A DRIVE
A FEW days' rest made the travellers as good as new and Fergus and Jean
were ready for any kind of an adventure. They went about the city
interested in each and everything they saw, for they were bright little
children, full of spirits to the brim.
"We are to take a drive this afternoon," said Mrs. McDonald one morning.
"Your Uncle Angus is going to show you Wuurna-wee-weetch, which means
'home of the swallow.' It is the largest squatter station anywhere about
here, and it is as handsome as any noble estate at home."
"That will be jolly, Aunt Mildred," said Fergus, who loved driving.
When luncheon was over they all seated themselves in Mr. McDonald's
comfortable road-cart, and his fine span of horses pranced along the
Sydney streets.
"We are passing St. Andrew's Cathedral now," said Mrs. McDonald. "And
there is St. Mary's Cathedral, which is equally fine. There is the
Governor's Mansion, the Museum, the Art Gallery, and now we are entering
Hyde Park. Isn't it beautiful? The water works of Sydney are excellent
and the water supply never fails. It comes sixty-three miles from the
Nepean River and is stored in a huge reservoir. Even in the hottest
weather there is enough water to keep our parks green and beautiful."
"You are very enthusiastic over your adopted country," said her sister,
teasingly.
"Indeed I am. I have learned to love Australia, the rural life better
than the urban. You wait until we go up to the 'run' and see if the
charm of the Bush country life doesn't hold you." Mrs. McDonald smiled.
"Now we are entering the grounds of Wuurna-wee-weetch. Tell me, is the
Duke of Argyle's place finer?"
They drove over the estate, which was surpassingly beautiful.
"I have heard so much of the Australian Bush and how wild and bare it
is," said Fergus, "that I had no idea that there was anything here so
fine as this."
"What magnificent trees," said his mother.
"Those are the eucalyptus, the gum trees for which Australia is famous,"
said Mr. McDonald. "The eucalyptus grows to an enormous height, many of
the trees are 150 feet high and eleven feet around the trunk. In some
places they grow to be twenty feet in diameter. They are not good shade
trees because the leaves, which are shaped like little lances, grow
straight up and down, that is, with one edge toward the sun. But in
spite of that, the tree is one of the most useful in the world. There
are nearly 150 varieties of eucalyptus, and most of these are found in
Australia. The lumber is used for all kinds of building purposes. Many
of the trees contain a hard substance, 'manna,' from which we get a kind
of sugar called _melitose_. Others give us _kino_, a resin used in
medicine. The bark yields tannin, and from one variety with 'stringy
bark' we get a fibre used for making rope, the manufacture of paper and
for thatching roofs. From the leaves an oil is distilled which is much
used in medicine, being particularly good to dress wounds and for the
treatment of fevers."
"It seems to me that these trees furnish almost everything you need,"
said Mr. Hume.
"If you include the birds who nest in them and the animals who climb in
the branches," replied his brother-in-law, "I fancy the Blacks did not
need to look beyond the eucalyptus for a living. The wood built their
huts, and the bark thatched them. From the fibre they made mats for
their floors and hats to keep off the sun, and clothes, which consisted
of waist cloth and sandals. The leaves gave them medicine for the fever
and salve for their wounds. The cockatoos nesting in the branches
furnished them delicious food, while of the feathers the gins[2] made
boas for their necks and wonderful Easter bonnets. It really would seem
as if the gum trees were all they really needed. They have another use
not to be slighted, for they take up the moisture rapidly and dry the
soil in rainy seasons, thus reducing the malaria always found in such
climates as these."
"They are certainly useful," said Mrs. Hume. "Is this the station to
which we are going?" as they drove through a fine gateway.
"Yes," said Mrs. McDonald. "Wuurna-wee-weetch is quite up to date in
every way. The house cost £30,000 to build and the ranch has every
modern improvement. The grazing land hereabouts is perfectly adapted to
sheep raising. It is so rich that you may dig ten feet down and still
find rich black dirt. The owner of this ranch has been most successful.
He has recently put in new wool sheds, sheep pens, washing ponds, and
the like, and you may, if you wish, see the whole process of sheep
raising, shearing, pressing, packing and transporting the wool. You will
see it at our station on a smaller scale." They drove for an hour about
the magnificent place, and over all the estate was an air of wealth and
prosperity.
The gardens were blooming with gay, tropical flowers, and the songs of
the birds were in the air, as they flitted hither and yon through the
branches of the magnificent trees.
"What is that noise, Aunt Mildred?" asked Jean as they drove through a
beautiful grove of pines which scented the air deliciously. "It sounds
like a far away church bell."
"It is the bell bird, dear, one of the curiosities of Australia,"
replied her Aunt. "Long, long before there was a church bell of any
kind in Australia, this little, lonely bird made its curious bell-like
note. There are some pretty verses by one of our poets about it."
"Can you say them to us, Aunty?"
"I will try,--they are really beautiful," she said.
"'Tis the bell bird sweetly singing,
The sad, strange, small-voiced bird,
His low sweet carol ringing,
While scarce a sound is heard,
Save topmost sprays aflutter,
And withered leaflets fall,
And the wistful oaks that utter
Their eerie, drearie, call.
"What may be the bell bird saying,
In that silvery, tuneful note?
Like a holy hermit's praying
His devotions seem to float
From a cavern dark and lonely,
Where, apart from worldly men,
He repeats one dear word only,
Fondly o'er and o'er again."
"Is not that pretty?" said Mrs. Hume, as her sister's musical voice
ceased. "I did not know you had such poets in Australia."
"Indeed we have a literature of our own," said Mrs. McDonald, "and very
beautiful things are written by Australians. You have much to learn
about this great island continent of ours."
"Now we must turn toward home," said Mr. McDonald, and his wife said,
"Drive back past Tarnpin, it is so beautiful about there. Tarnpin, or
Flowing Water, is a favourite spot hereabouts. The Blacks have a quaint
story about its origin, and I will tell it to you as old Tepal, a black
chief, told it to me.
"It was the day time, and all the animals died of thirst. So many died
that the Magpie, the Lark, and the Crane talked together, and tried to
find water to drink.
"'It is very strange,' said the Magpie, 'that the Turkey Buzzard is
never hungry.'
"'He must, then, have water to drink,' said the wise Crane.
"'He flies away every morning, very early,' said the Lark.
"'Let us rise before the sun and watch him,' said the Magpie, and they
agreed.
"Next morning the Turkey Buzzard rose early and crept from his
wuurie.[3] He looked this way and that and saw no one. Then he flew
away. He knew not that two bright eyes peeped at him through the leaves
of the great gum tree. He did not hear the 'peep, peep' with which the
Lark awoke his friends. The Lark, the Magpie and the Crane flew high to
the sky. They flew so high that they looked as specks on the sun. The
Turkey Buzzard saw them but thought they were small, dark clouds. He
flew to a flat stone and lifted it up. And the water gushed from a
spring in the rock and he drank and was satisfied. Then he put back the
stone and flew away.
"The three friends laughed and were glad. Quickly they flew to the
stone, singing, 'We have caught him!' and drank of the fresh water.
They bathed in the pool and flapped their wings until the waters rose
and became a lake of clear water. Then they spread their wings and flew
over the earth, and the waters dropped from their wings and fell to the
thirsty earth. They made there water holes, and ever since there have
been drinking places all over the land."
"My but that's a jolly story," said Fergus, the irrepressible. "Did you
really know the Blacks, Aunt Mildred? Are there any around here?"
"None very near," said his aunt. "Indeed, they are mostly dying out.
People who have lived here a long time used to know them and say they
were a kindly people. They were very fond of children and I do not think
they were cruel or quarrelsome unless roused to anger. They have nearly
all buried themselves in the Bush, but you will be likely to see some of
them at our station. There used to be a number around the 'run,' and
when we first came out we had some rather curious experiences with
them. We do not see many now, their experiences with white people were
not always pleasant, I am sorry to say."
"I hope we shall see some of them," said Fergus.
"I like black people," said little Jean.
"What does she know of Blacks?" asked her aunt, smiling, and her mother
replied,
"Some people from the States came to our farm one fall for the shooting
and they had a black nurse for the baby. Jean took a great fancy to her,
and we simply couldn't keep her from toddling after Dinah. She was a
faithful soul, so good and kind."
"Those who have lived here for many years say that if you once make a
friend of a Black he will do anything for you," said Mr. McDonald. "I
never had any trouble with them around my station, though other
squatters did."
"I think it's all in the way you treat them," said his wife. "Of course
the Blacks near the 'run' are not the wild Blacks from the interior, the
man-eating kind, but a gentler race."
"Well, I hope we shall see some of them," said Fergus. "But I shouldn't
care for cannibals."
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Black women.
[3] Hut.