The Boy Travellers in Australasia

Front matter

THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN

AUSTRALASIA

ADVENTURES OF TWO YOUTHS IN A JOURNEY TO

front matter

Copyright, 1888, by Harper & Brothers.—All rights reserved.

Preface

PREFACE.

THE first settlement in Australia was made in 1788; consequently the inhabitants of the great southern continent are this year celebrating their centennial. Three millions of people settled in five great colonies, possessing all the characteristics of an advanced civilization, with the unity developed by a common language and a common allegiance, and the rivalry that springs from the independence of each colony by itself, are uniting in the centennial celebration, and contrasting the Australia of to-day with that of one hundred years ago.

Previous to the discovery of gold in Australia, in 1851, Americans had but little knowledge of that far-away land. The opening of the auriferous fields attracted the attention of the whole civilized world to the antipodes, and many Americans joined the multitude that went thither in search of wealth. Since that time our relations with Australia have, year by year, grown more intimate. Railways across our continent and steamship lines over the broad Pacific have brought Sydney and Melbourne in juxtaposition to New York and San Francisco, and in this centennial Australian year we may almost regard the British colonies under the Southern Cross as our next-door neighbors.

The writer of this volume is not aware that any illustrated book descriptive of Australia and its neighboring colonies, New Zealand and Tasmania, by an American author, or from an American press, has ever yet appeared. Believing such a book desirable, he sent those youthful veterans of travel, Frank Bassett and Fred Bronson, over the route indicated on the title-page, with instructions to make careful note of what they saw and learned. Under the guidance of their mentor and our old friend Doctor Bronson they carried out their instructions to the letter, and the results of their observations will be found in the following pages. Trusting that the book will meet the favor that has been accorded to previous volumes of the "Boy Traveller" series, they offer their present work as their contribution to the Australian centennial, and hope that the boys and girls of their native land will find pleasure and profit in its perusal.

The method followed in the preparation of previous volumes of the series has been observed in the present book as far as it was possible to do so. The author's personal knowledge of the countries and people of Australasia has been supplemented by information drawn from many sources—from books, newspapers, maps, and other publications, and from numerous Australian gentlemen whom he has known or with whom he has been in correspondence. During the progress of the work he has kept a watchful eye on the current news from the antipodes, and sought to bring the account of the condition of the railways, telegraphs, and other constantly changing enterprises down to the latest dates.

Many of the books consulted in the preparation of "The Boy Travellers in Australasia" are named in the text, but circumstances made it inconvenient to refer to all. Among the volumes used are the following: Wallace's "Australasia," Forrest's "Explorations in Australia," Warburton's "Journey Across the Western Interior of Australia," Alexander's "Bush-fighting in the Maori War," Smyth's "Aborigines of Victoria," Bodham-Whetham's "Pearls of the Pacific," Murray's "Forty Years of Mission Work in Polynesia," Cumming's "At Home in Fiji," Markham's "Cruise of the Rosario," Palmer's "Kidnapping in the South Seas," Buller's "Forty Years in New Zealand," "Australian Pictures," Harcus's "South Australia," Eden's "Australia's Heroes," Trollope's "Australia and New Zealand," and Nordhoff's "Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands."

The publishers have kindly allowed the use of illustrations that have appeared in Harper's Magazine and other of their publications, and these illustrations have admirably supplemented those that were specially prepared for the book. The maps on the front and rear covers were specially drawn from the best authorities, and are intended to embody the most recent explorations and the latest developments of the railway systems of the Australian colonies.

T. W. K.

New York, July, 1888.

Contents

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

Illustrations

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Mount Kosciusko, the Highest Peak in Australia | |Frontispiece.

Map of Australasia | |Front Cover.

Map of Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania | |Back Cover.

|PAGE

Royal School, Honolulu | |

The Physalia | |

The Island of Oahu | |

General View of Honolulu | |

In the Harbor of Honolulu | |

Queen's Hospital, Honolulu | |

Kealakeakua Bay, where Captain Cook was Killed | |

Mrs. Thurston, one of the Missionaries of 1820 | |

Kawaiaho Church—First Native Church in Honolulu | |

Bethel Church | |

Native School-house in Honolulu | |

The Court-house in Honolulu | |

Native Gentleman of Honolulu | |

Hawaiian Poi-dealer | |

The Hawaiian Archipelago | |

Hawaiians at a Feast | |

Native Hay Peddler | |

Dress of Hawaiian Women | |

Ancient Idols of Hawaii | |

Grass House, Hawaiian Islands | |

Government Buildings, Honolulu | |

Hawaiian Dancing-girls | |

Map of the Sandwich Isles | |

Lahaina, Island of Maui | |

Women on Horseback, Honolulu | |

A Mountain Valley | |

Hawaiian Temple | |

Mountain Scene in the Sandwich Islands | |

Hilo | |

Surf-bathing at Hilo | |

The Volcano House | |

View of one of the Burning Lakes | |

View on a Lava Field | |

Hawaiian Warriors a Century ago | |

Chain of Extinct Volcanoes, Island of Kauai | |

Map of the Haleakala Crater | |

Kamehameha I., First King of the Sandwich Islands | |

Water-fall on Island of Kauai | |

Implements of Domestic Life | |

Hawaiian Pipe | |

Looking Seaward | |

The Owner of the Yacht | |

"Good-by!" | |

At Home on the "Pera" | |

Below Deck in the Tropics | |

On the Coast of the Marquesas | |

A View in Nookaheeva | |

Gattanewa's Portrait | |

Tattoo Marks on a Chief of the Marquesas | |

The Chief's Daughter | |

A European's Residence in the Marquesas | |

A Marquesan Village | |

Catholic Missionary | |

In a Gale near the Marquesas | |

Commodore Porter's Fleet in Nookaheeva Bay | |

Easter Island House and Children | |

Lava Rock Image, Easter Island | |

Easter Island Man | |

Easter Island Woman | |

Stone Tablet of Character Writing | |

Stone Platform for Images | |

Coast Scenery, Tahiti | |

Specimen of Coral | |

The Coral Worm | |

On the Shore of the Lagoon | |

A Cabin in the Suburbs | |

The Coast in a Storm | |

A French Bishop | |

View in an Orange-grove | |

Native Bamboo House, Tahiti | |

Natives of the Society Islands Fishing | |

A Sea-urchin | |

The Bottom of the Lagoon | |

Sea-anemone and Hermit-crab | |

Hermit-crab and Sea-shell | |

View among the Coral Branches | |

A Fish inside a Sea-slug | |

Coralline | |

Octopus, or Devil-fish | |

Stingaree, or Sea-devil | |

Garden of a Suburban Residence | |

Gathering Oranges for the Feast | |

Tamarind-tree at Point Venus | |

A Grove of Cocoanut-trees | |

Running before the Trade-winds | |

Dr. Coan, Missionary to Hawaii | |

No Respect for Missionaries | |

Trading Station in the Pacific | |

John Wesley, the Founder of Methodism | |

Mission Church and Station | |

Mission Park Monument | |

Mission Ship on her Voyage | |

Landing on an Atoll of the Hervey Group | |

Cocoa Palms in the Hervey Islands | |

Native Houses and Canoe | |

Missionary Station on Aneityum Island | |

Tanna Islander on a Queensland Plantation | |

Group of Islanders on a Feejeean Plantation | |

Firing down the Hatchway | |

The "Rosario" chasing a Man-stealing Schooner | |

A Witness for the Defence | |

Indian Girl House-servant in Feejee | |

Samoan double Canoe | |

Coral Architects in Samoan Waters | |

A Beach comber | |

Growth of Coral on a Mountain slowly Subsiding | |

Ass's Ears, Florida Island | |

A House in the Tonga Islands | |

Native Teacher, Upolu, Samoan Islands | |

Map of the South Sea Islands | |

Crabs eating Cocoanuts | |

A Plantation in the South Sea Islands | |

A Fair Wind | |

Bread-fruit | |

War Canoe of the Olden Time | |

Canoes drawn on Shore | |

Captain James Cook | |

An American Resident | |

Cave near the Picnic Ground | |

Massacre Bay | |

A Village in Vanikoro | |

Hat Island, west of Vanikoro | |

Louis XVI. and La Pérouse | |

A Native of Feejee | |

A Royal Attendant | |

Ancient Feejee Temple | |

A Polynesian Idol | |

A Coast Scene in Kandavu | |

A Planter's Residence | |

A New Arrival | |

Going to Feejee | |

Scene on a Cotton Plantation | |

Sugar-cane Mill | |

Feejeean Head-dress | |

An Accomplished Liar | |

Fork of a Cannibal King | |

Tanoa, former King of Feejee | |

A Cannibal Dance | |

Skull found at the Banquet Ground | |

View in a Valley of the Interior of the Island | |

Avenue of Palms | |

A Part of Levuka | |

Fred's Fly | |

Frank's Mosquito | |

One Variety of Sea-worm | |

Going for Balola | |

Ancient Feejeean War-dance | |

Moonlight on the Waters | |

Mission Church in the Feejee Islands | |

Going to Church.—River Scene | |

Feejeean Head | |

Feejeean Weapons | |

Telling the Story | |

Formation of Clouds before a Feejeean Hurricane | |

After the Storm | |

Coast Scene in a Calm | |

Lost in the Hurricane | |

Mota, or Sugar-loaf Island | |

Two-tree Island | |

A Young Student | |

Stone Monument, Tongataboo | |

A Volcano in the Pacific | |

An Island Cavern | |

Islands on the Coast | |

Auckland in 1840 | |

View of Auckland from Mount Eden | |

Mission Station at Tangiteroria, New Zealand | |

Early Days in New Zealand | |

In a State of Decadence | |

A Kainga Maori (Native) Village | |

Carved New Zealand Chest | |

Maori War Clubs | |

Lake in the Crater of an Extinct Volcano | |

Sawing a Kauri Pine | |

Stock-farm in the Suburbs | |

A Water-oak | |

A Pakeha Maori | |

A Pakeha Maori's Home | |

View of a Part of Auckland and its Harbor | |

Maori Tattooing | |

Inland Scenery | |

Captain Cook's Gift to the Maoris | |

Skeleton of the Extinct Moa (Dinornis) | |

Dressing Flax | |

Family of Deer on Kawau Island | |

Prospecting for Gold | |

Stamp-mill at Grahamstown | |

"Struck a Pocket" | |

Gold-mining on the Sea-shore | |

A Miner's Camp in the Mountains | |

Visiting a Mine | |

Inland Scenery | |

Among the Hot Springs | |

The Baths at Rotomahana | |

Hotel Life at the Hot Lakes | |

A Mud Crater | |

The White Terraces, seen from above | |

The Pink Terraces, seen from below | |

Lake Tarawera, in the Hot Lake District | |

The Tabu Removed | |

Maori Village of Wairoa, in the Hot Lake District | |

A Maori Prophet in the King Country | |

British Soldiers attacking a Maori Pah | |

Outworks of a Maori Pah | |

In the Harbor | |

In Napier for his Health | |

Scene on a Sheep Farm.—Off to the Pasture | |

Farm Scenes in the Open Country | |

On the Coast near Wellington | |

Just down from the Interior | |

Mountain and Lake in New Zealand | |

Just arrived from England | |

A Promenader | |

An Afternoon Call | |

Sewing-class in an Industrial School | |

Residence of the Governor, Wellington | |

Down the Slope | |

Logging in "the Bush" | |

Settlers' Cabins in the Open Country | |

Mount Egmout and Ranges | |

Home Scene at Christchurch | |

Harvest-time in Canterbury | |

Maid-servant off Duty | |

Gardening in the Park | |

Under the Shears | |

A Sheep-shearing Shed in New Zealand | |

A Flock of Sheep among the Hills | |

Sheep and Herder killed in a Snow-storm | |

Reducing the Rabbit Population | |

Parrots | |

A New Zealand Pest | |

A Steam Threshing-machine | |

English Sparrows at Home | |

Class in the Industrial School | |

A Perilous Night-watch | |

The Summit of Mount Cook | |

Attempt to climb the Eastern Spur | |

River issuing from a Glacier | |

Hydraulic Mining | |

A Squatter's Home | |

A Mountain Water fall | |

Shotover Gorge Bridge | |

On the Shore of the Lake | |

Bound for Sydney | |

Entrance to Port Jackson | |

General View of Sydney Harbor | |

Statue of Captain Cook, Sydney | |

George III | |

Avenue in the Botanical Gardens | |

Candidates for Transportation | |

Sydney and its Harbor | |

The Town-hall, Sydney | |

Sentenced to Hard Labor | |

View of Sydney from Pyrmont, Darling Harbor | |

Home of an Emancipist | |

A Ticket-of-leave Man | |

Just arrived in Port | |

Ship-yard Scene | |

On the Paramatta River | |

Irrigating an Orange-grove | |

Interior of a Coal-breaker | |

Gold-fields of Mount Alexander, Australia | |

Clearing in an Australian Forest | |

A Waterless Region | |

Australian Lyre-birds | |

A Member of the Legislature | |

Infant Class in an Industrial School | |

Completing the Railway | |

A Fallen Giant | |

Silver-stem Eucalypti | |

From Tenterfield to Stanthorpe | |

A Balcony | |

Palm-trees in the Botanical Gardens | |

"No more Tricks at the Wheel" | |

A Relic of Old Colonial Times | |

Among the Foot-hills | |

Picking Figs | |

A Clearing in the Scrub | |

Suburban Residence on the River's Bank | |

Gathering the Grapes | |

Cellars for Storing Wine | |

Chinese Laborers in a Vineyard | |

Aboriginal Australian | |

West Coast Australians | |

Civilized Aborigines | |

Aboriginal Method of making Fire | |

Australian Warriors watching a Boat | |

Battle between Hostile Tribes of Australians | |

Aboriginal Australians and their Huts | |

Aboriginal Children playing in the Water | |

The Haunt of the Bun-yip | |

The Team | |

Pets at the Station | |

The Tiger Snake | |

Camping-out on a Cattle-run | |

The Poisonous Spider (magnified) | |

The Prosperous Squatter | |

"I'm waiting for You" | |

Performance of a Bucker | |

The Milking yard | |

Coming in from Pasture | |

An Australian Stock-rider | |

An Unsteady Seat | |

A New Chum's First Ride | |

A Stampede | |

A Free Selector at Home | |

Arrival of the Weekly Mail | |

"Cutting Out" | |

Mustering Cattle | |

Branding a Calf | |

Died alone in "the Bush" | |

The Emu | |

The Pride of the Station | |

The Squatter's Pet | |

Cattle going to Water | |

A Home in the Bush | |

Herd of Mixed Cattle on a Station | |

A Shepherd's Dog | |

Ewes and Lambs | |

Mother of a Family | |

Sheep-shearing in Australia | |

Sheds and Chicken-yard of a Station | |

Sheep-washing on the Modern Plan | |

The Rush for the Gold-mines | |

Bush-ranger out of Luck | |

Bush-rangers at Work | |

Leading Citizens of Somerset | |

Pearl Oyster | |

Australian Pearls (full size) | |

Big Ben and his Friends | |

Waiting for Sunset | |

Evening Scene at an Up-country Station | |

An Australian Pest | |

The Sand-flea (natural size and magnified) | |

The Australian Bower-bird | |

Wallace's Standard-wing Birds-of-paradise, male and female | |

Head of the Valley Quail | |

A Quail Family | |

Out Prospecting | |

Quartz-mill in the Gold-mines | |

Australian Gold-hunters | |

A Gold-miner's Home | |

A Chinese Discussion | |

Wrecked on the Reef | |

The Manatee, or Dugong | |

Evening at Home on the North Coast | |

Dingoes, or Australian Wild Dogs | |

Australian Wild Horses | |

A Kangaroo Battue, or Drive | |

Red Kangaroo | |

Short-eared Kangaroo | |

Kangaroos in Captivity | |

A Corroboree | |

Something for Breakfast | |

Near the Camp | |

An Australian Courtship | |

The Night Alarm | |

Reception of a Brickfielder | |

A Brickfielder putting in its Work | |

Building a Railway on the Plains | |

Zigzag Railway in the Blue Mountains | |

The Blue Mountains | |

On the Head-waters of the Murray River | |

Gallery of a Theatre during a Performance | |

Scene in the Riverina | |

Steamboat on the Murray River | |

Fish-hatching Boxes on a small Stream | |

Immigrant's Camp in the Foot-hills of the Range | |

The Founding of Melbourne, August, 1835 | |

Public Library, Melbourne | |

Melbourne Post-office | |

Government House, Melbourne | |

Collins Street in 1870 | |

Public Offices and Treasury Gardens | |

Town-hall, Melbourne | |

View from South Melbourne, 1868 | |

Part of Melbourne in 1838 | |

A Suburban Residence | |

Harbor Scene in the Moonlight | |

Boarding-house of 1851 | |

A Good Location for Business | |

Loading a Ship from a Lighter | |

The Artillery Rocks, near Lorne, on the Coast of Victoria | |

Waiting to see the Editor | |

Distributing Papers to Newsboys | |

The Race for the Melbourne Cup | |

Head of a Winner | |

A Cricket-match | |

Summer Retreat in the Mountains | |

Caught in a "Burster" on the Australian Coast | |

Seeking Shelter | |

Pioneer Gold-hunters | |

Map of the Gold-fields of Victoria Twenty Years ago | |

Edward Hargreaves, the Gold Discoverer | |

The Rush to Ballarat | |

Lake Scenery | |

A Gippsland Settler | |

The Peach Harvest | |

A Cottage in the Suburbs of Launceston | |

An Old Settler | |

At Bay in the Bush | |

A Camp in the Bush | |

Entrance to Cave | |

Near Deloraine | |

Australia at the Feet of Tasmania | |

Old Convict Church, Port Arthur, Tasmania | |

One of the Watch-dogs | |

"Land, ho!" | |

On the Pier | |

Post-office and Town-hall, Adelaide | |

Adelaide in 1837 | |

Reaping Brigade at Work | |

Proclamation Tree at Glenelg, near Adelaide | |

Victoria Regia House, Botanic Garden, Adelaide | |

Exploring Expedition on the March | |

Camp Scene on the Desert Plains of South Australia | |

Government House and Grounds, Adelaide | |

Ready for the Start | |

Explorers in Camp | |

Monument to Burke and Wills, Melbourne | |

Colonel Warburton strapped to his Camel | |

Desert Scenery | |

The Way of Civilization | |

A Boomerang | |

A War-dance of Australian Blacks | |

Americans who use the Boomerang | |

Platypus, or Duck-billed Mole | |

Home of the Duck-bill | |

One of the Miners | |

View of Perth, Capital of Western Australia | |

Forest Scene in the South-west | |

A Kid-gloved Colonist | |

In the Pasture Lands | |

Rocks at the Cape | |