Full text of "The British Empire at home and abroad; an account of its origin, progress, and present position, with full descriptions of Canada, Australasia, South Africa, India, and other colonies and dependencies. New ed., greatly enlarged and brought down to the beginning of the twentieth century"

: EM PI RE: AT :

Presented to the
LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

e / -6* /'

The British Empire

At Home and Abroad

AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH; SIGNING DEED OF FEDERATION

c> &.

AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH

The illustration represents the formal inauguration of the newest nation
in the world the Commonwealth of Australia in the signing of the oath
of allegiance to Queen Victoria, by the Governor-General and the Ministers
of the new federation of states. At this august ceremony, which took place
at Sydney on January ist, 1901, in a pavilion specially erected in the Cen-
tennial Park, the chief parts were taken by the Earl of Hopetoun (Governor-
General), the Hon. E. Barton (Premier of the Commonwealth), Sir W.
Lyne (Premier of New South Wales), Sir F. Darley (Lieut.-Gov. of N.S.W.),
Sir John Forrest (Premier of Western Australia), and Admiral Pearson,
commanding on the Australian Station. The table upon which the oaths
were signed was the one used by the Queen when she gave her assent to
the Commonwealth Constitution. Lord Hopetoun, when he took the
oaths, stood upon a stone with six sides representing the six federating
states. A vast crowd of persons, including 10,000 school-children, viewed
the proceedings from the park-terraces. Botany Bay, with the exact spot
of Captain Cook's first landing in 1770, was in full view from the adjacent
high ground.

(92)

The British Empire

At Home and Abroad

An Account of its Origin, Progress, and Present Position

With full Descriptions of

Canada, Australasia, South Africa, India, and
Other Colonies and Dependencies

EDGAR SANDERSON

M. A. (CANTAB.)

AUTHOR OF "HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE" "OUTLINES OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY", ETC.

MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

^ ,

NEW EDITION

Greatly Enlarged and brought down to the Beginning of
the Twentieth Century

Vol. VI

LONDON
THE GRESHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY

34 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND.

\(o

CONTENTS.

VOL. VI.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION - Frontis. 383

NEGROES AT WORK IN A SUGAR-CANE PLANTATION IN JAMAICA - - 16

KING EDWARD VII 3

TRINIDAD COOLIES AT WORK IN A CANE-FIELD 57

"BLACK THURSDAY", FEBRUARY 6TH, 1851 ... -92

KING WATCHING THE LAST MOMENTS OF BURKE - 116

ATTACK ON A GOLD ESCORT - i3 2

SIR HENRY PARKES H3

SIR GEORGE GREY 2

CATTLE-MUSTERING IN QUEENSLAND 220

QUEEN ALEXANDRA .... 256

A MAORI WAR-DANCE- - - 294

A SHEEP STATION ON CANTERBURY PLAINS 3^

A CAMEL-CARAVANWESTERN AUSTRALIA 353

LORD HOPETOUN 3 8 7

MAP OF WEST INDIES, BRITISH GUIANA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND PART OF COLUMBIA i
MAP OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 87

BOOK VI. BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER XL WEST INDIES.

Extent and population of the British West Indian islands Effects of negro emancipation
Decline of the sugar trade Growth of new products. The Bahamas Barbados Jamaica,
and its dependencies the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, and the Morant and
Pedro Cays. The Leeward Islands : Antigua, with Barbuda and Redonda St. Christopher
or St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla Dominica Montserrat. The Virgin Islands: Tortola,
Virgin Gorda Anegada. Sombrero. The Windward Islands : Grenada, its Government,
Climate, and Industry Grenadines St. Vincent, its great Volcanic Eruption St. Lucia,
Picturesque Beauty, Coaling Station Trinidad, "The Land of the Humming -Bird",
Picton's Firm Administration, Coolie Immigration, Unsurpassed Scenery, Varied and
Increasing Population, Agricultural Products Tobago

CHAPTER XII. BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA.

Extent and population of BERMUDA Physical features Delightful climate of Main Island-
Trade Naval Establishments Hamilton Port Administration Education Communi-
cationRevenue. Boundaries, area, and population of BRITISH HONDURAS Physical

CONTENTS.

Page

geography and climate Mahogany, logwood, and other products Belize city Com-
munication Trade Revenue Administration Education. Early exploration of BRITISH
GUIANA Settlement by the Dutch Ceded to Britain Agitation among the Slaves-
Case of John Smith the missionary His cruel treatment and death Brutality of the
governor Intolerance of the slave-owners Boundaries and population of the country
Geographical features Flora and fauna Rivers Climate Products Gold -mining
Trade Administration Education Revenue Communication Georgetown city New
Amsterdam 65

BOOK VIL BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN AUSTRALASIA IN
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER I. AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

Vast progress of the Australian colonies Area and coast-line Physical features Mountains
Table-lands and deserts Rivers and lakes Climate Droughts and floods Mineral
wealth Absence of food-producing plants Changes effected Native Vegetation Animal
life Description of the aborigines 87

CHAPTER II. EXPLORATION.

Difficulties of exploration Discoveries of Oxley and Allan Cunningham of Ovens and Currie
of Hume and Hovell Captain Sturt and Major Mitchell Expeditions of Eyre, M'Millan,
Leichhardt, and Kennedy John M'D. Stuart, Burke, and Wills John King found among
the natives Landsborough and M'Kinlay 102

CHAPTER III. NEW SOUTH WALES: HISTORY FROM 1801 TO 1851.

Administration of Governor King Progress Governor Bligh deposed Improvements under
Governor Macquarie Exploration Sir Thomas M. Brisbane and Sir Ralph Darling-
Governor Bourke Agitation for representative institutions A popular Legislative Council
established Financial depression Improved condition of the colony A new constitution
Discovery of gold Mr. Edward H. Hargreaves, the pioneer of gold-mining in the colony
The gold-fever described Rapid rise of towns Measures adopted to preserve law and
order ... n g

CHAPTER IV. NEW SOUTH WALES Continued. HISTORY FROM 1851 TO THE

PRESENT TIME.

Condition of the colony in 1861 Political changes A new Land Act passed Bush-ranging
Daring exploits of the Kelly gang or "iron-clad bush-rangers" Increasing prosperity
of the colony Sir Hercules Robinson International Exhibition at Sydney Colonial
troops sent to the Soudan Governorship of Lord Carrington Chinese immigration
prohibited Proposals for Australasian federation 130

CHAPTER V. NEW SOUTH WALES Continued. SCENERY, INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS,

TOWNS.

Area and population of the colony Climate Coast-line Surface of the land The river
Darling Port Jackson or Sydney Harbour Political constitution Ecclesiastical affairs
Educational system Administration of justice Exceptions from the law of England-
Industries The wool trade Squatter life Statistics of pastoral progress Agriculture-
Cultivation of the sugar-cane and vine Minerals Manufactures Internal communications
Roads and railways Telegraph and postal systems Intercolonial and foreign trade-
Lines of ocean steamers Financial affairs Customs-duties Sydney described Newcastle,
Maitland, Parramatta, Bathurst, Bourke, Goulburn, and other towns - - - - 143

CONTENTS. vii

Page

CHAPTER VI. VICTORIA. HISTORY TO THE PRESENT TIME: GEOGRAPHY,
INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS, TOWNS.

Early settlement Self-government granted Separated from New South Wales Discovery of
Gold Increase of population A new constitution established Political conflicts Con-
stitutional changes Progress of the colony Political divisions Religion Port Phillip
The mountain-system Scenery Rivers Climate Industries Irrigation work Mildura
town Mineral wealth Manufactures Trade Internal communication Telegraph and
postal services Ecclesiastical affairs Education Courts of justice Revenue Customs-
duties Public debt Constitution of the Victorian parliament Melbourne and its suburbs
described Geelong, Ballarat, and other towns 1 68

CHAPTER VII. SOUTH AUSTRALIA: HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, INDUSTRIES,
STATISTICS, TOWNS.

Early explorations First colonization The South Australian Land and Colonization Company
Establishment of the colony proclaimed Quarrels of the officials Governor Grey
Rapid development Discovery of copper Governorship of Sir Henry Young Respon-
sible government introduced The overland telegraph Financial depression The changes
of fifty years Boundaries, area, and population of the colony Religion Climate Coast-
line Mountain ranges and vast plains Adelaide described Railway engineering. The
NORTHERN TERRITORY Palmerston town Rivers Climate. Chief industries Trade-
Railways System of Government Education Administration of justice Revenue
Customs-duties Public debt 197

CHAPTER VIII. QUEENSLAND: HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, INDUSTRIES,
STATISTICS, TOWNS.

Early history of Moreton Bay Increase of free colonists Queensland constituted Discovery
of gold, copper, tin, and coal Importation of coolies The Mount Morgan Mine Bold
policy of Sir Thomas M'llwraith Proposed annexation of New Guinea Sir Samuel
Griffith The disastrous floods of 1893 Area and physical features Rivers Climate
Population Aborigines Religious denominations Features of the coast Political divi-
sions Industries Value of the forests Live stock Manufactures Exports and imports
Mineral wealth Brisbane Ipswich and other towns Means of communication Railways,
telegraphs, and postal system Lines of steamers Government Education Revenue and
import duties Public expenditure and debt Assisted immigration The trade in South
Sea Islanders 218

CHAPTER IX. WESTERN AUSTRALIA: HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, INDUSTRIES,
STATISTICS, TOWNS.

Early navigators on the west coast of Australia First settlement A colony founded at Swan
River Unsuitable immigrants Characteristics of the colonists Depressed condition of
the colony in 1846 Convict-labour Improvements under Sir F. A. Weld Explorations
Agitation for responsible government Career of Sir Frederick N. Broome Becomes
self-governing Marvellous yield of gold Rapid rise of Coolgardie Boundaries and area of
the colony Its physical features Climate Population King George's Sound Character
and products of the soil Valuable timber-trees Growth of cereals and the vine Live
stock Exports and imports Railways The telegraph and telephone Lines of steamers
and postal-system Government Education Revenue and public debt - - - - 241

CHAPTER X. TASMANIA: HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, INDUSTRIES,
STATISTICS, TOWNS.

The name changed to Tasmania Original settlers Discovery of the island First British
occupation A penal settlement Growth of Hobart Troubles with bush-rangers and the
natives Martial law Mr. Robinson's successful efforts to conciliate the natives Progress
Sir John Franklin governor The convict question Norfolk Island Transportation
abolished Gold discovery Self-government granted The coast-line and islands Moun-
tains Rivers Mount Wellington Beautiful scenery Lakes Climate Fauna and flora^

yii j CONTENTS.

Page

Mineral wealth Population Agriculture Manufactures Roads and railways Tele-
graph and telephone Lines of steamers Exports and imports Shipping Hobart
Launceston Political divisions Government Education Diminution of the criminal
element Revenue, expenditure, and public debt - - 260

CHAPTER XL NEW ZEALAND: HISTORY.

New Zealand discovered Rediscovered Origin of the Maori race Religion and language
Their present position Intercourse between New Zealand and New South Wales Ruatara
visits England Rev. Mr. Marsden's mission Tragedy of the " Boyd massacre "A brave
Maori chief Abortive attempts at colonization Captain Hobson's proposals Contem-
plated annexation to New South Wales A legislative and executive council established
Augustus Selwyri, first Bishop of New Zealand Captain Grey appointed governor He
defeats the Maoris Submission of the chiefs Formation of "New Zealand Fencibles"
Progress of the colony under Governor Grey Conflicts with the natives Te Kooti
Bravery of the Maoris Discovery of gold Local government established - 289

CHAPTER XII. NEW ZEALAND Continued. GEOGRAPHY, INDUSTRIES,
TOWNS, STATISTICS, AND DEPENDENCIES.

Geographical position and extent North Island South Island Climate Fauna Flora
Mineral wealth Scenery and towns of North Island Auckland city Napier city Gis-
borne, Palmerston, Wanganui, New Plymouth, and other towns Wellington Towns in
South Island Its scenery Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, &c. Stewart Island
Population of New Zealand Political divisions Religious denominations Education
Justice Manufactures Character of the soil Agriculture Distribution of the land
Exports and imports Shipping Roads, railways, and telegraphs Government and repre-
sentation Revenue Customs-duties Expenditure Public debt General prosperity
Islands attached to the colony 314

CHAPTER XIII. AUSTRALASIA: MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS.

Introduction of foreign fauna Sparrows and rabbits Value of the camel Exports Dairy-
farming in New Zealand Australasian literature Poetry The drama Works of fiction,
&c. History Colenso and Aime Murray The newspaper press Painting and sculpture
Music Men eminent in science Popular amusements Australasian and Imperial federa-
tion Colonial defence Naval and military forces Australian Commonwealth - - - 352

CHAPTER XIV. AUSTRALASIA Concluded. FIJI, NEW GUINEA (BRITISH),
PACIFIC SPORADES.

Principal islands of the FIJI group Early visits to the islands Arrival of missionaries^-Cession
to Great Britain Services of Sir John Thurston Government Education Industries
and trade Revenue, expenditure, and debt Means of communication. BRITISH NEW
GUINEA Position and main features Its various tribes Early voyagers British occupa-
tionDutch and German possessions Effects of British rule Trade. NORFOLK ISLAND
group Inhabitants of Pitcairn Island transferred Head-quarters of the Melanesian Mission 393

CHAPTER XV. SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLANDS. CONCLUSION.

Ascension Island St. Helena Tristan Da Cunha Falkland Islands Concluding review
Growth of the Empire since the days of Elizabeth Importance of her colonial possessions
to the mother-country The Royal Colonial and the Imperial Institutes Influence of the
Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 A statesman's warning Britain's wisest policy - 411

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OUR EMPIRE
AT HOME AND ABROAD.

BOOK VI. Continued.

BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER XL

WEST INDIES.

Extent and population of the British West Indian islands Effects of negro-emancipa-
tion Decline of the sugar-trade Growth of new products. The Bahamas
Barbados Jamaica, and its dependencies the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman
Islands, and the Morant and Pedro Cays. The Leeward Islands: Antigua, with
Barbuda and Redonda St. Christopher or St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla Dominica
Montserrat. The Virgin Islands : Tortola, Virgin Gorda Anegada. Sombrero.
The hurricanes of 1898 and 1899. The Windward Islands: Grenada, its govern-
ment, climate, and industry Grenadines St. Vincent, its great volcanic eruption
St. Lucia, picturesque beauty, coaling station Trinidad, " The Land of the
Humming-bird", Picton's firm administration, coolie immigration, unsurpassed
scenery, varied and increasing population, agricultural products Tobago.

Before dealing in detail with our West Indian colonies, of which
we have already given the history from the date of discovery down
to 1 80 1, it may be well to make a few general statements concern-
ing these British possessions. The British West Indies fall into
six groups, as regards government. These are (i) Bahamas, (2)
Barbados, (3) Jamaica and dependencies, (4) Leeward Islands, (5)
Windward Islands, (6) Trinidad with Tobago. Their importance
is not dependent upon area or population. The whole of the
British West Indies together make up only 12,175 square miles,
or less than one- fourth of England. The whole population is only
about 1,400,000, or one-fourth of "Greater London", the district
within 15 miles radius from Charing Cross. Of these, apart from
Trinidad, with her large French element, not five per cent are
whites, the vast majority being people of negro race, pure or mixed,

VOL. VI.

133

2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

with many thousands of Asiatic coolies, and a few thousands of
mixed non-negro blood. The islands have greatly suffered for
many years from various causes, the chief of which have been
dependence upon a single staple product the sugar-cane and its
derivatives, molasses and rum; a lack of labour, and a want of
enterprise and energy in the landed proprietors. The negro-
emancipation of 1834, which took complete effect four yea^s later,
was a serious blow to the sugar-interest. The blacks, to a large
extent, declined to work steadily and regularly for wages received,
preferring to depend, for the trifling needs of a ''loafer's" life in
such a climate, upon the natural products that required no toil,
combined with what they could gain from the earth by one or two
days' work per week. The next blow came from the promoters of
free trade when they equalized the duties on slave-grown sugar
with those on the article produced by free labour. Another step
towards the ruin of West Indian sugar capitalists was made in the
enormous increase of manufacture in Europe from the beet-root.
The land in our tropical colonies beyond the Atlantic was, to a
large extent, thrown out of cultivation. Worst of all, the estate-
owners, in most cases, until recent years, failed to accept the
inevitable in a becoming spirit, and to set themselves to the pro-
duction, from soils that are well suited for many growths besides
the sugar-cane, of articles that would bring a profit when their
staple had failed them. From these and other causes we had, in
our West Indian colonies, the unwonted and unwelcome spectacle,
for many years, of degeneration and decay in commercial pros-
perity. Some statistics for the whole six groups of islands will,
however, show the importance of their commerce in the closing
years of the nineteenth century. For the year ending March

3 ist, 1898, the total revenue was ,1,188,260, of which above
,895,000 was obtained from customs. The imports, for the same
year, reached the value of ,6,323,413, goods worth ,1,839,980
being obtained from Great Britain. The exports, for the same
period, were worth ,5,657,391, of which Great Britain received
the value of "1,283,413. In the year 1898 the total tonnage
entered and cleared in the foreign trade of West Indian ports was
9,167,767, of which 7,239,354 was British. Of late, a good pros-
pect has arisen for the islands in the growth of new products, with
tillage carried on by labour imported from other tropical or sub-

WEST INDIES.

tropical regions. We shall see that sugar has been largely replaced
by cacao (cocoa) and other articles of commercial value, and that
in the West Indies, as elsewhere, energy and enterprise may have
their due reward. For example, in Dominica, where sugar was
formerly the staple industry, the chief products are now coffee,
cocoa, lime-juice, and essential oils. Grenada has long ceased to
be a sugar-producing colony, and has therefore not suffered so
severely as many other islands from the depreciation in the value
of cane-sugar, being dependent mainly upon cocoa, while attention
has been directed with some success to the cultivation of coffee,
kola-nut, nutmeg, cloves, pepper, vanilla, cardamoms, and cocoa-
nuts. Jamaica's chief crop is no longer sugar, but the largest
British West Indian Island has turned, in the products of her
soil, to oranges and bananas, coffee, cocoa, ginger, pimento, and
dyewoods, with some recent planting of cinchona.

In the earliest days of the twentieth century, a vigorous effort
for the development of British trade with the West Indies was due
to the able and energetic Colonial Secretary, Mr. Joseph Chamber-
lain, and the enterprise of the great firm of ship-owners, Messrs
Elder, Dempster, & Co. The institution of this " Imperial
Direct West Indian Mail Service" was a recognition of the facts
that the prosperity and interests of British colonies and dependen-
cies are inseparably bound up with those of the mother-country,
and that if Great Britain is to maintain her naval supremacy, it
will be through the instrumentality of her mercantile marine, which
largely depends on the thoroughness and stability of her colonial
trading. The establishment of the new line of steamships,
destined to furnish a direct passenger-service to Jamaica, and to
open up a regular fruit- traffic, hitherto in the hands of American
ship-owners, was thus an enterprise whose success is of national
importance. We have seen that Bristol was in past times very
largely concerned in the West Indian trade, and Avonmouth,
her modern port, was fitly chosen as the point of departure in
February, 1901, of the first steamer, the Port Morant, 2900 tons
register, of the new line.

In another way, the West Indian islands are worthy of our
notice as presenting a striking political contrast to our American
and Australasian territories. Instead of advance, there has been
actual political retrogression, due to the emancipation which,

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

in course of time, conferred rights of citizenship on the negroes.
These men, emotional and uninstructed, were unfit for the use of
representative institutions, and in some of the islands the legislative
assemblies formerly chosen by the white population have given
way to bodies wholly or partially nominated by the Crown.

The Bahamas were formerly called Lucayos from the Spanish
Los Cayos, The Islets or Rocks, the term appearing also in Caicos
or The Keys, one of the island-groups geographically, not now
politically, connected with them. These most northerly of our
West Indian possessions extend for nearly 600 miles, from about
2\y 2 to 27^ degrees north latitude, in a north-westerly direction,
between the eastern extremity of Cuba and the south-east of
Florida. Lying from about 72^ to 79 degrees west longitude,
and composed of coral and of shell hardened into limestone, the
group rests mainly on two shoals the Great Bank to the south
and the Little Bank to the north and comprises about 20 in-
habited islands; over 650 islets or cays (keys), which are rocky and
sandy spots, some having a few trees, and many but a few feet
above sea-level; and nearly 2400 mere reefs or rocks. The total
area is about 5450 square miles, chiefly in the larger islands Great
(or Grand) Bahama and Abaco; Andros, New Providence, and
Eleuthera; Exuma, St. Salvador, Watling Island, and Rum Cay;
Long, Crooked, and Acklin Islands; Mayaguana and Great Inagua,
coming in this order from north to south. The coralline and
shelly surface, thinly covered with vegetable mould, has much
fertility from the retention of moisture by the porous rock. The
temperature has a range from 57 to about no degrees Fahrenheit,
with a mean of 75, and the winter or least rainy season, from
October to May, affords a climate so healthy and agreeable that
the islands are then much frequented by visitors from Canada and
the United States, many of whom are seeking relief in pulmonary
disease. The annual rainfall of about 45 inches comes chiefly
between June and October. There have been, at long intervals,
notably in October, 1866, and September, 1883, destructive
cyclones. During the nineteenth century, the only historical
events were the emancipation, some tropical incidents of the
above character, and the sudden rise of commercial prosperity
during the American Civil War, connected with the "blockade-
running" which has been elsewhere described. The islands, long,

WEST INDIES.

narrow, reef-like formations, nowhere rising above 230 feet from
sea-level, are devoid of any natural charms of scenery save what
are supplied by rich tropical vegetation, a brilliant atmosphere,
colouring of rare beauty, walks in flower-decked woods, and boat-
ing-trips from isle to isle through waters of a transparency revealing
endless submarine attractions.

The population, in 1891, was 47,565, of whom about one-fourth
were of European descent, and three-fourths of negro race. In
religion, the Wesleyans and Baptists nearly double the adherents
of the Church of England, disestablished in 1869, and now in
charge of the Bishop of Nassau and about a score of clergy, some
of whom are supported by the S. P. G., or Society for the Propaga-
tion of the Gospel. There are few Presbyterians, and still fewer
Roman Catholics, the latter being ministered to by a priest of the
Order of St. Benedict. The vegetable productions of the Bahamas,
with or without tillage, include excellent pasture, Guinea-corn
(a kind of millet), maize, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, tamarinds,
pimento, and coco-nuts. The sugar-cane, as a commercial product,
and cotton, are almost things of the past, though in 1891 a few
hundred pounds' worth of the latter was exported. The chief
products of the soil, in commercial importance, are fruit and the
fibre of a plant called sisal. In 1895, pine-apples, fresh and tinned,
were exported to a value of over ,60,000, and oranges, lemons and
other fruit had a value, in 1895, f over ;6ooo. Sisal hemp derives
its name from Sisal, a port on the north-west coast of Yucatan, the
native home, in Central America, of this valuable material for ship-
cables, from its power of resisting the action of sea-water. Of long
natural growth in the Bahamas, where the people regarded it as a
mere weed, it has now become an object of cultivation and of
export to the United States in the form of fibre admirably suited
for the manufacture of sacking. This culture promises to become,
under a government-bounty of ^d. per Ib. on exportation in bulk,
a staple industry of the islands. The plant ripens in the third
year, and produces from 15 to 20 annual crops on the same stock.
More than 20,000 acres are now under this growth, with many
millions of plants. The encouragement of this tillage is mainly
due to Sir Henry Blake, Governor from 1884 to 1887, and to his
successor Sir Ambrose Shea. The breeding of cattle, once flourish-
ing, has greatly declined, meat being now imported from the States;

5 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

and the formerly important industry of salt-making, largely carried
on by evaporation in works at Inagua, Exuma, and other islands,
has been crippled by the high American import-duty. The sponge-
fishery is of some importance, the value of the produce in 1895
having exceeded ,67,500; shells, pearls, and ambergris are also
obtained. This last substance, much used in perfumery, being a
morbid secretion from the intestinal canal of the spermaceti whale,
is found floating on the seas near the coast in lumps of from half
an ounce to 100 Ibs. in weight, or is picked up from the shore.
The value of this fatty ashen-gray product much exceeds that of
gold, fetching as it does about 6 per ounce.

The capital, Nassa^t ) on New Providence island, is the centre
of trade, with a population of 1 1,000. In the winter season, there
is abundant social gaiety, taking the form of private theatricals and
dinner-parties, dances and lawn-tennis, rides and drives, fishing and
boating-trips. An excellent hotel is maintained by the colonial
government, and the atmosphere of the place has a marvellous
effect upon delicate people, especially on those who are suffering
from nervous diseases, so that patients who have been carefully
carried ashore to the hotel or to lodgings may be seen, within a
few weeks, walking about unaided in full enjoyment of life. The
place is, in fact, a paradise of tranquillity and balmy air. A joint-
stock bank was opened in 1889, and a Post Office Savings Bank
is also in operation. The islands have no railway or internal
telegraph, and there are few good roads except in New Providence.
In 1892, a cable from Nassau to Florida opened communication
by wire with the outside world. With a penny internal postage, the
charge for half-ounce letters to the British Isles is 2^d., and 4^.
to all other parts, and a parcel-post has been established with
Great Britain and Ireland and with the United States. A good
mail-service runs fortnightly from Nassau to New York (3^ days'
voyage) in winter, and there are monthly mail-steamers in summer
to Liverpool and New York, with regular steamers throughout the
year to Florida and Cuba. Lighthouses are kept up on several of
the islands by the Imperial Government, at an annual charge of
about ,10,000. The revenue of the Bahamas, in 1898, amounted
to nearly 87,000, chiefly derived from rather high customs-duties
on some imported goods; from export-duties on the guano obtained
in some of the islets ; and from an ad valorem export-charge of i ^

WEST INDIES. 7

per cent levied on articles imported free of duty. The expendi-
ture, in 1898, was ^64,148, including the charge on a public debt
somewhat exceeding 1 18,000 in that year. The exports, in 1898,
had the value of ,174,860, and the imports, in the same year, were
worth ,238,336. Executive rule is conducted by a Governor and
a Council of 9 members, and the Legislature consists of the
Governor, a Legislative Council of 8 members nominated by the
Crown, and a House of Assembly of 29 members chosen by
electors under a small property -qualification for the franchise.
In 1895, the educational system, controlled by a board of the
Governor's appointment, with compulsory attendance for pupils
in the town of Nassau, showed 32 Church of England schools,
with over 1700 learners; 29 private schools, with nearly noo;
41 Government schools, free and unsectarian, with over 5400
learners on the rolls, and 9 aided schools with an attendance of
820 pupils, the government-grant amounting to ,4800. A School
of Art, which is making good progress, was established at Nassau
in 1883, chiefly for the purpose of encouraging and teaching several
industries connected with the natural products of the islands.

From the Bahamas we pass to Barbados, the most easterly
of the West Indian Islands, lying at 59^ degrees west longitude
and about [3 degrees north latitude. The island is 21 miles long
from north to south, and about 14/^2 miles in extreme breadth,
diminishing towards the north so as to assume the shape of a pear.
With an area of 166 square miles, or 106,470 acres, and a present
population of over 188,000 inhabitants, or 1130 to the square
mile, and having no less than 100,000 acres under cultivation,
Barbados is by far the most densely populated and best tilled
island in the West Indies. The natural rate of increase is rapid,
showing about 7400 births in 1895 to about 4560 deaths. Since
1851 the number of people has grown from 136,000 to its present
total, in spite of a visitation of cholera (1854), which is believed
to have carried off 20,000, and of a large migration of labouring
people to other islands. In 1881, there were about 16,000 whites
to 156,000 coloured people, and 100 females to every 82 males.
In religious faith, the vast majority (156,500) are adherents of
the Anglican Church, with about 14,500 Wesleyans (Methodists),
6800 Moravians, 800 Roman Catholics, and a score of Jews.
Grants of \ 1,600 are made by the Government to these denomi-

8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

nations in proportion to numbers. Taking up the history of the
island in the nineteenth century, we first note the hurricane of
October 2ist, 1817, which smote Barbados at the same time as
it was severely felt at St. Lucia, Dominica, Martinique, and St.
Vincent. Several vessels were driven ashore at Bridgetown,
Barbados, without loss of life, by the southerly wind, but the
effects were not comparable to those of the great storm in 1780
which destroyed the lives of over 4000 persons and property
exceeding one million sterling in value. In April of the following
year, 1818, a serious negro-rising occurred at the south-west of
the island, the slaves beginning, in large numbers, to plunder
houses and to burn the sugar-plantations. Martial law was pro-
claimed, and the garrison-troops, with the island militia, attacked
the insurgents, many of whom were killed on the spot, and more
still executed after trial, to the total number of nearly 1000. In
one parish, twenty estates had been laid waste. A large part
of the negroes supported the masters, and aided in subduing the
disaffected portion of the slaves, who had been stirred to action
by interference of the Home-Government with the colonial legis-
lature, and by false reports that freedom had been granted by
the king and Parliament of Great Britain, and was being withheld
by the slave-owners. Five years more passed away, and trouble
arose from the opposite quarter of the social system, the slave-
holding party. The emancipationists in the House of Commons,
led by Mr. Thomas Powell Buxton, were becoming very active,
and though Mr. Canning, who was then in charge of the Foreign
Office, opposed abolition, the Home-Government sent out a circular
to the authorities in the West Indies, ordering the immediate
stoppage of the flogging of slave-women, and of the use of the
whip in the field. The slaveholders read the doom of slavery
in this document, and their apprehensions of a negro-rising were
stirred. The only tumult that came, however, was caused by
a low class of white freemen who attacked and destroyed the
chapel of a missionary named Shrewsbury, and caused him to
quit the island in fear for his life. His alleged offence consisted
m having sent home to his employers the true statement that the
lowest class of whites in Barbados was composed of ignorant and
depraved men. The Governor issued a proclamation offering a
reward for the apprehension of any of the rioters, to which the

WEST INDIES. 9

slave-owning party responded by threats of vengeance on informers,
and by a warning that no missionaries must set foot in Barbados.

When the long-threatened emancipation came, in 1834, upon
the slave-owners of our West Indian colonies, the effects in Barbados
upon the staple industry of sugar-making were very different from
those in most other islands. During the succeeding half-century,
the revenue rose from ,21,000 to about ,158,000; the imports
increased from ,481,000 to ,1,156,000, and the exports from
,408,000 to , i, 3 1 9,000. The result was mainly due to abund-
ance of population combined with scarcity of land. The negroes
could not become "squatters" on unreclaimed lands, and were,
to their great advantage, compelled to work with diligence for
wages or to starve. The natural consequence is seen in the
present condition of the Barbadian coloured people as an industri-
ous, prudent, thrifty, and prosperous race, in favourable contrast
to some of the whites. The people, as a whole, are shrewd and
clever, and, as regards the negro-population we may observe that
a pure-blooded black has risen to be first Attorney-General and
then Chief Justice, proving the want of any original or congenital
difference of capacity between the blacks and the whites. Return-
ing for a moment to the subject of hurricanes, the West Indian plague
of man and his works, we find that in 1831 a storm of extreme
violence killed nearly 1600 people in Barbados, and destroyed
property to the value of over ,1,600,000. The riots of 1876
were caused by the proposed confederation of the Windward
Islands. Several lives were lost in the tumult, and considerable
damage to property occurred. The jealous feeling aroused in
Barbadian hearts by the prospect of amalgamation with the group
of which their island had been the head and the seat of govern-
ment, was finally dispelled in 1885, when Barbados was separated
irom the other Windward Islands, and made a distinct colony.

The coast of Barbados is little broken, being guarded from
the full effect of the sea's violence by an almost complete barrier
of coral reefs, extending in some parts, with great danger to ship-
ping, for nearly 3 miles from the land. The only harbour is
at Carlisle Bay, on the south-west, and this is an open roadstead,
much exposed to winds from that quarter. An inner haven is
protected by the Mole Head. Inside the reefs, the coast, except
at two points, shows a long line of sandy beach. Much of the

IQ OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

land is coralline in structure, with sandstones, clays, and infusorial
earths (a flinty deposit) in the north-east. Much of the interior
is hilly, having ranges sweeping inland from the east coast, with
the highest summit, Mount Hillaby, attaining 1104 feet above
sea-level. A lower range runs down the western coast. The
climate is of a remarkably equable character, with a temperature
rarely sinking below 70 degrees or reaching higher than 90. The
average rainfall, spread over the year, with the later months as
those of most moisture, is about 60 inches. Shocks of earthquake
are sometimes felt, and the thunder-storms are frequent and
severe. Yellow-fever is not unknown, but the island, on the whole,
is healthy, the heat being tempered by the breezes from the sea.
There are no special fauna or flora in this thickly-peopled land,
now devoid of forests and tilled to the resemblance of a great
well-tended garden. A fine water-supply, obtained mostly from
springs by boring, favours both cleanliness and cultivation, and
the advancement of civilization in this happy region, where the
labourer can do well for himself and family on wages of one shilling
per day, with tenpence for any of his women-folk, is proved by the
institution of life and fire insurance, railroads and tramways, water
and gas companies, and by the common use of the telephone in
and near the capital.

The prosperity of Barbados has of late years suffered from the
low price of sugar, the chief product, for which about 30,000
acres are yearly planted with canes. In 1898, the yield from
some hundreds of sugar- works was only 53,575 hogsheads, as
against over 85,000 in 1890. In this latter year, about 52,000
puncheons of molasses, mostly sent to Canada, were also made,
and there is a considerable distillation of rum. The only other
industry of any importance is the fisheries which employ over
370 boats and 1000 men and boys. Lobsters and crayfish are
plentiful among the coral-reefs, and a rich food-supply is obtained
in the eggs or roe of sea-urchins. The chief catch is, however,
that of the delicious and very abundant flying-fish, systematically
taken at Barbados alone. From 6 to 12 inches in length, with
a nearly quadrangular body, and making a favourite haunt of the
blue depths of sea off the steep shore-line reefs of the island, this
sh, the most popular food of Barbados, is caught in enormous
numbers, with shallow nets suspended from a wooden hoop a yard

WEST INDIES. II

in diameter, from shoals attracted by bait. A boat-load of 7000 to
8000 fish is often quickly obtained from a single " school" of flying-
fish, and a glut in the market makes prices fall to a penny per
dozen.

The island has of late years taken the place of the Danish
island, St. Thomas, as the centre of West Indian steamer-traffic,
and is the chief port of call for sailing-vessels in search of freight
in the Caribbean Sea. The imports, with a value, in 1898, of
,1,058,855, consist chiefly of breadstuffs and other provisions
from the United States; dried fish and timber from Canada and
Newfoundland; and manufactured goods of all kinds from the
British Isles. The exports, worth 769,231 in 1898, were
chiefly composed of raw sugar to the value of about "150,000,
molasses "92,416, and re-exported flour, rice, and dried fish.
Besides the Colonial Bank, with 13 branches in the West Indies,
and deposits exceeding 2 millions sterling, there is a Government
savings-bank with nearly 11,300 depositors to the amount of
"180,580. There are nearly 500 miles of roads in the island,
and a railway of 24 miles runs from the capital, Bridgetown,
through the southern districts and along the east coast. The
fortnightly Royal Mail steamers from Southampton, and weekly
steamers from Liverpool by the West Indian and Pacific or the
Harrison line afford ready communication with Europe, and fort-
nightly steamers arrive from New York. There is direct cable
communication via St. Vincent with the other West Indies, America,
and Europe. Bridgetown, occupying much of the shore of Carlisle
Bay, on the south-west coast, has a population of about 21,000,
with the usual public buildings, and with barracks and arsenal for
the garrison of 32 officers and about 820 non-commissioned officers
and men, in this head-quarters for our European troops in the
West Indies. A police -force of 320 officers and men provides
for the internal peace of the colony. There are several large
villages or little towns, of which Speightstown, on the north-west
coast, contains about 1 500 inhabitants.

The ruling power consists of a Governor, an " Executive
Committee" composed of the officer commanding the troops, the
Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and other persons nomi-
nated by the Crown, with one member of the Legislative Council,
and four members of the House of Assembly, nominated by the

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Governor. The duties of this body include the preparation of
estimates, and the introduction of Government-bills and of all
money-votes. The Legislative Council of 9 members is appointed
by the Crown, and the House of Assembly, of 24 members, is
chosen yearly by about 4500 voters with a moderate franchise.
Barbados thus possesses representative institutions, with the
" Chartist" point of annual parliaments, but not the " responsible
o-overnment" of our greater colonies. The revenue, in 1898,
amounted to i 82, 582, mainly obtained from customs-duties,
against an expenditure over ,175,000 and a public debt of about
414,000. A very satisfactory feature in this colony is the state
of education, which is, for elementary instruction, under Govern-
ment control through a central Board appointed by the Governor,
with local School Committees assisting the clergyman of the
district. In 1898, 175 primary schools had nearly 14,800 pupils
in average attendance, with public grants of over ,10,800, and
the work of these institutions is supplemented by several second-
grade and first-grade schools for boys and girls. Among these
latter we find Harrison College, Bridgetown, an old foundation
supported by the legislature, with a good staff of graduates as
masters, and a Professor of Chemistry and Agricultural Science.
Four "Barbados Scholarships", each annually worth ,175, estab-
lished by the Education Board, and endowed by the colonial
funds, are tenable for four years at Oxford or Cambridge. Queen's
College, a first-grade girls' school with over 100 pupils, was opened
in 1883. The foundation of the famous Codrington College has
been noticed in our early history of the island. At this excellent
institution, affiliated to Durham University in 1875, and adminis-
tered by the S. P. G., as trustees of General Codrington's will,
a large proportion of the clergy in the Windward Isles, under the
rule of the Bishop of Barbados (whose see was created in 1824)
have received their education. It is the only place in the West
Indies which provides a university training, and is endowed with
several theological scholarships (of "30 annual value) from the
lege funds, and with four "Island Scholarships" of ,40 each
per annum, paid by the Colonial Treasury, and confined to natives
or sons of native Barbadians. The buildings are situated below
bold escarpment of a hill on the eastern coast rising about 800
* above sea-level, being themselves at an altitude of 300 feet on

WEST INDIES. 13

a level plateau, within a mile of the shore, in a secluded, restful,
healthy spot which faces the trade-winds borne over 3000 miles
of ocean. More than once a hurricane has laid the estate in ruins,
and the flooring of the college-chapel still bears marks of the
storm which, in 1831, hurled roof and cupola crashing down upon
the slabs of black and white marble. Since 1830, Codrington
College has been the Alma Mater of most youths in the best West
Indian families. A long avenue of palms, the finest of which,
over 80 feet high, survived the hurricane of 1831, leads up to the
grey-stone college-buildings of the Georgian period, surrounded
by the tennis-lawns and by the cricket-ground, beyond a grove
of mahogany - trees, where the students play matches against
" elevens" of the island or of the garrison. The interior, with
its chapel and hall, and its library scented with old books, and
the students' life and garb, have a peculiar charm, in a tropical
region, for the visitor whose early manhood was passed in one
of the ancient universities of the home-country.

JAMAICA, the largest, most populous, and most important of our
West Indian colonies, is situated about 90 miles south of the eastern
end of Cuba, between 17 43' and 18 32' north latitude, and from
76 1 1 7 to 78 20' west longitude. Extending east and west for 144
miles, and with breadth varying from 21 to 50 miles, the island ha?
an area of about 4200 sq. miles, and a population, by the census oi
1891, of 639,500, of whom 306,000 were males. The whites, at that
time, numbered 14,700; the coloured people or half-breeds were
122,000; and over 488,000 were blacks. The remainder were
composed of above 10,000 East Indians (coolies), a few hundred
Chinese, and over 3600 " not specified " persons. Natural increase
and immigration have now brought the numbers to over 718,000.
In religious faith, about 42,000 were, in 1897, returned as adherents
of the Anglican Church; 2400 as members of the Church of Scot-
land; 9300 as Roman Catholics; 24,40035 Methodists; 34,000 as
Baptists, nearly 11,250 as "Presbyterian Church"; and 16,000 as
Moravians. In all the above cases, except as regards the Church
of England, the families of the " members " must be added. The
natural rate of increase is indicated by the births and deaths for
1897-98, the former having numbered 28,447, tne latter 16,474.

Jamaican history during the nineteenth century includes much
matter of considerable interest and importance. In the earlier years

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

of this period, prior to the abolition, in 1807, of the slave-trade to
the British dominions abroad, the planters largely imported negroes
from West Africa, the number of slaves thus obtained having
amounted to nearly 87,000 for the last eight years of the iniquitous
traffic, and at the date of the stoppage of importation the island
contained about 324,000 slaves. From that time forward, the
planters felt themselves overshadowed by coming emancipation,
and restlessness quickly developed into fierce opposition to all steps
in that direction. In 1823, the Legislative Assembly, when it was
required by the Home-government to take measures for improving
the condition of the slaves, repudiated the right of the Imperial
Parliament to interfere in the internal affairs of the island. Six
years later, we find the Imperial authorities, through Lord Belmore,
the Governor, demanding amendment of the Slave Code from the
Legislative Assembly, and in 1830, when further urgency was used
in this behalf, one member of the Jamaican Legislature moved that
the Imperial proposals should be burned by the common hangman,
while another, bidding his fellows disregard the recommendations
sent from London, asserted that the colonial militia was quite equal
to coping with the forces of Great Britain. A year more passed
away, and, with slave-emancipation in full view, many planters
were threatening to transfer their allegiance to the United States.
Language of this kind, coupled with an eager desire for the freedom
which was now almost within their grasp, was quite sufficient to stir
the negroes to action, and at the close of 1831 there was a servile
insurrection, causing the loss of many lives and the destruction of
property to an amount exceeding ,600,000. When the blow at
last fell upon the planters, they were in no wise appeased by the
sum of about 6 millions sterling received as their share of compen-
sation for the loss of property in the negroes to be freed by the Act
of 1833. The original term of apprenticeship, a modified emanci-
pation, was shortened, and on August ist, 1838, the whole of the
negroes became absolutely their own masters. Then came to pass
that which had been confidently predicted by opponents of the
great philanthropic measure. The planting interest was practi-
cally ruined through lack of labour. The free negroes, as already
entioned, would not work regularly for pay. The community was
mged into a disorderly and dangerous condition of affairs. The
proprietors of land, with the agents, managers or overseers, and

WEST INDIES. 15

middlemen, were greatly reduced in means, and the negroes had
been turned from well-fed and, as a rule, well-treated slave-labourers,
into ignorant, idle, and impoverished freemen. It was the height
of absurdity to concede representative and constitutional rights to
such persons. The experiment failed, and the negroes were soon
complaining that offices in the magistracy were not more frequently
conferred upon them. From 1839 to 1842 the government of
Jamaica was held by Sir Charles, afterwards Lord, Metcalfe, whom
we have already seen both in British India and Canada. His friend
Macaulay, in the epitaph composed in 1847, claims for Metcalfe
that " in Jamaica, still convulsed by a social revolution, his prudence
calmed the evil passions which long suffering had engendered in
one class and long domination in another". This good service did
not prevent his successor, Lord Elgin, who was Governor from
1842 till the spring of 1846, from being confronted by great diffi-
culties. That eminent statesman and colonial ruler, whom we have
met in Canada, China, and India, found himself called upon to deal
with a mockery of representative government, in which the local
Legislature was a democratic oligarchy, chiefly composed of the
overseers of estates, men who had no abiding pecuniary interest in
the country. It was Lord Elgin's hard task to restore hope in a
sorely depressed community, and to strive at once for the moral
improvement of the population, and for a revival of economical
prosperity. A well-devised system of duties did much to redress
the financial balance, and the Governor aimed at moral and social
progress for the emancipated blacks through the action of the
planters who had lately been their owners. Under his auspices, in
1845, tne fi rst body of coolies arrived from India to work on the
estates, and machinery was, for the first time, applied to the produc-
tion of sugar. The Governor's object in promoting this improve-
ment was to create a demand for skilled labour which might induce
the negroes to acquire much-needed education. On leaving Jamaica
early in 1846, Lord Elgin had at least pointed out a way towards
the renewal of prosperous days for the " Land of Springs".

Another blow fell on the sugar-planters when, in 1846, Lord
John Russell's government equalized the duties on colonial and
foreign produce, whether it were raised by free- or by slave-labour,
and forced Jamaican planters to compete on equal terms with those
of Brazil. Renewed depression, at the very moment of revival,

,6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

postponed prosperity for many years. The coffee and sugar planta-
tions relapsed into mere jungle; the bridges were broken down for
lack of due repairs; many of the roads became almost impassable.
The largest town, Kingston, presented the discreditable and deplor-
able spectacle of a place once prosperous gone to decay. From

1847 to 1853 a legislative deadlock existed through the rejection,
by the Council, of the Bills which, session after session, were passed
by the Assembly for financial retrenchment, and under the rule of
Sir Henry Barkly, who was Governor from 1853 to 1857, a modified
form of responsible government was introduced. The negro-popu-
lation, meanwhile, had yearly become more troublesome to the
whites. The blacks were rapidly growing in numbers; the white
population, at the best, was stationary. The self-assertive spirit of
the majority wished to suppress coolie-immigration as tending to
keep down the wages for which they, the West Indian blacks, could
by no means be depended on to work. They sought to become
landholders without payment of rent; they were beginning to obtain
ascendency in the official life of the island; the more violent of their
agitators clamoured for the expulsion of all the white people.

After many disturbances, partly due to disputes concerning the
possession of " back lands " which the owners of some large estates
had allowed to run waste, a crisis occurred in 1865. Three years
previously, Mr. Edward John Eyre had been appointed Governor.
This gentleman, a native of Yorkshire, born in 1815, emigrated to
Sydney in 1833, and became Resident Magistrate and " Protector
of the Aborigines" in the Lower Murray district. He then won
distinction as an Australian explorer, and, after spending some time
m England, was appointed Lietitenant-Governor, in 1847, of South
Island, New Zealand. In 1853, Mr. Eyre became Governor of
St. Vincent, and afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of the Leeward
Islands. He had always borne a character for justice and humanity
m his treatment of native races, but was now to earn a reputation
for cruel and lawless severity in punishing the negroes of Jamaica
for the part played by some of their class in what was rather a riot
than an insurrection, much less an organized and general rebellion,
.t^was early in October, 1865, that serious trouble arose. Negro

gators had taken up the cause of real or supposed wrongs, and
these men, named Paul Bogle, was charged with promoting

;turbances in behalf of a negro brought to trial before the magis-

NEGROES AT WORK IN A SUGAR-CANE PLANTATION
IN JAMAICA

The sugar of commerce is obtained, to a large extent at least, from a
tall broad-leaved plant, the stem of which is filled with a spongy tissue
containing the juice. In the West Indies this plant is propagated by
cuttings from the stem, these cuttings being planted in trenches. The
young plants send up shoots, which, when they are about 10 feet high, are
cut down by the negroes (as in the illustration) and taken to the factory,
where the stems are crushed and the juice boiled. This juice is so nutritive,
that during the sugar harvest every creature, whether man or beast, who
partakes freely of it attains the highest degree of health and vigour.

( 96)

J. FINNEMORE.

NEGROES AT WORK IN A SUGAR-CANE PLANTATION
IN JAMAICA.

WEST INDIES. I/

trates at Morant Bay, a small town on the south-east coast. An
attempt to arrest Bogle was met by forcible resistance from the blacks,
who overpowered the police. Three days later, a large number of
negroes assembled in front of the court-house where the magistrates
were sitting. The local volunteers were there drawn up; the Riot
Act was read; some stones were thrown, and then some negroes
fell under the bullets of the troops. A fierce attack made by the
mob overcame the small force, and the court-house was set on
fire; eighteen persons, including the chief magistrate, were killed,
while thirty or more were wounded. An attempt at insurrection
was promptly crushed by the arrival of 100 regular soldiers des-
patched by the Governor. Then the county of Surrey, the eastern
of the three, with Middlesex in the centre, and Cornwall on the
west, into which Jamaica is divided, was placed under martial law,
with the exception of the city of Kingston, and for some weeks
British troops were employed in the work of indiscriminate hanging,
flogging men and women, and burning the houses of coloured
people. Between 400 and 500 persons were put to death, and
more than 600 were cruelly flogged. A thousand houses were
burned during this reign of terror. The most prominent victim of
the Governor's vengeance was Mr. Gordon, a mulatto member of
the House of Assembly. He was a Baptist minister of fair educa-
tion, ability, and means, a strong supporter of the cause of the
negroes, a thorn in the side of the British authorities, a leader of
the Opposition in the Assembly, ever contending for the blacks
against the whites. A warrant was issued for Gordon's arrest at
his place of business in Kingston, and, learning this fact, he sur-
rendered himself to the commander of the troops. At Kingston
he was safe from martial law, and the Governor placed him on
board a man-of-war which transported the prisoner to Morant Bay.
He was there tried for high treason by a court composed of two
young naval lieutenants and an ensign in one of the Queen's West
India regiments. Found guilty by this tribunal and sentenced to
death, Mr. Gordon was hanged on October 23rd, after approval of
the decision by the commanding officer at Morant Bay, and con-
firmation of all the proceedings by the Governor. This judicial
murder was in all points worthy of the Stuart age in the British
Isles. The removal of the prisoner from Kingston to Morant Bay
was illegal; his trial before a court composed of both naval and

VOL. VT. 134

jg OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

military officers was illegal; and, according to the expressed view
of Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn, presiding at the Central Criminal
Court in 1867, there was no evidence to connect the prisoner with
conspiracy or insurrection. Public opinion in Great Britain was
much divided, philanthropists, headed by John Stuart Mill, vainly
prosecuting Eyre for " murder", and the admirers of forcible and
energetic measures, led by Thomas Carlyle, contending that he
had saved Jamaica from ruin at the hands of " negro rebels".

The Colonial Secretary, Mr., afterwards Lord, Cardwell, sus-
pended the Governor from his functions, and sent out a commission
of inquiry to Jamaica. The president was Sir Henry Storks, Gov-
ernor of Malta, and the other members were Mr. Russell Gurney,
Recorder of the City of London, and Mr. Maule, Recorder of
Leeds. In April, 1866, these gentlemen reported that the punish-
ments inflicted were excessive; that death had been inflicted with
needless frequency; that some of the floggings were barbarously
cruel; and that the burning of houses was wanton and cruel. As
concerned Mr. Eyre's own action, the commissioners held that
though he had displayed vigour and skill in staying insurrection at
the outset, yet that martial law was too long maintained, and that
no proof of Gordon's complicity existed. Hereupon Mr. Eyre was
removed from his post, and retired into private life. In 1872, a
vote of the House of Commons, carried by a large majority, repaid
to him the expenses incurred in defending himself against the
several prosecutions instituted by the " Jamaica Committee" of Mill
and his supporters. Thus ended what we may well hope will prove
the last of more than thirty recorded negro troubles or outbreaks
in Jamaica.

A speedy result of the proceedings in 1865 was the abolition
of the representative form of rule in the colony, after an existence
of two hundred years. Along with the Governor, the Jamaican
constitution had been suspended, and it was afterwards abolished
by an Act of its own Legislature which received the assent of the
Crown. An Order in Council of June, 1866, established a Legis-
lative Council of six official and six non- official members, each
increased to eight in 1878, and to nine in 1881. Three years later,
by Order in Council of May, 1884, an amount of representative
rule was infused into the "Crown colony" system. The Legislative
Council, with the Governor and five official members, and not

WEST INDIES. IQ

more than six nominated by the Crown or its representative, now
includes fourteen elected members representing as many electoral
districts, chosen on a property qualification for the franchise. A
Privy Council, with the usual powers and functions of an executive
council, assists the Governor. The Legislative Council must be
dissolved, at latest, at the end of five years from the last election.
We may observe that in 1888 the register showed 22,660 voters
out of a population exceeding 600,000. It is pleasant to be able
to record that an age of improvement for Jamaica began soon after
the establishment of the new system of rule. Crime has lessened;
education has advanced among the ever-growing black population,
many of whom, having acquired small holdings, are profitably
engaged in fruit-culture. Irrigation has brought new land into
cultivation, and in 1876 Jamaica products made a good show at
the Philadelphia Exhibition, as they did ten years later at the
Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. New roads have been
made, harbours have been constructed, and some of the forsaken
sugar-estates have been taken in hand by the capitalist-refugees
from Cuba. The negroes are now described as a fairly industrious
and law-abiding community, among whom extreme poverty is a
thing unknown.

Volcanic in origin, and largely formed of limestone, Jamaica
presents, on the coast and inland, scenes of bold and picturesque
beauty, rich in all the varied charms of nature at her brightest and
her best. The shores have, at many points, mountains rising
abruptly from the sea, here in the terrific grandeur of bare rocky
surface, there richly clad in vegetation from base to summit.
There are excellent harbours on every side of the island, the finest
of which is the deep, capacious, almost landlocked haven of Kings-
ton, on the south-east. The interior is very mountainous, with
a main ridge running east and west, and many minor chains, some
parallel to the chief range, and others jutting out to north-west
and south-east, so that the greater part of the island is composed
of hills and valleys. The eastern end is almost filled by the grand
Blue Mountains, the highest part of the main ridge, varying in
height from 5000 to 6000 feet, and having a peak of about 7400.
The name of the island is well earned by the many mineral springs,
and by nearly 120 rivers and streams that come down from the
mountains to the sea, being mostly useless for traffic from their

2Q OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

brief, steep, and broken course, though Black River, on the south-
west,' admits small craft for a distance of thirty miles. In the
centre of the island, to the north of the chief range, Roaring River
has its name from its numerous beautiful waterfalls. There are
many grand caverns and deep natural excavations in the limestone
rock, and the traveller from any less picturesque country is de-
lighted by the infinitely varied beauty and grandeur of woods and
streams, mountain-glens and fertile vales, rich-hued rocks and
countless cascades, tropical vegetation with its gorgeous flowers
and stately palms, vividly set forth in the clearest air, beneath a
sky of the deepest blue that the heavens display. On the southern
shore, the plain of Liguanea extends for about thirty miles, with
an average breadth of four or five, and to the north of this, with
a range of low hills between, is the plain of Vere. The most
fertile parts of Jamaica, where the chief sugar-estates lie, are the
valleys at the foot of the Blue Mountains. The climate, on the
whole, is healthy, but, from the nature of the region, cannot be
described as if it were uniform. There are many varieties due
to insular position, in which a tropical sun is tempered by the sea-
breezes, and to differences of level from the moist hot coast to
inland plateaus and the higher mountains whither invalids come
from the United States to enjoy the cool salubrious air. At
Kingston, the temperature has a mean of 80 for the year, varying
little from 90 in the day to 70 at night. For each 300 feet of ascent
from the sea-level, the thermometer falls about i, so that a speedy
change can be obtained by an upland ride. At the height of
nearly 5000 feet, in one hill-station, the mean for February, the
coolest month, is about 55, while for June it is nearly 75, these
figures giving the extreme range. A great variety is seen in the
rainfall at different points. The average for all Jamaica, as taken
at about forty stations, is nearly 67 inches, but the extremes vary
from about 31 inches to nearly 200 inches at Blue Mountain Peak,
while the average at Kingston is about 38 inches. Epidemics
have become very rare since improved sanitation existed in the
towns. There are two chief wet seasons. The spring rains, from
the middle of April into May, are generally in the form of showers,
and then the weather is dry for some weeks. The heavy summer-
rains come in June or July, and last for about two months, during
which the enormous downpour of a storm is heralded by great

WEST INDIES. 21

and sultry heat, with perfect stillness of the air, until clouds rapidly
form over the sky, and, giving forth a terrific thunder-peal, dis-
charge, when a few hours have elapsed, torrents accompanied by
almost ceaseless thunder and lightning. Day by day, for a space
of two to three hours, and sometimes without a break for some
days and nights, the same effort of nature occurs. The autumn
has its rainy time, in October and November, but the downfall
is not very great, and thunder and lightning are usually absent.
The rains in the mountain-region are earlier, heavier, and more
frequent than in the valleys and on the coast.

The fauna includes no dangerous animals or poisonous snakes.
There is an abundant show of harmless serpents, and several
species of lizards are found, of which the "great Iguana" is used
!br food. Land-crabs and tortoises are also eaten. Parrots,
pigeons, guinea-fowl, and many kinds of aquatic birds and song-
birds charm the eye with brilliant hues or the ear with tuneful
sounds, or furnish sport for the gun. The dwellers in the low-
lands have to contend with ants, mosquitoes, sand-flies, and the
detestable ticks. These insect - plagues have much increased
through the destruction of lizards, harmless snakes, and small
birds by the ichneumon or mongoose, a long- bodied digitigrade
carnivorous creature. The animal was introduced by the planters
to clear away the rats that infested the sugar-fields, but, after
excellent service in that direction, it became a pest in destroying
poultry, and the reptiles and birds that were doing good work in
an island too richly abounding in specimens for the entomologist.
The vegetation is of a very luxuriant and varied character. The
timber of the primeval forests, quickly vanishing under cutting
which makes conservation and re-planting very desirable, includes
many valuable trees, some producing rare cabinet woods. Logwood
and mahogany, fustic, lignum vitae, and ebony, with coco-nut and
other palms, are found. The chief wild growths are cactuses of
various kinds, countless varieties of orchids and ferns, spices and
dye-woods, medicinal plants, roots, and seeds, Guinea grass, and
flowers valuable for the distillation of essential oils used in per-
fumery. This natural wealth, still little used in many cases,
comprises ginger and pimento, spikenard and cochineal, liquorice
and arrowroot, castor-oil nuts and vanilla, pepper of many kinds,
jalap and ipecacuanha, cassia and senna. Among the vast abund-

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

ance

c of tropical or sub-tropical fruits are the pine-apple and mango,
shaddock and custard- apple, banana and tamarind, orange and
lemon coco-nut and date, bread-fruit and plantain, mulberry and
olive ' Melons, plums, grapes, figs, and pears; and, in suitable spots
amona the mountains, cherries, peaches, and strawberries are grown.
Peas and beans, potatoes and yams, cassava and many kinds of
salad, are of ready growth, with maize more luxuriant than that
of the southern United States. The mineral resources of Jamaica,
yet almost wholly undeveloped, include silver and gold, tin and
lead, copper and cobalt, platinum, porphyry, granite, white and
coloured marbles, beautiful crystals, agates, and a few emeralds
and sapphires. The coast-waters teem with excellent fish, some
of which might well replace as food the large amount of salted
cod and herring now imported from Nova Scotia.

Passing on to the chief and almost sole industry, the tillage of
the soil, we find that, whereas the island contains about 2,700,000
acres, above 365,000 acres are useless for agriculture, as consisting
of swamps, rocks, and inaccessible territory. Of the more than
2,300,000 acres open to tillage, about 164,000 were being culti-
vated in 1898, with an increase of acreage since the previous year.
In the south and east the land is chiefly devoted to sugar-cane,
coffee, vegetables, and fruits. Cane is grown on about 27,000
acres, coffee on 23,000; bananas have 23,400 acres, coco-nut palms,
nearly 12,000, ground provisions, 77,000, and about 1700 acres are
given to the cacao-tree. In the north and west, the ground under
human care chiefly produces Guinea grass (123,000 acres), a very
valuable pasture-forage, or consists of common pasture (304,000
acres) or of common pasture interspersed with pimento - trees
(62,400 acres). The sugar-production of the island is somewhat
increasing after a decline, and the coffee-trade is flourishing. The
finest rum in the world, in diminished quantity, still comes from
Jamaica, and ginger and pimento are of growing importance in
her commerce. One of the most remarkable products is pimento,
exported for the year ending March 3ist, 1896, to the amount of
nearly 1 1 million Ibs., with a value of ,90,000. Otherwise known
as " allspice ", from a supposed resemblance in flavour to mingled
nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves, and also as " Jamaica pepper", the
pimento of commerce, valuable both in cookery and medicine, and
furnished to the world by Jamaica alone, is the dried berry of a

WEST INDIES. 23

very beautiful tree. Growing to the height of 20 to 30 feet, with
straight white trunk and a much -branching head of deep -green
shining oval leaves about 4 inches long, the tree is wreathed in
April with masses of pale white flowers, diffusing a rich aromatic
odour far and wide, with thousands of small wood-bees humming
around, and with countless tiny insects, a rich feast for the birds,
crawling among the petals. In August the berries are gathered
green, by breaking off the branches and dropping them to the
ground, where women and children strip the spice from the stem.
The tree thus roughly treated soon puts forth new shoots, and
bears a better crop for the more extensive breakage. The harvest
of pimento presents a picturesque scene in its gangs of negro-
pickers, the women and girls in turbans of red and white stuff,
with the black iron pot for cooking the family meal, and calabashes
or gourds for carrying water from the owner's house into the
plantation. The berries are dried by the sun on the " barbecues"
or great stone terraces of the estate, being turned over from time
to time with rakes or brooms of the fan-palm, until six or seven
days' heat has completed the " curing".

The most notable and satisfactory recent development in
Jamaican history is the revived prosperity due to the production of
fruit. In bananas, a minor industry has now attained the rank
of a staple product. In 1874, the export value of this delicious
and wholesome article was almost nothing; in 1879, the banana-
trade was producing nearly ,33,000 a-year; for the year ending
March 3ist, 1896, it had the value of ,316,560, showing a nearly
tenfold growth. In the same period, the value of exported coco-
nuts rose from ,13,000 to nearly 38,000. Oranges and pine-
apples to considerable value are raised. In connection with the
banana-growing, we have the gratifying and, for the inward peace
and prosperity of the island, the important fact that it puts ready
money to the amount of at least 200,000 annually into the
possession of small cultivators, the negro heads of families chiefly
engaged in the culture. All classes of the community have felt
the benefit of the banana-trade, and increased imports have im-
proved the resources of the Government for public works and
other undertakings. In 1899, there were nearly 55,000 holdings of
land below 5 acres in area, against about 14,500 holdings between
5 and 50 acres, while all estates or rented holdings between 50

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

and 1500 acres or upwards numbered about 3000. The total
exports (year ending March 3ist, 1896) of this grandly fertile
colony had the value of ,1,873,105, about 28 per cent going to
the British Isles, and 40 per cent to the United States. In order
of value, the chief exports were bananas, as above given; logwood,
.359,000; coffee, 2 84, 8 20; raw sugar, "195,450; rum, ,164,000;
pimento, as above stated; ginger, "50,328; and coco-nuts, as
above. In the same year the imports from all countries were
worth 2,288,940, of which goods to the value of ,1,106,177
came from the United Kingdom; the next largest amounts being
from the United States and British North America. The chief
items of expenditure were about "277,600 for cotton manufactures;
291,000 for corn (rice, &c.), flour and bread; "166,000 for fish,
wet and dried; "131,000 for drapery; "58,800 for boots and
shoes; 62,000 for ale and beer; "63,500 for lumber; "40,000 for
butter; ,39,850 for hardware and cutlery; ,46,840 for woollen
goods; 31,000 for pork; "35,000 for soap, and "50,400 for coals
and coke.

The chief towns of Jamaica are Kingston, Spanish Town,
Montego Bay, Port Maria, Falmouth, Savanna-la-Mar, and Port
Royal. Kingston, the capital, being by far the largest place in
the island, as well as the seat of government, has been already
mentioned as lying in a fine haven on the south-east coast. Distant
six miles from Port Royal, which is on the tongue of land to the
south, the commercial centre of Jamaica is approached thence
by a well-buoyed channel from 6 to 9 fathoms in depth, and has
good anchoring-ground in from 5 to 10 fathoms for any number
of ships, with from 12 to 24 feet of water at the wharves. The
city replaced Spanish Town as capital in 1872; in 1880 the place
suffered much from a violent hurricane, and two years later it was
almost destroyed by fire. In the Old Church, the public building
of most interest, Benbow lies buried. With a good water-supply
and drainage, Kingston also has gas-lighted streets and tramcars.
The population is about 48,500. Spanish Town (5700 people)
is about sixteen miles west of the capital, lying inland; Montego
Bay, on the north-west coast, contains about 5000 inhabitants;
Port Maria, on the north-east coast, has nearly 7000; Falmouth,
east of Montego Bay, about 3000; Savanna-la-Mar, on south-
west coast, 3000; the now decayed Port Royal, ruined by the

WEST INDIES. 25

earthquake of 1692, as already recorded, is a naval station of some
1 200 inhabitants. For local government, there are Parochial
Boards, elected by those who vote for members of the Legislative
Council, in the town of Kingston and thirteen other parishes.
These bodies have the control of roads, markets, sanitation, poor
relief, and water-works, expending a revenue received from the
direct taxation on land, houses, horses, carriages, and other matters
in their several parishes. The colonial revenue, mainly obtained
from import- duties on food-stuffs, alcohol, and manufactured goods,
from a heavy excise on rum, and from licences and stamps,
amounted to ,748,514 in 1898, with an expenditure of ,752,742,
and a public debt of ,2,074,000, of which above half has been
incurred for railways. The means of communication comprise
about 185 miles of railway in the centre and south; 1420 miles of
inland telegraph; mail-coaches between the chief points not yet
connected by steam-traffic, and weekly steamers to the chief ports
round the island. Daily posts, or a service three times a week,
convey half-ounce letters at a penny rate. Foreign communication
is maintained by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's boats
to Southampton, the "West India and Pacific" steamers to Liver-
pool, the boats of the " London Line", those of the Clyde Line to
Glasgow, steamers to the United States, other West India isles,
Halifax, and Demerara ; and by cables to Europe, Cuba, and
Central America. There is a parcels-post to the British Isles, the
United States, and the other British West Indies. Education is
not in a very advanced condition. For higher instruction the
colonists are mainly dependent on the Barbados college above
described, and on a "high school" near Kingston. In 1899, tne
893 Government elementary schools had an average attendance of
about 57,000 among 170,000 children of school age, between 5 and
15 years. The grant amounts to about ,52,000, and there are
two training-colleges, for male and female teachers. There are
also some free schools, denominational high schools, and industrial
establishments. The financial system includes the Colonial Bank,
the Bank of Nova Scotia, and a Government Savings Bank with
deposits, at 3 per cent interest, exceeding ,492,000; the currency
is British gold and silver, United States and Spanish gold, and
Jamaica nickel pence. There is no "established church"; Anglicans
are in charge of the Bishop of Jamaica, Roman Catholics of a

26 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

-Vicar Apostolic" as prelate. Public health is supervised by an
" island medical service" of district-officers paid by the Government
to attend sick paupers, parochial hospitals and alms-houses, the
constabulary force, and the prisoners (975 at the end of 1895) in
jail. The judicial establishment comprises a High Court of Justice,
circuit-courts, and petty-sessions of resident magistrates throughout
the island. Public defence is intrusted to an Imperial garrison
(West India regiments) of about 1620 officers and men, with forti-
fications and batteries at various points, and to a "volunteer
militia" numbering about 760 officers and men. The police force
is composed of about 2300 officers and men. Returning for a
moment to the intellectual condition of the negroes, we find that,
by the census of 1891, out of the whole population of about 640,000,
under 178,000 could read and write, and 114,500 could read only;
in other words, more than half the people were wholly illiterate.

The Turks and Caicos Islands, two south-easterly groups in the
Bahamas, have been since 1874 a political dependency of Jamaica,
governed by a Commissioner and a Legislative Board of five mem-
bers appointed by the Crown. Of about 30 " cays" or islands, with
a total area of 224 sq. miles, the largest, Grand Caicos, is 20 miles
long by 6 miles broad; the most important and populous, having
the seat of government at a town of 1900 people, is Grand Turk,
7 miles in length by 2 in breadth. The population, 4750 in 1891
for the whole of the groups, is of mixed European and African
descent, mainly connected with the Bermudas, and all of English
speech. Only six of the islands have inhabitants, and all are unin-
vaded by such appliances of civilization as railways, telegraphs,
paper currency, public debt, and internal postage. The very mixed
currency includes coinage of Great Britain, the United States,
Spanish America, Mexico, Colombia, and the Jamaica nickel. The
equable and healthy climate is one in which the tropical heat is
tempered by sea-breezes; the chief wants are those of fresh pro-
visions and good water, the soil lying low and being usually barren.
The rain-fall, occurring between October and February, was 23
inches in 1895. Seven elementary, free, unsectarian schools have
an average attendance of 728 children; Grand Turk possesses a
public library and reading-room, with a weekly newspaper. Com-
munication with the outer world is obtained through sailing-vessels
from Grand Turk, a port of registry with 48 ships of a total tonnage

WEST INDIES. 27

of 6000 tons; by monthly steamers to Jamaica and Halifax, and
every three weeks to New York and Hayti. The nearest telegraph-
cable is at Hayti, 165 miles away. Sponges collected on the Caicos
Bank are sent to Nassau, and a recent cultivation of pita, or sisal
hemp, has a prospect of success. The only industry of any import-
ance at present, however, is the " salt-raking" mentioned in a pre-
vious section of this work as undertaken from Bermuda early in
the eighteenth century. The salt has excellent " curing " properties
for meat and fish, and is yearly exported, to the United States,
Canada, and Newfoundland, to the amount of 2 million bushels,
worth about ,31,000.

Other dependencies of Jamaica are the Cayman Islands, and
the little groups styled the Morant Cays and Pedro Cays. The
Caymans consist of three fertile coral islands to the north-west of
Jamaica, with a total area of 225 sq. miles and a population of over
4300. Grand Cayman, 17 miles long, and from 4 to 7 miles in
breadth, sends coco-nuts and turtle to Jamaica in schooners which
bring back flour and other necessaries. The soil produces sugar-
cane and ground- foods apart from corn, and has good pasturage
for the cattle which are reared. The group, discovered by Colum-
bus, and by him called " Tortugas " from the abundance of turtle,
the present chief product, was occupied by the British shortly after
the conquest of Jamaica. Little Cayman and Cayman Brae, the
other two islands, adjoining each other at about 70 miles north-
east of Grand Cayman, are each 9 or 10 miles long by i in
breadth, with a few hundreds of people, mostly whites. Affairs in
the group are managed by the "Justices and Vestry", composed
of magistrates appointed by the Governor of Jamaica, and vestry-
men elected by the people. The Morant Cays and Pedro Cays,
annexed by Great Britain in 1862 and 1863, and attached to
Jamaica in 1882, are groups, respectively of three and four small
islands, the former lying about 33 miles south-east of Morant
Point, the eastern extremity of Jamaica, and the latter nearly 50
miles south-west of Portland Point, the southern extremity of the
island. Both are rented for the collection of guano and sea-birds'
eggs and for the catching of turtle.

The LEEWARD ISLANDS belonging to Great Britain comprise
Antigua (with Barbuda and Redonda); St. Christopher (or St.
Kitts), with Nevis and Anguilla; Dominica; Montserrat; and

2g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

some of the Virgin Islands, with Sombrero. By an act of 1871,
the whole were made into one federal colony, divided into five
Presidencies as given above. Each Presidency has its local Legis-
lative and Executive Councils, and the federation is ruled by a
Governor, aided by an Executive Council nominated by the Crown,
and a Legislative Council of twenty members, ten nominated by
the Crown and ten elected by the local Councils. The nomi-
nated members consist of the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-
General, the Auditor-General, and the President of St. Kitts-
Nevis, with five unofficial members, one from each of the island-
councils, and another President chosen by the Governor. The
Council, constituted for not more than three years, meets once a
year at St. John, in Antigua, for a session of two to four weeks'
duration. The expenses of the federal establishments are shared
by the Presidencies in amounts proportioned to population. Deal-
ing first with the colony as a whole, we observe that in 1891 the
population was nearly 128,000, of whom about 5000 were whites,
over 23,000 coloured people, and nearly 100,000 were blacks. In
1 88 1, the population of nearly 123,000 included 33,000 Anglicans,
under the Bishop of Antigua and a " Co-adjutor Bishop"; 29,000
Roman Catholics, 30,000 Wesleyans, and 17,000 Moravians. Ele-
mentary education is given in denominational schools, with grants
in aid from the local revenues of the several islands. In 1898,
besides private schools, grammar-schools in Antigua, St. Kitts and
Dominica, and a technical school in Montserrat, there were 137
aided schools, with 25,200 pupils. The climate of the islands
varies, but is usually dry and fairly salubrious. The average rain-
fall of Antigua is 30 inches, the other islands having about double
this amount in the rainy season from August to December. In
regard to financial matters, the Colonial Bank has branches in
Antigua, Dominica, and St. Kitts, and the Virgin Islands use the
notes of the Danish Bank of St. Thomas. Government savings-
banks have deposits of nearly ,60,000. The usual currency is
British silver, with some British, United States, and Spanish gold.
There are no railways or internal telegraphs, but Antigua and St.
Kitts have complete telephone systems. Steam-communication
with the British Isles and the other West Indies is carried on by
the vessels of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company to and from
Southampton, and there are fortnightly steamers of other lines to

WEST INDIES. 29

the United States and British North America. A fast steamer,
with good accommodation for passengers, and supported by the
colonial government, runs between the various islands of the
federation. Dominica, St. Kitts, and Antigua are connected by
telegraph-cables with the Windward Islands, the United States,
and Europe. There is local penny-postage for half-ounce letters,
and the Postal Union charge of 2}d. for the same weight to
the British Isles. No Imperial garrison is stationed on the
islands, but small local forces (yeomanry cavalry and artillery) exist
at Antigua and St. Kitts. The whole area of the colony is 701
sq. miles.

Antigua, with an area of 108 sq. miles, and a population, along
with its dependencies Barbuda and Redonda (together 62^ sq.
miles), of about 37,000, of whom about 1800 are whites, lies in
61 45' west longitude, and just above 17 north latitude, at about
the middle of the Leeward Islands, before they sweep round from
a northerly to a north-westerly course. The island has a circuit of
54 miles, and the coast, deeply indented at many points by bays
and creeks, is rendered dangerous to navigators by a border of
islets, rocks, and shoals. With a length of 28 miles and about half
that width, the surface is generally low-lying, though one hill
attains a height of 1330 feet. A total lack of rivers and a scarcity
of springs cause frequent droughts, a disadvantage which the
government now seeks to meet by the conservation of supplies
derived from the very variable rainfall. The olden forest has
been almost cleared away, a fact to which the want of moisture is
partly due. Historical events, in the nineteenth century, are con-
lined to the decay of the sugar-industry, as in other islands, caused
by the emancipation of the slaves, and to destructive earthquakes
occurring in 1843 an d 1874. Antigua has also had her full share
of the hurricanes which, from time to time, ravage that region of
the tropical world. The negroes are fairly industrious in field-
labour, but, being very unthrifty, seldom rise to a higher position,
as has been the case with recent Portuguese immigrants who,
beginning as labourers, became in numerous cases small shop-
keepers, and in some instances very wealthy men. The blacks, as
a class, are orderly and quiet, but ignorant and very troublesome
under the influence of alcoholic drink. The 20,000 acres now
under tillage, comprised in about 100 estates, are chiefly devoted

30 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

to sugar-cane and pine-apples. In 1895 the exports, mainly of
sugar and molasses, had a total value of ,87,000, of which nearly
all went to the United States and the Canadian Dominion. The
imports of provisions and manufactured goods, worth nearly
/ 145,000, were to the extent of ^57>54O from the British Isles.
In 1895, a revenue of "44,348, chiefly from import duties, faced an
expenditure of "70,221 and a public debt of "138,000 (in 1890).
Much of the land, under depression of the sugar-industry, lapsed
into "bush", but enterprise and capital devoted to the rich volcanic
soil, with areas of clay and marl, might raise profitable crops of
cotton and fibrous plants. The capital, both of the island and of
the federal colony, St. John, is a place of 10,000 people on the
north-west coast, picturesquely situated on a slope towards a safe
and capacious bay, with water only deep enough for vessels of
moderate tonnage. English Harbour, with the small town of
Falmouth, has deeper water with an excellent dockyard. The
haven is really an extinct crater, entered through a narrow passage
between low cliffs composed of ash and volcanic boulder, with the
inner shore presenting caves eaten out of gray lava and ash, and
rock of black lava dipping sheer into water several fathoms in
depth. Ironclads can anchor close to the cliffs, which have an
abundant growth of aloes in their arid clefts and crannies. A
Governor or President, a Crown-appointed Executive Council, and
a Legislative Council of 24 members, half official and nominated,
half elected, on a fairly high property or tenancy franchise, by
about 350 voters in n electoral districts, form the ruling body of
Antigua. Barbuda, lying 23 miles north of Antigua, is a coral-
formed island, beset by reefs, and is 10 miles long by 8 broad, with
an area of 62 sq. miles, and a population of 600. The place is
very flat, with a large lagoon on the west, separated from the sea
by a spit of sand; most of the surface is covered with dense forest,
containing some of the wild deer now rare in the West Indies.
The fertile soil produces good pasture for cattle which are sent to
Antigua; the mineral products are salt and phosphates of lime
worked by a private firm who lease the island from the Crown.
Poultry are also reared for sale in neighbouring islands, and some
corn, pepper, and tobacco are grown. Redonda, 25 miles south-
west of Antigua, is a mere rock, i mile long by half a mile broad,
rising to the height of 1000 feet, but has lately proved com-

KING EDWARD VII

Edward the Seventh, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of
India, was born at Buckingham Palace on November Qth, 1841, eldest
son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. After
careful education under private tutors, the young Prince of Wales spent
one session at Edinburgh University, a year at Oxford, and some terms
at Cambridge. He visited the United States and Canada in 1860, and
travelled with Dean Stanley in the East in 1862. On March loth, 1863,
he married the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and became father of two
sons and three daughters. In 1871, the Prince had an almost fatal attack
of typhoid fever, his recovery being celebrated with great enthusiasm and
a special service at St. Paul's Cathedral on February 27th, 1872. In
1875-76 he had a lengthy tour in India. As a lover of sport (twice winner
of the Derby Stakes), an active supporter of many charitable works, and
a gracious gentleman, the Prince of Wales, on January 22nd, 1901, after
bearing that title far longer than any of his predecessors, was welcomed
to the throne with the fairest hope of and firmest belief in his success
as a monarch, amidst the universal mourning for his beloved mother.

(93)

r J

From a Photograph by W. & D. DOWNEY.

KING EDWARD VII

WEST INDIES. 3 1

mercially valuable for its mines of phosphate of alumina, worked
by a company paying a royalty of 6d. per ton, and exporting about
7000 tons yearly to the United States.

The Presidency of St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, and
Anguilla, had in 1891 a total population of nearly 48,000. St.
Christopher or St. Kitts, lying about 25 miles north-west of
Antigua, is 23 miles long by ^/ 2 miles in greatest width, with an
area of 68 sq. miles, and about 31,000 inhabitants. The appear-
ance of the island is very picturesque, as the land sweeps up from
the shore, first slowly, then rapidly and steeply, into a range of
lofty rugged mountains, traversing the greater part of the oval sur-
face from south-east to north-west, and culminating in Mount
Misery, over 4000 feet above sea-level. On the south-west, be-
tween the mountains and the sea, the isolated conical Brimstone
Hill towers up for 750 feet. The higher slopes of the mountains
are grass-clad, and the summits are crowned with ironwood, Spanish
ash, white box and other trees. The only wild creatures are the
agouti, a small brownish-yellow rodent allied to the guinea-pig;
the tortoise, and a breed of small monkeys in the hills and woods,
which do mischief to the higher plantations. Horned cattle, sheep,
and pigs, bred in the island, furnish meat of a fair quality, and
there is an abundant supply of excellent fish. At the south-east of
St. Kitts is a long neck of untilled land, rising into conical hills
covered with grass, cacti, and mimosa; below them lie salt-ponds
about 2 miles in circumference, from which about 14,000 barrels
of salt are annually obtained. The island is of volcanic origin,
Mount Misery being a pyramid of black lava, below which lies a
deep hollow, walled in by precipices whose fissures emit steam and
sulphur fumes. The whole soils of the island have been formed
by the lava and ash ejected from this volcanic focus, carried down
to the lowland by tropical rains, and of great fertility and easily
worked by the hoe and plough. The climate is very healthy and
agreeable, with a range of 78 to 84 degrees. The occasional
droughts, severely felt by so porous a soil, are the only drawback
to the very advanced, scientific, and industrious tillage of the land
by people who, using the hoe wherever a foothold may be had on
the slopes, push their cane-fields up the sides of the hills, and
liberally use native and foreign manures. About 16,000 acres are
given to the sugar-cane, the making of the sugar being now per-

32 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

formed by the steam-power that has replaced the old wind and
cattle mills. Sweet-potatoes, arrowroot, cassava or manioc, ground-
nuts, coffee, tobacco, and various fruits are also grown. One main
macadamized road, 30 miles long, runs round the island, which
possesses no harbours, commerce being conducted at two road-
steads for large vessels. The capital, Basseterre, with about 7000
people, lies on the seaboard of a spacious and fertile plain below
the semicircular chief range of mountains. The other towns are
Old Road and Sandy Point. In 1895, the value of all exports in
sugar, molasses, and rum, from St. Kitts and Nevis, was about
140,500, of which the British Isles had only ,9350 worth, most
of the sugar going to the United States. On the whole imports,
provisions and manufactured goods worth ,172,280, the British
share was 65,538. With a public debt of "74,650, the revenue
of the three islands in 1895 was ^43> 2OO > mostly from import-
duties, against an expenditure of about 56,000. The Presidency,
with a Governor, has an Executive Council nominated by the
Crown, and a Legislative Council of 10 official and 10 nominated
unofficial members.

Nevis, a round island with an area of 50 sq. miles, and a popu-
lation (1891) just exceeding 13,000, lies 2 miles south-east of
St. Christopher. A large part of the surface is occupied by a
mountain of volcanic origin, with a wooded ancient crater rising in
a conical peak to 3200 feet, and by two lower hills to right and
left. The lava and ash, sliding down in concave slopes of fertile
soil, have made about 16,000 acres, or half the whole area, fit for
tillage. The slave-emancipation dealt more severely with this
island than with any other of our West Indian colonies. A com-
plete collapse of credit was followed by drought and pestilence,
and for many years Nevis was a ruined spot of British territory.
About 1865 the introduction of fresh capital, well employed,
brought a revival of prosperity. All labour is engaged at good
wages (2S. 8d per day) for that region; many former paid-workmen
have become small proprietors; and the island, where the soil is
chiefly devoted to the sugar-cane, with some small growth of
elicious tangerine oranges and of limes, is a model of modest
prosperity in both public and private finance. Communication
with St. Kitts is carried on between Basseterre, 12 miles distant,
and Charlestown, the capital of Nevis, situated on a wide bay in

WEST INDIES. 33

the north-west, at the foot of the mountain. The population is
1600; this little "port of registry", in 1891, possessed one vessel,
of 136 tons register. Drought is the chief foe of the island-
planters, who mainly depend for supplies of necessary moisture on
the mountain-springs.

Anguilla (" little snake", from its long winding shape) lies about
60 miles north of St. Kitts, from which it is separated by the French
island, St. Bartholomew, and the Dutch-French island, St. Martin,
near to its southern shore. Sixteen miles long, and from three to
one and a half in breadth, Anguilla has an area of 35 sq. miles
and 3700 inhabitants, including about 100 whites. The surface is
very flat, and has extensive pasture for the ponies and cattle.
Phosphate of lime, and salt obtained from a lake in the centre of
the island, are exported. Garden-stock is raised, and sold at the
Danish island of St. Thomas, about 120 miles to the west. The
place is very healthy; tillage is hampered by a deficiency of water.
The revenue of about ^550, derived from import-duties and
licences, just balances the expenditure. A stipendiary magis-
trate, appointed by the Crown, and a vestry of four nominated
members (including the magistrate, who presides) and three
elected members, exercise rule; justice in criminal and civil affairs
is administered at the magistrate's court and a small debt court,
subject to the Supreme Court of the Leeward Islands. The
place has been in British possession since 1650, and has no
history save certain inroads of the French during the great war.
To the north-west lie Anguilla's dependencies The Dogs, and
off the north-east coast is another islet, Anguilletta, or "little
Anguilla".

Dominica, the largest and most southerly of the British Lee-
ward Islands, lies between 15 id and i545 / north latitude, and
61 13' and 61 30' west longitude, midway between the French
islands Guadeloupe, due north, and Martinique, south-east. Run-
ning north and south, with a central bend to north-west, the island,
about 29 miles long, and 16 in extreme width, has an area of 291
sq. miles, and a population of nearly 27,000, mostly negroes. The
three or four hundred whites are chiefly of French origin, and
two-thirds of the people speak a French patois. There are also
about 300 Caribs, rapidly being absorbed by the black element.
The religion is mainly Roman Catholic; the Anglicans are under

VOL. VI 135

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

the Bishop of Antigua. The low death-rate of under 16 per thou-
sand as annual average proves the healthiness of the climate, with
a yearly mean of 79 degrees on the coast, and a rainfall, distributed
throughout the year, of 83 inches. In the early years of the nine-
teenth century, Dominica saw some stirring events. In 1805, the
French, under Villeneuve as admiral, and General La Grange,
landed in force on each flank of Roseau, the capital. A brave
defence was made by the regular troops and the island-militia, but
the town was accidentally burned, and the inhabitants were forced
to surrender, paying ,12,000 to the invaders as ransom, while the
soldiers retreated to a strong position on the other side of the
island. The enemy then abandoned their conquest. This disaster
was followed in 1806 by a hurricane of most destructive violence.
The subsequent history of the island, after a course of peaceful
development, has been marked by a decline of prosperity in strong
contrast to the condition of her flourishing neighbours Martinique
and Guadeloupe. In the later Georgian period, there were large
exports of coffee, sugar, molasses and rum, but the decline of price
in sugar, and the lack of the capital, enterprise, energy, and skill
needful to make new products pay, have made Dominica a
comparative failure among our West Indian isles. Long political
unrest preceded a change in the constitution of the local Legis-
lature in 1866. After the federal union of 1872, little improve-
ment occurred, and in October, 1894, on the grounds that the
island had long ceased to be prosperous or the people con-
tented, the Colonial Secretary, the Marquis of Ripon, conferred
a larger measure of autonomy in local affairs. A resident officer
was appointed as "Administrator", and the Legislative Assembly
was re-constituted as one composed of 7 elected members,
4 nominated unofficial, and 3 nominated official members. At
the same time, the sum of ,30,000 was to be raised by loan to pay
off the floating debt, and other reforms were made in the system
of rule.

Volcanic origin is abundantly shown by the existence of many
" solfataras", or craters emitting sulphureous gases, steam, and other
vapours, with large accumulations of sulphur lying around. In
1880 there was a great eruption of volcanic ash from the " Boiling
Lake", of unknown depth, at the southern end of the island, and
the lake was thereby almost destroyed, along with 6 square miles

WEST INDIES. 35

of forest. The appearance of Dominica is truly magnificent to the
eye of a voyager approaching any part of its hundred miles of coast.
A dark irregular mass of mountains, in a chain that extends over
the whole length of the island, covering nearly half the surface, and
attaining at one point a height exceeding 6000 feet, presents deep
ravines with overhanging cliffs, noble forests and luxuriant vege-
tation of the tropical class, with shining vales and clear running
streams in the narrow region between the hills and the sea. From
the shore to the mountain-tops, at most points, nearly all is verdure
of diverse hues. Deep bays here and there indent the bold rocky
coast, and high ranges of cliffs, on the north-eastern or windward
side, broken by valleys and ravines, rise steeply from the water's
edge. Beautiful to the traveller and the artist, the rugged character
of the country has been a great impediment to the settlers in so
warm a climate, confining tillage generally to the coast-line and the
lower slopes of the hills. Of late years, something has been done
to remedy the want of inland-communications, especially in the
centre of the island, where a break in the mountain-system affords
a fine tract of well-watered land above 30 square miles in extent.
It is remarkable that the forest-clad interior, supplying a rich field
of investigation for the botanist, remains almost as unknown ground
as when Columbus first sighted the island. There is an abundance
of valuable timber for useful and ornamental purposes, of which
logwood, various hard woods, satin and other cabinet woods, are
exported to some extent. Game exists in plenty, and the many
rivers and streams have a wealth of fish. Wild bees, of European
origin, furnish large supplies of honey and wax. Most of the
peasants are breeders of poultry, and the ample supply of fresh
meat and vegetables renders living cheap.

The fertile soil, alluvial in the bottoms of the larger valleys,
and a clayey loam of decomposed rock in other parts, is the mate-
rial of the chief industry the tillage which produces sugar, cacao,
fruit, coffee, limes, and some ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs,
arrowroot and cassava, the flour of this last being largely used for
food by all classes in Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.
Cacao presents a good prospect as an article of commerce, and the
export of lime-juice is increasing. The chief export in 1801 was
coffee, but great havoc was wrought by insects, and it is only of
late years that the more vigorous Liberian species has been found

6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

capable of resisting the plague. There is an export of oranges to
New York, and a luxuriant growth of bananas, pine-apples, coco-
nuts, and other tropical fruits. Some essential oils are made in the
island, and sent to the States and the British Isles, and the bay-
rum now so much used by perfumers and hairdressers as exported
from the Danish island of St. Thomas, is mostly made in Dominica
by distillation from the leaves of the pimento or allspice. There
are handicrafts in basket-work and making of canoes by hollowing
out trees, both derived from the Caribs; in making sacks from the
fan-palm and in coarse pottery. The chief town is Roseau, on the
south-west coast, with a population of about 4500. The revenue,
in 1895, was ,22,859, against an expenditure of ,27,100. The
exports, in 1895, had a value of "39,470, an improvement since
1891; of the whole amount, about one-half went to the British
Isles. The imports, in the same year, with a steadily increasing
value, reached 69,790, of which goods worth "30,000 went out
from the United Kingdom.

Montserrat, the most charming, as many aver, and probably the
most healthy island of the Antilles, lies 27 miles south-west of
Antigua. With a length of 1 1 miles, and a breadth of 7, the island
has an area of 32 sq. miles, and a population (1891) of 11,762.
Most of the people are of the Anglican Church, with a few hundred
Roman Catholics, and about 2500 Wesleyans. The only historical
note for Montserrat in the nineteenth century is the very satisfac-
tory progress made since 1870, when an enlightened and enter-
prising firm of Quaker gentlemen, the Messrs. Sturge, established
a large plantation of limes and a manufactory of lime-juice. From
that time the island entered on a new course of improvement and
prosperity. The zigzag roads, up hill and down glen, of the
mountainous land, have been macadamized, and drained by masonry
culverts and surface-work. The sugar-works have, on most estates,
had the old windmills and cattle-mills replaced by steam-machinery.
The population has grown from the proved salubrity of the climate
and the establishment of a class of small freeholders of land. The
Government have shown a wise liberality in providing free medical
attendance and medicines for all labourers' children under ten years
of age, and for all needy persons above sixty, and in founding a
very good system of elementary education with liberal grants from
the public funds.

WEST INDIES. 37

This rugged little territory mainly consists of a cluster of
volcanic mountain-tops rising to a height of 3000 feet in Souffriere
Hill at the south. There are several peaks above 2500 feet among
the chain which displays dense primeval forest on the upper slopes
and summit, and landscape of rare charm in the varied greens of
the cultivated slopes, chiefly on the western and south-eastern
sides of the island, covered with sugar-canes, Guinea grass, and
limes. At some points, variety is given to the view by precipitous
sides and deep ravines. The temperature has an annual range
from 72 to 84 degrees; the rainfall is about 56 inches up to 500
feet, increasing to 80 inches at higher levels. The terrible storm
of 1899 is noticed below. The fertile soil, varying from light
sandy loam to stiff clay, contains a large element of iron, and, tilled
equally by the hoe and plough with care and skill, produces, in
addition to the canes and limes, all the chief West Indian fruits
and vegetables. The palm which produces the " mountain cab-
bage ", a rival of asparagus in delicate flavour, grows freely on the
hills, and the forests afford valuable drugs such as sarsaparilla,
quassia, and cascarilla bark, a tonic and astringent. The chief
commercial products are sugar, molasses, rum, and lime-juice.
This last article is of the highest reputation, supplied to the extent,
some years ago, of 100,000 gallons, all shipped to a single firm in
Liverpool by the Montserrat Company, the chief proprietors in this
line, who have now above 1000 acres of lime-trees, mostly in the
north of the island. The bulk of trade is about equally divided
between the British Isles and the United States. In 1895, tne
total exports had the value of ,17,390, of which nearly ,11,000
worth went to the United Kingdom. The imports of bread-
stuffs, hardware, machinery, household sundries, and pine-timber
exceeded 22,700, of which about 10,000 was due to the home-
country. The revenue, in 1895, was *? I2 5> with an expenditure
of 10,700 and a public debt of over "18,000. The government
is in charge of the Resident Magistrate, also a Commissioner of
the Supreme Court whose three judges go on circuit to each island
of the Leeward federation. He is assisted by a Legislative
Council of not more than six members, official and unofficial,
nominated by the Crown. The chief town, Plymouth, with a
population of about 1500, lies on the south-west coast, on the shore
of an open roadstead with good anchorage. Springs afford an

^8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

excellent supply of water, which is furnished to ships at a moderate

charge.

The group called the Virgin Islands, about fifty in number, lie
at the north-western extremity of the Lesser Antilles, in about
19 north latitude, and 65 west longitude. Denmark holds St.
Thomas, St. John, and Ste. Croix (or Santa Cruz); Spain possesses
Bieque or Crab Island, and Culebra. Of the thirty-two islands or
so that belong to the British Empire, the chief are Tortola, Virgin
Gorda, Anegada, Peter's Island, Salt Island, and Jost Van Dyke,
the whole British possessions having an area of 58 sq. miles, with
a population (1891, diminished from 5287 in 1881) of 4639. A
few score only of these are whites, the vast majority being negroes
or "coloured people". The only recent history connected with
this thick-lying archipelago of islets and rocks is the occurrence of
two hurricanes. On October 29th, 1867, a fearful storm blew from
1 1 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon, with considerable loss of
life to the people, and almost utter destruction of buildings and
tillage. At the chief town, two-thirds of the houses were blown
down; the jail, church, Wesleyan chapel, pier, school-house, hos-
pital, and poor-house were ruined; the trees and crops were swept
away or rendered useless. In August, 1871, the islands again
suffered very severely from a like visitation, and have never fully
recovered from these disasters.

With a lower average temperature, and a more healthy climate,
than most of the West Indies; a generally rugged surface, partly
covered with forests that contain mahogany, fustic, and other
useful trees; having excellent pasturage for cows, sheep, and
goats, and an abundant growth of Guinea-grass on the hill-sides ;
the British Virgin Islands, less popularly known than almost all
other parts of the Empire, have a solitary and neglected existence,
communicating with outward civilization only by the small sailing-
craft which carry on a little trade with the Danish islands, and
come in touch at St. Thomas with the vessels of the Royal Mail
Steam Packet Company. There is a little growth of cotton and
sugar-cane; some fishing; a modest rearing of poultry and cattle;
a small production of charcoal in the woods. The sugar-cane
growth of former days, carried on with great toil expended on the
rocky hill-sides of Tortola and Virgin Gorda, came to an end, as a
commercial industry, with the lowering of prices in the middle of

WEST INDIES. 39

the nineteenth century. The inhabitants of the group are now
the productions most worthy of remark, for their qualities and
their social condition. These blacks and coloured folk are the
finest men in the whole of the West Indies, bringing great credit
to the emancipation plan of allowing human beings, as free agents,
to work out their own economical and social regeneration. They
are the owners, as peasant-proprietors, of most of the land, and
there are few that do not possess some soil and stock. Working
for themselves, they produce what is their own; they enjoy a
modest honourably independent position, generally as far removed
from pauperism as from affluence; they dwell in comfortable
homes; they dress well in their hours of ease; they contribute to
the support of the church. In manners and in natural intelligence,
the Virgin Islanders under the rule of the Queen surpass most of
the West Indian coloured people, and, by the constant practice of
navigation amongst the dangerous reefs and currents of sur-
rounding seas, the men have become daring, hardy, and skilful
mariners who would be most valuable in our West Indian
squadron.

Tortola, with an area of 26 sq. miles, is wholly made up of hills,
some rising above 1500 feet above sea-level. The capital of the
group, Roadtown, with about 400 people, and a score of registered
vessels, having a total of 800 to 900 tons, lies on the south coast.
Virgin Gorda, 10 sq. miles in area, is hilly and barren at its
eastern end. Anegada, the most northerly of the group, 18 miles
north of Virgin Gorda, is a low-lying isle of coral formation, 12
miles long by over 2 in breadth, with a population of about 300.
Some cattle and sheep are reared for the markets of St. Thomas.
Mariners are now warned of their approach to the dangers of the
reefs which beset Anegada by a lighthouse on the island of Som-
brero, to the east. This little British possession, not attached to
any group in a political sense, has very large and valuable deposits
of phosphate of lime. The only inhabitants are Board of Trade
officials connected with the lighthouse, maintained at a yearly cost
of over ,500 on this prominent islet, lying directly in the track of
navigators from the Lesser Antilles to the Bahamas. The exports
of the Virgin Islands, in 1895, had a value of ^3818; the imports,
chiefly of food-stuffs, were worth ^4576. The revenue (^"1533 in
1895) is mainly derived from a high and unpopular duty on food-

40 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

imports; the expenditure was, in the same year, nearly ^"2000.
The government, under that of the Leeward Islands, and a local
"administrator", is vested in a small official Executive Council,
and a Legislative Council of mixed official and non-official nomi-
nated members.

In September, 1898, the West Indies were visited by one of
the most fearful hurricanes on record. From Saturday, Sept. loth,
to Monday, Sept. I2th, the storm swept over Barbados, St. Vin-
cent, St. Lucia, the Grenadines, St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis,
Montserrat, Anguilla, and Barbuda. At Barbados, the wind,
with a velocity reaching 75 miles per hour, shook the strongest
stone buildings to the base. Bridgetown was a mere wreck, with
nearly every tree blown down, and demolished and roofless houses
in all quarters. In the island throughout, 11,400 labourers' houses
were destroyed ; and nearly 5000 damaged. The personal damage
included 112 persons killed, and 260 cases of injury treated in the
hospitals. Many vessels were wrecked, many more blown out to
sea. At St. Lucia, which was affected only by the fringe of the
hurricane, " Niagaras of water", in the words of an eye-witness,
combined with the wind, destroyed much of the cane and cocoa
crops. St. Vincent was devastated, with the loss of about 300
lives, and damage estimated at ,140,000 in the ruin of churches,
chapels, schools, labourers' huts, stock, crops, wharves and other
property. St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, and Barbuda
suffered much under the diminished force of the storm, chiefly
from damage to jetties, roads, and other public works, with the
wreck of houses and crops at the last two islands. Supplies for
relief of immediate needs were quickly sent from adjacent British
possessions. The Lord Mayor of London opened a " Mansion
House Fund " by which a large sum was raised, and the Colonial
authorities at home, and benevolent persons in New York and
elsewhere, afforded substantial aid. A like calamity befel Mont-
serrat on August ;th, 1899. The island had not yet recovered
from the effects of a hurricane in November, 1896, when it was
subjected to still more serious loss. The little territory was
utterly devastated, with the loss of nearly 100 lives, and the
destruction of every church and chapel, most other buildings, and
the standing crops. Serious damage was caused by the same
storm at St. Kitts and Nevis.

WEST INDIES. 41

The WINDWARD ISLANDS, in the official sense, as an administra-
tive group, now consist of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines
(half under St. Vincent, half under Grenada) and Grenada, lying
in this order, from north to south-west, between Martinique and
Trinidad, and in from 12 to 14 north latitude. Geographically,
Barbados and Tobago belong to the group, but the former, as
we have seen, became a separate colony in 1885, and Tobago,
four years later, was politically annexed to Trinidad. The total
area of the present political group is about 525 sq. miles, with a
population (1898) of about 154,000, of whom only about one-
twentieth are whites. The rest are blacks or coloured people,
except a few Caribs in St. Vincent, and a few thousands of Indian
coolies in the various chief islands. Ruled by one Governor, the
islands have their separate institutions, laws, revenue, and tariff,
but share in the benefits of the Court of Appeal (the chief justices
of the several islands and of Barbados) and of a common audit-
system, with occasional combination of funds and efforts for pur-
poses involving a common interest. The language spoken is
English in St. Vincent and generally among the educated people,
but in Grenada and St. Lucia the prevailing tongue is a French
patois. The legal currency is British sterling, with Spanish and
United States gold coinage. The Colonial Bank, with branches in
the larger islands, issues five-dollar notes, and there are savings-
banks (about 1800 depositors and nearly ,14,000 balances in
1893) at Grenada and St. Lucia. There are no railways nor
internal telegraphs; the government have a telephone-line con-
necting the chief towns in Grenada. There is cable-communication
with Europe and with the other West Indies; and in 1899 tne
" Penny Post Agreement" established the charge of id. per
YZ oz. for letters to and from the British Isles and most of our
colonies, with id. for post-cards, and y 2 d. per 2 oz. for newspapers.
The inter- colonial steamers run in connection with those from
Southampton to Barbados, and there are fortnightly boats from
Grenada to New York and London, and monthly steamers to
several other ports. We may here note some matters of recent
occurrence concerning the Windward Islands, along with other
British West Indian possessions in the seas between North and
South America. The decline of prosperity in connection with the
sugar-industry caused the appointment of a Royal Commission to

42 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

inquire into the condition of the West Indian sugar-growing col-
onies. The general conclusions formulated by this body were,
that the sugar-industry in those islands is in danger of great
reduction, and, in some cases, of extinction, not on account of
mismanagement, but from the competition of sugar-growing
countries assisted by bounties; that in several of the islands there
is no other industry which could profitably take its place, and
that the total or partial extinction of the industry would seriously
affect the condition of the labouring classes, and reduce the revenues
of the colonies, in many cases, below an amount sufficient to
meet the cost of administration. Amongst the measures of relief
adopted, advances to the extent of ,663,000 were made under the
Colonial Loans Act (1899). Of this amount, St. Vincent received
,50,000 for "hurricane-losses", as above described, and large tracts
of Crown-lands, which had hitherto remained untilled, were in that
island allotted in small holdings to peasant-proprietors.

Grenada, the most southerly of the group now under review, is
about 60 miles from the northern coast of South America, and
runs due north, from the line of 12 degrees north latitude, for 21
miles, with a maximum breadth of 12 miles. The area is 133 sq.
miles; the population, over 62,600 in 1898, showing a large increase
(above 40 per cent) since 1881, is mostly blacks, with more than
2000 coolie labourers from the East Indies. This picturesque,
mountainous, volcanic island has ridges of hills covered with brush-
wood and forest, and a range that runs from north to south, with
peaks sometimes reaching an altitude of over 3000 feet, and
having some ancient craters now transformed into lakes. The
country abounds in streams and mineral springs, and the soil has
the usual fertility of the West Indies. For the wonders of tropical
vegetation in the West Indies, especially on the large scale seen in
Trinidad, we may here refer readers, once for all, to Charles
Kingsley's excellent and enthusiastic book At Last, which also
contains much geological matter and references to the fauna of
the islands. Of the hill-lakes the beautiful Grand Etang, on the
summit of a mountain-ridge, lies 1740 feet above the sea, sur-
rounded by bamboos and tree-ferns. The south-eastern coast is
low-lying and swampy.

Ruled as a Crown colony, under a constitution set forth in
Letters Patent of March, 1885, Grenada has a Governor (in charge

WEST INDIES. 43

of all these Windward Isles); a Legislative Council, nominated by
him, of six official members, and seven unofficial members nomi-
nated by the Crown; and an Executive Council of five members,
including the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-
General, and the Treasurer. Each little town has an elective
Board for local affairs, and the island, divided into six parishes,
possesses an excellent system of roads now kept in thorough
repair, including about 40 miles of highway, and a network of by-
ways. In religious affairs, the Anglicans are under the Bishop of
Barbados; there are numerous Roman Catholics, and some Pres-
byterians and Wesleyans. Education is in a fairly satisfactory
condition, with 38 Government and aided elementary schools in
1899, containing over 8300 pupils; a grammar-school for boys,
partly supported from public funds, and a school for the secondary
education of girls. Most of the elementary schools are under the
local management of the different sects; of the central Board of
Education, nominated by the Governor, half the members are
Roman Catholics.

The climate is, on the whole, of a character highly favourable
to the health, comfort, and safety of the inhabitants. As in all
other tropical islands, it is damp and hot during the wet season,
but the temperature is equable, yellow-fever is almost unknown,
and the island lies outside the range of hurricanes. The average
mean temperature is 79 degrees, and the rainfall somewhat exceeds
80 inches. During the six "winter" months, from November to
May, the weather is delightful, and the place is then a great health-
resort for people from Trinidad, who in Grenada enjoy a restora-
tive air and good sea-bathing. In 1896, the births were 2450
against 1 1 84 deaths. The fauna include opossums, iguanas, agoutis,
and armadilloes, abounding in the woods, and largely used as food
by the negro population; a large number of turtle, one article of
export; several kinds of wild pigeons, and migratory birds such as
wild ducks and plovers. Goats, sheep, pigs, and poultry, reared
on the island, supply fresh meat. The forests contain valuable
timber mahogany, the gigantic locust-tree, with tough close-
grained wood, and the white cedar, with vanilla and some gum-
yielding trees.

The chief industry is, of course, the tillage of the soil, and the
recent features in production are the decline in sugar; the vast

44 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

increase of cocoa (cacao), the quality of which comes next to that
of Trinidad, among the West India islands; and the larger growth
of cotton and spices, the latter including cloves and vanilla, pepper
and cardamoms, and, especially, nutmegs. The export of spices,
for instance, grew from a value of under ,3500 in 1880, to more
than ,22,000 in 1898. The fruit-trade is also becoming important
in the markets of Barbados, Trinidad, and New York, and com-
prises coco-nuts and mangoes, with tropical fruits of almost every
kind. Some products, in this line, of temperate climes have been
introduced with success, including raspberries, strawberries, and
apples. The plants and roots used for home-food consist of yams,
sweet-potatoes, pigeon-peas, plantains, Indian corn, manioc, bread-
fruit, and others. Turning to the chief commercial growths, we
find that, in 1892, of the 20,418 acres under cultivation, sugar-cane
was growing on only 911, while 11,115 were devoted to cocoa
(cacao)-trees, 1812 to cotton, and 1343 acres to spices. In 1898,
over 9 million pounds weight of cocoa were shipped, with a value
of nearly ,228,000, against little more than half the amount in
1880. Other exports comprise Indian corn, cotton and cotton-
seed, ground-nuts, hides and skins, whale-oil, obtained from "fish"
caught around the Grenadines, and live stock as above mentioned.
Trade is carried on with the neighbouring islands and Venezuela,
with the United States, and, very largely, with the British Isles.
Timber, in great demand for new houses needed by an increasing
population, bread-stuffs, and salt meat, come from the States;
manufactured goods in textiles and hardware, from Great Britain.
The total exports in 1898, had a value of "257,000, of which
about "243,500 are accounted for by the United Kingdom. Of
imports to the worth of over "210,000, the British Isles sent out
,98,626. The revenue, mainly obtained by import duties, was
,62,875 ' m 1898* with an expenditure of ,57,612, and a public
debt exceeding "127,000, St. George, the capital, as seat of
government for all these Windward Isles, and also the chief port,
lies on the south-west side of Grenada, in the middle of a large
sandy -bottomed bay, safe from storms, with an inner spacious
landlocked harbour on the eastern side. The little city of 5000
people is seen scrambling up the hillside with red roofs and church
spires, among cacao and bread-fruit trees, and with garden-girt
villas leading the eye up to the large and handsome Government

WEST INDIES. 45

House, behind which one green hill after another rises towards the
peak of Mount Maitland, 1700 feet in height. The place was
originally built by the French, with the name of Port Royal, changed
to St. George on the cession of Grenada in 1 763. The five stone-
built forts on the surrounding hills have been dismantled since
1854, when the regular forces were removed from the island; the
chief of these structures, Fort George, is now used as a barrack for
the police force.

The Grenadines are a line of islands, about 300, in number, and
varying in size from 600 to nearly 8000 acres, running for sixty
miles northward from Grenada to St. Vincent. Bare of wood, and
edged with cliffs and streaks of red and gray rock, they rise a few
hundred feet out of very deep sea. The inhabitants are chiefly a
quiet and prosperous race of small proprietors or yeomen, raising
and exporting live stock and vegetable products, conveyed to the
larger islands in coasters of their own building. The southern
islands of the group are attached politically to Grenada, and of
these the chief is Carriacou, with an area of nearly 7000 acres and
a population of about 6000. The chief island connected with St.
Vincent is Becquia, in the north of the Grenadines; it is somewhat
larger than Carriacou.

The beautiful St. Vincent, an irregular oblong in shape, broader
in the northern than in the southern half, lies about 70 miles
north-north-east of Grenada, and 100 miles due west of Barbados.
Eighteen miles long, and eleven in extreme breadth, it has an area
of 132 sq. miles, with a population (1898) just exceeding 46,000, of
whom about 2450 were whites, and 31,000 blacks, the residue
being mainly coloured people and East Indian coolies. The history
of the island in the nineteenth century involves nothing worthy of
mention save the great eruption of 1812; the decline of sugar-
production due to the slave-emancipation of 1838, to the admission
in British ports of slave-grown sugar, in 1846, at the same tariff as
the West Indian article, and to a fall of prices in more recent years;
and the establishment, in 1878, after previous changes in the con-
stitutional system, of the island's rule as a " Crown colony" instead
of by representative government. The mention of " eruption" has
already stated the volcanic origin and character of St. Vincent.
From north to south runs a chain of densely-wooded mountains
with peaks from 3000 to 4000 feet in height. The chief crater,

46 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

styled the Soufriere (sulphur-mine) as in other West Indian islands,
lies in the north of this range, which sends off spurs on each side,
dividing the island into a series of beautiful and fertile valleys
running east and west to the coast. The southern part of the chain
ends in Mount St. Andrew, 2500 feet in height, overlooking a fine
bay and the chief town. The many streams are small, except when
they are swollen by the heavy rains in the season between May
and February, the average annual fall being 100 inches. At this
time thunder-storms are of frequent occurrence, and the prevailing
wind is from the north-east. In spite of humidity and the tropical
heat, the climate is one of the most healthy in the West Indies.
The only wild animals are some hogs and agoutis; the little rivers
abound in a fish called "mountain-mullet", somewhat like the
grayling in flavour; the sea has abundant and excellent fish, a
small species of whale, 20 to 30 feet in length, and a race of sharks
which, it seems, do not care for human flesh, and never attack
men upset from the island-boats in the many sudden fierce squalls
rushing down from the hills.

The pride of St. Vincent, in the way of scenery, is the mag-
nificent Soufriere, one of the finest and largest craters in the world,
with its edge at a height of about 3700 feet in the north-west of
the island. The road thither up the mountain-side is adorned with
flowers of many species, especially with bignonias and orchids; it
passes amidst groves of splendid tree-ferns up to a wild and windy,
cool and rainy, treeless region, clothed with fern and small red-
blossomed "scrub", and with rich broad-bladed grass, covering a
surface of cinders that yield to the tourist's tread. Close to the
top, on one side of the crater-edge, two huge flat oval slabs, about
200 feet long, and 30 feet high, profusely adorned with ferns, seem
to stand sentinel over the vast chasm out of which they were
volcanically blown. One step forward, and the grandeur of the
Soufriere bursts all at once on the eye. Near a thousand feet
below, beneath a ring of awful cliff, lies a circular lake three miles
in circumference, formed by an eruption in 1718 which blew into
the skies the great ash-cone then rising in a gracefully tapering
form for many hundreds of feet above the surrounding crater-lips,
studded with trees and flowers amidst which the songs of countless
birds made music in one of nature's noblest gardens. No bottom
has been reached by soundings in the water that, to the spectator

WEST INDIES. 47

above, gleams in the sunshine with a grass-green hue, while waves
that are crested with snowy foam are moving across the surface
dead against the wind, and breaking, noiselessly to the distant ear,
on the shore below. All sides of the vast abyss are one glorious
fernery, broken only for about a mile on the south by a forest of
small, leafless, black, dead trees killed by the " Little Eruption" of
1814. The new crater formed two years previously has a smooth
grassy bottom higher in level than the lake, with a triangular pond
of transparent water fed by a tiny stream. The sides of this later
vent are mostly black and charred, and the two craters are separated
by a knife-edge of rock over 700 feet in height.

The historic "Great Eruption" of 1812 was a most convincing
proof of the part played by volcanic action in the sterner work of
nature's forces. For the two years prior to March, 1812, a great
internal pressure upon the earth's crust had been seeking some
outlet, and causing an agitation of sea and land over an area half
as large as Europe, from the Azores to the West Indies and the
coast of Venezuela, and from the Cordillera chain of New Grenada
to the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio. These earth-
quakings reached their height of violence in the terrible catastrophe
of March 26th, 1812, the day on which, in that year, Holy Thurs-
day fell, when the people of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela,
were assembled in the churches, and the troops were drawn up and
the processions formed to honour the occasion, beneath a serene
and blazing sky. Then, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye,
came the tragedy described in the pages of Humboldt. The
troops, in one minute of earthquake, were crushed to death by the
fall of their barracks; the worshippers were buried in the ruins of
their churches; the houses fell in and fell out, smiting to death the
home-stayers and people in the streets. The whole loss of life
reached from 10,000 to 12,000, the former being Humboldt's esti-
mate. A month or more had elapsed at mourning Caracas, when
the survivors were startled, on April 3Oth, by a subterranean noise
resembling frequent discharges of the largest cannon. No shock
was felt, but the sound was heard over a space of 4000 square
leagues, from Martinique and Guadeloupe to the Llanos or grassy
plains of the Orinoco. Preparations were made to resist a foe
supposed to be advancing with heavy cannon. The cause of the
portentous noise was afterwards found to lie five hundred miles

48 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

away. The citizens of Caracas had really heard the sounds of
their own deliverance from all further mischief. The long-silent
Soufriere of St. Vincent had opened again, and relieved the
interior pressure of imprisoned steam. It was on April 27th,
1812, that a negro boy herding cattle on the mountain-side saw
stone after stone falling near him. Believing that other boys were
pelting him from the cliffs above, he began to return the fire, when
a thicker shower, with some stones that no human hand could
wield, made the lad run for his life, leaving the cattle to their fate,
while a column of black cloud arose from the crater, composed of
dust and ash and stone. For three days and nights the mountain
roared. The greater part of the island was covered with ashes
that buried the crops, broke branches from the trees, and spread
destruction from which some estates never recovered. At Bar-
bados, on May ist, when the clock struck six, no light of the
morning sun could be seen, and the darkness grew thicker as the
hours sped away, while a slow and silent rain of impalpable dust
was falling over the whole island. Terror seized the souls of
blacks and whites, and the churches were filled with trembling,
sobbing, and praying crowds. A dead silence reigned in nature's
realm save for the crashing of the branches snapped by the weight
of clammy dust. The trade- wind had utterly ceased; the roar of
the surf on the shore was at an end. About an hour after noon
the veil of darkness was lifted and a lurid sunlight came in from
the horizon while blackness was dominant overhead. By degrees
the dust-cloud drifted away, and the Barbadians, beneath the full
light of the sun, saw their island inches deep in black and, as it
proved, fertilizing matter. The trade-wind blew again out of the
east, and the noise of the surf rose again on the beach. The
arrival of the dust from St. Vincent in Barbados, against a strong
easterly breeze, across 100 miles of sea, shows the force of ex-
plosions in the Soufriere which drove the material several miles
into the air, above the region of the trade-wind, into a higher
stratum where an opposite current could convey it in an easterly
direction.

The one great industry of St. Vincent is the tillage which, still
producing some sugar-cane (with its extracts, rum and molasses),
raises cocoa, spices, and excellent arrowroot in the valleys and on
the fertile slopes of the hills. About 13,000 acres, or one-sixth of

WEST INDIES. 49

the whole area, are under cultivation, a large portion being in
the hands of three firms. The negroes are, in large numbers,
" squatters " on the unoccupied Crown-lands. Valuable timber is
obtained from the forests. About 80 miles of highway run round
the island, but on the leeward (western) side most of the traffic is
by boat. The exports, in 1898, were worth nearly ,45,000, of
which the British Isles took produce to the value of about 14,000.
The imports, worth about 88,300, were obtained from the United
Kingdom to a value of nearly 28,000. The revenue, chiefly
derived from import duties, with export charges on sugar, molasses,
rum, arrow-root, cacao, and cotton, was 27,361 in 1898, against
a somewhat larger expenditure, with a public debt exceeding
17,000. The rule of the island is in the hands of an "Adminis-
trator and Colonial Secretary ", with a Legislative Council of four
official and four nominated unofficial members. Over 40 elemen-
tary schools, one supported by Government, with 20 Anglican,
1 6 Wesleyan, and 4 Roman Catholic schools, have about 7500
children on the rolls. A grammar-school, for secondary education,
is aided by an annual grant of 100. Kingstown, the capital, is
situated on the shore of an extensive bay at the south-western
extremity of the island. The usual government buildings and the
hospital are of good architecture. The population is about 4600,
and, as a port of registry, the place had, in 1891, 28 vessels of
693 tons.

St. Lucia, lying 21 miles north-north-east of St. Vincent, is the
largest of the Windward Islands, being about 35 miles long and 15
in greatest breadth, with an irregular oval circuit of 150 miles, and
an area of 233 square miles. The population, in 1898, numbered
48,000, of whom by far the majority were blacks or half-breeds,
with about 2500 East Indian coolies and less than a thousand
whites. The white population is, to a large extent, of French
origin, and most of the inhabitants speak a French patois, but the
use of English is now extending. The island has unjustly had the
repute of general unhealthiness, which quality is confined to certain
small localities between the hills, yearly improving as the woodland
gives way to tillage. The tropical heat, rarely exceeding 80 from
December to April, is much tempered by the fine continuous
breeze of the " trades ". Great regard is paid to the public health
in the provision of hospitals in all the towns and of dispensaries in

VOL. VI. 136

5Q OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

all the larger villages, with gratuitous medical advice and remedies.
For the twenty years 1869-89 the average death-rate fell below
25 per 1000, and in 1898, with 1858 births, there were but 1214

deaths.

The history of St. Lucia having been already given down to
the commencement of the nineteenth century, we have only to note
that the island was long in recovering from the troubles that pre-
ceded the final British conquest; that there were severe epidemics
of cholera and small-pox many years ago; and that the system of
rule according to the law and ordinances of the old French
monarchy is now superseded by a code of civil law, framed upon
the principles of the ancient law of the island, modified to suit
existing circumstances, and established in 1879; by the statute law
of the colony, consolidated in 1889; and by jury-trial for criminal
cases in the Superior Court. A judge and three magistrates
administer the law, and the general government is in charge of an
Administrator subordinate to the Governor-in-chief of the Wind-
ward Islands, with an Executive Council and a Legislative Council
nominated by the Crown. For educational purposes, grants of
^625 are yearly made to each of two bodies the Roman Catholic
priests, and the trustees of the Lady Mico charity. In 1898, there
were 8 Protestant and 3 1 Roman Catholic schools, with a total of
5280 pupils, the whole Government grant exceeding ^2600. There
is a " Canadian mission to Indian immigrants ", maintaining three
schools for the children of the coolie labourers.

Among all the West Indian islands, St. Lucia is unsurpassed
for picturesque beauty. The voyager approaching the south-
western end sees two cone-shaped mountains, or vast obelisks of
rock, called The Pitons (the general French name for conical hills
in the West Indies), rising sheer out of deep sea, a mile apart, to
the heights of 2680 and 2710 feet. Between them lies a charming
little bay, and behind them verdant wooded slopes rise toward the
Soufriere, an ever-active volcanic crater, 2 miles eastward of The
Pitons, and 1000 feet above the sea. Covering an area of about
3 acres, this outlet of subterranean forces is crusted over with
sulphur, alum, cinders, and other volcanic matter, in the midst of
which are boiling springs, some of clear water, others of black
liquid rising 2 or 3 feet in the air and emitting thick clouds of most
offensive sulphurous steam. Viewed from any side, the island

WEST INDIES. 51

presents the beauty and grandeur of mingled mountains, valleys,
and forests, the latter displaying to those who penetrate their
recesses all the glories of palms and ferns, orchids, creeping plants,
and birds of gorgeous hues. The chief mountains, densely covered
with wood, extend from north to south over the centre of the
island, which is watered by countless rivers and brooks that,
after the profuse tropical rains, come down with a rush that
wrenches up trees and brushwood, and brings masses of rock and
soil upon the roads and fields below. In the north and the south
are two beautiful plains, partly covered with swamp overgrown
with aquatic plants, the haunt of water-fowl and other game. The
chief valleys run east and west from the central chain of hills, and
all are composed of very fertile soil that produces tropical corn and
edible roots and vegetables in great variety, supplies rich pasturage
for cattle, and is capable of bearing cotton and many kinds of
fibrous plants, along with tobacco, spices, and coffee. Justice has
never been done to the rich natural resources of the island, which
sorely needs capital, enterprise, agricultural skill, and improved
communications between the interior, where much land lies unre-
claimed, and the coast-line. Sugar, rum, and molasses, cocoa, and
logwood are the chief commercial products. There are four large
central factories, fitted with the best modern machinery, and turn-
ing out sugar in pure white crystals. The exports, in 1898, were
worth about ,166,500, of which over "11,000 in value went to
the British Isles. The imports, including coal for steamships,
amounted in value to nearly 272,000, goods worth nearly
141,000 being received from the United Kingdom. The revenue,
mainly from the import duties, as in our other West Indian isles,
was 67,628 in 1898, with an expenditure of over 60,900,
and a public debt, in 1898, of .189,580, mostly incurred through
improvements in the harbour of the capital and chief port. This
place, Castries, had its name in 1785 from the French colonial
minister of the day, and lies on the north-west coast, with a natural
harbour entered by a passage 600 yards across between two head-
lands. The port is one of the safest and most spacious in the
Antilles, and has recently been made of great interest and value by
the Imperial Government's choice of Castries as the chief coaling-
station for the West Indian squadron. The port has been dredged
out to a mean depth of 30 feet, and has excellent quays beside

^2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

which the largest vessels can anchor. Many foreign steamers and
men-of-war, as well as British ships, take in coal at the wharves,
and the harbour is now defended by strong fortifications. The
town has about 7000 inhabitants. The little town of Soufriere, on
the coast near the mountain, contains about 2000 people.

TRINIDAD, called le're by the Indians, or " The Land of the
Humming-bird", from the number and variety of the tiny charm-
ing feathered gems there flitting from flower to flower, is a really
fine colonial possession of the British crown. Most southern of
the Lesser Antilles, and largest, next to Jamaica, of the British
West India islands, it lies off the north-east of Venezuela, in 10 3'
to 10 50' north latitude, and about 61 to 62 west longitude, with
its southern coast facing some of the mouths of the Orinoco.
Nearly rectangular in shape, the island sends out a longish horn on
the north-west, and a much longer one on the south-west, towards
the coast of Venezuela, thereby inclosing the Gulf of Paria.
About 50 miles long, and 32 miles in average breadth, Trinidad
has an area of 1754 sq. miles, with a population, in 1898, just
exceeding 260,000. At one point, the islands off the north-west
horn of Trinidad are but 7 miles from the projecting part of
Venezuela, but the distance across the Gulf of Paria is, in general,
far greater.

We take up, first, the history of Trinidad after the final cession
to Great Britain in 1802. Picton's firm and able administration
from 1797 till 1803 so greatly benefited the island that the popula-
tion, under his rule, grew from under 18,000 to nearly 30,000, and
the annual exports of sugar rose from 75,000 cwts. to about double
that amount. For the next ten years, the colony was ruled by
military men. It was then seen that a progressive civil adminis-
tration was needed, and in June, 1813, Sir Ralph Woodford, Bart.,
took over the government from General Munroe. The new ruler,
then only in his twenty-ninth year, was a most active, excellent,
and energetic man, searching with his own eyes into everything in
Trinidad, and learning the wants, views, and feelings of all classes
of the community. The social and moral state of the island was
transformed under the influence of Woodford's admirable life,
character, precept, and counsel. We have a very unusual display
of character and view of duty in a colonial governor when we find
him, in November, 1823, issuing a proclamation to the people,

WEST INDIES. 53

expressed in the most dignified and solemn words, wherein he
exhorts all the king's subjects to a punctual observance of the
Sabbath, and a regular and devout attendance at the places of
worship, and " requires and commands all Persons in place of
authority, to give good example, by a virtuous life, to the end that
all ill habits and practices may be reformed, and that Religion,
Piety, and Morality may flourish and increase, to the Honour of
God, and the prosperity of the Land ". The schools were brought
under state supervision, and an excellent code of " Rules for
Schools " was issued. Tillage and trade were encouraged, and the
internal and external methods of communication were improved.
To the care and good taste of Sir Ralph Woodford Port-of-Spain
owed her wide and regular streets, and the two beautiful squares,
and it was he who formed the famous Botanic Gardens at St.
Ann's. In 1817, the "Trinidad Steam- Boat Company" was
formed under his auspices, and conducted to success, the steamer
Woodford, which began to run between Port-of-Spain and San
Fernando in December, 1818, being the first that ever plied in
West Indian waters, and that only six years after the Comet began
to run on the Clyde. This model of a colonial ruler, quitting the
island on sick-leave in April, 1828, died at sea in the middle of
May.

After complete slave-emancipation in 1838, Trinidad had her
full share of the mischief wrought by that measure, and already
explained in reference to other islands. Brought to the verge of
ruin in 1844, she was saved by the vigorous promotion of coolie
immigration from the East Indies. This provision of labour for
the sugar-plantations, rendered needful by the idleness of the
negroes, was largely due to the energy of the Governor, Lord
Harris, who arrived in May, 1846, and of Mr. Warner, C.B.,
attorney - general. The system has been continued, with great
benefit, down to the present day. The governorship of Lord
Harris, continuing for seven years, was also made notable by his
institution of a system of primary education, and by the intro-
duction of municipal rule. He had confidence in the great natural
resources and wonderful capabilities of the colony, and, with a deep
interest in the material and moral welfare of the people, he ruled
with marked ability and success. Sir Arthur Gordon, who was
Governor from 1867 to 1870, was of great service through his bold

54 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

and enlightened policy in creating by legal measures a body of
small proprietors who had previously been mere squatters. The
cultivation of cocoa, and other industries, were thus promoted, and
Trinidad, under the influence of low prices for sugar, has been
saved from the disastrous effects of reliance upon a single staple.
Sir William Robinson, Governor from 1885 to 1891, zealously
furthered the development of the agricultural resources of the
colony, establishing District Boards, with a Central Board, sitting
in Port-of-Spain, and instituting exhibitions with prizes as a
stimulus to the cultivation of a greater variety of products. His
administration is specially remarkable for the impetus given to the
fruit-trade between Trinidad and the United States. A direct
line of steamers for that purpose, with an annual subsidy from the
government, was established. The annual revenue of the Crown
property increased, under Sir W. Robinson's rule, from about
1600 to nearly ,32,000, and in 1892 the total amount exceeded
37,000, nearly meeting the entire charge of the public debt.
He also introduced a fortnightly service of steamers round the
island. Sir Frederick Napier Broome became Governor in
August, 1891, and showed an active interest in the prosperity of
Trinidad by encouraging the occupation of Crown-lands, and by
applying to the Colonial Secretary, in 1893, for his sanction to a
loan of half a million sterling " for opening up the island by rail-
ways". The present ruler is Sir H. Jerningham, K.C.M.G.

The natural beauty of Trinidad gives her a high rank, in this
respect, among the islands, not only of the West Indies, but of the
world. The northern coast is rocky throughout, and the eastern
side, partly edged by hills, and at one place, by some miles of swamp,
is ever beaten by a dangerous surf; the southern coast is generally
steep, and only on the western side is there any good natural harbour.
On that coast, however, between Trinidad and the mainland of
South America, the landlocked Gulf of Paria affords abundance of
secure anchorage. Groves of palm-trees and luxuriant forests are
seen sweeping down to the sea-side, and the precipitous part of the
coast, at many places, clothed to the top with foliage, shows not
merely shrubs, but forest-trees, with grand spreading branches, huge
trunks, and leaves of brilliant hue, growing out from among the rocks
with little apparent soil for their mechanical support or their nour-
ishment. With much level or undulating ground, the island is

WEST INDIES. 55

crossed, from east to west, roughly speaking, by three ranges of
hills, varying from 600 to 3100 feet in height, forest-clad, and deeply
cut by countless ravines. The most northerly range of mountains,
with a peak called Tucuche exceeding 3000 feet, fringes the coast,
and throws out many spurs to the south. The central chain, not
quite continuous, runs south-west from Manzanilla Point, on the
east coast, to near San Fernando, on the Gulf of Paria. The
southern range traverses nearly all the country near to the sea.
The plains are watered by numerous rivers, all running east or
west, none large or navigable. In spite of a near approach to the
equator, with a mean temperature of 78 in the cool season, and of
86 in the hot time, and an average rainfall of about 66 inches,
chiefly in July, August, and September, the climate is healthy for
abstemious and prudent Europeans. The mornings have a peculiar
charm in the rapid transition from darkness to light, preluded by
the cries of birds and croaking of frogs. At half-past five comes
the first glimmer of light; in fifteen minutes, full daylight seems to
have arrived; in a few minutes more, the sun's rim appears, and
the clew on the leaves is radiant as gems; the golden light shoots
far into the woods; the small birds chirp and flutter, the parrots
scream, the monkeys chatter, the bees are humming, and butterflies
of expansive wings and most gorgeous colours flutter through the
air or rest on the flowers. The coolness of the night has refreshed
all living creatures of the vegetable and animal worlds, and the
agreeable chill of dawn is succeeded by warmth and sunshine that
give almost magical rapidity of growth to the glorious vegetation
of a tropical isle.

The scenery is unsurpassed for variety and beauty of foliage and
flowers, the landscapes being adorned with a rich and rare profusion
of form and colour that defy description, and compel us, for lack of
space, to refer readers to the pages of Charles Kingsley (At Last]
and Anthony Trollope ( The West Indies and the Spanish Main).
The slopes, covered to the summit with luxuriant forest-growth,
form a wavy sea of woodland, displaying in the brilliant sunlight and
clear air an ever-changing diversity of shades from the lightest
green to the richest russet brown, lit up here and there by dense
clusters of bright yellow or blazing crimson tree-flowers. The
valleys abound in crystal streams, rising high up in the hills, rush-
ing now through a narrow gorge, then twisting and turning, and

56 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

widening out into gentle shallow rivulets, rippling in music over
pebbly beds. The Diego Martin valley, about nine miles from
Port of Spain, in the north-west, has a most picturesque waterfall,
the stream of which, after several descents higher up, falls down
into what is called the " Blue Basin". The apparent tint of the
water is probably due to extreme clearness caused by filtration
through mica slate, lime, and other earthy matter in upper regions
of the mountain-side. The Maraccas Valley, below Tucuche, the
culminating peak of the island, has the finest of all West Indian
cascades in the Chorro or Waterfall, 340 feet in sheer descent.
Amidst virgin forest, with flowering shrubs and plants of richest
blooms, from a perpendicular wall of solid rock the stream comes
down, splitting in the air and producing a constant shower that
spreads delicious coolness around. Nearly the whole surface of the
natural wall is covered with plants, including ferns and mosses, the
red flowers of the Pitcairnia, various nettles, and scattered Begonias.
Among the other sights of the island is the Cocal, with its long
stretch of fourteen miles of coco palms, and the Atlantic surge from
the east ever roaring on the shore.

The famous Pitch Lake lies near La Brea Point, on the south-
west coast, and gives a name to the village there from the Spanish
"la brea", or " pitch". This unique natural phenomenon is a great
surprise to those who have imagined a liquid expanse like coal-
black soup. It is really like an area of asphalt paving, over 100
acres in extent, intersected by ruts, narrow chasms or channels,
filled with water. The surface is firm enough, in almost every part,
to bear the weight of the horses and carts loaded by the diggers.
For nearly four miles in this district the shore is formed of pitch,
and large black masses appearing like rocks are in reality bodies of
asphalt. The whole soil rests on immense strata of this substance,
which bursts up, in the gardens of the village and elsewhere, either
in detached pieces or in extended sheets or layers of several tons in
weight, in many cases, by a very gradual process, causing the build-
ings to decline from the perpendicular. The ground slopes upward
from the sea to the lake, which lies at about 140 feet above the
Gulf of Paria. Pine-apples of matchless quality grow in the bitu-
minous soil. The surface of the lake displays pools of fresh water,
with trees and bushes at intervals, and a constant movement, caused
by the generation of gases, is observed. Beautiful birds and insects

TRINIDAD COOLIES AT WORK IN A CANE-FIELD.

The island of Trinidad, situated near the mouths of the Orinoco, passed
from the possession of Spain into that of Britain in 1797. Like many other
portions of the British empire whose industry was mainly carried on by
means of slave labour, it was profoundly affected by the abolition of slavery
throughout the British dominions in 1833. The negroes after their emanci-
pation could no longer be compelled to work, and as a result there arose
a scarcity of labour in the island, which the planters set themselves to
correct by importing coolies from Bengal and other places. This importa-
tion began in 1845, an d has gone on steadily since, so that at the present
time the coolies constitute about one-third of the population. The im-
ported labourers keep themselves in the main separate from the white men
and the negroes, who form the remainder of the inhabitants. They enter
into a five years' engagement with their employers, and at the end of that
time they are free to return home if they please; but many prefer to re-
main, and some even go back in order to bring their families and friends.
In the illustration the coolies are cutting down the sugar-cane preparatory
to its being crushed in the mill.

( 82 )

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WAL. PAGET.

TRINIDAD COOLIES AT WORK IN A CANE-FIELD.

WEST INDIES. 57

flit about the clumps of vegetation half floating in this Stygian
expanse, near the borders of the lake; the central part, over 50
acres in extent, contains what is called "the place of supply", the
part where the asphalt is still oozing up. For full particulars we
may refer our readers to an interesting paper in Chambers* s Journal
for January, 1895. It is since 1875 that the asphalt furnished by
this wonderful and, as it seems, inexhaustible reservoir of pitch, has
attained a considerable value in the markets of the world. The
void made by removal is quickly filled, and whereas in 1888 about
45,000 tons were exported three-fifths to the United States and
the rest to Europe in 1898 this amount had risen to 100,208
tons, worth ,105,000, and affording to the colony, in " royalty"
and export-duty, a revenue of ,34,000 a year.

There are people from many nations in Trinidad. The popu-
lation (260,000) of 1898 showed an increase of 59,000, or about
25 per cent since the 1891 census. The natural increase gave only
a small percentage of this, the rest being due to immigration. Of
these immigrants above half were coolies from the East Indies,
and about the same number came mainly from the neighbouring
British West Indies, a sure sign of rapidly-growing prosperity. Of
the whole population, about one-half were native-born, and about
one-half were of foreign birth. Of the former, nearly one-quarter
were of almost pure East Indian descent, the children and grand-
children of coolies; the other portion being chiefly of mixed African
descent, with a small minority of persons of pure European or
American blood, and a still smaller number of mixed Indian or
Chinese race. Of the foreign-born inhabitants, over 50,000 were
natives of the East Indies; 40,000 of the British West Indies; about
1300 of the foreign West Indies; over 2300 were Europeans; and
the rest were natives of the United States, Canada, Venezuela,
Africa, and China. The coolie or East Indian element is thus very
large, numbering 80,000, or nearly one-third of the whole population.
The first "coolie-ship" arrived from India in 1845, and the system
is now thoroughly organized on a basis which affords a free passage
to Trinidad, under an agreement providing for five years' industrial
service at the current rate of wages, with a free passage back to
India, if it be desired, after five years' further residence on the island.
A minimum rate of wages is guaranteed, with gratuitous medical
attendance, hospital-room, and many other minor advantages. This

5 g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

immigration has been very beneficial both to the colony and to the
coolies. In 1896, over 40,000 acres of land were owned by East
Indian labourers or their descendants, and of the total of ,158,000
deposited in the Government Savings-banks, nearly ,67,000 was
coolie property, in addition to savings, amounting to ,124,000,
carried back to India by the people who returned thither during
the previous ten years, as well as nearly ,20,000 sent home to
their friends in the East. The 40,000 foreign-born natives of the
British West Indies, mentioned above, are nearly all black and
coloured immigrants, chiefly mechanics, domestic servants, and
labourers, from Grenada, St. Vincent, and Barbados. The negroes,
or African section of the people, are fast dying out, having
decreased from 8000 in 1851 to less than 2000 in 1896, more than
half of these being over 60 years of age. Amidst the mixture of
tongues in such an island, including a general use of English, the
French lower classes speak \hepatois peculiar to the West Indies.

The chief products of the very fertile soil are indicated by the
figures concerning the areas under different growths. Of the whole
surface, estimated at 1,120,000 acres, there were, in 1898, about
205,000 acres under cultivation. Of these, 57,000 acres were given
to sugar-cane ; 104,000 to cacao (cocoa) and coffee ; 1 8, 500 to ground
provisions; and 14,000 to coco-nut palms; 10,000 acres consist of
pasture. The chief commercial vegetable products may be given
as sugar, molasses, rum, cacao, fruit, coco-nuts, and coco-fibre, sugar
and cacao having a large predominance. For home use, arrow-
root, tobacco, coffee, ginger, bitters, and spices are also produced.
The exported fruit consists mainly of oranges, bananas, pine-apples,
and limes.

The revival of the sugar-industry, due to the importation of
coolie labour as above indicated, was at first such that exports,
from 11,000 tons in 1840, reached over 53,000 tons in 1896, with
nearly two million gallons of molasses. The appearance of a field
of sugar-canes, during the " arrowing" or flowering time, is very
beautiful. On jointed stems from 6 to 14 feet in height, and from
i to \y 2 inches thick, rises the "arrow" or unjointed flowering-
stalk, eading in a tuft of soft silky flowers. The pith of the
jointed stem, of open cellular structure, is the part containing the
sugary juice, which is squeezed out in powerful mills with three
rollers having a combined slow rolling and sliding motion, acting

WEST INDIES. 59

on the canes placed lengthwise between them. The juice is then
highly heated, clarified with lime and chemicals, run through
filters, and finally concentrated and crystallized in the process
called " pan-boiling ". The average yield of an acre of sugar-canes
is from 2500 to 3000 Ibs. of sugar. The "usine" (French for
factory, mill, or works) of the Colonial Company at St. Madeleine,
near the west coast, is one of the largest in the world, and unsur-
passed in the West Indies. Fitted with the best modern machinery
and supplied with the electric light, the place is connected by rail
and tramways with the Company's estates, and with the sea at San
Fernando.

The second staple of Trinidad is cocoa, or, more properly,
cacao, named by Linnaeus " Theobroma ", or " food of the gods ".
The tree is an evergreen growing to the height of 15 to 25 feet,
with drooping bright green leaves of oblong shape, from 8 to 20
inches in length. The flowers, in tufts or clusters, are very small,
with five yellow petals on a rose-hued cup, and they grow off the
trunk and thicker parts of the boughs, with stalks only an inch
long. The fruit resembles a vegetable marrow in shape, but is
more pointed and elongated at the end, and is from 7 to 9 inches
long, and 3 to 4 inches wide, with colour varying from bright
yellow to red and purple, according to season. Each fruit-pod
contains from 20 to 40 seeds, embedded in a soft pinky-white acid
pulp, and it is from these seeds or cocoa-beans that the cocoa-nibs
of commerce are produced by shelling and bruising. The appear-
ance of a cacao plantation is very beautiful, with the shady trees
themselves overshadowed by the Bois immortel, called in South
America La Madre del Cacao or Cacao- Mother, from its service in
protecting the trees from the fiercest heat of the sun, and with a
vista of the yellow flowers, or of the ruddy fruit hanging in thou-
sands beneath the canopy of green. Cacao has been a product of
Trinidad since the middle of the seventeenth century. In 1725,
the people were reduced to the greatest misery by the total destruc-
tion of the trees through some disease. The restoration of the
culture was followed, after British occupation, by such an increase
in production that the exports of cacao rose from 29,000 cwts. in
1840 to a value exceeding ,812,000 in 1898. The money- value
of the export of sugar, in the same year, exceeded ,603,000, and
of molasses, 16,590.

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Among othercommodities f above 42,000 gallonsof fine Angostura

bitters, worth ,42,000, are annually made in the large factory at

Port-of-Spain. The coco-palms, growing luxuriantly all along the

sandy shore of the southern and eastern coasts, supplied for export,

in 1896, nearly fifteen millions of nuts, to the value of over

/ 3 6 ooo The chief town and seat of government is Port-of-

Spain, with a population of about 34,000. This place was one of

the finest towns in the West Indies until early in March, 1895,

when the principal business quarter was destroyed by fire, with

loss estimated at four millions of dollars. The place was almost

utterly ruined by the like cause in 1808. The preservation, in

the recent instance, of the rest of the town was mainly due to the

efforts of blue-jackets from Her Majesty's sloop Buzzard, and

of the crews of three United States war-ships then in harbour.

The town is pleasantly situated on a semicircular plain of gentle

slope near the north-east corner of the Gulf of Paria. Two chief

open spaces are Marine Square and Brunswick Square, the former

being really a beautiful avenue about 100 feet wide, planted on

each side with noble forest-trees, and running across the whole

breadth of the southern part of the town. On the north, the

Savana, or Queen's Park, contains over 200 acres of almost level

grass, belted by great umbrageous trees, and is described by

Kingsley as "a public park and race-ground such as neither

London nor Paris can boast ". The Governor's residence, erected

in 1875, of dressed native limestone, is a palatial building that

cost between ,40,000 and ,50,000. The Anglican and Roman

Catholic cathedrals are fine buildings, as also are the Colonial

Hospital and the Police Barracks. The city and suburbs have seven

other Roman Catholic and three Anglican churches, three Wesleyan

chapels, and two Presbyterian kirks, with a Baptist and a Moravian

place of worship. The Roman Catholics are under a "Monsignor",

Archbishop of Port-of-Spain; the Anglicans under the Bishop of

Trinidad. The Public Library, founded in 1851, has 20,000

volumes; the Victoria Institute and Museum, opened in 1892,

commemorates the Queen's jubilee. The city is supplied with

4 miles of tramway and a complete telephone-system. As a " port

of registry", the place had in 1891 329 ships and small craft, with

a total of 7760 tons. The local government is in the hands of a

mayor and elective municipal council, the chief revenue being

WEST INDIES. 6 1

derived from rates. There is a volunteer force of about 750 men
infantry, cavalry, and field-artillery and the peace of the island
is preserved by a police force of about 480 men. San Fernando,
founded by the Spanish governor Chacon in 1786, and named
after Ferdinand, eldest son of Carlos IV. of Spain, lies about
30 miles south of the capital, at the foot of a hill on the eastern
side of the Gulf of Paria. It is connected with Port-of- Spain
by road and rail, and is the commercial outlet of the chief sugar-
district of Trinidad. The present town dates only from 1818,
when the original place was completely destroyed by fire, and the
commercial part of the restored town perished in the same way in
1883. The rebuilding brought great improvements, and the pre-
sent borough population, in charge of a mayor and council, is about
7000. Arima, the only other municipal town, 16 miles east of
Port-of-Spain, is the centre of one of the chief cacao-districts, and
is a well-built spacious place of 4000 inhabitants, at the foot of the
northern range of hills. There is a railway thence to the capital,
communicating with the line to San Fernando.

The internal and external means of communication include
steamers plying three times a week from Port-of-Spain to San
Fernando, and to Cedros, at the south-western point of the island;
about 50 post-offices, with penny inland postage; telegraph cables
to British Guiana and Grenada, and to Europe via the United
States; 57 miles of internal railway and 166 of telegraph, all in the
hands of the Government; and 35 steamers every month to and
from New York, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Southampton,
Havre, Marseilles, Amsterdam, London, Liverpool, and Glasgow.
A local firm, with a Government subsidy of ,5000 a year, recently
started a fortnightly service to New York in connection with the
fruit-trade, passing round the island and then touching at Tobago.
The exports for 1898 amounted in value to ,2,310,000, of which
the worth of ^713,000 went to the United Kingdom. The
imports consisted mainly of textile goods, dried and pickled fish,
flour, hardware and machinery, leather, lumber (pitch-pine and
white pine), pickled and salted meat, and rice, with a total value of
^2,283,056, of which goods worth ,796,359 came from the British
Isles. About one-fourth of all the trade is carried on with the
United States. The revenue, amounting to over ,615,000 in
1898, is derived from import duties, and from export duties on

62 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

su^ar and molasses, coffee and rum, cocoa and asphalt. The
expenditure, in the same year, was a little more than ,611,000,
including the charges of a public debt of 911,211. British silver
and bronze form the coinage in general use, with United States
and Spanish gold. The Colonial Bank has a branch at Port-of
Spain, and the Government Savings-banks, in 1897, held about
,230,000 from 10,768 depositors.

The colony is ruled by a Governor, with an Executive Council
of seven members, and a Legislative Council (the Governor being
president) of nine official and eleven unofficial members, all nomi-
nated by the Crown. Elementary education is conducted in about
190 schools, of which 65 are secular, supported by the government
and by the payment of a small fee, the rest being denominational
schools, aided by the public funds. About 22,500 pupils were
on the books in 1896. From the government schools there are
annually open to competition three free admissions, tenable for
three years, to the Queen's Royal College, a secular institution,
which shares with the affiliated Roman Catholic college in four
exhibitions or scholarships each of ,150 yearly value, tenable for
three years at some university or other scientific educational
institution in the British Empire. There are also "Model Schools",
training-colleges for male and female teachers, many private schools,
and 15 estate-schools, with about 500 pupils, under the Presby-
terian Coolie Mission.

Tobago, annexed to Trinidad since January ist, 1889, lies
near 20 miles to the north-east. With a length of 28 miles, and
a maximum breadth of 7*^, the island has an area of 114 square
miles, or about 73,000 acres, of which nearly one-seventh is under
tillage. The population, in 1898, was 21,000, of whom only about
100 are Europeans, the vast majority being of negro or mixed
race. The physical aspect is irregular and picturesque, as the
land rises steeply from the sea in the north-east and gradually
slopes to the south-west, with conical hills and spurs connected
by an interior ridge that attains a height of 1900 feet above sea-
level. Deep and narrow ravines lead from the higher ground to
small plains of alluvial soil, the whole island being well watered
by streams rising in the hills. Fordable in the hot season, and
swollen by the rains to the size of rivers, these waters nowhere
admit even a boat for navigation. The tropical heat, with a mean

WEST INDIES. 63

of 81 at sea-level, is tempered by the sea-breezes, and the island
lies out of the hurricane range. The climate is healthy, the island
having only few and small miasmatic lagoons or swamps, and
serious epidemics are unknown. Above half the surface of Tobago
is covered with forest, much of which contains valuable timber
that has been wholly neglected as an article of trade, chiefly from
the lack of roads for conveyance, and of depth of water in the
streams to bring down cut wood as we have seen it in the Canadian
lumber districts. The domestic animals include horses, horned
cattle, and small sheep giving well-flavoured meat. Poultry and
fish abound, and the rich variety of saurian reptiles, from small
lizards up to alligators, includes the iguana, eagerly eaten by the
negroes and regarded as a delicacy by many whites. Deer,
peccaries, agoutis, raccoons, squirrels, rats, and various birds are
found.

The chief articles of production and export are sugar, rum,
molasses, coco-nuts, and live stock, with a value, in 1896, of about
,10,765, the imports being worth nearly ^14,000, of which goods
to the value of above two-thirds of the amount came from the
British Isles. The revenue, in 1896, chiefly from import duties,
was ^9321, with an expenditure just exceeding ,9200 and a
public debt of ^9500. Scarborough, the chief town, lies at the
base of a hill, 425 feet in height, on the south-west coast, and has
a population of 1400. Plymouth, a village of 800 people, is on
the north-west coast, five miles from Scarborough, having good
anchorage in Courland Bay. The island was ruled, from 1889 till
1899, by a commissioner appointed by the Governor of Trinidad,
and assisted by a financial board of five members, two nominated
and three elected by the people. Anglican, Moravian and Wes-
leyan religious bodies maintain 20 government-aided schools with
about 2300 pupils.

By an Order in Council of October 2Oth, 1898, it was provided
that the Island of Tobago should become a Ward of the " United
Colony of Trinidad and Tobago"; that the revenue, expenditure,
and debt of Tobago should be merged in those of the United
Colony; that the debt due from Tobago to Trinidad should be
cancelled; that (with a few specified exceptions) the laws of
Trinidad should operate in the smaller island, and those of Tobago
cease to operate so far as they conflicted with the laws of Trinidad;

64 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

and that all future Ordinances of the Legislature of the Colony
should extend to Tobago, with the proviso that the Legislature
should be able to enact special and local ordinances and regulations
applicable to Tobago as distinguished from the rest of the Colony.
The post of " Commissioner for Tobago " ceased to exist, and the
post of Warden and Magistrate was created. Various other
changes have been made in the direction of reducing the establish-
ments, and further reductions will be made when the claims of
existing officers permit.

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 65

CHAPTER XII.

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA.

Extent and population of BERMUDA or The Bermudas Physical features of the islands
Delightful climate of Main Island Trade Important naval establishments
Hamilton port Administration Education Communication Revenue. Boun-
daries, area, and population of BRITISH HONDURAS or Belize Physical geography
and climate Mahogany, logwood, and other products Belize city Communica-
tion Trade Revenue Administration Education. Early exploration of BRITISH
GUIANA or Demerara Its settlement by the Dutch Ceded to Britain in 1814
Agitation among the slaves Case of John Smith the missionary His cruel treat-
ment and death Brutality of the Governor, General Murray Its effect in forward-
ing the anti-slavery cause Intolerance of the slave-owners Boundaries and
population of the country Geographical features Flora and fauna Rivers
Climate Products Gold-mining Trade Administration Education Revenue
Communication Georgetown city New Amsterdam or Berbice.

The colony called BERMUDA or THE BERMUDAS lies in about 32
north latitude, and 65 west longitude, at a distance of 580 miles
east of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina; 730 miles from Halifax,
Nova Scotia; 680 from New York, 800 from the nearest West
Indies, and nearly 3000 miles from Liverpool. This lonely, low-
lying archipelago of about 300 islets, above two-thirds of which
are mere rocks and reefs, with less than 20 inhabited islands, has
a total area of 20 square miles, or 1 2,000 acres, with a population,
in 1898, of about 16,000, of whom over one-third were whites and
the rest negroes and coloured people. In religion, about two-
thirds of both races belong to the Anglican Church, under the spiritual
rule of the " Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda ", while the rest
are chiefly Roman Catholics, Wesleyans and Presbyterians. The
history of the islands, during the nineteenth century, is comprised
in the facts that in July, 1813, a third of the houses were destroyed,
and the shipping driven ashore, by a hurricane; that the repeal
of the Navigation Laws, the introduction of steam, and the
substitution of steel and iron for wood in ship-building, made an
end of the profitable ship-construction and carrying-trade mentioned
in an early part of this work; that, after being an important con-
vict-depot for some years, the colony ceased to be so in 1862; and
that, in the later decades of the Victorian age, Bermuda has
become a very valuable naval station and fortress, holding a
position of commanding strength between Canada and our West
Indian possessions.

VOL. VI. 137

~v .

66 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The islands are geographically and geologically interesting as
the most northerly of the coral constructions known as Atolls,
which consist of a more or less continuous ring of coral rock
surrounding a central lagoon. In the Bermudas we have an atoll
of modified form. Over a space about 16 miles in length by 5 in
breadth, the islands run, from north east to south-west, in an irregular
oval ring that is incomplete on the north-western side. Countless
sunken reefs and submarine sand-hills at once afford protection
against attack from external foes, and give intricacy and peril to
internal navigation. The largest piece of land, called " Main
Island", is about 14 miles long by a mile in average width, and
contains 9000 acres of surface, or three-fourths of the whole area
of the group. The highest point is but 240 feet above sea-level,
and much of the surface consists of stony ground partly covered
with scanty herbage and a scattered growth of stunted cedars, or
of wide brackish marshes overgrown with coarse grass, rushes,
and mangrove-jungle. About 1000 acres have a fertile soil which,
as we shall see, is turned by the people to excellent account. The
climate, most agreeable and healthy for all except consumptive
persons, may be described as a continuous succession of spring
and summer, always moist and ever mild, with an annual rainfall
of 60 inches, evenly spread over the year, and a temperature that
never falls below 40 Fahrenheit, and rarely exceeds 85, while
the summer heat is moderated by the Atlantic breezes. The trees
are never devoid of green; the birds are singing throughout the
year; no venomous reptiles are found in any part; and the region
enjoys nearly all the advantages, marred by none of the ills, of
both the tropical and the temperate zones. Harvests of maize
are reaped in June and December; oranges, lemons, bananas, and
many European fruits are grown. The other chief islands are
St. George's, St. David's, Coopers Island, Smith's Island, and
Nonsuch, at the north-east, and Somerset, Watford, Ireland, Boaz,
Elizabeth and Tucker's Islands in the south-west, the two latter
being in the spacious landlocked harbour called Great Sound,
formed by the southern turn of the oval ring. Among the other
numerous beautiful bays and creeks of considerable size and depth
of water are Harrington Sound, at the north of Main Island, and
Castle Harbour, south of St. George's and St. David's Islands.
Communication is largely carried on by water, but, with a single

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA.

break between Somerset and Watford Islands, there is a continuous *
line of road, bridge, and causeway, along the whole chain of the
larger inhabited islands, for a distance of about 22 miles. A
country-drive along the excellent roads will show the visitor stately
palm-trees with their beauteous plumes, noble tamarinds, pink
clouds of oleander, the red blaze of pomegranate blossoms, bamboos
40 feet high, flag-lances 10 feet in height growing thickly in the
marshes, and forests containing palmetto, cedar, and a tree called
" red- wood", peculiar to these islands. The Bermudas have now
become a favourite winter resort for people from the United States
and Canada, for whom large hotels and shops have been provided
at the two chief towns.

The trade of Bermuda depends wholly, as regards exports, on
the early production, favoured by the entire absence of frosts, of
vegetables for the New York market, where the crops of potatoes,
onions, tomatoes, beet-root, and other growths command prices
that enable the tillers of Bermuda to take matters easily during
the summer months. The ground lies fallow until preparation
is needed for the produce that is to be shipped off between the
following March and June. Arrowroot is also much cultivated,
but little attempt is made to grow the food that can be imported
more cheaply from the States than it could be raised in occupying
the precious soil that is a market-garden for the wealthy New
Yorkers. Corn, flour, meat, and nearly all the vegetables that
are consumed in the islands come from the United States, while
horses, cattle, clothing, furniture, and every kind of necessary
goods are imported thence, or from the Canadian Dominion, or
the British Isles. In 1898, the value of exported onions reached
nearly ,59,000; the lily-bulbs were worth ,15,452; the potatoes,
over ,19,900. The whole exports, in 1898, exceeded ,113,900
in value, of which but ,4041, mostly arrowroot, went to the
British Isles. Of the imports, worth ,3 51,000 in the same year,
articles worth ,104,970, exclusive of government stores, came from
the United Kingdom.

The maritime and naval importance of Bermuda have been
already indicated. In the north, the harbour of St. George,
formerly the capital, is a haven possessing a good depth of water
and safe anchorage for many large sailing ships and steamers
seeking shelter, in stormy weather, from the western Atlantic.

68 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The chief channel through the outer line of reefs is that called
"The Narrows", passing round the eastern and northern sides
of St. George's Island, at about half a mile from the shore. Two
miles long, and very tortuous and narrow, it is commanded through-
out, with its approaches at each end, by many batteries of very
heavy guns behind casemated iron shields. The dockyard and
other naval establishments are on Ireland Island; Boaz and Wat-
ford Islands, between that and Somerset Island, are given up
to military depots and the garrison of Imperial troops, numbering
1500 officers and men, and including two batteries of artillery; one
company of fortress, and another of submarine mining engineers;
and one battalion of infantry. The admiralty establishment has
about 1200 men, and is remarkable for the famous floating dock,
constructed at North Woolwich, on the Thames, and towed out
to its destination in 1869. This great piece of naval engineering,
having 8000 tons of iron in its length of 381 feet, breadth of 124,
and depth of 53, can lift an ironclad of over 10,000 tons. Bermuda
is now, in fact, a naval stronghold and arsenal of the first class,
rivalling Halifax in importance as a station for our fleet in North
American waters, and of great value for our ships of war in the
West Indies.

The seat of government and chief commercial port is Hamilton,
at about the north centre of Main Island, situated on a safe and
convenient harbour approached, from the Great Sound, by an inlet
nearly three miles long. With a population of 1300, the little town
is governed, like St. George's, by a mayor and a corporation of
three aldermen and five councillors, and possesses a very good
public library. There, as elsewhere throughout the islands, the
visitor's eye is struck by the whiteness of the buildings and the
roads, all composed of the coral, coarse and porous in grain, like
white sugar, which forms the substance of Bermuda, with a thin
crust of soil atop. Everywhere from amongst the foliage and
flowers, and in charming contrast with the greens and browns and
blues of the sea, the neatest and whitest of cottages shine forth,
made of blocks of coral hewn out of the hillsides, and covered with
a hard coat of thick whitewash that leaves no sign of crack or seam
from the base-stones to the top of the chimneys, often made in
graceful and picturesque shapes. The roads are formed by cutting
down for a few inches into the solid white coral, or for many feet,

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 69

where a hill intervenes, and they wind in and out, away from the
towns, with an endless variety of picturesque scenes on a small
scale. The colony is ruled by a Governor, assisted by an Executive
Council of six members, four official, two unofficial, nominated by
the Crown; by a nominated Legislative Council of nine members,
three of whom are officials; and by a Legislative Assembly of
thirty-six members, chosen by about 1160 electors, with a freehold-
property qualification, from the nine parishes into which the islands
are divided. Education is controlled by a Board, consisting of the
governor and eight other members of his nomination, with local
managing bodies. The peculiarity of the system is that the
elementary schools are private institutions, charging fees, but aided
by the public funds, with compulsory attendance in the twenty-two
schools, containing about 1200 pupils. There are other schools
receiving no help from the government. There are two banks at
Hamilton, and the Government Savings-banks have in charge over
,19,000 from about 930 depositors. British currency, weights and
measures are in use. The telegraphs for internal use comprise 15
miles of cable and 36 miles of land-line, and a private telephone
company has about 200 subscribers. A cable to Halifax, laid in
July, 1890, gives speedy communication with the rest of the world,
and there are fortnightly steamers between the islands and New
York; monthly mails to Halifax, Turks Island, and Jamaica; and
monthly steamers between St. John, New Brunswick, and the
West Indies, touch both on outward and homeward trips at Ber-
muda. The revenue, mostly from customs- duties, was about
,38,900 in 1898, with an expenditure of ,39,100; and a public
debt of ,45,600.

BRITISH HONDURAS, or Belize, lies in Central America, on the
western coast of the Caribbean Sea, 660 miles from Jamaica,
between 16 and 18^ degrees north latitude, and 87 50' and 89
10' west longitude. Bounded on the east by the Bay of Honduras,
on the north by Mexico, and on the south and west by Guatemala,
it is about the size of Wales, having an area of 7562 square miles,
including Turneffe, St. George's, English, and other Cays or islands
to the east. The history of the territory down to 1801 having
been already given, we have only to note the occurrence of certain
troubles, now settled, with Indians on the borders; the establish-
ment of the colony, as a dependency of Jamaica, in 1862, and its

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

separation therefrom, as an independent colony, in 1884. Prior to
1862 the country had been merely a British settlement on what
was once Spanish territory, and had no definite status as a colonial
possession. The population, in 1898, numbered about 35,000,
composed of about 450 whites, and of coloured people including
aboriginal Indians, Caribs, negroes, East Indians and Chinese.
The Bishop of Jamaica is in charge of members of the Anglican
Church; the Roman Catholics are under their Bishop of Honduras.
The land rises by degrees from the usual low and swampy coast of
Central America, with many lagoons surrounded by a dense growth
of mangrove and other tropical trees. In the north there is a plain
about 1000 square miles in area; in the west and south-west are
successive hills and valleys, at some distance inland, with the
Cockscomb Range, running east and west, attaining a height of
nearly 4000 feet. In the south is prairie covered with pines, scrub,
and wiry grass. Near the western frontier, in a country not
explored by its British possessors until 1879, lies an open undu-
lating grassy district of splendid pasturage, with ancient Indian
ruins of large stone buildings. There are small streams in the
south, running into the Caribbean Sea; in the centre is the Sibun
or Jabon, of considerable size; to the north of this comes Belize or
Old River, flowing north-east for 100 miles, with some large
cascades; then New River, running almost due north, with large
lakes on the course of the main stream and tributaries; and, north-
wards again, the Hondo, a large river forming the boundary
between the colony and the Yucatan district or province of Mexico.
The river, at one point, divides into branches that meet again,
inclosing Albion Island, 26 square miles in area. The three
last are navigable for some distance by vessels of light draught.
The climate is hot and damp, with an average temperature of 78,
and an annual rainfall, chiefly between May and November, of
about 85 inches at Belize. There are endemic fevers of no great
severity or danger, and epidemic disease is rare. A sea-breeze
tempers the force of the tropical sun, and the country cannot be
called unhealthy for that region of the world

The colony is still only in its infancy, as regards development
by cultivation of a fertile soil that will produce anything to which
a tropical climate is suited. Bananas and plantains, mostly raised
by small growers holding lands on lease from the Crown, are being

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 7 I

shipped at a profit to New Orleans. Cocoa (cacao) plantations are
being formed; the cane-fields producing sugar cover about 1500
acres, and coffee-shrubs, in some places, give enormous crops.
The whole area under tillage does not exceed 100 square miles,
and a staple product of British Honduras is now, as of old, the
mahogany of the forests on the banks of the larger rivers, a great
tract still untouched by the axe lying to the north of the river
Belize. The noble tree producing this valuable timber grows from
80 to 100 feet in height and attains a great size in the trunk, with
wood usually sound throughout. Its worth for cabinet-work, in
hardness and beauty of grain, was first shown in the British Isles,
about the end of the seventeenth century, by a maker named
Wollaston, who received some of the timber brought from the
West Indies as ballast. The growth of the tree is very slow, three
centuries being needed to make it fit for commercial purposes. A
log 17 feet long has been known to measure 5^ feet each way at
the squared end, weighing 17 tons in its 514 cubical feet of wood,
and such a mass as this has fetched ^1000 to cut up thin for
veneering. The large branches have a closer grain, and veins of
richer hue and variety than the trunk. In British Honduras the
cutters are chiefly negroes descended from the former slaves
in the colony, and, living in camps near the rivers, they take the
logs down to the water, in the coolness of the night, with pictur-
esque torchlight processions of timber-wains drawn by long teams
of oxen, amid wild forest scenery resounding with the clang of the
team-chains, the crack of the whips, and the guttural cries of the
men. The rivers, swollen by the periodical rains, float the logs
down for many miles, with gangs of the lumberers following in flat-
bottomed canoes, in order to free the timber from the branches of
overhanging trees or from other obstacles. Near the river-mouth,
the floating matter is stopped by a boom, and then each gang,
selecting its own cuttings by the marks on the log-ends, forms
them into large rafts for conveyance to the shipping-wharves of the
owners. Among other valuable trees in the woods are cedar, rose-
wood, fustic, lignum-vitse, ironwood, red and white pine, india-rubber
and gutta-percha trees, with sarsaparilla, cochineal-cactus, indigo,
and many other useful plants and shrubs. The other chief com-
mercial timber, now surpassing mahogany in export-value, is log-
wood, which is the dark, red, hard close-grained heart- wood of a tree

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

which grows from 20 to 50 feet in height, and, being fit for cutting
at ten "years of age, occurs in inexhaustible abundance in the low
swampy lands of the north and east. Its value for dyeing purposes,
especially in giving a black hue to textile fabrics and to ink, is well
known. The needs of British Honduras for a prosperous develop-
ment of her great resources are capital, labour, and easy means of
communication between the interior and the coast-line. At present,
the traffic is mainly conducted by water, on the rivers and along
the coast.

Corosal, a postal station on the north coast, near the mouth
of New River, has a population of about 1600; some distance up
the river are the postal station San Estevan, and the town of
Orange Walk, with nearly 2000 inhabitants. On the east coast,
from the centre to the south, are the little towns (postal stations) of
Stann Creek (1645 people), All Pines, Monkey River, and Punta
Gorda. The capital, Belize, containing about 7000 people, lies on
the coast at the mouth of the Belize or Old River, being the chief
port of the colony, and a general depot for British goods supplied
to Central America. There are no railways or telegraphs; ex-
ternal communication is afforded by weekly mail-steamers to New
Orleans ; steamers every three weeks to New York and Costa
Rica; about every five weeks, to the West Indies and thence to
London; and monthly to Colon (or, Aspinwall), on the Isthmus of
Panama, and to Liverpool. The distance from London is nearly
5000 miles, the time of passage being 25 days, or 16 days by way
of the United States. The best method of telegraphic despatch to
Europe and the world at large is by New Orleans, 900 miles from
Belize, though the town of Livingston, in Guatemala, one day's
run by steamer from Belize, is the nearest point in wire-connection
with Europe. The exports, chiefly in mahogany (7^ million cubic
feet in 1898), logwood (nearly 24,000 tons in same year), fruit,
sugar, coco-nuts, and india-rubber, had a total value, in 1898, of
,256,000, of which produce worth .170,600 was sent to Great
Britain. The imports, in 1898, in cotton goods and hardware,
malt liquors, spirits, tea, tobacco, and wines, were worth over
.249,000, of which 84,000 was due to the British Isles. Nearly
all the other trade is done with the United States. The United
States gold dollar is the standard, the British sov. being reckoned
at 4 dols. 86 cents. Silver half-dollars and smaller coins with

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 73

British half-crowns and shillings, and Mexican dollars, are circulated.
The revenue, mainly from import duties, licenses, land-tax, excise,
and the Crown-lands let or sold, amounted in 1896 to ,55,000,
with an expenditure of ^60,000 and a public debt of ,33,500, and
of 9000 for improvements in the town and harbour of Belize.
A Government Savings - bank, with branches at Corosal and
Orange Walk, has about 25,000 gold dollars on deposit at 3 per
cent. The government consists of a Governor, with an Executive
Council of seven official and non-official members nominated by
the Crown, and a Legislative Council of three official and five
unofficial members, also nominated. English Common Law,
modified by colonial ordinances, is in force. The schools, of which
45 existed in 1898, with over 3000 children in average attendance,
are denominational institutions, duly inspected, and assisted by a
public grant of 14,449 dollars in the year mentioned.

In BRITISH GUIANA (or DEMERARA), we have a colony which
has not yet appeared in our pages. The name " Guiana " carries
us back to the fascinating times of Elizabethan and early Stuart
exploration and adventure, when the typical hero of that age, Sir
Walter Raleigh, went forth thither to search, in a fabled " El
Dorado ", for the golden city of Manoa, and, sailing up the Orinoco
in 1595, saw the splendours of tropical vegetation, and found some
of the auriferous quartz which, in the Victorian age, is returning,
as we shall see, a good reward for labour. Early in 1596, his
Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana was a
noble specimen of English prose-writing. The Spanish navigators
Alonzo de Ojeda, in 1499, and Vicente Pinzon, in 1500, seem to
have first explored the coasts, but it was not until the earlier part
of the seventeenth century that any attempt at European settlement
was made, when the Dutch, after one or two failures, established
themselves on an island at the confluence of two chief tributaries of
the Essequibo River. In 1626, the Dutch West India Company,
with a charter granting a monopoly of trade in that region, made a
settlement at Berbice, and gradually extended their hold upon the
country. By 1652, some English adventurers had founded a
settlement on the Surinam river, and built the town of Paramaribo,
now the capital of Dutch Guiana. About twenty years before this,
the French were at Cayenne, and their settlement, along with the
Dutch possessions, was at times occupied by the English during

war

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

amono- the three nations in Europe. In 1667, the Paramaribo
colony was given up to Holland by the Treaty of Breda, and the
territory which now forms British Guiana, along with distinct
colonies which the Hollanders made on the Essequibo, Demerara,
and Berbice rivers, remained in their hands without interruption
until 1781, when they were occupied in turns by British and
French forces, to be restored to Holland, by the Treaty of Ver-
sailles, in 1783. Again taken by our forces in 1796, and restored
in 1802, at the Peace of Amiens, they were retaken by the British
in 1803, and the portion forming British Guiana was finally ceded
to our possession in 1814. We may here note that Berbice, at
first administered as a separate colony, was incorporated with the
rest of British Guiana in 1831.

The period of Dutch occupation is not of any great interest,
and only concerns us for the forms of government then prevailing,
which have left their mark upon the existing constitution. It is of
more importance to observe that, in Dutch times, cotton was the
principal crop, only one estate, out of about one hundred on the
coast between the Demerara and Berbice rivers, being planted
with sugar-cane. Sugar took the place of cotton on the great
development of the latter product in the United States, and in
1816 the colony, with Berbice, contained above 100,000 negro
slaves, with about 8000 free persons, coloured and white. The
mention of slavery brings us to one of the most disgraceful episodes
in all our colonial history. When Mr. Canning, in 1823, being
then Foreign Secretary, carried in the House of Commons his
resolutions concerning negro slavery, which were followed by the
circular enjoining a milder treatment of the slaves in the West
Indies and in British Guiana, a great stir of feeling was caused, as
we have seen, among the slave-holders in those territories of the
Crown. In Demerara, the circular was received with outward
deference by the members of the government, and the " Court of
Policy", a body transmitted from the Dutch constitution, and
having both executive and legislative functions, passed regulations
in accordance with the instructions received from the authorities in
England. Pains were taken to conceal the whole matter from the
negroes, and a suspicion arose that emancipation, granted in Eng-
land, was being wrongfully withheld by their masters. The feeling
was such that it is almost certain that a general rising and massacre

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 75

of whites would have taken place but for the strong influence won
by an Independent missionary, John Smith, who, during seven
years of devoted work in the colony, had been training his negro
converts to habits of order, industry, submission, and peace.
Religious work had been otherwise greatly neglected, and there
was only one Episcopalian clergyman. The Governor, General
Murray, had been recently talking largely about "making head
against the sectaries ", among whom he included the Dutch
Lutherans and the Scottish Presbyterians, the Methodist and the
Independent missionaries all, in fact, except the one Episcopalian
body. In pursuance of this bigoted policy, he had issued a
monstrous proclamation or decree, forbidding the negroes to attend
public worship, except under sanction of a pass from their owners,
who were under no obligation to grant the same. Then the slaves
rose in just wrath, and, shedding no drop of blood, imprisoned
many whites and put some of them in the stocks. This insurrec-
tion began on August i8th, 1823; on the igth, martial law was
proclaimed; on the 2oth, the movement was ended, without loss of
life to any of the whites, while above 200 negroes were killed and
wounded by the troops in the first instance, 47 were executed, and
many more were subjected to barbarous flogging, often exceeding
1000 lashes.

The Governor kept the colony under martial law for five
months, and Mr. Smith, the missionary, was brought to trial. The
Episcopalian clergyman, to his honour, would give no aid to
tyranny, but plainly declared his conviction that nothing but the
influence exerted by the prisoner, in proclaiming and fixing the
principles of the gospel of peace, had " prevented a dreadful
effusion of blood, and saved the lives of those very persons who
are now, I shudder to write it, seeking his ". The mode and con-
duct of Mr. Smith's trial were full of illegalities, and he was con-
victed on the evidence of three negroes who afterwards confessed
that they had been induced to allege what was wholly false. He
was charged with having incited the slaves to revolt, and with
minor offences, and was sentenced to death, subject to the final
decision of the home government. Mr. (afterwards Lord)
Brougham declared in the House of Commons that the trial of the
missionary "was intended to bring on an issue between the system
of the slave-law and the instruction of the negroes ". This was, in

;6 UUA , EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

truth, the cause in question, and John Smith was its martyr. The
British government rescinded the court-martial's sentence of death,
but decreed the prisoner's banishment from the colony. When
this decision arrived at Demerara, the victim had escaped from his
tormentors. He died on February 6th, 1824, having been an
invalid at the time of his arrest, and then brought to his grave by
the hardships which he endured, for two months before trial, in
apartments of which one was under the roof, exposed to burning
heat, and the other on the ground, fetid from the stagnant water
visible under the boards of the floor. The conduct of the Gover-
nor, General Murray, was consistent throughout in its brutal
violation of common humanity and decency. During Mr. Smith's
detention before trial, his medical attendants had in vain declared
that nothing could save his life but removal to better quarters.
He was not allowed to have a change of linen, nor the attendance
of a friend to relieve the cares of his worn and wearied wife. The
funeral was ordered to take place at dead of night, that no negroes
might attend, and the widow and her friend, Mrs. Elliot, were
prevented by threats of imprisonment from following the coffin.
They were forced to precede it to the grave, and there receive it,
borne by two negroes with a single lantern, and attended only by
the clergyman, Mr. Austin, whose testimony in the dead man's
favour has been given. Two negro members of his congregation,
a carpenter and a bricklayer, wished to mark the spot where their
pastor lay, but by official orders the brickwork was broken up, the
rails were torn down, and the place was left without visible
memorial. The missionary-martyr, judicially murdered by British
" officers and gentlemen " of Christian profession, did not die, as no
real martyr does, in vain. The proceedings at Demerara became
an object-lesson on slavery, studied in the United Kingdom from
the Shetlands to the Scilly Isles, full of eloquent denunciation of
wrong, and from that day the cause of slavery in the British Em-
pire was doomed. The spirit engendered by the vile institution
was clearly revealed within a few days of Mr. Smith's death. That
event, as we have seen, occurred on February 6th, 1824, and on
the 24th a public meeting of Demerara slave-owners passed resolu-
tions for petitioning the Court of Policy " to expel all missionaries
rom the colony, and to pass a law prohibiting their admission for
the future ". The government paper, in the same month, blamed

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 77

the planters for noVhaving'^SpaAc?. OU 5 in ^t, and warned the
first advocates of missions and education that they would not be
suffered to enlighten the slaves, who were by law the property of
the land-owners, until they could demonstrate that when they (the
slaves) were made religious and knowing, they would still continue
to be slaves ". The same enlightened writer also protested against
the practice, perpetrated by poor Smith in his chapel, of "addressing
a promiscuous audience of black or coloured people, bond and free,
by the endearing appellation of ' My brethren and sisters' ". When
slave-owning was thus presented to British minds and hearts;
when those whom Christianity recognized as brethren and sisters
were deliberately denied their birthright of knowledge and reli-
gious fellowship, the end of slavery in the British Empire drew
near.

It is a relief to turn from the doings of man to the works of
God in British Guiana, and give some account of the country's
physical features. This sole British possession on the continent of
South America, lying between i and 9 north latitude, and about
57 to 62 west longitude, according to British claims disputed by
Venezuela, is bounded on the north and north-east by the Atlantic
Ocean; on the east by Dutch Guiana, from which it is separated
by the river Corentyn; on the south by Brazil, and on the west by
Brazil and Venezuela. According to the boundary recently settled
on the side of Venezuela and Brazil, the area is now estimated
at about 1 20,000 square miles. The population, which has
much increased since 1871, when the census showed 193,500, now
exceeds 285,000, including about 10,000 aboriginal Indians of
various tribes. In 1891, the census showed 2533 persons born in
Europe; nearly 100,000 negroes; 12,160 Portuguese, chiefly from
Madeira and the Azores in origin; 105,500 East Indians, mostly
coolies; and about 3700 Chinese. The remainder were Creoles
(natives of European blood), and people of mixed race. The Portu-
guese are descended from immigrants who, between 1835 and 1845,
replaced slave-labour on the plantations after the emancipation
of the negroes. Portuguese labour was afterwards supplanted by
that of coolies, and the Portuguese Creoles are now chiefly employed
in retail trade. In the year 1896, nearly 127,000 persons were
engaged in tillage, and of these over 90,000 lived on sugar-
estates. The immigration of coolies from the East Indies is con-

7 g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

ducted, in their interest, on the same regulations as those which we
have seen in Trinidad, and they form an industrious and thriving
class of the community. The Indians are mostly engaged in
fishing, hunting, and raising crops of cassava and yams which, with
the fish and game, furnish their food.

The country is divisible, for geographical description, into three
zones. Nearest the sea is a belt of alluvial soil, in many places
lying below high-water mark, with the plantations protected by
dykes or dams both from the waters of the ocean and from rain-
floods on the plains in the rear. There are canals both for drainage
and for the transport of canes to the mills, and thence of the
finished sugar and other extracts to the sea. This alluvial fringe,
with sand-banks and mangrove-swamp skirting the Atlantic, varies
in width from 10 to 40 miles, and includes the only territory yet
under tillage. Then, as the traveller goes inland, he comes to an
undulating savannah region, with the average height of 150 feet
above sea-level; after this is the upland or plateau of mountain and
forest, with chains from 3000 to 3500 feet high, and a rich variety
of splendid and valuable trees, in a region hitherto little explored.
Wood most suitable for house and ship construction abounds, with
timber of exquisite grain for cabinet-work. The luxuriant vegeta-
tion includes trees, shrubs, and plants furnishing many kinds of
valuable gums, balsams, oils, and drugs; numerous tropical food-
plants; a wonderful variety of creepers, ferns, tree-ferns, and
flowers, especially orchids that often form a canopy stretching far
along the tops of the forest-trees, and the noble Victoria regia lily.
The fauna includes agoutis, monkeys, ant-bears, squirrels, opos-
sums, deer, pumas, and jaguars, with a rich variety of birds eagles
and vultures, owls and nightjars, humming-birds and orioles, toucans
and trogons, kingfishers, parrots, curassows, sandpipers, bitterns,
herons, divers and ducks. Insects and reptiles swarm, and the sea
and inland waters abound in fish. Among the physical features
must be named the mountain Roraima, on the mid-western border,
first ascended in 1884. This table-topped, isolated, sandstone
elevation of about 8600 feet first slopes gradually upwards, starting
from 2500 feet above sea-level, the height of the plateau on which
it stands, and then at about 6000 feet it shoots up for over 2000
feet more in a stupendous perpendicular cliff, over which many
cascades descend. British Guiana is well provided with rivers, the

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 79

chief of which, lying from east to west and north-west, are the
Corentyn (half belonging to Dutch Guiana), the Berbice, the
Demerara, and the Essequibo, with its tributaries, joining it near
the mouth, the Mazaruni and Cuyuni. The Corentyn^ has an
estuary 25 miles wide, and is navigable fa^J^tfT^o miles by
boats only, the mouth, like that of^^'other rivers, being partly
choked by the mud-banks of deposit brought down from the upper
country, while y rapids and cascades obstruct navigation at some
distance" up their courses. The Essequibo, about 620 miles in
length, rises in mountains only 46 miles north of the equator, and
has an estuary 15 miles wide, with many fertile islands therein.
Navigable for but 35 miles from the sea, the river passes through
grand forest scenery, and has many cataracts, while one of its
affluents, the Potaro, can show the magnificent Kaieteur Fall,
discovered in 1870, with a sheer descent of nearly 750 feet. The
hot and moist, but not unhealthy climate, varying according to
height above sea-level, has near the coast, in the only settled
districts, a range from 70 to 95, but the average is from 80 to
84, a heat usually much tempered by sea-breezes. The annual
rainfall, occurring from December to February and from April to
August, ranges from 75 to 100 inches.

The commercial products of Guiana, of any considerable value,
are easily stated sugar and gold. The great predominance of
the sugar-cane, as an article of tillage, is marked by the fact that,
of 155,000 acres under cultivation in 1899, sugar-estates occupied
nearly 68,000 acres, distributed over sixty-one properties, lying
on the banks of the great rivers and their tributaries, and on the
alluvial islands in their channels. Above half of the whole area
devoted to sugar lies in the county or district called Demerara,
whence the name of " Demerara crystals" for the beautiful brown
sugar produced in British Guiana by the use of the most modern
machinery and the best processes. The export of sugar has
somewhat declined in recent years, but is still very large, the
country ranking next to Mauritius in this respect among British
possessions. For the year ending March 3ist, 1899, British
Guiana exported 1,932,960 cwts., worth ,1,041,000. In addition
to this amount of sugar, the country also sent out above "144,700
value in rum, 11,970 in molasses, 28,324 in gums, and nearly
.24,000 in timber and charcoal. With regard to gold, it is

g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

remarkable that only in the most recent times has the wealth of
Guiana, above three centuries ago extolled in this respect by
Indian tradition, been demonstrated by actual discovery. The
Dutch settlers seem not to have searched for gold, and, in the
DSliTiV clays of the sugar-trade, the British conquerors of the land
were satisfied with the golden profits derived from the canes. Not
until 1884 did a few men go into the interior, and procure precious
metal to an export-amount of 250 ounces. Two years later, this
had grown to over 6500 ounces; in 1888, to 14,570; in 1890, to
62,600; and in the year ending March 3ist, 1899, to nearly 1 13,000
ounces, worth about ,41.5,000, and paying a " royalty" amounting
to nearly ,17,000. In the ten years from 1886 to 1896 inclusive,
the colony shipped to England gold worth about ,2,796,000.
About 8000 labourers are employed in the hilly gold region, far
away from the swamps of the coast. The importance of the
industry has caused the construction of a railway, open since the
beginning of 1897, between the Demerara and the Essequibo
Rivers, so as to avoid the rapids on the latter, and giving easy
access to the country along its upper reaches, where the gold-
diggings are found, with several quartz-crushing mills at work.
The advantages enjoyed by the gold-mining interest of British
Guiana are unsurpassed in any country producing the metal in
paying quantities. The water-carriage enables goods to be
delivered at the mine-landings on the Demerara river at a cost
of "3 per ton from London, against charges, in gold-producing
countries having only land-conveyance, varying from ,25 to ,160
per ton. The supply of pure water in the Guiana gold districts
is beyond all requirements, and in some cases affords power for
working the stamp-batteries, sawing timber, and furnishing electric
light. All the wood needed for mining grows on the spot, and is
of the best quality, saving cost and carriage to the gold-workers.
The South African average yield per ton is about 12 dwt; a recent
assay of Guiana quartz has given over five times that return.

In the year ending March 3ist, 1899, the total exports of
the colony were worth about ,1,673,000, of which the value of
,782,167 went to the United Kingdom. The imports for the
same year, chiefly in flour (,139,000), linen, cotton and woollen
goods (.192,000), machinery (^49,000), manures (,76,400),
] umber (31,500), dried fish (.57,270), coals (,37,000), malt

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 8 1

liquor (,24,000), pork (,27,700), rice (^105,600), and oils
(,29,477), reached a total of 1,371,412 pounds sterling. A third
of the trade is done with the United States, and most of the
residue with India, Canada, and the West Indies.

The colony is divided into three counties or districts, Essequibo,
Demerara, and Berbice, following the coast-lin^f^- -n6 rt ' h to
south, with eighteen parishes under the sr^fi tl j a i charge of clergy
of the Anglican Church or of the Ciiurc'h of Scotland. The form
of government, as before hinted, bears traces of its Dutch origin.
The Governor is assisted by a " Court of Policy", and a "Com-
bined Court". The functions of an Executive and of a Legis-
lative Council and House of Assembly were vested in the Governor
and the Court of Policy until 1892, the Court being, up to that
date, composed of five official and five non-official members, the
latter being elected for three years by a " College of Electors" or
" Kiezers", composed of seven members returned by voters in the
five electoral districts Demerara, City of Georgetown, Essequibo,
New Amsterdam, and Berbice. These electoral divisions also
chose six financial representatives, elected for two years, and the
Combined Court, consisting of the Court of Policy and the above
six financial representatives, had control of all laws and ordinances
concerning taxation and finance. An Act of 1892 made consider-
able changes in this cumbrous system. Administrative functions
are now exercised by the Governor and an Executive Council.
The Court of Policy consists of the Governor, seven official, and
eight elected members. The College of Electors has ceased to
exist, and the elective members of the Court of Policy are chosen
by the direct vote of the people, under a moderate ownership,
tenancy, annual income, or direct taxation franchise now qualifying
about 2400 registered electors. The Combined Court is still com-
posed of the Court of Policy and of the six elected financial re-
presentatives, and retains its powers of imposing the colonial taxes
and auditing the public accounts, and of freely discussing the
annual estimates prepared by the Court of Policy, which has now
become a purely legislative body. In civil cases, the Roman-
Dutch law, modified by Orders in Council and by local enactments,
is in force; the criminal law is British, except for the absence of
a grand jury. Municipal government is found in the mayor and
town-council of Georgetown, and in a " board of superintendence"

VOL. VI. 138

g2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

at New Amsterdam, and local rule is also administered in about
a score of "incorporated" villages. Anglican Church members
of the population are supervised by the Bishop of British Guiana,
who is "Primate of the Province of the West Indies"; the Portu-
guese and other Roman Catholics are under the spiritual control
of the "Vicar Apostolic of Demerara". Elementary education is
afforded in about 209 " aided" schools, chiefly denominational,
with about 28,700 pupils and total grants of over 21,000, in
1899. An Inspector of Schools has central control, and there are
local managers, usually the religious ministers. Higher education
is conducted in a Government college at Georgetown, with a
scholarship annually awarded, ,200 in yearly value, tenable for
three years at an English university.

Accounts are kept in dollars and cents; the currency includes
British sterling and United States gold coins, with Spanish and
Mexican gold, and some surviving small circulation of guilders
(is. $d. each), half-guilders, and one-eighths or "bits". The
" Colonial" and the " British Guiana" banks have their chief offices
at Georgetown, with branches at New Amsterdam; at those towns
and some smaller places there are Government savings-banks, and
Post-office banks are open at nine money-order offices, the deposi-
tors at all these institutions numbering, at the close of 1898, about
20,000, with ,294,668 to the credit of the thrifty. The revenue
for the year 1899, chiefly derived from customs and licences,
was ,525,865, against an expenditure of ,525,387, of which nearly
one-tenth was due to public works. The public debt, at the same
time, exceeded ,975,500, including a large sum for debts of public
bodies guaranteed by the colony. The system of internal com-
munications, in addition to the waterways provided by the rivers
in their lower course, includes good roads, some small canals
connected with the Demerara River, and a railway 21 miles long,
from Georgetown to Mahaica, on the coast to the south-east.
There are some hundreds of miles of postal telegraph, telephone,
and short cables, the latter in connection with a cable to Trinidad,
giving communication with Europe and the United States. The
inland postal system is well organized and cheap, with a two-cent
or id. postage for i-oz. letters within the colony, and a parcels
post to the United Kingdom and the West Indies. Local steamers
ply between Georgetown, New Amsterdam, and some places on

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA. 83

the rivers. The country has steam-traffic to and from foreign
ports by the fortnightly mail-boats of the Royal Mail Steam Packet
line from Southampton; the monthly Compagnie Generale Trans-
atlantique between France and the West Indies; a monthly Dutch
line from Holland and Havre; Scrutton's " Direct Line" boats
from London (3900 miles) and the Clyde, every three weeks and
monthly; and the Atlantic and West India Line boats from New
York every six weeks.

The commercial capital and seat of government, Georgetown,
was founded by the Dutch in 1774, under the name of " Stabrock",
and lies on the right bank, near the mouth, of Demerara River.
The city, having a population (1891) of 53,000. i hahuSGmeiy
built, with clean wide streets, intersecting each other at right
angles, some having wide canals in the centre, bordered by avenues
of palms. The houses have a picturesque appearance, in brightly
painted wood, with roof of slate or galvanized iron, and verandahs
around for shelter from the sun. Generally raised on piles a few
feet above the soil, they lie detached in gardens, bright with
flowers, and are embosomed in tropical foliage, amongst which
that of the cabbage-palm and coco-nut is conspicuous. The public
buildings include the Governor's residence and the official and
parliamentary edifices; the cathedral, Queen's College, a museum
and library. The place has two markets, an ice-house, several
hospitals, and botanical gardens, with a supply of drinking-water
from artesian wells. The sea-wall of stone forms a pleasant
promenade; at the entrance of the good harbour are a lighthouse
an octagonal tower, 100 feet high and some defensive works.
A large police-force keeps internal order in the colony; there is
no Imperial garrison, and the only trained men to be mustered
against foreign assailants are the members of small volunteer-
corps. New Amsterdam, or Berbice, on the east bank of the
Berbice River, had in 1891 a population of about 9000, and is
a Dutch-built town, intersected by canals, with houses mostly of
wood or bamboo, each surrounded, with its garden, by a ditch
filling and emptying with the tide that thus performs scavenger's
work of great utility in such a climate.

The dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela as to the
western boundary-line between British and Venezuelan Guiana
has been recently settled, after going on for more than half a

g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

century In 1887, it had become so acute that the British minister
received his passports, and diplomatic relations were thus broken
off. Our Government had always asserted and maintained their
right to the territory within what is called ' the Schomburgk
line" a boundary laid down by the eminent Prussian explorer
and scientist, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk, who was leader
of an exploring expedition in Guiana in 1835. On January ist,
1837, while he was ascending the Berbice River, he discovered
the magnificent aquatic plant, the Victoria Regia lily, named by
him from the young lady who soon afterwards became Queen of
Great Britain. In 1840, Schomburgk surveyed the colony for
^ British Government, and was knighted in recognition of his
valuable services.

The worthless and contemptro^ organization known as the
Government of Venezuela, a country whicn iV*,*; been for many
years in a chaotic and anarchical condition from a constairj- suc-
cession of revolutionary movements, indulged in some petty
provocations towards the great Power who was her neighbour
in South America. In 1895, a Venezuelan force crossed the
" Schomburgk line ", assaulted Mr. Francis, a British subject, and
made prisoners of a small detachment of British Guiana police
stationed at Uruan, on the upper reaches of the Cuyuni River.
The police were soon released, and due apology, with compensa-
tion to the officers and men, and to Mr. Francis, was rendered
by the Venezuelan authorities. In June, 1896, a party of work-
men under Mr. W. A. Harrison, Government Surveyor, were
molested by Venezuelan soldiers while they were engaged on the
survey of a Government line for a road to one of the tributaries of
the Cuyuni. The place where this occurred was well within the
"Schomburgk line". Mr. Harrison, arrested by the troops, was
conveyed by boat up the Cuyuni to the Eldorado station, opposite
the British outpost at Uruan. He was released on the interven-
tion of the British officer in charge, and taken to Georgetown
suffering from a severe attack of malarial fever incurred during
his detention. The Venezuelan Government, for this outrage,
was compelled to pay ^1000 as compensation to Mr. Harrison.

It was in the same year, 1896, that the boundary-question
assumed an acute form owing to the existence, within the
disputed area, of large tracts of auriferous territory of unknown,

BERMUDA, BRITISH HONDURAS, BRITISH GUIANA 85

but assuredly of very considerable value. The Government of the
United States intervened at this juncture, and arbitration con-
cerning the territory in dispute was agreed upon by the British
and Venezuelan Governments in a treaty signed on February 2nd,
1897, at Washington. This document arranged that four arbi-
trators, two for each side, should be appointed, with the require-
ment that the four should choose a fifth as president within three
months, or submit to the choice of a fifth by one of the most
accomplished of European sovereigns, Oscar II. of Sweden and
Norway, who has often acted as an efficient arbitrator on inter-
national questions.

The Venezuelan arbitration-matter was slow in its progress,
but satisfactory in its issue. In the course of 1897 the "ratifi-
cations" of the treaty were exchanged. The submission of the
printed cases and arguments on each side of the question, as'*'
provided by the treaty, was completed by the close of 1898.
The Court of Arbitration, or arbitral tribunal, constituted by the
treaty, was composed of two judges of the High Court of England,
and two judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, the
president being M. de Martens, Councillor of the Russian Empire.
In January, 1899, a preliminary meeting of the tribunal was held
in Paris, for the purpose of arranging procedure. On June I5th
the full court assembled, Great Britain being represented by the
late Lord Russell of Killowen, Lord Chief Justice of England, and
Lord Justice Henn-Collins, the members nominated by the Privy
Council; for the United States (in other words, in the interests of
Venezuela), the members nominated by the Supreme Court were
the Hon. Melville Fuller, Chief Justice, and Mr. Justice Brewer.
Of these, Lord Russell had taken the place of the late Lord
Herschell, ex-Chancellor of England, whose name stands in the
treaty, and who had died at Washington during the adjustment of
the preliminaries.

The early sittings of the court were interrupted by the frequent
absence of the President, whose presence was required at the great
11 Peace Conference" then proceeding at the Hague. With these
exceptions the Court sat de die in diem from June I5th to the
end of September, 1899. The Attorney-General of England, Sir
Richard Webster, opened the argument for Great Britain in a
speech which lasted for thirteen days, in the course of which he

86 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

put in the most material documents out of the vast masses of
evidence that had been accumulated. Mr. Mallet Prevost, one
of the American counsel, replied with a claim that Venezuela was
entitled, by virtue of the early Spanish possession, to all the
territory as far as the Essequibo River as her eastern boundary.
He was followed by Mr. Soley, who dealt with the events of the
nineteenth century only. About twenty days were occupied by
the speeches of these two advocates for Venezuela. Sir Robert
Reid, ex-Attorney-General (in 1894, when Lord Rosebery was
Prime Minister), replying for Great Britain, delivered a short but
clear and incisive argument. We may here note that the Republic
of Venezuela had always persisted in claiming almost the whole of
the old Dutch colony of Essequibo, and had declined to consider
any reasonable compromise. This extreme claim to the line of the
Essequibo was always balanced by Great Britain's extreme claim
to the whole basin of the western tributaries of the Essequibo.
There was, however, a great difference of demeanour one honour-
able to Great Britain in the proceedings before the arbitrators.
The great Power, following the precedent set by successive
Secretaries of State, forbore to press her extreme claim. The
Venezuelan counsel argued for the utmost that the Republic had
always claimed. The British counsel relied broadly upon Schom-
burgk's line as representing the fair and natural boundary between
the Colony and the Republic.

As we have above stated, the proceedings in arbitration
between Great Britain and Venezuela were tedious, but the
result was wonderful. Both the disputing parties left the court
of arbitration satisfied with the award made on October 3rd, 1899.
Great Britain had, substantially, her cherished " Schomburgk line".
Venezuela got some auriferous territory. The line indicated by the
award starts from the coast at Point Playa, instead of at the mouth
of the Amakuru, so that Barima Point and the lower course of the
Barima River are assigned to Venezuela. The other point of
divergence from the British claim was at the Cuyuni River, where,
instead of following the river to its head-waters, the boundary
ascends the Wenamu, thus assigning to Venezuela the Cuyuni
gold-fields. The area formerly claimed by the Republic, but now
definitely assigned to Great Britain, amounts to about 60,000
square miles.

BOOK VII.

BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN AUSTRALASIA IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER I.

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

Vast progress of the Australian colonies in the nineteenth century Recent works on
their history Area and coast-line of the island-continent The Great Barrier Reef
Physical features of the land Mountains The Great Dividing Range Table-lands
and deserts Rivers and lakes Geological formation Climate Uncertainty of the
rainfall Damage by droughts and floods Mineral wealth Absence of food-pro-
ducing plants Changes effected by the colonists Unique native vegetation
Brushes, woodlands, and scrubs Animal life Prevalence of marsupial mammals
Birds The emu and lyre-bird Parrot tribe Reptiles Fishes The dugong
Insects Description of the aborigines Their gradual extermination.

In an early section of this work we left New South Wales, at
the beginning of the nineteenth century, as our sole colonial
possession in Australasian waters. In 1801 the country, with a
history ranging over but twelve years of chequered fortunes,
contained only about seven thousand Europeans, mostly convicts
of the male sex, with a few hundreds of free emigrants devoted
to tillage and sheep-farming, and aided in their toils by convict-
labour. A century of time passes away, and in the seventh
decade of the Victorian age we find Australia alone, apart from
Tasmania and New Zealand, containing five separate colonies,
with a total population reaching 3^ millions. The chief towns
of the greater of these colonies have become stately cities, rivalling
or surpassing the minor European capitals in size and splendour,
and equalling the greatest cities of the world in the essentials of
material development and civilization. The science and art, the
religion and culture, the sports and amusements, the manufactures,
trades, and commerce of the British Isles re-appear on the other
side of the globe, with our institutions of every kind parliamentary,
municipal, educational, financial, and philanthropic. Under new
conditions of climate and other physical surroundings, a new type
of character is being evolved in the Australian descendants of

38 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

British and Irish forefathers who crossed the seas to found new
homes beneath the Southern Cross in the earlier decades of the
nineteenth century. No detailed account can here be given of the
successive steps by which this great result of energy and enter-
prise in creating an Australasian Britain has been attained. The
names of some leading men will appear in the course of our
narrative; for the work and career of the pioneers of progress, and
of the able and energetic men who, in every department of political
and social life, have done good work for their Australasian fellow-
countrymen, we refer readers to special recent works on Australian
history, and to those excellent and valuable books, Hutchinsoris
Australasian Encyclopaedia, by Mr. G. C. Levey, C.M.G., and the
Dictionary of Australasian Biography (Hutchinson & Co.) by Mr.
Philip Mennell, F.R.G.S. It may be remarked that Tasmania
and New Zealand, as well as Australia proper, are included in the
scope of these works, which deal with every place, person, and
event of note in the Australasian colonies from the time of first
settlement to the year 1892. We now proceed to a brief physical
description of Australia, followed by some account of the explora-
tion which, in the course of years, made the vast region known to
others than the aborigines, and prepared the way for colonization.

Australia, washed on the north-west, west, and south by the
Indian Ocean, and on the east by the South Pacific, is by far the
largest island in the world, and, being in area only one-fourth less
than Europe, and about twenty-five times as large as the British
Isles, may be fairly described as a continent. With a total land-
surface of nearly three millions of square miles, or nearly 1,900
millions of statute acres, this enormous territory has an extreme
length, north to south, between 10 degrees 40 min. and 39 degrees
S. lat, of i97p miles, from Cape York to Wilson's Promontory, in
Victoria. The breadth, west to east, between 113 degrees and
153 E. long., covers about 2400 miles from Steep Point, opposite
Dirk Hartog's Island, in Western Australia, to Point Cartwright,
in Queensland. No continent, save Africa, has a coast-line so
little broken by gulfs and bays, the whole seaboard extending
only for about 7750 miles. The most remarkable geographical
feature in Australian waters is an astonishing example of the work
done by the polypes, jelly-like in structure, popularly called " coral
insects ". The Great Barrier Reef, really a series of coral-reefs,

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 89

extends southwards, along the east of the great island, for over
1250 miles, from its origin in Torres Straits, close to New Guinea,
to its termination opposite the coast of Queensland, in 24 degrees
S. latitude. First made known to mariners in 1770, when, as we
saw in an early section of this work, Captain Cook's ship, the
Endeavour y was almost lost by striking on some sharp coral rocks,
the Barrier Reef runs roughly parallel to the coast of Queensland,
at a distance varying from 20 to 90 miles. The sides of this vast
series of submarine structures are precipitous, and within a few
yards of the rocks soundings show nearly 300 fathoms. Only few
safe openings for ships are found throughout the whole length,
and the reefs thus furnish a natural breakwater against the mighty
surges of the Pacific. The "inner route", an ocean-area estimated to
cover 80,000 geographical square miles, is a tranquil inland sea,
traversed by the largest steamers for most of the year with open
portholes and on an even keel. The surface of the reef is usually
submerged at high water, but at low tide is nearly level with the
sea, strewn with masses of black coral rock, to which Flinders
gave the name of "negro-heads". Here and there the rocks are
covered by banks of drifted sand upon which a few stunted,
wind-beaten bushes maintain a bare existence. The Barrier Reefs,
awful in one view, and beautiful in another, present at once, in the
outer and inner waters, the spectacle of a cemetery and a pleasure-
lake. Upon the outer rampart the Pacific swell crashes with terrible
force and thunderous din, filling the air with spray and vapour,
and at some points, on the ocean side, the skeletons of ships lie
fixed on the rocks in whose lower crevices of coral the bones of
wrecked mariners repose. On the inner side, residents of the
Queensland coast-towns make boat-excursions to the reefs and
gaze on the beauties and the wonders of a vast aquarium. Striped
and frilled fishes glide in shoals amidst branching coral and waving-
sea-weed. The beche-de-mer (trepang, or sea-slugs, or sea-cucum-
bers), like soft leathery bags of various shapes and sizes, are seen
creeping on the submerged knolls. Many-tinted shells strew the
patches of sand, and sharks, fiercely eyeing the bold intruders on
their domain, cruise in the deeper rifts of the coral.

It is not only for her size, eleven times greater than that of
Borneo, and fifteen times as large as that of Madagascar, that
Australia is entitled to be called a "continent" rather than an

QQ OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD

"island". The conformation of surface, with the high elevations
lying around the coasts and not central; the varieties of climate,
and of plants and animals, are rather continental than insular. As
regards its surface, Australia resembles a dish of irregular shape,
being depressed towards the centre and raised along the edges.
Mountains and table-lands are more pronounced features of the
east side of the continent than of the west side, so far as that
region is yet known. From Cape York on the north to Wilson's
Promontory on the south, the Great Dividing Range, with scarcely
any important break in its entire length, runs at an average dis-
tance of 30 miles, varying at some points to 60 miles, from the
sea on the east. This range forms the watershed between the
rivers flowing into the Pacific and those which, with a westerly
course, join the great system of inland drainage sending the waters
of the eastern half of the continent either northwards into the
great Gulf of Carpentaria, or, in far larger amount, to the sea on
the south-eastern coast. The average height of the mountains in
this chain may be 3000 feet, with many elevations, in Queensland,
exceeding 4000 feet, and, in the same colony, with one peak of
5400. - In New South Wales, branches of the main chain, vari-
ously called the New England, the Liverpool, the Blue Mountain
Ranges, and by other names, have many heights of between 4000
and 5000 feet, and Mount Kosciusko, probably the highest point
of the Australian continent, attains an elevation of 7308 feet, about
700 feet below the line of perpetual snow in that latitude. Many
peaks in the great mountain-knot lying between the 36th and 37th
parallels of south latitude exceed 6000 feet in height. In the
south-east of Australia, the colony of Victoria is traversed by a
range running from east to west, at a distance from 60 to 70 miles
from the sea, and known, in the eastern portion, as the Australian
Alps, having many elevations from 4000 to over 6000 feet.
South Australia has three ranges with mountains varying from
2000 to over 3000 feet, and the three distinct parallel ranges of
Western Australia attain about the same heights.

The table-lands on the eastern side of the Great Dividing
Range, with an average height of 2500 feet, descend rapidly and,
m many places, very steeply to the coast. On the west side, a
gradual decline brings the land gently down to the interior level.
The descent to the coast presents many scenes of grandeur or of

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 91

picturesque beauty in mountain and valley, ravine and waterfall.
Westwards from the table-land, for many hundreds of miles, vast
level plains extend, largely consisting of rich deep black soil, covered
in wet seasons with luxuriant vegetation. These plains form the
main geographical feature of eastern Australia in their occupation
of many hundreds of thousands of square miles in the colonies of
Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia. The
western half of the continent, so far as it has yet been revealed by
explorers, largely consists of deserts and " scrubs ". In both these
classes of country, water is either absent or very scarce. The
deserts are either devoid of vegetation or clothed only with a
coarse spiny grass that cuts like knives, and affords no sustenance
to cattle or horses. The scrubs are composed of a dense growth
of shrubs and low trees, only to be penetrated, at many points, by
the vigorous use of the axe.

The drainage-system, in general, may be said to consist of but
two slopes, one towards the sea, the other towards the interior.
The rivers on the east coast have generally short courses, owing
to the proximity of their sources, in the mountain-chain, to the
sea. Some of these streams, however, as the Fitzroy, the Clarence,
the Hunter, and the Hawkesbury, become far longer and more
important from the fact of their upper courses being parallel to the
Dividing Range and to the coast. Some other rivers entering the
sea on the north, south, and west will be hereafter noticed, but the
only rivers in Australia that attain continental size are the Murray
and the Darling. Both of these belong to the system of inland
drainage, and together they have a basin of nearly half a million
square miles. From its rise in the Australian Alps to its termina-
tion in Lake Alexandrina on the south coast, whence its waters
reach the sea, the Murray has a length of 1300 miles. Of its
chief tributaries, the Darling, flowing from the north-east, through
the whole of New South Wales, has a length of over 2500 miles.
The Lachlan flows south-west for over 700 miles before it joins
the Murrumbidgee, of at least equal length, at a point 40 miles
above the place where their united waters flow into the Murray.
Most of the internal rivers are small and intermittent in their
supply of water, rising in some elevated tract and ending, after a
brief course, either in some lake, or disappearing in swamps or in
desolate sandy wastes. We may here note that such rivers are

92 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

often styled " creeks ", by transfer of a term usually applied to a
small tidal inlet of the sea. Heavy rains cause their shallow beds
to overflow with water passing beyond the ill-defined banks, and
submerging the low-lying land along their courses. Apart from
lagoons lying along the coast, Australia has many lakes in various
parts of her vast area. A few contain fresh water, but the majority
are salt, of which the largest are Lakes Gairdner, Torrens, Eyre,
and Amadeus, in South Australia. The largest fresh-water lake
yet discovered is Lake George, in New South Wales, with an
area of about 40 square miles, lying at an elevation of over 2000
feet above sea-level. Without any attempt to enter on the geo-
logical formation of Australia, mainly Palaeozoic and Tertiary, with
Mesozoic or Secondary structure in large areas of Queensland, we
may note the existence of numerous extinct volcanoes, with craters
now presenting beautiful lakes. This is especially the case in the
south-east of South Australia, and in Victoria, where a large part
of the soil is volcanic, scores of extinct volcanoes may be seen
near Ballarat.

The climate of Australia, varying as regards temperature with the
latitude and elevation above sea-level, is warm, dry, healthy, and
rich in amount of sunshine. It is generally cooler in summer and
warmer in winter than that of countries situated at like distances
from the equator in the northern hemisphere. Intense heat is
sometimes brought by winds, and the thermometer has been known
to reach 131 degrees in the shade. In the higher districts ice and
snow are common in the winter, from May to October, but only
on two occasions has snow fallen in Sydney or Melbourne. A
memorable day of great heat throughout Australia, known as
"Black Thursday", came on February 6th, 1851, when the ther-
mometer rose to 117 degrees in the shade, and terrible bush-fires
occurred near Port Phillip. The ashes from a conflagration in the
forests near Mount Macedon fell in the streets of Melbourne, 40
miles away, and even out at sea. A large area of country was laid
waste, with great loss of human life and destruction of horned
cattle, sheep, and farm buildings. The rainy season, within the
tropics, is in summer, from November to April; outside the tropics,
ram falls almost wholly in winter. The eastern side of the con-
tinent, having the chief mountains, both for extent and height, has
the heaviest rainfall, through the moisture brought by the winds

BLACK THURSDAY.

The climate of Australia is hot and dry, and, as a rule, pleasant and
healthy; but some parts, especially in the south, are at times visited by
scorching winds from the interior. These winds are usually preceded by
very fine weather with a falling barometer, and during their continuance
the temperature becomes so high as to be oppressive and injurious not only
to man, but also to cattle, sheep, and crops. They are most severe in
Victoria, where they commonly last a whole day, and are followed by cold
and very violent south winds. The extreme dryness of the hot winds tends
to lessen their ill effects on humari beings, for most people can stand a
higher temperature when the air is dry than when it is moist. Neverthe-
less they have resulted in loss of life and destruction of crops at various
times, notably on the sixth of February, 1851. On that day, known as
Black Thursday, a temperature of 117 degrees in the shade was registered,
and the intense heat produced bush-fires near Port Phillip. Enormous
damage was done to live stock, farm-buildings, and crops, and a large
number of persons lost their lives. The ashes from a conflagration in the
forests near Mount Macedon fell in the streets of Melbourne, nearly 40
miles away, and even out at sea. The illustration shows colonists fleeing
before an advancing bush-fire.

(84)

o
s

s
1;

2
2

STANLEY. L. WOOD.

BLACK THURSDAY", FEBRUARY 6th, 1851.

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 93

from the Pacific. The rainfall decreases, as a rule, in proportion
to the distance from the eastern coast. Thus, Sydney has an
average amount of 50 inches per year; Bathurst, about 100 miles
from the sea, has only 23 inches; and Wentworth, nearly 500 miles
inland, has only 14 inches in the year. Melbourne and Adelaide
have respectively 25 and 20 inches of annual rainfall, and on the
Queensland coast the annual amount varies from 40 to 80 inches.
Taking the colonies separately, we find that the average rainfall
is, in New South Wales, 25 inches; Victoria, 32 inches; South
Australia, 20 inches; Queensland, 27 inches, and Western Australia,
23 inches. The far interior, with a probable average of 10 inches,
viewed in connection with the relative areas of the colonies, gives
a mean rainfall for the whole of Australia of 21 inches, the average,
for the whole of Europe, being 1^/2, inches.

The worst feature in the Australian climate is the uncertainty
and inequality of the rainfall, causing mischievous and distressing
alternations of drought and flood. These visitations are, happily,
of somewhat rare occurrence, and seldom affect very large areas
at once. The ordinary scarcity of rain inland renders most of the
rivers, with the notable exception of the Murray, intermittent.
For months together they shrink into straggling water-holes, with
or without a connecting thread of stream. The Murray itself is
navigable only at certain seasons of the year. On the other hand,
most parts of the continent are liable to rains so abundant as to
occasion floods from the inability of the ordinary channels, with
their very slight slope, to carry off the water so swiftly deposited.
As remedies for droughts, irrigation-works, storage of water within
dams, and the sinking of wells, are being yearly more extensively
employed. We may note that, on the interior plains, the limited
rainfall is largely absorbed by a very porous soil, and this fact has
much to do with the shrinkage of the rivers. The water, however,
which thus fails to be carried off to the sea, is stored by nature
in her underground reservoirs, only needing to be tapped for the
yield of abundant supplies. Dealing first with droughts, we find
that the total absence of water, and the withering of vegetation,
have in some years destroyed vast numbers of sheep and cattle,
the most recent instances being in 1884 and 1888, in which latter
year the whole continent suffered from one of the worst droughts
ever known. In South Australia the amount of rainfall was less

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

than in any year since the foundation of the colony, and some
places had less than an inch of rain. At two stations only a
quarter of an inch fell between January ist and December loth,
and the drought only fairly broke up on the last day of the year.
New South Wales, the northern districts of Victoria, and Queens-
land suffered very much, but less severely than the sister-colony.
At such times, with the ground like iron and the sky like brass,
the hapless Australian farmer, as tiller of the soil or stock-keeper,
can do no work in garden or field, and must either sit in idleness
at home or go forth and watch the grass withering and the water
drying up, and the sheep and cattle dying by inches in dumb
despair. The plains, for hundreds of miles, become bare, dusty,
red-brown wastes, with no leaf nor grass, nor rush nor reed to
relieve the traveller's wearied eye. Of disastrous floods we may
note those which have occurred in the valleys of the Hawkesbury,
Hunter, and Murrumbidgee. At Gundagai, a small mining and
agricultural town on the last river, in June, 1852, only 7 buildings
remained out of 78, and 89 persons were drowned out of a popu-
lation of 250.

The mineral wealth of Australia, to be dealt with under the
separate colonies, includes gold, silver, iron, copper, tin, lead,
quicksilver, antimony, coal, granite, marble, limestone, sandstone,
and many kinds of precious stones, among which are found the
garnet, topaz, sapphire, ruby, and diamond, as rare specimens of
little commercial value. As regards the vegetable kingdom, the
history of colonization presents us with no more striking contrast
than the Australia of the past and of the present day, in respect to
products capable of sustaining human life. For long ages, in the
words of one of her sweetest poets, Australia lay an "unsown
garden fenced by sea-crags sterile ", a vast region ranged over by
scanty tribes of dusky aborigines all but destitute of mind and
soul. And then! the hour of destiny struck, and the fair sunlit
soil began to send forth growths that Australia had never known,
and, as the years rolled on to fill up the first century of her new
existence, ever more vivid and more valuable was the change
effected by European enterprise and energy and capital and skill.
In the former state of the continent, nothing is so surprising as the
almost total absence of food-producing plants from so vast an area
of the earth's surface. Besides the nardoo, a plant allied to the

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 95

ferns, the spore-cases of which supply a poorly nutritious food; the
roots of certain plants of the orchid tribe, now locally called " yams ";
and the seeds of a species of pine-tree, there was hardly a vegetable
growth on the continent yielding suitable sustenance, in any
quantity, for human beings. There was no indigenous root like
the potato; no grain equal to the poorest of the cereals; no fruit
to be compared even to the gooseberry in nutritive power. The
Australia of the close of the nineteenth century bears, in temperate
regions, every kind of cereals and of edible plants and roots known
to Europe or America, and the chief European grasses used as
fodder. All the fruits of Europe thrive, while the northern dis-
tricts produce every fruit found in the tropics save the cocoa-nut.
Cotton and sugar, as we shall see, are among the products of
Queensland, and most of the colonies have home-grown tobacco of
fair quality.

The native vegetation of Australia is almost unique. In the
north may be found plants belonging to classes which abound in
the tropical regions of India and the Malay islands, and in the
south certain natural orders are common which are also abundant
in South Africa. With these exceptions, the plants of Australia
are different from those of every other quarter of the globe, and
the vegetation of West Australia widely differs from that of the
eastern part of the continent. The species of vegetation, far more
numerous than those of Europe, include above nine thousand
flowering plants, of which the grandest are the Warratah of New
South Wales with its large crimson flower, and a gigantic lily,
rising to a height of 10 or 12 feet, and bearing at the top a
very large dark-red bloom. Some of the orchids are remarkable
for beauty or singularity of shape. The ferns are famous for their
abundance and beauty, the grand tree-ferns being now often visible
in our conservatories. Dealing with the vegetation on a large scale,
we may refer in turns to " brushes", "woodlands", and "scrubs".
Brushes, or masses of dense and luxuriant vegetation resembling
the "jungle" of tropical countries, are found in Australia on the
seaward side of the Dividing Range, or on the alluvial soil of river-
banks, or on the rich soil of mountain-valleys and ravines. The
plants and trees are almost wholly evergreens, with foliage varied
in tint and arrangement, and thus free from the monotony found in
much of the Australian tree-vegetation, with its uniform sombre

96 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

olive tint on both the upper and under surface of the leaves, and
with an usually vertical direction of growth in the foliage, allowing
a freer entrance to the blazing summer sun. Various kinds of the
eucalyptus, known as blue, red, and white gum-trees, with stems of
great girth, and rising to heights varying from 150 to over 400
feet, tower above the general level. They are usually destitute of
branches until near the top, and the foliage is there thin and scanty
in proportion to the size of the trees. Rivalling the gums in height
and thickness are large-leaved figs, having crowns that spread
wide in thick and abundant leafage. Below these appear the palms
and the " nettles", the latter being trees that often rise 50 feet from
the ground, with large light-green leaves noxious to touch. The
tree-ferns, from 10 to 30 feet in height, come next below, and
all are bound together with the pliable stems of creepers. The
stringy-bark, iron bark, and messmate are other eucalypts of the
hundred or more species of trees that are found in the brush,
among which the noble cedar, with wood closely resembling
mahogany, is conspicuous. The brilliancy of colouring in the
flowers of tree and shrub is very remarkable. Among over 300
species of acacias or "wattles" that are indigenous to Australia,
many have lovely yellow blossoms, generally fragrant. The
" flame-tree", with its clusters of red flowers, can be seen miles out
at sea as it grows in masses on the Illawarra Mountains, 50 miles
south of Sydney. The " fire-tree " of West Australia blazes with
blossoms of orange hue, and one of the Queensland trees shows
a mass, 50 feet in height, of orange-tipped crimson stamens.

" Woodlands " are open tracts of land, usually clothed with grass,
and having large trees with little undergrowth. It is here that the
various kinds of eucalyptus most abound, affording the monotonous
aspect that has caused some to describe Australia as " the land of
the dreary eucalyptus". In moist or swampy ground, the place of
the eucalyptus is taken by various kinds of trees known to the
colonists as" tea-trees", furnishing a hard timber, almost imperishable
in the ground for fence-posts and piles. They are of the same
natural order as the "gum-trees", and next to them, as characteristic
of Australia, come the casuarinas, called " oaks " in the colonies, but
often really dark green, pine-looking trees belonging to an almost
extinct class, abounding in the forests of former ages, as proved by
the remains frequently found in coal. " Scrubs " is the term applied

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 97

to tracts of land thickly covered with bushes and shrubs. In some
places, scrubs are composed almost entirely of plants belonging to
one family. Of this kind are the mallee scrubs, in which the plant
is a dwarf kind of eucalyptus, covering an area larger than Wales
on the lower course of the Murray; and the detested mulga scrubs,
deriving their name and character from a dense growth of thorny
acacias. Usually, however, the vegetation of the scrubs comprises
a large number of shrubby plants of different orders, with occasional
gums and tea-trees. The most beautiful of the indigenous wild
flowers are often displayed on these thorny and prickly growths,
impenetrable save by the use of the axe or of fire after long
drought. The " grass-tree" is another Australian production,
having a thick round stem, from the top of which springs a tuft
of long, pointed, and sharp-edged leaves. Out of this tuft shoots
up a long, straight, round stalk, from 3 to 5 feet in length, and
having about a foot of the upper portion densely covered with
small white star-like flowers.

The fauna, or zoology, or animal life of Australia is even more
remarkable than the vegetation. Scarcely any of the Australian
animals are found in other countries, and none of the animals
common in other countries lying at no great distance find represen-
tatives in Australia. The mammalia consist almost wholly of
marsupials, the pouch-bearing creatures carrying their young before
them in a pendent pouch or purse. This order of animals is
indigenous, in other regions of the world, only in North America,
and there is found only in one family. One marsupial, indeed,
occurs in the Malay Archipelago, and New Guinea has several
closely allied to those of Australia. It is notable, also, that the
fossil remains of quadrupeds which have been discovered in
Australia are almost all marsupials, some being equal in bulk to the
hippopotamus and the rhinoceros. It seems as if, for countless
ages, this wonderful continent had been so isolated from the rest of
the world that no interchange of plants or animals could take place.
The only native mammals that are not marsupials are some bats
and flying-foxes, some species of rats and mice, and the dingo or
native dog, almost the sole representative, in Australia, of the
carnivorous animals. It is impossible here even to mention all the
names of the marsupial creatures that occupy the position taken, in
other regions of the world, by the Ungulata or hoofed quadrupeds,

VOL. VI. 139

g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

the rodents or gnawers, the carnivora, the ant-eaters, the insect-
eating animals, and the monkeys and lemurs. The hoofed rumi-
nants^of other parts of the world may be said to be represented in
Australia by kangaroos and allied creatures; the beavers and other
gnawing animals by wombats; the true cats and other carnivora by
native cats, with habits like those of the English stoat; the jackals
and wolves by the thylacine or marsupial wolf; the insectivora by
the small insect-eating marsupials; and the arboreal monkeys and
lemurs by the phalangers or Australian opossums and the koalas or
native bears. We must refer our readers to special zoological or
Australian works for those strange mammals of the lowest order-
not represented either by living or by known fossil forms in any
other quarter of the world the duck-bill platypus or ornitho-
rhynchus, and the echidna or porcupine ant-eater.

The birds of Australia, peculiar in both the presence and in the
total absence of certain species, surpass those of all other temperate
and sub-tropical climates for fineness of shape and beautiful
plumage. The species, as known, exceed six hundred, including
many varieties of the splendid cockatoos, parrots, and parroquets.
As a rule, the same orders of birds as are indigenous there may also
be found in other parts of the world, but there are certain kinds
which may be deemed peculiarly Australian, owing to some remark-
able feature of structure, habits, or colour. The emu, now rare,
attains from 6 to 8 feet in height; has merely rudimentary wings,
with three-toed feet adapted for running; and is a timid, harmless
creature, living chiefly on vegetable food. The lyre-bird, with its
two outer tail-feathers curved so as to resemble an ancient lyre, is
an imitative song-bird, known as the " native " or " brush " pheasant.
The " brush-turkeys " deposit their eggs, to be hatched by the heat
of fermentation, in large mounds of dead leaves and decaying vege-
tation. There are many doves and pigeons; above sixty species of
the parrot tribe, from the great Black Cockatoo to the diminutive
Grass Parakeet; and several kinds of Kingfishers, of which one
large species is known, from its loud, continuous, laughing, and
braying note as the Laughing Jackass, and also as " the settler's
clock", from the regularity of its call at dawn and dusk. The
rapacious birds include an eagle, working havoc on lambs, and
many hawks and owls. The black swan, pelican, and wild ducks
are common, and the smaller birds include finches, robins, swallows,

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 99

and wrens, some of them having a pretty song, and the robin being
marked by its ruddy breast. On the coasts there are hosts of sea-
birds, as the albatross, various kinds of gulls, divers, and penguins.

The reptiles of Australia number about 250 species, from the
crocodile, 30 feet long, to tiny frogs, differing in their qualities from
the edible turtle to venomous snakes, of which five, including the
brown-banded snake and the broad-scaled snake, are dangerous
to man. Diamond and carpet snakes belong to the family of
pythons or rock snakes, killing their prey by constriction. There
are also countless lizards and frogs. The Australian seas are
richer in fish than the fresh waters, the finest of whose produce is
a species of perch, oddly styled the " Murray cod " by the colonists;
of this valuable fish specimens weighing 80 pounds have been
taken. Among the multitudes of salt-water fishes those chiefly
used for food are the schnapper, whiting, bream, mullet, and gar-
fish. Twenty species of sharks, some attaining a length of 12
feet, infest the seas. Among the marine animals are whales and
seals, and the peculiar dugong, a warm-blooded mammal, from 10
to 20 feet long, known also as the sea-cow, taken off Queensland
for the sake of its flesh, which resembles beef, and for the valuable
oil extracted therefrom. It feeds on sea- weed, is gregarious, and
very fond of its young; it is pursued in boats and killed by spear-
ing. Cray-fish and oysters, shrimps and prawns abound, and are
much used as food. In the sea to the north the pearl-oyster and
trepang are plentiful. The numerous insects include a spider called
tarantula, a huge hairy creature with a venomous bite; the centi-
pede, scorpion, many species of beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas
(wrongly called " locusts " by the colonists), bees, ants (including
the so-called " white ant ", so destructive to wood), and most
obnoxious swarms of mosquitoes and other flies in the warmer
districts.

Turning now to the aborigines, or Australian natives, we find
the whole continent inhabited by one isolated, peculiar race, widely
removed from Papuans, Malays, and negroes. When the country
was first discovered, the natives, dark coffee-brown in hue, were a
finer race than their descendants, being at least equal in stature to
Europeans, active and robust, with deep chests, thin lower limbs,
an upright carriage, and easy, graceful gait. They were possessed
of very keen sight, rendering them unsurpassed as trackers of

I00 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

animals and men. Excellent in all matters requiring the exercise
of the senses, they were in other respects savages of a low type,
very deficient in all that concerns thought or abstract ideas, with-
out architecture, pottery, weaving, or religion, and destitute of
words to express such notions as " God ", "right", "love", and
"five". Their morality is chiefly concerned with the notion of
property, their wives or " gins " being included in the chattels for
the stealing of which a definite punishment is awarded. The
"black -fellows" are, however, capable of loyal affection and
gratitude, and the hospitality, to be hereafter mentioned, which
the wretched tribes of Cooper's Creek showed to the last survivor
of Burke's expedition should always be remembered. Old men
and old women are abandoned to death by starvation. Male
children are regarded with parental affection; women are treated
with a general brutality. Thrift is a thing unknown, and a life
spent in wandering is supported by food derived from animals,
reptiles, insects, roots, seeds, and leaves. The only dwellings,
and those of a temporary character, are "gunyahs" composed of
branches and boughs, or of sheets of bark stripped from the trees.
The skins of opossums and other animals form the only clothing
during the winter of colder districts. Spears, and clubs of solid
heavy timber, were the usual weapons for hunting and war, with
the famous and very ingenious boomerang, a missile of hard wood,
bent in a curve, flat on one side, convex on the other, with a sharp
edge along the convexity of the curve. Flung with the convex
edge forward and the flat side down, by a strong quick jerk, and
with a backward movement of the hand, the missile rises slowly in
the air, whirling round and round, and describing a curved line of
progress until it reaches a height of 50 or 60 yards, when it begins
to return, and finally alights near the thrower's feet or at some
yards in his rear. It is said that this surprising motion, unknown
in any other projectile, is produced by the action of the air on the
convex side, lifting the instrument by means similar to the wind's
action on the oblique bars in the sails of a mill. The sweep of the
boomerang can be varied at will, and no two paths of flight exactly
agree.

The number of the natives in the great island-continent was
always small, a fact mainly due to the aridity of the climate on all
but the eastern coast, and the consequent lack of food for people

AUSTRALIA: GENERAL DESCRIPTION. IOI

who knew not how to cultivate the soil. The estimates concerning
the number of those who were existing rather more than a century
ago, when the first European settlement arose, have varied between
one million and about a sixth of that number. It is supposed that
there may be about 200,000 at the present day, but it is certain
that they are rapidly diminishing and that the race will at no
distant time become extinct. Their history provides one of the
best and fullest illustrations of the principle embodied in the phrase
''survival of the fittest". The Australian aborigines, in contact
with British convicts, men steeped in every crime, and turned loose
in the land, became the victims, in the first place, of imported
cruelty and vice. When honest settlers arrived, and land was
occupied for tillage and sheep-farming, the natives, resenting the
seizure of soil which they regarded as their own, became cattle-
stealers, and thus incurred, in some places, partial or utter exter-
mination. Boomerang, waddy or club, and spear were no match
for firearms. When the animals on which they depended for food
were displaced by sheep and cattle, the blacks, in many cases,
became the creatures of the whites, the recipients of their charity,
hangers-on about townships and " stations ", eking out existence
by begging and doing odd jobs. The governments of the different
colonies have for many years shown a kindly spirit to the descend-
ants of the original possessors of the soil, making annual distributions
of blankets and other necessaries. Missionaries have, with little
success, striven to raise and enlighten outlying native tribes amidst
difficulties due to their low type of intellect, their wandering habits,
their traditional instincts, and the evil example too often set them
by the rougher settlers. The fondness for rum has had much to
do with degradation and diminution of the black-fellows and their
" gins ", loafing about hotels, clad in wonderful assortments of the
cast-off clothing of whites, and begging "bacca" and sixpences
from all comers. There are some who do good work as cattle-
men, shepherds, and general helps about the stations, and as
mounted troopers and trackers in the police-force many do splendid
service in hunting down criminals who have escaped to the bush.
The day is fast coming when, save for the presence of half-breeds,
the memory of the Australian natives will linger only in the liquid
music of the native names which everywhere dot the map of the
sunny southern land.

I02 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

CHAPTER II.
EXPLORATION.

Difficulties of Australian exploration Discoveries of Oxley and Allan Cunningham
of Ovens and Currie of Hume and Hovell Expeditions under Captain Sturt and
Major Mitchell A solitary dwelling Sufferings of an exploring party Expeditions
of Eyre, M'Millan, Leichhardt, and Kennedy John M'D. Stuart crosses the con-
tinent from south to north Tragical enterprise of Burke and Wills Relief party
sent under Alfred W. Howitt John King found among the natives Posthumous
honours accorded to Burke and Wills Expeditions under Landsborough and
M'Kinlay.

The history of Australian exploration is a record of man's
enterprise, suffering, and general success in conflict with the natural
obstacles presented by vast regions scantily furnished with food
and water, and only to be traversed by arduous exertion in tugging-
at the oar, or by toilsome marches over sandy or thorny or
" scrubby " deserts, under a burning sun, while horses and camels,
the only means of transport, perished from hunger and thirst, and
the hardy pioneers themselves sometimes encountered the same
terrible doom. The African explorer has found his chief enemies
in pestilential air, savage men, and ferocious beasts; the Australian
traveller, with some demands upon active courage in conflict with
human foes, has been usually called to simple, stern, endurance
under conditions of the most trying character. Leaving aside,
until we come to the history of New South Wales, the passage of
settlement beyond the Blue Mountains, we first note the discoveries
made by Oxley, Cunningham, Hume, and Hovell, between 1817
and 1828. John Oxley, a naval lieutenant who became Surveyor-
General of New South Wales in 1812, set out from Sydney in
April 1817, and in the course of a four months' journey traced the
course of the river Lachlan for about 500 miles, in a westerly
direction, until it was lost in a marshy region. Among the small
party of Oxley's comrades was the distinguished botanist Allan
Cunningham, to whom the world owes its first knowledge of Aus-
tralian flora. Born at Wimbledon, in Surrey, in 1791, and trained
at Kew Gardens for his scientific work, Cunningham, after a
botanical trip to South America, arrived at Sydney in 1814, and
died there a quarter of a century later, his health broken by the
hardships endured in his journeys of exploration. The walk of

EXPLORATION. IO3

many weeks along and around the course of the Lachlan included
a passage from hilly regions of woodland and rich meadow into a
more level country where tall mountain-trees gave place to stunted
shrubs, until the travellers came out on a great plain, filled with
dreary swamps, where the eye could see naught but a dismal sea
of waving reeds. The explorers changed their course only after
forcing their way for miles through the reeds and over oozy mud
into which they sank almost to the knees at every step. After
passing round the great swamp and again striking the course of
the river, a second marshy region compelled a return to the settled
country. In 1818 Oxley went over much of the course of the
Macquarie river, and discovered the river Hastings. In 1823,
the same explorer found the river which he named the Brisbane,
and Major Ovens and Captain Currie discovered the Murrum-
bidgee. In 1823 and 1827 Cunningham made his way to the
famous pastoral and tillage regions known as the Liverpool Plains
and the Darling Downs, thus opening up extensive and valuable
territory for the uses of the sheep-farmer and the agriculturist of
rising New South Wales.

Hamilton Hume and Captain Hovell were the first to explore
the noble country in the interior of what became the colony of
Victoria. Hume, described by an Australian historian as "a
splendid bushman", was born at Parramatta in 1797, and, having
a passion for exploration, and an intrepid, energetic, and determined
nature, he started as a traveller at seventeen years of age, ex-
ploring the Berrima district, and making, between 1816 and 1824,
many journeys inland, whereby he opened up the Yass and Goul-
burn Plains districts, with much other territory, and earned as his
reward a valuable grant of land. Hovell, born at Great Yarmouth
in 1786, and bred to the sea, was a bold and resolute man who
became a captain in the mercantile marine, and arrived at Sydney
in 1813, trading for some years on the coast and with New Zealand.
After some experience as an explorer in New South Wales, he
joined Hume, in October, 1824, as co-leader of a party of six
convict servants, with provisions carried in two carts drawn by
oxen. Setting out from Lake George, the travellers came to the
banks of the Murrumbidgee, then greatly swollen by recent rains.
A boat for transit was lacking, but Hume and one of the convicts
named Boyd swam the river, carrying a rope between their teeth.

I04 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The carts, loaded with the goods, were covered with tarpaulin and
then towed across; the other men and oxen, lastly, reached the
further bank by swimming. A region too rugged for the carts
compelled the adventurers to abandon them and load the oxen
with their provisions. The snow-capped peaks of the range after-
wards called the Australian Alps were seen as they travelled on
through hilly country, beneath the shade of wide-spread forests.
On November i;th, the river Murray was crossed at the site of
Albury by means of boats constructed, on the spot, of wickerwork
and covered with tarpaulin. The rivers Ovens and Goulburn
were next discovered and crossed, and after many weary days the
party came out at Port Phillip, on the south-east coast, at the
point where now stands the town of Geelong. Hume's careful
and sagacious observations of the route by which they had come
enabled him to lead the party rapidly and safely back to Sydney,
which was reached after an absence of sixteen weeks. The dis-
coveries made by Oxley, Cunningham, Hume, and Hovell had
greatly increased the knowledge of the interior, and subsequent
journeys were, for a time, divested of the keen interest with which
the settlers, eager to enlarge their pasture-grounds, regarded the
early efforts to find good land beyond the Great Dividing Range.

In the history of Australian exploration, a very high place
must be assigned to Captain Charles Sturt, who went out to
Sydney with his regiment, the 39th Foot, and was selected by
Governor Darling to head an expedition for further research in
the interior of New South Wales. There was a theory afloat
concerning the existence of a great central lake receiving the
waters of the Macquarie, Lachlan, Murrumbidgee, and other large
rivers, and it was desired to settle this question. With Hume as
second in command, two soldiers and six convicts, Sturt set forth
from Sydney in November, 1828, and made his way to the Mac-
quarie. A two-years' drought was found to have made its waters
too shallow for the portable boats, and the travellers trudged along
the banks of the stream until they reached the place where Oxley
had been stopped by the swampy region. A marsh, however, no
longer existed there. The heat had baked the clay hard, and
the far-stretching reeds were withered under the glare of the sun.
No exertion enabled the explorers to make much progress through
the reeds, where the hot and pestilent air was almost suffocating

EXPLORATION. 105

and the only sound heard was the bittern's distant boom. Striking
thence to the west, they came upon a plain and discovered, in
February, 1829, a river named by Sturt the Darling, in the
Governor's honour. After following its course for about 100
miles, the expedition returned to Sydney, with information that
dispelled all belief in a great inland sea. In 1830, Sturt, with a
party of eight convicts, and accompanied by Mr. (afterwards Sir
George) Macleay, embarked on the Murrumbidgee in a whale-boat,
and passing down to its junction with the Lachlan and then with
the Murray, was borne along the great river, discovering on the
way the mouth of the Darling. Rowing by day and encamping
by night on the river-banks, the party were exposed to some risk
from suspicious natives, who often gathered in crowds several
hundreds strong. Sturt, however, a man as kindly as he was
courageous, enterprising, and shrewd, one who, in his latest days,
could justly declare that he had never caused the death of a " black-
fellow ", kept the peace by his pleasant demeanour and tact.
When the twilight found the little encampment surrounded by
dark figures, the captain joined in their sports, and Macleay won
high favour by his comic songs, accompanied by gestures and
grimaces which raised roars of laughter from the dusky crowd.
The explorers, on the thirty-third day of their historic voyage,
reached a sheet of water 30 miles long and 15 wide, which Sturt
called Lake Alexandrina, after the princess who became Queen
Victoria. The passage to the ocean, at the southern end, was
blocked up by a great bar of sand, and the voyagers were forced
to turn their boat round and face the current of the Murray for a
return-journey of a thousand miles. Hard work with the oars, at
which Sturt took his full share of toil, was needed, and food was
failing as they entered the Murrumbidgee. The utmost hardship
was endured through labour, with scanty food, beneath the heat
of a midsummer sun, and they only reached settled districts and
received succour when some of the party were becoming insane
from physical suffering. We shall meet Sturt again in the course
of this narrative.

The next traveller who sought to fill up the blanks in the map
of Australia was Major (afterwards Sir Thomas Livingstone)
Mitchell, a native of Stirlingshire, who served in the Peninsular
War and became, in 1827, Surveyor-General of New South Wales.

I0 5 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

His first effort as an explorer, on an expedition starting from
Sydney in November, 1831, took him and some of his party of
fifteen convicts to the Darling. While the Major was ahead, his
camp of stores, in the rear, was surprised by the blacks, who
speared the two men left in charge, and carried off the cattle and
most of the goods. Lack of supplies soon compelled a return to
the coast. Again, in March, 1835, Mitchell started with a strong
party, but this attempt ended in a partial failure through native
hostility, causing the death by murder of Richard Cunningham, a
botanist like his brother Allan. Much territory had, however,
been examined between the Darling and Bogan rivers, and the
following March, 1836, saw the explorer again afoot towards the
Darling and the Murray. After traversing a great extent of new
country, and some fighting with the natives, Mitchell found and
named the Grampians, and the river Glenelg. On this the party
embarked in boats which they had carried with them. The
scenery along this stream was charming. From the banks hung
down luxuriant festoons of creepers, trailing amongst the eddies of
the current, and partly hiding beautiful grottos wrought out by
the action of the water on the pure white limestone. Through
verdant valleys and round hills of abrupt sides the river wound its
way until the voyagers towards the sea were stopped by the bar
at the mouth of the Glenelg. They had reached the coast near
Portland Bay, about 150 miles west of Port Phillip, and were
surprised to see a neat cottage on the shore, with a small schooner
in front at anchor. This was the lonely dwelling of the brothers
Henty, who had crossed from Tasmania and founded a whaling
station at Portland Bay. The magnificent country through which
Mitchell and his men had passed in this quarter was styled by the
discoverer " Australia Felix". The party then returned to Sydney
after a journey of 2400 miles, making great additions to geo-
graphical knowledge. Ten years later, this accomplished and
energetic man, knighted in 1839 and honoured by the University
of Oxford with the degree of D.C.L., passed far beyond the upper
Darling into a sub-tropical region, and discovered the Barcoo, or
Victoria, river. In its lower course this stream was called Cooper's
Creek by its discoverer in that region, Captain Sturt.

There are few things more strange and terrible in the history
of exploration than the hardships encountered by that great

EXPLORATION. IO/

traveller and his comrades in 1844 an< ^ the following year. Under
the auspices of Lord Stanley, the Colonial Secretary in England,
Sturt undertook to conduct an expedition to the heart of Aus-
tralia. In May, 1844, a well-equipped party of sixteen persons
under his command started from the banks of the Darling river,
near its junction with the Murray, and journeyed north-west as
far as Cooper's Creek. The draughtsman of the party was Mr. J.
M'Douall Stuart, who received, in this expedition, a splendid
training for his future work as an explorer. After leaving the
river-bank for the interior, through a dead level of desert, Sturt
came to the hills by him called Stanley Range, in the extreme
west of New South Wales, and now also known as the Barrier
Range, with the highest peak, Mount Lyell, reaching 2000 feet.
Great care was now needed in the advance through unknown
territory. The expedition included 1 1 horses, 30 bullocks, and
200 sheep, and water for so many mouths could with difficulty be
obtained. It was necessary for the leader always to ride forward
and find a " creek" or pond with a sufficient supply, as the next
place of encampment, before allowing the main body of men and
animals to quit the water which they had reached. During the
winter (our summer), some of the creeks were fairly supplied with
water, but the summer of 1844, one of the hottest in Australian
records, was upon them in October, and, while the burning sand
scorched the feet of the men, and split the horses' hoofs, the water
in every creek and pool was dried up. Death from thirst was
before the travellers when a creek was found in a rocky glen,
whose waters seemed to have a constant flow. For six months
Sturt and his men were forced to remain in this haven of refuge,
surrounded by country in which they could not move backwards
or forwards, or in any direction, from lack of water. The heat, some-
times rising to 130 degrees in the shade, became such as to dry
up the ink, split the combs, make the lead drop out of their
pencils, and render the finger-nails as brittle as glass. They were
at last compelled to excavate an underground chamber in order to
escape the furnace-glow on the surface. Mr. Poole, the surveyor,
died of scurvy, and all the members of the party had grown thin
and weak, when the winter-rains gave them release, and enabled
them to move forward to the north. Their journey ended in a
region covered with hills of red sand, amid lagoons of salt and

I0 g OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

bitter water. On the approach of summer, in the later months of
1845, the threatened lack of water compelled a return to Adelaide,
which was reached after an absence of nineteen months. In one of
the excursions made on this great journey, Sturt discovered the
fine river called Cooper's Creek. The daring and hardy explorer
suffered the loss of his eyesight from the glare of the burning

sands.

We now proceed to notice the famous names of Eyre, Leich-
hardt, M'Millan, and Kennedy. Mr. Edward John Eyre, born in
1815, son of a Yorkshire clergyman, emigrated to Sydney in 1833,
became a sheep-farmer on the lower course of the Murray, and
was appointed a magistrate and " Protector of Aborigines ".
Taking an interest in exploration, he was selected, in 1 840, by the
government of South Australia, to lead a party of five Europeans
and three natives into the interior. In June, a start was made
from Adelaide, with horses for transport and a small flock of sheep
for food. At the head of Spencer Gulf a three months' supply of
provisions was received from a vessel despatched for the purpose.
In the journey to the north, Lakes Torrens and Eyre were dis-
covered, reduced at that time by the previous summer's heat to
sheets of salt-encrusted mud. Lack of water compelled a return
to Spencer Gulf, and then an attempt was made to reach West
Australia along the sea-coast. With an Englishman named Baxter
and three blacks a start was made in March, 1841, and great toil
was endured in the scramble along the tops of rough cliffs from
300 to 600 feet above sea-level, with sandy desert stretching far
inland. Much suffering was due to scarcity of water; some of the
horses perished, and others were eaten as food fell short. Baxter
wished to return, but Eyre persisted, and the end came for the
former when two of the blacks, during Eyre's absence at night in
search of straying horses, shot his friend, plundered the stores,
and made their escape. The other black, Wylie, remained faith-
ful to Eyre, who was obliged to leave Baxter's body, wrapped in a
blanket, lying on rocky ground where no grave could be dug.
After many more weary days of travel towards King George's
Sound, Eyre and Wylie obtained fresh food and an eleven days'
welcome rest on board a French whaler that lay off the coast.
The travellers then, in three weeks' journey, made their way to the
little town of Albany, and returned by sea to Adelaide, where they

EXPLORATION. 1 09

arrived after an absence of more than twelve months. Eyre was
the first explorer who faced the dangers of the Australian desert.
Angus M'Millan, born in Skye in 1810, went to Sydney in 1830,
and became overseer on a brother Scot's station in New South
Wales. His services as an explorer include the first examination,
in 1840, of the fine country called Gippsland, in the south-east of
the colony of Victoria.

The discoveries made by Allan Cunningham had extended over
the northern parts of New South Wales and the southern districts
of Queensland. All the north-eastern parts of the continent were
still unexplored when an intrepid young Prussian botanist, Ludwig
Leichhardt, undertook the task, after four years' residence in New
South Wales. Starting from Brisbane in August, 1844, with a
party of six Europeans and two natives, he journeyed through a
country of noble forests and fine pasture-lands to the Gulf of
Carpentaria. Many large rivers the Fitzroy, the Burdekin, the
Mitchell, and the Gilbert with some of their tributaries, were
discovered and explored, and in December, 1845, after the loss of
one Englishman at the hands of natives, the party came out, in
what is now the " Northern Territory", at Port Essington, a fine
harbour in the centre of the northern coast, and thence took ship
for Sydney. The announcement of Leichhardt's discovery of so
much valuable territory was received with the utmost enthusiasm,
and the government awarded him the sum of ^1000, while ^1500,
raised by public subscription, was distributed among his followers.
In the first days of 1848, Leichhardt again set out from Moreton
Bay, with a small party of Europeans and two blacks, intending to
devote two years to a journey of exploration, through the centre of
the continent, to the Swan River. In a few weeks' time a letter
was received at Sydney, dated by the explorer from a point about
300 miles west of Brisbane. Leichhardt therein described himself
as in good spirits and full of hope, and purposing to strike north-
wards to the Gulf of Carpentaria and thence west and south-west
for the Swan River. From that time to the present day nothing
has ever been heard of Leichhardt or his comrades. All expedi-
tions sent in search of traces, the last despatched in 1865 at the
cost of the ladies of Melbourne, utterly failed in their object.
Edmund Kennedy, second in command of Major Mitchell's ex-
pedition in 1845, was another brave man who lost his life in the

no OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

cause of Australian exploration. After Mitchell's return, he had
remained to prove that the Barcoo or Victoria river was only the
higher part of Cooper's Creek, which, after a course of about 1 200
miles, loses its waters in the broad marshes of Lake Eyre. In
1848, Kennedy was sent to survey the country in York Peninsula,
and, starting with twelve men from Rockingham Bay, in the north
of Queensland, he encountered great difficulties in the tropical
region which was traversed. Dense jungles of prickly shrubs
impeded the course and lacerated the flesh of the travellers, and
vast swamps had to be rounded, or crossed with much risk and
delay. Kennedy, desiring to avoid these hardships save for him-
self and three of the party, left eight of his comrades at Weymouth
Bay, intending to call for them on his way back in the schooner
that was to meet him at Cape York. Within a few miles of that
point, one of the party, accidentally wounded by a gun-shot, was left
behind under the care of two of the white men, and the leader,
with his faithful black servant, Jackey, started to obtain help from
the schooner. Their steps were closely followed by a tribe of
natives, lurking among the forest-trees, and Kennedy, in spite of
the utmost watchfulness, at last fell pierced from behind by a spear.
A shot from Jackey caused the flight of the blacks, and then the
native servant, weeping bitterly as he held up his dying master's
head, received his papers and last commands. After laying the
body in a shallow grave, dug with a tomahawk among the trees,
and covered with branches, Jackey proceeded along a creek, walk-
ing with his head alone above water, to the schooner at the Cape.
This was one of the most tragical of exploring adventures in
Australian history. The man wounded by a gun-shot, and the
two left behind with him, were never seen or heard of again by
Europeans; and the eight men left at Weymouth Bay, after much
trouble with the natives, had been reduced, by starvation and
disease, to only two before relief arrived.

For many other exploring expeditions we must refer our readers
to the works on Australasia above named, or to special books on
Australian exploration, or to the magnificent three-volume Pictur-
esque Atlas of Australasia, edited by Dr. Garran, Member of the
Legislative Council of New South Wales. We cannot, however,
dismiss this subject without some account of Stuart, Burke, and
Wills. John M'Douall Stuart arrived in South Australia in 1839,

EXPLORATION. 1 1 1

and acquired, as we have seen, valuable "bush" experience, in
1844, as draughtsman with Captain Sturt's expedition. In 1859
he was employed by a number of " squatters " in South Australia
to search out new land for the flocks and herds, and finding a
passage between Lakes Eyre and Torrens, he discovered a fine
pastoral territory beyond the desert which Eyre had failed to
penetrate. In the meantime, the South Australian government
offered a reward of ^2000 to the first man who should succeed in
traversing the continent from south to north. Stuart resolved to
attempt the feat, and in 1 860, with but two companions, he travelled
from Adelaide to within 400 miles of Van Diemen's Gulf on the
north coast, when hostile natives compelled the party to return.
On the way he discovered and named the hill called Central Mount
Stuart, and planted the British flag on its summit, within two miles
of the exact centre of the continent, in 21 50' south latitude and
133 30' east longitude. In January, 1861, he was again in the
field for a second attempt, and, following exactly the same route,
with twelve comrades, he arrived within 250 miles of his destin-
ation, when return was forced on him by lack of food. In 1862, a
third enterprise, along the same course, was crowned with success,
and Stuart reached Van Diemen's Gulf on July 24th, having
rendered to Australia the distinguished service of marking out the
practicable route across the continent, through a fairly continuous,
if narrow, belt of upland and stream, which was used, ten years
later, for the great line of trans- Australian telegraph wires. He
returned to Adelaide to find that he was not the first man who had
crossed the continent from south to north. He entered the capital
of South Australia, by a remarkable coincidence, on the very day
when Hewitt's mournful party arrived there, on their way to Mel-
bourne, bearing the remains of Burke and Wills, who had all but
reached the Gulf of Carpentaria in February, 1861. The South
Australian government, however, gave pleasure to all admirers of
heroism and perseverance by paying over to Stuart the promised
reward, with a large grant of land for seven years rent-free, in con-
sideration of the courage which had been displayed, and of his
nearness to success in the two first expeditions. The Home
Government, in consequence of Stuart's success, placed the
Northern Territory under the control of South Australia. The
great explorer was further rewarded with the gold medal of the

II2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Royal Geographical Society, who also presented him with a watch.
He returned to England and died there in June, 1869.

The most tragical enterprise in all Australian exploration was
that conducted by Burke and Wills. On August 2Oth, 1860, a long
train of explorers and their baggage-animals set out from the Royal
Park of Melbourne, with the leader, Robert O'Hara Burke, heading
the procession on a small gray horse. The expedition was com-
posed of fourteen persons, including Mr. G. J. Landells as second
in command, W. J. Wills as surveyor and astronomer, T. Beckler
as medical officer and botanist, L. Becker as artist and natu-
ralist, and nine assistants in various capacities. The most inter-
esting and remarkable feature in the procession was the twenty-
seven camels, animals now first seen in Australia, expressly brought
from India by Landells, with John King, a young Irish soldier of
the yoth Foot, and three Hindoo drivers. There were also twenty-
three horses, with forage, wagons, food, stores, and medicine.
Never was any expedition more completely organized, and never
did any body of men go forth with better prospects of success.
The heavy charges, amounting to over ,13,000, were borne by the
Victorian Government, the Royal Society (then the " Philosophical
Institute ") of Victoria, and by private subscribers, the chief of
whom, to the amount of ^1000, was Mr. Ambrose Kyte, a Mel-
bourne citizen. Burke, born in co. Galway, Ireland, in 1821,
belonged to a younger branch of the famous Burkes or De Burghs.
After education in Belgium, he entered the Austrian army and
attained the rank of captain. In 1848 he joined the Royal Irish Con-
stabulary, and in 1853 he emigrated to Tasmania, whence he flitted
to Victoria, and became an inspector of police. William John Wills,
son of a medical man at Totnes, in Devonshire, was born there in
1834, and emigrated to Victoria in 1852, becoming first a shepherd,
then a surveyor, and finally assistant to Professor Neumayer at
Melbourne Observatory. The party left the Park at Melbourne,
after a short speech from the Mayor, wishing them God-speed.
The explorers gave a final hand-shake to their friends, and then,
amid the ringing cheers of thousands of spectators, the long and
picturesque line moved forward. The instructions furnished to
Burke directed him to make Cooper's Creek his base of operations;
to form a depot there, and then to explore the country lying between
that and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The journey through the settled

EXPLORATION. 113

country, as far as the Murrumbidgee, passed without notable incident.
Then the long series of misfortunes and mistakes began. On the
banks of the river, quarrels arose. Landells resigned his post, and
returned to Melbourne with several members of the party. An
unhappy choice of a substitute for Landells then gave charge of the
camels to a most incompetent and dilatory man named Wright,
a plausible person picked up by Burke at a sheep-station on the
Darling river. On October iQth, Burke, Wills, and six men, including
John King, with half the camels and horses, set out from Menindie,on
the Darling, leaving Wright behind with instructions to follow them
up in due course. On November nth, the advance-party were at
Cooper's Creek, where they found fine pastures and plenty of water.
After a long wait, Wright did not appear, and Burke resolved to push
forward for the sea on the north. Four men, with six camels and
twelve horses, were left behind at Cooper's Creek, with instructions
to remain there for three months, and on December i6th, 1860,
Burke and Wills, with John King and another man named Gray,
set forth into the wilds, with some horses and camels, carrying
provisions intended to last for three months. We quit them for the
moment to note, without comment, the simple fact that Wright, left
at Menindie on October igth, did not move forward from that place
until January 27th, 1861, and did not arrive at Cooper's Creek until
early in May, having lost, on the way, Becker, the artist and natu-
ralist, and two other men, by death from scurvy. The four men
left behind at Cooper's Creek on December i6th, 1860, after waiting
the return of Burke and Wills for four months and four days, quitted
the depot on April 2ist, 1861, meeting Wright as he slowly came
forward to the Creek.

We now give details of the suffering that befell Burke, Wills,
King, and Gray as they pushed across the continent with what one
historian describes as " heroic determination and injudicious speed".
It is believed that Burke, at Menindie, had received some hint of
M'Douall Stuart's intended expedition, and was eager to anticipate
him in the achievement of crossing Australia from south to north.
However that may be, it is certain that the haste of the journey
had something to do, in the physical exhaustion which it produced,
with the tragical result. On January 7th, 1861, they came within
the tropics, and on February loth, after passing through forests of
boxwood, alternating with plains well-watered and richly covered

VOL. VI. 140

II4 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

with grass, the party came to the banks of the Flinders river, and,
with their provisions now more than half exhausted, hurried on
towards the sea, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, with such speed that
some camels died of fatigue. Burke and Wills, leaving King and
Gray behind, pressed on, with only one horse to carry a small
supply of food. The horse was soon left behind, inextricably
bogged in swampy ground, and, when they were at last almost
without provisions, the explorers had to return, from the tidal part
of the river, without actually having sight of the sea. Half-starved,
Wills and Burke rejoined Gray and King, and the four men slowly
moved southwards, greatly weakened by the previous hasty travel
under a tropical sun. The provisions began to fail towards the end
of March, and the flesh of a camel and a horse were consumed.
On April i6th Gray died of exhaustion, and the other three could
scarcely totter along. Five days later, Burke, Wills, and King
reached the dep6t at Cooper's Creek, to find the place deserted, as
we saw above. On a tree was the direction cut, " Dig three feet
westward", and a chest was found, with a small supply of food, and
a letter stating that the party had left that very morning. Nothing
more pitiful can be conceived than the succession of mistakes and
mishaps which ensued. The party going southwards from Cooper's
Creek moved in so leisurely a fashion that, if Burke, Wills, and
King, after their hearty supper on the food from the chest, and
a night's rest, had hurried on, they would easily have overtaken
their comrades. On the other hand, if Burke and his two com-
panions had stayed on, with a view to complete restoration of their
strength, for some days less than three weeks at Cooper's Creek,
living, as a last resource, on the flesh of the two camels there found,
they would have been rescued by the arrival of the other party
from the south. These men, after meeting Wright and his people
from Menindie, returned with them to Cooper's Creek, in the hope
of finding Burke, Wills, and their other two comrades. The depot
was reached on May 8th, but no thought was taken about digging
to see if the chest had been disturbed. Had this been done, a letter
from Burke would have been found stating the course pursued.
The luckless three, Burke, Wills, and King, could then have been
followed, overtaken, and saved. The party led by Wright, seeing
no cause for further delay, and believing that the others had perished
on the northern journey, finally left Cooper's Creek for home.

EXPLORATION. IIS

On April 24th, the three men, Burke and his comrades, started
down Cooper's Creek, making for a large sheep-station on the
road to Adelaide, now a much nearer point than Melbourne. This
plan, on which Burke insisted, was adopted with fatal results. Wills
had strongly urged a return to Melbourne, by way of Menindie, on
the Darling, for, as he said, "we know the road, and are sure of water
all the way". It is obvious that they would thus have met Wright's
party. The point at which they were first aiming was Mount Hope-
less, where the sheep-station lay. They came into a fearfully barren
country, following the creek until it was lost in marshes. The two
camels were killed for food, and the doomed travellers, daily growing
weaker, gave in at last and retraced their steps when they were
within 50 miles of Mount Hopeless, and would have seen its
summit peering above the horizon, if they had gone a few miles
further. The party again reached the fresh water and grassy banks
of Cooper's Creek, at a point away from the depot, with provisions
for only a day or two left, and then Burke and King set out to find a
native encampment. They were successful in this search, and, after
a kindly reception, were shown how to prepare for food the seeds
of a plant called nardoo. With this information they returned to
Wills, and for a few days the three men just sustained life in this
fashion. On May 3Oth, at Burke's suggestion, Wills made his
way back to the depot on Cooper's Creek, but saw no traces of
the recent visit made by Wright's party. On his way back to
rejoin Burke and King, he fell in with a native camp and had a
good feast of fish, being kindly treated for four days until his
strength was somewhat restored. He then set out to bring his
friends to enjoy the same hospitality, but he was some days in
reaching them, and when, with journeying made slow by weakness,
the three arrived at the place, the natives had gone elsewhere.
For a short time longer, the unhappy men struggled to sustain life
on the very short supplies of nardoo seed which their lack of skill
and their weakness permitted them to prepare. The diary kept
by Wills has shorter and shorter entries: the fight with starvation
needs all his little strength. " His legs", we learn, " become so
weak that he can barely crawl out of the hut." " Unless relief
comes, he cannot last more than a fortnight." Then his mind
seems to wander, and frequent blunders occur. The last words
written by the dying man were that "he was waiting; like Mr.

Il6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Micawber, for something to turn up, and that, though starving on
nardoo seed was by no means unpleasant, yet he would prefer
to have a little fat and sugar mixed with it". With such serene
heroism and humorous spirit did Wills face death incurred in the
cause of Australian exploration. The end, for him, was now close
at hand. The inclemency of winter, at its height for Australia in
the month of June, and the lack of protection in scanty clothes,
had combined with starvation and fatigue to wear out the last
remnant of physical strength. Burke, in desperation, set out with
King to find a party of natives as the last resource against death
from hunger. They laid Wills down gently within the hut, placing
at his side nardoo-cake enough to last him for some days. He
then gave his watch to Burke and a letter addressed to his father,
and the two men, pressing his hands, saw him alive for the last
time. In the utter silence of the wilds, the brave man drew his
last breath, on some day in the last week of June, 1861. Two
days later, Burke lay down and died of exhaustion, after handing
his watch and pocket-book to King, for his friends in Melbourne,
and, at his desire, the body was left lying on the ground, with a
pistol in the right hand. King, stumbling on, came upon a native
encampment where the blacks, by neglect, had left a bag of nardoo,
sufficient to last one man for a fortnight. He returned to the hut
where Wills had been left, found him dead, and buried his body in
the sand. He then set forth with his only chance of life depen-
dent on meeting with some friendly natives.

We must now see what was occurring in Melbourne, many
hundreds of miles from these scenes of suffering and death.
About the middle of June, Wright's party reached the Darling
river, and sent despatches to the Exploration Committee in Mel-
bourne, explaining the position of affairs. Five relief parties,
when the news was spread abroad, were sent out from the different
colonies. Victoria, by good right, was first in the field, and it was
her expedition that succeeded in the object which all had in view.
The father of Wills was anxious himself to conduct a search-
party, but the command of the expedition starting from Melbourne
was given to Mr. Alfred William Howitt, afterwards Secretary for
Mines in Victoria. This son of William and Mary Howitt, the
charming writers on rural English subjects, had already won repu-
tation as a fearless, able, and energetic bushman. With a strong

KING WATCHING THE LAST MOMENTS OF BURKE.

There are few more tragic chapters in the whole history of exploration
than that relating to the expedition sent out from Melbourne in 1860,
under Robert O'Hara Burke, to make the journey from the south of
Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Subsidized by the Victorian Govern-
ment, and liberally equipped in every respect, it started with excellent
prospects of success; but various causes combined to make it a series of
disasters. Cooper's Creek in the interior was taken as a base of operations,
and starting from thence Burke and Wills (his second in command) were
able to reach the northern coast district. On returning to their depot,
along with King, who had only gone part of the distance, they found it
deserted by the party whom they had left. They then ill-advisedly set out
in the direction of the South Australian settlements, but were compelled to
return by want of water, and the friendly help of some natives only served
to prolong for a little the sufferings of two of them. First Wills and then
Burke succumbed; but King was rescued by Hewitt's relief expedition in
September, 1861. The object of the expedition had been partially ac-
complished, for the ill-fated men had crossed Australia from south to north,
and had all but reached the sea, having traversed a great extent of country
previously unknown.

(83)

>. v'C^.iif -lodv; adr ni s-oJ^.;-b

WAL. PAGET.

KING WATCHING THE LAST MOMENTS OF BURKE.

EXPLORATION. 1I/

party of assistants, Howitt arrived at the oft-named depot on
Cooper's Creek, on September 8th, 1861. On a Sunday morning,
just a week later, the searchers were going along the banks of a
creek, when they came upon a party of natives among whom was
an emaciated white man. He said, in reply to a question from
Mr. Welch, the surveyor to the relief expedition, "Who, in the
name of wonder, are you?" " I am King, sir, the last man
of the exploring expedition." He told his story, and it was
then found that he had been living among the aborigines
since the middle of July. The remains of Wills and Burke were
then found and decently buried, and the kindly blacks were re-
warded by presents of knives, tomahawks, necklaces, mirrors, and
other articles. Gay pieces of ribbon were fastened round the
black heads of the children, and the whole tribe moved away
rejoicing in the fifty pounds of sugar distributed among them.
The expedition, accompanied by King, arrived back in Melbourne
on November 28th, 1861. Public feeling demanded the recovery
of the bodies of Burke and Wills, and a second expedition, also
under Mr. Howitt, brought them to the capital of Victoria in the
last days of 1862. A lying-in-state for twenty days, and a public
funeral on January 2ist, 1863, were the last honours accorded to
the two brave explorers, save the colossal joint statues modelled
and cast in bronze by the hands of Charles Summers, the eminent
Melbourne sculptor, and erected afterwards in that city, with a
plinth commemorating, in bronze bas-reliefs, the more important
incidents of their wanderings. At the little Devonshire town on
the mid-course of the beautiful river Dart, an obelisk does honour
to her distinguished son, the gallant and gentle Wills. A pension
was bestowed on Wills' mother by the Victorian government, and
sums of money were awarded to his sisters. King also received a
handsome pension until his death in 1872, and Burke's nearest
of kin had good awards of public funds. In concluding the
subject of Australian exploration, we may note the services
rendered by other expeditions in search of Burke and Wills, under
Landsborough from Queensland, and M'Kinlay from South Aus-
tralia. Great additions were made to public knowledge of the
interior of the continent, and large areas of country, previously
believed to be deserts, were opened up for pastoral settlement.

Ilg OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

CHAPTER III.

NEW SOUTH WALES. HISTORY FROM 1801 TO 1851.

Administration of Governor King Progress of the Colony The New South Wales

Corps Governor Bligh deposed Improvements under Governor Macquarie

Exploration across the Blue Mountains Sir Thomas M. 'Brisbane and Sir Ralph
Darling, governors The Bush-ranging Act passed Popular rule of Governor
Bourke His new arrangements for the sale of land Systematic transportation
abolished Agitation for representative institutions William C. Wentworth and
Dr. Lang A popular Legislative Council established Financial depression under
Governor Gipps A new trade introduced Mr. Wakefield's system of industrial
emigration Improved condition of the colony A new constitution granted Dis-
covery of gold in 1851 Researches of Count de Strzelecki and Mr. Clarke the
" father of Australian geology " Mr. Edward H. Hargraves, the pioneer of gold-
mining in the colony The gold-fever described Methods of obtaining the gold
Rapid rise of towns Measures adopted to preserve law and order.

We resume the history of New South Wales with the appoint-
ment, at the close of the year 1800, of Captain King as Governor.
We have seen this able and energetic man as founder, in 1788, of
the first settlement at Norfolk Island, whence he was summoned
to take charge of the Australian colony, still chiefly composed of
convicts hard to control, and almost impossible to reform into
industry and good conduct. During his five years' tenure of
office much progress was made in agricultural affairs. The pro-
duction of wool was extending, and fresh land was being taken up
by settlers on the fertile banks of the Hawkesbury and Nepean
rivers. Sydney Cove received shipping from all parts of the
world, and vessels were fitted out for whaling and sealing in the
southern seas. Schools and churches were built, but the moral and
material progress of the colony was much checked by the baneful
influence exerted by the officers of the New South Wales Corps
through their practical monopoly of articles of merchandise, and
especially through their sale of rum to the emancipated convicts
and the immigrants. In 1806, when King left New South Wales,
the population was nearly 10,000, of whom above half were adult
males, and 1700 adult females. Of the 166,000 acres of occupied
land, about 12,000 were being tilled, and 145,000 were under
pasture. The live stock of the colonists comprised over 2000
horned cattle, 10,000 sheep, 500 horses, 7000 pigs and 2000 goats,
these figures including Van Diemen's Land and Norfolk Island.

NEW SOUTH WALES. 1 19

Works for spinning- wool and flax had been started; coal had
been found at the place thence called Newcastle, at the mouth of
the Hunter river, and salt was being made in "pans" there and
at Sydney. The colony of Australia was thus fairly launched on
her career. The governorship of King's successor, Captain Bligh,
from August 1806 to January 1808, may be briefly despatched.
This man was the notorious person whose brutal severity as
captain caused the mutiny on board the Bounty frigate in 1789.
He was not without kindly feeling, and received the special thanks
of the home authorities for his exertions in alleviating, in 1806,
the distress of settlers in the Hawkesbury district who were ruined
by a flood. He was, however, devoid of tact and conciliation, and
his severe methods of rule, applied not only to the convicts, but
to the free settlers, soon caused great discontent. It is certain,
on the other hand, that the hostility of the officers of the New
South Wales Corps was largely due to his prompt and summary
measures in dealing with their iniquitous trade in rum. At last,
early in 1808, he was deposed by the use of military force, and
permitted to go to Tasmania, whence he returned to England.
Major Johnstone, the commandant of the Corps, and ringleader
in the movement for ridding the colony of Bligh, was dismissed
from the service, and on January ist, 1810, Colonel (afterwards
Major-General) Lachlan Macquarie, of the 73rd Regiment, took
up his duties as Governor.

Macquarie's twelve years of rule were distinguished by vigorous
and successful efforts to improve the means of internal communica-
tion and to develop the resources of the country. It was he who
built the first lighthouse, that at the South Head; he established
a market at Parramatta, founded the towns of Bathurst and New-
castle, laid the foundation-stone of the first public school, and
built the first Benevolent Asylum. It may be fairly said that,
under his auspices, New South Wales was transformed from a
penal settlement into a colony, and financial progress is evinced by
the foundation of the first banking institution, the Bank of New
South Wales. Macquarie's main achievement was that of ex-
panding the bounds by the construction of a road across the Blue
Mountains, the practical demolition of the barrier which had
hitherto hemmed in the free settlers, and shut them out from the
rich near interior of the great land where " The world was all '

120 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence
their guide ". The governor's chief delight lay in making roads.
On his arrival in the colony, he found existing but forty-five
miles of what were little better than bush-tracks; when he quitted
his post, over 300 miles of substantial roads stretched in all direc-
tions from Sydney. Many persons had in vain striven to cross
the Blue Mountains. The only one who had succeeded in
penetrating far into the wild, rugged region was a gentleman
named Caley, who stopped at the edge of a precipice which he
could find no way of descending. In 1813, Lieutenant Lawson,
accompanied by two settlers named Blaxland and Wentworth,
with four servants, horses, and dogs, made a new attempt at
exploration in that difficult country. Starting on May nth, with
provisions for six weeks, the adventurous party went into the
ranges, cleared their way through thick "scrub", clambered up
and down precipitous places, passed over gloomy chasms and
through thickly-wooded ravines, and in twenty days' time, after
a journey of fifty miles, they reached fine grass-land and then
returned to Sydney. On the way back, they found that by
keeping on the crest of a long spur, the passage through the
mountains could be far more easily made, and the Governor, on
their report, caused the pass to be carefully surveyed. On receipt
of a favourable opinion, Macquarie ordered the work to be at once
taken in hand by convict labour. Through fifty miles of rugged
country, where many chasms had to be bridged, and solid rock to
be cut away, the construction of a road went on, and in less than
15 months a good carriage highway from Sydney, across the Blue
Mountains, to the beautiful plains on the west, enabled the
Governor to take Mrs. Macquarie on a trip to the fine pasture-
lands where he founded a settlement and named it Bathurst, after
Lord Bathurst, Secretary of State. Many squatters quickly
emerged from the limited space between Sydney and the sea,
and, driving their flocks and herds before them, settled down in
the fine district of the Macquarie and Lachlan rivers. This great
work was finished in April, 1815.

We may here observe that Macquarie adopted the policy of
administering New South Wales mainly as a convict settlement,
the purport of which was to reform the prisoners and enable them
to rise. After serving his sentence, or receiving a pardon, a con-

NEW SOUTH WALES. 121

vict was to be admitted on equal terms into society and the public
service. The free settlers were offended at this conduct of affairs,
and an inquiry made by a Special Commissioner led to Macquarie's
recall in 1821. Circumstances had been too strong for the
Governor's views as to the purpose for which territory had been
occupied in New South Wales. The cessation, in 1815, of the
great war which had continued, with little intermission, from the
first establishment of the colony, gave the people of Great Britain
leisure to think about their possessions in Australasia, and, in
spite of Macquarie's quiet and persistent discouragement of
immigration, free settlers continued to arrive and to occupy land.

Macquarie's successor, who became General Sir Thomas Mac-
dougall Brisbane, Baronet, G.C.B., was descended from an ancient
Ayrshire family, and served with high distinction under Wellington
in the Peninsular War. He made his four years' tenure of office
memorable by the encouragement of immigration, and by the aid
which he rendered to settlers in grants of land, and in the assign-
ment to them, as servants, of as many convicts as they were able
to employ. The colony thus grew fast in the possession of rich
flocks and herds, and, while the area of cleared land was doubled,
and the export of wool multiplied fivefold, the moral condition of
affairs was improved by the breaking-up of the costly government
farms, and the scattering among the free settlers of the convicts
who had once lived together in large numbers. This Governor
also introduced good breeds of horses at his own expense. He
was not successful in acquiring popularity, or in his financial
administration, and the fine old soldier, a man of the highest
character, and, as we shall see, of no mean acquirements in science,
was recalled in 1825. We must note an important change, due to
the home government, in the grant of some constitutional rule, in
place of the former arbitrary sway of governors responsible only
to the Colonial Office in London. An Act of 1823 created a
Legislative Council of seven members, including the chief officials.
These members were nominated by the Crown, but this measure
was really the dawn of freedom for British subjects in Aus-
tralasia.

From December 1825 till 1831, the post of Governor was held
by another military man, Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Darling, G.C.B.,
a martinet of painfully precise and methodical habits, with a devo-

I22 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

tion to minute details which caused neglect of more important
affairs. He became very unpopular through his despotic proceed-
ings, and consequent embroilment with the public press, and his
difficulties were enhanced by a depressed state of agricultural and
financial affairs, due to a long period of drought, and to a mania
for speculative joint-stock companies. In 1828, an Act of the
British Parliament enlarged the Legislative Council to fifteen
members. The Bush-ranging Act, passed by the Council in 1830,
dealt with a great and growing evil, under which, in the Bathurst
district, a party of over fifty escaped convicts fought a pitched
drawn battle with a large body of settlers. The police were then
attacked by the desperate ruffians, and some of them were killed.
After another indecisive conflict, the whole gang were forced to
surrender to soldiers of the 3Qth Regiment sent from Sydney.
Ten of the prisoners were hanged, and a most salutary effect was
produced by severe measures of repression which included the
arrest, without warrant, of suspected persons; the use of search-
warrants for arms concealed in houses, and the execution, on the
third day after conviction, of robbers and house-breakers.

The rule of General Sir Richard Bourke, K.C.B., from 1831 to
1837, was a notable period in the history of the rising colony.
Warmly welcomed by those who had suffered, as they declared in
their address, from " an inveterate system of misgovernment ", the
new administrator of affairs so acquitted himself that the colonists,
for years after his departure, used to talk of him as "good old
Governor Bourke ". This most able and popular of all the Sydney
governors, a man full of energy, and endowed with sound judgment,
firmness of character, and a frank and hearty manner, was an Irish
land-owner and Peninsular veteran who had already gained two
years' experience as Lieut-Governor of the Cape of Good Hope.
His services are stated in eulogistic terms on the monument erected
to his memory at Sydney. We there learn that he was the first
who systematically applied the vast resources of the colony to the
benefit of the people; that he was the first governor to publish
satisfactory accounts of public receipts and expenditure; that he
vastly increased the revenue, and used the surplus to promote
immigration; that he established religious equality on a just and
firm basis, and sought to provide for all, without distinction of sect,
a sound and adequate system of national education ; that he founded

NEW SOUTH WALES. 123

savings-banks; was the warm friend of the liberty of the press;
extended trial by jury; and by these and many other measures for
the moral, religious, and general improvement of all classes, raised
the colony to unexampled prosperity. One of Bourke's most
important services was connected with the land question. The
system of free grants had been attended with many abuses. People
having influence with the Sydney officials soon found themselves
possessors of a portion of the soil; other immigrants of the best
quality for a new country met with much difficulty and delay. The
new arrangement of affairs provided for the sale by auction of all
vacant land in settled districts, at an upset price of five shillings
per acre. The large sum of money yearly received from the sale
of land enabled the government to resume the practice, which had
been laid aside in 1818, of assisting poor people in the British Isles
to emigrate to Australia. At the same time, squatters who had
settled beyond the surveyed districts, and had no legal title to
their sheep-runs, were secured in the peaceable occupation of land
by the payment of a moderate rent, proportioned to the number of
sheep which their holdings could support. This tenancy was to
continue until such time as the land might be required for sale,
and the new regulation did much for the stability of " squatting "
interests in New South Wales. The close of Governor Bourke's
tenure of office is of much interest as nearly coinciding with the
accession of Queen Victoria. The progress of the colony which
he had so well ruled is proved by the facts that, on his resignation
in December, 1837, the population had grown to nearly 77,000
persons, of whom over 25,000 were male, and over 2500, female
convicts, either under punishment or who had served their sen-
tence; the imports much exceeded a million sterling in value, and
the exports were approaching ,700,000.

Early in 1838 a new Governor arrived in Sir George Gipps,
another Peninsular veteran, a man of great ability and most upright
character, very diligent in business and devoted to the welfare of
those whom he ruled, but rendered somewhat unpopular by an
imperious and arbitrary method of advancing to the goal which he
had in view. In 1838 came the cessation of the system of assign-
ing convicts as servants to settlers, and two years later an Order
in Council abolished systematic transportation to the colony, though
it was not finally extinguished until some years later. The rising

,24 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

free community had long been demanding representative institutions,
tne leaders in this agitation being those distinguished Australian
patriots and political pioneers, William Charles Wentworth and
Dr. Lang. Wentworth, son of a Dublin surgeon who became
medical officer at Norfolk Island, was born there in 1793, and,
after early education in England, went out to Sydney and, as we
have seen, joined Blaxland and Lawson in the successful attempt
to cross the Blue Mountains. He then returned to England,
published a work on New South Wales, and went through the
curriculum of Cambridge University, where, in 1823, he was placed
second to the brilliant Winthrop Mackworth Praed in competition
for the Chancellor's Medal for an English poem on "Australasia".
In 1824, Mr. Wentworth joined the Sydney bar, practised with
great success, went largely into "squatting", started the Australian
newspaper, and, having established his reputation as a speaker and
writer, became the leading man in the " Patriotic Association ",
which was formed to promote the claims of the colonists to civil
and political privileges similar to those enjoyed by other British
subjects. Always the fearless opponent of the arbitrary rule of
some of the military Governors, Wentworth, in 1830, at a public
meeting in Sydney, carried an amendment to an address of con-
gratulation to William the Fourth on his accession, and in addition
to the stereotyped loyal phrases, called for the extension " to the
only colony of Britain bereft of the rights of Britons, of a full parti-
cipation of the benefits and privileges of the British Constitution ".
John Dunmore Lang, born at Greenock in 1799, graduated at
Glasgow University, and received the degree of D.D. in 1825.
Two years prior to this he had become minister of the Scottish
National Church in Sydney, where he received a warm welcome
from his fellow-countrymen, and had the honour of introducing the
Presbyterian church and school system into Australia His dis-
tinguished career did not end until August, 1878, when he was
accorded the tribute of a public funeral. This very able, public-
spirited, liberal-minded, energetic and disinterested citizen of New
South Wales was an ardent supporter of immigration, making
frequent visits to England in that behalf, and in 1836 he took out
thence a supply of suitable ministers for the Presbyterian Church,
with schoolmasters and other settlers, numbering with their families
about three hundred persons.

NEW SOUTH WALES. 125

It was in 1842 that the efforts of Wentworth, Lang, and their
supporters met with some success. An Act was passed, and on
January ist, 1843, the measure came into force which provided for
the establishment of a Legislative Council of 36 members, of whom
six were to be officials, six nominees of the Governor, and twenty-four
appointed by popular election. Lang and Wentworth were, of
course, among the first representatives elected by the people to the
Council which met in Sydney in the following August, Mr. Robert
Lowe (long afterwards Viscount Sherbrooke) being one of the
Crown nominees. The Port Phillip district, for which Dr. Lang
was one of six members thereto assigned, soon began to agitate for
the separation which was, as we shall see, carried into effect some
years later. It was the fate of Governor Gipps to incur unpopu-
larity among colonists suffering from troubles largely due to their
own imprudence. From 1841 to 1846, when he left the colony,
there was severe financial depression caused by previous exces-
sive speculation in land; by the loss of funds from the home-country
once expended on the convict-system; and by the substitution of
paid free labour for that of the convicts. Trade and industry were
in a state of collapse; property in land and stock fell greatly in
value, and the Bank of Australia failed, with liabilities reaching
a quarter of a million. Some relief was afforded by a colonial law
which legalized liens on wool and mortgages of stock, and by
measures in aid of the shareholders of the bank, who, under
unlimited liability, were threatened with ruin. In this time ol
trouble, when squatters were forced to sell their sheep in a glutted
market, so that animals which had been bought for 305. were gladly
disposed of for is. 6d. y and a large flock was sold in Sydney at
sixpence per head, an ingenious settler did far more than any legis-
lative devices to restore prosperity to the afflicted colonists. Mr.
O'Brien, a squatter on the river Yass, about 200 miles south-west
of Sydney, discovered that sheep could be turned to other uses than
for wool and food. In the fashion long pursued in Russia, he boiled
down the carcases of his sheep for the fat, and thus started a large
and lucrative trade in tallow, of which each animal produced about
six shillings' worth. An export trade to Europe arose, and tallow,
with the hides of cattle, became a regular source of colonial wealth.

In 1846 Sir George Gipps, glad to retire from a harassing
task, was succeeded by Sir Charles Fitzroy, a man of good temper,

I26 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

moderation, and tact, who had acquired previous experience in
colonial rule as Governor of Prince Edwards Island and of Antigua.
Before he arrived on his new scene of duty in New South Wales,
a revival of prosperity had begun. Free emigration and extension
of settlements inland had given new life to the colony, and railways,
and steam-traffic with the home-country, were being mooted. The
great want of the colony was free labour, to obtain which various
devices had been tried in the past. Free grants of land, and the
bounty system of paying so much a head to every immigrant, had
alike failed. Some relief came in the adoption of the Wakefield
system, advocated by the famous Edward Gibbon Wakefield, whom
we have seen in connection with Lord Durham in Canada. It was
in 1833 that Wakefield, in his View of the Art of Colonization,
denounced the method of free grants of land, and urged the sale of
the public lands at a fair upset price, and the use of the proceeds
for the promotion of industrial emigration. Money was yearly sent
by the colonial government to a Board of Emigration Commis-
sioners in London, who selected and despatched emigrants to New
South Wales, paying half the passage-money and offering loans to
mechanics. For some years onwards from 1838 the lack of new
settlers and free labourers was at its worst, and during the stagnant
days from 1841 to 1846 there was hardly any immigration at all.
In 1847, the arrival of labour began to improve in amount, and the
discovery of gold a few years later brought a rush of new-comers
from all parts of the world, and for ever ended the difficulty. In
1849, after a brief revival in the interest of squatters who found
that convicts, "assigned" as servants, made good shepherds and
stockmen, transportation of convicts to New South Wales finally
ceased.

Before describing the all-important discovery of gold, we may
deal with some notable events of the period during which Sir
Charles Fitzroy held rule. In July, 1850, the first sod of the first
Australian railway, a line from Sydney to Goulburn, was turned by
Mrs. Keith Stuart, the Governor's daughter. In the same year, the
Port Phillip district of New South Wales became a separate colony.
In 1852, the University of Sydney, chiefly due to the exertions of
Wentworth, was opened " as a national institution for the secular
education of all classes and denominations". The following year
saw the sanction of the Crown given to the establishment at Sydney

NEW SOUTH WALES. 127

of a branch of the Royal Mint, the building being opened in 1855.
Just before the departure of Sir Charles Fitzroy in January, 1855,
a new constitution, under an Act of the British Parliament, had been
granted to New South Wales, establishing full responsible govern-
ment, with an Upper House nominated by the Crown. The
measure was watched through Parliament by its chief promoter,
Wentworth, who made the voyage to London for the purpose, accom-
panied by the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, Mr. (after-
wards Sir) Edward Deas Thomson. Thus did the colony become
at last a nation.

The new system of rule was inaugurated by Fitzroy's successor,
Sir William T. Denison, who had for some years been at the head
of affairs in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). He was a resolute,
painstaking, able man, who did good service in the initiation of
responsible government, as a system under which the representa-
tive of the Crown was to reign but not govern, following the advice
of his cabinet of ministers in all but certain matters reserved for
settlement at home as being affairs of imperial concern. We may
here at once state that the internal history of Australian politics, as
regards party struggles, disputed questions, successive ministries
and so forth, alike in New South Wales and the other colonies, lies
outside the scope of the present work. For information on these
points we refer our readers to special Australian histories, and to
such works as the Dictionary of Australasian Biography already
named, and Fifty Years in the Making of Australian History, by
Sir Henry Parkes, G.C.M.G., formerly Premier of New South
Wales.

The year of the " Great Exhibition", 1851, was that made
specially memorable in the annals of Australia by the discovery of
gold, an event which had so vast an effect upon the fortunes of the
British colonial empire in the southern hemisphere. The revela-
tion of mineral treasures surpassing in value those obtained by
Europeans in Mexico and Peru in and after the days of Cortes
and Pizarro, but hitherto lying hidden in the soil of the great
island-continent, was the opening of a new and most exciting
chapter in the romance of history. A fresh animation was given
to industry by a vast augmentation of the metallic currency of the
world; an outflow of population to Australia from other quarters
of the globe set in; and we may regard the discovery of gold in

I2 3 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

New South Wales and, above all, in Victoria, viewed in its
ultimate results, as marking an epoch in the progress of the human
race. The existence of the most precious of metals in the
mountain district of the south-east had long been suspected and,
in a slight measure, demonstrated by scientific observers and
chance discoveries. In 1839, the eminent scientist and explorer,
Count de Strzelecki, a Polish noble who became K.C.M.G. and
F.R.S., as a British subject, for his services and attainments,
discovered gold-bearing quartz at a point about 200 miles west of
Sydney. Two years later, the Rev. William Branwhite Clarke,
a clergyman of the Anglican Church who had emigrated to Sydney
in 1839, confidently asserted the existence of gold, from geological
and mineralogical evidences. As a student at Cambridge Univer-
sity, Mr. Clarke had attended the geological lectures of Professor
Sedgwick, and he pursued the study with such zeal and success as
to earn the letters F.R.S. and the title of "the father of Australian
geology ". He also found specimens of gold in the Vale of Clwyd,
below the Blue Mountains, but both the count and the clergyman
were induced to keep silence on the subject by the Governor,
Sir George Gipps, who dreaded the effect of exciting the cupidity
of the convicts and free labourers. It is remarkable that both
Mr. Clarke and Sir Roderick Murchison confidently predicted
metallic wealth in that part of Australia from the close geological
resemblance of the Blue Mountains to the Ural chain in Russia.
Between 1844 and 1849 specimens of gold were found in the Port
Phillip district, one of them being a nugget weighing 10 ounces.
The discovery of gold in California at the close of 1848 drew
many Australians to the western shores of the United States.
Among these voyagers was the man who, though he was far from
being the first discoverer of Australian gold, is now regarded
as the actual starter of the gold-mining industry in Australia.
Edward Hammond Hargraves, born at Gosport in 1816, emi-
grated to New South Wales in 1832, and was soon engaged in
pastoral pursuits. Well-nigh ruined as a squatter by droughts
occurring in the period between 1844 and 1848, he went to Cali-
fornia in the hope of retrieving his losses on the Pacific slopes
of another continent. He did not obtain much of what he there
sought, but he did acquire the practical knowledge which, on his
return to Sydney, in 1851, enabled him to discover gold, in

NEW SOUTH WALES. 1 29

Summerhill Creek, beyond the Blue Mountains, on February I2th
of that notable year. A few small specks of gold were found
by him in four out of five panfuls of soil taken from a bank of
red earth and clay. After a careful examination of the surrounding
district, over a large area, and the attainment of like results from
washing, Hargraves made his way to Sydney with several ounces
of gold, and the Government geologist, in May, 1851, confirmed
his report after a personal inspection. The discoverer was re-
warded by various grants amounting, in all, to ,15,000, as the
pioneer of an industry which, throughout Australia, has produced
gold to a value far exceeding 300 millions of pounds sterling.
The discoveries of gold in the new colony of Victoria, much more
important than those made in New South Wales, are hereafter
described. The rush which was made to the scene of Hargraves'
discoveries may be well imagined. Five days after the announce-
ment was publicly made, on May I4th, 1851, the Summerhill
valley had 400 persons at work, stooping over the creek in a row
about a mile long, each man having a dish in his hand, and busily
engaged in washing the earth for gold. A week later, a thousand
men were on the spot, and excitement spread far and wide when
lumps of gold were found worth ,200, the forerunners of famous
nuggets which, in New South Wales and Victoria, ranged in
value from ,4000 to ,10,000. The almost simultaneous finding
of gold to great values in Victoria added to the gold-fever which
was carried through the world, and, while in Australia itself work-
men abandoned their previous employment, shepherds deserted
their flocks, shopkeepers closed their " stores", and sailors left
ships in harbour without a crew, the south-eastern shores of the
new auriferous continent were sought from Europe by men of
every class Cornish miners, University graduates, mechanics,
clerks, younger sons of good families, Polish, French, and German
political refugees, and adventurers of every nation. Asia, for her
part, sent forth thousands of Chinamen to dig and wash for a
share of the spoil. In course of time, the work of the early
diggers, as individuals or in small parties, among the upper alluvial
deposits, was succeeded by toil that needed capital for sinking
deep shafts to ancient river-beds or auriferous drifts, with the
employment of pumping and hoisting machinery. This new
phase of gold-mining was succeeded by the costly method of

VOL. VI. 141

I30 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

crushing auriferous quartz in rocky regions where the gold was
found richly at great depths. In this style of work, the capital
employed amounted to millions sterling, and in one Victorian mine
the crust of the earth has been pierced to a depth exceeding
2400 feet. Some Australian towns owe their origin to the gold-
fields. The tents and huts of the early miners were succeeded by
substantial buildings; an irregular encampment became a well-built
town, and the town grew into a handsome city with the appliances
and resources of modern civilization, the centre of a district rich
in agriculture, horticulture, pastoral industry, and manufacturing
enterprise of varied character. The disappointments of diggers
hoping to win riches within a week or a month of arrival at the
scene of new finds of gold; the wild extravagance of successful
men; the mingling of misery and mirth, ruin and riotous excess,
are the materials of an oft-told tale of the Australian diggings.
In New South Wales, Bathurst, Braidwood, Ophir, and the Turon
river were among the earliest localities to furnish abundant gold.
The government soon adopted measures for the preservation of
law and order at the diggings, in the appointment of a com-
missioner to act as a magistrate in each locality, assisted by a body
of police; and in .requiring diggers to take out licenses, with pay-
ment at the rate of 30^. per month, in order to have a legal right
to the gold obtained from a particular " claim " or area of ground.

CHAPTER IV.

NEW SOUTH WALES Continued. HISTORY FROM 1851 TO THE

PRESENT TIME.

Condition of the colony in 1861 Political changes A new Land Act passed Bush-
ranging Robbing a gold escort" Sticking up " a station An atrocious deed A
desperate gang broken up Daring exploits of the Kelly gang or " iron-clad bush-
rangers "Their final destruction Increasing prosperity of the colony Sir Hercules
Robinson a popular governor International Exhibition at Sydney in 1879 Colonial
troops sent to the Soudan Popular governorship of Lord Carrington Chinese
immigration prohibited Proposals for Australasian federation.

The separation of Port Phillip district from New South Wales
reduced the population of the latter colony by one-fourth, and her
wealth by fully one-third, and for a year or two prosperity was checked
through the lack of labour for all modes of industry save gold-mining.

NEW SOUTH WALES. 131

The true source of permanent wealth lay in the production of wool,
and we may observe that the yield of gold in New South Wales,
never great as compared with that of Victoria, in no year except 1852
produced more than the value of two millions sterling. A large
majority of the men who had been drawn away in the first rush for
gold by degrees returned to their usual avocations, and the colony
entered on a career of steady success based upon her vast pastoral
resources. In 1857, the population of Sydney, including the suburbs,
exceeded 80,000; the horned cattle were approaching 2*^ millions;
the sheep exceeded 8 millions. The census of 1861 showed a popu-
lation, for the whole colony, of 358,000. The Governorship was at
this time assumed, and held from 1861 to 1867, by Sir John Young
(afterwards Governor-General of Canada and Lord Lisgar), an Irish
baronet who had been Chief Secretary for Ireland and Lord High
Commissioner of the Ionian Islands. He was an able, successful,
and popular ruler, holding the balance fairly between different
parties, an example which has, on the whole, been well followed
by his successors in New South Wales. The representative
institutions of the colony had already, under Sir W'illiam Denison,
been developed, in a democratic sense, by the introduction of vote
by ballot; by the increase of the number of representatives in the
Lower House, or Legislative Assembly, from 54 to 80; and by
the extension of the franchise to every adult male of six months'
residence in any electorate. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and
Tasmania had been connected by telegraphic wires, and in 1858
the colony of Queensland had sprung into existence by the
separation of the Moreton Bay district from New South Wales.
Under Sir John Young, the important Land Act caused large
tracts of soil to be brought under cultivation by the facilities
afforded to men of small capital for acquiring possession of farms
on easy terms. This measure was very strongly opposed in the
Legislative Council, or Upper House of Crown nominees, chiefly
consisting of large " squatters ", holding " runs " rented from the
State, and liable, under the new legislation, to have fertile portions
of land selected for purchase by new-comers. A long agitation on
this subject had been carried on throughout the Australian colonies,
and like legislation in all of them followed the Land Act of New
South Wales. It was at this time also that political disabilities,
long maintained by jealousy on the part of the descendants of free

5^2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

settlers, were finally abolished for those who had sprung from
convict ancestors. Progress was made in railway construction, and
the condition of country roads was improved.

We must now give some account of a temporary evil element
in the social condition of the colony, the " bush-ranging" or robbery
with violence, practised in the country districts, originally by run-
away convicts sent from the British Isles, and afterwards taken up
by criminal adventurers born in Australia, men familiar with the
mountains and forests, good horsemen and excellent shots, formid-
able foes alike to the outlying settlers whom they harassed by their
depredations, and to the police who sought their capture. In order
to give a fair view of this interesting and picturesque subject,
which has almost a literature of its own, we shall deal with its
various phases of highway robbery, " sticking up " houses, and
robbing towns and banks, passing for one or two scenes into the
neighbouring colony of Victoria. We have seen that in 1830 a
large gang of desperate men was finally dealt with by military
force, and bush-ranging on this scale ceased under the operation of
the strong Act which was renewed in 1834. Robbery on the high-
way, in the usual sense of the words, was never rife in Australia,
from the lack of travellers bearing on their persons large sums of
money or other valuables. Payments were invariably made by
cheque, and it was only with the discovery of gold that an opening
was afforded for profitable work in this direction. The transport
of the precious metal from the diggings to the great coast-towns
for deposit in the banks or for exportation caused bands of ruffians
to attack the gold-escorts of mounted and armed police, in some
instances with success due to well -planned ambush and rare
audacity. At a wooded point of the road by which the coach
must pass trees were cut down by the ruffians to block the way,
while their horses were kept concealed in readiness for escape with
the booty, and from a dozen to a score of men with loaded rifles
were hidden behind rocks and stumps affording a view of the
approaching party. The two troopers riding in front of the four-
horse " drag " carrying the escort-gold, with its guard of four armed
men on the box and in the body of the drag, and two mounted
men bringing up the rear, are brought to a halt by the felled trees.
One man dismounts to see if aught can be done to remove the
obstacle, and the coach drives up close so that the advance-guard

ATTACK ON A GOLD ESCORT.

The form of highway robbery known in Australia as bushranging first
became common about the time of the discovery of gold in 1851. Before
that period several gangs of escaped convicts had committed depredations,
but those with whom the Governments had to deal after that time were
natives of Australia, brave, thoroughly acquainted with the country, and
splendid marksmen. They blocked with trees the road by which a gold
escort must pass; and whilst the police were seeking to remove the
obstruction they were fired at from an ambush and easily overpowered.
The robbers on seizing the booty would ride off at full speed in different
directions, ready to organize another raid in a very short time. About
1862 a bushranging epidemic broke out in New South Wales, and it was
only with very great difficulty that it was suppressed. The evil was finally
brought to an end in 1880 by the capture of the notorious and daring
Kelly gang of "iron-clad bushrangers", four miscreants who chiefly en-
gaged in the robbery of banks and large stations, and for four years set
the law and police at defiance.

( 85 )

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STANLEY I.. WOOD

ATTACK ON A GOLD ESCORT.

NEW SOUTH WALES. 133

and the main body are an easy mark for the hidden robbers. Their
leader's cry of "Fire!" brings a volley of bullets with a crack and
crash redoubled by the rocks around; the driver falls like a log
from the box; the troopers lie dead or wounded in the road; and
the mounted men from the rear gallop up to find the bush-rangers
cutting the traces of the team as they madly plunge, and letting
the horses go. They are soon disposed of by the fire of the
robbers; the locker in the centre of the coach is opened; the square
boxes of gold are forced; the canvas bags, all labelled and weighed,
each containing 1000 ounces, are seized; the spoil is divided
amongst the gang; the pack-horses are brought up from the place
of hiding, and the plunderers vanish at full speed, by different
routes, to places of refuge known only to themselves and to a few
terrorized or sympathizing people. The speed of the horses ridden
by some of the bush-rangers enabled them to appear, within a brief
space of time, at far-distant points, and the same gang who on one
day robbed a settler's station in one district would be "sticking up"
another, a hundred miles off, within twenty-four hours. The efforts
of the police were often baffled by this rapid movement, and there
were some squatters who, in fear of personal and deadly vengeance
from the marauders, were backward in helping the troopers' work.
The " sticking up " of a station, save for the victims of such a
deed, was sometimes almost ludicrous in its sheer coolness, com-
pleteness, and daring. In daylight, while the squatter and his
family, as evening draws on, are gathered in converse after the
labours of the day, a man with a revolver raised in his right hand,
steps in at the French window from the verandah lit up by the
rays of the sinking sun. The house is " stuck up ". Every outlet
is guarded; sentinels are posted to give warning of any perilous
approach; the horses of the dismounted gang are held in readiness
for instant flight, or have been exchanged, if they are wearied by
a long journey, for the best animals in the stock-yard or stable.
Resistance to the cocked revolvers of five or six robbers is a vain
thought, and all valuables in money or trinkets are quietly handed
over to the foe. A meal is furnished for the strangers, and they
pass an hour or two in consuming the best eatables, liquors, and
cigars which the house affords, while the lady and her daughters,
if they are wise and gifted with sufficient nerve, do their best to
please the bush-rangers with piano and song. Then the robbers

I34 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

mount and ride away, carrying off, amongst other booty, the
squatter's best suits of clothes and a selection of his firearms, which
may include the last new thing in repeating rifles. Such were the
men whom it was the task, well accomplished in course of time, of
the brave, energetic, and crafty Australian mounted police to hunt
down to extermination.

One instance will show the difficulties and dangers encountered
by these able and daring officers of the law. In 1866 a whole
district in the southern part of New South Wales, having an area
nearly as large as Ireland, was held in a state of terror by a des-
perate gang of bush-rangers, headed by two brothers named Clarke.
These men contrived to elude all the vigilance and activity of a
police force in the district numbering three times the usual body
employed. Their system of " bush telegraph ", in which women
and girls conveyed intelligence by word of mouth, was arranged
and maintained with wonderful completeness and success. There
were some small settlers who were known to afford shelter to
members of the band, and the efforts of the police were constantly
foiled in stratagem and outstripped in speed. Mr. (afterwards Sir
Henry) Parkes, the Colonial Secretary, deeply feeling his respon-
sibility for the lawless condition of affairs, accepted the offer of
John Carroll, an ex-policeman, and at that time a jail warder, who
had abundant experience in dealing with criminals. This able and
enterprising man undertook to form a special party for the capture
of the Clarkes and their associates, and was intrusted with the
command of three men chosen by himself, the body being made
independent of the regular police, and secretly accredited to certain
magistrates in the district infested by the bush-rangers. They
took the field on September 22nd, 1866, and pitched a camp about
i y 2 miles from the Clarkes' house, under the guise of surveyors.
Two of the party paid visits to the house, and formed an acquain-
tance with Mrs. Clarke and her daughters, having no reason to
suppose that their real character and business had become matters
of suspicion. Their proceedings, however, were closely watched
by the girls, and the pretence of surveying failed of its purpose.
Early in October, Carroll had to report to Mr. Parkes that he and
his comrades, on returning to camp about six in the evening, were
fired on from various directions, amid thick darkness lighted only
by the glare of their camp-fire. Their assailants, thus guided in

NEW SOUTH WALES. 135

their aim, were lying on the ground sheltered behind trees. Car-
roll and his men returned the fire, and started in pursuit, driving
the villains from position to position, in opposite directions, until
firing ceased without any of the police having been struck, though
one of the party had been forced to return to the tent and to place
himself within the range of the firelight in order to secure some
ammunition left behind. For three months, Carroll and his men
moved about as a surveying party in the wild Tingera district,
using every effort to entrap the outlaws. There can be no doubt,
from the tragical issue, that for the ninety days and nights succeed-
ing the skirmish in the woods, the constables who were tracking
the bush-rangers were being more closely watched and tracked
themselves. On January loth, 1867, in a township called Jindera,
nearly 400 miles south-west of Sydney, all four men were shot
dead by the robbers, firing from ambush behind some trees. The
bodies were not rifled of money or other property, but on Carroll's
breast a bank-note, not corresponding with those in his possession,
was pinned in mockery of his expected reward.

The terror felt by all honest men in the district was inten-
sified by this atrocious deed. Traders went forth on their
business journeys under cover of night, and a feeling of insecurity
filled every house. In this state of affairs, Mr. Parkes, on a journey
for public business, came across a constable named Wright,
forming a part of his official escort. He was struck by the
man's smart appearance, and by his keenness of observation for
every slight circumstance along the road, and he asked him to
undertake the charge of a picked body of police for the capture
of the Clarke gang. This selection of the Colonial Secretary's
had the happiest effect. In a short space of time, Wright and
his men tracked the leaders, Tommy and Johnny Clarke, to a
lonely hut where they were harboured. The place was surrounded,
and for some hours shots were exchanged by the police and the
ruffians thus brought to bay. The constables then closed in,
and the two brothers were taken, brought to Sydney, tried, con-
victed, and hanged. Other arrests and convictions made an end
of the worst gang of bush-rangers that ever troubled New South
Wales.

This narrative of crime closes with some account of the deeds
and destruction of the Kelly gang, or " iron-clad bush-rangers",

j^6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

four men who for two years, from 1878 to 1880, set at defiance
the law, government, and police of New South Wales and Victoria.
Rewards amounting to /8ooo, or 2000 per head, were long
in vain offered for their capture, and the sum of .115,000 was
expended on special efforts before the end in view was attained.
Those who desire full particulars of the extraordinary career of
these matchless ruffians will find them in the exciting book en-
titled The Last of the Bush-rangers, by Mr. Francis Augustus
Hare, police-magistrate and formerly Superintendent of Victorian
Police. Ned Kelly, the leader, born near Melbourne in 1854,
was a known horse-stealer from his youth. His brother Dan
Kelly, seven years younger, was a thorough specimen of a juvenile
scoundrel. Steve Hart, born in 1860, was a professional horse-
thief, and Joe Byrne, an evil-doer from his early days, was but
twenty-one years old when the quartet of precocious villains first,
in 1878, became notorious in the two colonies. In October of that
year Sergeant Kennedy and three other mounted constables were
scouring the hills called the Wombat Ranges, in search of the
Kelly gang stated to be there in hiding. Taken by surprise by
the cunning outlaws, three of the party were ultimately shot dead,
the fourth making a lucky escape, after surrender, by leaping into
the saddle of one of his comrades' horses which bolted when the
rider, Kennedy, had dismounted to carry on the fight. The Kelly
gang flew at high game in their contest with the powers of law
and order, and, disdaining petty crime, swooped on large " stations",
small towns, and banks. Their proceedings in the township of
Euroa, about 90 miles north-east of Melbourne, were marked by
marvellous audacity and success. About noon on December i8th,
1878, the four men appeared at a homestead, and, with cocked
revolvers, demanded food for themselves and their horses from Mr.
and Mrs. Fitzgerald, the people in charge for the owner of the
estate. As the station hands came in to dinner, they were seized
and shut up in a detached storehouse. At five o'clock Mr. Mac-
auley, the manager, arrived, and was added to the number of
prisoners. A travelling merchant, with a wagon of clothing and
other articles, was the next person locked up. During the night,
the captives in the barn, supplied with food, were carefully guarded
by the armed marauders mounting sentry by turns. On the
following morning, four men who called at the station were seized,

NEW SOUTH WALES. 137

and the next step was the destruction of telegraphic communication
by the cutting down of the posts and wires of the line, carried
along the railway running past the farm buildings. While the
outlaws were thus engaged, four railway "gangers" came up, and.
being promptly seized and shut up in the barn, raised the number
of male prisoners to twenty or more. At half-past three, the two
Kellys and Steve Hart started for the town of Euroa, a place three
miles distant, with about 300 people, on the main line of railway
from Sydney to Melbourne. Joe Byrne, left in sole charge of the
prisoners, not only kept them safe in hand, but locked up with
them a telegraph repairer who alighted from a train that stopped
when the break-down of posts and wires was observed. At Euroa,
Ned Kelly obtained admission to the bank, after business hours,
by an urgent request for cash to meet a cheque of Mr. Macauley's,
the manager at the " stuck-up " station. The premises were then
seized; the tills were robbed of nearly ^400 in cash, and the safe,
opened by the cashier at Ned Kelly's order, afforded plunder to
the extent of ^1500 in notes, ^300 in gold, ^90 in silver, and
about 30 ounces of gold-dust. The three men, in order to prevent
an alarm from being raised too soon for their escape, then carried
off, in two wagons and the manager's gig, all the inmates of the
bank, including the manager himself, his wife, his mother-in-law,
seven children, two maid-servants, and two clerks. On arrival at
the station, the men prisoners were locked up in the barn with the
rest, the women and children being allowed to stroll about the
place, and the four bush-rangers rode away with their spoil, after
partaking of a hearty meal. When the manager and his house-
hold reached Euroa at midnight, they found the inhabitants still
ignorant of the " sticking up " and robbery of the bank. After
this unparalleled exploit, two months elapsed without any further
news of the famous Kelly gang.

On February 9th, 1879, the two officers in charge of the police
station just outside Jerilderie, a small town on the railway, 412
miles south-west of Sydney, and on the territory of New South
Wales, were aroused at midnight by some one calling out that
their immediate presence was demanded by a great disturbance
in the town. On opening the door, they were promptly seized
by the four armed members of the band, deprived of their weapons,
and locked up in their own watch-house. On the next morning,

j^8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Sunday, Joe Byrne accompanied the wife of one constable to the
little church, and stayed with her while she prepared it, according
to her custom, for service, lest her absence should cause inquiries
to be made. He then conducted her back to the police station,
and the rest of the day passed peacefully away. At eleven o'clock
on Monday morning, the four men went into the town, the two
Kellys on foot in police uniforms, and Hart and Byrne on horse-
back. They had chosen the Royal Hotel as their base of opera-
tions, and, marching boldly in with revolvers ready for action,
they proclaimed who they were, and locked the landlord, servants,
and all guests in the house, in one of the rooms. The bank,
in charge of a manager, an accountant, and a clerk, was then
" stuck up " and robbed, in the contents of the office tills and the
safe, of about ^"2150. At six o'clock on the summer's evening
the outlaws went their way, Byrne leading a pack-horse with
plunder of various kinds. The Murray river was crossed, and the
Kelly gang returned, no man hindering, in safety to their retreat
in the mountains of Victoria.

The governments of the two colonies, along with the bank
proprietors, now raised the reward for the capture of these brigands
to the large total sum of ^8000. The police gained over to
their cause one of the principal " agents " or abettors of the gang,
a young fellow named Aaron Sherritt, sweetheart of Joe Byrne's
sister. For several weeks, amid hardships from cold on frosty
nights when caution prevented the lighting of a fire, Superintendent
Hare and a party of police kept watch amongst the rocks above
Byrne's mother's house, a solitary dwelling in the hills, whither
Sherritt assured them that the bush-rangers, sooner or later, would
come. All their trouble was thrown away through a very slight
lack of care, and the vigilance of old Mrs. Byrne. Her keen eye
detected the glitter of an empty sardine-tin amongst the rocks.
She then crept through the " bush " and walked straight into the
police-camp to the surprise and chagrin of its occupants. The
treachery of Sherritt was, on June 26th, 1880, punished by Joe
Byrne, who, accompanied by Dan Kelly, went to the house where
he was living with his newly-married wife (not Byrne's sister),
and shot him dead. This event occurred on a Saturday night,
and we now come to the last scenes in this strange, eventful
history.

NEW SOUTH WALES. 139

On the next morning, Sunday, June 27th, Ned Kelly and
Steve Hart, the other two members of the gang, presented them-
selves early at the house of a railway repairer named Reardon, at
Glenrowan, a village, with a railway-station, 135 miles north-east
of Melbourne. He and several of his mates were then ordered
to get their tools, march down the line, and tear up the rails at a
point where the railway ran along the top of a high embankment.
The object of the desperate villains was to destroy, with its
occupants, the special train which they knew would be sent out
with a party of police, when the news of Sherritt's murder reached
Melbourne. The workmen, with loaded pistols at their heads,
were forced to take up the rails, and were then conducted to the
Glenrowan Hotel, a small wooden building, and kept under guard
At this time Dan Kelly and Byrne arrived, having galloped across
country from the scene of their murderous work at Sherritt's house.
All the people of Glenrowan, sixty-three in number, including the
police officer of the little hamlet, were then forced to come to the
hotel, and the outlaws waited events on the line of railway. They
had, however, at last undertaken a task beyond their power in
striving to keep perfect watch over so many persons. A special
train, with a strong body of police and native " trackers ", was on
its way, but the cruel eagerness of the bush-rangers, and the fears
of the imprisoned people, all excited to the utmost degree by the
distant sound of the approaching train, had no response in the
form of the expected crash and cry. The village schoolmaster
had made his escape from the hotel, and stopped the train a mile
from the station by a danger-signal contrived with a candle and
a scarlet scarf held in front. This was the first news which the
police had of the gang's presence at Glenrowan. Up to the
station the line was safe, and the village constable, who also
escaped, hurried thither when he heard the train stop. He met
Mr. Hare and the police running up towards the hotel, where
utter darkness now prevailed. At about sixteen yards' range, a
shot from the verandah disabled the Superintendent's left hand.
A regular siege then began, and Ned Kelly's voice was heard
in defiance " Fire away, you beggars, you can do us no harm!"
The bullets of the police went crashing from all sides through
the frail walls of the building, and several of the hapless prisoners
were wounded, while the screams of the women and children added

I40 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

to the din and terror of the conflict. The steady fire of the
assailants drove the bush-rangers from the verandah into the house;
reinforcements of police arrived, and a heavy volley gave a
speedily mortal wound to Joe Byrne. A careful watch was kept
through the night, to prevent the escape of any of the gang,
and just before dawn a fresh sensation arose. A tall figure came
through the twilight gloom into the midst of the police, and
opened fire with a revolver. For half an hour nine policemen
emptied their firearms upon the solitary foe at short range, re-
peatedly hitting him, and causing him to stagger, but still their
fire was returned, until one of the officers stepped up close and
fired two shots into his legs. He then fell and was disarmed, and
was found to be Ned Kelly, clad in iron armour on his head, chest,
back, and sides, composed of metal hammered out of ploughshares,
weighing in all nearly 100 Ibs. The head-piece resembled an
iron pot with a narrow slit for the eyes. Dan Kelly and Steve
Hart were left in the hotel, whence most of the townspeople now
rushed forth. It was June 28th, and until one o'clock in the day
an incessant fire against the house was kept up by the police,
who, in their disgust at the long resistance made, telegraphed
to Melbourne for a field-piece to batter the hotel to pieces. This
weapon was actually despatched from the capital, but before it
could arrive, the matter was ended by setting fire to the building.
As the flames and smoke arose, the police rushed in to save a
wounded townsman lying inside, and brought him out, with the
dead body of Joe Byrne. Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were seen
lying dead on the floor -how slain, none can tell. The place
was burned to the ground, and their charred bodies, armour-cased,
like those of their comrades, were then found. Ned Kelly, cured
of his wounds, was hanged at Melbourne, and thus ended the
career of the most notorious and desperate criminals of Australian
history.

The records of New South Wales, in her later years, present
little save a continuity of peaceful progress. The increase of
tillage and pastoral industry has been such that, at the close of
the nineteenth century there were yearly raised over nine million
bushels of wheat, six million bushels of maize, 333,000 tons of
hay, lucerne, and other grasses, and nearly eight million dozens
of oranges. There were over 41 millions of sheep, with a corre-

NEW SOUTH WALES. 1 41

spending export of wool. In January, 1868, the Earl of Belmore,
an Irish representative peer, who had held a minor post in Mr.
Disraeli's first ministry, assumed office as Governor. The census
of 1871 showed a population exceeding half a million; the revenue
and expenditure were then each of about 3 millions; the imports
were approaching 10 millions, and the exports had a value of
1 1 y millions. Railways and telegraph wires were being greatly
extended, and the manufactures of the colony assumed the pro-
minent position in Australia still retained, and only surpassed by
Victoria. Sir Hercules Robinson succeeded Lord Belmore in
June, 1872, and was for nearly seven years a very popular
Governor, displaying admirable tact and ability in dealing with
political affairs as a constitutional ruler. He had the advantage of
previous experience in administration and especially in colonial
matters as an Irish Commissioner, a West Indian and then a Hong
Kong governor, and as Governor of Ceylon from 1865 to 1871.
This Irish gentleman's patronage of the turf and personal share in
sport as an owner of race-horses did him no harm in the estimation
of most inhabitants of New South Wales. In August, 1879, his
successor, Lord Augustus Loftus, arrived in Sydney. The new
Governor was previously distinguished as a diplomatist in the
highest posts at the courts of Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg.
His first important duty was that of inaugurating the first Inter-
national Exhibition held in Australia. A beautiful building on the
brow of the hill between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove displayed,
to the viewer from the harbour waters, a dome and fluttering flags
rising above the luxuriant foliage of the Botanic Gardens. The
structure, regarded with fondness and pride by the people of New
South Wales, as one that proclaimed to the world that the colony
was taking her place as a full-grown nation, was destroyed by fire
shortly after serving its special purpose. The Exhibition, an
enterprise undertaken by the government after successful annual
shows held by the Agricultural Society, gave ample proofs of the
colony's progress in her special industries, and attracted competitive
displays of goods from almost all civilized countries. The expendi-
ture of a quarter of a million sterling was held to be well incurred
in making known the resources of New South Wales, and causing
an increase of foreign trade.

The despatch of a colonial contingent of troops to aid the British

I4 2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

forces in the Soudan, in 1885, was chiefly due to the Governor and
to Mr. W. B. Dalley, the acting Premier. A great impression
was made on the British public by this display of loyal feeling in
Australia, and from that time forth the value of the colonial empire
seemed to be better understood, and the then undecided question
of Imperial Federation came to the front. The naval defence of
the empire was viewed in a new light, and the interest taken in the
Indian and Colonial Exhibition, held in London in the following
year, was much increased. As a note of progress, we may observe
that the census of 1880 showed the population as numbering over
751,000, of whom 411,000 were males, and 340,000 females. In
the same year, railway communication with Melbourne was com-
pleted, and in 1883 the mineral wealth of the colony was largely
increased in the discovery of silver deposits on the western frontier.
At the close of 1885 the most popular of all recent Australian
rulers appeared in the person of Lord Carrington, a British peer
of very ancient lineage on the side of his mother, a daughter of
Lord Willoughby de Eresby, joint hereditary Lord Great Cham-
berlain of England. He had sat for some years in the House of
Commons as a Liberal member, before succeeding to the peerage
in 1868, but his reputation, up to 1885, was mainly one belonging,
with a high character, to a man of society and pleasure. His
appointment as Governor of New South Wales was partly due to
a long-expressed dissatisfaction, on the part of the Australian
colonies, with rulers of the official type. They demanded that
future viceroys should be men of a class to whom the higher prizes
of British political life were held to be open. It was difficult to
comply literally with such a requirement, and the Colonial Office
in London decided on a compromise. In the appointment of Lord
Carrington, the Secretary of State induced the Crown to go outside
the official class, and, regarding the post of colonial governor in
Australia as mainly a social one, to select a man of superior wealth
and social position. The duties of the office, thus viewed, were
performed by Lord and Lady Carrington with unfailing skill and
charm, and they left New South Wales in 1890 amongst expres-
sions of esteem and regret without any parallel in Australian history.
Lord Carrington's period of rule was marked, in 1888, by the
completion of railway communication with Queensland, and by an
enthusiastic celebration, in the same year, of the centenary of the

SIR HENRY PARKES

Sir Henry Parkes, K.C.M.G., justly styled "the Grand Old Man of
Australia", was born in 1815, at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, son of a small
farmer. In 1839 he landed at Sydney, and, through dire poverty, working
on a ropewalk, toiling in a brickyard, bearing the hardships of a " bush "
life, the brave self-taught man fought his way upwards to eminence as a
journalist, and founded the paper known as The Empire, which he ably
edited from 1850 to 1857. In 1854 he was elected to the New South
Wales Assembly, and in 1856, when responsible government had been
established, he became a member of the Legislative Council, or Upper
House. In 1871 he became Prime Minister, and held the same office
five times in all during his long and honourable career. As a statesman
of advanced views, he rendered eminent services in founding the land-
system of the great colony, in promoting popular education, organizing
local defence, suppressing " bush-rangers ", placing finance, fiscal policy,
the railway-system, and public works, on a sound footing, and, above
all, in furthering the great cause of Australasian and Imperial Federation.
His own work was reviewed in his Fifty Years in the Making of Australian
History. He left office a poorer man than he had entered it, and ended
his noble life in April, 1896.

(90)

From a Photograph by ELLIOTT &. FRY

SIR HENRY PARKES

NEW SOUTH WALES. H3

colony. The influx of Chinese aroused great agitation, and laws
were passed which practically prohibited immigration from " the
celestial empire". In 1889 Sir Henry Parkes, the premier, gave
his adhesion to the movement for Australian federation, and New
South Wales was represented at the Conference held at Melbourne
in the following year. Early in 1891 the Earl of Jersey, a grand-
son, by his mother's side, of the great Sir Robert Peel, arrived in
Sydney as the new Governor. Lord Jersey had been, for two
years in his earlier life, a lord-in-waiting to the Queen, and also
held office as Paymaster - General in Lord Salisbury's second
ministry. In March and April, 1891, representatives of all the
Australasian colonies met at Sydney, and agreed to a constitution
for a " Commonwealth of Australia ", to be referred, in the first
instance, to the colonial legislatures. For his brief period of office
Lord Jersey was a popular Governor. He resigned his post early
in 1893, and was succeeded by Sir Robert Duff, a Scottish Liberal
M.P. of thirty years' standing, and a Civil Lord of the Admiralty.
On his death soon after arrival in the colony, he was succeeded
by Viscount Hampden, son of a former Speaker of the House of
Commons. In January, 1899, Earl Beauchamp, K.C.M.G. be-
came Governor.

CHAPTER V.

NEW SOUTH WALES Continued.
SCENERY, INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS, TOWNS.

Area and population of the colony Climate Coast-line Surface of the land The river
Darling Scenery of the coast and country Govett's Leap The Nepean and
Hawkesbury rivers The Jenolan Caves Port Jackson or Sydney Harbour-
Political constitution of the colony Ecclesiastical affairs Educational system
Administration of justice Exceptions from the law of England The Torrens Real
Property Act Industries The wool trade Squatter life Extent of holdings-
Statistics of pastoral progress Agriculture Cultivation of the sugar-cane and vine
Minerals Gold and silver mining Working of other metals Extensive coal
production Manufactures Internal communications Roads and railways Zigzag
railway across the Blue Mountains Telegraph and postal systems Intercolonial
and foreign trade Lines of ocean steamers Financial affairs Customs- duties
Sydney, the capital, described Newcastle, Maitland, Parramatta, Bathurst, Bourke,
Goulburn, and other towns.

In considering New South Wales, the reader must imagine
a country more than six times as large as England (without

I4 4 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Wales), having an area just exceeding 311,000 sq. miles, and a
population officially estimated, en June 3Oth, 1899, as i,357>O5.
composed of 725,900 males and 631,150 females. The census of
1891 showed that 64 per cent of the inhabitants were natives of
the colony; 7^ per cent of other Australasian colonies; over 13 per
cent English, over 6^ per cent Irish, 3^ per cent Scottish, the
remainder being, in order of numbers, "other foreigners" (i.e. not
Chinese or Germans), Chinese, Germans, aborigines, and Welsh.
During the ten years ending 1896 the increase in population was
above 277,310, towards which the excess of births over deaths
contributed more than 85 per cent, the remainder being due to
immigration, which in the year above named brought about 62,700
people, against an emigration of about 62,500. The country is an
irregular four-sided figure, with an extreme length of 900 miles, and
a greatest breadth of 850 miles, the average being 500 miles of
length and breadth. The boundaries are seen in a glance at the
map, with the chief geographical features which, along with the
climate, fauna, and flora, have been dealt with in our general account
of Australia. We may note, however, as a main characteristic of
the climate of New South Wales, as of Australia in general, the
abundance of sunshine. The "gray days" of northern countries
are there almost unknown; clouds seldom obscure the sky save
when they bring rain, and when that has ceased to fall, the clouds
disappear and the sun shines forth with undimmed brilliancy. The
dryness and purity of the air afford a climate as enjoyable as that
of Algiers, the one disadvantage being the hot winds which some-
times occur in summer, never lasting for more than three days,
lulling at night and raging in the forenoon like the blast of a
furnace. On the coast we observe that there are no very large
indentations and no conspicuous projections. Cape Byron is
remarkable as the most easterly point of the continent; St. George's
Head and Green Cape for their prominence, and Cape Howe as
the southern extremity of the colony. The largest inlet is Jervis
Bay, in latitude 35 s. Few natural harbours exist, and, with the
exception of Port Jackson, all are so inclosed with mountainous or
unproductive country as to be of little value for trade, some which
are very safe for shipping being difficult of access from the land-
ward side for the transport of produce from the richer districts.
The estuaries of the rivers are in some cases obstructed by sand-

NEW SOUTH WALES. 145

bars, but form outlets for the produce of the country. The surface
of New South Wales may be regarded in three distinct portions
the coast district, a narrow strip of undulating and generally fertile
country crossed at intervals by mountain ridges, between which are
river-valleys of greater or less extent; the table-lands, surmounted
by the highest mountains of the colony; and the great inland
plains. The Darling River and its affluents drain almost all the
western slope, and, though it is robbed of its name after its junction
with the Murray near the 34th parallel of south latitude and the
1 42nd meridian of east longitude, the Darling is really the great
river of the continent; measuring 2500 miles in length from its
most distant sources to the sea; flowing (at first under the name of
the Barwan or Barwon) for about noo miles within New South
Wales; and draining an area of about 300,000 sq. miles; facts which
entitle it to rank amongst the great rivers of the world.

In describing some parts of the scenery in this vast territory,
we note that the coast-line of about 800 miles, though it is not, as
already stated, one of deep indentations, has abundant interest and
beauty in its changes from cliffs to sandy beaches and from head-
lands to little bays; in the varied hues of vegetation and of geologic
strata; in the rapid succession of little outports with their beacons
and coasting craft, and in the varied outline of the mountainous back-
ground as the hills rise and fall, advance and retire. Among the
salient features is Point Perpendicular, on the northern entrance of
Jervis Bay, a steep, stern cliff, rising sheer from the water to 300
feet in height, with a storm-beaten summit, bare of tree or bush.
The South Head, at the entrance of Port Jackson, is a striking
object, with the white tower of its lighthouse perched 300 feet up,
showing at night a revolving electric light visible, in clear weather,
for over 30 miles. The estuary of the Hawkesbury River affords a
beautiful scene in Broken Bay, with fiords of deep water, dark and
still, overshadowed by cliffs from 500 to 600 feet in height, varied
by beaches of deep red or reddish-brown colour, set off by back-
ground foliage of dark green. The mouth of the Clarence River is
another fine opening, with a deep stream navigable and half a mile
in width for 70 miles up from the Pacific waters. In the Blue
Mountains, now becoming the great sanatorium of Sydney, with
the railroad conveying invalids to any height up to 3500 feet, the
Wentworth Falls, or Great Falls, make a descent of 1000 feet in

VOL. VI. 142

I4 6 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

three cascades, having at their base a tall point which looks, from
above, like a bank of moss half hidden by the mist from broken
water. In the Valley of the Grose, amidst the wildest scenery of
mountain and gum-forest, is the grand gorge containing the fall
called Govett's Leap, from the name of the surveyor who discovered
the glorious natural picture. From a ledge of gray rock the visitor
looks down into a gulf whose floor, clothed with a great forest,
undulates like the face of a rolling, unbroken sea. The tree-tops
are 1 200 feet below, and beneath them, unheard from the distance,
runs the Grose River, with an occasional glimpse of the tree-ferns
on its banks, or of silvery flashes of its water rushing over a rocky
bed, revealed through gaps in the trees made by the force of its
floods after heavy rains. The water of Govett's Leap descends for
520 feet, in summer being but a thin veil of spray and transparent
liquid shining upon the surface of brown rock decked in every
nook and cranny with fern-leaves of bright, delicate green. The
falling stream breaks on a ledge at the foot of the cliff, to lose itself
in a bank of ferns on the edge of the forest. There are countless
more cascades, and many grand mountain-gulfs in the huge rocky
mass of hill and forest that lies within sight of great and populous
Sydney.

The Nepean River and its tributaries, flowing northwards on
the way to join the noble stream called the Hawkesbury in its
lower reaches, almost encircle the metropolitan county of Cumber-
land. The whole of this river-system is of great interest in the
history of New South Wales. On one point of the Nepean is the
Camden district, to which the cattle that escaped from the first settle-
ment made their way as the best grazing-ground near Sydney.
Lower down, from Penrith to Richmond and Windsor, is a broad
valley with rich alluvial soil, and this was the first agricultural land
farmed by the early settlers. The sandstone gorges in the upper
parts of the Nepean country contain the pure tributary streams of
that river which furnish the capital with its supply of water. The
lower course of the Hawkesbury is the Rhine of Australia, the
romantic river of the tourist and the artist, the favourite haunt of the
yachtsman. At the point where the river merges into the estuary,
the great bridge of the Newcastle railway crosses the stream. Bold
cliffs rise up 300 feet from the water's edge, with faces of weather-
worn sandstone showing many tints of red and brown, and above

NEW SOUTH WALES. 147

these tower great hills, forest-clad from base to summit, all perfectly
mirrored in the liquid surface below. It is a fair scene of land and
water that is here displayed, indescribable in the beauty of atmo-
spheric effects, of light and shade, from dawn to sunset beneath an
Australian sky. One tributary of the Hunter is the Paterson,
a beautiful little river running through rich red soil, of fertility that
grows well-bearing vines, luxuriant fig-trees and pomegranates, with
melons lying thick around their roots.

We turn now to another specimen of Nature's work in New
South Wales. In several parts of the colony there are limestone
caverns remarkable for beauty of structure, and highly interesting
to the geologist for fossil remains. Of these, by far the most striking
and accessible, and the best explored, are the Jenolan Caves, one of
the great sights of the country, in a deep valley 113 miles west of
Sydney. The caves lie in a limestone belt from 200 to 400 yards
in width running right across the valley, and were formed by streams
working out for themselves subterranean channels. Nothing in this
class of natural structure is more marvellous for grandeur, beauty of
form and hue, variety and size. Many great caves have been fully
explored, and are open to tourists, for whom guides are provided,
the whole series of wondrous scenes being displayed by the electric
light. At one point, a domed roof larger than that of St. Peter's
has huge masses of rock hanging down like a skirt of gigantic
garments, fossilized into a dull gray stone, tinged with dark red and
green from impregnations of iron and copper. In the chamber
styled "the Woolshed", the stalagmites formed by dropping water
have assumed the shape of fleeces of various sizes, from the tiny
fairy-like to the colossal, hanging on benches or spread upon the
floor, and looking, in the flickering light of the candles, as soft as
newly-shorn wool. Another cave is rich in " shawls " of the same
material, hanging from the roof, draping the walls, and enfolding
the alabaster columns of a great central formation resembling a
reredos. Of purest marble and alabaster, tinted by the native ores
of the hills, the "shawls "droop from the rocks in lengths from 3 inches
to 6 feet, and from an eighth to half an inch in thickness. With
the light of the magnesium-lamp behind them, they are semi-trans-
parent, showing delicate tints of pink and white, of pale yellow and
apricot, with cross-bands of deep orange, red, and brown. The
"Jewel Casket" cave has crystals and beautiful forms of miniature

I4 8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

pinnacles and spires. The right-hand branch of the " I mperial Cave "
is a succession of bewildering scenes of beauty in grottoes large and
small, displaying all the treasures of Nature's craft in stalactite and
stalagmite formation. We must pause, however, and leave the rest
to be imagined from such titles as the " Confectioner's Shop", the
"Crystal City", the "Queen's Jewels", the "Diamond Wall", the
" Bridal Veil", the " Crystal Palace", the " Hall of the Kings", and
many more. A large separate work, with profuse illustrations, could
only convey a faint idea of the countless wonders and charms of the
Jenolan Caves.

Any detailed description of Port Jackson or Sydney Harbour,
with its 100 miles of coast-line, and 150 bays or coves, is beyond
our scope. A full account would have to deal with many varieties
of beauty, of nature left unadorned or improved by art with
rocky islets, sandy beaches, sometimes milky white; with bold
cliffs and verdant slopes; with palatial mansions, picturesque
villas, and secluded picnic haunts; with the foliage and flowers of
orchards and orange-groves, creepers of most gorgeous hues, the
richest growth of climbing roses, bananas and plantains, cedars,
hibiscus, flame-trees, and vines budding in spring with tender
green, purple in autumn with mellow clusters. The uses of
commerce and defence make a varied and picturesque display of
frowning batteries and busy wharves; of countless vessels, large
and small, under steam and sail, including great ocean-liners and
men-of-war; of tall massive wool stores, docks and engineering
works; while the architect claims the quarry of fine-grained sand-
stone that furnishes material for the best new buildings of the
splendid capital of New South Wales. The grand expanse of
landlocked water, stretching for about twenty miles inland, with
branches in every direction, is a rival to those of Rio de Janeiro
and the Bay of San Francisco. The entrance varies from 2%
miles to i %; in width, the lowest depth of water at low tide being
22 feet in the eastern channel and 26 feet in the western. The
hills which form the general outline often rise to a height of 200
to 250 feet, with terraces of ground showing a lower level at other
points, and many smooth sandy beaches. The brilliant writer who,
under the nom de guerre of Rolf Boldrewood, has rendered such
service to British readers who can never, with their own eyes,
behold Australian scenery or Australian life, is enthusiastic in his

NEW SOUTH WALES. 1 49

description of " the noblest, safest, most picturesque harbour in the
southern hemisphere, in the British possessions, in the known
world". In the midsummer season of December, when showers
have refreshed the groves and gardens which line the shores and
heights, the glades are emerald green between the flower thickets;
the air is heavy with perfumes; and the scene at evening is superb
in tropical beauty such as, if it were placed on canvas with absolute
fidelity, would be condemned by some critics as false to nature in
its richness of colour. The numberless tiny headlands, covered
with wood or greensward, have shining waveless bays nestling
between them, like havens for fairy fleets. " The tall araucarias
stand columnar on every height, giving dignity and ordered beauty
to the landscape. The white walls of stately mansions and trim
villas gleam freshly bright among the dim woods, shining like
Grecian temples in the olden days of earth's glory; while, as the
western sky becomes gradually empurpled and aflame with the
gorgeous pageantry of the dying sun, an unearthly brilliancy
appears to illumine the scene, more akin to theatrical effects of
light and colour than the mere summer splendour of the hour/'
We turn perforce to other and more prosaic themes.

In dealing with the institutions of a country which, in general,
simply reproduces, in religion, politics, education, and social affairs,
the familiar condition of the British Isles, we need do little more
than note any points of difference which occur. The legislative
power is vested in a Parliament of two Houses the Legislative
Council of 69 members (at the end of 1899) appointed by the Crown
for life, and the Legislative Assembly of 125 members, one each
for as many electorates, with no property qualification nor plural
voting. The members are paid ^300 per annum ; the parliaments
are triennial. Every male subject 21 years of age is qualified to
vote after a residence of one year in the colony and three months
in his electoral district. Elections all take place on one and the
same day. In 1898 nearly 325,000 electors, or above 24 per cent
of the population, were enrolled, and of the existing electors over 56
per cent voted at the general election of 1898. The chief executive
power lies, of course, with the Governor, who is also commander-
in-chief of all the troops. He is assisted by a cabinet of ten
ministers, among whom we note three Secretaries for Lands, Public
Works, and Mines and Agriculture, a " Minister of Justice", and a

!^ o OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Minister of Public Instruction, Industry, and Labour. Local govern-
ment exists in about 75 boroughs and 107 municipal districts, in
addition to the City of Sydney, and the proportion of fully settled
country to the whole great territory is shown by the facts that,
while the population residing within municipal areas much exceeds
one-half of the whole, the incorporated portion of the colony is
only about 2760 square miles, or about ii3th part of the whole
area. There are 71 police districts, with land, registration, educa-
tional, and other divisions, but the only permanent territorial
division is that into 141 counties, and into parishes. These last,
however, have no significance for administrative purposes, and are
useful only in connection with the survey and description of land.
We may note that in 1887 a Forest Conservation Department was
created in the government, having charge of twenty-one State
forests covering about 98,000 acres, and of over 1000 timber
reserves, covering an area of nearly 5,500,000 acres. A revenue
is derived from royalties and licenses for timber-cutting, the value
of wood sawn in 1894 exceeding three-quarters of a million sterling.
In regard to religious profession, we find that the census of
1891 gave the Anglican Church 503,000 adherents, with 333
clergy. This body, by far the largest of the denominations, is
ruled in ecclesiastical affairs by six bishops, those of Sydney,
Bathurst, Goulburn, Grafton and Armidale, Newcastle, and
Riverina, the latter being a new diocese formed in a large tract
of pastoral country in the south, bordered by the Murray River.
The Bishop of Sydney is Metropolitan, and Primate of Australia
and Tasmania. Each diocese has its own Synod and Church
Society, controlling the temporalities of a body which, since the
Act of 1862 abolishing State aid to religion, is supported on the
voluntary system. The method of administering ecclesiastical
patronage generally may be gathered by reference to the Sydney
diocese. The see is divided into 79 parishes, and the patronage
of 48 is vested in the Bishop, and of the remaining 31 in a "Board
of Nominators", composed of two representatives of the Synod,
and three others elected by the parishioners. The bishops are
appointed by the respective^ synods of each diocese, and the bishops
of Australia nominate the metropolitan, for consecration by the
Archbishop of Canterbury. Every fifth year the Australian Con-
vocation, or General Synod, meets at Sydney, and is composed of

NEW SOUTH WALES. 151

the bishops of Australia and Tasmania, and of clerical and lay
representatives from each diocesan synod. The Roman Catholics
of New South Wales, in 1891, numbered 287,000 with 295 clergy,
under the spiritual sway of seven bishops and of the Cardinal
Archbishop of Sydney, who is also Primate of Australasia. Next
in point of numbers come the Presbyterians, with 109,000 lay
people and 156 clergy; the Wesleyans, with 87,500 and 133
respectively; the Congregationalists or Independents, with 24,000
and 65; "other Methodists" (than Wesleyans), with 22,500 lay
people and 34 ministers; Baptists, with 13,000 and 32; and about
75,000 of many other sects or of none, including about 5500 Jews.
The educational system is well organized on lines resembling
those of the home country. The University of Sydney, affiliated
to Oxford in 1888, is endowed with ^5000 a year from the public
funds, and has received great further aid from special votes and
private donations, the chief of which was the noble bequest of Mr.
John Henry Challis, which became applicable for the endowment
of a number of new " chairs " or professorships, on his widow's
death in 1888, to the amount of ; 180,000. The university, to
which the theological colleges of St. Paul (Anglican), St. John
(Roman Catholic), and St. Andrew (Presbyterian) are affiliated,
has the power of granting degrees in arts, medicine, science, and
law. There is a good provision of high schools for both sexes,
with 956 private schools, and among the institutions aided by the
State are the Sydney Grammar School, four industrial schools,
and one for the deaf, dumb, and blind. The total expenditure on
State Schools in 1898 exceeded ,656,000, chiefly devoted to the
primary schools spread all over the settled country, including
" half-time schools " and " house-to-house schools ". These last
are a special feature in the system, providing itinerant teachers in
a land with so widely scattered a population, free rail way -passes
being also gnyited to children who are compelled to attend schools
at a distance from their homes. The whole system is " undenom-
inational ", and the expense is entirely defrayed from the public
revenue, except for the small fee of 3^. per week. Evening schools
exist for adults of neglected education. Compulsory attendance
up to fourteen years is one feature of the Act of 1880, but the
great majority of parents highly prize the benefit provided for
their children. A State system of technical instruction was

152 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

instituted in 1883, on the principle laid down by the City of
London guilds, and proficient students receive certificates as
"industrial experts". Excellent progress in this respect is being
made, and liberal grants are yearly received from Parliament. To
sum up, the State schools of every class, in 1898, numbered 2817
with 4759 teachers, and an average attendance of 141,723 among
227,561 children enrolled. The private schools were 956, with
58,179 pupils and 3269 teachers, of which numbers 312 schools,
1573 teachers, and 38,463 pupils were Roman Catholic. As
regards religious instruction, this may be given in the schools by
appointed teachers of any denomination during a certain hour of
the school-time, and there are about 2000 Sunday-schools in towns
and villages, with over 12,000 male and female teachers, and about
120,000 scholars, in charge of the four leading religious bodies.
In this, as in all the chief Australasian colonies, the means of
culture for all classes of society include libraries, museums, mechanics'
institutes, art galleries, and schools of art under various names and
forms.

The administration of justice resembles that of England, with
a Supreme Court composed of a Chief -Justice and six assistant
judges; trial by jury for all persons charged with offences liable
to over six months' imprisonment; courts of magistrates, quarter-
sessions, circuit-courts in the chief towns twice yearly, stipendiary
magistrates in the police-courts of the metropolitan district, police-
magistrates and justices of the peace in the country. The licensing
of houses for the sale of alcoholic liquors is in the hands of magis-
trates specially appointed. Courts of Divorce, Admiralty, and
Bankruptcy are presided over by Justices of the Supreme Court.
The law of the Australian colonies is in substance identical with
that of England, but there are important exceptions to be noted.
In criminal matters, capital punishment is inflicted, in New South
Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, not only for murder, but for
attempts at murder, rape, and one other offence. In all the Aus-
tralasian colonies, marriage with a deceased wife's sister is a legal
union. In New South Wales and Victoria, the law of primogeni-
ture has been abolished. In every Australian colony, the Torrens
Real Property Act, adopted in various forms, has cheapened and
facilitated the transfer of land and tenements. Inestimable benefit
has been derived from this admirable measure, specially applicable

NEW SOUTH WALES. 153

to new countries where titles are easily traced. The author, who
had to contend with severe and prolonged opposition from the
legal profession, was Sir Robert Richard Torrens, K.C.M.G., a
native of Cork (1814) and son of one of the founders of South
Australia. In 1857, Torrens became Premier and Treasurer of
that colony for a short time, and then, as member for Adelaide in
the first Legislative Assembly of South Australia, he succeeded in
carrying the bill which substituted title by registration, in the case
of real property, for title by deed. He then resigned his seat in
parliament to undertake the headship of the department charged
with carrying out the Act, and, after one or two amendments in
details, his foresight and energy were rewarded by its easy working.
1 1 was owing, in a great degree, to Torrens' expositions and efforts
that the measure was adopted in the other colonies of Australasia,
where many thousands of small land-owners have thus been enabled
to secure their holdings.

The main source of wealth in New South Wales has been and
is the pastoral industry, for the production of sheep above all, with
a view to their fleeces rather than to their flesh. The growth of
wool was the first and largest factor in the development of Aus-
tralia, and the wool-trade had established our colonial dominions in
that quarter of the world on a sound commercial basis, long before
the days when the discovery of gold gave so great a new impetus
to material progress. The rise of the industry, mainly through the
efforts of Captain Macarthur, has been given in an early stage of
this work. In 1825, an enterprising member of the early Legisla-
tive Council, Mr. Richard Jones, brought out a fine flock of Saxony
sheep to the colony, and in subsequent years other animals were
imported from famous stud flocks in France and Spain. The
value of the inland climate in the western country, as favouring
the growth of a finer fleece, was discovered, and a new type of
wool, the Australian, was produced, in softer, brighter, more
elastic, less dense but longer, material than that of the original
merino flocks. Enterprise, energy, and sound judgment here, as
in other lines of business, have had a rich reward, and the Aus-
tralian merino now produces the best wool for manufacture of any
sheep in the world. The records and descriptions of Australian
life frequently present us with the terms "squatting" and "squat-
ter". The word, in England, was associated with settling on a

j^4 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

common, and in Australia the first plan was to grant common
grazing rights over a large area, by lease, to a group of settlers.
When this system was found to be too restricted for the rapidly
increasing flocks, letters of occupation were granted to some
persons, so as to allow them to range beyond the prescribed limits.
We have seen the gradual development of the land-system by
method of sale, and the security of tenure granted to the squatters,
who must be regarded as graziers or holders of large sheep-walks.
In the earlier days' of the colony, the life of a squatter was a rough
one, and his pursuit of wealth was attended with other difficulties than
those arising from alternations of drought and flood. The buildings
of the homestead comprised a wooden house for the residence of the
squatter and his family, with four or five rooms lined with lath and
plaster, a verandah in front, into which one room opened, and a
"lean-to 11 in the rear. An adjacent hut was used as a kitchen,
and scattered about were other wooden edifices, of split slabs or
of logs, serving as stores and as houses for the station hands, and
for the shearers in clipping-time. Outside the paddock-fence, a
quarter of a mile away in the forest, an immense building, heavily
roofed with logs and bark, was the wool-shed, with the pressing
apparatus, and around were the needful yards for the management
of the sheep in driving them into the shed, and in branding and
other matters. Such would be the appearance of an up-country
station representing ten thousand sheep and a few hundred head
of cattle. Severe losses were sometimes suffered in the stealing
of large " mobs " of cattle by audacious robbers of the bush-ranging
class, who drove them off from the back parts of a large "run",
and took them away to Adelaide or Melbourne, disposed of them
there, and returned to New South Wales by sea. On a smaller
scale of plunder, cattle ready for killing were taken, slaughtered,
and salted down, the head and feet being boiled to prevent recog-
nition by the brands or natural marks. In other cases, unbranded
cattle and calves would be appropriated by a dishonest settler
through the simple process of branding with his own recognized
mark. The squatting industry grew and flourished. One of the
finest pastoral districts of the colony is found in the Liverpool
Plains of the north-east, ten million acres of rich volcanic soil,
sloping away from the coastal range towards the Darling. The
large scale of farming in New South Wales appears from the

NEW SOUTH WALES. 155

figures concerning the extent of holdings in 1899. With over
15,880 little farms having from one to fifteen acres, over 28,540
from 1 6 to 200 acres, nearly 8600 from 201 to 400, over 7820
from 401 to 1000 acres, there were about 2650 persons engaged in
pastoral or agricultural industry, or both combined, holding from
1000 to 2000 acres; more than 2120 farmers with from 2001 to
10,000, and 671 owners or tenants of 10,001 acres and upwards.
The total land area of the colony being about 196 millions of acres,
the amount occupied under leases of various kinds, at the end of
1898, exceeded 127^ million acres, and the total land alienated was
about 46,000,000 acres, the proceeds from land-sales from 1862 to
1897 having reached the sum of 43 millions sterling. The progress
of New South Wales in pastoral industry during the reign of Queen
Victoria is shown in some comparative statistics. In 1840, there
were under 5 million sheep; in 1899, there were 4i/^ millions. In
the same period, the number of horned cattle rose from 900,000 to
nearly 2% millions; of horses, from 56,000 to about half a million.
In regard to these last, we may observe that our army in India
largely draws from New South Wales remounts for the cavalry
regiments. The dairy-farming noticed in another place, and the
new trade in beef, is soundly based upon the best breeds of cattle,
such as the Shorthorn, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, Blackpolled,
and Channel Island stock.

When we turn to the tillage of the colony, or agricultural industry,
we find a vast difference as compared with sheep-farming. In 1899,
only about 2,206,000 acres of ground, or little more than 88th
part of the area, were under cultivation, mostly in holdings of
less than 500 acres. The chief cereals grown are wheat and maize,
the product of the former, for the year ending March 3ist, 1899,
being 9^ million bushels on 1,319,000 acres; of the latter, over
6 million bushels on 193,000 acres. Maize, only produced largely
in Queensland among the other Australian colonies, is in New
South Wales an easy and certain crop, raised throughout the coast
districts as far south as the 36th parallel of latitude. In the year
above given, 278,000 bushels of oats were grown on about 20,000
acres, with 64,000 bushels of barley, both being chiefly used as
fodder. Lucerne is a most luxuriant crop, and mangold- wurzel,
turnips, and pumpkins are used for the artificial feeding of the
choicest cattle. The yield of potatoes, as above, was about 62,000

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

tons on 28,000 acres. The growth of sugar has now become
considerable. In 1863 but 2 acres of canes were to be seen in
New South Wales; in 1899, 24,759 acres of cane, on the banks of
the northern rivers, yielded over 289,000 tons of canes. The culti-
vation of the vine is fast becoming an important matter. Large
districts are suitable in soil, climate, and aspect for the growth
of the vines introduced in 1831, as a first serious attempt at the
production of wine, from France and from the Rhenish vineyards.
This parent stock of the vines now growing in New South Wales
has, in course of time, so far succeeded that, in the year ending
March, 1899, 8078 acres of vineyard produced about 845,000 gallons
of wine. All the fruits of Europe are grown with success; oranges
are largely exported to the neighbouring colonies. The gardens
are gay with flowers dear to the sight of British visitors in the
violet, pansy, wallflower, sweet-william, mignonette, candytuft, lupin,
nasturtium, convolvulus, and rose. The camelia reaches a large
size, and is rich in blooms ; the geranium is like a bush, and flowers
during most of the year.

The minerals of the colony are its chief source of wealth next
to its pastoral products. High authorities believe the mineral
treasures to be almost inexhaustible. The auriferous area is known
to amount to 70,000 sq. miles, of which one-half is included within
gold-fields that have been actually worked. The total value of gold
coined or exported, from its discovery in 1851 to 1899 exceeded
47 y^ millions sterling, and of late years the product, after a great
decline since 1875, has begun to increase again, the returns for
1899 showing about 509,000 ounces, worth ,1,937,000. Better
methods of treating the auriferous pyrites, and more capital, are
needed for the development of gold-mining, especially in the
working of quartz veins. Silver has recently assumed great im-
portance. Rich veins were found at Sunny Corner and Mitchell's
Creek, on the western slope of the Blue Mountains, about 130
miles from Sydney, but the great "silver boom" of New South
Wales came with discoveries made far away, on the south-
-western frontier, in the hill-country called the Barrier Ranges,
nearly 900 miles from the capital. A wild rush was made for the
mines at Broken Hills, and thousands of acres were soon pegged
out into " claims". Scores of companies were started, most of
which soon collapsed, but there was abundance of good ore for

NEW SOUTH WALES. 157

those who knew how to find it, and the town of Silverton has
arisen and flourished on the new scene of industry. The yield of
silver, in 1889, in a district 50 miles long and about half as wide,
was worth i^ millions sterling. Railway communication with
Adelaide, in South Australia, soon provided for the shipment of
the silver ore, and reduced the previous enormous cost of carrying
food, forage, and material to the scene of operations. In 1898, the
total value of pure silver and of silver-lead ore obtained in the
colony was nearly i ^ millions ; the whole value obtained to
the end of 1898 was over 25^ millions. Excellent iron ore
abounds in the districts west and south of Sydney, but has not
been worked at a profit, though it has been found in close proximity
to coal and limestone. Copper-mining has been more successful;
the chief area of production lies in districts between the Lachlan
and Darling rivers, with a value exceeding 4^ millions to the end
of 1898. The northern table-land is rich in tin, the value of ingots
exported in 1896 exceeding ,152,000. The total value of the
product of tin since the mines were opened in 1872 has been
,6,292,056. It is, however, in the king of minerals, coal, that we
have the most important mining industry of New South Wales.
In 1863, little more than 300 tons were raised; in 1884, the output
was about 2^ million tons; up to the end of 1898, the whole
quantity raised in the colony had reached nearly 85 million tons,
valued at about 34^ millions sterling. The mineral is of excellent
quality for smelting, gas, household, and steam purposes, and the
exports to San Francisco, New Zealand, India, eastern Asia, South
Australia, and Tasmania amounted, in 1893, to 1,840,000 tons of
coal and coke, worth ,820,000, in addition to the large amount
consumed in the colony. Nearly the whole of the coast region is
a vast coal-field, extending into and, in some points, beyond the
Great Dividing Range, the chief seats of the industry being in the
lower valley of the Hunter river, and in the Illawarra district, south
of Sydney. In 1898 there were 91 coal-mines in the colony, em-
ploying 10,250 men, and the quantity raised in that year exceeded
4,706,000 tons, worth nearly ,1,272,000. The capabilities of
New South Wales in coal-production may be estimated from the
facts that the known coal-area exceeds 24,000 square miles, while
Great Britain, with her enormous output, has only about 4000
square miles of coal-fields.

jcg OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

As might be expected from the abundance of natural products,
and the sparse population compared with the territorial size of the
country, New South Wales has, at present, no high place among
manufacturing regions. There are, however, many important
industries of this class, the chief of which are concerned with the
preparation of foods and drinks; metal-works and machinery;
building materials; clothing and textile fabrics; paper, printing,
and bookbinding; vehicles, harness, and saddlery; and the treating
of raw pastoral products. The first-mentioned of these includes
the manufacture of flour, malt, biscuits, and maizena from the various
kinds of grain ; the preparation of preserved meats ; wine-making,
and brewing. The returns of 1898 show the existence of 2839
factories or works, employing nearly 53,000 hands, with an invested
capital of nearly 18 millions. In connection with the toilers in this
and other industries, it is satisfactory to note the deposits in the
hundreds of saving- banks, including those under government
control. In 1898, these sums amounted to about 9^ millions,
belonging to about 242,360 depositors, an average of nearly ^40
per head of these thrifty persons.

We deal next with the important subject of internal communi-
cations. Without giving figures as to the many thousands of miles
of government-roads in the various forms of efficiency denoted by
"metalled, gravelled, or ballasted", " formed and drained", and
simply " cleared", we may state that here, as in Australasia generally,
great attention has been paid to road-making. Under the Wake-
field system, one-half the net proceeds of the sale and rental of the
crown-lands was devoted to the construction of highways for
traffic; and the country roads in our colonies on the Pacific are
usually much better than those of most new countries, and especially
than the rude tracks of the United States. Three main lines run
north, west, and south from Sydney, and from these, minor roads
branch off in all directions, covering the whole country with a
net-work of highways, the formation of which required cutting
through hills, filling up swamps, and the construction of bridges
over rivers and creeks. The earliest coaches were strong carts
drawn by one or two horses. Next came mail-coaches of the
English fashion, and the great development brought by gold-
discovery caused the introduction of long low vehicles like those
used in Mexico and California. An enterprising American named

NEW SOUTH WALES. 159

Cobb introduced carnages of this class into all parts of Australia
and New Zealand, and " Cobb's coaches" still hold their own in
districts not possessed of railway communication. The larger towns
throughout Australasia are provided with vehicles for hire of the
classes with which we are familiar in Great Britain. Sydney and
the suburbs have many miles of Government tramways worked by
steam motors, with one steep gradient served by a cable-tram.

Australia, as we have seen, is very deficient in navigable rivers
as means of internal communication, and it is for this reason that
the utmost energy has been displayed in furnishing the various
colonies with good highways and with railways. Nearly the whole
railway-system is in the hands of Government. In New South
Wales, the main trunk-lines are the Great Northern, Great
Western, and Great Southern. The first of these runs from
Sydney, by Newcastle, to join the Queensland system, traversing
a total distance of nearly 500 miles. The line taps the chief coal
district, the agricultural valley of the Hunter, and the rich pastoral
country of New England, in the north-east. The river Hawkes-
bury is crossed by the longest bridge in Australasia, 2896 feet long.
After climbing the Liverpool ranges, the line enters the hilly New
England, the highest point, near Ben Lomond, being 4500 feet
above sea-level. The Great Western line crosses the Blue
Mountains by two of the finest railway- works of the world, the
Zigzag and the Great Zigzag, ascending the hilly region on the
east, and descending it on the west. A great viaduct, in a long
valley named Knapsack Gully, carries the rails where the trains
run higher than the tops of the tallest trees. Then a steep and
rocky incline, 700 feet in height, is crossed by a series of zigzags
cut in the rock so that the trains run first to the left, rising upon
a slight incline, and then reverse and proceed to the right; again
to the left, and so on until the summit is reached. The line after-
wards runs along the top of the ridge, gradually rising until, at
88 miles from Sydney, and 50 miles from the first zigzags at
Lapstone Hill, it reaches the culminating point of the system,
3658 feet above sea-level. The work throughout, due to Mr.
John Whitton, Engineer-in-chief of the New South Wales railways,
as designer, and to Mr. Patrick Higgins, as contractor, was one of
great boldness and skill. At one point, where a great rocky mass,
above a tunnel already bored, seemed likely to crush downwards

j6o OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

upon the excavation, the whole dangerous mass was split in pieces
by the explosion of 3^ tons of gunpowder placed at intervals in
the tunnel, and fired by Lady Belmore, the Governor's wife,
through wires connected with a galvanic battery. The operation
of firing the mines was made a public spectacle. With a dull and
rumbling sound the rock heaved slowly upward, and then settled
back into its place, covered with rolling clouds of dust and smoke,
and broken into masses which workmen could remove, leaving
a clear course for laying the rails. The descent from the Blue
Mountains to the Lithgow Valley involved the construction of
zigzags to a greater extent than on the eastern side. The total
excavations caused the removal of over three million cubic yards
of material, of which nearly 1,800,000 were solid rock, and the cost
of the whole work exceeded ,800,000. The carriages of the
railways are usually on the American principle, and sleeping-cars
are attached to long-distance trains. When the Western line has
crossed the Blue Mountains, it proceeds by way of Bathurst and
Dubbo to Bourke, 503 miles from Sydney. The Great Southern
runs from the capital, by Goulburn and Wagga Wagga, to Albury,
388 miles from Sydney, and there joins the Victorian line to
Melbourne. There are many subsidiary lines and branches, and
the whole extent of railway open for traffic in June, 1899, was 2707
miles, constructed and equipped at a cost of nearly 38 millions
sterling. The inland telegraphs, as in all the Australasian colonies,
have been constructed and are worked by the Government, and
every important township is included in the system, the total length
of telegraph and telephone open in 1899 being just over 13,240
miles. The postal system is well organized, with penny postage,
for half-ounce letters, in the town; id. for the same weight within
the colony or Australasia; and 2%d. to the United Kingdom,
British Colonies, and " Postal Union" countries.

The intercolonial trade of New South Wales includes the
import of bananas and of copra, or dried and broken cocoa-nut
kernel for the extraction of oil, from Fiji; sugar from Queensland;
potatoes from New Zealand; fruit and hops from Tasmania; flour
and manufactured goods from Victoria; wheat and flour from South
Australia. In 1898, a year showing a considerable revival in trade
from the three previous years, the total value of imports was about
24^ millions sterling; of this amount articles worth over 7^ millions,

NEW SOUTH WALES. l6l

mainly in bullion and coin, iron and textile manufactures, came from
the British Isles, the rest of the foreign trade consisting of tea and
silk from China, rice and coffee from India and the Malay Islands,
sugar from Mauritius, tobacco, kerosene, hard ware and various manu-
factures from the United States. In the same year, the total value
of exports, exceeding all previous years in the colony's history, was
nearly 28 millions sterling, of which above 7^ millions' worth of
goods went to the United Kingdom. The export of hides, skins,
and leather, with some decrease in later years, nearly reached
,550,000; of tallow, with a less than halved value compared with
a previous year, the worth exceeded ,506,000; the chief article
of export, wool, reached nearly 9^/2 millions, a value only exceeded
in few previous years. The British Isles took, in 1898, about
153 millions of pounds weight of wool, worth nearly 5^ millions,
out of the total export of 281 million pounds weight; the chief
other British imports were tin, silver ore, tallow, and leather.
Nearly 7 million tons of shipping entered and cleared from the
colony's ports in 1898, exclusive of the coasting trade; of this vast
amount British vessels had nearly 6 millions of tons. It is worth
while to observe that less than one-fifth of the tonnage consisted of
sailing-vessels, a proportion which holds in the case of our colonies
and foreign countries in general, while in some cases steam-tonnage
is even far more predominant. It is needless to give details
concerning the great lines of gcean steamers running between
Sydney and all the important commercial countries on the globe
the P. and O., Orient, and other large companies in Great Britain,
among which the Cunard line communicate by way of New York
and San Francisco; the Messageries Maritimes and others of less
note. Large and powerful steamers run between Sydney and
Melbourne, Brisbane, New Zealand, Fiji, Tasmania, the United
States, and southern and eastern Asia; submarine cables also
connect Australia with every part of the civilized world by various
routes direct and indirect.

In regard to financial affairs, we find that the colony, for the
year ending June 3Oth, 1899, had a gross public revenue a little
exceeding 9^ millions. Of this amount nearly one-half was
derived from the " services ". which include railways, tramways,
post, and telegraphs. Excise, stamp-duties, and licenses afforded
i y^ millions; a large amount comes from the customs -duties

VOL. VI. 143

j6 2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

which, in the above year, afforded ^1,259,237. The tariffs in-
clude import-duties of 10 to 15 per cent of value on certain yarns,
woven fabrics, and apparel in linen, silk, wool, and fur; of ictf. per
ton on pig-iron, 405-. per ton on bars, sheets, and corrugated iron ;
3os. per ton on wire-netting, and 40^. per ton on various forms of
iron manufactures. Earthenware, porcelain, glass, glassware, leather
and leathern goods pay from 10 to 15 per cent ad valorem-, candles
are mulcted in 1 5$. per cwt. ; soap, and articles of food and drink,
except tea and raw coffee, are also taxed; books are free, with
writing and printing paper; brown and wrapping paper pay $s. per
cwt, and other paper, 10 per cent. The land-revenue for 1899
was above two millions sterling. The expenditure for 1898-99
(12 months) amounted to ,9,734,200, a sum devoted chiefly to
public works and services of various kinds, railways and tramways,
interest on debt, public instruction, post and telegraphs. The public
debt, in 1899, was over 63^ millions, bearing interest, on an average,
of nearly 3^ per cent. Fully 80 per cent of the debt has been
incurred for the construction and provision of railways, tramways,
telegraphs, water-supply, sewerage, docks and wharves, with a net
return of about 3 per cent on the cost. At the close of 1 898, the
total wealth of the colony, public and private, was estimated at
nearly 550 millions sterling. The subject of defence is remitted to
later pages dealing with the Australasian colonies as a whole.

SYDNEY, the seat of government for New South Wales, and
the greatest commercial place in Australasia, is the oldest city
in that part of the world, the only one which has entered upon
the second century of its history under European civilization.
The city proper lies on the south shore of Port Jackson, at a
distance of about four miles from the entrance; the suburbs, some
of which are separate municipalities, extend for several miles to
the south, south-west, and east, and are partly found on the
opposite north shore of Port Jackson. The whole contain a
population of about 426,000 The most important of the many
bays, with their miles of water-frontage and wharves, are Sydney
Cove, or Circular Quay, used by the vessels of the P. and O.,
Orient, and other great steamship companies, and Darling Har-
bour. The commercial supremacy of the place is indicated by
the fact that, in 1890, 5666 vessels, with an aggregate of nearly
millions tonnage, entered or left the port. Some of the

NEW SOUTH WALES. 163

main streets, paved with wooden blocks and cubes, are very fine.
The most spacious and handsome public buildings are the Post-
Office; the noble Town Hall, containing the largest organ in the
world; the University, the finest building in Australasia, standing
on a commanding height, in the centre of a " domain " of about
150 acres, with a chief faade 500 feet in length, and with its
Great Hall exceeded in size by only two in the British Isles;
the metropolitan cathedral of St. Andrew, in the later Perpen-
dicular style; and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary.
There is an old quarter of the town, partly inhabited by Chinese;
this has irregular, narrow streets. The inconvenience of the
hasty original plan is still found in the inferior access to the
harbour frontage, and in the steepness of all the roadways leading
from the water's edge. There is now an excellent drainage
system to a distant outfall in the sea outside Port Jackson. Water
is brought, by works that cost two millions sterling, from a distance
of 60 miles in the mountain gorges. One of the finest residential
roadways, equal in its frontage to any in the world, is Macquarie
Street, close to the commercial centre of Sydney, and overlooking
the Domain, with the Parliament Houses, Mint, and Government
House, beyond which are seen the harbour and the fleet of out-
going and incoming vessels, while the sea-breeze comes up fresh
and cool. The suburban extension is such that there are con-
tinuous townships to Parramatta, 14 miles away, thickly settled
for 8 miles, as far as Homebush. The people of the capital are
greatly favoured in having at command a variety of climate by
the rapid rise of the railways leaving the city. The south coast
line attains, 20 miles away, an elevation of 720 feet, and the line
running northwards to Newcastle rises nearly 600 feet in about the
same distance.

Among the notable sights of Sydney for the British visitor are
the markets in Christmas week, with the people dressed in light
summer costume, and the stalls heaped with summer produce of
fruit and flowers. The gay- coloured scarves and handkerchiefs
of the fancy stalls are displayed by vendors catering for the tastes
of a prosperous people who have departed from old-world, cold-
clime notions under the influence of a semi-tropical sky. The
effect of new conditions of life is shown at once in dress, appear-
ance, and manners. The sons and grandsons of the earlier

564 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

generation have been affected by climate in physique, physiognomy,
and tastes, and in the youths from the farms and market-gardens
near the capital we see a tall, thin, sunburnt race, often dark-eyed
and dark-haired, matching well in hue with their oranges, melons,
and grapes, and showing their fondness for rich colours in bright-
blue or green veils around their soft felt hats, in the crimson
sashes twisted about their waists, and in gorgeous cravats. The
mile-long stream of people in the crowded promenade of George
Street on Saturday night shows, among types chiefly Australian,
a mixture of nationalities in German settlers, French and Italian
vine-growers, and Asiatics from the ships alongside the quay at
the end of the street, including dark-hued Arab stokers from
Aden, in frocks of dingy blue, red scarves, and parti-coloured
caps; shiny-brown natives of Madras and Bombay, gaily dressed
in crimson, blue, and gold, selling carved and polished sticks,
silver filigree and ivory work, and rich-coloured scarves and
kerchiefs from Eastern looms; Chinamen and black boys from
North Queensland complete the picture. Among the many
public recreation grounds of Sydney, the Botanic Gardens, touch-
ing the shore of Farm Cove, hold the highest place for beauty
due to artistic skill and abundant growth of trees, shrubs, and
flowers of various climes. Hyde Park and Moore Park, the latter
having a good zoological collection, are other delightful resorts.
In 1887, the Centennial Park was opened, covering an area of
780 acres, and making the total area of the ground reserved for
public use amount to over 1500 acres. The streets and wharves
are well lit with gas and electricity, and public amusement, in-
struction, and recreation find ample resources in theatres, a free
library, an art gallery, a museum, and other institutions, while
philanthropy displays her orphan and other asylums, and many
other charitable and benevolent institutions. The grand cricket-
ground forms part of an inclosed area of 12 acres, and has seats
for 5000 people, and standing room for 20,000 more. Bicycle
contests and athletic sports of all kinds are held within the same
inclosure, and there are tennis-courts both grassed and asphalted.
The Agricultural Society have in this quarter of the city stalls
for the display of stock, and there is a good circular track for
trotting matches. The Randwick race-course, to the south of
the town, has a fine grand-stand, and all the needful appliances

NEW SOUTH WALES. 165

for first -class meetings. Outside Port Jackson, on the open
Pacific, at Bondi, Coogee, and Botany Bays, are beaches reserved
for public use as bathing -places and picnic-grounds. We must
not forget the National Park, the northern boundary of which
lies about 15 miles south of Sydney. This reserve of 36,300
acres lies on the south side of the spacious sea-inlet called Port
Hacking, and includes an infinite variety of charms in its 56
square miles of space. There are broad plateaus on the heights
for military camps and manoeuvres; little glens and grassy plots
by the sea; fine forest growth and luxuriant semi-tropical plants
on the upper reaches of the Hacking river.

Newcastle, lying on the coast to the south of the estuary of the
Hunter river, is the prosperous centre of a great coal-mining
district where we find, among the smaller towns, the familiar
names of Wallsend and Stockton. The place has a population
of about 15,000 in its own municipal area, but adjoining towns
double this number. The district has also shipbuilding, lime-
burning, steam-sawing, copper-smelting, engineering works, soap-
factories, wool-washing, and several other industries. As a port,
the city of Newcastle ranks next to Sydney, annually shipping
over two million tons of coal, and sending cargoes of wool, from
the northern districts, direct to Europe. As a proof of the rich
variety of resources in New South Wales, we may mention that
the alluvial soil on the flats bordering the Hunter estuary, near
Maitland, about 20 miles from Newcastle, produces yearly five or
six crops of lucerne, and often fetches, in the land-market, ^"100
per acre. Maitland, East and West, practically form one town of
about 12,000 inhabitants. Up the valley of the Hunter and its
tributary the Paterson are many thriving settlements and little
towns, with crops of wheat, maize, tobacco, and grapes, and a large
pastoral industry. Armidale, the cathedral town of the Anglican
bishop of the north, and of a Roman Catholic prelate, lies at the
height of 3300 feet above the sea, with a population of over
10,000 in the city and district. The climate and soil are such
as to furnish the finest European fruits, and the adjacent moun-
tains abound in wild and picturesque scenes. Grafton, the chief
town of the north, with about 6000 people, lies on the Clarence
river, about 45 miles from the sea, in a sugar-growing district, with
prosperous squatters to the west.

T 66 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Returning to the south we find Parramatta, the oldest settle-
ment save Sydney, lying at the head of that farthest-reaching arm
of Port Jackson which is called the Parramatta River. With the
adjacent town of Granville, the junction where the main line of
railway diverges to the south and west, the population exceeds
15,000. The place has an old-fashioned air, and possesses, in the
old King's School, an episcopal institution founded in 1832, one of
the best schools in the colony, pupils of which have in many cases
taken the highest rank in the social, professional, and political
life of Australia. The park is beautiful with pines grown from
cones that came from Norfolk Island, Italy, California, Norway,
and Scotland, and with English oaks and willows, grown from
acorns and slips taken out in 1800. Windsor ; the oldest country-
town next to Parramatta, has, for Australia, a venerable air in
its ivy-covered brick walls. In the western district, Mudgee, lying
amongst fine grazing land, shows us the beginning of true bush
life. The place was settled above sixty years ago, and, having
a climate and soil like those of the eastern valleys of the Hima-
layas the cradle of the merino race of sheep the table-lands of
Spain, and the highlands of Algiers, it is noted for the fine breed
of merinos dear to Australian flock-masters. The sheep are
small, but the fleece is dense and the staple fine, and is purchased
for the most delicate fabrics of French looms, sometimes at the
price of 4$. per pound.

Bathurst, the capital of the west, on the banks of the Mac-
quarie river, has above 10,000 inhabitants. The place and district
were once famous for gold-fields now little worked. There are
some fine public buildings in the Anglican and Roman Catholic
cathedrals, and the hospital, and good educational establishments
in All Saints' Grammar School, the Roman Catholic College of
St. Stanislaus, the public elementary school, and the school of arts.
The climate, at 2300 feet above sea-level, is cool and agreeable.
Orange, lying high up among grassy hills, overlooked by moun-
tains which are snow-capped for several months of the year, has
a very English look in its farms and vegetation. The temperate
clime does not permit the growth of the magnolias and oleanders
of Sydney gardens, but there are hawthorn hedges, and currants
and gooseberries come to perfection. Thence, going north-west
by rail, we come to Wellington, Dubbo, and other pleasant little

NEW SOUTH WALES. 167

towns in agricultural and pastoral country, and so out upon wide
plains where salt-bush abounds, with the beautiful myall tree,
having willow-like pendent boughs, a dark trunk, leaves of silver
olive hue, and an odour, from broken branches, sweet as violets
or new-mown hay. Far away again to the north-west the railway
brings the traveller to Bourke, on the Darling river, a town of
historic fame in the pastoral life of Australia, displaying still the
old type of squatters, drovers, shepherds, and stockmen. The
place lies on the left or southern bank of the river, in a dead level
stretching away for many miles. The large buildings churches,
hospitals, schools, banks, and chief hotels are of brick; the shops
and private houses are of galvanized iron or of wood. The un-
metalled roads vary in covering between fine black dust and deep
sticky mud. There is a large traffic, by river and rail, in live
stock for Sydney, and in goods for the supply of a vast outlying

region.

South from Sydney, on the railway to Goulburn, lies Liverpool,
with the best paper-mill in Australia; Moore College, a training
institution for ministers of the Anglican Church; and a large
benevolent asylum for old men worn-out sheep-shearers, cattle-
drovers, and early explorers of the vast continent. Picton, 53
miles from the capital, at an elevation of over 500 feet, is a
favourite health resort, with a hospital for consumptive patients.
The line rises sharply to the table-land, through long, deep cut-
tings, until, near Berrima, a great penal station for prisoners on
the silent system, it reaches 2300 feet above sea-level. Near
Moss Vale, a few miles further on, are the fine Fitzroy Falls, with
three chief and several smaller cascades, the first cataract, in rainy
seasons, showing a large volume of water flowing over a bluff at
the head of a gorge, half a mile wide, 1000 feet in depth, and many
miles in length. The district near the falls is a public reserve for
the benefit of tourists, and is in charge of a care-taker. A few
miles away from Moss Vale is the Governor's summer residence,
in a region now becoming known for dairy- farming, whereby, at
one place, a fine herd of Ayrshire cows supply daily milk to
Sydney. The well-built town of Goulburn, with about 12,000
people, has fine Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and
handsome churches of the Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and Primitive
Methodists. It lies about 2000 feet above sea-level, in a district

j68 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

noted for the breeding of excellent horses, cattle, and merino
sheep. Lakes George and Bathurst, and a chain of ponds, afford
an ample water supply, and there are important manufactures
tanning, leather-work, brewing, flour-mills in the city. From
Goulburn the railway passes west and south to the frontier of
Victoria at Albury, on the Murray, near which is a growth of
grapes yearly producing 60,000 gallons of wine.

CHAPTER VI.

VICTORIA.
HISTORY TO 1898: GEOGRAPHY, INDUSTRIES, STATISTICS, TOWNS.

Early settlement of the colony Enterprise of the Brothers Henty The founder of
Melbourne Its small beginnings A measure of self-government granted The
colony separated from New South Wales Discovery of gold Vast increase of the
population Insurrection among the gold-diggers A new constitution established
Political conflicts A tariff-bill passed Education Act Renewed contests between
the Legislative Assembly and the Council The Melbourne Exhibitions of 1880 and
1888 Constitutional changes Progress of the colony Its boundaries, area, and
population Political divisions Religion Features of the coast-line Port Phillip
The mountain-system Scenery Lakes Surface of the land Rivers Climate
Pastoral and agricultural industries Cereal and other crops Importance of the
grape-culture Extensive irrigation work Mildura town Growth of fruit and
vegetables Mineral wealth Manufactures Trade I nternal communication
Railways Telegraph and postal services Ecclesiastical affairs Schools and
libraries Education Courts of justice Revenue Customs-duties Public debt-
Constitution of the Victorian parliament Melbourne, the capital, and its suburbs,
described Geelong, Ballarat, Mount Macedon, Bendigo, and other towns.

In February, 1802, Lieutenant Murray, commanding the war-
brig Lady Nelson, entered Port Phillip, and was charmed with the
scenery of that fine harbour. He assumed formal possession of the
country for the British sovereign, and soon sailed away. A few
weeks later, Flinders sailed between the Heads into the bay, and
on his return to Sydney made such a report to Governor King that
he wrote home urging the Duke of Portland to have a settlement
made on the shore of Port Phillip, mainly to anticipate the French,
who were known to be hankering after possessions in that quarter.
Two officials were sent out from Sydney to report, and on January
30th, 1803, they discovered and entered the river Yarra Yarra.
The home-government now resolved to form a settlement, and in

VICTORIA. 169

October of the same year two ships, with about 300 male convicts,
a few women, some free settlers, and 50 officers and men of the
Royal Marines, under Lieutenant-Governor Collins, entered Port
Phillip. He reported against the country as unsuitable for a colonial
establishment, and Lord Hobart, the Secretary of State in charge
of the colonies, transferred the expedition to Van Diemen's Land.
For twenty years thenceforward, the interior of the country
remained unknown to white men. At last, in October, 1824,
Mr. Hamilton Hume, starting under the auspices of Sir Thomas
Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales, made his way, as we
have seen, overland across the Murray river, and on December
1 7th reached the shore near the site of Geelong. The four
brothers Edward, Stephen, Francis and John Henty were the
first who made a permanent settlement in the region which was to
become the famous colony Victoria. These enterprising sons of
Mr. Thomas Henty, a Sussex farmer and banker who emigrated
to Van Diemen's Land, settled on Portland Bay in and after
November, 1834. It was Edward Henty who led the way from the
country afterwards called Tasmania; who put together the first
plough that ever broke Victorian soil, and welded with his own
hands the chains by which it was drawn. There was no house
within five hundred miles of his abode, and he had some difficulty
at first in dealing with the wild blacks of the region. Farm-
servants, live stock, agricultural implements, and stores were
conveyed from Launceston, in Van Diemen's Land, and a great
pastoral enterprise was afterwards started with merino sheep
brought from England. The sum of ,10,000 was expended by
the Hentys in erecting farm-buildings, and a new colony was fairly
launched on its career, remaining for many years the " Port
Phillip District" of New South Wales. A native of London, John
Pascoe Fawkner, afterwards a member of the first Legislative
Council of the colony, arrived from Launceston in October, 1835,
and became the real founder of Melbourne in the buildings erected
on the north side of the Yarra, where he started a farm with
500 sheep and 50 cattle. In the following year, at the request of
the settlers, a resident magistrate was sent from Sydney to Port
Phillip, as the place was beginning to grow in population and
wealth. At the close of 1836, there were 186 males and 38 females;
Wesleyan ministers and missionaries started religious services;

I70 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

a blacksmith's forge was set up, land was tilled, and in March, 1837,
just before Queen Victoria came to the throne, the first flock of
sheep brought overland arrived from New South Wales. Ground
for a regular town was then surveyed, and Sir Richard Bourke,
the Governor at Sydney, came thence to inspect the condition of
affairs. The city of Melbourne had fairly begun its course, with
a name derived from that of the British premier. Williamstown
was also laid out, and Geelong, a designation corrupted from
a native name. Before the close of 1837, the James Watt, the
first steamer that ever entered Hobson's Bay, came in from
Sydney, and an overland mail, carried on horseback by a daring
stock-rider, John Bourke, was instituted between Sydney and
Melbourne.

In these early days, bushrangers or escaped convicts gave
trouble, and in April, 1838, a large body of natives slew eight out
of a party of fifteen Europeans in charge of cattle crossing the
country. Newspapers, banks, and the first post-office, were started,
and a mail-cart began to run between Melbourne and Geelong.
The first Roman Catholic priest and the first Presbyterian minister
arrived; the Melbourne Club was opened, a Commissioner of Crown
Lands was appointed, and 200 immigrants came by sea from Sydney.
In October, 1839, Mr. C. J. Latrobe appeared on the scene as
" Superintendent of the Port Phillip District", and a resident judge
was appointed. By the end of 1840, villages had arisen along the
road from Melbourne towards Sydney, and the formation of police-
stations rendered the route fairly safe. In 1842, the Port Phillip
people received a measure of self-government in being empowered
by Act to send representatives to the Legislative Council of New
South Wales, and Melbourne, at the same time, was made a muni-
cipal town. As early as 1844, the inhabitants of the new colony
were aiming at separation from New South Wales, but the motion
to that effect was decisively rejected in the Council at Sydney, one
of its main supporters being Mr. Robert Lowe, afterwards Viscount
Sherbrooke, who was fast rising into eminence, as an emigrant from
England after a brilliant career at Oxford University. The Port
Phillip colonists had not, however, long to wait before their object
was attained. The Queen first allowed the Port Phillip District to
be styled "Victoria", and in August, 1850, an Act of Parliament
made it a separate colony, with Mr. Latrobe as the first Governor.

VICTORIA. I/ 1

A memorable time was close at hand. The first man who discov-
ered gold in the colony was Mr. W. Campbell, who came on some
of the metal, near Clunes, in March, 1850, but suppressed the fact
until July, 1851, when William Esmond, a miner returned from
California, discovered gold in the same district. Thousands of men
were soon at work around Clunes and Ballarat, and on the creeks
in the valley of the river Loddon, in the north-central part of the
colony. Civil servants, police, domestics, even jail-warders, vanished
from their scenes of duty ; society was, for the time, dissolved. Before
the close of the year, more than 10 tons of gold, worth about
\y^ millions sterling, had been obtained from the Victorian gold-
fields. The colony at once entered on a new phase of existence,
and most rapid progress was made. Within six months of the
known discovery of gold, in July, 1851, the population had been
increased by 15,000 immigrants; in 1852, nearly 100,000 were
added to the number, and in 1852-55, about a quarter of a million.
By the end of 1860, gold worth nearly 100 millions had been
found, and the population of Victoria exceeded half a million.

In June, 1854, Sir Charles Hotham reached Melbourne as
successor to Mr. Latrobe. The new representative of the Crown
was a distinguished naval officer who had also served on various
diplomatic missions. With no special ability for his work in
Victoria, he found serious trouble awaiting him in the office of
Governor. The Legislative Council, composed of 10 nominated
and 20 elected members, had imposed on gold-diggers a license-fee
of 303. per month. The license could not be transferred, and could
only be used within half a mile of the police-camp where it was
issued. The police-force at the diggings included many rash young
men, and great irritation was caused by their vexatious and tyran-
nical behaviour towards the miners. An agitation arose amongst
the diggers at Bendigo, in the Loddon district, in 1853, and the stir
soon spread to other gold-fields. The Government, instead of
adopting a conciliatory attitude, issued an order for still harsher
methods to be employed in hunting down unlicensed diggers, and,
after various provocations to the miners, causing serious disorder, it
became needful to despatch some infantry of the 4Oth Regiment from
Melbourne to Ballarat. The soldiers arrived there on November
28th, and the diggers, after attacking them with volleys of stones,
followed them to their camp, whence a strong sortie of police drove

Ij 2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

off the rioters. Two days later, a new " digger-hunt" was organized
by the authorities, and the troops turned out to support the police.
A regular battle ensued when the insurgents stockaded themselves
at Eureka Creek, near Ballarat, under the command of an emigrant
named Peter Lalor, son of an Irish M.P. Captain Thomas, in
command of the soldiers, and Captain Pasley, in charge of the
police, attacked the fortified position at daybreak on December 4th,
with about 300 men, of whom one-third were mounted infantry and
police. The defenders of the stockade were inferior in number, and
many of them were but imperfectly armed. In an engagement
which lasted for about half an hour, Captain Wise, of the 4Oth Regi-
ment, was mortally, and Lieutenant Paul, of the I2th Regiment,
severely wounded; the troops had 6 men killed and a dozen disabled.
The entrenchments were finally carried at the point of the bayonet,
when it was found that Lalor was lying on the ground severely
wounded. He escaped with the loss of his left arm, and, afterwards
evading the police, he became, when matters had quieted down,
representative for Ballarat in the Legislative Council, and rose, in
later days, to the position of Speaker in the Legislative Assembly
of Victoria. Nearly 30 of the insurgents were killed, many were
wounded, and 125 prisoners were taken. When reinforcements
arrived from Melbourne, martial law was proclaimed in the Ballarat
district; but there was a strong display of public feeling in favour of
the rioters, and the jury acquitted the thirteen men who were put on
trial for high treason at Melbourne. An amnesty was then granted
by the Crown authorities, and all trouble was ended by changes in
the licensing-law. This was the only instance of rebellion or insur-
rection throughout Australian history.

At the close of 1855, Sir Charles Hotham died, just after the
proclamation of a new constitution for Victoria, under an Act of
the Imperial Parliament. Responsible government, with two
elective chambers, was now established. It was not till December,
1856, that Sir Henry Barkley arrived as successor to Hotham.
The new Governor was a man of Scottish origin, being only son
of a native of Ross-shire, who became an eminent merchant in
London. Sir Henry had sat for some years in the British Parlia-
ment as a supporter of Sir Robert Peel, and had gained colonial
experience as Governor of British Guiana and of Jamaica. In
his new post he acquired popularity and public esteem. During

VICTORIA. 173

his seven years' tenure of office, manhood suffrage and vote by
ballot were introduced, and the property qualification for members
was abolished. State aid to religion came to an end, and large
areas of land were thrown open, in amounts not exceeding one
square mile, or 640 acres for each person, to be occupied by
colonists or emigrants as agricultural or pastoral farmers. From
1863 to 1866 the Governorship was held by Sir Charles Darling,
a nephew of the former ruler of New South Wales, under whom
he served for some years as secretary. He had passed many
years in the West Indies as holder of various appointments,
including the Governorship of Jamaica. His term of office in
Victoria was a much-troubled time. The Legislative Assembly,
and a majority of the voters, were in favour of a protective fiscal
policy: a large and influential minority, and the Legislative
Council, supported freedom of trade. As a special instance of
Parliamentary conflicts in our Australasian colonies, we may give
some particulars of what occurred in Victoria at this time. A
Bill imposing protection duties at the custom-house was passed
by the Lower House or Assembly, and was rejected by the
Upper House or Council. In imitation of tactics adopted by
a party in the British House of Commons under William the
Third, the Lower House in Victoria "tacked" their protection
bill on to the Appropriation Bill (Supply), and the Council again
threw out the measure. The Government then proceeded to
collect the protective customs duties on the sole authority of the
Legislative Assembly, and the Executive Council, or Ministry,
with the approval of Sir Charles Darling, borrowed money for
the public service from one of the banks. The Supreme Court
declared the collection of customs-duties, on the Assembly's sole
resolution, to be illegal, and in the next session the Tariff Bill, or
measure for protective duties, was again passed by the Assembly
and thrown out by the Council or Upper House. After a dis-
solution, the new Assembly contained 58 "Protectionists" and
20 " Free-traders ". The Tariff Bill, carried a third time, was
a third time rejected. The struggle continued; the Ministry
resigned; a new Ministry came into office; the salaries and
wages of all persons in government employ were ten weeks in
arrear. At last, the Legislative Council and the Assembly came
to terms, and the Tariff Bill, in a modified form, was passed.

174

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Sir Charles was recalled to England for having failed to be neutral
in the constitutional dispute, and was succeeded, in August, 1866,
by Viscount Canterbury, a title which he inherited, on his brother's
death, three years later, being theretofore known as Sir J. H. T.
Manners-Sutton.

The new Governor, second son of the first Viscount Canter-
bury, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1817 to 1834,
had been Under-Secretary for the Home Department, under Sir
Robert Peel, from 1841 to 1846, and had then acquired colonial
experience as Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick and Governor
of Trinidad. During his seven years' term of office, from 1866
to 1873, Lord Canterbury showed much ability and tact. There
was a lull in party warfare after the struggle which had established
the supremacy of the Legislative Assembly in financial affairs,
and the colony prospered in the agricultural, pastoral, and manu-
facturing industries, aided by the development of railways. In
1872, the important Education Act was passed, abolishing the
previous systems, both national and denominational, and establish-
ing free, secular, and compulsory instruction up to a certain
standard. The number of schools and teachers, and the amount
of average attendance of children, were increased, in the course
of twelve years, by about 75 per cent. Another question had
been coming to the front, that concerning the payment of members,
a matter desired by the working-men of the colony, who wished
to see themselves represented in parliament by a fair number of
men of their own class. A new contest arose between the two
Houses about the time when Lord Canterbury, in 1873, was
succeeded in office by Sir George F. Bowen, an Irish gentleman
who, after a distinguished career at Oxford, became in succession
President of Corfu University, Chief- Secretary of the Ionian
Islands, Governor of Queensland, and Governor of New Zealand.
The members of the Legislative Assembly had been paid for three
years, when the Legislative Council made a difficulty. There
were no funds for the payment of public servants, as the Council
set aside the Appropriation Bill to which the ministry " tacked "
the proposal for paying the members, instead of passing a special
bill. In January, 1878, the Gazette announced the dismissal of
all heads of departments, county-court judges, mines' courts
judges, police-magistrates, insolvency -courts' judges, and other

VICTORIA. 1/5

officials. A " panic " arose from this extreme proceeding of the
Executive or Ministry, and business was greatly injured. The
Council then passed a separate bill for paying members, and
the Appropriation Bill, for " supplies " of public money to meet the
expenses of government, and the crisis, in that respect, came to
an end. The Assembly then attacked the Council, or Upper
House, by a measure depriving that body of most of its political
powers. The bill was thrown out, and an appeal was made to the
Colonial Office at home. The Secretary of State declined to
interfere, and practically told the colonials of Victoria to settle their
own constitutional contests.

Matters then became comparatively quiet, in prospect of the
coming Exhibition. There had been local exhibitions at Mel-
bourne in 1854 and 1861, and competitive intercolonial shows in
1866, 1872, and 1875. In 1879, Sir George Bowen was succeeded
by the Marquis of Normanby, who had sat for some years in the
House of Commons, and had ruled in colonies as Lieut.-Governor
of Nova Scotia, and as Governor, first of Queensland, and then
of New Zealand. A quarter of a million sterling was expended
on erecting and equipping the fine cruciform building, in the
Carlton Gardens, for the Melbourne International Exhibition,
opened on October ist, 1880, in the spring-time of the Australian
year. The building, 500 feet in length, has a dome 220 feet high,
and two towers, each of 100 feet; the east and west sides are each
460 feet long. The dome rises above the point where the naves
and transepts intersect. An organ, made by a local builder, was
constructed at a cost of ^5000. The Sydney Exhibition of 1879
had first fairly revealed the Australian colonies, their importance,
prosperity, and resources, to most of the people of Europe, and
had given a prospect of the great new markets opening beyond
the seas for European manufactures and luxuries. All the chief
European nations were represented in the grand display of goods,
with the United States, India, China, Japan, and all the Austral-
asian colonies. Statuary, pictures, and water-colours from the
chief European centres of art were also largely shown. The
native-born population of the colony had a great revelation made
to them in the display of European products, and much improve-
ment of colonial taste came in household furniture and decoration.
Local faculties were stimulated, and new British and foreign houses

!j76 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

of business were opened in Melbourne for the supply of new
colonial demands of refinement and luxury. The Exhibition
remained open for seven months, until May, 1881, and was visited
by 1,310,000 people. The main building was then consigned to
the care of trustees for purposes of popular instruction and
recreation. We may here note that seven years later, in 1888,
a much larger show than the former one included a fine collection
of pictures, a grand display of machinery, educational courts, and
excellent orchestral music.

In 1 88 1, an important constitutional change was made in the
raising of the number of the Legislative Council, or Upper House,
from thirty to forty-two members, with a lower property quali-
fication, a briefer tenure of office, and a wider electoral basis.
The Council, after this democratic innovation, was to be elected
by all persons having ^'10 annual freehold value, or 25 annual
leasehold. Great public measures were also passed for a Harbour
Trust, and for the vesting of all railway administration in the
hands of three Commissioners. The chairman, Mr. Speight, a
man of great ability and experience on the staff of the Midland
Railway, was procured from England. Since that time, the
railway-lines have been a financial success, affording a small
surplus towards general revenue, after meeting interest on the
loans for construction, and defraying all the working expenses.
All the public services of the colony have now been placed in
the hands of non-political Commissioners, so as to remove patronage
out of the power of ministries. In July, 1884, Sir Henry Brougham
Loch, a Scottish gentleman of wide experience as a military officer
in India and elsewhere; as a diplomatist in China and Japan; in
the Home Department in London; and as Governor of the Isle
of Man, became the Governor of this colony in succession to
Lord Normanby. His services in the colony, until his retirement
nearly five years later, were highly appreciated by those whom he
ruled. In 1886, fifty years after the foundation of the colony, the
population numbered one million, and Melbourne and the suburbs
contained about 300,000 inhabitants. In 1889, the Earl of Hope-
toun, a Scottish noble of superior gifts of manner and tact, who
had been a lord-in-waiting to the Queen, and Lord High Com-
missioner to the Church of Scotland, entered on a five years'
tenure of office as Governor, and won much popularity during

VICTORIA. V7

that period. His successor was Lord Brassey, a nobleman of
vast wealth, who sat for many years in the House of Commons,
and has displayed much ability and intelligence in naval and
maritime matters as a Civil Lord of the Admiralty, as Secretary
to the Admiralty, as a writer on naval and commercial subjects,
and as a veteran yachtsman on board his famous Sunbeam, the
vessel which conveyed him to his new sphere of duty in the
(European) summer of 1895.

The recent history of the colony involves some events of a
disastrous character. At the close of November, 1897, a cyclone,
described as " a terrific dust-storm ", swept over the Wimmera
district, in the north-west, wrecking several towns, with the
destruction of many churches and prominent buildings. On
November 2ist, the worst conflagration that ever occurred in
Melbourne, the most destructive, indeed, ever known in any
Australian town, destroyed property worth about a million sterling.

This trouble was quickly followed by another of the same class,
partly due to the intense heat of the Victorian summer of 1897-98,
which will be remembered as having partially disabled the British
team of cricketers then visiting Australia. The country was in
the condition when " bush-fires " are to be most dreaded, and
during the week ending with January i5th, 1898, the beautiful
south-eastern district called Gippsland, with large tracts of range
and forest, became a prey. The greatest destruction of property
occurred among the holdings along the Great Southern Railway
and the Gippsland line and its branches, though bush-fires also
raged in other parts of the colony along the Dividing Range. In
Gippsland, a prosperous dairy ing -district became an appalling
scene of desolation, misery, and want, swept clean of all except
tall, gaunt tree- trunks, charred from root to crown, and the frizzled-
up bodies of horses, cows, pigs, and poultry; of wallabies (the
smaller kangaroos), bandicoots, and snakes. Burnt-out settlers
sat despairing by their ruined homes, sometimes mourning over
victims of the fire. Many heroic deeds of rescue were performed.
One thrilling incident of the week was the passage of a train,
empty of travellers, through a burning forest and over burning
bridges, the engine-driver being resolved, at all risks, to make his
way to his own and the guard's family, who were " on the other
side of the danger". The flames were tearing like a tornado

VOL. VI.

1^8 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

across the line, leaping from tree to tree, and as the train passed
through at full speed long tongues of fire, shooting up under the
boiler and round the wheels, more than once caught the clothing
of the driver and fireman. This terrible disaster had its origin in
fires made for clearing the "bush" by settlers, and the smouldering
embers, blazing up again under the action of the wind, brought
ruin on a region made dry as tinder by the heat. Prompt measures
for relief were taken by the Victorian government and by con-
tributors to charitable funds.

Victoria, the smallest colony on the mainland of Australia, and
the youngest, with the exception of Queensland, in independent
political existence, is bounded on the north by New South Wales,
on the south by the ocean and Bass Strait, and on the west by
South Australia. With an extreme length, from east to west, of
420 miles, and a breadth varying from 150 to 250 miles, the country
is almost equal in size to the island of Great Britain, having an
area of 88,198 square miles, or nearly 56^ million acres. The
population, as officially estimated on June 3Oth, 1899, was then
1,177,000, comprising about 596,000 males, and 579,000 females.
The number of Chinese and aborigines, respectively 9377 and
565 by the census of 1891, has much decreased during the last
ten years. In 1891, 97 per cent of the population were British
subjects by birth; native Victorians formed 63 per cent; nearly
80,000 were natives of the other Australasian colonies; 163,000
of England and Wales; over 85,000 were Irish, and 50,660 were
of Scottish origin. About three-fifths of the whole people live
in towns. The colony is divided into 37 counties, greatly varying
in size. For purposes of local administration there were, in 1898,
about 60 urban and 150 rural municipalities, the former being
''cities", "towns", or "boroughs", not exceeding 9 square miles
in area, and the latter, called " shires ", being portions of territory
containing rateable property that will yield an annual revenue of
,500. In religious profession, in 1891, about 75 per cent of the
people were "Protestants", thus divided: Episcopalians, 417,000;
Presbyterians, 167,000; Methodists, 158,000; other Protestants,
94>6oo. The Roman Catholics formed 22 per cent of the whole
population, or 248,600; the Jews were 6460, or */* per cent of
the whole; the remainder, of various creeds or none, numbered
about 48,500, including a few thousand Buddhists and Confucians

VICTORIA. 1/9

of the pig-tailed race. There is no State Church, nor has there
been any State assistance to any denomination since 1875.

The most remarkable features in the 600 miles of the Victorian
coast-line are, taking them in order from east to west, the Ninety-
Mile Beach; Corner Inlet; Wilson's Promontory; Western Port
Bay, with Phillip and French Islands; Cape Schank; Port Phillip
Bay; Cape Otway; Portland Bay; Cape Nelson; and Cape
Bridgewater. The Ninety Mile Beach, really of much greater
extent than its name indicates, is a narrow sand-bar, dividing the
sea from a long line of narrow lagoons, stretching for 60 miles
south-west. The entrance to Corner Inlet, an oblong expanse
15 miles long by 10 in breadth, is almost blocked by an
archipelago of islands large and small. The grand Wilson's
Promontory, the most southerly point of the continent of Australia,
is the extremity of a granitic peninsula, 24 miles long by 9 in
average width, covered by a mass of mountains with some peaks
exceeding 2500 feet in height. The lighthouse on the headland
rises about 400 feet above sea-level, warning the manner from the
perils of the storm-beaten rocky coast. After the coast-line has
turned south-west, Waratah Bay displays its handsome crescent-
shaped contour. Western Port is a very spacious double inlet,
the outer one opening into a circular expanse half-filled by French
Island. An iron-bound coast running due west leads to Cape
Schank with its commanding lighthouse, whence the shore turns
north-west in a long line of sand hummocks and dunes to the
entrance of Port Phillip. This noble sheet of sea-water, 40
miles across, of roughly triangular shape, with an area of 700
square miles, has an entrance over 2*^ miles wide between the
Heads at Point Nepean and Point Lonsdale. There are three
minor bays within the great inlet Hobson's Bay, on the north,
the anchorage for Melbourne; Geelong Bay, a narrow western
arm; and Corio Bay, the anchorage for Geelong, at the south-
western end of Geelong Bay. The scenery has no special charm.
On the western coast of Port Phillip there is a long low line of
sandy beach, with a broken ridge of scrub. On the south and
east the shore is more picturesque, with miniature bays and a fine
background of wooded hills near Sorrento and Mornington. After
the voyager has passed the Nine Mile Beach, a narrow white
riband of sand, a succession of sea-side villages and towns, in-

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

eluding a Mentone and a Brighton, lead on northwards to St.
Kilda, the fine suburb of Melbourne.

Running south-westwards from the entrance to Port Phillip,
we find the coast, with a hundred or more " creeks" discharging
their currents into the sea, assuming a grander character. A
rugged landwall of 300 feet in height extends for 60 miles, with
only two places where it is possible to land; this line of cliff is
backed by hills reaching nearly 2000 feet, splendidly wooded
with blue gums and beech, blackwood and tree-ferns, and much
other timber and foliage of the finest Australian types. Cape
Otway, an imposing headland 3 miles broad, has a lighthouse
crowning its western extremity. Far westwards again, as we near
the border of South Australia, after coasting along a little-explored
region heavily wooded, of thick tangled undergrowth, deep ravines,
and icy-cold springs, we reach the fine Portland Bay, having an
entrance 30 miles across, and running 5 or 6 miles inland, while
the coast curves round in a south-easterly sweep to the bold Point
Danger. There it turns westwards again to rugged Cape Nelson,
with its lighthouse on a huge platform of jutting rock. Cape
Bridgewater, rising about 450 feet above sea-level, lies amongst
coast scenery of romantic and savage grandeur in rocky masses,
and caves hollowed out through the ages by the force of storm-
driven seas from the icy south.

The mountain system consists chiefly of a portion of the Great
Dividing Range already described, running mainly east and west
in Victoria, with branches to north and south, and many outlying
isolated hills. The highest ground is in the north-east, where
many summits exceed 5000 feet, and the culminating point of
the country, Mount Bogong, attains 6508. There are also many
elevations of over 4000 feet. The scenery in summer, in the
Mount Bogong part of the range, is rich in the variety and verdure
of deep ravines and moist valleys, and has a winter grandeur in
its many mountain-tops clothed with dazzling snow. Nothing can
surpass the charms derived from perfection of form in the hills,
and from changes of colour, according to the season, the hour of
the day, and the cloud effects, in this most lonely and lovely
mountain region. Among the hundred lakes of the colony, about
twenty are salt or brackish, of which the largest, Lakes King,
Victoria, and Wellington, lie inside the Ninety Mile Beach. Lake

VICTORIA. l8l

Tyers, on the coast to the east of the above, is a much smaller
and beautiful sheet of water with very irregular outline and lofty
banks clothed with leafage to the top, and abounding in exquisite
inlets and scenes having every kind of sylvan charm. Among the
finest cascades are the Erskine Falls, on the river of the same
name in the south-west, with rugged rocks, rich foliage, and a fine
down-dashing volume of water. The Trentham Falls, near a
mining settlement 2200 feet above the sea, about 65 miles
north-west of Melbourne, are fine in winter-flood of the river
Coliban, which then descends for 90 feet over a broad ledge of
rugged rock, amid trees and shrubs of vivid and perennial verdure
then seen through a veil of silvery mist. Steavenson Falls, on the
river so-named in Gippsland, present a magnificent sight in winter,
as the mountain torrent descends for hundreds of feet in successive
cataracts through a deep ravine made umbrageous and verdant
by stately trees, graceful tree-ferns, and intermingled creepers
and shrubs, amid rocks almost coal-black in contrast with the
snowy spray.

In many points the surface of Victoria resembles that of New
South Wales, though the natural features are upon a less extensive
scale. There are a coast district, a table-land through which runs
a dividing chain, and some interior plains. As these are included
in a far smaller territory than that of the sister colony, they cause
the surface to be more varied. The coast district is mostly un-
dulating, with an average breadth of 40 miles, and the eastern
portion is the most level. The river system is very simple.
There are two principal slopes, one to the north into the Murray
river, the other to the south into the ocean. The Dividing Range
is the watershed. The chief Victorian tributaries of the Murray
are the Mitta Mitta, the Ovens, the Goulburn, the Campaspe, and
the Loddon. Of these the most important is the Goulburn, very
picturesque in its upper course, passing by many towns, and
having a length of nearly 350 miles. The Loddon has a course
of 225 miles. The Avoca (160 miles) flows north into a lake,
and the Wimmera, 230 miles long, empties itself into the large
salt Lake Hindmarsh. On the southern slope, the Snowy River,
partly in New South Wales, enters the sea west of Cape Howe;
the Latrobe falls into Lake Wellington; the Yarra Yarra, 150
miles long, into Hobson's Bay; the Glenelg, after a course of

jg2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

280 miles, falls into the ocean between Capes Northumberland
and Bridgewater. The climate, one of the most healthy and
enjoyable in the world, greatly resembles that of New South
Wales. At Melbourne, the mean temperature of the year is
about 56; the rainfall being about 26 inches. North of the
Dividing Range the temperature is somewhat higher and the
rainfall less. Gippsland, the beautiful south-eastern district, well-
watered, fertile in soil, and generally cooler in climate than most
other parts of Victoria, was once densely wooded in the west and
south-west, but much land has now been cleared and is tilled for
root and grain crops, while the central district is richly grassed.
This "garden of Victoria" supplies the capital and other towns
with much of the animal and vegetable food there consumed.
The Murray District lies between the Dividing Chain and the
Murray River, and is mainly pastoral in character, with some
tillage and much mineral wealth. The Loddon District, west of
the Murray District, is chiefly pastoral, with much gold in the
southern part. The north-west portion of the colony, also mainly
in pasture, forms the Wimmera District. The flora and fauna of
Victoria are identical with those of the southern part of New South
Wales, except that in the animal kingdom the platypus and lyre-
bird are more common, and in the vegetable world the tree-fern
is more abundant, while the cedar and cabbage-tree palm are very
rare.

The mainsprings of prosperity in this colony are the pastoral
and agricultural industries. Some of the land in the western plains
is better adapted than any other territory in the world for the growth
of fine wool. The soil which has been cleared of primeval forest
is extremely rich, and Victoria stands at the head of the Austral-
asian colonies in the value and extent of her crops. Up to the end
of 1899 about 23 million acres of crown-lands had been granted and
sold, of which above two million acres were, at that date, produc-
ing wheat to the amount of 19 million bushels; 48,000 acres grew
over 1,1 10,000 bushels of barley; 266,000 acres under oats furnished
over 5^ million bushels; about 9750 acres gave 560,000 bushels
of maize; 41,000 acres of potato ground yielded 147,000 tons; and
27,600 acres of vineyards furnished large supplies of wine and table
grapes; the return of wine and raisins for the year 1898-99 was
respectively 2,000,000 gallons and 13,220 cwts. There are large

VICTORIA. 183

crops of hay and artificial grasses; all the common European fruits
are grown, and culinary vegetables in such abundance as to leave
a surplus for exportation to neighbouring colonies. Peas and beans,
hops and tobacco are also produced. The growth of grapes for
wine production, and for table use both as fresh fruit and as raisins,
is now important. The pioneers of viticulture in Victoria were two
natives of Switzerland, Hubert and Paul de Castella, brothers who
emigrated to the colony, where the latter planted the first Victorian
vineyard, in 1856, at Yering cattle station. Some of the Australian
wines are very favourably known. At the Melbourne Exhibition
of 1881, Messrs, de Castella (Hubert) and Rowan, of St. Hubert's
Vineyard, in Victoria, carried off the " grand prize " of ^800 offered
by the Emperor of Germany to "an exhibitor . . . promoting
art and industry as shown by the high qualities of the goods manu-
factured ", and at Bordeaux, the home of the French wine-industry,
some medals were awarded for specimens shown, in 1882, by
seventy Australian wine-growers. In regard to pastoral wealth in
Victoria, we 'find that the colony, in March, 1895, contained about
432,000 horses, over 1,833,000 horned cattle, nearly 13,200,000
sheep; 337,000 was the number of pigs.

Returning now to the subject of tillage, we find this colony
taking an honourable and, in a continent subject to drought, a very
useful lead in the important matter of irrigation. The name of
Mildura, a town on the Murray river, 340 miles north-west of
Melbourne, is closely connected with the inauguration of a great
fruit-producing industry in the establishment of Australia's first
" irrigation colony ", a form of enterprise which, welcomed in every
part of Victoria as likely to enrich the country with a new territory,
in five years' time transformed a mere wilderness of mallee scrub
into a delightful region of well-ordered orchards and vineyards.
The word is the native term for " red earth ", describing the soil
throughout the settlement made in a district where the land lay
valueless and untouched, so bare that even rabbits were dying by
hundreds on the parched ground. It was a rare opportunity for
the display of energy and skill, and these forces were applied with
remarkable success. In 1886, mainly through the efforts of Mr.
Alfred Deakin, Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Water Supply,
the Victorian Legislature passed an Act providing for a national
system of irrigation. The same gentleman, born at Melbourne in

jg^ OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

1856, and a member of the Victorian bar, had in 1883 carried a
"Water Conservation Act", the first measure ever passed in
Australia for public irrigation on a large scale. The great imme-
diate outcome of Mr. Deakin's irrigation-policy was the arrange-
ment which the Victorian government made, in 1887, with the two
brothers George and William Benjamin Chaffey, natives of the
Province of Ontario, Canada, who had for some years been success^
ful irrigators in Southern California, emigrating to Australia in
1886. The Charleys, in 1887, secured 250,000 acres of land on the
banks of the Murray, on condition of spending, within twenty years,
the sum of ,300,000 on improvements, and of paying ,200,000,
in that time, for the whole area. The contract bound them to
make an outlay of ,33,000 in the first five years. So rapid was
the success obtained, and so bright the prospect, that in far less
than the above time, or up to June, 1891, ,275,000 had been
disbursed on the new Mildura settlement, in addition to improve-
ments, made by settlers themselves, to the estimated value of
i 00,000.

In 1894, the town of Mildura contained a number of hand-
some buildings in brick churches and stores, public offices
and dwelling-houses, with an agricultural college fully endowed
by setting aside one-fifteenth of the whole value of the land.
The main street, Deakin Avenue, is planted for 5 miles with
ornamental trees; parallel to this, on both sides, run other road-
ways, crossed by long streets at right angles. The town-sites
extend about a mile back from the Murray, and are bounded by
suburban allotments, beyond which ten-acre blocks run back for
9 or 10 miles, the highest water-channel being about 90 feet
above the summer-level of the river. Hundreds of miles of main
and subsidiary channels are supplied with water from a dozen
pumping-stations, with plant ranging from 200 to 1000 horse-power,
the largest having four centrifugal pumps each raising 10,000
gallons per minute. The landscape of this delightful region is
dotted over with settlers' homes of every description and size, from
handsome mansions with every modern convenience and comfort
to small tenements of wood and corrugated iron. These are erected
amongst orchards, vineyards, and fruit-gardens in every stage of
progress, tilled by fruit-growing experts from California, Anglo-
Indians, emigrants from South Africa, and from the other Austral-

VICTORIA. 185

asian colonies, and by English, Scottish, and Irish settlers of good
class, including many sons of English country gentlemen. The
production of raisins, dried in the sun as the method which alone
preserves the aroma and flavour of the grapes, is a leading industry,
and this fruit is sold at is. per pound in the local market. The
apricots, peaches, and figs are of high quality, and orange- and
lemon-trees bear heavily at two years of age. The combination of
excellence in soil, climate, and weather with skill and care in culti-
vation has produced marvellous results in return for capital expended.
In eleven weeks after planting, ripe apricots have been gathered
from the trees, and a crop of some tons' weight of grapes has been
given, within two years of planting, by a ten-acre lot of vines.
Tomatoes, potatoes, and every kind of vegetable, with lucerne, hay,
and sorghum or durra or Indian millet, are produced, the last three
furnishing full supplies for horses and cattle. A large canning
trade in fruit for export has arisen, and the settlement is again on
the high-road to enduring prosperity, after a temporary financial
failure due to mismanagement, without any fault of the settlers.
Under the Acts of 1883 and 1886, about thirty local " Irrigation
and Water Supply Trusts", constituted by the Governor in Coun-
cil, composed of members elected by the ratepayers, and having
jurisdiction over more than 3 million acres of land, are dealing
with the soil in other parts of the colony.

The mineral wealth of Victoria still lies chiefly in gold, the
value of which, up to the end of 1898, had exceeded 250 millions
sterling, with a present annual output of about 3^ millions, giving
employment to over 30,000 miners, of whom 2700 are Chinese.
Silver, tin, copper, iron, lead, zinc, antimony, and coal are also
found, but have not been worked to any great extent. In the
amount and value of her manufactures, Victoria surpasses all the
other Australian colonies, giving employment to over 52,700
"hands", with an invested capital of about 19 millions, in flour-
mills, breweries, brickyards and potteries; tanneries and wool-
washing works; woollen mills for textile work in tweed, cloth,
flannel and blankets; soap and candle works; tobacco manufac-
tories, distilleries, paper and stationery works, machinery and tools,
carriages, harness, furniture, chemicals, and many other branches
of industry both for home-supply and for export. For 1898 the
total imports had a value exceeding 16^ millions sterling, of which

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

goods worth nearly 6*^ millions came from the United Kingdom,
chiefly in manufactured articles; 7^ millions of imports were
received from other Australian colonies, and ,735,000 worth from
India, Ceylon, and other British possessions, the bulk of the remain-
ing import trade being conducted with the United States, Java and
the Philippine Islands, Germany, China, Sweden and Norway, and
Belgium. In the same year, the total exports amounted to nearly
1 6 millions sterling, of which the United Kingdom accounted for
,6,740,420, mainly in wool, gold (coined and in bullion), hides
and leather, and tallow; while the other Australian colonies took
produce and goods worth over 6% millions, the remainder belong-
ing chiefly to France (over ^ million), Germany, Belgium, and
the United States. The importance of the pastoral industry is
shown by the fact that in 1898 the value of exported wool was
over 4 millions; the butter export, in the year 1896, was worth
874,710, and flour and grain exceeded ,350,000. The commerce
of the colony employed, in 1898, over 4^ millions tonnage of
shipping " entered and cleared " (exclusive of the coasting trade),
of which over 4 millions were in British vessels.

As regards internal communication, the Murray is the chief
navigable river, and forms a highway of trade for the whole of the
colony north of the Dividing Range. The vessels which ply on
its. waters are small steamers, towing after them, on the upward
voyage, barges laden with various stores, and returning with
vessels conveying wool and other products. The only other
navigable stream is the Yarra Yarra, enabling ships of consider-
able size to reach the business quarter of the capital. The railway
system is very well developed, belonging wholly to the State,
extending to the remotest parts of the colony, and comprising, in
June, 1898, over 3120 miles of road, with a working expenditure
of 1,646,000 and receipts of "2,608,896, affording about 2^ per
cent on an expended capital of above 38 millions, chiefly derived
from loans. With branches in all directions, the chief lines are the
Northern, from Melbourne to Echuca, on the Murray, 156 miles;
the North-eastern, Melbourne to Wodonga, 187 miles; the Eastern,
Melbourne to Sale (in Gippsland), 128 miles; the Western, by
Geelong, Ballarat, and Ararat, to the South Australian frontier, a
distance of 313 miles. There are over 6500 miles of telegraph,
with double that length of wires and nearly 800 stations, and

VICTORIA. 187

telephones are also much employed. The postage rate for town
and country is id. for letters under half an ounce, with a 2d. inter-
colonial charge for same weight, and 2^ d. to the United Kingdom
and countries within the Postal Union.

The Anglican Church is under the local control of the Bishops
of Melbourne and of Ballarat; the Church of Rome is subject to
five prelates, at the head of whom is an Archbishop of Melbourne.
The arrangements for education closely resemble those of New
South Wales. The Melbourne University, with buildings opened
in 1855, has a yearly income of about ,12,250 from the public
revenue, and is both an examining and a teaching body, with a
royal charter empowering it to grant degrees in all faculties except
divinity. There are three affiliated colleges, respectively Anglican,
Presbyterian, and Wesleyan, and the School of Mines at Ballarat
is also attached to the university. Victoria takes the lead of all the
Australian colonies in secondary education, conducted in numerous
and efficient private colleges and schools, much resorted to by
pupils from other parts of the continent. There are many techno-
logical schools under the control of the Educational Department,
including working-men's colleges, schools of arts and of mines, and
two agricultural colleges. The public library of Melbourne contains
about 512,000 volumes, including a large number of pamphlets
and " parts ". Every leading town is provided with a public library
or a mechanics' institute, the whole number exceeding 420 in 1898,
with a total (exclusive of the Melbourne collection) of more than
560,000 volumes. The public instruction given at the primary
schools is strictly secular, compulsory between the ages of six and
thirteen, free for ordinary subjects, and so well conducted in over
1870 schools, with 4618 teachers, and an average attendance of
135,000 children out of 238,000 on the roll, that the census of
1891 showed 95^4 per cent of persons above fifteen years as able
to read and write, while only about 2 per cent were entirely illiter-
ate. The total cost of public (primary) education in the year
1895-96 was nearly ,600,000, exclusive of expenditure on school
buildings; 12 exhibitions, annually worth "40, and tenable for
four years; and 100 scholarships, of the yearly value of 10, ten-
able for three years; are annually given to the ablest pupils for
their further education at the private colleges or " grammar-
schools" or at the university. The system of public justice includes

j38 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

a Supreme Court, with a Chief Justice and five assistant judges;
courts of general and petty sessions, county-courts, courts of insol-
vency, mines, and licensing.

The revenue, for the year ending June 3Oth, 1898, in a time of
great commercial depression, was very nearly 7 millions sterling,
having exceeded, in 1889 and 1890, 8^ millions. The receipts
are derived chiefly from customs-duties (about ,1,840,000), profits
on railways (over 962,800), crown-lands and land-tax, duties on
estates, stamp-duty and excise. The protective tariff for imported
goods includes 25 per cent ad valorem on woven silk, 35 per cent
on jute matting, 35 to 40 per cent on heavy woollen goods, 50 per
cent on woollen apparel, 35 per cent on many kon wares, 35 per
cent on some machinery, 45 per cent on many leathern wares, pay-
ments on china and glass, about 19^. per cwt. on candles, heavy
duties on soap, bacon and hams, and butter, \s. per gallon on beer,
1 55-. per gallon on spirits and sparkling wines, 1 2s. per gallon on
other wines, and charges on cigars (6s. per lb.), manufactured
tobacco (35-. per lb.), and stationery, with "3 per ton on scrap-iron.
The public expenditure for the same year was nearly 6^ mil-
lions, chiefly on interest of debt; railways, telegraphs, and postal
service; public instruction; public works; charitable institutions,
defences, police, civil service and judicial administration. The
outstanding public debt, on June 3Oth, 1899, was just below 48^
millions sterling; over 36^ millions has been borrowed for the
construction of railways, nearly 7^ millions for water- works,
/i, 1 05,000 for State school-buildings, and "1,850,000 for other
public works. The rate of interest averages 4 per cent. The
estimated total value of rateable property in the colony, in 1897,
-exceeded 170 millions sterling, with an annual value of over ten
millions. In the same year, there were 381 post-office and 37
general savwigs-banks, with over 8 millions of pounds belonging
to about 338,000 depositors.

The Victorian parliament consists of two Chambers. The Legis-
lative Council, of 48 members, of whom about one-third must retire
every two years, is elected by voters with a small property or
tenancy qualification, except they be graduates of British universi-
ties, matriculated students of the Melbourne University, ministers
of religion, certificated schoolmasters, lawyers, medical practitioners,
or officers of the army and navy not on active service. Members

VICTORIA. 189

of the Council must have estate of the annual value of ^100. The
Legislative Assembly (95 members) is elected for three years by
universal manhood suffrage. No minister of religion may sit in
either body. The members of the Assembly are paid at the rate
of ^300 a year for expenses, and members of both Houses have
free passes over all the railways. The Governor is assisted by a
cabinet, ministry, or executive council of 1 2 members, at least 4 of
whom must be either in the Legislative Council or the Assembly,
but not more than 8 can be at any one time members of the
Assembly. These high officials include a " Minister of Mines,
Railways, and Water Supply", a "Minister of Defence", "Agri-
culture and Public Works ", and Ministers of " Lands ", " Education
and Customs ", and a " Postmaster-General ". The Premier fills
the office of " Chief Secretary".

MELBOURNE, the capital of Victoria, as both the seat of govern-
ment and the commercial centre, is in itself a city of about 75,000
inhabitants, but taken, like London in the usual sense of the word,
as an aggregation of towns within a radius of 10 miles from the
General Post-office, the place contains about half a million people,
or more than two-fifths of the whole population of the colony, and
disputes with Buenos Ayres the honour of being the largest and
most important town in the Southern Hemisphere. The chief
municipalities which make up "Greater Melbourne" are North
Melbourne, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond, Prahran, South Mel-
bourne, Brunswick, St. Kilda, Port Melbourne, Footscray, Williams-
town, Essendon, and Hawthorn, with populations varying from
15,000 to over 40,000, all the towns being connected by good roads
and cable tramways. The mansions in the various residential
suburbs such as Toorak, St. Kilda, Kew, South Yarra, Hawthorn,
and Brighton, would grace any city in the world, and the Victorian
capital is remarkably rich in the beauty and extent of its public
gardens and parks, above a dozen in number, and containing a total
area of nearly 4500 acres, out of the entire space, 60,000 acres,
covered by the city and suburbs. The position of the city, much
of which, in its suburban parts, lies on marshy land at a low level,
has hitherto caused the drainage to be very defective, but a com-
plete scheme for proper disposal of the sewage is now being carried
out by the Metropolitan Board of Works at an estimated cost of
five millions sterling. The lighting, with gas and electricity, and

jgo OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

the paving, are excellent. The water-supply, admirable in abun-
dance and puality, is mainly derived from the Yan Yean reservoir,
in a township nearly 600 feet above sea-level, about 20 miles
north-east of Melbourne. The south side of a valley was closed
up by the formation of an embankment 3159 feet long, 31 feet high,
and varying in width from 20 feet at top to 1 70 feet at bottom. A
river, well named the Plenty, was then diverted into the space,
forming a lake, 1330 acres in area, and 25 feet in greatest depth.
This gigantic work, executed at a cost of i ^ millions sterling, has
a capacity of 6400 million gallons.

Noticing first some of the suburbs of Melbourne, as we approach
by sea the northern extremity of Port Phillip, we find on the
eastern shore 6V. Kilda, a borough of 25,000 people, with terraces,
stately detached houses, a fine esplanade, a sea- front 3 miles
in length, and bathing-places securely fenced in from sharks.
This charming town is a place of residence for thousands of the
most prosperous citizens. On entering Hobson's Bay, we have
on the western shore Williamstown, with about 18,000 inhabitants,
the outlying port where the largest European steamers receive
and discharge passengers and cargo, in a situation made advan-
tageous by the depth of water and the sheltered position of the
wharves. The Alfred Graving Dock is a very spacious one,
adapted for the largest vessels. There are railway workshops
and factories, and the usual business connected with a seaport
and an arsenal. On the opposite or north-eastern shore of
Hobson's Bay lies Port Melbourne (about 15,000 people), formerly
known as " Sandridge", having a retail trade connected with the
shipping, and joined to the city by a railway 2 miles in length,
the first ever constructed in Victoria. The approach to Melbourne
proper by the narrow river Yarra has been vastly improved in
recent years by the widening of the channel, the extension of the
wharfage, the action of many powerful dredgers, and by the cut-
ting of a canal across an awkward bend of the river bank. The
scene is busy with traffic in all kinds of sea-borne goods connected
with foreign and intercolonial trade, save wool and wheat, which
are shipped at Williamstown. As the city is neared, the air
becomes^ filled with the clang of hammers, the whirr of machinery,
the panting of steam-engines, and the hissing of circular saws from
the factories, workshops, and yards. Flinders Street West, at

VICTORIA. IQI

the water's edge, has an enormous business conducted on the
ordinary roadway, double tramways, and a railway, and is lined
on one side by coal -yards, wood -yards, warehouses, shops, and
taverns. The Yarra is crossed by several bridges, including the
fine Prince's Bridge, of three wrought-iron arches each 100 feet
in span, the whole structure, with approaches, having a length
of 550 feet and a width of 150. The city is laid out on the chess-
board plan, with streets, the chief about 100 feet wide, intersecting
at right angles. Collins Street, paved with asphalt and planted
with trees, is one of imposing architecture, being lined on each
side by tall, massive, and ornate buildings, chiefly banks, offices,
warehouses, shops and hotels. Bourke Street corresponds to the
London Strand, containing the chief theatres and music-halls and
many shops; it is, however, three times as wide and four times as
long as the famous thoroughfare of the world's chief city.

The Protestant Cathedral, ill placed among warehouses that
hem it in on every side, is a fine specimen of Middle Pointed
Gothic, 246 feet long, and 93 feet wide, having two towers each
127 feet high, and a central tower 40 feet square, with a spire
rising to 260 feet. The Congregational Church is a fine adapta-
tion, in parti-coloured brick, of the Romanesque style, and the
Scots Church, the architectural gem of Collins Street, is a good
stone specimen of Early English, with a graceful spire above
200 feet in height. It is due, in a large measure, to the admirable
energy, skill, and integrity of Melbourne's municipal rulers, that
a town whose streets, about sixty years ago, were mere bush-
tracks, has been transformed into a place whose thoroughfares
are as well paved, lighted, and watched, as those of London,
Paris, or Vienna. This great Australasian capital also owes much
to the munificence of leading citizens. The Ormond (Presbyterian)
College, one of the finest educational structures south of the
equator, was erected at the expense of Mr. Francis Ormond, a
native of Aberdeen, who went out to Victoria at an early age,
and became a successful squatter, and a member of the Legislative
Council. The charge thus incurred amounted to ,40,000, in
addition to 2500 paid to the endowment fund. Mr. Ormond
was also largely instrumental in founding the Working-Men's
College, which has been vastly successful in technical education,
and had, in 1889, 2000 names on the roll of students. Before his

I9 2 OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

death in the above year, the same benefactor endowed a chair
of music in Melbourne University, at the cost of ,20,000, and
by his will and codicils bequeathed ,40,000, in amounts of ,5000
for each, to eight Melbourne Asylums and Hospitals for the sick,
orphans, deaf and dumb, blind, sailors, and sick children; ,40,000
to the Ormond College, .10,000 to the Working-Men's College,
20,000, in four sums of ,5000, to as many hospitals and asylums
at Geelong and Ballarat; and some thousands more to various
religious and educational institutions. The Wilson Hall, a notable
adjunct of Melbourne University, was erected, at the cost of
nearly 40,000, by Sir Samuel Wilson, a native of Ireland, who
became a miner at the Victorian gold-diggings in 1852, and then
a successful sheep-farmer, and a member of the Legislative Council.
He returned to England, sat for some years in the House of
Commons, and became tenant of Hughenden Manor, famous as
the residence of Lord Beaconsfield.

Returning now to the architectural adornments of Melbourne,
we note the Town Hall, completed in 1870, of mingled Classic
and Renaissance style, with a grand double front at the corner
of Collins Street, a mansard roof, a clock tower 140 feet in height,
and a hall 1 74 feet long, 74 feet wide, and 63 feet high, furnished
with a fine organ the whole structure having cost above ,100,000.
The Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Patrick has a noble site
on the crown of a hill, and is a splendid triple-spired structure
in Geometrical Decorated English Gothic, the central tower and
spire rising to a height of 330 feet. Inside the walls, the building
is 345 feet long, with transepts of 160 feet, and a height of 92 feet
to the ridge of the main roof. The Houses of Parliament form
one of the most magnificent buildings in Australasia, in the Roman-
Doric style, covering an area nearly 320 feet square, and completed
in 1891 at the cost of about a million sterling. The Exhibition
Building, in the Carlton Gardens, and the General Post Office
are conspicuous among the public buildings. The noble public
library has been already mentioned, and on the same " reserve",
or public domain, are the national art gallery and the technological
museum. All three institutions, governed by a body of trustees,
are well supported by a state endowment. Among the open
spaces for health and recreation are the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens
(64 acres); Yarra Park, the scene of cricket and other athletic

VICTORIA. 193

sports; the Friendly Societies Gardens; the Royal Park (between
200 and 300 acres), which includes the Zoological Gardens of 50
acres; Studley Park (300 acres); and Kew Park (396 acres).
Albert Park, of 570 acres, contains an extensive natural lagoon,
deepened and widened for boating and yachting, and has grounds
for cricket, football, polo, and lacrosse. This resort, in the southern
suburbs, contains the " Rotten Row" of Melbourne, for the drives
of fashionable folk, and is the most valuable of the numerous
" lungs" of the capital. The Botanical Gardens, of about 100
acres, beautifully formed by nature with undulations of the ground,
have a valley containing a lake of 8 acres, and display very beau-
tiful, varied, and valuable specimens of native and foreign flora.
Government House, of no special architectural merit, is nobly
placed on a hill commanding views that embrace the city and
suburbs, Port Phillip Bay, and a horizon mostly of mountain ranges.
Such is some account of the great metropolis of Victoria, a city of
public palaces and superb warehouses, shops, and private mansions;
rich in institutions of commerce, charity, education and art;
abreast of the old great cities of the world in all characteristics of
civilization; all developed in the space of sixty years from a little
township on the banks of the Yarra, a settlement which had the
name of " Beargrass ", and consisted of only thirteen buildings,
three composed of weather-board, two of slate, and eight huts put
together of turf.

Victoria possesses a larger number of towns worthy of the name
than any other Australian colony, and this is a special feature of
Victorian social and political life. Of late years, however, the
growth of provincial towns has been somewhat arrested, and the
population has become more and more concentrated in and near
Melbourne. Geelong, 45 miles south-west of the capital, has about
25,000 people, and is beautifully placed in a natural amphitheatre
rising from the edge of Corio Bay, being girt on the landward side
with a zone of bowery suburbs composed of pretty villages and
cottages amidst flowers and shrubs, while the higher ground shows
many handsome mansions, the Scotch College, the Roman Catholic
Orphanage, and the Convent of St. Augustine. The place is one
of the prettiest in the colony, on the south side of the bay, which
curves round with picturesque outline into the miniature capes
Point Lillias and Point Henry on the north and south of the

VOL. vi. K5

OUR EMPIRE AT HOME AND ABROAD.

entrance from Port Phillip. The broad streets leading to the
water slope down from south to north, intersected by equally
spacious thoroughfares running east and west. The public edifices
are numerous and often handsome. A tree-planted esplanade
connects the town with the botanical gardens of 120 acres, situated
on a promontory and containing the largest and finest fernery in
Australia. Cathedral-like in shape, height, and size, being cruci-
form, with three aisles, the structure has, beneath its central dome,
a fountain springing from rock -work adorned with ferns, and
having its encircling rim jewelled with water-lilies. The columns
supporting the arched roof are entwined with creepers. There
are two other public parks, and Jeffery's Garden, at Newtown,
in the outskirts, has a noble collection of roses in 400 varieties.
The town is famous in Australia for its woollen manufactures,
and promised, in early days, to becom