This mighty barrier, the work of coral polyps, is of special interest not only on account of the curious shapes and varied kinds of sea life it presents, but because of the commercial value of its products. The beche-de-mer, pearl, oyster, and sponge fisheries yield an annual revenue of upward of half a million dollars, and when all of the resources of the reef are properly exploited the returns will be more than doubled.

The habitat of the reef-building coral is in clear tropical waters. The polyps thrive best near the surface; they cannot live at a depth exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet. The reef-building coral must not be confounded with the precious, or red, coral, which flourishes in a muddy sea-bottom and is found chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea.

When alive and in the water, coral polyps present a variety of beautiful forms and colors. Living polyps are composed of limestone skeletons covering and permeating a soft gelatinous substance which corresponds to the flesh of animals. When the polyps are removed from the water this soon decomposes and disappears; in certain species a part of it flows off as a thick liquid.

Fish fantastically striped and of brilliantly variegated colors are seen swimming among the coral. In tropical waters many of them have fascinating colors and patterns. By simulating the colors of the coral polyps they escape the species that prey upon them.

The different kinds of coral are generally designated by common names according to the different objects which they resemble. Thus, by similarity of form we have _brain_ coral, _organ-pipe_ coral, _mushroom_ coral, _staghorn_ coral, etc.

Some of the islands and reefs are the homes of sea fowl and at the nesting season are literally covered with their eggs. These fishers of the sea have marvellously well-developed faculties for location, since each bird goes directly to her nest when returning to the islands. As night approaches, when all the birds seek the land, their wild cries are deafening.

Some of the islands are turned to profitable account by the export of guano. On Raine Island, so extensive are the deposits of guano that a railroad has been built to facilitate handling the product.

Beche-de-mer, or trepang, is a name applied to the flesh of certain sea slugs or sea worms found in the Indian seas. Of this substance great quant.i.ties are gathered annually. In the water the animals resemble huge cuc.u.mbers, and they are therefore sometimes called "sea-cuc.u.mbers." They are found clinging to the rocks below low-water mark, and are from one to four feet in length. Their food consists of microscopic sh.e.l.l-fish which live upon the coral rocks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Great Barrier Reef of Australia, the most remarkable animal structure in the world]

The trepang exported from this section requires considerable care in preparation. After being gathered from the rocks they are cleaned, boiled, and partly dried in the air; then they are smoked with mangrove wood until dry and hard. The best cla.s.s of trepang is packed in tin cases to keep it perfectly dry, as moisture ruins it. The product is marketed chiefly at Hongkong, where it is used in making the gelatinous soups for which the Chinese are so famous.

The pearl-sh.e.l.l fisheries yield products of considerable value. The average depth from which the mother-of-pearl sh.e.l.l is gathered is seven or eight fathoms. Twenty fathoms represents the greatest depth in which divers, even in their diving suits, can work, so great is the pressure of the water upon them.

The fishery is carried on chiefly for securing the sh.e.l.ls, the finding of pearls being of secondary importance, since only about one sh.e.l.l in a thousand contains a pearl of much value. The sh.e.l.ls themselves bring in the market from three hundred to eight hundred dollars per ton according to quality and size, and are used chiefly for making b.u.t.tons and small ornaments.

The Cairn Cross Islands, a little coral group midway between Cape Grenville and Cape York, are especially interesting as the home and nesting-place of the Torres Strait pigeons. These large white pigeons are highly esteemed for the table. They gather at the islands during the month of October and remain until the end of March. The nests are usually built in the forked branches of the mangrove trees that form extensive thickets along the coast. Each nest contains two white eggs.

The Australian jungle-fowl or scrub-hen also frequents these islands as well as the mainland. The nests of these birds are large and unique.

They consist of huge mounds of dead leaves, gra.s.s, sticks, and soft earth piled together by the adult birds in shaded and sequestered places. The mounds are about twenty feet in diameter and from ten to fifteen feet high. Several pairs of birds generally unite in their construction.

When the mounds are completed the birds burrow holes in the centre and deposit their eggs, which are left to be hatched by the moist heat engendered by the decaying vegetation. Forty or fifty brick-red colored eggs as large as those of a turkey are sometimes found in a single nest.

Both the eggs and the parent birds are excellent eating.

The Australian bee-eater, a bird of attractive plumage, is found all over the northern islets of the Barrier Reef. It has a long, sharp curved bill and two long, narrow feathers in its tail. Its beautiful green plumage, varied with rich brown and black, and vivid blue on the throat, makes it an attractive bird.

The sea-anemones of the Great Barrier Reef are remarkable for both beauty of color and structure; some of them measure four or five inches across the expanded disk. In Torres Strait are seen brilliant sea-anemones around the border of whose disks are jewel-like cl.u.s.ters.

These beautiful sea animals present the appearance of delicately tinted flowers adorned with the most exquisite gems.

Starfish and sea-urchins of all descriptions are found in immense numbers. The five-rayed varieties of starfish are universally condemned as insatiable foes of the oyster family, and the oyster cultivators destroy all they can find. To dismember the body of the starfish by pulling off the finger-like rays does not kill the animal, for not only does each fish produce new rays but each ray will produce a new starfish. The predatory starfish fastens itself to both valves of the oyster, forces them open, and consumes the fleshy part. It is destructive not only to oysters but to clams, mussels, barnacles, snails, worms, and small crustacea as well.

The variety of sea life about the great reef is legion. Among the bivalves the most remarkable for the size and weight of the sh.e.l.ls are the tridachna and hippopus. In some localities they are so numerous that their sh.e.l.ls have been burned to make lime. A pair of tridachna valves often weighs several hundred pounds.

To the naturalist the Great Barrier Reef is an object of special attraction.

CHAPTER XXV

THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA

The name Australia, like that of California, conjures up in the mind visions of gold; and the story of the gold excitement in both is very similar. January 24, 1848, was the red-letter day in California's history, and the news that transpired that day electrified the world.

While constructing a saw-mill at Coloma Creek, a branch of the American River, John Marshall picked up a handful of gold nuggets in the mill-race. At once the gold fever seized all far and near. During the ensuing year fifty thousand persons came by sea and by land from the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and forty thousand more from other parts of the world; all bent upon digging for gold in the new El Dorado.

From far-off Australia came vessels crowded with pa.s.sengers. Among these was Edward H. Hargraves, who had lived for twenty years in New South Wales, where fortune had not smiled on him. Hargraves was a keen observer and something of a geologist as well. He diligently scoured the gullies and canyons in the gold regions of California, and when he quit he possessed a good sum of money as a return for his labor. During his stay in California he became convinced that gold existed in Australia, since many of the formations and strata were similar to those of the gold-bearing fields of California.

After working for nearly two years, he planned to return to his old home, implicitly believing that he could win riches and fame by discoveries of the precious metal in New South Wales; and as soon as he had landed at Sydney he made ready to test his theories. When he explained to his friends what he purposed to do and his reasons they considered him half crazy. Moreover, rumors that convict shepherds had sold gold nuggets to traders in Sydney strengthened his belief that gold in paying quant.i.ties could be obtained by seeking for it. There were rumors also that a gold nugget had been picked up on Fish River.

Procuring a team he set forth on his journey for the Blue Mountains lying back of Sydney. On the fourth day out, stopping at an inn kept by a widow, he confided to her his mission and enlisted her co-operation.

He requested a black boy for a guide; but instead she sent her son, who was well acquainted with every inch of the region for miles around.

Taking horses, Hargraves and the young man started out from the inn. It was a crisp autumn morning succeeding a dry summer. A careful search was made up and down canyons and gulches. At length, during the latter part of the day, they reached the bank of a dry creek which disclosed strata similar to the auriferous gravels of California.

Looking about, Hargraves found a spot in the bed of the creek from which, after scooping off the top, he sc.r.a.ped from the bedrock a panful of earth. Hastening to the water hole with the loaded pan, he proceeded to wash away the soil and lo, in the bottom of the pan were bright-yellow particles!

"I shall be made a baronet and both of us will be rich," exclaimed the excited Hargraves. He seemed to be walking upon air and could scarcely believe his own senses. Nevertheless, he prudently kept his own counsel until he had taken out sixty thousand dollars. Then he hastened to Sydney to lay the matter before the government. The government gave him a reward of fifty thousand dollars for his discoveries and made him commissioner of the gold fields.

Hargraves's unexpected find stimulated other persons to search elsewhere for the attractive metal, and soon other and far richer fields were found. From one locality alone seven tons of gold were obtained in a single month.

The whole country now went gold mad. Doctors left their patients, lawyers their offices, bakers and butchers their shops, clerks the stores, and sailors deserted their ships as soon as they touched the wharves--everybody hastened to the diggings eager to get rich.

When confirmation of the wonderful gold deposits in Australia reached the outside world, a grand rush, like that to California, took place.

New towns and cities sprang up as by magic, and from the increase of business the older places rapidly became more populous. Since the time of Hargraves's discovery, Victoria has produced the most gold, some of the largest nuggets in the world having been found in this colony.

The following story of the gold fields is related in Lang's "Australia": While the ship _Dudbrook_ was docked at Sydney, where she was receiving her cargo, a sailor boy named Bob heard of the great quant.i.ties of gold that had been dug out of the mountains. He longed to try his luck at mining, but hardly knew how he could get away from the ship without being caught.

In the meantime, while the ship was receiving her cargo, all the old crew except Bob had deserted. He hesitated about leaving and seemed to find no good opportunity to escape unnoticed. The day of departure arrived. The sails were being shaken out by the new crew, which had been pressed into service. The little tug that was to tow the big ship out of the harbor was beginning to straighten the cable and churn the water into foam, but the hawser still held the vessel fast to the wharf. The captain shouted "Bob, Bob, get ash.o.r.e and cast off the hawser."

Bob now saw the long-waited-for opportunity and with alacrity sprang to the wharf, but not to release the hawser. He ran along, hidden by the jetty, until he reached the sh.o.r.e and then dodged into a house where he had friends. The skipper could not stop to hunt up the runaway, so the vessel was towed out through the Heads and sailed for Newcastle to pick up a cargo for India.

The next day Bob started on foot for the mines and, while on his way, picked up one of his old shipmates with whom he formed a partnership. On arriving at the diggings, the two staked out a claim and began sinking a shaft; but after reaching the bottom no metal greeted their longing eyes. Another shaft was sunk and this time they struck it rich.

Within two months each had saved up one hundred twenty pounds of gold.

Like some of his companions, Bob now concluded to take a short rest and go to Sydney for a few days of pleasure. Therefore he changed his gold into pound notes, and, stuffing the big rolls into his trousers'

pockets, started for the city.

Being of an economical turn of mind, he concluded to walk, and taking an early start, by the middle of the afternoon he had measured off twenty-five miles. The day was hot and the roads dusty; and seeing a shady nook, near a creek not far from the roadside, he betook himself thither and sat down to wait for a bullock wagon which he had pa.s.sed two hours before. The water in the stream looked cool and inviting, so he undressed to take a swim.

In taking off his clothes he pulled out of his pockets the two bundles of pound notes and laid them beside his boots. After being in the water for some time, he came out; and looking where he had laid the notes, could see them nowhere. Who could have taken them? He saw no one around when he undressed, and he had seen no one about while he was bathing.

Possibly the thief was hiding behind some of the trees near by. Without waiting to dress, he searched here and there behind trees and logs, but there was no sign of the thief.

He was greatly disheartened at his loss, but, putting on his clothes, he came across a ten-pound note which he had concealed in a side pocket.

This find cheered him up and he resolved to go down to the city notwithstanding his loss. The bullock team soon came along and Bob told the driver what had happened. They both searched the ground over to solve the disappearance of the money, but in vain.

When Bob reached Sydney, like other sailors, he visited several barrooms where he told the story of his strange loss. In one of the places, in a corner, sat an old Scotch crone, smoking her pipe and quietly listening to the conversation. At midnight when Bob was about to leave, the old woman said, "What will ye gie me if I find yer money for ye?"

"What will I give ye, mother?" cried Bob. "Why, I'll give ye a silk dress and a ten-pound note."

"It's a bargain!" she cried; and then she told him what to do.