Trade and Travel in the Far East Part 7

It appears to me, that the imports and exports of Australia ought to be much nearer a balance than they are. To bring about this desirable state of things, it will be requisite to reduce the amount of the imports, which may be effected by giving up the importation of hams, bacon, cheese, b.u.t.ter, tobacco, and, in a great measure, grain. To see a pastoral country like New South Wales importing b.u.t.ter and cheese, is an anomaly, and only proves the waste and carelessness of the owners of herds numerous enough to supply all Europe with dairy produce. The importation of hams and bacon is another absurdity and evidence of wasteful husbandry. I have seen fruit, barn-sweepings, b.u.t.ter-milk, bran, &c. &c. wasted about a farm in Australia, in quant.i.ties sufficient to feed and fatten a hundred pigs, which would have kept the establishment in meat for half the year. Indeed, it is a common saying in the Colony, that the waste on one of its farms, would make an English farmer's fortune. These may seem minor articles, but vast sums of money are annually paid for them to London dealers. Besides these, are imported, pickles, preserved fruits, sweetmeats, shoes, clothing, and a thousand other articles, every one of which might be as well and as economically made in the Colony, thereby saving thousands per annum. A coat or other article of dress can be made in Sydney as well and as cheap as in London; and though the cloth must be obtained from England, there is no reason that the London tailor should benefit by the making, when the Sydney one is in want of work, and is willing to work as cheap as his London brother. Employing colonial workmen would keep vast sums of money in the country, that now go out of it.

Tobacco and snuff ought never to be imported, the Colony being quite equal to producing more than sufficient for its own consumption. The quality of colonial tobacco used to be complained of; but that objection no longer exists. Moreover, people who cannot complete their remittances for necessaries, have no right to be nice in their choice of luxuries. I am confident that I am within the mark, when I say, that 50,000l.

sterling per annum are paid to Americans and others who import snuff and tobacco! This is a sum a.s.suredly worth saving, and which the Colonists could easily save, by encouraging the growth and consumption of their own produce.

After what I have written upon the subject of Australian agriculture, I may be thought to be making a bold a.s.sertion in saying, that the necessity for the importation of grain might, in a great measure, be done away with in Australia. Nevertheless, such is my opinion; and I will proceed to give my reasons. In the first place, there is a great waste of wheat, as well as of every thing else, on every farm in the Colony. There is no gleaning; and what with the bad and careless threshing and the ill-thatched and worse-built stacks, which admit the rain, whereby thousands of bushels of wheat are destroyed, the waste is beyond any one's conception who has not actually witnessed it. In the second place, there is not nearly so much wheat grown in Australia as there might and ought to be. A simple process of irrigation, such as the Chinese or the Javanese, the machinery for which would not cost 5l., and would employ only two men when in operation, applied to the wheat-fields in dry seasons once a month, would save many a crop. All, or nearly all the wheat in the Colony, is grown on the banks of rivers, which, though they cease to flow in a season of drought, have always water in the deep parts of the channel or "water-holes." It requires no argument to prove, that irrigation, in such situations, is a very simple matter. Two Javanese, by means of a long lever attached to a tall tree on the bank of a river, with a large bucket and string at one end, and a string to hoist up by at the other end, will keep a small stream of water running over and fertilizing the neighbouring paddy-fields all day long, without fatiguing themselves. The Chinese water-wheel is also a simple and cheap contrivance, and would throw up water enough, in two hours, to irrigate, or even to inundate a tobacco or wheat-field. All that is wanted, besides the labour of two men, is a series of wooden troughs to convey the water from the river bank to the highest part of the field, whence it is easily guided over the other parts. A little attention to irrigation might, in my humble opinion, very soon make New South Wales independent of imported wheat.

Another means of doing away with the importation of grain and flour, may be found in paying more attention to the cultivation of maize. Large quant.i.ties of it are grown at present, but they might easily be doubled.[20] And here, irrigation would answer splendidly, the drills forming such convenient water-courses. Large as is the quant.i.ty of maize grown in Australia, it is not used as food for man;--why, I know not, but such is the fact;--and I have known a convict turn up his nose when offered corn-meal. Every one knows how extensively this article is used in America, and how wholesome a food it is. Were the Australian farmers firmly and unanimously to determine upon making their dependents take at least half their weekly allowance in maize-meal, in place of wheaten flour, the latter would soon become fond of it. There would then be an inducement to extend its cultivation; and the large sums of money annually remitted to Van Diemen's Land, Valparaiso, and Bengal, for wheat, would very shortly be reduced to a small cipher.

[Footnote 20: I do not mean to say, that irrigating an acre of wheat or maize would double the yield of grain, but that double the number of acres now under the plough would in a few years, after the irrigating system had been fairly tried and found to answer, be brought under cultivation. In the neighbourhood of Bathurst, and in many other parts of the Colony where rain is very uncertain, there are thousands of acres of alluvial land lying waste, which, upon my plan, would yield tens of thousands of bushels of wheat and maize.]

To urge this most desirable object any further upon the Colonists of New South Wales, would be to insult their good sense. I will only express a wish that they may at once adopt measures to equalize their imports and exports, and that the few hints here thrown out to them, may be of use.

The supply of tea and sugar to the Australian Colonies, has, on the whole, been a profitable trade to the parties engaged in it; but it has, of late, been overdone. The quality of the tea and sugar now sent to Sydney, is far superior to what it used to be; and the coa.r.s.er sorts of both are going out of use; a clear proof that the population are improving in respectability. Formerly, nothing in the shape of either article was too bad to send out to Australia. Things have changed, however, and several speculators have been serious losers within the last three years, by sending goods that would have suited admirably six years ago. When I first went into the Bush, you might visit a dozen of the most respectable houses without being able to get any thing better than the most common hyson-skin tea and very dark moist sugar. A cup or two of the liquid made from these, would poison an old Indian; and I never ventured to drink it. A friend of mine, who absolutely dreaded being compelled to drink this stuff, used always to carry a paper of good black tea in his pocket, whenever he left his own house. He was in the right, though often laughed at. Mauritius sugar used to be the favourite at the time I speak of; but now, Manilla, Singapore, and Batavia are looked to for the supply of a better and cheaper article.

From Manilla the Colonists import small supplies of coffee, chocolate, reed hats, and cheroots. Singapore and Batavia send them, in addition to sugar, quant.i.ties of rice, spices, Dutch gin, tea brought thither by Chinese junks, planks, &c. &c. Singapore sends also a ship or two annually to South Australia, Port Philip, and Van Diemen's Land.

CHAPTER XIV.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

CLa.s.sES OF SOCIETY IN SYDNEY--DISAPPOINTMENT OF EMIGRANTS--CHARACTERISTICS OF IRISH AND BRITISH EMIGRANTS--AVAILABLENESS OF CHINESE LABOURERS--AUSTRALIAN COAL MONOPOLY--TORRES'

STRAITS THE BEST Pa.s.sAGE FOR STEAMERS--BOTANY BAY--Pa.s.sAGE FROM SYDNEY TO BATAVIA.

To obtain admission to good society in Sydney, when my family first arrived there, was no easy matter. Not that there was any lack of it in the place, but the residents were, very properly, shy of strangers, unless provided with testimonials as to their respectability.

Fortunately for us, a kind friend in Singapore, who had been in New South Wales, and knew the value of the favour he was conferring, supplied us with a whole packet of introductory letters to the first families in the place; while we were further aided in the matter by my old friend, Thos. Macquoid, Esq., then Sheriff of the Colony. In a place like Sydney, where society is formed of such varied and extraordinary materials suspicion of strangers, on the part of the really respectable portion of the community, is natural enough; and those who have not been sufficiently wary in this respect, have had cause to regret their want of caution. The tide of emigration is now bringing numerous highly respectable families to Australia, as well as thousands of hard-working, honest labourers, while the importation of felons has ceased. This state of things will, in time, do away with the necessity for such extreme caution and mistrust. It will, however, take a number of years to clear the Colony of the half-reformed villain who still hankers after his old ways,--of the _emancipist_, whom the law looks upon as a reformed character, but whom experience has taught the world to look upon with a very different eye,--and of the convicts for life, who still amount to thousands. Until the Colony is pretty well weeded of such characters, society will not, and cannot, dismiss the suspicion with which it is now rendered necessary, by circ.u.mstances, to regard the unintroduced stranger.

I found no lack of agreeable society, both male and female, in any part of New South Wales that I visited. In many instances, the conversation certainly turned rather too much upon sheep and cattle; but this ought to be excused, where ninety-nine hundredths earn their daily bread by means of those animals. In Sydney, we found the dinner and evening parties highly agreeable, and composed of elegant, accomplished, and intelligent persons of both s.e.xes. What more can be said of any community? During the government of Sir Richard Bourke, an attempt was made by him to introduce into his own parties some emancipist families; and on one occasion, the grand-daughter of a late Sydney hangman actually made her appearance at a ball at Government-house. This fact being found out by the heads of families present, a representation was made to His Excellency through his aide-de-camp, and, after some show of opposition on the part of the Governor, a stop was put to it. I do not mean to say that, among the cla.s.s called emancipists, consisting of persons who have been convicts, there may not be found men and women who have become thoroughly reformed and fit to adorn society. This, however, is the exception, not the rule. A large majority of the cla.s.s in question are quite unfit for any company but that of a low pot-house.

Some of the most stylish equipages in Sydney are the property of men who came to the Colony with fetters on their legs. In them may be seen, any and every day, gayly-dressed women, driving about the town, shopping and lounging away their idle mornings. Whether they are the wives, daughters, or mistresses of the owners of the carriages, it is difficult to tell; but the conclusion that every second one contains a mistress, would not be far from the truth. Such is the society the unwary stranger sometimes falls into, before he knows what he is about; nor does he become fully aware of the evil consequences of his imprudence, till he finds out with whom he has been a.s.sociating, and that all access to the really respectable society of the place is closed against him. It is quite as requisite for a stranger arriving in Sydney to be on his guard as to his a.s.sociates, as it is for residents to be careful whom they may admit into their families.

There are many wealthy families in and near Sydney, whose heads came as convicts to the Colony. The days when such men could make rapid fortunes, are gone by; and the convict who looks for any thing of the kind now-a-days, will find himself wofully mistaken. There are too many respectable tradesmen in Sydney for ex-felons to have much chance; and the time when a shopkeeper would not condescend to take a piece of cloth off his shelf to satisfy a customer, but would point to a lot with his stick, and ask, "Which will you have?" has also gone by. Every attention is now shewn to customers by Sydney shopkeepers, some of whom are not a whit behind their London brethren in the art of recommending their wares.

New South Wales had been for many years a British Colony, before any Israelites found their way thither as _free_ men; and I have heard, that it was the return of a Jewish convict with well-lined pockets, that first attracted their attention to his place of exile. Be this as it may, there are more Jews than enough in Sydney now; they are to be found in every quarter of the town; and certainly, they keep up their ancient character for perseverance in search of their idol, money. I do not think, however, that I ever came across a Jewish settler: why they seem to avoid that occupation, I know not.

It is common, in Australia, to hear persons talk of the Colony as their adopted country, and so forth. No faith ought to be put in these declarations; nor do I believe there is a family in the Colony, who do not entertain some hope of once more seeing their native land. During the time that high prices were obtainable for stock, hundreds of settlers who were wont to talk of their adopted country, used every exertion to realize their property in order to return to England. Many succeeded, and actually left the Colony, rejoicing in the idea of once more planting their foot on British ground. The exceptions to this general rule, are to be found in the emancipist cla.s.s; in the persons of notorious scamps who could not shew their face in respectable society in England, and who have sense enough to know that they are better off in the southern, than, by any chance, they could be in the northern hemisphere.

From extensive experience, I am convinced, that a very large majority of emigrants are lamentably disappointed on reaching the sh.o.r.es of Australia. Not that I think they have cause for half the complaints they make; but they have received, before leaving home, such flattering representations of the good fortune that is in store for them, that their expectations are raised to a pitch far beyond the probable, and disappointment is the natural consequence. The tales told them prior to their embarkation, render them difficult to please on their arrival; they demand exorbitant wages, and more rations than they could possibly consume without waste; and the consequence of this is, that many of them remain weeks and months in Sydney, out of employment, living upon the little money brought from home, although, in the meantime, eligible offers may have been made them. This stay in Sydney not only empties the emigrant's pocket, but breeds idle habits, leading him to the public-house, where his last penny is soon extracted from him. Then comes want, with all the horrors of a starving wife and family; grown-up daughters are driven to prost.i.tution; and the emigrant himself is ultimately compelled to accept any offer made him in his degraded state.

This is no overdrawn or rare picture, as any one acquainted with the subject can testify. Emigrants that come to the Colony in what are called Government ships, and who are brought out at the public expense, are provided for on their arrival, till employment offers for them; but, the moment they are known to have refused a fair offer, Government aid ceases. Even that circ.u.mstance, however, has little or no effect upon the more stubborn of them, who abate or yield in their demands only when compelled by necessity. Many emigrants, from their fondness for a town life, refuse good offers of employment in the country. Great evils arise from this: one is, that it frequently happens, that Sydney is overrun with idle labourers in search of employment, while the settlers in the country are all crying out for help. To such a height had this evil risen, and to such distress were numbers of infatuated men reduced by remaining idle in town, that Government was recently applied to for its interference, and actually paid the expense of sending hundreds of men into the country, where they got immediate employment, which they might have had many months before, had they been reasonable in their demands.

It is remarked all over the Colony, that the emigrants generally are very difficult to satisfy in the matter of rations; and that the man who had been the worst fed at home, was the most difficult to please abroad.

An Irishman is generally found the chief grumbler here; a Scotchman ranks second; while an English peasant, who has all his life fared better than either, is found, in Australia, to be most easily satisfied.

I do not attempt to explain or account for this; I have, however, not only frequently observed it, but have heard my neighbours make the same remark. I hired an Irish labourer and his wife, to whom I gave the following pay and rations:--22l. a year to the man; 12l. a year to his wife; weekly between the two, 14 lbs. of beef, 20 lbs. of flour, 3 lbs.

of sugar, 6 oz. of tea, and 4 oz. of tobacco. With this allowance, for half of which thousands of families in England would be thankful, the couple were not satisfied, and actually complained that they had not enough to eat. It was summer time when they came to my farm; and they were warned, that the blow-flies would destroy their meat, if it was not covered up: they were too lazy, however, to take the slightest care of it; and, as I saw their second week's allowance lying on a table the day after it was served out, covered with a ma.s.s of blow-flies, I took them severely to task for their wanton waste and neglect. But it was of no avail. And this couple had lived upon potatoes and b.u.t.ter-milk all their lives! It is but just to add, that, on mentioning to a major in an Irish regiment, whom I subsequently met in China, the difficulty usually found in satisfying his countrymen in New South Wales, he expressed his astonishment, and remarked that the reverse was generally found to be the case with Irishmen in the army.

Several ships with emigrants from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, arrived at Sydney during the years 1838 and 1839. These people were, in general, unwilling to accept of employment in any shape, but preferred taking clearing-leases of small patches of land on their own account.

This plan, many of them succeeded in carrying into execution, much to the disappointment and annoyance of the community at whose expense they had been brought to the Colony; and it was reasonably complained, that these men, in place of supplying the labour-market, as was intended, actually created an increased demand for labour, by requiring aid in their own operations before the first twelvemonth had pa.s.sed over them.

Be this as it may, they are a hard-working, industrious set of men; and whether their plans raise or depress wages, they have added materially to the quant.i.ty of grain grown in the colony.

Now that we have a footing in China, I would draw the attention of the inhabitants of New South Wales to Hong Kong for an unlimited supply of cheap labour. There, by means of an agent on the spot, they may procure thousands of able-bodied labourers, who will go to Australia for five dollars (22s. 6d.) per month, with their food. This rate of pay is much lower than what is paid to European labourers; and the ration of rice for the China-man might be procured from Java, Bally, or Lombak, and laid down in Sydney at (or under) three halfpence per pound; which is as cheap as No. 3 flour in the most abundant seasons, and much cheaper than that article usually is. For field-work, the China-man is fully equal to the European labourer. I speak advisedly, having tried them together, side by side, for months at a time. In a recent Singapore paper I find it stated, that the Home Authorities have authorised an agent to treat for the transmission of Chinese labourers from the Straits' settlements to the West Indies; and, from my knowledge of those places, I have no doubt that thousands of men will be induced to avail themselves of this new market for their labour. Had New South Wales the same permission from Government, she might be equally, and probably more successful, because China-men always prefer emigrating to a country having frequent communication with their own. This advantage, New South Wales possesses over the West Indies, for as many as twenty or thirty vessels annually leave Sydney for China. There would be no difficulty in getting the Chinese labourer bound for five years, his pay to begin from the day he landed in Sydney, and his pa.s.sage down to be paid by his employer. This last charge would add 30s. per annum to his wages; but even then, he would be the cheapest labourer within reach of the Australian farmer.

Many gentlemen have turned their attention to Bengal for a supply of labour. The men procurable from that country, are not equal in physical strength to the China-men, nor are they to be had for lower pay. I had six Bengal Coolies in my employ in the Bush, and have no hesitation in saying, that three China-men would have done their work. The proper immigrant to obtain from Bengal, if the Colonists choose to apply to that part of the world, is the Pariah, the man of no caste, who will eat any thing, apply himself to any kind of work, even to the killing, curing, or eating a pig, and give far less trouble than any of the high-caste men. The best season for despatching ships with emigrants from China to New South Wales, is from November till February, both inclusive.

A source of vast wealth will open to Australia on the expiration of the Agricultural Company's coal-monopoly. That body, on its establishment in the Colony, obtained the privilege of working coal for thirty years, to the exclusion of all others. The injustice of granting such a privilege to a Company who do not work more than one coal-mine, when there are literally thousands on the eastern coast of this Continent, is too obvious to require comment. Many landed proprietors who have rich veins of coal on their estates, are, under the present regulation, actually compelled to purchase the Agricultural Company's coal for the use of their own kitchens. It may well be imagined, that the money is paid with a very bad grace. Up to the time I left Sydney, the only coal-pit in operation was one at Newcastle, at the mouth of the river Hunter. From this source, an abundant supply of very fair quality was obtained, for which, if I mistake not, 12s. per ton was demanded at the pit's mouth.

The Company's coal waggons descend the hill from the pit, by an inclined plane, on iron rails, the descending waggon dragging up the empty one.

At the foot of this inclined plane, a wharf or jetty runs a little way into the sea, so that vessels of four or five hundred tons burthen can haul alongside, and have their cargoes shot by waggon-loads down their hatches. All this is as it should be; and when forty or fifty such pits are in full work, Australia may expect to reap some benefit from her mineral riches. The importance of a never-failing supply of coal in these days of steam travelling, is too evident to require a single word of remark.

Talking of steam puts me in mind of the anxiety felt in Australia to secure the advantage of the Indian Overland Mail, and of a plan for effecting their object which I have frequently thought of. On the arrival of the mail at Port Essington, from Singapore, why should it not be sent to Sydney in a steamer by sea, _via_ Captain King's _inner pa.s.sage_ through Torres' Straits, instead of adopting the far more expensive and _uncertain_ overland route formerly mentioned? This may seem a bold, and, to most people, an extraordinary suggestion; the plan is, however, in my opinion, practicable at all seasons of the year, though more particularly so during the fine or south-east monsoon. I have sailed through Torres' Straits, and would not hesitate a moment to undertake to carry a powerful steamer from Port Essington to Sydney, through the admirably surveyed channel just mentioned. During the south-east monsoon, from April till September, the wind would be against her; but she would have the benefit of moderate and clear weather, and find no difficulty in seeing and evading every danger. In the north-west monsoon, the steamer would have a fair wind, but hazy weather, with frequent squalls to contend against. The thick weather would undoubtedly be a disadvantage, as it would render objects less easily distinguishable; but then, the strong north-west winds and squalls would knock up a heavy sea, which would make the water break on every reef, thereby rendering them easily both seen and _heard_ in the thickest weather. On the coast of Sumatra, I have heard the breakers seven miles off. Allowing that they can be heard half that distance, this would give a steamer plenty of time and s.p.a.ce to keep clear of them. Running in the night would, of course, be out of the question in any season. It appears to me, that there is as much real danger in beating through the Palaware pa.s.sage in November and December, which dozens of vessels do every year, as there possibly could be to a steamer in pa.s.sing to and fro between Port Essington and Sydney, at any season of the year, by King's inner pa.s.sage. The weather in the Palaware, during the months I have mentioned, is as thick and stormy as can well be imagined; and the reefs, shoals, and other perils of navigation are numerous enough. The best route for pa.s.sengers proceeding to Australia from Suez, would be _via_ Ceylon, whence a steamer would run down south-south-east to the fortieth parallel of south lat.i.tude in thirteen days, under steam: then she would get the prevailing strong westerly winds, which would take her under canvas to Hobart Town in ten or twelve days: let her stop two days there to take in coal and land pa.s.sengers, and, in three days more, she would be in Sydney. By this route, the pa.s.senger for Sydney would find himself at his journey's end in sixty-three or sixty-five days from Southampton, while the mail _via_ Ma.r.s.eilles would be of four days shorter date. I have my doubts, indeed, whether New South Wales is in a position to bear the expense of such a plan: it certainly could not be a profitable venture for years to come; and whether the Colonists would be willing to be so much per annum out of pocket, in the meantime, remains to be seen.

In describing Port Jackson, I omitted to notice the neighbouring harbour, called Botany Bay, originally discovered by Captain Cook, and subsequently abandoned for its rival. It is a n.o.ble and beautiful bay, entered through a gap in the cliff facing the Pacific. This being much wider than that leading into Port Jackson, and the heads not overlapping each other in the least, Botany Bay is exposed to the fury of the easterly gales, which renders it, during their prevalence, an unsafe harbour. From its great width, I was induced to suppose that this evil might be obviated by ships seeking shelter behind the heads; but, on inquiry, I learned, that the depth of water does not admit of this: the water is shallow all round the bay, which compels vessels to anchor a considerable distance from the sh.o.r.e, and leaves them exposed to the eastward. In short, as a harbour, it will not bear comparison with Port Jackson. The name of Botany Bay was given to it from the very great variety and beauty of the native flowers found on its sh.o.r.es. I am not botanist enough to describe these flowers, but I noticed them with surprise and admiration. I saw nothing else, however, to attract any one to the neighbourhood: the soil is wretchedly poor, princ.i.p.ally covered with scrub, and, with the exception of a few spots in the hollows, utterly valueless to the farmer. A few half-starved cows only, belonging to Sydney families, and called the town herd, may be seen picking up the poor and scanty herbage. In this neighbourhood, the Sydney hounds meet, and occasionally amuse their proprietors, by chasing a miserable "native dog" to death. The only buildings of any interest on the sh.o.r.es of this bay, are, the monument built by the French Government to the memory of the unfortunate La Perouse, and a solitary mill on the banks of a little stream that runs into it from the westward. How this mill is employed in such a lonely place, where no cultivation is to be seen, I cannot imagine, but should not wonder if a few pounds' weight of tobacco and gallons of spirits found their way into the Colony hereabout, without benefiting the revenue.

In April 1839, I left the sh.o.r.es of Australia, with my family, bound for Batavia and Singapore _via_ Torres' Straits. We had a fine run up the coast, and made the celebrated Barrier Reef on the morning of the fourteenth day after leaving Sydney. We were fortunate in finding a magnificent entrance into the Straits, in lat.i.tude 12 18' South, and were fairly inside the barrier by nine A. M. This entrance, which is at least three miles wide, it is worth any ship's while to seek for: it may be known by two small rocks on the south side, as you enter, resembling hay-c.o.c.ks in shape and size: we saw them three miles off, and they were the only objects visible above water, on the portion of the Barrier within our view. From our entrance, we had a fine run, and found nothing to stop us for a minute (during daylight), till clear of b.o.o.by Island at the western end of the Straits, which we pa.s.sed at 10 A. M. on the seventeenth day from Sydney.

These celebrated Straits pick up and destroy some half a dozen ships annually, and are so much dreaded by underwriters, that they refuse to insure loaded vessels through them. From my own observation, and what I have heard from others who have pa.s.sed through Torres' Straits on various occasions, it appears to me, that a great proportion of this loss of property arises from carelessness on the part of ship-masters.

The current in the Pacific Ocean runs very strong to the north-west in the neighbourhood of the Barrier; and this current is often forgotten or not sufficiently allowed for by ship-masters the night before they expect to make the reef. At sun-down, the night before we made it, we were eighty miles from it; we went under easy sail all night, and, from the distance _logged_ during the night, expected to make the reef at noon, having made all sail at daylight; instead of which, we came _suddenly_ on it at 8 A. M., thus having been thrown four hours out of our reckoning since sun-set the night before. Many ships, by not heaving-to at all, or not doing so in time, the night previous to making the reef, drift too far to the northward during the night, miss the pa.s.sage they were endeavouring to make, and are compelled to run along the reef in search of another; for there is no getting back to the southward against wind and current. This neglect throws many a vessel up to the Murray Islands' pa.s.sages, which are notoriously the most dangerous, and are now generally avoided by shipping. Then there is hazy weather occasionally in those parts, even in the finest months: during its continuance, no vessel ought to approach the Barrier, though many are imprudent enough to do so, and too frequently pay the penalty. In the Barrier, there are many gaps, called "horse-shoes," which, in thick weather, look like real entrances, the breakers at the bottom of them not being visible from the ship. I have known many vessels lost by taking a horse-shoe for a real entrance in hazy weather. Other vessels get wrecked from paying too little attention to the dangers that beset them, after getting safe through the Barrier. There are small patches of reef here and there, in the middle of the many channels that run between the main reefs: these pick up many vessels that might be saved, were a careful look-out kept on board. I could give instances of losses happening in each of these ways; but the careless have suffered so severely from their neglect, that I would not hurt them by naming the ships.

We had a fine run to Batavia, where we arrived in thirty-one days from Sydney. A sail from Australia to any part of the Malayan Archipelago, during the south-east monsoon, is, perhaps, the pleasantest voyage a traveller could undertake: he has smooth water and a fair wind all the way, with a constant succession of magnificent scenery among the numerous islands of perpetual summer with which those seas are studded.

I have heard many seamen talk lightly of the dangers of Torres' Straits and the Barrier Reef, and have known more than one of those over-confident gentry subsequently wrecked there. For my own part, I have a great awe of those dangers, and can vouch for some ship's crews having the same feeling. On our approach to the Barrier, our crew, which consisted of as rattle-pated a set as sailors usually are, were doubly active, obeyed every order with alacrity, and so quietly, that the fall of a pin might have been heard at any part of the ship. Some ships avoid entering the Barrier towards sun-set: this precaution is unnecessary, if they are sure that the entrance they are approaching is a true one.

Although, outside the Barrier, there are no soundings at a hundred fathoms, a ship is not twice her own length _inside_ it, before she is in good anchorage with eighteen to twenty-five fathoms water. There, she may drop her anchor, and ride in perfect safety till daylight enables her to pursue her course. Were she to keep outside all night, the current would drift her to the northward, and compel her to seek a fresh entrance next day. The Barrier Reef extends from the coast of New Holland to that of Papua or New Guinea, with numerous gaps or entrances in it, which appear to be kept open by the current that, for six months in the year, runs through them from the Pacific to the Indian Seas, and in the contrary direction during the other six. Notwithstanding this current, however, I think it extremely probable, that the industrious coral insect, whose labours never cease within the Tropics, will, sooner or later, fill up the entire s.p.a.ce, close Torres' Straits, and join those two mighty islands, between which the Barrier Reef, or, more properly, Reefs, now stand like a line of gigantic stepping-stones. The gaps in the Reef, in and about the ninth and tenth parallels of south lat.i.tude, are much narrower than those further south, some of them being not twenty yards wide; which looks as if, agreeably to my theory, the minute architect had commenced operations on the coast of Papua, and was gradually working his way southward. What a magnificent line for a rail-road this Reef will then make, with the boundless Pacific on one side, and the reefs and islands of the Straits on the other! What a splendid thoroughfare would this highway form to New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, and the countless islands in their immediate vicinity! But I shall be thought to be looking _rather too far_ into futurity.

On our pa.s.sage from b.o.o.by Island to the Java Sea, we pa.s.sed through the Straits of Alas, which run between the Islands of Lombak and Sambawa.

The scenery in these straits is very fine. On the left, you have Lombak Hill, 7000 feet high, sloping gradually from the peak to the sea, and covered with thick forest. On the right, is the coast of Sambawa, exhibiting the most extraordinary collection of sugar-loaf hills I ever saw: they look as if they had been dropped there at random in a shower.

The whole collection would hardly be seen on the top of Lombak hill.

Half this island was laid completely waste in 1816, by an eruption of one of its volcanic mountains: thousands of the inhabitants, with their cattle and poneys, were killed; and the effects are visible on the spot to this day. Sambawa is celebrated for its race of poneys, which are certainly very fine, spirited little animals. Hundreds of them are brought by the native boats every year to Batavia and Singapore, at both which places they meet with a ready market.

CHAPTER XV.

CHINA.

DESCRIPTION OF MACAO--ITS MONGREL POPULATION-- FREQUENCY OF ROBBERIES--PIRACIES--COMPRADORE SYSTEM--PAPUAN SLAVE-TRADE--MARKET OF MACAO-- NUISANCES--SIR HENRY POTTINGER's REGULATION DEFENDED--ILLIBERAL POLICY OF THE PORTUGUESE, AND ITS RESULT--BOAT-GIRLS--BEGGARS--PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

I have referred, in a former chapter, to the occasion of my first visit to the Celestial Empire. My last visit took place shortly after Sir Henry Pottinger had brought the Chinese to terms, off the city of Nankin, and before the treaty had been ratified by the Sovereigns of both countries. My stay there was protracted till the ratification took place, the supplementary treaty published, and Her Majesty's Consuls stationed at each of the five ports, with the exception of Foo Chow. I had thus an opportunity of witnessing the first start of the free trade; of which I shall have a few words to say hereafter. I shall now begin with Macao. This once celebrated Portuguese settlement is built on two small hills of a peninsula about thirty-five miles below the Bocca Tigris, or mouth of the Canton river: it is irregularly built, the streets being very narrow and crooked, and, until very recently, badly paved with rough granite stones of all shapes, the corners generally pointing upwards, as if to teach the inhabitants to walk with caution.

It possesses a healthy climate, though the summer is very hot, the thermometer ranging in the shade from 85 to 90. Many of the houses occupied by the wealthier portion of the inhabitants, are large, airy, and convenient residences. Since the war with China broke out, Macao, which had greatly declined from its ancient importance, has thriven, and many of its citizens have become wealthy in consequence of the British trade to China being thrown by circ.u.mstances into its harbour. The local Government have taken advantage of the times, to improve the town, to re-pave the streets, to build a new and handsome Custom-house, and to make other improvements at John Bull's expense. The Portuguese inhabitants of Macao amount to about five thousand, not two hundred of whom are of pure European blood. The general population are, with few exceptions, of a mongrel breed; a mixture of Chinese, Portuguese, and Negroes, which it is difficult to describe. Nine-tenths of them are very poor, but all of them are very proud, and fond of show and dress.

It is quite amusing to see the pompous strut of the men on a Sunday, as they walk to ma.s.s in their ill-made silk coats, with gold-headed sticks in hand. Both men and women are the worst-favoured race I ever saw: their flat, unmeaning countenances, small, lackl.u.s.tre eyes, strong, upright, black hair, resembling hogs' bristles more than aught else, and yellow skins, form a _tout ensemble_ any thing but pleasing. The men adopt the European fashions. The ladies wear the mantilla; and the women of the poorer cla.s.ses wear a petticoat and small jacket, generally of British chintz, with a mantilla of coa.r.s.er material. The very poorest of them may be seen, on Sunday morning, going to ma.s.s in silk stockings.

The wealthier Portuguese reside in large and comfortable houses, but the lower orders inhabit wretched hovels, and suffer very severely from sickness, particularly the small-pox; a scourge that carried off, during the winter and spring of 1842-3, one thousand people,--just a fifth of the whole Portuguese population. Their habits are idle and dirty. I am not aware, indeed, of ever having seen a more filthy town than Macao. No one seems to think that the streets were made for any other purpose than to serve as reservoirs for all the filth of the houses that line them.

Heaps of abominable rubbish are seen here and there, which would be still more numerous, were it not for the occasional heavy rains, which wash down the steep streets, and carry off the acc.u.mulated ma.s.ses to the sea. A few days before Christmas 1842, the town underwent a general sweeping; an event that did not take place again till that time twelvemonth. The other inhabitants of Macao are, Chinese, Negroes, and a few English and Americans. The Chinese here are nearly all of the lower orders, and, for the most part, are not over-scrupulous how they get their living: in proof of which I may mention, that four highway robberies, accompanied with violent a.s.sault, took place in the immediate neighbourhood, in open day, during the stay of six weeks which I made there in the autumn of 1842. The shopkeepers and boatmen are all Chinese; and among them may be found some as thorough-bred scoundrels as ever disgraced humanity. During the year 1843, the following crimes were perpetrated by Chinese in and about Macao: they were clearly brought home to them, and, in all probability, do not form a tenth of what might with justice be laid to their charge:--

1. Mr. Sharpe's _lorcha_ (trading-boat), on her voyage from Macao to Canton, was piratically attacked within ten miles of the former place, and plundered of her cargo of opium; Mr.

Sharpe was murdered, and five of his crew; the rest, being Chinese, were taken off by the pirates, (they subsequently proved to be their a.s.sociates,) and the _lorcha_ was burned.

2. A _lorcha_ bound from Hong Kong to Macao, manned by Macao Chinese, and loaded with spice and other valuable property, was carried off by her crew, (who murdered an English doctor on board,) the cargo plundered, and the vessel burned.