From Melbourne to Adelaide.--Capital of South
Australia.--New Gold-Fields.--Agricultural Interests.--City
Institutions.--Inducements to Immigrants.--Public
Buildings.--A City of Churches.--Australian
Ladies.--Interior of the Country.--Irrigation.--German
Settlers.--The Botanical Gardens.--West Australia.--Perth
the Capital.--The Pearl Fisheries.--Commercial Advantages
Considered.
We shall now leave Victoria and take the reader into another colony, by
no means less interesting than those already visited. The distance from
Melbourne to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is about the same
as that from Sydney to Melbourne,--say, six hundred miles. Australia is
an immense territory, and its capital cities are a long way apart. The
cars upon this route are constructed upon both the American and English
plan, and one is not annoyed by having to change cars to accommodate a
difference in the gauge, as upon the Sydney route, where for this
purpose he is aroused at midnight on the borders of Victoria. On passing
the limit of South Australia the traveller finds his watch to be
twenty-five minutes too fast, and makes the necessary alteration to
accommodate the local time in accordance with western longitude. It is a
tiresome journey,--or at least we found it so. There were few
first-class passengers, none of whom particularly interested a stranger
beyond general observation; moreover the road passes through what is
called the Ninety-mile Desert, which is desolate and barren indeed. The
miles seemed interminable; and it was a great relief at last when a
wooded country was reached, and there came into view open, well-fenced
fields, with here and there small groups of choice breeds of cattle and
sheep, and an occasional neat homestead.
In the course of this journey the Murray Bridge was crossed. This iron
structure spans the breadth of that great Australian water-way here
known as the Murray River, but which finds its source thousands of miles
to the north, in Queensland, where it is known as the Darling River.
After leaving Murray Bridge two large engines were necessary to draw our
train up the steep incline among the hills and mountains which separate
Adelaide from her eastern territory. These mechanical giants puffed and
panted with an almost human expression, in their vigorous struggle to
drag the train forward,--now and again hovering upon the very verge of
inability, and then, as it seemed to us, by putting forth renewed energy
and extraordinary effort, pressing forward and finally surmounting the
steep way. The aspect of the scenery rapidly changed for the better as
we advanced, and our spirits rose accordingly. Everything looked bright
and thrifty. Gardens, orchards, well-cultivated fields, and pleasant
roadside stations, with the summer residences of the citizens of
Adelaide, were rapidly passed, until Mount Lofty station was reached and
the descent toward the plains began. The traveller was soon gratified by
a bird's-eye view of the capital of South Australia, lying spread out
upon the plain, with the broad sea beyond glittering with mottled
sunshine.
Adelaide is surrounded by an amphitheatre of wooded hills rearing their
heads not far away from the city, and forms a very fine picture when
thus approached. The capital is so perfectly level that to be seen to
advantage it must be looked upon as a whole from some favorable
elevation. Though this colony is called South Australia, it should be
known as Central Australia in respect to its actual geographical
position. It is destined in the near future to merit the name of the
granary of the country, being already largely and successfully devoted
to agriculture. This pursuit is followed in no circumscribed manner, but
in a large and liberal style, like that of our best Western farmers.
Immense tracts of land are also devoted to stock-raising, for the
purpose of furnishing "dead beef" for shipment to England in fresh
condition. South Australia contains nearly a million square miles, and
is therefore ten times larger than Victoria, and fifteen times the size
of England. It extends northward from the temperate zone, so that nearly
one half of its area lies within the tropics, while it has a coast-line
of five hundred miles along the great Southern Ocean. A vast portion of
its interior is uninhabited and indeed unexplored. The total population
of the whole colony is about four hundred thousand. Wheat, wool, wine,
copper, and meat are at present the chief exports.
Though gold has been found in this province to a very large extent, it
is not so abundant here as in other parts of Australia,--and yet since
these notes were begun new gold-fields have been discovered in this
section which are reported to be exceedingly rich. Statistics show that
somewhat over seventeen million pounds sterling in gold have been
exported from South Australia since its first discovery here. One mine
alone, known as the Moonta, has paid its shareholders in dividends the
large sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling. Gold-digging as a
business, however, grows less and less attractive in the colony, though
the precious metal must continue to be produced here for many years to
come, by well-organized companies who possess ample machinery for
raising and crushing the quartz rock. But good wages, equalling the
average earned by miners, are now paid here by a dozen easier and more
legitimate occupations,--among the rest the large vineyards which
produced last year over three million gallons of pure native wine. The
great trouble is to procure laborers at all, notwithstanding the liberal
scale of wages paid. No community or section of country has ever yet
reached a permanent success, according to the usually accepted idea of
success, upon what may in this connection be denominated a gold basis.
"Let us cherish no delusions," said a San Francisco preacher on a
certain occasion; "no society has ever been able to organize itself in a
satisfactory manner on gold-bearing soil. Even Nature herself is
deceitful: she corrupts, seduces, and betrays man; she laughs at his
labors, she turns his toil into gambling and his word into a lie!" The
preacher's deductions have proved true in California, South Africa, New
Zealand, and Australia. And yet we have freely admitted in these pages
that the finding of gold mines has stimulated labor, immigration, and
manly activity in many directions, and has thus indirectly been the
agent of good in other than its own field.
As we find gold king in Victoria, so in Adelaide we have pastoral
millionnaires. Some of the men who have become enriched by this means
possess fortunes of over two million pounds sterling, and have gone back
to England to enjoy their wealth in their native land; others, and these
are the larger portion of the successful settlers, still remain here,
promoting the local interests of the colony.
Adelaide, thus named for the queen of William IV., we found to be the
depot of a large and growing trade in wool and grain especially derived
from the fertile agricultural district of which it is the capital, and
is furnished with numerous arterial railways to bring these products to
market. We were told by reliable parties here that there are at present
about four million acres of land under the plough. Preference is
universally given to the grain produced in this colony, because of its
uniform excellence. New South Wales and Victoria hamper their people in
the use of this grain by the imposition of most unreasonable and
aggravating tariff laws. "Protection," said an earnest citizen of
Melbourne to us, "does anything but protect; it makes much of our food
cost us twenty per cent more than it would naturally if the ordinary
laws of trade were permitted to adjust themselves." The mass of the
people favor free-trade, but the leaders and the officials favor high
tariff, for they realize a living through the collecting of dues that
arise under its provisions. It was admitted to the author by local
political economists that it costs fifty per cent of the aggregate sum
collected to keep "the machine" moving,--a fact which alone forms a
strong argument against the entire system.
Adelaide, with a population of a hundred and fifty thousand, has a noble
University, quite equal in standing to that of any city in the country.
When we remember how youthful she is, it becomes a matter of no small
surprise that Adelaide has achieved such a condition of progress in all
the appointments and possessions which go to make up a great city of
modern times. This remark will apply indeed to all the Australian
capitals, none of which are deficient in hospitals, libraries, schools,
asylums, art galleries, and charitable institutions generally. Few of
the European cities of twice the size of these in Australia can boast a
more complete outfit in all that goes to promote a true civilization. We
must not forget, however, that a city established in the nineteenth
century has a lamp to guide its feet in the experience of all who have
gone before,--thus enabling it to start upon a wise and proper basis
from the very outset.
Though South Australia presents little of the glamour of auriferous
fields to attract new settlers, those who come here are as a rule of the
best class. This colony offers officially the most liberal inducements
to new-comers, while the natural advantages of its agricultural and
stock-raising districts are unsurpassed in either of the other colonies.
A land-order is given gratuitously to every qualified person upon his
arrival at Adelaide, which is good for one hundred dollars for each
adult, and fifty dollars for each child, at the Government Land Office;
besides which other liberal inducements are offered that are calculated
to interest representatives especially of the agricultural class of
Great Britain.
King William Street is a broad and elegant thoroughfare, the principal
one of the city. It is lined on either side with grand palatial
buildings,--banks, insurance offices, warehouses, shops, and hotels. On
this street also are the Post-Office and the Town Hall. One looks about
at the solid and pleasing architectural effect of all these buildings
with no small degree of surprise. Everywhere within the limits of the
city, especially extending eastward and westward of the Post-Office,
spacious edifices are to be found, either completed and occupied or in
course of construction. The material used for building purposes
consists very largely of a handsome white stone, which produces a
remarkably cheerful general effect. By ascending North Adelaide Hill one
gets an admirable view of all the space between Mount Lofty and the city
proper, which space is dotted with villas, gardens, and pleasant
domestic surroundings, and profusely ornamented with trees. There is an
aspect of thrift and business prosperity in the very atmosphere; civic
and suburban improvement is the order of the day. The churches of all
denominations are numerous and handsome. Comparisons may be odious, and
especially so as regards different portions of these colonies, between
which there is rampant a spirit of exaggerated and endless jealousy; but
we cannot refrain from saying that to the casual observer Adelaide
manifests greater evidences of enterprise and rapid growth than either
Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane. The citizens are especially alive to all
educational interests. There is here a Minister of Education, a Training
and Model School, three Colleges, and an ample number of common and
primary schools. The South Australian Institute and Museum is designed
for the promotion of art studies, science, and philosophy.
King William Street is nearly two miles long, certainly rivalling in
many respects Collins Street in Melbourne, and is more elegant and
effective as a whole than George Street in Sydney. Some enterprising
parties should introduce a few hundred Hansom cabs into the city, to
take the place of the hideous four-wheeled vehicles which are drawn
about town by two horses. Victoria Square, situated in the very heart of
Adelaide, is a busy quarter, where at a single glance one has a view of
the principal public buildings, including the Town Hall, a noble
structure, the colonnade of which is built over the surrounding
foot-way. Opposite this building is the General Post-Office, the main
features of which are like the Post-Office of Sydney,--a tall square
tower rising from the centre, which seemed in both instances quite out
of place. The city is remarkable for the compactness of its business
centre. Queen Street runs from bank to bank of the river, so that the
masts of the shipping are visible from either end of the thoroughfare.
The city proper is separated from its suburbs by a wide belt of park
lands, and all the approaches are lined with thrifty ornamental trees.
Great liberality and good judgment presided over the laying out of
Adelaide. All the streets are broad and regular, running north and
south, east and west. There are no mysterious labyrinths, dark lanes, or
blind alleys in the city; all the avenues cross each other at right
angles and are uniform in width. Somehow we missed the irregular ways of
old European cities and those of the far East, where one can get
delightfully lost and bewildered now and then.
Adelaide has been called the city of churches, and as already intimated
it certainly is well supplied in that respect; but it is still better
entitled to be called the city of public parks.
There was a grand Industrial Exhibition open at Adelaide during our
visit, to which all the sister colonies had contributed; and hosts of
strangers were consequently attracted to the town, imparting a business
aspect to everything and a general life to its streets which doubtless
was not its normal condition. Still, be this as it may, the capital of
South Australia is growing steadily in population and material wealth.
The present Exhibition Building stands in the Adelaide Park lands,
fronting North Terrace, adjacent to the Botanical Gardens. A direct line
of railway, seven miles long, connects the Exhibition with the wharves
at Port Adelaide, where ships of the largest tonnage can lie at the pier
and discharge their cargoes. The completeness, thorough organization,
and amazing variety of this Exhibition of Industries here in the South
Seas was a subject of great surprise and admiration to us. It is not,
however, our intention to go into a description of the Exhibition, but
it was certainly worthy of all commendation.
The Australian ladies of this section are essentially unlike their
sisterhood of the colonies in general. They are characterized by a
bright, buoyant, piquant manner which charms and captivates the stranger
who is so fortunate as to enjoy their proverbial hospitality. Without
being in the least flippant, they are debonair and winsome in the
display of their many accomplishments, which always embrace music,
drawing, and dancing. They are more like the women of America in height
and general figure than their English progenitors. They have none of the
English stoutness which indicates a plethora of blood and vigor; indeed,
there was a marked delicacy generally apparent in the matter of health,
which is to be attributed doubtless to climatic influences,--and yet
statistics show a low scale of mortality in Adelaide, as in most parts
of Australia. Regarding amusements, dancing is a favorite one, quite as
much so here as among the ladies of Spain. Among gentlemen belonging to
what is termed the best society in Adelaide, it is a fact worth
remarking that one finds no idlers; all have some legitimate calling,
and would evidently feel ill at ease without it. Idling is not popular;
each citizen is expected to contribute in some form to the general
condition of thrift and progress, as well as to do his share toward
developing the natural resources of the State. This is imperative in a
youthful colony, and not out of place in any community.
It is believed that the interior of the continent, which is largely
embraced within the territory of South Australia, was at a comparatively
recent period covered by a great inland ocean. Here are found the
mammoth bones of animals of the marsupial species, now extinct, which
have afforded much interest to scientists. On some portions of these
plains it is said that the heat absorbed from the sun in the daytime is
radiated from the soil at night to such a degree as to be insufferable
to human beings. The soil is represented to be at such times like
burning coal; and when the air moves over it, an effect is produced as
from a furnace, or from a sirocco blowing off the coast of Africa. The
effect of these winds is occasionally felt in Sydney and Melbourne; and
while it lasts, humanity becomes inert, and exertion impossible. It
rarely continues, however, more than three days, and in the vicinity of
Adelaide is seldom experienced more than twice in a season.
Several lakes are represented to exist in the interior, as shown by maps
of Australia,--among them Lake Torrens, Lake Eyre, Lake Gardiner, and
Lake Amadeus, apparently covering large areas; but these localities are
little more than muddy swamps or salt marshes, which are completely
dried up in summer. Their level is believed to be considerably below
that of the sea; and it has been proposed to cut a canal from Torrens to
Spencer Gulf: if that proved advantageous, then Lake Eyre could be
connected with comparatively little labor. Spencer Gulf is the deepest
indentation upon the south coast, and would flood these swamps with
permanent water, rendering them not only navigable, but producing a
favorable change in the climate. At present, during the summer season
the thermometer rises in the lake region to 110 deg. and even to 115 deg.
Fahrenheit.
This district is regarded as a desert waste because of its want of a
permanent supply of water, being "eaten up," to use a local phrase, with
drought. And yet this want of water at certain seasons while there is
an abundance at others is a matter so obviously within the ability of
the people to remedy, that one cannot sympathize much with them in their
present deprivation. Why the intelligent means of irrigation so well
known and so thoroughly tested elsewhere are not adopted here, it is
difficult to understand. We heartily agree with the position assumed in
regard to this matter by a certain English Bishop, of whom we were told.
He came to Australia to make it his home; and being applied to in a dry
season to issue a circular-prayer for rain, he answered that a fair
average quantity of water fell upon the land already, and that he
declined to petition the Almighty to work a miracle until the colonists
had themselves done what they could to preserve the rains by
constructing proper reservoirs and sinking artesian wells. These people
must not expect that Hercules will help them, unless they first put
their own shoulders to the wheel.
The river Darling shows well upon paper, and judged by its aspect on the
map it is a river which might rank with the Volga and the Amazon. But
the truth is that it forms a watercourse dependent at present upon
floods, admitting of navigation for hundreds of miles at certain
seasons, and at others being as dry as the Arno at Florence or the
Manzanares at Madrid. By a series of dams and canals this river might be
navigable all the year round. The same remark applies to several of its
tributaries, and to rivers generally running toward the inland centres
and flowing into the Murray. The governments of the several colonies
have long realized the importance and the necessity of a grand and
comprehensive system of irrigation. They seem to be never tired of
talking about the matter; but the time has now come for action. Some of
the most enterprising of the pioneers as they have advanced inland have
built dams on the small tributaries of the two rivers named, and have
found it to pay them tenfold. Some have sunk artesian wells, and have in
their turn reaped commensurate advantages. We were shown great reaches
of country where ten years ago cattle would have starved had they been
turned out to find a living there, but which now support large herds of
domestic animals.
Africa's interior is scarcely less mapped out and explored than Central
Australia. There are thousands of square miles upon which the foot of a
white man has never trod. Tartary has its steppes, America its prairies,
Egypt its deserts, and Australia its "scrub." The plains so called are
covered by a low-growing bush, compact and almost impenetrable in
places, composed of a dwarf eucalyptus. The appearance of a large reach
of this scrub is desolate indeed, the underlying soil being a sort of
yellow sand which one would think could surely produce nothing else. We
were told of one large section of South Australia ten thousand miles
square, which is solely covered with this scrub. "Yet," said our
informant, himself an agriculturist of experience and a large
landholder, "experiment has shown that if a watercourse were turned upon
this ground and the scrub cleared away, it would give us a soil nearly
as fertile as the valley of the Nile." And he added: "After a year or
two more of useless talk, irrigation will be applied in all directions."
The climate of Adelaide and the surrounding country is of much greater
warmth than that of the region about Brisbane, Sydney, or Melbourne. It
is not uncommon for the thermometer to register 100 deg. in the shade
during the summer months. The vegetable products are almost identical with
those of South Africa, and the soil is equally productive, yielding crop
after crop with no signs of exhaustion. The food of the common people is
cheap, abundant, and good. Mutton and beef do not cost one tenth as much
as is charged for them in England or America, while bread is but four
cents per pound. The flour produced here we were told won prizes
wherever it was exhibited, and was considered as ranking with the very
best manufactured anywhere. All kinds of vegetables are also cheap, and
thanks to the Chinamen they are also in good supply: no one but John
pretends to raise them. Everybody eats meat three times a day, rich and
poor; but of the cooking,--well, as we cannot say anything complimentary
about it, we will not dilate upon this theme.
The large number of German residents in and about Adelaide is
particularly observable, and whole villages were found to exist in South
Australia where German was the one language spoken. This people form
the best class of settlers, for they come hither with a well-considered
purpose, almost always in the direction of agricultural enterprise; and
this they pursue undeviatingly. Many of them are from the Rhine
districts of Germany, and interest themselves in the planting and
culture of the grape and in winemaking, having brought with them a
special and valuable experience obtained in their native land.
The large, well-kept parks which surround this capital of South
Australia form a magnificent drive, eight or ten miles long, outside of
which are the villas and pleasant flower-gardens of the citizens, where
one sees tropical fruits growing in great abundance,--including the
orange, lemon, citron, pineapple, and the like. Some of the floral
displays were truly gorgeous, embracing the flaring warratah and the
glowing banksias, decked with curious and lovely foliage. Here and there
were to be seen the Norfolk Island Pine, of which one never tires, and
which is a great favorite all over this country. It branches straight
out from the trunk with a succession of hard prickly leaves inclining
upward at the ends. Its color is always of the deepest green.
The Botanical Gardens of Adelaide cover a hundred and thirty acres, the
hedges of which are formed of a picturesque variety of yellow cactus,
acacias, magnolias, and myrtles. Here we first saw the Australian
bottle-tree, which is native only to these colonies. It receives its
name from its resemblance in shape to a junk-bottle. This tree has the
property of storing up water in its hollow trunk,--a well-known fact,
which has often proved a providential supply for thirsty travellers in a
country so subject to drought. Here also was seen the correa, with its
stiff stem and prickly leaves, bearing a curious string of little
delicate pendulous flowers, red, orange, and white, not unlike the
fuchsia in form. The South Sea myrtle was especially attractive,
appearing in flower with round clustering bunches, spangled with white
stars. The styphelia, a heath-like plant, was a surprise to us, with its
green flower, the first of its species the author had seen. We were
shown a specimen of the sandrach-tree from Africa, which is almost
imperishable, and from which the ceilings of mosques are exclusively
made; it is supposed to be the shittim-wood of Scripture. The Indian
cotton-tree loomed up beside the South American aloe, this last with its
bayonet-like leaves, ornamented in wavy lines like the surface of a
Toledo blade. The groupings of these exotics, natives of regions so far
apart upon the earth's surface, yet quite domesticated and acclimated
here, formed an incongruous picture and an interesting theme for
contemplation.
West Australia, of which Perth is the capital, is eight hundred miles in
width and thirteen hundred long from north to south, actually covering
about one third of the continent. It embraces all that portion lying to
the westward of the one hundred and twenty-ninth meridian of east
longitude, having an area of about one million square miles,--or, to
make a familiar comparison, it is eight times as large as the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It has but few towns, ports, or
settled districts, and Perth itself has less than eleven thousand
inhabitants. The city is represented to be an attractive place,
possessing a fine climate. Its oranges and tropical fruits generally are
said to be excellent. It is situated on the Swan River, better known
locally as Perth Waters. This river runs from Fremantle to Perth, and is
a noble water-way, commercially spoiled however by a dangerous ledge of
rocks about six feet under water, which shuts off the entrance from the
sea. Of course, in due time dynamite will settle the business for that
ledge.
The population of the entire colony known as West Australia is at the
present writing hardly forty thousand, scattered along the seaboard or
within a hundred miles of it. The results accomplished by this small
number of inhabitants show very clearly of what the country is capable,
and indicate what it would doubtless yield under more generous
cultivation. The colony exported last year over a million dollars' worth
of wool, besides copper, sandal-wood, timber, cattle, and so on. Late
statistics show that there are over two millions of sheep in this
section of the country, and we were told that it could support as many
more as are found in Queensland and New South Wales united.
Pearl-oysters abound on the coast of West Australia, and pearl-shells
are a ready source of income to the people, being exported in large
quantities. These are most freely procured at the north. There are
merchants in Sydney who annually fit out boats of from six to ten tons
each, and send them to this locality for the pearl-oyster fishing. This
is best prosecuted nearest to Torres Strait, which separates Australia
from New Guinea. Next to the great island-continent itself, New Guinea
is the largest island in the world, being three hundred and sixty miles
wide by thirteen hundred miles in length; but while Australia as a whole
is so remarkably healthy, not even the African Gold Coast is so
dangerous to health as New Guinea. Its flat, densely-wooded, swampy
coast is simply deadly to white men, and even the natives suffer
constantly from low fever. These natives are probably the most barbaric
of any savages living in this nineteenth century; they have no notion of
even the rudest agricultural operations, living altogether on fish,
berries, and roots.
The pearl-fisheries of which we were speaking give employment to a
singular class of laborers, consisting of Malays, Lascars, South Sea
Islanders, Australian aborigines, runaway sailors, and West Indian
negroes. Formerly the oysters were raised from four or five fathoms'
depth solely by divers, but dredging has lately been adopted with good
success. The pearl-oyster is a large mollusk, the shell weighing
sometimes as much as eight pounds. The divers are paid fair wages, and
whatever pearls they find become their perquisites, it being the shells
alone that the employer seeks to secure. These, when properly dried and
cleansed, he ships to Europe, where they bring an average of five
hundred dollars per ton. When diving is depended upon for raising the
oysters, a boat is very fully equipped, and the captain, who is the
diver, descends in a full set of armor. Air-pumps supply the necessary
atmosphere to enable him to remain for half an hour and more under
water, during which time he fills the canvas bags which are sent down to
him empty and drawn up by those remaining in the boat. Considerable
capital is embarked in this business. One enemy the divers have to look
out for is the shark. These dreadful creatures do not swarm on the coast
of West Australia, but are nevertheless sometimes seen there; and when
that is the case the diver signals his crew to draw him to the surface,
for though he is armed with a long knife, he could hardly cope with
these ravenous monsters in their own element.
The coast-line of the colony is set down as being three thousand miles
in length on the Indian Ocean, and some hundreds upon the Southern
Ocean. The country is known to be auriferous, but to what extent it is
impossible to say. There are two or three hundred miles of railroad here
belonging to the Government, and more is under contract to be built in
this year of 1888, covering short routes between comparatively populous
points. Immigration is encouraged by liberal appropriations, and the
population is increasing steadily if not rapidly. The late discovery of
gold-fields at the Kimberly district on the Fitzroy River has already
turned public attention thither, and settlers and adventurers are sure
to follow fast. Government survey has shown that on the territory
traversed by the Mary, Margaret, Elvira, and Ord rivers an immense
number of gold-bearing quartz-reefs exist, besides surface diggings
along the river courses and valley from which "good color," as miners
express it, can be got from the sand almost anywhere. Already diggers
have gone to work successfully in this region, where it seems the
country is well-watered most of the year, and where the Government
surveyors say there is no trouble in storing water against possible
drought. All these facts simply signify that Perth, the western capital
of the colonies, is in the near future to go through the same experience
as have Melbourne, Adelaide, Ballarat, and Brisbane, and that she is
sure by and by to become like them a great and prosperous city. What is
called a "rush" in the colonies has not yet taken place in the Kimberly
district, but there is a steady trend of gold-miners thither, and one or
two extraordinary "finds" would draw to this part of the country as
eager a throng as ever swarmed in New South Wales or Victoria bent upon
the same errand.
Were we to write more in detail of West Australia it would be simply
from what we learned through intelligent persons at Melbourne, Sydney,
and Adelaide. We did not visit Perth. A glance at the map will show the
reader how great are the distances between the capitals of Australia,
over which we traversed hither and thither three thousand miles and
more. From Adelaide to Perth, overland, would be a distance of fifteen
hundred miles, which would require to be accomplished mostly on
horseback. By water across the Australian Bight and Indian Ocean, it
would be a voyage of about the same length.
The climate of West Australia was represented to us as being extremely
fine; and one great pride of the people there is the variety and
abundance of the wild-flowers which cover hill and dale near the
coast-line of the entire colony. The pearl-fisheries to which we have
alluded produce some of the most valuable gems that find their way to
the markets of the world; for though by general consent the choicest
pearls come from Ceylon and the Persian Gulf, those found on the west
coast of Australia are deemed by many equal to the best. Beautiful
specimens were shown to us in Melbourne which we could not recognize as
in any way inferior to the Oriental gems that bring such fabulous prices
in Paris and London. In a jeweller's shop on Collins Street we saw
several which had come from the region near Torres Strait, and which
were valued at a hundred pounds sterling each, and one which on account
of its size was prized at two hundred pounds, it having already been
sold for that sum.
On preparing to leave Australia proper, some facts were noted as deduced
from careful observation and diligent inquiry. It seems that this
country can command the markets of the world in three articles at
least,--wool, meat, and wine. For producing these she has the advantages
of breadth of territory, of climate, and of general adaptation beyond
those of any other land. At the present writing it would be safe to add
gold to the other three staples, since Australia, in combination with
Tasmania and New Zealand, is producing more of it annually than any
other country in the world. In competition with the United States in the
home market,--that is, in England,--Australia is handicapped by some
eight thousand miles of distance, and must therefore count just so much
relative additional cost of transportation. But Australia can produce
two of the special articles named,--meat and wool,--at least ten per
cent cheaper than our own country. As regards cereals, Australia is
capable of raising at present double the amount of grain which she can
consume. In that staple, however, the United States and some other
countries can compete with her for reasons which favor them, independent
of the additional distance she must overcome to reach a market.