This is the largest island in the world. It is as large as Europe (which
is not an _island_, but a _continent_). But how different is Australia
from Europe! Instead of containing, as Europe does, a number of grand
kingdoms, it has not one single king. Instead of being filled with
people, the greater part of Australia is a desert, or a forest, where a
few half naked savages are wandering.
A hundred years ago, there was not a town in the whole island; but now
there are a few large towns near the sea-coast, but only a very few. It
is the English who built these large towns, and who live in them.
Australia is not so fine a land as Europe, because it has not so many
fine rivers; and it is fine _rivers_ that make a fine _land_. Most of the
rivers in Australia do not deserve the name of rivers; they are more like
a number of water-holes, and are often dried up in the summer; but there
is one very fine, broad, long, deep river, called the Murray. It flows
for twelve hundred miles. Were there several such rivers us the Murray,
then Australia would be a fine land indeed.
Why is there so little water? Because there is so little rain. Sometimes
for two years together, there are no heavy showers, and the grass
withers, and the trees turn brown, and the air is filled with dust. I
believe the reason of the want of rain is--that the mountains are not
high; for high mountains draw the clouds together. There are no mountains
as high as the Alps of Europe; the highest are only half as high.[13]
THE NATIVES.--The savages of Australia have neither god, nor king. Some
heathen countries are full of idols, but there are no idols in the wilds
of Australia. No,--like the beasts which perish, these savages live from
day to day without prayer, or praise, delighting only in eating and
drinking, hunting and dancing.
Most men build some kind of houses; but these savages are satisfied with
putting a few boughs together, as a shelter from the storm. There is just
room in one of these shelters for a man to creep into it, and lie down to
sleep. They do not wish to learn to build better huts, for as they are
always running about from place to place, they do not think it worth
while to build better.
A native was once sitting in the corner of a white man's hut, and looking
as if he enjoyed the warmth. The white men began to laugh at him, for not
building a good hut for himself. For some time the black man said
nothing, at last he muttered, "Ay, ay, white fellow think it best
that-a-way. Black fellow think it best that-a-way." A white man rudely
answered, "Then black fellow is a fool." Upon hearing this, the black
fellow, quite affronted, got up, and folding his blanket round him,
walked out of the hut. How much pride there is in the heart of man! Even
a savage thinks a great deal of his own wisdom, and cannot bear to be
called a fool.
Sometimes the natives build a house _strong_ enough to last during the
whole winter, and _large_ enough to hold seven or eight people. They make
it in the shape of a bee-hive.
Their reason for moving about continually, is that they may get food.
They look for it, wherever they go, digging up roots, and grubbing up
grubs, and searching the hollows of the trees for _opossums_. (Of these
strange animals more shall soon be mentioned.)
The women are the most ill-treated creatures in the world. The men beat
them on their heads whenever they please, and cover them with bruises. A
gentleman once saw a poor black woman crying bitterly. When he asked her
what was the matter, she told him that her husband was going to beat her
for having broken his pipe. The gentleman went to the husband, and
entreated him to forgive his "gin" (for that is the name for a _wife_ or
_woman_). But the man declared he would not forgive her, unless a new
pipe was given to him. The gentleman could not promise one to the black
man, as there were no pipes to be had in that place. The next morning the
poor gin appeared with a broken arm, her cruel husband having beaten her
with a thick stick.
The miserable gins are not _beaten_ only; they are _half starved_; for
their husbands will give them no food, and _they_--poor things--cannot
fish or hunt, or shoot; they have nothing but the roots they dig up, and
the grubs, and lizards, and snakes they find on the ground. Their looks
show how wretchedly they fare; for while the men are often strong and
tall, the women are generally thin, and bent, and haggard.
Yet the _woman_, weak as she is, carries all the baggage, not only the
babe slung upon her back, but the bag of food, and even her husband's gun
and pipe; while the _man_ stalks along in his pride, with nothing but
his spear in his hand, or at most a light basket upon his arm; for he
considers his wife as his beast of burden. At night the woman has to
build her own shelter, for the man thinks it quite enough to build one
for himself.
Such is the hard lot of a native woman, while she _lives_; and when she
_dies_, her body is perched in a tree, as not worth the trouble of
burying.
I have already told you, that the natives have no GOD; yet they have a
DEVIL, whom they call Yakoo, or debbil-debbil. Of him they are always
afraid, for they fancy he goes about devouring children. When any one
dies, they say, "Yakoo took him." How different from those happy
Christians who can say of their dead, "God took them!"
People who know not God, but only the devil, must be very wicked. These
savages show themselves to be children of debbil-debbil by their actions.
They kill many of their babes, that they may not have the trouble of
nursing them. Old people also they kill, and laugh at the idea of making
them "tumble down." One of the most horrible things they do, is making
the skulls of their friends into drinking-cups, and they think that by
doing so, they show their AFFECTION! They allow the nearest relation to
have the skull of the dead person. They will even EAT a little piece of
the dead body, just as a mark of love. But generally speaking, it is
only their _enemies_ they eat, and they _do_ eat them whenever they can
kill them. There are a great many tribes of natives, and they look upon
one another as enemies. If a man of one tribe dare to come, and hunt in
the lands of another tribe, he is immediately killed, and his body is
eaten.
The bodies of dear friends--are treated with great honor, placed for some
weeks on a high platform, and then buried. Mothers prize highly the dead
bodies of their children. A traveller met a poor old woman wandering in
search of roots, with a stick for digging in her hand, and with no other
covering than a little grass mat. On her back she bore a heavy load. What
was it? The dead body of her child,--a boy of ten years old; this burden
she had borne for three weeks, and she thought she showed her love, by
keeping it near her for so long a time. Alas! she knew nothing of the
immortal spirit, and how, when washed in Jesus' blood, it is borne by
angels into the presence of God.
But though these savages are so wicked, and so wild, they have their
amusements. Dancing is the chief amusement. At every full moon, there is
a grand dance, called the Corrobory. It is the men who dance, while the
women sit by and beat time. Nothing can be more horrible to see than a
Corrobory. It is held in the night by the light of blazing fires. The men
are made to look more frightful than usual, by great patches, and stripes
of red and white clay all over their bodies; and they play all manner of
strange antics, and utter all kinds of strange yells; so that you might
think it was a dance in HELL, rather than on earth.
It may surprise you to hear these wild creatures have a turn both for
music and drawing. There are figures carved upon the rocks, which show
their turn for drawing. The figures represent beasts, fishes, and men,
and are much better done than could have been supposed. There are few
savages who can sing as well as these natives; but the _words_ of their
songs are very foolish. These are the words of one song,
"Eat great deal, eat, eat, eat;
Eat again, plenty to eat;
Eat more yet, eat, eat, eat."
If a pig could sing, surely this song would just suit its fancy. How sad
to think a man who is made to praise God forever and ever, should have no
higher joy than eating!
And what is the appearance of these people?
They are ugly, with flat noses, and wide mouths, but their teeth are
white, and their hair is long, glossy, and curly. They adorn their
tresses with teeth, and feathers, and dogs' tails; and they rub over
their whole body with fish oil and fat. You may imagine, therefore, how
unpleasant it must be to come near them.