Seven Legs Across the Seas

ll number of passengers. She had started from a Swedish port in the Baltic Sea with a full cargo of pine lumber. The distance from the Baltic port to Durban is 8,000 miles, and

o the South Sea Islands, until she reached Vavau, Tonga (Friendly Islands), still 2,000 miles further east from Sydney, where she and t

as good, the ship steady, and weather fair. Our captain was a jovial soul, and th

ecame chilly. Two islands-St. Paul and Amsterdam-were the only land seen during the voyage, and not a single ship. One cultivates a genuine respect for seafaring men when traveling on shi

for South Africa, where fortune smiled on them; she was returning a wealthy woman. A New Zealander and his wife, an Australian, also were retur

thickly to view and twinkle and scintillate on crests of waves made by the wash of a vessel. These sparkling beams have their season during periods of contact, when, like embers, they gradually flitter away as the waves assume their

ning." We had been sixteen days out from Durban, and every one had a good voyage. In the forenoon, after the port doctor had completed his examination of the

advance of my notes, I shall take the liberty to offer, "What ho!" to "the Down-unders." The use of the term "Down-unde

des, and the first thing one notices on coming from any of th

Captain Stirling sailed to the mouth of the Swan River, where Fremantle is located. He decided the location would make a good settlement site. Pe

tate of which Perth is the official center is a

the industrial activity is so strikingly contrasted between "Darkest Africa" and "Whi

large as the American box car. Small locomotives are also in use. The country from Fremantle to Perth is sandy, the only

rk being done by Europeans, all vehicles drawn by good horses-no oxen in sight; streets asphalted-in that far-off land one will find as busy and as up-to-date a city as exists a

and those who do not own their own homes pay $3.50 weekly rent. The weekly system of paying bills-house rent and store bills-is the custom in Australia. As the government owns the

double-deck type. This was the first place the Am

, flowers and grass. In a larger park, a short distance away, is a zoo. T

ettle, three feet high, hung over a wood fire, was boiling. The holiday-makers came to the kettle for hot water to make tea. It looked out of place to see hot tea drunk

swan, the graceful bird that makes ponds and

d, and peaches, melons, and other fruit sold at a proportionately low price. Mutton sold

nually for competition among pupils between the ages of 11 and 13 years. Other inducements are made to bring out the best that is in the growing generation. In sparsely settled farming districts, where ten or more children are to be found, the State reaches out a beneficent hand to qualify the child for the battle of lif

is allowed the settler in which to pay for his farm, and the interest charged is four to five

nse of building rabbit-proof fences about tracts of land it has for disposal. The quality of wheat, oats and other cereals is of the best, meriti

2, when the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie finds became known. In this industry a hundred thousand persons are engaged. Before a railway was built over this barren stretch of country from the coast to the mines, many an adventurous soul perished during his journey in quest of the pr

aborers receive a minimum of $2 a day, and mechanics fro

5 a week, the hours of work on newspapers seldom exceeding six. I had been off

00 miles separate Perth from Melbourne. Twelve hundred miles

erly point of land of the Australia continent, and one of the most dangerous poin

ships. Some of the names were Eendracht Land, Nuyts Land, De Witt Land; but of all the places given names by the Dutch, Leeuwin Cape is the only one

Bight was entered. The Bight is famous for its rough sea; accounts of the ve

fety, so I pointed the nose of the ship to the storm, but for 24 hours we gained only half a mile against the force of the sea." "Did you fear for the ship?" "I wasn't afraid," he answered, "so long as the engines stood the strain; but they were taxed for every ounce of power. Look at the black mark on the

outh Africa, marks the western end of the line dividing the Southern Indian Ocean from the Southern Atlantic Ocean. The distance separating these two points is 6,000 miles. The meeting of th

here the Swedish vessel was made fast to a wharf. "I trust we succeeded in treating you right," said the

ican civil engineers also have taken a prominent part in the construction of the large weirs or reservoirs that the Commonwealth has erected for land irrigation purposes. Melbourne's streets, 99 feet in width, run at right angles, are kept clean and well paved. Built on each side of these grand thoroughfares are splendid buildings, utilized for banking, trade and general b

s granted by the city to a company to install street railways, of cable type, for a term of 20 years. The fare is six cents, and the light in the cars is from murky, coal oil lamps. The street railway company is getting all i

prosperity of the country is reflected in every part of the city by the splendid homes of its citizens. They are healthy looking, well fed and

here could not be bettered. Within the city limits are over 5,000 acres of parks and public gardens

ital city whose "twang" would make a down-east Yankee green with envy. Still all have the Br

difference in the cut of the clothes. In South Africa, among the English-speaking people

n the air is punctured with turrets and spires on buildings in which the citizens of Victoria a

indoor life loses its charm. In Melbourne the weather seldom gets cold enough to freeze, and, if so, it would occur no

nt, has a strong hold on Australians, and the same horde of nondescripts and non-producers found in other countries, wh

office-is termed a "cockatoo" news dealer, a "cockatoo" grocer and a "cockatoo" printer. The term "cow" is used to express displeasure or disgust with fowl, animals and even inanimate things. "On the wallaby trail," or "on the wallaby," is applied to a fellow "on his uppers." "No chop"

in Victoria than in West Australia. It is the boast of State and government officials that a child whose parents live in isolated parts receives as goo

atherless family resides will accompany a family to court. He tells the judge the circumstances attending the bereavement of the family, and declares the widow is unable to support herself and children. The mother then surrenders her children, and they become wards of the State. When that phase of law has been gone through, the judge next appoints the mother guardian of the children. Each child thereafter receives $1.20 a week from the State. The children must attend school, though, from the age of 6 to 14 years. This is the minimum sum given by the State, but there also are municipal and other funds

persons, but these are maintained by religious and charities bodies. The State, of course, woul

t charged is four to five per cent. If drought or other agencies renders the settler's crop a failure and he has no money to meet his payments, the government does not swoop down and take his farm, but advances more if circumstances threaten to drive him from the land. He will be looked

ealth in this State per head of population is $1,253. An income tax is collected on all salaries of

islating only for itself, and at each State boundary line were custom houses and Stat

Mutton, beef, cheese, wine, fruit, grain, flour, wool, hides, tin, silver, copper a

e equator, and the fair State of Victoria has reason to be proud of the diva, the most widely known woman born south of the e

urniture manufacturing, and Mongols practically control the industry. The slogan, "A White Australia," is as prono

sues Sunday editions. Printers on these earn from $25 t

rom 20 to 36 cents a dozen. House rent, which

or and capital in Australia. Skilled mechanics and laborers generally stand together in political ma