Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/15

—The White Terraces: how they are Formed.—The Pink Terraces.—Boiling Lakes.—Nature's Bath-tubs.—Petrified Birds.—A Tabooed Mountain.—The Tabu on Ducks.—Native Demoralization.—Wairoa.—Destruction of the Terraces.—Terrible Eruption, with Loss of Life.—A Village thrown into a Lake.—Tauranga and the Gate Pah.—Maori Fortifications.—Short History of the Maori War: its Causes and Results.—From Tauranga to Napier.—A Pastoral Country.—Attractions of Napier.—Overland to Wellington.—Farming and Herding Scenes.—A Curious Article of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page 222

CHAPTER XI.

Advantages of Wellington as the Capital.—Its Industries and Prosperity.—A City of Earthquakes.—Its Public Buildings.—The Colonial Government: how the Colony is Ruled.—The Colonial Parliament.—Maoris as Office-holders.—A Walk in the Botanical Gardens.—Division of the Islands into Counties and Districts.—No Connection between Church and State.—Relative Strength of Religious Bodies.—Educational Facilities.—The Colonial Debt: its Enormous Figures.—Overland to New Plymouth.—Along the Sea-shore.—Making Iron from Sea-sand.—Riding through the Bush.—Nelson and Picton.—The Wairau Massacre.—To Port Lyttelton and Christchurch.—An English Model Colony.—The Canterbury District.—The "Servant-girl" Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

246

CHAPTER XII.

Characteristics of the Canterbury District.—Visit to a Sheep-station.—How the Sheep-business is Conducted.—The Agricultural College.—Irrigation in New Zealand.—Sheep lost in Snow-storms.—The Sheep-raiser's Enemies.—Destruction caused by Parrots.—The Rabbit Pest.—How Rabbits are Exterminated.—Visit to a Wheat-farm.—Wheat Statistics.—Improved Machinery.—The Sparrow Pest.—Troublesome Exotics.—Water-cress, Daisies, and Sweetbrier.—An Industrial School.—Mount Cook: First Ascent.—Perilous Climbing.—Glaciers and Lakes.—The Southern Alps.—Dunedin.—Otago Goldfields.—Invercargill.—Lake Wakatipu.—Mining at Queenstown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

268

CHAPTER XIII.

From New Zealand to Australia.—Arrival at Sydney.—How the City was Founded.—Its Appearance To-day.—The Principal Streets, Parks, and Suburbs.—Public Buildings.—Shooting Sydney Ducks.—The Transportation System.—How Australia was Colonized.—Life and Treatment of Convicts in Australia.—The End of Transportation.—Popular Errors of Involuntary Emigrants.—The Paper Compass.—Ticket-of-leave Men.—Emancipists and their Status.—Sydney Harbor.—Steam Lines to all Parts of the World.—Circular Quay.—Dry-docks.—Excursions to Paramatta and Botany Bay.—Hospitalities of Sydney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

293

CHAPTER XIV.

From Sydney to Brisbane.—Political Divisions of Australia.—Order in which the Colonies were Founded.—Explorations and their Extent.—Doctor Bass and Captain Flinders.—Absence of Water in the Interior of Australia.—A Country of Strange Characteristics.—Nature's Reverses.—How the Colonies are Governed.—Religion and Education.—Jealousy of the Colonies towards each other.—Newcastle and its Coal.—Railway Travelling in New South Wales.—Tenterfield and Stanthorpe.—Cobb's Coaches.—Australian Scenery.—The Eucalyptus, or Gum-tree, the tallest Trees in the World.—Silver Stems and Mallee Scrub.—Brisbane.—Relics of the Convict System.—Queen Street and the Botanical Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

317

CHAPTER XV.

Leaving Brisbane.—The Regions around the City.—Queensland Scrub and Forest Land.—Fruits and Garden Produce.—Troubles of the early Settlers.—Ipswich and its Coal-