In the small islands, where there are few objects of interest and the circle of life is necessarily circumscribed and food and building material scanty, the inhabitants are dwarfed in intellect and their languages limited in vocabulary. The inhabitants of the extensive Paumoto group of islands give a striking example of the dreary monotony of life on small coral islands. Indeed, coral atolls are lacking in pretty nearly all the features that are necessary for a high degree of civilization; nature, therefore, reacts, with the result that the human life of this region is in a condition of savagery. Many of the natives are cannibals.

The natives of Australia are a race that seems to be separate and distinct in itself. Wherever they are found their speech and customs are so nearly alike that little or no doubt of their common origin exists. They are so small in stature that by some scholars they are classed with pygmy peoples. They are repulsive in appearance in their native state, but when the children are trained by English families they become attractive. They are regarded as a very low type of intellect; yet at the missionary schools the children seem to learn about as quickly as do European children. The children learn to figure readily, but the older natives have no names for numbers greater than three or four.

In New Guinea and the adjacent islands is found a race of black peoples usually called Negritos, or Negroids. They are black and, like the African negroes, have black, kinky hair. They are far superior to the native Australians. Many of the tribes are good farmers, and cultivate crops of sago, maize, and tobacco. On the coasts there are good boat-builders and sailors. The greater part of the Melanesian tribes is hostile and blood-thirsty; head-hunting is a common practice. In many tribes the people live in communal houses like those of the Pueblo Indians of America.

A large part of the population of Oceania is of Malay origin. As a rule the Malaysians are intelligent and take readily to western civilization. They are confined chiefly to the larger islands south and west of the Asian continent. In such parts of Malaysia as have become European possessions, they are farm laborers, and in this employment they have no superiors.



Of all the native peoples of Oceania, the Polynesians are perhaps the most interesting. In physical appearance they are tall, well-formed, dark of complexion, and black-haired. In the northern island groups—Tonga, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and others—which are colonized by European and American peoples, the natives have gradually acquired western civilization. The number of natives has decreased, however, and only about one-third of the population of fifty years ago remains to-day.

The animal and vegetable life is peculiar. That of Australia resembles the life forms of a geological age long since past; that of the islands near tropical Asia is Asian in character. Now there are many large islands at a considerable distance from the continent in which many of the life forms on the slopes facing Australia are Australian, while on the northerly and westerly slopes they are Asian. One cannot be certain, however, that these islands were ever a part of the Australian continent, or that they were ever joined to Asia. On the contrary it is more probable that the life in question was carried by winds and currents of the sea.

The life forms of the coral atolls are very few in number. So far as vegetation is concerned, the cocoa-palm and breadfruit are about the only kinds of plant life of importance. A few species of fish and migratory birds are the only animals that may be used as food.

The names given to the various divisions of Oceania are more or less fanciful. Australasia means Southern Asia; Malaysia, Malayan Asia; Melanesia, the islands of the blacks; Micronesia, small islands; and Polynesia, many islands.

During the latter half of the nineteenth century practically all of Oceania has been divided among European powers. Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are peopled by colonists from England; but they possess the character of a great nation rather than that of colonies. A few of the larger islands have become producers of sugar, cotton, and fruit. The long distance from the markets for their products is offset by the low cost of native labor. The coral islands are almost valueless for commercial products; but a few of them are used as coaling stations, telegraphic cable stations, or as positions of naval advantage.



CHAPTER XXIII

AUSTRALIA

Early in the sixteenth century the island of Australia became known to the Portuguese; later the Dutch, who had valuable possessions in the East Indies, sent exploring expeditions to spy out the new land, and named it New Holland. But not until after Captain Cook, of the English navy, had explored the eastern part did any one think the country to be more than a barren waste sparsely inhabited by savages. Indeed, various European nations who were even then seeking lands for colonization thought it too worthless to claim.

In April, 1770, Captain Cook made his first landing on the east coast and, finding at one place a profusion of beautiful flowers, named the indentation Botany Bay. He spent a considerable time in exploring the eastern coast and also the Great Barrier Reef. In going through one of the passages across the Barrier Reef his vessel ran aground, and in order to lighten it he was obliged to throw overboard six of his heaviest cannon. In late years efforts have been made to secure these cannon as souvenirs, but the search for them has proved unavailing. One may easily imagine that they have been long since entombed in thick growths of coral.

On his return home, Cook gave such a glowing account of the great island that the English Government forthwith sent out a body of soldiers to take possession of the country and to make settlements. Because it is well watered, the southeastern part was selected as best adapted for colonization. For a long time this part of Australia was utilized chiefly as a penal colony, but the fruitful land and salubrious climate quickly attracted free emigrants from England. Then gold was discovered, and thousands of people rushed to the new Eldorado, not only from Great Britain but from all parts of the world. Almost in a twinkling it changed from "our remotest colony" to a great country producing annually millions of wealth.

So far as its surface features are concerned, one may regard Australia as a continent not quite so large as the United States. The eastern part is diversified by low ranges of mountains fantastically scored and carved by rivers which are swift and impassable torrents during the season of rains, and trickling streams, or dry washes, the rest of the year. This is the region that has produced a wealth of gold and wool and a stock of hardy people that for intelligence and strength of character can scarcely be matched elsewhere.

The central part of the continent is a dish-shaped table-land. Its surface is sandy here, stony there, but intensely hot and desolate everywhere—desolate of everything that adds to the comfort of man, but full of about everything that contributes to his misery. The "bush" which covers so much of this region is chiefly acacia, and the acacia is chiefly thorns. The rivers that flow into the interior from the coast highlands seem at first sight to be formidable streams so far as appearance goes. One, the Murray, is more than a thousand miles in length. But even the Murray will match the description which an English traveller gave to Platte River—"A mile wide, an inch deep, and bottom on top!"

The few lakes of the interior are great "sinks," or marshes, much like Humboldt Sink, in Nevada. They are shallow, reed-grown, and briny, and they are bordered by mud flats and quicksands between which there is little to choose. An unfortunate victim will sink in the one quite as quickly as in the other. But even the lakes are gradually going the way of all lakes. In this case, however, their disappearance is due largely to the dust storms that little by little are burying them.

Only a very small part of the central region can be reclaimed; for where there is so little rain there can be but little either of surface or of ground waters. During the intensely hot summer season the smaller streams disappear entirely and the larger ones become a succession of stagnant pools along the dry washes.



The eastern part of the continent, on account of its greater extent of coast, is far richer in resources than the central section. It contains not only a greater proportion of land fit for grazing and cultivation, but also very rich mines. Perhaps these have not a greater wealth of minerals than the mines of the central section, but they are so situated that they can be more easily worked.

The great island of Tasmania ought also to be included in the Australian continent; for it is separated from it by a narrow and not very deep strait. In its general features Tasmania resembles eastern Australia; and, indeed, it is one of the most productive and delightful parts of the world.

Of the whole Australian continent scarcely one part in fourteen is fit for human habitation, not because the soil is lacking in elements of fertility but because there is not enough rainfall. As a matter of fact, the rain-bearing winds bring rain only to the eastern and southeastern part of the continent. Any map will show that nearly all the cities, towns, herding-grounds, and settlements are in that part of the continent, and they are there because the rainfall is there.

The rest of Australia is like the Sahara in one respect; it is a desert. Beyond that fact the resemblance between the two ceases; indeed, they could scarcely be more unlike; for, while the Sahara is much like any other desert, Australia is unlike any other part of the world.

Not very much is known about the interior because but few explorers have been able to penetrate the continent. Many have tried to explore its fastnesses, it is true, and many bones are bleaching in its furnace-like desert. Even a century after the eastern part had become dotted with settlements the interior was so little known that the government of South Australia offered a reward of ten thousand pounds to any one who would start from Adelaide and cross the island due north. Now, ten thousand pounds, or fifty thousand dollars, is a large sum of money, and there were many efforts to obtain it.

In 1860 an explorer named Stuart, whose name is remembered in a high peak which he discovered, traversed more than half the distance. It was a record trip, but illness forced Stuart to turn back. Another expedition, headed by four plucky men, Burke, Wills, Grery, and King, were more lucky on their outward trip. They reached tide-water near the head of the Gulf of Carpenteria, thereby accomplishing the task. The return trip was tragic. When they had reached the relief depot at which they had planned to have supplies awaiting them, they found nothing. They wandered about until all but King died from exposure and starvation. A year or two later Stuart made a third attempt and found what is now an "overland route," for a telegraph line has been built along it from Adelaide to the north coast, and this connects with an ocean cable to London.



The plant and animal life of Australia forms one of its most remarkable features. Both plants and animals are of the kind that lived many ages ago. One of the curiosities of forest life is the "gum," or eucalyptus, a belt of which almost surrounds the continent. In its native home the blue gum is a most beautiful tree that sometimes grows to a height of three hundred feet. When the tree begins its growth the stem is nearly square in shape and the leaves are almost circular. After a short time, however, the branches and trunk become circular and the leaves long and lance-shaped. They hang with their edges instead of their flat surfaces to the light, which also is true of many other Australian trees. The eucalyptus sheds—not its leaves every year, but its bark instead.

Many plants which in other continents are small shrubs in Australia are trees. The tulip, the fern, the honeysuckle, and the lily are examples. They all grow in tree form and are of considerable size. There is no turf grass except that which is cultivated. The wild grasses are of the "bunch" or clump species, and some of these have blades so sharp that they cut cruelly. One species, the porcupine grass, bears a name that does not belie its character. Much of the coast lands are covered with a growth of thorny "scrub" that has made cultivation both difficult and costly. The interior is the "bush" region.

The animal life of the continent is even more singular than the plant life. Most of the animals resemble the opossum of North American fauna in one respect, the mother carries her young in a pouch or fold of the skin under her body. But the opossum itself is not confined to North America alone; there are several species in Australia and Tasmania. The kangaroos are among the most remarkable animals, not only because of the great length and strength of their hind legs, but also because of the variety in the sizes of the different species. Some of the smaller species are no larger than a small rat; the large-sized species are six feet tall when sitting on their haunches.

There are no monkeys and no animals that chew the cud, but there is a wonderful variety of birds. Among them is the emeu, a kind of ostrich that practically is wingless. Another, the platypus, or duck-bill, has the bill and webbed feet of a duck and the body and tail of a beaver. Stranger still, the female duck-bill lays eggs, but nurses her young after the eggs are hatched! The duck-bill carries a hinged spur on the hind legs, which also is a sting that injects a violent poison into whatever it strikes. Ordinarily the spur is folded against the leg of the animal, but when used as a weapon it stands out like the gaff of a fighting cock. The duck-bill may well boast of its sting, because the honey-bee of Australia has none.



The dingo, or wild dog, may not be an especially interesting animal to the student of natural history, but it is a very interesting one to the herdsman. For of all animals in Australia the dingo is the most intolerable nuisance on account of its fondness for mutton. Hunting the coyote on the plains of the United States is a pastime, but hunting the Australian dingo is a serious and monotonous business. Indeed, the sheep and the dingo cannot both remain in Australia unless the former has been eaten by the latter. In a single night a dingo will kill a score of sheep, and a pack of them will make way with several hundred. In one instance two of these pests killed and maimed more than four hundred sheep before retribution overtook them.

In addition to the troubles of native origin, three very serious pests have been imported. One of these, the species of cactus known as the prickly pear, the Queenslander has pretty nearly all to himself. Just how the prickly pear was introduced into Australia seems to be a matter of uncertainty. But it is there and it is spreading rapidly. Each plant produces scores of pears and each pear contains not far from one hundred seeds. When the fruit ripens the seeds are quickly sent broadcast. Perhaps the wind is the chief agent in scattering them, but wild birds, especially the emeu and the turkey, are a good second. Queenslanders fear that this pernicious plant will spread not only over the great interior desert sections, but to the valuable land elsewhere, since it is tenacious of life and thrives on arid land amidst a burning heat where other plants wither up and perish.

In clearing the land of the cactus three methods are utilized, viz., burning, pitting, and poisoning. Where wood is near at hand, the first method is the preferable one. A platform is made by rolling logs together, and after the plants have been uprooted and hacked to pieces they are hauled in drays to the platforms. There they are stacked up high, sometimes a hundred tons being piled on a single platform, and the platforms are set afire. Pitting is done by digging large, deep pits, filling them full of the chopped plants, and covering them with dirt. Destruction by poisoning is accomplished by inoculating the thick leaves with arsenic or bluestone, which is sprayed upon them after the plants have been hacked so that the poison may be absorbed by the sap, which distributes the deadly substance.

Years ago some of the colonists thought that it would be desirable to have English rabbits in Australia and sent to England for a few pairs. When the rabbits arrived a great feast was held, and amidst speeches and mutual congratulations the timid creatures were let loose. In a short time rabbits seemed quite plentiful and the hunters had rare sport; but ere long the animals began to eat up the vegetables in the gardens.

Now, rabbits are very prolific, and within a very few years they had spread so extensively that the sheepmen began to complain of their serious inroads on herbage and grass where the sheep fed. At this stage of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers. Laws were passed and means taken to reduce the number of rabbits. Poisoned grain and other food was used, but still the rabbits greatly increased. The dingo was tamed and used for hunting them, and then the mongoose was imported from India to kill them off.

But the rabbits seemed to have increased a thousand-fold. In despair, rabbit commissioners were appointed in each colony to enforce the building of high rabbit-proof wire fences, and now thousands of miles of wire fences have been built so as to enclose ranges and farms. By means of the fences and by the use of various methods of destroying the pests, they are now kept in check after causing millions of dollars of damage, and at an enormous annual expense to the colonists. In the meantime it was discovered that the flesh of the rabbit was excellent food, and the slaughter of millions to be preserved has been a noticeable check to their increase.

Unlike the American Indians, the aboriginal peoples of Australia were never troublesome to the European settlers, and although apt to be thievish they were not inclined to warlike acts when the European settlements were new. The "bushrangers," as they are called, somewhat resemble the negro peoples, and are thought to be a part of the black race that is found in the island near New Guinea. They are classed as Negroids, or Negritos, and they bear a considerable resemblance to the African pygmies, with whom at least one authority classes them. They are materially larger and taller than the pygmies, however, though below the average stature of Europeans. At all events they are among the lowest type of human beings.

The bushrangers have no fixed habitation; they do not build houses nor live in villages; they have no domestic animals except the dingo, and they do not cultivate the soil. They live nominally by hunting and fishing, but their food consists of about anything that requires no weapons beyond the fish-net and the boomerang. They rarely molest larger game, though some of the tribes employ a net in which to entrap the kangaroo.

Of all the weapons used by savage tribes the boomerang is the most interesting. In shape it is a flat strip of hardwood having an angle, or else slightly curved in the middle. The interesting feature about it is the fact that when skilfully thrown it will return to the thrower unless intercepted. A bushranger may be skilful enough to throw the boomerang ahead of him so that in its return it will kill a small animal back of him.

The bushrangers were only too ready to adopt the vices of Europeans, but they have not been able to withstand the changes wrought by civilization. Their numbers have steadily diminished. In 1880 they were thought to be about eighty thousand in number, but at the close of the century there were scarcely one-fourth as many. Those who remain are for the greater part herdsmen and farm laborers.



One may not be very far from right in saying that the climate of the habitable part of the continent is the foremost asset of Australia. Certain it is that for healthfulness and the stimulation that creates activity, the climate of Australia is unsurpassed elsewhere in the world. And because of its life-growing and invigorating character it has placed the Australian high in the rank of the world's foremost people.

Climate and soil, too, have made Australia one of the foremost wool-producing countries of the world. Not far from one hundred million dollars' worth of wool and mutton are exported yearly, and much of the wool clip is a fine grade of merino. Gold is another product of Australia. At the close of the century the mines had produced a total of more than one billion dollars' worth of the metal. In round figures, the great Thirst Land, with a population of about four millions, scattered along the edge of a great desert continent, produces enough wealth to sell yearly about three hundred millions of dollars' worth of its products!

The foregoing picture of Australia presents, perhaps, the unpleasant side of Australian life. But this great Thirst Land, so far from being an inhospitable desert, is one of the world's greatest storehouses of wealth.



CHAPTER XXIV

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Within the tropical parts of the great South Sea are submarine gardens that in the beauty of their floral forms and their richness of coloring rival the most elaborate flowerbeds made by man; in color and variety they are fairy regions of exquisite living animal flowers. One of the greatest and most attractive of these sea gardens lies off the coast of Australia.

Of all the wonderful animal structures in the world the Great Barrier Reef of Australia is the most remarkable. It consists of a chain of coral islands and reefs parallel to the east coast of Queensland. This great reef is about twelve hundred miles long, and the distance from the mainland to its outer border is from ten to more than one hundred miles. It is far enough off the coast to leave a wide channel between the reef and the shore.

Since it is well charted this channel is the route taken by many vessels. It is admirably furnished with lighthouses and light-ships, and is protected from the huge rolling billows of the ocean by the reef itself. There are several breaks in the reef through which vessels can pass out into the open ocean.

This mighty barrier, the work of coral polyps, is of special interest not only on account of the curious shapes and varied kinds of sea life it presents, but because of the commercial value of its products. The beche-de-mer, pearl, oyster, and sponge fisheries yield an annual revenue of upward of half a million dollars, and when all of the resources of the reef are properly exploited the returns will be more than doubled.

The habitat of the reef-building coral is in clear tropical waters. The polyps thrive best near the surface; they cannot live at a depth exceeding one hundred and twenty-five feet. The reef-building coral must not be confounded with the precious, or red, coral, which flourishes in a muddy sea-bottom and is found chiefly in the Mediterranean Sea.

When alive and in the water, coral polyps present a variety of beautiful forms and colors. Living polyps are composed of limestone skeletons covering and permeating a soft gelatinous substance which corresponds to the flesh of animals. When the polyps are removed from the water this soon decomposes and disappears; in certain species a part of it flows off as a thick liquid.

Fish fantastically striped and of brilliantly variegated colors are seen swimming among the coral. In tropical waters many of them have fascinating colors and patterns. By simulating the colors of the coral polyps they escape the species that prey upon them.

The different kinds of coral are generally designated by common names according to the different objects which they resemble. Thus, by similarity of form we have brain coral, organ-pipe coral, mushroom coral, staghorn coral, etc.

Some of the islands and reefs are the homes of sea fowl and at the nesting season are literally covered with their eggs. These fishers of the sea have marvellously well-developed faculties for location, since each bird goes directly to her nest when returning to the islands. As night approaches, when all the birds seek the land, their wild cries are deafening.

Some of the islands are turned to profitable account by the export of guano. On Raine Island, so extensive are the deposits of guano that a railroad has been built to facilitate handling the product.

Beche-de-mer, or trepang, is a name applied to the flesh of certain sea slugs or sea worms found in the Indian seas. Of this substance great quantities are gathered annually. In the water the animals resemble huge cucumbers, and they are therefore sometimes called "sea-cucumbers." They are found clinging to the rocks below low-water mark, and are from one to four feet in length. Their food consists of microscopic shell-fish which live upon the coral rocks.



The trepang exported from this section requires considerable care in preparation. After being gathered from the rocks they are cleaned, boiled, and partly dried in the air; then they are smoked with mangrove wood until dry and hard. The best class of trepang is packed in tin cases to keep it perfectly dry, as moisture ruins it. The product is marketed chiefly at Hongkong, where it is used in making the gelatinous soups for which the Chinese are so famous.

The pearl-shell fisheries yield products of considerable value. The average depth from which the mother-of-pearl shell is gathered is seven or eight fathoms. Twenty fathoms represents the greatest depth in which divers, even in their diving suits, can work, so great is the pressure of the water upon them.

The fishery is carried on chiefly for securing the shells, the finding of pearls being of secondary importance, since only about one shell in a thousand contains a pearl of much value. The shells themselves bring in the market from three hundred to eight hundred dollars per ton according to quality and size, and are used chiefly for making buttons and small ornaments.

The Cairn Cross Islands, a little coral group midway between Cape Grenville and Cape York, are especially interesting as the home and nesting-place of the Torres Strait pigeons. These large white pigeons are highly esteemed for the table. They gather at the islands during the month of October and remain until the end of March. The nests are usually built in the forked branches of the mangrove trees that form extensive thickets along the coast. Each nest contains two white eggs.

The Australian jungle-fowl or scrub-hen also frequents these islands as well as the mainland. The nests of these birds are large and unique. They consist of huge mounds of dead leaves, grass, sticks, and soft earth piled together by the adult birds in shaded and sequestered places. The mounds are about twenty feet in diameter and from ten to fifteen feet high. Several pairs of birds generally unite in their construction.

When the mounds are completed the birds burrow holes in the centre and deposit their eggs, which are left to be hatched by the moist heat engendered by the decaying vegetation. Forty or fifty brick-red colored eggs as large as those of a turkey are sometimes found in a single nest. Both the eggs and the parent birds are excellent eating.

The Australian bee-eater, a bird of attractive plumage, is found all over the northern islets of the Barrier Reef. It has a long, sharp curved bill and two long, narrow feathers in its tail. Its beautiful green plumage, varied with rich brown and black, and vivid blue on the throat, makes it an attractive bird.

The sea-anemones of the Great Barrier Reef are remarkable for both beauty of color and structure; some of them measure four or five inches across the expanded disk. In Torres Strait are seen brilliant sea-anemones around the border of whose disks are jewel-like clusters. These beautiful sea animals present the appearance of delicately tinted flowers adorned with the most exquisite gems.

Starfish and sea-urchins of all descriptions are found in immense numbers. The five-rayed varieties of starfish are universally condemned as insatiable foes of the oyster family, and the oyster cultivators destroy all they can find. To dismember the body of the starfish by pulling off the finger-like rays does not kill the animal, for not only does each fish produce new rays but each ray will produce a new starfish. The predatory starfish fastens itself to both valves of the oyster, forces them open, and consumes the fleshy part. It is destructive not only to oysters but to clams, mussels, barnacles, snails, worms, and small crustacea as well.

The variety of sea life about the great reef is legion. Among the bivalves the most remarkable for the size and weight of the shells are the tridachna and hippopus. In some localities they are so numerous that their shells have been burned to make lime. A pair of tridachna valves often weighs several hundred pounds.

To the naturalist the Great Barrier Reef is an object of special attraction.



CHAPTER XXV

THE GOLD FIELDS OF AUSTRALIA

The name Australia, like that of California, conjures up in the mind visions of gold; and the story of the gold excitement in both is very similar. January 24, 1848, was the red-letter day in California's history, and the news that transpired that day electrified the world. While constructing a saw-mill at Coloma Creek, a branch of the American River, John Marshall picked up a handful of gold nuggets in the mill-race. At once the gold fever seized all far and near. During the ensuing year fifty thousand persons came by sea and by land from the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and forty thousand more from other parts of the world; all bent upon digging for gold in the new El Dorado.

From far-off Australia came vessels crowded with passengers. Among these was Edward H. Hargraves, who had lived for twenty years in New South Wales, where fortune had not smiled on him. Hargraves was a keen observer and something of a geologist as well. He diligently scoured the gullies and canyons in the gold regions of California, and when he quit he possessed a good sum of money as a return for his labor. During his stay in California he became convinced that gold existed in Australia, since many of the formations and strata were similar to those of the gold-bearing fields of California.

After working for nearly two years, he planned to return to his old home, implicitly believing that he could win riches and fame by discoveries of the precious metal in New South Wales; and as soon as he had landed at Sydney he made ready to test his theories. When he explained to his friends what he purposed to do and his reasons they considered him half crazy. Moreover, rumors that convict shepherds had sold gold nuggets to traders in Sydney strengthened his belief that gold in paying quantities could be obtained by seeking for it. There were rumors also that a gold nugget had been picked up on Fish River.

Procuring a team he set forth on his journey for the Blue Mountains lying back of Sydney. On the fourth day out, stopping at an inn kept by a widow, he confided to her his mission and enlisted her co-operation. He requested a black boy for a guide; but instead she sent her son, who was well acquainted with every inch of the region for miles around.

Taking horses, Hargraves and the young man started out from the inn. It was a crisp autumn morning succeeding a dry summer. A careful search was made up and down canyons and gulches. At length, during the latter part of the day, they reached the bank of a dry creek which disclosed strata similar to the auriferous gravels of California.

Looking about, Hargraves found a spot in the bed of the creek from which, after scooping off the top, he scraped from the bedrock a panful of earth. Hastening to the water hole with the loaded pan, he proceeded to wash away the soil and lo, in the bottom of the pan were bright-yellow particles!

"I shall be made a baronet and both of us will be rich," exclaimed the excited Hargraves. He seemed to be walking upon air and could scarcely believe his own senses. Nevertheless, he prudently kept his own counsel until he had taken out sixty thousand dollars. Then he hastened to Sydney to lay the matter before the government. The government gave him a reward of fifty thousand dollars for his discoveries and made him commissioner of the gold fields.

Hargraves's unexpected find stimulated other persons to search elsewhere for the attractive metal, and soon other and far richer fields were found. From one locality alone seven tons of gold were obtained in a single month.

The whole country now went gold mad. Doctors left their patients, lawyers their offices, bakers and butchers their shops, clerks the stores, and sailors deserted their ships as soon as they touched the wharves—everybody hastened to the diggings eager to get rich.

When confirmation of the wonderful gold deposits in Australia reached the outside world, a grand rush, like that to California, took place. New towns and cities sprang up as by magic, and from the increase of business the older places rapidly became more populous. Since the time of Hargraves's discovery, Victoria has produced the most gold, some of the largest nuggets in the world having been found in this colony.

The following story of the gold fields is related in Lang's "Australia": While the ship Dudbrook was docked at Sydney, where she was receiving her cargo, a sailor boy named Bob heard of the great quantities of gold that had been dug out of the mountains. He longed to try his luck at mining, but hardly knew how he could get away from the ship without being caught.

In the meantime, while the ship was receiving her cargo, all the old crew except Bob had deserted. He hesitated about leaving and seemed to find no good opportunity to escape unnoticed. The day of departure arrived. The sails were being shaken out by the new crew, which had been pressed into service. The little tug that was to tow the big ship out of the harbor was beginning to straighten the cable and churn the water into foam, but the hawser still held the vessel fast to the wharf. The captain shouted "Bob, Bob, get ashore and cast off the hawser."

Bob now saw the long-waited-for opportunity and with alacrity sprang to the wharf, but not to release the hawser. He ran along, hidden by the jetty, until he reached the shore and then dodged into a house where he had friends. The skipper could not stop to hunt up the runaway, so the vessel was towed out through the Heads and sailed for Newcastle to pick up a cargo for India.

The next day Bob started on foot for the mines and, while on his way, picked up one of his old shipmates with whom he formed a partnership. On arriving at the diggings, the two staked out a claim and began sinking a shaft; but after reaching the bottom no metal greeted their longing eyes. Another shaft was sunk and this time they struck it rich.

Within two months each had saved up one hundred twenty pounds of gold. Like some of his companions, Bob now concluded to take a short rest and go to Sydney for a few days of pleasure. Therefore he changed his gold into pound notes, and, stuffing the big rolls into his trousers' pockets, started for the city.

Being of an economical turn of mind, he concluded to walk, and taking an early start, by the middle of the afternoon he had measured off twenty-five miles. The day was hot and the roads dusty; and seeing a shady nook, near a creek not far from the roadside, he betook himself thither and sat down to wait for a bullock wagon which he had passed two hours before. The water in the stream looked cool and inviting, so he undressed to take a swim.

In taking off his clothes he pulled out of his pockets the two bundles of pound notes and laid them beside his boots. After being in the water for some time, he came out; and looking where he had laid the notes, could see them nowhere. Who could have taken them? He saw no one around when he undressed, and he had seen no one about while he was bathing. Possibly the thief was hiding behind some of the trees near by. Without waiting to dress, he searched here and there behind trees and logs, but there was no sign of the thief.

He was greatly disheartened at his loss, but, putting on his clothes, he came across a ten-pound note which he had concealed in a side pocket. This find cheered him up and he resolved to go down to the city notwithstanding his loss. The bullock team soon came along and Bob told the driver what had happened. They both searched the ground over to solve the disappearance of the money, but in vain.

When Bob reached Sydney, like other sailors, he visited several barrooms where he told the story of his strange loss. In one of the places, in a corner, sat an old Scotch crone, smoking her pipe and quietly listening to the conversation. At midnight when Bob was about to leave, the old woman said, "What will ye gie me if I find yer money for ye?"

"What will I give ye, mother?" cried Bob. "Why, I'll give ye a silk dress and a ten-pound note."

"It's a bargain!" she cried; and then she told him what to do.

He was to be ready at four the next morning with a horse and trap which he could obtain from the landlord. If he would take along an axe, a roll of string, and a newspaper, she would find his money for him, she said.

Though much in doubt about the power of such articles to find his money, Bob did as old Maggie had directed, and sharply at four in the morning the two started back to his bathing place. It took but a short time to drive back ten miles to the creek and the hollow log on which Bob sat when he pulled off his boots.

"Now, show me the place where ye put the money down," said Maggie.

After carefully looking around she seemed to be satisfied with the conditions.

"Now, gie me the paper and the twine," she said. Taking a portion of the paper and tying it with a long piece of twine she laid it down just where the notes had been placed. Then Maggie said, "Let us seek a shady place a short distance away and I'll play ye at cribbage." Bob took little stock in these seemingly foolish arrangements; nevertheless he determined to be game to the end.

She led the way to a cool place on the creek bank a hundred yards distant where they sat down. She then drew out of her pocket a dirty pack of cards and a bar of soap punched with holes to be used as a cribbage board.

Two games were leisurely played, both of which Maggie won. "Now," said she, "Come wi' me." She hobbled back to where the paper tied with a string had been left. No paper was in sight, but hanging out of the hollow log where Bob had removed his boots was the end of the string. Maggie chuckled, and pointing to the log, cried, "Now rip it up wi' the axe."

Bob set to work with a will and soon had a big hole chopped out of the hollow log, and behold! there were the bank-notes and the newspaper, forming a cozy nest for some little speckled native cats calling for their breakfast, while farther in were seen two bright balls of fire, the mother cat's eyes. The mother cat had run off with Bob's money to make a nest for her young ones.

Maggie accepted the ten-pound note but refused the silk dress, telling the lad that she had no use for such finery.

Soon after the English settled in Australia they introduced merino sheep, and during the last quarter of a century the breed has been constantly improved.

It is estimated that now there are not less than seventy-five million sheep in Australia. The two great drawbacks to this thriving industry are drought and disease. Some years, owing to the scanty rainfall, millions of sheep have starved for lack of food.

Two seasons prevail, the dry and the rainy, the climatic conditions being similar to those of California.

The eastern section of this continental island is the only part that is adapted both to grazing and to agriculture. New South Wales outranks all the other Australian colonies in sheep raising, and Queensland in cattle raising.

Almost the entire eastern shore section is well adapted to the production of lemons, oranges, and figs, while in the southeastern part all kinds of temperate-zone fruits flourish. The production of wheat also deserves important attention.

The development of cold-storage transportation has given a great impetus to the exportation of frozen mutton and beef to England.

Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, situated on Port Philip Bay, near the mouth of the Yarra River, is the largest city of Australia and contains nearly half a million people. It is built chiefly upon two hills and the intervening valley. The streets are broad and cross each other at right angles. Many of the squares are devoted to public parks and gardens. There are splendid public and private buildings, including an excellent library and an art gallery, both of which are free to all. Although less than sixty years old, this young city will compare favorably in regard to its buildings and general management with the largest cities in both Europe and America.

The oldest city in Australia, Sydney, is the capital of New South Wales and has a population of four hundred thousand. It is situated on Port Jackson and is said to have the finest harbor in the world. This is a completely landlocked sheet of deep water which can be entered only through a narrow passage, thus affording protection to the shipping, even during the most violent storms, and so large that it could accommodate all of the fleets that sail the ocean and have room to spare.



Of Australia's thirteen thousand miles of railways all but five hundred miles belong to the colonial government, and are administered in the interests of the people. So low are the freight and passenger rates that often a tax has to be levied to meet the deficits. More than half of the public debt is due to government ownership of the railroads.

Among other prominent places may be mentioned Brisbane, the capital of Queensland; Adelaide, the capital of South Australia; and Perth, the capital of Western Australia.



CHAPTER XXVI

TASMANIA

In 1642 a Dutch navigator named Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered the island which now bears his name. Tasman did not know that he had discovered an island, but thought that he had discovered a part of the mainland of Australia; so he named it Van Diemen's Land, in honor of his patron, Anthony Van Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East Indies.

Tasmania was once one vast plateau, but in time nature worked away on its broad surface; mountains and valleys were chiselled in its face, making it a picturesque and diversified island. It is well watered; streams abound in every part, and many large lakes are found in the interior. The Derwent in the south is the largest river, and vessels may go almost to the head of its estuary.

On account of its beautiful mountain scenery, Tasmania is called the Switzerland of Australia. Deep winding valleys, clothed with groves of ferns, give added charm to its scenery. In recent years it has become a famous summer resort for Australians, many of whom pass a portion of the hot season in its wonderful forest solitudes and secluded fern-tree vales.

No attempt to colonize Tasmania was made until 1803. In that year four hundred convicts were brought there and the vessel containing the prisoners sailed up Derwent River and landed them where the city of Hobart now stands.

When the convicts landed, they found a very dark-skinned race of natives in possession of the land. The natives were low of stature, with ugly broad faces, flat noses, and frizzly hair. Their habits were repulsive, but they were inoffensive. They lived chiefly on shell-fish and what they could obtain from the sea. Occasionally they hunted the kangaroo, and unfortunately a kangaroo hunt led to their undoing.

One morning a newly-arrived commander of the convict colony saw a large number of natives making toward the camp. He did not know their customs and mistook a chase after a kangaroo for an attack on the camp. So he ordered the soldiers to fire on the crowd, and, as a result, fifty or more were killed.

This was bad enough, but worse was to come; for escaped convicts began to rob and murder the natives whenever they could do so. So in time there began a bush warfare that almost exterminated the poor natives. Finally, the remnant, about two hundred, were put on a transport and carried to Flinder Island, where they gradually decreased in number. The last native died in 1874.

In 1853, the English government ceased to send convicts to the island, and within a few years afterward the blackest plague spot in the world became one of the most beautiful colonies on the face of the earth.

Tasmania is far enough south of the tropics to have a much greater rainfall than most of Australia, but it is not far enough to have a cold climate. The generous rainfall covers the whole surface with green. There are forests of eucalyptus, or "gum tree," tree ferns, beech, and acacia—just about the same kinds that one finds in Australia.

The animals, too, are much the same as in Australia, and some species of them are pouched, like the opossum. Many of them are now rarely to be found near the settlements, but one kind is pretty certain to be found at all times and seasons—the Tasmanian devil. This ugly beast is a terror to any neighborhood. An English hunter described it by saying that it was more bear than wildcat, and more wildcat than bear—and bear-cat it is frequently called. The tiger-wolf is another pest that makes great havoc among herds and flocks. Still another pest, also called "devil," has bands of black and white on its neck and shoulders, a thick heavy tail, and a bulldog mouth. It is a cowardly little night prowler with a fondness for young lambs.

As was the case in Australia, the success of sheep-growing and the finding of rich gold-mines put an end to the convict colony. Even before the mines became profitable the ranchmen were trying to stop the sending of convicts to the island; but when the gold fields were found, it was stopped in short order.

Very shortly gold-mining became the leading industry. Then tin ore was found at Mount Bischoff. Tasmania now produces more tin than all the rest of Australasia. In addition to the tin and precious metals, there are great beds of excellent coal—enough for all the smelteries and manufactories in the island.

Next to the mines the sheep and cattle ranches bring the chief profits to Tasmania. But another industry is growing and bids fair to become more profitable than either mining or cattle-growing. The fruit of Tasmania is of the very finest quality. Moreover, when the fruit is ripening in an Australasian spring and summer, all England is shivering in midwinter storms. What better business could there be than to ship apples and pears fresh from the Tasmanian orchards? Those same apples can be shipped half-way round the world and sold in England for a lower price than the apples shipped from Buffalo to New York City!

Then there are the peaches, cherries, and strawberries. They find a ready market in Australia, a matter of only a few miles away. So in time Tasmania is bound to be one of the great fruit-growing countries in the world.

Where once the first convict colony made its camp the beautiful city of Hobart stands. It is every bit an English town. The business part of the city consists of fine, substantial buildings; most of the residences are low-built and half hidden in gardens of roses. The school-houses are as good as those in any American city of the same size, and the schools themselves are equal to the best anywhere. Kindergarten, grammar school, high school, and university are within the reach of all who desire.

It is said that an enterprising man can go to Tasmania, make his fortune in fifteen years, and return to England rich, to spend the rest of his days. But why should any one desire to leave such a beautiful island to spend the rest of his life in London smoke and fog?



CHAPTER XXVII

NEW ZEALAND

By digging at London right through the centre of the earth one would emerge about a day's ride, in an automobile car, from the capital of New Zealand—if only the automobile could ride on the water. That is to say, England and New Zealand are almost exactly opposite each other on the earth. That is the short way, however, and the trip would be eight thousand miles. As a matter of fact, the trip by the only available route is not far from sixteen thousand miles; for, go either east or west as one may choose, the route from London to New Zealand is a very roundabout way, and New Zealand is Great Britain's most remote colony.

When Tasman was cruising about the Pacific, or South Sea, he skirted the coast of the islands. That was in 1642. About one hundred and forty years afterward Captain Cook called at the islands and annexed them as an English possession, but the English government refused to take them. Early in the nineteenth century missionaries brought the Bible to the native Maoris, and at the same time lawless traders carried liquor and firearms to those same natives. What was still worse, they kept on supplying them with liquor and firearms until there were but a few thousand natives left.

The Maoris are the most remarkable native peoples of the Pacific. They were not the original people of New Zealand, however, for they drove away the black race—probably like that of New Guinea—which they found there. Like the Hawaiians and Fijians, the Maoris came from Samoa about five centuries ago. Their traditions about their journey are clear and exact; even the names of the canoes, or barges, in which they made the journey are preserved in Maori history. First they went to Rarotonga, an island of the Cook group; then they went to New Zealand.



Long before white men had settled in New Zealand, the Maoris had made great advances toward civilization. They had become wonderful carvers in wood; they were also expert builders, weavers, and dyers. No better seamen could be found in the Pacific. War was their chief employment, however, and tribal wars were always going on in some parts or other of the islands. One may compare them in progress to the tribes of New York just before the Iroquois confederacy was formed.

Two large and a small island make up the greater part of New Zealand. North Island is a little smaller than New York State; South Island is a little larger; Stewart Island is half the size of Rhode Island.

Aside from these, the Chatham, Auckland, and part of the Cook group—in fact, pretty nearly every outlying group that can be used for cattle and sheep growing—are included in the New Zealand colony. This industry is the reason for the existence of New Zealand; it is the great meat-producing market of Great Britain.

The two largest islands of New Zealand form a great plateau. Mountain ranges border the edges, and fertile, well-watered lowlands are between the ranges. The ranges and valleys, together with hundreds of lakes, are beautiful to the eye; they could not be better for a great grazing industry. Cook Strait, which separates the two islands, is about sixteen miles wide at its narrowest crossing.

North Island has several active volcanoes, and likewise one of the three famous geyser regions in the world. There used to be the Pink-and-White Terraces also—terraces of brilliant coloring, like those of Yellowstone Park. But a few years ago Volcano Tarawera had a bad fit of eruption, and when the eruption was over, Pink-and-White Terraces were covered many feet deep with lava and ash.

Many of the higher ranges are snow-clad the year round. The New Zealanders do not need to go half-way round the world to spend the summer in Switzerland; they have a fine Switzerland at home. Indeed, the Alps of Europe are not surpassed by those of New Zealand; and as for glaciers, the great Tasman Glacier cannot be surpassed—twenty miles long, a mile wide, and no one knows how deep. In South Island some of the glaciers reach almost to the sea.



There is some wonderful vegetation in New Zealand and nowhere else will one find a greater variety of ferns. Some of them grow in the form of trees; some are huge vines; and still others are as fine and delicate as the maidenhair fern. Some kinds have fine wiry tendrils that are much used for mattresses and cushions. Another plant looks so much like a palm that no one ignorant of plants would suspect that it was not a palm-tree; but as a matter of fact it is a lily.

So many of the forest trees are evergreens, and so abundant is the grass that at all times of the year the islands are green from the mountain summits to the sea. Of all the forest trees the kauri pine has been one of the most valuable—has been, because not many trees are left. The wood itself is about as easily worked as white pine or California redwood. What is still better, it is very tough and durable.

But the wood itself is only a part of the wealth of the kauri forests. The bark is full of gum which, when hard, is much like amber. It makes a very hard and glossy varnish that commands a high price because of its good qualities. In places where old kauri forests have existed, digging kauri gum is a profitable employment. Kauri-gum mining does not require much capital. A sharp iron rod and a pick are about the only tools required.

The gatherer goes about thrusting his rod into the earth at intervals of a few inches. When he "feels" a piece of gum with his rod he needs only to use his pick to capture it. For many years about a million dollars' worth of kauri gum was thus obtained each year. The lumps vary in size from that of a hen's egg to masses weighing several pounds.

There are also some strange animals in New Zealand. One curious creature is a bird without wings—the kiwi. The species is one of many similar kinds that lived in Australia and New Zealand ages ago. Their remains are found in abundance, but the kiwi is the last species now living. It has a long, sharp bill and hair-like feathers. A full-grown bird is about the size of a bantam fowl. One of the more beautiful birds is a dull green parrot, the kea. But the kea is also a wretched pest, for it has learned how to kill sheep since the sheep-herders came to New Zealand. The kea darts out of the air, fastens its talons in the side of the sheep, and quickly makes a gaping hole into the animal's vitals. Thousands of sheep are thus killed every year.

There are about one million people in New Zealand, and most of them live on the east side of South Island. That is where the grassy lands are; and that is why the cattle and sheep are there also. And the people are there because of the sheep and cattle. New Zealand is one of the greatest grazing regions in the world, and most of the various industries in the islands have something or other to do with the grazing.

In Australia the sheep are grown almost wholly for wool. That is because climate and grasses are just right for the growth of wool. In New Zealand the climate and grasses are not very good for wool, but they are just right for meat, both mutton and beef. So the commerce of beef and mutton is the chief business of New Zealand.

The meat must go a long way before it reaches the people who consume it; they live in Great Britain and western Europe. In any case, too, it must have a long summer trip; for one cannot go from New Zealand to Europe without crossing the Torrid Zone. Even if the meat were sent from New Zealand in midwinter it not only has a long trip in the Torrid Zone, but it gets to Europe in midsummer.

Now, it is very plain that meat cannot be carried for a month or six weeks on a steamship without preparation. The preparation is very simple; the meat, after dressing, is frozen and it is kept frozen until it reaches the people who eat it. There are refrigerating-rooms at the slaughter-houses, refrigerator cars to the nearest port, and refrigerator ships to London.

Wool is also one of the important products of New Zealand, but it has a much coarser and harsher fibre than the fine merino wool of Australia. As a rule, sheep that are grown for their wool feed on grass; those that are for mutton get their final feeding on turnips; and all England has said that turnip-fed mutton is good.

Christchurch, a city of about seventy thousand people, is one of the great centres of the wool and mutton industry. The city is there because the great Canterbury Plain is one of the finest grazing regions in the world. Christchurch is not very old—it was made a city in 1862—but it has grown pretty vigorously. Its handsome buildings—churches, college, museum, and school-houses—are as fine as those of any city of the same size anywhere. The streets are wide and beautifully kept, and electric railways extend to half a dozen suburbs.

Out in the suburbs are the large meat-freezing establishments. In the season for export about fifteen thousand sheep are dressed and frozen daily in the great plants in and around Christchurch.

The freezing-rooms are kept at a temperature of a cold winter night. In a single plant there may be as many as ten or fifteen thousand carcasses hanging from great frames, and the walls of the rooms are covered with a thick coat of ice and frost. In three days from the time the meat is put into the freezing-room it will be ready for its long journey.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand; it is likewise the windy port of the Pacific, for it is in the eye of the "roaring forties," the strong west wind of the South Temperate Zone. But Wellington has the harbor, and the harbor has the shipping; and because of this Wellington is a very rich and prosperous municipality.

On the whole, the New Zealanders have not much cause to envy the people of other lands. Every man and every self-supporting woman can become the owner of a homestead; and about one person in every ten has become a landholder. The government lets them have the land on very easy terms of payment. Women have the same political rights as are possessed by men. They can vote, hold public office, and hold property in their own names.

The government has established postal savings banks at which any one may deposit money; what is equally good, the money is loaned at a small rate of interest to farmers while they are waiting for their crops. What is still better, the bank never fails, leaving the depositors to whistle for their money.

The government owns and operates most of the railways, telegraph lines, and telephone system. There is good service at a low cost. The government manages and supports all public schools. Attendance is compulsory and practically everything is free from the kindergarten to the university. There are old-age pensions for deserving poor people of good character; there are likewise prisons for those of criminal character—and the two are pretty apt to get together. "Bad" trusts and monopolies have not got the upper hand anywhere in New Zealand and the government sees to it that they do not. Great Britain appoints a governor of the colony, but the people elect a legislative council and a house of representatives.

New Zealand has also something more than productive lands; the colony has plenty of coal fields, gold-mines, silver-mines, iron ore, and copper ore. Even if all the rest of the world were closed against this far-away colony, the New Zealanders could worry along quite well, for they easily rank among the most prosperous and well-governed people in the world.



CHAPTER XXVIII

SAMOA AND FIJI

The Samoa, or Navigator's, Islands, discovered by a Dutch navigator in 1722, attracted but little attention until the introduction of Christianity in 1830. Only a few of the group are inhabited; the others are chiefly barren rocks.

The islands are of volcanic origin, and earthquakes are frequent, but not severe. Fringing coral reefs form barriers that in a great measure protect the islands from heavy seas. The group lie on the steamship route between Australia and the Pacific coast of North America; hence they are important to the United States. The larger islands are mountainous and well forested. Some of the mountains attain the height of five thousand feet.

Early in the '80's there were three rival chiefs, each of whom wanted to be king. As a result, they were at war most of the time, and the property of Americans and Europeans suffered greatly. So, in 1889, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States formed a joint protectorate over them. Ten years later another outbreak was stirred up by foreign adventurers; so the islands were annexed to Germany and the United States for the sake of peace. The two largest, Savii and Upolu, were ceded to Germany; Tutuila and the Manua group were taken by the United States. On condition of having a free hand in the Cook group, Great Britain gave up all claims.

A rich soil, tropical temperature, and a generous rainfall make the islands productive. Americans who live there claim that in no other part of the world can the necessaries of life be obtained so easily as in Samoa. Savii, the largest island, has a smaller area of cultivable land than the others. Once upon a time, however, it was the most densely peopled and the richest island of all Samoa. Then a volcanic eruption covered much of its surface with ash and lava. Perhaps in time the lava fields may become good soil, as they have in Hawaii.

Tutuila is one of the four islands belonging to the United States; the other three, Tau, Ofu, and Olosenga, belong to the Manua group. All of them together are not half the size of Rhode Island. Tutuila is perhaps the most important island of Samoa, because of its fine harbor, Pago Pago—Pango Pango, the Samoans pronounce it. Pago Pago is certainly a fine harbor. The entrance is so narrow that it can be closed easily; then it widens out into a bay two miles long and nearly half a mile wide. When the Panama Canal is completed, Pago Pago will be right in the track of steamships from Europe and the United States bound for Australia.

Apia, on the island of Upolu, is the port of the Germans. The harbor is larger, but it is not so well protected. In 1889, when a typhoon struck Apia (both the town and the shipping), very few buildings escaped damage or destruction. And the shipping?—well, there was not much left. There were six warships and a lot of sailing-vessels in the V-shaped harbor. When the storm raged hardest it seemed to grow a bit more furious. Some of the vessels dragged their anchors and were piled up as wrecks on the beach. Others foundered and went to the bottom with all aboard. Three or four managed to get out of the bay into the open sea, where they were fairly safe.

But Pago Pago harbor is large and deep. What is still better, it is surrounded by bluffs and mountains that will shelter a big fleet against even the fury of a typhoon.

Most of the islands are covered with a dense vegetation, tropical and richly colored. There is an abundance of hardwood trees, but the breadfruit, banana, and cocoa-palm are the most useful. The breadfruit-tree grows wild, but it is also cultivated. The fruit is about the size of an ordinary cantaloupe. In some species the fruit is filled with seeds nearly as large as chestnuts and these are sometimes eaten. The best fruit, however, is filled with starchy matter.

It is cooked in many ways, but it is greatly relished when baked in hot ashes covered with live coals. After it is thus cooked, it is cut open and the rich juicy pulp scooped out. When cooked with meat and gravy it is superior to the finest mushrooms.

The cocoa-palm is a source of not a little profit. The thick husk yields a fibre that is much used in making coarse mats; the dried meat of the nut is the copra of commerce. Large quantities are exported to the United States and Europe in order to obtain the oil; and the oil is used chiefly to make soap.

The native Samoans are lighter colored than most Polynesians, and are the finest native peoples of the South Pacific Ocean. Many years ago missionaries and teachers settled in Samoa and they found the natives to be pretty apt scholars. By nature they were dignified and polite; they also learned quickly the arts of civilized life. Nowadays nearly every native village has its church and school-house. The Samoans are fond of music and one may hear American hymns and melodies in nearly every native house.

The native houses are larger than most of the houses one finds among the Pacific islands. Two or more long posts support the ridge pole and a great number of shorter posts hold the lower edges of the roof. The roof itself consists of closely fitted mats of brush thickly thatched with the leaves of wild sugar cane. A well-made roof lasts a dozen years or more.

Mats of sugar-cane closely woven are loosely fastened to the outer rows of posts so that they can be easily put up or taken down. They form the side walls of the house. The floor is made of clay, paved with pebbles. Usually there is a floor covering of mats. In the centre of the floor is a fire pit which serves for the purpose of cooking during the day and to drive out the mosquitoes at night. The beds and chairs are mats and the pillows are made of bamboo.

The Samoans know how to live well. With each house there is pretty certain to be a garden in which yams, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, fruit, and chickens are grown. Then, there are fish and shrimps that can be caught in abundance. But the chief and most highly prized dish is called "poi." Taro and kalo are names—or a name, rather; for they are different forms of the same word—given to several plants that grow from starchy bulbs. One kind of taro looks much like a lily that grows higher than a tall man. The bulb, or root, is first baked and then ground to a paste with water. When thus prepared, it is set aside until it begins to ferment; then it is ready to be eaten. A great dish or pot of poi is placed on a mat and the family gather around, one after another dipping it out with their hands. To foreigners poi has a most unpleasant, disagreeable taste. When made into cakes and baked, however, it is much relished by foreigners.

Kava is the national drink. It is made from the roots of a shrub belonging to the pepper family. The root is ground between stones and then soaked in water. After a while it is pounded and rubbed until all the milky juice is squeezed out of it. When "extra-fine" kava is wanted, young girls chew the root until it has become pulpy. After standing a day or two it is strained and is then ready to be drunk. It is a cooling and refreshing drink, but if taken too freely is apt to tangle one's legs uncomfortably.

On account of its delightful climate and beautiful scenery, Samoa is one of the most attractive places in the world in which to live. Back in the mountains, a few miles from Apia, Robert Louis Stevenson spent the last few years of his life, and his body is buried on the top of the mountain near by. Stevenson was greatly beloved by the natives, and after his death he was mourned by them as one of their very best friends.

Of all the islands in the South Pacific Ocean, the Fiji group is the most important. All told there are more than two hundred islands, but scarcely one-third of them are inhabited, or even habitable. Two of them are large. One, Viti Levu, is about the size of Connecticut; the other, Vanua Levu, is about two-thirds the size of that State. The famous Dutch sailor Abel Janszoon Tasman, whose name is remembered in Tasmania, saw the larger islands in 1643. About one hundred and thirty years later Captain Cook called at Viti Levu and found himself in the midst of a great cannibal feast. In 1840, Captain Charles Wilkes, in charge of a United States expedition, explored them; shortly afterward they became a possession of Great Britain.

The larger islands are great domes of lava built up by volcanic eruptions; many of the smaller ones are coral formations, and all are fringed with coral reefs. Dense forests of tropical vegetation cover the larger islands. Cocoanut and other palms are everywhere to be found. A species of pine, much like the kauri pine of New Zealand, grows on the larger islands. Among the forest trees are also several kinds of tree-ferns and a tree-nettle. When the pointed leaves of the latter prick the skin they sting the flesh as badly as does a wasp.

The English have done well by both the islands and the islanders. They have made the islands yield a good yearly profit to the government itself, but they have also made the natives industrious and contented. When the first British settlements were made in Fiji, the islanders were in a most degraded condition. They did no work except to grow a few yams, bananas, and breadfruit. Their chief employment was war, and this was carried on, not for conquest, but to capture as many as possible. A few captives were held as slaves, but most of them were fattened—to be killed and eaten at the royal feasts.



Notwithstanding all this there was the making of a very superior people in them; for when the missionaries and the teachers got among them the natives proved very apt pupils. Now there are more than twelve hundred church buildings—and a school-house or two for every church. Some of the ministers and teachers are English, but there are about four thousand native teachers and ministers, nearly all of whom were trained for their work in the island schools.

They are fine farmers, probably the best in the islands of the Pacific. They grow bananas, pineapples, peanuts, and lemons for the Australians, copra and tobacco for the British, and rice, taro, and garden vegetables for themselves. They have learned to irrigate their farms, using open ditches and bamboo mains. They make the finest canoes to be found in the Pacific. Some of the canoes are barges nearly one hundred feet in length; and not even the Hawaiians are more expert in using them.

Not a little profit to the islanders comes from the sea. They are expert divers and gather large quantities of pearl shells, which find a ready market with the button-makers of Europe. Fish are caught, dried, and sold in China. One sea product, the beche-de-mer, a marine animal commonly called "sea-cucumber," is highly prized by the Chinese, who use large quantities; most of it is gathered by the Fijians.

Sugar, however, is the chief product of the islands, and the sugar plantations are owned by great companies that have invested millions of pounds sterling in the business. The plantations altogether produce more than three million dollars' worth of sugar yearly. The native islanders will not work in the sugar fields; so coolies from India were brought to the islands to work on the plantations.

Suva (Viti Levu), and Leonka (Ovalu), the two largest towns, are much like European cities, except that the houses are low and have large yards filled with shade trees and flowers. In the native villages the dwellings are much like those in Samoa, though a trifle better, perhaps. The side walls are covered with plaited reeds, and the roof is thatched with palm leaves securely fastened. In the lowlands it is customary to build a platform of rock upon which the house stands and into which the foundation poles are set. This is done for two reasons: when a typhoon sweeps over the islands, the lowland coast is sometimes flooded; moreover, the wind blows with such terrific force that none but the most strongly built house will withstand it.

In the centre of the floor is a pit, or fireplace, much like the cooking-place one sees in Samoa or in Hawaii. Chickens and pieces of meat to be roasted are hung from a frame over the pit. Yams and other vegetables are boiled in earthen vessels which the native potters make. The floors are covered with closely woven mats; and in order to keep them clean an earthen vessel filled with water is kept outside so that whoever enters the house may bathe his feet. Inasmuch as the natives go barefoot one may see the usefulness of this custom.

Great Britain has many islands in this part of the Pacific; Gilbert, Ellice, Tonga, Cook, and some of the Solomon group all fly the Union Jack. There is an English governor, or "High Commissioner," as he is styled, who looks after British affairs in the islands. In Fiji he is the real governor, but in many of the islands native chiefs and kings govern their peoples about as they please, provided they do not interfere with British interests.



CHAPTER XXIX

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS

Almost midway between the United States and China a mountain chain more than three thousand miles long crosses the tropic of Cancer. Only the highest peaks, however, reach above sea level; most of the range is fathoms deep in the waters of the Pacific. The eastern end of this great chain constitutes the Hawaiian group of islands, or the Territory of Hawaii.

Altogether they are pretty nearly as large as the State of New Jersey, or five times the size of Rhode Island. All the islands are very rugged in surface—steep and high cliffs, deep valleys and canyons, and stupendous craters that have vomited great floods of lava. A little way from shore the Pacific has some of its deepest beds. If the sea could be removed the island of Hawaii would be a great dome five miles high.

The coral polyps have added their mite to the building of these islands, and coral reefs are the foundation of the coast plain that surrounds a considerable part of the girth of each.

An equable climate throughout the year, a soft and balmy air, brilliant coloring on bush and tree, magnificent pictures of sea and sky, and of mountain and plain, make the islands a veritable paradise.

It is thought that these islands were peopled by Samoan natives about the year 600, and that subsequently their number was augmented by emigrants from the Fiji and other southern islands. At first there was plenty of land for all, but as their number increased, quarrels arose. Each island had its king or chief and some of the larger islands had two or more. The result was a condition very much like the feudal system; each king had petty chiefs, and these, in turn, their retainers, who were little better than slaves. Priests, who ranked equal to the petty chiefs, directed their pagan worship and occasionally made human sacrifices.

The kings were pretty apt to be at war with one another most of the time, but, about forty years before the American Revolution, there came a great soldier and leader, Kamehameha I. By the aid of European weapons and the counsel of foreign friends, he overcame his rivals and brought all the islands under his sway.

The Hawaiian Islands were made known to the rest of the world when that plucky English sailor, Captain James Cook, was making his third and last great voyage of discovery, in which he had set out to find the famous and tragic northwest passage. On a roundabout way to Bering Strait, he called at the islands which seemed very attractive to him. Perhaps it is not quite right to say that he discovered them, for it seems very probable that the Spanish explorer Gaetano discovered them in 1555.



It was 1789 when Cook first visited the islands, and after he had continued his voyage through Bering Strait, and had failed to find the northwest passage, he turned about and sailed for the islands. While ashore with a part of his crew at a landing that is now the village of Kealakekua, one of the ship's boats was stolen by natives.

Now Cook had learned to manage South Sea islanders in a very practical, though not the most tactful, way. When trouble occurred he used to send out a strong landing party, seize the king or chief and take him aboard the vessel—a proceeding which usually brought the natives to terms. But at this particular time the landing party was driven to the boats and Cook was killed.

The group of islands was first named after Lord Sandwich, a patron and friend of Cook. At the time of Cook's discovery of the long-forgotten islands it was estimated that their population was not far from four hundred thousand. Missionaries went to the islands early in the nineteenth century and their reports brought many Americans and Europeans who settled there permanently. Then the chief business of the islands was the ordinary trade with the many whaling vessels that were in the Pacific.

For a time the islands were under the protection of Great Britain; then they became an independent kingdom. When it was found that the lava fields made the best sugar-growing soil in the world, American capital came in millions of dollars to be invested in great plantations of sugar cane.

Trouble between the queen and American business interests became so serious in time that the queen was dethroned and the Republic of Hawaii was established. The republic was short-lived, however; for when the Spanish-American war occurred, it was seen that Hawaii is the key to the Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiians, foreigners and natives, had long wished to become a part of the United States. So the islands were annexed and shortly became the Territory of Hawaii.

There are six large islands—Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai. There are many small outlying islets, most of which are not inhabited. Wireless telegraph stations connect the principal islands; an ocean cable ties the Territory to San Francisco; and steamship lines carry on commerce with British, Japanese, and American ports. Even the railway-builder has not forgotten Hawaii, for there are not far from two hundred miles of railroad, about half of which carry the products of the sugar and coffee plantations to the near-by ports.

Hawaii, the largest island, is famous for its great volcanoes, Kea, Loa, and Kilauea. From the village or city of Hilo comfortable coaches take visitors over a fine road clear to the crater of Kilauea. At times one may stand on the edge of Kilauea's rampart and look down on a lake of white-hot, molten lava three miles long and half as wide. Every now and then bubbles of gas or steam come to the surface and exploding send long threads of viscous lava into the air. Some of the glassy threads are fine as the finest silk and a blast of air carries them off to the cliff; Pele's hair, they call it, and the sea-gulls gather it to make their nests.



The highest points of Hawaii island are nearly fourteen thousand feet above sea level. Below the line of about ten thousand feet easterly winds bring an abundance of rain; above that line westerly winds bring occasional showers and snow squalls. As a result one may find places only a few miles apart, one of which has almost daily rains while the other gets none at all along the lowland coasts.

Oahu is the best-known island because of Honolulu, the capital of the Territory. A most beautiful city it is; indeed, there is nothing elsewhere to surpass it in attractiveness—wide streets, beautiful parks, flower gardens of wonderful plants, fine dwellings, electric street cars, good government, and schools that are famous. All these things make Honolulu one of the most desirable and attractive cities of homes anywhere in the world.

Just back of Honolulu is a volcanic peak with its great crater—the "Punch Bowl," they call it, because of its shape. As one looks down from the rim of the Punch Bowl the city is half hidden among its palms and algeroba trees. Above the trees are the domes and turrets of the National Palace, the government building, and the school-houses. In the distance here and there are the great plantations—sugar, rice, and banana.

In the city streets one will see the people of many lands—Germans, English, Americans, native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Malays, and Hindoos. Many of the native Hawaiians are rich and prosperous; some are in business, and others are in professional life. Many of the Chinese are well-to-do merchants. The Hindoos, Malays, and Japanese were brought to Hawaii to work in the great plantations.

In the native villages one will frequently find a little church building and almost always the district school. Perhaps there may also be a Chinese store. Black-eyed children are running about dressed in long gowns, and some of them carry little bundles of school-books, each tied with stout cord or a leather strap.

The Hawaiians will not work in the sugar and the rice fields, and not many will stand the easier labor on the coffee plantations. In cultivating their little patches of bananas, breadfruit, cassava, and taro, however, they are pretty industrious. When the time of the royal feast comes, the natives, or "Kanakas," as they call themselves, get busy. The feast certainly is a royal one. Roast pig and roast chicken are smoking in a dozen dirt ovens. There are steaming yams and sweet potatoes by the bushel, great piles of all sorts of fruit—and poi. All the rest of the food is commonplace; poi is the dish. It is one-finger poi, two-finger poi, or three-finger poi, according as it is thick enough to be lifted out of the pot sticking to one finger, or so thin as to require a dextrous swish of two or three.

Waikiki is the great resort of Honolulu. There is the finest of bathing the year round; and what is more interesting, the native surf swimmers. With a piece of plank just large enough to support his weight in the water, the bather swims out to the reef in still water. Then he, or she—for young girls are most expert swimmers—makes for open water, where the combers are forming. Then, lying flat, bather and plank are borne along on the swift rolling surf until both are tossed high on the beach.

The aquarium is famous for its unique collection of fish and marine animals; it is one of the finest in the world. Near by is the race course and amphitheatre. What is still better is the winding road through ferns and flowers that leads to the crater rampart, Diamond Hill.

Half a dozen miles west of Honolulu one goes by rail around the shore of Pearl Lochs, or Harbor. Pearl Harbor is large enough and deep enough to float all the warships Uncle Sam will ever own, and the possession of this magnificent site for a naval station was a very strong inducement to annex Hawaii.

Less than one hundred miles away, at Kalaupapa, on the island of Molokai, is the leper settlement. Years ago Chinese settlers brought the disease to Hawaii; then the natives began to be stricken, and when it was found that leprosy was spreading, the lepers were sent to Molokai. For many years they had but little care; the government fed and clothed the poor victims and that was about all.

In 1873 Father Damien, a plucky Catholic priest, went to Molokai and thereby made himself practically a prisoner for life. Father Damien procured physicians, trained nurses, and the best possible care for the lepers, and they could at least die in comfort if they could not live. Then Father Damien himself was stricken and died. By this time, however, the government took the matter in hand. A fine hospital was built and a laboratory for the study of the disease was established. Those who are able to work can partly support themselves, and they are far better off when busy than when idle.

In 1848 the "Great Division" took place; that is, the lands for the king, for the public domain, and for the people were set aside, so that the people who so desired could own their farms and dwellings. At that time the islands were important only as a calling place for whaling vessels. At the present time Dame Nature is made to yield annually not far from one hundred million dollars' worth of products—sugar, rice, coffee, fruit, and cattle. A few years hence, tobacco, rubber, cotton, and honey will be added to the list of exported products.

Americans own the sugar plantations, which are mainly on the lava fields of Hawaii, Oahu, and Maui Islands. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate the rice along the coast lowlands of Oahu and Kauai. Sheep and cattle are grown on Lanai and Niihau.

Uncle Sam has brought some very valuable additions to his public domain, but no investment has paid better than Hawaii, the Paradise of the Pacific.



CHAPTER XXX

GUAM

While cruising in the Pacific Ocean Magellan discovered a chain of islands about fifteen hundred miles east of the Philippine group. While he lay at anchor, predatory natives stole some of his belongings; thereupon Magellan gave them a bad name, and to this day the islands bear the name Ladrones, or "thieves" islands.

Guam, the largest island in the group, became more or less important just after the Spanish-American War, inasmuch as it was required as one of our chain of naval and coaling stations that pretty nearly encircles the earth. As islands go, Guam is of fair size, about thirty miles long and from three to ten miles in width. It is mountainous and the surface is jungle-covered except where the natives have made trails and clearings. Fringing coral reefs, broken here and there, encircle the island. One of these breaks is opposite a bight in the coast, San Luis d'Apra, or Apra, as it is now called; and the bay and channel together form a harbor so well guarded that no transport laden with hostile troops would ever attempt landing.

In 1668 a mission was established. At this time the population numbered about one hundred thousand. The country was so well cultivated that the whole island seemed like a beautiful garden, for the people were pretty good farmers. Rice and tropical fruits were cultivated in abundance. The natives were also skilful in the making of pottery and they had a well-regulated calendar.

For a time they were well disposed toward their intruders; but at length, as they began to learn that conversion to the Christian faith meant also slavery to the Spanish, they rebelled against a system which was so one-sided, and their opposition led to constant strife and bloodshed.

In the course of time the severe treatment of the Spaniards, together with contagious diseases introduced, so completely wiped out the native population that, at the end of seventy years, scarcely two thousand were left. Perhaps no peoples in all the South Sea Islands have suffered more keenly from contact with Europeans than these aborigines.

Frightened at the terrible mortality they had caused, the conquerors turned to the Philippines to replenish the depopulated island. Tagals were brought over to occupy the place of the fast-disappearing natives, and with these many of the natives intermarried. The half-castes are inferior to the original inhabitants, but they have increased in population, and now number ten thousand.

Spain ceded Guam to the United States in 1898. Since the acquisition our government has established both day and evening schools for the natives, and they are making rapid progress in education.

It is a long journey to Guam—thirty-five hundred miles almost from Honolulu and not quite half as far from Manila. And how to get there? Well, it is not an easy matter. If you go to Apia, or to Manila, and remain long enough—perhaps six weeks, maybe six months—a German trading schooner will come along and take you aboard. You get there in time; for the trading schooner is likely to make a very circuitous trip, calling at a dozen islands to get copra in exchange for cloth, knives, and cheap jewelry. But if one happens to have the right sort of "pull," one can get a pass on an army transport. That means a most delightful trip from San Francisco to Honolulu, and thence to Guam. Uncle Sam does the square thing by his soldiers, and the army transports that carry them to the distant stations are fitted so as to be as comfortable as the best liners. There are a big exercise deck and a reading-room with plenty of books. Not the least important part of the equipment is a self-playing piano and a good assortment of music.



There is not very much to see after one reaches Guam. One village is just about the same as all the others. Perhaps half a dozen huts are built of mud, or possibly of coral limestone; the rest are made of bamboo frames covered with palm—all in one room in which the family and the pig live.

Agana, however, is a village of six or seven thousand people. It is laid out in streets which are fairly regular. They are deep with dust during the dry season, and with mud the rest of the year. There are several government buildings which are neat and trim, two or three churches, several school buildings, and a few stores. Most of the people one meets on the street speak Spanish; a few speak English. English is the coming language, however; for the schools are there to stay and every one of the fifteen hundred youngsters who attend school carries away a little English. A fine road bordered with palms connects Agana with Apra, seven miles south.

There is not much to see in Guam. The scenery is much like that of every island in that part of the Pacific. About the only diversion of the soldiers stationed there is hunting, which is pretty good if one is content to hunt deer and wild hogs. Artistic sportsmen might prefer the deer, but all the real fun is the share of the hog-hunters. The hogs are savage beasts when cornered; they likewise are full of animal cunning.

Along the coast lowlands one may find rice-farms as skilfully cultivated as those of Japan or of China. Most of the rice is consumed on the island; however, copra, or dried cocoanut, is an export, and its sale brings enough money to the natives to purchase the cloth and other goods needed. Since American occupation the cacao tree has been cultivated, and cocoa bids fair to be the chief export in the near future.

The government of Guam is better under American rule than at any time in the previous history of the island. When the late Admiral Schroeder was governor of Guam he consulted his log-book and discovered that he was altogether too far away from Washington to be tied to rules and regulations, or to be tangled up in official red tape. So he cut the tape and used good common sense instead. Perhaps the government was a bit patriarchal, but it was good, clean, and wholesome—and every one profited by it.



CHAPTER XXXI

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

Our newest possession, the Philippine Archipelago, in a way, is also our oldest, for the islands were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, about twenty-nine years after the great discovery of Columbus. Magellan called at several islands, among them Mindanao and Cebu. He anchored in the harbor on which the city of Cebu now stands. He seems to have been treated in a very friendly manner by the natives of Cebu, but when he crossed to a near-by island he was attacked and killed. The friendship of the King of Cebu was not very steadfast, for after Magellan's death several of his officers were put to death by the king's order.

For two hundred and forty years the islands were a possession of Spain; then they were captured by a British fleet. They were soon restored to Spain, however, and remained a Spanish possession until 1898, when they were ceded to us after the Spanish-American War.

There are more than three thousand islands in the archipelago, and they are the partly covered tops of a mountainous and rugged plateau. Many volcanoes testify to the volcanic origin of the plateau; indeed, the surface of the plateau seems to be a thin crust over—well, over trouble; for the dozen or more volcanoes are never quiet long enough to be forgotten. Perhaps it was proper to name the islands after Philip II of Spain, for he, too, had his full measure of trouble.

The archipelago is of pretty good size. The whole plateau, land and water, is about as large as that part of the United States east of Chicago; and the islands themselves are pretty nearly as large as the State of Texas. Luzon, the largest island, is about as large as Pennsylvania, and Mindanao is a bit smaller. Then there are Samar, Panay, Palawan, and Cebu—every one large enough to make a State of fair size, and every one with enough people to make a State.

There are about seven million people all told, most of whom are of the Malay race. As a rule, they are pretty well along toward civilization; some of them are educated. There are also tribes of the black race—Negritos, they are called—who are just plain savages. They are the original inhabitants of the islands, and it is most likely that they are the descendants of people from New Guinea. In the southwest is the Sulu group, inhabited by Malays, called Moros. They are Muhammadans in religion and are the last of the Malays who came to the islands.

Of all the Malay peoples, the Tagalogs of Luzon have been the foremost to learn the arts of western civilization. They have surpassed their near relatives, the Visayans, who live in the central part of the islands. Perhaps it is the closer contact with the Spanish that has given the Tagalogs their great progress. At all events they have become well to do and prosperous as measured by other Malay peoples.

The Moros, who live mainly in the southern part, have scarcely reached civilization. In the Sulu islands they have their own government, at the head of which is a native sultan. In many parts of the islands there are tribes governed by chiefs called "dattos." Some of the natives are prosperous farmers, but many of them are savages.

A great deal has been said about the misrule and cruelty of the Spanish governors and officials. Being soldiers and task-masters it is likely that they did many things that will not stand the searchlight of civilization. But the work of the priests will always leave a pleasant flavor. For three hundred years they braved every danger and suffered every hardship in their work. For every one that fell a victim to disease, or to the bolo, there was another ready to fill his place. They not only converted the natives to Christianity, but they also taught them to be thrifty farmers and prosperous business men. As a result the Filipinos are the only Asian people of considerable numbers that have yet become Christians.



When the Philippine Islands became a possession of the United States, one of the first things done was to establish several thousand schools. A thousand American teachers were at first employed. Training schools for teachers were established, and in the course of a few years more than five thousand Filipino teachers were conducting native schools. English is taught in all the schools, and there are special schools in which agriculture, mechanical trades, and commerce are taught.

There is good reason for all this, for the islands have wonderful resources. Gold, silver, copper, and iron are abundant. The forests have an abundance of hard woods that sooner or later will find a market both in Europe and America. The rice-fields will easily produce enough grain for the whole population, and a considerable amount to sell in addition, when all the rice-lands are cultivated. For want of good wagon roads and railways only a small part of the rice-lands are cultivated.

There is an abundance of good grazing land that will produce meat for twice the present population. Most of the cattle now grown in the islands are of the kind found in India.

The most common beast of burden, however, is the carabao, or water-buffalo. What an ugly looking beast it is! It is as clumsy as a hippopotamus, as ugly as a rhinoceros, and as kind and gentle as an old muley cow. Harnessed to a dray or a wagon, it shuffles along, its big, flat feet seeming to walk all over the road. But those same big feet are the animal's chief stock in trade. They enable him to walk through both sand and deep mud—mud so soft and deep that a horse or a mule would sink to its body. Nothing but the carabao's flatboat-like feet could drag ploughs through the soft mud of the rice-fields.

Carabaos are easily trained to farm work, and even children can drive them—or ride on their backs in going to school. The milk of a carabao is as good and wholesome as that of an ordinary cow; the meat is pretty tough, but it is not unwholesome.

One thing, however, the carabao must have, and that is a bath several times a day. Deprived of its bath, the animal at first becomes restless; then it breaks away in a half-crazed condition for the nearest water, where it buries itself, all but its head. Native drivers know just how to manage their animals and drive them to the nearest water several times a day.

There are horses in the islands, but not many. Most of them are very much like the mustang. The Spanish brought Andalusian ponies to the islands many years ago, but they did not prove very useful. Within a few years American horses were introduced, but they could not live on Philippine grasses. Mexican mustangs and Mongolian ponies were much better, however, but they are used chiefly as riding animals.

Of all the beasts of burden in the Philippine Islands, none is in the same class with John Chinaman. Everywhere his bland smile is seen; his patience has no end—and, apparently, his work has none. The Filipino farmer works merely to keep body and soul together; John Chinaman works to save hard cash, and he saves it. Wherever there is any money to be made, John is pretty certain to be near by. He is the cook and "maid-of-all-work" in the house of the foreign resident, the stevedore on the dock, the clerk in the forwarding house, the "boss" in the rice plantation, the handy man in the tobacco factory, and the store-keeper in the remote Filipino village. Sixteen hours of hard work every day and Sunday seem to make him grow fat; the rest of the time he just works for fun—and hard cash.

Long before the Chinese coolie came to the United States the Spanish raised the cry "The Chinese must go." The Spanish made short work of them, killing them by thousands and tens of thousands. But in a year or two John was on hand again, smiling and working sixteen hours a day—strictly for cash. And he is in the Philippine Islands to stay.