring rain only to the eastern and southeastern part of the continent. Any map will show that nearly all the cities, towns, herding-grounds, and settlements are in that part of the continent, and they are there because the rainfall is there.

The rest of Australia is like the Sahara in one respect; it is a desert.

Beyond that fact the resemblance between the two ceases; indeed, they could scarcely be more unlike; for, while the Sahara is much like any other desert, Australia is unlike any other part of the world.

Not very much is known about the interior because but few explorers have been able to penetrate the continent. Many have tried to explore its fastnesses, it is true, and many bones are bleaching in its furnace-like desert. Even a century after the eastern part had become dotted with settlements the interior was so little known that the government of South Australia offered a reward of ten thousand pounds to any one who would start from Adelaide and cross the island due north. Now, ten thousand pounds, or fifty thousand dollars, is a large sum of money, and there were many efforts to obtain it.

In 1860 an explorer named Stuart, whose name is remembered in a high peak which he discovered, traversed more than half the distance. It was a record trip, but illness forced Stuart to turn back. Another expedition, headed by four plucky men, Burke, Wills, Grery, and King, were more lucky on their outward trip. They reached tide-water near the head of the Gulf of Carpenteria, thereby accomplishing the task. The return trip was tragic. When they had reached the relief depot at which they had planned to have supplies awaiting them, they found nothing.

They wandered about until all but King died from exposure and starvation. A year or two later Stuart made a third attempt and found what is now an "overland route," for a telegraph line has been built along it from Adelaide to the north coast, and this connects with an ocean cable to London.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocket]

The plant and animal life of Australia forms one of its most remarkable features. Both plants and animals are of the kind that lived many ages ago. One of the curiosities of forest life is the "gum," or eucalyptus, a belt of which almost surrounds the continent. In its native home the blue gum is a most beautiful tree that sometimes grows to a height of three hundred feet. When the tree begins its growth the stem is nearly square in shape and the leaves are almost circular. After a short time, however, the branches and trunk become circular and the leaves long and lance-shaped. They hang with their edges instead of their flat surfaces to the light, which also is true of many other Australian trees. The eucalyptus sheds--not its leaves every year, but its bark instead.

Many plants which in other continents are small shrubs in Australia are trees. The tulip, the fern, the honeysuckle, and the lily are examples.

They all grow in tree form and are of considerable size. There is no turf gra.s.s except that which is cultivated. The wild gra.s.ses are of the "bunch" or clump species, and some of these have blades so sharp that they cut cruelly. One species, the porcupine gra.s.s, bears a name that does not belie its character. Much of the coast lands are covered with a growth of th.o.r.n.y "scrub" that has made cultivation both difficult and costly. The interior is the "bush" region.

The animal life of the continent is even more singular than the plant life. Most of the animals resemble the opossum of North American fauna in one respect, the mother carries her young in a pouch or fold of the skin under her body. But the opossum itself is not confined to North America alone; there are several species in Australia and Tasmania. The kangaroos are among the most remarkable animals, not only because of the great length and strength of their hind legs, but also because of the variety in the sizes of the different species. Some of the smaller species are no larger than a small rat; the large-sized species are six feet tall when sitting on their haunches.

There are no monkeys and no animals that chew the cud, but there is a wonderful variety of birds. Among them is the emeu, a kind of ostrich that practically is wingless. Another, the platypus, or duck-bill, has the bill and webbed feet of a duck and the body and tail of a beaver.

Stranger still, the female duck-bill lays eggs, but nurses her young after the eggs are hatched! The duck-bill carries a hinged spur on the hind legs, which also is a sting that injects a violent poison into whatever it strikes. Ordinarily the spur is folded against the leg of the animal, but when used as a weapon it stands out like the gaff of a fighting c.o.c.k. The duck-bill may well boast of its sting, because the honey-bee of Australia has none.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Australian emeu]

The dingo, or wild dog, may not be an especially interesting animal to the student of natural history, but it is a very interesting one to the herdsman. For of all animals in Australia the dingo is the most intolerable nuisance on account of its fondness for mutton. Hunting the coyote on the plains of the United States is a pastime, but hunting the Australian dingo is a serious and monotonous business. Indeed, the sheep and the dingo cannot both remain in Australia unless the former has been eaten by the latter. In a single night a dingo will kill a score of sheep, and a pack of them will make way with several hundred. In one instance two of these pests killed and maimed more than four hundred sheep before retribution overtook them.

In addition to the troubles of native origin, three very serious pests have been imported. One of these, the species of cactus known as the p.r.i.c.kly pear, the Queenslander has pretty nearly all to himself. Just how the p.r.i.c.kly pear was introduced into Australia seems to be a matter of uncertainty. But it is there and it is spreading rapidly. Each plant produces scores of pears and each pear contains not far from one hundred seeds. When the fruit ripens the seeds are quickly sent broadcast.

Perhaps the wind is the chief agent in scattering them, but wild birds, especially the emeu and the turkey, are a good second. Queenslanders fear that this pernicious plant will spread not only over the great interior desert sections, but to the valuable land elsewhere, since it is tenacious of life and thrives on arid land amidst a burning heat where other plants wither up and perish.

In clearing the land of the cactus three methods are utilized, viz., burning, pitting, and poisoning. Where wood is near at hand, the first method is the preferable one. A platform is made by rolling logs together, and after the plants have been uprooted and hacked to pieces they are hauled in drays to the platforms. There they are stacked up high, sometimes a hundred tons being piled on a single platform, and the platforms are set afire. Pitting is done by digging large, deep pits, filling them full of the chopped plants, and covering them with dirt.

Destruction by poisoning is accomplished by inoculating the thick leaves with a.r.s.enic or bluestone, which is sprayed upon them after the plants have been hacked so that the poison may be absorbed by the sap, which distributes the deadly substance.

Years ago some of the colonists thought that it would be desirable to have English rabbits in Australia and sent to England for a few pairs.

When the rabbits arrived a great feast was held, and amidst speeches and mutual congratulations the timid creatures were let loose. In a short time rabbits seemed quite plentiful and the hunters had rare sport; but ere long the animals began to eat up the vegetables in the gardens.

Now, rabbits are very prolific, and within a very few years they had spread so extensively that the sheepmen began to complain of their serious inroads on herbage and gra.s.s where the sheep fed. At this stage of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers.

Laws were pa.s.sed and means taken to reduce the number of rabbits.

Poisoned grain and other food was used, but still the rabbits greatly increased. The dingo was tamed and used for hunting them, and then the mongoose was imported from India to kill them off.

But the rabbits seemed to have increased a thousand-fold. In despair, rabbit commissioners were appointed in each colony to enforce the building of high rabbit-proof wire fences, and now thousands of miles of wire fences have been built so as to enclose ranges and farms. By means of the fences and by the use of various methods of destroying the pests, they are now kept in check after causing millions of dollars of damage, and at an enormous annual expense to the colonists. In the meantime it was discovered that the flesh of the rabbit was excellent food, and the slaughter of millions to be preserved has been a noticeable check to their increase.

Unlike the American Indians, the aboriginal peoples of Australia were never troublesome to the European settlers, and although apt to be thievish they were not inclined to warlike acts when the European settlements were new. The "bushrangers," as they are called, somewhat resemble the negro peoples, and are thought to be a part of the black race that is found in the island near New Guinea. They are cla.s.sed as Negroids, or Negritos, and they bear a considerable resemblance to the African pygmies, with whom at least one authority cla.s.ses them. They are materially larger and taller than the pygmies, however, though below the average stature of Europeans. At all events they are among the lowest type of human beings.

The bushrangers have no fixed habitation; they do not build houses nor live in villages; they have no domestic animals except the dingo, and they do not cultivate the soil. They live nominally by hunting and fishing, but their food consists of about anything that requires no weapons beyond the fish-net and the boomerang. They rarely molest larger game, though some of the tribes employ a net in which to entrap the kangaroo.

Of all the weapons used by savage tribes the boomerang is the most interesting. In shape it is a flat strip of hardwood having an angle, or else slightly curved in the middle. The interesting feature about it is the fact that when skilfully thrown it will return to the thrower unless intercepted. A bushranger may be skilful enough to throw the boomerang ahead of him so that in its return it will kill a small animal back of him.

The bushrangers were only too ready to adopt the vices of Europeans, but they have not been able to withstand the changes wrought by civilization. Their numbers have steadily diminished. In 1880 they were thought to be about eighty thousand in number, but at the close of the century there were scarcely one-fourth as many. Those who remain are for the greater part herdsmen and farm laborers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Homestead and station in Young district, Australia]

One may not be very far from right in saying that the climate of the habitable part of the continent is the foremost a.s.set of Australia.

Certain it is that for healthfulness and the stimulation that creates activity, the climate of Australia is unsurpa.s.sed elsewhere in the world. And because of its life-growing and invigorating character it has placed the Australian high in the rank of the world's foremost people.

Climate and soil, too, have made Australia one of the foremost wool-producing countries of the world. Not far from one hundred million dollars' worth of wool and mutton are exported yearly, and much of the wool clip is a fine grade of merino. Gold is another product of Australia. At the close of the century the mines had produced a total of more than one billion dollars' worth of the metal. In round figures, the great Thirst Land, with a population of about four millions, scattered along the edge of a great desert continent, produces enough wealth to sell yearly about three hundred millions of dollars' worth of its products!

The foregoing picture of Australia presents, perhaps, the unpleasant side of Australian life. But this great Thirst Land, so far from being an inhospitable desert, is one of the world's greatest storehouses of wealth.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Within the tropical parts of the great South Sea are submarine gardens that in the beauty of their floral forms and their richness of coloring rival the most elaborate flowerbeds made by man; in color and variety they are fairy regions of exquisite living animal flowers. One of the greatest and most attractive of these sea gardens lies off the coast of Australia.

Of all the wonderful animal structures in the world the Great Barrier Reef of Australia is the most remarkable. It consists of a chain of coral islands and reefs parallel to the east coast of Queensland. This great reef is about twelve hundred miles long, and the distance from the mainland to its outer border is from ten to more than one hundred miles.

It is far enough off the coast to leave a wide channel between the reef and the sh.o.r.e.

Since it is well charted this channel is the route taken by many vessels. It is admirably furnished with lighthouses and light-ships, and is protected from the huge rolling billows of the ocean by the reef itself. There are several breaks in the reef through which vessels can pa.s.s out into the open ocean.