_Once_ there were only black people in Australia, and no white; _now_
there are more white than black; and it is probable, that soon, there
will be no black people, but only white. Ever since the white people
began to settle there, the black people have been dying away very fast;
for the white people have taken away the lands where the blacks used to
hunt, and have filled them with their sheep and cattle.
There are two sorts of white people who have come to Australia. They are
called "Convicts," and "Colonists."
Convicts are some of the worst of the white people;--thieves, who instead
of being kept in prison, were sent to Australia to work hard for many
years. It is a sad thing for Australia, that so many thieves have been
sent there, because after their punishment was over, and they were set at
liberty, some remained in the land, and did a great deal of harm.
Colonists are people who come of their own accord to earn their living as
best they can.
It is a common sight when travelling in Australia, to meet a dray drawn
by bullocks, laden with furniture, and white people. It is a family going
to their new farm. In the dray there are pigs, and you may hear them
grunting; there are fowls, too, shut up in a basket; and besides, there
are plants and tools. When the family arrive at the place where they mean
to settle, they find no house, nor garden, nor fields, only a wild
forest. Immediately they pitch a tent for the mother and her daughters to
sleep in, while the father, his sons, and his laborers, sleep by the fire
in the open air. The next morning, the men begin to fell trees to make a
hut, and they finish it in a week;--not a very grand dwelling, it is
true, but good enough for the fine weather; the floor is made of the hard
clay from the enormous ant hills; the walls--of great slabs of wood; the
roof--of wooden tiles, and the windows--of calico. When the hut is
finished, a hen-house, and a pig-sty are built, and a dairy also
underground. A garden is soon planted, and there the vines, and the
peach-trees bear beautiful fruit. The daughters attend to the rearing of
the fowls, and the milking of the cows, and soon have a plentiful supply
of eggs and butter. The men clear the ground of trees, in order to sow
wheat and potatoes. Thus the family soon have all their wants supplied;
and they find time by degrees to build a stone house, with eight large
rooms; and when it is completed, they give up their wooden hut to one of
the laborers. This is the way of life in the "Bush;" for such is the name
given to the wild parts of Australia.
Some settlers keep large flocks of sheep, and gain money by selling the
wool and the fat, to make cloth and tallow. A shepherd in Australia leads
a very lonely life among the hills, and he is obliged to keep ever upon
the watch against the wild dogs. These voracious animals prowl about in
troops, and cruelly bite numbers of the sheep, and then devour as many as
they can. Happily there are no _large_ wild beasts, such as wolves, and
bears, lions, and tigers; for these would devour the shepherd as well as
the sheep.
But there are _men_, called "bush-rangers," as fierce as wild beasts.
These are convicts who have escaped from punishment. They often come to
the settlers' houses, and murder the inhabitants.
The natives are not nearly as dangerous as these wicked _white_ men;
indeed _they_ are generally very harmless, unless provoked by
ill-treatment. They are willing to make themselves useful, by reaping
corn, and washing sheep; and a little reward satisfies them, such as a
blanket, or an old coat. When some of the flock have strayed, the blacks
will take great pains to look for them, and seem as much pleased when
they have found them, as if they were their own sheep. The black women
can help in the wash-house, and in the farm-yard; but they are too much
besmeared with grease to be fit for the kitchen. It is wise never to give
a good dinner to a black, till his work is done; because he always eats
so much, that he can work no more that day.
Some of these poor blacks are very faithful and affectionate. There was
one who lived near a settler's hut, and he used to come there every
morning before the master was up; he would enter very gently for fear of
waking him,--light the fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, and
set the kettle on to boil; then he would approach the bed, and putting
his hand affectionately on the hand of the sleeper would whisper in his
ear, till he saw him open his eyes, when he would greet him with a kind
and smiling look. These attentions were the mark of his attachment to the
white man.
This black was as faithful, as he was affectionate. Once he was sent by a
farmer on a message. It was this, "Take this letter to my brother, and
he will give you sixpence, and then spend the sixpence in pipes for me."
The black man took the letter, and went towards the place where the
brother lived. He met him on horseback. The brother after reading the
letter, rode away without giving the sixpence to the bearer. What was the
poor black man to do? "Shall I go back," thought he, "without the pipes?
No. I will try to get some money." He went to a house that he knew of,
and offered to chop some wood for sixpence, and with _that sixpence_ he
bought the pipes. Was not this being a good servant? This was not
eye-service; it was the service of the heart. But there are not many
natives like this man. They are generally soon tired of working. For
instance, a boy called Jackey, left a good master who would have provided
for him, to live again wild in the woods, and went away with the blanket
off his bed.
ANIMALS.--There are few of _our_ animals in Australia, or of _their_
animals in England. There is no hare, no rabbit, no nightingale, no
thrush, in Australia. _Once_ there were no horses, nor cows, nor sheep,
nor pigs; but _now_ there are a great many. Much terrified were the
natives at the sight of the first horse which came from England; for they
had never seen such a large animal before.
The largest beast in Australia is the Kangaroo, remarkable for its short
fore-legs, and its great strong hind-legs, and for the pocket in which it
shelters its little one. It is a gentle creature, and can be easily
tamed. A pet kangaroo may often be seen walking about a settler's garden,
cropping the grass upon the lawn. But though easily _tamed_, a wild
kangaroo is not easily _caught_; for it makes immense springs in the air,
far higher than a horse could leap, though it is not as big as a sheep.
When hunted by dogs, it gets, when it can, into the water, and turning
round, and standing still, dips the dogs, one by one, till it drowns
them.
There is another beast, called the opossum, not much bigger than a large
cat, and it also has a pocket for its young ones. But instead of cropping
the grass, it eats the leaves of trees. It has a gentle face like a deer,
and a long tail like a monkey. It hides itself, as the squirrel does, in
the hollows of trees. Like the owl, it is never seen in the day, but at
night it comes out to feed. The blacks are very cunning in finding out
the holes where the opossums are hidden, and they know how to drag them
out by their long tails, without getting bitten by their sharp teeth.
With the skin of the opossum the natives make a cloak.
The wild dogs, or dingoes, are odious animals. They may be heard yelling
at night to the terror of the shepherd, and the farmer. They are bold
enough to rush into a yard, and to carry off a calf, or a pig; and when
they have dragged it into the woods, they cruelly eat the legs first, and
do not kill it for a long while.
These three--the kangaroo, the opossum, and the dingo,--are the principal
beasts of Australia.
Among the birds, the emu is the most remarkable. It is nearly as tall as
an ostrich, and has beautiful soft feathers, though not as beautiful as
the ostrich's. But the most curious point in the emu is,--it has no
tongue. You may suppose, therefore, that it is neither a singing bird,
nor a talking bird; it only makes a little noise in its throat. But if
_it_ is silent, there are numbers of parrots, and cockatoos, to fill the
air with their screams. In England, these birds are thought a great deal
of, but in Australia, they are killed to make into pies, or into soup.
Parrot-pie and cockatoo-soup, are common dishes there. However, many of
the parrots and cockatoos, are caught by the blacks, and sold to the
English, who send them to England in the ships.
There are not such singing birds in Australia, as there are here. Though
there is a robin red-breast there, he does not sing as sweetly as he does
here. But there are _laughing_ birds in Australia. There is a bird called
the "laughing jackass." He laughs very loud three times a day. He begins
in the morning;--suddenly a hoarse loud laugh is heard,--then another,
then another,--till a whole troop of birds seem laughing all together,
and go on laughing for a few minutes;--and then they are all quiet again.
Such a noise must awaken many a sleeper on his bed. At noon the laugh is
heard again. At evening there is another general fit of laughter. These
birds are not like children, who laugh at no particular hour, but often
twenty times a day. The laughing jackass is almost as useful as a clock,
and it is called, "the bushman's clock."