Open workings of the diamond mine, KimberleyOpen workings of the diamond mine, KimberleyLINK TO IMAGE
Thus, after many years of struggle through difficulties that were seemingly superhuman, the four great mines, the De Beers, Kimberley, Dutoitspan, and Bultfontein, were merged into one great corporation. Afterward some others were added, but all bear the name De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited, a corporation which to-day controls the diamond market of the world. During the eleven years ending 1899 they yielded nearly six tons of diamonds.
Both Rhodes and Barnato acquired immense wealth bytheir investments, but it is doubtful if either gained much happiness from his acquisitions. Poor Barnato! He had gained riches and stood among the foremost financiers of the world, but at how fearful a cost! His overtaxed brain began to give way, and on his way back to England he suddenly leaped overboard and was drowned.
Cecil Rhodes was instrumental in enlarging British influence and territory in South Africa, and to him England owes a deep debt of gratitude. He died in 1902 leaving a portion of his immense fortune for scholarships in Oxford, England's great university. Rhodes earnestly advocated the building of a railroad from Cape Town to Cairo. Already this line has been constructed northward from Cape Town several hundred miles beyond Victoria Falls, directly below which it crosses the Zambezi River.
Diamonds of various colors are found in the African mines—brown, yellow, pale blue, clear, and black. The black diamonds, called bort, are used mainly for arming diamond drills and for polishing other diamonds. Green, pink, and mauve diamonds are found occasionally.
The De Beers mines have produced some notable stones. From the Premier mine a diamond weighing more than three thousand carats—one and thirty-seven hundredths pounds avoirdupois—was obtained. This stone, more than twice the size of any heretofore found and estimated to be worth five million dollars, was insured for two million five hundred thousand dollars. It was named the Cullinan, from one Tom Cullinan, who purchased the farm on which the Premier mine is located.
Captain Wells, the manager of the Premier, one evening, after a burning hot day, when work had been suspended, strolled over to the mine, and, while partly walking and partly sliding down into the pit, noticed a gleam from a stone half-embedded in the earth. In a moment he hadthe stone in his hand and his practised eye told him this was the greatest diamond the world ever saw.
At first the possession of it seemed more like a dream than a reality, and he began to doubt his own sanity. When held up to the blazing Southern Cross, it sparkled like the purest crystal, and he knew that its value must be reckoned in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He immediately took the priceless treasure to the company's office where it was critically examined. It was then sent for safe-keeping to the Standard Bank at Johannesburg, and afterward was forwarded to London. For some time it was deposited in a London bank, the name of which was kept secret for fear that its great value might tempt criminals. Two years after its discovery it was purchased by the Transvaal Government, at the suggestion of General Botha, and presented to King Edward VII as a crown jewel.
The De Beers Company employs upward of eleven thousand African natives—Kafirs, they are called—working above and below ground. They come not only from the surrounding districts but from regions hundreds of miles away. All native laborers are kept in large walled enclosures, or compounds, which are covered with wire netting to prevent the laborers from throwing diamonds over the walls to confederates outside. Twelve such enclosures are owned by the De Beers Company, the largest of which occupies four acres and contains ample space for housing three thousand natives.
On entering the service of the company each applicant must sign a contract to live in the compound and work faithfully at least three months. At the expiration of his contract he may leave or make another contract, as he wills.
Constant vigilance is maintained in order to prevent stealing diamonds, and yet, notwithstanding this watchfulness,it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of diamonds are stolen each year.
Everything necessary for the sustenance and comfort of the men is brought into the compounds, and no one is permitted to leave until the expiration of his contract except by permission of the overseer, which is seldom given. The men go out of the compounds to their work through tunnels and return the same way.
Besides the native Kafirs already mentioned, about two thousand white laborers are employed, the greater number being engaged in the offices and workshops and on the depositing floors.
Electric lights are used throughout the mines, and underground work is carried on both day and night by three shifts. Every known scientific device is pressed into service. In all of the deep mines the laborers are taken up and down the shafts in cages.
The method of mining and working the diamond-bearing earth at present employed is far more economical than in former years. After the blue material has been brought up it is carried to the depositing floors where it is allowed to remain several months. In the meanwhile it is harrowed several times to break the lumps. The part that resists this treatment is carried to a mill to be crushed. The disintegrated and pulverized material is then carried to the washing machines.
The coarser fragments of the concentrates from the washing machines are picked out by hand; the finer are sent to the pulsators. Each shaking-table of the pulsators is made of corrugated iron plates in several sections with a drop of about an inch from one division to another.
A sufficient quantity of thick grease is spread over the plates to cover them to the top of the corrugations. The concentrates are continuously spread over the upper portionof the table automatically while running water washes them down.
Strange as it may seem, the diamonds stick fast to the grease; the other material is washed away. It has been found by trial that grease will cling to the precious stones but to nothing else. After a few hours the grease with the diamonds is scraped off the tables and steamed in perforated vessels to separate them.
Sorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mineSorting gravel for diamonds in the Kimberley mineLINK TO IMAGE
One of the De Beers mines has been worked to a depth of about two thousand feet with no diminution in the quantity or quality of the diamonds. The "pipe" or plug of blue-stuff shows no signs of giving out. Nature, in her underground laboratory, works in a mysterious way, baffling the astutest students of science to find the process by which she is able to manufacture such beautiful gems as the diamond.Many theories have been propounded to explain the genesis of the diamond, the most plausible one being that the crystallization of the carbon is due to a very high temperature and tremendous pressure acting on the carbon in a liquid form deep down beneath the earth's surface. The crystals, intermingled with much foreign matter, are afterward projected upward, filling these great volcanic pipes.
In order to produce the most beautiful effect, diamonds are usually cut into one or another of three different forms, namely, rose, table, and brilliant, the shape and size of the stone determining which form is best. The double-cut brilliant is the most common form at the present day. The general form of rough, crystallized diamonds is that of two square pyramids joined at their bases. The crystals are oftenest found octahedral and dodecahedral—that is, eight and twelve sided, and the diamond-cutter takes advantage of these forms in shaping the diamond.
The modern lapidary must have a perfect knowledge of optics and be a skilful stone-cutter. The numerous planes or faces which he cuts on the surface of the diamond are called facets. In the treatment three distinct processes are utilized—cleaving, cutting, and polishing. The lapidary must study the individual character of each stone and determine whether to cleave or grind off the superfluous matter so as to correct flaws and imperfections. All this calls for the judgment which comes only with long experience, for if the cutter errs he may ruin a priceless gem.
The grinding and polishing are done by diamond dust mixed with oil spread on the upper surface of a grooved flat steel wheel revolving horizontally. The diamond, having been set in fusible solder, is firmly pressed against the surface of the wheel by a small projecting arm and clamp. When one facet has been finished, the diamond is removed from the solder and reset for grinding another facet. Thusthe workman continues until the grinding and polishing are completed. Infinite patience and steadiness of nerve, as well as steadiness of hand, are required for such delicate and exact work. Sometimes two uncut stones are cemented into the ends of two sticks. Then the operator, using these sticks as handles, presses the stones against each other with a rubbing motion, the surface of the stones being coated over with diamond dust and oil to accelerate the process.
The last cutting of the celebrated Kohinoor diamond cost forty thousand dollars. One may understand, therefore, that the expense of cutting a large diamond adds materially to its cost. The diamond-cutting industry is confined chiefly to Amsterdam, where the work employs several thousand persons, mostly Hebrews, the craft having been handed down from father to son through several generations. Much fine cutting is now done in New York also.
[4]The term pan is a name applied to a basin or pool in which water collects during the rainy season.
[4]The term pan is a name applied to a basin or pool in which water collects during the rainy season.
[5]Fontein is a word of Dutch origin meaning fountain or spring. In this hot and semi-arid country a pan or fontein was a necessity to the Boer farmer, whose chief dependence was on his sheep and cattle. Hence he was wont to settle near where water could be easily obtained.
[5]Fontein is a word of Dutch origin meaning fountain or spring. In this hot and semi-arid country a pan or fontein was a necessity to the Boer farmer, whose chief dependence was on his sheep and cattle. Hence he was wont to settle near where water could be easily obtained.
PART II
OCEANIA
CHAPTER XXIITHE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC
Not until four hundred years ago did the body of water now named the Pacific Ocean become known to the people of Europe.
A vague knowledge of a sea that washed the eastern shores of Cathay, or China, was gained from the reports of the famous Venetian traveller, Marco Polo. After spending several years in the Orient, Polo returned home in 1295, giving such marvellous accounts of the countries visited and things seen that his stories were but half believed.
In 1531, Balboa, a Spanish explorer stationed at Darien, now Colon, hearing rumors that a great ocean lay to the opposite side, determined to test the truth of the report. Taking with him about three hundred men, he laboriously worked his way through the jungles of the isthmus; and on reaching the top of the divide beheld for the first time the Pacific Ocean. He then hastened forward, and as he reached the shore he waded into the water and took possession of it in the name of his sovereign. He named it the South Sea.
But the vast extent of this sheet of water did not become well known until fifty years later, when brave Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the globe. Two and one-half centuries more elapsed before the memorable voyages and discoveries of Captain Cook disclosed the fact that the newocean world was studded with countless islands, and that most of them were densely inhabited by savages.
Just how or when all these islands became inhabited is not definitely known. Since the Polynesian languages in general are similar, it is conjectured that the inhabitants of the islands have a common origin and that many of the more northerly groups were peopled by emigrants from the south.
In a general way the name Oceania is applied to all of the islands in the Pacific, but in a more limited sense only to those lying between the American continent and Australasia.
The chief divisions of Oceania are Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Australia, the largest body of land, is usually regarded as a continent. Nearly all the smaller islands are of coral or of volcanic origin; in many instances both agencies have contributed to their formation. The coral and volcanic islands seem to be the tops of mountain ranges that, little by little, have sunk, until only their higher summits are now above sea level.
The central part of the Pacific Ocean is pre-eminently the home of the reef-building coral. Countless islands and reefs, wholly or partly built up by these tiny creatures, are found widely scattered over an immense area limited to one thousand eight hundred miles on each side of the equator. All these formations are composed of the compact limestone remains of coral polyps.
These polyps have the power of extracting carbonate of lime from the sea-water and building it into massive formations which, for the most part, are nearly or completely submerged.
The reef-building coral differs very materially in form and appearance from the precious or red coral; the former is confined to comparatively shallow water, while the latteris found most commonly at a depth of six hundred feet or more, and it occurs chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea. The common or reef-building coral has but little use except as a source of lime, and no intrinsic value except as an object of curiosity.
Coral reefs may be arranged under three classes; namely, fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls. The first class embraces the shallow-water reefs found close to land, either surrounding islands or skirting the shores of continents. The reefs of the second class likewise skirt islands or continents, but at such distances as to leave a deep channel between them and the shore. The third class are called atolls; each is irregularly ring-shaped and almost entirely encloses a sheet of water, called a lagoon.
The ring-shaped reef, or atoll, is broken in one or more places, generally on the leeward side, and built up higher on the windward side. The reason for such omissions and buildings is obvious when we remember that the coral animal cannot move from its fixed position to seek food, but must depend upon the waves to bring it within reach. The water dashing up against the reef on the windward side brings an abundance of food, while the slight movement of the waves on the leeward side brings but little food.
After many years the dead coral is broken off and piled up on the reef. In this condition it is cemented by the lime in the sea-water, thereby forming a nucleus for land. Then, perchance, a cocoanut drifts upon the formation and, finding sufficient nutriment, sends down a root and begins its growth. Other cocoanuts are drifted to the newly disintegrated coral soil until the tropical vegetation becomes capable of sustaining animal life. Or, perhaps, a portion of the ocean bed in that particular region is uplifted by the volcanic forces, thus greatly enlarging the land area. Attracted by the new land, people from near-by islands emigrateand take possession of the unoccupied area. Thus the upbuilding of islands and their occupancy goes on through the centuries.
From the fact that these formations exist at a depth of several thousand feet, while coral polyps themselves can live only near the surface, it is thought that either the sea bottom must have been sinking for a long period of time or else that the cinder cones around which the reefs are built must have shrunk away until their tops are below sea level. At all events they seem to be due to volcanic movement.
A Malay girlA Malay girlLINK TO IMAGE
Differences in environment produce marked differences on people in various parts of the continental world. Likewise,differences in the geological structure of the islands of the Pacific have produced a marked influence on the inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific. Those living on large and mountainous islands, where the productions are varied and abundant, are greatly superior mentally and physically to those inhabiting the small low-lying coral islands.
In the small islands, where there are few objects of interest and the circle of life is necessarily circumscribed and food and building material scanty, the inhabitants are dwarfed in intellect and their languages limited in vocabulary. The inhabitants of the extensive Paumoto group of islands give a striking example of the dreary monotony of life on small coral islands. Indeed, coral atolls are lacking in pretty nearly all the features that are necessary for a high degree of civilization; nature, therefore, reacts, with the result that the human life of this region is in a condition of savagery. Many of the natives are cannibals.
The natives of Australia are a race that seems to be separate and distinct in itself. Wherever they are found their speech and customs are so nearly alike that little or no doubt of their common origin exists. They are so small in stature that by some scholars they are classed with pygmy peoples. They are repulsive in appearance in their native state, but when the children are trained by English families they become attractive. They are regarded as a very low type of intellect; yet at the missionary schools the children seem to learn about as quickly as do European children. The children learn to figure readily, but the older natives have no names for numbers greater than three or four.
In New Guinea and the adjacent islands is found a race of black peoples usually called Negritos, or Negroids. They are black and, like the African negroes, have black, kinky hair. They are far superior to the native Australians.Many of the tribes are good farmers, and cultivate crops of sago, maize, and tobacco. On the coasts there are good boat-builders and sailors. The greater part of the Melanesian tribes is hostile and blood-thirsty; head-hunting is a common practice. In many tribes the people live in communal houses like those of the Pueblo Indians of America.
A large part of the population of Oceania is of Malay origin. As a rule the Malaysians are intelligent and take readily to western civilization. They are confined chiefly to the larger islands south and west of the Asian continent. In such parts of Malaysia as have become European possessions, they are farm laborers, and in this employment they have no superiors.
A Malay boyA Malay boyLINK TO IMAGE
Of all the native peoples of Oceania, the Polynesians are perhaps the most interesting. In physical appearance they are tall, well-formed, dark of complexion, and black-haired. In the northern island groups—Tonga, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and others—which are colonized by European and American peoples, the natives have gradually acquired western civilization. The number of natives has decreased,however, and only about one-third of the population of fifty years ago remains to-day.
The animal and vegetable life is peculiar. That of Australia resembles the life forms of a geological age long since past; that of the islands near tropical Asia is Asian in character. Now there are many large islands at a considerable distance from the continent in which many of the life forms on the slopes facing Australia are Australian, while on the northerly and westerly slopes they are Asian. One cannot be certain, however, that these islands were ever a part of the Australian continent, or that they were ever joined to Asia. On the contrary it is more probable that the life in question was carried by winds and currents of the sea.
The life forms of the coral atolls are very few in number. So far as vegetation is concerned, the cocoa-palm and breadfruit are about the only kinds of plant life of importance. A few species of fish and migratory birds are the only animals that may be used as food.
The names given to the various divisions of Oceania are more or less fanciful. Australasia means Southern Asia; Malaysia, Malayan Asia; Melanesia, the islands of the blacks; Micronesia, small islands; and Polynesia, many islands.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century practically all of Oceania has been divided among European powers. Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are peopled by colonists from England; but they possess the character of a great nation rather than that of colonies. A few of the larger islands have become producers of sugar, cotton, and fruit. The long distance from the markets for their products is offset by the low cost of native labor. The coral islands are almost valueless for commercial products; but a few of them are used as coaling stations, telegraphic cable stations, or as positions of naval advantage.
CHAPTER XXIIIAUSTRALIA
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 sparsely 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 passages 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 salubriousclimate 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 impassable 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 disappearanceis 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.
A giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumferenceA giant fig-tree, 140 feet in circumferenceLINK TO IMAGE
The eastern part of the continent, on account of its greaterextent 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 fiftythousand 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.
A mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocketA mother kangaroo with a young kangaroo in her pocketLINK TO IMAGE
The plant and animal life of Australia forms one of itsmost 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 grass except that which is cultivated. The wild grasses are of the "bunch" or clump species, and some of these have blades so sharp that they cut cruelly. One species, the porcupine grass, bears a name that does not belie its character. Much of the coast lands are covered with a growth of thorny "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 smallerspecies 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 cock. The duck-bill may well boast of its sting, because the honey-bee of Australia has none.
An Australian emeuAn Australian emeuLINK TO IMAGE
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 onthe 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 prickly pear, the Queenslander has pretty nearly all to himself. Just how the prickly 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 arsenicor 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 grass where the sheep fed. At this stage of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers. Laws were passed 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 ofAustralia 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 classed as Negroids, or Negritos, and they bear a considerable resemblance to the African pygmies, with whom at least one authority classes 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.
Homestead and station in Young district, AustraliaHomestead and station in Young district, AustraliaLINK TO IMAGE
One may not be very far from right in saying that the climate of the habitable part of the continent is the foremost asset of Australia. Certain it is that for healthfulness and the stimulation that creates activity, the climate of Australia is unsurpassed 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 XXIVTHE 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 fairyregions 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 shore.
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 pass out into the open ocean.
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 bêche-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 havebraincoral,organ-pipecoral,mushroomcoral,staghorncoral, 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.
Bêche-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 quantities are gathered annually. In the water the animals resemble huge cucumbers, and they are therefore sometimes called "sea-cucumbers." 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 shell-fish which live upon the coral rocks.