The Capital of Queensland.--Public Gardens.--Gold Mines and
Gold Mining.--Pleasant Excursion.--Inducements to
Emigrants.--Coolie Principle of Labor.--Agricultural
Products.--Sugar Plantations.--Australian
Aborigines.--Cannibalism.--Civil Wars.--Indian
Legends.--Fire-arms and Fire-water.--Missionary Efforts.--A
Brief Romance.--The Boomerang.--The Various
Tribes.--Antiquity of these Lands.
Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, which was originally known as
Moreton Bay District, lies about five hundred miles north of Sydney, and
is reached most readily by coasting steamers; though the railroad long
since begun, has been nearly completed between the two cities, and may
possibly be open by the time these notes are printed. It has a
population, if we include the immediate suburbs, of fully fifty
thousand. Until 1860 it was an appendage of New South Wales, but was in
that year formed into an independent colony and named Queensland, after
the reigning queen of great Britain. The site of the city is a
diversified surface, with the river whose name it bears winding
gracefully through it about twenty-five miles from its mouth; though in
a direct line it would be but half that distance to its debouchment into
Moreton Bay, one of the largest bays on the coast of Australia. It was
discovered by Captain Cook in 1770, and is formed by two long sandy
islands running north and south, named respectively Standbroke and
Moreton Islands, enclosing between them and the mainland a spacious
sheet of water more than thirty miles long and six or eight wide,
beautified by several small and fertile islands. On approaching Brisbane
by the sea one is puzzled at first to find where the mouth of the river
can be, so completely is it hidden by mangrove swamps which skirt the
coast hereabout for many miles. A pleasant little watering-place is
located close at hand named Sandgate, which is connected by hourly
stages with the city. Several small rivers, all of which however are
more or less navigable, empty into Moreton Bay, showing that the
district of Brisbane is well watered.
It is less than fifty years since Brisbane was opened to free settlers,
having been previously only a penal station of the English government.
But of this taint here the same may be said as of Sydney or Hobart in
Tasmania,--scarcely a trace remains.
The principal streets run north and south, and are half a mile long,
being crossed at right angles by smaller ones. All of these
thoroughfares were originally laid out too narrow for the purpose
designed. Here one remarks the same system of verandas reaching from end
to end of the streets, and stretching over the sidewalks to the
edge-stones before the shops, which is observed in all the other cities
and large towns of Australia and New Zealand. For a city of its size it
is unusually well supplied with churches and places of public worship,
of which there are forty-one, embracing all sects of professed
Christians. Queen Street is the main thoroughfare and is lined with
handsome stores and beautiful edifices, for there is no lack of
architectural pretension either in the public or private buildings. Like
all of its sister cities in these colonies, Brisbane has an elaborate
Botanical Garden, in which the people take great interest; it certainly
seemed to approach very nearly that of Sydney not only in spaciousness,
but in general excellence,--the climate here favoring even a more
extensive out-door display of tropical and delicate vegetation than can
be obtained farther south. The fine examples of the great india-rubber
tree found here were nearly equal to those we have seen in their native
forests, where the great anaconda-like roots are often as much above as
below the surface.
Contiguous to these grounds and forming a conspicuous object in the
landscape is the Parliament Building, a grand structure of cut-stone
brought from neighboring quarries. This building has been a very
expensive affair, and probably antedates by half a century the absolute
requirements of the colony. Still, one pauses to ask himself if it is
possible that only a few years ago the present site of Brisbane was a
waste of dense jungle, a reeking swamp, a barren hillside. And if it has
accomplished so much in the way of growth and material progress in so
short a time, what may not be hoped for it in the near future?
There are besides the Botanical Gardens three other "reserves," as they
are universally denominated in Australia; namely, Queen's Park, Victoria
Park, and Bowen Park, each laid out in the most liberal spirit and in
anticipation of a population which the city will undoubtedly realize
within a few years from the present time. The ample water-supply of the
town has also been partially anticipatory; but what an immense advantage
it is to Brisbane! The sparkling liquid is brought by an excellent
system of pipes from the hills near Enaggera Creek, seven miles distant
from the city. Here a large reservoir has been created by throwing a dam
across a narrow part of a deep gully, and thus a large body of water
securely preserved. This water is both palatable and wholesome. An
intelligent spirit of enterprise is evinced by the citizens, and
everything goes to show that this is destined to be a populous and
prosperous centre. As to the climate, it is simply perfect, the mean
temperature being set down at 69 deg.
Ipswich, about twenty-five miles from the city, on the road to the
Darling Downs, has a population of ten thousand. Gympie, a gold-mining
town a hundred miles north, has about the same number of inhabitants.
Maryborough, on the banks of the Mary River, is another thriving town
equally populous; and Rockhampton, near the mouth of the Fitzroy River,
is a town of similar size and importance. Charter's Towers, Croyden, and
Table-Top are each productive gold centres; and there are many others
which might be named, as showing the populous and important character
to which Queensland has already attained. Of the gold-producing
localities, Charter's Towers is perhaps the best developed and the
richest. The particular "claim" at this point, known by the name of the
"Day-Dawn," is thought to be the most valuable, and has turned out a
very large aggregate of gold. Through the country, inside of the
coast-range, there runs a broad belt of gold-bearing quartz more or less
near the surface, but which requires organized capital to improve it
effectually. At first the localities are worked by a few hands for the
surface yield, and the excavation is continued as far down as can be
done without elaborate hoisting apparatus. Then the claim is apt to be
abandoned, or left to be eventually improved and worked by machinery
aided by wealthy organizations.
To the west of this mineral belt are situated the endless rolling downs
and prairies of the province, covered with herbage suitable for the
support of countless herds and flocks, and where some fourteen millions
of sheep are now yielding meat and wool for export, and where some four
millions of cattle are also herded. The real greatness of the country is
to be found in this agricultural capacity, this pastoral interest. Gold
will attract adventurers, but the substantial permanent population will
be found west of the auriferous range of mountains.
The pursuit of gold-mining has been called the triumph of hope over
experience, since notwithstanding the rich rewards so often attendant
on this pursuit, by it more seekers mar than make their fortune; and
when once a man has engaged in it, he seems to become utterly unfit for
any other occupation. Nevertheless, so great is the infatuation
pertaining to gold-mining, that when one seeker, broken down by
ill-success, ill-health, and perhaps the contracting of bad habits, is
finally forced to abandon the pursuit, his place is quickly taken by
fresh recruits, over-credulous and ever increasing in numbers.
We spoke particularly of Charter's Towers as being a remarkable mine in
its productiveness. We mean comparatively so, as those at Gympie are
also of great promise. The "Lady Mary" claim in this district is known
all over Australia for its profitable yield. The Mount Morgan mine near
Rockhampton, on a branch of the river Dee, is thought by some to be the
richest gold mine in the world; nor should it be supposed that the
auriferous fields in Queensland have all been discovered. It is the same
here as among our own rich gold and silver leads. Take those of Montana
for instance; no one who knows anything about that Territory believes
that one lead has been found out of one hundred that are in the hills
awaiting the prospecter's pick: yet Montana has sent within the last
year,--1887,--the extraordinary sum of thirty-five million dollars in
gold and silver to the mint.
An extremely pleasant trip may be enjoyed up the Brisbane River and
Bremer Creek, on which latter stream Ipswich is situated. It is twice as
far by water as by land, but the sail is delightful. The visitor often
gets a charming view of the city from the river, while at the same time
passing suburban residences, flourishing farms, banana-groves,
cotton-fields, sugar-plantations, orange-orchards, and the varied
scenery which borders the river's course. If one has time for but a
single excursion from the capital of Queensland, let him go to Ipswich
by the river. We would also advise him not to miss the trip from Sydney
to the town of Parametta up the river of the same name.
The unreasonably high rates demanded as wages, we were told, had the
effect of crippling many industries at Brisbane, and especially of
hindering the successful development of agriculture, farmers in many
instances being unable even to harvest their crops. This is a natural
sequence of the mining attractions of the country. Queensland is
probably as rich as any portion of Australia in other mineral deposits
as well as in gold, abounding in copper, silver, tin, and coal, so that
mining, first and foremost, absorbs the attention of large numbers at
the expense of other enterprises. The immediate need of this province is
more population and more laborers. We were told that liberal inducements
were held out to acceptable people to come hither from the old country,
but just what these inducements were it was not so easy to ascertain.
It is for the common interest both of England and her South Sea colonies
that the rough, rude men who throng to the gold-diggings of those
colonies should be in a measure counterbalanced by an influx of
well-disposed and intelligent people, with such domestic associations as
will insure their responsible and good citizenship. Families, where they
can be induced to emigrate, should be offered the most liberal
inducements, especially if they are persons possessing a knowledge of
farming,--these would be a most valuable addition to the colony.
Government can well afford to give to such desirable emigrants a free
passage, and land on which to settle without a cent of first cost to
them. The high rates of passage and the price charged for land in these
colonies have together acted as prohibitory measures to new settlers
going thither. There are millions of acres of good land in Australia and
New Zealand which lie idle, and will continue to do so for a century to
come, unless proper persons are induced by liberal terms to go and
occupy them. There is a certain class in England and Great Britain
generally to whom the agents of the colonies can well afford to be
liberal and open-handed, and there are others upon whom all such
liberality would be worse than thrown away. To cause a steady emigration
from the old country the conditions must be made at first entirely for
the benefit of the new-comer, and in the end his presence will redound
to the permanent good of the colonies.
The cultivation of wheat is growing more and more general in Queensland,
but the staple productions may be said to be wool and sugar. Coffee,
tobacco, and cotton are also grown, but only to a limited extent,
though the acreage devoted to the latter is said to be annually
increasing. The laborers upon the plantations, and indeed the colored
laborers both in town and country, are composed largely of South Sea
Islanders, imported hither from both the near and far islands on the
very objectionable Coolie principle which so long prevailed in Cuba.
These laborers are engaged to serve a certain period,--say five
years,--for which time the employer contracts to pay them six pounds
sterling per annum, feeding and housing them in the mean time; and at
the expiration of the term agreed upon he promises to return them to
their island homes free of all cost to themselves. Of course this system
is open to unlimited abuse, as was proved in the West Indies and
elsewhere, resolving itself into a species of actual slavery. Besides
which, under the guise of securing contract labor it has been proved
that natives were forcibly abducted from their homes by unprincipled
sea-captains, who realized a large amount of money per head for passage
and for procuring the stolen islanders. One instance of this sort was
related to us in detail, where a small coasting-vessel brought a large
number of natives from an outlying island of the Feejee group, whence
they were forcibly abducted, and treated with as much cruelty as
formerly characterized the slave trade between Africa and Cuba. Even
when imported under the fairest scheme that could be conceived, the
ignorant "Kanacks," as they are called, cannot enforce their rights,
and rarely ever see their homes again after having once left them. The
contracts entered into between employers and these men are little more
than a farce on the part of the principals, and are probably never
consummated. It is gratifying to know that this iniquitous system of
Coolie labor is becoming a thing of the past. Freely expressed public
opinion has nearly abolished it, although its evil results are by no
means yet outgrown.
It is clearly apparent to any observant person that the pastoral and
agricultural interests are paramount to all others in Australia. This is
amply proved by the published statistics of the past five years. Few
persons not especially interested to inquire have any idea of the large
amount of fresh meat shipped thither in refrigerator steamers, or of the
aggregate amount of wool and flour exported thence to England, India,
and China. The tenure upon which farm-lands are held in Queensland, as
already intimated, seemed to us to be not a little confusing. In order
to make men good citizens their land should be to them a freehold; that
is, the title should be solely vested in themselves. The laws relating
to this matter differ in the several colonies.
The semi-tropical climate of Queensland permits of the cultivation (as
we have already stated) of pineapples, cotton, arrowroot, bananas,
coffee, mangoes, and the like. The cotton is of the long and best
staple. The planters here already compete with those of the West Indies
in the product of the sugar-cane, three varieties of which are
especially adapted to this climate; namely, the Burbon, the purple Java,
and the yellow Otaheitan. It must not be forgotten that two thirds of
this colony is within the tropics, stretching northward until it is
separated from the Equator by eleven degrees only. Three tons of sugar
to the acre is no uncommon yield upon the plantations of Queensland, and
this too where the machinery used in the grinding and reducing is of a
poor character. Were more modern methods adopted, the aggregate result
would not only be much increased in quantity, but also in quality. The
machinery used for this purpose in the Sandwich Islands--all brought
from the United States--is infinitely better adapted to the purpose,
besides being actually more economical in the long run. Some of the
Queensland planters have taken pride in demonstrating that intelligent
white labor is possible, and more profitable, all things considered,
than any other. There is one characteristic of sugar-raising here which
we should not omit to mention; namely, that several crops can be
realized from one planting. The first crop is called the "plant" crop,
and those that follow are known as "ratoon" crops, the latter continuing
several years. In the West Indies and some other countries a first and
second crop are realized from one planting; but the third year requires
new planting.
This division of Australia is more than five times as large as the
United Kingdom of Great Britain, possessing a world of undeveloped
resources of the most promising character. When the great central
railroad shall be built,--and it is believed that it will soon be under
way,--an immense impulse will be given to Queensland. The sun here
shines with a more tropical ardor and a more genial warmth than in New
South Wales; the trees are of more varied shapes and of richer
growth,--similar, in fact, to those of Central America. The palm takes
the place of the eucalyptus to a certain extent, and the woods teem with
the bunya-bunya,--a very desirable and ornamental tree, which belongs to
the pine family. Here also abound the tulip-tree, rosewood, sandal-wood,
and satin-wood, with other choice varieties not found farther south. The
tulip-tree and the sour gourd recall the vegetation of equatorial
Africa, which many of the natural products here very closely resemble.
We have spoken of the bunya-bunya tree. When it is full-grown it towers
two hundred feet in the air; but when young, it throws out branches all
about its base close to the earth and to a distance of several yards.
Above these, smaller branches rise in regular gradation to the top,
forming a perfect cone of dense foliage. At maturity it produces
annually upon its apex a large cluster of fruit, which is nutritious and
palatable, being eagerly consumed by both the natives and the whites.
This product is similar to the chestnut in taste and appearance, each
tree producing a bushel or more at a time. The bunya-bunya has a sort of
mysterious significance with the "black fellows" as the aborigines are
called, and no one is permitted to cut down one of these trees. The
laws of the colony also forbid its destruction.
The aborigines are oftener met here than at the south, as they prefer to
live in the more temperate climate, and where they can have the country
more to themselves. They are all nomads, and probably do not number over
twenty-five or thirty thousand, slowly but surely decreasing numerically
before the advance of the whites. Even when first discovered they were
but a handful of people, as it were, scattered over an immense
continent. They have still no distinct notion of the building of houses
in which to live, or at least they adopt none, though they have the
example of the whites ever before them. As a rule they are hideously
ugly, with flat noses, wide nostrils, and deep-sunken eyes wide apart. A
bark covering, much ruder than anything which would content an American
Indian, forms their only shelter, and they often burrow under the lee
side of an overhanging rock. Unlike the Maoris of New Zealand, they have
no settled abode, and are more nomadic than the Bedouins of the Desert.
The skill of this people in tracking game or human beings is nearly
equal to that of the blood-hound. In the early days of penal servitude
they were specially employed by the authorities for this purpose, and
have been known to conduct a pursuit after an escaping convict for a
hundred miles without once losing his trail, and finally leading to his
capture. In the more modern conflicts between the Bushrangers and the
authorities they proved of great value, not as fighters, but as
trackers.
Missionary effort among these Australian tribes seems to have been
pretty much abandoned, and by intelligent people is considered to have
been a failure. Like all savage races, they are full of superstitions.
They pay little attention to marriage obligations, but buy and sell
wives according to their fancy, the women acquiescing with quiet
indifference. We were told of one practice among them so ridiculous that
we doubted it when first we heard of it. Ocular demonstration, however,
proved its reality. It appears that when a youth arrives at such an age
that he aspires to be a man, so to speak,--to own property or to
marry,--he is put through some cabalistic rites the nature of which they
will not divulge. The initiation ceremony ends, however, by the aspirant
having one of his front teeth knocked out, or broken off close to the
gum. This is accomplished by means of a sharp blow from a stone shaped
for the purpose. After this deforming process is accomplished, the youth
is pronounced to be eligible to all the rights and privileges of the
elders of his tribe. Any of these aborigines, therefore, whom you meet
is sure to be minus a front tooth. By the bye, it is all important that
this tooth-smashing business should be performed at the full of the
moon, and it is followed by what is termed a grand "corrobberee," or
feast. In old times,--not long ago,--the menu on such occasions was
incomplete unless the principal dish consisted of human flesh; but if
this practice still prevails, as many believe to be the case, it is
indulged in secretly. We were informed that the only way of accounting
for the lack of numbers among the children of the aborigines is on the
theory that infanticide is still practised by the native tribes.
These savages are as fond of disfiguring themselves with yellow and red
pigments as are our Western aborigines. The tribes in the northwestern
part of Queensland are at constant enmity among themselves, and being
naturally fond of quarrelling, like our Indians, they improve every
opportunity to do so, frequently attacking and killing one another for
the most trivial causes. Each tribe has its territory carefully marked
off, and any infringement by another tribe is sure to end in bloodshed.
It would seem as though everything conspired to wipe them from off the
face of the earth. It is a remarkable fact that consumption causes the
death of a considerable percentage of the tribes annually. They believe
its victims to have become bewitched, having had an evil eye cast upon
them; the result is that they redouble the incantations which they
consider to be necessary to remove all illness.
The Australian blacks have a plenty of legends of the most barbaric
character, but by no means void of poetic features. They believe that
the earth was created by a being of supreme attributes, whom they call
Nourelle, and who lives in the sky surrounded by children born without
the intervention of woman. They entertain the idea that because the sun
gives heat it needs fuel, and that when it descends below the horizon it
procures a fresh supply for its fires. The stars are supposed to be the
dwellings of departed chiefs. The serpent is believed to contain the
spirit of a real devil. To eat the kidney of an enemy, it is thought,
imparts to the one who swallows it the strength of the dead man. Any
number above five these blacks express by saying, "It is as the
leaves,"--not to be counted. The white man's locomotive is an imprisoned
fire-devil, kept under control by water. The lightning is the angry
expression of some outraged god.
One singular tradition which this people have is to the following
effect: In the beginning there was no death. The first created men and
women were told not to go near a certain tree, in which lived a sacred
bat. The woman one day approached the tree, whereupon the bat flew away;
and after that came death. One would be glad to know if this fable
antedates that more familiar and not dissimilar one of the Garden of
Eden.
The period of the total extinction of this race cannot be far distant.
Queensland is the only province where the Australian aborigines are
still an element worth taking into account. Statistics show that they
are dying at the rate of ten per cent per annum! The author asked an
intelligent citizen of Brisbane what could be the cause of such
mortality. "Oh," said he, in an airy way, "fire-arms and fire-water are
doing the business for these black fellows." A remarkably comprehensive
temperance lecture embraced in a single line, formulated by an old chief
of these natives, occurs to us in this connection. He was one of the
Brisbane tribe, and on a certain occasion said to a Government agent:
"One drink is too much; two is not half enough." To taste was to drink
to excess; abstinence with these people as with many white men is easy
enough, but temperance in the use of spirits impossible.
The natives will accept work from the whites when driven to do so by
want of food. Some of them work well and are liberally paid for it; but
to insure this, liquor must be carefully kept from them. A single glass
demoralizes, a second draught intoxicates. A drinking native is of no
use to himself or any one else; and if he can get the means he rapidly
drinks himself to death. The women are undersize as compared with the
average of white people; but the males are athletic, excelling as
axe-men and bullock-drivers, while on the sea-coast, when they work at
all, they are good hands at the oar. Their hair is not curly like that
of the Africans, but straight and silky like that of the Malays, and
they have the long, attenuated limbs of the Hindu race.
As in all barbaric countries invaded by the whites, the native race fade
rapidly away. Mr. Anthony Trollope depicted the true relative conditions
of the races here when he said: "It was impossible to explain to the
natives that a benevolent race of men had come to live among them, who
were anxious to teach them all good things. Their kangaroos and fish
were driven away, their land was taken from them, the strangers assumed
to be masters, and the black man did not see the benevolence. The
new-comers were Christians, and were ready enough to teach their
religion if only the black man would learn it. The black man could not
understand the religion, and did not want it, and to this day remains
unimpressed by any of its influences. But the white man brought rum as
well as religion, and the rum was impressive, though the religion was
not." He adds significantly: "There was much spearing on one side and
much shooting and hanging on the other."
The extent of the country is suggested by the fact, as given to us, that
the natives in the far interior of the north, while they doubtless have
heard of a white man have never yet seen one. Efforts have been freely
made by philanthropic associations to ameliorate the condition of these
blacks, but it seems impossible to turn them from their nomadic
habits,--their instincts leading them to seek support as hunters, and
after the manner of their forefathers, rather than by any more civilized
pursuit. We were told of an instance of a young native lad of ten years,
who was taken from his wild life by the mutual consent of all concerned,
and brought to Brisbane to live with the whites and be educated. Great
effort was made in his behalf, to render him in every respect
comfortable and contented. He was placed at a suitable school, where he
gradually developed an unusual degree of intelligence, showing much
aptitude at learning, and becoming a favorite with both pupils and
teachers. He lacked for nothing; was dressed like his associates and
pleasantly domesticated. He remained several years among the whites
apparently well satisfied with his surroundings, and great hopes came to
be entertained that he would become thoroughly civilized, and exercise
in manhood a strong influence for good among his native people. Finally
at the age of nineteen he was suddenly missing, and no one could say
what had become of him. After months of search, he was discovered to
have returned secretly to his former home and associates, and was there
found as naked and nomadic as the rest. No inducement could prevail upon
him to return to a life among the whites.
There is a brief romance connected with the story of this youth which is
not without interest. It appears that the young native, who was a fine
specimen of his race, became warmly attached to the lovely daughter of
the white family with whom he made his temporary home. The girl was
about his own age, and it is believed that her refining influence over
him was the secret of his remarkable studiousness and rapid progress in
learning. After he was discovered among his own people, the young lady
acknowledged that they had regarded each other with tenderest affection,
and that the youth would long before have returned to his tribe but for
her restraining influence. He regarded her with too much honest
affection, however, to suggest even her going with him to share the
hardships of his savage life, but told her that he grew hourly more
restless and miserable, and that he _must_ seek his native wilds. This
girl was too sensible to argue against the manifest destiny of both
their lives, and with a first and last kiss they separated forever. No
one can say how it was with the savage youth, whose eyes had been opened
to all there is of noble and good in civilization; but doubtless he was
finally consoled by some dusky maiden of his tribe. As to her whom he
left behind, her true woman heart was sorely tried; and after hiding her
sorrow for some five years she died unmarried.
The most singular weapon possessed by these aborigines is one which
originated with them, and is known as the boomerang,--of which every one
has heard, but which perhaps few of our readers have seen. It is a
weapon whose special peculiarities have caused it to pass into a synonym
of anything which turns upon the person who uses it. It seems at first
sight to be only a flat, crooked, or curved piece of polished wood,
about twenty or twenty-four inches long (though these instruments vary
in length), and three quarters of an inch in thickness. There is nothing
particularly striking about this weapon until you see a native throw
one; in doing which he carefully poises himself, makes a nice
calculation as to the distance from him of the object he designs to hit,
raises his arm above his head and brings it down with a sort of swoop,
swiftly launching the curved wood from his hand. At first the boomerang
skims along near the ground, then rises four or five feet, but only to
sink again, and again to rise. As you carefully and curiously watch its
course, and suppose it is just about to stop in its erratic career and
drop to the ground, it suddenly ceases its forward flight and rapidly
returns to the thrower. Sometimes in returning it takes a course similar
to its outward gyrations; at other times it returns straight as an
arrow, gently striking the thrower's body or falling to the ground at
his feet. It is thought that no white man can exactly learn the trick of
throwing this strange implement, and few ever attempt to throw one,--or
rather we should say, few attempt it a second time; nor can the native
himself explain how he does what we have described. "Me! I throw him,
just so,"--that is all the answer you can get from him. We were told
that the most expert of the blacks will not only kill a bird at a
considerable distance with the boomerang, but that they cause the bird
to be brought back to them by the weapon. This last degree of expertness
we certainly did not witness, nor do we exactly credit it; but we can
vouch for the first, as we have described it.
The common weapons possessed by the aborigines when first discovered by
the whites--besides the boomerang, which can inflict a severe if not
fatal wound--were heavy war-clubs curiously carved, wooden spears tipped
with flint, and many others made of sharpened stones. In throwing their
wooden spears they were wonderfully expert,--an art which they still
cultivate and willingly exhibit to strangers. A bullet from a rifle
speeds not more surely to the bull's-eye than do these spears when
thrown by the hand of a native; but the singular skill which can impart
such magic to a weapon like the boomerang, might well be supposed to
prove effective in launching a straight spear to its mark. All these
weapons constructed by the Australian natives are elaborately finished,
and so polished, indeed, as to surpass the effect of varnish, in every
way showing great care and patient labor in their manufacture. But
though possessed of such skill in the construction of weapons, they
appear to have none in the building of houses. In no part of the world
have we seen people so poorly lodged, for even the Digger Indians of
California afford themselves some sort of secure shelter while these
people have none.
Ethnologists tell us that these blacks belong to the Ethiopian
race,--the lowest, probably, of all the human family. That they form a
special type is very clear to any one who has been among them. The
conviction forces itself upon one that they must be the remnant of some
ancient and peculiar people, of whom we have no historic record. It is
believed among well-informed persons in Brisbane (as we have already
intimated) that cannibalism is still secretly practised among some of
the tribes. Those living in northern Queensland are so isolated as to
have adopted but few modern tools or domestic utensils, but they still
have their stone knives and axes. As a people they are very far behind
the Maoris in intelligence, and are ever ready to adopt the vices of the
whites but not their virtues. Great care is taken to keep fire-arms away
from them, which effort is by no means successful, as there are plenty
of adventurous white men--themselves outlaws--who will sell arms and
ammunition to the natives whenever it is for their own advantage to do
so. These tribes are quite pugnacious, and are known to have killed many
of the Chinese who have landed at the north, near Torres Strait, whom
they doubtless devoured. The old Brisbane tribe, known to have numbered
not many years ago some twelve hundred, is now absolutely extinct, not a
word of its language even being spoken by a human being. Within a wide
sweep of Sydney and Melbourne the aboriginal tribes have virtually died
out.
As regards morality, or virtue, among the black women, they would seem
to have no idea of the significance of such terms. We learned one
curious fact relating to the burial of the dead among the natives, which
is that they always place the body in the ground in an upright position.
Their religion seems to be a sort of demon worship. "Good God take care
himself; bad God [devil],--look sharp for him!" There is some cunning if
not philosophy in this sort of reasoning. Like many other savage people,
especially those inhabiting tropical regions, they have no idea of
harvesting, or of storing food for future use. If they have enough to
eat at the present hour, that is all-sufficient.
When Australia was first taken possession of by the whites it seems to
have been, if the term is in any instance admissible, a God-forsaken
land; certainly the most destitute of natural productions of any portion
of the globe. We can well believe that before these blacks came
hither,--perhaps a thousand years ago,--this land was untrodden by human
beings, though scientists are by no means agreed upon this point. No
species of grain was known to these natives; not a single fruit worthy
of notice grew wild, and not an edible root of value was produced. The
only game of any size was the kangaroo and a few species of birds. Now
the trees, fruits, vegetables, and game of all regions have become
domesticated here, and have all proved to be highly productive, whether
transplanted from tropical or from semi-tropical regions. While we write
these lines, one most palatable and peculiar product is recalled,
namely, the passion-fruit. The gorgeous flowering species is familiar to
us all, but the fruit-bearing vine grows in Australia to perfection.
When ripe it is egg-shaped, and about the size of a hen's-egg, being
eaten in much the same manner. The top is cut off, leaving the skin as a
shell from which the luscious contents are eaten with a spoon. The
flavor is a most agreeable sub-acid.
We have intimated that appearances lead to the conviction that both
Australia and New Zealand were uninhabited about ten centuries ago; and
yet it would seem as though the South Pacific must have been peopled by
races of a certain degree of civilization in the far past. On the
Marshall and the Gilbert groups of islands, as well as on the Kingsmill
and the Ladrones, there are prehistoric stone monuments which were never
constructed by savages. On Lele, near Strong's Island, there are
elaborate stone fortifications overgrown by tropical forests, the walls
of which are twelve feet thick, underlaid by caverns, vaults, and secret
passages. Here also is a quadrangular tower forty feet in height. The
tradition of the present inhabitants is that a great city once existed
on this site, of which they know nothing. Ruins are also found in the
Navigator's Islands, the Marquesas, and even the Sandwich Islands, whose
origin is as much a mystery to the present inhabitants as to the
inquiring stranger. Was there once in the far-away past a great Malayan
Empire existing in the Pacific Ocean? There is a Peruvian tradition that
in the olden times strangers came from the great South Sea in ships to
the west coast of America, for commercial intercourse with the civilized
race which existed there.
In visiting these various by-paths of the globe, one realizes that there
are problems as to the antiquity of our race the solution of which
reaches far beyond any of the most ancient records of our present
civilization. We have seen in the Boulak Museum at Cairo objects of
Egyptian make which were doubtless six thousand years old; and the
Sphinx, situated ten miles away, where the city of Gizeh once stood,
must antedate that period. But among these South Sea Islands are
prehistoric ruins and monuments which are believed to antedate the
Sphinx. The same may be said of the buried columns that have been
overgrown by the forests of central Ceylon to the depth of a hundred
feet. To our humble perception, so far from bringing man's origin more
into accordance with the Darwinian theory, these facts widen the gap,
and render it still more doubtful.