PARROTS.
"Investigation showed that in the severe winters the parrots had come at night to the gallows, where the herdsmen hung the carcasses of slaughtered sheep. They picked off the fat from the mutton, and showed a partiality for that around the kidneys; how they ever connected the carcasses with the living sheep is a subject for the naturalists to puzzle over, and especially how they knew the exact location of the spot where the choicest fat was found in the living animal. It seems that the attacks on the sheep began within a few months after the parrots had first tasted mutton at the meat-gallows."
"Have they done much damage?" one of the youths asked.
"Yes, a great deal," was the reply; "but not so much of late years, as they are being exterminated. One man lost nineteen fine imported sheep out of a flock of twenty, killed by the parrots; and another lost in the same way two hundred in a flock of three hundred. Every flock in the mountains suffers some from this cause, probably not less than two per cent.
"A shilling a head is now paid for keas, and there is a class of men who hunt them for the sake of the reward; but the sagacious birdsthat formerly came without fear into the presence of man now keep themselves carefully concealed in the daytime, and only venture out at night. Their depredations have always been made in the night, and hence it was some time before the cause of the wounds on the sheep was known."
A NEW ZEALAND PEST.
Frank and Fred asked about the profits of the sheep-raising business, but the information they obtained did not encourage them to become sheep-farmers in New Zealand. What with the rabbits and the parrots, with diseases among sheep, fluctuations in wool, the high price of labor, especially at shearing-time, when extra men must be engaged, with a full knowledge of their importance, the profits are not what they were in the early days of the industry.
From the sheep-station they returned to Springfield, and took train again in the direction of Christchurch. At the second or third station from Springfield they were met by a carriage, which took them to the wheat-farm, which was one of the objects of the journey. Time did not permit a lengthened stay here, but it was sufficient to enable them to see a good deal before their departure.
Here is a summary of what they learned about wheat-farming in New Zealand:
"About four hundred thousand acres of ground are utilized for wheat in the different counties of the colony. The farmers expect twenty-five bushels to the acre in most localities, but frequently this figure is exceeded, the average throughout the country for one year being in excess of twenty-six bushels. Consequently, the wheat crop may be set down at ten million bushels, of which by far the greater portion is available for exportation."
Frank made a note here to the effect that half a million acres of land were devoted to raising oats, at an average of thirty-five bushels to the acre. Barley, hay, potatoes, and other things brought the amount of land under crop up to a millionand a half acres, while there were five and a half million acres under grasses, including grass-sown land that had not been previously ploughed. The figures were about evenly divided between the two islands. The colony contains about fourteen million sheep, seven hundred thousand cattle, and one hundred and sixty thousand horses.
"Of late years the export of wheat has fallen off, owing to the competition of India and America in the markets of Europe; the wheat-farms of New Zealand are so unprofitable that the owners talk of putting much of their ground into grass, though they will continue the cultivation in order to supply enough for home consumption and to employ the machinery they have on hand.
A STEAM THRESHING-MACHINE.
"The open country of South Island is admirably adapted for wheat, and the soil is so easy to manipulate that double-furrow ploughs are used. The large farms are provided with all the latest improvements in machinery and implements; and we found the intelligent farmers thoroughly familiar with American reapers and mowers, steam threshing-machines, steam wagons, and other things, so that we felt quite athome. They asked us about the wheat-farms of America, and were inclined to shake their heads when we told them of fields so large that a plough could only turn a single furrow around one of them in a day's time.
"'Do you really mean it?' said one of them, with an emphasis of surprise.
"Doctor Bronson assured them of the correctness of the statement, and added that on the Dalrymple farm in Dakota, or rather on one of the Dalrymple farms, there was a single field of thirteen thousand acres. 'That makes,' said he, 'about twenty square miles, and I doubt if you have any team that could plough more than one furrow around such a field in a day.'
"They acknowledged that such was the case, and though they had fields containing hundreds of acres inside a single fence, they had nothing that approached the wheat-fields of Dakota. We were sorry afterwards that we mentioned our enormous wheat-fields, as we thought it set them to thinking of American competition, and the effect it might have on their own business in future; but of course we couldn't resist our national tendency to 'brag' a little.
"Afterwards, when we were visiting a dairy-farm, a matter-of-fact Scotchman who owned the place remarked that he presumed we had much larger dairy-farms in America, as he had heard of one where they had a saw-mill which was propelled by the whey that ran from the cheese-presses, and also a grist-mill operated by buttermilk!
"In the wheat-growing belt of South Island there is a scarcity of timber, the forests being mainly in the hilly and mountain region. The scarcity of timber has led to the planting of forests. Considerable attention is given to this both by the authorities and by individuals, and good results are predicted at no distant day. There is also a scarcity of water, and to meet it irrigation-works have been constructed, as already stated.
ENGLISH SPARROWS AT HOME.
"Wheat-farmers are troubled by rabbits, and also by sparrows, which were introduced to kill off caterpillars and other insect pests. The sparrows increased in numbers almost as rapidly as the rabbits; they changed their habits, and from carnivorous taste turned to eating fruits and grains. The New Zealand sparrow shuns the caterpillars and worms he was imported to devour, and feeds on the products of the garden and the field. The same is the case in Australia, where the sparrows are now in countless millions, the descendants of fifty birds that were imported about 1860. The colonial governments have offeredrewards for the heads and eggs of the sparrows, and though this has caused an extensive destruction it has not perceptibly diminished their numbers.
"In an official investigation of the 'sparrow pest,' one man testified that he sowed his peas three times, and each time the sparrows devoured them. Another told how the birds destroyed a ton and a half of grapes, in fact cleared his vineyard, and others said they had been robbed of all the fruit in their gardens."
This is a good place to say something about the exotics that have been introduced into the Australasian colonies. Cattle, horses, sheep, and swine have been of unequivocal benefit, and so has been the stocking of the rivers with trout, carp, and other food fishes of Europe. Larks and a few other song-birds have thus far proved of no trouble, but even they may yet give cause to regret their introduction. In addition to the animal pests already mentioned, the Indianmina, or mino-bird, a member of the starling family, has become a great nuisance, almost equal to the sparrow.
We will now turn from the animal to the vegetable exotics.
Wheat, oats, and the other grains are of course in the same beneficial category as the domestic animals. The innocent water-cress, which is such a welcome addition to the breakfast and dinner table, has grown with such luxuriance as to choke the rivers, impede the navigation of those formerly navigable, and cause disastrous floods which have resulted in loss of life and immense destruction of property. In the Otago and Canterbury districts of New Zealand, the Government makes a large expenditure every year to check the growth of this vegetable pest.
The daisy was introduced to give the British settler a reminder of home, and already it has become so wide-spread as to root out valuable grasses. Years ago an enthusiastic Scotchman brought a thistle to Melbourne, and half the Scotchmen in the colony went there to see it. A grand dinner was given in honor of this thistle, and on the following day it was planted with much ceremony in the Public Garden of Melbourne. From that thistle and its immediate descendants the down was carried by the winds all over Victoria, and many thousands of acres of once excellent fields are now covered with tall purple thistles to the exclusion of everything else. Large amounts of money have been expended in the effort to eradicate the thistle, but all in vain.
The common sweetbrier is another vegetable exotic that has become a pest. It was introduced for the sake of its perfume, but has become strong and tenacious, spreading with great rapidity, and forming a dense scrub that utterly ruins pasture-lands. Money has been expended for its destruction, but it refuses to be destroyed.
The English sparrow is the subject of much discussion in the United States, and the opinion seems to be gaining ground that he is a pest to be put out of the way if possible. Those who are inclined to advocate his continued presence under the Stars and Stripes would do well to study his history in the Australasian colonies, where the damage he has caused is practically incalculable.
CLASS IN THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.
Our friends returned to Christchurch, and after another day in that city proceeded by railway in the direction of the South Pole. At the earnest solicitation of one of their acquaintances, they stopped a few hours at Burnham, eighteen miles from Christchurch and on the line of railway, to visit the industrial school for children whose parents have neglected to care for them properly. The object is to instruct the children in useful trades and occupations which can afford them an honorable support in later years. The school has extensive buildings and grounds, and has constantly about three hundred children under instruction. Nearly all the ordinary trades are taught there, and the manager said the children generally showed great proficiency in learning what was set for them to do.
"The main line of railway to Dunedin," wrote Frank in his journal, "has several branches which serve as feeders by developing the country through which they pass. Portions of the line are through rolling or hilly country, and there are other portions which stretch across plains resembling the prairies of the western United States. On the western horizon rises the line of snow-clad mountains, again remindingus of railway travelling over our own plains as we approach the range of 'The Rockies.'
"We crossed several fine bridges spanning the rivers Rakaia, Ashburton, Rangitoto, and Waitaki; these rivers flow through wide beds, and though ordinarily of no great volume become tremendous torrents in seasons of floods. In the early days many a traveller came to his death while seeking to ford one of these treacherous streams, and many sad memories are connected with their history.
"As we approached Timaru, one hundred miles from Christchurch, Mount Cook, the highest mountain of New Zealand, was pointed out to us. It is 12,349 feet high, and its top is covered with perpetual snow; it is the highest peak of the Southern Alps, which stretch along the west coast of New Zealand for nearly two hundred miles, very much as the Andes lie along the west coast of South America. Fred and I thought we would like to climb Mount Cook, and spoke to Doctor Bronson about it. The Doctor dampened our enthusiasm by saying that it was more difficult of ascent than Mont Blanc, and he was unaware that the feat had been accomplished since Rev. W. S. Green and two Swiss companions reached the top of the mountain in 1883.
A PERILOUS NIGHT-WATCH.
"He added that Mr. Green was a member of the famous AlpineClub, and had brought the two Swiss mountain-climbers to assist him in making the ascent. They made several attempts before they succeeded, and when they finally reached the summit it was after several narrow escapes from death. They passed one night standing on a narrow ledge of rock, where a single misstep would have hurled them to instant death thousands of feet below. Frequently they toiled for hours up the side of a spur of the mountain, and then found that their labor was lost, as farther ascent was impossible, owing to the steepness of the rock."
"They had all the variety of adventures recorded in the history of Alpine climbing," said a gentleman who was in conversation with Doctor Bronson at the time the query was propounded, "except that of being swept into crevasses or down the slope of the mountain and losing their lives. Mr. Green has published a book, entitled 'The High Alps of New Zealand,' in which you will find a description of the ascent of Mount Cook. After you have read it I don't think you'll want to follow the example of that gentleman, unless you have more than the ordinary enthusiasm about mountain-climbing."
THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT COOK.
"As we looked at the peak of Mount Cook rising sharply into the sky," Frank continued, "we concluded that a view of the mountain from below would satisfy all our desires. The gentleman roused our curiosity, however, when he told us about the wonderful glaciers that lie on the lower slopes of the great mountain, some of them larger than any of the glaciers of Switzerland. Then on the way he pointed out several lakes that are fed by the glaciers on Mount Cook and other peaks of the Southern Alps just as the lakes of Switzerland and Italy are fed by the glaciers from the Alps of Europe. Some of these lakes are forty or fifty miles long, and of almost unknown depth; indeed, some of them are deeper than the level of the ocean, though their bottoms have been filling up for ages with the débris brought down by the glaciers.
"Look on the map and find Lake Tekapo; it is fifteen miles long and three wide, and is supplied by the great Godley glacier, which lies just above it. The Tasman glacier, eighteen miles long, is the largest in New Zealand, though this statement is disputed by some authorities. At any rate, there are a great many glaciers, and all have not been fully explored. They are on the western as well as on the eastern slope of the mountains; one of them descends from Mount Cook to within seven hundred feet of the sea-level, and for a long distance is bordered by magnificent vegetation in which tree-ferns and fuchsias are conspicuous. In this respect the glacier resembles that of Grisons, in Switzerland,which comes down far below the snow-level, and is bordered with pine forests and almost by cornfields.
ATTEMPT TO CLIMB THE EASTERN SPUR.
"Some of the moraines, or channels, cut by the glaciers are very deep, and most of the lakes lie in what were moraines ages and ages ago, when the ice extended much farther than it does now. Lake Pukaki is a fine example of this; it is shut in by an old terminal moraine which attains a height of one hundred and eighty-six feet above the surface of the lake. On the western side of the Alps there are deep channels which are called 'sounds,' and greatly resemble the fiords of Norway. Some of them are eighteen or twenty miles long, and varyfrom half a mile to two or three miles in width; their sides rise almost perpendicularly, sometimes for hundreds of feet, and they are nearly all too deep to permit ships to anchor. Sounding-lines a thousand feet long often fail to find bottom there. Perhaps they are called sounds because they can't be sounded.
RIVER ISSUING FROM A GLACIER.
"These sounds are supposed to be ancient moraines, and during the ice period of the world they were the beds of glaciers coming from immense lakes, encircling the bases of the mountains and covering areas of thousands of miles. Altogether the scenery of the Southern Alps is said to be magnificent."
Doctor Bronson had decided to make no stop on the way until reaching Dunedin, and though earnestly urged to spend a day at Timaru, in order to see the harbor works there, the establishment for freezing meat, the barbed wire factory, and other enterprises, he did not swerve from his resolution. The party reached Dunedin late in the evening, and went to the hotel which had been recommended as one of the best. They had no occasion to complain of it, and in the morning were ready to "do" the sights of the place.
Dunedin has the reputation of being the largest, best built, and most important commercial city of New Zealand; it is the capital of the provincial district of Otago, and the commercial centre of a large area of country. The settlement of Otago was projected in 1846, and it was intended to be exclusively occupied by adherents of the Free Kirk ofScotland, just as Canterbury at a later date was to be the monopoly of adherents of the Church of England. The colony was not especially prosperous under its exclusive system, though the thrifty settlers had not much to complain of except the scarcity of neighbors.
But gold changed the whole scene, and broke down the barrier which the projectors of the colony had erected. In 1861 rich gold-diggings were discovered about seventy miles from Dunedin; diggers flocked in from Australia and from other parts of the world, and from the beginning of the gold rush Dunedin dates its prosperity.
It has all the characteristics of a thriving city; gas, paved streets, horse-railways, race-course, theatres, schools, academies, churches, colleges, parks, gardens, museum, manufactories, and numerous other urban things and institutions, all are to be found here. There are three daily papers published in Dunedin, and a score of weeklies and monthlies, and there is an excellent library, supported partly by the municipal authorities, and partly by contributions of enterprising citizens. With its immediate suburbs it has a population of fifty thousand, and is steadily increasing year by year. Its Scotch origin is apparent in the faces and accent of the great majority of the residents, and by the statue of the Scottish poet, Burns, which stands protected by a railing in front of the town-hall. Most of the streets are named after those of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Our friends spent two days at Dunedin, and so attentive were the gentlemen to whom they brought introductions that there were very few leisure moments. Drives in the city and the suburbs, visits to the manufactories of various kinds, the public buildings, and the harbor, luncheons and dinners at the houses of their friends, kept them as busy as bees. They had hardly a minute to themselves, until they finally shook the dust of Dunedin from their feet, and departed with their faces once more towards the South Pole. Frank and Fred declared that their journals were so far behind that it would be difficult for them to catch up, and they had not taken nearly as many notes of what they saw and heard in Dunedin as they desired.
"I wanted," said Frank, "to make a note of the things they manufacture in Otago, and especially at Dunedin, but the list was so long and time so scarce that I didn't try; but I'll remark particularly that they manufacture a good deal of woollen cloth, leather, cotton, and other fabrics, which is something very unusual for so young a colony. There is more manufacturing here than in any other part of New Zealand, and the Scotch settlers of Otago seem to have brought here the thrift and industry for which their native land is celebrated."
HYDRAULIC MINING.
Doctor Bronson asked Fred if he had learned anything about the product of gold in Otago.
"I have the figures right here," was the reply. "From 1861, when the first discoveries were made, down to the end of March, 1884, the Otago gold-fields produced 4,319,544 ounces, which were valued at £17,026,320, or about $85,000,000. Most of the gold has been obtained from alluvial washings of various kinds, such as sluicing, tunnelling, and hydraulic washing; auriferous reefs have been successfully worked in several instances, and unsuccessfully in more. Gold-mining has become a regular industry of the country, and is less subject to fluctuations than in former times. Once in a while a new field is opened, and there is a rush to work it; but the excitement over such discoveries is not like that of the five or ten years following 1861.
A SQUATTER'S HOME.
"Coal-mining is also an important industry of Otago," continued Fred. "Where formerly a great deal of coal was imported, the importation has dwindled to nothing, and for several years New Zealand has not only produced its own coal, but has a surplus for export. At least that is what one authority says; another says that the exportation consists of coal sent to Australia for gas-making, and that the quantityimported for uses to which New Zealand coal is not adapted exceeds the export by nearly fifty thousand tons."
From Dunedin our friends proceeded by rail again to Invercargill, 139 miles from Dunedin, or 369 from Christchurch. Invercargill is a prosperous town of some eight or ten thousand inhabitants, and is near the southern end of South Island, a sort of jumping-off place, as Frank called it while looking at its location on the map. The real terminus of the island, though not its most southerly point, is The Bluffs, about seventeen miles below Invercargill, which stands on an estuary called New River Harbor.
The morning after their arrival the travelling trio took the train for Kingston, eighty-seven miles, at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu. The train carried them through a fine country of broad plains dotted here and there with tracts of forest. The region appeared to be well settled, as there were little villages scattered at irregular intervals, fields and pastures surrounded by fences, herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, isolated farms, saw-mills, and other evidences of settlement and prosperity. Several branch railways diverge from the main line and open up agricultural, pastoral, mining, lumber, and other districts of much present or prospective value.
A MOUNTAIN WATER-FALL.
"As we approached the lake," said Frank in his journal, "the country became more mountainous and picturesque. The train wound through a long defile, and then came out upon the 'Five Rivers Plains,' which take their name from five streams of water that pass through them. We passed through the Dome Gorge, and at Athol, sixty-nine miles from Invercargill, the conductor told us we were in the lake country. The hills and mountains were everywhere about us, and in the west the great range of the Alps rose into the sky. At Kingston the railway ends, and we stepped on board the steamboat, which carriedus the whole length of the lake. The lake is sixty miles long, and reminded us of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland.
"We spent the night at Queenstown, a mining and agricultural town about twenty miles from Kingston, and on the next day completed our journey to the head of the lake. The scenery is magnificent, and I can no more describe it adequately in words than I can tell how a nightingale sings or a mangosteen tastes. All around us are the mountains, the highest peaks covered with perpetual snow that seems to flash back the rays of the sun, before whose heat it refuses to melt. In the distance, higher than all the rest, is Mount Earnslaw; we saw it clearly defined against the sky, but it is very often veiled by the fleecy clouds that sweep around it.
SHOTOVER GORGE BRIDGE.
"I am not surprised that the mountains of New Zealand have been called the Southern Alps, for they certainly bear a close resemblance to the Alpine chain of Switzerland; but I do not think any single peaks are equal to the Matterhorn or the Jungfrau, though Mount Earnslaw can well be called the peer of Mont Blanc. On the whole, the scenery of the lake is not surpassed by that of any one of the Swiss lakes; and when New Zealand becomes the regular field for tourists there will be a good deal of travel to Lake Wakatipu. Most of the residents shorten the name of the lake to Wakatip.
"We were urged to stop at Queenstown and see the mining operations in the neighborhood, but time did not permit us to do so, and we returned to Invercargill as quickly as the railway and steamboat could carry us. Queenstown is one of the mining centres of the Otago gold-fields, which we have already mentioned, and has had the usual ups and downs of mining life. The Otago mines cover a wide extent of country, and as much of the region in which they lie is agricultural, living is cheaper here than in most other mining regions.
"A good many Chinese are engaged in mining in the New Zealand gold-fields, and we were told that in one place—Orepuki—there was a mining population of four hundred Chinese that subscribed £100 ($500) towards building a Presbyterian church, the total cost being less than a thousand dollars. And yet I presume there are white men in Orepuki who would call one of their Mongolian neighbors a 'heathen Chinee!' Near Dunedin and other places, as well as in the neighborhood of most of the Australian cities, the market-gardening is largely managed by the Chinese. They seem to have almost a monopoly of this business, and we were told that no European could successfully compete with them when they went at it in earnest."
ON THE SHORE OF THE LAKE.
FROM NEW ZEALAND TO AUSTRALIA.—ARRIVAL AT SYDNEY.—HOW THE CITY WAS FOUNDED.—ITS APPEARANCE TO-DAY.—THE PRINCIPAL STREETS, PARKS, AND SUBURBS.—PUBLIC BUILDINGS.—SHOOTING SYDNEY DUCKS.—THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM.—HOW AUSTRALIA WAS COLONIZED.—LIFE AND TREATMENT OF CONVICTS IN AUSTRALIA.—THE END OF TRANSPORTATION.—POPULAR ERRORS OF INVOLUNTARY EMIGRANTS.—THE PAPER COMPASS.—TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN.—EMANCIPISTS AND THEIR STATUS.—SYDNEY HARBOR.—STEAM LINES TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD.—CIRCULAR QUAY.—DRY-DOCKS.—EXCURSIONS TO PARAMATTA AND BOTANY BAY.—HOSPITALITIES OF SYDNEY.
BOUND FOR SYDNEY.
Steamers of the Union Steamship Company run weekly between the principal ports of New Zealand and the Australian ports of Sydney and Melbourne. The Melbourne steamers usually come from thatcity direct to "The Bluffs," the port of Invercargill, or to Hokitika, and then make the circuit of South Island; while the steamers from Sydney run to Auckland, and make the circuit of North Island, both lines touching at Wellington as a common and central port. Our friends were fortunate in finding at The Bluffs a steamer which was going direct to Sydney, and in less than six hours after their return from Lake Wakatipu they were afloat and away for their destination, about fourteen hundred miles distant. Six days later the coast of New South Wales was in sight, and they entered the Australian continent through the famous Sydney Heads.
ENTRANCE TO PORT JACKSON.
All the way across from New Zealand they had been listening to the praises of the beauty and advantages of Sydney Harbor, which were sounded by some of their fellow-passengers who lived in the capital of New South Wales. "I doubt if you ever saw anything that approaches it," said one; "not even the famous Bays of Lisbon, Rio Janeiro, and New York can compare with it—so everybody says who has seen them all. The navies of all the world could anchor there, and I wish they would come some time in a peaceful way and do so. It would bring a lot of business to Sydney, and send up the price of naval stores and supplies."
This blending of the practical with the boastful and poetical did not fail to amuse the listeners. It was overheard by a Melbourne man, who remarked that it was no more than you could expect of those fellows in Sydney, who were always on the lookout for something to bolster up the decaying village they lived in.
GENERAL VIEW OF SYDNEY HARBOR.
Frank and Fred agreed that the Sydney advocate, whatever might be his practical view of the anchorage of the navies of the world, was justified in his praise of the beauty of Port Jackson, while his claims as to its harbor facilities were not overdrawn. Certainly if there is any harbor in the world where the navies of the world might anchor, it is the one at Sydney; the entrance between the Heads is a mile wide, and vessels drawing twenty-seven feet of water can come in at any time. The bay extends inland about twenty miles, and is completely landlocked; there is deep water in most parts of it, and in many places ships can lie quite close to the shore. The shores are generally bold and rocky, and some of the cliffs rise to a height of two hundred feet and more. The borders of the bay consist of a great many promontories jutting into it, and the spaces between these promontories form little bays or harbors by themselves. Islands in the bay add to its beauty, and it is no wonder that Frank and Fred were more than ordinarily enthusiastic over the harbor of Sydney.
The city stands on Sydney Cove, one of the numberless bays or harbors of Port Jackson, about four miles from the entrance from the ocean. We will further remark that fortifications have been erected at the Heads, and the authorities are confident that a hostile fleet or army coming to attack them could be successfully resisted. Doctor Bronson told the youths that the harbor which resembled Port Jackson more nearly than any other of which he knew, was Avatcha Bay, in Kamchatka. "It has," said he, "several little bays or harbors around it, just as Port Jackson has, and is fully as capacious and easy of access. I wish we had a diagram of it to show to our Australian friends."
"Before we left New Zealand," said Frank in his journal, "Doctor Bronson telegraphed to an old friend, Mr. Donald Manson, telling him by what steamer we expected to arrive. Mr. Manson was at the dock to meet us; he had secured rooms for us at the best hotel, and under his care we saw everything that was worth seeing in Sydney. Later, in Melbourne, where he was equally well acquainted, he was similarly attentive, and we hereby record our unanimous vote of thanks to him for his unvarying and unwearying politeness. If we tried his patience at any time he never allowed us to know it, and we found him a perfect encyclopædia in everything relating to Australia, where he has been a resident for a goodly number of years.
"One day when a proposition was made to go on a hunting excursion, Fred innocently suggested that he had read about Sydney ducks, and would like to shoot some, provided, of course, they were in season. Mr. Manson suppressed a smile as he answered that the shooting of those peculiar birds was no longer practised; he then explained that Sydney ducks can hardly be said to exist at present, the term having been applied to runaway convicts, ticket-of-leave men, and other waifs and strays, of the time when Australia was the receptacle of transported criminals from England and the other British Isles.
"Sydney seems to have been founded by or for these unfortunates. Mr. Manson told us that the settlement was made here in January, 1788, by Captain Phillip, who came here with a fleet of store and transport ships, for the purpose of founding a convict establishment. He had previously landed in Botany Bay, but finding it unsuitable, had abandoned it for the future site of Sydney. The name of the place was given in honor of Viscount Sydney, who first suggested the colonization of New South Wales, and the bay was called Port Jackson, after Sir George Jackson, who was then Secretary to the Lords of the Admiralty.
STATUE OF CAPTAIN COOK, SYDNEY.
"As soon as we had settled ourselves at the hotel, Mr. Manson accompanied us in a stroll and ride through the principal streets. 'Great changes have taken place here in the past twenty or even ten years,' said Mr. Manson, as he called our attention to new and magnificent buildings, which he said occupied the sites of wretched structures that had only recently given way for the more modern architecture. Some of the old streets are still narrow and tortuous, but the new part of Sydney has wider and finer streets, and the old-fashioned appearance of the city is steadily disappearing. The principal streets are laid out to the cardinal points of the compass, and intersect one another at right angles. They are called George, Pitt, Market, King, and Hunter, the leading one being George Street, which starts from the water's edge and runs through the city and out into the country, where it becomes George Street West.
GEORGE III.
"George Street is named after George III., and Pitt Street after his Prime-minister. The other principal streets, Macquarie, King, Hunter, Bligh, and Phillip, bear the names of the early governors, and Mr. Manson said it was fortunate that the governors were changed oftenenough in those days to permit no scarcity of names for the streets. Here and there we saw some wooden buildings dating from the early days of the colony; and there is an old hospital, and also an ancient church which has pews such as we find in the churches of England one or two hundred years old.
"St. James's Church, the one just mentioned, is old and uncomfortable, but the cathedral is just the reverse. The public buildings of Sydney would take several or many pages for their description, and the account would run the risk of being tedious before reaching the end. When we remembered the age of the colony they surprised us by their magnificence. The Government buildings in Macquarie Street, the Post-office in George Street, the Town-hall, the University, the Crown Lands Office, and several other edifices would well adorn cities of much greater age than Sydney, and yet some of the residents complain that their buildings are not sufficiently grand for their wishes, and suggest the demolition of some of these structures to make way for finer ones. St. Andrew's Cathedral was begun in 1819, and has been three times pulled down and re-erected!
"We can't say much in favor of the street-railways, or tramways, of Sydney, most of which have steam locomotives to draw the cars. Two cars are coupled together and drawn by a noisy, puffing engine, stopping at every other block to receive or discharge passengers. Accidents are said to be frequent, but of course the managers of the tramways always declare that the fault is due to the carelessness of the victims. They have flagmen at some of the more dangerous crossings, but in spite of them somebody is occasionally run over. Strangers are especially liable to injury from this cause, as they are often unaware that locomotives are allowed in the principal streets.
"Our ride was extended to the suburbs; and, without question, no city we have thus far seen in the Southern Hemisphere has suburbs at all approaching in attractiveness those of Sydney. First we come to Wooloomooloo—what a funny word that is to write!—and then we wind along the coasts of the little bays between the promontories; Elizabeth Bay, Rose Bay, Double Bay, Rushcutter's Bay, and I don't know how many other bays and coves, where the well-to-do residents have their villas. One hundred thousand people are said to live in Sydney proper, and one hundred and fifty thousand in the suburbs, so that the city, with its suburbs, has a population of a quarter of a million.
"Fred suggested that he would like to see the park or public garden. Mr. Manson asked, 'Which one?'
"Fred didn't know, and then our host explained that he had a considerable number to choose from. 'There is Albert Park,' said he, 'of forty acres, with a statue of Prince Albert, and opposite to it is Hyde Park Square, with a statue to Captain Cook, the discoverer of New South Wales. Then there is the Domain, of one hundred and twenty-eight acres, surrounding the little bay known as Farm Cove, the Botanical Gardens, of thirty-eight acres; and we have, in addition, Belmore Park, Prince Alfred Park, Callan Park, Moore Park, Wentworth Park, and the National Park; and a few years hence, if you come here again, there will doubtless be "more parks to hear from."'
AVENUE IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS.
"During our stay at Sydney we saw most of the parks named in the foregoing paragraph, and can testify to their beauty and the appreciation in which they are held by the inhabitants. The Domain and the Botanical Gardens were especially attractive; their sites are beautiful, and the Botanical Gardens contain every plant known in Australia, together with exotics from nearly every country in the world. For a student of botany these Gardens would furnish opportunities for months or years of study.
"In the Botanical Gardens our attention was called to three Norfolk pines that are said to have been planted here nearly seventy years ago; one of them is ninety-five feet high, and its circumference, three feet above the ground, is within a few inches of five yards. The other two of the cluster are taller than this one, but not so large in girth. Then they showed us a she-oak tree, which is said to give forth, when the air is perfectly still, a sound like the murmur of a sea-shell. Another curious growth is the Australian musk-tree, which constantly gives out an odor which is perceptible several yards away. Trees and plants from tropical and semi-arctic regions grow here side by side; the Canadafir almost touching the Indian bamboo, and the Siberian larch mingling its branches with those of the palm and the banyan.
"In the evening and on the following day, Mr. Manson introduced us to all the officials of prominence, and to many of the leading citizens. It was a severe brain-tax to remember all their names, but we shall try to do honor to our country in this particular. We have been invited to so many houses that if we should stay here a month we could not exhaust the list, and probably by the time the end was reached a new list would be formed. The Australians are certainly a hospitable people, and the stranger has a 'lovely time' among them."
At their first opportunity Frank and Fred informed themselves about the early history of the colony. Among other curious things Fred made the following note:
"It seems that the people of the United States are indirectly responsible for the settlement of Australia by convicts. Here is a paragraph from page 18 of 'The Official History of New South Wales,' by Thomas Richards, Government Printer, and Registrar of Copyright.
CANDIDATES FOR TRANSPORTATION.
"'... Whilst America was subject to England, British offenders, political or otherwise, were transported to the southern colonies of that continent, or to the West Indies, where they were in the first instance employed chiefly in the production of tobacco. The consumption of tobacco was large, and the revenue derived therefrom considerable, Virginia and Maryland being the chief producers. The American colonies having revolted against British rule in 1776, and after a long and severe struggle gained their independence, England sought a new field for colonization, and first tried the coast of Africa, but found it unhealthy. Her attention was then turned to Australia, the eligibility of which for the purpose had been spreading since Cook's famous voyage thither in 1768. Accordingly, a fleet of eleven sail, carrying more than one thousand souls, was assembled at Portsmouth, in the month of March, 1787, to proceed to Australia.'"
Fred read the foregoing extract to Frank. The latter listened earnestly, and then remarked:
"I don't see that times have greatly changed after all. England still sends us her convicts and paupers, the only difference being that she turns them loose upon us instead of deriving something for their forced labor. Her example is followed by most of the continental nations, and thus we get the human rubbish of the Old World, just as we did before the Revolutionary War."
Fred then went on to say that the colony by which Sydney was founded numbered one thousand and thirty persons, including seven hundred and fifty-seven convicts, among whom were one hundred and ninety-two women and eighteen children. Besides the officers, there were one hundred and sixty soldiers, with forty of their wives; the live-stock included cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and goats; and there was a large stock of seeds from the tropic and temperate zones. The natives did not oppose the landing, as they supposed it was only temporary. When they found that the settlement was a permanent one they became hostile, and many murders resulted, caused, no doubt, in great measure by the outrages committed by the convicts. Ships from England followed steadily, each one bringing its quota of convicts, and in a few years Sydney had quite a city-like appearance.[9]
Free emigration began a few years after the establishment of the colony, as just described, the earliest of the free emigrants being principally men of capital, who came with the object of employing the convicts under contracts with the Government. Free emigrants of moremodest means naturally followed, and in course of time the free settlers were more numerous than the convicts and military combined. In 1831, out of 76,793 persons in the colony 27,831 were convicts.