CLASS OF PERSONS.
It is to be expected that a totally new state of things will, in recently
settled countries, give rise to different orders or classes of men
unknown in older lands, but who have been called into existence by novel
circumstances, and whose energies have been so developed as best to suit
the modifications which these hitherto unexperienced causes may produce.
In collecting information regarding the condition of our settlements in
Australia my attention was particularly drawn to the mode of life pursued
by some of my enterprising fellow-countrymen, known there under the
denomination of Overlanders, and which is characterised by several
remarkable peculiarities well deserving of observation, particularly at a
time when so many young and adventurous spirits are looking towards that
continent as the land of their future fortunes and home.
CHARACTER OF THE OVERLANDERS.
The Overlanders are nearly all men in the prime of youth, whose
occupation it is to convey large herds of stock from market to market and
from colony to colony. Urged on by the hope of profit, they have overcome
difficulties of no ordinary kind, which have made the more timid and
weak-hearted quail, and relinquish the enterprises in which they were
engaged; whilst the resolute and undaunted have persevered, and the
reward they have obtained is wealth, self-confidence in difficulties and
dangers, and a fund of accurate information on many interesting points.
Hence almost every Overlander you meet is a remarkable man.
The Overlanders are generally descended from good families, have received
a liberal education (Etonians and Oxonians are to be found amongst them)
and even at their first start in the colonies were possessed of what is
considered an independence. Their grandfathers and fathers have been men
distinguished in the land and sea service of their country; and these
worthy scions of the ancient stock, finding no outlet for their
enterprise and love of adventure at home, have sought it in a distant
land; amongst them therefore is to be found a degree of polish and
frankness rarely to be looked for in such a mode of life, and in the
distant desert you unexpectedly stumble on a finished gentleman.
THEIR ADVENTUROUS MODE OF LIFE.
The life of an Overlander in the bush is one of great excitement which
constantly calls every energy into action, is full of romantic and novel
situations, and habituates the mind to self-possession and command. The
large and stately herd of cattle is at least a fine if not even an
imposing sight. The fierce and deadly contests which at times take place
with the natives, when two or three hardy Europeans stand opposed to an
apparently overwhelming majority of blacks, call for a large share of
personal courage and decision; whilst the savage yells and diabolic
whoops of the barbarians in their onsets, their fantastically painted
forms, their quivering spears, their contortions, and shifting of their
bodies, and their wild leaps, attach a species of romance to these
encounters which affords plentiful matter for after-meditation. As the
love of war, of gaming, or of any other species of violent excitement,
grows upon the mind from indulgence, so does the love of roving grow upon
the Overlanders, and few or none of them ever talk of leading a settled
life.
SUDDEN ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH.
And it is not to be wondered at that the young and ardent eagerly embrace
a line of life so replete with exciting events and incidents, and which
at once enriches the successful speculator, and fills with plenty and
prosperity the region which he enters. The first individual who opens a
market, which no other Overlander has yet visited, rides into the
district an ill clothed way-worn traveller; the residents do not at first
deign to cast a glance upon him till presently it is noised about that an
overland party has arrived, that a route from the stock districts has
been formed, and that the incalculable advantage of abundance of cattle
at a cheap rate has been secured; landed property instantaneously rises,
perhaps to double the value it had a few hours before; numbers of persons
find themselves suddenly made rich without an exertion on their own part,
and from all sides individuals flock to see their benefactor. The ill
clothed way-worn traveller now finds himself at once invested with the
dignity of a conqueror. On all hands he is feted, dinners are given to
him, a piece of plate presented, and as he feels the sweets of renown and
of the wealth which he has won he meditates fresh conquests on the
trackless desert, new adventures with his tried stockmen, and further
acquisitions of riches.
EFFECTS OF THEIR ENTERPRISES.
Then comes a strange change over the unoccupied Overlander; he has
brought with him every head of stock which he could muster, and in the
course of a few days his last beast is disposed of; his establishment is
broken up, he awakes some morning and finds himself a rich man, but he
has no stock; he has so much money but no cattle. He no longer follows
the long array of his stately herd and bleating flocks, his loaded drays
and bearded stockmen, through the free wilderness; no longer regulates
and watches their perilous course through the intricate ford of a deep
river, or stands upon some solitary hill to reconnoitre the trackless
country and select the line along which the motley assemblage is to pass.
He is now an idle unoccupied gentleman, the inhabitant of a
boarding-house, with no object in the world before him; but ere long the
plans of fresh achievements and speculations are sketched out. You see a
muster of bearded weather-beaten men, carrying short-handled whips. The
Overlander enters the group, a short consultation takes place, and in a
day or two more himself and his followers are under weigh for some
district where he can purchase stock cheapest and make a good start for
another market.
MAGNITUDE OF THEIR OPERATIONS.
The magnitude of the operations of the Overlanders would scarcely be
credited; a whole fortune is risked, and in the wilderness: its safety
depends upon good guidance; yet far from being intimidated by the thought
the adventurers are only stimulated to a greater degree of activity. The
stock of an Overlander is the capital which he has invested in a single
speculation; and to give an idea of the amount of this I will show, at a
moderate estimate, the value of a herd, the property of an Overlander who
arrived in Adelaide in the month of March 1840 from the district of
Illawarra, New South Wales.
HORNED CATTLE.
260 Cows, many broken in.
230 Bullocks, 3 1/2 years old and upwards.
190 Steers, 2 1/2 years old and upwards.
39 Steers, 1 1/2 years old and upwards.
70 Heifers, two to three years old.
32 Heifers, one to two years old.
9 Bulls.
5 Calves.
20 Working Bullocks, two shafters.
855 Total head of Horned Cattle.
HORSES.
22 Mares, all in foal, 3 to 5 years old.
5 do., 5 to 8 years old.
7 Fillies, do., 2 to 3 years old.
3 do., rising 3 years, not in foal.
5 do., rising 2 years, not in foal.
10 Saddle and Draught Horses.
5 Colts, rising 4 years old.
1 Colt, rising 3 years old.
1 Colt, rising 2 years old.
1 Blood Stallion.
1 Draught entire Horse.
1 Entire Pony.
62 Total number of Horses.
900 Fat Wethers.
AMOUNT OF STOCK VENTURES.
Now, striking a low average, the value in pounds of this herd of cattle,
horses, and sheep, in South Australia, was:
Horned Stock 8,550.
Horses 3,720.
Wethers 1,575.
Total: 13,845 pounds.
But between this and an ordinary mercantile risk no parallel can be
drawn. A merchant insures his cargo so that his total loss can but be a
small portion of the whole. The Overlander cannot do this with his stock
and runs a far greater proportionate risk. It must also be borne in mind
that the statement of the herd, which I have above given, does not
include all that started for South Australia, but only the survivors,
who, after traversing so many hundred miles, reached in safety the
destined mart.
INFLUX OF STOCK TO SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
When the Overlanders drive sheep alone, without horned stock or horses,
the number of heads is much increased, as from 8000 to 12,000 sheep are
brought over at one time. They are driven in separate flocks of about
1000 each, and these follow one another in regular succession. The value
of a flock of 6000 sheep cannot be estimated under 10,500 pounds.
RAPID INCREASE OF WEALTH IN NEW SETTLEMENTS.
So much for the operations of single parties; but when once a road to a
new market is opened numbers follow up the tracks of the first hardy
adventurer, and the operations of the whole combined are not less
startling in their magnitude than are those of enterprising individuals.
From New South Wales into the province of South Australia the Overlanders
introduced, in 1839:
4,200 Head of Horned Cattle,
130 Horses,
35,000 Sheep;
and within the three succeeding months of 1840, upwards of:
7,000 Head of Horned Cattle,
100 Horses,
25,000 Sheep;
making, in fifteen months, a total of:
11,200 Head of Horned Cattle,
230 Horses,
60,000 Sheep.
The value in pounds of the above stock being in the whole about:
Horned Cattle 112,000,
Horses 13,800,
Sheep 105,000,
Total: 230,800 pounds.
And this wonderful amount of stock was brought into a country which,
three years before, only resounded to the war-cry of the naked savage;
and the soil of which, hardened, baked, and unstirred for centuries,
nursed not within its bosom seeds from which a plenteous harvest might
spring, but, as if irritated by neglect and indifference, gave forth
unwillingly only acid roots and scanty bulbs.
PROSPERITY CREATED BY THE OVERLANDER.
The first entrance of an Overlander into a district may be compared to
the rising of the Nile upon the thirsty land of Egypt; then does the
country bear fruit and the land give forth her increase, he enters the
district silently, noiselessly, unexpectedly, but his influence is soon
felt everywhere; merchant vessels can now obtain cargoes of wool, and no
longer sail empty away. England receives raw materials, and in exchange
are sent out luxuries and manufactured goods. New clearings are made by
the farmer, who has now abundance of manure; the artisan plies useful
trades, and ceases to labour in the place of beasts of draught or burden;
hateful scurvy, the scourge of new colonies, is expelled, not by
medicine, but by fresh meat, milk, and vegetables. But the worker of all
this good is unmindful of it; he has bargained to get the highest price
he can for his stock, and is already plotting new enterprises; he sought
to serve himself, not others, and has accomplished both.
The first Overlander having entered a district nothing can check the tide
that follows on. It is in vain for him to declare (perhaps really
conscientiously) that he conceives the risk of loss of stock to be so
great that none should undertake the journey; this is only ascribed to
his cupidity and a desire to keep others out of the market; HE has done
it, and why cannot more? This argument is irresistible, and adventurer
after adventurer marches upon his track.
CONSEQUENCES OF HIS SUCCESS UPON OTHERS.
Now comes a hurrying into the new district of speculators from the old
colonies: the fact of a road being found to it from the stock country is
a guarantee that it will succeed, and it is in a new settlement that the
largest profits are realized. These arrivals bring with them from the
older colonies experience, capital, and extensive connexions; fresh
sources of industry and speculation are at once opened up by them; all
town-land and landed property to be purchased at a cheap rate they
secure; money circulates from hand to hand, and an impetus is given, and
a progress made, which must be seen to be credited.
OPENINGS TO WEALTH IN NEW COLONIES.
The tide of emigration coming in from the older colonies is a certain
sign of rapid success; those who arrive from these places are men who
have done well in the first country of their adoption; but to this they
had repaired when it was thinly inhabited, when land was of very low
value and to be procured near the capital; there they have realized
largely, but it appears to them that nearly all the good things have now
been picked up; property has attained such a value that it rises but
slowly, indeed is almost stationary in price; and the country is so
largely stocked that they are driven to establish their sheep-stations at
such a distance from the sea coast that the expense of the transport of
their wool thither greatly detracts from its value. Under these
circumstances once again do they emigrate, to repeat in a new land the
operations which have before yielded them so lucrative a return; and,
strong in past experience, they smile at the errors committed by the
younger settlers, from which they reap many advantages.
ITS EFFECTS UPON ALL CLASSES.
But time and intellect are all worth much more in Australia than they are
in England, and everyone can realize upon his capital and speculate
profitably upon his intelligence, activity, and strength; for all of
these he gets paid, hence but few men are willing to follow professions.
Clergymen too often turn farmers and speculators, even if they do not
altogether throw aside their sacred character. Medical men but rarely
pursue their practice, when such remunerating fields of enterprise are
laid open to them; soldiers abandon their calling; and the government
officers are all virtually farmers and stock-owners.
This is to be expected, from the character of man. In a new colony
everything increases rapidly in worth--a landed estate which can be
bought in the early stages of its existence at a mere nominal price grows
yearly in value without a penny being expended upon it; stock increases
in a geometrical ratio, at little or no cost, for there is plenty of land
to pasture them upon. Nothing of this kind either does or can take place
in England; and when the settler finds how changed his prospects are, and
how new means of acquiring wealth are opened to him, he too often devotes
his every thought and energy to the one object; and so far will this
passion lead men that I have known an honourable member of council and
leading magistrate in a colony take out a retail license, and add to his
already vast wealth from the profits of a gin shop.
But as stock is that species of property from which the largest returns
are realized, and that with the least labour, it is to this branch of
industry that settlers generally direct their attention; indeed until
plenty of stock is introduced into a new colony its success is wavering
and uncertain, and its inhabitants are generally compelled to undergo a
degree of poverty and privation which contrasts strangely with the
affluence of the people occupying the more settled countries. The degree
of care and attention which is bestowed upon the breeding of stock
necessarily ensures both a constant supply of it and its rapid diffusion
over all accessible portions of the continent.
It is extremely difficult to convey to a mind which has never
contemplated the subject an idea of the rapid advance of stock stations
over the continent of Australia; there is something about it which bears
an almost fabulous character; and the same circumstance takes place with
regard to the rise in the price of town and country lands. Those who have
not witnessed such things can scarcely give credit to them. In Western
Australia town land was bought for twenty-three pounds an acre in the
month of December 1839; and in the month of February 1840, large
importations of stock having taken place, the same land was sold for
sixty pounds an acre. But in other colonies, where overland communication
takes place, this would be regarded as a very small increase in price for
a new colony; there are many instances in South Australia of people
realizing, in less than two years, sums of money to the amount of from
ten to twelve thousand pounds from the sale of town acres in the city of
Adelaide.
RAPID SPREAD OF STOCK STATIONS.
To endeavour to give some idea of the rapid extension of stock stations
over the face of the country I must begin by premising that farming stock
somewhat more than double themselves in two years; or at the end of two
years they occupy double the space of territory; at the end of four
years, four times; at the end of six years, eight times; at the end of
eight years, sixteen times; and thus, at the end of ten years, thirty-two
times the space of country which was originally taken up by stock becomes
occupied by civilized man.
Exactly in the same ratio as the amount of occupied territory increases
so does the amount of wealth in the country advance, as well as the
demand for labour; and the natural increase of population falling far
short of this, and not supplying a sufficient number of persons to absorb
the wealth which the country is capable of producing, a demand for
emigration arises, and a stimulus to it is given by the ease with which
wealth and comfort are acquired in the Australasian colonies.
COURSE OF THE OVERLANDERS THROUGH AUSTRALIA.
If the reader casts his eye upon a general map of Australia it will be an
easy task to follow the march of stock for the last four years:
Port Phillip was occupied in 1836,
Portland Bay in 1835,
South Australia in December 1836.
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SOUTHERN AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
The first step taken by the Overlanders was the connexion of Port Phillip
with Sydney, and they thus, as it were, established a great base line
from which their subsequent operations could be carried on; at this
period they did not however bear the name of Overlanders, which was only
given to them after Adelaide had been reached in 1838.
EARLY ENTERPRISES OF THE OVERLANDERS.
The Overlanders had hitherto been occupied in merely pushing their stock
stations to different portions of the colony of New South Wales; but a
new and fertile field for enterprise opened to them in the establishment
of the colony of South Australia, which as before stated was in December
1836; and many an enterprising mind instantly turned thitherward with
earnest longings which soon ripened into action. In November 1837, that
is, in eleven months from the foundation of the new colony, several hardy
adventurers had laid, matured, and commenced carrying into operation
plans which some deemed insane when they heard of the amount of capital
invested in so new an undertaking, but which were undertaken by the
adventurers in full confidence in their own powers.
THEIR FIRST EXPEDITIONS TO ADELAIDE, AND TO THE WESTWARD OF PORT LINCOLN.
Two expeditions started almost at the same time for this new market. In
February 1838 Mr. Hawdon moved from the Goulburn and Mr. Eyre from Port
Phillip. In April 1838 Mr. Hawdon arrived in Adelaide and shortly
afterwards was followed by Mr. Eyre, who had attempted to take a direct
route from Port Phillip to Adelaide, but coming upon an impassable
country he had been compelled to turn to the northward, and then to make
it by the same route which Mr. Hawdon had pursued. Just eight years
before this period a hardy party of explorers under Captain Sturt had
first ventured in a whale-boat to descend a river traversing this unknown
land. Rapidly had the fruits of this enterprise ripened to maturity; the
river was now made a highway of commerce, a connecting link between two
countries.
In the remaining portion of 1838 and in 1839 the energies of the
Overlanders were fully employed in supplying South Australia with stock;
and during this period several new and shorter lines of route were struck
out, the last great improvement of this kind being made by the
adventurous C. Bonney, Esquire, who connected Port Phillip with Adelaide
by a direct road running nearly parallel to the coast, so that the
portion of the continent of Australia which lies between Moreton Bay and
Adelaide is now connected by a passable route.
During 1839 it was felt however that the markets of South Australia no
longer afforded such large profits; but Port Lincoln was then occupied
and a new country opened, to which cattle and sheep were conveyed across
Spencer's Gulf. This for a time afforded some employment to the
Overlanders; but their spirits were secretly chafed by the thought that
the limits of their career were attained. Several expeditions to the
westward of Port Lincoln were undertaken, and in August 1839 Mr. Eyre,
still anxious to open a new market, pushed as far to the westward as
Denial Bay; but the journey to King George's Sound seemed so vast an
undertaking that although such a scheme was often contemplated the hazard
and risk of property appeared, even to a daring Overlander, to be too
great.
Yet although none ventured, many an eager heart turned that way, and many
a thoughtful face lighted up when a promising plan was unfolded.
Whilst the Overlanders were thus speculating upon the possibility of
connecting the Eastern and Western portions of Australia by one great
line of communication, the new settlements of South Australia and Port
Phillip were making such rapid advances in prosperity as almost exceed
belief.
The settlements of Swan River and King George's Sound, which had now been
established nearly ten years, were truly in a most miserable condition.
So late as the month of September 1839, when I landed at King George's
Sound to assume the situation of Government Resident there, the
population had been in a state bordering upon want.
But in the lapse of years the mismanagement and other causes which had
weighed down the settlers in Western Australia had been swept away; and
in 1839 an ameliorated system began to be introduced, the energies and
resources of the colony were allowed to unfold and develop themselves,
and a period of colonial prosperity commenced which bids fair, if not
again checked, to run as rapid and astonishing a career as it has done in
South Australia and Port Phillip.
IMPORT STOCK TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
These changes were not unmarked by the Overlanders. Those symptoms of
uneasiness which always precede new eras of events began to exhibit
themselves at both ends of the proposed line of communication. My
official situation enabled me greatly to forward these, and all persons
who landed at the Sound on their passage to South Australia recognised
the advantages to be derived from shipping stock to it from Adelaide, and
thus avoiding the passage to Swan River round Cape Leeuwin; these persons
carried numerous representations to this effect to some of the principal
stock-proprietors of South Australia; and at the same time Dr. Harris,
one of the oldest and most adventurous of the Swan River settlers, drove
a flock of sheep overland from King George's Sound to the inland
districts of the Swan River, thus demonstrating the feasibility of this
part of the plan. The news of his safe arrival at Swan River had only
just reached the Sound when Mr. Eyre arrived in Princess Royal Harbour
with a vessel laden with sheep; he was followed in a few days by
Lieutenant Mundy, who came in a larger one laden with horned stock and
sheep; and they immediately despatched another vessel for 1000 more
sheep.
STATE OF THE CATTLE MARKET THERE.
Thus was a sort of communication established between the two colonies;
but the profits arising from the sale of stock brought in a vessel were
in a great measure absorbed by the expenses of transport, and in the
winter season the passage is too rough to allow of the risk of shipping
stock. Were they driven overland, instead of being transported by sea,
horned stock could be sold at about 5 pounds per head, and sheep for 15
shillings per head less. Moreover the price of the different colonial
markets would be equalised, and new settlers in all the colonies would
start with an equal chance; whereas at present if two settlers with equal
means go the one to Western and the other to Southern Australia, for
every 100 head of horned stock and 100 head of sheep that the settler in
Western Australia can buy with his capital the settler in Southern
Australia can buy 200 head of horned cattle and 800 of sheep; this
scarcely appears to create so vast a difference between the two as it
really does until we regard the relative position of the two settlers at
the end of some given term of years, for instance five; they would then
stand thus:
(TABLE OF RELATIVE VALUES OF SOUTHERN AND WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STOCK.)
GENERAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE SPREAD OF COMMERCE AND EMIGRATION.
The rapidity of communication from point to point has introduced such
vast effects in the march of improvement among distant lands as only
eye-witnesses can believe. The merchant in London who lays on a vessel
for a certain port regards the affair as a mere mercantile speculation,
but could he trace out the results he effects in their remotest
ramifications he would stand astonished at the changes he produces. With
the wizard wand of commerce he touches a lone and trackless forest, and
at his bidding cities arise, and the hum and dust of trade collect, away
are swept ancient races; antique laws and customs moulder into oblivion.
The strongholds of murder and superstition are cleansed, and the Gospel
is preached amongst ignorant and savage men. The ruder languages
disappear successively, and the tongue of England alone is heard around.
Such are the ultimate effects of the daily occupations of many men in the
City of London, who, seated in a dark and dingy counting-house in pursuit
of gain, form and execute schemes the eventual tenor and bearing of which
are not to enrich themselves but the human race. No doubt amongst the
mass are noble minds who have a perception of the true object of their
calling, who feel a just and laudable pride that they are the employers
and benefactors of mankind; whose names, even amongst distant hordes of
untaught men, pass current, as a security for probity and honour; who
write a few lines in London and move the antipodes; who within the last
fifty years have either actually erected or laid the stable foundation of
six great empires, offsets of that strong nation who, together with her
progeny, is overspreading the earth, not by the sword but by the gentle
arts of peace and beneficence.
GENERAL RESULTS OF GREAT MERCANTILE OPERATIONS.
In the earlier Colonies, founded by the great maritime powers of the
world, national hatred prevailed to a great degree, although war existed
not between the parent states: still, at distant points removed from the
immediate control of the law, the hatred of races found vent, cruelties
were committed, reprisals took place, and Europeans warred one upon
another. But England and America, as they progress in these regions,
spread a common language and a common faith, and no national antipathies
can be strictly said to exist between them.
TRADE OF THE AMERICANS WITH OUT-STATIONS.
The Americans, who are decidedly a more enterprising mercantile people
than ourselves, have almost engrossed the profits of the seas surrounding
the Indian Archipelago and the western and south-western portions of New
Holland. Their vessels in these parts are to ours in the ratio of at
least ten to one. They constantly frequent the out-stations of Western
Australia; supply the wants of those retired portions of the world, and
where, legitimately, the British manufacturer should command the market,
little besides the produce of America is to be seen. The settlers at
these stations derive the largest portions of their supplies from the
American whalers, who give them in exchange for potatoes and
vegetables--and this species of barter is so profitable to both parties
that it would be impossible to prevent it (nay the attempt would be
cruel) by any other means than by inducing British whalers and
merchant-vessels to secure some portion of those advantages which are at
present wholly monopolized by others.
EFFECTS OF THE SPIRIT OF SPECULATION.
The masters of the American whalers participate in a great degree in the
feelings of the out-settlers; from the impressions generated in their
infancy they are disposed to look with a fraternal eye upon the few
adventurous spirits who have located themselves far from their fellow men
to reclaim a home from the wilderness. They have seen, lived amongst, and
shared the benefits which result from such commencements, and it is not
therefore to be wondered at that at all the out-stations the most
friendly relations exist between the settlers and the American whalers;
and when, during the five months of the bay whaling season, an American
vessel lays at anchor in some bay where there are one or two settlers'
families, a constant exchange of mutual acts of kindness takes place,
equally creditable to both parties; whence result friendship, and perhaps
an intermarriage; and when the period of the vessel's sailing arrives
there are numerous deserters from her crew, who readily find employment
at the different sheep stations.
DIFFUSION OF EMIGRATION.
Thus a species of emigration of which nothing is known in England takes
place in the colonies. Men, from the force of poverty, from the desire of
gain, or of founding a family and property in a new land, or for some
other reason, quit their homes and enter another portion of the globe.
There they find many who, having in the commencement of a settlement
realized the largest profits, are discontented with the percentage they
can now gain upon their capital; and what to the newcomer appears to be a
highly remunerating return they despise; gladly therefore do they dispose
of everything to the new emigrants and, animated by that restless spirit
of adventure which is common to all first settlers, away they start for
the last new colony or for unsettled lands--New Zealand, the Sandwich
Islands, the Indian Archipelago, it matters not which--a fresh field of
speculation has been opened, the tide of emigration from Europe seems to
be setting towards a certain quarter where there are numerous new
arrivals who can never compete with old and practised colonists. He who
has seen several cities rise can judge to a nicety, from local
circumstances, upon what site the capital of the new province must be
built; and in the same way he can foresee which must become the business
street, and hence knows exactly the relative value of every acre of land
in the province. In vain for him are reports spread that the capital is
to be built in such or such a spot, he but encourages them; in the
meantime rapidly and noiselessly his purchases are made, and a fresh
acquisition of fortune secured.
This class of men, amongst whom are many Overlanders, are never satisfied
or settled; they are constantly engaged in contemplating changes in the
prosperity of colonies and means of enriching themselves, they positively
disregard personal comfort, and a restless spirit of activity and love of
change animates them wholly. In these respects there is a great
similarity of character between them and the Americans, and it is
inconceivable in how short a period of time such a change is brought
about.
THE ABORIGINES.