Seven Legs Across the Seas Part 15

I had been offered work in most of the places visited.

CHAPTER IV

From Melbourne we sailed across Ba.s.s Straits up the Tamar River to Launceston, Tasmania, located at the northern part of the island. Abel J. Tasman, a Dutch navigator, discovered what is now Tasmania, in 1642, after whom the island is named. Van Diemen's Land, however, was the name given to Tasmania by its discoverer, but was changed later.

The Dutch seemed to have been good navigators in early years in the Pacific and Indian oceans, but they proved poor land-grabbers. With Tasmania as a key to the mainland, it would seem the spirit of daring did not extend further than the decks of ships, for Tasman finally left Tasmania, and later on it fell into the hands of British navigators.

Tasmania is the smallest of the six States of which the Commonwealth is composed. It has its upper and lower legislative bodies, a governor from England--in all respects a self-const.i.tuted State. The length of the island from north to south is 150 miles.

Tasmania is known as "the sanatorium" of Australia on account of its good climate. At Launceston this was plainly borne out by the rosy cheeks of the people. The city itself, of 25,000 population, is attractive from its parks, its iron-latticed porches and verandas, a splendid stretch of natural scenery known as the Gorge, and the una.s.suming nature, plain but tidy appearance, and contentment of the people. Few smokestacks were in sight, and as a business center it does not hold kinship to the bustling cities of the mainland.

"This is the way it is all the time!" said a second-hand clothing dealer who had invited me to call at his store, he having gone from America to the Southland to make his fortune. The store was as empty of customers as a church is of worshipers at midnight.

The commendable custom of Sunday evening concerts in the colonies was in vogue in Launceston, only the one attended here was held in a beautiful park instead of in a town hall. As in other places, the concert did not begin until after church services. In the same park is a small zoo, very good for the size of this city.

The wages of workers are low, mechanics receiving from $2 to $2.50 a day. Calling on one of the daily newspapers to see how things looked, when it became known that I was from the United States most of the composing room force stopped work, gathered about me, questions coming eagerly concerning conditions in America from every angle. I was to leave the city a few hours later, when two of the force left their work and saw me on the train.

Hobart, 135 miles south of Launceston, was the next stop. This is the capital of Tasmania, and has double the population of Launceston.

Hobart is situated at the delta of the Derwent River, and has a splendid harbor, with Mount Wellington behind the city, water in front, and a large domain or park at one side. While showing little life commercially, there is a charm about the Tasmania capital that sticks to one.

Three women to one man is Hobart's unequal population. The wages are so small that any young fellow with an ounce of pluck will cross Ba.s.s Straits to the mainland cities, where his labor sells for more than a bare living wage, with opportunities for amounting to something later that Tasmania does not offer. A preserve or jam factory in Hobart furnishes girls and women with employment.

Food and house rent are cheap, and for these reasons, together with the splendid climate all the year round, a considerable number of ex-British army officers, who have a pension, go there to spend their last days.

No stale fish is eaten in Hobart. At the wharfs many fish dealers are found, and their stock is kept in barges or scows containing enough water for the fish to swim in. A customer points out the fish he wants to buy, when it is speared and handed to the purchaser alive. One fish found in that locality--the "trumpeter"--is as sweet as American shad, and it has fewer bones. Oysters do well also in Hobart waters, as that city is nearly as far south of the equator as New York is north of that line. Fish caught in a warm climate have not the same flavor as fish that inhabit the waters of a colder one. An angler is at home when lolling about the brooks and rivers that abound a short distance from the city.

A dollar a day was all I paid for accommodation at a tidy hotel. That sum included three meals and a room.

One will find here a good museum, creditable art gallery and splendid park system, also a good street car system, electric lights, gas and other utilities.

"Appleland" would be a suitable name for Tasmania, as upward of 3,000,000 bushels of apples are shipped from that island each year, and the shipments are increasing. The Huon district, some 20 miles from Hobart, is the great apple growing section of southern Tasmania.

Apple trees grow in these parts where nothing else would thrive, and large tracts of orchards are seen on the sides of rocky hills. Trees are not allowed to grow over six feet high, which adds much to the convenience and cheapness of picking. They are trimmed each season, and the stumps are eight inches in diameter in some instances, but only the stump, which will not rise over six inches above the ground, is left. The sprouts grow from the stump, and these do not, as stated, exceed six feet tall. These apples do not hang only from the ends of the limbs, as they do from most apple trees in America. Blossoms bloom from the body of the limb, and the limb and trunks of the sprouts are entirely covered with apples. Apples grow from the limbs as freckles on an arm. Ten acres of apple land in southern Tasmania bring in a nice yearly income. The trees grow bushy, and as many as 20 bushels are often picked from one. Most of the apples shipped from Hobart go to England, the time of shipment being from February to June.

Fifty miles from Hobart stands the walls of the old Port Arthur Prison, as well as the walls of the church, cracked and ready to fall, covered with ivy vines, where the prison officers worshiped; the nice avenues of trees where the freemen enjoyed the shade on a hot day are very pretty, and the cozy bay, with Point Peur jutting into still and attractive waters, suggest nothing, so far as nature is concerned, as to the place having been one of the most inaccessible, impenetrable prisons of the world. What was known as the hospital building is in good condition, and serves the small community of Carnarvon as a town hall and public school.

Port Arthur has been changed in name--to Carnarvon--as most of the places that have had anything to do with the early prison days of Van Diemen's Land. The prison was located on a strip of land, 12 miles in length, called Tasman Peninsula. Water naturally borders both sides of the peninsula, and the narrow neck of land at the head--Eagle Hawk Neck--of the peninsula is less than a quarter of a mile wide.

Just across the small bay from Port Arthur is Point Puer, on which for years there had been a boys' prison. Both men and boys sent to these prisons, located 13,000 miles from England, had committed alleged offenses in Great Britain. In addition to these two male prisons there was also one for women, but the latter was not located at Port Arthur.

The ages of boys sent to the Point Puer ranged from 12 to 15 years. A number committed suicide, induced by homesickness and other causes.

This inhuman state of affairs being brought to the late Queen Victoria's attention, she ordered the boys' prison razed to the ground.

The narrow neck of land referred to separates Norfolk Bay from the Pacific Ocean. To-day there are, or were recently, a row of posts standing across Eagle Hawk Neck--from Norfolk Bay to the ocean. To these posts dogs had been chained, the chains just long enough to allow a dog fastened to one post to meet the other. Some of these posts were driven in the bottom of Norfolk Bay, and on them was built a rest for the dogs to jump on when the tide was in. On each side of the narrow strip of land soldiers were stationed, the string of dogs between. Were a prisoner, in trying to escape the hardships of Port Arthur, to get beyond the sentries, and attempt to get by the dogs, an uproar would be made by the canines, and the sentries on the other side would be on the alert if a prisoner chanced to get by the vicious dogs; so that any effort to escape by that route would be futile.

Norfolk Bay at that point is also narrow--not over a quarter of a mile wide--several prisoners making their escape by swimming across. To forestall further escapes by that means, sharks, which had been imported, were placed in the bay and fed. So, between the soldiers and the dogs on guard at Eagle Hawk Neck and Norfolk Bay full of sharks, once brought to Tasman Peninsula escape was impossible.

Masks were worn by prisoners when they attended church services, so that no recognition could take place. In addition to that precaution, the seats in the church had a board at the back as high as a man's head, and the prisoner was closed in by boards on each side. The preacher was the only man that could be seen when sitting in the box seat. From 1842-46 19,000 convicts were sent to Tasmania. Sometimes many died during the voyage. The only humane feature connected with the convict traffic was that the ship doctor received $2.40 for every prisoner who landed in Tasmania. Naturally, the doctor would do his best to collect the fee. The last shipment of convicts took place in 1877. It is said some prisoners sent to Tasmania had committed minor offenses, such as shooting a rabbit on another's property, stealing chickens, inability to pay debts, and similar charges.

Eucalyptus trees are said to grow to a height of 350 feet in certain parts of Tasmania, and also in some other States.

Reading accounts of the products of the Commonwealth, its exports of wool, meat and ores, and being unfamiliar with the obverse side of the picture--droughts, deserts and the rabbit pest--one would little expect to hear the question asked, "Will the 5,000,000 industrious populace of Australia, a name that fascinates as does California, and having an area one-quarter that of the British Empire, ever increase to 25,000,000?"

Only a fringe of this continent is habitable, behind these fertile tracts being expansive wastes, on portions of which rain does not fall, at times, for several years. No such river as the Nile or Mississippi flows through these salt deserts. Near the coast, visited by moderate rainfalls, are sections in which drought is ever feared, where wells have been bored to depths of thousands of feet, only to find, when a water vein has been pierced, that, in many instances, the flow proves to be salt water, unfit for drink or irrigation purposes.

The two chief rivers of Australia--the Darling and the Murray--are small compared to waterways that course other countries. In dry seasons the water becomes low, and in drought periods the bottoms of these rivers offer little more moisture than is found on the plains.

Not more than one per cent. of the land of this great continent is under cultivation. In order to insure the harvesting of crops in favorable seasons, millions and millions of dollars have been expended by the government in building rabbit-proof fences; the quant.i.ty used would encircle the globe nearly half a dozen times. Added to this outlay, large sums have been expended in boring wells, building reservoirs and establishing water stations on cattle and sheep ranges.

Buying land from landowners controlling large tracts, obtained by devious means in the early stages of the country's development, is still another heavy national expense. This land, when allotted to small farm settlers, is leased. Leasing the land, instead of granting the freehold, does not augur for a rapid increase in the rural population.

Quality, not quant.i.ty, seems to be the aim of the Commonwealth in regard to the immigrant entering its sh.o.r.es. "a.s.sisted pa.s.sages" apply chiefly to domestic help and agricultural workers of British birth or of British descent, and these must be in good health and of sound body. A strong sentiment seems to be prevalent for immigration, but those engaged at the various trades, and even the professions, do not encourage the coming of additional artisans to the respective vocations or an increase of names to the professional roster. Hence, the small volume of immigration to the Antipodes.

With a desert comprising a major portion of the continent, a temperature of 100 to 120 degrees prevailing over a large area, with but few rivers, pure water lakes or refreshing streams, and the bowels of the earth giving up brackish and salt water, thereby dispelling hope of the sandy wastes being reclaimed and the ravages of drought counteracted--meeting with failures in battling to overcome these natural barriers to development, we can picture running through the Australian's mind the paraphrased biblical quotation: "Paul may plant, Apollo may water, but G.o.d must give the increase."

LEG FOUR

CHAPTER I

Our first stop in New Zealand was at Bluff, a small port nearly a thousand miles eastward across the Tasman Sea from Hobart. Though composed of only a few hundred people, this place, nevertheless, commands the attention of a traveler, as it is one of the most southerly outposts of civilization, there being no white habitation between Bluff and the South Pole. Tons of cheese and b.u.t.ter were here loaded into the ship, brought by rail from Invercargill, eighteen miles inland, the commercial center of a thrifty farming district.

Abel J. Tasman, in 1642, was the first white man to discover New Zealand. He was frightened away by a warlike and fearless race of natives, but mapped out the coast line roughly, and named the country Staaten Island, which Dutch officials altered later to New Zealand.

Captain James Cook, in 1769, was the first to land on New Zealand soil, which he did after much d.i.c.kering with the Maoris; it then became a British possession.

While traveling through Devereux Straits from Bluff to Dunedin, one of the three islands comprising New Zealand--Stewart Island--was to the south. It has an area of 665 square miles, a mild and pleasant climate, and was a favorite a.s.sembling place for American whaling ships twenty-five to thirty years ago. A Maori settlement, most of the natives being fishermen and oysterers, form the chief inhabitants.

Oban, twenty miles from Bluff, is the princ.i.p.al town. The straits between South and Stewart Islands was red with prawns, and thousands of fowl were feeding off these crustaceans; the birds make their home on the latter island. Later we reached the Heads of Otaga harbor, pa.s.sed Port Chalmers, and seven miles further the vessel docked at Dunedin, a stronghold of the Scotch.

In 1848, after a voyage of several months in sailing vessels, two ship loads of Scotch Presbyterians from Scotland sailed up Otaga harbor and disembarked at what is now known as Dunedin, where they formed a settlement. Scotch energy was at once put into action--some of the colonists building homes, others turning over the soil of this virgin country, then seeding the land, later harvesting their meager crops--all initial undertakings requiring more patience and persistence than afterward, when better supplied with tools and implements, and more familiar with natural requirements. From this small beginning--followed by periods of anxiety, disappointment and hardship, as settlers, with more courage than money, in most all new countries have endured in battling with the uncertain phases which confronted them--the pluck of these hardy pioneers is represented in Dunedin being the metropolis of southern New Zealand.

Losing time hunting for level land or gently sloping hills on which to establish a city was not the Scotch way of doing things. The hills are so high, steep and rugged where the citizens of this center live that electric power would fail to draw street cars up some of the inclines; hence steps are cut into the rocks, and walks, made of boards, lead up to many of the homes. Like the rocky hills within the munic.i.p.ality, Dunedin is solidly built. Dark graystone figures largely in building, and streets are good and well looked after. An electric street car system is another a.s.set, and the railway station is one of the best government buildings in New Zealand. Numerous church steeples rising about the metropolis attest the well-known religious tendency of this race; an art gallery, museum, libraries, schools, colleges and other factors indicating intellectual advancement, are found here--14,000 miles from Scotland and the gateway to the Antarctic region--a credit to Scotland grit. Among the manufactures are woolen goods and farm machinery. Frozen meat exports from the Island Dominion, as this country is often termed, are large. This great industry had its inception here, the first cargo being shipped in a sailing vessel from this port in 1881. Burns' clubs, bagpipe bands--which thrill a Scot wherever found--and Caledonian societies have flourished here since its settlement. The bands keep things lively, appearing frequently in complete regalia, the pipers holding their own with any in Scotland.

Sixty thousand people live in Dunedin, these being mainly Scotch. Some of the early colonists came from Dundee and others from Edinburgh, Scotland. While settlers from the former were bent on naming their new home Dundee, those from the latter wanted the place called Edinburgh.

A compromise was finally reached by their taking the first syllable of Dundee (Dun) and the first and second syllables of Edinburgh (Edin), calling the place Dun-edin.

Ho! An American flag was flying from the mast of an old three-masted schooner in Otaga harbor. Though I had traveled nearly 22,000 miles since leaving New York and had been at the main ports of three continents, this was the only occasion the Stars and Stripes was observed flying from a vessel.

Little difference was observed here in the clothes worn or the general customs in vogue in America; but British names for certain business callings are the rule, such as ironmonger, fishmonger, mercer, draper, etc.

Everybody cuts their own bread in Dunedin. Sometimes resting on a wooden dish, and in other instances on an ordinary piece of board, the loaf is placed on the table, with a big knife alongside. Meat is served carved, however.

Splendid horses are noticeable--the big, heavy-bodied, hairy-legged Clydesdale breed.

Street cars do not run earlier than 1 o'clock on Sunday afternoons, when church services are over.