FROM GIBRALTAR TO TRIESTE.
First circumstantial details of the War of 1859.--Alterations in
Gibraltar since our previous visit.--Science and Warfare.--
Voyage through the Mediterranean.--Messina.--The _Novara_ taken
in tow by the War-steamer _Lucia_.--Gravosa.--Ragusa.--Arrival
of H.I.H. the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian at Gravosa.--
Presentation of the Staff.--Banquet on board the screw-corvette
_Dandolo_.--Pola.--Roman Amphitheatre.--Porta Aurea.--Triumphal
return to Trieste.--Retrospect of the achievements and general
scientific results of the Expedition.--Concluding Remarks. 449
APPENDIX--Vol. ii 461
APPENDIX--Vol. iii 494
INDEX 519
ERRATA 543
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. III.
PAGE
1. Denizens of an Australian Forest 1
2. Maori 93
3. Native Fete to the Governor 199
4. The Lasso 280
5. Station on the Panama Railway 337
6. The Austrian Eagle 449
[Illustration: Denizens of an Australian Forest]
XVIII.
Sydney.
Stay From 5th November To 7th December, 1858.
The politico-economical importance to England of her colonies.--
Extraordinary growth of Sydney.--Public buildings.--Expeditions
of discovery into the interior of Australia.--Scientific
endeavours in Sydney.--Macleay's Seat at Elizabeth Bay.--Sir
Daniel Cooper.--Rickety Dick.--Monument to La Perouse at Botany
Bay.--The Botanical Garden.--Journey by rail to Campbelton.--
Camden Park.--German emigrants.--Wine cultivation in Australia.--
Odd Fellows' Lodge at Campbelton.--Appin.--Wulongong.--Mr.
Hill.--The aborigines.--Kangaroo hunting.--Coal mines in the
Keira range.--An adventure in the woods.--Return to Sydney.--The
Australian club.--Excursion up Hunter River as far as Ash
Island,--"Nuggets."--The _Novara_ in the dry dock at Cockatoo
Island.--Reformation among the prisoners in the colony.--
Serenade by the Germans in Sydney, in honour of the expedition.--
Ball on board the frigate.--Political life in Sydney.--Excursion
for craniological purposes to Cook-river Bay, and Long Bay.--
Intercourse with natives.--Wool growing.--Attempts to introduce
the Llama and Alpaca from Bolivia.--The gold-fields of the
colony of New South Wales.--Is Australia the youngest or oldest
part of the globe?--The convict-system and transportation as a
punishment.--Departure from Sydney.--Barrier Island.--Arrival at
Huraka Gulf, New Zealand.
Whoever wishes to form an accurate idea of the power and might of the
British nation, and is desirous to discover the sources of the
all-important influence the "island race" exercise over the destinies of
humanity, should visit, not England, but her colonies in America, Africa,
Asia, and Australia. In these he will see in full and beneficial
operation, that system which one of the greatest of German political
economists, the ingenious Fredrick List, recommended more than thirty
years ago to the German Government, when he spoke of the serious detriment
the Northern country sustained year after year by the emigration _en
masse_ of skilled German labourers, and when he repeatedly urged to make
agriculture under the tropics reciprocally beneficial to the manufacturing
industry of the temperate zone.[1]
England has comprehended better than Germany how to utilize the energies
of such of her children as emigrate to distant quarters of the globe, and
to make them subservient to her own advancement as well; she evinced the
most anxious solicitude for these pioneers of progress, extended her
protection to them, flung the aegis of her own power over their adopted
home, regarding each new settlement as but an extension of the limit of
her empire, as an enlargement of the sources whence she drew the materials
for her industrial handicrafts, as a new market for her manufactures! In
all parts of the inhabited earth English activity has thus displayed
itself, busily engaged in supplying the demand for raw materials in her
home market, by exchanging for them her own manufactures, till English
ships have become the all but universal carriers of the commerce of the
globe, while the English language has been adopted as the medium of
intercommunication of all seafarers.
Australia, or New Holland,[2] as it was originally termed by its first
discoverers, proud of their nationality, furnishes of all the British
colonies the most conspicuous and instructive example of this policy.
England has not merely thrown open this immense continent to European
civilization, peopled it with hundreds of thousands of her sons, and
created a new market for herself and all navigating nations,--she has also
in this colony furnished the solution of a psychological problem, namely,
that it is by no means an innate natural propensity to do evil, but rather
the force of circumstances which drives man to vice and crime, and that
the diviner portion of his nature forthwith re-asserts itself, so soon as
he is provided with another more favourable sphere of action, and a fair
opportunity is offered to him of earning his livelihood in an honourable,
independent manner by the free, unshackled development of his mental and
physical powers.
Originally founded as a penal settlement for convicts sentenced to
transportation for long periods of years, and in fact composed at first of
such unpromising elements, this splendid country is at present one of the
wealthiest and most important colonies of the British Crown, and close to
that spot where, on 28th January, 1788, 850 criminals were landed, there
to take up their involuntary abode, there now rises in one of the numerous
coves of the splendidly situate Bay of Port Jackson, a city of such
magnificence, so large and so beautiful, that it has been called the
"Queen of the South," or even, with more enthusiasm than accuracy, "Little
London." The population of the city and environs is estimated at 93,000,
that of this single colony at 350,000, while its trade has increased to
such an extent that it keeps employed 1000 ships and 18,000 men, the value
of exports of raw, and import of manufactured products, amounting for this
one port to upwards of L12,000,000 per annum. The discovery of abundant
gold-fields in the adjacent colony of Victoria has undoubtedly materially
contributed to this enormous expansion, and has perceptibly increased the
immigration, but the development of the capabilities of the land itself
has not been less steadily increasing, wherever the population have
pursued the surer and more solid occupation of agriculture and
cattle-rearing. The wool growth of Australia, which in 1820 was barely 50
tons, has since then risen to nearly 25,000 tons, rivalling in bulk and
quality that of the Cape, and rapidly becoming a dangerous competitor with
those countries of Europe, whose wools have hitherto commanded their own
terms in the English market.
A continent of such immeasurable natural resources, with a climate,[3]
especially on its southern coasts, remarkable for its mildness,
equability, and salubrity, and a population so limited[4] in proportion to
the extent of surface, was naturally an object of deep interest for the
members of the _Novara_ Expedition. Accordingly during their stay of
thirty-two days they set diligently to work, not only to enlarge their
acquaintance with the scientific idiosyncrasies of this vast portion of
the globe, but also to examine minutely the prospects it holds out to
German commerce and German emigration, and to investigate the influence
which has been exercised on the development of the colony by the system of
transporting convicts thither. And it is not less significant of the high
repute enjoyed by the Imperial Expedition in foreign countries, as
honourable to its members, to record, that the then Governor-General of
New South Wales, Sir William Denison, who has since been transferred to
the much more important and lucrative post of Governor of the Madras
Presidency, and who enjoys no slight reputation in scientific circles as a
conchyliologist, expressed his anxious desire that the geologist of the
_Novara_ should thoroughly examine the geological formation of the
province of Auckland in New Zealand, and exerted himself vigorously to
forward the accomplishment of this project.
From the German residents in Sydney, as well as from all the officials and
the inhabitants generally, we received the utmost assistance and most
cordial co-operation in our various inquiries. The former received the
Expedition with a most enthusiastic welcome, and it was truly gratifying
to learn that some of the more keenly susceptible of home-influences had
weeks before made the beach their favourite promenade, in order that they
might be the first to see and welcome the long-expected German man-of-war
at her arrival! The German newspaper "_Australische Zeitung_" (published
by a native of Graetz, named Degotardi) of November 6th was quite filled
with advertisements and notices relating to the _Novara_, and the
festivities which had been prepared in her honour. Every member of the
staff received a copy on board, so that before even we set foot on shore,
we were apprized of the old German hospitality which awaited us on our
arrival in this the fifth quarter of the globe. As, however, it was
imperatively necessary to have the frigate taken to the Government dock,
in order to repair the damages she sustained in the typhoon, the
contemplated rejoicings had to stand over for the moment, till the
_Novara_ could come forth in renewed splendour, and was fit to give a
proper reception to the homage intended to be offered in her honour. These
rather extensive repairs would require three weeks to complete, and after
the first few days had passed in making and receiving official visits, as
also in sight-seeing in the city and environs, the greater portion of
their stay was employed by the scientific staff in excursions into the
interior of the colony.
Sydney at present has with its suburbs attained already to the dimensions
of a European city. Only thirty years ago there stood but a few herdsmen's
huts, where now the visitor beholds block after block of handsome stone
private residences, or magnificent shops. There is not one article of
luxury or comfort which cannot be supplied here. The chief building stone
of the locality, sandstone, is chiefly used in the erection of churches,
public buildings, and private dwellings. The Exchange, the Bank, the
Houses of Assembly, Government House, &c., are stately buildings erected
in a solid, massive style, and if "Hyde Park," a treeless meadow in the
centre of the city, by no means answers to its sounding title, the Botanic
Garden, on the other hand, the park known as "Lady McQuarrie's Chair,"
"Kissing-Point," and "Lovers' Walk," form promenades as delightful as any
capital of Europe can show in such immediate proximity. Sydney, moreover,
is amply supplied with gas and water, as well as with every means of
conveyance that can facilitate intercourse in a large town, such as
omnibuses, cabs, steamers, &c.
The theatres hitherto, whether as regards scenery or performance, have
hardly exceeded mediocrity, but on the other hand educational
establishments, public libraries, and hospitals, are of singular
excellence. It is truly marvellous, and especially makes a profound
impression upon the denizens of old Europe, to observe what handsome,
imposing, costly buildings have been run up among this comparatively
youthful community. The Sydney University, founded in 1851, is built in
the Gothic style, at an expense of L50,000, and is maintained by an annual
grant of L5000. It is far the finest memorial erected by European
civilization in honour of science, throughout the southern hemisphere. Its
internal organization is somewhat analogous with that of those of the
mother country. All the high schools of Sydney accord academic degrees in
the various branches, and by a Royal Patent of 27th of February, 1858,
holders of honours are raised to the same rank with those in the other
universities of the Empire. Although only secular education is provided by
the University, there have been founded four colleges in immediate
proximity with each other, for the four principal religious denominations
in the colony, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Methodist, in
which the scholars may, without prejudice to the secular character[5] of
the University proper, receive instruction in their various beliefs. The
erection of these four adjuncts cost about L40,000 more. At the period of
our visit there were only 38 scholars enrolled, whose instruction cost the
state a rather round sum. A commencement had been made with a library, a
museum of natural history, and a numismatic collection.
Besides the University, there are in Sydney a considerable number of very
important educational establishments and public schools. The most
strenuous exertions are made to keep the public schools in a high state of
efficiency, and there is scarcely a hamlet, where the rising generation
may not be instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and
geography.[6]
An observatory is also in course of erection, but meteorological
observations had long since been carried on in the principal places of the
colony, and from the favourable natural conditions of the continent for
conducting such investigations, the results must greatly contribute to our
acquaintance with the laws regulating atmospherical phenomena.
One very deserving institution dedicated to the noble object of awakening
a sense of the beautiful, and furthering the interests of science, is the
Australian Museum. All that this glorious country presents of interesting
and useful in the three great divisions of nature is here being gradually
classified in scientific order, and displayed in elegant cases in spacious
handsome apartments, the whole thrown open to the public for amusement and
instruction, free of cost. Already an excellent start has been made with
valuable collections of conchylia and birds, as well as numerous
ethnographical specimens and fossil remains. The management of the Museum
has been confided to the most distinguished scientific men of the
colony,[7] and owing to the deep interest taken by these gentlemen in this
truly national undertaking, the sphere of its activity is likely ere long
to be extended to scientific publications, the appearance of which will be
doubly valuable and important in a country which presents so many
different objects for investigation and elucidation.
If, however, our knowledge of Australia and its black aboriginal tribes is
as yet very scanty, it has not assuredly been due to any cold indifference
on the part of the new settlers for the history of a country and a race of
men who are rapidly disappearing from the face of the country. It is
rather to be found in the physical conditions of the continent, and
especially in the great scarcity of perennial springs. In fact, there is
hardly any country, with the exception of Africa, the exploration of which
has cost the lives of so many scientific travellers as this fifth quarter
of the world. What manly devotion, ardour, and perseverance, characterize
such names as Leichhardt, Oxley, Kennedy, Eyre, Mitchell, Cunningham,
Strut, Babbage, Warburton, Stuart, Gregory, Selwyn, MacDonnell, &c.! And
it may fill a German with honest pride, that one of his race has attained
the pinnacle of scientific eminence here! The name of Leichhardt is the
most popular and most highly honoured of the learned names in Australia.
Repeatedly we heard him spoken of as the Australian Humboldt. Rendered all
the more eager by the success of his first enterprise, and stimulated by
the splendid Governmental reward of L10,000 for his last discoveries, the
indefatigable explorer started from Sydney in 1848, on a second journey,
in which he intended to examine Western Australia, by crossing from
Moreton Bay overland, to the West Coast and Port Essington. This proved to
be the close of his earthly career. All trace of the lamented traveller
has been lost, and even the admirably equipped expedition sent out by the
Colonial Government, in March, 1858, under the experienced conduct of Mr.
Gregory, on the track of Leichhardt, spent long months in fruitless
wandering, and returned without any more positive information as to the
destiny of the sorely missed naturalist, except the conjecture that
Leichhardt and his companions had fallen a victim not to the murderous
hand of the natives, but to the inhospitable nature of the region they
were traversing. They seemed to have left the Victoria at its junction
with the Alice (where it was thought a trace of the travellers was
discovered in some incisions made in the bark of some trees),[8] and then
attempted, favoured by heavy storms and showers of rain, to get into the
flat desert country on the north-west. As, however, the rain shortly
afterwards ceased, the unfortunate travellers not merely ran short of
water in prosecuting their dismal journey, but were prevented from
returning, as the small quantity precipitated by a mere meteoric
phenomenon would be exhausted in a few days, and it is not easy to suppose
that such hardy, zealous, and experienced explorers would have failed to
extricate themselves, had not their courage and physical powers been
broken down and destroyed by privations of the most terrible nature.
Despite the tragic fate of Leichhardt's expedition and those of other
explorers,[9] new expeditions are continually being set on foot for
exploring the unknown regions of Australia in every direction, and
although by far the larger part of the information collected consists
rather of ghastly recitals of misery and privation endured than positive
scientific results,[10] yet some of the more recent ones, especially those
of Stuart and Burke, have made also important discoveries in the
interior; and in view of the impulse which the lamentable state of
American politics threatens to impart to cotton-growing everywhere, the
highly fertile banks of the Murray, which with a very little labour might
be made navigable far into the interior, may at no distant period be
covered with numerous cotton plantations.
While the younger and more adventurous spirits enter with all their heart
and soul upon these dangerous experiences of rude hardship, there is in
the capital of the colony a not less marked scientific vitality, and the
valuable libraries and private collections of the Governor-general, Sir
Wm. Denison, Mr. W. Macleay, the botanist, Dr. George Bennett, physician
and geologist,[11] Dr. Roberts, microscopist, Messrs. W. B. Clarke and
Selwyn, geologists, as well as their various and valuable contributions to
science, exercise a doubly important and beneficial influence upon a
number of contiguous states so peculiarly organized as those of Australia,
which, first penal settlements, and then gold-fields, seemed to have been
deprived of all those favourable conditions, which elsewhere are usually
supposed to be requisite for the development of intellectual and
scientific activity.
Much has also been done already in Australia for the diffusion of the
principles of social economy and the diffusion of political and linguistic
knowledge; and the historical writings of Dr. J. D. Lang,[12] and the
philological works of Dr. Threlkeld, both men of high attainments and of
similar zeal in promoting the welfare of their fellow-men, furnished us
with profound information as to the political history of the country, as
well as the original language of the aborigines.
Since the appearance of the first ethnographic works of Count Strzelecki
there has appeared little that is new respecting the origin, migration,
and history of the black races of Australia, and what we have to say on
this momentous topic, whether in the result of personal intercourse or of
information derived from other sources, we shall reserve for the narrative
of our excursion into the interior of the colony, and our foregathering
with the primitive inhabitants of the back settlements.[13]
Among the excursions in the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney we at once
selected a visit to the well-known naturalist Mr. Macleay, who resides at
a beautiful estate near Elizabeth Bay. In his beautiful garden one sees
the most interesting plants of Australia side by side with splendid
specimens from all other parts of the world. A stroll through the
extensive grounds derives a double interest when in company with its
highly-cultivated proprietor, and we are the more grateful for this good
fortune, as the venerable old gentleman lives in strict seclusion.
Another very interesting visit was that paid to Sir Daniel Cooper at his
residence on Rose Bay (_Wullurah_).[14] Sir Daniel is of humble parentage,
but fell heir to property which made him the wealthiest man in the colony,
and which he now dispenses with the most noble and hospitable profusion.
During the Crimean war he subscribed L1000 per annum towards defraying the
costs. Lately he has been elected speaker of the Legislative Assembly,
when he was knighted by her Majesty. His villa in Rose Bay, when
completed, promised to be surpassed by few mansions of the English
nobility in elegance and comfort.
Close to the palatial residence of the wealthiest resident of Australia,
and clad in a filthy woollen coat, with an old hat on his head, crouches
Rickety Dick, a wretched crippled native, the sole survivor of his tribe,
once the lord of all this country, who now stretches out his horny hand to
receive charity. Rickety Dick, who can only talk Australian, lives under a
bark thatch, and leads a mendicant life, and this not owing to downright
destitution, but because such a lazy mode of existence suits him better
than a residence within the walls of a Poor's House. He finds himself more
comfortable here, and cannot bear to quit the soil on which he has passed
the greater portion of his miserable existence. Sir Daniel lets this last
scion of a decayed race want for nothing, and gratifies every wish that
the poor half idiot can form.
One excursion which no stranger omits to make is a ride to the monument
erected to La Perouse at Botany Bay, a pretty good road to which passes
through beautiful woods full of magnificent oaks, as also of _Eucalyptus_,
or gum tree, so characteristic of Australia, _Casuarina_, or cabbage tree,
_Xanthorrhea_, _Acacias_, and various descriptions of _Epacris_. The
monument itself stands on an open cleared space, in what is known as
"Frenchmen's Gardens" (because, according to tradition, the soldiers had
raised a few vegetables here), and is a plain sandstone obelisk about 30
feet high, standing on a pedestal and crowned with an iron globe, within
an enclosure about 35 feet square, bounded by a parapet wall of from three
to five feet high.
The inscription, which is in French, and on the south side facing the sea,
runs as follows:
A la Memoire de M. de La Perouse. Cette terre, qu'il visita en
1778, est la derniere d'ou il a fait parvenir de ses nouvelles.
Erige au nom de la France, par les soins de M. M. de
Bougainville et Ducampier commandant la Fregatte "La Thetis" et
la corvette "Esperance" en relache au port Jackson en 1825.
On the north side is an English translation of the above, and on the west
a French translation of the English inscription on the east side.
"Foundation laid 1825. Completed 1828."
Close by this simple monument, more interesting owing to the subsequent
fate of the renowned French navigator than by its merits as a work of art,
is Botany Tower, a sort of look-out for the whole coast-line. This
octangular tower stands quite by itself, and commands a magnificent and
extensive view over Botany Bay. To the N.W. one perceives a flagstaff of
Banks's establishment, a pleasure resort of the Sydneyites, which, on
account of its small zoological garden, is likewise of some scientific
interest. S.E., on the opposite side of Mud Bay, is visible the point of
land where Captain Cook, accompanied by Banks and Solander, first trod the
soil of Australia. Among the sandstone rocks adjoining, a brass tablet,
with a suitable inscription, commemorates this interesting fact.
The botanical garden attracted very much of the attention of the
scientific staff. It possesses, next to that of Buitenzorg (see vol. ii.
p. 204), the largest and most valuable collection we saw throughout our
voyage. In addition to its splendid specimens of _coniferae_ and the
incomparable Dammara pine-tree; it also enjoys well-merited celebrity for
its successful rivalry with that of Java in rare specimens of palms. The
climate of Sydney is admirably adapted for experimenting on the
cultivation of plants from the most various parts of the world; and while
in one part of this garden we find the plants of every clime, which
flourish here in great luxuriance, another portion is dedicated
exclusively to the cultivation of Australian trees and canes. At the
entrance stands a magnificent _Araucaria excelsa_, like a sentinel on
guard over this singular vegetable world. A gigantic _Grevillea robusta_
attracts the eye by the striking tint of its luxuriant orange-yellow
blossoms, shining with indescribable charm through the dark green of the
foliage. _Banksias_, _Casuarinas_, different species of _Callitris_,
_Xanthorrhea_, _Proteaceae Eucalypti_, the beautiful _Telopea
speciosissima_, the giant lily (_Doryanthes excelsa_), and many others
indigenous to the Australian continent, such as never meet the European's
gaze, or, at all events, only very rarely in forcing houses, here arrest
the attention by their towering forms, their elegant foliage, and their
grand proportions, as compared with their brethren of northern climes. One
species of weeping willow (_Salex Babylonica_), which grows here in the
utmost luxuriance, has a special historic interest, as it was a shoot from
the well-known willow that overshadowed the grave of Bonaparte at St.
Helena. Through the obliging attention of the superintendent of the
garden, Mr. Charles Moore, who spared neither trouble nor pains to afford
us all the assistance in his power, our collection of Australian flora is
exceedingly plentiful and valuable. It consists not merely of a
comprehensive collection of Australian seeds and useful woods, but also of
some species of living plants, forwarded to Europe in what is known as
Ward's chest. At the same time we were successful in procuring and
sending, in accordance with his request, to Professor Rochleder, in
Prague, a Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Science, some 50 or 60 lbs. of
the raw _Epacris Grandiflora_, as also a small quantity of _Casuarina
equisetifolia_, for the purpose of chemical experiments, especially with
regard to the relations of chemistry with the geographical distribution of
plants.
At last, on 16th November, we were able to make out our long-projected
excursion to Campbelton, 33 miles distant, over a tolerably good, usually
somewhat flat, country, traversed by railroad in about two hours.
On our arrival at this small but most industrious village we found,
awaiting our arrival, our hospitable friend, Sir W. Macarthur, who took us
to his estate adjoining, called Camden Park. Sir William belongs to one of
the most distinguished families in the colony, and enjoys the double
reputation of being at once the most important wine-grower of Australia,
and of having the best wine in his cellar.
We drove to our host's house through very pretty scenery, and thus had a
fresh opportunity of satisfying ourselves of the strange inaccuracy of
former travellers, who related that the leaves in Australia were of wood
and the stems of iron, that the bees had no stings, the birds no wings,
and hair instead of feathers, the flowers no fragrance, the birds no
melody, and the trees, like so many Peter Schlemils, no shadow. Although
Nature has been guilty of some few freaks both in Australia and in New
Zealand, and has created some extraordinary animals, such, for example, as
the duck-billed platypus (_ornithorrhynchus paradoxus_), the ant-eater,
the kiwi, &c., these are but exceptions, and there are here but few
differences to be remarked in either the animal or vegetable world, such
as should distinguish it for extravagance beyond all other countries. In
Australia there are birds that sing, and odoriferous trees and flowers in
great profusion, and the forests, at those places whither the axe of the
busy settler has not yet penetrated or imparted to it a park-like aspect,
are as dense, as thickly clothed with underwood, and as difficult to make
one's way through, as in any other quarter of the globe under a similar
latitude.
Close beside the elegant residence of Sir William are extensive vineyards,
to superintend which he imported German vine-dressers from the Rheingau.
Each of these families has his own hut, a plot of garden ground, and in
addition to rations of milk, bread, and butter, receives L25 per annum
wages. When these good folks heard that strangers, compatriots of theirs,
were among them, with whom they could converse in their mother-tongue, a
dozen or so at once assembled to bid us welcome. Most of these betrayed a
certain amount of hesitation in expressing themselves in their own
language, and, like the same class in Pennsylvania, whenever they were at
a loss for a word supplied it by its English equivalent. There resulted
from this a most comical jargon, sometimes most grotesque in its
eccentricity, as, for instance, when, on our remarking to one of these
vine-dressers who had been in Australia for ten years that he seemed to
have quite forgotten his German, he replied, with an air of outraged
national dignity, "Oh no! _wir_ keep it _immer_ in exercise."
The entire number of Germans in New South Wales is estimated (in 1858) at
7000. They are usually settled on the larger rivers, such as Hunter,
Clarence, Brisbane rivers, where they have small farms on the alluvial
soil, or are engaged in agriculture, or vine cultivation. Their industry,
perseverance, and frugality soon make them independent and well-to-do. We
were told of one poor peasant of the Rhenish districts, named
Frauenfelder, who arrived here from Germany, in 1849, with twelve
daughters, and settled on Clarence river as a vine-dresser. After ten
years of unwearied activity he became a prosperous man, got all his
daughters well married, and now owns one of the most flourishing
settlements in the entire colony.[15] A German enjoys in Australia, after
five years' residence, the same political rights as the English. After
twelve months he becomes naturalized and may possess land; after three
years he may vote; and after five years' residence he may become a member
of Parliament. Should there be anything specially affecting German
interests in the colony, they can at least influence one vote in
Parliament. The reason why the number of Germans in Australia is yet so
small is undoubtedly owing to the high price of land. The same quantity
which can be purchased in the United States for one dollar costs L1 here,
and this solely because the Colonial Government contracted a loan in
former days with the wealthier colonists, for which they pledged the land,
which was taken at L1 per acre; this has never been paid off, so that the
mortgagee is virtually the proprietor of the soil, without Government
being in a position to profit by its contract or get rid of its
liabilities. It thus has become necessary for them to enhance the value of
the land, and this seems to be the chief difficulty in the way of lowering
the acreage price, to the manifest encouragement of emigration and the
cultivation of the soil.
Sir William conducted us, now on horseback, now on foot, now in his
carriage, over his extensive domain, and did not fail to acquaint us with
the details of everything that could be interesting or useful. Wine
cultivation in Australia, though only first raised into importance in
1838, has made such rapid strides, and has proved so profitable, that in
no long time England, hitherto so deficient in wines, will be enabled
through her colonies to vie with the choicest vintages of Europe; for
those of Australia and the Cape are little inferior even now in body and
_bouquet_ to those of Spain, and it is only the smallness of the quantity
hitherto manufactured, and almost entirely reserved for private
consumption, that has stood in the way of their being much more
extensively dealt in European markets. The entire product of wine in 1858
was 60,000 gallons, but the reason why the quantity is so limited is not
in the unsuitability of the land devoted to it, but the great difficulty
of procuring labour, and of getting it at the precise moment when it is
most wanted. As often as the journals launch forth upon the discovery of
some fresh gold-field, the field hands forthwith strike work, and make off
to the "diggings." On such occasions many thousand men are suddenly
smitten with the gold fever, and their ordinary avocations are at once
abandoned. We saw on one occasion a number of half-finished houses, which
had been left in that incomplete state by the thirst for gold of the
labourers, who are omnipotent here. "There are no greater tyrants than the
labourers of this country," was Sir William's pithy remark, as he looked
sadly on their work, abandoned unfinished, and the half-cultivated fields
around.
Our host made us taste various descriptions of wine, which in every
respect greatly resembled sherry, while a redder sort strongly reminded us
of Muscat. Even in Australia, the grape has already been attacked by that
mysterious disease which has done such mischief in various parts of
Europe, and especially in Madeira, but its noxious effects have as yet
been confined to a few species only. Much damage is occasionally done by a
species of worm, for the extirpation of which boys are engaged at from
1_s._ to 2_s._ per diem. The vintage in Australia usually begins in March
and lasts till far on in April.
We passed a short hour very agreeably in Sir William's study, which
comprises a library full of valuable particulars as to the history of the
country. At every moment the traveller from long-settled countries, feels
an emotion of surprise at the numerous and costly collections of rare
works and valuable cabinets of natural history he finds in a country where
he might expect that the universal rush after earthly dross must render
such pursuits valueless. The fact is, that in forming an estimate of the
country he is almost certain to omit taking into account that, in addition
to the convicts and gold-diggers, there have come out hither a
considerable number of young men of the highest circles of English
society, who, provided by Government with tracts of land for settling
upon, are in hopes of more speedily attaining fortune and position than in
England, where the younger sons of the aristocracy are in too many
instances apt to lead a sauntering life of dependency. Such cadets of
leading families have, since the commencement of the present century,
settled in considerable numbers in various parts of Australia, and have
introduced with them that taste for combined elegance and comfort, which
the foreign traveller in that country has such reason to feel surprise at,
as well as to be thankful for.
After our visit to Camden Park we spent the rest of the day at Campbelton,
making preparations to continue our excursion as far as Appin and
Wulongong, in the district of Illawara. From Campbelton to Appin is a
distance of 12 miles, by a tolerably wide level road, partly through
cultivated farms, partly through forest scenery. We encountered but one
vehicle the whole distance, containing a family dressed in their best, to
accompany a body to the grave--probably some father or sister. "A funeral
in the bush," said our driver to us with a somewhat serious face, as he
called our attention to the cart moving on slowly through the stillness of
the wood. In a simple little forest hut, whose inhabitants are engaged in
avocations that necessarily imply the closest daily intimacy, the stroke
of death must fall with redoubled severity, as he strikes down some of the
dearest and best beloved.
When we reached Appin the day was already too far spent to admit of our
reaching Wulongong, the end of our journey, the same evening. Uninviting
as was the filth of the little village ale-house where we alighted, we had
to make the best of its accommodations, as it was the only inn in the
place. The dialect which now saluted our ears unmistakeably proved that we
were domiciled in an Irish house. The people were by no means poor, they
possessed an extensive "run" near the hotel, but it is part of the
character of Irish settlers to be superior to the virtues of cleanliness
and order. Quite close at hand began the forest, a visit to which was
rewarded by the capture of several species of birds peculiar to New South
Wales, among others the laughing jack-ass (_Dacelo gigantea_) and the
beautiful blue-black atlas bird (_Kitta holosericea_).
The following morning we resumed our journey through lofty, dense, and
magnificent forests, in which the vast trunks of gum trees imparted their
special character to the scenery. One of the most beautiful points of view
in this delightful drive was when we crossed Sir Thomas Mitchell's, or
Broughton's, Pass, which has been cut through the gigantic rocks of a
mountain-range at considerable expense and labour, presenting at every
turn a fresh and more beautiful grouping of rock and mountain fringed with
fir and gum, reminding us somewhat of the romantic savage solitudes of the
Alps.
On our way to the coast we passed but one solitary farm, consisting of a
couple of wretched wooden huts, thatched with bark, standing on a clearing
named Bargo, where the mail-boy on his way from Appin changes horses, and
remains for a few hours over-night. We merely took some coffee, and were
not a little surprised at finding it presented to us in a fashion in
strong contrast with the rude exterior of this forest hut. Sheffield and
Wedgwood wares in the bush, and English ships constructed of Australian
timber--such is the secret of English political economy!
Not far from Bargo we enter upon troublesome sand wastes, at one point of
which the traveller enjoys a wonderfully extensive prospect over the
Illawara lake, the Keira range, and the sea, especially if, as was our
case, he is accompanied by intelligent _ciceroni_ acquainted with the
country, otherwise he is likely to pass this little elevation, only a few
paces from the road, little dreaming of the magnificent landscape which he
is missing.
As soon as we got to the coast we once more encountered fan-palms,
tree-ferns, and other representatives of tropical vegetation, the last few
hours of our road towards the little port lying through scenes of
Eden-like loveliness. About 3 P.M. of the 18th November we reached
Wulongong.
We again fell in here with Sir William Macarthur, who had undertaken a
very arduous ride through the forests around Wulongong for the purpose of
collecting some tree-ferns, which he intended sending to England. Few
nations have such a thorough appreciation of nature as the English, or
exert themselves so unselfishly, by personal observation and indefatigable
energy, to enlarge the acquaintance of mankind with natural history in all
its different ramifications. Men in every grade of life take a pleasure in
hunting out rare species of plants, animals, or minerals, in the remotest
districts of the globe, which they transmit to their own country, or
publish such observations respecting them as may make them available for
science, handicraft-industry, or commerce. By these incidental voluntary
contributions to the general stock, England now possesses scientific
collections such as hardly any nation can hope to keep up short of an
enormous expense. These endeavours, it is true, are considerably favoured
and supported by the fact of British colonies being scattered over the
entire earth, but even in this respect it must be conceded that it is
through her own meritorious, unselfish policy that circumstances thus
combine to aid her efforts in this peculiar direction.
Wulongong is a hamlet consisting of a few streets, and its principal
resources seem to be in the visits of the Sydneyites, who come hither for
sea-bathing. Already the existence of several hotels, which, considering
the size of the place, are unusually elegant and extensive, but at the
same time extremely costly, shows that Wulongong must be rather
extensively patronized by the inhabitants of the capital, with which it
has regular communication by small steamers, making the voyage in a few
hours. Unfortunately Wulongong has no convenient harbour, but only a small
exposed roadstead, rendered barely safe for a few small vessels by a stone
bulwark, so that in the event of rough weather the landing and embarkation
of visitors is attended with much discomfort.
We alighted at the Brighton Hotel, prettily situated on the sea-coast, and
met here our newly-acquired Australian friend, Mr. Edward Hill, a
brother-in-law of Sir D. Cooper's, who, with his usual kindness and
forethought, had made all possible preparations for ensuring that our
further flying visit to the Illawara district should be one of the most
memorable episodes of our stay in the colony. Mr. Hill, an Australian by
birth, may, through the peculiar circumstances of his life, his striking
observations on and profound sympathy with the blacks, be considered one
of those most profoundly acquainted with that remarkable race, whose
idiom, as spoken in this district, he can converse in with the utmost
fluency. For this gentleman's attention we were indebted not merely for
repeated opportunities of intercourse with the natives, but also for the
excitement, to us thoroughly novel, of a kangaroo-hunt.
A number of natives were living in an improvised sort of settlement
outside the town, and camped around the forest under low sheds of bark. At
a little distance off Mr. Hill uttered a sharp, shrill whistle, which was
immediately responded to from the forest. Presently two young natives made
their appearance, and shook hands with Mr. Hill. An old man with grey hair
remained cowering upon the ground without stirring. There were altogether
four men, two women, and two children, all pretty well made, their skin of
a black or dull brown hue, broad nostrils, and black crisp hair, which,
however, had nothing woolly in its texture. One of the women carried a
child, whose features and complexion were obviously the result of white
parentage on one side. However, she did not seem, as is the case with
other races that are proud of their colour, to be looked down upon on that
account by her own race, who, so low is their standard of morality, rather
consider it an honour for a black woman to bear a child to a white. Men
and women alike showed on their skins the protuberant cicatrices of
artificial incisions, two or three inches long, chiefly on the breast,
arms, and back.
All the male natives with whom we conversed had had the upper central
teeth knocked out, such being one distinguishing mark of their having
attained the dignity of manhood!
The abundance of mustachio and beard of the Australian savages is a marked
peculiarity, which none of their cognate races east or west have in common
with them. We were also told that they value the beard as their highest
ornament, and make it one of the great objects of their life to tend it.
No man of their race dare marry or kill an emu till he can show a beard,
to which also great virtue is attached in battle. None of these natives
understand the use of the Boomerang.[16]
The natives around Port Jackson and in the Illawara district have,
generally speaking, little of the aboriginal about them, and their abject
misery and addiction to drink make them pitiable and disgusting objects;
for their present hopeless state is in great measure attributable to their
contact with civilization, which has made them neither intelligent nor
industrious. The natives, however, of the banks of the Murray, Clarence,
and Brisbane rivers, though of the same race, are of a very different
appearance. They keep up the habits of their ancestors, and seldom come in
contact with civilization, and even then only with its pioneers, the
squatters and shepherds. Among these the customs of circumcision and
unlimited polygamy are universal, each man having as many wives as he can
steal or support. Owing, however, to their nomad life, this system is
practised to but a limited extent. Infanticide, especially of female
children, is of very frequent occurrence. Abortion is also so frequently
practised that they have a word (_Mibra_) to express it! On the other
hand, we read in Count Strzelecki's valuable work that "the female natives
after illicit commerce with a white man become barren for their own race,"
which, according to all unbiased observers, is a complete delusion.
In no part of Australia do the natives cultivate the soil. Nomad as is
their mode of life, they live almost exclusively on the products of the
chase, or of the deep, according as they live in the interior or on the
coast. Lizards, snakes, and insects, and some few roots and resinous
substances, form the delicacies of their primitive cookery.
Their dwellings are either natural cavities in the rock, or a few pieces
of bark fixed into the ground at either end, and arched upwards in the
middle. Throughout New South Wales the custom prevails, when a native dies
young, of burying him under a shallow mound of earth, only the elders
possessing the privilege of being consumed with fire. In the latter case
the corpse of the deceased, with his hunting and fishing implements, is
placed on a pile of dry wood about three feet high, with his face towards
the rising sun. This is covered by the surviving relatives with straw and
wood, who then set fire to the funeral pyre. Some days later the ashes and
calcined bones are collected and burnt. The name of the dead is never
again pronounced, any individual of the same tribe, who may also happen to
bear it, being compelled to exchange it for another.
The prevalence of cannibalism is a well-established fact among the natives
of the north. M. Angas, amongst other interesting particulars, mentioned
one case, where a boy died in the vicinity of Moreton Bay, whose head and
skin, according to the savage habits of the natives, were separated from
the rest of his body and dried over a fire. The father and mother were
both present and uttered loud cries. The heart, liver, and entrails were
divided among the warriors, who carried away with them pieces stuck on
their bone-pointed spears; while the upper part of the thigh (apparently
the tit-bit) was roasted and eaten by the parents themselves! The skin,
the skull, and the bones were, on the other hand, carefully packed up and
taken away with them in their grass sacks. It is not unusual for a mother
to devour her own child, that she may thereby regain the strength which
the fruit of her womb has abstracted from her! When a warrior of a hostile
tribe falls into their hands they celebrate his sacrifice with savage
glee, by rubbing their bodies with the fat around their victim's kidneys,
by which means they believe they strengthen their muscles and inspire
their hearts with courage. In the southern parts of Australia the natives
use human skulls as drinking cups, and one instance is on record where a
portion of a human skeleton was habitually used by an entire race as a
tool. Each woman has one of these bone calabashes, which she usually has
hollowed-out and manufactured herself. In the tolerably comprehensive
ethnographic collection of the Australian Museum we saw several examples
of these hideous drinking vessels! With respect to the idea of a future
life, or the immortality of the soul, the natives seem to have very
contracted notions, principally confined to a superstitious dread of evil
spirits, and to the very singular notion that after death they are
converted into whites, and that the Englishmen who now people their
hunting grounds are the spirits of their ancestors thus transformed!
At various parts of the colony, especially among the outlying mountains
and bare rocks adjoining Middle Harbour, Camp Cove, Point Piper, Mossman's
Cove, Lang's Cove, &c., the eye is attracted by numbers of rude sculptures
hewn in the stone, which usually represent terrestrial objects, such as
kangaroos, emus, flying-squirrels, fish, tortoises, and, above all,
numerous representations of natives performing the _Coroborry_. This is a
sort of war-dance, in which those who participate usually paint their
bodies with white lines, like a skeleton, and seen through the obscurity
of night, leaping around a faint fire, have the appearance of a set of
dead bodies dancing.
If we ask any of the black men of the present generation the significance
of these rock sculptures, they usually reply, in their broken English,
"Black fellow make 'em long time ago," and on being pressed more
particularly as to their age, they throw up their hands and faces, shut
their eyes, and say, "Murrey, murrey, murrey, long time ago!"
The great variety of theories commonly received as to the supposed origin
of this singular race of men have done little to dispel the obscurity
which prevails as to the real _stirps_ of which the Australian race is a
branch. Writers who are fond of squaring facts with pre-conceived theories
maintain that the first inhabitants of Australia came from Eastern Asia or
the Indian Archipelago, and passing Torres Straits gradually overspread
the entire Australian continent. Nay, some even go so far as to maintain
that there exists to this time in the interior of some of the islands of
the Malay Archipelago a race of men identical with the aborigines of
Australia. And it certainly is a remarkable fact, that most of the
Australian war-songs, dances, &c., have been diffused from north to south,
although it does seem venturesome to deduce from this single circumstance
a migration from Eastern Asia. Others again hold (such, namely, as
Prichard, Wappaus, Burdach, &c.), that the aborigines are of the same race
as that inhabiting New Guinea and New Caledonia, and thus make them of the
same stock as the Australasian negro. Lastly, a modern naturalist, Mr.
James Brown, who lived sixteen years amongst the blacks, considers it not
improbable that some Malay crews (for since time immemorial it is known
that the Malays have been acquainted with, and visited the northern
shores of, Australia) had been, by shipwreck or some similar calamity,
cast away on the coast of the mainland, or on some of the islands near
Torres Straits, and had thus become the first involuntary settlers of the
north of Australia. This increasing population gradually spread over the
interior, and when after some centuries this people had traversed the
continent and arrived at the ocean on its further side, they had already
lost all recollection of their Pelagic origin, and were no longer capable
of deriving any advantage from the sea spread before their astonished
gaze. Strange to say, the black populations of Australia seem to be the
sole savage race inhabiting the coast of an ocean, who possess no means of
transport by water, and are unable to swim! Very possibly the recent
expeditions into the interior, undertaken with such ardour and attention
to details, may throw some new light upon these aborigines, but equally,
if not more, probable is it, that the entire race may have disappeared
from the earth before any reliable facts can be ascertained respecting
their origin, their migrations, or their history.
The morning after our arrival at Wulongong, and our first acquaintance
with the natives, we made an excursion, under the tutelage of Mr. White,
to Balgonie Farm, to hunt kangaroo in the forests of the neighbourhood. It
was not, however, the large species (_Macropus Major_) we were to hunt,
which sometimes attains a height of six feet, or even more, but a smaller
kind known as the Wallaby (_Halmaturus ualabatus_). The kangaroo proper
have long since retreated before civilization, and are now only found in
the recesses of the forest, hundreds of miles inland. The various
participators in the hunt were posted at certain distances in one of the
splendid forests, stretching between the Bellambi-Keira and Kemla ranges
of hills, while the blacks who accompanied us set forth to drive the game
towards us, assisted by their Dingoes, a kind of dog usually supposed to
be originally of European race. The blacks use the term "Dingo"
promiscuously for every description of dog, whereas the regular wild dog,
or rather the dog that runs wild in Australia, is called in the native
tongue "Warrigul," and is of no particular breed, but seems rather a
mongrel descendant of the sheep dog.
The hunt was not very successful, and of some ten or twelve started by the
"beaters," only two were killed. Although one can discern the Wallaby at
some distance by its plashing tramp, so that it seems but to need a glance
of the eye to bring it down as it flies past on its hind legs, followed
close by the dogs, it yet needs great activity and precision of aim to hit
the nimble animal as it hops swiftly past.
Yet though we were rewarded with such poor sport, our stay among the
splendid woods of the Keira range sufficiently repaid us. The most varied
and luxuriant forms of vegetation, changing at every step, almost
transcend the wanderer's power of description by their marvellous and
enrapturing beauty. Some portions of the forest landscape, where splendid
tree-ferns and gigantic gum trees, enveloped in the folds of the Liana,
from which in its turn depended exquisite parasitic plants, reminded us of
the brilliant profusion of the tropics. Not less peculiar and uncommon
than the vegetation were the sounds that struck our ear from amid the
semi-obscure green covert, without our eyes being able to distinguish the
singers. And so deceptive are some of these, that one almost involuntarily
starts as the loud crack resounds close to his ear of the _Phsophodes
crepitans_, known to colonists as the "Coachman's whip," or the _Myzantha
Garrula_, or bell-bird, sounds its bell-like note.
During our stroll we came upon several farms, plain wooden huts covered
with the glutinous bark of the gum tree, whose impoverished exterior gave
little promise of the comfort to be found within, and pleasantest of all
was the ready and heartfelt hospitality. Hardly had we set our foot within
a hut, ere all the members of the family bestirred themselves to bring
milk and butter, eggs and bread, of which they pressed us to partake. In
each we visited there was no lack of beautiful china, elegantly carved
wine glasses, and Sheffield table cutlery, while the walls were decorated
with elegant engravings and wood-cuts. The bread was usually the national
institution, known as "Damper," which is simply some meal and water well
mixed and heated in warm ashes. It is very palatable, and besides the
simplicity of its preparation, the meal well kneaded being baked for an
hour as aforesaid, it possesses the advantage of continuing for a
considerable time fit for use.
Our return to Sydney was fixed for the following morning. We were desirous
of catching the steamer which plies from Wulongong every second day, as
our Commodore, and several of the scientific staff, had received an
invitation for the evening at Sydney. As the steamer would first of all
start towards noon from Keiama, we employed the hours of morning in a
visit to the coal mines of the Keira, and hunting in the adjoining
forests. Coal is very abundant in these mines, and is wheeled along a
level shaft in small waggons as far as the high road, whence it is
conveyed by regular carts to the city. About 200 of these are brought up
every day.
Unfortunately our plan for returning by the steamer fell through, as a
high wind and heavy sea rendered the entrance of the boat into the harbour
a very problematical business. Accordingly, as the boat had not made her
appearance by 4 P.M., there was nothing for it but to return by coach to
Appin, so as to enable us to reach Sydney in time for our invitation. The
cool of evening began now to be felt among the lofty steep hills, over
which lies the road to the interior. At first all went well, and the early
part of our journey was performed in all comfort and at a rapid pace. But
we soon came to some very steep parts of the road, where our tired horses
gave out, and could not proceed one step further. By this time we had left
the coach, and went on on foot, shooting and collecting as we proceeded,
and admiring the beauty of the landscape around. The coach had stuck fast
half-way up a steep ridge, while the horses took no heed of the servants'
flagellation. The coarse language in which Mr. Croker, the very type in
this respect of an English driver, exhorted Billy and Sam (so were our two
steeds named), and the frequent song of the whip, availed nothing; the
animals would not budge a step; so we had to lend our assistance in
person, and move the vehicle a few paces farther to a less dangerous
position.
Further progress, under the circumstances, was out of the question. It was
resolved to send man and horse back to Wulongong to engage additional
horses, and continue our walk as far as the huts at Bargo, the next
station, 18 miles distant. _En route_, or at Bargo, it was supposed our
coachman would overtake us with fresh horses. As we were by no means sure
of our road, we took the precaution of carrying our most necessary
effects, in the event of our having to pass the night in the bush.
It was 6.30 P.M., and the sun was going down, only the extreme summits of
the trees catching and reflecting his golden beams. On we went, our
excitement stimulated by the prospect of an adventure. Gradually the
darkness of night enveloped the wood. Our path became uncertain. Even the
full splendour of the moon, as she rose in the east, and darted her silver
rays through the gloom of the _Eucalypti_, casting gigantic shadows on the
sandy soil, rather tended to confuse us amid this labyrinth than enable
us to extricate ourselves. We held on however till 1 A.M., and were just
on the eve of camping for the night to await the break of day, when all at
once we saw before us the stately fence which surrounds Bargo. With
quickened steps we made for the lonely little farm, and hammered at its
closed door. A tremendous chorus of barking dogs was the not very
propitious welcome of guests arriving at such an unseasonable hour. After
repeated knocking the door of the hut was opened; an old man appeared in
his night-shirt on the threshold, and gruffly inquired who we were and
what we wanted? The reply was not difficult. Our having passed that way
before, when we had scraped acquaintance with the old gentleman, likewise
stood us in good stead. We were most cordially received, and, despite the
lateness of the hour, preparations were at once made to prepare something
for us to eat. Tea, coffee, eggs, fresh butter, and damper were carried
into the sitting-room, and as far as was practicable sleeping quarters
were prepared in the little hut.
The only ill result of our nocturnal fatigues was that we rose late, the
sun being high in the heavens ere we awoke. We were just about to ask for
our driver, when he made his appearance, and told us he was ready to
proceed. He had paid hire for fresh horses at Wulongong, and hoped to make
the rest of the journey without further interruption. While they were
being put to, we re-entered the hut, and now perceived the small space
within which ourselves, three persons, had passed the night on benches,
chairs, and tables. The light of day did not belie the hospitality of our
reception. The furniture was rude but clean. What most surprised us was
the number of massive books which stood on a small shelf, carefully
arranged. They were by much the most valuable part of the furniture, and
the proprietor seemed to be aware of this. The books had been the property
of a schoolmaster, who had exchanged their spiritual contents against
spirits of another nature. The host gave "tick" to the schoolmaster, and
thus gradually possessed himself of the entire collection, no
inconsiderable number, of interesting works, which now passed from hand to
hand on holidays or after the day's work was over; the desire for
knowledge of the settlers in this primitive Australian forest thus finding
ample room to expand itself in many useful and learned particulars of
foreign lands and peoples.
Towards 1 P.M. we reached Campbelton. At the hotel where we alighted was
installed a lodge of Odd Fellows, newly instituted. The first visible
result of its organization was almost universal intoxication! In the
streets and the public-houses, everywhere crowds of drunken men were
staggering about. Every third house in Campbelton is a whisky shop!
Throughout the colony the consumption of ardent spirits has reached an
alarming height, being estimated at L6 per head of the entire population
annually! Besides the spirits manufactured in the colony itself, New South
Wales imports annually L1,000,000 of wine, beer, brandy, and other
descriptions of liquor; a greater consumption of spirits than in any
other country of the globe![17]
The rest of our return journey being by rail was performed in two hours.
The telegraph is in full activity between Campbelton and Sydney, the
charge for a message of ten words being two shillings, and two-pence for
each succeeding word. Towards 6 P.M. we reached Sydney, driving in the
present instance to the Australian club, where accommodation had in the
kindest manner been provided for us.
While one section of our staff had been making the excursion southwards
which we have just described, among the forests and barrens of the
Illawara district, another party visited the sources of Hunter River and
the Newcastle coal-fields, whence they returned laden with botanical,
mineralogical, entomological, and palaeontological collections, samples of
coal, fossil plants, and specimens of the Silurian formations.
The most interesting episode in their excursion was their stay on Ash
Island, a small isle in the Hunter River, the property of A. W. Scott,
Esq., M.L.A., who has settled there with his family. Two of his daughters
are hardly more conspicuous by their loveliness and grace than by their
profound acquaintance with entomology, which they pursue with the utmost
zeal. In addition to geological and conchyliological collections, they
have also a carefully classed collection of insects and butterflies, and
at the time of our visit were about publishing a large work upon
Australian butterflies. They also have the lepidopterous _fauna_ of New
South Wales in great variety and in every stage of metamorphosis, in many
cases from the very _ovum_, all copiously explained, and their
distinguishing characteristics placed beneath in a series of above one
hundred tables, which the two ladies, who are accomplished artists both in
drawing and painting, have themselves lithographed and coloured.
An excursion was also made from Ash Island to the Sugar Loaf, 3288 feet
high, the loftiest mountain in the district. As they had to do 40 miles in
one day, the party sprang to their horses as soon as day dawned, and,
accompanied by two settlers of Ash Island, laid themselves out for the
day's work. First they ascended Hunter River for about a couple of miles,
which a little further on headed to the northward, while the cavalcade
kept to the left towards the hills. The forest was so clear of underwood,
that one could almost ride along as though in a park. Despite the numerous
traces of extensive fires, it seemed to have been but little altered by
these from its primitive wildness. Occasionally huts and cultivated land
were passed; the great proprietors usually give these runs to be
cultivated as farms, or make them serve for their cattle, under their own
drovers. In winter the cattle run at will in the "Bush," as the settlers
call this characteristic scenery, wherever they can find the best pasture
for themselves. In summer again, when the great heat dries everything up,
they are foddered with hay under shelter. The sunny forest consists of
_Eucalypti_, _Melaleuca_, and other _myrtaceae_, splendid _casuarinas_,
_Grevilleae_, _Banksiae_, the native pear (_Hylomelum_), the highly prized
Warratah (_Telopea speciosissima_), the all but shadowless _Acacia_, the
indigenous cherry (_Exocarpus_), beautiful _Papilionaceae_, and very
peculiar _Stylidiae_, &c. All these were old acquaintances however of the
Austrian naturalists, who greeted them in this their native soil with
redoubled interest and astonishment. Covered with blossoms they grew in
wild unchecked profusion all around their path, so that the very horses
frequently trod them under foot, scenting the air with an aroma which in
Europe can only be obtained by lavish expenditure. Numerous birds, chiefly
parrots, circled round the tops of the trees; the crow-like _Strepera
graculina_, the bald-headed _Tropidorhynchus corniculatus_ the "Jack ass"
(_Dacela gigantea_), so highly regarded and carefully tended by the
colonists on account of its admonishing them of the presence of poisonous
serpents, quantities of chaffinches (_frigellidae_), the fan-tailed
flycatcher (_Muscipiada_), the _Climacteris_, which runs up and down the
trunks of the trees like our own wood-pecker, the monitor lizard, four or
five feet in length, which flits rapidly to and fro among the trees, the
prickly chameleon, and beautiful specimens of fossil helix, all furnished
a rich reward for the zoologist.
After a ride of three hours the party began to approach a steep wall of
rock, where the horses were left, as they had now to prosecute their
journey on foot, till at length they came to a confused mass of coarse,
breccia-like sandstone, constituting what is known as the Sugar Loaf,
whence they had to toil laboriously among the rocks till they reached the
summit. A marvellous panorama was spread out before them; the whole county
of Northumberland, with its green forest clothing, was stretched out at
their feet in all its sunlit splendour. To the left far in the distance
was visible the township of Maitland, and the navigable part of the Hunter
River, which wound along like a silver band till it was lost in the
distance, where it fell into the Pacific, on whose seething billows the
stately ships looked like small white specks on a confused, uncertain
back-ground. Far in the distance to the right, half concealed by the
forest, was Lake Macquarie. The colonial members of the party described
the latter as very difficult of access, but as a veritable paradise for
the sportsman, since it is frequented by black swans in hundreds, the
Australian stork, curlews, the hook-billed creeper, cormorants, and an
infinite variety of water-fowl. The Blue Mountains formed the back-ground
of this splendid landscape. The whole neighbourhood is pretty well settled
and cultivated. Here and there wreaths of blue smoke indicated where the
huts of industrious colonists lay concealed in the forest. Their
conductors were not a whit behind the strangers in their appreciation of
the panoramic effect; they had never scaled the summit before, although
the elder had lived 15 years at Ash Island, and had often been as far as
the top of the first rocky ascent in search of strayed cattle.
Lost in delighted contemplation of the beauties of nature, no account was
made of the passage of time, so that part of the return journey had to be
made in the twilight. It was a delightful, clear, moonlight night. The
deep stillness in nature was only occasionally broken by the shrill cry of
the curlew (_Numenius arquata_), from the neighbouring swamps, or the
rustling of Wallabies disturbed by the tread of the advancing horsemen.
Buried in a sort of dreamy charm that could find no utterance, the riders
left their horses to choose their own pace over the sward, hardly able to
realize that they were indeed under the unclouded brilliancy of an
Australian sky, traversing the forests haunted by the timid kangaroo and
the swift but shy emu.
Unfortunately it was found impossible, owing to want of time, to visit the
Blue Mountains and the gold regions around Bathurst. We had to content our
curiosity as to the products of the gold-fields by examining the nuggets
exhibited by the fortunate finders in the jewellers' shops of George
Street, Sydney, and the particulars furnished in the daily papers of the
well-authenticated riches of the gold-fields of the oldest colony. During
our stay a lump of gold was discovered in the Western district weighing
150 lbs., and worth L6000. Such instances of good fortune only tend to
raise fallacious hopes of being equally fortunate in the breasts of
thousands of men. Shortly before our arrival, on the news being
promulgated of the new Eldorado in the north near Port Curtis on the
Fitzroy, not less than 16,000 men flocked thither from New South Wales
and Victoria. This enormous influx of human beings to a district totally
unprovided with either shelter or provisions for such a horde resulted in
unutterable suffering. People had sold their goods in Sydney for whatever
they would fetch, in order to be the first in the gold-field with the
requisite implements. Many lost their entire means of support, having even
sacrificed the most favourable prospects in the eager thirst for gold and
sudden prosperity. The streets of Melbourne and Sydney were filled with
gold-seekers, who, laden with blankets, household utensils, axes, and
spades, were laying down their last farthing for passage tickets, and
rushed breathlessly to the ships which were to convey them to the
newly-discovered gold-field. The voyage began under the most rose-coloured
anticipations of brilliant success. But scarcely a month later came most
depressing intelligence from Port Curtis. Here was a set of lawless
desperadoes, deceived in their expectations, without food, clothing, or
even the object of their search, in a remote part of the country, with the
hot season coming on, and no means of returning! Men were seen selling for
a few shillings implements that had cost pounds. The whole road from the
supposed gold-fields to the landing-quay was strewed with diggers, who,
footsore and fainting under the heat, were toiling towards the coast,
where they rushed in wild confusion on board the ships which were to
convey the victims back to the colonies they had left at so much sacrifice
and with so extravagant expectations!
It was only the energetic measures taken by Government, by whom provisions
were forthwith despatched to the wretched make-shifts of settlements
improvised on the spur of the moment, and gave numbers free passages to
Sydney and Melbourne, that prevented some serious disaster. A few months
later the place so suddenly populous had become once more a despised
solitude, and Rockhampton had resumed its wonted state of a hamlet
consisting of two or three houses. In Sydney, however, the famished crowd
seeking after work kept wandering about, thankfully accepting the soup
which the charity of their fellow-citizens supplied free of charge.
During these various excursions of the scientific staff, the frigate had,
thanks to the kindness of H.E. Sir Wm. Denison, been taken into the
Government dry dock at Cockatoo Island in order to facilitate her
extensive repairs. The _Novara_ was, as the chief engineer himself
allowed, the largest man-of-war which had ever been docked, not merely in
Port Jackson, but anywhere in the Eastern hemisphere.
The Fitzroy dry dock, which had not long been completed, is 300 feet in
length (since lengthened another 100 feet), 60 feet wide, and will
accommodate vessels drawing 19 feet water. In preparing this splendid
structure, which took eight years to complete, a huge rock 50 feet high
was first blasted, the excavation began on the land-side, and on its
completion a gate opened towards the sea. All being right thus far, a
subaqueous mine was sprung by means of large diving-bells, the
excavations being charged with two or three lbs. of powder. A steam-engine
of 40-horse power pumps the dock dry,[18] besides being geared to set in
motion the various machinery in the shops, such as lathes, iron planes,
&c. The dock gates are iron-plated. Although constructed entirely by
convict labour, the expense was enormous, since to overcome the
extraordinary difficulty presented by the soil, the entire machinery, down
to the very smallest tool, had to be imported from England.
The frigate lay about a week in dock. Besides the usual handicraftsmen
there were upwards of thirty caulkers employed, each of whom was paid
14_s._ per diem, net, but the entire cost was 17_s._ a day, as each man
was conveyed to and fro, morning and evening, at Government expense. But
as provisions are high, the workman can save by the end of the week little
if at all more than the English labourer who does not receive one-third of
his wages. At present there are on the island 360 prisoners, all such as
have been sentenced to ten years penal servitude at least. This
establishment was, however, to be broken up, and the convicts distributed
among other prisons, so soon as the dock was quite completed.
The main features of a prison reform, contemplated by Sir Wm. Denison,
with the praiseworthy object not merely of prevention of crime, but of
ameliorating the moral condition of the criminal, consisted in the
classification of criminals according to the nature of their
crime--co-operative labour during the day, solitary confinement at night,
and a certain amount of remuneration for work performed, so as to
stimulate to habits of industry by a visible reward, and a scale of
dietary barely sufficient to maintain life, any additional delicacy being
paid for out of the man's own earnings, yet not so as to entirely exhaust
his wages, the balance of which thus went on accumulating, so as to give
him a small sum of money in hand, when, his sentence expired, he was set
at liberty with, it is to be hoped, freshly-acquired habits of industry.
To facilitate this benevolent plan, Sir William bethought him of erecting
the prisons in the neighbourhood of Sydney, where there is more of a
market for convict labour, and recommended the construction of roads. The
number of prisoners at present in New South Wales is about 1260, whose
support costs on an average L36,000 per annum. In order to adapt to the
existing prisons the new system put in operation by the late
Governor-general, and extend it to 1600 men,[19] there would be required a
further outlay of L69,000, but one-third of the present annual outlay for
sustenance would be saved.
On 25th November the _Novara_, thoroughly overhauled and rejuvenated,
returned to her former anchorage near Garden Island, and the following day
commenced a series of festivities, which the German residents at Sydney
had got up to welcome the Imperial Expedition, commencing with a
serenade, given by the German Singing-Club, who hired a large steamer, the
_Washington_, for the occasion, which they had gaily decorated with
foliage and coloured lamps. Amidships there was a splendid transparency,
with the word "Welcome" inscribed in letters of light, above which was a
very neatly executed Austrian eagle. Upwards of 300 guests shared in the
fete. At 8 P.M. the vessel got under weigh from Circular Quay. With the
first plash of the paddles the music struck up, and the ship glided off,
as though on the wings of Harmony, towards the grand-looking _Novara_.
Unfortunately the weather proved very unfavourable. To an oppressingly
hot, close, sultry day of entire calm, the thermometer marking 109 deg. Fahr.
in shade, there had suddenly sprung up a "Brickfielder,"[20] that dreaded
south wind, which may be considered one of the worst plagues of Sydney,
owing to the clouds of dust. It now put German patience and German
good-humour to a severe proof. At each tack of the steamer it blew out a
whole row of variegated lamps and illuminations, which, however, were as
perseveringly relit. It had been firmly resolved, however, to let nothing
mar the success of the festival, and the old indomitable German "pluck"
came out victorious in its contest with the "Brickfielder." Amid the full
clangour of the bands of music were heard shouts of jubilant mirth,
mingled with the howling and whistling of the wind, and the rush and roar
of rockets, while the occasional firing of Bengal lights shed their magic
effect over the parti-coloured crowd on board, the ships in harbour, and
the agitated waters below. At last the steamer got near the frigate, which
she swept round in a wide graceful curve, and dropped anchor at a little
distance away. At that moment a considerable number of port-fires were lit
on board the _Novara_, bathing the entire scene, including the stately
ship herself, in an absolute deluge of light, guided by which a number of
boats put off with the company, who despite the weather were all enabled
in safety to gratify their curiosity as to the effect of nocturnal
festivities.
One of the frigate's boats was manned and despatched to the steamer, to
bring on board the _Novara_ the committee who had been entrusted with the
presentation of an address.
On board the _Novara_ the utmost excitement prevailed, almost all the
officers and petty and warrant officers being on deck, the band playing
nothing but German music. The evening ended as it began, with music and
melody, such a thoroughly German welcome making a profound impression upon
the English of Sydney.
The following day the German clubs of Sydney invited the staff to a
ceremonial banquet, the saloon in which dinner was served being elegantly
decorated with the flags of the various German states, between which were
excellent likenesses of the Emperor and Empress. Upwards of seventy guests
sat down to a sumptuous repast, after which free flow was given to the
expression of the warmest wishes for fatherland and the German nation.
While these festivities were going on, the English mails brought the
intelligence of the birth of an heir to the throne! So signal a cause for
thankfulness on the part of Austria was duly observed at the uttermost
ends of the earth, and on 27th November the thunder of the _Novara's_
cannon announced the glad tidings to the colonies of the southern coasts
of Australia! Salutes of 21 guns were fired at morning, noon, and sunset,
while on board our ship, which was decorated with all her colours, a
solemn _Te Deum_ was sung, after which the crew were mustered on parade.
The English ships of war also "dressed," and returned our salute by one of
a similar number of guns. On the 30th there was a ball on board, to which
400 guests were invited, many of the _elite_ being overlooked through
sheer want of space or accommodation!
The hospitality extended to the Austrian officers was not however confined
to these public receptions, when they were thoroughly "lionized" during
their stay, but also included a constant round of invitations among
private circles, among which, without making invidious selections, where
we can but feel a lasting recollection of the cordial kindness we
everywhere experienced, we may specify those of H.E. Sir Wm. Denison, Sir
D. Cooper, Speaker, Stuart A. Donaldson, Esq. Chief Secretary, Dr. G.
Bennett, the eminent physician and naturalist, M. W. Sentis, French
Consul, and Captain Mann, chief engineer of the docks.
Here also our thanks are due to an estimable Austrian lady, a native of
Vienna, who, wafted on the pinions of Hymen to Australia, has not a little
contributed to uphold in that distant region the gentle dignity of the
Viennese ladies, and the renown of Germany for musical supremacy. This
lady, widely known in artistic circles as Mlle Amalie Mauthner, is now
Madame R----, having a few years since married a German gentleman settled
in Sydney. Quitting her home under the most auspicious anticipations for
the future, the newly-married lady arrived in Sydney just in time to see
her husband's house of business succumb under the first of the great
financial crises. Instead of a life of affluence and ease in the
gold-country, the sorely-tried lady was compelled to display her
irresistible energy and activity by availing herself of her eminent
musical attainments. The charming artist was speedily recognized and
cordially supported in Sydney. The wealthiest and most distinguished
families considered it an especial favour to be permitted to place their
children under Mad. R----'s tuition. Her concerts became the most
fashionable of the season, and the dark cloud which had gathered above the
young inexperienced wife on her arrival in Australia, had, thanks to her
marvellous energy and activity, gradually been dispelled, leaving a bright
sunny horizon of felicity and content.
We had but little opportunity of observing the phases of political life in
Sydney, our arrival being coincident with the "dead season" of politics.
We were just in time to be present at the spectacle of the prorogation of
Parliament. This ceremonial took place in the chamber of the Legislative
Council, the Governor-general officiating in person. The second chamber,
or Legislative Assembly, was, as in England, represented simply by a
deputation. Punctually at noon Black Rod threw open the doors and
announced in grave but loud tones, "His Excellency the Governor-general of
New South Wales," upon which Sir William Denison entered the apartment
with much dignity, and assumed his seat under a sort of canopy. By his
side stood the Ministers, his private secretary, and an aide-de-camp.
Before him sat the President of the Legislative Council, and other high
dignitaries. Sir D. Cooper, Speaker of the Assembly,--whom we scarcely
recognized in his strange official costume, a black silk single-breasted
coat, richly laced with gold, and an immense full wig,--delivered a short
address, to which the Governor-general briefly responded, and the ceremony
was over and the Parliament prorogued. Australia now enjoys such a free
constitution, modelled after the English form, the administration of the
various colonies is so entirely autonomous, their duty to the mother
country so insignificant (so far as outward form goes), that the
colonists seem quite content with their present administration, and the
mal-contents, who once advocated separation and independence, even to the
length of ventilating the subject in Parliament, have now been reduced to
utter insignificance.
Each colony has, by the "New Constitution Act" of 1851, been provided with
the utmost freedom of self-government, the British Government only
reserving the right of veto in those cases where the colonial laws should
happen to run counter to the common law of the Empire. One hears, it is
true, many prognostications as to the result of dividing the country into
so many independent colonies, and having so many parliaments, especially
as to the immense preponderance that the inhabitants of the cities must
have over the scattered country population. A few even seem to be of
opinion that they must contain many elements eminently unsuitable to the
vitality of a mutually reliant, cohesive, law-abiding confederation. But
although some passing blots and temporary defects may be dragged to the
light of day, it must not be overlooked that the Australian continent is
almost as large as Europe, and that each of these colonies covers more
superficial area than most of the European states. As the laws and
administration are the same for all these, it is more probable that the
anticipated break up of moral power will rather take the form of
developing true political life, so that the masses will more honourably
and surely be enabled to appreciate their constitutional rights and
duties.
A few days before our departure some of the scientific staff had further
opportunity of communicating with the "blacks." It was important to extend
our collection of craniological specimens for that branch of study, by
comparing the various races of men with each other, so as to enlarge our
knowledge of the physiological peculiarities of either sex and every race;
and as we had been told that numbers of skulls could be procured among the
_Gunyahs_, or sandstone cavities of Cook-river Bay, which had been a
favourite burial-place of the aborigines, we made an excursion thither,
still accompanied by our staunch friend, Mr. Hill.
Our light vehicle rattled merrily through the suburbs of New Town, a sort
of suburb of Sydney, thence over the Cook-river Dam, 1000 feet wide by 200
feet in length, to Coggera Cove, where several of the aborigines had
pitched a temporary camp. These were two Mestiza women with their
children, and Johnny, the last of the Sydney blacks, who might be about
40, and was a cripple in consequence of an injury sustained in childhood.
In 1836 there were 58 still alive; now Johnny is the last remaining
survivor!
We set off from Coggera Cove in a small, but safe, and well-built boat,
rowed by Johnny and some white colonists, bound for Cool-river Bay, but
our search in the sandstone caverns was unfortunately fruitless. Johnny
then conducted us to a spot where Tom Weiry, one of the last of the
chiefs, who lived at the mouth of Cool River, and died about twelve years
previous, had been buried. Tom Weiry, or Tom Ugly, as the English named
him, was a very athletic man, whose skeleton was a real prize for the
purposes of comparative anatomy. Close to the spot where, according to
Johnny, the last remains of the Australian chief reposed, were large
quantities of empty oyster-shells, indicating that the place in question
had once been a favourite resort of the "blacks," attracted thither by the
prolific yield of this place in those shell-fish, one of their most highly
appreciated articles of food. At various spots traces of fires were
visible. The aborigines of the coast usually bury their dead clothed in
the woollen blanket they wore in life, with the heads seaward, and near
the coast, with but a few feet of earth over them. Unfortunately we had
our pains for our reward, although Johnny repeatedly assured us he had
himself, in picking up shell-fish, on that very spot seen projecting from
the sand human bones, that frightened the superstitious fellow from
prosecuting his search in that direction. Indeed, Johnny was positive some
other exploring naturalist had been there and walked off with our
contemplated anthropological prize.
We returned, our object unachieved, to our boat, and so back to Coggera
Cove, where we found tea and chocolate prepared in the renowned "black
pot," that figures so much in bush life, off which we made an excellent
repast. With true kindliness Mr. Hill shared what we had brought with us
with the aborigines, who, on their part, showed themselves very obliging
and attentive.
A second excursion, still in Mr. Hill's company, was made after
craniological specimens to Long Bay, twelve miles distant, among whose
thickets a few natives had been residing for some weeks. The road thither
passed through gum tree forests, varied by wide grass plains covered with
the many-blossomed _Metrosidero_, with its long deep red stamens, and
brilliant _Melaleuca_, its twigs also nearly covered with white flowers,
among which rose the tapering flower-stem, ten or twelve feet high, of the
_Xanthorrhea_, something like reed-mace, surrounded by flights of
humming-birds, which were imbibing its delicious nectar with their long
bills. Great quantities of little birds were swarming about the brushwood
and rushes, occasionally coming quite trustfully so close to us that we
could have caught them with a butterfly net. We had been riding perhaps an
hour or two when Mr. Hill suddenly began to call in the native manner.
Those forthwith summoned by this quite unique sound replied from the
thicket, as if recognizing the approach of a friend, and in a minute or
two more we found ourselves in the midst of a number of aborigines of both
sexes, mostly naked, or with a coarse woollen cloth around them, lying at
full length on the ground in listless ease. Close by was a fire, over
which was suspended a kettle filled with water. A couple of mangy hounds
covered with sores were basking in the sun, heedless of the footfall of
our horses, lying as indifferent as their masters till we had dismounted
and seen our beasts attended to.
It is extraordinary to see how few necessaries these people seem to have,
and how little ambition they have to better themselves, so long as they
can indulge their vagabondizing propensities. There is assuredly no nation
on earth that so aptly illustrates Goldsmith's words,
"Man wants but little here below,"
as the black race of Australia.
Those we were now visiting had come from the districts of Shoal Haven,
Port Stephens, and Illawara. There were three men and as many women, one
of whom, a Mestiza, named Sarah, with two half-blood little children. One
of these, which, although above two years of age, was still at the breast,
had a skin quite white, red cheeks, and light-blue eyes, and could
scarcely be distinguished from the child of white parents. These presented
so characteristic a type of the race, that we could not resist an attempt
to make with them some of those admeasurements of the body already alluded
to, while the artist attached to the Expedition delineated their
appearance.
The skull of the Australian black is tolerably regular, the forehead broad
and high, the bridge of the nose pretty high, the eyes dark, brilliant,
and sunken; the nose and cheek-bones well marked. The mouth generally is
broad, the upper lip overhanging the under, and the upper teeth also
project beyond the under. The face, like the entire body, is hairy in an
unusual degree; the hair of the head is black, thin, often very fine in
texture, and slightly crisped without being woolly. The skin is usually
dark or dirty brown, or brownish black. The custom of marking the outer
arm from the shoulders downwards with three or four marks, from 1 to
1-1/2 inch long, and rather thick in the cicatrix, and continuing over the
back with similar incisions, is pretty universal, and seems to be
considered as a personal decoration. The elder people have the nasal
cartilage bored through, and wear in the orifice kangaroo bones, or other
bones, or even pieces of wood as amulets. We did not however remark this
among the younger generation; this hideous custom seems to have died out,
apparently on account of its discomfort.
The stay of the _Novara_ in Australia was, as already remarked, so brief,
that it did not admit of the scientific staff making more distant tours to
the great cattle "stations," or gold districts. At the same time it
appears to us important to make some few observations on these two
products, to which Australia is indebted for her present prosperity, and
the former of which is fraught with even more of its future destiny than
the latter. At the commencement of the present century England used to
procure all her wool from Spain, and somewhat later from Germany[21] and
Hungary. Since that period the production of wool in the Cape, the East
Indies, and Australia, has so enormously increased, that Great Britain is
enabled to get from her colonies the entire consumption she requires for
her woollen manufactures, averaging from 60 to 70,000,000 lbs., thus
utilizing the agricultural energies of her emigrating children for the
behoof of the mother country and her industrial classes.
New South Wales produces at present (1858) above 17,000,000 lbs. of wool,
the whole of Australia about 50,000,000. The number of sheep has increased
from 29, imported by the first colonists in 1778,[22] to 8,139,160 in New
South Wales alone, the total for all Australia being about 15,000,000.
Some proprietors have upwards of 100,000 sheep, which they divide into
flocks of from 2000 to 3000, which are in charge each of its respective
shepherd, who keeps them in their own special "runs."
The most suitable place for breeding sheep is Moreton Bay, lately raised
into a new independent colony by the name of Queen's Land. The sheep there
need but little attention, and the maladies to which they are subject in
the west and south never occur in that colony. Were it not for the
ravages of the wild dogs, the rearing of sheep would be attended with
hardly any expense. These are pastured on the crown lands, for the use of
which each squatter pays L10 per annum for every 4000 sheep, or 800 head
of cattle. In the north, "Darling Downs" are considered the best,
consisting of an open undulating table-land, broken here and there by
occasional clumps of trees, and much resembling the States of Minnesota
and Iowa, north and west of the Mississippi. On these Downs from 3000 to
4000 sheep can easily be kept by a single shepherd, whereas in Bathurst
800 would call into play all the watchfulness of a single individual. On
Darling Downs the annual increase of a flock of 100 ewes is 96 per cent.;
in Bathurst it is only 80. The value of a sheep is about 15_s._ to 20_s._,
and the shearing usually begins in October and lasts till December, the
average weight being 2-1/2 lbs. to the fleece. Innumerable teams of oxen
carry the wool in bales of 200 or 300 lbs. from hundreds of miles in the
interior down to the seaports, where the oxen and carts are usually sold,
as, owing to the low price of cattle, it would not be remunerative to take
them back without a freight. While we were in Australia an attempt had
been made, at much cost of time, trouble, and expense, to import from
their native Cordilleras a large number of Llamas or Alpacas, with the
view of increasing the value of Australian wool by a cross with the
Peruvian. An enterprising English merchant of Valparaiso, named Joshua
Waddington, who had been 40 years resident in Chili, was a chief promoter
of the undertaking. In 1852 another Englishman had undertaken to convey
500 alpacas to England, but, despite the utmost care during the voyage,
only three were landed alive. Waddington attributed this disaster to the
want of fresh food, and therefore hit upon the expedient of accustoming
those animals which he intended to send to Australia to the use of dry
fodder, such as barley, bran, and hay, for some time before their
embarkation. As soon as they had become somewhat inured they were shipped
at Caldera, near Copiapo, and entrusted to the care of Mexican Indians
accustomed to their habits, for transport to Australia. The vessel was of
800 tons burthen, and was chartered at 6000 dollars for the voyage. The
fitting up of the vessel for her novel cargo cost about 300 dollars. Each
animal, in addition to its ration of dried food, had a quart of water per
diem. The voyage from Caldera to Sydney took 70 days. Of 316 llamas
shipped or born on the voyage only 36 died, 280 arriving in excellent
health at Sydney, and were with all speed turned into a large pasture on
the Government domain.[23] For weeks the negotiations remained in an
anxious suspense, in consequence of the original projector of the
undertaking, an adventurous Yankee, named Ledger, who had purchased the
animals in the interior of Peru, and after four years of unwearied
assiduity had accompanied his charge hither, standing out for a large sum
by way of reward. Long after we had left Sydney we learned that the 280
llamas were sold to a company of sheep-breeders at L25 a head, or for
L7000 sterling the entire herd, the value of an animal in Peru being two
or three dollars.
The yield of the various gold-fields[24] in the west, north, and south of
the colony, though nothing like so great as in the neighbouring colony of
Victoria, yet contributes in no inconsiderable degree to the annual
revenue of the state, and maintains a considerable commerce with other
countries. According to official reports, the amount of gold taken out
since its first discovery in March, 1851, to the end of July, 1860, was
2,587,549 oz., worth about L9,600,000. Besides this, however, a
considerable quantity of money was brought to the coast by private
conveyance, where it was smelted down, since the entire yield of New South
Wales in nine years was L12,696,231, besides L3,096,231 in the State
Treasury and Mint, according to official returns.
The rumour that gold was to be found in Australia was first set on foot by
the Rev. H. F. Clarke, a Protestant missionary and well-known geologist,
who so far back as 1841 found gold in the hills W. of Vale of Clyde, and
had even then proved to several influential personages by unmistakeable
evidence the existence of gold-quartz, with the remark that in Australia,
especially the province of Victoria, all scientific indications were in
favour of there being a great amount of gold. But the learned country
parson found at that time little attention or interest, as well in
consequence of its then being still a penal colony, as of the ignorance at
that period universally prevalent as to the value of such indications.
Ten years later a certain Mr. Hargrave adopted the rational course of
visiting California, where he made himself master of the various means of
obtaining gold, after which he returned, and commenced to wash for gold in
Summer Hill Creek, Victoria, and thus became the practical discoverer of
the gold-fields, the special contributor to the development of the
resources of the country. The committee of the Legislative Council, to
whom was entrusted to examine and report upon the claims of individuals as
to the honour of having discovered the Australian gold-fields, added to
the minute of 10th March, 1841, that Mr. Hargrave, who had so
disinterestedly thrown open to all this inexhaustible mine of wealth,
ought to receive L5000, and Rev. W. H. Clarke L1000 in recognition of his
mineralogical researches, which had conduced to the same result. The first
Australian gold, 18 oz. in weight, was landed in London by the _Honduras_
on 20th August, 1851. Thenceforward the importation increased with each
month, the amount by the end of the year having reached 240,044 oz., worth
L871,652. The following year the amount extracted was 4,247,657 oz., value
L14,866,799.
The crowd of gold-seekers and adventurers, attracted by the discovery, was
something tremendous. From the commencement of Sept. 1851, when 29 men
were engaged in washing at Anderson's Creek, to the end of December, only
four months, the population of the diggings reached 20,300; in 1852 they
numbered 53,500, in 1853 75,626.
Shortly after the discovery of the gold-fields, the Colonial Government
appointed special officers, the well-known "Gold Commission," to watch
over these improvised settlements. They published "Regulations for the
management of the gold-fields," and sold licenses, at 20_s._ or 40_s._
according to yield, for the privilege of digging within certain limits;
the localities most in favour being Ballarat, Mount Alexander, Castlemain,
Sandhurst, Beechworth, and Heathcote.
The gold obtained in 1852 was valued at from 58_s._ to 60_s._ per ounce.
The banks made advances at the rate of from 40_s._ to 55_s._ per oz., or
exchanged the gold-dust at from 8-1/2 to 10 per cent. discount for coined
money. The freight was 4-1/2_d._ per oz. In 1858 the value of the ounce
had risen at the "diggings" to from 70_s._ to 77_s._, and the discount had
fallen to 1 per cent., and the Insurance Company charged for gold
transport a premium of from 1-3/4 to 2-1/2 per cent.
Since that period gold has repeatedly been discovered in fresh localities
of the adjoining colony of Victoria, the "yield" and the number of
diggers being also steadily increasing. Many thousands at present leave
New South Wales annually to try their fortune in other fields than those
of agriculture. In 1857 upwards of 26,000 persons left this colony for
Victoria. Consequently, the price of labour has risen throughout
Australia, and while it has thus increased in expense it has become more
uncertain and unreliable. A large number of buildings, especially in the
country, have been left unfinished, and the clearing and cultivation of
numerous tracts of land have been abandoned. These temporary evils,
however, cannot be permitted to outweigh the enormous advantages derivable
from the discovery of the gold-fields of Australia. It has attracted the
attention of universal mankind to a distant British colony, hitherto
almost unnoticed, it has peopled the country with magic celerity,
centupled the value of the land, made its results appreciable in the
remotest districts of the globe, and raised the colony of Victoria within
a few years, in national prosperity, increased trade, and extended
cultivation, to a degree of importance usually the slow growth of
centuries of industry.
The discovery of the gold-fields had at the same time important scientific
consequences, chiefly in the way of geological researches, which resulted
in proving that the widespread popular opinion, that the Australian
continent belongs to the latest geological era, and had comparatively
recently emerged from the sea, is entirely erroneous. Rich palaeontological
collections confirm the opinion that Australia is not the latest, but
rather the earliest, continent. In several parts of the colony the fossil
remains of various colossal animals have been discovered, which, as since
measured, must have stood from 10 to 16 feet in height, and correspond to
our diluvial Pachydermata in Europe. In like manner, with the exception of
some quite insignificant tertiary strata of small extent, only crystalline
rocks and primary formations (from the Silurian upwards) form the chief
bulk of the continent. The entire series of secondary strata seems to be
absent. From this fact it necessarily results that Australia has been a
continent since the end of the primary epoch, that it never has been
covered by the sea, but remained ever since the beginning of the secondary
formations, through all those countless ages during which Europe was being
convulsed by the most tremendous geological revolutions, a habitable soil,
on which plants and beasts, undisturbed by change in the inorganic world,
might have continued to flourish down to our own times. Viewed in this
light the fauna and flora of Australia would be the most ancient and
primitive in the world.
Another Austrian naturalist, the well-known botanist Professor Unger of
Vienna, has come to the same conclusions from the fossil remains of some
Australian plants, accompanied by the further singular deduction, that
Europe must have been at one period in much closer accordance with this
remote region. Many forms of plants, especially _Proteaceae_, which at
present form such a peculiar feature of its vegetation, seem to have been
similarly prevalent in Europe at that remote age of the globe. But if
even it be accepted that during the Eocene or earliest tertiary period
there existed in Europe under similar climatic conditions flora of
_Coniferae_, _Proteaceae_, _Myrtaceae_, and _Casurinae_, such as Australia now
possesses, the question still arises as to how the vegetation of a
locality so remote should have been transferred to antipodean Europe?
Making all due allowance for the astonishing influence exercised by winds,
waves, and the migration of animals over the diffusion of vegetable
species, yet the means of transport by the ocean or by currents of water
is confined within narrow limits, and under the most favourable conditions
is limited to the very few plants which can maintain their powers of
reproduction uninjured by immersion in water, and those on the other hand
which, on being transported to a strange shore, find there the means of
existence and increase. As, moreover, the observations which Professor
Unger has made upon the diffusion of species of plants at that remote
period, and their very accurately circumscribed limits, run directly
counter to the opinion of those naturalists who hold to a variety of
centres of development, (instancing a case where one species of plants is
found in two widely separated regions,) have never been satisfactorily
refuted, the learned botanist thereupon proceeds to the conclusion, that
during the Eocene period Australia was united to the mainland through the
Moluccas. This land route has been followed at one period by _Araucarias_,
_Proteaceae_, sandal wood, and a hundred other varieties of tree and
shrub, which till that connection was made could not diffuse themselves,
so as thus to reach the European continent, where they are even now found,
despite the lapse of myriads of years, in the shape of well-preserved
fossils. Thus too, for similar reasons, the geologist to our Expedition,
like Professor Unger, regarded Australia as not a youthful, lately-born
continent, but a country decaying with antiquity, which had played its
part in the physical history of the globe, and had spread its scions far
and wide. Some alteration of level is not merely indicated by the numerous
coral reefs encircling Australia and its island groups, pointing to a
similar sinking among them as that already noticed among the smaller
Polynesian islands:--The whole characteristics of the soil, the wastes of
the interior, the innumerable salt lakes, the rivers which lose themselves
in these, &c. &c., tell of a coming geological transformation, which
however--we mention this for the consolation of the settlers--may yet be
postponed for myriads of years.
The system of transportation, concerning which so loud an outcry has
recently been made, has so materially assisted in developing the resources
of the country, that it would hardly be right to quit Botany Bay without a
few remarks on the penal colony which was in existence there till 1840.
For there is no spot on the globe better adapted than New South Wales to
serve as a stand-point, whence any one might accurately study the
advantages and drawbacks of the English transportation system, as also its
influence upon a strongly recalcitrant society. In brief, we purpose to
subject the system as it subsisted for half a century in Australia to a
thorough analysis, inasmuch as it seems to us that, in our present
unnatural social conditions, transportation, i. e. the sudden transference
of the criminal to totally new conditions of external life, seems to
furnish the much-desired turning point whence we may expect a lasting
moral improvement of the individual. Our Austrian prisons, especially
those in which the cell system has not been introduced, are simply houses
of detention, not penitentiaries, still less reformatories. The
incarcerated criminal is a burden to himself and to society, to which he
is only in the most exceptional cases restored improved by confinement.
The charge of maintaining him increases year by year, without any return
being made by utilizing the labour of the prisoner. In penal colonies, on
the other hand, the convict works as much for his own benefit as for that
of society. He throws open new immeasurable tracts of land to
civilization, trade, and industry. The evil effects of certain climates
upon the health of the convict can be corrected by proper ordinances, till
it is reduced to a barely appreciable minimum. The free settler is also
exposed in unsettled countries to dangerous illnesses, but as his
circumstances improve these disappear before the cleared forest, the
cultivated patch, the drained swamp.
We do not believe that were the option left them there is one solitary
individual in our Austrian prisons, condemned to periods of imprisonment
of ten years and upwards, who would not willingly exchange his sojourn at
home for one in even the insalubrious islands of the Indian Ocean, if the
prospect were held out to him after a series of years of steady labour and
honest activity, that he might make his new-found activity available to
secure his liberty. What may be made, however, of a valueless wilderness
by means of compulsory labour, we have at this day an example of in the
case of the first penal colony of New South Wales. Even the objectionable
manner in which the system was administered during more than fifty years
in Australia and Van Diemen's land could not entirely destroy its
beneficial effects upon the criminal, or blind an unprejudiced observer to
the advantages and general utility of transportation as a means of
punishment. In 1787 the eastern coast of Australia, chiefly in consequence
of the too glowing accounts of the suitability of the harbours, and the
fertility of the soil of Botany Bay, was selected by the British
Government as the site of a penal colony, and on the 26th January, 1788,
the first batch of convicts was landed there. These consisted of 600 males
and 250 women, and were accompanied by an escort of 200 men. Forty of the
latter were married men, who were accompanied by their wives and children.
The whole expedition was under the command of Captain Phillip, the first
Governor of the new settlement.[25]
The colonists had scarcely settled down after their arrival on, as was
speedily found, the anything but safe or fertile shores of Botany Bay, ere
they were removed to another harbour, lying about seven miles further
north, beautifully situate, and fulfilling every requirement, which they
named Port Jackson.
The first free settlers did not make their appearance till 1794. The
officers of the garrison were merchants also, and trafficked in whatever
merchandise they could find. Rum especially was a chief article. A
Government regulation required every ship which should put into Port
Jackson, to deliver a certain proportion of her spirits to the officers
according to their rank!! They also received a list of the merchandise
brought by each ship, from which they selected whatever seemed most
profitable, which they disposed of again at retail to the soldiers,
settlers, and convicts at an immense profit. Further, the officers enjoyed
the entire monopoly of importing spirits, as also the exclusive privilege
of selling them to the retail merchants. By these devices many of them
amassed considerable fortunes by trade, and thus the repeated efforts made
by a succession of Governors to effect a reform in the colony were
rendered fruitless. During the administration of Captain Bligh, so widely
known in connection with the tragic fate of the mutineers of the _Bounty_,
rum was the most valuable article of exchange, and the colonists found by
bitter experience that there were no other sellers of this destructive
drink than the privileged few.
The utmost anarchy and violence reigned supreme throughout New South
Wales at that period; the power of the Government was set entirely at
nought, license and violence usurped the place of law and order; the
convicts found they were not under any effective control or supervision;
whole bands of them infested the country as "bush-rangers," till they grew
so bold as to enter the dwellings of peaceful settlers in broad day, where
they perpetrated the most cruel excesses.
In 1807 Mr. McArthur and Captain Abbot of the 102nd introduced the first
distilling apparatus into the country for cheapening the production of
ardent spirits. The Governor forthwith confiscated the apparatus, and
forbade distillation in any part of the colony. This prohibition gave rise
among those interested to dissensions, which gradually rose to such a
height, that about a year thereafter it led to Bligh being placed in
confinement by some of his own officers. The English Government however
now began to perceive that such a state of carelessness could no longer be
endured, and not only reinstated Bligh, but promoted him to the rank of
Admiral.
On their arrival in the colony the prisoners were sent to barracks in
Sydney, where the Government selected from their number such
handicraftsmen as they required for the public works, while the remainder
were distributed as land cultivators, labourers, artisans, &c., among such
private individuals as had made themselves agreeable to the Government. As
free labour was rare and expensive in the colony at that period, the
requests for such allocations of forced labour were greatly in excess of
the number of workmen so available.
Those consigned to private individuals were taken into the interior in
charge of a constable or overseer, where they were required to build a
shelter for themselves, which, owing to the mildness of the climate, could
be very speedily accomplished. The hours of work were from 6 A.M. to 6
P.M., and the main feature was that the convict durst not leave his
employer, whether kind and good-tempered, or harsh and cruel. When there
was no further occasion for their services they were remitted to
Government, who found another employer for them.
All land-holders in the colony were entitled, on preferring a request to
the Governor to that effect, to have assigned them, according to the
current quantity of disposable labour, in the proportion of one workman to
every 320 acres of land; but no settler, no matter how extensive his
holding, could "take on" more than 75 convicts. Each employer had to
engage to keep the convict assigned him one month at least, and provide,
at his own cost, food and clothing according to a scale fixed by
Government.
The weekly rations consisted of nine lbs. wheaten flour, or at the option
of the employer, three lbs. Indian corn, and seven lbs. of wheat flour,
seven lbs. of beef or mutton, four lbs. salt pork, two oz. salt, two oz.
soap. The clothing consisted of two jackets annually, three shirts of
canvas or cotton, two pairs of drawers, three pairs of shoes of stout
leather, and a hat or cap. Each labourer was also allowed the use of a
counterpane and mattress, which however remained the property of the
employer. These legal privileges had however been extended through custom
or the favour of the employers to various little articles of luxury, such
as tobacco, sugar, tea, grog, &c. In particular, with the object of
ensuring the utmost zeal on the part of the workman during the harvest
season, it was almost imperative at that season to show him those little
relaxations and favours which at length became customary, and in no slight
degree enhanced the cost of his maintenance.
On the arrival of a convict ship a crowd used to hurry down to await the
moment when the convicts were to be allotted to applicants. As no special
memoranda were made during the voyage of the offence for which each man
had been transported, or his subsequent conduct on the voyage, the
administration were not in a position to make such a selection as should
classify the prisoners, and assign them according to nature of crime and
subsequent behaviour to a determined or a more gentle employer. Hence
resulted the most lamentable injustice; the most truculent of these men
occasionally were assigned to the gentle masters, while a less hardened
criminal came under the yoke of a hard-hearted task-master, and thus had
an infinitely more severe lot to bewail than he in fact deserved.
Such a harsh, and in too many cases unjust, method of dealing with them,
drove the convicts to the commission of fresh offences, or even crimes,
and, in desperation at the wrongs to which they were exposed, they not
merely neglected utterly the interests of their temporary masters, but in
many cases, impelled by a fierce thirst for vengeance, they burned house
and property over his head at the harvest time!
The chronic alarm and anxiety of the colony during a long period was not
however traceable to the principle of the system itself, but to the method
in which it was worked by self-seeking natives, greedy of gain. No sooner
had the most glaring of the evils been rectified, and by means of a
powerful government law and order resumed their wonted sway, ere the young
colony began to make most unexpected strides in developing its
capabilities, and both in the unfolding of its natural resources and in
its trade and commerce ere long attracted the attention, not merely of
England and her manufacturers, but of all Europe.
In 1840 New South Wales ceased to be a convict settlement, at which period
there were 130,856 souls in the colony, 26,967 of whom were convicts. In
1857, when the last census was taken, there were in all 305,487, of whom
171,673 were males, and 133,814 females, who inhabited 41,479 houses, 1725
huts, 50 waggons, and 75 ships, and subsisted chiefly by pasture and
agriculture.
The morality of this population diffused over 321,579 square miles has
greatly improved, thanks to the unlimited freedom of individual power to
develope itself, and the opportunities afforded for leading an
independent, comfortable life, and in the interests of Truth we must add,
that in no part of Europe would any one be left so unfettered to travel
about alone and unarmed, or require less precautions, as in this once
penal colony.
The number of criminal cases of all sorts in the colony during the last
ten years, during which the population has increased from 189,600 to
266,189, is as follows:--
1848 ... 445 accused, of whom were executed 4
1849 ... 534 -- -- -- 4
1850 ... 555 -- -- -- 4
1851 ... 574 -- -- -- 2
1852 ... 527 -- -- -- 5
1853 ... 604 -- -- -- 2
1854 ... 637 -- -- -- 6
1855 ... 526 -- (one of these a woman) 5
1856 ... 461 -- -- -- 0
1857 ... 395 -- -- -- 4
One must not forget to take into account that by far the larger portion of
the population are recruited from the lower class, as measured by
education. On the whole we may assume that of the 305,487 souls, 30,000
men and 20,000 women _can neither read nor write_.
As to the intimate connection between crime and ignorance, most striking
confirmation is obtained from investigations made in England and Wales in
1842-44, in the case of 69,616 criminals, of whom 21,799 or 31.3 per cent.
could neither read nor write, 41,620 or 59.8 per cent. could read and
write imperfectly, 5909 or 8.5 per cent. could read and write well, and
only 308 or 0.4 per cent. had received a good education.
The present population of New South Wales, despite all their burdens and
difficulties, furnish an instructive and cheering example of what may be
made of even hordes of fallen man under certain conditions, if they can be
afforded the opportunity of working and showing their powers.
Confined in gloomy cells between high walls, chained hand and foot with
heavy iron fetters, condemned in their wretched state to life-long
inaction, the convicts sent out to Botany Bay during fifty years would
have cost the State directly, and society indirectly, an enormous sum;
while their existence would have passed in silent brooding over their
fate, and speculations as to the means of avenging themselves on mankind.
Placed on a remote, healthy, fertile shore, with the cheering prospect of
inaugurating for themselves a new era of existence by labour and industry,
and thus being enabled to attain competency and respectability, these very
same men raise themselves, at but little cost, to the position of valuable
subjects to the state and to society, by causing to smile, under the gold
crop of agriculture, lands hitherto all but unknown, and thus becoming the
founders of a community, which bears within itself the germ of such a
marvellous development in the future, that political seers even now
designate it as "THE GREAT BRITAIN OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE."
A system which, despite the many serious deficiencies caused by individual
selfish short-sightedness, has produced such results, cannot be considered
by any unprejudiced inquirer as altogether objectionable or aimless;--on
the contrary, it seems to us it has proved its utility in founding new
oversea colonies in portions of the earth as yet little visited, the
first colonization of which is attended with local difficulties. We have
but to avail ourselves of the experience acquired at Botany Bay, avoiding
the canker under which the system has hitherto been worked in the British
colonies (with the exception perhaps of that pattern convict settlement at
Singapore, which we have already described), and draw up such regulations,
keeping in view the sole object of transportation, viz. PUNISHMENT BY
EXILE, AND REFORMATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL THROUGH LABOUR, as shall
facilitate its being carried out in an efficient manner, and suffer
ourselves neither to be diverted from our course by the selfish warnings
of interested administrators, nor by the objections of ill-advised
philanthropists.
With respect to the carrying out of a system of transportation, such as
formerly existed in the British colonies, especially Australia and Van
Diemen's Land, the following modifications seem to be advisable:--
1. The abandonment of the convict to the employer, i. e. the "assignment
system," must be entirely given up, as the prisoner by such an arrangement
degenerates into an article for speculation, out of which it must be the
task-master's interest to get as much as he can, so as to be able to
return him upon the hands of the State so soon as his capacity for labour
begins to fail. The convicts who were thus "assigned" in New South Wales,
stood to their employers in the same position as negro slaves in the
Southern States of North America, or the island of Cuba. They were fed
like beasts of burden, without the slightest remuneration for the heaviest
work. The State had, it is true, a right to punish the criminal, but it
seems to us unjust in the extreme to make him the slave of his fellow-man.
Accordingly this practice was the source of unutterable mischief, and was
followed by most deplorable results as regards the moral development of
the colony.
2. The case is very different when the labour of the criminal, instead of
being devoted to the aggrandizement of a private individual, finds its
expansion in forwarding parochial or national public works, in clearing
and cultivating tracts of land, and preparing them for the future labour
of free colonists, in the laying out of roads, in the erection of
churches, schools, hospitals, and barracks, in the construction of docks,
quays, &c. &c. So soon as private interest disappears,--so soon as the
energies of the criminal are no longer made available to put money in the
pockets of private speculators, but are utilized for the general good, by
far the greater number of those minor drawbacks will disappear, which
press with all the more force on the compulsory labourer, in proportion as
he feels conscious that he is regarded by him who has purchased his labour
not as a FELLOW-MAN, but as a CHATTEL, to be employed while he is of any
value, and then to be cast aside, as one might throw a dried twig into the
fire. What may be accomplished in this direction, even in colonies of
comparatively recent foundation, is evidenced by the splendid roads of
Cape Colony, traversing mountain passes 6000 to 8000 feet high, the
numerous public buildings in Singapore, Hong-kong, Sydney, &c. Edifices,
which in consequence of the high price of free labour, might not have been
erected under the lapse of many years, actually at present rear their
imposing forms like so many ornamental memorials, now of the worship of
the loving Saviour, now of our charitable duties to the sick and
afflicted, but all serving to instruct and civilize the rising generation!
3. As to the subsistence of the criminals, we do not believe that the
principle of giving them the same descriptions of rations, no matter
whether they worked much or little, would be found conducive to the
attainment of the great object of making them feel an interest in their
labour. We would rather see the present system departed from in this
particular, and a marked difference made in the food provided for the
industrious, as compared with their more indolent companions.
4. Of great importance in penal colonies, as tending to produce a lasting
and decided improvement of the individual, is the FAMILY TIE. What is
independence or even affluence to the exile, if he has no one to care for,
or think of, but himself? His slow and laborious earnings would greatly
tend to plunge him once more into excesses, till he quickly sank back into
his former state of war with civilization.
5. It seems to us imperatively necessary in the interests of this great
design of a penal colony, that provision should be made for a certain
proportion of female population, which might consist partly of female
criminals, and partly of the wives of such of the male criminals as
should, after a sufficient probation, be permitted to have their wives and
children conveyed at the cost of Government to their place of exile.
Lastly, the nucleus of a female population thus already formed might be
added to from time to time, by sending out such discharged female
criminals as had no visible means of making an honest livelihood in the
mother country. It were a noble object for Christian activity and
religious harmony to provide the means for sending these wretched outcasts
to the new home that was thus being formed.
6. The importation of spirituous liquors, that fruitful cause of so much
crime, must be confined within the narrowest limits. One cannot believe
that even in unhealthy places, where the water frequently is very impure
and unhealthy, owing to vegetable matters held in solution, the use of
strong spirituous liquors must needs be unavoidable. Tea and coffee will
in such places, as I experienced myself during several years' residence in
unhealthy climates, be found excellent substitutes.
7. No official of the colony, civil or military, should be permitted to
trade in any article except the natural products of the soil. On the other
hand, it would be advisable that each _employe_ should have assigned him
by Government, a tract of land for cultivation corresponding to his rank.
There can be little doubt, and it may well be advanced as an argument on
the other side, when the rapid progress made by the Australian colonies
under the influence of this transportation system is adduced as an example
in point, that nowhere probably on the earth would external circumstances,
position of the country, and development of the colony to such a pitch of
prosperity, combine so wonderfully to produce such a result, as was the
case with New South Wales. But even the clumsy method of carrying out this
form of punishment, and the immense use made of it for selfish ends by men
who had every opportunity for studying close at hand the influence it
might have been made to exercise upon the development of the Australian
colonies, could not weaken the conviction that, under more judicious
management, it would have answered every anticipation that could
reasonably be formed of any mode of punishment, and that it is better
calculated than any other to prove conducive to the amelioration of the
criminal himself. We might, while upon this subject, specially refer to
the valuable and comprehensive work of Dr. Holtzendorf upon transportation
as a means of punishment,[26] which embraces all that can be said on
either side of the question, all put together in an attractive and
exhaustive manner, and who, contemplating the great example presented to
the world by Australia, has arrived at a similar conclusion, "that the
working power of the criminal may, under proper management, be made to
produce results, able to accelerate the progress of a generation, while
furnishing at the same time a lever by which to effect a moral reformation
in the disposition of criminals." He foresees the time "when the colonists
of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land need no longer feel ashamed at
the historic recollection of their original convict associations, but
might rather, viewing the prosperity of their country, and the tone and
extent of their civilization, feel grateful to the criminals who landed in
1788 to become the pioneers of the country, and do them the justice of
believing that the good which they were compelled to do to the soil still
existed, while the evil they might have done was left undone of their own
accord, or was gradually assimilated under substantial progress."
The greatest obstacle to be encountered by the transportation system will
be found in the difficulty of hitting upon suitable localities. When we
consider the many conditions which must be satisfied, some referring to
the general objects aimed at in all punishment, some to considerations of
humanity and utility, when selecting a site for a penal colony, such as
climate, soil, distance, importance of the country as a market for the
products of the mother country, &c., it will be found that the number of
unclaimed or unbespoken territories, in which a scheme of compulsory
colonization could be carried out on a large scale, is exceedingly
limited.
For Germany, however, at least under her present political composition,
the foundation of penal colonies oversea seems all but entirely
impracticable. She must, in the first place, have her maritime power more
developed. On this subject the agreement is of importance which was
entered into in 1836 between Mr. James Colquhon, Consul-General for the
city of Hamburg, and the agents of the Australian Agricultural Society on
the other, as, although nothing resulted from it, it nevertheless
indicates how States that have no colonies can set about the system of
transportation. The gist of that scheme was the subscription of a sum for
the passage of such convicts as voluntarily accepted the offer, on their
engaging to remain for a certain period at compulsory labour in Australia
on the same terms as those of English convicts.[27]