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OUTLINES OF 
 
 BRITISH COLONISATION 
 
 BY THE 
 U t 
 
 REV. WILLIAM PARR GRESWELL 
 * ' 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'OUR SOUTH AFRICAN EMPIRE* 
 *A HISTORY OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA, ETC. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. LORD BRASSEY, K.C.B. 
 
 HonDon 
 
 PERCIVAL AND CO. 
 
 1893 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
H Y MOUSE STEPHENS 
 
TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 LORD BRASSEY, K. C. B. 
 
 THE TRUE FRIEND OF OUR COLONIES, 
 AND THE ABLE EXPONENT OF IMPERIAL UNITY 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 514501 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 MR. GRESWELL'S volume on Colonisation is a record 
 of achievements of which the British nation may justly 
 be proud. We read in these pages of maritime dis- 
 coveries in every ocean, and of still more arduous 
 inland explorations. The brilliant story of our coloni- 
 sation carries us forward from the solitary struggles 
 of the pioneer in unknown countries to the combined 
 efforts made by great communities to develop 
 commerce and promote civilisation. We see the first 
 administrators of our distant dependencies at their 
 work, in days when communication was slow and 
 infrequent, and when little aid could be given and 
 little interference was to be apprehended on the part 
 of the authorities at home. In a later stage we have 
 before us encouraging and splendid examples of the 
 prosperity and contentment which have followed upon 
 the bold and ungrudging acceptance of the policy of 
 the devolution of local affairs upon a responsible con- 
 stitutional government. 
 
 In any history of our colonies the West Indies must 
 have a large place. Those lovely islands, gems of 
 surpassing beauty set in the silver sea, have been the 
 
vi British Colonisation 
 
 scenes of many struggles, and have witnessed some 
 of the most brilliant victories of the British navy. 
 Since the close of the Great War the progress of these 
 islands has never been interrupted by international 
 conflicts. The difficulties of the planters have been 
 due to other causes. The manumission of the slaves, 
 and later the unfair and unequal struggle with foreign 
 competitors lavishly subsidised by bounties, have 
 entirely changed the conditions under which the 
 cultivation of sugar must be carried on. It is gratify- 
 ing to know that by reductions in the cost of produc- 
 tion, and the opening of new markets, chiefly in the 
 United States, the position of the sugar industry has 
 been much improved. Owing to their tropical climate 
 the West Indies cannot be regarded as a suitable field 
 for European colonisation on an extensive scale. For 
 the negro population these islands may be made an 
 earthly paradise. It is to the development of peasant 
 proprietorship that the governors are at this moment 
 chiefly directing their attention. The fruit trade with 
 the United States, which has been rapidly growing of 
 recent years, seems specially adapted to the limited 
 resources and aptitudes of a negro peasantry. 
 
 The history of Canada contains many episodes of 
 surpassing interest. Heroism and self-denying zeal in 
 the cause of religion have never been exhibited more 
 conspicuously than by the Jesuit fathers whom France 
 
Introduction vii 
 
 sent forth in the seventeenth century to found missions 
 in North America. The wars of the eighteenth century 
 led to many hard-fought encounters between the British 
 and French forces. The long list of brave and capable 
 commanders on both sides culminates in the memorable 
 names of Wolfe and Montcalm. In the siege and 
 capture of Quebec both these illustrious heroes laid 
 down their lives with unmurmuring devotion in the 
 cause of their respective countries. There are episodes 
 in war in which all the highest virtues of the human 
 character are displayed. History has no more moving 
 story than that which gathers round the crumbling 
 battlements of Quebec. At a later stage Canada was 
 the scene of another display of patriotism. Thousands 
 of British settlers, rather than live under an independent 
 flag, migrated, at great sacrifices, from their homes in the 
 United States, and came to reside in a country where 
 all the hard labours of the pioneer had to be en- 
 countered, but where the flag of the mother country 
 still waved above their heads. The subsequent history 
 of Canada is chiefly interesting for the success which 
 has attended the concession of responsible government. 
 All traces of rancour and disloyalty have disappeared. 
 The latest constitutional incident was the federation of 
 all the provinces into one dominion. 
 
 Canada possesses many sources of prosperity. Its 
 fisheries give employment to a numerous and hardy 
 
viii British Colonisation 
 
 maritime population. Lower Canada possesses noble 
 forests : Ontario has a thriving agriculture and rich 
 pastures : the Canadian North West is rapidly becom- 
 ing one of the most abundant granaries of the world. 
 
 The West African settlements are especially interest- 
 ing in connection with many perilous efforts to explore 
 the recesses of the Dark Continent. Off their surf- 
 bound shores our squadrons for many years kept watch 
 and ward for the suppression of the slave trade. Under 
 British protection the slaves whom we set free have 
 formed a settlement at Sierra Leone. The port is 
 advantageously situated, both as a place of trade and 
 as a coaling-station for the fleet. 
 
 As a Colonial p"bwer the French are exhibiting re- 
 markable energy in West Africa. Englishmen will 
 watch with a generous approval the efforts of a friendly 
 power in the cause of civilisation. There would be less 
 of reserve in our good wishes to French colonisation if 
 her settlements were administered under a less exclusive 
 fiscal policy. 
 
 At the Cape of Good Hope we have gradually over- 
 come difficulties which in times past seemed almost 
 insurmountable. By the concession of responsible 
 government we have conciliated the Dutch, who form a 
 strong majority of the white population. After a series 
 of wars, as inglorious as all conflicts must be which are 
 waged between a civilised power and savage tribes, we 
 
Introduction ix 
 
 have found in the Caffres willing and sturdy labourers, 
 who are lending invaluable services in opening up the 
 resources of their country. Under the direction of Mr. 
 Rhodes, the premier, the railway system of the Cape is 
 being rapidly pushed forward, and British capital is 
 being freely applied to the opening up of the mineral re- 
 sources and the general settlement of the vast sphere over 
 which the British Protectorate in South Africa extends. 
 
 Let us pass on to Australasia. With those distant 
 shores must for ever be associated the names of the 
 great navigators by whom they were first explored. 
 Dampier, Tasman, Flinders, Baudin, and, most re- 
 nowned of all, Captain Cook, deserve special mention 
 for the part they took in the extended explorations 
 which made the civilised world first acquainted with 
 the vast territories of Australia. The newly-discovered 
 lands were used in the first instance as a convict settle- 
 ment. That miserable stage in their history was 
 fortunately brief. A population of stalwart settlers 
 has found in the antipodes a rich field for enterprise. 
 It was soon ascertained that the vast plains of the 
 continent, though subject to long periods of drought, 
 were capable of affording adequate subsistence to 
 sheep selected from breeds especially rich in the pro- 
 duction of wool. 
 
 In 1851 the first great discoveries of gold were made 
 in Australia. Attracted by the reports of many 
 
x British Colonisation 
 
 fortunate finds, emigrants arrived in extraordinary 
 numbers. In four years the population of Victoria was 
 increased from less than 100,000 to more than 400,000. 
 From this epoch onwards the prosperity of the Austral- 
 asian colonies was assured. It now rests on a broader 
 and more enduring basis than that of the gold-diggings. 
 So boundless and varied are the resources, and so 
 energetic the population, that it is now computed that, 
 within a period but little exceeding the reign of our 
 gracious Queen, less than five millions of people have 
 accumulated a total private wealth of some twelve 
 hundred millions sterling. Well may the people who 
 have achieved such dazzling success inscribe upon their 
 flag the motto, ' Advance, Australia ! ' 
 
 It only remains to add a few concluding observations 
 upon the problem of Imperial Federation. Not many 
 years have elapsed since leading statesmen regarded 
 with complacency the prospect of a severance of the 
 ties, in those days deemed an incumbrance, which bound 
 the mother country to distant dependencies to which it 
 seemed difficult, if not impossible, to afford adequate 
 protection. At the present time we have broader and 
 worthier views of the advantages and possibilities of 
 maintaining the unity of the British Empire. The 
 true basis of that union is to be found, not in the 
 parchments of lawyers or the despatches of ministers, 
 but in the feelings of the people of the colonies 
 
Introduction xi 
 
 towards that old but not exhausted land which it 
 delights them to regard as the common home of the 
 race. 
 
 On the day before these lines were written, the 
 subject was treated with a master-hand by Lord Rose- 
 bery in presiding at the twenty -fifth anniversary 
 banquet of the foundation of the Colonial Institute. 
 In his speech delivered on that occasion, with the 
 humorous touches so much to be desired in a post- 
 prandial oration, there were conveyed lessons of states- 
 manlike wisdom. 'It is a part/ he said, * of our 
 responsibility and heritage to take care that the world, 
 so far as it can be moulded by us, shall receive the 
 Anglo-Saxon, and not another character.' While not 
 recommending the immediate summoning of another 
 Colonial Conference, Lord Rosebery gave evidence that 
 sympathy and affection for the colonies was the govern- 
 ing principle of his conduct as the minister in charge 
 of the foreign affairs of the Empire. The same senti- 
 ments were expressed, with not less warmth of feeling, 
 by Lord Knutsford. There are no divergent views in 
 reference to our colonial policy. It is held by states- 
 men on both sides to be of the last importance to the 
 future of our race to prevent our noble Empire from 
 falling asunder. 
 
 BRASSEV. 
 
 March 7, 1893. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 IN the following Outlines of British Colonisation I can 
 claim to have followed no exact system or method. 
 Some Colonies are treated more fully than others, and 
 all of them less than they deserve ; but it is hard to 
 compress the annals of our Colonies into a single 
 volume. I have endeavoured to lay stress upon what 
 may be of little more than passing interest in the story 
 of conquest, exploration, or first acquisition. The great 
 Dominion of Canada, the Colony of Newfoundland, and 
 Africa, south of the Zambesi, I have treated more fully 
 and exhaustively elsewhere in a recent series (1890-92) 
 issued by the Clarendon Press. Our Second Colonial 
 Empire is a vast subject, and demands variety of 
 treatment, diversity of illustration, and many books 
 adapted to the wants of the individual reader or 
 student By a list of books and references given at the 
 end of each chapter, I have invited my readers to pursue 
 the subject further ; but I know that it is presumptuous 
 to pretend to give anything approaching to a complete 
 
AutJiors Preface xiii 
 
 bibliography. One striking characteristic of our Colonial 
 Empire is that it has been mainly acquired, not in con- 
 sequence of any set or formal State plan, but as mer- 
 chants, sailors, adventurers, patentees, Companies, and 
 Associations have led the way. The State has often 
 cried ' Back ! ' but the individual has cried ' Forward ! ' 
 The whole story is varied, rugged, and picturesque, 
 being deeply interwoven with the proudest traditions 
 of our race. Colonial History is English History writ 
 large upon the face of the world. I have devoted 
 especial attention to France and to French colonial 
 policy. France has been our rival in the past, and she 
 may be our rival in the future, and it is well to throw a 
 little light upon her methods of colonisation. For my 
 ' Facts and Figures ' contained in the Appendices, which 
 follow the arrangement of the subject-matter in the 
 text, and furnish a striking commentary upon it, I can 
 claim more system and arrangement. These may be 
 found useful by those who wish to study the statistics 
 of the census year of 1891 a convenient resting-place 
 whence to take a survey. These figures, if carefully 
 studied, constitute a very eloquent proof of the magnifi- 
 cent material results achieved by the energy of our race. 
 Not the least surprising revelation is the value of British 
 trade in Hong Kong and Further India. Upon close 
 examination it will he found, also, how largely Africa 
 trades with us. The policy of extending our influence 
 
xiv Author 's Preface 
 
 in this continent is abundantly justified by the enormous 
 proportion of direct export and import trade with our 
 home ports. Moreover, England's policy is the wise and 
 enlightened one of declaring all ports, navigable rivers, 
 and highways free to the commerce of the world I 
 have also been able to quote from Sir R. W. Rawson's 
 most useful statistics, showing the proportion of the 
 trade of our Colonies with the mother country for a 
 period of years extending from 1872-86. I have sup- 
 plemented this by a statement of the proportion as it 
 existed in the census year of 1891. 
 
 WILLIAM GRESWELL. 
 
 APRIL 1893. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION BY LORD BRASSEY, .... v 
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE, ...... xii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WEST INDIES. Jamaica Barbados Trinidad Tobago 
 
 British Guiana British Honduras, . . . . 1-19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WEST INDIES (continued). The Leeward Islands, including 
 Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, 
 The Virgin Islands The Windward Islands including 
 Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Vincent The 
 Bahamas The Bermudas, ..... 20-44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 NEWFOUNDLAND, ...... 45-61 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE DOMINION OF CANADA, ..... 62-85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WEST AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS, including the Gambia, 
 Sierra Leone, The Gold Coast, Lagos, The Niger 
 Protectorate, ....... 86-107 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES, .... 108-131 
 
XVI 
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES : 
 New South Wales, . 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Tasmania Victoria Western Australia , 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 South Australia Queensland, * , ; 
 
 132-159 
 
 . 160-180 
 
 . 181-199 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 NEW ZEALAND, . 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 CEYLON AND THE MALDIVE ARCHIPELAGO, 
 
 . 200-217 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 THE ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC THE FIJI GROUP, . 218-227 
 
 228-239 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MAURITIUS, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HONG KONG THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS BRITISH NORTH 
 
 BORNEO LABUAN, ...... 246-262 
 
 APPENDICES, 
 INDEX, . 
 
 . 263-348 
 349-358 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE WEST INDIES 
 
 GENERALLY speaking, there may be said to be five distinct 
 periods in the history of the West Indies common to all the 
 settlements, more or less. First, the period of Spanish occu- 
 pation following upon Spanish discovery, and dating from 
 1492, the year of the first voyage of Columbus ; next, the age 
 of the buccaneers, marking a kind of rough transition stage, 
 and leading up to the direct interference of England and 
 France in the affairs of the West Indies. The occupation of 
 Jamaica in 1655 by Venables and Penn was a deadly blow 
 aimed at the Spanish dominion, and led ultimately to its utter 
 downfall. Thirdly, in the midst of national rivalries, un- 
 licensed acts, and piratical attacks, the gradual growth of the 
 sugar industry, fostered by slave labour, can be traced. This 
 industry grew and flourished, especially during the eighteenth 
 century, and then received two mortal blows from the abolition 
 of the slave trade in 1807, and the Emancipation Act of 1834. 
 Before they fell beneath legislation, the West Indian planters 
 were regarded as some of the richest merchants and capitalists 
 in Europe. The fourth age is remarkable for the depression 
 of this great tropical industry, and in Jamaica itself, the most 
 typical and important possession of all of them, culminates in 
 the disastrous ' servile war,' during Governor Eyre's regime 
 (1865-1866). The fifth period, i.e. from this date to the 
 present time, is one of greater hope. The folly of trusting to 
 
2 British Colonisation 
 
 one industry alone, is well as the immorality of slave labour, 
 have both been exposed by time, and teaching ; and the West 
 Indian planter, although suffering from the blows dealt upon 
 him unsparingly from all quarters, is learning wisdom through 
 adversity. To the student of British colonial history no group 
 of colonies can present so varied or so diversified a record. 
 
 Speaking more particularly, each settlement offers us a dis- 
 tinct and separate story of development a story within a 
 story, a history within a history. Island histories are always 
 interesting from the fact that the communities living on them 
 work out, in each case, their social and political fortunes 
 in vacuo. A change of governing power and a transference 
 of sea dominion does not involve, as it would in the case 
 of continental possessions, the universal and unquestioned 
 supremacy of one European Power only. In the framing 
 of treaties and the adjustment of international contracts, an 
 island which has been virtually at the complete disposal of the 
 conqueror is left as indeed the French island of Martinique 
 was left in 1814 as a naval post or as a foothold upon the 
 highways of commerce. Thus there still remain many frag- 
 ments of former empires in the West Indies. Spain, France, 
 England, Holland, Denmark, Venezuela, all hold possessions 
 in the West Indies ; whilst the Black Republic of Hayti offers 
 a most singular and, in a certain sense, a most instructive 
 study of an island community. 
 
 From another point of view it is impossible to speak 
 of the West Indian islands en bloc. Extending as they do 
 over twenty degrees of latitude from the Gulf of Florida 
 to the Spanish Main and the mouth of the Orinoco, they 
 offer great variations of climate and temperature, although, 
 of course, they are all tropical settlements, and lie between the 
 Equator and the Tropic of Cancer. It has been the custom, 
 also, to include the continental colonies of French, Dutch, and 
 British Guiana as well as Honduras in the West Indian group 
 sometimes to the perplexity of the casual reader, who often 
 speaks of Demerara as a West Indian island ; so that these 
 
The West Indies 3 
 
 lateral and continental extensions of the general geographical 
 expression, 'the West Indies,' provide us with another varia- 
 tion. Far to the north, the remote Bermudas have been 
 included under the term, in spite of the very loose links that 
 exist between them and the larger and better known Sporades 
 of Caribbean waters. 
 
 With regard to size, some of the islands are very small, 
 and lie like green specks amidst the waste of waters ; while 
 others are large, and rise, as in the case of Cuba, to the posi- 
 tion of a rich and stately national heritage. Some, again, are 
 low-lying on the ocean, mere groups of coral islands, like the 
 Bahamas, which were called cayos or flats by the Spaniards, 
 and the abode of wreckers, who made much profit from the 
 stranding of vessels on their hidden shoals and reefs. Other 
 islands tower aloft, like Dominica and St. Vincent, to magnifi- 
 cent heights tall monuments of some mighty volcanic erup- 
 tion, which has added marvellously to their beauty, and left 
 strange lakes, hot springs, and chasms everywhere. In Trini- 
 dad the Pitch Lake, so well known to travellers, and described 
 by Charles Kingsley and Lady Brassey, is a strange, pungent 
 Stygian picture, reminding us of Gustave Dore's pictures and 
 the old-world description of Tartarus, in the midst of tropical 
 verdure and scenes of surpassing loveliness a vision of death, 
 as it were, in the midst of beauty. Again, some of the West 
 Indies are unhealthy, others healthy and in the latter, at a 
 suitable elevation, Europeans can find pleasant abodes and 
 bracing sanatoria. 
 
 From a political point of view, some of the West Indies 
 have led a comparatively quiet life for generations ; others, 
 like Jamaica and St. Lucia, have been torn by conflicts and 
 swept by the scourge of war. In times of depression, when 
 the burdens of government have been hard to bear, there has 
 been a tendency on the part of the island governments to form 
 themselves into groups, and thus economise the task of 
 administration ; in times of prosperity, when each island has 
 been well able to pay its way, there has been a wish to live 
 
4 British Colonisation 
 
 apart. Perhaps the latest movement has been towards a 
 general West Indian confederacy and some form of federal 
 government. But this development is in the womb of time, 
 and it is scarcely clear whether a Caribbean confederacy will 
 arise or not. 
 
 To enumerate more particularly our West Indian posses- 
 sions, they consist of the following islands and continental 
 possessions : 
 
 1. Jamaica. 
 
 2. Barbados. 
 
 3. Trinidad. 
 
 4. Tobago. 
 
 5. British Guiana. 
 
 6. British Honduras. 
 
 7. The Leeward Islands, including Dominica, Montserrat, 
 
 Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis (with Anguilla), The Virgin 
 Islands. 
 
 8. The Windward Islands, including Grenada, St. Lucia, 
 
 St. Vincent. 
 
 9. The Bahamas. 
 10. The Bermudas. 
 
 Of these Jamaica, taken from Spain by Cromwell and used as 
 a buccaneers' perch, is the most important. 
 
 The very geographical divisions, as well as the nomencla- 
 ture, of this island are copied from the Mother-country : in 
 Jamaica there are the counties of Cornwall, Middlesex, and 
 Surrey, divided into various parishes. Cornwall, governed 
 once by a Trelawny, boasts of a town of Trelawny, also 
 a Falmouth. It is the pride of the Jamaica Cornwall that it 
 produces the best rum in the world. The various parishes 
 are distinguished by their peculiar products, and the parish of 
 St. Ann, in the central county of Middlesex the first part of 
 the island where Europeans landed is termed the ' Garden 
 of Jamaica.' The parish of Manchester, in the same county 
 so called after a Duke of Manchester boasts of fine uplands, 
 rich fruit and coffee plantations. Clarendon parish so named 
 
The West Indies 5 
 
 after the well-known English Lord Chancellor has an historical 
 interest as the place where, in 1694, at Carlisle Bay the French 
 were beaten off by the colonial militia. On this occasion the 
 French took advantage of the terrible ruin and devastation 
 caused by the great earthquake of 1692, which completely 
 destroyed Port Royal, to invade the island at Port Morant, 
 coming from Hispaniola, and instigated, so it has been said, 
 by disloyal Irish and Jacobites. 
 
 Historical associations cluster around Jamaica, and especially 
 Port Royal. Penn arid Venables, disgracefully repulsed from the 
 French colony of Hispaniola, which they were sent to conquer, 
 partially redeemed their fame by the capture of the fortress of 
 S. lago de la Vega (Spanish town). Benbow, after gallantly 
 fighting du Casse (1702), lies buried in Kingston Parish 
 Church, where his tomb with the following inscription can be 
 seen : * Here lyeth interred the body of John Benbow, Esq., 
 Admiral of the White, a true pattern of English courage, who 
 lost hys life in defence of hys Queene and country. November 
 ye 4th, 1702, in the 52nd year of hys age, by a wound in hys 
 leg received in an engagement with Mons. du Casse, being 
 much lamented.' Spanish Town boasts of a marble statue 
 erected in honour of Lord Rodney, who, in company with 
 Sir Samuel Hood, defeated the French admiral,' de Grasse, 
 on that ever memorable April day, 1782, when the fortunes of 
 the West Indies and the dominion of this part of the world 
 seemed to be hanging in the balance. It is said that home 
 politics were divided upon the subject of Rodney's expedition, 
 and that a message was sent to him to strike his flag and come 
 home; but, fortunately for England, Rodney never got this 
 message, and won for his country that glorious victory. 
 
 In later times Port Royal has been the scene of many a 
 notable rendezvous. During the American war and the French 
 occupation of Mexico the British war-ships constantly called 
 at Port Royal for coal and provisions; and in 1864, when 
 Archduke Maximilian undertook the great and perilous task of 
 ruling as Emperor of Mexico over a country so long distracted 
 
6 British Colonisation 
 
 by war and tumult, he was met at Port Royal by eleven ships 
 of war, and speeded on that errand destined to prove dis- 
 astrous to him. 
 
 It is interesting to note how Jamaica has been rilled up with 
 inhabitants from time to time. In 1662, less than ten years 
 after the hoisting of the British flag at S. lago de la Vega, no 
 fewer than 4000 colonists were planted there, the policy of 
 Cromwell being to force Scotch and Irish immigration. In 
 1666, Sir Thomas Modyford brought over 1000 settlers from 
 Barbados. Nevis, St. Kitts, and the Bermudas all sent their 
 contingents. 
 
 In 1682, an aided immigration of some importance took 
 place, and this was of French Protestants who had to fly from 
 their country in consequence of religious persecution. An 
 Order in Council is extant by which a passage was provided to 
 Jamaica for forty-two French Protestants, ' whose names are to 
 be certifyed unto them by the Right Rev. Father in God, the 
 Lord Bishop of London, to be transplanted to His Majesty's 
 Island of Jamaica, with the first conveniency they can.' These 
 refugees were commended to Sir Thomas Lynch, the Governor 
 of Jamaica, by Sir Leoline Jenkins, a Welshman, who had taken 
 up arms on behalf of the Royalist cause, and was a well-known 
 Jesus College man. He was a friend of Fell and Sheldon, to 
 the latter of whom he rendered great services in the establish- 
 ment of the Sheldonian Theatre and Printing Press at Oxford. 
 Sir Leoline Jenkins subsequently urged the King to found and 
 endow two additional Fellowships at Jesus College, according 
 to the terms of which the holders were to go to sea and 
 exercise clerical functions, either in the fleet or the plantations. 
 This idea, although held in abeyance for a long time, was 
 eventually carried out. 1 
 
 In 1669, the remnants of a Scotch colony that had been 
 planted on the Isthmus of Darien came over to Jamaica ; later 
 on, and especially after 1713, the date of the Assiento, Port 
 Royal became a great depot of the slave trade. As the sugar 
 
 1 Anderson's History of the Colonial Church^ vol. ii. 362. 
 
The West Indies 7 
 
 industry developed, white immigration ceased to flow. The 
 day of small holdings was over. A statement of the component 
 parts of the population at various times confirms this view. 
 In 1658 the colony contained 4500 whites and 1500 negroes ; 
 in 1673, 8564 whites and 9504 negroes; in 1828, Mr 
 Montgomery Martin estimated that a population of 500,000, 
 or a proportion of about 78 persons to the square mile, was 
 a low estimate. Of these only 35,000 were Europeans. At 
 present the population is 639,491, of whom only 14,000 are 
 Europeans a great diminution contrasted with the estimate of 
 fifty years ago. 
 
 Meanwhile, in addition to the African population, which 
 shows signs of increase, must be reckoned the newly imported 
 Indian and Chinese coolies. It is worth recording that no fewer 
 than 20,000 Jamaican blacks have emigrated to Panama, 
 attracted by the high wages on the Canal works. In Jamaica 
 there are 60,000 peasant proprietors, who keep the industry of 
 fruit-culture on a small scale almost entirely in their hands. 
 The Central American States, such as Venezuela, Guatemala, 
 and the Colombian States, offer to the Jamaican negro a good 
 opening as a labourer, where his services are highly prized. 
 
 Together with Jamaica must be considered (i) the Cayman 
 Islands. The largest of these, the Grand Cayman, lies about 
 178 miles north-west of Jamaica. Little Cayman is 70 
 miles north-east of Grand Cayman, and Cayman Brae lies 
 close to Little Cayman. (2) The Turks and Caicos Islands, 
 formerly part of the Bahamas, and separated from them by the 
 Caicos Channel. The whole area of this group is 169 square 
 miles, being nine in number. The Turks Islands are so called 
 from a cactus which grows there of a shape resembling a 
 Turk's head. The products of these islands are salt, cave 
 earth, sponges, and the pink pearl. The oldest industry was 
 salt-raking. (3) The Morant Cays and Islands are 36 miles 
 from Morant Point to the south-east. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section A. 
 
8 British Colonisation 
 
 BARBADOS. 
 
 Barbados, situated in lat. 13 4' N. and long. 59 37' W., 
 is the most easterly of all the Caribbean islands, the island of 
 St. Vincent lying 78 miles to the west. In shape it resembles 
 a shoulder of mutton. Its size is about that of the Isle of 
 Wight, being 21 miles long and 14 J miles broad. It has been, 
 and still is, the most thickly populated of the West Indian 
 islands, emigration from its shores being almost a necessity. 
 In 1674 the population was reckoned at 150,000, of whom 
 50,000 were white; in 1786 the white population numbered 
 16,167, an d the blacks 62,953 ; in 1832 the slave population 
 was 81,500, the white under 13,000; in 1891 the population 
 was 182,322, being 1098 to the square mile. It is easy to 
 understand, therefore, that Barbados has been a centre whence 
 emigration has taken place to other islands on a large scale. 
 It has already been noticed that Barbadian colonists crossed 
 over to Jamaica. The name of the island was one of ill omen 
 to those many victims of Cromwell's high-handed Trans- 
 portation Acts. To be transported to the plantations, and 
 especially to Barbados, for offences against the law or the 
 Government, was a very common process. The wretched 
 prisoners who were seized at Exeter and Silchester on pretence 
 of the Salisbury rising were hurried away to Plymouth, thence 
 shipped to Barbados, and sold as the goods and chattels of 
 their masters. Their sufferings were plaintively described in 
 a pamphlet called England's Slavery ; or, Barbadoz Merchan- 
 dise^ published in 1659. 
 
 The island is said to have been so named from the bearded 
 vines growing on its shores, which hang down and strike root 
 in the earth. It was discovered by the Portuguese, and nomi- 
 nally taken possession of by the captain of the English ship 
 Olive Blossom, who raised a cross in honour of the occasion, 
 and left in 1605 the following inscription: 'James, King of 
 England and of this Island.' With Newfoundland Barbados 
 has sometimes disputed the title of being the oldest of all 
 
The West Indies g 
 
 British colonies. From the date of occupation it has main- 
 tained its title, without a single interruption, of being a British 
 colony, although just before Rodney's crowning victory an 
 invasion of the French seemed imminent, and colonial levies 
 mustered in haste from all quarters. It was at this island that 
 the immortal Nelson arrived in June 1805 during his search 
 for the fleets of France and Spain, four months before the 
 victory at Trafalgar ; and a statue to his honour stands in 
 Trafalgar Square, at Bridgetown, as 'the preserver of the 
 British West Indies in a moment of unexampled peril.' 
 
 After the discovery of the island by the British, King James 
 granted a charter to the Earl of Marlborough, then Lord Leigh, 
 giving him the proprietorship of the island; and under this 
 charter Sir W. Courteen, a British subject of Dutch extraction, 
 sent out a venture in 1625. The following year the William 
 and John brought out thirty emigrants the first of those 
 numerous bands of British colonists who seemed resolved to 
 colonise and cultivate Barbados and make it a bond fide 
 settlement. It was here that the sugar-cane was first grown 
 and cultivated, and Barbados sugar became well known. In 
 one of the numbers of the Spectator it is observed that * the 
 fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbados, 
 and the infusion of a China plant is sweetened by the pith 
 of an Indian cane.' It may be remarked here that tea and 
 sugar, associated in our minds with most peaceful recreation 
 and most homely entertainment that of the cup that cheers 
 but does not inebriate have been the cause of most disastrous 
 events and most calamitous policies in the annals of the British 
 colonial empire. A tea-chest was at the bottom of the Ameri- 
 can revolt, and sugar was the proximate cause of slavery, 
 cruelty, and a vast monopoly to be undone, truly enough, by 
 national repentance, but bringing extraordinary consequences 
 in its wake. Free Trade seemed to turn upon sugar questions, 
 and sugar bounties are still a bone of contention between 
 nations. 
 
 In the seventeenth century, and indeed at all times, 
 
io British Colonisation 
 
 Barbados was noted for its loyalty, and became the refuge of 
 many Loyalists, who defended themselves against Cromwell. 
 After the Commonwealth, Charles n. conferred the dignity of 
 knighthood upon thirteen gentlemen of Barbados as a reward 
 for their attachment to the Royalist cause. Prince Rupert 
 had made the West Indies a refuge, and Prince Rupert's Bay 
 in Dominica still indicates this fact. It was with the double 
 object of punishing the Loyalists in Barbados and also of 
 crippling the power of Holland that the well-known Navigation 
 Laws of 1650 were passed by the Long Parliament, by which 
 the ships of any foreign nation were prohibited from trading 
 with any of the English plantations without a licence from the 
 Council of State. Against these laws the Barbadians issued a 
 manifesto, and secretly evaded the provisions, whilst they were 
 obliged openly to recognise them. After the restoration of 
 Charles IL, however, they were revised, amplified, and enforced 
 with a stringency which precluded the colonies effectually from 
 all intercourse with foreign nations. The Barbadians were 
 naturally surprised and hurt at this somewhat unexpected con- 
 firmation by Charles n. of the Protector's policy. They com- 
 plained that they would be ruined by the double monopoly of 
 import and export claimed by the Mother-country. 1 
 
 The prosperity of Barbados was also affected by an Act 
 passed in September 1663, which gave an export duty of 4^ per 
 cent, of all dead commodities of the island to the King and 
 his heirs and successors for ever. This tax continued until 
 1838, when it was repealed and an end put to a long-standing 
 grievance. It was calculated that in the period during which 
 the duty was leviable no less than six millions had been paid 
 by the planters a sum three times the fee-simple value of theii 
 lands. 
 
 Barbados is famed for the Codrington College, founded by 
 General Christopher Codrington, who bequeathed two estates, 
 Consetts and Codrington, consisting of 763 acres, three wind- 
 mills, sugar-buildings, 315 negroes, and 100 head of cattle, to 
 1 See Foyer's History of the Barbados, 1808. 
 
The West Indies 11 
 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. General Cod- 
 rington was descended from an ancient family which had 
 fought on the King's side in the Civil War, and had afterwards 
 settled at Barbados. He was born at Barbados, and was sent 
 to Oxford to be educated, where he became a Fellow of All 
 Souls. He entered the army, and served both in the West 
 Indies and at the siege of Namur. He died at Barbados in 
 1710, and his remains were disinterred and carried to England, 
 finding a resting-place in the Chapel of All Souls. Codring- 
 ton College is still an active power for good, being affiliated to 
 the Durham University, and sending from time to time many 
 students of divinity. The first Principal of Codrington 
 College was the Rev. T. H. Pinder, who, previous to slave 
 emancipation, had done his best to make the life of the West 
 Indian negro more endurable. He was appointed to the post 
 by Bishop Coleridge, the first Bishop of Barbados (1824), 
 a prelate who may be said to have occupied in the West 
 Indies a somewhat similar position, as missionary Bishop, to 
 that of Bishop Gray in South Africa and of Bishop Patteson 
 in the Pacific. Mr. Pinder was well-known afterwards for his 
 work in the diocese of Bath and Wells. 
 
 Throughout its history Barbados has been able to point to 
 martial exploits, and to timely assistance given often against 
 the enemies of England. When Jamaica was taken in 1655 
 the island sent an auxiliary force of 3500 volunteers ; in 1689 
 Barbadian troops assisted to recover St. Kitts from France, 
 and in 1603 helped to foil French designs upon Martinique. 
 In 1762 they raised a regiment for the British expedition 
 which captured Martinique. Just as in Canada, along the 
 valley of the St. Lawrence, off the coasts of Cape Breton, 
 Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, England was assisted in her 
 mortal struggle with France by her New England and Canadian 
 colonists, so in the Caribbean Seas she received great help 
 from the stalwart and loyal Englishmen who made their 
 homes and settlements there. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section B. 
 
12 British Colonisation 
 
 TRINIDAD. 
 
 Trinidad has been often described from the day of its first 
 discovery to the present. Columbus, who approached the 
 eastern extremity of the island, and gave it the name of Punta 
 de la Galera from its resemblance to a galley under sail, wrote 
 with enthusiasm of the ' softness and purity of the climate, the 
 verdure, sweetness, and freshness of the country equalling the 
 delights of early spring in the province of Valentia in Spain.' 
 He named the narrow strait on the south-west, between Point 
 Icacos and the mainland, the ' Serpent's Mouth,' which seemed 
 to flow ' with as much fury as the Guadalquivir swoln by 
 floods ' ; and to the strait that separates the north-west corner 
 of Trinidad from the long promontory of Venezuela he gave 
 the name of the 'Dragon's Mouth.' This long promontory 
 Columbus, thinking it was an island, called Isla da Gracia. 
 
 Trinidad was also visited by Sir Walter Ralegh in 1595 on 
 his first Guiana expedition, who found the Spaniards cultivat- 
 ing the tobacco-plant and sugar-cane. Hearing of the cruelties 
 of the Spaniards, he attacked and took the town of St. Joseph, 
 where he found five Indian caciques or chiefs bound to one 
 chain and subjected to terrible torture. Ralegh took captive 
 the Spanish Governor, de Berreo by name, from whom he 
 heard many rumours of the fabled El Dorado on the continent. 
 More than twenty years afterwards (1617-18) Sir Walter was 
 again at Tierra de Brea in Trinidad, on that last and well- 
 known search for the Guiana El Dorado. Captain Lawrence 
 Keymis, in company with Sir Walter's young and gallant son, 
 was sent up the Orinoco, whilst the Admiral himself remained 
 on the island. The sequel of this expedition is well known. 
 Sir Walter's son was killed fighting against the Spaniards, 
 'dying as a soldier of England ought to die,' to use the words 
 of his grief-stricken parent, written to Lady Ralegh ; and 
 Keymis, failing to discover the Guiana mine, destroyed himself 
 after rejoining Sir W. Ralegh at Trinidad. 
 
 Young Ralegh was a friend of Ben Jonson, and a humorous 
 
The West Indies 1 3 
 
 story is told of his wheeling 'rare Ben' into his father's 
 presence in a wheelbarrow after the sage had partaken too 
 freely of a good vintage of Canary wine. In his Every Man 
 in his Humour Ben Jonson eulogises Trinidad tobacco as 
 ' your right Trinidado,' and it is possible that the sage had 
 the opportunity of knowing the good qualities of this tobacco 
 through the Raleghs. 
 
 The island has been alluded to by the celebrated Alexander 
 von Humboldt, and described by Canon Kingsley, and more 
 recently by Lady Brassey. In the well-known cruise of the 
 Royal Princes in the Bacchante, which entered the Gulf of 
 Paria through one of the Dragon's Mouths, mention is made 
 of the green hills of Trinidad. The Princes left their name 
 to Princes' Town in the island. For poetical description of 
 Trinidad climate and scenery there is nothing to equal the 
 writings of Canon Kingsley in his At Last. Kingsley passed 
 the Christmas of 1869 in Port of Spain, and lived in 'The 
 Cottage,' close to the Botanical Gardens. Until recently the 
 room in which the great novelist wrote and the gallery where 
 he smoked his pipe were shown to visitors. Kingsley 's cane- 
 brake and the ' great arches of the bamboo clumps ' are also 
 show-places. 
 
 The whole island is full of tropical marvels, both indigenous 
 and imported. The bread-fruit, the jujube, the mango, 
 cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, the loquat tree, the eucalyptus, 
 cinchona, rubber-trees, and even sugar and coffee, are all 
 strangers, but they thrive wonderfully in Trinidad. The 
 climate is described as intertropical tempered by insular 
 influences, and according to Dr. de Verteuil, the best-known 
 authority on Trinidad, healthy for Europeans. In the midst 
 of so much that is beautiful and strange there are three objects 
 of surpassing interest : ( i ) the cascade of Maraccas, which 
 has a fall of 340 feet; (2) the forest trees and the wonderful 
 trailing parasites and orchids ; (3) the Pitch Lake, 99 acres 
 in extent, the greatest curiosity of all. 
 
 When Trinidad was first discovered by the Spaniards it was 
 
14 British Colonisation 
 
 thickly peopled by West Indian aborigines; but with their 
 usual cruelty the Spaniards depopulated the island either by 
 murdering them or transporting them to the Hispaniola mines. 
 In 1783 the population was only 2763, and the ground was 
 thus clear for imported slave labour. In 1831 there were 
 41,675 souls, of whom 21,302 were slaves. There were also 
 a few Chinese labourers, who were first introduced in I8I6. 1 
 In 1888 the population of the island was calculated to be 
 189,566, giving 1 08 to the square mile. The East Indian 
 population is a remarkable feature in this island, there being 
 in 1 88 1 no fewer than 49,000. They are imported at the rate 
 of 2000 a year. The character of the population is very 
 mixed ; the white inhabitants, of whom there are more than 
 is usual in a West Indian settlement, comprising descendants 
 of French and Corsican families, English and Scotch settlers, 
 and many immigrants from the neighbouring territory of 
 Venezuela. 
 
 In point of size Trinidad comes next to Jamaica ; but its 
 historical record is far less interesting to us, although, perhaps, 
 more simple. In 1802, the date of the formal acquisition, the 
 new regime was about to commence in the West Indies, and 
 the question of free labour was faced under less embarrassing 
 circumstances than in Jamaica, where slave traditions were 
 strong. Perhaps the most pressing problem in Trinidad is its 
 development in all branches by means of Asiatic coolies, who 
 in Natal and elsewhere are gradually supplanting the less 
 industrious and thrifty African. 2 
 
 TOBAGO. 
 
 Together with Trinidad must be considered Tobago, a small 
 island nineteen miles north-east of Trinidad, and supposed by 
 some to have been the original Robinson Crusoe's island an 
 honour usually accorded to Juan Fernandez, no leagues off 
 
 1 Martin's History of the British Colonies, vol. ii. p. 246. 
 
 2 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section C. 
 
The West Indies 1 5 
 
 the coast of Chili. It was first discovered by Columbus in 
 1498; but the British landed there in 1580, and in 1608 
 James i. claimed the sovereignty over it. Together with 
 Trinidad, Barbuda, and Fonseca it formed part of a grant to 
 the Earl of Montgomery in 1628. The island was not occu- 
 pied, however, and twice the Dutch endeavoured to colonise it, 
 calling it New Walcheren. It remained for many years a kind 
 of debatable ground for Dutch, French, and English colonists, 
 and was declared neutral in 1748 by the Treaty of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle. In the wars between England and France the 
 island was captured and recaptured more than once, until in 
 1814 it became part of the British Empire. The trade of this 
 island has dwindled down considerably of late years, and the 
 cotton and indigo industries, for which it was once famed, 
 have disappeared. The island was described a hundred years 
 ago (1792) by Sir W. Young, and from his account the little 
 colony must have presented a more prosperous appearance 
 than of late years. 1 
 
 BRITISH GUIANA. 
 
 The name of Guiana, or ' the Wild Coast,' is given to that 
 part of the South American continent lying between 8 40' N. 
 latitude and 3 30' S. latitude, and between the fiftieth and 
 sixty-eighth degrees of W. longitude. It is shared by several 
 nationalities, and is divided into (i) British Guiana, (2) 
 Venezuelan Guiana, (3) Dutch Guiana, (4) French Guiana 
 or Cayenne, (5) Brazilian Guiana. British Guiana is there- 
 fore a tract of the South American continent, and the portion 
 now occupied by England was originally colonised by the 
 Netherlands. Broadly speaking, there are two eras of British 
 colonisation in Guiana, the first beginning with the romantic 
 enterprises of Sir Walter Ralegh in 1595, and ending with an 
 evacuation of that part of it known as Surinam in 1694. The 
 second era, lasting to the present day, begins in 1795, when 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section D. 
 
1 6 British Colonisation 
 
 war broke out between England and Holland, then a depen- 
 dency of France, and England gained Essequibo, Demerara, 
 and Berbice. 
 
 Sir W. Ralegh took up the task of Guiana colonisation in 
 1595, and Sir ^Robert Cecil participated in the enterprise by 
 contributing to the outfit. Somewhere in this part of South 
 America it was believed that a people and city existed of 
 fabulous wealth. ' The very boxes and troughs were of gold 
 and silver, and billets of gold lay about as if they were logs of 
 wood laid out to burn.' This fabled city was called El Dorado, 
 although the Spaniards applied the term not to a city but a 
 king, of whom the Indians had said that he was wont on 
 certain solemn occasions to anoint his body with turpentine 
 and then roll himself in gold dust. 1 In this state El Dorado 
 entered a canoe and proceeded to bathe in a lake. This 
 strange story had a fascination for European adventurers of 
 those days, who constantly went in search of the king and the 
 lake. As early as 1530 a body of 200 Spaniards, setting 
 out from Coro, on the coast of Venezuela, went in search of 
 the city. Between 1530 and 1560 seven or eight distinct 
 expeditions had been despatched from the neighbouring 
 Spanish settlements, one of which was commanded by Gonzalo 
 Pizarro, a brother of the conqueror of Peru. 
 
 Sir Walter Ralegh has left descriptions of the navigation of 
 the Orinoco, that 'labyrinth of rivers' noticed afterwards by the 
 great Humboldt and the multitude of islands, each island 
 ' so bordered with high trees as no man could see any further 
 than the breadth of the river or length of the branch.' Pre- 
 sently they caught a glimpse of the inland champaign country, 
 ' where the plains were twenty miles in length, the grass soft, 
 short, and green,' and where the deer came down feeding to 
 the water's edge, 'as if they had been used to a keeper's 
 call.' They explored the Orinoco for a distance of 400 miles 
 from the Gulf of Paria, and still the golden vision of El Dorado, 
 or the 'great city of Manoa,' seemed ever to recede from before 
 1 Edwards's Life of Ralegh, vol. i. p. 164. 
 
The West Indies 17 
 
 them. The ships' crews toiled incredibly hard the officers 
 and gentlemen labouring at the oars equally with the seamen 
 living how they could on edible birds and the store of fruit. 
 The variety of trees and flowers was such, we are told, as to 
 make ten volumes of herbals. 
 
 Ralegh reached a point on the Orinoco near the junction 
 with the Cayuni River, placed by Humboldt at latitude 8 8' 
 N. The Orinoco is a vast river, with a drainage of 270,000 
 square miles. It receives into its waters 436 rivers and more 
 than 2000 smaller streams. Sir Walter Scott, speaking of the 
 conflict of Marston Moor, writes : 
 
 ' The battle's rage 
 
 Was like the strife which currents wage, 
 Where Orinoco, in his pride, 
 Rolls to the main no tribute tide, 
 But 'gainst broad ocean urges far 
 A rival sea of roaring war ; 
 While, in ten thousand eddies driven, 
 The billows fling their foam to heaven, 
 And the pale pilot seeks in vain, 
 Where rolls the river, where the main.' 
 
 The scenery of British Guiana has been described since the 
 days of Sir Walter Ralegh by many able writers. Humboldt 
 has spoken of its wonderful river system. Schomburgk, who 
 visited the country in 1837-1840, has described its gigantic 
 trees, strange parasitic lianas, clusters of palm-trees, magnifi- 
 cent flora, its brilliant foliage, rare birds, and thousands of 
 phosphorescent insects, and all the wonders of a tropical night. 
 Mr. im Thurn has told of the famous Kaieteur Falls on the 
 Potaro River and the glories of the lonely Roraima Mountain, 
 with its ' sheer wall of red rock,' deemed to be inaccessible 
 until he scaled it. Dr. Hancock, the Rev. W. H. Brett, and 
 Mr. Trollope have all recorded their impressions of this tropical 
 colony and its inhabitants, linked so inseparably in the past 
 with the first projects of British colonisation. 
 
 Of British Guiana Mr. Washington Eves has written : 
 
 B 
 
1 8 British Colonisation 
 
 ' British Guiana, therefore, in its history so much mixed up 
 with the Dutch ; in its one dominant industry ; in the coolie 
 immigration by which alone it has resuscitated and maintained 
 that industry ; in its constant endeavour to keep out the sea ; 
 in its human relics of the old Caribbean Indians (formerly, 
 perhaps, kings, but now hewers of wood and drawers of water, 
 and small customers of shops) ; in its large unknown interior 
 as contrasted with the cultivated land behind its sea-wall ; in 
 its artificial dykes and dams and trenches ; ... in all these 
 things it makes up a very varied and interesting whole.' 1 
 
 BRITISH HONDURAS. 
 
 Honduras, so named from a Spanish term meaning depth, 
 and the only continental possession of Great Britain in Central 
 America, lies to the east of Guatemala and to the south of 
 Mexico. Adventurers from Jamaica came here to cut wood 
 in 1638, amongst them the well-known Dampier ; and for many 
 years the colony was considered as a kind of dependency of 
 Jamaica. Not until 1862 did the country become a separate 
 British colony. The Honduras settlers were called 'Bay men,' 
 and upheld their occupancy of the country against the attacks 
 of the Spaniards, whose last attack upon them was made in 
 1798. Sometimes the settlers turned the tables upon the 
 Spaniards, and in 1678 took possession of the town of Cam- 
 peche, on the west coast of Yucatan. To the present day 
 there is some part of the country still unexplored toward the 
 Guatemala boundary and westward of the Cockscomb Peak, 
 which has an elevation of 4000 feet. For many years 
 mahogany and logwood have been the products of the colony, 
 the mahogany-tree growing in vast forests along the mountain 
 sides ; but the greater part of the colony is scarcely utilised by 
 Great Britain. The colony lies between 16 and 18 N., with 
 a hot and moist climate, averaging 80 to 82 Fahr. 
 
 The Mosquito Shore is a tract of country described by 
 1 -For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section E. 
 
The West Indies 1 9 
 
 Martin x as extending from Cape Gracios a Dios southerly to 
 Punta Gorda and St. Juan's River. The Mosquito Indians 
 have always been celebrated for their successful opposition to 
 the Spaniards and their friendship with the British. In 1847 
 Lord Palmerston laid down that the King of the Mosquito 
 Indians was under the protection of the British Crown. In 
 the early accounts of colonisation and adventure in Central 
 America the Bay of Honduras and the Mosquito Shore figure 
 somewhat prominently. 
 
 In later years the interest taken in them has somewhat 
 waned, so many other and more attractive portions of the 
 world having been thrown open to British and European 
 enterprise. Montgomery Martin maintained in 1830 that 
 England had never realised the value of the colony, both in 
 respect to its timber supplies, cotton, and all the variety of 
 tropical products. 2 
 
 1 British Colonies, vol. ii. p. 399. 
 
 2 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section F. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE LEEWARD ISLANDS 
 
 THE Leeward Islands belong partly to France, as Mar- 
 tinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Bartholomew ; partly to Holland, 
 as St. Eustatius, Saba, and a portion of St. Martin's Bay ; 
 partly to Denmark, as Santa Cruz and St. Thomas. The rest 
 belong to Great Britain, and are Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, 
 Nevis, Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, and the Virgin Islands. 
 Politically the Leeward Islands form a confederacy with five 
 presidencies : (i) Antigua with Barbuda and Redonda, (2) 
 Dominica, (3) Montserrat, (4) St. Kitts with Nevis and 
 Anguilla, (5) the Virgin Islands. These islands are small 
 and dotted at intervals on the surface of the sea, extending in 
 a circular line from Porto Rico to Trinidad ; the detached 
 settlement of Barbados, as already mentioned, lying about 
 fifty miles out of the line to the eastward. They are known 
 as the Lesser Antilles. 
 
 The more southerly of this long chain of islands are de- 
 scribed as the Windward Islands, whilst the more northerly are 
 known as the Leeward Islands a description not exactly 
 correct from a geographer's point of view. The trade-wind of 
 these latitudes blows from the north-east, and consequently the 
 more northerly of the islands are more to the windward than 
 the southern islands. The old geographers maintained that the 
 true Leeward Islands were the Greater Antilles, viz. Porto Rico, 
 Hayti, Cuba, and Jamaica. But as the present nomenclature 
 has stood for so many years, it must be accepted. It was in 
 1671 that the colony of the Leeward Islands was separated 
 
 20 
 
The West Indies 21 
 
 from Barbados, the seat of government up to that time, and 
 from the Windward Islands. Nevis first of all, and then 
 Antigua, became the administrative centre of the Leewards. 
 
 Nearly all the Leewards were discovered by the Spaniards, 
 and Columbus gave a name to Dominica, because it was first 
 seen on a Sunday ; to Montserrat, after a mountain in Spain ; 
 to Redonda, from its round shape ; to Antigua, in comme- 
 moration of the Church of Santa Maria la Antigua in Seville ; to 
 Anguilla, from its resemblance to a snake ; to the numerous 
 Virgin Islands, after the legend of St. Ursula and the 11,000 
 virgins ; to Nevis, from the mountain of Nieves in Spain ; 
 St. Kitts, contracted from St. Christopher, took its name from 
 the great Christopher Columbus himself. The honours of 
 discovery, therefore, lie very clearly with the Spaniards ; but, 
 attracted probably by the prospects of the Greater Antilles, 
 they left the Lesser Antilles unoccupied. 
 
 The Leeward Islands lie somewhat out of the line of the 
 main ocean routes, and are consequently not so often visited 
 and described as other West Indian islands. Canon Kingsley 
 passed them by altogether, and Mr. Froude visited only one 
 of them, viz. Dominica. A more recent traveller, Mr. Morris, 
 has thus spoken of them : * They are literally " green islands of 
 glittering seas," bathed in continuous sunlight, and fanned by 
 cooling breezes. . . . There are the forest-clad mountains 
 and valleys of Dominica ; the highly cultivated slopes of St. 
 Kitts ; the more sober, but not less interesting, undulating 
 sugar-cane fields of Antigua ; and the lime and orange groves 
 of Montserrat. All these constitute a picture of tropical 
 wealth and beauty almost unknown to the people of this 
 country.' 1 
 
 Some of these islands are volcanic, viz. Dominica, Mont- 
 serrat, St. Kitts, and Nevis, and from their centres cone- 
 shaped mountains rise sometimes to the height of 3000 to 
 5000 feet above the level of the sea, their sides being deeply 
 scored out into rugged channels and ravines, whilst their 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxii. p. 227. 
 
22 British Colonisation 
 
 crowns are hidden, day and night, by soft, fleecy masses of 
 clouds. Such is the wealth and profusion of the tropics, that 
 down to the very edge of the sea the shores are covered with a 
 mass of vegetation. The non-volcanic islands are low, and, 
 with the exception of Antigua and Tortola, devoid of hills. 
 
 DOMINICA. 
 
 Of all the Leeward Islands Dominica is the most beautiful, 
 and, if we take the Leewards from south to north, it is the 
 first to be described. In this island the native Caribs were 
 more numerous than in any other island excepting St. Vincent. 
 In 1640 Aubert, the French Governor of Guadeloupe, con- 
 ciliated the Caribs by kindness, and in 1660 'a peace was 
 signed at Guadeloupe between English, French, and Caribs, 
 by which the natives were secured from European interference 
 in St. Vincent and Dominica.' Subsequently the French 
 appear to have taken a great interest in the island, and in 1778 
 a French force from Martinique attacked and captured the 
 island ; but after Rodney's great victory Dominica was restored 
 to England. 
 
 It was off Dominica that Rodney, known afterwards as 
 Baron Rodney of Stoke, Somersetshire, in company with Sir 
 Samuel Hood, another Somersetshire celebrity, defeated the 
 French admiral de Grasse on that memorable April day in 
 1782. It has been said that on this occasion the salvation 
 of the West Indies and Jamaica, with the whole hope 
 and fortune of the war, depended upon the ability of the 
 English admirals to prevent the junction of de Grasse's fleet 
 with the French and Spanish fleets at Hispaniola. The scene 
 of action lay in the large basin between the islands of 
 Guadeloupe, Dominica, Saintes, and Mariegalante, bounded on 
 the leeward and westward by dangerous shores. The battle 
 began at seven o'clock, and lasted the whole of April 12. 
 Just as the sun was sinking, Sir Samuel Hood ranged along- 
 side of the celebrated Ville de Paris, the French admiral's ship, 
 
The West Indies 23 
 
 and poured in a volley that killed sixty men outright. This was 
 repeated, and at last the French admiral, with only three men 
 left unhurt himself being one of the three surrendered his 
 sword to Sir Samuel Hood. This was one of the most decisive 
 as well as one of the bloodiest sea-fights ever fought between 
 French and British. It came at a most opportune time, and was 
 a splendid victory to set against the surrender of Cornwallis at 
 Yorktown, in October 1791, the year before. 
 
 MONTSERRAT. 
 
 The island of Montserrat is small, being only eleven miles in 
 length and seven in breadth, and lies north of the French 
 colony of Guadeloupe a proximity from which it has some- 
 what suffered in former days and is 1 2 7 miles from Antigua. 
 This Presidency does not present so diversified a record as 
 some of the others, although it has experienced a change of 
 masters more than once. Colonised in the first instance by Sir 
 Thomas Warner in 1632, it had to surrender to the French in 
 1664, who levied heavy imposts on the islanders. It was 
 restored to England in 1668, and continued in her possession 
 for more than a hundred years. In 1782 it had again to 
 surrender to the French, but Rodney's crowning victory here, 
 as elsewhere, turned the scale permanently in favour of 
 England, so that since 1783, by the Peace of Versailles, 
 Montserrat has continued to be an English colony. 
 
 It should be remarked that in the beginning Montserrat was 
 settled largely by Irish Roman Catholics, and England's 
 enemies found in these malcontents sympathy and assistance 
 on more than one occasion ; just as in the Bahamas, in 1661, 
 the Irish were found leagued with the negroes in a contemplated 
 rising. Indeed, on many of the West Indian Islands the 
 Irish element, consisting originally of political prisoners and 
 convicts, was found to be a source of danger to English rule. 
 
 In Montserrat it is said that to this day the negroes have 
 inherited the Irish brogue ; and a story is told of a Connaught 
 
24 British Colonisation 
 
 emigrant who, on arriving at the island, was hailed in broad 
 Connaught brogue by a negro from one of the boats that came 
 alongside. * Thunder and turf ! ' exclaimed the new-comer, 
 ' how long have you been here ? J * Three months,' the black 
 man answered. ' Three months ! ' ejaculated the Irishman ; 
 ' and so black already ! By the powers ! I'll not stay among 
 ye ! ' and so the visitor returned, it is said, to his native land. 
 
 In the eighteenth century Montserrat rilled up quickly, so that 
 by 1729 there were said to be 7000 inhabitants, of whom 5600 
 were negroes. Like the rest of the West Indies, it has felt the 
 usual depression of trade, and as far as wealth is concerned 
 has sunk from its high estate. Still, most of the ground there 
 cultivated is devoted even now to the sugar-cane. The limes, 
 however, have given an impulse to Montserrat trade. 
 
 The lime-plantations cover about 1000 acres, and great skill 
 has been employed in bringing this industry to its perfection. 
 There are exported both fresh and pickled limes, raw lime- 
 juice, concentrated lime-juice, essence of limes (prepared by 
 a process known as ecuelling, from the rind of the lime), and 
 oil of limes, prepared by distillation. 1 This industry has been 
 promoted by the Montserrat Company. 
 
 The island is noted for its negro peasantry, who are small 
 freeholders and gardeners, living in cottages that are well kept 
 and surrounded by fertile garden-lots. These small freeholders 
 number 1200, and constitute a most orderly element in the 
 island society who, under the benign influences of British rule, 
 have risen from the status of labourers to that of owners and 
 cultivators on a small scale. 
 
 ANTIGUA. 
 
 Antigua, like Dominica, was long a disputed possession 
 between England and France, and its growth was somewhat later 
 than that of St. Kitts or Nevis. In 1640, when the population 
 of St. Kitts was 12,000 or 13,000, that of Antigua was only 
 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxii. p. 242. 
 
The West Indies 25 
 
 thirty families. In 1663 Charles n. made a grant of the island 
 to Lord Willoughby, who sent out a large number of colonists, 
 the town of Parham denoting this immigration period. In 
 1666 the French took possession of it, but the following year 
 Lord Willoughby retook it, and the report he gave of the 
 island, troubled as it was by wars and disasters, was very 
 favourable. It was described as 'the most proper island in 
 the Indies for cattle, horses, and sheep, 7 with harbours ' incom- 
 parably safe.' 
 
 Amongst his followers was Major Willian Byam, a well-known 
 Royalist, and of Somersetshire extraction, whose uncle was 
 chaplain to Charles IL, and his intimate friend in adversity. 
 Major Byam had been chosen Lieutenant-Governor by the 
 Council and Assembly of the settlement at Paramaribo, in 
 Surinam, for many years ; and a nominee of Cromwell, being 
 sent out to supersede him, withdrew when he discovered that 
 the colonists were determined to obey Major Byam and no 
 other. 
 
 The sugar-cane was introduced into Antigua by Colonel 
 Codrington, who settled on the island from Barbados in 1674. 
 Barbuda, the appanage of Antigua, was the property of the 
 Codrington family. The inhabitants of Antigua were the first 
 who, by means of legislation, endeavoured to ameliorate the 
 evils of slavery. Owing to the elevation of the land and the 
 absence of deep woods, the climate of Antigua, unlike Jamaica 
 and Dominica, is dry. The scenery of this island has been 
 described by Dr. Coleridge : 
 
 'Antigua/ he writes, 'on a larger scale, is formed like 
 Anguilla that is, without any central eminences, but for the 
 most part ramparted around by very magnificent cliffs.' The 
 whole island, which is of a rough circular shape, lies in sight. 
 The shores are indented in every direction with creeks and 
 bays and coves. 
 
26 British Colonisation 
 
 ST. CHRISTOPHER (ST. KITTS) AND NEVIS. 
 
 Together with St. Kitts and Nevis must be included the 
 island of Anguilla, so named from its snake-like shape, which 
 is about sixty miles distant. In St. Kitts the English made 
 their first settlement in the West Indies, the first emigrants 
 being fourteen Londoners under Sir Thomas Warner ; and on 
 this island it would appear that the French and English lived 
 amicably together, the upper portion, called Capisterre, being 
 allocated to the French, and the lower portion, called Basse- 
 terre, falling to the English. Quarrels, however, soon arose, 
 and the island passed through the ordeals of internal discord 
 and invasion from without. The mastery of the island lay 
 with the French in 1689, who were aided by the Irish rebels ; 
 but in 1690 the island was retaken by Codrington with the 
 aid of troops from Barbados, and the tables were turned upon 
 the French settlers, many of whom were banished, until, in 
 1697, the French regained their share of the island by the 
 terms of the Peace of Ryswick. More discord followed upon 
 this, until 1713, when, by the Treaty of Utrecht, an end was 
 finally put to the dual partnership, and England reigned 
 supreme in St. Kitts. 
 
 The French inhabitants migrated to St. Domingo, and the 
 Government received a large sum of money by the sale of Crown 
 lands, of which ^40,000 went as a dowry to a daughter of 
 George u. In 1722 a terrible hurricane swept over the island 
 and destroyed ^500,000 of property. In 1729 the population 
 had grown to more than 18,000, of whom 14,000 were negroes. 
 In 1782 the French, under the Marquis de Bouille and Count 
 de Grasse, took the island ; but by the Treaty of Versailles it 
 was restored to England. 
 
 St. Kitts was the birth-place of Christophe, first a slave, and 
 ultimately the Emperor of Hayti. In earlier times it was the 
 residence of Dr. Grainger, an army surgeon, who became a 
 friend of Dr. Johnson. He was the author of a kind of 
 Georgic on the sugar industry of the island, called The Sugar- 
 
The West Indies 27 
 
 Cane. Dr. Johnson, according to Boswell, approved of Dr. 
 Grainger, and thought he was a man who would do any good 
 in his power ; but his Sugar-Cane did not please him ; for what, 
 he exclaimed, could he make of a sugar-cane ? He might as 
 well write The Parsley Bed: a Poem. It must be confessed that 
 Grainger's paragraph beginning 'Now, Muse, let's sing of rats/ 
 which was afterwards paraphrased : 
 
 ' Nor with less waste the whisker'd vermin race, 
 A countless clan, despoil the lowland cane,' 
 
 was sufficient to excite ridicule. However, Dr. Grainger, when 
 he wrote this couplet on the black labourers 
 
 ' Servants, not slaves : of choice and not compelled 
 The blacks should cultivate the cane-land isles ' 
 
 proved that at this date (1764) he was living before his time. 
 
 NEVIS. 
 
 The first colonisation of Nevis was English (1628), and, 
 together with the rest of the Leeward Islands, it was included 
 in the Carlisle grant. It lies to the south-east of St. Kitts, and 
 is separated from it by a narrow strait about two miles wide. 
 Like the rest of the Caribbee islands, it was subject to French in- 
 vasion, and in 1666 defended itself successfully against a French 
 fleet. It became a place of refuge and of considerable import- 
 ance. In 1671 it is described as the most considerable of the 
 Leeward Islands, and the centre of the sugar trade in the group. 
 
 Nevis was known as ' the mother of the English Charibbee 
 islands,' and the Governor of Nevis held a dormant commission 
 as Governor- in-Chief of the Leeward Islands, and 'pirates were 
 tried at Nevis only, as being deemed the mother-island.' It 
 was also a slave-mart, like Kingston in Jamaica. 1 
 
 The island is described as almost circular in outline, and, 
 like many of the West Indian volcanic islands, consisting of a 
 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxii. p. 247. 
 
28 British Colonisation 
 
 platform more or less wide leading up to the slopes of a crater 
 peak whose head is in the clouds. 
 
 Nevis is celebrated as the birth-place of Alexander Hamilton, 
 who became famous in the annals of the United States as a 
 writer to The Federalist and a framer in company with others 
 of the American Constitution. He was an orphan and poor, 
 but, fretting at the condition of a clerk, came to New York in 
 1773. In the American War Hamilton's opinions were first 
 on the side of the British, but he soon changed to the other 
 side. 1 It may be noticed, also, that it was at Nevis that 
 the great Nelson married ' the widow Nisbet,' a widow of a 
 doctor ; and in one of the parish churches may be seen the 
 entry of the marriage, at which William, Duke of Clarence, 
 afterwards King William the Fourth, was best man. 
 
 ANGUILLA. 
 
 Anguilla, the third constituency of St. Kitts-Nevis, lies about 
 fifty or sixty miles to the north-west of St. Kitts. It was dis- 
 covered and appropriated by the English in 1650, who found 
 it uninhabited. In 1668 it was reported by Lord Willoughby 
 to be of little value, with a population of 200 to 300, mainly 
 refugees. It was subject to occasional attacks from the 
 French, and its peace was disturbed in 1796 by Victor 
 Hugues, a partisan of Robespierre, who crossed over to the 
 West Indies and endeavoured to spread in these islands the 
 doctrines of the French Republic. Of the Anguilla colonists 
 Mr. Eves has written : ' The islanders have always displayed 
 the true insular qualities of bravery and independence. If 
 they were only 100 strong they would meet 1000 of their 
 foes with light hearts and good courage. The colonists were 
 men as well as tillers of the soil. They had their virtues, 
 passions, ambitions, fears and hopes ; and, living on this little 
 island, they tried to conduct their affairs with propriety and 
 success, remained steadfast to the British flag, and behaved 
 1 Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. iv. 
 
The West Indies 29 
 
 themselves generally as good citizens. For all these things 
 they lived and died unnoticed, their deeds unsung by poets.' 
 
 THE VIRGIN ISLANDS. 
 
 The last and most northerly of the Leeward Islands are 
 the Virgin Islands, which consist of thirty to forty small 
 scattered islands due east of Porto Rico. Some of the 
 Virgin Islands belong to Spain, and one of them, viz. St. 
 Thomas, to Denmark. The principal members of the English 
 group are (i) Anegada, the inundated island; (2) Virgin 
 Gorda ; (3) Tortola. Anegada is ' merely a low reef elevated 
 a few feet above the level of the sea.' Tortola, so named from 
 the sea-tortoise, is composed of hills, the highest of which 
 rises to nearly 1600 feet. ' The surface is much broken up into 
 ravines, and nearly the whole of it has been under cultivation 
 in former years, chiefly in sugar. Virgin Gorda is also hilly 
 Virgin Gorda peak being 1370 feet high but apparently less 
 fertile than Tortola. Copper mines have been worked here, 
 but at present they are not productive. The inhabitants of 
 these islands are hardy and skilful seamen. The climate is cool 
 and healthy. The great drawback to cultivation is the destruc- 
 tive hurricanes that occasionally sweep over these islands.' 1 
 
 To these must be added the little islands of Jost van Dyke 
 discovered by the Dutch ; and Sombrero, so named by the 
 Spaniards from its resemblance to a hat, and little more than 
 a bare rock, forty feet high, valuable for phosphates. 2 
 
 THE WINDWARD ISLANDS. 
 GRENADA. 
 
 The islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent, and St. 
 Lucia form officially the Windward Islands, the headquarters 
 of government being at Grenada. The island was discovered 
 
 1 Proceedings of Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxii. p. 248. 
 
 2 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section G. 
 
30 British Colonisation 
 
 by Columbus in 1498. It lies in the route of the trade- 
 winds, which makes its climate pleasanter than that of the 
 Gulf of Paria. The island of Carriacou is one of the Grena- 
 dines and a dependency of Grenada. It is about nineteen 
 miles in circumference, lying to the north of Grenada. Some 
 of the other islets in the neighbourhood are included under 
 the Grenadines, and are cultivated. 
 
 Grenada was inhabited originally by warlike Caribs, and 
 was not occupied by Europeans until 1650, when the French 
 Governor of Martinique, du Parquet, resolved to seize the 
 island. The island was officially annexed to France in 1674. 
 It remained in the possession of the French for nearly 100 
 years, when in 1762 it was taken by a British force, and 
 finally ceded to Great Britain in 1763. This island, in 
 common with many others, was. subject to the imposition of 
 a 4^ per cent, duty upon its produce, payable to the King ; 
 but the colonists objected to the impost, and in a well-known 
 case before the King's Bench a decision was given in their 
 favour by Lord Mansfield. As a sequel to this decision the 
 duty had to be abandoned in Dominica, St. Vincent, and 
 Grenada. In 1779 Grenada was retaken by the French, but 
 in 1783, by the Versailles Treaty, was restored to England. 
 
 Grenada is an island where the sugar industry, has been 
 almost entirely blighted of recent years. In the earlier years 
 of this century (from 1821-1831) the sugar produced an 
 amount ranging annually from 12,000 to 20,000 tons. In 
 1873 tm ' s na d dropped 10-3600 tons, in 1883 to 1840 tons, 
 and in 1887 to less than 200 tons. 1 In 1776 the exports of 
 the island consisted of sugar, rum, coffee, cocoa, cotton, and 
 indigo, amounting to the value of ^"600,000. The sugar was 
 the produce of 106 plantations, worked by 18,293 slaves a 
 return said to be unequalled by any other island in the West 
 Indies excepting St. Kitts. 2 
 
 i The West Indies, by C. W. Eves, p. 208. 
 - Martin's British Colonies, vol. ii. p. 283. 
 
The West Indies 31 
 
 ST. LUCIA. 
 
 The island of St. Lucia, first discovered by the Spaniards 
 on St. Lucia's Day, June 15, 1502, and first colonised by the 
 French in 1635, ls tne m st beautiful of the Windward Islands. 
 No island, however, has felt the scourge of war and din of 
 civil tumult more than this one. Seven times at least the 
 English have placed their feet upon the land as conquerors 
 or colonists. Twice it yielded to Admiral Rodney once in 
 1762 and again in 1782 ; yet neither the Treaty of Paris nor 
 the Peace of Versailles, following respectively upon these 
 conquests, settled the question of dominion. Not until 1803 
 did the island finally pass into permanent British occupation 
 by its capitulation to General Greenfield. No less than thrice 
 has the island been given back to France ; and so when 
 England gained it at last she gained a colony, to use Mr. 
 Martin's words, 'with French population, language, and 
 feelings.' 
 
 In 1789 St. Lucia was the scene of wild republican revolt. 
 The tricolour was hoisted on Morne Fortune, the celebrated 
 stronghold of the island; estates were abandoned by the 
 negroes, who, stirred up by the appeals of the well-known 
 incendiary Citoyen Victor Hugues, fought for the rights of 
 man. At this time matters looked serious in the West 
 Indies, and Sir John Moore, the hero of Corunna, had to 
 cope with most crafty and implacable enemies, who concealed 
 themselves in the fastnesses of the island and carried on 
 bush-fighting until 1797. Sir John Moore was nearly cap- 
 tured on one occasion as he was being rowed along the 
 coast, and the arduous work impaired his health seriously. 
 
 It may be mentioned that during this island war the Duke 
 of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria, succeeded in planting 
 the English colours in 1794 upon Morne Fortune, although 
 this act did not result then in permanent occupation. 
 
 But this guerilla warfare carried on during 1790-97, san- 
 guinary as it was, does not equal in importance the great fight 
 
32 British Colonisation 
 
 between Rodney and de Grasse in 1782. ' It was from a rock 
 on Pigeon Island (an island on the extreme north of St. 
 Lucia) that Rodney watched, through his glass, the move- 
 ments of de Grasse's fleet as the stately ships came out of the 
 harbour of Martinique. De Grasse was full of the anticipa- 
 tions of victory. It was not for the possession of an island or 
 two, but for a dominating influence in Europe, that the struggle 
 was intended.' 
 
 St. Lucia is within 24 miles of Martinique, of which at one 
 time it was a dependency, and 2 1 miles of St. Vincent. From 
 a strategic point of view the island has many advantages, the 
 harbour of Castries, the value of which attracted the eye of 
 Rodney and many other British officers, being the best in the 
 whole West Indies. Recently it has been chosen as the chief 
 coaling-station for the fleet, and is being strongly fortified. It 
 is the second naval station in these waters. 
 
 The island is noted for two remarkable rocks called Pitons, 
 which guard the entrance to the Bay of Souffriere. One of 
 them is said to be 3000 feet and the other 3300 feet high, 
 both rising from the sea and tapering like church spires. A 
 souffriere and boiling fountains are also amongst the sights of 
 the island. Morne Fortune, the hill-fortress, 800 feet high, is 
 perhaps the most interesting as it is the most historical spot in 
 the island. 
 
 ST. VINCENT. 
 
 The island of St. Vincent, discovered by Columbus on the 
 22nd of January 1498, lies about 20 miles to the south-west of 
 St. Lucia and 100 miles west of Barbados. Although the 
 history of this settlement is not so diversified as that of St. 
 Lucia, it has the unenviable distinction of having been swept 
 (1780) by the fiercest hurricane ever known in the West Indies; 
 also, of having been devastated by a most destructive volcanic 
 eruption (1812). In the beginning it was found to be inhabited 
 by the fiercest race of Caribs in the West Indies, who were a 
 
The West Indies 3 3 
 
 great obstacle to European rule. St. Vincent was peculiar in 
 having a native question quite as embarrassing in its small way 
 as that of New Zealand, and only solved thoroughly when Sir 
 Ralph Abercromby transported, in 1797, no less than 5000 
 Caribs to the island of Ruatan, in the Bay of Honduras, and 
 peace followed upon solitude. 
 
 As if to make some small compensation for these vagaries 
 of primitive man and these terrible inroads of Nature, the 
 island of St. Vincent produces the best arrowroot in the West 
 Indies. 
 
 The Souffriere is the natural wonder of the island, and is 
 said to present the grandest sight in the West Indies. The 
 crater is three miles in circumference and 500 feet in depth, 
 and contains within it a conical hill beautifully streaked with 
 sulphur and covered with shrubs and flowers. The approach 
 towards !t passes through a richly covered country until the 
 summit is reached, when the bleak signs of volcanic action are 
 visible. 'A mighty cloud of vapour fills the crater to the 
 brim, gradually clears off, and then the awful majesty of the 
 scene is unfolded. The eastern top of the crater is about 
 3500 feet above the level of the sea; a cold mist commonly 
 rests upon the surface of the green, slimy, and unfathomable 
 water at the bottom.' l 
 
 THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 The Bahamas are a scattered group of islands and reefs 
 extending from the northern coast of St. Domingo to the east 
 coast of Florida, divided almost equally by the Tropic of 
 Cancer. They lie in a crescent-shape over 600 miles of ocean 
 from south-east to north-west. On the west is the remarkable 
 Great Bahama Bank and the Straits of Florida. They are said 
 to number 29 islands, 661 'cays' or flats, and 2387 rocks. 
 The Turks and Caicos would seem to form part of this island 
 group, but politically they belong to Jamaica, as already 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section H. 
 C 
 
34 British Colonisation 
 
 shown. It was at one of the Bahamas, San Salvador or 
 Watling Island, that Columbus made his landfall on that 
 memorable day in October 1492, the scene of which is now 
 being painted for the Chicago Exhibition by a well-known 
 artist, Mr. Bierstadt. These islands were included in Sir 
 H. Gilbert's charter, but no effective occupation took place. 
 The island of New Providence became, at an early period of 
 religious troubles in England, a refuge for many of the Non- 
 conformists. 1 
 
 Later on the Bahamas, together with the provinces of North 
 and South Carolina, were entrusted to the same Anglican 
 Bishop, and the connection between the islands and the main- 
 land was always very close. In 1612 they were regarded as 
 part of Virginia. It was not, however, until 1666 that any 
 real attempt was made to colonise the group, and settlers 
 arrived from the Bermudas. New Providence became in time 
 a mere nest of pirates and wreckers, of whom Edward Teach, 
 a Bristol man, was the most notorious in those days. These 
 were finally suppressed by Captain Woodes Rogers, noted for 
 his voyage round the world (1708-11), during which he rescued 
 Alexander Selkirk from his desert Island. Rogers became 
 Governor of the Bahamas. 
 
 At the time of the American War (1776) the islands were 
 attacked and taken by Commodore Hopkins. The islands 
 had become a refuge again for a different class of colonists, 
 viz. fugitive Royalists from the States, who introduced cotton 
 cultivation. Still later the group became the headquarters of 
 many blockade-runners in the American Civil War, and many 
 a daring deed of seamanship was done by British officers who 
 ran the gauntlet from southern ports with their precious 
 cargoes. Marryat has made the Bahamas figure largely in his 
 romances of the sea, and no islands could be better adapted 
 for his purpose. 
 
 First the precarious abode of Puritan exiles, then the narrow 
 perch of wreckers and pirates, then the asylum of Royalist 
 1 Anderson's Hist, of the Colonial Church, vol, ii, p. 295, 
 
The West Indies 35 
 
 refugees, then the headquarters of blockade-runners, the 
 Bahamas have a thrilling record. More peaceful times appear 
 to be in store for them. They are the market-gardens of the 
 United States, sending thither cargoes of pineapples, oranges, 
 and bananas ; and their sunny slopes afford a sanatorium for 
 broken-down Americans, who find in the climate of the 
 Bahamas those advantages which Europeans experience in 
 Madeira and Tenerife. 
 
 With regard to the occupation of the inhabitants, fishing is 
 carried on largely by a fleet of 100 boats employing 500 
 sailors. Sponge-fishing is a flourishing sea industry, no less 
 than ^60,000 worth being exported annually. The latest 
 development, however, is the cultivation of the sisal fibre plant, 
 which is attracting a large number of capitalists and giving a 
 new turn to the industries of the Bahamas. 1 
 
 THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 With the West Indies it is customary to associate the 
 Bermudas, although they lie far to the north. It was thirty 
 years after the first discoveries of Columbus that these distant 
 islands, lying 600 miles off the American continent, were 
 sighted by Europeans. A Spanish captain, Bermudaz by 
 name, chanced across them in mid-ocean and was wrecked. 
 English ships strove to avoid them, as they were considered 
 dangerous and inhospitable places. * The islands were reported 
 to be the habitation of furies and monsters, whose enchant- 
 ments evoked fierce hurricanes, and rolling thunders, and 
 visions of most hideous aspect. Shakspeare, accordingly, did 
 but avail himself of the prevalent belief in these wild stories, 
 and make this department, as indeed every other, of the world 
 of fiction or of reality tributary to his own genius, when in the 
 play of The Tempest he introduces Ariel as able 
 
 "... to fly, 
 
 To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride 
 
 On the curl'd clouds," 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix I, Section I. 
 
36 British Colonisation 
 
 and makes Ariel answer the question of Prospero by saying : 
 
 "... Safely in harbour 
 
 Is the king's ship, in the deep nook where once 
 Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew 
 From the still vext Bermoothes, there she 's hid." ' * 
 
 It was upon these islands that the vessel containing Gates, 
 Somers, and Newport, the leaders of the Virginia expedition 
 in 1609, was wrecked. These colonists were surprised to see 
 that these islands were so fair, but, notwithstanding, they were 
 in a terrible plight. First they fitted out the long-boat and sent 
 her with six sailors and the master's mate to Virginia ; but 
 nothing more was heard of them. They resolved, however, 
 to build a ship out of the oak-beams and planks belonging to 
 the wrecked vessel and of the cedar-trees which grew on the 
 island a task they effected with great labour. 
 
 With regard to the discipline preserved amongst the crew 
 during their sojourn on the island, it is interesting to read that 
 ' wee had daily euery Sunday two Sermons preached by our 
 Minister, besides euery Morning and Evening at the ringing of 
 a bell wee repayred all to publique Prayer, at what time the 
 names of our whole Company were called by Bill, and such as 
 were wanting were duly punished.' 2 
 
 The shipwrecked crew managed to escape to Virginia, 
 leaving tokens behind them. * Before we quitted our" old 
 quarter and dislodged to the fresh water with our pinnass, our 
 Governor set up in Sir George Summers' garden a fair Mne- 
 mosynon in figure of a Crosse, made of some of the timber 
 of our ruined shippe, which was scrued in with strong and 
 great trunnels to a mightie Cedar. In the midst of the Crosse 
 our Gouernour fastened the picture of his Majestic in a piece 
 of siluer of twelue pence, and on each side of the Crosse he 
 set an inscription grauen in Copper in the Latin and English 
 to this purpose : In memory of our great deliuerance, both 
 from a mightie storm and leake ; we haue set this up in 
 
 1 Anderson's Hist* of the Colonial Church, vol i. p. 206. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 209. 
 
The West Indies 37 
 
 honour of God. It is the spoyle of our English ship (of three 
 hundred tunne) called the Sea Venture, bound, with seven 
 ships more (from which the storm divided us), to Virginia or 
 Noua Britannia, in America.' 
 
 Such was the first landing of the British upon the Bermudas, 
 and the group certainly seemed to deserve its ill name which 
 it had inherited from the Spaniards, and which had been cor- 
 roborated by Sir Walter Ralegh (1595) and Champlain (1600), 
 the great French explorer, who had described it as ' a moun- 
 tainous island which it is difficult to approach on account of 
 the dangers that surround it.' 
 
 Somers returned to the Bermudas, and died there in the 
 place which, in honour of his Christian name, is still called 
 Georgetown. The islands were long called Somers Isles, 
 after him. His heart was buried in the Bermudas, and a 
 marble stone above it commemorates the fact that 
 
 ' In the year 1611 
 Noble Sir George Summers went hence to heaven.'- 
 
 His body was embalmed and buried at Whitechurch in Dorset- 
 shire; Sir George, as well as Gates, his companion, being a 
 west-countryman. 
 
 The nephew of Somers was with him when he died, and 
 upon his return to England gave such a flourishing account of 
 the islands that 120 members of the Virginian Company were 
 encouraged to plant a settlement there under the distinct 
 name of 'The Somers Island Company,' and in 1612 Richard 
 More, the first Governor, arrived there. This Governor, it is 
 said, built the first church of timber; and when this was blown 
 down he erected another, in a more sheltered place, of 
 palmeto. 1 
 
 The chronicles of the little island are quaint reading. In 
 
 one year there is a mention of five Irish sailors who, when 
 
 permitted to build a boat for fishing purposes, make their 
 
 escape to Ireland, having borrowed the minister's ' compasse 
 
 1 Anderson's Hist, of the Colonial Church, vol. i. p. 304. 
 
38 British Colonisation 
 
 diall': writing to him afterwards that as 'he had oft persuaded 
 them to patience, and that God would pay them, though none 
 did, he must now be contented with the loss of his diall with 
 his own doctrine.' It is said that their boat, when it reached 
 Ireland, was preserved as a monument, * having sailed 3300 
 miles by a right line thorow the maine sea,' and that the 
 escapees were ' honourably entertained by the Earl of Tomund.' 
 
 Another year we read of a plague of rats which had been 
 imported in two ships, and multiplied so quickly that they 
 threatened to destroy everything. 
 
 Again, in these fair islands there was the demon of religious 
 discord, and the two clergymen in the islands refuse to subscribe 
 to the Book of Common Prayer ; so the Governor, by way of 
 compromise, ' bethought him of the Liturgy of Gernsey and 
 Jersey, wherein all the particulars they so much stumbled at 
 were omitted.' 
 
 As time went on it was thought that something great might 
 come of the Somers Isles, and Lord Chancellor Bacon, 
 enumerating the benefits and acts of King James (1620), 
 observed : * This kingdom, now first in His Majesty's times, 
 hath gotten a lot or portion in the new world by the Plantation 
 of Virginia and the Summer Islands. And certainly, it is 
 with the kingdoms on earth as it is in the kingdom of heaven ; 
 sometimes a grain of mustard-seed proves a great tree ; who 
 can tell?' 
 
 In the time of the Civil Wars the Bermudas became a refuge 
 for Loyalists, and the Long Parliament passed an Act pro- 
 hibiting trade with Barbados, Antigua, and the Bermudas. 
 The inhabitants have proved themselves to be skilful sailors, 
 able to adventure, not only to the American coast, but far 
 afield to the South Seas. 
 
 In England they became better appreciated, and the 
 
 ' . . . isle so long unknown, 
 And yet far kinder than our own, 
 Safe from the storms and prelates' rage,' 
 
 appealed to the imagination of many English poets. Waller 
 
The West Indies 39 
 
 and Andrew Marvell both conferred distinction upon them. 
 Moore has sung : 
 
 ' May Spring to eternity hallow the shade 
 Where Ariel has warbled and Waller has strayed.' 
 
 At the beginning of the eighteenth century the Bermudas 
 were best known as the contemplated scene of Bishop Berke- 
 ley's missionary enterprises. These islands were to be a 
 centre of light and teaching, and the great idealist seemed 
 wholly carried away by his project ; as if here, indeed, to use 
 Lord Bacon's expression, the mustard-seed of truth was to 
 grow and flourish till it overspread the New World. Swift 
 wrote thus of Berkeley and his scheme (1724) : 'Berkeley is 
 an absolute philosopher with regard to money, titles, and 
 power, and for three years past has been struck with a notion 
 of founding a University at Bermuda by a charter from the 
 Crown. He has seduced most of the hopefullest young clergy- 
 men and others here, many of them well provided for, and all 
 in the fairest way for preferment ; but in England his conquests 
 are greater, and, I doubt, will spread very far this winter. He 
 most exorbitantly proposes a whole hundred pounds a year 
 for himself, fifty pounds for a fellow, and ten for a student. 
 His heart will break if his Deanery be not taken from him and 
 left at your Excellency's disposal. I discouraged him by the 
 coldness of Courts and Ministers, who will interpret all this as 
 impossible and a vision; but nothing will do.' 
 
 We know that the philosopher's scheme was a failure, 
 and that the 'St. Paul's College in Bermuda' never sprang 
 into existence no more than the city of Bermuda, for which 
 Berkeley had made elegant designs from architectural models 
 seen in Italy. But Berkeley got so far as to obtain George 
 i.'s approval for the grant of ^20,000 from the purchase- 
 money of the island of St. Christopher, ceded to England by 
 the Treaty of Utrecht, as an endowment of the contemplated 
 St. Paul's College ; and the whole scheme proves that at the 
 beginning of the eighteenth century there were not wanting 
 
40 British Colonisation 
 
 many Englishmen who were willing to volunteer their services 
 abroad as teachers and pastors of the subject races. For 
 North America was in the eighteenth century what Africa has 
 been in the nineteenth century the great field of missionary 
 enterprise. 1 
 
 These little islands, lying in the track of vessels going to 
 and fro, were used as a basis for privateering; and in the 
 American War Washington wished to gain possession of them 
 to make them ' a nest of hornets ' for the annoyance of the 
 British. But the Bermudas, standing in the ocean as the watch- 
 tower of the continent, rose in importance as a strategic point. 
 In 1794 Admiral Murray recommended the construction of a 
 dockyard, and, Ireland Island being selected, the fortifications 
 were begun in 1810. The natural position was strong, as the 
 sunken coral reef, through which access can be gained only 
 by a few narrow channels, would prove a formidable obstacle 
 to an enemy. The Bermudas was the station whither Lord 
 Durham wished to send the disaffected Canadians in 1838. 
 There is little of interest in the history of the island since the 
 commencement of the works which made it a naval depot and 
 arsenal. In 1815 the town of Hamilton became the seat of 
 government, and in 1834 the slave emancipation took effect 
 in the island. Next to Gibraltar the Bermudas form the 
 smallest dependency of Great Britain. 2 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY. 
 
 The history of the West Indies has been mainly the history 
 of the fortunes of the British sugar-planter. Great and pro- 
 sperous as they were at first, they have been gradually depreci- 
 ated by a succession of legislative measures. From being the 
 favoured protege of British commerce, State-aided and State- 
 supported, the planter has almost become the persecuted 
 
 1 See Life of Bishop Berkeley, by Alexander Campbell Fraser, M.A., 
 1871. 
 
 2 For facts and figures see Appendix I. Section K. 
 
The West Indies 41 
 
 victim of all nations and all policies. By the abolition of the 
 slave trade in 1807, by the Emancipation Act of 1834, by the 
 hard measure of equalisation the unkindliest blow of all 
 from the paternal hand by the bounties of foreign States, 
 violating the first principles of Free Trade, he has been brought 
 low. We cannot but pity the hard estate of this struggling 
 capitalist, who after all inherited, and did not inaugurate, the 
 curse of slavery. A countervailing duty at English ports is 
 the crumb of consolation he asks for in order to fight the 
 foreign sugar producer fairly ; but even this is denied him. 
 
 However, the West Indian planter's courage has never 
 forsaken him, even in his direst extremity, and by every avail- 
 able expedient in his power he is striving to rehabilitate him- 
 self. He has recognised that the crux of his position lies in 
 the solution of the labour question. He has turned to the 
 east, and is now busily engaged in redressing the evils of the 
 West Indies by calling in the labour markets of the East 
 Indies. Mr. Nevil Lubbock, a great authority on West 
 Indian affairs, has observed : ' No one who has any knowledge 
 of British Guiana or Trinidad will doubt that their present 
 prosperity is entirely due to the Indian immigration.' 1 In 
 British Guiana alone there are 110,000 East Indians. 
 
 Another recent feature in the history of the West Indies, and 
 especially Jamaica, is the hold which American capitalists are 
 obtaining upon them, who are taking up unoccupied positions 
 and developing garden produce of every description. These 
 American capitalists are far-sighted men, and rightly imagine 
 that these beautiful and productive islands cannot long lie 
 desolate. The vastly increasing population of the United States 
 afford the best field for the products of the West Indies a 
 large portion of the sugar produced there being shipped to the 
 States. Canada also is a growing market, and the Dominion 
 Government have recently subsidised a line of steamers thither. 
 
 What may still be done in the West Indies by energy and 
 enterprise has been ably pointed out by Mr. Morris, assistant- 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxi. 
 
42 British Colonisation 
 
 director of the Kew Gardens. 1 ' The production of sugar can 
 by no means occupy all the available lands suitable for culti- 
 vation in the West Indies. It is well that it is so : what is 
 wanted is a diversified system of cultural industries, so that 
 there may be no collapse of prosperity, as at present, on account 
 of fluctuation in the price of any single article. The physical 
 configuration of the West Indian islands, where there are all 
 gradations from plains to slopes and mountain sides, points to 
 this conclusion. We cannot do better, therefore, than take 
 them as they are, and endeavour to cultivate them in such a 
 skilful and suitable manner as to render them a source of 
 wealth and prosperity to the community. On lands not already 
 occupied with sugar, and where sugar-growing does not prove 
 remunerative, there are numerous industries that might be 
 successfully established. What has been accomplished in 
 this respect at Jamaica and other West Indian islands is a 
 sufficient proof that a system of diversified industries is in the 
 long-run the best and most lasting. 
 
 ' Besides sugar, then, we should endeavour to select a number 
 of industries well suited to the soil and climate. Of these, 
 none perhaps are more promising at present than coffee. 
 There are two sorts of coffee the Liberian coffee, for warm, 
 humid valleys, and the Arabian coffee, for hilly slopes up to 
 two or three thousand feet. The mountains of Dominica 
 could grow as fine a coffee as any in the world : while other 
 people are investigating remote parts of the world for suitable 
 coffee lands, here, within easy range of us, are some of the 
 finest coffee lands to be found in any part of the tropics. 
 There are, besides, the highlands of Montserrat, of St. Kitts, 
 Nevis, and the hills of Tortola and Virgin Gorda. 
 
 'Cacao is easy of culture, and thrives in the rich soil of 
 humid valleys. These are to be had in Dominica in abundance, 
 and they are not wanting, also, in Montserrat and St. Kitts. 
 Spices, such as nutmeg and mace, vanilla, black pepper, cubeb 
 pepper, long pepper, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamoms, are 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, 1890-91. 
 
TJte West Indies 43 
 
 already introduced to this part of the world. The demand for 
 spices is increasing, and these islands could grow every one of 
 these mentioned. 
 
 1 A great factor in the future development of these islands 
 is the growing of fruit. They are geographically the Channel 
 Islands of the Northern Continent, and their manifest destiny is 
 to grow such special products and such fruits and vegetables as 
 the more temperate countries are unable to produce for them- 
 selves. Bananas are in great demand in the United States and 
 Canada. The production of these is large, but evidently the 
 trade is only in its infancy. Jamaica alone exports nearly a 
 quarter of a million sterling worth of bananas every year, but the 
 Northern people want more and more. Bananas yield a crop 
 in a year or so ; the bunches sell for about seven to ten pounds 
 per hundred, for which ready money is paid. The planter can 
 thus clear fifteen to twenty pounds per acre for his fruit, while 
 under the shade of the banana plants he is establishing his 
 land with cacao, coffee, spices, or other permanent growths. 
 
 c Besides bananas there are many fruits in great demand, 
 such as oranges, pineapples, shaddocks, forbidden fruit, 
 sapodilla, mango, avocado pear, granadilla, water-lemon, water- 
 melon, tamarind, guava, cocoa-nut, Barbados cherry, star-apple, 
 papaw, sweet sop, sour sop, sugar-apple, mammee-apple, lime, 
 lemon, grapes, figs, cashew-nut, ground-nut, loquat, Malay-apple, 
 rose-apple, pomegranate, almond, genip, damson plum, balata, 
 breadfruit, date, mangosteen, and durian. All these and many 
 more are found on these islands are found, indeed, in the 
 small island of Dominica ; but some are at present practically 
 unknown to Northern people. 
 
 * Then besides fruits there are abundant supplies of vege- 
 tables, which could be shipped to reach Northern markets in 
 the depth of winter, and realise good prices. The finest green 
 peas, the best new potatoes, and the most luscious tomatoes are 
 procurable here a fortnight before Christmas, and the supply is 
 limited only by the means at hand for disposing of them, and 
 getting them quickly and freshly into the proper market. 
 
44 British Colonisation 
 
 ' The cultivation of the West Indian lime has already been 
 discussed. Of fibres suited for cordage and weaving purposes 
 there are at least a score or two that could easily be grown. 
 Sisal hemp (Agave) is now being largely taken up in the neigh- 
 bouring Bahamas. If more land is required to grow this fibre, 
 there are thousands of acres in Anguilla and the Virgin Islands 
 exactly suited to its requirements. Mauritius hemp could be 
 grown at Anguilla and elsewhere ; there is Egyptian cotton and 
 ordinary cotton to be tried at Antigua, St. Kitts, and Anguilla; 
 tobacco at St. Kitts, where long ago it was a staple industry ; 
 cocoa-nuts for fresh nuts, for oil, for fibre, and for cocoa-nut 
 butter, for all islands possessing sandy beaches. And besides 
 these there are industries in arrow-root, in cola-nut, in fruit 
 syrups, india-rubber, scent plants, and numerous medicinal 
 plants. A promising new industry is that of gambier, used 
 for tanning purposes.' 
 
 References : 
 
 The West Indies, by C. Washington Eves, 1889. 
 
 Historical Geography of the British Colonies , vol. ii. , by C. P. Lucas. 
 
 Martin's British Colonies, 1834. 
 
 Gardner's History of Jamaica, 1873. 
 
 Schomburgk's History of Barbados, 1848. 
 
 De Verteuil's Trinidad, 1884. 
 
 Gibb's British Honduras, 1883. 
 
 Schomburgk's Description of British Gtiiana, 1840 
 
 Among the Indians of Guiana, by im Thurn, 1883. 
 
 Voyage in the Sunbeam, 1884. 
 
 At Last, by Canon Kingsley, 1871. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND 
 
 THE island of Newfoundland enjoys the peculiar honour of 
 being the oldest of Great Britain's numerous colonies and 
 settlements. A Bristol Chronicle of ancient date records that 
 'in the year 1497, the 24th of June, on St. John's Day, was 
 Newfoundland found by Bristol men in a ship called the 
 Matthew.' This is generally accepted to be the brief state- 
 ment of a great fact, and the leader of the enterprise was a 
 Cabot. Questions have arisen whether it was John Cabot or 
 Sebastian his son, whether the Cabots were of Italian or of 
 English birth, and whether the first landfall was that of the 
 island of Newfoundland or the continent of America. Those 
 who have examined these matters believe that, although John 
 Cabot was the moving spirit of the expedition, it was his son 
 Sebastian, then from twenty-five to thirty years old, who was 
 the navigator in command. There seems no doubt as to the 
 Italian extraction of the Cabots. John Cabot, a Genoese by 
 birth and a Venetian by citizenship, 'came to London to 
 follow the trade of merchandise,' and afterwards settled at 
 Bristowa, or Bristol, where probably Sebastian was born. 
 Here, in the west of England, was the important centre of 
 England's trade and commerce ; here, for generations, trade 
 was carried on with the Baltic, Norway, Holland, Hamburg, 
 and all parts of Europe. The town was placed more favour- 
 ably than London for all Western and Southern ventures, and 
 here there lived some of the hardiest sailors in the world. 
 
 45 
 
46 British Colonisation 
 
 Down the Bristol Channel and along the coasts of Devon 
 there were never wanting sailors who, whether from Dartmouth, 
 Plymouth, Fowey, Barnstaple, or Bridgwater, were willing to 
 explore the furthest regions of the world, then for the first 
 time thrown open to the enterprise of Europe by the skill and 
 perseverance of the great Columbus. 
 
 Bristol was especially noted for its ventures to Iceland and 
 to the northern fisheries, back to those homes of the old 
 Scandinavian sea-kings ; and therefore such an enthusiastic 
 geographer and enterprising merchant as John Cabot would 
 find a very congenial home here. The Cabots were especially 
 anxious to discover the north-west passage and the fabled 
 island of Cipango in the equinoctial region, ' where it was 
 believed there were gems and all the spices of the world.' 
 Such was the temper of the age, and such the enthusiasm 
 inspired by the example of Columbus, that Cabot had no 
 difficulty in obtaining from Henry vn. a charter for himself 
 and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus. He 
 gathered men for his expedition from Bristol and Bridgwater, 
 * the sailors of the latter place being renowned for their love 
 of enterprise.' 
 
 The tidal river of the Parret, on which Bridgwater is built, 
 extends far up from the Bristol Channel towards the historic 
 regions of Athelney, Glastonbury, and King's Sedgemoor, and 
 has borne on its waters adventurers who have gone forth to 
 fight and trade from the days of King Alfred to those of the 
 great Admiral Blake, who was born close to its tawny flood. 
 Sebastian Cabot, therefore, gathering his west-country crew 
 together, steered his vessel probably along the well-known 
 Iceland tack in the first instance, and then westwards until he 
 sighted a part of the coast of Labrador, winning for British 
 sailors and for himself the honour of being the first to sight the 
 American continent a feat which Columbus himself, who 
 had been exploring and naming the numerous islands of the 
 Caribbean Seas, did not accomplish till his last voyage. This 
 took place in the course of the following year, when he coasted 
 
Newfoundland 47 
 
 along a part of the Isthmus of Darien. 1 Steering southwards 
 along the stormy regions of Labrador, Cabot sighted New- 
 foundland, which was first of all called Baccalaos, or the land 
 of cod-fish. 
 
 Thus Newfoundland was seized for England by the skill of 
 Cabot ; and Samuel Purchas, in his admiration for this and 
 for subsequent explorations of this notable ' Pilot,' argues that 
 the continent of America should not have been so called from 
 Americus Vesputius, but Cabotiana or Sebastiana from Cabot. 
 As it is, the name of Cabot is not to be found upon the map 
 of America, and has only been recently given by the Newfound- 
 land Legislature, on the occasion of the erection of a light- 
 house, to a group of barren islands on the Newfoundland coast. 
 Cabot's second expedition under Henry vn.'s charter con- 
 sisted of five ships, and he ' directed his course by the tract of 
 Iceland upon the Cape of Labrador at 58. He then turned 
 to the west, following the coast of Baccalaos to lat. 38, whence 
 he returned to England.' 2 On this second voyage Cabot got 
 as far as Hudson's Straits, where he was turned back by ice. 
 
 In the west country the fame of these discoveries went far 
 and wide, and the desire of making the north-west passage 
 was long present to the minds of the sailors of the western 
 ports. In old Martin Frobisher's days there was an expedition 
 to find the fabled Straits of Anian and the kingdom of the 
 great Khan. Here again the sailors of the Parret are to the 
 fore. There is the Ema of Bridgwater and the Emanuel of 
 Bridgwater, vessels found in Frobisher's third expedition. It 
 may be mentioned that at Meta Incognita, at the entrance of 
 Hudson's Straits, about the limit of Sebastian Cabot's second 
 voyage, Frobisher and his fleet turned aside to what they 
 thought were glittering gold-mines in the Arctic Seas, and so 
 for many weeks ballasted their ships with heaps of stones, 
 glittering with mica, imagining the true El Dorado to be under 
 the Pole, and not in Mexico or Peru. The Bridgwater 
 
 1 Campbell's Lives of the Admirals (1779), vol. i. p. 328. 
 
 - Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xvi. p. 225. 
 
48 British Colonisation 
 
 captains, one of whom was almost wrecked in the ice-floes 
 of the north, were bitterly disappointed when, in company 
 with the ships of Fowey and Barnstaple, they returned empty- 
 handed. 1 
 
 Although by right of discovery Newfoundland was the prize 
 of the British crew under Cabot, no official proclamation was 
 made on the island until the 5th of August 1583, when, under 
 commission from Queen Elizabeth, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, the 
 well-known west-country sailor, landed on the island. Sir 
 Walter Ralegh, his half-brother, had started with him on the 
 expedition, but was compelled to return owing to sickness 
 breaking out on board his vessel. The ships commanded by 
 Gilbert which arrived at Newfoundland were the Delight, 
 the Golden Hind, the Swallow, and the Squirrel. When they 
 arrived they found a foreign fishing-fleet there, who offered at 
 first some opposition ; but afterwards, in the presence of the 
 merchants and fishermen of all nations assembled there, Sir 
 Humphrey opened and read his commission, and informed 
 them that by virtue of the Royal grant he assumed possession 
 and government of St. John's and the adjoining territory to the 
 extent of 200 leagues. ' There were delivered to him in token 
 of submission the feudal symbols of turf and twig ; and there 
 he raised the English banner and erected a wooden pillar, to 
 which were attached the arms of England engraved on lead. 
 He granted several parcels of land in consideration of rent and 
 services, and laid a tax upon shipping.' The occupation was 
 complete and final, and from that day of August 1583 to the 
 present England has maintained her sovereignty. It was on 
 his return voyage that Sir Humphrey Gilbert went down in the 
 Squirrel uttering these well-known words : ' Cheer up, lads ; 
 we are as near heaven by sea as by land.' 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that although the occupation of 
 
 Newfoundland was complete and formal, the shadows of 
 
 disaster fell upon its early career as a colony. Sir Walter 
 
 Ralegh was baulked of his intention to be an cekist or leader 
 
 1 Frobisher's Voyages, Hakluyt Series. 
 
Newfoundland 49 
 
 of the enterprise, and Sir H. Gilbert perished in the stormy 
 waters of the North Atlantic. Had things been otherwise, Sir 
 Walter Ralegh's energies might have been directed to New- 
 foundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence instead of further south 
 to Virginia. West-countrymen, however, still pursued the 
 enterprise. Mr. John Guy, merchant, and Mayor of Bristol, 
 obtained a grant of a great part of Newfoundland from James i., 
 in company with Lord Bacon and a number of noblemen and 
 gentlemen. 
 
 The great value of the island from the very beginning con- 
 sisted in its fisheries. Raimondo di Soncino, writing to the 
 Duke of Milan (1497) on the subject of Newfoundland, 
 observes that * Englishmen, Cabot's partners, say that they can 
 bring so many fish that this kingdom will have no more 
 business with Islanda (Iceland), and that from that country 
 there will be a very great trade in the fish which they call stock- 
 fish.' The Venetian ambassador at the Court of Portugal, 
 writing in 1501, describes the island and people of New- 
 foundland as having 'plenty of salmon, herring, cod, and 
 other fish.' Three years after Cabot, Caspar Cortereal, a 
 Portuguese gentleman, had sailed to Newfoundland and the 
 north-west, and had been wrecked and lost in those northern 
 waters a fate which overtook his brother Michael, who had 
 sailed in search of him. The Portuguese, therefore, keen 
 mariners as they were, became alive to the value of the 
 northern fisheries. A place called Portuguese Cove still 
 remains as a proof of their enterprise. 
 
 But the Breton and Biscayan fishermen were the most per- 
 sistent fishermen off the banks of Newfoundland. An old 
 writer says that ' the Brytons and French are accustomed to 
 take fyssche on the coast of these lands, where there is found 
 great plenty of Tunnyes'; and in 1527 an English expedition 
 under Captain Rut found at Newfoundland eleven sail of 
 Normans, one Breton, and two Portugal barks engaged in 
 fishing at St. John's harbour. In 1578 the number of vessels 
 employed in the cod fisheries was 400, of whom only 50 were 
 
 D 
 
50 British Colonisation 
 
 English. The value, however, of the enormous supplies of 
 fish was clear to all Englishmen. Lord Bacon declared that 
 'the fisheries of Newfoundland were more valuable than 
 all the mines of Peru' ; and from such a source of wealth 
 Englishmen, with their seafaring aptitudes, were not likely 
 to be long debarred. In 1615 there were nearly three hun- 
 dred English ships engaged in the fisheries; and in 1674 it 
 was calculated that no fewer than 11,000 seamen were em- 
 ployed in the industry, and a permanent colony began to 
 be formed. 
 
 One of the most interesting incidents in the history of the 
 island during the seventeenth century was the organised settle- 
 ment of Lord Baltimore (Sir George Calvert, 1624). As 
 Under Secretary of State, he obtained a grant of the island 
 from James i. Being converted to the Roman Catholic faith, 
 he had to resign his Ministerial post, and determined to settle 
 on the peninsula of Avalon in Newfoundland, a name given by 
 himself after that spot in England in the valley of the 
 Somersetshire Parret. Here, at a place called Ferryland, 
 Lord Baltimore lived for some time, and here he was exposed 
 to the hostilities of the French, who had obtained a large share 
 of the island under charter from Charles I., to whom at first 
 they paid tribute. Lord Baltimore was compelled to abandon 
 the settlement and Avalon, and, going further south to the 
 mainland of America, he founded the State of Maryland and 
 the city of Baltimore. Sir David Kirke became grantee of the 
 possessions of Lord Baltimore, and, being a staunch Loyalist, 
 he offered Charles i. an asylum in Newfoundland, of which, 
 possibly, he might have availed himself had he been able to 
 escape. 
 
 It will easily be understood how this contested dominion 
 with France retarded the peaceful settlement of the island. 
 As perpetual and as unending as the storms around its cliffs 
 has been the rivalry between French and English sailors. 
 The maritime enterprise of the French nation at an early date 
 fully equalled, if it did not excel, that of the British. The 
 
Newfoundland 5 1 
 
 French were the first to set aside the restriction of Pope 
 Alexander's bull that divided the New World between Spain 
 and Portugal. It is a well-known fact that the merchant ven- 
 turers of Rouen and the seamen of Normandy sailed to the 
 Gold Coast, and founded factories and settlements at Elmina, 
 Fantin, and Cormontin long before our Bristol venturers had 
 explored these regions. Greatest of all, perhaps, was Jacques 
 Cartier of St. Malo, who hoisted the flag of his nation on the 
 coasts of Newfoundland, sailed up the St. Lawrence, and laid 
 the foundation of New France, that afterwards was destined, 
 under the able guidance and management of generations of 
 Frenchmen, to attain to such goodly proportions. In the 
 island of Newfoundland, therefore, the British sailors found no 
 undisputed heritage, but a colony for which they have been 
 compelled to fight hard, and to expend much toil and labour. 
 Under the rough circumstances of the island, a fixed and stable 
 government was out of the question. According to a well-known 
 statute that was promulgated in the reign of William in., it was 
 provided that the master of any sailing-vessel from England, 
 Wales, or Berwick-upon-Tweed, who, in each year, first entered 
 any harbour or creek in the island should be admiral of the 
 harbour or creek, and have full power to decide all differences 
 between the fishermen and the inhabitants. 
 
 During the seventeenth century, and especially at its close, 
 the fortunes of Newfoundland as a colony were at a low ebb. 
 No Englishmen thought of settling and making their homes 
 there, as at New Plymouth and along the Alleghanies. The 
 popular idea was that Newfoundland was simply an 'out- 
 station for fishing and a nursery for sailors,' and the owners 
 and masters of ships were absolutely forbidden to carry 
 emigrants thither. The island was little better off than a 
 remote whaling-station might be in the South Pacific. The 
 profits of the cod fisheries went home and enriched the 
 merchants and capitalists in London and Bristol. With such 
 a migratory population coming and going every year, there 
 could be no settled form of government, no fixed society, no 
 
52 British Colonisation 
 
 prosperous and self-supporting colony. In 1697, by the Treaty 
 of Ryswick, the French were left in undisturbed possession of 
 many places, and especially Placentia, which was naturally a 
 very strong vantage-ground. 1 By the Treaty of Utrecht, how- 
 ever, England in 1713 had closed once and for all the question 
 of sovereignty. The colonists themselves helped her by many 
 a gallant action to win the day against France, and it was won 
 first of all along the islands and peninsulas. 
 
 But the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), whilst it closed one question, 
 opened the door for another which has been a continual source of 
 irritation both to Newfoundland and Great Britain herself from 
 that day to this. At the time of this treaty, and subsequently 
 upon the occasion of the surrender of Quebec in 1763, Great 
 Britain could have swept the French fishermen off the Atlantic 
 waters. This would have been the natural corollary of the con- 
 quest of New France in the eighteenth century. The fisheries of 
 the ocean are of no use to fishermen who cannot procure bait, or 
 count upon a foothold close by to serve either as a harbour of 
 refuge, a drying-shed, or general depot. Great Britain, by de- 
 barring France from such a foothold, could have settled the 
 fisheries question once and for all. 
 
 But as the importance, probably, of the fisheries did not 
 appear so large in the eighteenth century as it does now, the 
 French were allowed to retain the adjoining small islands of 
 St. Pierre and Miquelon on the grounds of humanity. This 
 concession dates from the Treaty of Utrecht. Thrice after the 
 Peace of Utrecht these islands became the prize of war : first, 
 when they were captured in 1778 by a squadron under Admiral 
 Montague, in consequence chiefly of the privateering that was 
 carried on from them ; next, when ten years later, in the un- 
 settled times of the Revolution, they were seized by way of 
 precaution; and, lastly, in March 1804, when the tricolour 
 was replaced by the British flag. Great Britain, however, 
 missed her opportunity and restored them to France both by 
 
 1 The author's History of Newfoundland and the Dominion of Canada^ 
 pp. 105-106. 
 
Newfoundland 5 3 
 
 the Peace of Amiens and also by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. 
 It must be added that Great Britain also conceded France 
 certain shore rights on the coasts of Newfoundland itself 
 which have been the source of the greatest irritation. 
 
 The French shore rights have been clearly stated on a recent 
 occasion by Sir William Whiteway, the Premier of Newfound- 
 land x : ' We go back a period of nearly 200 years, and we find 
 that from 1713 to 1814 treaties were entered into between 
 Great Britain and France, under conditions of facts and cir- 
 cumstances very different from those which exist at the present 
 time. I would remind you, too, that at the periods to which 
 I refer the policy of the British Government and of the French 
 Government also was to send forth from their respective 
 countries fleets of fishing-vessels to fish on the coast and banks 
 of the island, and to bring back to their respective countries the 
 result of their labours. It was at that time, and up to seventy 
 or eighty years ago, prohibited for a master of a British vessel 
 to leave a single man of his crew on the island under a heavy 
 penalty : settlement was discouraged, almost prohibited. . . . 
 The masters of ships had first choice of a locality whereon to 
 cure and dry their fish before a resident dared make such 
 selection in the harbours. It was not until comparatively 
 recent years that grants of land could be made on the island, 
 the whole policy being to treat Newfoundland as a fishing- 
 station. ... It was not surprising that under these circum- 
 stances a concurrent right was given on a certain portion of 
 the coast to Frenchmen to fish in common with British sub- 
 jects, and to land during the fishing season and cure and dry 
 their fish upon the strand. In addition there were conceded 
 to France the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, on the south 
 coast of Newfoundland ; but in connection with these treaties 
 declarations were exchanged by the Kings of France and 
 England to the effect that, amongst other things, these islands 
 should be held really as a place of shelter for French fishermen, 
 and not be made an object of jealousy between the two nations. 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institttte, vol. xxii. 
 
54 British Colonisation 
 
 The declaration also provided, on the part of the King of 
 England, the French should not be interrupted by the com- 
 petition of the British fishermen. That is, concisely, the 
 condition of affairs at the present time. How have circum- 
 stances changed ? Newfoundland has become inhabited, and 
 St. Pierre and Miquelon, instead of being only a place of shelter 
 for French fishermen, have become a port from which the 
 fishing-vessels are fitted out to fish on the banks, and have 
 become a place of export for the produce of the fisheries. 
 Instead of these islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon being only 
 a place of shelter . . . they are now a centre from which 
 fisheries are carried on and smuggling is done. We have, on 
 the other hand, one lever by which we can meet the French. 
 There are two bays adjacent to St. Pierre and Miquelon 
 these bays being on the coast of Newfoundland which teem 
 with herring in the early part of the fishing-season. From 
 these two bays alone can the French obtain the bait to enable 
 them to prosecute the earlier fisheries. If we, then, can stop 
 their obtaining that bait, we materially interfere with the 
 prosecution of their fishing-voyages. We have been obliged 
 to adopt a course prohibitory to the supply of the bait because 
 the French have, by their enormous bounties, so inflated their 
 fisheries as to compete with us in foreign markets to the extent 
 of almost excluding our products from these markets. We say 
 to them fairly : " We will give you all the bait you require : give 
 as much bounty as you please to the fish consumed within 
 French possessions or in France ; but if you wish to fish on 
 banks which are common fishing-grounds to all the world, we 
 desire to fish with you on even terms. We will give you 
 sufficient bait for your purposes, but withdraw your bounties 
 from your fish exported to foreign countries ; if not, we will use 
 the most strenuous endeavours to prevent your obtaining that 
 bait which enables you to get the article in which you compete 
 with us in foreign markets in a way that drives us out of those 
 markets." ' This is so much of that vexed question that con- 
 cerns baits and bounties, and it is easy to see that under- 
 
Newfoundland 5 5 
 
 lying the whole controversy there is a deep and essential 
 difference between the English and French Governments on 
 the first principles of commercial and fiscal policy. The 
 bounty system is no doubt an extravagant violation of Free 
 Trade and common fairness ; and as the French have succeeded 
 in dealing a blow to our West Indian sugar industry by means 
 of bounties, so here in the case of Newfoundland they seek 
 to cripple our colonial fisheries. 
 
 With regard to the question of the 700 miles of Newfound- 
 land coast, from Cape St. John to Cape Ray, the question 
 between French and British fishermen is still more complicated. 
 In this case there are territorial difficulties of a particularly irk- 
 some and vexatious character. By the declaration of the King 
 of England, British fishermen were not to interrupt the French 
 in the prosecution of their fisheries, and the French had the 
 right of landing for the purpose of curing and drying their fish. 
 'Now, the only fish,' Sir William Whiteway observes, 'which 
 can be cured and dried are cod, haddock, and ling. At all 
 events, at the times of the treaties the only fishery carried on 
 was the cod fishery, and I submit that the treaties referred to 
 the cod fisheries alone. ... I must describe how this fish is cured. 
 A small erection on the beach, extending generally a little out 
 of the water, is a place where the fish is split and salted. It 
 is then spread either on the beach or on what are termed flakes, 
 constructed of frames of poles with boughs spread over them, 
 along the shore. About 200 or 300 yards at most would afford 
 ample room for drying or curing the product of the voyage of any 
 one fishing-vessel. Would you, or could you, believe that under 
 these circumstances France demands that " we shall keep one 
 half-mile all round that coast as a belt on which we are not to 
 erect a building of any description because they may any day 
 require to come and dry their fish there " ? This right naturally 
 interferes with any mining or agricultural projects along the 
 coast, and is a great hindrance to the development of the 
 northern half of Newfoundland. It is said that a Newfound- 
 land capitalist, discovering a lead-mine within 300 yards of the 
 
56 British Colonisation 
 
 coast, sank a shaft with a view of working it \ but his project 
 formed shortly afterwards the subject of a remonstrance from 
 the French Government. If a factory for the canning of 
 lobsters is erected by a British subject, he can be compelled to 
 remove it, and witness perhaps the substitution of a French 
 factory in its place. 
 
 Such are the causes of friction subsisting between English and 
 French on the coasts of Newfoundland, and it cannot be denied 
 that they are of an exceptional character. In our dealings with 
 France the whole question, considering how little there is 
 really at stake, may seem like a surface ripple ; but the cause 
 of friction lies deep down in the general relations elsewhere 
 between France and England. It has perhaps been truly said 
 that it is the British occupation of Egypt that makes the New- 
 foundland difficulties hard to adjust. Moreover, there are two 
 main considerations which induce France to hold on to this 
 shred of Transatlantic empire with a tenacious grip. The 
 fisheries are profitable, and they nurse in a peculiar way the 
 sentiment of patriotism of Northern France. All along the 
 French littoral, we are told, from Dunkerque to St. Jean de 
 Luz, there is not a hamlet which has not sent forth the prime 
 of its youth to court danger and to seek wealth on the dreary 
 coasts of Newfoundland ; whilst the perils of the fisherman's 
 calling are immortalised in the verses of Basque and Breton 
 peasantry, and the gallantry of Newfoundland privateers is 
 still sung in the 'tween-decks of the miserable craft which 
 annually put forth in fleets to the cod fisheries of Newfound- 
 land. It may really be doubted whether there are, in propor- 
 tion, so many hardy sailors along the historic coasts of Devon 
 and Cornwall who know how * to hand, reef, and steer,' and 
 excel in all the arts of seamanship, as there are now along the 
 coasts of France. 
 
 The whole population of St. Pierre and Miquelon is about 
 5000 souls, and has been classified under the following 
 heads : i. The old residents who were ousted from New- 
 foundland by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, sprung from the 
 
Newfoundland 57 
 
 Basque and Breton settlers in Acadie or Nova Scotia. 2. The 
 Hivernants or temporary French settlers who make only so- 
 journs upon the islands for the sake of trade. 3. The con- 
 sort es or annual visitors, fishermen by calling, thousands of 
 whom arrive every year. These would form the chief recruit- 
 ing material of the French navy or mercantile marine, and 
 there can be no doubt that they are most able and efficient 
 seamen. The soil of these islands is not cultivated to any 
 extent, only 2500 acres being occupied by the French. The 
 chief and only harvest is the harvest of the sea. 
 
 Newfoundland cod is considered superior to that caught 
 off the coasts of Scotland, Norway, around Iceland, and the 
 Faroes. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the 
 Basque Provinces were made rich by this trade, and at the 
 present moment the trade of Newfoundland with Roman 
 Catholic Europeans, Brazil, and the inhabitants of the West 
 Indies is very large and lucrative. Amongst the best cus- 
 tomers of the Newfoundland fishermen are the Portuguese 
 both in Europe and Brazil, who buy half of the yearly pro- 
 duce ; the Spaniards ; and the Italians. Canadian Roman 
 Catholics catch their own fish, and so do the inhabitants of 
 the United States. 
 
 The French fishing-fleet comes over annually, and forms in 
 the early spring a somewhat picturesque procession across the 
 ocean. The larger rig are few in number ; but brigs, brigan- 
 tines, schooners, and even yawls, are to be met with in fifties 
 and sixties. Many of these vessels are unseaworthy, and 
 carry crowds of passengers or consortes, a small craft often 
 stowing away 200 or 300 souls on board. 
 
 Prior to starting, each able-bodied seaman obtains an 
 advance of 150 to 200 francs, which is handed over to wife or 
 mother. The produce of the season's fishing at the expiration 
 of the voyage is thus divided : Four-sevenths goes to the 
 owner and three-sevenths to the crew. The three-sevenths is 
 again subdivided into shares, of which the captain takes three, 
 the mate two, each able seaman one, and a mousse half-a- 
 
58 British Colonisation 
 
 share. The passage-money of the consortes, who vary in 
 number from 50 to 150, according to the size of the craft, is 
 from 4 to 6 ; and in addition to this they are required 
 to pay 100 francs as freight for their boats. On their return 
 voyage they are allowed five quintals of dried fish as free 
 luggage. In order to encourage this industry the French 
 Government grant 2 to every man, whether sailor borne on 
 the logs or consortes, embarked on board of the Newfoundland 
 fishing-vessels, and a bounty of 8s. 4d. per cwt. (twenty francs 
 per quintal) on all dry cod or cod's roe imported into France. 
 Sometimes more than ^200,000 has been allotted in the 
 Budget for bounties. 1 
 
 Historically the island of Newfoundland is to all Englishmen 
 one of the most interesting of our colonial possessions. Ever 
 since the day when in 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert hoisted the 
 English flag in the presence of the fishermen there, sailors 
 from Bristol and the coasts of Devon have plied their hardy 
 vocation there ; and all round the coast the very nomenclature 
 of bays and capes and straits shows how they have stepped 
 into the heritage of Breton and Basque and Portuguese fisher- 
 men. Strategically, the island occupies a most commanding 
 position at the mouth of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. The 
 power that holds Newfoundland has a rare vantage-ground. 
 If England were left entirely without her great continental 
 colonies in North America by mismanagement or misadventure, 
 she might still hope to retain such an insular position as New- 
 foundland an island not altogether unlike the Mother-country 
 in general physical configuration, lying along the same parallels 
 of latitude, including about the same area of land, and nursed 
 in somewhat similar fashion with the Mother-country amid the 
 tempests and fogs of the northern seas. The strength of 
 Newfoundland lies, like the strength of England, in her insular 
 and at the same time commanding position with reference 
 to an adjoining continent, and also in her hardy brood of 
 sailors. 
 
 1 See Captain Norman's Colonial France. 
 
Newfou ndland 5 9 
 
 The bounty and bait difficulties may possibly be rectified 
 by some new turn in legislation which at present does not 
 appear. In her numerous bays Newfoundland has the 
 immense advantage of possessing an inexhaustible supply 
 of bait, and with this and other natural advantages at hand 
 she can afford to wait. Suggestions have been made that 
 France should receive in exchange for her fisheries rights a 
 portion of West Africa, whither the eyes of her colonial 
 statesmen are at present turned with the hope and ambition 
 of erecting a North African empire ; and, perhaps, with more 
 magnificent ideas of a continental empire at her very doors, 
 France may get tired of subsidising the fishing industry of 
 St. Pierre and Miquelon. 
 
 Apart from considerations already adduced, it has, however, 
 been asserted that France clings to this remnant of her Trans- 
 atlantic empire, in St. Pierre and Miquelon, from other and 
 more doubtful motives. In the prosperity of Quebec she 
 reads a new version of her own prosperity, and in the preva- 
 lence along the St. Lawrence of French language, customs, 
 laws, and the old religion she recognises her own peculiar 
 influences and civilisation. She cannot forget that her 
 pioneers, traders, missionaries, and pathfinders of former 
 generations laid the foundations of Canada in the first instance. 
 By the light of this consideration the islands of St. Pierre 
 and Miquelon acquire a new significance and convey a new 
 reading. A foothold in the new world yet remains to them : 
 a narrow perch, certainly, but a vantage-ground of undefined, 
 and perhaps indefinable, possibilities. They lie in the path 
 of commerce, and attract annually hundreds of Frenchmen, 
 and keep alive French sentiments and maritime traditions 
 from year to year along a distinct channel. Whatever the 
 political status of Canada may ultimately prove to be 
 whether absorption into the great Republic or a closer 
 political incorporation with the British Empire under a great 
 federal system France may argue that she cannot do 
 wrong in holding to a position the value of which may be 
 
60 British Colonisation 
 
 enormously enhanced by some development yet lying hid in 
 the womb of time. 
 
 With regard to Newfoundland itself, English public opinion 
 has often been grossly ignorant or marvellously misinformed. 
 The stream of emigrants has passed by it and gone to Ontario 
 or to the provinces of the Far West, and made Canada more 
 familiar to us than Newfoundland. Epigrammatically the island 
 has been spoken of as noted for its fogs and dogs, without any 
 great foundation of truth. The sea-fogs do not extend far 
 inland, and the climate is said to be less trying than that of 
 England. The vegetating season is about six weeks shorter, 
 but the winter is more bright and cheerful than in England. 
 Although the interior of Newfoundland is comparatively un- 
 occupied and even unexplored, there are said to be fully 
 3,000,000 acres of land adapted for settlement and cultiva- 
 tion. When we consider that St. John's, the chief port of 
 Newfoundland, is only 1640 miles from Ireland, it is clear that 
 we have, in these days of quick steaming, an area of colonisa- 
 tion close at hand. 
 
 Newfoundland has not been very fairly treated in the past. 
 At the beginning she suffered from the evils of an unsettled 
 government, differing slightly from the conditions of mob-rule 
 or the rough and-ready administrations of mining communities; 
 then she groaned for a long time under the evils of monopolies, 
 her industries were checked, her native energies curbed, and 
 absentee proprietors grew rich at the expense of the * toilers 
 of the sea.' Sometimes the elements have proved themselves 
 too terrible and too exacting foes to the poor fishermen whose 
 task has always been amongst these storm-swept waters. Quite 
 recently (July 1892) a fire has destroyed a large portion of St. 
 John's, their capital city and centre of government. Yet in 
 spite of all drawbacks and disasters Newfoundland has pre- 
 served her credit and maintained her loyalty. She is less 
 encumbered by debt than most colonies, and is loyal to the 
 backbone. Her able-bodied fishermen number fully 30,000, 
 manning a fleet of 1800 vessels ; and if a Transatlantic wing of 
 
New fou ndland 6 1 
 
 the Imperial navy were ever formed, where could better 
 material be found than amongst the rugged and loyal sailors 
 of Newfoundland ? 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix II. 
 
 References : 
 
 Harvey and Ration's Newfoundland, our Oldest Colony, 1883. 
 Captain Norman's Colonial France, 1886. 
 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vols. xvi. and xxii. 
 Greswell's History and Geography of Newfoundland and the Canadian 
 
 Dominion. Clarendon Press. Oxford, 1891-2. 
 Captain Kennedy's Sport, Travel, and Adventure, 1883. 
 Tocque's Newfoundland as It Was. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DOMINION OF CANADA 
 
 FACING Newfoundland, and separated from it on the north- 
 west by the narrow strait of Belle Isle, lies part of that vast 
 Dominion of Canada which slopes on the north towards the 
 Polar Basin and the regions of eternal snow, and on the west 
 stretches in ever-rising plateaux to the magnificent Rocky 
 Mountains. Thence it descends in broken terraces to the 
 Pacific Ocean. From east to west from the Atlantic to the 
 Pacific is a distance of 3000 miles, and the Dominion is nearly 
 equal in area to Europe. For many generations its resources 
 were unknown, its climate misrepresented, and its valleys 
 unexplored. It was believed to be the home of wandering 
 and marauding Indians, only fit to remain as a gigantic pre- 
 serve for animals such as the beaver, silver fox, marten, and 
 musk-rat, whose skins and furs are an article of luxury in 
 Europe. When it was finally surrendered to England by 
 France, Voltaire asked why need France lament over the loss 
 of * a few acres of snow ' ? 
 
 French public opinion should have been better informed, 
 for the first explorers were Frenchmen. In 1524 Verrazano, 
 sailing for the New World at the bidding of Francis i. in the 
 Dauphine, made his landfall on the coast of New Jersey, and 
 sailed northwards for many leagues ; next came Jacques 
 Cartier, the hardy Breton fisherman, born at St. Malo, who 
 made three voyages to Canada, viz. in 1534, 1535, and 1541. 
 In his first voyage Cartier ran up the Gulf of Chaleur, and, 
 ascending the Gaspe headland on the south of the St. Lawrence, 
 
The Dominion of Canada 63 
 
 erected a cross thirty feet high in token of possession, on 
 which was fastened a shield with the words, ' Vive le Roy de 
 France,' cut deep into the wood. 
 
 In estimating the social and political conditions of Canada 
 of the present day, too little notice is generally taken of the 
 great part taken by Frenchmen in opening up the country 
 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Supposing that, 
 by some unexpected stroke of fortune, our South African 
 colonies were captured by France, and the colonists there were 
 transferred to the French allegiance. In name and political 
 status they would be French subjects, and if France proved 
 generous they would retain their language, law, and customs. 
 Thus there would be a life within a life. Still, the colonisation 
 of the country in the past would have been mainly British, 
 and its great cekists, explorers, ' trekkers,' and politicians 
 British in every sense. It would be impossible, therefore, to 
 understand the conditions of South Africa under the circum- 
 stances of this hypothetical transference without constant 
 reference to the British explorers and rulers of the country 
 who had lived and worked in past years. Such a hero and 
 explorer as David Livingstone would have left his indelible 
 mark upon the face of the country, and no transference of 
 dominion could mar or blot out his celebrity. 
 
 So we cannot understand Canada without constant reference 
 to French history, French customs, French law, and French 
 colonisers. The eye must rest upon certain great French 
 pioneers and colonists who, during the time they worked in 
 the country, left a certain impress upon it. They have 
 bequeathed to the present generation of French-Canadians a 
 natural pride which it would be idle to refuse them : most of 
 the honours of exploration, and the remembrance of many 
 gallant exploits in flood, field, and forest. The fact that these 
 French-Canadians are now conjoined with the British in 
 opening up a vast continent and giving political unity to a 
 great dominion under the British flag does not cause the 
 obliteration of honourable traditions. Both races, the French 
 
64 British Colonisation 
 
 as well as the British, have need of all the spurs and incite- 
 ments that past history can give them, respectively, in order 
 to carry out the great destiny lying before them. 
 
 First and foremost amongst French explorers was Samuel 
 Champlain (1567-1635), rightly called 'the Founder of New 
 France. Born in 1567 at Brouage, a seaport to the south of 
 La Rochelle, he was familiar, like our own Devon worthies, 
 with the tales and adventures of the sea. The sailors of the 
 western and north-western coasts of France regarded Canada 
 and North America almost in the light of their peculiar birth- 
 right, the St. Malo people going so far as to claim Canada and 
 Newfoundland as their own by virtue of Cartier's discoveries, 
 thus setting aside Cabot's claims. Samuel Champlain was the 
 son of a naval captain, and, like Sir Walter Ralegh, whom he 
 resembles in many respects, had seen active service as a soldier 
 before he became a sailor, a pioneer, and a colonist, being 
 employed in the army of Henry iv. under Marshal d'Aumont. 
 His ambition was great and his energy unbounded. He threw 
 himself into the work of North American colonisation with the 
 most unflagging zeal. From first to last he undertook twelve 
 voyages to Canada, the first voyage being in 1603 ; and he com- 
 municated his enthusiasm to the French authorities at home. 
 
 In 1 6 10 Champlain landed at Tadousac during his fourth 
 voyage, his object being to proceed northwards past Three 
 Rivers to the land around Hudson's Bay, of which he had 
 heard rumours from the Indians. On this expedition he was 
 badly wounded, and did not succeed in exploring the interior 
 to any extent. He may be regarded as the first founder of 
 Montreal. Here he laid out gardens, sowed grain, and took 
 in at a glance the great advantages of the site. He was the 
 first white man to descend the Lachine Rapids. 
 
 In 1613 Champlain started on another expedition to reach 
 Hudson's Bay by the Ottawa River. He here met a certain 
 Nicholas de Vignau, who had stated that he had reached the 
 Bay by this route, and that after travelling to the sources of 
 the river he had come to a large lake, and thence by a portage 
 
The Dominion of Canada 65 
 
 had reached the sea. On the shores he stated he had seen 
 a wreck of an English vessel and the heads of eighty of the 
 crew who had been killed by the Indians. All this turned 
 out to be a fabrication ; but Champlain managed to ascend the 
 Ottawa as far as Allumette Island. 
 
 The most important voyage undertaken by Champlain was 
 that of 1615-16, when he reached the Huron country. From 
 Allumette Island on the Ottawa he found his way to Lake 
 Nipissing, and thence by French River to Lake Huron. 
 Afterwards he saw Lake Ontario, and was the first white man 
 to stand upon its shores. Thus the key to the great West was 
 obtained at last, and the existence of those vast and mysterious 
 inland seas, of which faint rumours only had filtered down 
 through Indian sources, was proved beyond doubt. 
 
 At the same time the Roman Catholic Church was planted 
 in Canada. Many years before the Pilgrim Fathers had landed 
 within Cape Cod, Le Caron, a Franciscan, and the friend 
 and companion of Champlain, ' had passed into the hunting- 
 grounds of the Wyandots, and, bound by vows to the life of a 
 beggar, had, on foot or paddling a bark canoe, gone onward 
 and still onward, taking alms of the savages, till he reached the 
 rivers of Lake Huron.' 1 
 
 In 1627 a new era seemed to dawn upon New France when 
 the great Cardinal Richelieu directed his attention thither. 
 The Company of the Hundred Associates was formed with 
 power over a vast country, reaching from Florida to Hudson 
 Bay. It took the place of all previous companies. Three 
 hundred artisans were to be sent at once to Canada, and they 
 were to be provided with food and clothing for three years. 
 Each settler was to have land to cultivate and seed to sow, 
 and the Company undertook to establish 6000 inhabitants in 
 Canada. The French King, Louis xni., reserved his supremacy 
 in matters of faith and the right of homage as Sovereign of 
 New France. A crown of gold weighing eight marks was to 
 be given to each successor to the throne of France. In other 
 1 Bancroft, History of United States, vol. ii. p. 297, 
 E 
 
66 British Colonisation 
 
 respects the Company was intended to be a vast monopoly, 
 with even the right to create and grant titles of honour. More- 
 over, all the emigrants were to be of the Roman Catholic 
 faith. Champlain was appointed Governor of this new and 
 vast dominion. 
 
 Unfortunately for its founders, the projects of the One 
 Hundred Associates were never carried out, and the Company 
 received a heavy blow at the beginning. There was war 
 between England and France, and Sir David Kirke, the 
 grantee of Newfoundland, dealt a decisive blow at Richelieu's 
 great projects for New France (1628-9). He captured eighteen 
 vessels laden with emigrants at the entrance of the St. 
 Lawrence, and, taking the cargoes out of ten of them, burned 
 the empty hulks and took the rest to Newfoundland. Shortly 
 afterwards Champlain himself had to surrender to Kirke. Had 
 there been a decided policy at that time on the part of England, 
 Canada might have become a British colony in its whole 
 length and breadth, and the history of New England might 
 then have read very differently. But by the Treaty of St. 
 Germain-en-Laye (1632) Canada and Nova Scotia were ceded 
 to France. It has been affirmed that Charles i. consented to 
 restore Quebec in order to obtain 400,000 French crowns, 
 which composed half of the marriage portion of Henrietta 
 Maria. 
 
 But the fortunes of New France had received a severe check, 
 and afterwards Charlevoix thus mourned over it : 'The Fort of 
 Quebec, surrounded by several wretched houses and a number 
 of barracks; two or three huts on the island of Montreal; also, 
 perhaps, at Tadousac and in some other directions on the 
 River St. Lawrence for the convenience of fishing and trade ; 
 a commencement of settlement at Three Rivers . . . behold ! 
 in what consisted New France and all the fruit of the dis- 
 coveries of Verrazano, of Jacques Cartier, of M. de Roberval, 
 of Champlain, of the great expenditure of Marquis de la Roche 
 and of M. de Monts, and of the industry of a great number of 
 the French ! ' 
 
The Dominion of Canada 67 
 
 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries religion played 
 an important part in French colonisation. Montreal was 
 re-founded in 1642 in the true spirit of apostolic fervour, 
 when upon the site of the old Hochelaga a solemn service of 
 inauguration was celebrated, and in France itself a supplica- 
 tion was offered up that the Queen of Angels would take the 
 island of Montreal under her protection. The Jesuit Fathers, 
 especially, distinguished themselves by their proselytising zeal, 
 and the Jesuit ' Relations ' give us the earliest descriptions of 
 Canada. No hardship was too great for the disciples of 
 Loyola, no task of forest travel too hard to be undertaken. 
 In addition to the hardships of exploration, the Fathers often 
 suffered cruel death. Pere Brebeuf, after labouring in the 
 cause for twenty years, was burned alive by the Indians ; and 
 the Iroquois, noted for their fiendish cruelty, put to death a 
 number of missionary heroes, who deserve to be remem- 
 bered for their zeal and piety, viz. : Daniel, Gamier, Buteaux, 
 La Riborerde, Goupil, Constantin, and Liegeouis. The 
 American poet, Whittier, has commemorated the Jesuit 
 Fathers in his poem, Mogg Megone : 
 
 ' Well might the traveller start to see 
 The tall dark forms that take their way 
 From the birch canoe, on the river shore, 
 And the forest paths to that chapel door : 
 And marvel to see the naked knees 
 
 And the dusky foreheads bending there ; 
 While, in coarse white vesture, over these 
 
 In blessing or in pra)'er 
 Stretching abroad his thin pale hands 
 Like a shrouded ghost, the Jesuit stands.' 
 
 In the Huron mission and in the settlements of St. Joseph 
 and St. Ignace in the vicinity of Nottawasaga Bay, along a 
 tract of country explored by the great Champlain, accessible 
 from the lakes on all sides, we can recognise a most remark- 
 able story of French mission enterprise. In some respects 
 this ancient centre of Jesuit Fathers resembles our own lake 
 missions in Equatorial Africa ; and certainly Frenchmen were 
 
68 British Colonisation 
 
 beforehand with us in using the mission centre as an advanced 
 guard of colonisation and exploration. For many years after 
 the death of Champlain the Jesuits virtually controlled the 
 policy of New France, and they had the support of such men 
 as Cardinal Richelieu, who regarded colonisation as essentially 
 an affair of Church and State. 
 
 Foremost among the Jesuits was Pere Marquette, who was 
 born at Laon, in the north-east of France, entered the order 
 when only seventeen years of age, and came to Canada at 
 the age of twenty-nine. He lived first at Three Rivers and 
 then at Sault St. Marie, and in 1670 went to the mission 
 station of St. Esprit, amongst the Hurons. When this out- 
 post was attacked by the Sioux those marauding natives of 
 the Western prairies Marquette retired with the Hurons to 
 the Great Manitoulin Island. Here the spirit of travel and 
 adventure prompted Marquette to solve one of the great 
 geographical problems of the age. Rumours of the mighty 
 Mississippi, the * father of waters,' had long come to the ears of 
 the pioneers of the West. The first steps of the route south- 
 wards had been made known already as far as some distance 
 up the Fox River, and Father Allouez had been sent to found 
 a mission at Lake Michigan at the head of Green Bay. 
 
 It was reserved to Marquette to throw clearer light upon 
 this valley of what might truly have then been called ' a Dark 
 Continent.' Together with Joliet, he ascended the Fox River, 
 and, reaching its head waters, struck across to the Wisconsin, 
 which they reached after a portage of a mile and a half. Once 
 on the Wisconsin their way was plain, and they glided down 
 to the Mississippi. Continuing their voyage on the waters of 
 the famous river, they experienced little difficulty in navigation ; 
 but for a fortnight they saw not a human soul. The mouth of 
 the Illinois was reached, a distance of 1400 miles from the 
 Gulf of Mexico ; then the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Arkansas. 
 Here they stopped, at a distance of 723 miles from the mouth 
 of the great river. The exploit was a great one, and it was 
 clear that the Mississippi flowed south into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
The Dominion of Canada 69 
 
 Marquette did not long survive this triumph. On his return 
 voyage he died on the shores of Lake Michigan as he was 
 endeavouring to reach the Straits of Mackinaw. 1 
 
 Marquette was not only a great explorer but a great mission- 
 ary, and he managed to enlist the sympathy and goodwill of 
 the Indians, as the following incident proves : ' In 1676 some 
 Ottawas for whom he had performed the offices of religion at 
 the St. Esprit Mission opened the grave, obtained the bones, 
 and, in Indian fashion, dried them. Placing them in a cover- 
 ing of birch bark, they carried them to the Straits of Mackinaw, 
 where they were reverently buried with the most solemn rites 
 of his Church in the little chapel of the Mission of St. Ignace.' 
 This honour paid to the remains of Marquette recalls the 
 tender care shown by the African natives for the body of our 
 own great explorer, David Livingstone. 
 
 Another great Frenchman, whose name is conspicuous in 
 Canada and North America during the seventeenth century, 
 was de la Salle, the founder of Louisiana. He was born at 
 Rouen in 1643, and is said to have belonged to a family of 
 wealthy merchants. He was by nature and training a keen 
 and enthusiastic explorer. Like many other men of that age, 
 whilst an advocate for bond fide l plantations,' he frequently 
 dreamed of the possibilities of some wonderful El Dorado; 
 and his imagination was inflamed, even in the back- 
 woods of Canada, by reading about the wonderful career 
 of Columbus and the wanderings of de Soto. 2 Two of his 
 companions in adventure were Henri de Tonti, an Italian 
 officer, and Hennepin, the Franciscan, who has left behind an 
 account of Canadian life and scenery. He was the first to 
 describe the great Falls of Niagara. After exploring the lake 
 country and opening up the way to the West, la Salle 
 embarked upon his great enterprise, which was completing the 
 work of Father Marquette and descending the Mississippi 
 down to its mouth. Here, on April 9, 1682, a column was 
 
 1 Kingsford's History of Canada, vol. i. p. 404. 
 
 2 Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 334. 
 
7O British Colonisation 
 
 raised to Louis le Grand by the explorers, and a great and 
 mighty province won for France. 
 
 The founding of Louisiana was a very important event in 
 the history of New France. Communication was opened up 
 between the Canadian lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Here 
 it was decided to found a French colony. La Salle returned 
 to France in 1683; and although Colbert was dead, his son' 
 Seignelay listened favourably to his plans of colonisation. 
 The details of the colony were arranged by 1684, and in July 
 four vessels left La Rochelle with 280 persons, of whom 100 
 were soldiers. The French, in the days of Colbert, claimed 
 the sovereignty of the Mexican Gulf a Frenchman named 
 d'Estrees having been sent here to cruise about and to fight 
 any Spanish vessel he met. This expedition, however, which, 
 like Champlain's previous effort, might have been the begin- 
 ning of French dominion in this part of the world, failed 
 utterly. In the words of Bancroft, the mechanics were poor 
 workmen, the soldiers spiritless vagabonds, the volunteers were 
 restless, and the commanders, worst of all, untrustworthy. La 
 Salle perished near the scene of his explorations, being killed 
 by one of his subordinates. 
 
 After the names of Champlain and la Salle should come 
 that of Pierre Gautier de la Verandrye as a pathfinder and 
 voyageur in North America (1731-1738). East of the Missis- 
 sippi the task of North American exploration had been fairly 
 exhausted ; the regions round Lake Superior, also, had 
 become well known. But further north and north-west the 
 voyageur's enterprise and daring could not be arrested, and 
 the next regions to be opened up were those of the distant 
 Western provinces, where bands of wild Sioux roamed. In 
 1686, at the very time when la Salle was lingering on the 
 coast of the Gulf of Mexico, a voyageur of the name of de 
 Noyon was wintering at the Lake of the Woods, at the very 
 fountain of the mighty St. Lawrence. In 1720 Charlevoix, 
 the celebrated Jesuit Father, was sent to Canada to discover 
 whether there was an opening here for trade, and to throw 
 
The Dominion of Canada 7 1 
 
 light, if possible, upon the geography of the continent. His 
 letters to the Duchesse de les Diguieres furnish a very useful 
 historical record of the state of Canada at this time. Charle- 
 voix was anxious to explore the west of the Missouri valley, 
 and so reach the Western sea by this route. But he was 
 prevented himself from carrying out his plans, and the task 
 was left with Verandrye. 
 
 This Frenchman addressed a letter to the Governor, and 
 spoke by hearsay from the Indians of four great rivers flowing 
 from the western height of land. These four rivers were after- 
 wards, found to exist and to take their rise in the direction 
 named. They were the Mackenzie, the Athabasca, the 
 Saskatchewan, and the Missouri Rivers, and the height of 
 land was the ' Rocky Mountains.' 
 
 The information given by the Indians about the rivers of 
 their country was generally found to be correct. The rivers 
 were from time immemorial their natural highways, up and 
 down which they travelled in their birch canoes. Verandrye 
 in his communication to the French Governor spoke of English 
 rivalry in the Far West, but there is no proof that they ever 
 went so far. They had commenced to find their way to the 
 Wabash, a tributary of the Ohio, reaching it from the eastern 
 settlements ; but this was the extreme limit at the beginning of 
 the* eighteenth century. On Hudson's Bay no traveller had 
 ever gone far from the shores. 1 
 
 The field was clear for Verandrye, who with Messager, a 
 Jesuit missionary, set his face to explore the great inland sea 
 described as the Ouinipigan (Winnipeg). In 1732 he crossed 
 the Lake of the Woods, named the Assiniboine, calling it the 
 St. Charles after the Governor ; and the Souris, to which he 
 gave the name of the St. Pierre. Verandrye and his sons 
 carried on their work of exploration for many years, and it is 
 claimed for them that in 1 742-3 they first sighted the Rocky 
 Mountains, sixty years before the American explorers Clarke 
 and Lewis. 
 
 1 Kingsford's History of Canada , vol. iii. p. 371. 
 
72 British Colonisation 
 
 Such were some of the typical French colonists and ex- 
 plorers in Canada previous to the expulsion of the French 
 altogether as a political power from the country. There was a 
 great deal of romance and adventure about the missionary, 
 the pathfinder, the hunter, and the explorer ; and the cause of 
 geographical research was greatly advanced by their efforts. 
 But there was not much substantial progress in the work of 
 colonisation and settlement. The New England colonists and 
 the settlers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, 
 were waging a never-ending war with the French colonists, and 
 held the approaches to the St. Lawrence and the east coast. 
 
 There was a lack also of perseverance on the part of the 
 French colonists. From what Champlain himself wrote, it 
 would appear that agriculture was neglected by the new settlers. 
 He considers the use of the plough so important that he gives 
 us the date of its first use, viz. April 27, 1628 ; and he bitterly 
 bewails the conduct of the Association, which during twenty-two 
 years had only cleared one arpent and a half of land. Kings- 
 ford, the Canadian historian, sums up French colonisation 
 thus : 
 
 ' In the seventeenth century there was not one settlement 
 west of Montreal. Montreal was only commenced in 1640. 
 In 1668 a mission was sent to the Bay of Quinte. Kingston 
 and Niagara were never anything but trading and military 
 posts. There was a mission at Sault St. Marie ; one at La 
 Pointe, Lake Superior, the modern Bayfield ; Detroit (1764) 
 was a fort which was attacked by the Indian chief Pontiac. 
 The most ancient claim by the Michigan archaeologist goes to 
 no earlier date than 1701. The local settlements of De la Salle 
 and the Illinois were composed of a few soldiers and Indians. 
 The country was thus passed over by the mission father, the 
 trader, the coureur des bois. Where there was water to float 
 a canoe, with a portage to a descending stream, there the 
 explorer of New France was to be found rarely to achieve little 
 more than its discovery.' 1 
 
 1 History of Canada^ vol. i. p. 115. 
 
The Dominion of Canada 73 
 
 Thus New France fell because in her struggle with New 
 England she had no real colonial strength to rest upon. 
 Sternly the Puritan settlers of New England were laying their 
 grip upon the country ; and the sailors and fishermen of Nova 
 Scotia were always ready to fight the French, whether in the 
 Bay of Fundy, or off Cape Breton, or along the coasts of 
 Newfoundland, or up the St. Lawrence valley. At the begin- 
 ning of the eighteenth century the main object of France was 
 to keep the English colonists behind the Alleghanies. Failing 
 this, they might have cut them off on the west by making 
 Louisiana a reality, and filling it with Protestant emigrants. 
 The question of boundaries and outposts could never be settled 
 except by an appeal to the god of battles. 
 
 In addition to the explorers she sent forth, France has had 
 many brave and capable commanders to fight her cause in 
 New France. Frontenac, at one time Governor of Canada, 
 was an able and enterprising officer. At the close of the seven- 
 teenth century the power of France was very great in Canada, 
 the whole country, from Maine to beyond Labrador and 
 Hudson's Bay, besides the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the 
 Mississippi, falling under her sovereignty. The exploits of 
 d'Iberville both in Hudson's Bay (1687) and on the Maine 
 frontier were a bright and redeeming page in her annals. 
 
 But she had no greater or more chivalrous general than Mont- 
 calm. His defence of New France was a long and gallant 
 struggle against circumstances. Montcalm had seen service in 
 campaigns in Italy and Germany, and in May 1756 he landed 
 in Canada with 1000 regulars and 400 recruits. One of his 
 officers was M. de Bourgainville, of whom we hear much after- 
 wards as an explorer in distant Southern waters. With this com- 
 paratively insignificant force Montcalm achieved a remarkable 
 number of successes, taking the forts around Lake Champlain ; 
 but when Louisburg on Cape Breton, the Dunkirk of Canada, 
 fell and the passage of the St. Lawrence was blocked, Mont- 
 calm knew that the fate of New France was sealed. The 
 capture of Quebec and the gallantry of Wolfe and Montcalm 
 
74 British Colonisation 
 
 are twice-told tales. ' Wolfe, twice wounded, died, having been 
 informed by his attendants of his victory ; and Montcalm, shot 
 near the city, was led in supported on his black charger led 
 in to die ! Rarely have two nobler spirits met in battle array 
 than Montcalm and Wolfe.' 
 
 From the date of the British occupation, 1763, Canada 
 began quickly to fill up. It is estimated that not more than 
 8000 emigrants had ever come from France to Canada, chiefly 
 in the time of Colbert. These had increased to 65,ooo. 1 
 Many of these Frenchmen were men of high rank, and 
 Louis xiv. boasted that ' Canada contained more of his old 
 nobility than the rest of the colonies put together.' The feudal 
 system was transplanted to the banks of the St. Lawrence ; and 
 the great landowners or seigniors, who were grantees of long 
 strips of territory, required service and homage from the 
 censitaire or ordinary settler, who came to them 'without 
 sword or spurs, with bare head and one knee on the ground.' 
 The censitaire was compelled to grind his flour at the seignior's 
 mill, bake his bread in the seignior's oven, give one fish in 
 every eleven caught, and work for his lord one or more days in 
 every year. Yet, with all these advantages, the seigniors never 
 became rich and prosperous colonists. No doubt the feeling 
 of caste demoralised them and degraded labour in their eyes. 
 But that man must live by the sweat of his brow and by tilling 
 and developing the ground is the accepted condition of 
 colonial life. Forests have to be cleared, swamps drained, and 
 fields ploughed. Apparently the French seigniors disliked 
 these occupations, and preferred hunting and exploring as 
 occupations better suited to their taste, and so became path- 
 finders and coureurs des bois. Such men, however, could 
 not build up a State or even form a society. 
 
 Between 1780 and 1800 a new immigration set in which pro- 
 duced a lasting influence upon the fortunes of Canada ; and 
 this was the immigration of the United Empire Loyalists. 
 After the close of the American War there were thousands of 
 
 1 A Short History of the Canadian People, by James Bryce, p. 221. 
 
The Dominion of Canada , 75 
 
 British settlers who, rather than live under the flag of the United 
 States, resolved to leave their homes and properties at vast 
 sacrifices and go north to Canada. These men were some of 
 the best of the American settlers, being of stern stuff and of un- 
 doubted patriotism. By a proclamation of George HI., 1763, 
 handsome provision was made for these refugees. To every 
 person of field-officer's rank 5000 acres were promised; to 
 a captain, 3000 ; to subalterns, 2000 acres ; to each non-com- 
 missioned officer, 200 acres; and to every private, 50 acres. 
 
 The first instalment of refugees arrived off the mouth of the 
 St. John's River in May 1783, in what is now New Bruns- 
 wick ; and before the end of the summer 5000 had found homes 
 along the river, laying the prosperity of Parrtown or Frederic- 
 ton. In the same year large settlements were made in Nova 
 Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The number of the 1783 
 refugees is reckoned at 13,000. This number was raised by 
 subsequent emigration to 30,000. The sum paid from the 
 British Exchequer in aid of these Loyalist bands amounted to 
 $15,000,000 or ^3,000,000, and rations had to be issued in 
 some cases for three years to keep them alive. 
 
 The Loyalists laid the foundation of Upper Canada. Colonel 
 Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (1792), 
 adopted a bold and active colonisation policy in this part of the 
 world. His policy was to dismiss every soldier quartered in 
 Canada and give him 100 acres of land as soon as he could find a 
 substitute. He held out tempting offers to young Americans, 
 and endeavoured to draw them into the English service. In 
 its character the province of Upper Canada resembled a vast 
 military settlement on the confines of the North- West, with 
 endless scope before it. 
 
 The huge districts of the North- West were known as the 
 hunting preserve of the Hudson's Bay Company, founded in 
 1670. Prince Rupert had obtained from Charles n. a charter 
 which made him and the Hudson's Bay Company nominal 
 monopolists of an extent of country stretching from Lake 
 Superior to the Rocky Mountains, from Manitoba to Athabasca. 
 
76 British Colonisation 
 
 Very often this territory was described as Prince Rupert's Land, 
 and Cape Henrietta Maria in Hudson's Bay points to the Royal 
 connection. Curiously enough, the western littoral of Hudson's 
 Bay has the nomenclature in Pinkerton's map of ' North 
 Wales,' and also of 'New South Wales.' Hidden from the 
 ken of Europe, these solitudes were long believed to be little 
 better than snowy wastes. 
 
 An epoch, however, occurred in the history of the great 
 North- West when Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, acquired 
 1 16,000 square miles of land for a colonisation experiment, and 
 led a colony of Highlanders thither (1811-1816). The earl 
 was a most distinguished cekist or leader of colonists, and 
 had already (1803) settled 800 Highlanders in Prince Edward 
 Island. His schemes won the warm sympathy of Sir Walter 
 Scott ; and surely no colonisation experiment has ever proved 
 more successful than the Selkirk settlement, which laid the 
 foundation of the province of Manitoba. There is no more 
 congenial place for Orkney and Shetland men in the world 
 than North- West Canada. 
 
 In the time of Lord Selkirk there was a great deal of acute 
 distress in Scotland. The battle of Waterloo not only marked 
 a great epoch in the history of Europe but also an important 
 crisis in the history of British colonisation. The strain of the 
 Napoleonic wars upon England and her resources had been 
 terrible. England like a wearied gladiator had sunk back 
 exhausted after her terrible duel. Poverty and crime were 
 rife throughout the length and breadth of the land. A 
 spirited emigration policy to the British colonies seemed one 
 of the best and wisest remedies for general distress ; and Lord 
 Bathurst, the Secretary of State at the time, gave settlers a 
 choice of land in either Upper Canada or Quebec. The 
 best known of the settlements that ensued was that formed 
 in Upper Canada in 1816, in the townships of Bathurst, 
 Drummond, Beckwith, and Goulburn, known as the Perth 
 settlement. 
 
 The M'Nab settlement, up the Ottawa, was an attempt to 
 
The Dominion of Canada 77 
 
 transfer the clan system to Canada, and the chieftain wore his 
 * bonnet and feather, tartan and sporran, and besides his bright 
 scarlet vest with its silver buttons.' He was attended also by 
 his piper, and the highlands of Canada re-echoed to the music 
 of the bagpipes. In 1826 Bytown (Ottawa) was formed, and 
 became from its position a great centre of the lumber industry; 
 and in 1823 the British Government emigrated large numbers 
 of Irishmen to the Peterborough district. The Huron country 
 was surveyed into twenty townships, and for many consecu- 
 tive years there was a ceaseless flow of emigrants to Canada. 
 Men of all ranks flocked to the country and helped to develop 
 its resources. 
 
 Professor Bryce records 'that a unique "logging-bee" is 
 described as taking place in Upper Canada in which one, 
 afterwards Chief Justice of Upper Canada, another in time a 
 county judge, and a young man now an episcopal rector, did 
 their share with axe or handspike, while the actual rector of the 
 settlement drove the oxen.' Such a sight would have read a 
 moral to the great Champlain, ' the father of New France,' who 
 complained of the lethargy of his own countrymen in those early 
 days of colonisation, and would have indicated to him the 
 true and real differences between British and French colonisa- 
 tion. It has been by hard work, and by hard work alone, that 
 the British colonial empire has been built up. The climax 
 of the emigration movement following the Napoleonic wars 
 seems to have been reached in 1831, when the number of 
 Canadian immigrants reached the total of 34,000. 
 
 Thus, then, the fabric of Canadian prosperity was built up 
 by successive immigrations. New blood was infused into the 
 old veins, and the life of the colony flourished. What was 
 stagnant in the old colonial life was quickened and revivified by 
 new ideas on trade and policy imported from Europe. The 
 French censitaires felt the genial influences of greater indi- 
 vidual freedom and liberty, and gained activity from the 
 frequent admixture of Scotch, English, Irish, and German 
 elements. Freehold and franchise came in due time, and 
 
78 British Colonisation 
 
 within the borders of the vast domain there was peace and 
 plenty. 
 
 The war of 1812, waged by the United States against 
 Canada and England, was a regrettable and untimely interrup- 
 tion, but it could not alter materially the flow of Canadian 
 prosperity. The foremost thinkers of the Republic were 
 ashamed to be in a bloody partnership with the imperialism 
 of Napoleon. As far as the Canadian people were concerned, 
 the call to arms strengthened their 'native resolution,' and 
 gave French, British, Germans, and Scandinavians a common 
 cause. The habitant of Lower Canada, the fisherman of 
 Nova Scotia, the lumberer of the Ottawa valley, and the 
 trapper of the Far West felt their patriotism glow when the 
 news came that the Yankee meant to conquer their country. 
 Nor did their trade suffer ultimately by the unequal conflict, 
 the American mercantile marine being driven off Canadian 
 waters by the superior power of the British fleet. 
 
 Much indeed has been made from time to time of the 
 sentimental alliance between France and the United States ; 
 and the colossal statue of Liberty, the gift of France, and, 
 from its site overlooking the city of New York, visible afar off 
 like that of Athena Promachus of the Acropolis, the tutelary 
 deity of ancient Athens, seen from distant Sunium is sup- 
 posed to be symbolical of the everlasting entente cordiale. 
 Good Americans also are supposed to go to Paris when they 
 die, preferring Lutetia to Fair Parthenope or Rome or London. 
 O. W. Holmes has commemorated the attachment between 
 the two peoples, begun in the War of Independence : 
 
 ' Sister in trial ! who shall count 
 
 Thy generous friendship's claim, 
 Whose blood ran mingling in the fount 
 
 That gave our land its name, 
 Till Yorktown saw in blended line 
 
 Our conquering arms advance, 
 And victory's double garlands twine 
 
 Our banners ? Vive la France ! ' 
 
The Dominion of Canada 79 
 
 It is doubtful whether this sentiment can ever stand a very 
 great strain. When it has come to practical questions of 
 territory and sovereignty in the New World, France has been 
 always told firmly that she must go in order that the young 
 Republic may carry out her Monroe doctrines. W 7 hat the 
 United States have said to France they have said also to 
 Spain. The Count de Aranda, who as the representative of the 
 Cabinet of Madrid assisted in negotiating the Treaty of Paris 
 in 1783, which established the independence of the United 
 States, uttered the following remarkable prophecy regarding 
 the future of the young Republic : ' It is a pygmy, but before 
 long it will be a giant, the formidable Colossus in the New 
 World It will forget the immense service which France and 
 Spain have rendered to it for it is to them that it owes its 
 independence and will only occupy itself with its own great- 
 ness. The liberty of conscience it has proclaimed, the cer- 
 tainty which industrious men will have of procuring a livelihood 
 in that great country, and the political institution which it has 
 established, will attract to the Confederation, from all parts of 
 the world, an intelligent and laborious population, and we 
 shall have the mortification of seeing it exercise an exclusive 
 and tyrannical sway over the New World. . . . They will begin 
 by taking Florida, which will make them masters of the Gulf 
 of Mexico; and they will afterwards attack the beautiful empire 
 of New Spain.' l 
 
 On the subject also of the disappearance of France from 
 the New World a disappearance the United States have 
 done little indeed to hinder Chateaubriand writes : ' We 
 possessed here vast territories which might have offered a 
 home to the excess of our population, an important market to 
 our commerce, a nursery to our navy. Now we are forced to 
 confine to our prisons culprits condemned by the tribunals, for 
 want of a spot of ground whereon to place these wretched 
 creatures. We are excluded from the New World when the 
 human race is recommencing. The English and Spanish 
 1 Chevalier's Le Mexique, Ancien et Moderne, 
 
8o British Colonisation 
 
 languages serve to express the thoughts of many millions of 
 men in Africa, in Asia, in the South Sea islands, and the 
 continent of the two Americas ; and we, disinherited of the 
 conquests of our courage and our genius, hear the language of 
 Racine, of Colbert, and of Louis xrv. spoken merely in a few 
 hamlets of Louisiana and Canada under a foreign sway. 
 There it remains, as it were, for an evidence of the reverses 
 of our fortune and the error of our policy. Thus, then, has 
 France disappeared from North America like those Indian 
 tribes with which she sympathised, and some of the wrecks of 
 which I myself have seen.' 1 
 
 During this century the history of Canada has been princi- 
 pally the history of political consolidation. Lord Durham's 
 Report in 1837 gives the student of its annals a key to the 
 inner and social life of Upper and Lower Canada. The 
 rebellion of 1837 was a political upheaving the depth and 
 strength of which seem to have been imperfectly understood 
 at the time. Grievances existed and inequalities prevailed, of 
 which time has been the great rectifier. There were angry 
 discussions and heated recriminations on both sides. Papineau, 
 the leader of the rebellion, was regarded by some in the light 
 of a Hampden ; but others, and these Canadians, have called 
 him * impassioned, prejudiced, and imprudent.' 2 
 
 Lord Durham was the pacificator of Canada, and his Report 
 marks the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the 
 British colonies. Lord Norton in his Colonial Policy and 
 History has briefly stated the whole case. Ke writes : ' Lord 
 Durham described the general state of things as that of a 
 chronic collision between the executive and representative 
 bodies in all the North American colonies. " In each and 
 every province the representatives were in hostility to the 
 policy of the Government, and the administration of public 
 affairs was permanently in the hands of a Ministry not in 
 harmony with the popular branch of the Legislature." English 
 taxes were lavished as the means of quieting and demoralising 
 1 Travels in America, vol. ii. 2 History of Canada^ by Macmullen. 
 
The Dominion of Canada 8 1 
 
 the spirit of the colonists. It was argued that the cessation of 
 such vexation would be the cessation of all colonial connec- 
 tion. Lord Durham alone affirmed the opposite and true 
 opinion, guided as he was by the enlightened views of Edward 
 Gibbon Wakefield and Charles Buller, that cessation from such 
 interference would be the starting-point from which a natural, 
 free, and vigorous attachment would spring up between the 
 colony and the Mother-country.' The whole of this question 
 belongs more especially to the history of the Canadian con- 
 stitution, and is a study in itself to which all readers of 
 colonial history can turn with advantage. Since the accession 
 of Queen Victoria there has been a gradual settling-down of 
 conflicting elements in Canada. The Confederation of 1867, 
 carried out by Lord Carnarvon, has seemed to complete politi- 
 cally the ' solidarity ' of the Dominion. The Canadian Pacific 
 Railway, one of the most daring and skilful of all mechanical 
 enterprises, has linked the scattered provinces together and 
 brought east and west together in one organic whole. The 
 railway is also an imperial trade-route of the utmost value, with 
 an outlook towards China and Japan on the east. In view of 
 a quickly expanding Pacific trade, a new line of steamships 
 from British Columbia to the British possessions in the Pacific 
 has been inaugurated, and there appears to be no limit to 
 their utility. 
 
 It is just possible that dangers from within may assail the 
 Dominion of Canada. For a long time past a few politicians, 
 of whom Professor Goldwin Smith is the best known, have 
 been openly advocating annexation to the United States, and 
 a political amalgamation with ' the Triumphant Democracy ' 
 of the south. Canada would then cease to be part of the 
 British Empire, and would be absorbed as a northern addition 
 into the body of the United States. Putting aside sentiment, 
 it is not clear that Canada would be the gainer commercially 
 speaking. Her manufactures might be handicapped, her 
 industries fettered, and her territories overrun by a mixed mob 
 of emigrants. Her influence, if we take population as the 
 
 F 
 
82 British Colonisation 
 
 basis, would be very small, and she would be dragged 
 ignominiously at the tail of a Republic some of whose 
 troubles are in the near future. It is by no means certain 
 that the Roman Catholic 'population of Lower Canada would, 
 in the event of their being an integral portion of the United 
 States, enjoy the same rights and privileges as they do at 
 present. 
 
 There is no sign of any real and widespread desire on the 
 part of Canada to change her destiny. On the contrary, 
 Canadians are passionately loyal, and are by no means pre- 
 pared to follow the lead of political enthusiasts and vision- 
 aries. Commercially, Canada may draw closer to England ; 
 and how she may do this is the problem of the hour. Some 
 have advocated reciprocity treaties between Canada and the 
 Mother-country on the principle of give-and-take. It has been 
 argued that a slight duty on foreign corn and meat would send 
 up colonial industries, and especially Canadian agriculture, by 
 leaps and bounds. But England is hardly ready to make any 
 difference between foreign and colonial imports. The question 
 involves a the outset a reconsideration of her whole fiscal 
 policy. But might it not be possible, so others argue, for 
 Canada to adopt Free Trade ? This is the question on the 
 other side. 
 
 Quite recently, and during the numerous discussions on 
 Irish Home Rule, some politicians have quoted the example 
 of Canada as applicable to Ireland. If Canadians, they argue, 
 manage their own affairs under the various Provincial Govern- 
 ments, and in obedience to the Central Chamber at Ottawa, 
 why should not Irishmen manage their own affairs, and yet 
 remain loyal to the Central Chamber at Westminster, con- 
 tinuing true to the British connection ? Surely there can be 
 no real analogy here. In the first place, the machinery of 
 government in Canada is different from any machinery of 
 government yet devised, or even proposed, for Ireland. Canada 
 has achieved a Federal form of government, but England has 
 not arrived at this stage yet. Many Irishmen clamour for the 
 
The Dominion of Canada 83 
 
 rights and position of an independent nation, and ask to be 
 dissociated from British rule altogether. It is the boast of 
 Canadians that they intend to be loyal .to the British flag. 
 Even supposing Canada wished to 'cut the painter' and 
 go adrift, the danger to England would be infinitesimal 
 compared to that which would follow upon the entire 
 separation of Ireland, an island lying close off our shores. 
 England can afford to give Canadians the control of their 
 own trade and police ; can she afford to give Irishmen the 
 same control ? The matter hardly admits of argument ; and, 
 whatever the form of any scheme of Irish Home Rule in the 
 future, it can hardly be modelled according to the Canadian 
 precedent. 
 
 As Newfoundland has had a long-standing fisheries diffi- 
 culty with France, so Canada has had a disagreement with the 
 United States. By the treaty of 1783, which recognised the 
 independence of the United States, the American fisher- 
 men were given the ' liberty ' of fishing inshore through- 
 out British America. This ' liberty ' was of course essentially 
 different from a fishing right. By the law of nations, every 
 State owns the sea for three miles from the shore. This 
 liberty of fishing inside the creeks and bays of the Cana- 
 dian maritime provinces was terminated by the very fact of 
 the war of 1812-1814, and in October 1813 Nova Scotia 
 memorialised the British Government 'to guard against the 
 hateful articles of the treaty of 1783.' War terminates such 
 agreements, and the British navy swept the whole American 
 seaboard. 
 
 By the treaty of October 1818, the only fishery treaty now 
 in force, United States fishermen had liberty to take fish of 
 every kind along certain named portions of the North Ameri- 
 can coasts, without prejudice to Hudson's Bay rights ; and 
 they also had liberty to dry and cure fish on unsettled bays, 
 harbours, and creeks of Newfoundland and Labrador ; but as 
 soon as such places were settled they were to come to some 
 agreement with the inhabitants or proprietors. At the same 
 
84 British Colonisation 
 
 time they renounced any liberty to fish inside the three-mile 
 limit previously enjoyed, in portions of the coast not specially 
 mentioned. On the other hand, they were allowed to enter 
 territorial waters for the sake of shelter, or repairing their 
 vessels, or obtaining wood or water but for no other purpose 
 whatever. It is to the strict interpretation of the 1818 con- 
 vention that Canadians wish to adhere. 
 
 The Reciprocity Treaty of June 1854 introduced a new 
 phase into the fisheries difficulty. The United States fisher- 
 men were given liberty to ' take fish of every kind, except shell 
 fish, on the sea coasts and shores and in the bays, harbours, 
 and creeks of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince 
 Edward Island, and of the several islands thereunto adjacent, 
 without being restricted to any distance from the shore.' In 
 return for this privilege the Canadians had, amongst other 
 concessions, free trade in fish with the Republic. After the 
 abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty in 1866, Canada and the 
 United States reverted to their former position which was laid 
 down by the treaty of 1818. 
 
 The worst of a fisheries difficulty is that the Imperial 
 Government has to occupy a somewhat invidious position with 
 reference to her colonies. By the law of nations Newfound- 
 landers, for instance, claim all rights implied in the three-mile 
 limit. The Imperial Government supersedes the Provincial 
 Governments in what the colony deem to be a matter of 
 provincial concern. Such a dilemma tests the first principles 
 of our government to the utmost. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix XII. 
 
The Dominion of Canada 85 
 
 References : 
 
 Parkman's Historical Works. 
 
 The History of Canada, by William Kingsford, vols. i.-iii. Triibner 
 
 and Co., 1886. 
 
 Bryce's Short History of the Canadian People ', 1891. 
 Bryce's Manitoba, its Growth and Present Condition, 1882. 
 Butler's Great Lone Land, 1872. 
 Butler's The Wild North Land, 1873. 
 
 Federal Government in Canada, by J. G. Bourinot, C.M.G., 1889. 
 Greswell's History of Newfoundland and the Canadian Dominion, 
 
 1890. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Under the auspices of the 
 
 Royal Colonial Institute. 
 Greswell's Geography of Newfoundland and the Canadian Dominion. 
 
 Under the auspices of the Royal Colonial Institute. 
 Parliamentary Procedure in Canada, byj. G. Bourinot, C.M.G., 1892. 
 The Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute. 
 See also Voyages of Samuel Hearne, Alexander Mackenzie, 
 
 George Vancouver, John Franklin, etc. etc. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE WEST AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS 
 
 CLOSELY connected with the West Indies in past times were 
 the numerous ports and factories of the West African coast 
 along the Bight of Benin. But the link that bound them 
 together was that of sordid and unhallowed gain, the point in 
 common an unholy traffic. The very thoroughfare of ocean 
 was known as ' a middle passage ' recalling one of the darkest 
 pages in our annals of colonisation. The manner and fashion 
 of the West African and West Indian trade in former days 
 was simple enough, and at one time highly remunerative. A 
 ship would sail from the port of Bristol, for instance, with a suit- 
 able cargo of British goods to the Oil Rivers or Sierra Leone, and 
 by traffic with slave-dealers convert this cargo into a ship-load 
 of slaves, who very often were huddled together like bales of 
 merchandise, without any regard for health and comfort. 
 
 Ultimately, what was left of the stifled, half-starved speci- 
 mens of black humanity was deposited at some such slave- 
 mart as Port Royal in Jamaica, or elsewhere. The slaves 
 would naturally be exchanged at the West Indian port for a 
 certain quantity of sugar, rum, molasses, indigo, coffee, tobacco, 
 or some other produce of negro labour equivalent in value ; 
 and so the ship would find its way back to an English port 
 after an unholy, but profitable, round. It is clear that in this 
 traffic, which began and terminated in the home port, the 
 West Indians were either the consignees or debtors of the 
 West African merchant. Under these circumstances the West 
 Indies were regarded as factories rather than as colonies in 
 
The West African Settlements 87 
 
 the strict sense of the word. The shipowners of Great Britain 
 rapidly made their fortunes, and the great game of monopoly 
 went merrily on until emancipation came and Englishmen 
 repented in sackcloth and ashes. ' Quashie,' the quondam 
 miserable victim of our greed, has lived to revenge himself, 
 and lives a merry and irresponsible life in the lovely islands of 
 the West Indies ; nor does he wish to return to the shores of 
 West Africa. 
 
 The honours of West African exploration rest first of all 
 with the Portuguese. By a bull of Pope Eugene iv. an 
 exclusive grant was made in 1438 to the crown of Portugal of 
 all the countries that might be discovered between Cape Non, 
 the ultima Thule of early navigators, and the continent of 
 India. When two English captains, in 1481, were reported to 
 be equipping a trading expedition to Guinea, ambassadors 
 were sent from the court of Portugal to remonstrate with 
 Edward iv., and the enterprise was nipped in the bud. For 
 more than a hundred years Portuguese supremacy was unques- 
 tioned along the West African coasts, and it is strange that the 
 world should have gained so little by their occupation. Portu- 
 guese colonisation has always resembled the ' upas ' or poison- 
 ous tree of Java, that blights everything beneath its shadow. 
 
 English sailors, however, were not long to be debarred 
 from any part of the world where their efforts were likely to 
 meet with success. As they regarded not the Spanish mono- 
 poly of the West Indies and the New World, so they set at 
 naught the Portuguese monopoly of the west coast of Africa 
 and the East. The Reformation was letting loose forces 
 which could not be controlled. In 1554 three vessels under 
 Captain John Lok sailed for Guinea and brought back gold, 
 guinea-pepper, and elephants' tusks. Lok also brought back 
 some negro slaves. In 1588 Queen Elizabeth inaugurated an 
 epoch in West African commerce by granting a patent to a 
 company of merchants in Exeter to carry on a trade with 
 Senegal and Gambia. In 1618 King James gave his royal 
 sanction to a company, which was, however, soon dissolved. 
 
88 British Colonisation 
 
 Thus the first steps were taken, and many sailors brought 
 back tales of strange races, Moorish kingdoms, sea-horses, 
 elephants, crocodiles, baboons, and, above all, of gold. The 
 wonderful travels and adventures of Andrew Battel, who sailed 
 from the Thames in 1589, and after incredible hardships, 
 hairbreadth escapes, captivities, and wanderings in Portuguese 
 Africa lived to return to England, settle in Essex, and tell his 
 story as thrilling, doubtless, as that of Othello into the 
 ear of the great Purchas, excited universal attention. 
 
 In 1662 a charter was granted to the Duke of York secur- 
 ing to him the commerce of the whole West African littoral, 
 extending from Cape Blanco in 20 N. lat. to the Cape of 
 Good Hope a truly royal concession, made, in all probability, 
 with few ideas of the interests, as well as the localities, in- 
 volved. This concession was returned into the King's hand by 
 the Duke, and this led to the creation, in 1672, of the Royal 
 African Company, with a capital of ,111,000. They built 
 forts at Dix Cove, Seconda, Commendah, Anamaboe, Accra, 
 and strengthened Cape Coast Castle. This company was 
 succeeded by the African Company of Merchants in 1750, 
 with liberty to form settlements between 20 N. and 20 S., and 
 this company lasted until 1821. 
 
 The eighteenth century, even more than the preceding one, 
 was the dark age of West African history. No more unprin- 
 cipled ruffians ever infested the shores of any country than 
 the captains of the slave-ships. After the slavers and pirates 
 came the ' palm-oil ruffians,' as they were called, consisting of 
 the masters and crews of the sailing-vessels that anchored in 
 one of the oil rivers and waited for their cargoes. It was a 
 terrible coast, where, to use Mr. H. H. Johnston's words, 
 ' crime raged unchecked, and fever and disease, the sure and 
 sudden waiters upon crime, exacted their due.' There was no 
 effort made, missionary or otherwise, to ameliorate even the 
 fringe of the continent, the business of Europeans being con- 
 fined entirely to a base, unholy, and precarious littoral and 
 riverine trade. 
 
The West African Settlements 89 
 
 A new and more wholesome view of West Africa was 
 inaugurated when Englishmen, with the dauntless energy of 
 their race, took up the task of West African exploration. 
 This task is second only in importance and interest to that of 
 Central African exploration. In the beginning, the object 
 was to discover the city of Timbuctoo, where, it was thought, 
 all the wealth of Africa was concentrated ; and as far back as 
 1618 a company was formed with the express object of 
 ascending the Gambia and making their way inland. Nothing, 
 however, came of this venture, as the Portuguese barred the 
 way, seizing the ship and massacring the crew. 
 
 It was due to the remarkable African Association, formed 
 in 1788, and guided chiefly by that enthusiastic traveller and 
 savant, Sir Joseph Banks, that the problem of West African 
 exploration, and especially the task of determining the features 
 of the Niger valley, was finally taken in hand. The roll of 
 explorers employed by this Association from time to time is 
 long and illustrious. 
 
 It may be well to state here very briefly what were the main 
 features of the problems presented to the geographers of North 
 and North Central Africa at the beginning of this century, and 
 indeed for some time after. If reference is made to any old 
 maps of the preceding century, such as those illustrating the 
 work of Abbe PreVost, a well-known compiler of voyages, in 
 1780, it will be seen that the coast-line of the Gulf of Guinea, or 
 St. Thomas, as it was called, was plentifully dotted with names 
 of stations, trading-ports, and rivers. But the interior was a great 
 blank. Even such an atlas as that of Pinkerton's, dated 1817, 
 does not enlighten the student much further, as it does not 
 show the course of the Niger further than a few degrees to the 
 east of the meridian of Greenwich. The problem of the Niger 
 watershed remained such, indeed, as it had been handed down 
 by the ancients. Geographers of the nineteenth century were 
 still at the mercy of the speculations of Ptolemy and Pliny. 
 
 There were certain preconceived ideas with regard to this 
 river which it cost a great deal to eradicate. It was taken 
 
go British Colonisation 
 
 almost for certain that it flowed due east along immense 
 regions until it merged its waters with those of the Nile ; or, 
 it was argued, it might disappear altogether in Mid Africa, 
 evaporated by the fiery heat of the sun. Later on, it was 
 maintained that it turned its course south, and was identical 
 with the Zaire or Congo. There were also rumours of lakes in 
 the interior, about the existence of which the natives of Africa 
 itself seemed to be agreed. What were these lakes ? Where 
 was the outlet ? Were they part of the Niger and Nile river- 
 system ? Or, it was thought, there might be a great inland 
 sea somewhere in the Sudan. 
 
 There appeared to be three routes from which to assail these 
 geographical difficulties. First, there was the waterway of the 
 Gambia, along which an explorer could advance, cross the 
 intervening country to the Joliba or Niger, and, when once 
 launched upon these waters, it might be possible to descend 
 them until the sea was reached or the supposed junction with 
 the Nile was found. Secondly, there was the caravan-route 
 from Cairo and the East. It seemed probable that somewhere 
 along this route, either to the north or south, the great river might 
 itself be discovered flowing majestically eastwards. Indeed, 
 in their quick imaginations, cartographers had already laid 
 down its course on maps. Thirdly, there was the route from 
 Tripoli, along which it might chance that the Joliba or Niger 
 might be intersected, especially as it seemed, from glimpses 
 already gained, to flow to the north and east. 
 
 The ' ambages Nigri ' had as great a fascination as the 
 ' ambages Nili.' Terrible indeed was the number of victims 
 the solution of the great Niger problem was destined to exact. 
 No Minotaur of ancient days was more hungry of human life. 
 It was by a strange irony indeed that the ancients placed 
 somewhere in North-West Africa or Libya the Gardens of the 
 Hesperides and pleasant resorts, whereas in reality travellers 
 found there nothing but lethal waters, and too often a Valley 
 of the Shadow of Death. 
 
 One of the first to lay down his life for the cause of West 
 
The West African Settlements 91 
 
 African exploration was John Ledyard, an American, who had 
 already travelled in Irkutsk and Siberia. The object placed 
 before him by the African Association was to explore the 
 Sennaar westward 'in the latitude and supposed direction 
 of the Niger.' For this purpose he proceeded to Egypt and 
 ascended the Nile to Cairo, where he prepared to travel with 
 a caravan to Sennaar. Here, however, he was struck down by 
 sickness and died (1788). What need to recall the name and 
 exploits of the celebrated Mungo Park, whose name is a 
 'household word,' another intrepid emissary of the African 
 Association, who, going by way of the Gambia, returned home 
 victorious after his first essay to view the waters of the great 
 river (1795), and then perished in a second and more ambi- 
 tious attempt. Then came the German enthusiast Hornemann, 
 who endeavoured to reach the interior from the East, using 
 the great caravan-route across, the desert (1798). Next came 
 Lewis Burckhardt, a Swiss by birth, who sought to purloin the 
 secrets of African geography by stealth, turning Mohammedan 
 and going in disguise along the Cairo trade-route, the fore- 
 runner of such men as Bertolucci, Dr. Wallin, and our own 
 illustrious Sir Richard Burton. But he, too, fell by the way 
 (1817), and in his last letter wrote: 'I was starting in two 
 months' time with the caravan returning from Mecca and 
 going to Fezzan thence to Timbuctoo ; but it is otherwise 
 disposed.' 
 
 After the battle of Waterloo the British Government took 
 up the task of North African exploration, and from this 
 date there was a kind of official sanction given to a series of 
 most important enterprises, which were more successful than 
 the efforts of the African Association, and certainly procured 
 for England the chief honours of exploration, and in a certain 
 sense led up to her title-deeds to that vast area of West 
 African territory known as the ' Niger Protectorate.' 
 
 The motives that led to the first important expedition 
 (1816) setting out under these auspices were given in detail 
 by Mr. Barrow, Secretary of the Admiralty, who was already 
 
92 British Colonisation 
 
 celebrated for his Travels in China and his well-known 
 Report on the Cape of Good Hope, after its first occupation by 
 the British in 1^95- The immediate and primary object of 
 the expedition was to determine, by tracing the Zaire or Congo 
 upwards from its mouth, whether the idea, strongly rooted in 
 Mungo Park's mind, that the Niger and Congo were one and 
 the same river was accurate or not. 
 
 It was suggested also by Sir Joseph Banks, still the ardent 
 promoter of African enterprise, and now in his seventy-third 
 year, that a steam-engine might be used to propel the vessel 
 against the rapid current of the Congo. In past times the 
 mouth of the Congo had been experienced to be almost 
 impossible to navigate. 
 
 Saving and excepting the expeditions of Ross and Parry to 
 the North Pole, there was no enterprise during the first quarter 
 of this century that so deeply riveted public and official atten- 
 tion as the great Niger problem. The British public were 
 inclined to agree with Mungo Park, who had written in his 
 memoir to Lord Camden that ' the Niger problem was in a 
 commercial point of view second only to the circumnavigation 
 of the Cape of Good Hope, and in a geographical sense the 
 greatest that remains to be made in the world.' 
 
 To assail this problem Captain Tuckey, a naval officer, was 
 first sent out, who had already served his apprenticeship by 
 exploring the coasts of Australia (1802) and making a survey 
 of Port Phillip, and with him went several distinguished men 
 Professor Smith, a botanist ; Mr. Lockhart, a Kew official ; 
 Mr. Cranch, a biologist ; and Mr. Tudor, a comparative 
 anatomist. The ship that took them out was the Dorothea 
 transport, which was employed afterwards on the Polar expedi- 
 tion. It is sad to think, however, that fever and death thinned 
 and decimated the ranks of this expedition also, and the pro- 
 blem of the Niger and Congo left as obscure as it was before. 
 
 Next came James and Bowdich, who in 1817-18 were lured 
 on to Ashantee by rumours of a wonderful El Dorado at 
 Coomassie, whence also the problem of the Niger, it was 
 
The West African Settlements 93 
 
 thought, could be best unfolded. Then in 1822-23 Oudney, 
 a naval surgeon, Clapperton, a naval lieutenant, and Major 
 Denham, an old Peninsular campaigner, set out from Tripoli, 
 and, marching southwards, reached Lake Tsaad. The Bashaw 
 of Tripoli had signified to Lord Bathurst, always ready to take 
 up projects of exploration, his readiness to help and escort an 
 expedition as far as Bornou. The result of this expedition 
 was to throw much light upon the hydrography of the interior ; 
 still the Niger remained a puzzle. 
 
 Clapperton, said to be a perfect Bayard of African travel, 
 undertook a second expedition from the Bight of Benin to 
 Soccatoo (1825), accompanied by Pearce, Morrison, and 
 Richard Lander; but only Lander lived to return. The addi- 
 tions made by Clapperton to the geography of these regions 
 were immense. He had measured every degree of latitude 
 from the Mediterranean to the Bight of Benin, and of longi- 
 tude from Lake Tsaad to Sokoto ; and, although he had not 
 discovered the termination of the Niger, he had shown that it 
 was utterly impossible that it could be the Niger of Ptolemy or 
 of Pliny, or the great river of Herodotus. 
 
 In 1824 M. Caillie, the celebrated French traveller, per- 
 formed the great feat of reaching Timbuctoo. An American 
 sailor, Robert Adams, who sailed from New York in 1810, and 
 after being shipwrecked on the Senegal coast had lived as a 
 captive for more than three years in North-West Africa, had 
 given an account of the city of Timbuctoo, which was deemed 
 worthy of credence. His deposition was read before Lord 
 Bathurst and Sir Joseph Banks, and the Quarterly Review of 
 May 1816 contains a notice of the whole adventure. But it 
 is only fair to take the Frenchman's account as the first 
 authoritative and descriptive account of this wonderful city, 
 although Alexander Gordon Laing had entered it the year 
 before (August 18), but did not live to return. M. Caillie 
 took a route eastwards from the French colony of Senegal, 
 advancing by way of Kakondy, Kankan, Timbo, and thence 
 northwards to Jenne. Embarking there on the Joliba, he 
 
94 British Colonisation 
 
 noted its course, its islands, and the extensive Lake of Debo, 
 during a month's voyage to Timbuctoo. The list of travellers 
 who held this bourne before them had been a long and 
 brilliant one, including Houghton, Browne, Hornemann, Park, 
 Tuckey, Peddie, Campbell, Gray, Ritchie, Bowdich, Oudney, 
 Clapperton, Denham, Laing, Burckhardt, Beaufort, Mollien, 
 Benzoni. 1 The next great feat was to find the Niger mouth, 
 and to sight the Benue, or Tsadda, its eastern affluent. This 
 was done by the brothers Lander (1830). 
 
 The later triumphs of West African exploration belong to 
 Dr. Richardson, who, accompanied by Dr. Barth and Dr. 
 Overweg, two Prussian gentlemen, set out by way of Tripoli 
 and the Sahara with the object of opening up commercial 
 relations and concluding treaties with any native power so dis- 
 posed, especially with the Sultan of Bornou. The chief object 
 of Richardson's journey was to endeavour to lessen the horrible 
 evils of the slave trade. One of the first steps, in his opinion, 
 was to encourage legitimate traffic between Europe and the 
 great nurseries of slaves, which might be done by entering 
 into commercial relations with the most important Sates of 
 Central Africa an idea which has commended itself more 
 recently to the pioneers and merchant philanthropists of 
 Eastern Central Africa, to whom it is abundantly clear that a 
 developed and well-guarded highway which affords quick and 
 easy communication with the interior is the most effective 
 method of fighting with the slave traders and intercepting the 
 caravan-routes. 
 
 Mr. Richardson left England on his bold and philanthropic 
 enterprise ' under the orders and at the expense of Her Majesty's 
 Government.' He started from Tripoli on March 1850, and 
 followed a route southward to Lake Tsaad, parallel with that 
 of Oudney, Denham, and Clapperton (1822-1824), keeping, 
 however, more to the west. Unfortunately, Richardson did 
 not live to return, as he died at Unguratua in March 1851, 
 a year after his departure from Tripoli. But he left behind 
 
 1 Preface to Travels to Timbuctoo, by Rene Caillie, London, 1830. 
 
The West African Settlements 95 
 
 him a diary of eight small and closely written volumes, which 
 formed a most exhaustive description of Saharan regions 
 hitherto untraversed and unexplored by Europeans. 
 
 It was more especially due to the energies of Dr. Earth 
 (1849-1855), the other companion of James Richardson, that 
 the watershed of the Niger became revealed to the long- 
 wondering eyes of Europe. Dr. Earth, after exploring Lake 
 Tsaad, entered the kingdom of Bagirmi and reached its capital, 
 purposing to extend his travels and to touch the Nile water- 
 shed. Finding this impracticable, he turned south-west, and 
 then chanced upon the Benue at Tepi. At this spot this 
 river was 800 yards wide and eleven deep, and proved to be the 
 eastern branch of the Niger or Quorrah. The whole of the 
 district traversed by Dr. Earth was very fertile, and presented 
 a vast field to the commerce of Europe. Men knew now that 
 the Joliba and the Quorrah were one river ! The Niger was 
 not the Nile, nor was it the Congo ! Nor did it disappear, 
 as some thought, by magic, swallowed up in the thirsty sands 
 of the vast Sahara ! 
 
 The final touches to previous discoveries were given by an 
 exploration conducted by the Pleiad and undertaken at the 
 instance of the British Government. The Benue or Tsadda 
 (Lander) was now surveyed as the eastern branch of the Niger, 
 which discharges its waters into the Atlantic through several 
 mouths the Nun channel being found to be the best for 
 navigation. It should be mentioned that owing to the obser- 
 vance of simple hygienic rules the crew of the Pleiad enjoyed 
 almost a total immunity from fever a fact which told in 
 favour of the Niger valley, hitherto associated with so many 
 sad reminiscences and such gloomy tales of loss and failure 
 for all Europeans. 
 
 Such, in brief, were the chief expeditions made from all 
 quarters of the compass from the Gambia on the west, from 
 Tripoli on the north, and from distant Cairo on the east to 
 unfold the 'ambages Nigri'; and to Englishmen the tale is one 
 replete with national daring, hardihood, and enterprise to 
 
96 British Colonisation 
 
 which they can refer with pride and satisfaction giving all 
 honour to the dead heroes who have fallen by the way. 
 
 The epics of travel are closed and the prose of commerce 
 begins, and England is reaping a rich harvest from the toils of 
 her sons. 
 
 To the merchant the Niger valley may mean a great deal, 
 and he may be now seen to be entering upon the labours of 
 the pioneer. Along the valley of the Niger and Benue the 
 British may be brought into closer contact with the most 
 intelligent races of the Western Sudan. Kuka, the capital of 
 Bornou, near the western shores of the Tsaad, is one of the 
 greatest markets of all Central Africa second only, it is said, 
 to that of Kano in Sokoto. 
 
 One of the most recent explorers of these regions was Dr. 
 Nachtigal (1872), who, in company with other Germans, greatly 
 extended German influence in these quarters. 
 
 The British Royal Niger Company has, according to recent in- 
 formation, confirmed and extended the provisions of a treaty with 
 the Sultan of Sokoto, and also concluded treaties with the chiefs 
 of Adamawa to the north-east of the Cameroons. English 
 expeditions have a free run from the mouth of the Niger to 
 Bornou and Lake Tsaad. For the moment English, German, 
 and French interests all seem to meet in the neighbourhood 
 of this lake. France from the regions of French Congo, 
 England by way of the Niger, Germany from her coast 
 territories, are rapidly converging upon the interior of West 
 Central Africa. 
 
 During this period of inland exploration and discovery, 
 carried on with so much perseverance and determination, it 
 must be remembered that the coast settlements were languish- 
 ing and decaying. The prop of slavery had been taken away, 
 and they had, metaphorically speaking, fallen to the ground. 
 England maintained them not so much for their trade value 
 as for the purpose of putting down or checking the slave 
 trade. In the year 1819 no less than ^28,000 was granted 
 by Parliament to the African Company. The annual value of 
 
The West African Settlements 97 
 
 the gold-dust and ivory did not exceed ; 100,000. Of the 
 prospects of West Africa it was written at this date : ' The 
 total inadequacy of these forts to prevent the slave trade will 
 be obvious. The first on the Gold Coast is Apollonia, 
 garrisoned by a black sergeant and two soldiers; it pays a 
 tribute to the chief of the town, who seizes the governor's 
 servants or withholds provisions whenever he wishes to bring 
 them over to his own terms. The trade is very trifling, and 
 the expense of keeping it up very considerable. Dix Cove, the 
 next fort, has a soldier or two more ; its expense is somewhat 
 greater than the former, and its trade less. Seconda, the third, 
 is a thatched house with a governor and two black soldiers. 
 It has little trade, and the next, Commendah, none at all. 
 
 ' The headquarters of the African Company's corps and the 
 residence of the Governor-in-Chief is Cape Coast Castle, a 
 regular and well-constructed fortress. The strength of the 
 garrison, composed chiefly of native blacks, officered by the 
 traders, consists of about 100 men. The expense of main- 
 taining this fort is considerable, and the trade of no conse- 
 quence. Nine miles to the eastward of this is Anamaboe, 
 a position of little importance except as a check upon the 
 Ashantees, who have recently destroyed the town; it has a 
 governor and a garrison of fifteen soldiers. It has little or no 
 trade. Tantumquerry follows a very insignificant fort, in a 
 ruinous condition, without trade, and altogether useless except 
 as a point in the line of communication from Cape Coast 
 Castle to the next fort, which is that of Accra, the easternmost 
 of the Gold Coast. In importance Accra ranks next to Cape 
 Coast. It has a small trade in ivory.' 
 
 As may be imagined, this line of forts, placed on a line of 
 coast extending for 200 miles, was miserably inadequate to 
 serve as a check upon the slave trade, which was openly 
 carried on under Spanish, Portuguese, and American flags. 1 
 
 In 1865 Lord Norton observed that evidence collected by 
 the West African Committee, of which he was Chairman, 
 1 Quarterly Review, January 1820. 
 G 
 
98 British Colonisation 
 
 showed that British commerce on these coasts has thriven 
 better when we have established no settlement, as on the Niger. 
 ' Our penitential plans for national redress of our injury to 
 West Africa by suppressing the trade in slaves, which we first 
 set up, have been ill-directed. The effort, money, health, life 
 wasted in attempting locally to staunch the supply of slaves 
 would probably have been better devoted to checking the extra 
 demand for them. A wall of English corpses round the African 
 shores could not stop the egress of slaves.' The slave trade 
 could only die a gradual death on the western coast ; and in 
 1865 the demand was limited to the Cubans, to whom England 
 paid ^400,000 to induce them to give up the slave trade. 
 
 The Committee of 1865 recommended that we should 
 ultimately withdraw from all West African governments, except 
 perhaps Sierra Leone. Lord Norton observed that the West 
 African squadron used to cost in round figures ^1,000,000 a 
 year ; and in addition we have suffered directly by the fright- 
 ful sacrifice of the lives of gallant men. 
 
 Many reformers of our colonial system laid great stress 
 thirty years ago upon the inadequate results of our occupation 
 of the West African coasts, and have pointed out that settle- 
 ments like the Gambia and Sierra Leone cannot be justified by 
 any just economical argument. 
 
 There was one use, however, which was suggested as follow- 
 ing upon their occupation and this was that they supplied a 
 recruiting ground for our West Indian regiments. The 
 Kroomen, also, make most excellent seamen, and would 
 furnish, in tropical countries, a most valuable contingent to 
 England's mercantile marine. 
 
 More recently it has been suggested that the coast of West 
 Africa might become the scene of a gigantic scheme of negro 
 repatriation, and that the descendants of the slaves of former 
 times might now, in these more hopeful times of emancipation, 
 be restored with advantage to all parties back to the shores 
 whence their race was sprung. The ' middle passage ' might 
 then be accomplished under widely different conditions, and 
 
The West African Settlements 99 
 
 the West Indians freed of what is sometimes considered the 
 incubus of a redundant negro population. 
 
 Under the pressing conditions, however, of the nineteenth 
 century it is not likely that England, in a fit of misguided 
 generosity, will restore the fee-simple of the West African 
 littoral to hordes of repatriated negroes. Nor, indeed, is she 
 likely to regard J;he settlements here as simply recruiting 
 grounds for the West Indian regiments. A new industrial era 
 may yet be in store for the West Coast after years of depression. 
 A glance at the map will show that although explorers have 
 long since traversed the Hinterland, England's occupation is 
 chiefly limited to somewhat limited strips of littoral. Here, 
 more than in any other region of the world, perhaps, the in- 
 terests of European nations meet. British, French, Portuguese, 
 and Germans all have shares in the west coast of Africa. 
 This portion of the continent is curiously tesselated, and the 
 international boundaries are especially intricate. In five 
 different settlements or spheres of influence the red prevails. 
 Beginning with the nearest, these are: i. the Gambia; 2. 
 Sierra Leone; 3. the Gold Coast; 4. Lagos; 5. the Niger 
 Protectorate. 
 
 i. The Gambia has been described as 'a small and some- 
 what retrograde colony, where by supineness and want of 
 commercial energy we have allowed the French to obtain a 
 considerable hold.' x 
 
 The Upper Gambia has been taken under French protection 
 quite recently, and by far the greater part of the commerce at 
 the mouth of the Gambia is French. The Gambia itself is a 
 waterway leading to the very heart of the French possessions 
 in Senegambia. The Gambia was once a great stronghold 
 of the slave trade, and the cessation of this traffic naturally 
 brought about its decay. At one time it was suggested that 
 England should effect an exchange with France, and give 
 Gambia for French territory either on the Gold Coast, Porto 
 Nova, or the Gaboon, or, if possible, barter it for French 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xx. p. 99. 
 
ioo British Colonisation 
 
 fishery rights in Newfoundland ; but nothing has come of any 
 of these proposals. Unlike other West African settlements, 
 the Gambia does not possess the oil-palm. It is a very old 
 colony, disputing even with Newfoundland the honour of being 
 the oldest colony of Great Britain, dating back to 1588, the 
 year of the Elizabethan patent. 1 
 
 2. Sierra Leone is a younger colony than the Gambia, having 
 its origin in 1787 ; but it has not much to show for a century 
 of British rule. Its coast-line extends for a distance of 1 80 
 miles from the Great Scarcies River to the Liberian frontier ; 
 but England's influence does not reach far into the interior. 
 It boasts, however, of a very good harbour, and the town of 
 Freetown, originally a settlement for freed negro slaves, is 
 beautifully situated at the corner of a peninsula, and at the 
 base of deeply wooded mountains. The route to the interior 
 plateaux of West Africa has greater advantages than that by 
 way of the Gambia. The post is strongly fortified, and is a 
 coaling-station for the British navy. At the back of Sierra 
 Leone are the sources of the Upper Niger. Here a Moham- 
 medan chief named Samadu is said to have reared a native 
 kingdom of some power, which has been at war with France. 
 The greatest natural curiosity of Sierra Leone is the chimpanzee 
 found in the deep recesses of its forests. 2 
 
 3. The Gold Coast is not quite so ancient a settlement as 
 the Gambia, but its occupation dates back to 1672, when a 
 company was formed called the Royal African Company. 
 Elmina, one of its posts, was discovered by the Portuguese in 
 1471 during the progress of their West African explorations. 
 The British possessions now extend over a coast-line .of 350 
 miles, and are only separated by a short distance from Lagos. 
 The inland limits are somewhat vague. The Ashantee kingdom 
 may be regarded as falling within England's influence ; and 
 it appears to rest with England to assume, if she wishes, 
 a protectorate over the important kingdoms of Gyaman, of 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix IV. Section A. 
 
 2 Ibid. Section B. 
 
The West African Setttemenit iui 
 
 Salaga, and Yandi, the chiefs of which countries have sent 
 presents to the Governor of the Gold Coast. Mr. H. H. 
 Johnston has remarked that it would not be difficult to ex- 
 tend British influence from the Gold Coast to the great bend 
 of the Niger. The Gold Coast is, perhaps, best known to 
 England through the two Ashantee campaigns : the first in 
 1824, when Sir Charles Macarthy, taking the side of the Fantees 
 against the Ashantees, was killed and his force routed; the 
 second in 1872, when Sir Garnet (now Lord) Wolseley marched 
 up the Prah and took Coomassie, causing King Coffee to sign 
 a peace advantageous to England. 1 
 
 4. Lagos is the youngest but the most prosperous of all 
 England's West African settlements, its separate existence 
 commencing only in 1863. The port has been termed 'the 
 Liverpool of West Africa,' and is said to owe its prosperity to 
 able management and a wise fiscal policy. Its natural lagoons, 
 also, which stretch along the coast, facilitate the transport of 
 products very greatly ; and, as Lagos is not more than 220 miles 
 from the River Niger, it diverts a considerable amount of trade 
 to itself. The colony boasts of a Botanical Garden the first 
 in West Africa and this institution, in encouraging enterprise 
 and the scientific treatment of plants and products, may effect 
 as much as similar institutions in the West Indies. It has 
 already been pointed out what stress Mr. Morris of Kew has 
 laid upon the value of experimental gardens as developing in 
 the West Indies ' a diversity of cultural industries.' Lagos is 
 said to require only an improved harbour, such as would safely 
 admit steamers of deep draught, to send it up to a higher pitch 
 of prosperity than it already enjoys. 2 
 
 5. The Niger Protectorate is the most recent and valuable 
 acquisition of the British Crown in West Africa. It includes 
 the entire basin of the Lower Niger, including the Benin and 
 Cross Rivers, and extends along the coast of Africa from the 
 Benin River, where it joins the boundary of Lagos, to the mouth 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix IV. Section C. 
 
 2 Ibid. Section D. 
 
IO2 1 B'ritish Colonisation 
 
 of the Rio del Rey at 9 E. longitude. In 1886 a rtfyal 
 charter was granted to the Royal Niger Company by which 
 extensive powers were given to them, their operations ex- 
 tending as far inland as Gando and Sokoto, being in touch 
 with Darfur, Egypt, and Tripoli. 
 
 The depot on the coast is Akassa. It is deserving of notice 
 that along the valleys of the Nile and the Niger, as well as that 
 of the Zambesi, British influence is now predominant. This 
 influence has followed, in the first instance, as a result of a 
 series of those remarkable explorations, carried on, as already 
 pointed out, at various intervals principally since 1815 by 
 British explorers. 
 
 Mr. H. H. Johnston, late Vice-Consul for the Oil River and 
 Cameroon's, and now Consul for Portuguese East Africa, has 
 given a brief and interesting description of our West Coast 
 colonies : * 
 
 'The geography of true Western Africa I am not here 
 referring to the coast below the Cameroons, which may properly 
 be considered as coming under the designation of Central or 
 Southern Africa is comparatively simple. It consists of little 
 else than the basin of the great Niger River, with its eastern 
 affluent, the Benue. In fact, if you draw a short line from the 
 upper waters of the Senegal River to the Upper Niger a 
 distance of only a few miles you might with these two great 
 streams form the northern boundary of the districts I am 
 reviewing. Beyond lies the great Sahara Desert, which 
 separates northern, temperate, and Mediterranean Africa from 
 true Africa, the land of the blacks. The flora and fauna of 
 Western Africa which is bounded on the north, as described, 
 by the Senegal and Niger, and somewhat vaguely on the east 
 between the water-parting of the Niger and Lake Tsaad and 
 the River Shari, and the divide between the southern affluents 
 of the Benue' and the streams that flow into the Cameroons 
 estuary are of diverse characters. There is the Ethiopian 
 sub-region of tropical Africa generally, which is especially 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xx. 
 
The West African Settlements 103 
 
 characteristic of Eastern and North Central Africa ; and there 
 is the remarkable West African subdivision, which is confined 
 to the narrow coast belt between the Gambia River and the 
 mouth of the Congo, stretching inland from south of the 
 Benue to the shores of the great equatorial lakes. 
 
 'In all the coast region between the Gambia and the 
 Cameroons the most extravagant development of tropical 
 vegetation is seen, except in such isolated spots of arid country 
 as are found in the vicinity of Accra and the Gold Coast. 
 Whereas the future wealth of the interior plateaux will most 
 certainly lie in their mineral deposits, the riches of the West 
 Coast region consist in numerous and valuable vegetable 
 products, such as palm-oil and oil from ground nuts, benni- 
 seed, shea butter, rubber, gums, spices, cotton, dyes such as 
 camwood, cocoa-nuts, and valuable timbers, among which 
 ebony occupies a prominent place. Negro races, of which the 
 Kroo tribes in Liberia are the best specimens, are found along 
 the coasts, and Mohammedans in the interior. There are 
 many intermediate links to connect the pure negro with the 
 typical Arab. Generally speaking, the West African colonies 
 are interesting to us as spheres within which we may carry on 
 a profitable trade and at the same time govern the native races. 
 They cannot be colonies in the true sense as homes for men 
 of our race.' 1 
 
 In this part of Africa, France, who subsidises the colony of 
 Senegal with an annual payment of two million francs, and 
 has launched steamers on the Niger, seems to be the rival of 
 England. Major Ellis in his West African Islands alludes to 
 the efforts made by France to block all trade from the interior 
 reaching our Gambia and Guinea settlements. He expects 
 much from the opening-up of the country, where there are 
 numerous rivers, along the banks of which live many Mussul- 
 man races who are fairly civilised, and in time may become large 
 purchasers of European manufactured goods. The Western 
 Sudan is considered a great prize by many Frenchmen, and 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix IV. Section E. 
 
IO4 British Colonisation 
 
 during the last decade Frenchmen have been making great 
 progress with a view of 'forming a vast African colony, ex- 
 tending from Algeria on the north to the peninsula of Sierra 
 Leone on the south ; and in order to prevent any other nation 
 from influencing the natives they are doing their best to isolate 
 the British possessions on the Gambia River and at Sierra 
 Leone/ St. Louis, the capital of French Senegal, is on an 
 island in the Senegal River; Goree, the old port, is about 
 100 miles north of our Bathurst settlement ; and Dakar, the 
 new port, is opposite Goree Island, and promises to have 
 a monopoly of trade. It is connected with St. Louis by a 
 railway. 
 
 Extension of railways is a favourite French project in West 
 Africa ; and if the Medine-Bammakou-Timbuctoo line is con- 
 structed, the French will be in a good position to hold com- 
 mand of all trade in this part of the world. Already we are 
 told there are thirteen military posts formed between the Niger 
 and the St. Louis. One of the most enthusiastic Frenchmen 
 who helped to develop French Africa was General Faidherbe. 
 
 In Senegal, French trade increased from 28 J millions of 
 francs in 1878 to 47 millions in 1883. The chief trade is in 
 ground nuts, palm-oil, nuts, rubber, and gum. In the interior 
 there are gold-mines, as at Bouri on the left of the Niger. 
 Bammakou on the Niger is 1000 miles from St. Louis and 
 325 miles only from Khayes, on the Senegal termination of 
 navigation. A railway between the two points would immensely 
 facilitate intercourse. Bammakou was gained by Captain 
 Gallieni in 1880. Within recent times there have been 
 seventeen protectorates proclaimed by France in North-West 
 Africa. Further south, also, it must be remembered that 
 France holds important trading-stations on the Gold Coast, 
 Slave Coast, and Ivory Coast, the equatorial settlement of 
 Gaboon, and the magnificent domain of French Congo. 
 
 From the purchase of a small strip of country on the 
 estuary of the Gaboon river, France has gone on rapidly 
 acquiring an acknowledged foothold over a vast region 
 
The West African Settlements 105 
 
 between the middle Congo and the ocean. One of the most 
 distinguished French travellers of recent times in this country 
 has been M. de Brazza, who explored the Upper Ogoue. Mr. 
 Stanley has described the position of France in this quarter : 
 ' France is now mistress of a West African territory noble in its 
 dimensions, equal to the best tropic lands for its vegetable 
 productions, rich in mineral resources, most promising for its 
 future commercial importance. In area it covers a super- 
 ficies of 257,000 square miles, an area equal to that of France 
 and England combined, with access on the eastern side to 
 5200 miles of river navigation. On the west is a coast-line 
 nearly 800 miles long, washed by the 'Atlantic Ocean. It 
 contains within its borders eight spacious river basins, and 
 throughout all its broad surface of 90,000,000 square hectares 
 not one utterly destitute of worth can be found.' 
 
 France has come well out of the recent scramble for African 
 territory, and at the Congo Conference she gained more actual 
 territory than any other Power. The reversion of the magni- 
 ficent Congo Free State, that includes the valley of the Congo 
 and its affluents, and nearly touches the valley of the Zambesi, 
 may be hers. Over a huge portion of Africa French influence 
 is certainly increasing; and if she has lost colonial outposts 
 elsewhere, she has won 2,000,000 square miles of territory here. 
 
 Patriotic Frenchmen desire to make certain definite centres 
 in Africa where Frenchmen will 'find an asylum against the 
 jealous competition of Europeans as much as against the 
 hostility of the natives.' Among such hospitable stations 
 would be Franceville, Alima, and Brazzaville. This suggestion 
 has emanated from the veteran Lesseps, and it remains to be 
 seen whether the colonising energy of individual Frenchmen 
 will be sufficient to utilise their magnificent ideals. Access to 
 the highlands of Central Africa beyond the river valleys will 
 doubtless be much facilitated by railways. 
 
 In the history of French colonisation it cannot, however, be 
 forgotten that at one time this nation seemed to hold the 
 destinies of the Lake districts and the Mississippi valley in 
 
106 British Colonisation 
 
 the New World in their own hands, and that it was chiefly 
 through the lack of individual zeal and perseverance that their 
 Transatlantic empire fell through. On the west coast of Africa, 
 however, some of the hardiest sailors and colonists have been 
 known for centuries. The seamen of Dieppe and Rouen, 
 going southwards between the Canaries and the mainland, 
 visited the ports of the Gold Coast and Guinea, gave their 
 names to the bays and headlands, and formed settlements 
 under royal sanction at Elmina, Fantin, and Cormontin. In 
 1600-1700, under Richelieu and Colbert, afforts were made to 
 develop West Africa by means of companies. 
 
 Frenchmen, at first, made the same mistake as ourselves 
 and other nations in supposing that a tropical country could 
 be opened up by agriculturists from home. The fate of the 
 Highlanders at Panama, and our own colonists on the Niger 
 itself, and also at various times in the West Indian islands, 
 overtook the French peasantry when transplanted to the 
 malarious regions of Senegal. 
 
 French trade and colonisation were also cramped and 
 fettered by a hidebound system of Government protection and 
 bounties. In one thing the French were consistent, French 
 merchants being always compelled to buy and sell at Govern- 
 ment depots. Political disturbances at home have combined 
 to render French occupation of the West Coast as ineffectual 
 in its results as elsewhere. During the troubles that followed 
 upon 1789, all the French forts of the Upper Senegal were 
 destroyed : there was no permanence and continuity in the 
 government of West Africa, no fewer than thirty-two officers 
 administering the settlements between 1817 and 1857. French 
 Africa seemed to lie like an incubus upon French home 
 resources ; and Senegal, which surrendered to the British in 
 1809, but was restored by the Treaty of Paris, was returned 
 upon French hands like a white elephant, expensive to keep 
 and hard to be disposed of to any one. As above hinted, 
 however, Senegal has, owing to the policy of M. Faidherbe, 
 begun to acquire a new significance in relation to the rest of 
 
The West African Settlements 107 
 
 West Africa. The engineering skill and mechanical inventions 
 of the nineteenth century have come to the aid of France, and, 
 under a peaceful and stable Government France may yet 
 carry out a great work of civilisation in West and North- West 
 Africa. Quite recently the Morocco question has revealed to 
 how great an extent France is interested in this part of the 
 world. 
 
 References : 
 
 Park (Mungo), Travels in Africa, 1795-97. 
 
 Caillie's Travels to Timbuctoo, 1830. 
 
 A Voyage down the Dark River, by Richard and John Lander, 1832. 
 
 Up the Niger ; by Captain Mockler-Ferryman, 1892. 
 
 The Development of Africa, by Silva White, 1892. 
 
 The West African Islands, by Major Ellis. 
 
 Through Fanteeland to Coomassie, by Frederick Boyle, 1874. 
 
 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, passim. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES 
 
 THERE is no group of colonies whose annals abound in such 
 picturesque and dramatic incidents as the South African. In 
 the first place, the Kaffir wars alone furnish a whole epic 
 of adventure. Who can read unmoved the story of our 
 campaigns from the beginning of the present century to the 
 last Zulu War ? British troops have met and overcome a 
 black foe of extraordinary courage and vitality, totally unlike 
 the aborigines of other countries, and gifted with intelligence 
 of a high order. For those who know the Kaffir races con- 
 cede to them a measure of understanding that goes further 
 than mere barbaric craft. Their well-known leaders, such 
 as Macomo, Sandili, Kreli, Cetywayo, have all been men of 
 superior calibre, possessed of powers of organisation infinitely 
 more effectual than those of ordinary -savages ; and they have 
 succeeded in compelling in their own persons the unswerving 
 loyalty of thousands. Kaffir chiefs have been kingly men, 
 ruling as kings should, and summing up the powers of the 
 State in themselves. L'etat <?est moi has been their motto ; 
 and how infinitely superior the Kaffir race has been as a ruling 
 power in South Africa may be inferred by a contrast between 
 it and the hordes of Hottentots and Bushmen who occupied 
 the extremity of South Africa. The Hottentots have never 
 achieved any kind of national unity compared with that of the 
 great Bantu race. They have simply roamed over the veldt 
 as scattered and disorganised clans, living precariously from 
 
 108 
 
The South African Colonies 109 
 
 hand to mouth, and disappearing before the Europeans without 
 any adequate show of resistance. 
 
 In the case of Cetywayo, the whilom monarch of Zululand, 
 the British had to face a well-drilled army of 40,000 men, 
 devotedly attached to the person of their sovereign. Supersti- 
 tion, also, had long invested the Kaffir chiefs with unspeakable 
 powers of its own. There has always been the dreaded witch- 
 doctor, that strange assessor of kingly power, ready to pry into 
 the lives and fortunes of the Kaffir subjects and to bring 
 destruction in the twinkling of an eye upon the most pro- 
 sperous and wealthy. Such individuals have held in Kaffirland 
 a secret and accursed monopoly rivalling that of a Vehmgericht 
 or a Venetian Council of Ten. There has been, from time to 
 time, the weird prophet or prophetess, arising in the land to 
 revive the lagging patriotism of the beaten, and, Tyrtseus-like, 
 exhort them to greater efforts. Once, in 1856, the Kaffir 
 race, acting under the influence of a girl-prophetess named Nong- 
 qause, who asserted that whilst drawing water from the well 
 she had a revelation from the spirit-world to the effect that the 
 ghosts of their forefathers would rise again in myriads and 
 drive the English into the sea, destroyed all their grain and 
 killed their cattle. In blind faith they waited for the appointed 
 day when, at a given signal, their Hectors and Sarpedons and 
 the shadowy files of heroes should come to restore their race ; 
 and then starved inch by inch in their native forests, grubbing 
 for roots like baboons. Such a case of national suicide has 
 surely no parallel ! Let us not call it absolute folly in the 
 breasts of these misguided savages ; rather patriotism gone wild 
 and desperate, and grasping for life as a drowning man clutches 
 at the floating straws. The Kaffir race has always given us, in 
 the midst of all its utter hopeless barbarism, some bright spark 
 of chivalrous devotion and the token of a faith that may remove 
 mountains. As they have fallen beneath the sway of our 
 missionaries and philanthropists, this devotion, chivalry, and 
 faith have all been turned to better and more hopeful ends. 
 
 For ourselves, the incidents of Kaffir campaigns have been 
 
1 10 British Colonisation 
 
 exciting enough for the most extravagant paintings of war 
 novelists. Border frays innumerable, cattle-liftings, burning 
 homesteads, hurried flights, secret ambuscades, open fights, 
 wild border revenges, cast a lurid glow upon the story of South 
 African colonisation. Both the colonists of Albany,, living a 
 precarious existence of old in the historic Fish River valley, 
 the military settlers of King William's Town, as well as the 
 regular soldiers of the British army, have all had their strange 
 and fascinating tales of adventure. Sometimes it appeared as 
 if, after years of fighting, the wave of barbarism would prevail, 
 and as if, in despair at the cost and risk, England would 
 surrender her task in South Africa. Now and again disaster 
 of more than usual severity has waited upon the progress of 
 British arms. 
 
 No more mournful event than the death of the Prince 
 Imperial in Zululand has ever happened in the annals of British 
 colonisation ; and the author of this sketch, resident then at 
 the Cape, well remembers how, on June 15, 1880, the Boadicea 
 brought round the remains of the Prince, and unspeakable 
 grief and shame filled all hearts : how, also, on January 1 9, 
 1879, the n ews came from the frontier how the gallant 24th, 
 overwhelmed and outnumbered by the Zulu hordes, had 
 perished to a man, selling their lives dearly under the krantzes 
 or boulders of Isandlwana. 
 
 Still there was hope. England's mission in South Africa 
 was not destined to be interrupted by a strategic mishap nor 
 the untimely fate of the Prince Imperial. The Transvaal 
 retrocession was, in reality, the hardest blow of all dealt at 
 England's influence by men in power at home. Yet this may, 
 perhaps, be healed by the processes of time and the develop- 
 ment of the gold-mines, and ' the jingling of the guinea help 
 the hurt that honour feels,' however much ' nations may snarl 
 at one another's heels.' England, as a nation, cannot 
 altogether be taxed with the maladministration of occasional 
 Ministries. Her flag may be lowered for a while by a timorous 
 and palsied hand, but it will soon be hoisted to its proper 
 
The South African Colonies 1 1 1 
 
 position. There is no doubt about England's storage of 
 strength and recuperative power. 
 
 ' Merses profundo pulchrior evenit ' ; 
 
 and so, in spite of follies, mishaps, and depths of repentance, 
 John Bull marches on. England has most incontrovertible 
 title-deeds to her heritage in South Africa. 
 
 The annals of South Africa prove that no nation in the world 
 has ever expended one-hundredth of the amount of blood and 
 money at this corner of the Dark Continent that England has ; 
 no nation has ever explored it like the British; no nation 
 more truly developed all its wonderful mineral and other 
 resources than England ; therefore the prize of South African 
 dominion must be hers. 
 
 ' Palmam qui meruit ferat.' 
 
 As matters stand at present, England is very deeply com- 
 mitted in South Africa. The area of her responsibilities has 
 widened, and from the Cape to the Zambesi she is the para- 
 mount Power. She holds the Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, 
 Basutoland, Pondoland, Bechuanaland, Mashonaland ; and from 
 South Zambesia her influence is reaching northwards to North 
 Zambesia and the distant Equatorial Provinces. A railway 
 extends for nearly a thousand miles from Table Bay north- 
 wards, telegraphs span the country from Capetown to Fort 
 Salisbury in Mashonaland, mines are being worked and in- 
 dustries developed, and the English language and literature 
 are gradually spreading over the whole country. The pax 
 Britannica has worked wonders within the last decade. The 
 possessions of Germany on the south-west littoral, the Dutch 
 Republics of the Free State and the Transvaal in the interior 
 of the country, and the Portuguese on the east coast, seem to 
 stand somewhat in the way of British Empire in South Africa ; 
 but the impediments they offer respectively are not serious, 
 and the time cannot be far distant when the various elements 
 will settle down together to work out a common destiny. 
 Meantime, there are surely no pages of colonial history more 
 
112 British Colonisation 
 
 deserving of study than that of the South African settlements. 
 The annals of Australia are commonplace by their side. The 
 latter give us pictures in abundance of stereotyped and even 
 redundant good-fortune ; but the romance of history is absent, 
 the glamour of adventure has passed away, and the young 
 States seem lifted above the vicissitudes and sport of fortune. 
 Scarcely a dark cloud can be conjured up above the horizon, 
 and, secure in their monopoly of the South Pacific, the 
 Australians are developing to the full an unimpeded pro- 
 sperity. In Africa, a continent which in its whole extent falls 
 under the influence, if it does not actually come within the 
 State system, of Europe, the tale of development must neces- 
 sarily be more diversified : rivalries are more keen, border diffi- 
 culties more real, and the whole problem of reclamation and 
 civilisation infinitely more complicated. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most interesting studies is to inquire 
 into the nature of the circumstances under which England 
 succeeded to her South African heritage ; and it may be worth 
 while in the following brief sketch (i) to draw attention to a 
 few of the historical incidents preceding the period of occupa- 
 tion, (2) to prove the circumstances of French intrigue whilst 
 the Cape was still in Dutch hands, (3) to point out some of the 
 more notable characteristics of Dutch rule itself. Compara- 
 tively few understand what the nature of this Dutch rule was 
 how hopelessly retrogressive and effete, how selfish and how 
 isolated, and what a dead-weight it imposed upon the spirit of 
 true colonisation. When England came officially to South 
 Africa she rid the country of the incubus of an official monopoly 
 beneath which burghers groaned and suffered in silence. 
 
 In South Africa, as in West Africa, the first honours of 
 exploration rest with the Portuguese mariners. Prince Henry 
 of Portugal had long inspired his countrymen with the 
 ambition of sailing down these southern waters. Little by 
 little, first past Cape Non, the limit of former enterprises, arid 
 then to Cape Verde, Cape Palmas, and so down the Guinea 
 coast to the Congo and Angola, they had cautiously felt their 
 
The South African Colonies 1 1 3 
 
 way. The voyage of Bartolomeo Diaz was the last of a series 
 of adventures, and the crowning feat of all (1486). When 
 Diaz had doubled Cape Point, and made his celebrated land- 
 fall on the island of St. Croix in Algoa Bay, the mystery of 
 ages was unfolded and the path to the ' Golden Orient ' made 
 clear. As far as South Africa itself was concerned, the 
 Portuguese left it alone, and the phrase ' Cape of Good Hope ' 
 referred to the hopeful anticipation of Indian trade rather 
 than to the prospects of any wealth to be garnered from the 
 shores of South Africa itself: indeed, the Cape was most 
 studiously avoided by the Portuguese mariners as a dangerous 
 and inhospitable place ; and the natives gained for themselves 
 the name of being savage and intractable when, in 1510, they 
 attacked d' Almeida, the Portuguese Indian Viceroy, and slew 
 him, together with sixty-five of the best men in his fleet. 
 
 The Portuguese revenge was peculiar. Three years after- 
 wards a Portuguese captain is said to have landed a piece of 
 ordnance, loaded with grape-shot, as a pretended gift to the 
 Hottentots. Two ropes were attached to it, and the Hottentots, 
 men, women, and children, flocked down to drag away the gift 
 a truly lethale donum, like the Trojan horse when the 
 Portuguese captain fired off the piece and slew large numbers 
 of them. For the future the Portuguese pilots made a clean run 
 from the island of St. Helena to Mozambique, giving the stormy 
 Cape a wide berth. In vain, therefore, do we look for any per- 
 manent signs of Portuguese possession, either in Natal or the 
 Cape Colony, and there is nothing to remind us of their presence 
 along the coasts excepting a few names of bays and promontories. 
 The Spaniards, it may be remarked, never adventured hither, 
 keeping to the New World, in accordance with the papal bull. 
 
 The first English vessel that rounded the Cape was that of 
 Francis Drake, the great Elizabethan seaman, who sailed from 
 Plymouth on December 13, 1577, on his celebrated voyage 
 round the world, in the wake of Magalhaens. His ship, the 
 Pelican, was not anchored in Table Bay, nor in any South 
 African port, and the account given of the famous Cape is : 
 
 H 
 
114 British Colonisation 
 
 ' This Cape is a most stately thing, and the fairest Cape we saw 
 in the whole circumference of the world.' The Cape was 
 kinder to English sailors than to others ; and van Linschoten 
 remarks, on the occasion of a violent storm off the Cape, that 
 ' nothing surprised him more than that God the Lord caused 
 them, who were good Christians and Catholics, with large and 
 strong ships, always to pass the Cape with such great and violent 
 tempests and damage, while the English, who were heretics and 
 blasphemers, passed it so easily with small and weak ships.' 
 
 After Drake came Candish, or Cavendish, the gentleman 
 adventurer, who ' encompassed the globe ' on his first voyage 
 in what was considered a very short space of time, harried the 
 Spaniards, and returned laden with booty and spoils. ' His 
 soldiers and sailors,' we are told, ' were clothed in silk, his sails 
 were damask, and his topmast covered with cloth of gold.' x 
 He was a skilful navigator, and discovered that the Portuguese 
 reckoning of 2000 leagues from Java to the Cape of Good 
 Hope was erroneous, his own calculation being 1850 leagues. 
 Other famous English navigators visited the Cape, amongst 
 them being John Davis of Sandridge, Devon, and James 
 Lancaster, whose names are associated chiefly with Arctic 
 exploration. From the beginning of the seventeenth century 
 ( 1 60 1 ) the Cape was often visited by the ships of the English 
 East India Company. 
 
 Cavendish, on his return voyage, touched at the African island 
 of St. Helena, which had been discovered by the Portuguese 
 on St. Helena's Day, May 2ist, 1502 a discovery they were at 
 great pains to conceal and was the first English sailor who 
 pointed out the advantages of the island as a recruiting-station 
 and port of call. He describes it as 'a delicious island covered 
 with trees.' St. Helena became in course of time the English 
 station in the South Atlantic, and the East India Company ob- 
 tained a charter for its possession from Charles 11. ; and for more 
 than a hundred and fifty years i.e. until 1834 it remained 
 exclusively under the Company's jurisdiction, excepting, indeed, 
 
 1 Granger's Biographical History of England. 
 
The South African Colonies 115 
 
 during the period of Napoleon's captivity there. This occupa- 
 tion distracted the attention of British sailors and navigators 
 from the Cape of Good Hope, which was colonised by the 
 Dutch under van Riebeek in connection with their Eastern 
 empire. 
 
 Before the British came to the Cape little was known of 
 the Hinterland or back-country. Here the vision of some 
 El Dorado tantalised the imagination of the old Dutch settlers. 
 Just as Ralegh and Keymis were convinced that somewhere 
 up the Orinoco valley could be found the golden city of 
 Manoa and the accumulated treasury of El Dorado ; or as the 
 numerous West African explorers kept steadily in view as a 
 goal to be reached the barbaric splendours of Timbuctoo ; so 
 even the phlegmatic Dutch imagined that in the interior of 
 South Africa lay some wonderful city, the centre of a rich 
 empire. In Dapper's map of South Africa (1668) a great river 
 figures as a prominent geographical feature, rising somewhere 
 north of the Tropic of Capricorn, and flowing first south 
 and then east, finally reaching the sea south of the present 
 boundaries of Natal. On its north bank were such places as 
 Camissa and Vigiti Magna. The empire of Monomotapa, 
 also, with its vast and shadowy outlines, exercised some spell 
 upon the Dutch; and in 1660 Jan van Riebeek, the first 
 Governor of the Cape, sent an expedition to look for it, but 
 the explorers only advanced a short distance up Namaqualand. 
 
 During the Dutch occupation hundreds of ships of all 
 nationalities passed by the Cape and anchored under the 
 shadows of Table Mountain ; but what there was in the interior 
 few took the trouble to know. The crews during their sojourn 
 at the port would marvel at the Company's zoological gardens 
 and the wild beasts of the country that were kept in confine- 
 ment there, and listen to the tales of ' chimaeras dire ' which 
 the Dutch officials thought fit to propagate. Even without 
 exaggerating or furbishing up ' Miinchausen ' tales, the wild 
 beasts of South Africa were a real terror and obstacle to 
 travellers. 
 
1 1 6 British Colonisation 
 
 Now and then, also, a shipwrecked crew, such as that of 
 the Dutch ship Stavenisse (1685), thrown upon inhospitable 
 shores, would be compelled to sojourn amongst the natives, 
 and emerge afterwards, perhaps, half savages in their habits 
 and ways of life. Strange stories have not been wanting of 
 adventures of Europeans along the unreclaimed and unsurveyed 
 shores of South Africa. In 1754 an English ship called the 
 Doddington, with a crew of 220 souls, was run ashore on one 
 of the Bird Islands at the entrance of Algoa Bay. As the sea 
 broke furiously over the vessel, the work of rescue was rendered 
 almost impossible, and out of the whole number only twenty- 
 three men managed to save themselves. Here they managed to 
 live for seven months, in trembling fear of the natives, and at last 
 launched a boat which they had been able to construct, and 
 sailed round the coast to Delagoa Bay, where they met an 
 English ship which took them to India. 
 
 Still more terrible, because of the uncertainty that long pre- 
 vailed with regard to the fate of some of the survivors, was the 
 wreck of an East Indiaman, the Grosvenor (1782), on the 
 coasts of Kaffraria, above St. John's River. The greater part 
 of the crew and all the passengers succeeded in gaining the 
 shore, and endeavoured to reach the Cape Colony by land ; 
 only a few managed to do this, and it was conjectured that 
 some, and amongst these some women, were taken captive by 
 the Kaffirs, and, abandoning all hope of ever reaching England 
 again, lived and intermarried with their captors. The Govern- 
 ment sent out an expedition to search for them in 1783, and 
 descendants of the unfortunate crew and passengers were said 
 to be in existence many years afterwards. A dark cloud of 
 mystery hangs over their fate, and the whole subject is one 
 that might challenge the imagination and call forth the 
 descriptive powers of the novelist. 
 
 Now and then shipwrecked sailors voluntarily threw their 
 lot in with the Kaffirs, as was the case with three Englishmen 
 wrecked in the Good Hope, towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century. We are told that when a chance of escape was 
 
The South African Colonies 1 1 7 
 
 offered them they refused to go, having formed connections 
 with the natives ; contrasting the ease of their barbarous life 
 at Natal with the hardships they had endured at sea. In the 
 words of Locksley Hall, they ' burst all links of habit there 
 to wander far away ' in a land where 
 f Never comes the trader, never floats an European flag, 
 Slides the bird o'er lustrous woodland, swings the trailer from the crag. ' 
 
 Sometimes, also, there were less reputable characters who lived 
 with the Kaffirs as Kaffirs in every respect : refugees from justice 
 in the Cape Colony. Such was Coenraad Buys, who lived as a 
 polygamist with the Kaffir chief Nqgika. He was not, we are 
 told, the only European in that country who had thrown off all 
 the restraints of the Christian religion and civilisation, there 
 being a large party of them at the king's kraal. There were 
 two brothers Lochenberg, a German named Cornelius Faber, 
 and the inevitable Irish deserter from the army, besides several 
 young men connected with the old colonial families men 
 who, like the French coureurs des bois in Canada, associated 
 entirely with the savages of the country. 
 
 The knowledge that such waifs and strays could communi- 
 cate about the interior of South Africa was naturally very 
 little. More useful was that which men of science could im- 
 part. In 1751 the great astronomer Lacaille visited South 
 Africa for the purpose of measuring an arc of the meridian, 
 and travelled in the flat and somewhat sterile regions of 
 Namaqualand. Presently, also, the tribe of naturalists and 
 botanists overran the country, chief amongst them the great 
 Thunberg, called ' the father of Cape botany,' and the first 
 to grapple with the enormous mass of Cape flora a man 
 of most extraordinary industry and of physical endurance. 
 Andrew Sparrmann, also, was a good and trustworthy traveller 
 (1772) in the country. The great Linnaeus himself, so 
 Sparrmann observes, had an ambition to visit South Africa 
 and see for himself those wonderful heaths and orchids which 
 were described to him, and presented to him only as a 
 hortus siccus. Indeed, the Swedish naturalists went every- 
 
Ii8 British Colonisation 
 
 where at the inspiration of this great father of natural science. 
 Professor Kalm, of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, 
 explored North America in 1748 ; Dr. Hasselquist ransacked 
 the botanical treasures of Asia Minor, Egypt, and Palestine ; 
 Osbeck and Toreen, two other disciples of Linnaeus, explored 
 China. But there was certainly no country in the world which 
 so repaid research as the sub-tropical zone of South Africa. 
 The enthusiastic botanists who conducted their researches 
 there not only saw and described plants and flowers but also 
 men and manners ; and, as most of them possessed that 
 accuracy which belongs to the observers of nature, they must 
 be accepted as authorities on South Africa in a general sense. 
 For a long time it must be remembered that the French 
 had been nibbling at the Cape. In 1666, during the 
 governorship of van Quaelberg, the Dutch commander at 
 the Cape, a well-known French expedition under the Marquis 
 de Montdevergne, the Viceroy of the French possessions in 
 the East, had put into Table Bay. This expedition was the 
 result of many attempts on the part of France to form a 
 powerful French East India Company, and was guided by 
 Colbert, the ambitious Colonial Minister of Louis xiv., whose 
 designs covered the regions of the East no less than the 
 valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi on the 
 Western continent. Louis xiv. had instructed his deputy 
 to take possession of Saldanha Bay, and establish a French 
 residency there. Acting in obedience to these instructions, 
 the French surveyed the bay and set up landmarks with the 
 King's arms upon them. These, however, were speedily re- 
 moved by the Dutch authorities at the Cape, and shields 
 erected bearing the Dutch Company's arms upon them. The 
 French, therefore, were warned off South African territory ; 
 and their designs were viewed with the greater suspicion 
 because it was rumoured that the French intended to abandon 
 Madagascar, or the Island of St. Lawrence, as it was called, 
 and to gain a foothold at the Cape. 1 
 
 1 Theal's History of South Africa, p. 196. 
 
The South African Colonies 119 
 
 The Dutch were so impressed with the value of the Cape 
 at this early date that they used to term the Cape Castle 
 ' the frontier fortress of India.' Moreover, there was a deep 
 national rivalry between the Dutch and French, intensified 
 by religious hatred one nation being the champion of Pro- 
 testantism, the other of Roman Catholicism. The Cape was 
 in the seventeenth century the refuge of Protestant exiles, and 
 ' No Popery ' was plainly written up in the Cape Colony ; no 
 popish rites or celebration of the mass were tolerated on the 
 shores of Table Bay. In 1689 the Dutch governor, acting up 
 to home instructions 'to treat the French everywhere as 
 enemies and cause them all possible injury,' seized treacher- 
 ously two French ships, the Normande and Le Cache, as they 
 lay in Table Bay, taking the crews prisoners. In those days 
 seafaring nations did not wait for open declarations of war 
 either in the East or the West Indies, knowing that, by the rules 
 of a kind of sea-divinity that was popular in those days, might 
 was right, and acts lawful in distant quarters of the globe 
 which would not be tolerated nearer home. In this instance 
 Louis xiv. was powerless to take vengeance, being scarcely 
 able to hold his own against England and her allies in 
 Europe. 
 
 The most determined effort to seize the Cape was made 
 about a hundred years later, when Suffren, after a well-fought 
 but indecisive action with Commander Johnstone (1781), near 
 St. lago, sailed southwards to Table Bay. The English 
 admiral was so far crippled by the action that he could not 
 pursue him, and French regiments garrisoned Cape Town. 
 In 1782 Rodney achieved his famous victory over de Grasse 
 in the West Indies, which not only saved the West Indies but 
 dealt a tremendous blow upon French maritime enterprise in 
 every quarter of the globe. In India, also, Labourdonnais and 
 Lally suffered disaster upon disaster ; so that, even if France 
 had made great efforts to obtain a grip upon the Cape, the 
 post would have been of little avail to her with her sea dominion 
 in peril in Atlantic waters and her land forces routed on the 
 
I2O British Colonisation 
 
 Indian peninsula. Yet the strategic value of the Cape was 
 fully recognised by the French, and it was the opinion of her 
 admirals that the successful issue of any war carried on 
 between two European Powers in the East depended entirely 
 upon the acquisition and retention of the Cape of Good Hope 
 and the Bay of Trincomalee in Ceylon. The English also 
 attached the utmost importance to the Cape; and Henry 
 Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville) declared in the House 
 of Commons that the Minister who should dare to give it up 
 ought to lose his head. 
 
 Even after the first occupation of the Cape of Good Hope 
 by the British, we shall see that the French were extremely 
 loth to give up all thoughts of embarrassing English policy 
 there, and effecting, if possible, a foothold for themselves. 
 When the Rattlesnake was anchored in Algoa Bay, a French 
 man-of-war, la Preneuse, of forty-eight guns, sailed up to the 
 anchorage flying British colours, and was supposed to be one of 
 the British squadron on the coast. Dropping anchor between 
 the Camel, an old store-ship, and the Rattlesnake, she fired 
 a broadside into the former and hoisted the tricolour. The 
 British made the best resistance they could under the cir- 
 cumstances, and the troops that were on the shores of Algoa 
 Bay erected a battery and played upon the French ship ; the 
 action lasted six hours and twenty minutes, until darkness 
 came on, and at last the French commander withdrew to the 
 Bird Islands, close by. The admiral at the Cape sent a frigate 
 in pursuit of la Preneuse afterwards, but she escaped, running 
 into the River Plate, where she was stranded and abandoned. 
 
 It was clear, however, that in spite of sudden descents upon 
 the shores, as that of Suffren, and surprise visits of such ships as 
 la Preneuse, the Cape was destined to pass permanently into the 
 hands of the British, whose sovereignty of the ocean was com- 
 pletely established. The end both to Dutch rule and French 
 machinations at the Cape was to come in the year 1795. In 
 June of that year Admiral Elphinstone and General Craig 
 anchored in Table Bay with eight ships and four thousand 
 
The South African Colonies 1 2 1 
 
 men. Judge Watermeyer, one of the ablest essayists on Cape 
 history, has put the circumstances of this visit in the following 
 words : 
 
 ' They conveyed the startling intelligence that the Hereditary 
 Stadtholder had been driven from the Netherlands, that the 
 French had overrun the country, and a Republican Convention 
 had been established in connection with that which swayed 
 France. The Prince of Orange had sought refuge in England, 
 and had implored aid from the British Government. An 
 order from the exiled Stadtholder, addressed to the Govern- 
 ment of the Cape, was in the possession of the admiral. It 
 was dated from Kew, and was of the following tenor : 
 
 ' " We have deemed it necessary by these presents to com- 
 mand you to admit into the Castle, as also elsewhere in the 
 Colony under your government, the troops that shall be sent 
 thither by His Majesty the King of Great Britain, and also to 
 admit the ships of war, frigates, or armed vessels which shall 
 be sent to you on the part of His Majesty, into False Bay, or 
 wherever they can safely anchor; and you are to consider 
 them as troops and ships of a Power in friendship, in alliance 
 with their High Mightinesses the States-General, and who 
 come to protect the Colony against the invasion of the 
 French. Consigning you to the protection of Providence, 
 we are, WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE." ' 
 
 There was a fear, also, that the feeling of rebellion which 
 existed in 1795 against the constituted rule of the Dutch East 
 India Company, and had shown itself in the uncompromising 
 attitude of the burghers of Swellendam and Graaf Reinet, the 
 two outlying provinces of the Cape at that time, was prompted 
 and encouraged by the doctrines and teachings of the French 
 Revolutionists. To some extent this fear may have been 
 well grounded, and consequently the Stadtholder was justified, 
 not only from his standpoint in Europe, but also a purely 
 colonial standpoint, in placing the Cape under the protection, 
 for the time at least, of Great Britain, the determined and 
 successful foe of the French Republic in Europe. But it 
 
122 British Colonisation 
 
 may have escaped his notice, as well as that of all those who 
 were officially connected with the administration of the Cape, 
 that the dissatisfaction of the Cape burghers against the Com- 
 pany in 1795-6, although it may have partly been moulded by 
 the doctrines of liberty and equality then promulgated over the 
 whole world, was in the main the result of generations of bad 
 government at the Cape itself. For a hundred and fifty years the 
 Dutch officials there had lorded it as an exclusive and aristo- 
 cratic clique, and had displayed on every occasion the worst 
 features of monopolists. There was, therefore, a faint-hearted 
 opposition to General Craig and Admiral Elphinstone. The 
 Dutch Governor of the Cape, Commander Sluysken, felt himself 
 bound to resist the British occupation in spite of the Stadt- 
 holder's order; but his garrison consisted of only 500 men of 
 a German regiment in the Dutch pay, and some artillery, 
 and no dependence could be placed upon the disaffected 
 Dutch burghers. His reply to the British officers was more 
 bold than circumstances warranted him in making: 'Dis- 
 avowing all sentiments of Jacobinism, he was prepared,' he said, 
 ' to defend the colony against any force that might be sent 
 against him by the French Convention, equally as he was now 
 prepared to defend it against the British fleet and army.' Re- 
 sistance proved to be futile; there was some trifling skirmish- 
 ing at Muizenberg beach on False Bay, the burghers behaved 
 badly, and Sluysken capitulated. 
 
 To add to his confusion, at the very time a truce was being 
 concluded with the British an offensive message was sent to 
 him from the rebel burghers at Tulbagh, in the form of a 
 resolution from the ' Nationals ' of the Cape, signed by their 
 commandant, an Italian named Pisani, demanding a reply to 
 previous communications, and threatening hostilities. Thus 
 placed between two fires, Sluysken had no alternative but 
 to capitulate. This was the end of the rule of the Dutch 
 East India Company, which had held Table Bay for so many 
 years. 
 
 The first occupation of the Cape by the British lasted until 
 
The South African Colonies 123 
 
 the Treaty of Amiens, 1802, by which the country was re- 
 stored to the sovereignty of the Batavian Republic. In 1803 
 the country was evacuated by the English, and Commissary 
 de Mist, a member of the Council for the Asiatic posses- 
 sions, was appointed as Commissary-General for the Republic 
 to receive the colony from the British authorities. He also 
 installed General Janssen as the new Governor of the Cape. 
 A new regime for Dutch South Africa promised to begin, 
 and Commissary de Mist occupied himself earnestly with many 
 necessary local reforms, dividing the country into ' drostdys ' or 
 districts, and encouraging the industries, and especially the 
 agriculture, of the country. But these reforms of the internal 
 administration of Dutch South Africa came too late. The 
 Cape was really at the mercy of complications in Europe ; the 
 Peace of Amiens was quickly broken ; the flames of war blazed 
 out again, and hostilities were resumed between England and 
 France. 
 
 The importance of the Cape as the frontier fortress of India 
 seemed to be greater than ever, and in 1806 a force was sent 
 out under General Sir David Baird, consisting of about 4000 
 men. The largeness of the force proved clearly the deter- 
 mination of the British Government to secure the Cape at all 
 hazards. After a short engagement the Batavian troops were 
 routed in the vicinity of Cape Town, and a second time the 
 ancient castle of Cape Town fell into British hands. For 
 some years after this the Cape was regarded as merely a 
 temporary possession by conquest ; but in 1814 a convention 
 was agreed to between the Prince, sovereign of the restored 
 and united Netherlands, on the one hand, and His Majesty 
 the King of Great Britain on the other, by which, in con- 
 sideration of certain charges provided by the latter for the 
 defence of the Low Countries and their settlement in union 
 with Holland, the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, together 
 with Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, was ceded in per- 
 petuity to the British Crown. Such were the circumstances 
 attending the transference of the Cape from the weak rule of 
 
124 British Colonisation 
 
 Holland to the strong tutelage of Great Britain. It was one of 
 the greatest prizes that fell to her as mistress of the seas far 
 greater than any of the West Indies, which then seemed to be 
 the most flourishing colonies for European capitalists. The 
 Cape could, in fact, never belong to any European State 
 whose sea power was not acknowledged on all hands to be 
 supreme and unquestioned. 
 
 But what, it may be asked, was the character more particu- 
 larly of the Dutch rule that was now supplanted ? What had 
 the Dutch officials done for the country or people ? What 
 was their policy, and how had they used their opportunities? 
 What was the general state of society in this comparatively 
 unknown corner of the globe ? 
 
 There are in existence curious notices of both the official 
 life of the Dutch merchants and of the habits of the Boers and 
 Voertrekkers. In the Castle of Cape Town there was enough 
 and to spare of pomp and ceremony. The period of Governor 
 Tulbagh's governorship (1751-1771) was regarded as the 
 golden age of Dutch officialdom at the Cape ; and the laws, 
 rules, and regulations of the little staff survive as ridiculous 
 and grotesque monuments of the pretentious claims of the 
 Dutch ' koopmanner' or merchants. Various class regulations 
 and sumptuary laws were passed to keep the distinction clear 
 between the 'koopmanner' and the ordinary burghers; inter 
 alia : ' No one less in rank than a junior merchant should 
 venture to use an umbrella,' and ' every person, without excep- 
 tion, shall stop his carriage, and get out of it, when he shall 
 see the Governor approach, and shall likewise get out of the 
 way so as to allow a convenient passage to the carriage of any 
 of the members of the Court of Policy' ; also, ' no woman below 
 the wives of junior merchants, or those who, among citizens, are 
 of the same rank, may wear silk dresses, with silk braiding or 
 embroidery, nor any diamonds or mantelets; and although 
 the wives of the junior merchants may wear these ornaments, 
 they shall not be entitled to allow their daughters to wear 
 them. All women, married or single, without distinction, are 
 
The South African Colonies 125 
 
 prohibited, whether in mourning or out of mourning, under a 
 penalty of twenty-five rix-dollars, to wear dresses with a train.' 
 Moreover, in the days of Tulbagh, no man dared pass his 
 house without taking off his hat, whether the great man was 
 inside or not. Etiquette followed these Dutch officials to the 
 grave, and it was a rigorous law that for a Governor and 
 members of the Court of Policy alone dust might be strewn 
 before the house door as a sign of bereavement. 
 
 Of the social life of the scattered Dutch Boers, Sparrmann 
 the Swede and le Vaillant the French traveller give curious 
 accounts. The former, who travelled in the country as a 
 doctor, able and willing to cure complaints, found one of his 
 patients, a Dutch vrouw, living in a state of poverty, dirt, and 
 ignorance. ' A house plaistered up in a slovenly manner with 
 clay, a heap of dirty scabby children, a female slave dragging 
 after her a heavy iron chain fastened to one of her legs, the 
 features of the old woman herself, her peaked nose, her per- 
 petually scolding her servants,' constitute a by no means 
 agreeable picture of an African home. Sparrmann being an 
 entomologist, and covering his hat with 'specimens,' was 
 regarded as an uncanny conjurer or ' hex meester,' and had 
 great difficulty in calming the suspicions of the Dutch hostess. 
 'An explanation,' he observes, 'was necessary on the spot. 
 It was now necessary for me to cease eating a while for fear of 
 being choked with some of the big words and long Dutch 
 phrases, which I was obliged to coin on the spot, in order to 
 convince my hostess of the great utility of understanding these 
 little animals for medical purposes and at the same time to the 
 glory of the great Creator.' 
 
 Remarking on one of the churches not far from Cape Town, 
 Sparrmann observed : ' By this edifice I could plainly perceive 
 that these boors bestowed no more pains upon God's House 
 than they did upon their own. This church was, indeed, as 
 big as one of our largest hay-barns, and neatly covered, as the 
 other houses are, with dark-coloured reeds ; but without any 
 arching or ceiling, so that the transoms and beams within 
 
126 British Colonisation 
 
 made a miserable appearance. Altars and altar-tables are, I 
 believe, never used in the Reformed Church. There were 
 benches on the sides for the men ; but the women have each 
 of them their chair or stool in the aisle. The pulpit was too 
 plain and slovenly. 5 
 
 Mr. Latrobe, travelling in the country about 1818, gives a 
 somewhat typical reply of a Dutch corn-boer, considered a 
 shrewd man in his neighbourhood. To the natural query why 
 he did not plough more land and sow corn for the neighbour- 
 ing market of Cape Town, ' What,' cried he, 'would you have 
 us do ? Our only concern is to fill our bellies, to get good 
 clothes and houses, to say to one slave " Do this," and to 
 another " Do that," and to sit idle ourselves and be waited 
 upon ; and as to our tillage, or building, or planting, our fore- 
 fathers did so-and-so, and were satisfied, and why should not 
 we be the same ? The English want us to use their ploughs 
 instead of the heavy wooden ones ; but we like our old things 
 best.' It may be remarked that in the present year (1892) the 
 Cape Colony, rich and important as it has become, lives 
 mainly upon imported com and flour, and the Cape Colonist 
 eats the dearest loaf in the world. The descendants of the 
 corn-boer of 1818 have not wiped away the reproach of idle- 
 ness here brought against their fathers by Mr. Latrobe. 
 
 The whole rural population was roughly distinguished as the 
 wyn-boer or wine-grower, the koorn-boer or corn-grower, and 
 the vee-boer or grazier. Perhaps, for dirt and unprogressive- 
 ness, the vee-boer has the unenviable distinction of excelling 
 the others. * To an European the whole establishment of a 
 vee-boer presents a scene of filth and discomfort which could 
 scarcely be imagined. His hovel, generally perched on an 
 eminence, that no hostile attack may be made on it unper- 
 ceived, whether by man or beast, has neither tree, nor shrub, 
 nor blade of grass near it. A few straw huts, with a number of 
 Hottentot women and children naked or half-clothed in sheep- 
 skins, are the principal objects that attract the eye. Between 
 these huts and the boer's house, and immediately in front of 
 
The South African Colonies 127 
 
 the latter, surrounded by withered bushes of the thorny 
 mimosa, is the pen or " kraal" in which his cattle and sheep 
 are shut up at night to protect them from the wolves and 
 hyenas or to prevent their straying. The dung of these 
 kraals, the accumulation of years, sometimes rises to the eaves 
 of the house ; this, however, gives no concern to the boer, 
 who would probably see it overtop them with equal apathy ; 
 the only chance of its ever being cleared away is its taking fire, 
 which, in damp weather, sometimes happens.' * 
 
 The most hopeful industry of all was that of the wyn-boer ; 
 but here too few attempts were made to utilise to the best 
 purposes the good qualities of the grape. What was known as 
 dry Pontac was the best, having the qualities of port with the 
 flavour of Burgundy. But the sweet wines were without much 
 flavour the well-known Constantia being inferior to Madeira, 
 Malmsey, Malaga, or Frontignac. Moreover, all the Cape 
 wines possessed what was described as the 'kaap-smaak,' arising 
 either from careless preparation or from certain qualities com- 
 municated by the soil itself. 
 
 It may be asked whether there was any attempt on the part 
 of philanthropists to better the condition of the black popula- 
 tion of the Cape. Philanthropy was not much in vogue in 
 Europe in the eighteenth century; but the Moravians were 
 the first to take up the task of teachers and missionaries in 
 South Africa, and to devote themselves to the cause of the 
 Hottentots. In the year 1737 George Schmidt, known as the 
 ' apostle of the Hottentots,' landed in South Africa, and at a 
 place called 'Baviaans' Kloof or Baboons' Valley, now called 
 Genadendal or the Vale of Grace, collected a small band of 
 natives around him, to whom he taught the Christian faith. 
 He opened a school, in which he instructed the youth to read 
 Dutch, and even to learn the trades of craftsmen and artisans. 
 He also induced them to learn gardening and to cultivate plots 
 of ground. His mission and its results are thus described by 
 Mr. Theal, the latest historian of the Cape: 'In 1742 he 
 1 Quarterly Review, vol. xxii. p. 223. 
 
128 British Colonisation 
 
 considered five of his pupils sufficiently advanced in Christian 
 knowledge to be admitted to all the privileges of Christian 
 membership, and at their own request baptized them. The 
 report of this proceeding roused the jealousy of the clergy at 
 the Cape. They disputed his right to administer the sacra- 
 ments, as, according to law, only clergymen of the Reformed 
 Church were at liberty to do so in the colony. Henceforth he 
 was subjected to much annoyance and opposition from both 
 the officials and the burghers. So little were his labours 
 understood or appreciated by the colonists, that they imputed 
 to him the design of making himself a chief of the Hottentots, 
 or at least of enriching himself by illegally purchasing cattle 
 from his converts and their friends. . . . Under such incessant 
 labour, far away from society, and deprived of everything like 
 ordinary comfort, it is no wonder that George Schmidt's 
 strength and spirits began to give way. In 1744, after taking 
 an affecting farewell of his little flock, now numbering forty- 
 seven, and leaving them in charge of the most steady of their 
 number, he returned to Europe to recruit his failing health 
 and obtain assistants for his work. In the following year he 
 applied to the East India Company for permission to return ; 
 but an objection having been made by some persons of 
 influence that the propagation of Christianity by the Moravians 
 amongst the Hottentots would be detrimental to the interests 
 of the colony, his request was refused, to his great grief and 
 disappointment. A long night of darkness and misery was 
 yet before the wretched Hottentots.' J 
 
 It is interesting to learn that the seed thus sown has borne 
 good fruit, and that Genadendal has now (1891) a population 
 of 4000 natives, many of whom go out as labourers among the 
 farmers during the harvest and wine-pressing season. The 
 whole body of Moravians, according to the census of 1891, 
 numbered 16,297, of whom only 169 were Europeans. Such 
 was the proselytising force that the ignorant Boers thrust from 
 their gates a force that has tended by precept and by example 
 1 Theal's Compendium of South African History, p. HO. 
 
The South African Colonies 1 29 
 
 to teach the true value of labour, and to provide a class of 
 agriculturists and handicraftsmen most useful to the colonists. 
 But of course those men who spurned the efforts of Christianity 
 and philanthropy without scrupling afterwards to gain what 
 advantage they could from the mission-Hottentots' labour 
 were the forefathers of those voertrekkers who burned Dr. 
 Livingstone's house and books at Kuruman, and tried to bar 
 the way to the interior. 
 
 It may also be asked how far slavery, which proved to be 
 such a curse both to West Africa and the West Indies, blighting 
 both the land that gave the slave and the land that received 
 him, affected South Africa. Upon consideration it will be 
 clear that as there was no mining industry, as in Hispaniola, 
 or any tropical industry, such as sugar, coffee, or cocoa planting, 
 in South Africa, there could be no very great need of hordes 
 of imported slaves. Moreover, the Cape possessed a climate in 
 which the European could work all day, and nearly all the year 
 round, if he chose ; whereas the West Indies and Central 
 America were wholly unsuited to him. Slaves were very use- 
 ful, of course, to the wine-growers, the graziers and herdsmen ; 
 but such industries as the Cape could develop formerly were 
 purely local, hardly any produce being exported to the markets 
 of Europe. No great pecuniary profit could, therefore, accrue 
 to the South African farmer from the possession of slaves in 
 any way comparable to that which was the lot of sugar-planters, 
 for instance, in Jamaica. 
 
 In the Cape slavery was a matter of recent growth com- 
 pared to the traffic that went on in the Caribbean Seas. 
 Previous to 1685, the only slaves at the Cape were some ten or 
 twelve individuals, and these came not from the West African 
 coasts but from Malaya and Madagascar. In 1691 their 
 number had risen to 285 men slaves, 57 women slaves, and 
 44 slave children ; the European colonists at this time only 
 numbering 250 men, 50 women, and 60 or 70 children. The 
 terms of servitude were not very hard in the early days of the 
 Cape Colony, and there was a charitable inclination displayed 
 
130 British Colonisation 
 
 towards the blacks, when a profession of Christianity and an 
 ability to talk Dutch were considered sufficient grounds for 
 claiming emancipation. We may contrast this with the con- 
 ditions of the island of Jamaica, where the annual quantity of 
 slaves imported from Africa and retained in the island, on an 
 average of many years, amounted to 5700, the whole slave 
 population there reaching, in 1792, the enormous total of 
 
 250J000. 1 
 
 Still, the evils of slavery were bad enough as time went on 
 in the Cape Colony, and as the voertrekkers wandered into the 
 interior beyond the pale of law and order. Towards the close 
 of the eighteenth century travellers reported that bands of 
 runaway slaves caused terror and alarm to lonely homesteads. 
 They were not numerous enough to cause a servile war, as in 
 the West Indian islands ; and, the back-country being open 
 and wide, they could get beyond the range of punishment 
 or pursuit. Sparrmann throws a little light upon the state of 
 society when he remarks, during a visit at a Dutch Boer's 
 house not far from Capetown : ' Being but two Christians 
 among twelve or fourteen men slaves, we bolted the door fast, 
 and had five loaded pieces hung.' Even the heights of Table 
 Mountain were not safe for a wandering botanist or ento- 
 mologist, who at any moment stood the chance of being 
 assailed by a predatory band of runaways. The Buganese or 
 Malays were said by Sparrmann to be particularly revengeful 
 a quality they seem now certainly to have lost in the Cape 
 acclimatisation. At the same time, he observes that the slaves 
 were often treated ' kindly and familiarly ' by some of the 
 settlers. 
 
 England came to the Cape (1805) with clean hands as far 
 as the slave trade was concerned, the abolition of the slave 
 trade taking place in 1807 ; nor had she, in this country at 
 least, either the temptation or the opportunity to sully her 
 hands. But the Boers never could understand the height and 
 
 1 Notices respecting Jamaica in 1808, 1809, 1810. By Gilbert Mathison. 
 1811. 
 
The South African Colonies 131 
 
 depth of her repentance. Living cheek by jowl with Hottentots 
 and bushmen, they regarded it as a divine ordinance that the 
 blacks should be hewers of wood and drawers of water, and, 
 being uneducated and isolated men, remained completely un- 
 affected by that extraordinary wave that swept over Europe and 
 touched every part of the West Indies. The compensation 
 money, amounting to the sum of ^1,200,000, at ^85 per slave, 
 salved but by no means satisfied the Boers, who, being un- 
 businesslike men, did not profit by England's generosity, or 
 even claim their money. 
 
 Such, indeed, in some of its main features, was the settlement 
 which the English took over finally in 1805 : unpromising 
 enough in certain respects, and as a place of production, 
 agricultural or otherwise, poor beyond measure, and not to be 
 compared for a moment even with one of the West Indian 
 islands. To speak figuratively, the Cape Colony was a 
 derelict, a wreck of old Dutch rule, brought to disaster by un- 
 skilful steering, and floating bottom uppermost in these 
 southern waters. If left alone it would be dangerous to all 
 navigation, and especially English navigation; and England 
 determined to take it under tow. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix V. Section A F. 
 
 References : 
 
 Theal's Compendium of South African History, 1877. 
 
 Theal's History of South Africa, 1888. 
 
 Natal: its Land and Story, by Robert Russell, 1891. 
 
 Greswell's Our South African Empire, 1884. 
 
 Gres well's Geography of Africa South of the Zambesi, 1892. 
 
 South Africa, from Arab Rule to British Domination, by R. W. 
 
 Murray, 1891. 
 Travels and Voyages, by Sparrmann, Barrow, Livingstone, etc. etc. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 
 NEW SOUTH WALES 
 
 WHILST the outlines of New France and New England were 
 being sketched upon the map, and the islands, rivers, and 
 mighty valleys of the western world were being explored and 
 colonised by the rival nations of Europe ; whilst the tropical 
 islands of the Caribbean Seas were pouring their garden wealth, 
 as from the horn of Amalthea, into the lap of Europe ; whilst 
 intrepid merchants ran the longitudes down the simmering 
 coasts of West Africa, anchoring in the rivers, traversing the 
 lagoons, bringing back gold-dust, ivory, and palm-oil from 
 
 ' ... the realm 
 
 Of Congo and Angola furthest south, 
 Or thence from Niger flood to Atlas mount ' ; 
 
 (MILTON'S Paradise Lost} 
 
 whilst beyond the stormy Cape, immortalised by Camoens, 
 Further India and the Spice Islands were making the merchants 
 of Lisbon, Amsterdam, and London rich ; the great island 
 continent of Australia lay obscure and undeveloped in the 
 wastes of the South Pacific. 
 
 There was no El Dorado nor kingdom of classic fame which 
 even rumour could assign to this distant southern land, cut off 
 for ever by the truly ' dissociabilis Oceanus ' from the rest of 
 the world ; nor was there even the ruin of an ancient kingdom 
 or people no fabled Timbuctoo, no seat of empire like that 
 of * Cambalu, seat of Cathaian Cham/ no * seat of Montezume,' 
 
 132 
 
The Australian Colonies 133 
 
 no * richer seat of Atabalipa, and yet unspoiled Guiana,' to stir 
 the sailor's imagination and whet the edge of enterprise. 
 
 Milton's fancy, bounded by his geographical knowledge, 
 followed the route eastward taken by the merchants of 
 Portugal and the other nations who pursued their course 
 thither after them. This was the well-known route round the 
 stormy Cape, past Mozambique, far to the north again where 
 
 * ... north-east winds blow 
 Sabaean odours from the spicy shores 
 Of Araby the blest.' 
 
 True it was that the Straits of Magellan, the gateway of the 
 Pacific, both north and south, were known, and the mariner's 
 eye had, long before Milton wrote, surveyed the world's waters 
 from ' cold Estotiland ' as far south as * beneath Magellan ' ; 
 still, the centre of attraction lay in the North Pacific waters, 
 round the Philippines, the Moluccas, and the Malay Archi- 
 pelago, rather than the South Pacific. 
 
 For the sake of clearness it may be pointed out that there 
 are three prominent periods in the history of South Pacific 
 exploration and of Australian discovery, viz. : (i) that of the in- 
 dividual adventurers, pioneers, and buccaneers, resembling in 
 motive and conception the West Indian 'age of the buccaneers,' 
 Spain being in both cases the object of attack, and Spanish 
 booty the prize held in view ; (2) that of more definite official 
 interference, when the task of South Sea discovery was taken 
 out of the hands of individuals and more or less sanctioned 
 by the British Government; (3) that of final occupation 
 and colonisation, beginning with the proclamation of the King's 
 sovereignty by Captain Cook in New South Wales. 
 
 For Englishmen perhaps the most exciting period of South 
 Pacific discovery is that of the bold buccaneers, who carried 
 on their hazardous occupation with equal daring here as in 
 the Caribbean Seas. The voyages of these adventurers 
 created a hardy race of seamen without their equal in Europe, 
 and those who commanded in the South Seas were nearly all 
 
134 British Colonisation 
 
 Englishmen. Davis, a celebrated leader, had under him a 
 fleet of nine or ten vessels, with 1000 men to man them. 
 Within a space of thirty-six years, i.e. between 1686 and 1722, 
 it is said that the buccaneers circumnavigated the globe no less 
 than six times. Nor were the sailors of France, especially of 
 St. Malo, behindhand in the exciting work of privateering, 
 no fewer than fourteen vessels being equipped in one year 
 (1721) by the merchants of St. Malo. The sailors of northern 
 France were as keen as the sailors of our western ports of 
 Bristol and Plymouth. Their places of rendezvous were 
 islands such as Tortuga in the West Indies and the lonely 
 island of Juan Fernandez, off the coast of Chili, the abode of 
 Robinson Crusoe. They crossed and recrossed the Isthmus 
 of Darien, and were at home equally in the Caribbean as they 
 were in South Pacific waters. Sometimes they took up log- 
 wood-cutting in the Bay of Campeche, intruding upon Spanish 
 territory here ; but Dampier, the prince of buccaneers, himself 
 remarked that the Spaniards should make light of their 
 trespass, as the buccaneers were far less dangerous to them 
 when thus employed than when carrying on their buccaneering 
 raids. Amongst the buccaneers were all sorts and conditions 
 of men, young and old, high-born and low-born. 
 
 But the objects of the buccaneers were mainly predatory, 
 and they haunted well-known ocean routes, intercepted 
 galleons, and stormed cities rather than set out in search of 
 the visionary Notasia or Land of the South. It is generally 
 accepted now that a Dutch crew, setting out from Java in the 
 Dove, were the first Europeans to set foot upon Australian soil. 
 To make a long story of exploration short a story which 
 belongs really to the maritime history of Holland they were 
 followed up by Dirk Hartog, 1616; by Edel, 1619; by Peter 
 Nuyts, who entered the Great Australian Bight ; by General 
 Carpenter, who gave his name to the Gulf of Carpentaria ; and 
 by Pelsart and Tasman, 1642. 
 
 The Dutch, indeed, began to proclaim themselves * lords of 
 the Southern Seas,' a fact alluded to by Pepys in his Diary 
 
The Australian Colonies 135 
 
 (February 15, 1663-4). He records that 'This afternoon Sir 
 Thomas Chamberlin came to the office to me and showed me 
 several letters from the East Indys, showing the height that 
 the Dutch are come to there, showing scorn to all the English 
 even in our only factory there at Surat, beating several men, 
 and hanging the English standard St. George under the Dutch 
 flag in scorn : saying, that whatever their masters do or say at 
 home, they will do what they list, and be masters of all the 
 world there ; and have so proclaimed themselves soveraigne of 
 all the South Seas ; which certainly our King cannot endure, 
 if the Parliament will give him money.' 
 
 The day of reckoning with the Dutch was to come. Eng- 
 land could never forget or forgive J:he bloody affair of Amboyna, 
 which happened in 1623, and gave birth to use the words of 
 Campbell in his Lives of the Admirals to England's national 
 hatred of the Dutch, which existed long and had such fatal 
 effects. At Amboyna, a small island of the Moluccas, the 
 English had a house and the Dutch a strong fort garrisoned 
 with 200 soldiers. Upon what was said to be a trumped-up 
 charge of conspiracy with the Indians of Ternate and the King 
 of Tidore against the Dutch Governor, the English traders and 
 residents were tortured and put to death. This summary act 
 was known as ' the massacre of Amboyna,' and the English 
 continued to demand satisfaction for it from 1623 to 1672. 
 
 In the year 1699 Great Britain began to inaugurate more 
 definitely the period of official intervention in the affairs of 
 the Pacific. The age of filibustering and of privateering was 
 gradually disappearing, and the maritime nations of Europe 
 were approaching the task of final adjustment and delimitation. 
 England being at peace with her neighbours, King William 
 ordered an expedition for the discovery of new countries and 
 for the examination of New Holland, as Australia was termed, 
 and New Guinea. The man placed in charge of the expedition 
 was William Dampier, a Somersetshire sailor. 
 
 Whilst carrying out his instructions on board the Roebuck^ a 
 sloop of twelve guns and fifty men, placed at his disposal by the 
 
136 British Colonisation 
 
 Government, Dampier made some observations on the scenery 
 and products of Western Australia round Shark's Bay. Along 
 the bay the soil was sandy, and ' further in it is of a reddish 
 mould, a sort of sand, producing grass, plants, and shrubs. Of 
 trees and shrubs are various sorts, but none above ten feet 
 high. Some of the trees were sweet-scented, and reddish 
 within the bark, like sassafrass, but redder. The blossoms of 
 the different sorts of trees are of several colours, but mostly 
 blue, and smelt very sweet and fragrant.' The kangaroo he 
 described as a sort of racoon, differing from those of the West 
 Indies chiefly in the legs. He noticed also the iguanas, sharks, 
 green turtles, and fish, and even the shells, Dampier display- 
 ing in his narrative those powers of accurate observation of 
 nature which were peculiar to him. On the whole, however, 
 the first glimpse of the Australian shores did not augur well ; 
 and it was probably owing to his descriptions of the dryness 
 of this great Thirst Land that explorers were kept away from 
 the continent. 
 
 Leaving Australia, Dampier directed his course to New 
 Guinea, following the coast south-west and west ; discovering 
 that ' the east land was not joined to New Guinea,' he called it 
 New Britain. Dampier's homeward voyage was -prosperous 
 until he reached Ascension, where the Roebuck, an old and 
 worn-out ship, sprang a leak, and he was compelled to abandon 
 her. A few weeks afterwards he found his way home on board 
 an English ship-of-war which anchored at Ascension. Thus 
 ended the first official attempt to examine the coasts of New 
 Holland. 
 
 Later on Dampier persuaded the Bristol merchants to fit 
 out another expedition of two ships for the purpose of plunder- 
 ing the Spaniards. The crews numbered 321, and Captain 
 Woodes Rogers was placed in command, Dampier being the 
 pilot. Their cruise in the Pacific was successful, and at the 
 island of Juan Fernandez, the usual rendezvous of the 
 buccaneers, they discovered Alexander Selkirk. His rescue is 
 thus described : ' The pinnace came back immediately from the 
 
The Australian Colonies 137 
 
 shore, and brought abundance of cray-fish ; and with a man 
 clothed in goat-skins, who looked more wild than the first 
 owners of them. He had been on the island four years and 
 four months. His name was Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, 
 who had been master of the Cinque Ports galley, a ship which 
 came here with Captain Dampier, who told me he was the 
 best man in her : so I immediately agreed with him to be mate 
 on board our ship.' 
 
 Pursuing his object of sweeping the Pacific and plundering 
 the Spaniards, Woodes Rogers captured the town of Guayaquil 
 and took booty to the value of ,21,000, together with 27,000 
 dollars ransom. A Manilla ship, laden with merchandise and 
 ;i 2,000 in gold and silver, fell into his hands. Turning his 
 face homewards, Woodes Rogers finally reached the Thames 
 with money and merchandise valued at 1 50,000. From this 
 date nothing more is known of William Dampier, his end being 
 wrapped in obscurity. Yet no career was, after a fashion, more 
 extraordinary. Compared with its varied and chequered 
 aspect, the adventures of Alexander Selkirk, or of such sailors 
 as Lionel Wafer, the shipmate of Dampier and the hero of 
 many wonderful exploits in the South Seas, or indeed of the 
 majority of the buccaneer leaders, may be regarded only in the 
 light of casual events. Dampier's active seafaring life extended 
 over forty years. 
 
 The voyage of Woodes Rogers having been crowned with so 
 much success, the Bristol merchants again fitted out two ships 
 for the South Seas in 1 7 18. Captains Shelvocke and Clipperton 
 were placed in command, but unfortunately the expedition was 
 badly conducted and did not succeed. Shelvocke took some 
 prizes, and published an account of his voyage in 1726, which 
 has a literary interest as being the book which prompted the 
 picturesque imagery of the immortal Ancient Mariner of 
 Coleridge. Shelvocke described the weird ocean scenery of 
 Patagonia and Cape Horn ; how the navigators experienced 
 such extreme cold when driven into the latitude of 61 30' S., 
 that a sailor fell with benumbed fingers from the mainsail and 
 
138 British Colonisation 
 
 was drowned. * In short, one would think it impossible that 
 anything living could subsist in so rigid a climate : and indeed 
 we all observed that we had not the sight of one fish of any 
 kind since we were come to the southward of the Streights of 
 Le Mair ; not one seabird, except a disconsolate black albatross 
 who accompanied us for several days, hovering about us for 
 a long time as if he had lost himself; till Hatley (my second 
 captain) observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird 
 was always near us, imagined from its colour that it might be 
 some ill omen. That which, I suppose, induced him the more to 
 encourage his superstition was the continued series of contrary 
 tempestuous winds which had oppressed us ever since we had 
 got into this sea. But, be that as it would, he, after some 
 fruitless attempts, at length shot the albatross, not doubting, 
 perhaps, that we should have a fair wind after it. 
 
 In November 1739 Captain George Anson was despatched 
 to attack the Spanish trade and settlements in the South Seas, 
 in command of a fleet of six ships of war and two storeships. 
 This expedition cruised against the Spaniards with success, the 
 town of Payta being taken and a number of prizes being 
 captured. The galleon of Acapulco, with an immense amount 
 of wealth on board, was captured. But the voyage of Anson 
 will ever be memorable on account of that cruel and unjustifi- 
 able order that despatched five hundred invalids from among 
 the out-pensioners of Chelsea to endure the terrors and hard- 
 ships of the passage of the Straits of Magellan. Not one of 
 these poor men lived to return to his native land. 
 
 Another severe blow was struck at the commerce of Spain 
 in 1762 by the capture of Manilla. Spain having entered into 
 an alliance with France in consequence of the family compact 
 of the house of Bourbon, England declared war against Spain 
 as well as France. A force was sent from our East India 
 settlements, particularly Madras, for the conquest of the 
 Philippine Islands under General Draper and Admiral Cornish. 
 Arriving at Manilla, this force stormed and took the town in 
 October 1762 ; but to save so fine a city from destruction the 
 
The A ustralian Colonies 1 39 
 
 English agreed to accept a ransom amounting to ,1,000,000 
 sterling. The settlement has been described as superlatively 
 rich. Five large vessels sailed yearly to Acapulco in Mexico 
 freighted with diamonds from Golconda, cinnamon from 
 Ceylon, pepper from Sumatra and Java, cloves and nutmegs 
 from the Moluccas and Banda Islands, camphire from Borneo, 
 ivory from Cambodia, silks, tea, and china-ware from China. 
 These ships returned laden with Mexican silver, and made 
 400 per cent, profit on their voyage. 
 
 The * Manilla ransom ' was never paid by the Spaniards, and 
 formed a subject of notice and animadversion in two of Junius' 
 Letters. 1 Junius regarded the remission of the sum of money 
 due to England as part of a feeble and retrograde policy to 
 be classed with ' the alienation of the affection of the American 
 colonists, the shameful abandonment of Corsica, the languish- 
 ing of commerce, and the threatening of public credit with a 
 new debt.' 
 
 The intervention of France in the affairs of the Pacific offers 
 a fresh landmark and a distinct political departure. When 
 the French power was finally broken in Canada, and the valley 
 of the St. Lawrence, as well as the maritime settlements along 
 the east coast, handed over to England by the Treaty of Paris 
 in 1763, some of the more adventurous and intrepid of the 
 French sailors turned their attention to the South Seas. The 
 men of St. Malo, with their accustomed zeal and enterprise, 
 had adventured as far south as the Falkland Islands, and given 
 them the name of lies Malouines. This lonely outpost, com- 
 manding as it does the entrance to the Straits of Magellan and 
 the passage round Cape Horn, seemed likely to acquire a new 
 value in case any great trade or commerce could be developed 
 in the waters of the South Pacific. The Frenchmen intro- 
 duced horses and cattle, and the Falklands promised to be a 
 kind of second St. Helena as a recruiting place for vessels, the 
 harbours being many and good, and the climate well adapted 
 for the growth of provisions. 
 
 1 Nos. iii. and iv. 
 
140 British Colonisation 
 
 Amongst the individual Frenchmen who had distinguished 
 themselves in the campaigns in Canada was M. Bourgainville. 
 It was plain to him, as well as to all others who had the colonial 
 prosperity of France at heart, that if North America were lost 
 some compensation should be found in the southern hemisphere. 
 Accordingly, by way of taking the first step, he proposed to 
 the French . Government that, if they would allow him, he 
 would make a settlement on the Falkland Islands at his own 
 expense. The people he wished to take with him were those 
 unfortunate Frenchmen, many of them Malouines by extraction, 
 who had been driven by the American War from their homes 
 in Acadia and New Brunswick. They were splendid colonis- 
 ing material, and as fishermen and sailors were well known 
 along the tempestuous North American seaboard. 
 
 The Falkland Islands were already a place of resort for the 
 New England whalers and fishermen. In his speech on 
 * Conciliation with America,' Edmund Burke said : 
 
 ' Look at the manner in which the people of New England 
 have of late carried on the whale fishery. Whilst we follow them 
 among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them pene- 
 trating into the deepest frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay and 
 Davis's Straits, whilst we are looking for them beneath the 
 Arctic Circle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite 
 region of polar cold, that they are at the Antipodes, and 
 engaged under the frozen Serpent of the South. Falkland 
 Island, which seemed too remote and romantic an object for 
 the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting-place 
 in the progress of their victorious industry.' 
 
 It may be concluded, therefore, that the North American 
 seamen, whether British or French, were well acquainted with 
 the Falkland Islands some time before he proposal of 
 M. Bourgainville. 
 
 The French leader, however, carried out his enterprise. 
 He set sail from St. Malo in September 1763, a few months 
 after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, and on the 3rd of 
 February 1764 entered a bay of the Falkland Islands, to which 
 
The Australian Colonies 141 
 
 he gave the name of ' Bale des Frangois.' The colony of 
 Frenchmen consisted of twenty-seven persons, of whom five 
 were women. Bourgainville left the islands shortly after 
 settling this first detachment, and returned next year with 
 more, so that at the close of 1765 the French colony consisted 
 of 150 souls. As a beginning of their industries they sent 
 home a cargo of oil and seal-skins. The colony, however, 
 was very short-lived. The jealousy of the Spaniards was 
 aroused, an official correspondence took place, and the result 
 was that the post was abandoned, a pecuniary compensation 
 offered to Bourgainville, and the place rechristened by the 
 Spaniards Port Solidad. 
 
 It was destined, however, that the stars of Spain and France 
 should both pale before that of England in the Pacific, as 
 elsewhere. Her ambition was great, and her activities were 
 many-sided. The Peace of Paris had indeed set England on 
 a pinnacle of fame. King George exclaimed, ' England never 
 signed such a peace before, nor, I believe, any other Power in 
 Europe ' ; and Lord Bute said, ' I wish no better inscription 
 on my tomb than that I was its author.' What bounds, there- 
 fore, could be placed to England's further enterprises ? The 
 King himself was an enthusiastic geographer, and in 1764 
 Commodore Byron was instructed to sail on a voyage of 
 discovery, the objects of which were set forth in his instructions: 
 * Whereas nothing can redound more to the honour of this 
 nation as a maritime Power, to the dignity of the Crown of 
 Great Britain, and to the advancement of the trade and navi- 
 gation thereof, than to make discoveries of countries hitherto 
 unknown ; and whereas there is reason to believe that lands 
 and islands of great extent, hitherto unvisited by any European 
 Power, may be found in the Atlantic Ocean, between the Cape 
 of Good Hope and the Magellanic Strait, within the latitudes 
 convenient for navigation, and in the climates adapted to the 
 produce of commodities useful in commerce ; and whereas His 
 Majesty's islands, called Pepys Island and Falkland's Island, 
 lying within the said track, notwithstanding their having been 
 
142 British Colonisation 
 
 first discovered and visited by British navigators, have never yet 
 been sufficiently surveyed, as that an accurate judgment may be 
 formed of their coasts and products ; His Majesty, taking the 
 premises into consideration, and conceiving no conjuncture so 
 proper for an enterprise of this nature as a time of profound 
 peace, which his kingdoms at present happily enjoy, has thought 
 fit that it should now be undertaken.' 
 
 This preamble deserves notice on many accounts. It points 
 out the nature of this enterprise, somewhat different from that 
 of Lord Anson's cruise, promoted and encouraged by the 
 Crown, in southern waters ; it indicates the prevalent belief in 
 a vast southern continent between the latitudes of the Cape of 
 Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, and most plainly 
 asserts the right to the Falkland Islands by right of prior dis- 
 covery the great navigator John Davis having been driven 
 amongst them in August 1592. 
 
 Commodore Byron left England with the Tamar and the 
 Dolphin, the last-named ship being sheathed in copper, an 
 experiment then made for the first time. In pursuance with 
 his instructions the Commodore visited the Falkland Islands, 
 and discovered a port on the western coast, to which he gave 
 the name of Port Egmont. He was unable, however, to 
 discover Pepys Island. His passage through the Straits of 
 Magellan was attended with the usual tempests of these 
 latitudes, and occupied seven weeks ; but Commodore Byron, 
 having been round Cape Horn twice once in company with 
 Lord Anson avowed his preference for this route. After 
 effecting a few discoveries in the Pacific, he returned to 
 England, after an absence of twenty-two months, steering 
 the northerly and north-westerly course, first to the island of 
 Juan Fernandez off the west coast, thence to Timour and 
 Guam, and round to Batavia, and so home by way of the Cape 
 of Good Hope. Byron returned in May 1766, and the result 
 of his voyage was to inspire another in the same direction 
 in the same year under Captain Wallis, commanding the 
 Dolphin, Captain Carteret the Swallow, with a storeship 
 
The Australian Colonies 143 
 
 Prince Frederick. Captain Wallis took the usual track by the 
 Straits of Magellan ; and during his voyage through the 
 Pacific discovered and described several islands, such as 
 Whitsun Island, lat. 19 26' S. and long. 137 56' W. ; Queen 
 Charlotte Island, lat. 19 18' S. and long. 138 4' W. ; 
 Gloucester Island, lat 19 n' S. and long. 140 4' W. ; Prince 
 William Henry Island, lat. 19 S., long. 141 6' W. ; Osnaburgh 
 Island, lat. 17 51' S. and long. 147 30' W. His most im- 
 portant discovery was of King George the Third's Island, or 
 Otaheite, lat. 17 40' S. and long. 149 13' W., where 'Mr. 
 Furneaux stuck up a staff, upon which he hoisted a pen- 
 dant, turned a turf, and took possession of the island in His 
 Majesty's name.' From Otaheite Captain Wallis steered for 
 Timour, Batavia, and so to Europe by the Cape of Good 
 Hope. At the latter place abundance of stores and provisions 
 were procured; and Captain Wallis, in order to show the 
 captains of the Indiamen and their officers that, upon an 
 emergency, fresh water might be gained by distillation, de- 
 scribed how he ' put 56 gallons of salt water into the still, 
 and in about five hours and a quarter obtained 42 gallons of 
 fresh water, at an expense of 9 Ibs. of wood and 69 Ibs. of 
 coal.' A most valuable experiment, and calculated to save 
 many lives. 
 
 In conjunction with Captain Wallis's expedition must be 
 considered that of Captain Carteret and the Swallow. Captain 
 Carteret, having lost sight of Captain Wallis at the western 
 entrance of the Straits of Magellan, proceeded across the 
 Pacific by a more southerly course than his companion-in- 
 adventure. He discovered Pitcairn Island, destined after- 
 wards to be the solitary refuge of the ' mutineers of the 
 Bounty] named Egmont Island, and Gower Island. Arriving 
 at ' New Britain,' so named by William Dampier, he found that 
 it was divided by a channel, which he named St. George's 
 Channel, and to the northern part he gave the name of New 
 Ireland. Steering northward, he touched at Macassar, and 
 thence came home by the usual Cape route. 
 
144 British Colonisation 
 
 The greatest triumphs of South Sea exploration were gained, 
 however, by the celebrated Captain Cook. The previous 
 career of this officer well qualified him for the task of maritime 
 discovery. Born of humble parents, he was apprenticed at 
 an early age to a shopkeeper at Straiths, not far from Whitby. 
 Disliking his occupation here, he entered into a seven years' 
 engagement with the owners of vessels employed in the coal 
 trade, and from the experience gained in the hazardous coast 
 navigation of the north of England he derived the greatest 
 advantage. He learned to be a most competent and practical 
 seaman, well fitted to ' hand, reef, and steer.' He entered the 
 King's service in 1755, and served on board the Eagle. His 
 character and capabilities becoming well known, he was 
 appointed master of the Mercury, a small vessel which was 
 attached to the fleet of Sir Charles Saunders, then operating 
 against the French in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He was 
 employed in the difficult and dangerous task of taking soundings 
 of the St. Lawrence opposite the French encampments around 
 Quebec, and whilst thus employed at night was very nearly 
 surrounded and cut off, escaping with great difficulty to the Isle 
 of Orleans. After the end of the Canadian campaign, and the 
 crowning victory of Wolfe on the Heights of Abraham, he was 
 employed in the work of surveying the coasts of Newfoundland 
 and Labrador. By the work he did here he still further in- 
 creased his reputation ; and when a competent and scientific 
 captain was required to sail to the Pacific and observe the 
 transit of the planet Venus over the sun's disc on June 3, 
 1769, no one seemed more likely to carry out this work 
 successfully than Captain Cook. Never was an appointment 
 more justified by its results, and the three voyages of Cook 
 conducted to the Pacific Ocean are a monumental record of 
 English seamanship in its best sense. 
 
 Without entering into details here, it may suffice to point 
 out some of the main results of Cook's sea voyages. In the 
 extent of coasts he surveyed he far surpasses all other navi- 
 gators. He traced the eastern coast of New Holland for 
 
The Australian Colonies 145 
 
 2000 miles, and on the occasion of an untoward accident on 
 the Barrier Reef escaped solely by his cool and intrepid 
 courage. He circumnavigated New Zealand, the eastern and 
 southern parts of which were unknown, and believed to be 
 part of the Terra Australia Incognita. He discovered and 
 named New Caledonia and Norfolk Island. He also de- 
 scribed the New Hebrides, and gave the group their definite 
 and proper place. His run from New Zealand to Tierra del 
 Fuego, along the latitude of 55 South, was the first instance 
 of a run made completely across the Southern Pacific. In 
 short, he made the circuit of the South Seas at a high latitude, 
 and proved decisively that the great southern continent, so 
 long the subject of fiction and theory, did not exist in fact. 
 Cook prided himself on the discovery of the Sandwich Islands, 
 especially of Owhyhee, the largest of them. His accuracy of 
 observation and his correctness of survey have been warmly 
 attested to by many navigators, such as Crozet and La 
 Perouse. 
 
 The most important act of Captain Cook, in consideration 
 of the vast results that ensued, was the occupation of south- 
 east Australia at Botany Bay on behalf of His Britannic 
 Majesty. The district was called New South Wales on 
 account of its resemblance to the coasts of the shores of 
 Wales. The roar of the cannon and the volleys of musketry 
 that attended this act of occupation marked an epoch in the 
 history of the island-continent. At no long time it was to be 
 dragged from its obscurity and become known to all the 
 kingdoms of Europe. 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Many causes were now inducing Great Britain to follow up 
 the task of Pacific exploration by Pacific colonisation, and 
 thus enter upon the heritage won for her in these distant 
 waters by her intrepid sailors. In 1776 the United States 
 declared their independence, and it was no longer possible to 
 
 K 
 
146 British Colonisation 
 
 send convicts there as formerly. With regard to the West 
 Indies, it had been proved, over and over again, that these 
 tropical islands were unsuited to European labourers. The 
 vast increase of the slave population and the creation of large 
 properties had put small cultivators and peasant proprietors 
 out of court. Clearly there was no opening for the waifs and 
 strays of England in these islands. Very often, also, the Irish 
 and other convicts proved a source of danger and trouble to 
 the prosperity of the West Indies. 
 
 But Australia was a long way off there was safety in dis- 
 tance and the climate was healthy. Here the convicts might 
 have a chance of rehabilitating themselves and becoming an 
 orderly class of citizens. For once the change of climate 
 might bring out a moral reformation, and the proverb of 
 ' Ccelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt ' 
 proved, for once, to be untrue. Moreover, the idea of com- 
 merce and trade, and the opportunities of extending England's 
 power in the southern hemisphere, undoubtedly furnished a 
 strong motive ; and the instructions given to Commodore 
 Byron by the King in 1764, in accordance with which the 
 British ships were commanded to visit all lands and islands in 
 the Atlantic Ocean between the Cape of Good Hope and the 
 Straits of Magellan, coupled with the objects set forth in the 
 expeditions of Wallis and Carteret, were features of a continu- 
 ous and determined policy, officially recognised and counte- 
 nanced. More especially, the new El Dorado of the whale 
 fishery in the two Pacifies happened to be opened up just 
 about this time, and the discovery formed a grand era in our 
 commercial history. A writer in the Quarterly Review (March 
 1839) thus expressed himself on the value of this opening : 
 ' The enterprise of the whalers first opened up to us a beneficial 
 intercourse with the coasts of Spanish America ; it led in the 
 sequel to the independence of the Spanish colonies. But for 
 our whalers we might never have founded our colonies in 
 Van Diemen's Land and Australia or, if we had, we could 
 not have maintained them in their early stages of danger and 
 
The Australian Colonies 147 
 
 privation. Moreover, our intimacy with the Polynesians must 
 be traced to the same source. The whalers were the first that 
 traded in that quarter. They prepared the way for the 
 missionaries ; and the same thing is now in progress in New 
 Ireland, New Britain, and New Zealand.' The great venture 
 of Mr. Enderby, a London merchant, who fitted out an ex- 
 pedition at great expense to go into the South Pacific, was 
 made in 1788, the year of the founding of Sydney. 
 
 Moreover, to economists the relief given to the State by 
 transportation had long appeared to be an unanswerable argu- 
 ment. The initial expense of transportation was calculated at 
 about ,30 per head, but this was the first and last expense. 
 Mr. Cunninghame, in his Letters from New South Wales (1827), 
 put the economical argument thus : ' Every rogue whom you 
 retain at home to labour takes the bread out of the mouth 
 of an honest man ; as long, therefore, as England cannot keep 
 her honest poor, so long will it be her interest to turn all her 
 roguish poor out from her bosom to thrive or work elsewhere.' 
 In 1 82 8 there were upwards of 4000 convicts on board the hulks, 
 employed in the dockyards, and on other public works, at 
 an annual expense of ,60,000 ; the whole of whom would be 
 turned loose on society within the short period of seven years. 
 If these 4000 * rogues ' took the bread out of the mouths of 
 4000 honest poor, another ^60,000 would be required some- 
 how to make up. To send them out to New South Wales., 
 where many of them would become good citizens, would cost 
 the public twice ^"60,000 ; but then all future expense would 
 cease. The first step of this policy was taken when it was 
 determined to send out convicts to Botany Bay, and in May 
 1787 a fleet was ready to sail. It consisted of the Sinus, 
 a warship, and the Supply ', a tender, together with six trans- 
 ports for the convicts, and three ships for carrying the stores. 
 Of the convicts 600 were men and 250 were women, and the 
 guard on board consisted of 200 soldiers. Captain Phillip was 
 appointed governor of the colony, Captain Hunter being second 
 in command, and Mr. Collins held an appointment as Judge- 
 
148 British Colonisation 
 
 Advocate to preside in the military courts. On the i8th, 
 1 9th, and 2oth of February 1788 these vessels dropped anchor 
 in Botany Bay, after a voyage of eight months. 
 
 The story of the founding of New South Wales in 1788 has 
 often been told, and it is certainly the most unique, in a 
 certain sense, of all stories of colonisation, whether of ancient 
 or modern times. The colonists were not like the Trojans of 
 old seeking a new home by stress of war, nor were they like 
 the overflow of a Greek or Phoenician city. ' Optata potiuntur 
 arena' could not apply to those who had no will or option in the 
 matter. Nor did their leaders think much of the trade or com- 
 merce that might arise. The place was to be an asylum, not of 
 persecuted sects nor of Puritan refugees nor of injured inno- 
 cence in any shape or form, but an asylum of criminals of 
 various degrees of depravity. Possibly this asylum might be 
 a kind of purgatory or a moral sanatorium. No one could 
 well prophesy how it would turn out ; but every one felt that 
 the convict difficulty was pressing sorely, and that the prisons 
 of England were becoming unbearable. 
 
 Mr. Rusden, one of the best known of Australian his- 
 torians, has pointed out that between transportation to America 
 and transportation to Australia there was a wide distinction. 
 Convicts conveyed to America were taken by contractors, who 
 parted with them for a consideration to the colonists, and 
 were obliged to prove by certificates that they had disposed of 
 them according to the intention of the law. In Australia 
 there were no colonists asking for labourers, and the Govern- 
 ment were compelled to establish a society in the first place. 1 
 Later on, it may be remarked, when the settlement was estab- 
 lished, the Australian Agricultural Association, together with 
 many free colonists, took the convicts and made great use of 
 their services ; but their act naturally had to wait upon the first 
 development. Morally and physically, this Purgatory, as the 
 transportation was called, proved the greatest success when 
 
 1 ' Material Progress of New South Wales,' vol. xvii. Proceedings Royal 
 Colonial Instittite. 
 
The Australian Colonies 149 
 
 the examples and precepts of free labour were frequently held 
 before the convicts in a practical way by a continual stream 
 of free colonists. 
 
 At first the wretched convicts were shipped off with great 
 disregard of health and comfort. Although Captain Cook, by 
 the observance of proper rules of diet and cleanliness, had 
 proved it possible to make long ocean voyages (1760-1774) 
 without serious loss of life, the world was slow to learn the 
 lesson. More than a third of the first batch of convicts were 
 down with scurvy and other diseases ; sixty-six lay in the little 
 hospital which was set up in Sydney Cove ; and, through want 
 of proper precautions and foresight, the nascent colony was 
 threatened with starvation. The Sinus was despatched to the 
 Cape of Good Hope and the Supply to Batavia for provisions ; 
 and the appearance of the first British settlement was that of 
 a vast lazaretto, with gaunt and fever-stricken mortals wander- 
 ing aimlessly about. Under these circumstances Governor 
 Phillip was compelled to send two hundred convicts, with 
 about seventy soldiers, to Norfolk Island, where there was a 
 moderate chance of their being able to support themselves. 
 
 The seal of the infant colony, however, was symbolical of 
 ultimate success. On the obverse were the royal arms, whilst 
 the reverse displayed the landing of a party of prisoners wel- 
 comed by Industry with tools and a bale of merchandise. The 
 legend was, ' Sic fortis Etruria crevit,' with reference to the 
 rise of Rome ; and no seal or legend could have been more 
 prophetic. Industry has been the potent quality by which the 
 wealth of this vast island-continent has been tapped. 
 
 By one of those strange discoveries which are so unex- 
 pected in their occurrence and so prolific in their results, it 
 was discovered that close to Botany Bay, and behind the 
 opening which Captain Cook had called ' Port Jackson,' there 
 lay a harbour which is perhaps the most beautiful and perfect 
 in the world. It is hard to think how it could have escaped 
 notice ; and if La Perouse or a French or Dutch navigator 
 before him had sighted it, the future of Australia might have 
 
150 British Colonisation 
 
 been changed altogether. Botany Bay so named, it may be 
 remembered, by Captain Cook on account of the wealth of 
 flowers and shrubs seen and described by Banks and Solander 
 was found to be an unsuitable place for the settlement. The 
 waters of the Bay were so shallow that the ships could not 
 enter it properly, and had to lie outside in the face of the 
 Pacific swell. On shore the swamps seemed to render the 
 most eligible position unhealthy. So Governor Phillip took 
 three boats and proceeded on that coast survey that gave to 
 the British Empire, in Sydney Harbour, the most perfect 
 vantage-ground in the southern seas. ' It seemed a vast maze 
 of winding waters, dotted here and there with lovely islets : 
 its'shores thickly wooded down to the strips of golden sand 
 which lined the most charming little bays ; and its broad 
 sheets of rippling waters bordered by lines of dusky foliage.' 
 How great and material advantage a good land-locked harbour 
 can be to a colony is never sufficiently realised. At vast 
 expense and sometimes peril man is forced to supplement 
 Nature's deficiencies ; and even then he discovers that when 
 he has run out a mole, constructed a pier, and erected landing- 
 places, the whole work is rendered nugatory by some unfore- 
 seen current, silted-up beds of sand, or is swept away bodily 
 by the force of some unusual and unexpected tempest. 
 
 The French, it must be noticed, were not to be debarred 
 just yet from Australian waters. In June 1800, a few months 
 after the retirement of Mr. Pitt, the French Government fitted 
 out two armed vessels, le Geographe and le Naturaliste, for an 
 expedition round the world, under Captain Baudin. In this 
 expedition they sought for the friendly help of the British, and 
 obtained a kind of passport and recommendation from the 
 King that ' the vessels should be permitted to put into any 
 of His Majesty's ports in case of stress of weather, or to pro- 
 cure assistance to enable them to prosecute their voyage.' It 
 was a national and imperial enterprise in reality, and its true 
 purport did not at first appear. The chief object of Captain 
 Baudin was not to go round the world for scientific purposes, 
 
The A ustralian Colonies 1 5 1 
 
 but to seek for a French foothold in Pacific waters. His 
 instructions were to touch, in the first instance, at the Isle of 
 France, thence to proceed to the southern extremity of Van 
 Diemen's Land, visit Dentrecasteaux's Channel, examine the 
 eastern coast, enter the Strait of Bass through that of Banks, 
 complete the discovery of Hunter's Islands, survey the south- 
 west coast of New Holland, penetrate behind the islands of 
 St. Peter and St. Francis, and visit that part of the continent 
 concealed by these islands, where a strait was supposed to 
 exist by which a communication might be opened with the 
 great Gulf of Carpentaria. This being accomplished, they 
 were to direct their course to Cape Leuwen, examine the 
 unknown parts of the coast to the northward, visit the coasts 
 of the land of Edels and Endracht, make a particular survey 
 of the island of Rottenest and Shark's Bay, terminating their 
 first command at the North-West Cape of New Holland. 
 The expedition was directed to winter either at Timor or 
 Amboyna ; and on their second expedition they were directed 
 to go through Endeavour Strait to the eastern point of the 
 great Gulf of Carpentaria, to survey the whole circuit of its 
 coast to the land of Arnheim, finishing their second survey at 
 the North-West Cape, at which their first was completed. It 
 will thus be gathered that the real object of the French was 
 to explore thoroughly the island-continent of Australia, and 
 not go round the world. 
 
 The idea of a trans-Pacific colony had seized upon the great 
 Napoleon, and, at the very moment when he was crossing the 
 Alps he gave the order for this expedition. There was no 
 lack of zeal amongst the French, and no want of volunteers. 
 Captain Baudin's expedition was brought forward in the first 
 instance under the immediate sanction of Buonaparte in con- 
 sequence of a report of the French Imperial Institute. This 
 Institute, it may be noticed, attached at this early date a 
 vast importance to the nascent colony in New South Wales, 
 noticing that the English had ' formed establishments which 
 excite the greatest interest, of which we in Europe have 
 
152 British Colonisation 
 
 received hitherto but imperfect and invariably false informa- 
 tion/ 1 Captain Baudin carried out his instructions as a patriotic 
 Frenchman, renaming many places, such as the North-West 
 Cape, to which he gave the name of Cape Murat, and calling 
 nine hundred leagues of coast ' Terre Napoleon,' along which 
 Nuyts, Vancouver, Dentrecasteaux, Flinders, Bass, and Grant 
 had made discoveries. It was evident that the French, even 
 if they could not effect the planting of a colony here in the 
 extended sense of the word, were anxious to occupy and 
 create an Australian Pondicherry which should be a thorn in 
 the side of the British. 
 
 Whilst Baudin was exploring the coasts of Australia on 
 board the corvettes k Geographe and le Naturaliste^ he met 
 the celebrated Flinders, in command of the Investigator. 
 This Englishman was one of the most eager explorers of the 
 new continent. Coming out originally in 1795 as midship- 
 man on board the Reliance with Governor Hunter, he and 
 George Bass, a young surgeon, had within a month of their 
 arrival purchased a small boat, only eight feet in length, and 
 made several coast explorations at great risk and peril. On a 
 subsequent occasion they circumnavigated Van Diemen's 
 Land in the Norfolk^ a small sloop lent to them by the 
 governor. Bass, who was an adventurous spirit, joined an 
 expedition with some friends to South America, carrying con- 
 traband goods thither in spite of the Spaniards ; but Flinders 
 pursued his Australian coast surveys, and had submitted, in 
 1800, a series of valuable charts to the English Government. 
 His services were greatly appreciated, and he was placed in 
 command of the Investigator. A passport was procured for 
 him from the French Government, similar to that given to 
 Baudin by the British Government. When, therefore, Baudin 
 and Flinders met, it would appear as if, putting race rivalries 
 aside, they would pose as peaceful explorers occupied upon a 
 common task, viz. that of opening up a distant part of the 
 
 1 See Peron's Voyage de Decouvertes aux Terre s Attstrales, execute par 
 ordre de sa Majeste VEmpeteur et Roi, 1807. 
 
The Australian Colonies 153 
 
 world for both nations. Unfortunately, international courte- 
 sies of this description were proved to be impossible at this 
 time between French and English. Flinders was forced to 
 put in at the Mauritius (then a French island) owing to stress 
 of weather, feeling confident that his passport from Napoleon 
 would be his safeguard and protection. The French 
 Governor, de Caen, did not thus interpret his obligations, 
 and, seizing Flinders, threw him into prison, depriving him of 
 his charts and papers. To complete the disgraceful story, 
 Baudin, who had been treated well at Sydney as the bearer of 
 an English passport, took copies of Flinders's charts when he 
 touched at Mauritius on his way home. Nearly seven years 
 passed before Flinders obtained his release and was able to 
 return to England, publish his discoveries, and place the 
 truth before the world. On the very day, however, that his 
 book was being published Flinders died, leaving behind him 
 an imperishable name as an Australian explorer. After his 
 death there was never any serious attempt on the part of 
 the French to advance their claims to Australia. The Peace 
 of Paris left England a monopoly of the Australian continent, 
 and unquestioned command of its sea. 
 
 Freed from any threat of external danger, the Australian 
 colonists have developed the resources of their country in a 
 marvellous and unprecedented fashion. The two main pro- 
 ducts of Australia have been wool and gold. Wool converted 
 New South Wales and the rest of the Pacific colonies of that 
 day from mere convict stations to important centres of free 
 colonisation. The pastoral era preceded the gold era, and 
 was in many respects quite as important. Free settlers 
 came to tend their flocks, and at first they were an embarrass- 
 ing factor in the midst of a penal settlement, seeming to com- 
 plicate the methods of administration, no provision being 
 made originally for them ; but as time went on they leavened 
 the whole mass, and made a free and self-respecting community 
 possible. 
 
 The beginnings of the wool industry were as follows. About 
 
154 British Colonisation 
 
 1803 an officer of the New South Wales Corps, Macarthur by 
 name, saw that the country of Australia was wonderfully 
 adapted for wool-growing, and with this object in view had 
 the foresight to procure a number of sheep from the colony 
 of the Cape of Good Hope. During a sojourn in this colony 
 a Colonel Gordon who was in the Dutch service in 1790 
 had been fortunate enough to secure some rams of the fine- 
 woolled sheep of the Escurial breed, originally presented to 
 the Dutch Government by the King of Spain. Keeping a 
 few himself, he dispersed the rest amongst his friends in the 
 country, who crossed them with the hairy native sheep, thus 
 producing a rough, lustreless, but heavy and abundant fleece. 
 The Dutch peasantry, therefore, at the Cape, by abandoning 
 the purity of the strain, seem scarcely to have valued the 
 merino sheep as they ought ; and when Colonel Gordon died, 
 and his effects were sold, nine of his sheep were placed on 
 board the English warships the Reliance and the Supply, 
 which happened to be in Table Bay taking in supplies of 
 corn arid flour for the settlers at Sydney Cove. To the Cape, 
 therefore, Australia was indebted in the first instance for her 
 flocks of merino sheep. 
 
 Mr. Macarthur was enthusiastic on the prospects of Australia 
 as a wool-growing land, and on his return to England man- 
 aged to obtain from George in., who was a farmer himself, 
 some of the best sheep he possessed of the Spanish breed. 
 These were safely landed at Sydney, and Mr. Macarthur 
 began his experiment of wool-growing upon a grant of 10,000 
 acres at Camden. 
 
 Such were the beginnings of this pastoral industry, which 
 worked a revolution in the social and political condition of 
 this island-continent. It is calculated that for the period of 
 fifty-five years elapsing between 1831-1886 Australasia has sent 
 to England wool worth ^3 5 0,000,000. During the same 
 period the Cape is calculated to have sent about ^80,000,000 
 worth. At the present time New South Wales alone sends 
 more wool than the whole of South Africa. Truly this 
 
The A ustralian Colonies 1 5 5 
 
 was ' golden fleece ' indeed ; and although the operations of 
 pastoral life, and the pursuits of a lonely rancher or herds- 
 man, are not so thrilling and romantic as the experiences of a 
 diggers' or miners' camp, still they are more substantial, more 
 healthy, and more enduring. 
 
 In connection with the growth of this great pastoral in- 
 dustry in New South Wales and Australasia must be con- 
 sidered the developments, pan passu, of mechanical science 
 in the Mother-country. In 1769 Sir Richard Arkwright ob- 
 tained his first patent for the spinning-frame, and a revolution 
 in labour began. The average weight of cotton annually im- 
 ported in the three years 1765, 1766, 1767 was 4,241,364 Ibs. ; 
 in 1822, 1823, 1824 it had risen to 153,799,302 Ibs. From 
 the commencement of the reign of George in. the progress 
 and extension of the woollen manufactures was equally great. 
 The average annual importation of sheep's wool for 1765, 
 1766, 1767 was about four million pounds' weight; but in 
 1822, 1823, 1824 it had risen to more than eighteen million 
 pounds' weight. 1 
 
 When New South Wales was found to be a good country 
 for flocks there was naturally a desire evinced to explore the 
 Hinterland, or back country, and to solve certain geographi- 
 cal problems. The physical aspect of New South Wales is 
 somewhat peculiar. At a comparatively short distance from 
 the coast, varying from twenty to one hundred miles, a great 
 dividing range runs, separating the eastern from the western 
 waters. This range, or cordillera, was to the earliest 
 colonists an impassable barrier, and a general idea prevailed 
 that the country beyond was worthless. Lieutenant Dawes, 
 Captain Patterson, Hacking, Cayley, Mann, and George Bass, 
 with many others, had tried often to cross the Blue Mountains, 
 and had failed. However, in May 1813, three explorers, 
 Gregory Blaxland, William Charles Wentworth, and Lieu- 
 tenant William Lawson, burst through these barriers by keep- 
 
 1 The Present State of England in regard to Agriculture. By Joseph 
 Lowe. 
 
156 British Colonisation 
 
 ing to the ridges of the mountains, and opened up the regions 
 beyond, which were described afterwards by Mr. Evans, the 
 Government surveyor, as ' equal to every demand which this 
 colony may have for the extension of tillage and pasture land 
 for a century to come.' 1 In January 1815 a road was 
 engineered over the formidable obstacles nature had set in 
 the way. To use the words of an old colonist : ' A pastoral 
 era set in, and lands were occupied for grazing purposes. 
 Enterprising men took a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle 
 into the wilderness of the great interior, where there was room 
 enough for all, and, like the patriarchs of old, camped or 
 squatted down with them, waiting patiently until the few 
 became hundreds, and hundreds thousands, and thousands 
 tens of thousands. Thus originated the word squatter, which 
 has since become so well known in Australasian history.' An 
 epoch in the history of New South Wales was doubtless 
 reached when Governor Macquarie founded the town of 
 Bathurst on the scene of the new explorations. 
 
 The history of Australia is, for the first fifty years, the history 
 of the mother-colony, New South Wales ; and so much so, that 
 John Wilson Croker, instead of alluding to the continent of 
 New Holland or Australia, spoke of it as ' the continent of 
 New South Wales.' It was about 1817 so we are informed 
 by Mr. F. P. Labilliere, the author of The Early History of 
 Victoria that the word Australia was first used in a despatch 
 by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Governor Mac- 
 quarie, which enclosed him Elinders's chart and voyages to 
 Australia. General Macquarie, in reply, underlined the word 
 Australia, and wrote to Secretary Goulburn in December 1817 
 expressing a hope that the name Australia might be substituted 
 for New Holland. In 1606 the country, as has been already 
 noted, was termed by de Quiros ' Terra Australis del Espiritu 
 Santo.' French writers, also, such as M. E. Peron, generally 
 alluded to the continent as * Terres Australes.' 
 
 The year 1851 is remarkable for the first great gold 
 1 Proceedings of Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xvii. 
 
The Australian Colonies 157 
 
 discoveries made in Australia. The credit of the first find is 
 usually attributed to Edward Hargraves ; and although the 
 story has often been told, it will bear telling again, as it has so 
 much of romance about it. Edward Hargraves, it seems, was 
 a Bathurst settler who, in company with many other New 
 South Wales colonists, had been attracted to California to seek 
 his fortune on the banks of the Sacramento, in California. On 
 these distant gold-fields he toiled with little success ; but whilst 
 living there he learned the arts of mining, and acquired by 
 experience a miner's eye for the lie of a country. 
 
 It seemed to him that there was some likeness between the 
 rocks of the Sacramento Valley and a certain secluded valley 
 beyond the Blue Mountains in New South Wales which he 
 had visited fifteen years before. The similitude impressed 
 itself upon him so strongly that he resolved to go and examine 
 the spot again. He lost no time in sailing, and on arriving at 
 Sydney set out on horseback to cross the Blue Mountains. 
 'On the nth of February 1851 he spent the night,' we are 
 told, ' at a little inn a few miles from the object of his journey ; 
 and shortly after dawn he sallied forth on his walk through the 
 forest, carrying with him a spade, a trowel, and a little tin dish. 
 In the cool air of the morning the scent of the spreading gum- 
 trees braced up his frame as he plunged deeper and deeper 
 among those lonely hollows and wood-clad hills. His quickened 
 step in an hour or two brought him to the well-remembered 
 spot the dry course of a mountain torrent which in rainy 
 seasons finds its way into the Summerhill Creek. He lost no 
 time in placing a little of the grey-coloured soil into his tin 
 dish, and at once carried it to the nearest pool, where he 
 dipped the whole beneath the water. By moving the dish 
 rapidly, as he had learned to do in California, he washed away 
 the sand and earth ; but the particles of gold, which are more 
 than seven and a-half times heavier than sand, were not so 
 easily to be carried off. They sank to the corner of the dish, 
 where they lay secure, a few small specks, themselves of little 
 value, yet telling of hidden treasures that lay scattered in all 
 
158 British Colonisation 
 
 the soil around.' * His immediate reward was ^500 from the 
 New South Wales Government, which afterwards they supple- 
 mented with ; 1 0,000. The colony of Victoria also voted 
 him a present of .2381. In the same year gold was dis- 
 covered in Victoria by a Californian digger named Esmond, 
 who, like Hargraves, had a practical knowledge of mining. 
 
 It has been remarked by Lord Norton that the discovery of 
 gold, silver, and copper, but chiefly the attractive power of gold, 
 opened a new era in Australian history, gave the coup-de-grace 
 to transportation, and broke the last possible link of home 
 control. Henceforward the Australians began to work out 
 quickly the task of self-government, more especially under the 
 regime of Earl Grey. In 1842 a meeting was held at Sydney 
 to petition for representative government. The Imperial 
 Government acceded to the desire, and in 1843 the first repre- 
 sentative assembly met at Sydney. The Council was of a 
 composite character, twenty-four being elected by the colonists, 
 of whom eighteen were chosen by the colonists of New South 
 Wales proper and six by the Port Phillip colonists. The 
 remaining twelve were Government nominees. In 1850-51 
 another step forward was taken. In accordance with powers 
 conceded by the Imperial Government, the Council of New 
 South Wales entrusted the framing of a new constitution to a 
 committee, which decided to adopt the bicameral system of 
 government. The Legislature was divided into two chambers 
 a Legislative Council of twenty-one members nominated by 
 the Governor, but not less than four-fifths being always un- 
 official ; and an elected Assembly of fifty-four members. 
 Both chambers were of quinquennial duration. Responsible 
 government was inaugurated, and the Ministers who controlled 
 the affairs of the country were no longer officials, appointed or 
 dismissed by the Governor and Secretary of State. In every 
 sense of the word New South Wales became self-governing. 
 Subsequent modifications were made in the original then 
 drawn out, and members of the Council were elected for life 
 Sutherland, History of Australia. 
 
The Australian Colonies 159 
 
 instead of five years ; and the Council itself numbers now sixty 
 instead of twenty-one. The Assembly also consists of 124 
 members instead of fifty-four, the increase in both cases 
 arising from the increasing prosperity of the country. The 
 members themselves receive ^300 a year for their services, and 
 are returned by a broadly based electorate. 
 
 For forty years and more New South Wales has practically 
 held her own destinies in her hand. It cannot be denied that 
 the experiment of self-government has answered if the measure 
 taken be that of material wealth and social improvement. It 
 will be only necessary to adopt the general summaries of the 
 Government statists to be sure of this point. As New South 
 Wales is the oldest Australian settlement, so she is now (1891) 
 the richest. Her estimated private wealth is ^4 12,484,000, 
 equal to .368 per head of population, the total private wealth of 
 Australasia being ;i, 169,434,000. The history of the whole 
 world cannot afford us such a tale of progress and prosperity. 
 In a hundred years that struggling convict settlement at Port 
 Jackson, which had to rest upon Batavia and the Cape of Good 
 Hope for its daily bread, has expanded into the dimensions of 
 a populous and self-governing colony, the wonder and envy of 
 the whole world. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix VI. Section A. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TASMANIA 
 
 IT is with New South Wales that the fortunes of Tasmania, or, as 
 it was then called, Van Diemen's Land, must in the first instance 
 be associated. In 1803 Lieutenant Bowen was sent across 
 from Sydney with a vessel called the Lady Nelson, having on 
 board a few convicts, whom it was proposed to settle in the 
 island as a branch penal colony. New South Wales had been 
 founded for fifteen years, and the grades in vice and depravity 
 had time enough to show themselves. Some of the convicts 
 had availed themselves of their opportunities and had amended 
 their ways ; others had proved themselves irreclaimable thieves 
 and vagabonds ; and it was with this undesirable remainder 
 that Lieutenant Bowen was entrusted. He landed them at 
 Risdon, on the estuary of the river Derwent. It should be 
 mentioned that there was also a political motive underlying 
 this colonising venture. It was not unreasonably imagined that 
 the French exploring expedition under Commodore Baudin, to 
 which allusion has already been made, was desirous of hoisting 
 the French flag on some favourable spot on the island of 
 Tasmania, and it was the policy of England to anticipate by 
 prompt action any such movement in southern waters. During 
 the same year (1803) there arrived at the island four hundred 
 prisoners under the charge of Governor Collins. At the 
 mouth of a little creek, with Sullivan's Bay as its harbour, 
 Governor Collins founded Hobart Town, in honour of Lord 
 Hobart, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. 
 
 Tasmania was also recruited by another accession of convicts 
 
 160 
 
The Australian Colonies 161 
 
 from New South Wales, under Colonel Paterson, in 1804, who 
 were settled near the entrance to Port Dalrymple, at the north 
 of the island, and maintained a separate existence till 1812. 
 In 1807 there was also a fresh centre of colonisation made by 
 the Norfolk Island settlers, who came across and founded New 
 Norfolk, fifteen miles above Hobart Town, in memory of their 
 old home. These were the germs of the colony of Tasmania. 
 
 The first days of this settlement were hard and evil. At 
 one time starvation stared them in the face, as it did in the 
 case of the Sydney colony. They were dependent upon foreign 
 supplies, and flour soon rose to .112 per ton. Kangaroo 
 flesh was 8d. a Ib. ; and when the wheat crop failed in 1807, 
 and flour sold at ^"200 per ton, armed sentinels had to keep 
 guard over the wheat-fields. In October 1808 all the barley 
 was eaten up, and ij Ibs. of rice were issued as the weekly 
 rations of each man. It was not till three years after their 
 first arrival that sheep and oxen were imported. 
 
 The evil feature of Tasmanian life in the early days of the 
 settlement was bushranging. The island itself was especially 
 adapted to serve as a refuge and hiding-place for outlaws, 
 the interior being mountainous and clothed with deep woods. 
 Runaway sailors and convicts from Port Jackson were con- 
 stantly coming to the islands of Bass Strait, and were known 
 as sealers. Every year it is calculated that thirty or forty 
 eluded the vigilance of their keepers and took to the bush or 
 the islands. Allying themselves with the miserable aborigines, 
 they debased them by the practice of every kind of cruelty, 
 and created in the minds of the Tasmanians a dislike of 
 all Europeans. There was no comfortable home here for the 
 orderly and peaceful settler. He lived in constant fear of 
 rapine and depredations, and bushranging effectually checked 
 agricultural development. Twice, however, the Government 
 attempted to rid the island of this pest : first under Governor 
 Sorrel in 1817, and then under Governor Arthur in 1824. 
 Governor Sorrel may be said to have scotched the snake, and 
 Governor Arthur to have killed it altogether. It was during 
 
 L 
 
1 62 British Colonisation 
 
 the regime of the last named that Crawford and Brady, the 
 two desperate leaders of the bushrangers, were captured and 
 executed, Brady being surprised and seized, as he wandered 
 in a secluded valley without followers, by John Batman, a 
 colonist, who afterwards assisted in the founding of the colony 
 of Victoria. 
 
 The native question was, however, the one that most exer- 
 cised the ingenuity of the various Governors of Tasmania. How 
 to keep the peace between the settlers and the black fellows 
 was a most difficult problem. Exasperated beyond measure 
 by the treatment they had received from Europeans, unable to 
 distinguish between the classes of Europeans, and suspicious 
 of any method or plan of 'reserves' that might have kept 
 them apart for a while, they maintained the attitude of hunted 
 beasts, who roamed where they chose and retaliated when they 
 could. Under these circumstances Sir George Arthur, whose 
 administration of the colony is conspicuous for the attempts 
 made to establish security, and to save the black fellows not 
 only from the Europeans but from themselves, conceived the 
 idea of capturing them all and removing them to some safe 
 place. At first capture parties were organised, and rewards 
 offered by the Government of $ for every adult and 2 for 
 every child. The most prominent leaders of these parties were 
 John Batman, to whom allusion has been made, and Jorgen 
 Jorgenson, a Dane, the latter being a clever and daring man, 
 with a curious history. He had, during the great Napoleonic 
 wars, proceeded to Iceland, and, claiming to represent Great 
 Britain, so imposed upon the authorities that they actually 
 surrendered the government to him and his companions. He 
 proclaimed himself governor, and sent despatches to England 
 with the news that he had added a province to the Empire ; 
 but his message was scarcely received with the cordiality he 
 anticipated, and he was transported to Van Diemen's Land. 
 However,, he made himself useful in assisting to capture the 
 Tasmanian aborigines. 
 
 The result of this first attempt to stop the native difficulty 
 
The Australian Colonies 163 
 
 was not very successful, the natives being lithe and active, well 
 acquainted with every nook and corner of the country, and 
 excelling the Europeans in all the stratagems and devices of 
 savage life. Then Sir George Arthur, by way of trying an 
 heroic remedy, and acting from humane motives, conceived 
 the idea in 1830 of hemming in the tribes by means of an 
 advancing line, and by skilful manoeuvring isolating them on 
 Tasman's Peninsula. The Governor expended a great deal of 
 money and energy in endeavouring to secure the success of 
 this manoeuvre, but to no purpose, the natural difficulties and 
 obstacles of this rough country proving too formidable to be 
 overcome. In many places it was possible for the natives to 
 break back through the line, concealed by the deep creepers 
 and undergrowth of the forest. 
 
 This attempt to capture the Tasmanians en masse solely with 
 a view of deporting them to some reserve or location of their 
 own, whether island or peninsula, where they might be out of 
 harm's way, has been unfairly criticised : Sir Charles Dilke 
 describing it in his Greater Britain as ' a battue of the natives 
 conducted by the military.' This statement carries with it its 
 own refutation, when we reflect for a moment upon the state 
 of affairs in the island which Sir George Arthur endeavoured 
 to rectify. It was well known that the Governor was the 
 friend of the wretched aborigines, and had always encouraged 
 every kind of philanthropic and religious institution that 
 existed in the colony for their benefit. 
 
 It was clear, however, that the Tasmanian black fellows 
 were doomed to be exterminated, and there is something 
 pathetic about their end. In 1835 tnev on ty numbered 
 203, and these were removed to Flinders Island in 1835. I* 1 
 1847 tms number was reduced to 44, comprising 12 men, 22 
 women, and only 10 children. In this year they were re- 
 moved to Oyster Cove, a little harbour on the west side of 
 Dentrecasteaux Channel. The last male of the race, William 
 Lanne, died on March 3, 1869, at the early age of thirty-four 
 years; and on May 8, 1876, the last female, Truganini, died at 
 
164 British Colonisation 
 
 the age of sixty-five, and by her death a race became oblite- 
 rated from the face of the earth. 
 
 In 1837 Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, arrived 
 in Tasmania to take the reigns of government. He had 
 served as a midshipman under Flinders during a survey of the 
 Australian coasts, and was popular with the Australians. Un- 
 fortunately, Sir John Franklin became involved in a quarrel 
 with Mr. Montague, the Chief Secretary, which resulted in his 
 own dismissal by Lord'Stanley an official step which has been 
 greatly blamed by some for its abruptness and discourtesy. 
 In 1843 Sir John was superseded by Sir Eardley Wilmot, and 
 two years afterwards he sailed with the Erebus and Terror on 
 that well-known search for the North- West Passage from which 
 he and his crew never returned. 
 
 During Sir Eardley Wilmot's governorship (1843) there arose 
 many protests from the free colonists against the importa- 
 tion of so many convicts ; and the position of a Governor 
 ruling over a mixed population of free settlers, ticket-of-leave 
 men, and convicts became particularly irksome. The Tas- 
 manian colonists asked, * Was it not enough to send out the 
 felons of Great Britain to become Tasmanian bushrangers, 
 without forcing the free settlers to feed and clothe them 
 throughout their lives, after the completion of their original 
 sentence?' Lord Stanley's answer was that Tasmania had 
 always been a convict colony, and that the free settlers had 
 no right to ask that their views on the subject should be 
 humoured. A certain number of the Legislative Council who 
 were non-official members continued their protests, and, rather 
 than assent to sums of money necessary for the maintenance 
 of police and gaols, resigned in a body. They were honoured 
 by their fellow-colonists with the title of the ' Patriotic Six.' 
 Shortly afterwards, when Mr. Gladstone succeeded Lord 
 Stanley as Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Eardley 
 Wilmot was recalled. The Governor himself did not live 
 to return to England, but died in the colony. The quarrel, 
 however, between the colonists and the Executive went on. 
 
The Australian Colonies 165 
 
 The ' Patriotic Six ' were reinstated, and pressed for two great 
 constitutional changes, viz. elective parliaments and the aboli- 
 tion of transportation. It was found that between 1846-1850 
 more than 25,000 convicts had been brought into the colony : 
 free immigration had ceased, and the colony itself had retro- 
 graded. 
 
 It was during Sir William Denison's governorship that the 
 Tasmanian colonists pressed home their protests against trans- 
 portation to their shores. The Anti-Transportation League 
 was formed at Launceston, at the initiative more especially of 
 the Rev. John West, and the resolution adopted was as 
 follows : ' We, the undersigned, deeply impressed by the evils 
 which have arisen from the transportation of criminals of 
 Great Britain to the Australian colonies, declare that trans- 
 portation to any of the colonies ought for ever to cease ; and 
 we do hereby pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to 
 procure its abolition.' 
 
 This was followed up by a conference at Melbourne, and 
 amidst much enthusiasm * The League and Solemn Engage- 
 ment of the Australian Colonies ' was adopted in Melbourne 
 in February 1851 : the objects of which were most unmis- 
 takable, involving as they did the practical ' boycotting ' of con- 
 vict vessels and the adoption of every means at the disposal of 
 the colonists to abate the evil. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the crisis was of an extremely 
 serious character both in the Australian colonies and the Cape 
 of Good Hope. Earl Grey was obstinate in the case of Van 
 Diemen's Land, observing that ' this country had been origin- 
 ally intended as a penal settlement, and that the free inhabi- 
 tants could not expect the imperial policy to be altered.' 
 Earl Grey had liberal notions with regard to colonies, but 
 somehow he could not see that, if he gave the Australians 
 anything approaching to representative government, he was 
 bound to consider the wishes of the colonists on such an 
 important matter as this. Colonists everywhere were abso- 
 lutely determined to free themselves from the convict taint 
 
1 66 British Colonisation 
 
 and to purify their society. The alternative to a refusal to 
 meet their wishes seemed to be nothing more nor less than 
 rebellion. 
 
 However, the solution, to a large extent, of all Tasmanian 
 and Australian difficulties was destined to come from a some- 
 what unexpected quarter. The Californian gold-fields (1849) 
 had begun to attract a large number of colonists, and a trade 
 sprang up between San Francisco and Tasmanian and Aus- 
 tralian ports. Then came in due course the wonderful 
 ' finds ' of New South Wales and Victoria, which did more 
 than any legislation in the world to settle the political and 
 social conditions of the South Pacific colonies. Upon Tas- 
 mania the more immediate effect was to drain off large 
 numbers of the undesirable surplus population. In the 
 mad race after gold, convicts, bushrangers, political exiles, 
 sober colonists, and men of every trade and profession joined 
 with headlong zeal. 
 
 The granting of constitutions was a corollary of the remark- 
 able influx of population and the enormous increase of wealth ; 
 and from 1855-61, the period of Sir Henry Young's adminis- 
 tration, responsible government was conceded to Tasmania. 
 
 Like New South Wales, Tasmania has flourished under the 
 conditions of self-government. Some regard the island simply 
 as the beautiful annexe of New South Wales, whilst others 
 claim for her an unique and unrivalled position in southern 
 waters. Her scenery is surpassingly beautiful and her climate 
 is almost perfect ; and her mountains and valleys are a favourite 
 recreation-ground for visitors from Melbourne and Sydney. 
 The stress of life is less severe in Tasmania than in Victoria 
 or New South Wales. Here, if anywhere, can be found the 
 Capua of the South. 
 
 Sir Edward Braddon, the Agent-General of Tasmania, has 
 thus summed up the future prospects of his colony : ' With 
 a splendid soil to allure the farmer; with magnificent pro- 
 spects for the miner ; with promising industries yet unde- 
 veloped, or only in the first stage of development; with a 
 
The Australian Colonies 167 
 
 climate and people second to none in the world, and physical 
 beauties that few countries can rival, Tasmania should have a 
 great future in store for her. Strong in the girdle of waters 
 that nature has placed around her, she is particularly strong 
 also in the possession of a harbour that should become in pro- 
 cess of time the centre of the maritime system of that southern 
 region. Hobart is that harbour. It is easily approached by 
 friendly vessels ; it is easily defended against unfriendly ones. 
 It has a scope and depth that would accommodate any fleet 
 likely to be sent there ; it possesses the recommendation of 
 being favourably situated as regards a coal supply ; and it has 
 a climate peculiarly adapted to the requirements of our British 
 seamen. Whether from a strategical, economical, or sanitary 
 point of view, it may be claimed for Hobart that it is the 
 harbour of the south. Nor is it beyond the bounds of possi- 
 bility that Tasmania, with her many peculiar advantages and 
 her wide range of seaboard, may attain her destiny in becom- 
 ing the maritime power of Australasia.' 1 
 
 It may be added that, in the event of Australasian con- 
 federation, Hobart, from her central position and unrivalled 
 advantages, has already been designated as the seat of govern- 
 ment. In these days of quick and easy ocean communication, 
 the island of Tasmania is more accessible than any other 
 colony. Here, in one of the fairest portions of the globe, may 
 be assembled at some future date the Parliament of an 
 Australasian Dominion. 2 
 
 VICTORIA. 
 
 As the beginnings of Tasmania were from New South Wales, 
 so the beginnings of Victoria were from Tasmania. In 1798 
 the discovery of Bass Straits had enabled mariners to shorten 
 their voyage to New South Wales ; and in 1 800 Lieutenant 
 Grant made use of this advantage. He took his brig, called 
 the Lady Nelson, through the Straits, and gave names to the 
 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xx. p. 342. 
 
 2 For facts and figures see Appendix VI. Section B. 
 
1 68 British Colonisation 
 
 bays and inlets. In 1802 the Governor of Sydney sent the 
 Lady Nelson, under Lieutenant Murray, to explore a small 
 inlet, which proved, upon close examination, to be the entrance 
 to a broad sheet of water. To this bay the name of Port 
 Phillip was given in honour of the first Australian Governor. 
 The first attempt to colonise Port Phillip was made in 1803, 
 under Governor Collins, who landed there with about four 
 hundred convicts. This experiment was unfortunate, as there 
 seemed to be no suitable place for a township. The blacks 
 were hostile ; and, leave being given to Collins to remove to 
 Tasmania if he thought fit, he did so at once, abandoning the 
 site. 
 
 For more than thirty years Port Phillip was left to its solitude. 
 In 1835 J onn Pascoe Fawkner, who had been one of the 
 children allowed to accompany their convict parents in the 
 Collins expedition of 1803, returning to Tasmania with it 
 afterwards, formed a project of colonising the old site. He is 
 said to have been urged to this enterprise by reading an account 
 of an expedition led in 1824-5 by two explorers named Hume 
 and Hovell, who had recently travelled in this part of the world, 
 leading a party from Sydney southwards across the Australian 
 Alps to Geelong. 
 
 Together with five friends, Fawkner set sail in a small vessel 
 called the Enterprise ; but, the winds proving contrary, he asked 
 to be put ashore for a time, as he was a great sufferer from sea- 
 sickness. His party, however, proceeded on their way, land- 
 ing at Hobson's Bay, carrying with them horses, ploughs, grain, 
 fruit-trees, materials for a house, as well as a boat and provisions. 
 Fawkner himself joined them shortly after their arrival. About 
 the same time John Batman, also a Tasmanian, who has 
 already been alluded to as the capturer of the notorious 
 Tasmanian bushranger Brady, formed a similar project, and in 
 1835 landed at Port Phillip after tossing about Bass Straits for 
 nineteen days in a little sloop called the Rebecca. Batman ex- 
 plored the bay, made friends with the natives, obtaining a grant 
 of land from them to the amount of 600,000 acres. 
 
The Australian Colonies 169 
 
 These were the beginnings of the great city of Melbourne. 
 Before a year had passed nearly two hundred persons had crossed 
 over from Tasmania with more than 15,000 sheep, and spread 
 over a great extent of country from Geelong to Sunbury. Con- 
 flicts arose between the settlers and the natives, and Governor 
 Bourke endeavoured to check the nascent settlement, issuing a 
 proclamation warning the settlers not to make their home there. 
 But here, as elsewhere in England's colonial empire, official 
 protests against colonisation and expansion were unavailing. 
 At the close of 1836 Governor Bourke was compelled to 
 recognise the colony, and, in 1837, visited Port Phillip him- 
 self, and planned the town of Melbourne, so named after Lord 
 Melbourne, at that time the Prime Minister of England. The 
 history of Melbourne and of the colony of Victoria can be 
 said, therefore, to begin almost exactly with Queen Victoria's 
 accession. 
 
 For a short time from this date Port Phillip continued to be 
 an integral portion of the mother-colony of New South Wales. 
 When Governor Sir George Gipps came to Sydney in 1838, he 
 found that the question of separation was already being agitated. 
 At this time the jurisdiction of the New South Wales Governor 
 extended over the eastern half of Australia, from Cape York 
 to Port Phillip. There were in this vast region at that time 
 only about 150,000 colonists, of whom about 120,000 were 
 centred around Sydney and 30,000 around Port Phillip. At 
 these two places, six hundred miles apart, lay the germs of two 
 great colonies. In 1 840 the people of Melbourne formally peti- 
 tioned for a separation. 
 
 The Home Government were, generally speaking, rather in 
 favour of separation ; although it might have been thought that, 
 when in July 1843 a Council of thirty-six members was given to 
 Sydney, of whom six were elected for Port Phillip, a modus 
 vivendi between the two centres of colonisation might have 
 been attained. This distribution of political power was found 
 to be unsatisfactory, the people of Port Phillip objecting to the 
 large share of representation enjoyed by the Sydney colonists, 
 
170 British Colonisation 
 
 and asserting, amongst other matters, that a sum of more than 
 ;i 80,000 had been taken from the sale of public lands around 
 Port Phillip to encourage immigration to Sydney. Practically 
 speaking, they were at the mercy of the Sydney majority. 
 
 The friction between the two component parts of the Legisla- 
 ture grew worse and worse, and the Port Phillip electors adopted 
 rather a novel plan for drawing the attention of English states- 
 men to their unfair position. At this time (1848) Earl Grey 
 was Secretary of State for the Colonies, and accordingly they 
 elected him as their member by a great majority. By this 
 means Earl Grey's attention was turned to Port Phillip, and after 
 weighing the matter carefully he informed his constituents at the 
 Antipodes that he would at once prepare a bill for the Imperial 
 Parliament and obtain the necessary powers, at the same time 
 intimating that Queen Victoria would be pleased if the new 
 colony around Port Phillip would take her name. In 1851 the 
 colony of Victoria, being separated from New South Wales, 
 commenced a separate existence. 
 
 When gold was discovered in New South Wales, the first 
 effect was to deplete the neighbouring settlement of a large 
 number of its colonists \ and in June 1851 a number of leading 
 citizens of Melbourne offered a reward of ^"200 to the first 
 person who discovered gold within two hundred miles of Mel- 
 bourne. In June a find was announced by the Hon. W. 
 Campbell from Clunes in the county of Talbot, 123 miles from 
 Melbourne ; and this was followed by a find at Burnbank or 
 Lexton, 128 miles from Melbourne, in the same county, and 
 another in the quartz rocks of the Yarra ranges at Anderson's 
 Creek. In the same year gold was discovered at Mount Alex- 
 ander, at Buninyong, and Ballarat. The first ship that took 
 gold from Port Phillip was the Honduras, which left for 
 London August 29, 1851, with eighteen ounces ; the second 
 one, the Melbourne, sailed in the December following, with 
 54,000 ounces ; and in August 1852 the Eagle carried 145,843 
 ounces. 1 
 
 i Gordon and Gotch's Handbook, 1891, p. 243. 
 
The Australian Colonies 171 
 
 When the fame of the Ballarat diggings spread abroad, the 
 effect upon Melbourne was extraordinary. There was a rush 
 thither from all parts of the world. In 1852 nearly 100,000 
 immigrants landed at Melbourne, and the population was at 
 once doubled. In 1853, 92,000 arrived, and Victoria became 
 the most populous of all the Australian colonies. In 1854-5, 
 150,000 came; and in 1856 Victoria contained 400,000 in- 
 habitants, or about five times the number it possessed in 1850. 
 In 1852 one hundred and seventy-four tons of gold were raised, 
 valued at "14, ooo, ooo ; and from 1852 to 1862 "100,000,000 
 worth of gold was exported from Victoria. Victoria went ahead 
 rapidly from New South Wales, the latter colony not producing 
 more than ,2,000,000 worth of gold annually, with the 
 exception of the year 1852. 
 
 The wealth of Melbourne and the progress of Victoria, in 
 consequence of the gold finds, can best be proved by figures. 
 The assessed annual rental of property in Melbourne in 1843 
 was 91,270; in 1854, "2,330,947. For the province of 
 Victoria the total imports in 1851 were 1,056,437 ; in 1857, 
 17,256,209. The total value of imports during seven years 
 was 82,499,296. The number of ships and vessels entered 
 inwards at the custom-house in Victoria in 1851 was 710; 
 in 1857 it was 2190. The tonnage in 1851 was 128,959 tons; 
 in 1857, 694,564 tons. The number of men employed in 
 1851 was 7785 ; in 1857, 34,777. The increase in the num- 
 ber of vessels was therefore very great. The departures in 
 1851 comprised 657 vessels of all classes, having a total 
 tonnage of 110,659 tons. In the year 1857 the number of 
 ships cleared outwards at the various custom-houses in Vic- 
 toria was 2207, with a tonnage of 684. 
 
 Before this extraordinary development all previous theories 
 of colonisation broke down. Gold brought about a complete 
 social revolution, and a self-paying emigration succeeded to 
 State-aided emigration. Formerly the emigrating class consisted 
 mainly of distressed agricultural peasants and their wives, whose 
 passages were defrayed out of the rent and sales of waste 
 
British Colonisation 
 
 lands. The character of emigrations, or rushes from one gold- 
 field to another, was extraordinary. Twenty thousand people, 
 earning fair wages and doing well, would rise, we are told, en 
 masse in a day, and, striking tents, precipitate themselves upon 
 a new district sometimes, it must be added, to find reverses 
 and bitter disappointment. Life often became a wild orgy, 
 the flood of immigrants swamped the old settlers, and many of 
 them fled from the invading hordes. 
 
 The gold-mining industry was found to react favourably 
 upon all industries, and especially those of a pastoral and 
 agricultural character. If it is true that every gold-digger 
 gives occupation to at least three other men in feeding and 
 clothing him, there was abundant opportunity, in the presence 
 of such an influx, for the farmer and agriculturist to make a 
 profit. The host was composed of all nations Germans, 
 French, Italians, Chinese, Americans, and Californians. There 
 are said to have been, at one time, 50,000 Chinamen at the 
 Australian gold-fields, and at Ballarat in 1856 a Chinese news- 
 paper was printed and circulated. To the Chinese some of 
 the greatest of the gold discoveries are due. The immigration 
 tax levied upon them at Port Sydney and Port Phillip com- 
 pelled them to enter the gold-fields by way of Guichen Bay, in 
 South Australia ; and, taking a course from that point over the 
 frontier and across the Grampian ranges, they came upon gold 
 near Mount Ararat. In their search after the precious metal 
 they chanced upon a spot called 'The Chinaman's Hole,' 
 which yielded 3000 ounces in a few hours. This led to the 
 greatest rush ever known at the gold-fields no less than 
 60,000 people congregating there in a few weeks. 'Thus, 
 within the space of two months, a wild mountain gorge was 
 converted into a teeming city, where frontages were almost as 
 valuable as in the heart of London.' * 
 
 With regard to wheat-growing in Victoria, it advanced by 
 leaps and bounds all over the country. It was only in 1835 
 that the first acre was fenced in and sown with wheat in 
 1 Quarterly Review r , January 1860. 
 
The Australian Colonies 173 
 
 Victoria. In 1858 the quantity of land under crop was 
 237,729, yielding 1,808,438 bushels of wheat, besides maize 
 and oats, the average yield of wheat per acre being 23.1 
 bushels. 
 
 As in New South Wales, so in the colony of Victoria, the 
 amazing influx of immigrants brought about important social 
 and political changes. It was no easy matter to keep law 
 and order in the country ; and, as many convicts crossed over 
 from Tasmania, the Victorian Legislature passed a stringent 
 Convicts Prevention Act in 1852, by which any ship-captain 
 who brought a convict into the country was to be fined .100. 
 The licence fee was also found to be a grievance by the diggers, 
 who, according to its provisions, were compelled to pay 305. a 
 month an amount trifling in itself in the case of lucky diggers, 
 but pressing hard upon the unlucky. Thousands of miners had 
 been disappointed in their hopes of wealth, and formed an 
 unruly mob ready at any moment to vent their rage against 
 the Governor and all constituted authority. A certain number 
 of them formed a camp under the command of two leaders 
 Vern, a German, and Lalor, an Irishman and proclaimed the 
 ' Republic of Victoria.' This rebellion, however, was soon 
 crushed by the Ninety-ninth Regiment, aided by marines from 
 the men-of-war and the colonial police. All these circum- 
 stances were particularly embarrassing to a young colony 
 which, little by little, was feeling its way from a representative 
 to a fully responsible form of government. Nevertheless, the 
 country weathered all its storms, and in 1855 the new consti- 
 tution, framed by the colonists in the Colonial Constitution 
 Act, was confirmed by the Imperial Government. 
 
 The tale of Victorian prosperity is a twice-told tale. 
 Nature has, to use Sir Arthur Hodgson's words, made a 
 present to the colony of 220 millions in hard gold, and 
 Victorian colonists have not been slow to avail themselves of 
 Nature's bounty. Melbourne, with her population of 491,378 
 (1891), is one of the great cities of the world, and a railway 
 map of Victoria will show us that the capital is linked with 
 
1/4 British Colonisation 
 
 the outlying counties by 2469 miles of railway, costing more 
 than ^34,000,000 to construct. A study of Victorian statis- 
 tics proves that in all the elements of material wealth the 
 colonists are most amply provided. 1 
 
 WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 In 1829 a new experiment was destined to be made in a 
 remote part of the Australian continent. In this year certain 
 regulations, for the guidance of those who may propose to 
 embark as settlers for the new settlement on the western coast 
 of New Holland, as it was still called, were issued from 
 Downing Street. From their tenor it is easy to see how 
 totally and essentially different this colonising venture was from 
 that which resulted in the founding of New South Wales, Tas- 
 mania, and Victoria. The settlement was termed the ' New 
 Colony of the Swan River,' but this hardly gave a proper idea 
 of its extent, as it included all the line of coast from Cape 
 Leuwin in lat. 34 30' to lat. 31. The Swan River was the 
 Riviere des Cygnes of the French, and the Zwanen Riviere of 
 Vlaming. The country had been visited by the French, but 
 not closely surveyed ; and in March 1827 Captain Stirling 
 stood along the coast and, anchoring opposite the Swan River, 
 ascended it in boats. The impression he took away with him 
 was favourable : very different from that of the French explorers, 
 who had arrived off the coast in the winter time, and appear 
 to have been alarmed at the gales of wind and the rocks and 
 reefs, such as the Reef de Naturaliste, the Shoals of Rottenest, 
 Houtman's Abrolhos, and the rough coast off Cape Leuwin. 
 Geographer's Bay provided a good anchorage, its position 
 being exactly like that of the Table Bay in the Cape, facing 
 north-west. Cockburn Sound, lying behind a protecting island, 
 just south of the Swan River, was considered by Captain 
 Stirling to be always safe. Such was the spot designated by 
 the founders of the new settlement. The land, also, according 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix VI. Section C. 
 
The Australian Colonies 175 
 
 to Captain Stirling, was favourable to vegetation, and the 
 climate cool and agreeable the latter assertion borne out by 
 all those who have lived at Perth and Fremantle. The idea 
 that the western coast of Australia consisted mostly of barren 
 sandhills an idea gathered from the appearance of the lime- 
 stone hills, which were often covered by sand blown up from 
 the sea was proved to be erroneous, and plains and forests 
 were found to exist. Here, then, might be a home for a pas- 
 toral and agricultural population. Further, the colony seemed 
 to be situated well from a commercial and strategic point of 
 view, lying as it did in the track of ships proceeding to New 
 South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and on the fair-way, 
 also, of ships from India to South America a line of trade just 
 commencing. The colony might also serve as a convalescent 
 station for the numerous invalids from India, not only of the 
 East India Company's service, but also of our regular army 
 there. In relation to our Indian empire, a glance at the map 
 showed that the Cape of Good Hope and Swan River formed 
 two most important stations. 
 
 At the beginning of its career it was hoped that the Swan 
 River settlement might draw upon the Cape of Good Hope 
 and the Isle of France for supplies. Above all, it was highly 
 imperative that the post should not be occupied by an enemy 
 who from this position might be a standing menace to our 
 other settlements in Australia and Van Diemen's Land. It 
 was advisable for England, now that her occupation of the 
 island-continent had been an accomplished fact for more than 
 forty years, to establish a cordon or chain of posts all round 
 the whole habitable portion of Australia. The importance of 
 Australia, from every point of view, was being thrust upon 
 England ; and a writer in the Quarterly Review (No. Ixxviii.) 
 expressed a general feeling thus in 1829: 'We are satisfied 
 that these Australian colonies require only the fostering hand 
 of the Mother-country for a little while to elevate them to a 
 degree of prosperity equal to that of the United States in pro- 
 portion to their respective populations,' The colonies were to 
 
176 British Colonisation 
 
 be encouraged as affording the surest and most constant 
 markets for the demand and consumption of British manu- 
 factures. The wool sent home was already proved to be equal 
 to the -Spanish wool, and the import was interfering already 
 at this date with Saxony wool. 
 
 Such were the reasons which were advanced by political 
 thinkers in 1829 for the development of our colonial power in 
 Australia. These reasons were based on high State policy, and 
 proceeded from a broad view of England's requirements, as the 
 foremost colonising and manufacturing Power in the world. In 
 this case it was no haphazard discharge of criminals upon a 
 new country, to work out, if they could, a regeneration for 
 themselves under seven, fourteen, or twenty-one years of penal 
 servitude ; it was a bond fide colony and a deeply considered 
 project of colonisation. Then, as afterwards, there were found 
 many in England who were not only averse to the establish- 
 ment of new colonies, but industriously promoted the idea that 
 the sooner we got rid of the old ones the better. 
 
 They have, for the last thirty years, had their counterpart in 
 the Goldwin Smith school of politicians. It is hardly worth 
 while, however, to consider into what straits these unpatriotic 
 lecturers and writers might, at this period, have landed England. 
 Gibraltar might have been surrendered long ago, Malta might 
 have been re-occupied by France, Egypt have become a series 
 of French provinces, and Australia occupied at various points 
 by French Pondicherrys, if not French settlements. It has 
 been well and ably pointed out that Napoleon felt that there 
 was one point by means of which England was always able to 
 beat him, and that was by her maritime strength a strength 
 derivable from her colonies, Talleyrand also spoke of Eng- 
 land's colonies as the sheet-anchor of Great Britain and the 
 stronghold of her power. ' Deprive her of her colonies,' he 
 said, ' and you break down her last wall ; you fill up her last 
 ditch.' Napoleon had his eye upon Australia ; and by virtue of 
 the expedition of Baudin, to which attention has already been 
 drawn, the French might possibly have claimed a position on 
 
The Australian Colonies 177 
 
 the western coasts, where, in the words of M. Peron, * the 
 labours of English navigators are finished, and our discoveries 
 of the Land of Napoleon begin.' In 1826 a rumour prevailed 
 that the French were actually going to occupy Western Aus- 
 tralia, and the Sydney authorities sent a detachment of soldiers 
 to take formal possession of the country and found a settle- 
 ment at King George's Sound. 1 The first regulations issued 
 from Downing Street and bearing upon the Swan River settle- 
 ment were as follows : The Government, it was said, did not 
 intend to incur any expense in conveying settlers to the new 
 colony, and will not help to support them whilst there. Land 
 licences will be issued on certain terms to those who will settle, 
 and there will be no convicts or other description of prisoners. 
 Western Australia will not be a penal settlement. 
 
 To a great extent the hopes first entertained of its welfare 
 and prosperity have been falsified, and the sum of its wealth 
 and population, when contrasted with that of New South 
 Wales of which it was once thought it might be a successful 
 rival is comparatively insignificant. Still, with the policy 
 that boldly occupied this region of Australia and took up the 
 task of colonisation here we cannot be too greatly impressed. 
 It was both wise and patriotic. The chief commercial and 
 strategic reasons which made Western Australia valuable to 
 England in 1829 exist now. It is close to the markets of Java 
 and Singapore, which can now be reached in less than ten 
 days, and it is just possible that its proximity to the Asiatic 
 labour market may enable it to solve certain labour questions 
 which are a difficulty elsewhere. Now, as before, Western 
 Australia is useful as a health resort for invalids from Ceylon 
 and India. 
 
 When the experiment was begun on the Swan River, there 
 
 seems to have been a good deal of mismanagement. Captain 
 
 Fremantle landed as the first pioneer, and shortly afterwards 
 
 disembarked 800 settlers. No adequate provision was made 
 
 for them, and for months the colonists had to endure as well 
 
 1 See Sutherland, History of Australia. 
 
 M 
 
178 British Colonisation 
 
 as they could the rough blasts and winter storms of the Indian 
 Ocean, sheltered only under fragile huts. Not only on this 
 occasion, but on many others, and in many parts of the 
 world, the same mistake in landing on new shores and facing 
 a winter without adequate provision has been made. It is one 
 of those violations of common sense it is difficult to under- 
 stand. At the Cape of Good Hope the Dutch East India 
 Company landed their first Table Bay colonists just before 
 the approach of winter, exposing the weakened, scurvy- 
 struck passengers to those storms that sweep over the Cape pen- 
 insula ; the first French settlements up the St. Lawrence were 
 made just before the winter months ; and in much later times 
 a party of the Selkirk settlers dared to face all the hardships 
 of a Canadian winter as their first experience of the country. 
 
 The colony of the Swan River seemed to be destined from 
 the beginning to be a comparative failure. The little port of 
 Fremantle was founded, the beginnings of Perth laid, and in 
 1830 a thousand new immigrants arrived, most of them being 
 attracted by the prospect of obtaining large estates, forgetting 
 that the standard of the value of land is different in old and 
 new countries, ten acres of good pasture-land in England being 
 worth a whole district of unreclaimed and desert land abroad. 
 Erroneous ideas also prevailed amongst the colonists as to the 
 nature and extent of pasture-land, and to measure the 
 Australian bush by reference to English standards was a 
 common mistake. Even now it is a difficult task for an 
 English farmer to realise that in such countries as the Cape 
 and Australia the science and practice of husbandry and 
 agriculture have to be learned anew. There is no equivalent 
 in new countries to the carefully kept sward or ' spine ' of Old 
 England; the sheep wander backwards and forwards over 
 immense areas of bush or veldt ; they feed on different herbs, 
 and are liable to all kinds of strange and unexpected diseases. 
 The tasks of a veterinary in Australia and the Cape are quite 
 different from those of an expert in England, and experience 
 has invariably to be a bitter teacher. Nor in many cases were 
 
The Australian Colonies 179 
 
 the colonists aware, whether at the Cape or Australia, that 
 their part or allotment, granted with a free hand by Govern- 
 ment, was very often in possession of a hostile race of savages, 
 or at any rate exposed to their cattle-liftings and maraudings. 
 
 The British Government thought it possible, however, to 
 make the colony of Western Australia self-supporting by paying 
 for everything with land, as the grants cost nothing, and were 
 readily accepted by others as payment. We are told that very 
 few of the first colonists made any attempt at agriculture, and 
 that the instruments of husbandry lay rusting by the shore ; 
 the horses and cattle died off; the sheep that had been intro- 
 duced at a great expense perished from feeding on a poisonous 
 plant, and the colonists themselves were forced to loiter 
 aimlessly at Perth. One gentleman, Peel by name, had spent 
 ^"50,000 in bringing to the colony everything that could be 
 required for farming on a large scale, and he introduced no 
 fewer than three hundred labourers into the country. But this 
 costly experiment failed, and Mr. Peel was ultimately com- 
 pelled to take up his lot as an ordinary settler. Some of the 
 colonists turned their attention from the land to the sea, as 
 likely to be a more remunerative market, and employed their 
 energies in opening up the whaling fisheries at Portland Bay. 
 
 In 1836 the colony of South Australia was formed, and a 
 large portion of the country previously marked as belonging 
 to West Australia was assigned to this new settlement, and 
 Adelaide was founded. It is somewhat curious that the pro- 
 sperity which followed upon the founding of South Australia 
 did not fall to the lot of Western Australia; and in 1848, this 
 colony being still in a state of stagnation, a message was sent 
 to it from Earl Grey, asking the colonists whether they would 
 entertain the idea of convict-labour in their midst. After some 
 hesitation the colonists consented to have the convicts in their 
 midst, although it was completely contrary to the original 
 stipulation, thinking, perhaps, that the convict population, as 
 well as the soldiers and police, might give a spur to their 
 industries. But no permanent good came of it ; and when 
 
180 British Colonisation 
 
 the gold-fields were discovered in the eastern colonies, the 
 prisoners, immediately they were liberated, drifted off thither. 
 It was found that neither Victoria nor New South Wales would 
 put up with this influx of discharged criminals in their midst ; 
 and, in order to defend themselves against the taint, they refused 
 admission to every colonist coming from West Australia unless 
 he could show that he had never been a convict. The colony 
 of Swan River thus became branded, free immigrants ceased to 
 go thither, and many of the original settlers left it altogether. 
 
 The gold discoveries, therefore, did not benefit West 
 Australia to the extent even of stimulating agriculture as in 
 South Australia, an adjacent settlement. It was left high and 
 dry, and for many years its development has been hampered 
 at every turn by the want of population. Neglected and im- 
 poverished, she has been called the Cinderella of the 
 Australian colonies. In 1867-8 the colony ceased to be a 
 penal settlement, free immigration was encouraged, public 
 works begun, and a new era commenced, lasting up to the 
 present time. 
 
 Western Australia is the last Australian colony to which 
 responsible government has been offered. The constitution 
 was granted only so recently as 1890, and on October 2ist 
 of that year first came into operation. The population of the 
 whole settlement is only about 43,000, living in a country that 
 has a coast-line of about 3000 miles and an area of 1,000,000 
 square miles. One advantage Western Australia possesses in 
 being one or two weeks nearer England by sea than the rest of 
 the Australian colonies. The colony, however, has suffered 
 from isolation, and a mere glance at the map will show the 
 enormous distances which separate Albany and King George's 
 Sound on the south from the Kimberley division on the north. 
 In course of time a railway from north to south for 1300 miles 
 may be constructed, but at present such an idea is somewhat 
 ambitious, although it has been mooted by no less an authority 
 than the late Sir John Coode. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix VI. Section D. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA 
 
 IN May 1835, during the very month that Batman was survey 
 ing the banks of the Yarra, the British Government was defining 
 the conditions upon which a fourth Australian colony could 
 be founded. The South Australian Association, which was 
 called into being in 1833, had asked for powers from the 
 Imperial Parliament simply to sell waste lands and apply the 
 proceeds to immigration. This was conceded to them by 
 an Act which directed also that commissioners should be 
 appointed to frame laws for the colony, establish its courts, 
 nominate its officers. Free grants were henceforth to cease. 
 Land was to be thrown open for sale at not less than twelve 
 shillings an acre, to be raised to i per acre subsequently. 
 No convicts were allowed to land, and in every way the settle- 
 ment was designed to be a model community. This colonisa- 
 tion scheme, which was to result in the formation of a great 
 colony, owed its beginnings to Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, 
 who in 1829 had published a small book purporting to be letters 
 written from Sydney. It created a great sensation, not only on 
 account of its style, but also for the originality of its ideas. 
 . The system received the approbation of Lord Howick (Lord 
 Grey), the Secretary of State for the Colonies. For the 
 development of waste lands capital is clearly an essential 
 preliminary. In a public way the Australian colonists have 
 recently solved this question, on the strength of their credit, by 
 
 181 
 
1 82 British Colonisation 
 
 borrowing huge loans and constructing railways and public 
 works. When Australia had no credit worth speaking of, and 
 could not borrow, Mr. Wakefield sought to enlist the aid of 
 capital by means of a private association. 
 
 Mr. Wakefield demonstrated that a revenue might be derived 
 from land sales at a sufficient and uniform price * the land 
 price being a labour tax on purchasers,' to use Lord Norton's 
 expression, by which all might equally benefit. It did three 
 useful things : it prevented land speculation, furnished a fund 
 for surveys, and, although it might check labourers from be- 
 coming landowners quickly, it prevented concentration of 
 settlement. ' The sufficient price was a matter of calculation, 
 and no index of the market value of land.' 
 
 The prairie value is not really the market value, as a land ring 
 may be formed, and Crown lands themselves a most important 
 public asset disposed of for a mere trifle at sales and auctions. 
 As a matter of fact, even the 'upset' price in our colonies 
 has often been most misleading. Mr. Wakefield's scheme 
 also presupposed and rightly enough the greater value of 
 money in a new country than in an old. Eight and ten per 
 cent, has often been got in colonies themselves upon safe 
 security in the earlier days. This probably is an estimate 
 falling below the real truth. Mr. Wakefield argued that on 
 account of the immense natural resources of Australia, their 
 vast wealth in minerals, and their forests of timber, an associa- 
 tion possessed of large capital would obtain as large an income 
 from this as from one several times as great in England. 
 There was to be no absenteeism. The capitalist was to be- 
 come a colonist as, indeed, Mr. Wakefield did himself 
 with the prospect of a learned and cultivated leisure. The 
 project had much to be said in its favour, and provoked much 
 discussion among such writers as Colonel Torrens, Poulett 
 Scrope, Mr. Elliot, and others. It has been remarked by Lord 
 Norton that the Hudson's Bay Company, with their rich and 
 magnificent territories in the North-West, might have studied 
 it with advantage, 'as it never occurred to any one of the 
 
The Australian Colonies 183 
 
 disputants that a revenue could be raised from the sale of waste 
 lands more than sufficient to supply immigrant labour and the 
 opening costs of surveys and roads the return being expected 
 afterwards to arise out of profits from capital so attracted to 
 the country.' 
 
 The labour question was of course the great crux, and perhaps 
 it might have been guessed that the Australian immigrant would 
 view with jealousy and ill-will the spectacle of a leisured class 
 for whom he would in the first instance be asked to work. In a 
 new country the immigrant is impatient of social distinctions. 
 In New Zealand we shall see that Mr. Wakefield conceived the 
 idea of a Church of England settlement under the auspices of 
 a company, thus importing a religious bond into a new 
 country. 
 
 It was in December 1837 that the beginnings of Adelaide 
 were made. Governor Hindmarsh, the first Governor, read his 
 commission to a small audience of emigrants and officials 
 beneath a gum-tree near the beach. This is the site of the 
 present wealthy town of Glenelg, seven and a half miles from 
 the city of Adelaide, and the old gum-tree is said to be still 
 standing, although in a state of decay. In 1836 the only 
 landing-place for vessels was ' in the midst of a mangrove 
 swamp at the mouth of a muddy little creek,' and so undesirable 
 did the site seem that it was seriously suggested that the colony 
 should be removed to Encounter Bay. But the site of the 
 town of Adelaide, which was a broad plain beneath the steep hills 
 of the Mount Lofty range and on the banks of the Torrens, had 
 already been determined upon by Colonel Light ; and, in spite 
 of differences of opinion, it was adhered to and developed. 
 
 South Australia has never been the actual scene of such 
 busy mining operations as New South Wales or Victoria ; but, 
 incidentally, the colony profited greatly by the gold-mines of 
 the sister colonies. Port Adelaide was found to be a con- 
 venient port for the crowds of diggers, Chinamen and others, 
 who were bound for the Ballarat fields ; and at the same time 
 a great market was opened up for South Australian flour and 
 
184 British Colonisation 
 
 wheat, and a spur thus given to her agricultural prosperity. It 
 must be remembered, also, that before the gold discoveries had 
 been made in New South Wales and Victoria the colony of 
 South Australia had derived great profit from her own mineral 
 wealth. In 1842, at the Kapunda Station, forty miles to the 
 north-west of Adelaide, Mr. F. C. Button, searching for lost sheep 
 in the bush, had chanced to discover by accident rich copper- 
 mines. Eighty acres of land were bought for .80, and during 
 the first year the mines yielded ^4000, the next ^10,000. 
 The Burra-Burra mines, also, which were bought for ^2 0,000, 
 yielded copper to the value of ^700,000 during the first three 
 years. The value of these finds does not approach that of 
 the gold-fields, but still the copper era served to stimulate 
 every industry in South Australia, and to bring capital and 
 labour to bear upon the land. Agricultural industries went 
 ahead. In 1839 there were only 440 acres under cultivation ; 
 in 1842 there were 23,000 acres bearing wheat, with 5000 acres 
 of other crops. In 1845 the colonists were not only able to 
 supply their own wants, but were able to export about 200,000 
 bushels at cheap rates to the neighbouring colonies, at the 
 same time holding a surplus of 150,000 bushels at their 
 disposal. 
 
 In 1860 the South Australian Government had offered 
 ^2000 as a reward to the first person who should succeed in 
 crossing Australia from south to north, and the feat was 
 attempted by John M'Douall Stuart, who had served as 
 draughtsman in Sturt's expedition to the Stony Desert. After 
 two attempts, in which he came first within 400 miles and then 
 within 250 miles of the northern shores, Stuart succeeded in 
 reaching Van Diemen's Gulf. Burke and Wills, two other 
 explorers, had anticipated him, as they had reached the Gulf 
 of Carpentaria from the south in February 1861, whereas he 
 did not reach Van Diemen's Gulf until July 1862. Along the 
 route opened up by Stuart it was resolved to construct an over- 
 land telegraph line, which should link with a submarine cable 
 from Singapore to Van Diemen's Gulf. This great public 
 
The Australian Colonies 185 
 
 work was finished successfully in August 1872, when the two 
 ends of the telegraph wire were joined and the first message 
 was flashed across the great wastes of Central Australia. In 
 October 1872 through communication was opened between 
 London and Adelaide, and on the second of this month the 
 Mayor of London sent a message of congratulation to the 
 Mayor of Adelaide, a distance of 12,500 miles. Another 
 telegraph wire was laid between Perth and Adelaide, from west 
 to east, so that the colony of South Australia was in touch with 
 the civilised world by two different routes. A glance at the 
 geographical conditions of South Australia will prove how 
 important telegraphic and, wherever possible, railway com- 
 munications are to this colony. 
 
 It was in consequence of the favourable report given by the 
 explorer John M'Douall Stuart that the South Australian 
 Government petitioned the Home Government for that part of 
 the continent which lay between the i38th and 1 2 gth meridians 
 of longitude and the 26th parallel of latitude and the sea. This 
 northern territory was formerly known as Alexandra Land, and 
 is now calculated to embrace an immense tract of country with 
 an area of 523,620 square miles. This part of Australia had 
 been first sighted by the Dutch, although it had never been 
 colonised by them. The first British settlements had been 
 formed on Melville Island in 1824, chiefly with a view of holding 
 it as a military post and providing a harbour of refuge for dis- 
 tressed vessels. The principal harbour of the northern 
 territory is Port Darwin, second only in magnificence to Port 
 Jackson, New South Wales. It was named after Dr. Darwin, 
 who sailed with King in his survey of the north coast in 
 1818-1822. The northern territory has been recognised as 
 part of the colony of South Australia since 1864, and the 
 acquisition of this vast tract, with its tropical climate and 
 tropical products, constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of 
 the colony. Numerous exploring expeditions, in 1877, 1878, 
 1882, 1883, 1885, and 1886, have combined to throw much 
 light recently upon this territory, and it is predicted that the 
 
1 86 British Colonisation 
 
 peninsula of Arnheim Land may become one of the rich 
 mining districts of South Australia. 
 
 It will be noted, therefore, that South Australia consists of 
 two well-defined regions of settlement, one on the north and 
 the other on the south of the Australian continent, separated 
 by vast extents of desert and totally unorganised territories. 
 It seems hardly probable that a trans-continental railway will 
 ever knit together these two disconnected portions, and bring 
 Port Darwin and Port Adelaide together the two centres of 
 commercial wealth and industry. 
 
 The constitutional history of South Australia exhibits the 
 same phases of development as New South Wales and Victoria. 
 First there was the Governor, ruling with the aid of a nomi- 
 nated Council; next there was called into existence a more 
 representative form of government (1850), with a Legislative 
 Council being partially nominated by the Crown, and carrying 
 with it powers of self-reform, subject only to the Queen's 
 assent; thirdly and lastly (1856), there was a reformed con- 
 stitution, with a Legislature of two houses, and full responsible 
 government. It is through distinct stages of this sort that all 
 present self-governing colonies have passed. With regard to 
 South Australia it may be observed that her history was never 
 complicated by the convict problem, criminals being expressly 
 excluded at the very beginning from her shores. South 
 Australia is noted for a reform (1858) in the transfer of pro- 
 perty which is being copied and adapted to a considerable 
 extent by nearly all the civilised races of the world. The 
 reform was introduced and carried through by Sir R. Torrens, 
 who drew up a scheme by which all transferences of land were 
 to be registered in a public office called the Lands Titles Office, 
 the purchaser's name to be recorded and a certificate of title 
 given to him. If his possession were challenged, reference 
 could be made at once to the office. This reform was of the 
 greatest possible benefit to the colonists, and it has been 
 adopted not only throughout Australia, but in the Cape Colony 
 and elsewhere. It has facilitated business transactions, 
 
The Australian Colonies 187 
 
 encouraged freeholders, given a spur to industry, economised 
 time and money, and secured owners against oppression and 
 wrong. 1 
 
 QUEENSLAND. 
 
 In the year 1859 the territory of Eastern Australia, extending 
 north of the 2Qth degree of latitude to the York Peninsula and 
 Torres Straits, was erected into a separate colony under the 
 title of Queensland. In December of this year Sir George 
 Bowen, the first Governor, arrived. Upon the subject of his 
 governorship Sir George has himself remarked : 2 ' When I 
 arrived there I found a population of only 25,000 whites : in 
 the treasury I found just sevenpence-halfpenny ; and, what is 
 very curious, the night after my arrival a thief, supposing the new 
 Governor had brought some kind of outfit for the new colony, 
 broke into the chest and stole the sevenpence-halfpenny.' 
 That the treasury has been replenished, and that the popula- 
 tion has increased, we have Sir George Bowen's word when he 
 tells us that Queensland has an annual revenue of ,4,000,000, 
 and that the Queenslanders number 350,000 instead of 25,000. 
 Brisbane was in 1859 a town of only 7000 inhabitants, yet a 
 full-blown Legislature of two houses was given to the colony. 
 It might have been thought that the gift of responsible govern- 
 ment was somewhat premature, as the area of the colony was 
 6yo,ooosquare miles, and the population were greatly scattered ; 
 yet, in the absence of border and other difficulties, the infant 
 settlement has advanced to the position of a great colony. In 
 no other part of the world could a small community achieve 
 greatness so quickly as in Australia. First and foremost, there 
 has never been a thought of fear or apprehension about foreign 
 invasion or foreign complications ; the fee-simple of the con- 
 tinent has been assured to the Australian colonists from the 
 beginning ; there have been favourable land-laws and numerous 
 aids to immigration; there has been unbounded natural wealth 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix VI. Section E. 
 
 2 See vol. xx. Proceedings of Royal Colonial Institute. 
 
1 88 British Colonisation 
 
 at hand to develop ; and there has been a ready market from 
 which to raise capital. The national heritage of Crown lands 
 covering an extent almost equal to the whole of Europe has 
 been handed over to the small handful of colonists by the 
 action of the Colonial Office, and the colonists have made a 
 lavish use of their opportunities. The marvellous advance of 
 our Australian colonies, which is sometimes represented as not 
 only astounding but little short of miraculous, can be explained 
 easily enough. It is probably true that in the history of the 
 world similar advantages have never been given to such small 
 communities. 
 
 Queensland, like New South Wales and Tasmania, but 
 unlike South Australia and Western Australia, owed its be- 
 ginnings to a convict settlement. In 1823 Governor Brisbane 
 sent the discoverer Oxley in the Mermaid to select a new place 
 for a convict settlement in the northern district of New South 
 Wales. On this voyage he discovered Moreton Bay and 
 Brisbane River, up which he ascended for fifty miles. On his 
 return he recommended the position as suitable for a settle- 
 ment, and the following year landed a party and occupied what 
 is now the site of the city of Brisbane. The convict detach- 
 ment were recruited gradually by the squatters of New South 
 Wales, who wandered northwards to the Darling Downs. In 
 1829 Cunningham had explored the country and hit upon the 
 pass which led from the Darling Downs to Moreton Bay, and 
 communications were therefore opened up between the squatters 
 of the interior and the convict settlement on the coast. The 
 squatters would often secure the services of the convicts as 
 shepherds on their runs. In 1840 the land around Moreton 
 Bay was entitled the ' Northern District of New South Wales,' 
 and Government lots thrown open for sale at twelve shillings 
 an acre. Free immigration set in, and the banks of the 
 Brisbane River were soon occupied by a number of settlers, who 
 found the soil wonderfully adapted to the growth of wheat and 
 maize. In 1841 the free settlers around Brisbane began to 
 send representatives to the Legislative Council at Sydney. 
 
The A ustralian Colonies 1 89 
 
 Sir Arthur Hodgson, the veteran Australian colonist, hasgiven 
 us two pictures of Australian life : first when, in March 1839, 
 he landed in Sydney after a voyage of 1 16 days ; and then when, 
 in March 1889, fifty years afterwards, he landed at the same 
 place after a voyage of thirty-four days. Inter alia he ob- 
 serves : ' It was with mixed feelings of interest and astonishment 
 that I found myself travelling by rail from Sydney to Brisbane, 
 a distance of 600 miles : fifty years ago, and up to a much later 
 date, I travelled the same distance always on horseback, with 
 the exception of taking steamer from Sydney to Newcastle. . . . 
 The railway bisects the property discovered by me in 1840, 
 and I alighted at a railway station three miles from the home 
 where I had passed fourteen years of a very happy life. . . . 
 Twelve miles from my old Darling Down home, the railway 
 passes through Toowoomba (a native name), with a population 
 of 8000, and the sanatorium of Queensland. Through 
 numerous tunnels, and by a very clever zig-zag, you descend 
 rapidly to the coast district, and to Brisbane, the capital of 
 Queensland, with 70,000 inhabitants. I entered Brisbane fifty 
 years ago under very different circumstances, in company with 
 my partner, the late Mr. Gilbert Elliot, and a black boy whom 
 I had brought from New South Wales. . . . We were the first 
 white men to arrive in Brisbane overland. . . .Within seven miles 
 of Brisbane we met a mounted constable, who took us into 
 custody, nobody being permitted to enter " the settlement," as 
 it was then called, without an autograph letter from the 
 Governor of the colony.' 
 
 Sir Arthur Hodgson goes on to say : ' Queensland possesses 
 an area of 430 millions of acres, as large as New South Wales 
 and Victoria united, with a coast-line extending over 1400 
 miles. With this large extent of territory she has marvellous 
 resources, and can grow almost everything wheat in the south, 
 sugar in the north ; and it has long since been a fallacy to 
 suppose that the interior of the colony was not adapted to 
 pastoral purposes, millions of sheep and cattle now grazing over 
 a country reported by early pioneers to be a desert.' 
 
British Colonisation 
 
 It may here be pointed out that a biography of such an old 
 colonist as Sir Arthur Hodgson, or such a veteran statesman 
 as Sir Henry Parkes, or such a pioneer, explorer, and governor 
 as Sir George Grey, provides us with perhaps the best illustra- 
 tion of the wonderful advance of our Pacific colonies in all the 
 elements of wealth. No public men of past times have ever 
 presided over more extraordinary developments, or given a turn 
 to a more pregnant page of history, than these leaders of 
 Australian progress and makers of Australian history. No 
 proconsul of ancient times, no autocrat of a province, no dele- 
 gate of imperial rule indeed, no conqueror of men has ever 
 had a more illustrious role. Surely the peaceful subjugation 
 of a continent and the crowning of a State's prosperity with the 
 works of peace has been their exceptional lot j and such a lot, 
 as the history of the world goes now, cannot easily occur again 
 to any class of men. It must ever be a source of national 
 pride that the moulding of Australian life and society has been 
 entrusted to pioneers, explorers, and bold cekists of British 
 extraction. 
 
 Within recent years there has been a desire evinced on 
 the part of Northern Queensland to separate from Southern 
 Queensland : the colonists around Townsville and the north 
 protesting that by the mere force of geographical circumstances 
 their interests are sufficiently distinct from those of Brisbane, 
 which is close to the New South Wales frontier. The separa- 
 tists would draw a distinction between sub-tropical Queens- 
 land and tropical Queensland between Queensland north of 
 the Tropic of Capricorn and Queensland south of it. Some, 
 indeed, would divide Queensland up into three separate 
 colonies. The matter is still a bone of contention between 
 Queenslanders. The northern districts are adapted to the 
 growth of sugar, an industry that brings always in its wake a 
 native or coolie immigration question. In 1889 there were 
 about 8000 Polynesian labourers imported from the islands of 
 the South Pacific ; but in 1885 a protest was raised somewhat 
 unreasonably, according to some Australian colonists. An Act 
 
The Australian Colonies 191 
 
 was passed disallowing Kanaka labour after 1893; but this, 
 again, is a vexed question of Queensland politics, as the sugar 
 industry is threatened. 
 
 There have been gold rushes in Queensland as in New 
 South Wales and Victoria ; therefore this colony inherits all 
 the advantages incident to this particular form of immigration. 
 The first gold ventures were unfortunate. In 1858 it was 
 rumoured that there were rich deposits on the Fitzroy River, 
 and many vessels landed hundreds of miners at Keppel Bay ; 
 but, although gold was discovered there, it was on a small 
 scale, and disappointing to those who had imagined that a 
 second Ballarat and Mount Alexander were to be found in 
 Queensland. Towards the end of 1867, however, a miner 
 named Nash found a large auriferous area at Gympie, about a 
 hundred and thirty miles from Brisbane. The estimated gross 
 produce of gold in the colony from 1867 to December 31, 
 1889, has been 6,827,888 oz., valued at ^23,897,608.! 
 
 THE STORY OF AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. 
 
 This may be a convenient point at which to review briefly 
 the tale of Australian inland discovery, which is only second 
 in interest to that of African discovery in the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. From notices already given it will be seen how much, 
 for instance, was due to the hardihood of those pioneers who, 
 in the early history of New South Wales, burst the apparently 
 impassable barriers of the Blue Mountains, and led the way for 
 squatters and herdsmen to follow ; how much also was due to 
 the intrepid explorers who made the overland telegraph 
 possible from Adelaide to Port Darwin. The task of explor- 
 ing a country of 3,030,234 square miles was no small one 
 when we consider the terrible hardships which had to be 
 endured. The perils of the great Thirst Lands of Australia 
 were far greater than the perils of Australian circumnaviga- 
 tion. 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix VI. Section F. 
 
1 92 British Colonisation 
 
 The problem of inland exploration had its fascination for 
 the great African explorer, Mungo Park, who offered to go out 
 and conduct an expedition in 1798. His offer came in the 
 form of a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, the scientific companion 
 of the Cook expedition, and was written in May 1798, ten 
 years after the foundation of Sydney. Commenting on the 
 proposal of this illustrious explorer, Sir Joseph Banks said 
 that ' although the country had been possessed for more than 
 ten years, so much has the discovery of the interior been 
 neglected that no one article has hitherto been discovered by 
 the importation of which the Mother-Country can receive any 
 degree of return for the founding and hitherto maintaining the 
 colony.' 1 
 
 By 1815 the coasts of Australia had been fairly well sur- 
 veyed by Dutch, English, and French explorers. The efforts 
 of Dampier, Cook, Bass, Flinders, Baudin the Frenchman, 
 and others have already been noticed. Still the great interior 
 lay as an almost entirely unknown land. Beyond the pasture- 
 lands of Bathurst men wished to know, first of all, how the 
 land lay ; and in 1817 Mr. Oxley, the Surveyor-General of New 
 South Wales, was sent to explore the country towards the 
 interior. Oxley followed the river Lachlan to what he thought 
 were its sources a dreary waste, apparently, of interminable 
 marshes, perhaps the margin of a great inland sea, and, to use 
 his own words, ' for ever uninhabitable/' At the time, there- 
 fore, it was thought that the expeditions of Mr. Oxley had 
 nearly settled two points of great importance. The first was 
 that colonisation was not very likely to extend beyond two hun- 
 dred miles from the eastern coast, and that from the nature of 
 the interior the settlers would have nothing to apprehend from 
 any foreign Power planting its subjects at the western shores, 
 as was once said to be the intention of the French. At this 
 time there was no Monroe doctrine laid down with regard to 
 the Australian continent, and it would have been difficult to 
 have raised any strong objection to a French settlement in 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xvii. 
 
The Australian Colonies 193 
 
 Australia, convict or otherwise. The second point was the 
 improbability of either the Lachlan or Macquarie reaching any 
 part of the sea coast, and the total inutility of both for any 
 commercial purposes. Indeed, a writer in the Quarterly 
 Review l seemed to take it for granted that ' no river of any mag- 
 nitude empties itself into the sea on the northern, western, or 
 southern coasts of New Holland.' Dampier had once recorded 
 it as his opinion that a great strait or river opened out behind 
 the archipelago of the Rosemary Islands ; and in the absence 
 of definite information it was reasonable to suppose that some 
 vast drainage system in the interior sloped from east to west. 
 Not yet was the torrid nature of the interior fully realised. 
 
 In 1825 Allan Cunningham, one of those enthusiastic 
 botanists who have done so much in opening up the dark 
 regions of the world, starting from Sydney, chanced upon a 
 picturesque gap over the Liverpool range, which he named 
 the Pandora Pass. His discoveries gave the Australians a 
 way to the fine pastoral lands of the Liverpool Plains and the 
 Darling River. To the south and south-west of Sydney, Hume 
 and Hovell, as already mentioned, pioneered the way across 
 the Australian Alps to Port Phillip. 
 
 Then, in 1828, Sturt took up the problem which Oxley had 
 assailed, and exploring the Macquarie and Darling rivers, 
 found an open country to the west, proving that the idea of 
 a great inland sea was erroneous. With Sturt, also, rests the 
 honour of tracing the course of the Murray to Lake Alex- 
 andrina and the sea, and of exploring a thousand miles of 
 previously unknown land. Major Mitchell, in 1831 and 1835, 
 made two expeditions to the north-west of Sydney, in which 
 he failed ; but in 1836 he went southward, crossed the Murray, 
 discovered the Glenelg, and reached the sea just at the present 
 boundary between Victoria and South Australia. By these 
 explorations the south-east of Australia was fairly well known, 
 and fertile areas thrown open to the enterprise of ranchers 
 and squatters, especially in the Loddon district. 
 1 December 1820. 
 N 
 
194 British Colonisation 
 
 But the greater and more formidable tasks of continental 
 exploration were still left to be assailed. Seven-eighths of the 
 island-continent was still shrouded in obscurity, and the 
 great belt of desert seemed to lie between east and west as a 
 hidden vast and impenetrable zone. In 1840 Edward John 
 Eyre offered to conduct an expedition from Adelaide, and 
 with a small escort explored Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre, 
 which were lakes in name, but in reality closely resembling 
 sheets of salt-encrusted mud. He then turned westward, and, 
 after incredible hardships along the bleak and barren coasts of 
 the Australian Bight, reached King George's Sound. Here 
 they found a French whaling-ship the crew of which enter- 
 tained them hospitably, giving them clothes and food and 
 shortly afterwards reached Albany. Resting for a few days, 
 they returned to Adelaide, after an absence of a year and 
 twenty-six days. Eyre must be remembered as the first 
 explorer who braved the worst horrors of the Australian 
 desert. 
 
 In 1844 Captain Sturt, who had explored the valleys of the 
 Darling and Murray, led an expedition into the interior, and 
 reached Cooper Creek, and the Stony Desert, and Strzelecki 
 Creek. In this region the fiery heat of the sun was intense 
 the thermometer standing sometimes at 130 degrees Fahren- 
 heit in the shade ; and it is recorded that the explorers were 
 unable to write, as the ink dried on their pens ; their combs 
 split, their nails became brittle and broke, and if they touched 
 metal it blistered their fingers. They were even forced to dig 
 an underground room to evade the direct action of the sun. 
 Sturt's reports of the arid country gave rise to the opinion that 
 the interior of Australia was one vast sandy desert. 
 
 In 1844 a German botanist, Ludwig Leichardt by name, 
 starting from Sydney with five men, made his way northwards 
 to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and discovered and followed up 
 the tributaries of the Fitzroy, the Dawson, the Mackenzie, 
 the Burdekin, the Mitchell, and the Gilbert. Ultimately he 
 followed the Alligator River to Van Diemen's Gulf, and, 
 
The Australian Colonies 195 
 
 embarking on a ship which was waiting for him, returned to 
 Sydney. Encouraged by this success, Leichardt organised an 
 expedition to make further discoveries in North Queensland, 
 in which he was not successful. Then in 1848 he planned 
 his last and great enterprise, which was to traverse the whole 
 Australian continent from east to west from Moreton Bay- 
 to the Swan River settlement. On this expedition he and all 
 his party were lost more completely, indeed, than the gallant 
 Franklin and his crew in the Arctic regions ; for to this day 
 the desert has never revealed any signs of their presence or 
 proof of their fate. 
 
 While Leichardt was exploring the north-eastern portions of 
 the continent, Sir Thomas Mitchell, the discoverer of the 
 Glenelg, undertook a journey into the interior of Queensland, 
 and discovered the higher point of Sturt's Cooper's Creek, which 
 he called the Victoria. Kennedy followed up Mitchell's dis- 
 covery, and traced the Victoria River for a hundred and fifty 
 miles beyond the place where Mitchell had left it. This river, 
 about which so much mystery hung, was proved to have a 
 course of about 1200 miles, and to be the largest in Central 
 Australia. It finds its way to the marshes around Lake Eyre, 
 and, spreading over the country, is there lost by evaporation. 
 In 1848 Kennedy was sent to explore York Peninsula; but 
 this expedition was one of the most disastrous of all, only 
 two survivors being left out of an original party of eight. 
 
 In 1860 a new era of Australian exploration set in when 
 Burke and Wills formed the determination of crossing the 
 continent from south to north from Melbourne to the Gulf 
 of Carpentaria. These explorers, accompanied by two men 
 named King and Gray, struck Cooper's Creek, and then 
 followed the i4oth meridian, striking the Flinders River, which 
 they followed to the Gulf of Carpentaria. On their return 
 home they suffered the most terrible hardships, and all died 
 with the exception of King, who was discovered by a search 
 party as a gaunt and emaciated skeleton, so wasted and re- 
 duced that with difficulty could the relief party catch the 
 
196 British Colonisation 
 
 whispers that fell from his lips. The camels and horses were 
 all dead, and the explorers had been driven to the extremity 
 of living on nardoo seed and occasional windfalls in the shape 
 of a crow. The desolate character of the Australian deserts 
 seems only to be equalled by that of the gloomy region of the 
 Barrens and the Arctic seas in mid-winter with this difference, 
 that in the Arctic regions caches of fish, flesh, and food pre- 
 served for months by frost are possible ; not so in Australia. 
 In one region the thermometer drops to 70 degrees below 
 zero, in the other it rises to 130 degrees. Perhaps the terrors 
 of an Arctic region are less even than those of an arid and 
 inhospitable desert where men are driven in despair to hide 
 themselves in holes and caverns from the pitiless rays of the 
 sun. In both regions blindness comes upon the traveller 
 in the one case from snow, and in the other from the glare 
 of the sun on countless leagues of sand. 
 
 Just at the time that a party despatched by the Victorian 
 Government were bringing the remains of Burke and Wills 
 back to Melbourne, M'Douall Stuart, who had served as 
 draughtsman in Sturt's expedition, had accomplished in 1862 
 the task, already alluded to in the account of the telegraph 
 enterprise of South Australia, of traversing the continent from 
 south to north along the i33rd meridian, about seven degrees 
 west of the route taken by Burke and Wills. With their 
 triumphs certain great geographical questions were set at 
 rest. Australia, divided almost equally by the Tropic of 
 Capricorn, was known to be a vast Sahara-like stretch of 
 country, almost impassable for man, and scarcely fit to be the 
 abode of bird or beast. In our estimate of the probable 
 future resources of Australia it is well to remember how 
 greatly the desert areas predominate in the land, and that 
 pastoral and agricultural areas are limited in number. In 
 mineral wealth Australia may still provide us with fresh sur- 
 prises, but at present it does not seem likely ever to become 
 the chosen home of agriculturists or small freeholders to 
 the same extent as the territories of the great North- West of 
 
The Australian Colonies 197 
 
 Canada. Population converges in certain well-known capitals 
 and centres, and for the newly arrived immigrants the bush 
 with its isolation, weariness, and monotony would seem to 
 hold forth but few attractions. It is rather in Tasmania, and 
 more especially in New Zealand, that we must look for a re- 
 production of our national life at its best, where the climate, 
 the first consideration, is most favourable. 
 
 In his History of England after the Great War^ Mr. Spencer 
 Walpole remarks that ' the greatest fact in the history of the 
 nineteenth century is the foundation of a new Britain which 
 may eventually prove a Greater Britain in the Southern 
 hemisphere ' (see vol. v. p. 446). We may not, indeed, 
 feel inclined to go quite as far as Mr. Walpole, either in his 
 assertion or in his prophecy : the phrase ' a Greater Britain ' 
 meaning, of course, a Britain that is greater than the Mother- 
 country in all those spiritual and heroic qualities that go to 
 make up the life of a nation, whether it be deeds of war, 
 genius in literature, chivalric fulfilment of duties towards 
 subject races, political wisdom, social reform, and generally 
 a wise and fearless example placed before the world, worthy 
 of imitation. In all these departments the history of 'a 
 Greater Britain' in Southern waters has yet to be made. 
 On the material side the motto * Advance Australia ! ' has a 
 deep and pregnant meaning ; for in mere wealth, expansion 
 of trade, and in general well-being, Australia has advanced and 
 is the wonder and envy of the age. It could scarcely have 
 been conjectured by the founders of Sydney that within the 
 comparatively short period of a hundred years a number of 
 distinct communities would arise on the continent, fully en- 
 franchised, self-governing, and equipped with all the resources 
 of young nations. The progress yonder has been noiseless. 
 Whilst men slept here, the colonies of New South Wales, 
 Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and West 
 Australia have grown, and they have grown very vigorously. 
 The process has been the peaceful acquisition and peaceful 
 reclamation of a continent and its adjacent island of Tasmania. 
 
198 British Colonisation 
 
 Removed, by virtue of their great distance, from the ken of 
 Europe, Australians have enjoyed a quiet and uninterrupted 
 period of prosperity. Compared with other colonies, whose 
 course has been like that of a turbid river checked by rocks, 
 choked by morasses, and hindered on all sides by nature's 
 obstacles, the waterway, as it were, of Australia has been clear, 
 resembling a broad, placid reach. To borrow an illustration 
 from the poet Wordsworth, the history of Australia is like the 
 final, but only the final, stage of the river Duddon, when 
 loosed from ' rocky bands ' it flows ' in radiant progress 
 towards the deep,' 'and glides in silence with unfettered 
 sweep.' There has been no brooding curse of slavery to 
 banish from the land, as in the West Indies ; no stern border 
 frays between races, as between French and British colonists 
 in Canada ; no powerful and cruel aborigines to combat, as in 
 Canada, the Cape Colony, or Natal, The natives of Tas- 
 mania and of the great island-continent have been far too 
 weak to oppose any real obstacles to the Tasmanian and 
 Australian colonists. 
 
 However, to share the perils and expenses of empire is 
 the proud wish of patriotic Australians. There was something 
 in the recent offer of a Sudan contingent from New South 
 Wales that appealed to the imagination far more powerfully 
 than all previous accounts of gold-mines. It was a gleam of 
 chivalry that flashed through the annals of Australia, awaken- 
 ing sympathy and prompting devotion. Not alone, but in 
 company with loyal colonists, the Mother-country, heavily 
 burdened with her imperial task, posed before the world as 
 the champion of imperial interests. 
 
The Australian Colonies 199 
 
 References : 
 
 Sutherland's History of Australia , 1606-1876. 
 
 Westgarth's Early Melbourne, 1888. 
 
 Wakefield's (Edward Gibbon) View of the Art of Colonisation, 1849. 
 
 Wakefield's New British Province of South Australia, 1835. 
 
 Paterson's History of New South Wales, 1811. 
 
 Bonwick's Last of the Tasmaniaiis, 1870. 
 
 Fenton's History of Tasmania. 
 
 Labilliere's History of Victoria, 1878. 
 
 Oceana, by J. A. Froude. 
 
 Poems, by Adam Lindsay Gordon, 1884. 
 
 Gordon and Gotch's Australian Handbook, 1891-2. 
 
 J^ravels and Voyages of Flinders, 1814; Sturt, 1833; Stirling, 1833; 
 
 Mitchell, 1838 ; Grey, 1841 ; Eyre, 1845 J Leichhardt, 1847 ; 
 
 Burke and Wills, 1863, etc. etc. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 NEW ZEALAND 
 
 FOR a considerable portion of the present century the 
 islands of New Zealand, although discovered and named by 
 the Dutch sailor, Abel Tasman, in 1642, remained to all 
 intents and purposes an unknown land. Why the island was 
 so called is not exactly clear, as, generally speaking, the 
 contour and natural features of the Pacific islands are totally 
 unlike the Zeeland of Europe ; but it is supposed that Tasman 
 saw a marshy flat at the end of one of the islands, which sug- 
 gested the nomenclature. Tasman's report was not acted 
 upon by the Dutch Government, and the real discoverer of New 
 Zealand was the British navigator, Captain Cook, who first 
 landed there on Sunday, the 8th of October 1768, and by 
 hoisting the British colours proclaimed the British sovereignty. 
 Three years after this rediscovery, Benjamin Franklin en- 
 deavoured, but unsuccessfully, to establish a company with 
 the object of colonising New Zealand by a system of barter 
 with the natives. 
 
 On his second voyage to the Pacific in command of the 
 Resolution and Adventure, Captain Cook was accompanied by 
 Andrew Sparrmann, the great Swedish naturalist, who joined 
 him at the Cape of Good Hope, in which country he was con- 
 ducting his researches into natural history. From his narrative, 
 as well as that of Captain Cook, we gather that on March 26, 
 1773, the Resolution anchored at Dusky Bay, near the 
 
 southernmost promontory of New Zealand, after sailing in the 
 200 
 
New Zealand 201 
 
 Southern Pacific for 122 days without seeing land. The main 
 object of this expedition was to determine the existence of a 
 Southern continent; and Captain Cook, after reaching the 
 fields of ice, ran along them a great distance without seeing any 
 signs of land, and therefore concluded that what Bouvet had 
 on a previous occasion reported to be land was nothing else 
 but ice. Sparrmann observed that in sailing so far south they 
 were the ' only mortals who could boast of the frozen honour 
 of having passed the Antarctic Circle.' New Zealand was a 
 naturalist's paradise to him, as there were ' ferns and mosses 
 almost entirely unknown, and these, together with the new 
 species of birds and fishes, afforded me an agreeable occupa- 
 tion.' He records, however, that the Maoris were a race of 
 cannibals, and had such manners as might excite pity and 
 repugnance a remark which was proved to be true when the 
 Adventure, whilst anchoring in Queen Charlotte's Sound, in 
 Cook Strait, lost a whole boat's crew of ten men, killed, 
 roasted, and eaten by them. 
 
 Queen Charlotte's Sound, on the west of Cook Strait, was 
 a kind of base of operations from which Captain Cook con- 
 ducted his Pacific explorations in the direction of the New 
 Hebrides, New Caledonia, and elsewhere : Sparrmann observing, 
 'On October 18, 1774, we came to anchor for the third time 
 in Queen Charlotte's Sound.' On his return voyage, Captain 
 Cook, with the westerly winds behind him, undertook the 
 voyage from New Zealand to Cape Horn, running along high 
 latitudes in search of the great Australis Terra, so that the 
 English flag might be planted, if possible, on the supposed 
 sixth part of the globe ; and for six weeks the keel of the 
 Resolution ploughed these lonely wastes. 
 
 On arriving at Table Bay, after an absence of two and a 
 quarter years, the Resolution was found to have gained a day 
 by sailing east. Those who had sailed before round the globe 
 always went west, and they lost a day ; but as Captain Cook's 
 crew made the same voyage to the east, they were conse- 
 quently the first, and indeed the only, navigators who had 
 
2O2 British Colonisation 
 
 gained a day. Captain Cook had only lost one man during 
 the two and a quarter years, owing to his ' unparalleled pre- 
 servatives of sour krout and wort.' 
 
 Curiously enough, the Spaniards still seemed, even at this 
 date, to have claimed a kind of monopoly of South Pacific 
 waters. It was observed that Spanish ships had apparently 
 been here recently, and that a Spaniard was living amongst the 
 natives at Huaheine, who tried to conceal himself from obser- 
 vation. This, with several other circumstances, Sparrmann 
 remarks, made it highly probable that the Spanish ships were 
 sent both years to be spies upon the English, and to make 
 reprisals upon them in return for their visits in a part of the 
 world of which they were so extremely jealous, and of which 
 they 'looked upon themselves as the sole proprietors. 
 
 The French also had put in certain claims to South Pacific 
 islands and territories. It was even said that de Gonneville 
 had visited New Zealand as early as 1504, more than a 
 hundred and thirty years before Abel Tasman ; but these 
 claims are generally regarded as unwarrantable. Nevertheless, 
 there shortly followed in the wake of Captain Cook a French 
 captain named d'Urville, who had some dealings with the 
 Maories ; and he was followed, 1772, by Marion du Fresne and 
 Crozet, with two vessels, the Mascarin and Castries. Marion 
 met with his death at the hands of the New Zealanders under 
 peculiar circumstances. Landing on the New Zealand coast, 
 the French commander and his crew began dragging their nets 
 for fish. The Maoris came down in large numbers, and 
 endeavoured to explain to them that this particular spot was 
 holy ground tabooed a spot set aside for some religious 
 ceremonies of the highest importance. Not having an inter- 
 preter, the Frenchmen could not or would not understand the 
 nature of the protest, and involuntarily added fuel to the 
 flames of Maori resentment by killing the fish also tabooed 
 and spreading their blood and offal over the ground. The 
 Maoris, wrought up to a pitch of frenzy, rushed upon Captain 
 Marion and his crew, and speedily overpowered them. In the 
 
New Zealand 203 
 
 words of ' King George,' a native potentate, who was present, 
 and afterwards* told the story to the English, 'They were brave 
 men, but they were all killed and eaten.' 
 
 The first assumption of British authority in New Zealand 
 was made in 1787 by the terms of the commission issued 
 to Captain Phillip, who, as Governor of New South Wales, 
 took it, in a kind of official manner, under his jurisdiction. 
 Throughout the Pacific there was a flotsam and jetsam of 
 escaped convicts, sealers, and refugees of all nationalities, 
 establishing themselves on isolated spots, holding intercourse 
 with the natives, and resembling in their roving lives the 
 buccaneers of the Gulf of Paria and the Pacific. In 1814 four 
 justices of the peace were appointed in the country to preserve 
 law and order ; but the fact of such occasional residences did 
 not constitute British sovereignty over Maoriland. 
 
 In a certain sense the South Sea whalers were the more 
 legitimate successors of the buccaneers \ and the whaling in- 
 dustry, profitable as it proved to be, was \]\eprimum mobile of 
 South Sea occupation. In the building-up of our colonial 
 empire it is curious to note how over and over again the 
 pluck and enterprise of our sailors, scouring the ocean every- 
 where, forced the hand of our Home Government. Scotchmen, 
 as usual, were to the fore, and in 1832 there was a settlement 
 of many hundreds of them at Kora Kadika trading and fishing 
 with a fleet of a hundred vessels, and by their presence inviting 
 the official countenance and support of England. 
 
 But, before any idea of New Zealand colonisation could be 
 put into effect, it was necessary to make sure of British 
 sovereignty on those waters. Sixty years ago it was by no 
 means certain that the British would be supreme in the South 
 Pacific, and that British colonisation would be the only 
 colonisation en evidence. The individual merchant and 
 adventurer might cry ' Forward ! ' still the official tongue cried 
 * Back ! ' French explorers had long since traversed the 
 Pacific together with our own ; and, although none of them 
 could vie with Captain Cook, still d'Urville, Crozet, Marion 
 
204 British Colonisation 
 
 du Fresne, la Perouse, Dentrecasteaux, and Baudin were all 
 well-known names in these distant seas. The jealousy of 
 England and France was of ancient date, here as elsewhere. 
 When the French power was finally crushed in Canada and 
 along the banks of the St. Lawrence in 1763, some of the 
 more adventurous of French sailors turned their attention to 
 the great Southern land. 
 
 An opportunity for French intrigue was given in 1837-8. 
 Early in that year a certain Baron de Thierry, an Englishman 
 with a French title, arrived at New Zealand on board the 
 Nimrod. This adventurer, in virtue of an agreement made 
 with a chief named Hongi, who had visited England in 1820, 
 proclaimed himself ' the Sovereign Chief of New Zealand.' 
 Thierry had given thirty- six axes for a large tract of country, and 
 actually landed in New Zealand in order to take possession of it 
 in company with ninety-three persons, including his secretary, 
 master of stores, and other officers. The Rev. James Buller 
 stated in his Forty Years in New Zealand that he was present at 
 a conference Thierry had with the native chiefs at Otararu. 
 They smiled at the Baron's demands, but the conference 
 ended in the cession of 300 acres of good forest-land. 
 
 But it is with a brother of this eccentric Baron that some 
 further interest lies, who sought out the advice of Mr. George 
 Fife Angas, and represented the urgent necessity of England's 
 assuming at once the sovereignty of New Zealand. Mr. 
 Angas was unwilling at first to take the matter up seriously, 
 but, happening to learn that the Thierrys were in communica- 
 tion with the French Government, and were pressing upon 
 them the advisability of seizing some part of the New Zealand 
 islands, he wrote at once to Lord Glenelg (December 20, 1838). 
 After alluding to the failure of the New Zealand Land Com- 
 pany twelve years previously, and to the more recent, though 
 abortive, attempts of the New Zealand Association, and, 
 further, to the unsuccessful attempts to obtain an Act of 
 Parliament establishing a British settlement in the country, 
 Mr. Angas pointed out that the ground was clear for the 
 
New Zealand 205 
 
 French. Technically, there could be no very strong objection 
 to the hoisting of the French flag. 
 
 The imperative necessity of immediate attention to this 
 matter was most apparent to his mind, he observed, from his 
 interview with Thierry, as well as from a fact that had subse- 
 quently transpired, viz. that the Count de Mole, the President 
 of the Council of France, had expressed his determination to 
 appoint de Thierry to the office of French Consul in New 
 Zealand. For more than a year this gentleman had been trying 
 to induce the French Government and the merchants and 
 manufacturers of that country to direct their attention to New 
 Zealand. The flax industry was beginning to flourish, and the 
 specimens of rope, sail-cloth, waterproof linen, made from the 
 Phormium tenax, were exciting considerable attention in France. 
 Mr. Angas alluded, also, to the great increase of French war- 
 vessels then traversing the South Seas ; and, in the event of 
 New Zealand falling into the hands of France, the possession 
 of our colonies in the South Seas would become insecure not 
 one of them being able to offer any successful resistance. 
 Mr. Angas wrote : ' I need not remind your Lordship that the 
 French vessels easily destroyed the English settlements at 
 Sierra Leone . . . and your Lordship is also aware that New 
 Zealand is at present nominally an independent nation, in 
 which British interests are represented by a consul, and that 
 in its present position and relation to this country the French 
 may establish a settlement there with as much propriety as the 
 British, provided de Thierry possesses sufficient influence with 
 the leading chiefs to obtain their concurrence.' 
 
 M. Guizot, in his France under Louis Philippe, alludes to 
 the convenience of securing a place of rest and of refreshment 
 in the South Pacific. Towards the end of 1839 a company 
 formed itself at Nantes and Bordeaux for the purpose of 
 founding a French colony in New Zealand. It asked for 
 support and gained it ; but when the time for execution 
 arrived it was discovered that the English had forestalled them. 
 
 It was the action of the New Zealand Company to which it 
 
2o6 British Colonisation 
 
 is necessary to ascribe, principally, the assertion of British 
 sovereignty in the islands of New Zealand. This Company 
 took up the work that had been attempted by the New 
 Zealand Association and the N.Z. Colonisation Company. 
 It issued its first prospectus in May 1839, being founded 
 substantially upon the principles laid down by the celebrated 
 Gibbon Wakefield, who was already known for his colonisation 
 schemes in South Australia. In the beginning of this month 
 Colonel Wakefield was on his way, in command of the Tory, 
 a vessel belonging to Mr. Somes, to make a purchase of the 
 new settlement ; and such was the confidence placed in the 
 principles adopted by the Company that, within six weeks of 
 the departure of their agent, no less than ^"100,000 worth of 
 land was disposed of out of their contemplated purchase. 
 
 On the 3oth of September 1839 tne Tory dropped anchor 
 at Port Nicholson, and the British flag was run up a most 
 important day in the annals of New Zealand. 
 
 The annexation was made not a moment too soon. Forty- 
 eight hours afterwards Baron de Thierry arrived from Brest, 
 and attempted to claim the same spot for France by climbing 
 an adjacent hill and hoisting the tricolour. Sir Frederick 
 Young, the son of George Frederick Young, one of the most 
 active members of the New Zealand Company, describes in 
 his volume of Colonial Pamphlets the chagrin of the French 
 when they saw the Union Jack flying on the beach immedi- 
 ately at the base of the hill on the other side of the point at 
 Port Nicholson. Had the weather proved more contrary, or 
 had the Tory delayed anywhere on her journey out, or had 
 she met with a trifling mishap, this vantage-ground might 
 have been lost to England. 
 
 Early in 1840 the British Government, thoroughly a wakened 
 to the gravity of the situation, despatched Captain Hobson as 
 Governor of the islands. He established the seat of govern- 
 ment at Auckland, and in February 1840, by the terms of the 
 famous Treaty of Waitangi, entered into with the Maoris, pro- 
 claimed the Queen's sovereignty over the North Island, 
 
New Zealand 207 
 
 The French, being debarred from the North Island and 
 from Port Nicholson, turned their attention to the South 
 Island, and an expedition was actually despatched thither by 
 King Louis Philippe, the destination being Akaroa on the 
 Banks Peninsula, near the site of Christ Church and Port 
 Lyttelton. Captain Owen Stanley, brother of the late Dean 
 of Westminster, who was stationed at the Bay of Islands, 
 heard of this expedition while the Treaty of Waitangi was being 
 negotiated. The Bay of Islands was the destination of the 
 French squadron, and, determining to anticipate any possible 
 act of annexation, he sailed at night, while the French ships, 
 FAube and Britomart, were actually alongside of him, and, 
 steering south, reached Akaroa, and, planting the British flag 
 there, took formal possession of the country in the Queen's 
 name* (August n, 1840). The French, finding the English 
 vessel gone, and suspecting the object, instantly followed, but 
 did not reach Akaroa till four days after Captain Stanley. 
 
 In face of this fait accompli, M. Guizot, commenting on the 
 transaction, observed that the French could not set up against 
 the anterior possession of the British Government. It became 
 necessary to seek elsewhere than in New Zealand for the ex- 
 tension of French rule in the Pacific ; and Captain Thouars, 
 having returned from a voyage round the world in the Venus, 
 presented to the Minister of Marine a report on the Marquesas 
 Islands. 
 
 We may feel assured, however, that had it not been for the 
 prompt action of the commander of the Tory at Port Nicholson 
 in the North Island, and afterwards that of Captain Owen 
 Stanley at Akaroa in the South Island, the French would have 
 made their claim good to one or both of the New Zealand 
 islands, and they would now be French colonies. The object 
 of the French was twofold, viz. to obtain a good maritime 
 station as well as a convict station ; and had they succeeded 
 in either project, they might indeed have proved to be a thorn 
 in the side of our Pacific colonies. In all probability the Fijian 
 group might have been annexed by them also. As things are 
 
2o8 British Colonisation 
 
 now, the French reddiviste question has created an extraor- 
 dinary amount of friction, in spite of the distance of New 
 Caledonia. The New Zealand Company, therefore, certainly 
 deserves a generous recognition as having been the undoubted 
 instrument of practically effecting the colonisation of the 
 country, and of preserving it to England. 
 
 There was one man of unbounded zeal and remarkable 
 talent who by his writings and theories was destined to move 
 forward the cause of New Zealand colonisation, and this was 
 Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Up to 1831 the general practice 
 of the British Government had been to grant land in her 
 colonies for nothing without stint as to quantity, but Wakefield 
 contended that this disposal of waste or Crown lands was 
 foolish and short-sighted. It was better, he said, to sell these 
 waste lands 'for ready money, and utilise the sum thus realised 
 as an Emigration Fund for defraying the cost of the passage of 
 labourers to the colonies. Thus labour would be sold, as it 
 were, along with land, and from the funds of the capitalist the 
 new acres of a new country would at once acquire a consider- 
 able value. Lands would not be without hands, and population 
 would be concentrated at convenient places. Wakefield drew 
 a distinction between emigration and colonisation. As hitherto 
 carried on, State emigration was of a loose, promiscuous kind, 
 degrading to the individual and subservient in every way to 
 the State. Wakefield endeavoured to raise the conception of 
 colonial life, and asked for a greater amount of local govern- 
 ment. In the case of South Australia this was refused, and 
 this refusal is said to have been the cause of breaking up the 
 South Australian settlement and sending the colonists to join 
 the rebellious political unions of the time, whilst others sailed 
 for the United States, where they prospered, although they 
 resembled Irish-Americans in their feelings towards England. 1 
 
 It must be remembered, also, that according to Mr. Wake- 
 field's plans emigrants were to be selected from both sexes, 
 and thus a distinction and a very broad distinction, too 
 1 Art of Colonisation, p. 47. 
 
New Zealand 209 
 
 would at once be drawn between them and the riff-raff that had 
 hitherto been shovelled on to Australian shores. It was 
 obvious, as Mr. Charles Buller remarked in his Parliamentary 
 speech of 1843 on systematic colonisation, ' that such a selec- 
 tion of emigrants would relieve this country of the greater 
 amount of actual competition in the labour market, and also of 
 those most likely to contribute to the increase of population, 
 whilst it would remove to the colonies, at the least possible 
 expense, the persons whose labour would be most likely to be 
 useful.' Such, in the main, were Gibbon Wakefield's ideas. 
 They were adopted by the Colonisation Society of 1830, and 
 commended themselves to the Duke of Wellington, who 
 bluntly said that the experiment ought to be tried and the 
 name of Wellington in New Zealand bears witness to his advo- 
 cacy to Archbishop Whately, and a new school of colonisers 
 led by Sir William Molesworth. 
 
 It must be remembered that Gibbon Wakefield was par- 
 ticularly well qualified to inaugurate new ideas and a new policy 
 with regard to British colonisation. He had resided in Canada 
 as a colonist, and had been elected a member of the House of 
 Assembly in that country during the administration of two of 
 its Governors, Sir Charles Bagot and Lord Metcalfe. He not 
 only approached colonial questions from their economical 
 aspect, but also from their strictly political side. Colonial 
 freedom was, in his opinion, to be a reality, self-administration 
 a logical sequel. England's colonists were identical with 
 Englishmen at home, and, sooner or later, were bound to be 
 entrusted with their own destinies. The ties between Great 
 Britain and her colonists would not necessarily be loosened 
 by this delegation of governing power ; on the contrary, they 
 might be made stronger than ever, and a cessation from undue 
 or vexatious interference would become the starting-point 
 whence a vigorous and natural attachment would spring up 
 between the colony and the Mother-country. That these ideas 
 of colonial reform should be hatched in Canada was just what 
 might have been expected from the state of affairs in 1830-1840. 
 
 o 
 
2io British Colonisation 
 
 The old system of colonial government was breaking down, 
 and the Canadian colonists were, by force of circumstances, 
 continually being driven to assert local independence and 
 local liberties as against the nominated Executive. Lord 
 Durham in his famous report, termed the Charter of Colonial 
 Liberties, described the state of things in Canada as that of a 
 chronic collision between the executive and representative 
 bodies in all the North American colonies. 'In each and 
 every province the representatives were in hostility to the 
 policy of the Government, and the administration of public 
 affairs was permanently in the hands of a Ministry not in 
 harmony with the popular branch of the Legislature.' Gibbon 
 Wakefield is rightly credited with many of the important re- 
 forms which are contained in Lord Durham's famous report on 
 the state of Canada ; and to his influence the Right Hon. Sir 
 C. B. Adderley (Lord Norton) gives abundant testimony in 
 his review of the Colonial Policy of Lord J. Russell's Adminis- 
 tration by Earl Grey. Moreover, such was the state of the 
 colonies and the general importance of colonial questions 
 about this time, that John Stuart Mill's assertion to the effect 
 that colonisation * was the very best affair of business ' in 
 which the capital of an old and wealthy country could possibly 
 engage found an echo in the breasts of the most thoughtful 
 and enlightened Englishmen. 
 
 When the British flag was firmly planted, New Zealand 
 colonisation went speedily on. On January 25th, 1840, the 
 first public meeting was held in Plymouth, on the subject of 
 the colonisation of New Zealand from the counties of Devon 
 and Cornwall; and in less than two months the Plymouth 
 Company of New Zealand had disposed of one quarter of a 
 contemplated * New Plymouth ' in New Zealand. The Earl of 
 Devon was president of the West of England board; and 
 amongst the directors appear the names of Sir Anthony Buller 
 (Pound), John Crocker Bulteel, Esq. (Fleet), Sir William 
 Molesworth, M.P. (Pencarron), E. W. W. Pendarves, Esq., M.P. 
 (Pendarves), Edward St. Aubyn, Esq. (Devonport), Right Hon. 
 
New Zealand 2 1 1 
 
 Lord Vivian (Glynn), and T. Woollcombe, Esq. The 
 governor of the New Zealand Company was Joseph Somes, 
 Esq ; the deputy-governor Hon. Francis Baring (afterwards 
 Lord Ashburton); Viscount Ingestre, M.P., Lord Petre, H. 
 Aglionby, Esq., M.P., Charles Buller, Esq., M.P., Russell 
 Ellice, Esq., William Hutt, Esq., M.P., Ross Donnelly Mangles, 
 Esq., M.P., Stewart Marjoribanks, Esq., M.P., John Abel 
 Smith, Esq., M.P., W. Thompson, Esq., M.P., Hon. F. G. 
 Tollemache, M.P., George Frederick Young, Esq. 
 
 The colonisation of New Zealand was under distinguished 
 patronage, and the experiment of the 'New Plymouth,' dif- 
 ferent indeed in motive and conception from New Plymouth, 
 Massachusetts, answered well. West-countrymen joined in 
 the undertaking with ardour. On the iQth of August, 1840, 
 the London, the fourteenth vessel chartered by the New 
 Zealand Company, carried out the surveying staff of the Ply- 
 mouth Company ; and on the 3oth of October the approaching 
 departure of the pioneer expedition was celebrated at Plymouth 
 by an entertainment given by the directors, at which no less 
 than four hundred persons were present, the Earl of Devon 
 being in the chair. It was on this occasion that it was first 
 publicly announced that the Government, who had been 
 antagonistic to the scheme, had now altered their views ; and 
 an official letter from Lord John Russell was read showing 
 that the various objections which had hitherto been raised to 
 the proceedings of the Company were now removed. This 
 news was carried out to Wellington in February 1841, and 
 created great satisfaction. In August 1840 a royal charter was 
 granted to the Company, giving them, along with other im- 
 portant privileges, an undoubted title to about 1,000,000 
 acres of land, and guaranteeing to them, in future, indemnifica- 
 tion in land, at the Government price, for their outlay in sur- 
 veys and emigration. 
 
 It should be mentioned, also, that a New Zealand bishopric 
 was formed, the Company making a grant of 4000 acres and 
 the New Zealand Church Society purchasing a like amount. 
 
212 British Colonisation 
 
 The Company bound themselves to expend, in respect of the 
 whole 8000 acres, the usual proportion of their funds in 
 emigration. The first Bishop was the Rev. G. A. Selwyn. 
 
 In addition to the Wellington and New Plymouth settlements, 
 that of Nelson was also formed under the auspices of the Com- 
 pany. In September 1841 an entertainment was given by the 
 Company at Blackwall to celebrate the departure of the Nelson 
 settlers, at which the Duke of Sussex and many influential 
 noblemen and gentlemen were present. This expedition 
 carried out nearly 800 souls in four ships of from 500 to 600 
 tons each. 
 
 Starting under such favourable auspices, New Zealand has 
 had a very different early history from any of the Australian 
 settlements. Dr. Hinds, the Bishop of Norwich, was justified 
 in terming it 'the Belgravia of colonies.' One weak point, 
 however, in the settlements of Wellington and Nelson was the 
 large number of absentee purchasers. Gibbon Wakefield 
 pointed out in a letter to Mr. Godley (June 22nd, 1850) that 
 out of 1000 sections of 100 acres sold at Wellington 595 were 
 bought by absentees, and out of 432 sections of 150 acres sold 
 at Nelson 352 were bought by absentees and only 80 by 
 colonists. True it was that the capital was raised and devoted 
 to the proper purposes, but Wakefield's main idea was to 
 attract bond fide settlers. 
 
 In the middle of 1845 Wakefield formed the project of the 
 Otago settlement. This scheme was in connection with the 
 Free Church of Scotland, and the leaders of the enterprise were 
 Captain William Cargill and Dr. Aldcorn of Oban. This Otago 
 settlement was the first instance in which Gibbon Wakefield's 
 plans for securing a sound kind of colonisation by means of 
 ecclesiastical and educational endowments from the land fund 
 were carried into practice. 
 
 The members of the Free Church purchased from the New 
 Zealand Company an area of 400,000 acres of the eastern sea- 
 board of the South Island. To the seaport was given the 
 name of Port Chalmers, in honour of Dr. Thomas Chalmers, 
 
New Zealand 2 1 3 
 
 the eminent leader of the Free Church. The chief town was 
 called Dunedin, the Celtic name for Edinburgh : and the first 
 band of emigrants landed at Port Chalmers from the John 
 Wiclif'm March 1848. The first Presbyterian minister was 
 the Rev. Thomas Burns. This emigration reminds us in some 
 of its features of the Selkirk settlement in Canada, when the 
 clan emigrated in a large body under Lord Selkirk as an 
 * cekist' : although, of course, the Wakefield system is peculiar to 
 the New Zealand ventures, the money being raised by the sale 
 of land at 2 an acre, the New Zealand Company retaining 
 one-fourth, and the remaining three fourths being expended on 
 purposes of emigration, surveys, roads, bridges, churches, and 
 schools. In all three countries, however, we may notice the 
 Scottish nucleus the determination and fearlessness of the 
 Scots as colonists, and Scottish success and prosperity. 
 
 In 1849 the Canterbury Association was formed on similar 
 lines by Gibbon Wakefield for founding a settlement in New 
 Zealand, designed to be 'complete in itself, having as little 
 connection as possible with the other centres of population 
 in the colony, and composed entirely of members of the 
 United Church of England and Ireland.' No less than 
 2,400,000 acres were placed at the disposal of the Association 
 by the New Zealand Land Company. The price to be paid 
 for the land was fixed at $ per acre ; but out of this amount 
 -i was set aside for the religious and educational funds, i 
 for the emigration fund, and los. for surveys, roads, and 
 bridges, leaving only los. per acre as the actual price of land. 
 About 20,000 acres were bought by the Association, the port 
 town being called Lyttelton, and the chief town Christ Church, 
 at the side of the Canterbury Plains nearest the port. The 
 patrons and supporters of the scheme were the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, Lord Lyttelton, the Duke of Manchester, Sir John 
 Simeon, Bishop Hinds, Lord Norton, Lord Ashburton, Mr. 
 Henry Sewell, and others. The leader or ' cekist ' of the under- 
 taking was Mr. J. R. Godley, to whom Mr. Wakefield first 
 suggested the idea of his becoming the main instrument of 
 
214 British Colonisation 
 
 organising a Church of England settlement. Mr. Godley was 
 sent out in 1850 as resident official head of the settlement, and 
 in November of this year the ships Sir George Seymour, Cressy, 
 Charlotte Jane, and Randolph arrived at Port Cooper with the 
 first immigrants, still known as the Canterbury Pilgrims. In the 
 course of a single year no fewer than 2600 persons had landed 
 in Canterbury, and, unlike the Otago settlers, these included 
 many colonists who were well off, and held command of capital. 
 The New Zealand Company, which had done so much for the 
 colonisation of the country had been instrumental in founding 
 Wellington, Taranaki, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury was 
 wound up in 1850. Its prime mover, Edward Gibbon Wake- 
 field, emigrated to Lyttelton in 1853, and took up his abode 
 at Wellington. Here he became a member of the Provincial 
 Council of Wellington, and a member of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives for the Hutt district. His policy was to oppose with 
 all his might the ' cheap land ' scheme of Sir George Grey. 
 This most remarkable man, gifted with most extraordinary 
 talents, a most daring and original thinker, whose views have 
 been embodied in a scarce book entitled A View of the Art of 
 Colonisation, the close friend and adviser of the Earl of Durham, 
 the leader of the well-known band of colonial reformers 
 (1840-1850), died in 1862 on the scene of his labours. 
 
 In his able review of the colonial policy of Lord Russell's 
 Administration (1869), the Right Honourable C. B. Adderley 
 speaks with pride of the province of Canterbury, in the 
 founding of which he bore a great part together with Lord 
 Lyttelton and John Robert Godley. It originated 'on the 
 true colonising principle of a homing-off of complete English 
 society, supplied with all the requirements of civilised life, and 
 capable of all the functions of citizenship.' Of John Robert 
 Godley he writes that no one did more,, in the words of his 
 epitaph, 'aequales ad majorum praeceptl revocare, quibus 
 colonise non tarn regendae sunt quam creandae.' 
 
 Mr. Charles Buller has given in outline the main ideas of 
 systematic colonisation, which were, perhaps, best illustrated 
 
New Zealand 2 1 5 
 
 in the Wakefield methods. Speaking in the House of Com- 
 mons on April 6, 1843, he observed that 'neither Phoenician, 
 nor Greek, nor Roman, nor Spaniard no, nor our own great 
 forefathers when they laid the foundations of an European 
 State on the continent and islands of the Western World, 
 ever dreamed of colonising with one class of society by itself, 
 and that the most helpless in shifting for itself. The foremost 
 men of the ancient republics led forth their colonies; each 
 expedition was in itself an epitome of the society which it left. 
 The solemn rites of religion blessed its departure from its 
 home ; and it bore with it the images of its country's gods, to 
 link it for ever by a common worship to its ancient home. 
 The Government of Spain sent its dignified clergy out with 
 some of its first colonists. The noblest families in Spain sent 
 their younger sons to settle in Hispaniola and Mexico and 
 Peru. Ralegh quitted a brilliant court and the highest spheres 
 of political ambition in order to lay the foundation of the 
 colony of Virginia. Lord Baltimore and the best Catholic 
 families founded Maryland; Penn was a courtier before he 
 became a colonist; a set of noble proprietors established 
 Carolina, and entrusted the framing of it to John Locke ; the 
 highest hereditary rank in this country below the peerage was 
 established in connection with the settlement of Nova Scotia ; 
 and such gentlemen as Sir Harry Vane, Hampden, and Crom- 
 well did not disdain the prospect of a colonial career. In all 
 these cases emigration was of every class . . . and thus was 
 colonisation always conducted, until all our ideas on the sub- 
 ject were perverted by the foundation of our convict colonies, 
 and emigration, being associated in men's minds with trans- 
 portation, was looked upon as the hardest punishment of guilt, 
 or necessity of poverty.' 
 
 Charles Buller drew a picture of the culpable way in which 
 emigrants were allowed to drift to their destinations in Lower 
 Canada : how the pauper families walked in their rags from the 
 quays of Liverpool and Cork into ill-found ships, and drifted 
 hopelessly over the country. There was no guidance, no 
 
216 British Colonisation 
 
 medical supervision, no friendly hand to help, and the emi- 
 grants settled down in a haphazard way without church or 
 school, education or religion. Respectable tradesmen and 
 labourers shrank from colonisation, and the idea of a gentle- 
 man emigrating was almost unheard-of in those days. A 
 reform was urgently needed both from the moral, religious, 
 and economical view of the case, and for this reform no one 
 worked harder than Wakefield and Buller. The stigma of 
 convictism began to be removed, a colonial career was voted 
 an honourable one ; and, with regard to New Zealand, more 
 men of good family settled there in the three years since the 
 beginning of 1840 than in British North America during the 
 first thirty years of the present century. Public opinion was 
 undergoing a vast change, and random emigration was shaped 
 into systematic colonisation. Those people who responded to 
 Cobbett's denunciation of the attempt of their rulers to trans- 
 port them began, under better tuition and example, to look 
 upon colonisation in a different light. 
 
 Certainly in no colony have the tangible results of colonisa- 
 tion been more en evidence than in New Zealand. Within 
 fifty years the beginnings of a young State have been formed, 
 already cities have been built, industries developed, and a 
 population of half-a-million trained to the duties and tasks of 
 citizenship. It is a land of law and liberty. Her peculiar 
 system of land laws, by which village homesteads and farm 
 homestead associations bring land within the reach of the 
 poorest labourer and the smallest capitalist, has been produc- 
 tive of much good. The experiment of co-operative settle- 
 ment, by which blocks of land not more than 11,000 or less 
 than 1000 acres can be taken up by an association consisting 
 of not less than twenty-five members, has for the political 
 economist of the present day a great interest. The develop- 
 ment of New Zealand industries has enabled every member of 
 the population to export annually ^15, 3s. 5d. worth of pro- 
 duce no mean result for a colony fifty years old. Mr. Westby 
 Perceval has remarked : * ' We have already exported nearly 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxiii., 1892. 
 
New Zealand 217 
 
 ^50,000,000 of gold . . . our coal-mines are magnificent, and 
 practically inexhaustible. A great trade in timber is in store 
 for us, and our splendid fisheries await development. Our 
 manufactures have grown to an extent that seems to justify 
 the belief that New Zealand will become the manufacturing 
 centre of the Southern Seas.' 
 
 New Zealand has, with a considerable show of reason, been 
 termed 'the Britain of the South.' The climate is an improve- 
 ment upon our own, but in many respects it is not dissimilar ; 
 the New Zealanders enjoy the advantage of an insular posi- 
 tion, and, proportionally, a far larger area of their country is 
 available for cultivation than is the case in Australia. The 
 Maori question is rapidly being solved, and, unlike Cape 
 Colony and Natal, New Zealand has no overwhelming sense 
 of the presence of a native question. Nature has given her 
 everything she can desire : a good soil, fertile valleys, noble 
 mountains, rich mines, and scenery that is not easily surpassed 
 in any part of the world in fact, a magnificent home fit for 
 a free people. Some have objected that New Zealand, by 
 borrowing extravagantly, has mortgaged her magnificent heri- 
 tage ; but against this it may be alleged that her resources are 
 immense, and that New Zealand statesmen have recently 
 displayed a more wise and cautious policy in the matter of 
 loans, and have advocated retrenchment in Government 
 expenditure. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix G. 
 
 References : 
 
 Buller's Forty Years in New Zealand, 1878. 
 Rusden's History of New Zealand, 1882. 
 Gisborne's Handbook of New Zealand, 
 Life of Bishop Selwyn, by G. H. Curteis. 
 Bush-Fighting : the Maori War, by Sir J. Alexander. 
 The High Alps of New Zealand. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC AND FIJI 
 
 THE islands of the Pacific have only recently attracted 
 attention in Europe as strategic points, convict stations, and 
 centres of colonisation. 
 
 For a very long time after their first discovery they were 
 left to those solitudes of ocean in which they were found : 
 beautiful, indeed, in their surroundings more beautiful, per- 
 haps, than the West Indies but defiled by the cruelties and 
 atrocities of man. Primeval man was a cannibal; so-called 
 civilised man either a corsair or a convict. It was the story 
 of the West Indies over again, with certain modifications. 
 European sailors, wandering from island to island, were a law 
 unto themselves, and seemed to cast aside Christianity and 
 decent manners when they entered the Southern Seas. Here, 
 at any rate, it seemed, however, as if savage life were destined 
 always to flourish and European law and order never to 
 appear. Lying outside the world, in the midst of the great 
 hemisphere of waters, the scattered sporades of the Southern 
 world were the roving ground of desperadoes and the unsettled 
 spirits of the world. 
 
 There was apparently no rich bait to tempt the merchant- 
 venturer thither so far from home ; no El Dorado concealed 
 behind the coral fringes, no city of gold in the island forests ; 
 on the contrary, the inhabitants appeared to be rude, savage, 
 and inhospitable. Cannibalism was rife, and threw a depress- 
 ing gloom over these far regions. Thither also the French 
 sailor la Perouse had gone, never to return, and a strange 
 
 218 
 
The Islands of the South Pacific and Fiji 219 
 
 mystery hung over the unexplored wastes of water. Cowper, 
 picturing the islander waiting for a second visit from his 
 European friends, says : 
 
 ' Expect it not ; we found no bait 
 To tempt us to thy country : 
 And must be bribed to compass earth again 
 By other hopes and richer fruits than yours.' 
 
 The poet treats the South Sea islands very differently from 
 the manner in which Andrew Marvell, Waller, and Moore 
 dwelt on the charms of the Bermudas happy islands which, 
 to use Waller's expression, 
 
 ' Heaven sure has kept this spot of earth uncurst, 
 To show how all things were created first.' 
 
 Public attention, however, was called to this part of the 
 world by the strange story of the mutiny of the Bounty, one 
 of the great romances of the sea. In 1787 King George in., 
 at the request of a number of West India merchants in 
 London, sent out the Bounty to transport plants of the bread- 
 fruit tree to the West Indies from Tahiti. The well-known 
 mutiny occurring on board, Captain Bligh was cast adrift 
 with some companions near the Friendly Islands, and the 
 mutineers returned with the ship to Tahiti, and finally reached 
 Pitcairn's Island, in which they sought concealment. Captain 
 Bligh, destined to be Governor afterwards of the penal settle- 
 ment of New South Wales, made that most remarkable boat 
 voyage of 4000 miles in forty-one days. 
 
 Ten years afterwards the South Pacific was the scene of a 
 notable enterprise, very different in character from those 
 usually chronicled in these waters ; and this was the voyage of 
 the Duff, an English vessel with thirty missionaries on board, 
 sent to convert the natives of Tahiti and the other islands to 
 Christianity. This voyage was fraught with great results, and 
 effected much to raise the natives in the social scale and to 
 throw light upon these distant islands. As long as these mis- 
 sionaries lived at Tahiti they were the means of protecting all 
 
22o British Colonisation 
 
 European ships ; but when they were driven away by the civil 
 wars in the island, there was no longer any security. On 
 several notable occasions the South Sea islands showed their 
 hostility to Europeans. The captains of the Fair American^ 
 when becalmed near the shores of Hawaii, of the Butterworth^ 
 returning in 1795 to tne harbour of Honolulu, and of the 
 Port au Prince in 1816, were all seized and murdered by the 
 natives. No unarmed ship was safe in the South Pacific 
 waters. 
 
 The earliest commercial advantages resulting from the dis- 
 covery of the South Sea islands consisted in the means of re- 
 freshment which they gave to English and American vessels 
 engaged in the sperm-whale fisheries. The pearl-oyster was 
 found amongst the coral islands of Eastern Polynesia and also 
 the Beche-de-Mer ; and the fragrant sandal-wood, so highly 
 prized by the Chinese as an article of commerce, was collected 
 by a number of ships of small tonnage, many of them coming 
 from New South Wales. The first era was undoubtedly one 
 of cruelty and of reprisals on both sides. The crews from 
 New South Wales and the traders generally throughout the 
 Pacific were not distinguished for their humanity. In the 
 South Pacific there was no settled government, and no Euro- 
 pean Power stretched forth its aegis of protection. 
 
 In the fierce colonising rivalries of the nineteenth century 
 all this has been changed. One by one these coral and 
 volcanic groups have been appropriated, and the geographer 
 has had the task of colouring and recolouring the more im- 
 portant islands. Dutch, French, Russians, English, and, more 
 recently, Germans, have all turned their attention to Pacific 
 waters ; and within very recent times the New Hebrides, New 
 Caledonia, New Guinea, have afforded a great deal of material 
 for official correspondence. 
 
 Most of the principal groups in the Pacific were first made 
 known to England by Wallis and Cook, who often hoisted the 
 English flag on them as token of possession and occupation, 
 although this was a meaningless ceremony. In 1767 Captain 
 
The Islands of the South Pacific and Fiji 221 
 
 Wallis raised the old flag on the Tahiti group. This was 
 resented by the Tahitians at first ; but afterwards their king, as 
 well as the king of the largest of the Sandwich Islands, ex- 
 pressed a desire to be under the protection of the King of 
 England. South Sea exploration was a favourite project with 
 King George, who, according to Ur. Hawkesworth, * having the 
 the best fleet and the ablest navigators in Europe,' improved 
 commerce, diffused geographical knowledge, and caused, in 
 seven years, discoveries to be made * far greater than those of 
 all the navigators in the world collectively, from the expedition 
 of Columbus to the present time ' (I773)- 1 
 
 For a long time the British Government were satisfied with 
 the results of the voyages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Cook, 
 and others, and were by no means anxious to extend their 
 dominions to these distant waters. The King of Tahiti wrote 
 to George iv. to ask permission to use the English ensign as 
 the national flag; and in answer to this Mr. Canning (1827), 
 Secretary of State, observed that, * although the customs of 
 Europe did not allow the use of the flag as solicited, His 
 Majesty George iv. would be happy to afford Pomare and his 
 dominions all such protection as His Majesty could grant to 
 a friendly Power at so remote a distance from his own 
 dominions.' 
 
 The presence in the Pacific of our convict settlement in 
 New South Wales gave England the opportunity of cultivating 
 relations with the Pacific islanders. Successive Governors of 
 New South Wales frequently solicited assistance of the King 
 of Tahiti for supplies, and respectable foreign residents were 
 stationed at Tahiti or the adjacent islands to watch over the 
 conduct and interests of our countrymen. The appointment 
 of their agents by the Governors of New South Wales was the 
 only political influence exercised by England in Pacific waters 
 for many years. Until the year 1833 a French trading-vessel 
 had scarcely ever made its appearance at the South Sea 
 islands. The voyages of Bourgainville and the ill-fated la 
 1 See Dedication of Hawkesworth's Voyages. 
 
222 British Colonisation 
 
 Perouse were made before the nineteenth century had begun, 
 and circumnavigators like Dumont d'Urville had occasionally 
 visited them. Still, no official proclamation or official inter- 
 ference had followed upon these enterprises. 
 
 French influence began in connection with religion. By a 
 decree of the Propaganda in June 1833, the conversion of the 
 inhabitants of the South Sea islands was confided to the 
 Society of Picpus. In 1834 three Romish priests and one 
 Irish catechist reached the Gambier's Islands, the most 
 easterly cluster of the Pacific islands. This was the starting- 
 point of the Roman Catholic missions. Shortly afterwards a 
 catechist was sent as a carpenter to Tahiti, and thence to the 
 Sandwich Islands to prepare the way for the priests. In 1841 
 Dupetit Thouars was sent to occupy the Marquesas Islands, 
 and thence in 1842 he proceeded to Tahiti. The proceedings 
 of the French were extremely arbitrary and high-handed, and 
 the ' Pritchard ' incident arose. British interests in Tahiti 
 were entrusted to Consul Pritchard, who, for his stand against 
 Admiral Dupetit Thouars, was made a prisoner on the flag- 
 ship. The English Government, with Sir Robert Peel as 
 Prime Minister, protested strongly against such treatment, and 
 as the result of diplomatic representations the French Ad- 
 miral was recalled, the annexation of the island annulled, and 
 a handsome indemnity paid over to Consul Pritchard. 
 
 By a laissez faire policy, however, after this incident, the 
 French were allowed to have their own way in the island, and 
 in 1847 an agreement was signed by which we acknowledged 
 the French protectorate over the islands. The French sub- 
 sequently visited the Sandwich Islands, demanded the repeal 
 of the laws prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors, and estab- 
 lished the Roman Catholic religion by force. An English 
 officer, Lord George Paulett, took possession of an island 
 about the same time, but his act was disallowed in England 
 when it was made known. The native Government, being 
 alarmed for their independence, sent an embassy to England, 
 France, Belgium, and the United States; and in 1844, by a 
 
The Islands of the South Pacific and Fiji 223 
 
 convention entered into between these Powers, the independ- 
 ence of the Sandwich Islands was guaranteed. From what 
 has been stated, therefore, political interference in the Pacific 
 Islands would seem to have originated with the French, their 
 armed vessels being employed primarily at the instance of the 
 Roman Catholic priests. Up to this point they do not seem 
 to have regarded any of the islands as suitable for convict 
 stations or as naval and strategic posts. These latter ideas 
 occurred subsequently. 
 
 New Caledonia, lying off the east coast of Australia, was so 
 named by Captain Cook after Scotland. It was frequently 
 visited by English and French sailors, and even made the 
 field of missionary labours by some Jesuits from Paris ; yet no 
 European Power attempted to occupy it until, in the year 1851, 
 the massacre of a boat's crew belonging to the French frigate 
 Alcmene, commanded by Comte d'Harcourt, drew the atten- 
 tion of the French to it. In 1853 Admiral Febvrier-Despointes 
 took possession of it, and in the same year he occupied the 
 neighbouring Pine Islands, and a few years later the Loyalty 
 Islands. In the year 1864 Napoleon in. resolved to convert 
 New Caledonia into a penal settlement, the island being suffi- 
 ciently remote from other countries, and being infinitely 
 superior, as far as climate and surroundings were concerned, 
 to French Guiana. This latter place had been proved to be 
 terribly unhealthy and altogether unsuited for the purposes of a 
 convict station. Up to the fall of the Empire convicts were 
 sent in considerable numbers to the island, and they seem to 
 have been well guarded. After the suppression of the Com- 
 mune, however, when it was uncertain how best to dispose of 
 the human fiends who had tried to destroy Paris and institute 
 their wild reign of terror, M. Thiers bethought him of New 
 Caledonia. Thither, accordingly, they were deported in large 
 numbers ; and from that day to this these criminals, and those 
 who have succeeded to them, have been a scourge to Australia 
 and our Pacific colonies. They have been allowed to escape 
 by the French authorities, whose prison regulations and 
 
224 British Colonisation 
 
 surveillance generally would seem, of set purpose, to be lax 
 and insufficient. Between France and our Australian colonists 
 the reridiviste question has been a constantly recurring difficulty 
 beyond the range of diplomacy to adjust. It is their open 
 sore, just as the fisheries question is to the Newfoundlanders ; 
 and the Home Government is practically powerless to act in 
 both matters. On the part of the French the establishment of 
 a convict station in the Pacific would strike one as a weak 
 copy of our own policy in New South Wales (1788), and 
 Noumea would seem to be a poor French imitation of Sydney. 
 The recidivistes or habitual criminals can regain their civil 
 rights as far as New Caledonia is concerned ; but what really 
 purified, elevated, and finally redeemed the bad character of 
 our Australian penal settlements viz. the introduction of free 
 labour and the immigration of a wholesome agricultural ele- 
 ment is probably impossible in New Caledonia. New Cale- 
 donia is certainly most important as a military point close to 
 New Zealand and Australia, and this view has been stated by 
 a Frenchman named M. Pigeard. ' La position geographique,' 
 he observes, 'qui la met aux portes deplusieurs grandes colonies 
 anglaises et a petite distance du continent, lui donne une 
 serieuse importance politique, si Ton considere qu'avec la pos- 
 session d'iles a Test elle pourrait nous assurer une croisiere 
 sure et lucrative, en cas de guerre dans toute 1'Oceanie cen- 
 trale, en menageant a nos escadres des ports au vent et sous 
 le vent pour se ravitailler ; mais, si cette ile peut devenir un 
 point militaire, elle n'est pas moins destinee, selon nous, a 
 figurer comme colonie commerciale importante.' 
 
 THE FIJI GROUP. 
 
 The example of Tahiti, coupled with what was done by the 
 French in New Caledonia, induced the chief of the Fiji Islands 
 to apply to England; and in 1874 the group, discovered by 
 Tasman in 1643 an d visited by Cook in 1769, was taken 
 under British protection by Sir Hercules Robinson, then 
 
The Islands of the South Pacific and Fiji 225 
 
 Governor of New South Wales. Fiji is about 1900 miles 
 distant from Sydney and 1200 miles from Auckland. The 
 Tongan or Friendly Islands lie 180 miles to the south-east, 
 and Samoa 500 miles to the north-east. New Caledonia is 
 700 miles to the westward. The number of islands has 
 been stated as between 200 and 250, but some are mere 
 rocks. The largest islands are Viti Levu, with an area of 
 4112 square miles; Vanua Levu, 2432 square miles ; Taviuni, 
 217 square miles: Kadavu, 124 square miles; Koro, 58 
 square miles. The area of the whole colony is calculated at 
 7435 square miles. 1 
 
 As in the West Indies, so in Fiji and the Pacific islands 
 the labour question is the chief one that engrosses the planters' 
 attention. Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides supply 
 the largest amount of what is known as Polynesian labour, 
 but it is irregular and limited. Coolies were first imported 
 from Calcutta in 1879, when 480 arrived. There are now 
 about 6000 Indian coolies in Fiji, the cost of introducing 
 them being a little over 21 for each individual over ten 
 years of age. The indenture is for five years after the date 
 of arrival, and their interests and well-being are provided for 
 by the Indian Immigration Ordinance, which regulates l time ' 
 work and 'task' work. As in the West Indies, the Indian 
 coolie is found a better and cheaper labourer than the African 
 negro. In Natal, also, he is proved to be better than Zulus or 
 any branch of the great Bantu races ; so in the South Seas he 
 is superior to the native Fijian and Polynesian. The markets 
 of Fijian produce lie in the adjoining continent of Australia 
 and in New Zealand, just as the markets of West Indian pro- 
 duce are found in the adjoining territories of the United 
 States and Canada. The record of trade begins only in 
 1875, an d naturally it is not of very great volume. New 
 South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand are the best pur- 
 chasers of Fijian products. As Mauritius provides sugar for 
 Africa, so Fiji gives sugar to Australia. The imports from 
 1 Colonial Office List, 1891. 
 P 
 
226 British Colonisation 
 
 British possessions were, according to Sir Rawson W. Rawson, 
 no less than 87 per cent., her exports 79 per cent. There is 
 comparatively little trade done between Fiji and the United 
 Kingdom, her imports being only 9 per cent, and exports 7 
 per cent. Her imports from foreign countries amounted to 
 4 per cent, but the exports reached 13 per cent., chiefly to 
 Portugal and Germany. It is worthy of notice that the in- 
 crease of British tonnage between 1877-9 an d 1884-6 has 
 been threefold. The conclusion to be gathered from Fiji 
 trade is the same as that which can be gathered from the 
 example of other islands adjoining large tracts of country, 
 and it is this : that according to a natural law of attraction it 
 flows more and more in the direction of these tracts. Owing 
 to their natural position and natural surroundings, islands 
 situated in tropical waters must supply colder climes, where 
 population is large, with what they cannot or do not produce. 
 
 The total number of inhabitants is 124,100, of which 
 1 1 1, ooo are natives, 9700 coolies and imported Polynesians, 
 and 3400 white people. Nearly half of all the inhabitants of 
 Fiji live on the largest island, Viti Levu, where the capita], 
 Suva, is situated. The islands are as a rule mountainous, 
 with a few isolated peaks reaching to the height of 3000 to 4000 
 feet, many of them being clearly of volcanic origin, with hot 
 springs in this respect, as in many others, reminding us of 
 the West Indies. The heat is moderated by the trade winds, 
 and hurricanes are not so violent and destructive as in the 
 West Indies. The flora of the Fiji Islands is very magnifi- 
 cent, but there is great poverty of fauna. 
 
 The most important industry of the islands is the growing 
 of the sugar-cane and the manufacture of raw sugar. There 
 is a species of wild sugar in the island known as dovu ; but 
 the variety grown is imported from Honolulu, and the best 
 districts are reported to be the drier parts of the islands. 
 Next to sugar in importance is the growing of bananas, cocoa- 
 nuts, tea, and tobacco. The cultivation of coffee is almost 
 entirely abandoned now in Fiji owing to the attacks of a little 
 
The Islands of the South Pacific and Fiji 227 
 
 insect called the Acarus coffece, which destroyed the leaves. 
 Maize and oil-producing plants also grow well. Land can be 
 either bought or rented in Fiji, and well-cultivated ground 
 costs from >io to ^20 per acre. Virgin land can be bought 
 for i to 2 per acre. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix VIII. 
 
 References : 
 
 Fiji and the Fijians, by Williams and Calcraft, 1853. 
 The Mutineers of the 'Bounty J by Lady Belcher. 
 Myths and Songs from the Pacific, by Gill, 1876. 
 Two Years in Fiji, by Sitton Forbes, M.D., 1875. 
 My Consulate in Samoa, by Churchward, 1887. 
 Picturesque New Guinea, by T. W. Lindt, 1887. 
 New Guinea, by Charles Lyne, 1885. 
 
 'Agriculture in Fiji,' Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, 
 vol. xxi. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 CEYLON AND THE MALDIVE ARCHIPELAGO 
 
 LIKE many other parts of Asia, Ceylon has been subject in 
 turn to the three dominations of the Portuguese, Dutch, and 
 British. After finding their way to the East by way of the 
 Cape in 1497-8, under Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese held 
 the monopoly of the East for a hundred years. In 1505 they 
 began to form settlements on the west and south of the island. 
 The Portuguese held two opinions with regard to the main 
 features of an Oriental policy, represented by two great 
 authorities, Almeida and Albuquerque. Francisco d' Almeida, 
 the first Viceroy, who went out in 1505 in command of twenty- 
 two ships, and laid the foundations of Portuguese commerce in 
 Indian waters, argued that Portugal needed no large number of 
 forts and positions in the East, provided only one good harbour 
 was secured. He who was master of the sea, he observed, 
 was master of India. Albuquerque nourished a higher 
 ambition, and encouraged not merely the idea of a sea traffic 
 but also of a chain of forts and strong insular and continental 
 positions everywhere. The policy of Albuquerque prevailed, 
 and Portuguese dominion came to be represented in many 
 places by many strongholds. 3 But their Eastern empire was 
 too unwieldy as a whole to stand : the Portuguese rulers were 
 cruel and rapacious one of their own countrymen, Diogo 
 do Couto, observing that the governors of Portuguese India 
 who doubled the Cape of Good Hope lost all fear of God and 
 fear of the king. 
 
 1 Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, Hakluyt Series. 
 
 228 
 
Ceylon and the Maldive Archipelago 229 
 
 In Ceylon the Portuguese found no difficulty in planting 
 their factories along the coast, and from this basis carried on a 
 succession of raids to the Kandian capital, burning everything, 
 and not sparing the king's palace. As a sign of submission, 
 they exacted an annual tribute of three elephants. The 
 Kandian king called in the aid of the Dutch, who easily 
 expelled the Portuguese and established themselves (1655). 
 At the beginning of this century the Portuguese name, 
 language, religion, and numerous missionary establishments 
 existed ; but in the growth of the island even these signs and 
 landmarks have been lost sight of and obliterated. 
 
 Nearly a hundred years ago (1803) Mr. Cordiner wrote: 
 ' There is still a large body of inhabitants at Colombo and the 
 other settlements in Ceylon known by the name of Portuguese. 
 They probably amount to the number of 5000. They are, 
 however, completely degenerated, and exhibit complexions of 
 a blacker hue than any of the original natives. Yet they 
 retain a considerable portion of the pride of their ancestors : 
 wear the European dress ; profess the religion of the Church 
 of Rome; and think themselves far superior to the lower 
 classes of the Singhalese. They are, in fact, a spurious race of 
 all mixtures. Any black fellow who can procure a hat and 
 shoes, with a vest and breeches, and who has acquired some 
 little smattering of the Roman Catholic religion, can aspire to 
 the title of a Portuguese.' 
 
 This passage, written in 1803, is instructive, as it throws 
 light upon a somewhat kindred subject, viz., the nature of 
 Portuguese colonisation on the east coast of Africa, in the 
 vicinity of Delagoa Bay, Sofala, and the mouths of the 
 Zambesi, about which so much has recently been said in the 
 delimitation of boundaries between Great Britain and Portugal. 
 Such as the Portuguese colonists were in their mongrel and 
 debased character near Colombo in Ceylon, so were they for 
 generations along the east coast of Africa. The Portuguese 
 colonial life has been a feeble and retrograde factor, their 
 governors incompetent, their colonists black fellows with 
 
230 British Colonisation 
 
 Portuguese names only, and their soldiers hired native mer- 
 cenaries. With regard to Ceylon, it could not have been 
 without a pang of national regret that the island was lost to 
 Portugal. The King of Portugal was so anxious of preserving 
 it that he inserted this clause in all his instructions : ' Let all 
 India be lost, so that Ceylon be saved.' 
 
 At the beginning of this century Ceylon was divided 
 betweeen Their High Mightinesses the States-General and the 
 King of Kandy. The Dutch held a belt of sea-coast running 
 all round the island, broad in some parts and narrow in others, 
 within which the latter was cooped up ' as in an enchanted 
 circle. 7 The Kandians had certain articles of commerce for 
 exchange or sale, such as areca nuts, ivory, and honey ; whilst 
 the Dutch had two indispensable articles for the Kandians, 
 e.g. fish and salt. On this basis trade was conducted, but the 
 Kandians naturally desired an establishment on the sea-coast. 
 When the island passed into the hands of the British in 
 1795-6, the number of Dutchmen amounted to about nine 
 hundred. In their habits and customs the Dutch of Ceylon 
 resembled the Dutch of Batavia, or of any other of their 
 Eastern settlements: described by one traveller as 'all rising 
 early to drink a cup of coffee and smoke a pipe ; all wearing 
 velvet clothing, eating freely, and sleeping after dinner ; and 
 all so averse to walking that it was a common saying that no 
 Europeans but Englishmen and dogs ever walked in Batavia.' 
 Travellers at the Cape of Good Hope and Natal will in some 
 of these characteristics detect a strong family resemblance 
 between the Dutch colonists of Ceylon and of South Africa, 
 especially in their preference for cups of coffee and their dis- 
 like to pedestrianism. In Ceylon the Dutch settler would 
 seem to have been poor and indigent, compelled, after the 
 surrender of the island to the British, to practise rigid 
 economy. The trade system of the Dutch had been one of 
 strict commercial monopoly. As long as pearls and nutmegs 
 bore a high price in Amsterdam, the Dutch cared nothing 
 whether fisheries were stopped, spice-trees were dug up, and 
 
Ceylon and the Maldive Archipelago 23 1 
 
 all native arts checked. The prosperity of the island itself 
 and the good of the inhabitants were never considered. A 
 judicious land-tax levied fairly on the island might have been 
 found by the Dutch to be a most legitimate source of revenue, 
 such as in fact our own Governor Raffles found it to be in 
 Java, the Dutch possession temporarily occupied by ourselves 
 from 1808 to 1814. This land-tax in lieu of forced services, 
 forced delivery of goods, and a compulsory system generally, is 
 always more popular amongst subject native races, and better 
 calculated to stimulate their industries. 
 
 Such was the island which, after its feeble occupation by 
 Portuguese and Dutch, was destined to pass into the more 
 energetic hands of the British. Our growing empire in India 
 seemed to demand the speedy occupation of this fair island, 
 with its magnificent harbour of Trincomalee, lying close to its 
 shores. Our rule would not be safe with the Bay of Trin- 
 comalee in the hands of a foreign Power. The island com- 
 mands, by virtue of its position, the two coasts of Malabar and 
 Coromandel, and at the beginning of this century it was 
 considered * as the master-key to Hindustan ' in the event of 
 any disturbances in the Peninsula. It was also regarded as 
 the depot of the distant China trade, in case England's position 
 was in jeopardy in Canton. On the subject of the importance 
 of Trincomalee at the beginning of this century a writer in the 
 Quarterly Review has observed : * Had Trincomalee been in our 
 possession when the dreadful famine ravaged Madras during 
 Lord Macartney's government, and the fleet of Sir Edward 
 Hughes was compelled to flee for shelter to Bombay, whilst 
 the French frigates insulted the coast of Coromandel and 
 obstructed the provision-ships intended for its relief, Madras 
 might have escaped the horrible evils to which its unhappy 
 inhabitants were subjected.' 
 
 Some of the chief strategic and commercial reasons that 
 made Ceylon and the port of Trincomalee so valuable and 
 important a hundred years ago have wholly or partially dis- 
 appeared. The British foot is firmly planted in the adjoining 
 
232 British Colonisation 
 
 peninsula, and neither Trincomalee nor Colombo is regarded 
 in the light of a last resource or a city of refuge. Our China 
 trade at Hong Kong lies now in a well-protected zone of British 
 influence, and our chief entrepots in Chinese waters can take 
 good care of themselves, and all branches of Eastern trade have 
 made marvellous progress along distinct and separate channels. 
 In a certain sense, therefore, the relative importance of Ceylon 
 as a strategic position is much less than it was a -hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 Nevertheless, the island has a rare vantage-ground. It lies 
 in the fair-way of ocean traffic, and is the meeting-place of all 
 nations. Although it is but ' a silver streak ' that divides the 
 island from India, this streak at some future time may have an 
 immense and almost incalculable value. Should British rule 
 be imperilled in the peninsula in some future war of nations, 
 the island of Ceylon might be for the British an impregnable 
 stronghold and a priceless basis. For no enemy of England 
 could regard the conquest of the Indian peninsula complete 
 unless he conquered as well the island at its foot. 
 
 Coming to recent times, it may truly be said that the 
 prosperity of Ceylon has within the last fifty years hung upon 
 the development of two leading products coffee and tea. 
 There has been an era of great coffee-plantations in past years, 
 and now the era of tea-plantations is before us. To describe 
 the history of these two remarkable industries is to tell nearly 
 the whole tale of Ceylon progress. With regard to coffee, it 
 may be truly stated that for thirty years from 1837 to 1867 
 the whole energy of the planters was devoted to its cultiva- 
 tion. To a certain extent the berry had been grown under 
 Dutch rule, and in 1825 Sir Edward Barnes, the Governor of 
 Ceylon, formed a coffee-plantation near Kandy. Sugar, cotton, 
 nutmegs, cinnamon, tobacco, cocoa-nuts, were all planted in 
 the island ; but little by little attention came to be concen- 
 trated almost wholly upon coffee. About this time the abolition 
 of slavery in the West Indies and the reduction of import 
 duties upon coffee into the United Kingdom stimulated coffee- 
 
Ceylon and the Maldive Archipelago 233 
 
 planting in Ceylon. The profits that ensued were at that 
 time fabulous and unprecedented, and an extraordinary rush 
 was made by every class of society upon coffee-planting in 
 Ceylon. 
 
 Mr. Loudoun Shand has described this rush and the con- 
 sequences ensuing upon it : ' Soldiers, sailors, clergymen, civil 
 servants plunged into coffee-planting with every penny they 
 had or could borrow ; and accompanied, as all such fevers are, 
 by injudicious selections and extravagant mismanagement, 
 who could wonder that a heavy fall in the price of coffee in 
 Europe, and a consequent cessation of credit to plant and 
 cultivate estates, produced a crisis which checked and 
 threatened to stifle the coffee enterprise of Ceylon ? But as in 
 the case of Indian tea, so from the coffee crisis in Ceylon there 
 emerged a body of men poorer, perhaps, but wiser; and now, 
 founded upon experience taught by misfortune, the enterprise 
 steadily grew, though subject, of course, to all the vicissitudes 
 incidental to tropical agriculture; and in 1870 and the two 
 preceding years the average annual value of the coffee was 
 roundly ^4,000,000.' J 
 
 Ceylon prosperity was at its height about 1866-1872. During 
 the governorship of Sir Hercules Robinson (1865-1871) no 
 less than 227,000 acres of Crown lands were sold to the 
 planters. Before this, and during the years 1861 to 1865, there 
 had come into the market 156,000 acres, and upon this, for 
 the most part virgin soil, British energy and capital had been 
 flung with an unstinting hand. The cost of clearing a single 
 acre of forest is estimated at ;io, and some idea of the 
 planters' investments may be gained. The sale of Crown lands 
 was a wise measure and productive of great results, although 
 some have thought that, under the circumstances, it would 
 have been better if the land had been leased instead of 
 alienated. 
 
 The year of greatest export of coffee was from 1874 to 
 1875, when nearly 1,000,000 cwt. of coffee was shipped 
 1 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Instittite, vol. xix. 
 
234 British Colonisation 
 
 from the island. From this year must be dated the sudden 
 and rapid decline of the industry. In 1886-7 on ^y 150,000 
 cwt. was sold in the London market. In 1891, for nine months 
 of the year, i.e. from January to September 21, the export was 
 only 63,109 cwt. 1 The cause of this decline was a parasitic 
 growth on the leaf of the coffee-bush known as the Hemileia 
 vastatrix. This disease first showed itself in a place called 
 Madulsima, in the Uva district. At first the planters thought 
 little of it, as the natural vigour of the coffee-shrub seemed 
 long able to resist it, and a great deal was done to strengthen 
 the plant by artificial means. Under the impression that an 
 imported shrub would best be able to withstand the attack 
 (just as the imported American vine resists better in France 
 the ravages of the Phylloxera), the Liberian was substituted on 
 some estates for the native shrub. Unfortunately, the imported 
 shrub succumbed quicker than the others, and in ten years 
 the once fertile and prosperous area of coffee-plantations pre- 
 sented a forlorn and desolate appearance. It was evident that 
 a crisis had come and gone in the history of Ceylon, and the 
 planter's ruin was complete. 
 
 From this wreck of the coffee industry a new one was 
 destined shortly to arise. Between the withered rows of 
 coffee-shrubs, by way of a precarious venture, the tea-shrub was 
 planted, ' the green monitor of hope in the ranks of despair.' 
 The plant itself ( Camellia Theifera} was not indigenous to the 
 island, its native place being in the mountainous parts of 
 Assam, and near the frontiers of China. 2 But as the Chinese 
 had long acclimatised this Assam product, and the Indian 
 planters had already succeeded with it, there was no reason 
 why the Ceylon planters should not make an experiment. 
 Moreover, the Planters' Association had already (1866) 
 appointed a commissioner to visit and report upon the tea- 
 plantations in India. One of the earliest experiments was 
 
 1 Returns in Ceylon Observer. 
 
 2 Statement by Mr. D. Morris, Proceedings of the Royal Colonial 
 Institute, vol. xix. 
 
Ceylon and the Maldive Archipelago 235 
 
 made by Mr. James Taylor, the manager of the Loolcondura 
 estate, who may almost be termed the pioneer of the new 
 industry. At first it was thought that tea could be grown at 
 high elevations only, but about 1876 it was proved that the 
 lowlands of Ceylon were equally well adapted to the industry. 
 Tea-planting began in earnest, and over all the surface of 
 Ceylon, from the sea-level to a height of 6000 feet, plantations 
 have been laid out. 
 
 This new industry has advanced by leaps and bounds, and 
 constitutes one of the marvels of the age. It is an industry, 
 however, which requires the greatest skill and science, as well 
 as an unwearying attention to details. In Ceylon the tea-bush 
 ' flushes ' all the year round in suitable weather, a period of 
 ten or fifteen days elapsing between the ' flushes.' The leaves 
 have to be picked with care, and the shrub carefully watched 
 lest the wood become thickened and the obnoxious ' crows'- 
 nests ' multiply upon its branches. When a tea-shrub bunches 
 its efficacy becomes impaired. The leaf is useful in three 
 stages in its youth, maturity, and old age. First there is the 
 delicate * Pekoe,' or the young leaf before it is unfurled ; next 
 the 'Souchong,' or the leaf in its maturity; and lastly the 
 * Congou,' or the old and coarsest leaf, which is of a brittle 
 nature and difficult to roll. 
 
 In the factory itself the planter has to be as watchful as in 
 the field. To dry the fresh-plucked leaves in the right way, 
 to break and crush their tissues by the pressure of rolling- 
 machines, and to pass the heaps through a process of natural 
 fermentation, are all delicate operations. The leaf that is 
 plucked on a Monday morning should give a refreshing 
 beverage on Wednesday, and from week to week and from 
 month to month the operations of the Ceylon tea-planter are 
 incessant. Some would say that the shrub has not enough 
 cold weather, and consequently a rest, in Ceylon, and that from 
 this circumstance it may become deteriorated ; but hitherto no 
 diminution of natural vigour has shown itself. To China, and 
 even India, Ceylon is now a formidable rival, and she threatens 
 
236 British Colonisation 
 
 to monopolise the trade. There are from 200 to 250 estates 
 in cultivation, yielding between seventy and eighty million 
 pounds' weight of tea, worth close upon ^3, 000,000 annually. 
 The best market is the United Kingdom, where it is calculated 
 that the consumption averages yearly four or five pounds a 
 head. This is exceeded by the Australian colonist, who 
 drinks seven pounds a head. Besides Australia, a growing 
 market for tea is found in Canada and the United States, 
 where the article is admitted duty free. Should Americans 
 become tea-drinkers, the fortunes, surely, of Ceylon planters 
 are assured, as the Pacific routes especially that by way of 
 the Canadian Pacific Railway become better known and 
 used. 
 
 The great fear of the Ceylon planters is over-production. 
 In 1876 the export of tea was 282 Ibs. ; in 1887-8 it was 
 13,500,000 Ibs; in 1890-1 it exceeded 40,000,000 Ibs. ; in 
 1891-2 it was close on 70^000,000 Ibs ; and in 1892-3 it is cal- 
 culated at 78,000,000 Ibs. 
 
 THE MALDIVE ARCHIPELAGO. 
 
 In connection with Ceylon, the Maldive Islands, a Ceylon 
 dependency, must be mentioned. Pyrard de Laval, the 
 French explorer, who was wrecked on the group in 1602, has 
 left a very good account of them, which Captain Christopher, 
 employed on the survey of the islands in 1834-5, and Mr. 
 Bell in 1880, have in the main substantiated, thus proving 
 the immobile nature of Eastern civilisation. This group of 
 islands, lying in the Indian Ocean, has provided its visitors 
 with much that is extremely interesting. ' Each inhabited 
 island is a little village, separated from its neighbours by sea 
 and lagoon ; yet the whole forms and, as far as we can trace 
 the islands in history, has formed a compact kingdom, with a 
 well-designed constitution, a Cabinet of Ministers, a body of 
 executive and judicial, religious and revenue officers, all in 
 due subordination. Were not the whole aspect of Maldive 
 
Ceylon and the Maldive Archipelago 237 
 
 civilisation coloured and penetrated by Mohammedanism, that 
 ever-present factor in the East, we might regard Pyrard's 
 description of this little kingdom, so strange and yet so par- 
 ticular, as one which might have come from the hand of Swift 
 or Defoe. 
 
 The islands are almost countless, and are said to number 
 12,000 or 13,000. According to Ptolemy, there were 1368 
 islands in the vicinity of Ceylon. Friar Jordanus had heard 
 of 10,000 or 12,000, and Marco Polo asserted that there were 
 12,700 inhabited and uninhabited. Most of the islands are 
 very small, separated by narrow channels, and the Maldivians 
 are almost amphibious in their habits, swimming easily from one 
 to the other. They are very skilful fishermen, and export fish 
 to Ceylon. 
 
 All these islands and banks have been divided into thirteen 
 provinces, called atollons, from a Maldive word atolu a word 
 which has become of general use. 2 The chief atoll is Male, 
 which has eight inhabited islets attached to it. Altogether 
 there are 175 inhabited islands. The religion of Buddha found 
 its way there in past times, and on one of the islands there are 
 said to be ' the jungle-covered ruins of a tope or dagoba,' as 
 in Ceylon. One of the islands is known as * Buddha's City ' 
 and another as ' Bo-tree Island.' At present there are only two 
 Bo-trees growing in the group. The Maldivians have borne 
 the character of being kind and hospitable islanders. From 
 time to time they have been visited by many travellers. In 
 the time of Pyrard (1602) two languages were in use one of 
 them peculiar to the Maldives, and the other Arabic, by which 
 they set great store, learning it as a classical language. They 
 also spoke, according to the same authority, the languages of 
 Cambay, Guzerat, Malacca, and even Portuguese. Moham- 
 medanism is the current religion of these islanders. The Fast 
 of Ramedan, the rite of circumcision, and all the rules of 
 Mahomet are most scrupulously observed. 
 
 On the islands Goma or Ambergris, the sea coco-nut (coco 
 1 Voyage of Pyrard de Laval, p. xliii. 2 Ibid. 
 
238 British Colonisation 
 
 de mer\ the ancient remedy for all ailments, was found. 
 Here also is gathered in large quantities the cowry, the most 
 widely used shell-money in Africa and the East. In former 
 days the Portuguese bought cowries in large numbers at the 
 Maldives. The current coin was, acording to Pyrard, a silver 
 one called a Larin, stamped with the king's name in Arabic 
 characters. The word is said to have been taken from the 
 city Lar in Persia. Coco fruit, cordage, and the well-known 
 Maldive mats, made of a rush growing in one atoll only, are 
 articles of commerce. Cotton cloth also has been manufac- 
 tured for centuries amongst the Maldivians. 
 
 Another, and perhaps the chief, occupation of the Maldivians 
 has been fishing from time immemorial both deep-sea fishing, 
 by which they catch albacore and bonito (known, when cured, 
 as komboli mas in Ceylon and Indian bazaars), and in-shore 
 fishing, by which they catch the ' red chief of fish,' or the 
 rangoo ; and also fishing at low-water, when the equinoctial 
 season comes, by means of a fish-kraal an ingenious method, 
 practised also in Ceylon, for driving the fish into stone 
 enclosures. 
 
 The Maldives have passed successively under the rule of 
 Portuguese, Dutch, and British. The Portuguese took Male, 
 deposing the Sultan and building a fortress. When the Dutch 
 drove the Portuguese out of Ceylon, the archipelago of the 
 Maldives was included in their rule, and in 1640 a Dutch 
 vessel was sent to the Maldivians from Ceylon. The Dutch 
 were always on friendly terms with the Maldivians, and recog- 
 nised the Maldive flag. In 1754 Dupleix sent a few French 
 troops to Male, but they were soon withdrawn. When Ceylon 
 was taken by the British the Maldives were included in the 
 conquest ; and the Sultan of the Maldivians, who are supposed 
 to number about 30,000, recognises the protectorate of Great 
 Britain by sending annually an embassy to Colombo with 
 presents to the Governor of Ceylon. To the ethnologist the 
 Maldivians have provided a most interesting study. Male 
 is about 400 miles distant from Ceylon, and the islands 
 
Ceylon and the Maldive Archipelago 239 
 
 themselves have succeeded in preserving for centuries a 
 peculiar and distinctive character of their own. 1 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix IX. 
 
 References : 
 
 Description of Ceylon, by Robert Knox. 
 
 Lucas's Hist. Geog. of the British Colonies, vol. i. 
 
 Ceylon, by Sir James Emerson Tennent. 
 
 Fergusson's Handbook of Ceylon, 1892. 
 
 Proceedings of the, Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xix. 
 
 Rifle and Hound in Ceylon, by Sir S. Baker. 
 
 Two Happy Years in Ceylon, by C. F. Gordon Gumming 
 
 The Ceylon Observer. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 MAURITIUS 
 
 MAURITIUS, like Madagascar, must be regarded as an African 
 island, although it lies so far removed from the great continent. 
 Originally (1505) it was discovered by Mascarenhas, the 
 Portuguese explorer ; but the Portuguese only made use of 
 the island as a port of call. In 1598 a Dutch fleet sighted 
 Mauritius, and the commander gave the island its present 
 name, calling it after Prince Maurice of Nassau. For some 
 years, however, they neglected to utilise the island, turning 
 their attention to more profitable quarters. About the middle 
 of the seventeenth century the French made great efforts to 
 form colonial settlements in this part of the world, the King 
 of France having taken into his own hands the management 
 of the factories at Madagascar, and Bishop Estienne being 
 then employed with a large staff of missionaries in erecting a 
 monastery near Port Dauphin. The French had also occupied 
 Mascarenhas, which they termed Bourbon. Clearly, therefore, 
 the Dutch ought to increase their influence in Mauritius if 
 they wished to keep their hold upon these waters; and in 
 June 1664 a Dutch expedition under Jacobus van Nieuwland 
 landed on the island. It was governed thenceforward as a 
 dependency of the Cape, and every year a vessel sailed from 
 Table Bay with supplies, bringing back ebony logs. 1 A few 
 burghers and thirty or forty men were its only white inhabi- 
 tants, and there was scarcely a semblance of administration in 
 the island. The Dutch authorities were so dependent upon 
 the Cape that they could not carry out their sentences until 
 
 1 Theal's History of Sottth Africa, p. 159. 
 240 
 
Mauritius 24 1 
 
 reviewed by the Council of Justice at the Cape. Very little, 
 therefore, came of the Dutch occupation of Mauritius. 
 
 At the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), 
 whilst Mauritius was still under Dutch influence, an attempt 
 was made to colonise the neighbouring island of Rodriguez 
 with French Huguenot refugees an immigration that reminds 
 us of the planting, about the same time, of the French 
 Huguenots at the Cape of Good Hope. An account of the 
 expedition is given by Frangois Leguat, one of the passengers, 
 who dedicated his work to Henri de Grey, Marquis et Comte 
 de Kent, Pair de la Grand' Bretagne (1708). In his work 
 there is a map of Rodriguez, * decouverte par les Portugais sous 
 le Roi Jen iv., Tan 1645, et depuis habite'e pendant 1'espace de 
 deux ans et 20 jours par Frangois Leguat, Jaq. de la Case, 
 Jean Testard, Isaac Boyer, Jean de la Haye, Robert Anselin, 
 et Pi. Thomas, Frangois Protestans, fugitifs pour leur re- 
 ligion.' Frangois Leguat was a refugee of noble blood who 
 was originally sent out to inspect and report upon the island 
 of Bourbon, where the Marquis du Quene proposed to estab- 
 lish a colony under the protection of the States-General and 
 the East India Company of the Netherlands an object which 
 is fully described in the Cape archives. The captain of the 
 ship passed by Bourbon or Eden, as the refugees had called 
 it and set the party on shore on the island of Rodriguez. 
 From Rodriguez he passed over to the Mauritius. 
 
 In 1721 Mauritius fell an easy prey to the French, and its 
 name was changed to the Isle of France, which it retained till 
 1 8 10. In the Isle of France French colonisation was, as in 
 the province of Quebec, fairly successful. The pictures of 
 colonial life as shown in Bernardin de St. -Pierre's narrative 
 are almost as attractive as those of Acadia in Nova Scotia in 
 both cases there are scenes of pastoral and natural wealth. 
 In the valleys of Grand Pr and within sight of Grand 
 Blomidon the peasantry live on their fat dyked pastures and 
 beneath their happy Acadian orchards ; in Mauritius they live 
 in the land of the badamier, the mango, the avocatier. 
 
 Q 
 
242 British Colonisation 
 
 Labourdonnais, a native of St. Malo, and one of the best 
 colonial governors France has ever produced, did a great 
 deal for Mauritius, establishing sugar-works and creating that 
 industry which has since made Mauritius so prosperous. He 
 also encouraged cotton and indigo manufactories, and put 
 down the maroons or runaway slaves of the country. The 
 policy of Labourdonnais (1741) was to make Mauritius a 
 station which might serve as a basis of operations against 
 rival Europeans in the Eastern seas and a depot of French 
 trade. This policy was in its main features opposed entirely 
 to the ideas of St. Pierre, who in 1773 criticised the Eastern 
 policy of France. To use his own words : ' I thought in the 
 first place to render an essential service to my country by 
 demonstrating that this island, which was filled with troops, 
 was in no respect fit either to be the mart or the citadel of 
 the commerce of France with the East Indies, from which it 
 is 1500 leagues distant. This position I proved by the events 
 of former wars, in which Pondicheri was always taken by the 
 enemy, though the Isle of France swarmed with troops.' For 
 his expressed theories St. Pierre incurred great unpopularity. 
 
 However, it was as abase of privateering raids against English 
 commerce that Mauritius and Bourbon were at the beginning 
 of this century most useful to France. When the Republican 
 navy was shattered by England in one desperate encounter 
 after another, and resistance by open sea rendered impossible, 
 French India having been lost once and for all, daring French 
 privateers hailing from the northern ports of France as daring 
 and brave in their way as our Devon worthies of the sixteenth 
 century sallied forth upon the Indian waters, and carried on 
 for a time a most destructive campaign upon British com- 
 merce. In the years 1793-4, we are told, French privateers 
 captured no fewer than 788 English merchantmen, whilst we 
 only took 151 prizes. 'The merchants of Calcutta and 
 Madras stood aghast. Commerce was at a standstill, our 
 cruisers were outwitted, and on more than one occasion, in 
 spite of their heavier metal, had been compelled to haul down 
 
Mauritius 243 
 
 their flags to the pygmy privateers hailing from the" port of St. 
 Malo. . . . The history of Surcouf, the daring Malouine 
 privateer, is not flattering to our national vanity, but it teaches 
 us a lesson which should not be lost upon our naval adminis- 
 trators. Leaving Isle of France in September 1795 in a 
 little craft of 180 tons, with a crew of thirty Bretons and an 
 armament of four six-pounders, he commenced a career which 
 for daring and sagacity has rarely been equalled, even in our 
 own annals. Sailing northward, Surcouf coasted the Burmese 
 coasts and captured the Penguin, an Indiaman of 600 tons 
 burthen ; in January at the mouth of the Hooghly he sighted 
 two full-rigged ships, both of which he captured, sending them 
 to the Isle of France; shortly afterwards he captured the 
 Diana, 850 tons, laden with rice, and the next day he boarded 
 and captured an Indiaman, the Triton, carrying 26 guns and 
 150 men.' In 1799 Surcouf fitted out the Clarisse from 
 France, and again sought Eastern waters. On the way out 
 he captured two full-rigged merchantmen, and pursued an 
 extraordinary career. Amongst other exploits he 'took in 
 September 1800 one American and two English traders; and 
 on the 7th of October, after a desperate combat, in which, 
 having shown even more than usual address and gallantry, he 
 carried, by boarding, the Kent, a fine Indiaman of 820 tons, 
 27 guns, having on board 437 Englishmen, of whom 120 
 were soldiers.' In 1806 he appears in Indian waters again 
 in command of the Ravenant, and such was the terror of his 
 name that the merchants of Hindustan offered a reward of 
 ;io,ooo for his capture. 'Reaching his destination, Surcouf 
 sailed to the Malabar coast, and on the 26th of September 
 captured the Trafalgar, 12, and the Mangles, 14, both carry- 
 ing cargoes of rice ; and in the course of the next few days 
 five more vessels, the Admiral Aplin, Susanna, Hunter, For- 
 tune, and Success, were captured, and in November the New 
 Endeavour and the Micawby were placed under prize-crews and 
 despatched to the Isle of France.' The career of Surcouf, 
 after whom a French ship is now named, was emulated by 
 
244 BritisJi Colonisation 
 
 Frangois Lememe, another Malouine, who in the space of 
 ten months captured fifteen vessels and realised ^82,000. 
 Dutertre, another Malouine, captured in October 1798 no less 
 than six English merchantmen the Surprise, Princess Royal, 
 Thomas, Lord Hobart, Governor North, and Wellesley. These 
 privateering raids are worth recalling to memory, as in the 
 future, if ever war breaks out between France and England, 
 they may possibly be repeated on a greater and, for ourselves, 
 more disastrous scale. 
 
 In 1809 a force was sent from Bombay to take possession 
 of Rodriguez, the refuge formerly of Frangois Leguat, the 
 Protestant exile. Bourbon surrendered in 1810, and in the 
 same year, after a stiff resistance, the British troops under 
 General Abercrombie succeeded in landing on the north 
 coast of Mauritius and capturing it. Articles of capitulation 
 were signed by which the Creoles, or French colonists born 
 in the country, were secured in the enjoyment of their pro- 
 perty, religion, laws, and customs. By the Treaty of Paris, 
 1814, the Isle of France, henceforward to be called Mauritius, 
 was to remain a British colony, together with the Seychelles 
 and other small islands. Bourbon or Reunion was to be 
 restored to France. 
 
 It is somewhat extraordinary to think that the conquest 
 of the French islands of Bourbon and the Isle of France 
 was ever regarded by statesmen as an event only second in 
 importance to the battle of Trafalgar. Yet such was the case 
 in 1811. By the capture of the Isle of France, England cut 
 off a nursery for training sea-officers and narrowed the means 
 of raising seamen. The Isle of France was also the spot from 
 which the spirit of revolt and disobedience against British 
 rule was most sedulously kept alive amongst the Mahrattas 
 and other powers of Hindustan. It was full of adventurers 
 eager for the prizes of guerilla warfare ; it supplied arms and 
 ammunition, together with officers to teach the use of them, to 
 the disaffected in Persia. French commercial agents found 
 their way to Muscat and Bussorah from the Isle of France. 
 
Mauritius 245 
 
 The permanent settled population of Europeans is greater in 
 Mauritius than in any other tropical colony, and many of them 
 are descendants of the old French nobility. The term ' Creole' 
 is applied to all those who, whether white or coloured, are 
 born on the island, and therefore carries no stigma with it. 
 The island produces hardly anything for its own consumption, 
 but exports sugar, spice, and other tropical products to every 
 quarter of the globe. It imports its breadstuffs from India, its 
 oxen from Madagascar, dried fish from South Africa, and 
 sheep from Australia. 
 
 Occasionally the island is visited by terrible cyclones, which 
 create havoc amongst the sugar-canes. The most disastrous 
 cyclone ever known visited the island on ' Black Friday,' 
 April 29, 1892. At 3 P.M. on that eventful day the velocity 
 of the wind is said to have reached 1 2 1 miles an hour. One- 
 third of the city of Port Louis lay in ruins, 1500 houses were 
 totally destroyed and 20,000 people rendered homeless. Out 
 of 62 churches 50 were destroyed, and the dead were lying 
 everywhere. The loss of property must be reckoned by 
 millions of francs. From this visitation Mauritius must take 
 some time to recover. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix X. 
 
 References : 
 
 Grant's History of Mauritius, 1801. 
 Captain Norman's Colonial France (1886). 
 St. -Pierre's Paul and Virginia. 
 Pike's Siibtropical Rambles, 1873. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 HONG KONG 
 
 HONG KONG, first ceded to Great Britain in January 1841, and 
 finally acknowledged as a British possession by the Treaty of 
 Nankin, 1842, provides us with an unparalleled example of the 
 growth of British trade. The island commands a most im- 
 portant position in the China Sea at the mouth of the Canton 
 River, distant about forty miles from the Portuguese colony of 
 Macao, and ninety miles from Canton, the southern capital of 
 China. The length of the island is about eleven miles, with a 
 breadth of from two to three miles, consisting of a broken ridge 
 of lofty hills, the highest being Victoria Peak, 1890 feet above 
 the level of the sea. The great feature of the island is its 
 magnificent harbour, almost equal to that of Sydney, with an 
 area of ten square miles. From a strategic point of view it 
 may be called the Gibraltar of the East. Several small islets 
 are included in the colony of Hong Kong ; and jutting into its 
 harbour is a peninsula of the mainland of China, known as 
 British Kowloon, four square miles in area, but a very im- 
 portant addition, secured to the colony by Sir Harry Parkes 
 during the Chinese War of 1856. 
 
 Hong Kong, now that Port Hamilton in Quaelpaert (Corea) 
 has been abandoned, is the most easterly British possession. 
 Thence to Yokohama is a voyage of seven days, and from 
 Yokohama to Vancouver is a voyage of fourteen days. To 
 travel from Vancouver to Liverpool by rail and steamer takes 
 another fortnight, roughly speaking ; so that in five weeks it is 
 possible to reach Hong Kong, our furthest eastern possession, 
 
 246 
 
Hong Kong 247 
 
 by going west across the North Atlantic, the Canadian 
 Dominion, and the North Pacific. Half of the trade of Hong 
 Kong is with China, and a third with India, mainly in tea, 
 silk, and opium. 
 
 Hong Kong owes a great deal to the discovery of gold in 
 Australia, which attracted crowds of Chinese emigrants to the 
 fields through its port. Upon what was a bare and desolate 
 island, inhabited by a few fishermen, and separated from the 
 mainland by a narrow strait only half a mile across, has arisen 
 the magnificent city of Victoria, a most striking monument of 
 the Victorian age, containing a population of 200,000 people. 
 The trade of Hong Kong has grown in direct proportion as 
 China has opened her gates to Western influences and external 
 commerce. It is in telegraphic communication with the 
 world by a cable to Shanghai and two cables to Singapore, via 
 Saigon and Hue respectively. There is an imperial garrison 
 of about 1300 men, towards which the colony contributes 
 ^20,000 annually, which, considering the position of the port 
 and its enormous trade, is a comparatively trifling sum. Sir 
 William des Vceux has recently stated that the capacity of 
 vessels entered and cleared at the port of Hong Kong con- 
 siderably exceeded 13,000,000 tons in 1890, being more than 
 the tonnage either of New York, London, or Liverpool. 
 
 It is not necessary to enter here upon the causes of the 
 Chinese War of 1857-60. For generations China, entrenched 
 behind her defences, had manifested a resolve to have little or 
 nothing to do with foreigners. The opium question was 
 pushed to the forefront as the casus belli, and, undoubtedly, 
 opinions must vary on the morality or immorality of the opium 
 traffic ; but we must not lose sight of the main point, for what 
 was really settled by the war of 1857-60 was whether China 
 should retain or not her peculiar position among nations. 
 At times, indeed, her officials seemed, from their attitude and 
 uncompromising character, to do violence to the comity of 
 nations. But barriers have been broken down, and the 
 Chinese people have, upon the whole, profited by their 
 
248 British Colonisation 
 
 intercourse with the rest of the world. For the British the 
 tangible results of the war were the opening of the Yang-tsze 
 to navigation, with four trading ports upon it, as well as the 
 coast ports of Chefoo, Tientsin, and Tewchwang in North 
 China, the island of Formosa, and ports in the south, all of 
 which have become closely associated with Hong Kong in a 
 growing trade. This trade, we are informed by those most 
 capable of knowing, ' will still greatly expand as restrictions to 
 commerce are further removed by the Chinese, and as the 
 navigation of the rivers of the empire by steamers is per- 
 mitted, and railways and improved means of locomotion and 
 transport generally are introduced in the country.' 1 
 
 The British occupation of Hong Kong has been very far- 
 reaching in its effects. Springing up so quickly on the flank 
 of the Chinese empire, and in spite of all opposition making 
 its way to the front as a great emporium of Eastern trade, 
 Hong Kong has been an object-lesson to Japan. The story 
 also of the destruction of the Summer Palace of the Chinese 
 Emperors conveyed to them the truth that England's power 
 was paramount along the Eastern seas. Thus it was that 
 Japan first awoke from her long sleep, welcomed Europeans, 
 and adapted herself to European ways and customs. 
 
 From another point of view Hong Kong has been ex- 
 tremely useful. It has performed the office of a vast Chinese 
 emigration bureau, and has been the means of dispersing 
 Chinese labour all over the world. At the same time the 
 Hong Kong authorities, by their special emigration ordinances, 
 which provided that Chinese should be well cared for both 
 going and returning, won a reputation for justice and probity, 
 and inspired the Chinese nation with confidence in British 
 rule. The emigrants themselves, emerging from their isolation 
 and going out to all parts of the world as labourers in every 
 department, learned much and profited much from the great 
 world outside, which they had always been taught to despise. 
 
 1 Paper by Mr. William Keswick, Proceedings of the Royal Colonial 
 Institute, 1889-90. 
 
Hong Kong 249 
 
 Each of them became, upon his return home, a kind of news- 
 agent to his fellows, reporting upon the government, customs, 
 and, generally speaking, just administration of the Europeans. 
 Not unfrequently the emigrant from the Celestial Empire 
 reversed the phrase ' Spoliis orientis onustusj and returned with 
 the spoils of the West. A large number of Chinese have gone 
 also through Hong Kong to the nearer and more accessible 
 Straits Settlements, as well as to the Dutch possessions of Java 
 and Sumatra. 
 
 Hong Kong is admirably suited to be a distributing centre, 
 and no more marvellous development has taken place than 
 that of the native junk trade. The public works of this vast 
 emporium are on a scale commensurate with its importance. 
 There are docks and large engineering works, so that the 
 largest vessel afloat can be refitted and repaired. Janus-like, it 
 looks both ways, east and west, and is at once a depot, arsenal, 
 mart, emigration centre, and the meeting-place of all nations. 
 
 The European population is about 3000, consisting mainly 
 of merchants and officials. British rule is popular with the 
 Chinese, although the task of government has been often con- 
 ducted under singularly embarrassing circumstances. The 
 administration of law in an island close to China, where 
 official life is so stereotyped in itself and so utterly different 
 from our own, has often been beset with difficulties. Hong 
 Kong is so accessible and easy a refuge that it has been 
 almost impossible to prevent it becoming a kind of Alsatia for 
 the Chinese criminals ; the population itself is of a migratory 
 character, and therefore it has been out of the question to 
 depend much upon a permanent public opinion amongst 
 Chinese residents themselves in favour of British law. The 
 police force of 750 men, consists of British chiefly Scotsmen, 
 Sikhs, and Chinamen ; and, notwithstanding all the difficul- 
 ties in the way, it cannot but be considered a triumph of 
 administration that this migratory population of nearly 200,000 
 are kept so easily in order. 1 
 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix XI. 
 
250 British Colonisation 
 
 THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 At one time the trade to be carried on in Further India and 
 amongst the islands of the Malay Archipelago attracted the 
 attention of Europeans more than the trade of the great 
 Indian peninsula. Whilst Englishmen were barely able to feel 
 their way at Surat, Agra, and the domain of the Great Mogul, 
 they had developed a fairly lucrative business in Borneo, 
 Sumatra, and Java. In the reign of James i. English mer- 
 chant-venturers traded with several ports in those seas ; and 
 the experience learned here enabled them to prosecute their 
 efforts along the banks of the Hooghly, thus laying the 
 foundations of the great city of Calcutta. It is said that the 
 wreck of a Portuguese Indiaman on the English coast, the 
 Mother of God, a vessel of 1600 tons, found to contain a 
 cargo of Eastern produce worth ;i 50,000 when towed into 
 Dartmouth, first turned the attention of British merchants to 
 a direct trade with Further India. 
 
 On the last day of the sixteenth century Queen Elizabeth 
 granted a charter to George, Earl of Cumberland, and two 
 hundred and fifteen knights, aldermen, and merchants to set 
 forth to the East Indies ' at their own cost and charges.' The 
 voyage of Captain Lancaster and the establishment of British 
 factories at Acheen and Bantam were its first-fruits. 
 
 There was a long struggle for supremacy in the Spice 
 Islands viz. Amboyna and the Moluccas between English 
 and Dutch. The Dutch had supplanted the Spaniards and 
 Portuguese in Eastern waters, and in 1620 they drove us from 
 the Spice Islands, and in 1683 from Bantam and Jakatra in 
 Java. The Dutch used to proclaim themselves ' Lords of the 
 Southern Seas/ a fact alluded to by Pepys in his Diary 
 (February 15, 1663-4): 'showing scorn to the English,' 
 and even beating them out of Surat, ' our only factory there.' 
 The notable Amboyna massacre (1623) has already been 
 alluded to, and it continued to be a source of irritation 
 against the Dutch the greater part of the seventeenth century. 
 
The Straits Settlements 251 
 
 Expelled from Bantam, Englishmen succeeded in establishing 
 themselves in Bencoolen in 1685, their 'sole and humble 
 object being to secure a share in the pepper trade.' It was at 
 Bencoolen that William Dampier remained for some time in 
 1690, acting as gunner of the English fort there. 
 
 Little by little England asserted her influence in these 
 waters, the power of Holland being on the wane. Penang 
 was occupied, by orders of the Indian Government, under Sir 
 John Macpherson, in 1786; Malacca was taken from the 
 Dutch by an expedition sent from India in 1795 > Singapore 
 was acquired by cession from the Malays in 1819 by Sir 
 Stamford Raffles, acting under the authority of the Marquis of 
 Hastings, Governor-General of India. It will be seen, there- 
 fore, that the Straits Settlements grew, in the first place, out of 
 our Indian empire ; in fact, they were all Indian colonies, and 
 until April i, 1867, were administered from Calcutta and 
 supported for years by the Indian taxpayer. 
 
 It may be noted that at the beginning of this century, 
 during the occupation of the Netherlands by the French, the 
 Dutch colonies fell into our hands, and a British fleet under 
 Lord Minto took Java and its dependencies. The result of 
 Napoleonic campaigns in Europe was to strengthen and extend 
 our rule in many outlying parts of the world. The Cape fell 
 into our hands very much for the same reasons as Java and 
 the Dutch settlements in Further India. 
 
 During the present century British power has been destined 
 to grow. Just as the corollary of our success in India has 
 been the acquisition, little by little, of coigns of vantage in 
 Further India, to the exclusion of other nations, so these 
 coigns of vantage have led up to spheres of territorial influ- 
 ence protected States in the Malay Peninsula and in Borneo. 
 England might have swept Holland out of these seas alto- 
 gether at the beginning of this century, after the Napoleonic 
 wars, had she so wished it ; but, knowing that the extension of 
 her Eastern trade was essential to Holland's position in Europe 
 as an European Power, she restored to her what she had 
 
252 British Colonisation 
 
 already taken. But Holland has been unable to grow like 
 England. British influence is spreading far beyond the limits 
 of the actual trade centres. A few facts will prove how it has 
 grown. Here, as elsewhere, the Pax Britannica has worked 
 marvels. 
 
 In 1872-3 civil wars were going on both in Perak and 
 Selangor, the cause of dispute being the collection of re- 
 venue derivable from the tin-mines. In Perak there was a 
 further complication between the Chinese factions, who were 
 fighting for the mines of Larut. The time came for active 
 British interference, and, acting under the instructions of 
 Lord Kimberley, Sir Andrew Clarke took steps to put a stop 
 to the existing confusion. So little opposition was there 
 on the part of the Malays that the Sultans of Perak and 
 Selangor asked in 1874 that British residents might be 
 associated with them in the government of their respective 
 States. 
 
 In 1875 Sungei Ujong, a small State to the south of Selan- 
 gor, possessing a rather unmanageable Chinese element, 
 accepted a British resident. 
 
 In 1883 Governor Sir Frederick Weld induced the group of 
 small States lying between Sungei Ujong, Pahang, Malacca, 
 and Johor (called the Negri Sembilan, or the Nine States) to 
 confederate, and to conduct their government under the 
 advice and with the assistance of a British officer. 
 
 In 1888, in pursuance of an agreement between Sir Cecil 
 Clementi Smith, the present Governor of the Straits Settle- 
 ments, and the Sultan, Pahang, a large State on the east 
 coast of the peninsula, was added to the number of the 
 protected States, and its administration assisted by the 
 appointment of a British resident. British influence does 
 not stop here, but is gradually being spread over the whole 
 Malay Peninsula. 
 
 Such are the steps by which England has extended her 
 influence in Further India. Her present position is not the 
 result of a preconceived policy, the original intention of the 
 
The Straits Settlements 253 
 
 Indian Governor-Generals having been to limit rather than to 
 extend her sway. In 1837 an Indian official wrote to Lord 
 Auckland on the subject of the * Strait Settlement,' as it was 
 called : * These details may appear to your Lordship to be 
 petty ; but then everything connected with these Settlements 
 is petty, except their annual surplus cost to the Government 
 of India.' 
 
 Apropos of this depreciatory statement, Mr. Maxwell 
 remarked in a paper read before the Royal Colonial Insti- 
 tute in December 1891 : 'It is amusing to recall an official 
 remark of this kind now in 1891, when the colony of the 
 Straits Settlements, with a history of twenty-four years of 
 independent existence as a Crown Colony, may, in spite of 
 recent temporary reverses, fairly claim to be the most pro- 
 sperous of all the Crown colonies, having a revenue of 
 four and a half million dollars, surplus assets at the begin- 
 ning of 1891 of two and a half million dollars, and no public 
 debt.' 
 
 There is no doubt that the acquisition of Hong Kong and 
 the influence England has been able to bring to bear upon 
 the Chinese, who are met with everywhere, has greatly 
 strengthened our position in the whole of the Malay Peninsula, 
 Borneo, and elsewhere. The Chinese have come to under- 
 stand and appreciate our methods of trade, our government, 
 and our customs. Much as the Chinese despise all barbarians, 
 they appear at any rate to mix with their general contempt a 
 certain feeling of respect for England and England's methods. 
 Perhaps there is no nation in the world that could have 
 broken down Chinese prejudices better than England no 
 nation on the whole more conciliatory and regardful of Chinese 
 prejudices, saving and excepting certain blots. 
 
 England's methods of trade are more open and generous 
 than those of other nations. As already pointed out, the 
 junk trade has developed quickly under the system of free 
 ports. It is a curious thing that the Dutch up to recent 
 times should have failed altogether to conciliate the Acheen 
 
254 British Colonisation 
 
 native power. The French have had a fair start in Chinese 
 waters, and hold territorially a large empire in close proximity 
 to our own. 
 
 The French were associated with ourselves in the Chinese 
 War, and indirectly'we have reaped from their presence a good 
 many of our trade advantages. The greater the extent of 
 French dominion, the more, apparently, the British thrive. 
 It is with Hong Kong and Singapore that the French colony 
 has its principal trade, and the more complete the pacification 
 of Annam and Tonquin the greater the prospects of the 
 English ports. Certainly the French endeavour to force an 
 exclusively French trade upon their dependencies by differ- 
 ential duties ; but this policy is, according to some, detrimental 
 to their own best interests, and ' does more to keep the people 
 estranged from their new rulers than even the presence of 
 much that reminds them of their old sovereigns.' 
 
 Captain Norman, in his work on Colonial France, has 
 remarked that 'of the imports from France a very large 
 proportion consisted in 1882 of articles for the use and sub- 
 sistence of the troops, of munitions of war, or material for the 
 construction of public works in fact, Government goods. 
 Of the exports, which have now reached the respectable total 
 of two million one hundred thousand pounds, rice formed the 
 major portion upwards of one and a half million pounds' 
 worth of that commodity having been exported. Here again 
 we find France and the French colonies aiding little in 
 the commercial development of Cochin China the \ total 
 value of rice sent to French possessions amounting only to 
 ^1749, whilst the British colony of Hong Kong imported 
 ^"1,248,260 worth.' 
 
 The British administration of the Indian peninsula has 
 rightly called forth the enthusiastic appreciation of the world ; 
 and the machinery of government there is a most wonderful 
 study. Less is known, and less is said, of the administration 
 of Further India and the Malay Archipelago ; yet here, too, 
 Englishmen can point to triumphs and successes. 
 
The Straits Settlements 255 
 
 Administrators like Sir Hugh Low, who had won great 
 success in dealing with the Malay races in Sarawak under 
 Rajah Brooke, and in Labuan, have, by the honourable fulfil- 
 ment of their duties as residents in the Malay Peninsula, quieted 
 down disturbances such, indeed, as arose after the murder 
 of Mr. Birch and introduced law and order into the country. 
 One example of this will suffice. Under Sir Hugh Low the 
 revenue of Perak advanced from 312,000 dollars in 1877 to 
 1,435,000 dollars in 1884. Thaiping is the principal town of 
 Perak, and is the centre of a rich tin-mining district. Here 
 law and order are preserved by a well-drilled Malay police 
 force, and by a magnificent Sikh force of infantry artillery with 
 mountain-guns and a few cavalry. This Sikh force is very 
 popular in India, and might be indefinitely enlarged. Indians 
 also swarm to the Straits Settlements, as they do to every place 
 where the British flag flies or where the appeal to English 
 justice lies. 
 
 Speaking more particularly, the Straits Settlements consist 
 of: (i) Singapore; (2) the island of Penang, with part of 
 the mainland covering an area of 270 square miles; (3) the 
 Bindings, with the island of Pangkor; (4) Malacca; (5) 
 Christmas Island, situated in the Indian Ocean, in lat. 10 30' 
 S., long. 105 40' E. 
 
 The city of Singapore or Singapura, ' the City of the Lion,' has 
 a long history, being founded in 1160. De Barros alludes to 
 it as a resort of navigators from India, Siam, China, and of the 
 many thousand islands that lie towards the east. It seems, 
 however to have fallen into decay until taken over by Sir 
 Stamford Raffles in 1819. Since then a city of about 150,000 
 has arisen, of which more than 90,000 are Chinese, 24,000 
 Malay, 13,000 Indian, about 3000 Europeans and Americans, 
 with a military force. 1 There are twenty-five nationalities 
 enumerated in the census. As a coaling centre Singapore is of 
 the very highest importance, fully 300,000 tons being kept there, 
 
 i Paper by Sir Frederick Weld, Governor of the Straits Settlements, 
 read before the Fellows of the Royal Colonial Institute, 1883-4. 
 
256 British Colonisation 
 
 with plenty of hands to coal. The colony is said by Sir 
 Frederick Weld to have an ample revenue and large surplus 
 assets, is unencumbered by debt, and is free from vexatious 
 frontier wars. The exports and imports are about ^"40,000,000, 
 and Singapore is a depot for the outlying islands ; for although 
 Java lies half way, yet, owing to the restrictive policy of the 
 Dutch colony, whilst Singapore has free trade, the English 
 merchant is able to carry his commerce far afield and supply 
 countries as far as Tonquin on the north and Australia on the 
 south. Here as elsewhere the Chinese are the great labour 
 pioneers of the country. According to some close observers, 
 it is certain that the Chinese will in course of time fill Tonquin, 
 Cochin China, and overrun the Malay Peninsula. In the 
 Straits Settlements they are book-keepers, clerks, and labourers, 
 and they can work in any climate. They will probably effect 
 what the Malay Rajahs have not yet done for Malaya, i.e. 
 clear the jungle, exploit the mines, and open up the whole 
 country. Singapore has been described as the centre of a sea 
 area over which passes British trade to the value of some 
 250 millions sterling. Yet, until quite recently, both Singapore 
 and Hong Kong were comparatively defenceless. Had a war 
 broken out six or eight years ago enormous interests might 
 have been imperilled. Here, however, matters have been 
 placed on a more satisfactory footing. The colony itself has 
 been called upon to contribute ^"100,000 a year for military 
 defences, together with ^60,000 for barracks. The annual 
 contribution is at the rate of 33. 6d. per head of the population, 
 whilst in the United Kingdom the charge is i6s. per head. 
 The colonists, therefore, of the Straits Settlements cannot be 
 said to be unfairly taxed. 1 Considering the number of the 
 European population, which is only about 3000 or 4000, the 
 revenue, which in 1888 amounted to nearly four million dollars, 
 or ^800,000, is proportionately large. 
 
 Penang, or ' Pulau Pinang,' the equivalent for ' Betel-nut 
 Island,' is situated 360 miles north of Singapore, and is next 
 
 i See Lord Brassey's speech in the House of Lords, July 24, 1891. 
 
The Straits Settlements 257 
 
 to it in importance. Formerly it was occupied in 1786 by 
 Captain Light. The capital of the island of Penang is 
 Georgetown. Facing the mainland is the province of Wellesley, 
 separated by a strait about two miles in width. Penang 
 carries on a brisk trade with Perak and other native States, and 
 also with Sumatra ; but the Acheenese War and the restrictive 
 policy of the Netherlands Indian Government hinder its trade 
 with the Dutch colony. 
 
 . The Bindings territory, lying south of Penang, includes the 
 island of Pankor and part of the continent. Geographically 
 it forms part of Perak, and the Superintendent acts under the 
 Resident of this country. Here also is a magnificent harbour, 
 with a population of about 2000. It produces tin, timber, 
 and ebony. 
 
 For a Power which, like Great Britain, holds the command 
 of the ocean, these islands, such as Hong Kong, off China, 
 Singapore, Penang, and Pankor, off the Malay Peninsula, are 
 obviously most valuable possessions. They are placed most 
 advantageously for offence and defence as strategic points, 
 whilst for the purposes of commerce and trade they fulfil for 
 the Eastern seas what Venice of old did for Europe. 
 
 Malacca is the third province of the colony proper, and is 
 also under a Resident Councillor. This part of the Straits 
 Settlements is less busy than Singapore or Penang, and is the 
 centre of a quiet Malay life. Malacca has a long history. It 
 was founded shortly after the fall of old Singapore by a 
 Javanese Rajah, who had usurped the throne of Singapura. 
 It rose quickly to a considerable prosperity, but was conquered 
 in 1511 by the Portuguese. When Albuquerque was there, it is 
 said that the Sultan, Mahomed Shah, brought an army of 60,000 
 men against him. Large fleets and reinforcements came over 
 from Acheen, and the Portuguese authority never seems to have 
 extended far beyond the limits of the settlement. The Dutch 
 took Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641, and the English 
 took it from the Dutch in 1795. It was returned, however, by 
 England to Holland in 1818, and was finally ceded to us by 
 
 R 
 
258 British Colonisation 
 
 treaty in 1824 in exchange for our Sumatra possessions. 
 Malacca is described as a quaint old town, where the remains 
 of the Jesuit Church of Santa Maria della Monte, defaced by 
 the Dutch and called St. Paul's, are an interesting object to the 
 visitor. Within it lay for a time the remains of St. Francis 
 Xavier before they were taken to Goa. 1 
 
 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 
 
 The success attending the colonies of Hong Kong and the 
 Straits Settlements prompted the idea that portions of Borneo, 
 which forms the largest of the whole group of islands stretch- 
 ing from the Philippines to Australia, over 40 of longitude, 
 might be brought under British influence. The value of this 
 country had long been known, and Captain Daniel Blackman, 
 in his account of his voyage to Borneo in 1714, alludes to the 
 existence of a flourishing trade with China. At the initiative, 
 therefore, of some energetic Englishmen, the task of Borneo 
 colonisation was seriously taken up, and the British North 
 Borneo Company formed in November 1881. The area ac- 
 quired extends over 30,000 square miles, and, as all the islands 
 are included, Borneo occupies an important position in the 
 China seas. According to the best authorities, this protectorate 
 may be developed best by means of Chinese labour. Both 
 Americans and Australians have agreed to exclude the Chinese 
 from their shores as being unwelcome competitors in the 
 labour market ; but there appears to be no reason why the 
 Mongolians should not be employed to develop the resources 
 of such a land as Borneo, lying close to their doors. Sir 
 Richard Temple has stated that, man for man, the Chinaman 
 is 50 per cent, better than the Indiaman as a labourer. Such 
 auxiliaries, therefore, may be impressed into the service of the 
 Borneo Company with advantage. Already the nucleus of a 
 small police force has been formed, the Sultan of Brunei may 
 possibly come under the British protectorate, and, as the 
 i For facts and figures see Appendix XII. 
 
Borneo and Labuan 259 
 
 present Governor of British North Borneo is also Consul- 
 General of Sarawak and Acting Consul of Labuan, a consolida- 
 tion of British interests may not unreasonably be expected to take 
 place. The progress of North Borneo deserves to be watched 
 narrowly, as here too is a possible germ of British power. 1 
 
 LABUAN. 
 
 Labuan is a very insignificant British colony, and is an 
 island situated about six miles off the north-west coast of 
 Borneo, distant about thirty miles from Brunei, the capital of 
 Borneo proper. The island was ceded by the Sultan of Borneo 
 in 1847, being then uninhabited. The first Governor was Sir 
 James Brooke. The island was believed to possess profitable 
 coal-mines, but this has been discovered not to be the case. 2 
 
 From the few sketches given above of the British Colonies 
 some idea may be gained of their history, resources, and 
 general character. Not the least interesting part of the story 
 is to understand how we first gained a foot-hold in each place, 
 and how we either conquered or succeeded to the great heri- 
 tage. Collectively this heritage may be termed ' our second 
 colonial empire,' and it provides us with a wonderfully diver- 
 sified record of enterprise and adventure in every conceivable 
 part of the globe. At one time we seem to be following the 
 footsteps of our explorers, pioneers, and backwoodsmen in the 
 snowy wastes of the great North-West of Canada ; at another 
 to the dark, remote sources of a great river like the fabled 
 Orinoco, mysterious Nile, or Niger ; at another over the 
 burning Sahara-like wastes of Australia ; at another to the 
 Alpine solitudes of some Antipodean mountain ; at another to 
 the deep forest solitudes, such as those of British Honduras or 
 Burmah or Borneo : men venturing both life and limb, and on 
 hopes more forlorn at times than those of the ' deadly, immi- 
 nent breach.' No matter where the land is, or what the climate 
 1 For facts and figures see Appendix XIII. See Appendix XIV. 
 
260 British Colonisation 
 
 is, there the British explorer and hunter is found. Surely he 
 has for generations encompassed the ends of the world, seen its 
 limits, and laid bare its most hidden secrets. Then, if we 
 follow the course of those who have gone down to the sea in 
 ships and have occupied their business in great waters, we 
 seem to picture our sailors, now in the tumbling ice-fields of the 
 North in Hudson or in Baffin Bay, seeking the El Dorados of 
 the East by the North- West Passage ; now fishing off the stormy 
 banks of Newfoundland ; now in the Antipodes following the 
 huge whales of the South on either side of the South American 
 continent, and calling forth by their exploits the wonder and 
 admiration of the great Burke ; now coasting along the sultry 
 coasts of Guinea ; now in the South Pacific, anchoring off 
 palm-fringed tropic islands ; now in the Far East, as buccaneers 
 or traders following in the wake of Spaniard, Frenchman, and 
 ' Portingals,' and ending by driving all these competitors from 
 these marts, and making the highways of ocean their own. 
 Ever and always there is the picture of the British tar holding 
 aloft the flag of successful enterprise. 
 
 It has been said that the epics of adventure are over, and 
 that the prose work of administration and settlement has 
 begun ; but what pages of national daring and hardihood to 
 brood over, what thrilling episodes to remember, what tales 
 to unfold ! It must be a callous breast that is unmoved by the 
 recital of England's great exploits by sea and land. Yet we often 
 forget what the result of all this is. It is England's second 
 colonial empire. This empire is the climax of our struggles, 
 the sum and crown of our endeavours, the chief boast of 
 patriots, the prop of our wealth, without which England would 
 sink into insignificance. Nevertheless, it is certain that the 
 popular imagination does not apprehend, in any adequate 
 degree, the immmsa majestas of this British colonial empire ; 
 its story is neglected, its glories are hidden, its trophies are as 
 unknown as the waters in which they have been won. The 
 very story of exploration is left unexplored by the callous 
 legatees of the priceless heritage. 
 
Conclusion 261 
 
 Still, the trophies must remain and be a national glory, 
 especially the trophies of successful native administration. In 
 the West Indies, on the coasts of West Africa, in Kaffraria, in 
 British Borneo, in Malaya, and in many Pacific islands, 
 British administration has been humane, enlightened, and a 
 signal success. No proud proconsuls of former days have 
 ever won for Rome more enduring laurels than the numerous 
 English governors and administrators have won for England, 
 who, clad in broadcloth and undistinguished by pomp and 
 ceremony, and to look at simple, unassuming English gentle- 
 men, wield the rod of empire. West Africans, Kaffirs, Chinese, 
 Japanese, Malays, all recognise their sway and bend before 
 their words. 
 
 Together with the Pax Britannica, England introduces the 
 Lex Britannica and the Lingua Britannica, and the passport 
 of an Englishman takes him further now than ever. 
 
 Can England rest from her world-wide task, and pause in 
 her cfareer? It would seem that this is impossible. What, 
 in the first place, would become of those native races in Africa 
 and Asia and elsewhere who, whilst they have received from 
 us the arts of peace, have forgotten the arts of war ? At one 
 time Kaffirs and Malays could dare to resist all comers ; Eng- 
 land has broken down their opposition, and must now protect 
 them. Otherwise they will be the easy prey of the 'first enemy. 
 If England pacifies, she must to a certain extent emasculate. 
 
 It is clear to the most casual observer that England's 
 empire, lying athwart the world in both hemispheres, is open 
 at many places to hostile attack. To organise and to defend 
 must be her duty. Come what will, she must hold command 
 of the sea, in conjunction, it may be hoped, with all loyal and 
 patriotic colonists. In the future it must be clear that the 
 most important questions for England will be colonial ques- 
 tions, and a study of these is imperatively necessary for a 
 generation that has stepped into this wonderful heritage of 
 'a second colonial empire.' 
 
 Imperial Federation is the question of the hour. Far from 
 
262 British Colonisation 
 
 being exhausted, this attractive theme grows more interesting 
 day by day. We are really only in limine ipso of the whole 
 discussion. What the ultimate form, politically speaking, of 
 a confederated British empire may be matters not at present. 
 Out of a carefully nourished sentiment co-operation may come, 
 and out of the co-operation of England and her colonies a 
 consolidated empire strong, if may be hoped, for the extension 
 of peace and liberty alone may arise, which will be the 
 greatest as it is the most widely spread that the world has yet 
 seen. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
References : 
 
 The Colonial Office List, 1891. 
 
 The Australian Handbook, 1891 (Gordon and Gotch). 
 
 The Seven Colonies of Australasia. By T. A. Coghlan, Government 
 
 Statistician of New South Wales. 1892. 
 Her Majesty's Colonies, 1886. A series of original papers issued 
 
 under the Royal Commission (Colonial and Indian Exhibition). 
 Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, passim. 
 Report of the Director of the Census of the Cape of Good Hope, 1891. 
 Census of Canada, 1891. Issued by the Department of Agriculture, 
 
 Ottawa. Bulletin No. I. and following. 
 Special Edition of the Year- Book of New South Wales. Prepared for 
 
 the New South Wales Government. 1892. 
 Statistical Register of Victoria, 1890. 
 Synopsis of the Tariffs and Trade of the British Empire, by Sir 
 
 R. W. Rawson. 
 Sequel to the Synopsis. By the same Author, 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 FACTS AND FIGURES 
 
 I. THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 SECTION A. JAMAICA. 
 
 Area. 4193 square miles, being 144 miles in length and 49 in 
 breadth. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into (i) the county of Surrey, 
 with the parishes of Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Thomas, Portland ; 
 (2) Middlesex, with the parishes of St. Catherine, St. Mary, Clar- 
 endon, St. Anne, Manchester ; (3) Cornwall, with the parishes of 
 St. Elizabeth, Trelawny, St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland. 
 
 Physical Features. Jamaica is very mountainous, especially on 
 the east side, where the Blue Mountains rise to more than 7000 
 feet. Water is very abundant in the island, and the largest rivers 
 are the Black River, the Rio Grande, the Plantain Garden River, 
 the Martha, and the Cobre. In their general character they are 
 rapid and turbulent, flowing quickly into the sea, and none are 
 navigable. The coast-line is greatly broken up, and the two main 
 harbours are Old Harbour and Kingston Harbour. Jamaica has a 
 great variety of climate, the lowlands being warm but the highlands 
 cool and healthy. 
 
 Population. 1881, 508,804; 1891, 639,491. 
 
 Chief Towns. Kingston, the capital, with Port-Royal, the naval 
 station (48,504) ; Spanish Town (8000) ; Linstead ; Mandeville, in 
 Manchester ; Newcastle, the military headquarters ; Falmouth ; 
 Montego. 
 
 Government. As it now stands, the Governor, nominated in 
 England, is assisted by a Privy Council not to exceed eight, and 
 by a Legislative Council of nine elected members, four ex officio 
 members, and five nominated members in addition to the Governor. 
 The total number of voters is about 25,000. The colony has passed 
 through four systems of government : (i) that of military rule, 
 
 265 
 
266 British Colonisation 
 
 1655 ; (2) the period of General Assemblies, lasting with modifi- 
 cations for 200 years ; (3) Crown government, beginning after the 
 servile wars, 1866, the Legislature consisting entirely of official 
 and nominated members ; (4) in 1884, the mixed system of official 
 and elected members, such as is now in force. 
 
 Trade. Total imports (1891-92), .1,759,890. Exports, 
 ,1,722,096. 'With regard to the distribution of trade, Jamaica 
 imported (1872-86) 53 per cent, from the United Kingdom. It 
 exported 5 5 per cent, to foreign countries and 38 per cent, to the 
 United Kingdom. The trade with the other West Indies, Mauri- 
 tius, the East Indies, and Australasia amounted to 14 per cent, of 
 the imports and 7 per cent, of the exports.' * 
 
 Products. Sugar and rum represent nearly 50 per cent, of the 
 products. Coffee, cocoa, pimento (the all-spice tree), tobacco, 
 ginger, arrowroot, such fruits as bananas, coco-nuts, oranges, are 
 grown largely and with profit. 
 
 Revenue. 1891-92, ^778,615. Expenditure, ,781,883. 
 
 Public Debt. In 1891 the public debt was ^1,520,087. 
 
 Public Works. The harbours of Jamaica are the greatest of the 
 public works. There are 74^ miles of railway. The main line 
 runs from Kingston westward to Porus, with a branch running 
 north to Ewarton. There are good roads everywhere. Telegraph 
 stations and post-offices are established in every town and nearly 
 every village of importance. 
 
 Defence Forces. An Imperial garrison at Up Park Camp of 
 950 men, and a station at Port-Royal. There is also a volunteer 
 militia force of 600 officers and men and a constabulary of 693 
 sub-officers and men. The West India Regiment has already 
 been noticed. 
 
 Communication. Distance from England is 5000 miles, the 
 length of voyage 17 days. Jamaica is 540 miles from Colon and 
 the Isthmus of Panama, a position that would enhance its value in 
 case the Panama Canal were opened. 
 
 SECTION B. BARBADOS. 
 
 Area. 166 square miles, being 21 miles long and 14 broad. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into eleven parishes : (i) St. 
 Lucy's, (2) St. Peter's, (3) St. James's, (4) St. Michael's, (5) St. 
 
 1 Sequel to Tariffs and Trade of the British Empire, by Sir R. W. Rawson. 
 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom ^862, 345 ; exports to, 562,913. 
 
Appendices 267 
 
 Philip's, (6) Christchurch, (7) St. George's, (8) St. John's, (9) St. 
 Thomas's, (10) St. Joseph's, (11) St. Andrew's. 
 
 Physical Features. The island is almost entirely surrounded by 
 coral reefs. There are no very high mountains, the highest being 
 Mount Hillaby, 1104 feet. The prevailing wind is the north-east, 
 which brings moisture and turns the windmills. The soil is porous, 
 and as the ground has been carefully cultivated for generations 
 there is no miasma. 
 
 Population. 1881, 171,860; 1891, 182,322. 
 
 Chief Towns. Bridgetown (the capital), 21,000; Speighstown. 
 
 Government. As it now stands, the government is carried on 
 by (i) a Governor; (2) a Legislative Council, consisting of nine 
 members appointed by the Queen ; (3) a House of Assembly of 
 twenty-four members, elected annually on the basis of a moderate 
 franchise. Barbados, which was governed at one time in connec- 
 tion with the Windward Islands, became a separate colony in 1885. 
 
 Trade. Total imports, 1891, ,1,067,617. Exports, 814,254. 
 'With regard to the distribution of its trade, Barbados took (1872- 
 1886) 35 per cent, of imports from the United Kingdom, 22 per 
 cent, from British possessions, chiefly North America, India, 
 British West Indies, and Guiana, and 43 per cent, from foreign 
 countries. It exported 34 per cent, to the United Kingdom, 27 per 
 cent, to British possessions, chiefly British North America, West 
 Indies, and British Guiana, and 39 per cent, to foreign countries, 
 almost exclusively to the United States.' x 
 
 Products. Sugar is the chief product. There are also a few 
 plantations and some maize fields. In former days indigo, ginger, 
 and aloes were grown. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^163,905. Expenditure, ^176,800. 
 
 Public Debt. 1 89 1 , 30, 100. 
 
 Defence Forces. Barbados is the headquarters of the military 
 force in the West Indies. The Imperial garrison consists of 
 43 officers and 765 non-commissioned officers and men. 
 
 Communication. Barbados is the first port of call from England, 
 being 3635 miles distant. The voyage takes 12 to 13 days. 
 
 SECTION C. TRINIDAD. 
 
 Area. 1754 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into eight counties : (i) St. 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom .432,636 ; exports to, 74,605. 
 
268 British Colonisation 
 
 George, (2) St. David, (3) Caroni, (4) St. Andrew, (5) Victoria, 
 (6) Nariva, (7) St. Patrick, (8) Mayaro. 
 
 Population. 1891, 200,028. 
 
 Chief Towns. Port of Spain (31,858), San Fernando (6335), 
 Princestown, Arima. 
 
 Government. Trinidad, with which is included Tobago, is a 
 Crown colony. The Governor is assisted by an Executive Council 
 of three members. The Legislative Council numbers eighteen, 
 eight being officials, and the rest nominated by the Crown for a 
 period of five years. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,2,096,797. Exports, ,2,058,761. 
 1 With regard to the distribution of her trade, Trinidad imported 
 (1872-86) 29 per cent, from the United Kingdom, n per cent.'from 
 British possessions viz. Canada, West Indies, Guiana, and the 
 East Indies and 60 per cent, from foreign countries, chiefly 
 Venezuela and France. The colony exported 53 per cent, to the 
 United Kingdom, only 2 per cent, to the West Indies and British 
 Guiana, and 45 per cent, to foreign countries, of which more than 
 half went to the United States and the remainder chiefly to Vene- 
 zuela and France.' 1 
 
 Products. Sugar, the most important ; cocoa, said to be the 
 best in the world ; tobacco, a very old industry in Trinidad ; asphalt 
 from the Pitch Lake at La Brea ; Angostura bitters ; and fruit, 
 much of which is shipped to New York. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,488,219. Expenditure, ,490,422. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ,520,420. 
 
 Public Works. Railways, in all 54^ miles, connecting Port of 
 Spain with Arima and the east and with Claxton Bay via St. 
 Joseph and the south. There are 63 miles of telegraph. 
 
 Communication. Between Port of Spain and San Fernando, 
 the two principal ports, distance 32 miles by water and 42 by road, 
 there is excellent communication by steamer and railway. 
 
 SECTION D. TOBAGO. 
 Area. 114 square miles. 
 Population. 1891, 18,387. 
 Chief Towns. Scarborough (1370), Plymouth. 
 Government. Tobago is represented in the Council of Trinidad 
 by one official and one unofficial member. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom ,777, 658 ; exports to, ^728,998. 
 
Appendices 269 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), .23,945. Exports, ^24,241. 'Tobago 
 imported (1872-86) 53 per cent, from the United Kingdom and 
 46 per cent, from Barbados. It exported 69 per cent, to the 
 United Kingdom, 16 per cent, to Barbados, and 15 per cent, to the 
 United States and French West Indies.' l 
 
 Products. Sugar is the main article of export. Cocoa, arrow- 
 root, coffee, sisal hemp, tobacco. 
 
 Revenue. 1890, 8730. Expenditure, 8783. 
 
 Communication. There is no telegraph cable. Plymouth, the 
 port, is reached from Bridgetown, Barbados. 
 
 SECTION E. BRITISH GUIANA. 
 
 Area. About 109,000 square miles, but when the boundary 
 dispute with Venezuela is settled it will probably extend over 
 1 20,000 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into the counties of (i) Deme- 
 rara, (2) Essequibo, (3) Berbice. 
 
 Physical Features. There are two great parallel mountain sys- 
 tems crossing the colony fiom west to east, the greater being that 
 of the Pacaraima and Merume Mountains, and the lesser the 
 Canucu, Camucumu, and Coratamung Mountains. The chief 
 rivers are the Essequibo, the Demerara, the Berbice, the Maza- 
 runi, Cuyuni, and Corentyn. The upper course of the Demerara 
 is unknown. There is much to explore in British Guiana. For 
 twenty miles inland there is a succession of sandhills, and the 
 coasts are covered with mangrove and courida bushes. 
 
 Population. 1891, 278,328, of whom one-third were Indian 
 immigrants. 
 
 Chief Towns. Georgetown (47,816), New Amsterdam (8907). 
 
 Government. A Governor and a Court of Policy of fifteen 
 members, seven official and eight elected by the colonists. This 
 Court of Policy is an unique institution, being inherited from the 
 Dutch. Its functions correspond to those of the Legislative 
 Councils in the other West Indian colonies. But it has no power 
 of taxation. This power rests with the Combined Court, which is 
 the Court of Policy plus six financial representatives elected by 
 the people. The Roman-Dutch law still survives in the colony. 
 Both at the Cape and Ceylon the Dutch law, Courts of Policy, 
 1 The 1891 returns not available. 
 
270 British Colonisation 
 
 fiscals, etc., were found, but they disappeared, to a great extent, 
 with British occupation. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), 1,707,770. Exports, .2,532,554. 
 1 With regard to the distribution of trade, British Guiana imported 
 (1872-86) 49 per cent, from the United Kingdom, 23 per cent, from 
 British possessions of which more than half was from the East 
 Indies, the rest from Canada and the West Indies and 28 per 
 cent, from foreign countries, chiefly the United States. It exported 
 72 per cent, to the United Kingdom, 5 per cent, to the West Indies 
 and Canada, and 23 per cent, chiefly to the United States and 
 foreign West Indies, with a small quantity to Portugal and 
 Holland. 3 1 
 
 Products. Sugar, which forms 82 per cent, of the whole exports. 
 Out of 94,000 acres in cultivation, 79,000 are given to sugar. Rum, 
 molasses, coffee, cocoa-nut, timber, and gold are also produced. 
 
 Revenue. 1890 to March 1891,^522,767. Expenditure, ,508,108. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, 735,429. 
 
 Public Works. A line of railway, 21 miles in length, from 
 Georgetown to Mahaica. There are 260 miles of telegraphs. 
 
 Communication. Georgetown is 4coo miles distant from South- 
 ampton. The voyage takes 1 3 to 15 days. 
 
 SECTION F. BRITISH HONDURAS. 
 
 Area. 7562 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into five districts : (i) Belize, 
 (2) the northern, combining Corosal and Orange Walk, (3) the 
 Cayo, (4) Stann Creek, (5) Toledo. 
 
 Physical Features. Along the coast are large swamp- lands ; 
 beyond are the terraces known as Pine Ridge, Cohune Ridge so 
 called from the Cohune palm and Broken Ridge. The hills rise 
 from 500 to 4000 feet on the west. The rivers are the Belize, 
 Hondo, and New River. 
 
 Population. 1891, 31,471. 
 
 Chief Towns. Belize (5767), Orange Walk, Stann Creek, Punta 
 Gorda. 
 
 Government. British Honduras is a Crown colony administered 
 
 by a Governor and a Legislative Council consisting of five official 
 
 and not less than four unofficial members. It may be noted that 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom ^927, 397 ; exports to, ,1,220,518. 
 
Appendices 27 1 
 
 the first settlers from 1638 to 1786 managed their own affairs, and 
 their customs were ratified and known as ' Burnaby's Laws ' (1756), 
 Admiral Burnaby having been sent out to the colony, together 
 with the celebrated Captain Cook of Pacific fame, to examine and 
 report upon the state of the country. 
 
 Trade. Imports, 1891, 272,355. Exports, .280,521. 'Be- 
 tween 1872-86 the colony imported 43 per cent, from the United 
 Kingdom and 57 per cent, from foreign countries, chiefly United 
 States, Central America, and Mexico. It exported 58 per cent, to 
 the United Kingdom and 42 per cent, to foreign countries.' 1 
 
 Products. Mahogany, logwood, sugar, cedar, rosewood, fruit. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,52,528. Expenditure, ^45,270. 
 
 Ptiblic Debt. 1891, 17,000. 
 
 Communication. The principal communication between Europe 
 and British Honduras is vid New Orleans, from which place it is 
 600 miles distant. There is no submarine cable connecting the 
 colony with the outside world, nor are there any railways. 
 
 SECTION G. THE LEEWARD ISLANDS. 
 
 Area. 704 square miles. 
 Divisions. Five presidencies. 
 
 I. Dominica. 
 
 Area. 291 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. Very mountainous. It is the loftiest of the 
 Lesser Antilles. From the sea its aspect is very striking : bold 
 headlands in the foreground, alternating with deep ravines or open 
 valleys ; at the back, irregular masses of dark-wooded mountains 
 reaching up to the clouds. The highest peak is Morne Diabloten 
 (5314 feet). The coast-line is deeply indented. The rainfall of 
 the island is high, averaging 75 inches annually. 
 
 Population. 1881, 28,211 ; 1891, 26,841. 
 
 Chief Towns. Roseau, the capital, on the south-west ; St. 
 Joseph. 
 
 Government. The local Government is administered by a Presi- 
 dent and a Legislative Assembly of fourteen members, seven nomi- 
 nated and seven elected. The President has a casting vote. This 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom 119,257; exports to, 154,619. 
 
272 British Colonisation 
 
 local Government is subordinate to the Federal or General Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,60,780. Exports, ,38,910. 'Domi- 
 nica imported (1872-86) about equal quantities from the United 
 Kingdom and foreign countries, chiefly the United States and 
 French West Indies, and 23 per cent, from the West Indies, chiefly 
 Barbados. It exported 25 per cent, to the United Kingdom and 
 72 per cent, to the United States. In 1891 Dominica imported 
 ,28,368 from United Kingdom, and exported to it 2 1,094. 
 
 Products. Cocoa, sugar, coffee, maize, cotton, tobacco, molasses, 
 rum, lime-juice, fruit, woods. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, .21,533. Expenditure, 24,937. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, 40,900. 
 
 Communication. Roseau has an open roadstead, and is 4000 
 miles from London. It is visited by the ' Royal Mail ' and other 
 steamers. A good deal of the traffic of the island is carried on by 
 means of boats. Until lately the roads of the interior have been 
 in a bad state, but ^30,000 has been expended on bridges and 
 repairs. 
 
 II. Montserrat. 
 
 Area. 47 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. The surface is broken up into rocky hills 
 and ridges culminating in several high peaks not exceeding 3000 
 feet. It is of volcanic origin. The higher slopes are covered with 
 thick forests. 
 
 Population.- i^i, 10,087; '891, 11,762. 
 
 Chief Town. Plymouth, 1400. 
 
 Government. A President and Council of six, all nominated, 
 and half sitting ex officio. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,25,846. Exports, .24,339. ' In 
 1872-1886 Montserrat imported a third from the United Kingdom, 
 55 per cent, from Canada and other West Indian islands, chiefly 
 Antigua, St. Kitts, and Barbados, and 12 per cent, from foreign 
 countries, chiefly the United States. It exported 22 per cent, to 
 the United Kingdom, 8 per cent, to British possessions, and 70 per 
 cent, to foreign countries, chiefly the United States.' 1 
 
 Products. Sugar, limes, lime-juice, arrowroot, banana, coffee, 
 cacao. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 6526. Expenditure, 7303. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ^8300. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom 9396 ; exports to, 10,779. 
 
Appendices 273 
 
 III. Antigua. 
 
 Area. 108 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The Presidency of Antigua consists of (i) Antigua ; 
 (2) Barbuda, an island of 62 square miles, and producing salt and 
 phosphate of lime ; (3) Redonda, a bold rocky islet, about a mile 
 long, rising 1000 feet, and noted for its phosphate of alumina. 
 
 Physical Features. Compared with Dominica, the surface is 
 comparatively flat, the hills not reaching 2000 feet. The highlands 
 are dry and uncultivated, the lowlands are covered with cane-fields. 
 The Antigua soils are nowhere very deep, but are very fertile. 
 The annual rainfall is about 45 inches, about one-half of that of 
 Dominica. 
 
 Population. 1881, 34,964 ; 1891, 36,699. 
 
 Chief Towns St. John (10,000), the capital ; Falmouth, on the 
 south coast ; Parham, on the north-east. 
 
 Government. Antigua is the seat of the Federal Government, 
 which consists of a Central Council of twenty members, ten of 
 whom are elected by the unofficial members of the local legislative 
 bodies, four are ex officio members, and six others are nominated 
 by the Crown. With regard to the local Legislature, there is a 
 Legislative Council of twenty-four members, of whom twelve are 
 elected and twelve nominees of the Crown. 
 
 Trade. Imports (189 1), ,167,110. Exports, ,157,463. 'Antigua 
 imported equal quantities from the United Kingdom and foreign 
 countries, chiefly the United States, with 14 per cent, from British 
 North America and the West Indies. It exported 17 per cent, to 
 the United Kingdom, 16 per cent, to Canada and the West Indies, 
 and 67 per cent, to foreign countries, chiefly the United States.' J 
 
 Products. The chief product is sugar about 102 estates turn out 
 annually 12,000 hogsheads rum, molasses, pine-apples, and fruits 
 and vegetables. About one-third of the island is under cultivation. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^43)55- Expenditure > 
 
 Public Debt.\fy\, 35,371. 
 
 IV. The Presidency of St Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla. 
 St. Kitts. 
 
 Area. 68 square miles, the total length being about 23 miles. 
 Physical Features. The island is mountainous, Mount Misery, 
 1 In 1891 imports from United Kingdom ,75,396; exports to, 2572. 
 
 3 
 
274 British Colonisation 
 
 3711 feet high, occupying the centre. The Vale of Basseterre is 
 said to be extremely rich. 
 
 Population. 1891, 47,662. 
 
 Chief Town. Basseterre, 9097. 
 
 Nevis. 
 
 Area. 50 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. The island consists of a single mountain, of 
 a circular form, rising 3200 feet above the sea. A narrow strait 
 of two miles divides it from St. Kitts. 
 
 Population. 1891, 13,087. 
 
 Chief Town. Charlestown. 
 
 Anguilla. 
 
 Area. 35 square miles. It is distant 60 miles north-west from 
 St. Kitts. The population is 3699. 
 
 Government. The Presidency of St. Kitts-Nevis, with Anguilla, 
 is governed by a President, an Executive Council, and a legislative 
 body called the Legislative Council, consisting of ten official and 
 ten nominated unofficial members. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,161,105. Exports, ^187,455. 'The 
 colony imported (1872-86) 42 per cent, from the United Kingdom, 
 12 per cent, from Canada, the British West Indies, and British 
 Guiana, and 46 per. cent, from foreign countries, chiefly the 
 United States. It exported 27 per cent, to the United Kingdom, 
 5 per cent, to Canada and the West Indies, and 68 per cent, to 
 foreign countries, chiefly the United States, with a small quantity 
 to the French West Indies and Italy.' l 
 
 Products. Sugar, rum, molasses are the chief products. In St. 
 Kitts the China and Seville orange is cultivated ; also the lime and 
 the shaddock, a fruit said to have been introduced from Guinea by 
 Captain Shaddock. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 38,209. Expenditure, ,45,220. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ; 30,400. 
 
 V. The Virgin Islands. 
 
 Area. 58 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. The Virgin Islands are a number of islands 
 to the north-west of St. Kitts, some of them, thirty-two in number, 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom 66,653 ; exports to, i7-9 8 6- 
 
Appendices 275 
 
 belonging to the British and some to Denmark. Occasionally 
 they rise to a considerable height. Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Ane- 
 gada, Jost van Dyke, Salt Island, and St. Peters are best known. 
 Between Virgin Gorda and Tortola is a deep channel known as 
 ' Drake's Channel,' after Sir Francis Drake, who passed through 
 in 1595. 
 
 Population. 1891, 4639. 
 
 Chief Town. Roadtown (400), in Tortola. 
 
 Government. The Virgin Islands are governed by an Adminis- 
 trator, an Executive Council, and a Legislative Council consisting 
 of the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, and not more than 
 three unofficial members nominated by the Administrator. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ^4446. Exports, ^4633. 'The Virgin 
 Islands had the smallest trade amongst the whole of the British 
 possessions. It was carried on (1872-86) exclusively with the 
 United States. ' 1 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,1512. Expendititre, 2219. 
 
 SECTION H. THE WINDWARD ISLANDS. 
 I. Grenada and the Grenadines. 
 
 Area. 133 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into the following parishes : 
 (i) St. George, (2) St. David, (3) St. Andrew, (4) St. Patrick, 
 (5) St. Mark, (6) St. John. 
 
 Physical Features. The island is traversed by a mountain 
 range, the highest point of which is St. Catherine, 2500 feet. 
 There are several sulphurous springs. Lake Antoine is a remark- 
 able feature, and is the source of many streams. 
 
 Population. 1891, 53,209, including the Grenadines, of whom 
 2 per cent, only are Europeans. 
 
 Chief Towns. St. George, Charlotte Town, St. Patrick, Gren- 
 ville, Hillsborough, in Carriacou. 
 
 Government. The island was once governed by a Legislative 
 Council and Legislative Assembly, but it is now governed by an 
 Administrator and a Council consisting of six official members and 
 seven official members nominated by the Crown. At the same 
 time Grenada is, together with St. Lucia and St. Vincent, under a 
 Governor-in-Chief. 
 
 1 Jn 1891, imports from United Kingdom 317; exports not given. 
 
276 British Colonisation 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), 176,929. Exports, 236,643. 'With 
 regard to the distribution of trade, Grenada imported (1872-86) 
 13 per cent, from foreign countries, chiefly the United States, 
 46 per cent, from the United Kingdom, and 41 per cent, from 
 British possessions, chiefly Barbados and Trinidad. It exported 
 89 per cent, to the United Kingdom.' In 1891, imports from 
 United Kingdom 97,895 ; exports to, 218,600. 
 
 Products. Cocoa is the chief product. Sugar, coffee, fruit, and 
 timber are also exported. Nutmeg cultivation is also being de- 
 veloped. Turtles and whales are found in the Grenadines. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 54,018. Expenditure, 56,450. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, 44,475. 
 
 II. St. Lucia. 
 
 Area. 243 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. St. Lucia is a mountainous island of volcanic 
 origin, the ranges running north and south, the highest peak being 
 Piton des Canaries, 3000 feet high. Deep forests clothe the moun- 
 tain sides, and the soil is very rich at a high elevation. 
 
 Population. 1891, 41,713, of whom 2000 are imported coolies. 
 
 Chief Towns. Castries (6686), Souffriere (2000). 
 
 Government. St. Lucia is a Crown colony. It is governed by 
 an Administrator, who is subordinate to the Governor-in-Chief of 
 the Windward Islands, assisted by a Legislative Council of ten, 
 five being official and five unofficial. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), 222,178. Exports, 181,503. 'With 
 regard to the distribution of trade, St. Lucia drew (1872-86) about 
 an equal proportion of its imports from the United Kingdom and 
 foreign countries, chiefly the United States and France, and 13 per 
 cent, from the British West Indies, chiefly Barbados. It exported 
 53 per cent, to the United Kingdom and 45 per cent, to foreign 
 countries, chiefly the United States, France, and the French West 
 Indies.' 1 
 
 Products. Sugar, coffee, cocoa and maize, logwood. St. Lucia 
 is noted for its central sugar factories or usines. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 49,326. Expenditure^ 53,906. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, 140,770. 
 
 Communication. There are three principal roads in the island : 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom 138,019; exports to, 37,177. 
 
Appendices 277 
 
 one from Castries to Vieux Fort on the extreme south, a second 
 from Castries to the eastern parts of the island, and a third from 
 Castries to Gros Islet and the extreme north. Many steamers, 
 both French and British, call at Port Castries. 
 
 III. St. Vincent. 
 
 Area. 140 square miles. Bequia, one of the Grenadines, has 
 an area of 6 square miles. This islet, as well as others, is included 
 under St. Vincent. 
 
 Physical Features. St. Vincent is an oval-shaped island of vol- 
 canic origin, with high and thickly wooded mountains. The chief 
 harbour is Kingstown Bay, on the south-west. 
 
 Population. 1891, 41,054. 
 
 Chief Towns. Kingstown (5593), Georgetown on the east. 
 
 Government. The island is governed by an Administrator and 
 a Legislative Council of eight, and, like the rest of the Windward 
 Islands, is under a Governor-in-Chief. 
 
 T^rade. Imports (1891), .97,839. Exports, 98,672. 'With 
 regard to the distribution of its trade, St. Vincent imported 
 (1872-86) nine-tenths of its imports in nearly equal proportions 
 from the United Kingdom and British West Indies, probably Bar- 
 bados, with 12 per cent, from foreign countries, chiefly the United 
 States. It exported 39 per cent, to the United Kingdom and 
 54 per cent, to foreign countries, chiefly the United States.' x 
 
 Products. Sugar, molasses, rum, cocoa, coffee, cotton, and 
 arrowroot. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 27,649. Expenditure, 2 8, 51 6. Debt, 14, 370. 
 
 SECTION I. THE BAHAMAS. 
 
 Area. 4500 square miles. The principal islands are New 
 Providence, Abaco, Harbour Island, Eleuthera, Inagua, Ragged 
 Island, Rum Cay, Exuina, Long Island, Long Cay, Great Bahama, 
 Cat Island, Watling's Island (San Salvador), Andros Island. 
 
 Physical Features. Great Bahama Bank and Little Bahama 
 Bank are two coral banks on which the islands and rocks are 
 situated, Providence Channels dividing the two. The banks are 
 said to be formed of the deposits carried down by the Mississippi 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom ,44,447 ; exports to, 39,848. 
 
278 British Colonisation 
 
 and other rivers into the Gulf of Mexico, and drifted eastward by 
 the Gulf Stream. No island exceeds 14 miles in breadth. 
 
 Population. 1891, 47,565. 
 
 Chief Towns. Nassau, on New Providence (12,000) ; Harbour 
 Island, a health resort. 
 
 Government. The Bahamas constitute a single colony adminis- 
 tered by a Governor, an Executive Council of nine members, a 
 Legislative Council of nine members, and a Representative 
 Assembly of twenty-nine members. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,190,670. Exports, ,128,010. Sir 
 R. W. Rawson observes that both import and export trade were 
 carried on chiefly with foreign countries, mainly with the United 
 States, viz. 77 and 87 per cent, respectively. The trade with 
 British possessions did not amount to 2 per cent. 
 
 Products. Fruit trade with the United States is the chief in- 
 dustry. Sponge-fishing employs many seamen, the sponges being 
 brought to the surface by diving or by hooked poles. The fibre 
 industry is a rising one. Pink pearls, salt, guano, tortoise-shell, 
 and cameos are minor products. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,52,813. Expenditure, ,55,804. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ,81,126. 
 
 Communication. Regular mail communication between the 
 Bahamas and New York, monthly in summer and fortnightly in 
 winter. Nassau, the capital, is 310 miles from Havana, 660 from 
 Kingston Harbour, Jamaica. 
 
 SECTION K. THE BERMUDAS. 
 
 Area. 41 square miles. 
 
 Parishes. Sandys, Southampton, Warwick, Paget, Pembroke, 
 Devonshire, Smithe, Hamilton, St. George's. 
 
 Physical Features. The largest island, Main Island, contains 
 about 9000 acres, the highest point being 240 feet. The group of 
 islands form an oval ring about 22 miles in length and 10 miles in 
 width. The marked feature is the continuous reefs of coral. The 
 soil is poor in quality. 
 
 Population. 1891, 15,013, of whom 5690 are white. 
 
 Chief Towns. Hamilton, St. George. Ireland Island is the 
 naval depot and dockyard. Here is a permanent garrison of 
 Imperial troops numbering 1400, and the mean number of the 
 Admiralty establishment is 1200. 
 
Appendices 279 
 
 Government. The Bermudas constitute a single colony ad- 
 ministered by a Governor, assisted by a Legislative Council of 
 nine, three of whom are official and six unofficial, and a House of 
 Assembly of thirty-six members, four from each of the nine 
 parishes. 
 
 Trade. Imports from the United Kingdom (1891), ,325,976. 
 Exports, 1 29,803. * Bermuda drew 6 1 per cent, of its imports (1872- 
 1886) from foreign countries, chiefly from the United States, to 
 which country it sent the greater part of its exports. The remainder 
 of its imports were from the United Kingdom and British West 
 Indies. The amount of its exports to the United Kingdom was 
 insignificant.' l 
 
 Products. Vegetables and fruit, which are sent to New York. 
 The whole population is dependent upon food supplies from abroad. 
 
 Revenue. 1*91, 33,5V- Expenditure, .32,029. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, .8600. 
 
 Communication. Hamilton is 3000 miles from England, and 
 the passage takes from 14 to 15 days. 
 
 Chronology. 
 
 1492. Columbus discovered San Salvador in the Bahamas, also 
 
 Cuba, Tortuga, Hispaniola (Hayti). 
 
 1493. On a second voyage Columbus discovered the Leeward 
 
 Islands, Porto Rico, Jamaica. 
 1498. On a third voyage Columbus discovered Trinidad, Tobago, 
 
 Grenada, and the mainland of America on the Gulf of Paria. 
 1516. Cabot and Pert touch at Hispaniola. First appearance of 
 
 English vessels in West Indies. 
 1520. First sugar plantation in St. Domingo. 
 1528. The French in the West Indies. 
 
 1562. Sir John Hawkins landed a slave cargo in Hispaniola. 
 1580. The Dutch in Guiana. 
 1 596. Sir W. Ralegh at Trinidad. 
 1609. Gates and Somers at the Bermudas. 
 
 1612. First emigrants at the Bermudas. 
 
 1613. The French at Cayenne. 
 Harcourt's grant of Guiana. 
 
 1617. Sir W. Ralegh's last voyage up the Orinoco. 
 1623. Settlement at St. Kitts by Warner. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom .85,775; exports to, ,1794. 
 
280 British Colonisation 
 
 1624-5. Settlement of Barbados. 
 
 1626. The French Company of the Islands of America. 
 
 1627. The. Carlisle grant of the Caribbean Islands. 
 The Guiana Company. 
 
 1628. The Montgomery grant. 
 
 1630. Colonisation of Mosquito Coast by royal patent. 
 
 1638. Settlement of Belize, British Honduras, by Willis. 
 
 1640. Sugar first manufactured at Barbados. 
 
 1647. Lord Willoughby takes the Carlisle patent. 
 
 1651. The first Act of Navigation. 
 
 1655. Occupation of Jamaica by Penn and Venables. 
 
 1660. Establishment of representative government in Jamaica. 
 
 1663. Tax of 4| per cent, levied on Barbadians. 
 
 1670. Treaty of Madrid by which British occupation of Jamaica 
 
 was confirmed. 
 1674. Christopher Codrington at Antigua. 
 
 Treaty of Westminster. 
 
 1675-6. Dampier at Campechd Bay as a buccaneer. 
 1689. Commission to Christopher Codrington. 
 1692. The great earthquake at Jamaica. 
 1694. Jamaica attacked by the French. 
 
 1697. Tieaty of Ryswick. 
 
 1698. The Scotch Colony at Darien. 
 1702. Admiral Benbow's death. 
 
 1713. Treaty of Utrecht. The Assiento. 
 
 1729. Bishop Berkeley sailed for America. 
 
 1733-38. Maroon wars in Jamaica. 
 
 1742. Occupation of the Mosquito Shore. 
 
 1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 1760. Slave insurrection in Jamaica. 
 
 1763. Peace of Paris. 
 
 1765. Captain Cook at British Honduras. 
 
 1778. War between England and France. 
 
 1782. Rodney's victory off Dominica. 
 
 1783. Peace of Versailles. 
 
 1788. The Otaheite cane introduced into Martinique. 
 
 1789. The French Revolution. 
 1795. Last Maroon war in Jamaica. 
 
 1796-7. Abercromby and Sir J. Moore in the West Indies. 
 1798. British Honduras conquered by the Bay men. 
 
Appendices 281 
 
 1802. Peace of Amiens. 
 
 1807. Abolition of the slave trade. 
 
 1814. Treaty of Paris. 
 
 1830-50. The era of England's financial reforms. 
 
 1834. Abolition of slavery. 
 
 1838. Abolition of 4^ per cent, tax, Barbados. 
 
 1841. Mr. Baring's Budget and the sugar duties. 
 
 1845. Mr. Gladstone's speech on equalisation of duties. 
 
 1850. Fall of the old mercantile system. 
 
 1865. The great rebellion in Jamaica. 
 
 1866. Formation of new Government in Jamaica. 
 1884. The present Constitution of Jamaica. 
 1890-1. The Jamaica Exhibition. 
 
 II. NEWFOUNDLAND, WITH LABRADOR. 
 
 Area. 40,200 square miles, having an average breadth of about 
 130 miles, and a length from north to south of 350 miles. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into ten electoral districts : 
 In the centre, (i) District of St. John's, (2) Ferryland ; in the 
 north, (3) Conception Bay, (4) Trinity Bay, (5) Bonavista Bay, (6) 
 Twillingate and Fogo ; in the south, (7) Placentia, (8) Burin, (9) 
 Fortune Bay, (10) Burgeo and Lapoile. 
 
 Physical Features. The 'great feature of Newfoundland geo- 
 graphy is its broken coast-line, with an infinite number of bays and 
 promontories. The interior is not much developed. It is covered 
 with deep forests, varied here and there by open spaces called 
 Barrens. There are a few isolated mountains, called Tolts, rising 
 generally 2000 feet. The chief rivers are the H umber and the 
 Exploits. There are innumerable lakes or ponds in the island. 
 The climate is rough but bracing. The fogs do not extend far inland. 
 
 Population. In 1881, 179,509 ; in 1891, 197,934. 
 
 Chief Towns. St. John's, 31,142, the capital; Harbour Grace, 
 7054 ; Fogo and Twillingate, 4777 ; Bonavista, 3463 ; Carbonear, 
 3756. There are a large number of fishing towns and villages 
 along the coast. 
 
 Government. Responsible government, established in 1855, 
 consisting of a Governor aided by an Executive Council of seven 
 
282 British Colonisation 
 
 members, a Legislative Council of fifteen members, and a House 
 of Assembly of thirty-six members. 
 
 Trade. The imports (1891) were ,1,431,137. Exports (1891), 
 ,1,549,408. According to Sir R. W. Rawson, the import trade 
 of Newfoundland (1872-86) was nearly divided between the 
 United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. The re- 
 mainder was almost confined to the British West Indies, Spain, 
 and Portugal. The exports were differently distributed : viz. 36 
 per cent, to the United States, 10 per cent, to Canada and British 
 West Indies, and 54 per cent, to foreign countries, chiefly Portugal 
 and Brazil. In 1891 the value of imports from United Kingdom 
 was ,487,855 ; of exports to the United Kingdom, ,409,913. 
 
 Products. The products of the island come almost entirely 
 from the sea, and consist of cod-fish, cod and seal oil, sealskins, 
 tinned lobsters, herring, trout, and salmon. There is also mineral 
 wealth, chiefly copper. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,379,1 59- Expenditure, 1891, ,341,909. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ,1,088,201. 
 
 Public Works. A railway from St. John's to Harbour Grace, 
 84 miles ; also a branch line to Placentia. There are about 1000 
 miles of telegraph open. At Heart's Content is the shore end of 
 the first submarine cable between the Old and New World. There 
 are also 750 miles of postal and 1700 miles of district roads. The 
 dry dock at St. John's is a most important work, capable of hold- 
 ing the largest vessel afloat. 
 
 Communication. The harbour of St. John's is less than 1650 
 miles from the coast of Ireland. A railway from St. John's across 
 the island to St. George's Bay is contemplated. If this were com- 
 pleted and communication opened up with Shippegan on the Ameri- 
 can continent, the length of the voyage between Ireland and 
 America could be reduced to four days. At present there is a 
 fortnightly service between St. John's and Liverpool, excepting 
 during January, February, March. In the summer there is a 
 fortnightly service between St. John's and Labrador. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1497. Discovery of Labrador and Newfoundland by Cabot. 
 1500. Voyage of Cortereal to Newfoundland. 
 1527. Expedition of Captain Rut to St. John's. 
 1536. Expedition of Hore. 
 
Appendices 283 
 
 1 583. Proclamation of Sir H. Gilbert at St. John's. 
 
 1615. Commission and voyage of Captain Whitbourne. 
 
 1620. French settlement at Placentia. 
 
 1623. Settlement of Lord Baltimore at Ferryland. 
 
 1634. Irish colonists sent over. 
 
 1660. Declaration of Star Chamber. 
 
 1697. Treaty of Ryswick. 
 
 1702. French conquests. 
 
 1713. Treaty of Utrecht. Acknowledgment of British sovereignty. 
 
 1770. First Moravian Mission in Labrador. 
 
 1783. Treaty of Versailles. 
 
 1814. Treaty of Paris. 
 
 1838. Declaration of Lord Palmerston on fisheries rights. 
 
 1853. Marine survey of the Atlantic bed. 
 
 1855. Responsible government. 
 
 1866. First Atlantic cable landed at Heart's Content. 
 
 1876. Labrador included in the colony. 
 
 1891. Census. 
 
 1892. Great fire at St. John's. 
 
 With regard to LABRADOR, it should be noted that it is a de- 
 pendency of Newfoundland, although it belonged for some years 
 1773-1809 to Quebec. Tt is chiefly a summer resort of fishermen. 
 It has an area of about 120,000 square miles, and a coast-line of 
 600 miles. The country is very bleak, and has only about 5000 
 permanent inhabitants, of whom 1700 are Eskimo. The only 
 official who visits the county is a J.P. and collector of customs, who 
 comes there annually in a revenue cutter. The chief places of 
 resort are Battle Harbour on the Strait of Belle Isle, and the 
 Moravian Mission stations at Hopedale, Nain, Okkak, Hebron. 
 
 III. THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 
 
 Aiea. 3,470,000 square miles. 
 
 Provinces. (i) Quebec, (2) Ontario, (3) Nova Scotia, (4) 
 New Brunswick, (5) Prince Edward Island, (6) Manitoba, 
 (7) British Columbia. To these must be added the North-East 
 Territories, lying around Hudson's Bay and due north of Quebec 
 and Ontario, and the North-West Territories, with the districts of 
 
284 British Colonisation 
 
 Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Athabasca. In due course 
 of time these districts may become provinces. 
 
 Physical Features. 
 
 Mountains. In the province of Quebec : (i) the Laurentian, 
 (2) the Alleghany systems. (3) The Rocky Mountains are the 
 most important, dividing the province of British Columbia from 
 Alberta and Athabasca. In British Columbia, a very mountainous 
 province, there are : (4) the Selkirks, subsidiary to the Rockies ; 
 (5) the Cascades, running parallel with the Pacific coast. 
 
 Rivers. There are four chief river systems : (i) the St. 
 Lawrence, with its tributaries the Ottawa and Saguenay, flowing 
 into the North Atlantic ; (2) the East Main, Albany, Red River, 
 Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, Nelson, and Churchill Rivers, flowing 
 into Hudson's Bay ; (3) the Coppermine and Mackenzie, flowing 
 north into the Polar Sea ; (4) the Fraser River, with its tributaries in 
 British Columbia, flowing into the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Lakes. There are three chief lake systems: (i) Ontario, Erie, 
 Huron, Superior, draining into the Atlantic ; (2) Winnipeg, 
 Winnipegosis, and Manitoba into Hudson's Bay ; (3) Reindeer, 
 Athabasca, Great Slave, and Great Bear into the Polar Sea. 
 
 Prairies. The prairie levels begin from the longitude of the 
 Red River, and extend westwards to the Rocky Mountains, covering 
 immense areas in the centre of the Dominion. These prairie levels 
 or plateaux are three in number : the first, with an average elevation 
 of 800 feet, extending 52 miles in width ; the second, with an 
 average elevation of 1600 feet, extending 250 miles ; the third, with 
 an average elevation of 2000 feet, extending 465 miles up to 
 the * Rockies.' 
 
 Forests. The Dominion of Canada is noted for its magnificent 
 forests, more than half the area of British Columbia being covered 
 with them. The king of the pines is the Douglas fir, Canada is 
 called the land of the maple. 
 
 Population. In 1881, 4,324,810; in 1891, 4,829,411 a com- 
 paratively small increase. The urban population of Canada is, 
 according to the last census, 1,394,259, an increase of 384,146 
 upon the census of 1881, and equal to an increase of 38.1 per cent. 
 In 1891 there were 47 cities with a population of over 5000, as 
 against 35 in 1881, an increase of 12. In 1891 there were 45 
 
Appendices 285 
 
 towns with a population from 3000 to 5000, as against 37 in 1881, 
 an increase of 7. In 1891 there were 91 villages with a population 
 from 1500 to 3000, as against 55 in 1 88 1, an increase of 36. 1 
 
 Chief Towns. Montreal, 1891, 216,650, increasing from 155,237 
 in 1 88 1, or 39.5 per cent. Toronto, 181,220, increasing from 96,196 
 in 1 88 1, or 88.4 per cent. Quebec, 63,090, increasing from 62,446, 
 or i.o per cent. Hamilton, 48,980, increasing from 35,960 in 1881, 
 or 36 per cent. Ottawa, 44,154, increasing from 31,307 in 1881, 
 or 41.0 per cent. St. Jean, 39,179, decreasing from 41,353 in 1881, 
 or 5.2 per cent. Halifax, 38,556, increasing from 36,100 in 1881, or 
 6.8 per cent. London, 31,977, increasing from 26,266 in 1881, or 
 21.7 per cent. Winnipeg, 25,642, increasing from 7985 in 1881, or 
 22 1. 1 per cent. Kingston, 19,264, increasing from 14,091, or 36.7 
 per cent. Victoria, British Columbia, 16,841, increasing from 
 5925, or 184 per cent. Vancouver, 13,685, a new city altogether. 
 St. Henri, 13,415, increasing from 6415 in 1881, or 109 per cent. 
 Brantford, 12,753, increasing from 9616 in 1881, or 32.6 per cent. 
 Charlottetown, 11,374, decreasing from 11,485 in 1881, or 0.9 per 
 cent. Hull, 11,265, increasing from 6890 in 1881, or 63 per cent. 
 Guelph, 10,539, increasing from 9890 in 1881, or 6.5 per cent. 
 St. Thomas, 10,370, increasing from 8367 in 1881, or 23.9 per cent. 
 Windsor, 10,322, increasing from 6561 in 1 88 1, or 57.9 per cent. 
 Sherbrooke, 10,110, increasing from 7227 in 1881, or 39.9 per cent. 
 The population of New Westminster has sprung from 1500 in 1881 
 to 6641 in 1891, an increase of 342.9 per cent. 
 
 These figures prove that the urban population in Canada is in- 
 creasing more quickly than the rural, a fact noticeable almost 
 everywhere. It may be noted, also, that whilst Charlottetown in 
 Prince Edward Island, St. Jean, and Quebec are almost stationary, 
 some of the cities and towns in Ontario, the prairie provinces, and 
 British Columbia show the greatest increase. Westward the 
 course of migration takes its way. Winnipeg and New West- 
 minster are two of the most striking instances of urban develop- 
 ment. In the eastern maritime provinces, the population 
 increased barely 1.2 per cent, upon that of 1881. Families are 
 becoming smaller, and there is an aversion to agriculture. '* 
 
 With regard to religion, the Roman Catholics composed 4 1.46 per 
 cent, of the whole population in 1891, the Methodists 17.65 per 
 
 1 Bulletin No. i . Census of Canada, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa. 
 
 2 Ibid. No. 3. 
 
286 British Colonisation 
 
 cent., the Presbyterians 15.73 per cent., the Church of England 
 13.41 per cent, the Baptists 6.33 per cent. Two of the denomina- 
 tions have increased their strength in every province of the 
 Dominion the Roman Catholics and the Methodists. The Church 
 of England has decreased in New Brunswick and Prince Edward 
 Island. The Presbyterians have decreased in New Brunswick, 
 Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, but increased remarkably 
 in Manitoba. The Church of England has increased even more 
 remarkably in British Columbia. 
 
 Out of the 854,842 inhabited houses in the Dominion, 1891, 
 697,356 were built of wood, 131,522 of brick, and only 25,964 of 
 stone. 
 
 Government. The provinces and districts of Canada have been 
 confederated under the British Crown ; and, whilst each province 
 has its own Legislature, undertaking all local and provincial affairs, 
 it is nevertheless under the control, in certain matters, of the 
 Central or Federal Government sitting at Ottawa. 
 
 In the Provincial Legislatures there are, in the case of Quebec, 
 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, two 
 houses (a) the Legislative Council, (b] the Legislative Assembly. 
 In the case of Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia there is the 
 Legislative Assembly only. The Provincial Legislature is presided 
 over by a Lieutenant-Governor. The supreme legislative power 
 is invested in a Parliament consisting of (a) the Queen ; (&) a 
 Senate of 80 members nominated for life by the Governor-General ; 
 (c) a House of Commons consisting of 215 members, of whom 92 
 are elected from Ontario, 65 from Quebec, 21 from Nova Scotia, 
 i6from New Brunswick, 5 from Manitoba, 6 from British Columbia, 
 6 from Prince Edward Island, 4 from the Territories. The repre- 
 sentative of the Queen is the Governor-General, appointed for five 
 years, who chooses and summons a Privy Council. 
 
 Trade. The imports for the year ending June 3oth, 1891, were 
 valued at ^24,650,884, of which ^8,639,903 came from the United 
 Kingdom. The exports for the same year amounted to ^20,222,732, 
 of which ^10,126,204 was sent to the United Kingdom. 
 
 Products. The chief products of Canada, arranged in the order 
 of their value, are : (i) those of the farm and dairy, (2) the forests, 
 (3) the sea and lake fisheries, (4) the mines, (5) manufactures. 
 Coal is found principally in Nova Scotia, Alberta, and British 
 Columbia. British Columbia is famed also for its gold-mines ; the 
 
Appendices 287 
 
 timber trade belongs more especially to the province of Quebec ; 
 dairy farming and agriculture generally are at their best in the 
 province of Ontario. At Sudbury, in Ontario, the deposits of 
 nickel are the richest in the world, and in this province petroleum 
 is produced in large quantities. Sea-fishing and the tinning (ex- 
 port) trade belong more especially to British Columbia and Nova 
 Scotia. The total number of industrial establishments was 49,923 
 in 1 88 1, and 75,765 in 1891, showing an increase of nearly 52 per 
 cent. The development of manufactures from 1881 to 1891 has 
 added nearly ninety million dollars a year to the wealth of the 
 country, as against thirty-three million dollars a year for the 
 previous decade, 1871-81. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^7,927,256. Expenditure, ,7,467,856. 
 
 Public Debt. July i, 1891, ,59,568,335. 
 
 Pitblic Works. The greatest public work of Canada is the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, which connects Montreal and Van- 
 couver, a distance of 2906 miles. The whole system has a length 
 of 4973 miles. The time occupied in constructing the C.P.R. was 
 four years six months, at the rate of more than two miles a day. 
 The mileage of all the Canadian railways is over 13,000. The 
 most famous canals are: (i) the Lachine, 9 miles long; (2) the 
 Welland, connecting Lake Erie with Lake Ontario, 26| miles long ; 
 (3) the Rideau Canal, by which the inland waters of Lake Ontario 
 were connected with those of the St. Lawrence. By means of 
 canals the extremity of Lake Superior can be reached, 1400 miles 
 above Montreal. A canal is being constructed past the Sault Ste. 
 Marie on the Canadian side. The most famous bridge is the 
 Victoria tubular bridge across the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Defence Forces. There are two Imperial naval stations one at 
 Halifax, the other at Esquimault (Squimo). The navy and mer- 
 cantile marine of Canada rank fourth in the world. There are 
 more than 30,000 able-bodied seamen. Canada undertakes her 
 own internal defence. The active militia numbers 38,000 men ; 
 the reserve militia numbers over 700,000, consisting of all males 
 between eighteen and sixty. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1497. Cabot sights the mainland of North America. 
 
 1500. Cortereal reaches Labrador. 
 
 1524. Verrazano explores the coasts of North America. 
 
288 British Colonisation 
 
 1534. Jacques Cartier ascends the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 1608. Champlain founds Quebec. 
 
 1628. Richelieu organises 'The Company of a Hundred Asso- 
 ciates.' 
 
 1642. Montreal built by Maisonneuve. 
 1666. Father Marquette sails for Canada. 
 1682. La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi. 
 1689. De Frontenac Governor of Canada. 
 1696 D'Iberville in Hudson's Bay. 
 1697. Treaty of Ryswick. 
 1699. D'Iberville in Louisiana. 
 1713. Treaty of Utrecht. 
 1742. Verendrye sights the Rockies. 
 1756. Montcalm in Canada. 
 1759. Quebec taken by Wolfe. 
 1763. Treaty of Paris. 
 
 Canada a British Colony. 
 
 1763. Proclamation of George ill. offering lands to emigrants. 
 
 1774. Quebec Act passed. 
 
 1775. The Americans attack Canada. 
 1777. Burgoyne's defeat. 
 
 1783. Treaty of Paris. 
 
 1783. United Empire loyalists colonise New Brunswick and Nova 
 
 Scotia. 
 
 1784. Emigration of United Empire loyalists to Upper Canada. 
 1789. Alexander Mackenzie navigates the Mackenzie River. 
 1791. Upper Canada separated from Lower Canada. 
 
 1793. Alexander Mackenzie crosses the Rockies to Pacific. 
 
 1803. Lord Selkirk leads a colony to Prince Edward Island. 
 
 1806. The Berlin Decrees. 
 
 1807. Orders in Council. 
 
 1812. Selkirk settlers on the Red River. 
 
 1812-15. War between Canada and the United States. 
 
 1837. Lord Durham in Canada. 
 
 1841. The union of Upper and Lower Canada. 
 
 1842. The Ashburton Treaty settling Maine frontier. 
 
 1866. Fenian invasion of Canada, 
 
 1867. Confederation Act passed. 
 1871. June i, Dominion Day. 
 
Appendices 289 
 
 1872. The boundary of 49 settled between Canada and United 
 States. 
 
 1885. Louis Kiel executed. 
 
 1886. The Canadian Pacific Railway finished. 
 1891. Census of the Dominion. 
 
 IV. THE WEST AFRICAN SETTLEMENTS. 
 SECTION A. THE GAMBIA. 
 
 Area. 69 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The settlement consists of (i) the island of St. 
 Mary, (2) British Combo ; (3) Albreda, (4) the Ceded Mile, 
 (5) Macarthy's Island. 
 
 Physical Features. The Gambia is one of the largest rivers of 
 Western Africa, and falls into the Atlantic by a large estuary 
 nearly twenty-seven miles across. This river forms sandbank and 
 islands, which are low-lying, swampy, and unhealthy. 
 
 Population. In 1881 there were only about forty white inhabi- 
 tants. Now there is a police force of 1 10, and a detachment of 
 the West India Regiment. The whole population, white and 
 coloured, was (1891) 14,266. 
 
 Chief Town. Bathurst (6000). 
 
 Government. The Gambia is a Crown colony governed by an 
 Administrator, aided by an Executive Council and by a Legislative 
 Council of six. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,172,118. Exports, ,180,052. 'Gambia 
 drew [1872-86] a fourth of its imports from Sierra Leone, only 38 
 per cent, from the United Kingdom, and 35 per cent, from West 
 African ports, the United States, and France. It exported 8 per 
 cent, to the United Kingdom, and 88 per cent, to foreign countries, 
 of which the greater portion went to France, and the remainder to 
 West African ports, Madeira, the United States, and Italy, with a 
 trifle to Sierra Leone and Gibraltar.' 1 
 
 Products. Ground nuts, hides, beeswax, rice, cotton, india- 
 rubber, cola nuts. The ground nut is the staple product from 
 which oil is extracted. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 31,038. Expenditure ', ,27,697. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom, 84,798 ; exports to, .37,522, 
 
 T 
 
290 British Colonisation 
 
 Defence. A police force and a detachment of the West India 
 Regiment, as above stated. 
 
 Communication. There are no railroads, but Bathurst is in 
 communication with Europe by means of four telegraph cables. 
 Liverpool steamers call every fortnight. The river is the main 
 highway. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1588. The Elizabethan Charter. 
 1618. Formation of a West African Company. 
 1821. Annexed to Sierra Leone. 
 1843. Created a colony. 
 1866. Absorbed under the general government of West African 
 
 Settlements. 
 1 888. Finally separated. 
 
 SECTION B. SIERRA LEONE. 
 
 Area. 4000 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. Sierra Leone proper is a peninsula of an 
 area of 300 square miles. It is mountainous, and very picturesque. 
 The coast-line from the Skarcies River on the north to the Mannah 
 River on the south, is malarious and unhealthy, extending for 180 
 miles. There are several islands, notably Sherbro' Island, and 
 many rivers. The harbour of Freetown is the only good harbour 
 on the West Coast of Africa between Cape Verde Islands and 
 Fernando Po. 
 
 Population. 1891, 174,835, of whom only 210 are resident 
 Europeans. 
 
 Chief Town. Freetown (30,033). 
 
 Government. Sierra Leone is a Crown colony, administered by 
 a Governor and an Executive of five, and a Legislative Council, 
 the latter being composed of the former, with the addition of three 
 unofficial members nominated by the Crown. 
 
 Trade. Imports (1891), ,453,375- Exports, ,477,656. With 
 i egard to the distribution of trade, ' Sierra Leone drew a larger 
 proportion of its imports from the United Kingdom than either of 
 its sister colonies, viz. 70 per cent (1872-86). The balance was 
 drawn chiefly from the United States, Germany, France, and 
 West African ports. Of the exports 37 per cent, were shipped to 
 the United Kingdom. In 1891, imports from the United Kingdom 
 were ( ^345,3 I ; exports 10^218,294. 
 
Appendices 29 1 
 
 Products. Palm oil, palm kernels, rubber, gum, camwood, 
 benni-seed, and ground nuts. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,89,869. Expenditure, ,77,965. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891,^50,000. 
 
 Public Works. As British influence is confined mainly to the 
 littoral, there are no public works of importance, although the 
 route to the plateaux of the interior is shorter here than elsewhere. 
 
 Defence. Freetown harbour has been strongly fortified, and is a 
 coaling-station for the Royal Navy. 
 
 Communication. Liverpool is the mart where Sierra Leone 
 produce is chiefly taken. It is 3000 miles distant, and the voyage 
 takes about 15 to 16 days. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1787. Ceded to England by native chiefs. 
 1791. Charter of Sierra Leone Company. 
 1807. Sierra Leone transferred to the Crown. 
 1821. Incorporated as part of 'Colony of West African Settle- 
 ments.' 
 
 1862. British Kwaia and Sherbro' annexed. 
 1879. Skarcies River annexed. 
 1884. Mannah River annexed. 
 
 LIBERIA. 
 
 In connection with Sierra Leone the United States of Liberia, 
 recognised by the European Powers, deserve a short notice. It is 
 a negro republic, first founded by the American Philanthropic 
 Colonisation Society in 1820, whither liberated slaves were sent. 
 The names of Freetown in Sierra Leone, and Liberia itself, indi- 
 cate the original purpose of the British colony and of the American 
 settlement. It was to find a place in their own country for the 
 emancipated negroes. Monrovia, the chief town of Liberia, was 
 so called after the celebrated American President. From the 
 beginning the principle of self-government has been fully acknow- 
 ledged. In 1833 and 1835 a Quaker colony came to Liberia from 
 Pennsylvania, the new arrivals landing in Grand Bassa. 
 
 The area of Liberia is about 35,000 square miles, with 700 miles 
 of coast, along which there are many openings for British trade. 
 The population is said to be 18,000 to 20,000 civilised negroes, and 
 
292 British Colonisation 
 
 more than 100,000 African natives. The climate is said to be the 
 hottest in the world. The country towards the interior rises in 
 two main terraces. The second terrace is known as the Kong 
 Mountains. Here gold mines are reported to exist. The native 
 products are chiefly palm oil, camwood, ivory, and gold dust. 
 Liberian coffee is well known. Liberian influence extends many 
 hundred miles towards the interior. Here, then, is an opportunity 
 for the extension of British influence. 
 
 SECTION C. THE GOLD COAST. 
 
 Area. 38,665 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. 1 The littoral of the Gold Coast, with the 
 exception of a semi-desert patch near Akkra, is of the same moist, 
 equatorial character in its climate and scenery as might be pre- 
 sumed from its position. The typical West African forest country 
 ends, however, on the northern frontiers of Ashanti, and the 
 characteristic park-like grass land scenery of Central Africa begins 
 in the plains through which the Upper Volta flows.' The length 
 of the coast-line is about 350 miles. There is no good harbour, 
 and goods and passengers are landed in surf boats. 
 
 Population. 1891, 1,500,000, of whom about 150 are Europeans. 
 
 Chief Towns. The most important trading ports and settle- 
 ments are Newtown, Axim, Dixcove, Secondee, Elmina, Cape 
 Coast Castle, Anamaboe, Salt Pond, Winnebah, Akkra (the seat of 
 government), Addah, Quettah. 
 
 Government. The Gold Coast is administered by a Governor, 
 aided by an Executive and Legislative Council, all nominated by 
 the Crown. 
 
 Trade. Imports, 1891, ,665,781. Exports, ,684,305. As to 
 the distribution of trade (1872-86), 'the Gold Coast imported 63 
 per cent, from the United Kingdom, and exported 48 per cent. 
 Its chief foreign trade was with the United States, but it exported 
 largely to Germany.' * 
 
 Products. Palm oil and palm kernels are the staple products. 
 Gold, india-rubber, monkey-skins, ivory, copra, gum copal, cam- 
 wood, and benni-seed are also exported. The natives work gold 
 ornaments, such as rings, and weave cloth. 
 
 Revenue. 1891,^1 86,02 2 . Expenditure, 1 3 3,407, 
 
 Public Works. There is no railway, and hardly any roads. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom, 483,393] exports to, ,545,493. 
 
Appendices 293 
 
 There are about 200 miles of telegraph in the colony connecting 
 posts along the coast-line. 
 
 Defence. A garrison of 200 men and officers of the West India 
 Regiment stationed at Cape Coast. There is also a constabulary 
 of 800 men. 
 
 Communication. Liverpool is the chief mart, distant 3900 
 miles. The route is vid Madeira. Length of passage, 20 or 30 
 days. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1471. Elmina discovered by Portuguese. 
 
 1672. Royal African Company. 
 
 1750. African Company of Merchants. 
 
 1821. African Company dissolved. 
 
 1824. Ashanti War. 
 
 1831. Peace between English, Fantis, and Ashantis. 
 
 1850. Akkra, Addah purchased from Denmark. 
 
 1872. Ashanti War. 
 
 1 88 1. Death of King Coffee. 
 
 SECTION D. LAGOS. 
 
 Area. 1071 square miles. Lagos Island has an area of 3! 
 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. * Lagos has few natural advantages to boast 
 of. Its dangerous and shallow bar makes the entrance to its 
 capital impracticable to any but small river steamers. It has a 
 certain amount of natural canals, a network of creeks running 
 right through the colony at a short distance from the coast ; but 
 there is no other place on its littoral between the French boundary 
 at Appa and the River Benin (where the colony is supposed to 
 terminate on the east) where a landing can be safely effected on 
 account of the heavy surf.' l 
 
 Population. 85,607, of whom about 100 are Europeans. 
 
 Chief Town. Lagos, termed the ' Liverpool of West Africa, 3 
 with a population of 60,000, is the largest town on the West 
 African coast. 
 
 Government. Lagos is a Crown colony, administered by a 
 Governor, aided by an Executive and Legislative Council, the latter 
 including three non-official officers. 
 
 Trade. Imports, 1891, ^650,392. Exports, ^717,643. As to 
 1 H. H. Johnston. 
 
294 British Colonisation 
 
 the distribution of its trade (1872-86), ' Lagos drew 54 per cent, of 
 imports from the United Kingdom, and 46 per cent, from foreign 
 countries. It exported 32 per cent, to the United Kingdom, and 
 68 per cent, to foreign countries. Germany was its chief market 
 for both imports and exports, to which were added France and 
 West African French possessions for exports. 3 1 
 
 Products. Palm oil and palm kernels are the staple products. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,78,625. Expenditure, 66,388. 
 
 Communication. Liverpool is the chief mart, from which Lagos 
 is distant 4279 miles. It is 1203 miles from Freetown, 315 from 
 Cape Coast. There are no railways or telegraphs in the interior, but 
 Lagos Island is in telegraphic communication with Congo South 
 Africa on the south, and with the Gold Coast and Europe on the 
 north. Internal communication is along the numerous lagoons. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1851. First British interference. 
 
 1866. Lagos part of ' Colony of West African Settlements.' 
 
 1874. Lagos part of Gold Coast Colony. 
 
 1886. Lagos made a separate colony. 
 
 SECTION E. THE NIGER PROTECTORATE. 
 
 There are no accurate statistics available to show the precise 
 area, population, trade, etc., of the Niger Protectorate. The Com- 
 pany is said to possess no less than 1 50 factories. As regards 
 administration, the native chiefs are interfered with as little as 
 possible. British consuls, acting under the Secretary of State, 
 exercise a great deal of influence. Palm oil, kernels, ivory, india- 
 rubber, shea-butter, and benni-seed are the chief expoits. Tele- 
 graphic communication is via Lagos. Consular jurisdiction is 
 exercised at the chief ports along the rivers. Steamers navigate 
 the Niger 460 miles from the sea, and for 450 miles up the Benue. 
 
 i In 1891, imports from United Kingdom, 435,388 ; exports to, 285,822. 
 
Appendices 295 
 
 V. THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES, SETTLE- 
 MENTS, AND ISLANDS. 
 
 The present possessions of Great Britain in South Africa are 
 (i) the Cape Colony, (2) Natal, (3) Basutoland, (4) British Bechu- 
 analand, (5) Zululand, (6) Mashonaland. In the following districts 
 and countries her influence, although not exercised in the task of 
 direct administration, is supreme : viz. Pondoland, Amatongaland, 
 Swazieland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In addition, Great 
 Britain has residents at the kraals of Lobengula, King of the Mata- 
 bele, and Gungunhana, King of Gazaland, the two most powerful 
 chiefs now left in Africa south of the Zambesi. 
 
 SECTION A. THE CAPE COLONY. 
 
 Area. 221,311 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into eight electoral provinces : 
 (i) the Western, (2) North- Western, (3) South- Western, (4) Mid- 
 land, (5) South-Eastern, (6) North-Eastern, (7) Eastern, (8) the 
 Diamond Fields, or Griqualand West. 
 
 Physical Features. The land rises from the sea in distinct 
 terraces till the interior plateaux are reached, which are high and 
 healthy. Water is scarce, and no mountain rises to the height of 
 eternal snow. The great plains of the interior are called * karroos.' 
 The Kalihari Desert is a notable feature on the west. 
 
 Population. 1891, 1,525,739, of whom 376,812 were European, 
 847,542 aboriginal, 301,385 coloured. 
 
 With regard to the distribution of races in urban and rural areas, 
 it has been ascertained (1891) to be as follows : 
 
 Urban Rural Total 
 
 Areas. Areas. Population. 
 
 Europeans. . . 154,541 222,274 376,812 
 Aboriginal. . . 49,763 797,779 847,542 
 
 All others coloured . 114,473 186,912 301,385 
 
 318,777 1,206,965 1,525,739 
 
 Nearly all the aboriginal or Kaffir race live in the rural areas, 
 nearly half the Europeans in the urban areas, proving that cen- 
 tralisation goes on in South Africa as elsewhere. 
 
296 British Colonisation 
 
 According to a census of religious sects in 1891, the 
 
 Dutch Reformed Church counted 297,983 persons. 
 Church of England 139,058 
 
 Wesleyan Methodists 106,132 
 
 Roman Catholics ,, 17,219 
 
 Moravians 16,297 
 
 The Congregationalists, Independents, and London Missionary 
 Society counted 65,737 ; the Presbyterians and United Presby- 
 terians numbered 33,000. Fully 750,000 persons, white and 
 coloured, professed no religion at all. 
 
 Chief Towns. Cape Town, 51,083; Port Elizabeth, 23,052; 
 Kimberley, 28,643 ; Grahamstown, 10,436 ; East London, 6858. 
 
 Government. The Cape Colony enjoys responsible govern- 
 ment. The Governor is the representative of the Queen, and 
 holds also the office of High Commissioner of South Africa. The 
 Cape Legislature consists of the Legislative Council of 22 members, 
 the Legislative Assembly of 76 members representing the above- 
 mentioned electoral provinces, both Houses being elected by 
 same voters. 
 
 Trade. Total imports, 1891, ,8,582,776. Exports, .11,131,024. 
 'The trade of the Cape (1872-86) was chiefly with the United 
 Kingdom, viz. 78 per cent, of imports and 94 per cent, of exports. 
 Its imports from British possessions were 14 per cent., and exports 
 to them only i per cent. Its foreign trade amounted to 9 and 
 4 per cent, of imports and exports respectively. After the United 
 Kingdom the chief imports were from Natal, South Australia, 
 Brazil, and the United States' (the articles imported being chiefly 
 flour and wheat from South Australia, coffee from Brazil, and 
 agricultural machinery from the United States). 'The exports to 
 any single country except the United Kingdom were insignificant.' 1 
 Products. Diamonds, wool, copper ore, angora hair, ostrich 
 feathers, skins, wine, fruit. The gold exported through Cape ports 
 comes from the Transvaal. The annual value of diamonds exported 
 is about ,4,000,000 worth, the gold more than ,2,500,000. More 
 than three-quarters of Cape exports must be put to the account of 
 minerals and gems. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^4,143,876. Expenditure, ,4,308,762. 
 Public Debt.M^ to December 31, 1891, .24,832,767. 
 Public Works. Railways, 1 599 miles. Telegraphs, 1 1,325 miles. 
 1 In 1891, imports from the United Kingdom, 7,030,503 ; exports to, 
 10,690,810. 
 
Appendices 297 
 
 Harbours at Table Bay and East London constructed at vast ex- 
 pense. Roads and bridges connect all parts of the colony together. 
 
 Defence. Cape Mounted Rifles, 819 ; Cape police, 704. A sum 
 of about ;i 50,000 is voted annually for colonial defence purposes, 
 including defence of Table Bay. There are also thirty volunteer 
 corps, numbering between 4000 and 5000 men. The Burghers con- 
 stitute third line of defence, and correspond to the reserve militia 
 of Canada. The Imperial garrison at Cape Town and Wynberg 
 musters about 1300. 
 
 Communication. Table Bay is 6000 miles distant from Ply- 
 mouth. The time occupied is twenty days, sometimes seventeen 
 days. The Scot has done the voyage in fifteen days. The two 
 lines are the Union Steamship Company and the Castle Line, 
 both possessing a magnificent fleet of steamers whose passages 
 have been remarkable for their safety and punctuality. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1486. Discovery of the Cape. 
 1620. Proclamation of British authority by Shillinge and Fitz- 
 
 herbert. 
 
 1651. Dutch occupation. 
 1687. Immigration of French refugees. 
 1795. First British occupation. 
 1802. Peace of Amiens. 
 
 1806. Second British occupation. 
 
 1 807. Abolition of the slave trade. 
 
 1820. The English settlers land at Algoa Bay. 
 
 1819. Kaffir War. 
 
 1834. Slave emancipation. 
 
 1834. Kaffir War. 
 
 1846-53. Kaffir Wars. The ' War of the Axe.' 
 
 1852. First Transvaal Republic founded. 
 
 1854. The Orange Free State founded. 
 
 1857. Kaffir War. 
 
 1867. Discovery of diamonds. 
 
 1871. The Diamond Fields proclaimed a colony. 
 
 1872. Introduction of responsible government. 
 
 1877. Sir Bartle Frere Governor of the Cape. 
 
 1878. Kaffir War. 
 
 1879. Basuto War. 
 
 1881-1889. Governorship of Sir Hercules Robinson. 
 
298 British Colonisation 
 
 SECTION B. NATAL. 
 
 Area. 20,461 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into eight counties : (i) Pieter- 
 maritzburg, (2) Durban, (3) Victoria, (4) Umvoti, (5) Klip River, 
 (6) Weenen, (7) Alfred, (8) Alexandra. 
 
 Physical Features. The land rises in terraces to the interior. 
 The chief mountain range runs parallel with the coast. The rivers 
 are numerous and flooded in the summer. There are no natural 
 harbours along the coast. 
 
 Population. 1891, 543,983, of whom 46,788 are white, 41,142 
 Indians, 455,913 Kaffirs. 
 
 Chief Towns. Durban, 9000; Pietermaritzburg, 9251. 
 
 Government. Natal is administered by a Governor, aided by an 
 Executive Council and a Legislative Assembly of thirty-one mem- 
 bers, twenty-four of whom are elected by the colonists, five are 
 ex ojficio, and two nominated by the Government. 
 
 Trade. Imports, 1891, ,3,647,494. Exports, ,1,458,082. 
 ' Natal resembles the Cape of Good Hope in the character of its 
 trade (1872-86). It drew 81 per cent, of imports from the United 
 Kingdom, and sent thither 79 per cent, of its exports. It shipped, 
 however, a considerable amount to the Cape. Its foreign trade 
 was of small amount, 7 per cent, and 4 per cent, respectively.' * 
 
 Products. Wool, coal, gold, sugar, angora hair, and skins. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^1,318,769. Expenditure, .1,393,896. 
 
 Public Zte/. 1891, ^7,170,354. 
 
 Public Works. There are 340 miles of railway. Telegraph 
 wires connect every place of importance. The harbour works at 
 Port Natal are a most important public work. 
 
 Defence. There are about 1 500 colonists, volunteers and others, 
 enlisted for the purposes of defence. There is generally a garrison 
 of 1200 Imperial troops at Pietermaritzburg. The port of Durban 
 is strongly fortified. 
 
 Communication. Natal is 845 miles distant from Cape Town, 
 which is about 6000 miles from Plymouth, and is, therefore, two or 
 three days further from England than Cape Town. The colony is 
 300 miles from Delagoa Bay and 1 770 from Zanzibar. The Eastern 
 Submarine Telegraph Cable is landed on Natal shores, connecting 
 with the East and with Europe. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from the United Kingdom, 2,789,130 > exports to, 
 1,193.581. 
 
Appendices 299 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1497. Natal discovered by Vasco da Gama. 
 
 1837. Boer settlement. 
 
 1843. English rule proclaimed. 
 
 1856. Natal a separate colony. 
 
 1887. Zululand a British colony. 
 
 1891-2. Agitation for responsible government. 
 
 SECTION C. BASUTOLAND. 
 
 Area. 10,293 square miles. 
 
 Divisions. (i) Maseru, (2) Mafeting, (3) Leribe. 
 
 Physical Features. Mountainous. Basutoland has been called 
 the Switzerland of South Africa. 
 
 Population. 1891, 218,324 natives ; 578 Europeans. 
 
 Chief Town. Maseru (763). 
 
 Government. Basutoland is administered by a Resident Com- 
 missioner, acting under the High Commissioner. The Basutos 
 have a certain amount of local government. 
 
 Trade. The Basutos are large purchasers of manufactures. 
 
 Products. Basutoland is a great cattle-rearing and grain- 
 producing country. 
 
 Revenue. 1 890, ^41,784. Expenditure, ^40,825. 
 
 Communication. Basutoland is 7668 miles from London. It is 
 reached best through the Cape Colony. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1818. The Basutos formed into a nation. 
 
 1852. Basuto War with British. 
 
 1856. Basuto War with the Orange Free State. 
 
 1868. Basutoland taken under the British Crown. 
 
 1871. Basutoland annexed to the Cape. 
 
 1879. Moirosis W T ar. 
 
 1 880. Basuto War with the Cape Colony. 
 
 1884. Basutoland again taken under the British Crown. 
 
 SECTION D. BRITISH BECHUANALAND. 
 
 Area. 60,000 square miles, the Bechuanaland Protectorate 
 being 162,000 square miles. 
 
3OO British Colonisation 
 
 Physical Features. British Bechuanaland lies at a high eleva- 
 tion about 4000 feet to 500x3 feet above the level of the sea. The 
 scenery is monotonous, the feature of the landscape being broad, 
 open, mimosa-clad plains. The rivers are swollen in winter, but 
 soon dry up. Thunder-storms and dust-storms are frequent in their 
 season the former in summer and the latter in winter. The 
 climate is dry and healthy. 
 
 Population. 1600 Europeans, 43,985 natives. 
 
 Towns. Vryburg, Mafeking, Taungs. 
 
 Government. British Bechuanaland is governed by an Adminis- 
 trator under the High Commissioner of South Africa. 
 
 Trade. The imports, which come almost entirely from the 
 Cape, are textiles, hardware, alcohol. The exports go to the 
 Kimberley market, and consist of mealies, wool, hides, wood. 
 
 Products. Maize, or mealies, and cattle are the chief products. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^52,029 ; Parliamentary grant, ;n5 5 99i- 
 Expenditure, ^153,902. 
 
 Defence. The Bechuanaland Border Police, of 500 men. 
 
 Communication. The railway is extended from Kimberley, in 
 the Cape Colony, to Vryburg and Mafeking ; the telegraph (over- 
 land) wire passes through British Bechuanaland to Matabeleland 
 and Mashonaland. The colony is easily reached from Kimberley. 
 On the 30th September 1885, British Bechuanaland was declared 
 to be a British colony. With regard to Khama's country, or the 
 Bechuanaland Protectorate, it resembles, generally speaking, 
 British Bechuanaland. England's influence is paramount over 
 these immense areas up to the Zambesi. 
 
 SECTION E. ZULULAND. 
 
 Area. 8900 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. Much of the land on the east, and along the 
 coast, consists of broad, grassy, undulating plains. In the interior 
 are deep forests. 
 
 Population. 400,000. There are 300 troops at Etshowe. 
 
 Government. The colony is administered by a Resident Com- 
 missioner at Etshowe, under the Governor of Natal. 
 
 Products. Cattle and mealies chiefly. 
 
 Revenue. \ 890, 4 1 ,674. Expenditure, ,29,732. 
 
Appendices 301 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1800. Beginning of the Zulu nation. 
 
 1828. Accession of Dingaan. 
 
 1839. Panda set up by the Dutch. 
 
 1861. Cetywayo chosen as regent by the English. 
 
 1873. Cetywayo succeeds as king. 
 
 1879. Zulu War, and Cetywayo deposed. 
 
 1883. Cetywayo restored. 
 
 1884. Death of Cetywayo. 
 1887. Zululand a British colony. 
 
 SECTION F. SWAZIELAND. 
 
 A tract of country, with an area of 8000 square miles, lying to 
 the east of the Transvaal, with a native population of about 60,000, 
 and 500 European settlers. The Europeans are partly Boer 
 graziers from the Transvaal, and partly British and other adven- 
 turers who have gained mining and other concessions from the 
 Swazie chiefs. The country has wooded districts and long 
 stretches of arable ground. It is also well watered, some of the 
 rivers being the Komati, the Black and White Umvolosi, the 
 Great and Little Usuto. It has been ascertained that there is 
 much gold in Swazieland. Concessions for farming, mining, and 
 grazing rights are given for fifty years. The Swazies are old allies 
 of the English, and are a brave Kaffir race. Swazieland is under 
 a dual control of Boers and British for a provisional period, ending 
 May 1893. The Swazieland Convention, dated August 2, 1890, 
 was made for three years. According to this Convention the 
 Transvaal Republic was empowered to construct a railway, if they 
 wished, to Kosi Bay through Amatongaland, subject to certain 
 reservations. Amatongaland itself is a small tract of country 
 north of Zululand, adjoining the sea. In June 1887 the country 
 was taken under British protection. The Tongas are industrious 
 people, and migrate in large numbers to the gold- and diamond- 
 fields for work. 
 
 SECTION G. MASHONALAND. 
 
 The area of Mashonaland proper is not clearly defined, and it 
 comes within the wide scope of the British South Africa Company. 
 It consists chiefly of the highlands to the east of Matabeleland to a 
 
3O2 British Colonisation 
 
 point within 300 miles of the Indian Ocean. The chief posts are 
 simply forts, e.g. Forts Tuli, Charter, Salisbury. The population 
 consists of a police force of 500 men, many miners and settlers, 
 and emigrants from the colonies on the south. The country is 
 being opened up, under British protection, by the British South 
 Africa Company, with a capital of .1,000,000. The products of 
 the country are agricultural and mineral. It is expected that gold 
 will be the staple industry. Public works are rapidly being taken 
 in hand. Already the country is being connected by post and 
 telegraph. Communication is carried on either vtd Bechuanaland 
 or Port Beira on the east coast. A railway will shortly be con- 
 structed between Port Beira and Fort Salisbury. Mashonaland is 
 the most recent sphere of British colonisation in South Africa, 
 properly so called. 
 
 SECTION H. NORTH ZAMBESIA, NYASSALAND, LAKE TANGAN- 
 YIKA, THE BRITISH IMPERIAL SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANY, 
 AND UGANDA. 
 
 North Zambesia must be spoken of in connection with South 
 Zambesia and Mashonaland. Sena, Tete, and Zumbo, stations 
 on the Zambesi, and centres of an ancient traffic, draw their wealth 
 from northern parts. Zumbo, at the junction of the Aroanga, or 
 Loangwa, with the Zambesi, is the station chosen as a residence 
 by Mr. H. H. Johnston, Her Majesty's accredited envoy in this 
 part of the world, and acting as intermediary between the Portu- 
 guese on the east and the British South Africa Company. The 
 Zambesi is at once a terminus and a starting-place. At present 
 it seems to bound the enterprises of the Mashonaland pioneers ; 
 but the Shire River, the northern affluent of the Zambesi, con- 
 ducts the colonist to new regions first to Lake Nyassa, then 
 by the Stevenson Road to Lake Tanganyika, and thence to the 
 Victoria Nyanza and the equatorial regions of Central Africa. The 
 lakes lying in deep troughs or depressions along several degrees of 
 latitude are a natural water-way destined to open up Africa from 
 the Zambesi to the Nile. Commerce will find its way along this 
 passage, and may be deflected eastwards as it is tapped by rail- 
 ways such as that contemplated by the British Imperial East 
 Africa Company from Mombassa. A long line of explorers, as 
 Livingstone, Cameron, Speke, Grant, Stanley, and others, have 
 
Appendices 303 
 
 won triumphs for England in Eastern and Central Africa. Also, 
 there has been no lack of earnest and determined mission workers 
 on the part of the Church Missionary Society, the London Mis- 
 sionary Society, the Universities Mission, to supplement the work 
 of exploration. These agencies furnish good title-deeds to our 
 spheres of influence, now defined by international agreements. 
 
 Nyassaland. 
 
 The Nyassaland Protectorate includes the country to the south 
 and along the west shores of Lake Nyassa. In the southern por- 
 tion of it the Shire highlands, Mount Zomba, and Blantyre are 
 best known. On Mount Zomba coffee, sugar, and cinchona have 
 been grown with success. The Universities Mission set to work 
 in Nyassaland in 1860. The African Lakes Company began in 
 1878, and its first field of operations was between Lake Nyassa and 
 the sea. The Company has introduced steam navigation, and has 
 refused to sanction the liquor traffic. According to recent agree- 
 ments in the Anglo- Portuguese Convention, the Zambesi and its 
 affluents are a free water-way to all nations. In 1882 a complete 
 survey was made of Lake Nyassa by Mr. J. Stewart. 
 
 Tanganyika. 
 
 Lake Tanganyika is connected with Lake Nyassa by a road or 
 portage called the Stevenson Road, after Mr. James Stevenson of 
 Largs, who has helped the development of Nyassaland. The lake 
 has been described as a beautiful inland sea, lying 2624 feet above 
 the level of the sea, 400 miles long, 1 5 to 50 miles wide, with a 
 coast line of 1000 miles, and a surface of 13,000 square miles. On 
 the east shore is Ujiji, really the name of a large tribal territory, 
 long the depot for Oriental colonists, travellers, and Arab mer- 
 chants. For variety of races Ujiji has been described as 'a little 
 Egypt.' The Arabs practically rule the settlement. The ordinary 
 route to Tanganyika is from Zanzibar, a walking distance of 836 
 English statute miles. The hottest time of the year is in November 
 and February, and the coldest in July. The lake lies between 9 
 and 3 South latitude. On the east is the German sphere of influ- 
 ence, reaching half-way up to the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. 
 In course of time there must be regular communication between 
 Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria Nyanza. Mr. E. Coode 
 
304 British Colonisation 
 
 Hore, resident for eleven years in Central Africa, has described 
 Lake Tanganyika as a geographical, ethnological, and political 
 centre which may well be termed ' the heart of Africa.' He has 
 thus pictured the lake : ' Owing to the immense evaporation, the 
 opposite shores, even where only fifteen miles distant, are visible 
 only in the rainy season ; then, sailing down the centre of the lake, 
 one realises its trough-like character, but coasting in-shore there is 
 a great variety of scenery. Here, for 30 miles at a stretch, you 
 sail in deep water close alongside the mountains, which rise steeply 
 to over i oco feet, showing broad patches of rock amongst miles of 
 beautiful trees ; again, in a few places, shallow flats only permit 
 access to the shore by poling in canoes. Steep rocky islands, with 
 dry soil, set out in the lake so as to be always ventilated, supply 
 sites for residence ; and many fine natural harbours give facility 
 for navigation. 3 x Could this region, as well as the shores of Vic- 
 toria Nyanza, be brought into speedy communication with the 
 Indian Ocean, huge areas would at once be at the disposal of 
 Europeans, if not for actual occupation, still for commercial and 
 agricultural enterprises, carried out through the aid of a vast 
 native population. 
 
 The British Imperial East Africa Company. 
 
 This Company arose originally from a concession given on May 
 24, 1887, to Sir W. Mackinnon by the Sultan of Zanzibar. The 
 coast-line includes the important harbours of Mombassa and Kilifi. 
 The zone of British influence extends to the Hinterland for 
 360 miles to the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. To the south is 
 the German sphere of influence, along a line that includes Mount 
 Kilimanjaro and touches the Victoria Nyanza about the centre of 
 the eastern shore. Within the territory of the British Imperial 
 East Africa Company is Mount Kenia, lying on the equator, and 
 reaching a height of 18,045 f eet - English influence extends past 
 the Victoria Nyanza to the Albert Edward Nyanza and the Albert 
 Nyanza. The region known as Uganda lies on the north-west 
 coast of the Victoria Nyanza. This lake is 3300 feet above the 
 level of the sea, has a length of 210 miles, a breadth of 225 miles, 
 and covers an area of 26,900 square miles. The Albert Nyanza 
 has a breadth of 20 miles and a length of 100 miles, and covers an 
 
 l Tanganyika, p. 139, by Edward Coode Hore, 
 
Appendices 305 
 
 area of 1800 square miles. This lake is 2300 feet above the level of 
 the sea. These vast sheets of water provide safe and easy commu- 
 nication with areas of rich country. The advantages of a railway 
 of 300 or 400 miles from Mombassa to the eastern shores of Albert 
 Nyanza are obvious at a glance. First , it will enable travellers to 
 pass quickly through the malarious belts of the coast, and thus 
 save human life ; secondly , it will open up commercial posts along 
 a long coast-line, and lead to quick developments by steamboat 
 and portages ; thirdly, it will enable Europe to crush the slave 
 trade by cutting off communication from the interior ; fourthly, it 
 will enable a complete and accurate survey to be made of all parts 
 of Equatorial Africa, of the most hidden fountains of the Nile, and 
 open up better communication with the Congo on the west and 
 Egypt on the north ; fifthly, it will be of immense aid to mission 
 work. The Church Missionary Society has had a station at 
 Mombassa since 1844, and at Uganda since 1877. 
 
 SECTION I. SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLANDS. 
 St. Helena. 
 
 Area. 47 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. The island, being of volcanic origin, is 
 rugged and mountainous, the highest peak rising to the height of 
 2700 feet. The island lies in the track of the south-east trade 
 winds, and is healthy. 
 
 Population. 1891,4116. 
 
 Chief Town. James Town, 2233. 
 
 Government. The government of the island is administered by 
 a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of five members. 
 
 Trad?. Imports, 1891, ,27,382. Exports, ,3126. 
 
 Products. There are no products worth mentioning. 
 
 Revenue. 1 89 1 , .6874. Expenditure, ,8288. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, .5408. 
 
 Public Works. ' Munden's Battery ' is the chief public work, to 
 which access is gained by the well-known ' Ladder,' or steps cut 
 up the cliffs. 
 
 Defence. The Imperial garrison has been reduced to thirty- 
 three men. A local militia exists. 
 
 Communication. The island is 1140 miles from Africa, 1800 
 miles from South America, and 760 miles south-east of Ascension. 
 The Cape steamers call every three or five weeks. 
 
 U 
 
306 British Colonisation 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1502. St. Helena discovered. 
 
 1588. Cavendish sights it. 
 
 1673. Munden captures it. 
 
 1815. Napoleon imprisoned here. 
 
 1821. Death of Napoleon. 
 
 1834. St. Helena becomes a Crown colony. 
 
 Tristan d'Acunha. 
 
 Tristan d'Acunha and Gough Island are the chief of a group of 
 islands in the South Atlantic out of the track of steamers. In 1815 
 they were taken possession of by the British, having been dis- 
 covered in 1 506 by a Portuguese admiral named Tristan d'Acunha. 
 Inaccessible Island is a lofty rock about two miles in length. The 
 Nightingale Islands are three in number, rising in peaks above 
 the sea. 
 
 Ascension. 
 
 Area. 38 square miles. 
 
 Physical Features. The island is a mere rock of volcanic origin, 
 its highest peak being 2820 feet. It lies in the track of the south- 
 east trades. 
 
 Population. 166, consisting of officers, marines, and kroomen. 
 
 Chief Town. George Town. 
 
 Government. The island is under the Board of Admiralty, and 
 is managed in all respects as if it were a man-of-war, the captain 
 being in charge. 
 
 Products. The chief product is the sea-turtle, no less than 150 
 being sometimes turned in the season, i.e. from January to May. 
 Their weight is from 500 to 800 pounds each, and their value 
 between 2 and ^3. 
 
 Communication. The island is 3417 miles from Plymouth, 760 
 from St. Helena, and 900 from Cape Palmas on the African coast. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1501. Discovered by the Portuguese. 
 1815. Occupied by the British. 
 
Appendices 307 
 
 SECTION K. THE FALKLAND ISLANDS AND SOUTH GEORGIA. 
 
 Lying about 200 to 300 miles to the east of the Straits of 
 Magellan, these islands belong to the South American continent, 
 and were very important in early times when the way to the 
 Eastern Pacific lay along the Cape Horn route. Bourgainville, 
 the great French explorer, settled a few French emigrants here in 
 1764 from Acadia and from France. The islands were called 
 once Les Isles Malouines. The Spaniards, however, were jealous 
 of this occupation, as well as that of the British later on, and en- 
 deavoured to establish themselves at Port Solidad. Great Britain 
 finally occupied them in December 20, 1832. The Buenos Ayres 
 Republic had occupied them just previously, but were compelled 
 to abandon them. The area of these islands is : East Falkland, 3000 
 square miles ; West Falkland, 2000 square miles ; adjacent islands, 
 1 500 square miles ; South Georgia, 1000 square miles a total of 
 7500 square miles. 
 
 The population, of which the majority are Scotch, number (1891) 
 1789. The only town is Stanley (725). There is a small hamlet 
 called Darwin. The island is very healthy. Sheep and cattle 
 flourish well on it, and a long grass called tussac grass is very 
 nutritious. The island is administered by a Governor and an 
 Executive and Legislative Council, There is mail communication 
 twelve times a year. 
 
 VI. THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES. 
 
 SECTION A. NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 Area. 310,700 square miles, its greatest length from north to 
 south being 680 miles, its greatest breadth 760 miles, with a coast- 
 line of 700 miles. 1 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into thirteen pastoral dis- 
 tricts, viz. : (i) Monaro, (2) Murrumbidgee, (3) Lachlan, (4) 
 Wellington, (5) Bligh, (6) Liverpool Plains, (7) Gwydir, (8) New 
 England, (9) Macleay, (10) Clarence, (11) Darling, (12) Albert, 
 (13) Warrego. It is also divided into 141 counties for electoral 
 purposes, known as the old or proclaimed counties and the new. 
 
 Physical Features. The surface of New South Wales may be 
 1 See The Seven Colonies of Australasia, by T. A. Coghlan, p. 6. 
 
308 British Colonisation 
 
 divided into three clearly marked areas : (i) the coast district, a 
 narrow strip with an average width of 60 or 70 miles ; (2) the 
 table-lands, traversing the entire length of the country, and extend- 
 ing up to 14 ist meridian ; (3) the plains of the interior, forming the 
 chief pasture-lands of New South Wales. 
 
 The chief mountains are : (i) the interior ranges ; (2) the great 
 dividing chain ; (3) the coast ranges. The Blue Mountain range 
 is one of the spurs of the great dividing chain, its highest point 
 being Mount Boomarang, 4100 feet. Of these ranges Mount 
 Kosciusko is loftiest with an elevation of 7308 feet, being about 
 700 feet below the line of perpetual snow. The rivers on the 
 western watershed are the Darling, the Lachlan, the Murrum- 
 bidgee, and the Murray. All these unite with the Murray and 
 flow into Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. The rivers on 
 the eastern watershed are the Hawkesbury, Hunter, Clarence, and 
 Macleay. 
 
 The plains of New South Wales are the Liverpool Plains, 
 Monaro Plains or Brisbane Downs, South Park and Patrick's 
 Plains on the Hunter River. 
 
 Population. In 1861, 350,860; in 1871, 503,981; in 1881, 
 751,468; in 1891, 1,132,234. In 1891 there were 8280 aborigines 
 in New South Wales, and 14,156 Chinese. 
 
 Chief Towns. Sydney, 383,386, forming 34. 1 1 per cent, of the 
 whole population ; Newcastle, 51,561 ; Broken Hill, 19,789 ; 
 Parramatta, 11,677; Goulburn, 10,916; Maitland, 10,214; Ba- 
 thurst, 9162 ; Wollongong, 8803 ; Albany, 5447 ; Orange, 5064. 
 
 Government. The Government of New South Wales is of the 
 'responsible 3 kind (18 and 19 Viet. cap. 54), and consists of (i) a 
 Governor appointed by the Crown ; (2) a Legislative Council of 
 60 members appointed by the Crown for life ; and (3) a Legisla- 
 tive Assembly of 141 members, representing 74 electoral districts, 
 and elected by all male subjects of Her Majesty of full age of 
 twenty-one years, with certain exceptions. Members of the 
 Assembly receive ^300 per annum. Voting is by ballot. Triennial 
 Parliaments. 
 
 Trade. The value of imports from countries outside Australasia, 
 
 1890, was ,11,633,283 ; exports, ^10,761,197 giving a total value 
 
 of ^22,394,480, equivalent to .20, 6s. 6d. per head. The value of 
 
 total i.e. external and inter-colonial trade was i 1 1890, imports, 
 
 1 In 1891, total imports, ^25,383,397 ; exports, ^"25,944,020. 
 
Appendices 309 
 
 22,61 5,004 ; exports, 22,045,937 giving a trade of 44,660,94 1. 1 
 With regard to the distribution of trade, the import and export 
 trade of New South Wales with the United Kingdom, 1890, was 
 valued at i 5,25 1,428. The trade with France, Germany, Belgium, 
 and other countries amounted to 5,805,516. The import and ex- 
 port trade with the Australasian colonies amounted to 22,266,460. 
 This is exclusive of the trade with Norfolk Island, Fiji, and New 
 Guinea, so that nearly eight-ninths of the total trade of New 
 South Wales is under the British flag. 2 
 
 Proditcts. Wool is the chief product of New South Wales, the 
 value of the wool exported direct from the colony, 1890, being 
 5,873,764, and that exported by way of the other colonies being 
 3,081,798, representing a total value of 8,955,562, i.e. 44 per 
 cent, of the whole export of Australasia. 
 
 In 1890, New South Wales had 333,233 acres under wheat, pro- 
 ducing 3,649,216 bushels, and not sufficient for home consumption. 
 The average production of wheat per acre for 1881-90 was 13.3 
 bushels. The colony imported, 1890, 1,798,042 bushels of wheat 
 and flour. 
 
 Maize is also a very important crop, the yield in 1890 being 
 5,713,205 bushels, or 64.2 per cent, of the whole Australasian yield. 
 The crop of oats was 256,659 bushels, averaging 21.9 bushels per 
 acre, and representing only 1.6 per cent, of the whole Australasian 
 yield. Barley grown was 81,383 bushels, averaging 19.4 bushels 
 per acre, and representing 2.9 per cent, of the whole yield. Of 
 potatoes the colony produced 52,791 tons, at an average of 2.7 
 tons per acre, representing 9*4 per cent, of the whole yield, which 
 is not enough for her own consumption. In 1890 she imported 
 39,523 tons. The area under hay was 175,242 acres, averaging 1.3 
 tons per acre, and representing 16.6 per cent, of the whole yield. 
 New South Wales also produced 842,181 gallons of wine and 3355 
 tons of table grapes. It may be noted that New South Wales 
 raised 26,533 tons f sugar in 1890, which is not enough for her 
 own consumption. 
 
 With regard to minerals, New South Wales raised, 1890, 
 3,060,876 tons of coal, valued at 1,279,089, and representing 
 70. i per cent, of the whole Australasian output. The amount of 
 gold raised was 127,761 oz., valued at 460,285, representing 7.7 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from United Kingdom, 10,580,230 ; exports to, 
 8,855,465. 
 
 2 See Coghlan's Seven Colonies of Australia, p. 49. 
 
3io British Colonisation 
 
 per cent, of the whole Australasian yield. New South Wales is 
 noted especially for its silver and silver-lead ore, the total value 
 of which, 1890, was ,2,762,554, equivalent to 96 per cent, of the 
 total value raised in Australasia. She also produced ,84,107 
 worth of copper, representing 26.4 per cent, of the whole Austra- 
 lasian yield. New South Wales produced mineral wealth, 1890, 
 to the value of 4, IDS. lod. per inhabitant. 
 
 Revenue. For year ending December 1891,^10,047,152. Ex- 
 penditure, ,10,378,603. With regard to this revenue, ,2,168,264 
 was raised from customs, ^3,439,283 from railways, ,648,553 from 
 post and telegraphs, ^2,266,612 from lands. With regard to ex- 
 penditure, ,2,357,372 was spent on railways, post and telegraphs 
 cost ^693,473, public instruction ,756,868, interest on public 
 debt ,1,905,636. 
 
 The Public Debt, 1891, was 5 2,498, 533. 
 
 It may be noted that in 1891 the total of private wealth in New 
 South Wales was calculated by the Government statistician to be 
 ^407,405,000, the public wealth ,172,805,000, municipal pro- 
 perty ,6,400,000, giving a total of ,586,700,000. It has been 
 further calculated that the private wealth equals ,363 per head of 
 the population, and the public wealth ^154, or, together, ,517 per 
 head. In 1881 the private wealth was calculated to be ,215 per 
 head; thus, within ten years, 1881-91, the private wealth has 
 nearly doubled itself. 
 
 SECTION B. TASMANIA. 
 
 Area. 26,215 square miles ; the greatest length from north to 
 south being 210 miles, the greatest breadth 200 miles. The prin- 
 cipal islands are the Furneaux group (including Flinders Island), 
 with an area of 513,000 acres, off the north-east coast, famed for 
 their seals, snakes, and thousands of mutton-birds (petrels) ; Cape 
 Barren Island, 1 10,000 acres ; at the west end of Bass Straits are 
 King's Island, 272,000 acres (notorious for its shipwrecks), Robin's 
 Island, and Hunter's Island. On the south, opposite Hobart, are 
 North Bruni and South Bruni Islands, where the last Tasmanian 
 aborigines were located, with an area of 90,000 acres. 
 
 Divisions. Tasmania is divided into eighteen counties, viz. 
 Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Wellington, Russell, Montagu, Lincoln, 
 Westmoreland, Somerset, Glamorgan, Pembroke, Monmouth, 
 Cumberland, Franklin, Montgomery, Arthur, Buckingham, Kent. 
 
Appendices 3 1 1 
 
 Physical Features. Tasmania has been described as an island 
 of mountains, forests, and lakes of remarkable beauty. The 
 Australian Alps on one side of Bass Straits and the Tasmanian 
 peaks on the other form two groups of mountains furnishing a 
 most distinctive feature of the geography of these latitudes. On 
 the continent the highest elevation is about 7000 feet ; on the 
 island the loftiest peaks are Cradle Mount, 5069 feet, Ben Lomond, 
 5010 feet. There are also Mounts Olympus and Ida, a Ben 
 Nevis, 3910 feet, and a Rough Tor, not far from a river Tamar, 
 reminding us of Cornwall and the Cornish Rough Tor in the 
 Mother-country. The principal rivers are the Derwent, 130 miles 
 in length ; the Huon, 100 miles ; the Tamar, the Davey, the Pie- 
 man. There are numerous fresh-water lakes on the table-lands, 
 the largest being the Great Lake, 3822 feet above sea-level, with 
 an area of 28,000 acres. Tasmania is also noted for its forests. 
 The climate being tempered by the sea breezes, the island is 
 used as a sanatorium by Australians, and is wonderfully adapted 
 to the European constitution. It also excels as a fruit-growing 
 country. 
 
 Population. -In 1861, 90,211; in 1871, 101,785; in 1881, 
 115,705; in 1891, 152,619. There are no aborigines, but 839 
 Chinese. 
 
 Chief Towns. City of Hobart, 33,450 ; Launceston, 17,208 ; 
 Georgetown, Longford. There is less centralisation in Tasmania 
 than in the continental colonies, there being a longer stretch of 
 coast-line and a greater choice of bays and harbours. The Der- 
 went on the south affords easy access to the centre of the island. 
 
 Government. The Government of Tasmania is of the * respon- 
 sible' kind (18 Viet. No. 17), and consists of (i) a Governor 
 appointed by the Crown ; (2) a Legislative Council of 18 members, 
 elected by the colonists on a higher franchise than the Assembly, 
 and holding their seats for six years ; (3) a Legislative Assembly 
 of 36 members, representing 28 electoral districts. Election is by 
 ballot. Members are not paid. 
 
 Trade. The value of imports from countries outside Australasia, 
 1890, ,743,276 ; exports, 323,799 giving a total value of 
 1,067,075, equivalent to 7, 8s. 5d. per head. The value of 
 total i.e. external and inter-colonial trade was : 1890, imports, 
 1,897,512 ; exports, 1,486,992 giving a trade of 3,384, 504.' 
 i In 1891, imports, 2,051,964 ; exports, 3,492,782. 
 
312 British Colonisation 
 
 Products. Wool is the chief product of Tasmania, although it 
 is the only Australasian colony in which there has been a decrease 
 of flocks. Tasmania is noted for its stud merinos, which are ex- 
 ported to other colonies. The value of the wool exported direct 
 from the colony, 1890, was ,307,949, and that exported by way of 
 the other colonies ,1 1 1,224, representing a total value of ^419,173, 
 i.e. 2.0 per cent, of the whole export of Australasia. 
 
 In 1890 Tasmania had 39,452 acres under wheat, producing 
 642,980 bushels, and not sufficient for home consumption. The 
 average yield of wheat per acre for 1881-90 was 18.3 bushels. The 
 colony imported, 1890, 234,826 bushels of wheat and flour. 
 
 Tasmania does not produce maize ; but in 1890 she grew 519,395 
 bushels of oats, averaging 26.8 bushels per acre, and representing 
 3.3 per cent, of the whole Australasian yield. Barley'was 99,842 
 bushels, averaging 24. i bushels per acre, and representing 3.6 of 
 the whole Australasian yield. Of potatoes this colony grew 73,158 
 tons, at an average of 4.0 tons per acre, representing 13.0 per cent, 
 of the whole yield, leaving a surplus of 33,374 tons for export. 
 The area under hay, 1890, was 45,381 acres, averaging 1.2 tons 
 per acre, and representing 4.0 per cent, of the whole Australasian 
 yield. Tasmania is not classed as a wine-producing colony. 
 
 With regard to minerals, Tasmania raised, 1890, 53,812 tons of 
 coal, valued at ,24,215, and representing 1*3 per cent, of the whole 
 Australasian yield. The amount of gold raised was 23,451 oz., 
 valued at ,87,114, representing 1.5 of the whole Australasian 
 yield. Tasmania also produced ,26,487 worth of silver and silver- 
 lead. Her greatest mineral export, however, was tin, of which 
 she raised ,219,868 worth, representing more than a third of the 
 whole Australasian yield. Tasmania produced mineral wealth, 
 1 890, to the value of ,2, 93. 9d. per inhabitant. 
 
 Revenue. For the year ending December 1890, ,758,100. 
 Expenditure. 722,746. With regard to the revenue of Tas- 
 mania, ^329,067 was raised from customs, ,102,642 from rail- 
 ways, ;6o,ioi from post and telegraphs, ,79,965 from public lands. 
 With regard to expenditure, ;i 10,227 was taken for railways, 
 ,67,754 for post and telegraphs, ,41,458 for public instruction, 
 ,223,652 for interest and charges on public debt. In 1891, 
 revenue, ,883,198 ; expenditure, ,851,559. 
 
 Public Debt. June 30, 1891, ,6,718,950. 
 
Appendices 3 1 3 
 
 SECTION C. VICTORIA. 
 
 Area. 87,884 square miles ; its greatest distance from east to 
 west 480 miles, from north to south 300 miles. The coast-line is 
 about 600 miles. 
 
 Divisions. Victoria is divided intoTour districts : (i) Gippsland, 
 (2) the Murray, (3) Wimmera, (4) Loddon. It is also divided into 
 thirty-seven counties. 
 
 Physical Features. A range of mountains traverses the entire 
 length of the colony, the highest peaks being Bogong, 6508 feet ; 
 Feathertop, 6393 feet ; Hotham, 6100 feet, at a distance of 60 or 
 70 miles from the sea-coast. This is called the dividing range, 
 and all the Victorian rivers have their sources here : those to the 
 north running to the Murray, and those on the south emptying 
 into the sea. With the exception of the Murray, the Goulburn, 
 and Yarra-Yarra, none of the Victorian rivers are navigable. The 
 smaller rivers in Australia are called creeks, and dwindle down in 
 dry weather ; in winter time they become torrents. The climate 
 of Melbourne is healthy, and resembles that of Marseilles. The 
 thermometer rarely falls below freezing point, and ' a cloudless sky, 
 a bright sun, and refreshing breeze are characteristic of the greater 
 number of days in each of the seasons. 3 Occasionally the heat is 
 very great at Melbourne. 
 
 Population. In 1861, 540,322; in 1871, 731,528; in 1881, 
 862,346; in 1891, 1,140,405. In 1891 there were 565 aborigines 
 and 8489 Chinese. 
 
 Chief Towns. Melbourne, 490,902, forming 43.09 of the whole 
 population ; Ballarat, 46,033 ; Bendigo, 37,238 ; Geelong, 24,210 ; 
 Castlemaine, 6802 ; Stawell, 5191. 
 
 Government. The Government of Victoria is of the 'responsible ' 
 kind (18 and 19 Viet. cap. 55), and consists of: (i) a Governor 
 appointed by the Crown ; (2) a Legislative Council of 48 members, 
 elected for 14 provinces, each member retiring in rotation and 
 holding office for six years ; (3) a Legislative Assembly of 95, 
 representing 84 electoral districts. The Council is elected by 
 voters with property qualifications ; the Assembly by manhood 
 suffrage. Members of the Council are not paid ; members of the 
 Assembly are paid ^300 per annum. The Council resembles our 
 House of Lords in many of its functions. Money bills may be 
 accepted or rejected. The Council cannot be dissolved by the 
 Governor. Voting is by ballot. Triennial Parliaments. 
 
314 British Colonisation 
 
 Trade. The value of imports from countries outside Australasia, 
 1890, was .14,428,256 ; exports, ,9,202,1 16 giving a total value of 
 ,23,630,372, equivalent to ,21, 2s. 7d. per head. The value of 
 the total external and inter-colonial trade was : 1890, imports, 
 ,22,954,01 5 ; exports, ,13,266,222 giving a trade 0^36,220,237.* 
 Products. Wool is the chief product of Victoria, the value of 
 the wool exported direct from the colony, 1890, being ,2,671,802, 
 that exported by way of the other colonies ,71,562, representing 
 a total value of ,2,743,364, i.e. 13.5 per cent, of the whole export 
 of Australasia. 
 
 Victoria is, together with Queensland, an important gold-pro- 
 ducing colony, the amount of gold raised, 1890, being 610,587 
 ounces, valued at ,2,354,244, or 39.2 per cent, of the whole 
 Australasian yield. The production of gold in Victoria from 1851, 
 the first discovery, to 1890 has been calculated to be worth 
 ,227,482,296, which represents 66.5 of the whole Australasian yield. 2 
 In 1890 there were, in Victoria, 1,145,163 acres under wheat, 
 producing 12,751,295 bushels, equivalent to 38.8 per cent, of the 
 whole Australasian yield, more than sufficient for home consump- 
 tion. In 1890 the colony exported 2,297,872 bushels. The average 
 production of wheat per acre for 1881-1890 was 10. i bushels. 
 
 Maize is not an important crop in Victoria, the yield in 1890 
 being only 574,083 bushels, or 6.4 per cent, of the whole Australasian 
 yield. The crop of oats was, 1890, 4,919,325 bushels, averaging 
 22.6 bushels per acre, and representing 31.1 of the whole yield. 
 Barley was 1,571,599 bushels, averaging 18.6 bushels per acre, and 
 representing 56.4 per cent, of the whole yield. 
 
 Of potatoes the colony produced 204,155 tons, at an average of 
 3.7 tons per acre, representing 36.3 per cent, of the whole 
 Australasian yield, and enabling her to export, 1890, 1635 tons. 
 The area under hay was 413,052 acres, averaging 1.2 tons per acre, 
 and representing 44.3 per cent, of the whole yield. Victoria also 
 produced 2,008,493 gallons of wine and 3177 tons of table grapes. 
 On comparison, therefore, it will be seen that Victoria, with an 
 area of only about one-fourth of that of New South Wales, pro- 
 duces far larger quantities of wheat, oats, barley, hay, potatoes, and 
 wine. 3 It is, therefore, infinitely richer in its food supply and 
 necessaries of life. 
 
 1 In 1891, imports, ^21, 111,608 ; exports, ^37,718,351. 
 
 2 See The Seven Colonies of Australasia, p. 129, by T. A. Coghlan, 1892. 
 
 3 Ibid, passim. 
 
Appendices 3 1 5 
 
 The silver production of Victoria is small its value, 1890, being 
 ,4869, representing only 0.2 per cent. Her coal supply is also 
 very limited, the production for the same year being only 57,962 
 tons, valued at ^53,655, equivalent to 0.2 per cent, of the whole 
 Australasian yield. New South Wales is far richer in coal and 
 silver. Victoria produced mineral wealth, 1890, to the value of 
 2, 2s. 8d. per inhabitant. 
 
 Revenue. For the year ending June 1891, ^8,343,588. Ex- 
 penditure, ,9,128,699. With regard to the revenue of Victoria, 
 ,2,525,572 was raised from customs, ^3,306,580 from railways, 
 .499,506 from post and telegraphs, ,613,068 from public lands. 
 With regard to expenditure, 2,469,800 was taken for railways, 
 ,744,096 for post and telegraphs, ^775,124 for public instruction, 
 /i, 646,884 for interest and charges on public debt. 
 
 The Public Debt, June 30, 1891, was ,43,482,797. 
 
 SECTION D. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 Area. 1,057,250 square miles, extending 1280 miles from 
 north to south and 800 miles from east to west. This is the largest 
 of the Australasian colonies. It is nearest to India, Singapore, 
 and Batavia. Its coast-line is 3000 miles. 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into six land districts : 
 (r) the South- Western Division, (2) Gascoyne, (3) North-Western 
 Division, (4) Kimberley, (5) Eucla, (6) Eastern Division. There are 
 also twenty-six counties in the settled parts. 
 
 Physical Features. The colony of Western Australia has been 
 termed the giant skeleton of a colony, thinly inhabited, and 
 stretching over vast expanses of country. It is thus described by 
 a late Governor, Sir F. A. Weld : ' The whole country, from north 
 to south, excepting the spots cleared for cultivation, may be 
 described as one vast forest in the sense of being heavily timbered : 
 sometimes, but comparatively seldom, the traveller comes across 
 an open, sandy plain covered with shrubs and flowering plants 
 in infinite variety and exquisite beauty, and often, especially in the 
 northern and eastern districts, low, scrubby trees and bushes fill the 
 place of timber ; but taking the word * forest ' in its widest sense, 
 as wild, woody, and bushy country Western Australia, as far as I 
 have seen, is covered with one vast forest stretching far away into 
 regions yet unexplored.' 
 
316 British Colonisation 
 
 Population. In 1861, 15,691 ; in 1871, 25,353 5 in l88l > 29,708 ; 
 in 1891, 49,782. In 1891 there were 6245 aborigines in Western 
 Australia and 917 Chinese. 
 
 Chief Towns. Perth, 8447 ; Fremantle, 5607 ; both these towns 
 containing about one-third of the whole population. Other towns 
 are : Albany, Geraldton, York, Bunbury, Guildford, Northampton. 
 
 Government. The Government of Western Australia is of the 
 'responsible' kind (53 and 54 Viet. cap. 26), and has come into 
 existence very recently. It consists of (i) a Governor appointed 
 by the Crown ; (2) a Legislative Council of 1 5 members nominated 
 by the Crown ; (3) a Legislative Assembly of 30 members. 
 
 Trade. The value of imports from countries outside Australasia, 
 
 1890, was ,512,608; exports, ,483,380 giving a total value of 
 ,995,988, equivalent to .21, 2s. 2d. per head. The value of total 
 i.e. external and inter-colonial trade was : 1890, imports, 
 .874,447; exports, .671,813 giving a 'trade of ,1,546,260. In 
 
 1891, imports, ,1,280,093 ; exports, ,799,466. 
 
 Products. The wool exported direct was ^248,137, and that 
 exported by way of the other colonies ,13,215, representing a 
 total value of ^261,352, i.e. 1.3 per cent, of the whole export of 
 Australasia. In 1890 Western Australia had 33,820 acres under 
 wheat, producing 465,025 bushels not enough for home consump- 
 tion. The average production of wheat per acre for 1881-1890 was 
 1 1.8 bushels. The colony imported, 1890, 136,725 bushels of 
 wheat and flour. 
 
 Western Australia grows very little maize, unlike Queensland 
 and New South Wales. The crop of oats was only 37,713 bushels, 
 the colony importing 100,136 bushels. Barley was 87,813 bushels, 
 averaging 14.8 bushels per acre, and representing only 3.1 of the 
 whole yield. Of potatoes the colony only produced 1655 tons, at 
 an average of 2.9 tons per acre, representing 0.3 per cent, of the 
 whole yield, and not enough for her own consumption. In 1890 
 she imported 936 tons. The area under hay was 23,183 acres, 
 averaging i.o ton per acre, representing 2.1 of the whole yield. 
 Western Australia also produced 194,465 gallons of wine. 
 
 With regard to minerals, Western Australia is not a coal-pro- 
 ducing colony. The amount of gold raised in 1890 was 22,256 
 ounces, valued at ,86,664, representing 1.4 of the whole Australasian 
 yield. Western Australia is not a silver-producing colony ; and 
 her copper-mines produced, 1890, ,140,000 worth of metal, repre- 
 
Appendices 3 1 7 
 
 senting only 0.5 of whole yield. Still, Western Australia produced, 
 1890, minerals to the value of 2 for each inhabitant. 
 
 Revenue. Yor the year ending December 1891, ^497,670. 
 Expenditure , .435,623. With regard to the revenue, .237,697 
 was raised from customs, ,65,710 from railways, ,31,336 from post 
 and telegraphs, ; 101,981 from lands. With regard to expenditure, 
 ,68,348 was spent on railways, 4 1,2 43 on post and telegraphs, 
 ,12,486 on puhlic instruction, ,76,772 as interest on public debt. 
 
 The Public Debt in 1891 was ,1,613,594. 
 
 SECTION E. SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
 
 A rea.- 380,070 square miles ; its greatest length from north to 
 south being 1850 miles, and the width 650 miles, with a coast-line 
 of 2000 miles. 
 
 Divisions. The colony is divided into four pastoral districts : 
 (i) the Eastern, with an area of 4840 square miles ; (2) the Western, 
 15,641 square miles; (3) the Northern, 123,853 square miles; 
 (4) the North-eastern, 28,126 square miles. It is also divided into 
 thirty-nine counties, including an area of 66,558 square miles. It 
 is also divided into * hundreds ' and district councils : the former 
 being blocks of country thrown open for agricultural settlement on 
 annual leases, the latter being areas of what may be described as 
 municipal jurisdiction. The northern territory seems to be a mere 
 appendage to the old settlements of the south, separated by a vast 
 desert, and connected only by the telegraph wire. 
 
 Physical Features. There are three ranges of mountains : 
 
 (1) Mount Lofty, 2334 feet, almost overshadowing Adelaide ; 
 
 (2) the Flinders Range, extending for hundreds of miles north- 
 wards from Spencer's Gulf, the highest points being Mount 
 Remarkable, 3100 feet, and Mount Brown, 3100 feet; (3) the 
 Hummocks, extending northwards from St. Vincent's Gulf. The 
 chief rivers are the Murray, navigable from beyond Albany in 
 New South Wales, emptying into Lake Alexandrina, and thence 
 into the sea by the Murray mouth ; the Torrens ; and in the 
 northern territory the Roper, navigable for nearly 100 miles from 
 the Gulf of Carpentaria. The largest island is Kangaroo Island, 
 85 miles long and 30 miles broad, at the mouth of Gulf St. Vincent. 
 Lake Torrens is a vast inland salt lake ; Lakes Eyre and Gardner 
 are also salt lakes. There are also several curious volcanic fresh- 
 
318 British Colonisation 
 
 water lakes, such as Blue Lake. The interior is a vast Sahara, 
 traversed with difficulty. 
 
 Population. In 1861, 126,830; in 1871, 185,626; in 1881, 
 279,865 ; in 1891, 320,431. In 1891 there were 23,789 aborigines 
 and 3676 Chinese. 
 
 Chief Towns. Adelaide, 133,252, representing 41.58 per cent, of 
 the whole population ; also Port Adelaide, 15,976 ; Gawler, on the 
 Gawler River ; Kapunda, the site of the copper-mines ; Kooringa, 
 1 01 miles from Adelaide ; Mount Gambier, the largest of the 
 eastern towns, close to the extinct volcano, and the centre of what 
 is termed the Garden of the Colony ; Petersburg ; Port Victor, 
 near Encounter Bay ; and Wollaroo, the seaport of a mining 
 district. 
 
 Government. The Government of South Australia is of the 
 'responsible' kind (13 and 14 Viet. cap. 59), and consists of (i) a 
 Governor appointed by the Crown ; (2) a Legislative Council of 
 24 members, retiring in rotation after certain intervals, and elected 
 on a higher franchise than the members of the Assembly ; 
 and (3) a Legislative Assembly of 52 members, elected by all 
 male subjects of Her Majesty of full age of twenty-one years, a 
 natural-born or naturalised subject. Members both of the Council 
 and Assembly are paid. Voting is by ballot. Triennial parlia- 
 ments. 
 
 Trade. The value of imports from countries outside Australasia 
 was, 1890, ,3,500,013 ; exports, $,333,729 giving a total value 
 of ,8,833,742, equivalent to 27, 145. 8d. per head. 
 
 The value of total external and inter-colonial trade was : 1890, 
 imports, .8,333,783; exports, 8,961,982 giving a trade of 
 17,295,765. In 1891, imports, 9,95 6 ,542 ; exports, 10,512,049. 
 
 It may be observed that the enormous impetus given to South 
 Australian trade since 1881 is one of the marked features of 
 Australasian statistics. Some of it, however, can be traced to the 
 development of the Barrier district of New South Wales, of which 
 South Australia is the natural outlet. 
 
 Products. Wool stands second in value amongst the products 
 of South Australia, the value of wool exported direct from the 
 colony, 1890, being 1,075,255, and that exported by way of the 
 other colonies 220,496, representing a total value of 1,295,751, 
 i.e. 6.4 per cent, of the whole export of Australasia. 
 
 In 1890 South Australia had 1,673,573 acres under wheat, pro- 
 
Appendices 319 
 
 ducing 9,399,389 bushels, enabling her to export 10,959,102 bushels, 
 a most important article of export, at 45. 3d. per bushel, and exceed- 
 ing the value of the wool export. The average production of 
 wheat per acre for 1881-90 was 6.0 bushels. Maize is not returned 
 as a product of South Australia, and the crop of oats for 1890 was 
 only 116,229 bushels, averaging n.6 bushels per acre, and repre- 
 senting only 0.8 per cent, of the whole Australasian yield. The 
 barley grown was 175,583 bushels, averaging 12.4 bushels per acre, 
 and representing 6.3 per cent, of the whole yield. Of potatoes the 
 colony produced 23,963 tons, at an average of 3.5 tons per acre, 
 representing 4.3 per cent, of the whole yield, which is not enough 
 for her own consumption, as she imported 2783 tons in 1890. 
 The area under hay was 345,150 acres, averaging i.o ton per acre, 
 representing 24.2 per cent, of the whole yield. South Australia 
 produced 762,776 gallons of wine and 5631 tons of table grapes. 
 With regard to minerals, South Australia does not produce coal, 
 and her production of gold was only 26,086 oz., valued at ,101,577, 
 representing 1.7 of the whole Australasian yield. Of silver she 
 produced an amount to the value of ,12,819, representing 0.4 of 
 the whole yield. South Australia is the great copper-producing 
 colony, and in 1890 she was credited with ,231,592 worth of this 
 mineral, representing 72.7 per cent, of the whole Australasian out- 
 put. Up to 1890 she had produced .19,751,450 worth. The 
 colony produced mineral wealth, 1890, to the value of i t 35. iid. 
 per inhabitant. 
 
 Revenue. For year ending June 1891, ,2,732,222. Expendi- 
 ture, ,2,603,498. With regard to this revenue, ,615,266 was 
 raised from customs, .1,198,157 from railways, ,214,027 from post 
 and telegraphs, ,245,513 from lands. With regard to the expendi- 
 ture, ,620,229 was spent on railways, ,188,327 on post and tele- 
 graphs, ,136,482 on public instruction, .827,993 on interest on 
 public debt. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ,21,776,032. 
 
 SECTION F. QUEENSLAND. 
 
 Area. 668,497 square miles ; its greatest length from north to 
 south being 1300 miles, the breadth 800 miles, with a coast-line of 
 2550 miles. 
 
 Divisions. Queensland is divided into twelve large districts : 
 (i) Moreton, (2) Darling Downs, (3) Burnett, (4) Port Curtis, 
 
320 British Colonisation 
 
 (5) Maranoa, (6) Leichhardt, (7) Kennedy, (8) Mitchell, (9) War- 
 rego, (10) Gregory, (u) Burke, (12) Cook. It is also divided into 
 financial districts, (i) the southern, (2) the central, '(3) the northern. 
 
 It has been proposed recently to divide Queensland into two 
 separate colonies : the line of demarcation running west from 
 Cape Palmerston on the east coast in South latitude 21 30' to the 
 eastern boundary of South Australia. The area would be 249,000 
 square miles ; population, 50,000. 
 
 Physical Features. Off the east coast the great Barrier Reefs, 
 running parallel with the coast at a distance of 10 to 100 miles, are 
 a peculiar feature, very dangerous to early navigators. A coast 
 range of mountains runs from York Peninsula nearly to Brisbane 
 at an average distance of 50 miles from the coast. The main 
 range or great dividing range runs inland of the coast range, and is 
 a continuation of the Cordillera of New South Wales and Victoria, 
 extending north to latitude 21 and thence west. Cape York 
 Peninsula, which runs up in the form of a pyramid into the waters 
 of Torres Straits, is a notable feature. There are many harbours, 
 of which Moreton Harbour is the chief, receiving the waters of six 
 rivers. The surface of Queensland may be divided into three 
 portions : (i) a coast district, consisting of a narrow strip lying 
 along the coast, traversed by numerous rivers ; (2) a highland 
 region, including the spurs of the coast range ; (3) level tracts ex- 
 tending westward to the South Australian boundary line. The 
 conditions of Queensland are those of a colony lying partly in a 
 tropical and partly in a sub-tropical zone. This implies a variation 
 of products and industries practically unknown in the other Aus- 
 tralian colonies, although, of course, South and West Australia 
 have tropical provinces. 
 
 Population. In 1861, 30,059; in 1871, 120,104; m 1881, 
 213,525 ; in 1891, 393,718, representing a quicker increase since 
 1 86 1 than any other Australasian colony. In 1891 there were said 
 to be over 70,000 natives in Queensland and 8574 Chinese. 
 There are also said to be 9000 or 10,000 kanakas, or Polynesian 
 labourers, coming under indentures from the Pacific Islands to the 
 sugar estates. 
 
 Chief Towns. Brisbane, 101,564, forming 25.80 per cent, of the 
 whole population; Rockhampton, 13,380; Maryborough, 8700; 
 Townsville, 8564 ; Gympie, 8449 ; Ipswich, 7625 ; Toowoomba, 7007. 
 
 Government. The Government of Queensland is of the 'respon- 
 
Appendices 321 
 
 sible' kind (June 1859), and consists of: (i) a Governor; (2) a 
 Legislative Council of 39 members nominated by the Governor, and 
 holding office for life ; (3) a Legislative Assembly of .72 members, 
 representing 60 electoral districts, and elected by all male sub- 
 jects of Her Majesty of full age of twenty-one years, after a six 
 months' residence in one locality. The terms of the electoral 
 franchise are high, necessitating, inter alia^ a freehold qualification 
 of .100 per annum or a receipt of ,100 per annum salary. Mem- 
 bers receive .300 per annum. Voting is by ballot. Quinquennial 
 Parliaments. 
 
 Trade. The value of imports from countries outside Australasia, 
 1890, was .2,502,008 ; exports, ,2,449,658 giving a total value 
 of ^4,95 1,666, equivalent to .12, 145. nd. per head. The value of 
 total i.e. external and inter-colonial trade was : 1890, imports, 
 ,5,066,700; exports, ,8,554,512 giving a trade of ^13,621,212. 
 In 1891, imports, .5,079,004 ; exports, ,8,305,387. 
 
 Products. The value of the wool exported direct from the colony 
 was ,1,821,988, and that exported by way of the other colonies 
 being ,702,754, representing a total value of .2,524,742, i.e. 12.4 
 per cent, of the whole export of Australasia. 
 
 In 1890 Queensland had only 10,390 acres under wheat, producing 
 207,990 bushels, and totally insufficient for home consumption. 
 The average production of wheat per acre for 1881-1890 was 
 10.5 bushels. The colony imported no less than 2,295,459 bushels 
 of wheat and flour. Maize is the principal crop grown in Queens- 
 land, the yield in 1890 being 2,373,803 bushels, or 23.4 per cent, of 
 the whole Australasian yield. The crop of oats was only 8967 
 bushels, that of barley only 12,673 bushels. Of potatoes the colony 
 produced 28,810 tons, averaging 3.1 tons per acre, representing 
 5.1 per cent, of the whole yield, not sufficient for her own consump- 
 tion. In 1890 she imported 15,01 1 tons. The area under hay was 
 31,106 acres, averaging 1.7 tons per acre, representing only 3.9 of 
 the whole yield. Queensland also produced 189,274 gallons of 
 wine and 1074 tons of table grapes. 
 
 The sugar industry is peculiar to Queensland, together with 
 New South Wales. In 1890 there were in the former colony 
 50,922 acres planted, producing 69,983 tons. Queensland was 
 enabled to export, 1890, 40,521 tons, valued at ,695,892. 
 
 With regard to minerals, Queensland raised, 1890, 338,344 tons 
 of coal, valued at ,157,077, and representing 8.6 of the whole Aus- 
 
 x 
 
322 British Colonisation 
 
 tralasian output, and ranking with New South Wales and New 
 Zealand as a coal-producing colony. The amount of gold raised 
 was 610,587 oz., valued at ,2,137,054, representing 35.6 of the 
 whole Australasian yield, and placing Queensland next only to 
 Victoria as a gold-producing colony. Queensland also produced 
 ^56,639 worth of silver, representing 2.0 per cent, of the whole 
 yield. Queensland produced, 1890, mineral wealth to the value of 
 ;6, gs. 8d. per inhabitant, the highest average of all the Australasian 
 colonies. 
 
 Revenue. For year ending June 1891, ^3,350,223. Expendi- 
 ture, ,3,684,655. With regard to this revenue, ^1,261,757 was 
 raised from customs, ,882,762 from railways, .218,801 from post 
 and telegraphs, ,534,342 from public lands. With regard to 
 expenditure, .639,597 was spent on railways, ^333,048 on post 
 and telegraphs, .266,304 on public instruction, whilst ; 1,139,034 
 was taken for the charges on the public debt. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, .29,578,384. 
 
 SECTION G. NEW GUINEA. 
 
 In November 1884 the British protectorate was proclaimed over 
 the south coast of New Guinea to the eastward of I4ist meridian 
 of E. longitude. In 1882 the Queensland Government had sent 
 Captain Chester to annex it, but the act was disallowed at home. 
 In December 1884 a German squadron hoisted the German flag 
 on the north coast of New Guinea, from the I4ist meridian to 
 Huon Gulf, and in Admiralty, Hermit, Anchorite, New Britain, 
 and New Ireland groups, the latter being named King William's 
 Land. The discovery of New Guinea dates back to 1526, when 
 the island was sighted by Don George de Menesis, a Portuguese 
 sailor, who was driven out of his course in voyaging from Malacca 
 to the Moluccas. He called it Papua. In 1643 Abel Tasman 
 explored part of the coast, and in 1699 Dampier circumnavigated 
 the island. In 1770 Cook sailed along the coast, and in 1792 
 Dentrecasteaux visited it. In 1846-50 Captain Owen Stanley sur- 
 veyed a portion of the coast. The earliest attempt at settlement 
 by Europeans was made by a Dutchman, Captain Steenboem, in 
 1828 ; but the establishment of the London Missionary Society in 
 1871 resulted in throwing most light upon the island. In 1873 
 Captain Moresby discovered and named Port Moresby on the 
 south-east coast. The British authorities were induced to annex 
 
Appendices 323 
 
 South-East Guinea, from the fear lest any European Power should 
 plant itself there as a menace to Australia, or convert any portion 
 of it into a penal settlement, as France has converted New Cale- 
 donia. 
 
 Area of New Guinea. 305,900 square miles, of which it is 
 calculated 86,360 are British, 68,785 German, and 150,755 Dutch. 
 It is 1400 miles in length, and 450 miles in breadth. 
 
 Physical Features. 'An extended map of New Guinea looks 
 much like a dromedary. The head rises from Geelvink Bay on 
 the north, and the throat is formed by the M'Clure inlet on the 
 west. Then eastward from Geelvink Bay the island increases in 
 bulk until you come to the broadest part, about 450 miles, narrow- 
 ing again until you reach the peninsula, which is most mountain- 
 ous. In some places, on both the north and south-east coasts, the 
 mountains rise precipitous from the sea, and end in the east in the 
 two prongs, between which is Sir John Milne Bay.' 1 It is con- 
 jectured that there are about 460,000 natives in British New 
 Guinea. Around the mouth of the Fly River are found large 
 native houses. In the swamps, streets of houses are built on piles, 
 and in the Motu district are several villages built in the sea. 
 Yams, sago, the sugar-cane are grown. The island is fertile, 
 though unhealthy. There are forty-two mission stations, chiefly 
 conducted by Polynesian native teachers. There has been great 
 mortality amongst these teachers no fewer than 103 having died 
 out of 201 imported since 1871. Comparatively little is known of 
 the interior of this vast tropical island, although only 90 miles dis- 
 tant from Australia. It is not fitted to be a home of European 
 immigrants. From its geographical situation it is more closely 
 connected with Queensland than any other colony. Murray 
 Island, which lies midway between Queensland and New Guinea, 
 has been joined to Queensland. In a certain sense British New 
 Guinea may be regarded as an annexe of Queensland. 
 
 SECTION H. NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 Area. 104,471 square miles. The North Island has a length 
 of about 515 miles, and a breadth of about 250 miles, with a coast- 
 line of 2200 miles. The South Island, or, as it is officially called, 
 
 1 Paper by Mr. Chalmers, Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, 
 vol. xviii. 
 
324 British Colonisation 
 
 the Middle Island, has a length of about 525 miles, and a breadth 
 of about 1 80, with a coast-line of 2000 miles. Amongst the islands 
 of New Zealand are Stewart Island, with an area of 665 square 
 miles, the Chatham, the Auckland, the Campbell, the Bounty 
 Islands. 
 
 Divisions. New Zealand is divided into nine provincial dis- 
 tricts : Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, 
 Otago, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Southland. It is also divided 
 into sixty-three counties. 
 
 Physical Features. The most striking feature of New Zealand 
 geography is a mountain range running the whole length of the 
 two islands in the direction of south-west to north-east. Amongst 
 the highest peaks are Mount Cook, 12,349 feet ; Mount Hoch- 
 stetter, 11,200 feet; Mount Egmont, 8300 feet; Tongariro, an 
 active volcano, 6500 feet. In the South Island are the Southern 
 Alps, stretching along a distance of 200 miles. The Canterbury 
 Plains, the largest in New Zealand, are also a notable feature. 
 The two islands are separated from one another by Cook Strait. 
 By the nearest line, from point to point, New Zealand is 1175 
 miles from New South Wales. 
 
 Population In 1861, 99,021; in 1871, 256,393; in 1881, 
 489,933 ; in 1891, 626,658. In 1891 there were 41,523 Maoris, and 
 4292 Chinese. 
 
 Chief Towns. Auckland, 51,127; Christchurch, 47,846; Dun- 
 edin, 45,865 ; Wellington, 33,224 ; Invercargill, 8551 ; Napier, 
 8341 ; Nelson, 6626 ; Oamaru, 5621 ; Wanganui, 5011. In New 
 Zealand the population is more evenly distributed than in the other 
 Australasian colonies. 
 
 Government. The Government of New Zealand is of the ' re- 
 sponsible ' kind (1852), and consists of (i) a Governor appointed by 
 the Crown ; (2) a Legislative Council of 40 members appointed by 
 the Crown for life ; (3) a House of Representatives of 74 members, 
 including 4 Maoris, elected by adult males on the six months 
 residential qualification. Members of the Council receive 100 
 for every session, if resident more than three miles from the 
 Assembly Buildings ; and members of the House of Representa- 
 tives receive 100 for every session. Triennial Parliaments. 
 
 Trade. The value of the imports from countries outside Aus- 
 tralasia was ,5,172,932 ; exports, 8,177,472 giving a total value of 
 13,350,404, equivalent to 21, 95. lod. per head. The value of 
 
Appendices 325 
 
 total i.e. external and inter-colonial trade was : 1890, imports, 
 6,260,525; exports, ,9,811,720 giving a trade of ^16,072,245. 
 In 1891, imports, ,6,503,849 ; exports, 9,06,397- 
 
 Products. The wool exported direct, 1890, was worth ,4,139,924, 
 and that exported by way of other colonies ,9465, representing a 
 total value of ,4,149,389, i.e. 20.4 per cent, of the whole export of 
 Australasia. 
 
 In 1890 New Zealand had 301,460 acres under wheat, producing 
 5,723,610 bushels more than enough for home consumption. 
 The average production of wheat per acre for 1881-90 was 24.5 
 bushels. The colony exported 4,943,652 bushels in 1890. The 
 maize crop yielded 238,864 bushels, and the crop of oats was 
 9,947,036, averaging 31.0 bushels per acre, and representing 62.9 
 per cent, of the whole Australasian yield. The barley grown was 
 758,833 bushels, averaging 27.8 bushels per acre, and representing 
 27.2 per cent, of the whole yield. Of potatoes, the colony produced 
 178,121 tons, at an average of 5.2 tons per acre, representing 31.6 
 per cent, of the whole yield, and allowing her to export 28,872 
 tons. It will therefore be seen that for wheat, oats, barley, and 
 potatoes the yield per acre is higher than in any other colony. 
 The area under hay was 44,045 acres, averaging 1.4 tons per acre, 
 and representing 4.9 of the whole yield. New Zealand is not 
 returned as a wine- and grape-producing country. 
 
 With regard to minerals, New Zealand raised, 1890, 635,481 tons 
 of coal, valued at .349,936, and representing 19.2 of the whole 
 Australasian output. The amount of gold raised was 193,193 oz., 
 valued at 773,438, representing 12.9 per cent, of the whole Aus- 
 tralasian yield. Of silver, New Zealand only raised 6162 worth 
 in 1890, representing 0.2 per cent, of the whole yield. New Zealand 
 produced mineral wealth, 1890, to the value of ,2, gs. id. per 
 inhabitant. 
 
 Revenue. For the year ending December 1890, .4, 193,942. 
 Expenditure, 4,081,566. With regard to this revenue, .1,535,868 
 was raised from customs, 1,143,989 from railways, .338,315 
 from post and telegraphs, 330,956 from public lands. With 
 regard to expenditure, .725,332 was spent on railways, .257,684 
 on post and telegraphs, ^397,885 on public instruction, ,1,640,289 
 on charges on the public debt. 
 
 The Public Debt, March 31, 1891, was 38,830,350. 
 
 From the above figures some general conclusions may be 
 
326 British Colonisation 
 
 gathered especially with regard to the distribution of industries. 
 It will be noticed that New South Wales figures as the great 
 wool-producing colony her share of the export being no less 
 than 44 per cent. She also exports 96 per cent, of the silver 
 raised in Australasia ; and her coal is also an exceptional source of 
 wealth, the amount raised, 1890, being more than 70 per cent, of 
 the whole. She also raises more than 30 per cent, of the tin. As 
 far as mineral wealth is concerned, New South Wales is amply 
 endowed. Victoria, however, stands pre-eminent as the great 
 gold-producing colony (39.2 per cent.), although Queensland (35.6 
 per cent.), owing to the richness of the Mount Morgan mines, is 
 running her close. South Australia produces more than 70 per 
 cent, of the copper. The wealth of New Zealand in coal (19.2 
 per cent.), in gold (12.9 per cent.), is considerable. 
 
 When we come to crops and cereals, the variations of industries 
 are remarkable. Wheat, oats, barley, potatoes grow best in New 
 Zealand ; but the importance of Australasia as a producer of wheat 
 is small when compared with the rest of the world. The greatest 
 amount of wheat is grown in South Australia, and together with 
 Victoria and New Zealand it is able to export some of its surplus. 
 Both Queensland and New South Wales are compelled to import 
 largely. New Zealand (62.9 per cent.) and Victoria (31.1 per 
 cent.) are the great oat-growing countries, whilst New South Wales 
 (64.2 per cent.) and Queensland (26.7 percent.) produce the largest 
 amount of maize. Victoria (50.4 per cent.) and New Zealand (27.2 
 per cent.) are the great barley-growing colonies, and produce, also, 
 36.3 per cent, and 31.6 per cent, of the whole crop of potatoes. 
 With regard to other industries, New South Wales and Queens- 
 land are the only sugar-producing colonies, whilst South Australia 
 and Victoria are most successful with the wine industry. There is 
 no article, however, so valuable to Australasia as wool. 
 
 SECTION I. FIJI. 
 
 Area. 7400 square miles. There are about 250 islands, of 
 which half are inhabited. The largest are Viti Levu, 4200 square 
 miles, and Vanua Levu, 2400 square miles. Other islands are 
 Taviuni, 217 square miles; Kandavu, 124 square miles; Ovalu, 
 where the old capital of Fiji, Levuka, is situated ; and Gau, 
 Lakeba, Koro, and Mago. 
 
Appendices 327 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into fourteen provinces, each 
 under the control of a Roko Tui, or chief native officer. 
 
 Physical Features. The whole group lies within the tropics, 
 and in the track of the south-east trades. The islands are all 
 mountainous, more or less. Some peaks rise to the height of 3000 
 to 4000 feet. Nearly all the islands are surrounded by coral reefs. 
 Many of them are of volcanic origin, and hot springs are found 
 there as in the West Indies. Viti Levu is the only island with 
 rivers of any importance, viz. the Rewa, Navua, Siga, Tokacond : 
 these permit of navigation to the unusual extent, for an island, often 
 or twenty miles. There are many good harbours and anchorages. 
 At times the rainfall is very heavy, and hurricanes occasionally 
 occur. These are not so violent as in Mauritius and the West 
 Indies. 1 
 
 Population. 1891, 121,180, of whom 110,871 are native Fijians, 
 6311 Indian immigrants, 1988 Europeans, with a mixture of 
 Polynesians, half-castes, and Chinese. Nearly half of the inhabi- 
 tants live on Viti Levu. 
 
 Chief Towns. Suva, the capital, on Viti Levu (700) ; Levuka. 
 
 Government. Fiji is a Crown colony, and is administered by 
 (i) a Governor nominated by the Crown; (2) an Executive 
 Council ; (3) a Legislative Council of six official and six non- 
 official nominated members. The natives live under a system of 
 village councils. 
 
 Trade. 1891, imports, ^259,049. Exports, 474*334- Nearly 
 the whole of Fiji imports and exports is with British colonies. 
 'Their trade (1872-1886) was chiefly carried on with New South 
 Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand. The imports and exports from 
 and to British possessions were respectively 87 per cent, and 79 per 
 cent. The same from and to the United Kingdom were only 9 per 
 cent, and 7 per cent.' 2 In 1891, the imports from United Kingdom 
 were .195. 
 
 Products. Sugar is the most important product. Bananas 
 come next, cocoa-nuts, tea, tobacco, vanilla. Coffee-growing has 
 been tried, but has failed owing to the attacks of the Acarus coffece. 
 Indian corn is grown by the natives. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ,71,250. Expenditure, ,67,820. 
 
 Public De&t.i&gt, ^246,690. 
 
 1 Paper on 'Agriculture in Fiji,' Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Insti- 
 tute, vol. xxi. 2 Sir Rawson W. Rawson. 
 
328 British Colonisation 
 
 THE GILBERT ISLANDS. 
 
 The Gilbert Archipelago, over which a British protectorate has 
 recently been proclaimed, lies across the equator in longitude 170 
 and 1 80 E., to the north-west of the Fiji group. It consists of 16 
 atolls, many of them triangulai in shape. It was discovered by 
 Marshall and Gilbert in 1788. The inhabitants are described as 
 a mixed Malayo-Polynesian race, and supply the labour market of 
 Fiji. They are known as Tokalaus in the Pacific. Apimama is 
 one of the chief islands. The group has been visited by German 
 traders from Apia, who import Hamburg gin in large quantities. 
 
 Cocoa-nuts and copra are the chief products. 
 
 Since 1877 these islands, together with the southern Solomon 
 Islands, the New Hebrides, the Tongan or Friendly Islands, 
 the Samoan or Navigators' Islands, and other small islands in 
 Melanesia, have fallen under the High Commissioner of the West 
 Pacific. The object of this Commission has been to carry out the 
 Pacific Islanders Protection Acts, 1872 and 1875, anc ^ to provide 
 a civil court for settlement of disputes between British subjects. 
 It covered, indeed, all islands not included in Fiji, Queensland, 
 or New South Wales, or claimed by any foreign Power. 
 
 The following are some general statistics, 1891, of the seven 
 ' responsible ' colonies of Australasia : 
 
 Religious Denominations. Number. 
 
 Church of England, . . . .1,516,190 
 
 Roman Catholic, .... 829,180 
 
 Presbyterian, ..... 495,830 
 
 Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, . . 440,680 
 
 Congregational,. . . . . 78,120 
 
 Baptist, . ... . . . 84,340 
 
 Lutheran, ..... 75.240 
 
 Salvation Army, .... 42,820 
 
 Unitarian, ..... 4> 2 3 
 
 Other Protestants, . . 49>77o 
 
 Hebrews, ..... 14,820 
 
 Pagans, . . . 49,5^0 
 
 Unclassed, . 129,280 
 
 3,810,080 
 
Appendices 329 
 
 State-aided Immigrants to 1890. 
 
 Prior to 1890. 1881-90. Total. 
 
 New South Wales, . 114,253 34,79 148,332 
 
 Victoria,. . . 140,102 140,102 
 
 Queensland, . . 52,399 103,140 155,539 
 
 South Australia, . 88,050 7,298 95,348 
 
 West Australia, . . 889 4,552 5,441 
 
 Tasmania, . 18,965 2,734 21,699 
 
 New Zealand, . . 100,920 14,614 
 
 515,578 166,417 681,995 
 
 Of late years State-aided immigration to the Australasian colonies 
 has practically ceased. 
 
 Distribution of Trade in Australasia. 
 
 The greater portion of the trade of Australasia viz. about three- 
 quarters is with the United Kingdom ; the remainder is carried 
 on with the United States, France, Germany, and Belgium. 
 This foreign trade, especially with Belgium, is growing. The 
 steamers of the Messageries Maritimes (1883), of the Nord 
 Deutscher Lloyd Company of Bremen (1887), testify to its im- 
 portance. The following is a statistical account of the external 
 trade of Australasia in 1881 and 1890-91 : 
 
 1881. 1890-91 
 
 With the United Kingdom (exports 
 
 and imports), . . . ^50,004,607 56,363,91 1 
 
 British possessions (exports and 
 
 imports), . . 7,336,156 5,476,404 
 
 Foreign countries .... 7,213,915 13,383,412 
 
 ^64,554,678 ^75,2.23,727 
 
 In 1 88 1 the trade with the United Kingdom constituted 77.4 
 per cent. ; in 1890 this was reduced to 74.9 per cent. That with 
 British possessions had also decreased from 11.4 to 7.3, whilst that 
 with foreign countries had increased from 11.2 to 17.8 per cent. 1 
 
 The best prospects of expansion for Australasian trade lie in the 
 East, especially with India, China, Japan, and the East Indian 
 Archipelago. A large business, especially in tea, is done with the 
 1 The Seven Colonies of Australasia, by T. A. Coghlan, p. 32. 
 
330 
 
 British Colonisation 
 
 island of Ceylon. The bulk of the South Pacific trade is with 
 Fiji and New Caledonia. A glance at the conditions and prospects 
 of Australasian trade proves at once the paramount importance to 
 the colonists of naval defence and a system of naval co-operation 
 with the Mother-country. A safe passage to Antwerp and Ham- 
 burg is becoming more and more essential to Australasian pro- 
 sperity. 
 
 Australasian Railways. 
 
 New South Wales, 
 Victoria, 
 Queensland, . 
 
 South Australia, . 
 
 Western Australia, 
 Tasmania, 
 New Zealand, 
 
 Miles of Line. 
 
 Gauge. 
 
 
 Ft. In. 
 
 2,263 
 
 4 8J 
 
 2,763 
 
 5 3 
 
 2,195 
 
 3 6 
 
 1,829 | 
 
 5 3l 
 3 6f 
 
 585 
 
 3 6 
 
 399 
 
 3 6 
 
 1,956 
 
 3 6 
 
 11,990 
 
 Total Cost. 
 
 Cost per mile. 
 
 ^31,768,617 
 36,341,626 
 15,101,617 
 
 ,14,559 
 13,153 
 6,487 
 
 12,544,733 
 
 6,923 
 
 832,497 
 2,900,362 
 14,278,586 
 
 4,204 
 8,269 
 
 7,752 
 
 ^113,768,038 
 
 ^10,030 
 
 The average interest on all Australasian loans is 4.02 per cent., 
 and the returns yielded by the railways is 3.01 per cent, showing 
 a loss in working of i.oi per cent., equivalent to ;i, 149,150.* 
 
 Defence Forces of Australasia, 1890. 
 
 New South Wales, 
 Victoria, 
 Queensland, 
 South Australia, . 
 Western Australia, 
 Tasmania, . 
 New Zealand, 
 
 Total Forces. Paid. Partially Paid. Unpaid. 
 
 9,285 
 
 538 
 
 4,146 
 
 4,601 
 
 7,314 
 
 406 
 
 4,343 
 
 2,565 
 
 4,497 
 
 134 
 
 2,787 
 
 i,576 
 
 2,202 
 
 64 
 
 1,361 
 
 777 
 
 688 
 
 2 
 
 686 
 
 
 
 2,038 
 
 32 
 
 521 
 
 1,485 
 
 7,824 
 
 204 
 
 
 
 7,620 
 
 33,848 1,380 13,844 18,624 
 
 In addition to these forces, all the colonies, with the exception 
 of Western Australia, have small corps of volunteer artillery, or a 
 
 1 See Coghlan's Seven Colonies of Australasia, p. 174. 
 
Appendices 331 
 
 partially paid force of a similar character. The marine forces are 
 
 as follows : 
 
 New South Wales, .... 633 
 
 Victoria, . . . . . . 615 
 
 Queensland, 428 
 
 South Australia, 170 
 
 Tasmania, 68 
 
 New Zealand, 1,192 
 
 The combined forces of all the Australasian colonies is there- 
 fore 36,954. 
 
 Males of Military Age, 20 to 40 years, 1891.* 
 New South Wales, 209,237 representing 30.26 per cent. 
 Victoria, . . 207,033 29.93 
 
 Queensland,. . 86,593 12.52 
 
 South Australia, . 53,964 7.80 
 
 Western Australia, 12,018 1.74 
 
 Tasmania, . . 24,858 3.60 
 
 New Zealand . 97,864 14.15 
 
 691,567 
 
 Naval Defence. 
 
 The boundaries of the Australian naval station are from 95 E. 
 longitude, by the parallel of 10 S. latitude, to 139 E. longitude ; 
 thence north to 12 N. latitude, and along this parallel to 160 W. 
 longitude ; and on the south by the Antarctic Circle, including the 
 numerous groups of islands within those limits. The defence of 
 the Australasian coast is in the hands of the British ships of the 
 Australian station and of the Australasian Auxiliary Squadron. 
 Sydney is the headquarters of the fleet. In 1891 there were nine 
 Imperial vessels Orlando, Curaqoa, Cordelia, Rapid, Royalist, 
 Lizard, Goldfinch, Ringdove, Dart. 
 
 Australian Auxiliary Squadron. 
 
 This arrived in Port Jackson, September 5, 1891, and consisted of 
 five fast cruisers, the Katoomba, Ringarooma, Mildura, Wallaroo, 
 Tauranga, and two torpedo-boats, the Boomerang and Karakatea. 
 i The Seven Colonies of Australasia, by T. A. Coghlan, p. 342. 
 
332 British Colonisation 
 
 The contribution of each colony for the maintenance of this 
 auxiliary fleet, on the basis of population, for the year 1891, was: 
 New South Wale?, . . .27,430 
 Victoria, . . . * . . 27,280 
 Queensland, . . . 9)38o 
 
 South Australia, . . ' 7,47 
 Western Australia, . . % 1,210 
 Tasmania, . . . 3,47o 
 
 New Zealand, . . . 14,760 
 
 91,000 
 
 Victoria has a navy of its own for harbour defence, Queensland 
 has two gunboats, South Australia maintains one twin-screw steel 
 cruiser, Tasmania has one torpedo-boat, and Western Australia 
 owns one schooner. The total expenditure for defence and forti- 
 fications, 1890-91, was as follows : 
 
 New South Wales, ,280,780 representing 45. lid. per head 
 Victoria, . . 149,381 2s. 8d. 
 
 Queensland, . . 66,013 35. sd. 
 
 South Australia, . 47,797 35. od. 
 
 Western Australia, 4,013 is. gd. 
 
 Tasmania, . . 16,836 2s. 4d. 
 
 New Zealand, 75> 8 5 2 2s. sd. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1606. Voyages of the Spaniards, de Quiros and Torres, in the 
 Pacific. 
 
 The Dutch Explorers. 
 1606. The Dutch landed from the Duyfhen on the shores of the 
 
 Gulf of Carpentaria. 
 1616. Dirk Hartog landed at an island in Shark's Bay. 
 
 1618. Zaachen sailed along the north coast. 
 
 1619. Edel surveyed the west coast. 
 
 1622. Cruise of the Dutch ship, the Leeuwin or Lioness, along the 
 south coast. 
 
 1627. Peter Nuyts entered the Australian Bight. 
 
 1628. General Carpenter sailed round the Gulf of Carpentaria. 
 Captain Pelsart wrecked on Houtman's Abrolhos. 
 
 1642. Abel Jansen Tasman discovered Tasmania and New 
 
 Zealand. 
 1695. William Vlaming explored the Swan River. 
 
Appendices 333 
 
 The English Explorers. 
 
 1699. Dampier explored the west coast in the Roebuck from Shark's 
 Bay to Dampier's Archipelago. 
 
 1768. Captain Cook left England in the Endeavour with the 
 
 object of observing the transit of Venus. 
 
 1769. In September, Cook sighted New Zealand. 
 
 1770. New South Wales named and occupied by Cook. 
 
 1772. Voyage of Marion and Crozet to Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 1773. Voyage of Furneaux. 
 
 The British Occupation. 
 
 1788. Landing of the first convicts, January 26, at Port Jackson 
 
 under Governor Phillip. 
 Arrival of the French ships Astrolabe and Boussole under 
 
 la Perouse and 1' Angle. 
 Norfolk Island established as a dependency on February 
 
 13- 
 1795. First voyage of George Bass and Matthew Flinders. 
 
 1797. Sheep imported from the Cape by Macarthur. 
 
 1798. Circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land by Bass and 
 
 Flinders. 
 
 1803. Lieutenant Bowen in the Lady Nelson occupied Tasmania. 
 First Australian newspaper, the Sydney Gazette and New 
 
 South Wales Advertiser. 
 Macarthur brought to England the first sample of wool. 
 
 1806. Famine at New South Wales. 
 Governorship of Captain W. Bligh. 
 
 1807. Norfolk Island settlers brought to Tasmania. 
 
 1813. Blaxland, Went worth, and Lawson crossed the Blue 
 
 Mountains in New South Wales. 
 1817. Bank of New South Wales established. 
 1824. Journey of Hume and Hovell to Port Phillip. 
 
 1828. Hume and Sturt explore the Darling River. 
 
 The vine first planted on the Hunter River, New South 
 Wales. 
 
 1829. Sturt and M'Cleay explore the Murray River. 
 
 Captain Fremantle hoisted the British flag at the Swan 
 River, Western Australia. 
 
334 British Colonisation 
 
 1831. Sir Thomas Mitchell explored the northern parts of New 
 
 South Wales. 
 
 The South Australian Association and Gibbon Wakefield's 
 schemes. 
 
 1835. Batman landed at Geelong. 
 
 1836. Governor Hindmarsh proclaimed British authority at 
 
 Adelaide. 
 
 1837. Governor Bourke planned the town of Melbourne. 
 
 1839. Captain Wakefield hoisted the British flag in New Zealand. 
 
 1840. Strzelecki, a Pole, discovered gold near Mount Kosciusko. 
 Wellington, New Zealand, founded by the New Zealand 
 
 Company. 
 Journey of Eyre. 
 
 1842. Discovery of Kapunda copper-mines, South Australia. 
 1845-8. First Maori War. 
 
 1850. First sod turned of first railway. 
 
 1851. Port Phillip (Victoria) separated from New South Wales. 
 Gold discovered by Hargraves. 
 
 Extension of representative government to the colonies. 
 First telegraph messages sent in New South Wales. 
 Anti-Transportation League. 
 
 1858. TheTorrens Act. 
 
 1859. Queensland separated from New South Wales. 
 1860-70. The Second Maori War. 
 
 1864. Sugar grown in New South Wales and Queensland. 
 
 1868. Polynesian Labourers' Act, Queensland. 
 
 1869. Submarine cable between Tasmania and Australia. 
 
 1872. Australia first connected' with the outside world by telegraph 
 
 in July. 
 Completion of overland cable across South Australia in 
 
 August. 
 
 Discovery of tin mines at Mount Bischoff, Tasmania. 
 1884. Formation of the Imperial Federation League. 
 British protectorate proclaimed over New Guinea. 
 
 1886. Inauguration of foreign parcels post, 
 Colonial and Indian Exhibition. 
 
 1887. The Colonial Conference. 
 
Appendices 335 
 
 VII. CEYLON. 
 
 Area. 24,702 square miles, in shape resembling a pear, with 
 an extreme length of 266 miles, and breadth of 140 miles. The 
 Maldives, of which Mali is the largest island, 7 miles in circum- 
 ference, are tributary to Ceylon. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into seven provinces : (i) the 
 Western, (2) North-Western, (3) Southern, (4) Central, (5) 
 Uva Province, (6) Eastern, (7) North Central, (8) Northern. 
 Altogether, 2| million acres are cultivated out of 13! millions ; and, 
 allowing for tanks, lakes, rivers, swamps, there are about 3 million 
 acres of forest-land capable of being cultivated. The greater portion 
 of Crown reserve-land is in the dry zone. There is a limit, there- 
 fore, to the tea-producing areas. 1 
 
 Physical Features. The interior of Ceylon forms an elevated 
 plateau, with an average elevation of 6000 feet, from which rise 
 peaks to a still further height the most remarkable being Pedara- 
 tallagulla, 8300 feet, and Adams Peak, 7430 feet. The whole 
 mountain region of Ceylon is said to cover an area of 4300 miles. 
 On the north the island is level, and a chain of small islands and 
 sand-banks, called Adam's Bridge, connects it with the mainland. 
 Trincomalee, the headquarters of the naval commander in the 
 East Indies, is one of the great harbours of the world. The 
 island is well wooded, and is intersected by many streams, the 
 longest being the Mahavilia-Ganga, 200 miles in length, and flow- 
 ing into the sea near Trincomalee Bay. The scenery is very 
 beautiful, and the ascent from the town and port of Colombo by 
 railway and road to Newera Ellia, the well-known European 
 sanatorium, is one of the most picturesque in the world. 
 
 Population. 1881, 2,763,984; 1891, 3,008,239 : consisting of (i) 
 the Singhalese, the most numerous ; (2) the Tamils, a race of 
 South India ; (3) the Moormen or Mohammedans ; (4) the 
 Burghers or Eurasians ; (5) the Europeans, of whom there are 
 about 5000. 
 
 Chief Towns. Colombo, the capital, 130,000, with an area of 
 eleven square miles ; Galle, or Point de Galle, with an excellent 
 harbour; Trincomalee, a fortified post on the east coast; Kandy, in 
 the interior, once the capital of native sovereigns ; Newera Ellia, 
 forty-seven miles south of Kandy ; Batticaloa, in the East Province ; 
 
 1 Paper by T. Ferguson, Proceedings Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xxiii. 
 
336 British Colonisation 
 
 Kartmegala, in the North-West Province ; Jaffna, in the North 
 Province, are all places of importance. 
 
 Government. Ceylon is a Crown colony, administered by (i) a 
 Governor ; (2) an Executive Council of five members, viz. the 
 Lieutenant-Governor and Colonial Secretary, the officer command- 
 ing the troops, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, and the 
 Auditor-General ; (3) a nominated Legislative Council of seventeen 
 members, including the Executive Council, four other office- 
 holders, and eight unofficial members. 
 
 Trade. Imports, 1891, including specie, Rs. 66,635, 392. Exports, 
 Rs. 58,799,744. The leading export is now tea. The amount sent 
 home for consumption in the United Kingdom was 70,000,000 Ibs. 
 in 1891-2. There is a growing market in Australasia. Into the 
 colony of Victoria alone no less than 15,310,442 Ibs. were imported 
 during the year ending December 31, I890. 1 Of this quantity 
 China sent 9,544,655 Ibs. by Foochow Foo, and 1,396,887 Ibs. by 
 Hong Kong ; the Bengal Presidency sent 2,707,457 Ibs., and 
 Ceylon 877,273 Ibs. The duty at Victorian ports is only id. 
 Victorians are great tea-drinkers. 
 
 Products. In 1891 there were exported 89,692 cwt. of coffee, 
 5)679,339 Ibs. of cinchona, 68,274,420 Ibs. of tea, 20,532 cwt. of 
 cocoa, 422,109 Ibs. of cardamoms, 2,309,771 Ibs. of cinnamon in 
 bales, 409,251 cwt. of cocoa-nut oil, 400,268 cwt. of plumbago. It 
 maybe remarked that coffee has fallen from 139,283 cwt. in 1888 to 
 its present amount of 89,692 cwt., whilst tea has leapt up from 
 23,670,268 Ibs. to its present amount. For 1892-3 the tea-crop is 
 calculated to be about 80,000,000 Ibs. Ceylon is also a gem-pro- 
 ducing colony, such as sapphires, rubies, catseyes ; and in 1891 it 
 was calculated that the total finds were worth ,20,000. In 1891 
 the pearl-fisheries were very valuable, yielding a net revenue of 
 ,86,000. In the low country the cocoa-nut palm is very profitable. 
 Of cocoa-nut oil the export has trebled in ten years, and the other 
 products of the palm (coir, copra, nuts, etc.) have advanced at an 
 equal rate. The cocoa-nut trees take twelve to fifteen years 
 before they become profitable. Rice, cacao, and tobacco can also 
 be cultivated. Ceylon is said to be the best school available in 
 the world for tropical agriculturists. The danger of this fertile 
 island is the unusual one of over-production, as has happened in 
 the case of cinchona. In 1890 New South Wales imported 
 1 Statistical Register of Victoria, 1890. 
 
Appendices 337 
 
 8,785,015 Ibs. of tea, China sending 5,528,856 Ibs., India 318,170 
 Ibs., Ceylon 231,065 Ibs. Through Hong Kong 690,480 Ibs. was 
 sent. In both Australian colonies the superior Ceylon teas have a 
 growing market. It may be noted that the whole amount of 
 Ceylon tea imported into Australasia for nine months ending 
 September 1891 was 2,465,242 Ibs. A large market may also arise 
 in the United States. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^1,309,781. Expenditure, ^1,198,391. 
 
 Public Debt.ifyi, ^2,535,247, the rupee at is. 5^d. 
 
 Public Works. There are four railways in Ceylon : 
 
 (1) From Colombo to Kandy, . 
 
 (2) From Kandy to Malele, 
 
 (3) From Colombo to Kaltura, 
 
 (4) From Peredenia to Nanuoya, 
 
 Total, 
 
 There are more than 1400 miles of metalled roads, and of 
 gravelled and natural roads 859 and 630 miles respectively. There 
 is a canal system of 167 miles. There are 1203 miles of telegraph, 
 connecting with the Indian system. The harbour at Colombo has 
 cost more than ,690,000. 
 
 Communications. Colombo, chief port and naval station, is 
 6000 miles from London, 2100 from Aden, 900 from Bombay, 600 
 from Madras, 1600 from Singapore, 2000 from Mauritius, 3000 
 from Western Australia. The voyage from London to Colombo, -vid 
 the Suez Canal, generally occupies 20 days. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 543 B.C. Founding of the Kandian kingdom, which lasted up to 
 
 1815, under 170 kings and queens. 
 306 B.C. Buddhism introduced. 
 1505 A.D. Landing of the Portuguese. 
 1656 Portuguese supplanted by Dutch. 
 
 1795 Ceylon taken by the British, and made part of the Pre- 
 
 sidency of Madras. 
 
 1 80 1 Constituted a separate colony. 
 
 1802 Formal cession to England by the Peace of Amiens. 
 
 1803 The Areca-nut War. First native war. 
 
 1815 The Kandian kingdom destroyed. Second native war. 
 
 1833 Establishment of present form of government. 
 
 1837-1867. Development of the coffee industry. 
 1867-1892. Development of the tea industry. 
 
338 British Colonisation 
 
 THE MALDIVES. 
 
 The Maldives are groups of coral islands about 500 miles to the 
 south-west of Ceylon, of which island they are a dependency. 
 There are thirteen main groups, which are divided politically. 
 The cocoa-nut palm grows well. There has always been a great 
 traffic in cowrie-shells. Dried' fish is sent in large quantities to 
 Ceylon. The population is said to be about 30,000, most of them 
 being engaged in fishing. The Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch, and 
 French have all come to the Maldives. They fell under the 
 British power in 1795. The inhabitants are Mohammedans, and 
 are said to have been converted A.D. 1200. The head of the 
 Government is the Sultan. 
 
 VIII. MAURITIUS. 
 
 Area. 708 square miles, with an extreme length of 36 miles 
 and extreme breadth of 28 miles. 
 
 Divisions. The island is divided into nine districts : (i) Port 
 Louis, (2) Pamplemousses, (3) Riviere du Rempart, (4) Flacq, 
 (5) Grand Port, (6) Savanne, (7) Moka, (8) Plaine Wilhelms, 
 (9) Black River. 
 
 Physical Features. Mauritius is of volcanic formation, sur- 
 rounded by coral reefs. The surface is covered with rugged 
 mountains, rising nearly 3000 feet. The highest peak is Piton de 
 la Riviere Noir (2900). The island is subject to hurricanes, of 
 which the most noted were those happening in 1754 and 1773, 
 in the latter of which 32 ships were stranded in the harbour 
 and 360 houses levelled in Port Louis. But the worst hurricane of 
 all was that of 1892, by which 1200 lives were lost, no fewer than 
 280 being buried without identification ; and 50 churches out of 
 60 were either ruined or demolished. The velocity of the wind on 
 this occasion is said to have been 121 miles an hour at the Royal 
 Observatory. One-third of Port Louis was destroyed, the loss in 
 property being estimated at 12,000,000 rupees. 
 
 Population. 1891, 370,588, of whom 206,038 were males and 
 164,550 females. 
 
 Chief Towns. Port Louis, the capital, 61,170. 
 
Appendices 339 
 
 Government. Mauritius with its dependencies is administered 
 by : (i) a Governor; (2) an Executive Council of five, with two 
 unofficial members ; (3) a Legislative Council of twenty-seven, 
 eight being ex officio, nine nominated by the Governor (of these 
 five are unofficial), and ten elected on a moderate franchise. In 
 Mauritius the Crown reserves legislation by order in Council. 
 
 Trade. The trade of the island passes almost entirely through 
 Port Louis. Imports, 1891, ,2,562,250; exports, 1891, 2,430,840. 
 
 Sir R. W. Rawson has calculated that during the years 1872- 
 1886 Mauritius imported one-fifth from the United Kingdom, one- 
 half from British possessions, and more than a quarter from foreign 
 countries. She also exported nearly three-fourths to British 
 possessions, and 14 per cent, to the United Kingdom and foreign 
 countries. The exports exceeded the imports by 52 per cent. 
 Mauritius trades with India, New South Wales, France. In 1891, 
 imports from United Kingdom, ,664,782 ; exports to, 277,415. 
 
 Products. Sugar and rum chiefly ; also vanilla and aloe fibre. 
 Mauritius raises scarcely anything for her own consumption, the 
 island being almost entirely given up to sugar-growing. It imports 
 rice from India, breadstuffs from Australia, cured fish and sheep 
 from South Africa, and oxen from Madagascar. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 759>5 6 5- Expenditure, 1891, 817,470; the 
 rupee counting 2s. 
 
 Public Debt. 1891, ^784,449. 
 
 Public Works. There are 73 miles of railway, on two lines 38 
 miles on the North line and 35 on the Midland line. 
 
 Defence Works. Fort Adelaide and Fort George, above Port 
 Louis. There is a garrison of 1000 men. The military contribu- 
 tion is about 21,000 per annum. 
 
 Communication. The voyage to Mauritius by the Suez Canal 
 takes about 24 days. By Natal and the Cape the voyage takes a 
 longer time. 
 
 The dependencies of Mauritius are the Seychelles Islands, 
 Rodrigues, Diego Garcia, and about 70 other small islands, con- 
 taining altogether a population of about 16,000. The principal 
 exports of these islands are cocoa-nuts, cocoa-nut oil, Indian corn, 
 cacao ; also nutmegs, and the celebrated cocos-de-mer, said by 
 some to have been the 'forbidden fruit.' The Seychelles are 940 
 miles from Mauritius, the largest island being Mahe, 17 miles long 
 and 4 miles broad, with Victoria as the capital. Rodrigues is 300 
 
34o British Colonisation 
 
 miles from Mauritius, and is 18 miles long and 7 miles broad. 
 Rodrigues was very useful to the British when Mauritius was 
 taken from the French, and was used as a sanatorium. Diego 
 Garcia is the chief of the Oil Island group. It lies on the direct 
 route from the Red Sea to Australia, and is used as a coaling- 
 station. 
 
 Chief Dates. 
 
 1507. Cerne' (Mauritius) discovered by a Portuguese, Dom Pedro 
 
 Mascarenhas. 
 
 1590. Visited by the Dutch, and called Mauritius. 
 1644. Occupied by the Dutch. 
 1689. Voyage of Francois Leguat to Rodrigues. 
 1710. Abandoned by the Dutch. 
 
 1715. Taken by the French and called Isle de France. 
 1734-46. Administration of Mahe de Labourdonnais. 
 1748. Attack of Boscawen on Mauritius. 
 1754. A great hurricane. 
 
 1810. Mauritius taken by General Abercrombie. 
 1814. British possession confirmed by Treaty of Paris. 
 1868. A hurricane. 
 
 1884-5. Date of the present constitution. 
 1892. A terrible hurricane. 
 
 IX. HONG KONG. 
 
 Area. 29 square miles. The length of the island of Hong 
 Kong is 1 1 miles, its breadth from 2 to 5 miles. The peninsula of 
 Kowloon, facing Hong Kong, is 2f square miles. Other small 
 islands, known as Stonecutter's, Green, Apleechow, Middle 
 Island, Round Island, are included in the colony. 
 
 Physical Features. The island of Hong Kong is mountainous, 
 some of the peaks rising to 2000 feet. The chief feature of the 
 colony is its magnificent harbour, with an area of ten square miles. 
 It is separated from the mainland by the Ly-ee-moon strait, not 
 more than half-a-mile in width. From its position with regard to 
 China it has been termed the pivot of Chinese commerce. It lies 
 just within the tropics. It is swept by the south-west monsoon 
 
Appendices 341 
 
 from March to September, by the north-east monsoon from 
 October to February. 
 
 Population. 1891, 221,441, of whom 210,995 were Chinese, 
 8545 Europeans. 
 
 Chief Town. The city of Victoria, on the north side, 221,141, 
 containing nearly the whole population. 
 
 Government. Hong Kong is a Crown colony, and is ad- 
 ministered : (i) by a Governor ; (2) an Executive Council of six ; 
 (3) a Legislative Council of twelve, including the Governor. Of 
 these, five nominated members, one usually a Chinese, form the 
 unofficial element. 
 
 Trade. 1891, imports, from the United Kingdom, ,2,732,157. 
 Exports, to the United Kingdom, ; 1,101,702. About half of the 
 whole trade is with China. The junk tonnage is estimated at 
 2,000,000 tons, and these vessels are most useful in distributing 
 British merchandise in the non-treaty ports. About a third of the 
 trade is with India in tea, silk, and opium. Hong Kong is a free 
 port. 
 
 Products. Hong Kong produces nothing worth speaking of, 
 the colony being simply a distributing centre. The tea and silk 
 trade is largely controlled by Hong Kong merchants. Opium, 
 sugar, flour, cotton goods, sandal-wood, ivory, betel, etc., are also 
 distributed largely. It may possibly have a future as a manu- 
 facturing centre. Sugar-refining and ice and rope factories exist. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, ^421,938. Expenditure, ^426,893. 
 
 Public Debt. ist January 1891, ^210,000. 
 
 Public Works. The great reservoir of Tytam-took, capable of 
 storing 350,000,000 gallons of water ; the great sea-wall or praya ; 
 five docks, and three slips. 
 
 Communication. Hong Kong is distant 40 miles from Macao 
 (Portuguese), 95 from Canton, 800 from Shanghai, 650 from 
 Manila (Spanish), 900 from Saigon (capital of French Cochin 
 China), 1200 from Labuan and Borneo, 1400 from Singa- 
 pore. Hong Kong, therefore, is admirably placed in regard 
 to the Chinese markets and the European trade-centres. Hong 
 Kong is 6000 miles distant from Vancouver Island and the ter- 
 minus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and can be reached from 
 England by this route in 36 days. 
 
 Defence Forces. Hong Kong is the headquarters of the China 
 Squadron. There is an Imperial garrison of 1300, towards the 
 
342 British Colonisation 
 
 cost of which the colony contributes 20,000 annually. There is 
 an armed police of 700, composed of Europeans, Sikhs, and 
 Chinese. 
 
 X. THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 Area. (i) The island of Singapore has an area of 206 square 
 miles, being 27 miles long and 14 wide. 
 
 (2) The island of Penang has an area of 107 square miles, being 
 15 miles long and 9 broad. 
 
 (3) Malacca, on the mainland, has an area of 659 square miles, 
 being 42 miles in length, and from 8 to 25 in breadth. 
 
 (4) The Bindings, on the mainland, has an area of 200 square 
 miles. 
 
 The Cocos or Keeling Islands, and Christmas Island, are also 
 included under the colony of the Straits Settlements. 
 
 Physical Features. The Straits Settlements, lying along the 
 east shores of the Straits of Malacca, facing Sumatra, consist 
 therefore partly of islands and partly of small littoral strips, 
 in juxtaposition to the native Malay States. For these they 
 provide a trade outlet. For a long time the most important 
 British post in these waters was Bencoolen in Sumatra. The 
 geographical value of the colony is obvious at a glance. 
 
 Population. 1891, 506,577, of which Singapore had 182,650, 
 Penang 232,977, Malacca 90,950. The population consists chiefly 
 of Chinese and Malays. 
 
 Chief Towns. Singapore, Georgetown, Malacca. 
 
 Government. The Straits Settlements constitute a Crown 
 colony, and are administered by : (i) a Governor ; (2) Executive 
 Council ; (3) Legislative Council of seventeen, ten being official 
 and seven unofficial. The seat of Government is Singapore. 
 
 Trade. 1891, imports, 21, 656,366. Exports, 20,129,982; the 
 dollar reckoned at 35. 2 Jd. With regard to the distribution of this 
 trade, it has been calculated that the Straits Settlements furnished 
 ( l88 5) 3-3 P er cent - of the imports and 2.2 per cent, of the exports of 
 the Empire, but only 1.3 and 0.8 respectively of those of the United 
 Kingdom. More than half their trade (56 per cent.) was with 
 foreign countries, one-fifth (20 per cent.) with the United Kingdom. 1 
 
 1 In 1891, imports from the United Kingdom, 3,426,835 ; exports to, 
 3,905,406. 
 
Appendices 343 
 
 As a trade centre Singapore occupies an important position. 
 Within a radius of 3000 miles live more than half the population 
 of the world, and within this radius Great Britain has a trade of 
 more than ,251,000,000, against 86,000,000 in all other British 
 dependencies. 1 The ports of the colony are all free. The local 
 trade with the Malay Peninsula is increasing largely. 
 
 Products. In Singapore, gambier plantations, Liberian coffee, 
 pineapples ; in Penang, nutmegs, the betel-palm, and sugar and 
 tapioca plantations ; in the Dindings, tin, ebony, timber, and 
 turtles. It is, however, as an entrepot for the Eastern trade that 
 the colony is most valuable. It is not a port of final destination. 
 
 -Revenue. 1891, ,609,862. Expenditure, 732,997. The port 
 being free, revenue arises from (i) opium and spirits, (2) stamps, 
 (3) land. 
 
 Defence. Singapore is the headquarters of the Straits division. 
 The aggregate naval expenditure, on the basis of 50 per ton for 
 4000 tons, is 200,000 per annum, spent by England. With 
 regard to land defences, the expenditure is 136,000 per annum, 
 of which the colony has to pay 100,000. In addition, they have 
 paid 60,000 for barrack accommodation. They maintain a body 
 of Sikh police. The rate is 35. 6d. per head for defence purposes, 
 the home rate being i6s. for every inhabitant of the United 
 Kingdom. 2 
 
 THE Cocos ISLANDS. 
 
 These islands are said to have been discovered by Captain 
 Keeling in 1609. They are a group of coral islands in the Indian 
 Ocean. They have been colonised by a Scotchman named Ross, 
 whose descendants still live there. In 1857 they were taken 
 possession of by Captain Fremantle. They are twenty in number. 
 The population is about 500, consisting partly of Bantamese. 
 
 XL BRITISH NORTH BORNEO. 
 
 Area. 24,000 square miles, with a coast-line of 600 miles. In 
 size Borneo (280,000 square miles) ranks third amonst the islands 
 of the world, coming after Australia and New Guinea. 
 
 1 Paper by Sir F. Weld, late Governor of Straits Settlements, Proceedings 
 Royal Colonial Institute, vol. xv. 
 a Times Report, Debate in the House of Lords, July 24, 1891. 
 
344 British Colonisation 
 
 Physical Features. * The shape of the island of Borneo 
 resembles that of a Burgundy pear, the stalk end pointing north- 
 wards towards China, and the base lying southwards upon the 
 equatorial islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Supposing the 
 stalk end of this huge pear to be cut off to the extent of about one- 
 eighth of the whole length of the fruit, the parts so detached would, 
 roughly speaking, represent the portion of territories ceded to the 
 British North Borneo Company. They consequently possess a 
 coast-line in three directions.' x The most important streams are 
 the Kinabatangan, Labuk, and Segama, flowing eastward, and the 
 Papar and Kimanis, flowing westward. At the north-east of the 
 island the peak of Kinabalow is said to be 13,680 feet. 
 
 Settlements. The chief stations or settlements are : (i) Silam, 
 (2) Sandakan, both on the north coast ; (3) Kudat, on the north ; 
 (4) Gaya, Papar, Kimanis, on the west. There are many sub- 
 stations. 
 
 Silam was opened chiefly for experimental gardening; Sandakan, 
 with a population of 6319 (1891) of natives and Chinese, is the 
 principal centre of trade. The settlement has a frontage of about 
 5000 feet. The government is administered by a Governor 
 assisted by a Council and by Residents. 
 
 Trade. Imports, 1891, 1,936,547 dollars. Exports, 1,238,277 
 dollars. The trade is almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese, 
 who traffic directly with the natives. 
 
 Products. Edible birds'-nests, sago, rattans, gutta-percha, a 
 resin called 'damar/trepang^pearl-shells, sharks j -fins,and camphor. 
 Liberian coffee, cocoa, and sugar-cane grow well. Tobacco is one 
 of the most promising products, especially on the banks of the 
 Suan Lambar River, near Sandakan. The leaf, like that of 
 Sumatra tobacco, is good for wrapping. 
 
 The birds'-nests industry is a peculiar one. The nest is that of 
 a swift that builds in countless numbers in certain caves. The nest 
 is made of a soft fungoid growth that encrusts the limestone in 
 damp places : it is about an inch thick, brown outside, white 
 inside, and is woven in a filament backwards and forwards by the 
 bird, as a caterpillar weaves a cocoon. The natives detach the 
 nests by climbing up bamboo ladders and thrusting at them with 
 a light pronged spear. The guano is valued at $ to ^10 a ton, 
 
 1 Paper by Sir Walter Medhurst, Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, 
 vol. xvi. 
 
Appendices 345 
 
 and the value of the nests is estimated at 25,000 dollars annually. 
 Borneo is the only place where the ' orang-outang' is found. Gold 
 has been found on the Kinabatangan River, and indications of coal 
 have been discovered in many places. On the coast the pearl- 
 oyster exists of the same variety as that found off Thursday 
 Island. There is a great variety of useful timber in Borneo, the 
 billian or ironwood being plentiful. Borneo timber supplies the 
 Melbourne market. As British North Borneo lies on a highway 
 between China and Australia, it occupies a rare position as an 
 exporting country, a labour market, and a trade centre. The 
 powers of the Company are derived solely from the Sultans of 
 Brunei and Sulu. All the British Government did was to incor- 
 porate by royal charter. 
 
 Revenue. 1891, 375,507 dollars. Expenditure, 468,644 dollars. 
 The revenue is derived from opium, sales of land, royalties on 
 exports. 
 
 In connection with British North Borneo, the territory ruled 
 over by Rajah Brooke of Sarawak may be noticed. In 1842 Sir 
 James Brooke gained a land concession from the Sultan of Borneo 
 of part of Borneo extending over an area of 30,000 square miles, 
 and holding a population of 240,000. The imports and exports of 
 this little principality exceed three millions of dollars. 
 
 LABUAN. 
 
 Closely connected with British North Borneo is the island of 
 Labuan, the smallest of the British colonies, situated six miles off 
 the north-west coast, and about thirty miles from Brunei, the 
 capital of Borneo proper. Its area is 30 square miles. It was 
 ceded to England in 1847 by the Sultan of Borneo, at which time 
 it was uninhabited. Sir James Brooke was appointed the first 
 Governor. The island has a fine harbour, and was supposed to 
 have extensive coal-mines, but the output has proved to be in- 
 significant. Labuan, it was thought, might prove to be a great 
 coaling centre in the Eastern seas. It is a market for much of the 
 produce of the coasts of Borneo and the Sulu Archipelago. There 
 are three sago manufactories on the island. The inhabitants are 
 chiefly Malays from Borneo and Chinese. Cattle and goats are 
 reared, and about 2000 acres are under cultivation. The 
 Governor of British North Borneo is Governor of Labuan. In 
 
346 British Colonisation 
 
 1871 the military garrison was withdrawn. There is a local police 
 force. The nearest telegraph station is Singapore. The popula- 
 tion is about 6000. The island is 9000 miles from London, vid 
 the Suez Canal. Imports, 1891, ^54,537 5 exports, 39,766. 
 
 XII. GIBRALTAR, MALTA, CYPRUS, ADEN, 
 PERIM, SOCOTRA. 
 
 These possessions of Great Britain are strategic posts occupied 
 for the sake of securing the route to the East, rather than colonies 
 in the strict sense of the term. There is little scope for overflow 
 of population here. Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus are the Mediterranean 
 strongholds on this side of the Suez Canal ; Aden .and Perim 
 guard the entrance to the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean. The 
 traffic through the Suez Canal is enormous, and more than three- 
 fourths of it is carried in British vessels. India and Further 
 India, Australia, and the South Seas .send their argosies by this 
 route. If it were blocked in time of war, trade would be diverted 
 and go by the Cape of Good Hope, or perhaps by way of 
 Vancouver and the Canadian Pacific Railway. In either case 
 the derangement of commerce that would be felt would be 
 enormous. 
 
 Gibraltar is a rocky promontory three miles in length and 
 three-quarters of a mile in extreme breadth. Its highest point is 
 1439 feet. It was taken from the Spaniards on 24th July 1704, 
 by Sir George Rooke, and has been held by England ever since. 
 It was besieged in 1779, 1781, and 1783, and has earned the title 
 of being an impregnable fortress. The Bay of Gibraltar is four 
 or five miles across, and affords a good anchorage. It is useful to 
 the mercantile marine trading with the Mediterranean, Spain, and 
 Morocco. Opposite Gibraltar, at a distance of 54 miles, is the 
 Spanish town of Algeciras. 
 
 Malta or Melita (the Island of Honey) is 17 miles long, 9 miles 
 broad, having an area of 95 square miles. With Malta is included 
 the smaller island of Gozo, with an area of 20 square miles, and 
 Comino, with an area of 7 square miles. Malta possesses one of 
 the finest harbours in the world. In 1798 Malta capitulated to 
 Napoleon, who was on his famous expedition to Egypt, and coveted 
 it as a French stepping-stone to the Red Sea and the East ; but the 
 
Appendices 347 
 
 Maltese rose against their conquerors and blockaded them in the 
 towns. The island was taken by England, and confirmed to her 
 formally by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. The old capital of the 
 island was Citta Vecchia (Medina). In former days Malta was 
 taken (1530) by the Hospitaller Brothers, a military order, who 
 held it for 268 years. Valetta is the chief town of Malta now. A 
 large proportion of the Maltese population is centred round 
 Valetta. Their prosperity depends chiefly on the passing trade. 
 
 Cyprus has an area of 3584 square miles. The port of Larnaca 
 is 258 miles from Port Said, and 1117 miles from Valetta. In 
 1571 Cyprus was captured by the Turks, and has remained part 
 of the Ottoman Empire ever since. In 1878 Cyprus came into 
 British possession. The Turks retain certain administrative and 
 judicial powers, together with religious privileges. The island is 
 divided, for legal purposes, into six districts : (i) Nicosia, (2) 
 Larnaca, (3) Limassol, (4) Kyrenia, (5) Famagusta, (6) Papho. In 
 1891 the population was 209,291 of whom 23 per cent, were 
 Mohammedans. The island is governed by a High Commissioner 
 and a Legislative Council of eighteen, of whom six are official and 
 twelve elected. There are three electoral divisions, each returning 
 one Mohammedan and three Christians. It may be noted that 
 Cyprus was conquered by Richard Cceur-de-Lion in 1 191, whilst on 
 his way to Palestine. Here he married Berengaria. King Richard 
 sold the island to the Knights Templars. 
 
 The principal towns are Nicosia, Larnaka, Limassol. In 1891-92 
 the revenue was ,217,162, the expenditure 112,742. 
 
 One of the conditions of British occupation of Cyprus is that if 
 Russia restores to Turkey Kars and the other conquests made by 
 her in Armenia during the last Russo-Turkish War, the island of 
 Cyprus will be evacuated by England and the Convention of 4th 
 June 1878 be at an end. Meantime, ample provision is made for 
 freedom of worship for Mussulmans, for administration of religious 
 endowments, and for the general exercise of Mussulman rights 
 and privileges. A certain sum is paid annually to the Porte by 
 England. 
 
 Aden, Perim, and Socotra are British posts occupied for the 
 purpose of guarding the entrance of the Red Sea and the Straits 
 of Bab-el-Mandeb. 
 
 Aden consists of two peninsulas and a strip of Arabian territory, 
 covering an area of 70 square miles. The fort is about no miles 
 
348 British Colonisation 
 
 to the east of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Here is an important 
 coaling-station and also an entrepot for Arabian trade. Aden came 
 into British possession in 1839. The place is subjected to the 
 Government of Bombay. 
 
 Petim, a small rocky island lying in the Straits, is a dependency of 
 Aden. Its length is 3 miles and breadth if. It is garrisoned by 
 a few troops. It was first occupied in 1857. 
 
 Socotra is an island situated about 1 50 miles east-north-east of 
 Cape Guardafui. The Government of Aden pays a small subsidy to 
 the Sultan of Keshin for it. It was taken under British protection in 
 1886. The Somali coast protectorate extends from 48 15' to 49 E. 
 longitude. It is a small outlet of East African trade. To the 
 south and towards the interior is the sphere of the British Imperial 
 East Africa Company. 
 
 In former days Socotra was one of the sees of the Syrian 
 bishops. 
 
 The Kooria Mooria Islands lie east-north-east of Aden, and 
 were ceded to England in 1854 by the Sultan of Muscat, for the 
 purpose of landing the Red Sea telegraph cable. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abercromby, Sir R., 33, 244. 
 
 Acadia, 241. 
 
 Acapulco, 138, 139. 
 
 Accra, 88, 97. 
 
 Acheen, 253, 257. 
 
 Adamawa, 96. 
 
 Africa, West, 59, 86, 87. 
 
 Akaroa, 207. 
 
 Albany, 180. 
 
 Albuquerque, 228, 257. 
 
 Alexandra Land, 185. 
 
 Alima, 105. 
 
 Alleghanies, The, 73. 
 
 Alligator River, 194. 
 
 Allouez, 68. 
 
 Allumette Island, 65. 
 
 Amboyna, 135, 151,' 250. 
 
 Anegada, 29. 
 
 Angas, G. F. , 204. 
 
 Angola, 112. 
 
 Anguilla, 20, 21, 28. 
 
 Anian, Straits of, 47. 
 
 Annam, 254. 
 
 Annamaboe, 88, 97. 
 
 Anson, 138, 142. 
 
 Antigua, 20, 21, 24, 25. 
 
 Antilles, The, 20, 21. 
 
 Apollonia, 97. 
 
 Ariel, 35, 36. 
 
 Arkansas, 68. 
 
 Arnheim, 151, 186. 
 
 Arrowroot, 33. 
 
 Arthur, Governor, 161, 162, 163. 
 
 Ascension Island, 136. 
 
 Ashantees, The, 97, 100, 101. 
 
 Assiento, The, 6. 
 
 Athabasca, 71. 
 
 Athelney, 46, 
 
 Atolls, 238. 
 
 Australia, 92, 112, 132, 146, 156. 
 
 Avalon, 50. 
 
 B 
 
 Baccalaos, 47. 
 
 Bacchante, The, 13. 
 
 Bacon, Lord, 38, 39, 49, 50. 
 
 Bagirmi, 95. 
 
 Bagot, Sir Charles, 209. 
 
 Bahamas, The, 33. 
 
 Ballarat, 170, 172, 183, 191. 
 
 Baltimore, Lord, 50, 215. 
 
 Bammakou, 104. 
 
 Banda Island, 139. 
 
 Banks, Sir G., 89, 92, 93, 192. 
 
 Banks Peninsula, 207. 
 
 Bantam, 251. 
 
 Barbados, 8, 20. 
 
 Barbuda, 15, 20, 25. 
 
 Barnstaple, 46. 
 
 Barrier Reef, 145. 
 
 Barrow, 9, 92. 
 
 Barth, Dr., 94. 
 
 Basque colonists, 57. 
 
 Bass, 151, 167, 192, 204. 
 
 Basutoland, in. 
 
 Batavia, 159. 
 
 Bathurst, 76, 93, 156, 192. 
 
 Batman, John, 162, 168, 181. 
 
 Battel, Andrew, 88. 
 
 Baudin, 150, 160, 176, 192, 204. 
 
 Baymen, The, 18. 
 
 Bay of Islands, 207. 
 
 Beaufort, 94. 
 
 Bechuanaland, in. 
 
 Benbow, Admiral, 5. 
 
 Bencoolen, 25. 
 
 Benin, Bight of, 86, 93. 
 
 Benin River, 101. 
 
 Benue River, 95, 96. 
 
 Benzoni, 94. 
 
 Berbice, 16, 123. 
 
 Berkeley, Bishop, 39. 
 
 Bermudas, 3, 35, 39, 219. 
 
 Bertolucci, 91. 
 
 349 
 
350 
 
 Index 
 
 Blackman, Captain, 258. 
 
 Bligh, Captain, 219. 
 
 Blomidon, 241. 
 
 Boers, 126, 127, 130. 
 
 Bombay, 231. 
 
 Borneo, 139, 251, 253, 258. 
 
 Bornou, 93, 94, 96, 
 
 Botany Bay, 147, 150. 
 
 Bo-Tree, 236. 
 
 Bounties, 54, 58, 59. 
 
 Bounty mutineers, 143, 219. 
 
 Bourbon, 240, 241, 244. 
 
 Bourgainville, 140, 222. 
 
 Bouri, 104. 
 
 Bouvet, 201. 
 
 Bowdich, 92, 94. 
 
 Bowen, 160, 187. 
 
 Braddon, Sir E., 166. 
 
 Brady, 162. 
 
 Brassey, Lord, 3, 13. 
 
 Brazzaville, 105. 
 
 Brebeuf, 67. 
 
 Breton colonists, 57, 62. 
 
 Bridgetown, 9. 
 
 Bridgewater, 46. 
 
 Brisbane, 187, 188. 
 
 Bristol, 45, 58, 86, 134. 
 
 Bristol Channel, 46. 
 
 Brouage, 64. 
 
 Browne, 94, 
 
 Bryce, Professor, 77. 
 
 Byam, 25. 
 
 Byron, Captain, 141, 146. 
 
 Bytown, 77. 
 
 Cabot, 45, 46. 
 Caicos, 7, 33. 
 Caillie, 93. 
 Cairo, 90, 91, 92. 
 Calcutta, 242, 250, 251. 
 Camden, Lord, 92. 
 Camoens, 132. 
 Campbell, 94, 170. 
 Campeche', 18, 134. 
 Canada, u, 62, 209, 210. 
 Canning, 221. 
 Canterbury, 213, 214. 
 Cape Breton, n. 
 
 Coast Castle, 88, 97. 
 
 Good Hope, 88, 113, 120, 141, 
 
 228. 
 
 Horn, 139, 142. 
 
 Leuwen, 151, 174. 
 
 Cape Murat, 152. 
 
 Non, 87, 112. 
 
 St. John, 55. 
 
 Cargill, Captain, 212, 
 Caribs, The, 18, 22, 30, 32. 
 Carlisle Grant, 27. 
 Carpenter, General, 134. 
 Carpentaria, Gulf of, 15, 184, 194, 
 
 195- 
 
 Carteret, Captain, 142, 143. 
 Cartier, 51, 62, 66. 
 Castries, 32. 
 Cavendish, 114. 
 Cay os, 3 
 
 Censitaires, 74, 77. 
 Cetywayo, 108, 109. 
 Champlain, 37, 64, 66, 77. 
 Charles I., 50, 66. 
 
 II., 10, 25, 114. 
 
 Charlevoix, 70. 
 
 Christchurch, 207, 213. 
 
 Christophe, 26. 
 
 Christopher, 236. 
 
 Clapperton, 93, 94. 
 
 Clarence, Duke of, 28. 
 
 Clarke, 71. 
 
 Clipperton, 137. 
 
 Clunes, 170. 
 
 Cochin China, 254. 
 
 Codrington College, 10, n, 25, 26. 
 
 Coffee, 42, 232. 
 
 Coffee, King, 101. 
 
 Colbert, 70, 74, 106, 118. 
 
 Coleridge, Bishop, n, 25. 
 
 Samuel Taylor, 137. 
 
 Collins, Captain, 147, 160, 188. 
 
 Colombian States, 7. 
 
 Colombo, 229, 232. 
 
 Columbia, British, 81. 
 
 Columbus, i, 12, 15, 29, 32, 34, 46. 
 
 Commendah, 88, 97. 
 
 Company, B. N. Borneo, 258. 
 
 Dutch East Indian, 177. 
 
 Hudson Bay, 182. 
 
 African River, 88. 
 
 River Niger, 96. 
 
 Congo, The, 90, 103, 104, 112, 132. 
 
 Conference, 105. 
 
 Consetts, 10. 
 
 Convicts, 146, 147, 148, 153, 173, 
 
 180, 181, 188, 224. 
 Cook, Captain, 133, .144, 149, 200, 
 
 220. 
 
 Coolies, 7, 14, 18, 41, 172, 177, 183, 
 
 190, 225, 249, 258. 
 Coomassie, 92, 101. 
 
Index 
 
 351 
 
 Cooper's Creek, 194, 195. 
 Cordiner, 229. 
 Cornwall (Jamaica), 4. 
 Coro, 1 6. 
 Coroni River, 17. 
 Cortereal, 49. 
 Coureurs des bois, 
 Courteen, Sir W., 9. 
 Cowper, 219. 
 Coxcomb Peak, 18. 
 Croker, G. W., 156. 
 Cromwell, 4, 8, 10, 25, 215. 
 Crozet, 145, 202, 203. 
 Cuba, 3, 20, 98. 
 Cumberland, Earl of, 250. 
 
 D 
 
 Dakar, 104. 
 
 Dampier, 15, 134, 136, 143, 192, 251. 
 
 Dapper, 115. 
 
 Darien, Isthmus of, 6. 
 
 Darwin, 185, 188, 189, 193. 
 
 Davis, 114, 134. 
 
 Dawes, 155. 
 
 D' Almeida, 113. 
 
 D'Aranda, 79. 
 
 De Bouille, 26. 
 
 Brazza, 105. 
 
 Caen, 153. 
 
 'Estrees, 70. 
 
 Gonneville, 202. 
 
 Grasse, 5, 22, 26, 32, 119. 
 
 'Iberville, 73. 
 
 Delagoa Bay, 229. 
 De la Salle, 69. 
 Delight, The, 48. 
 Demarara, 2, 16, 123. 
 De Mist, 123. 
 
 Mole, 205. 
 
 Monts, 66. 
 
 Denham, Major, 93, 94. 
 
 Denison, Sir W., 165, 
 
 De Noyon, 70. 
 
 Dentrecasteaux, 151, 163, 192, 204. 
 
 De Quiros, 156. 
 
 Derwent, 160. 
 
 De Soto, 69. 
 
 Torti, 69. 
 
 Verteuil, 13. 
 
 Vignau, 64. 
 
 Devon colonists, 56, 58, 64, 114, 242. 
 Dindings, The, 255, 2157. 
 Dix Cove, 88, 97. 
 Diogo de Conto, 228. 
 
 Dominica, 20, 30, 42. 
 
 Dragons Mouth, 12. 
 
 Drake, Sir F., 113, 114. 
 
 Draper, General, 138. 
 
 Drummond, 76. 
 
 Du Casse, 5. 
 
 Duddon River, 198. 
 
 Duff, 219. 
 
 Dunkirk, 56. 
 
 Du Parquet, 30. 
 
 Dupleix, 238. 
 
 Durham, Lord, 40, 80, 81, 210, 214. 
 
 D'Urville, 202. 
 
 Dusky Bay, 200. 
 
 Dutch colonists, 15, 18, in, 112, 
 
 118, 124, 127, 134, 155, 185, 228, 
 
 240, 257. 
 Dutton, 184. 
 
 Eden, 241, 
 
 Edward IV., 87. 
 
 Egmont Island, 143. 
 
 Egypt, 176. 
 
 El Dorado, 12, 16, 132. 
 
 Elima, 51, 106. 
 
 Elliot, 182, 189. 
 
 Ellis, Major, 103, 
 
 Elphinstone, Admiral, 120, 121. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 48, 87. 
 
 Emancipation of Slaves, i. 
 
 Encounter Bay, 185. 
 
 Enderby, 147. 
 
 Esmond, 158. 
 
 Essequibo, 16, 123. 
 
 Estienne, Bishop, 240. 
 
 Eugene iv. , Pope, 87. 
 
 Evans, 156. 
 
 Eves Washington, 17, 28. 
 
 Exeter, 8. 
 
 Eyre, Governor, i. 
 
 Faidherbe, 104, 106. 
 Falkland Islands, 139. 
 False Bay, 121. 
 Fantin, 51, 106. 
 Fawkner, 168. 
 Federalists, 28. 
 Fell, 6. 
 
 Ferryland, 50. 
 Fezzan, 91. 
 
352 
 
 Index 
 
 Fiji Island, 207, 218, 225. 
 
 Fisheries, 52, 54, 83, 224. 
 
 Fish River, no. 
 
 Fitzroy River, 191. 
 
 Flinders, 152, 156, 163. 
 
 Fonseca, 15. 
 
 Formosa River, 7, 248. 
 
 Fowey, 48. 
 
 Fox River, 68. 
 
 Franceville, 105. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 200. 
 
 Sir J. , 164. 
 
 Fredericton, 75. 
 
 Free Trade, 81. 
 
 Fremantle, 175, 177. 
 
 French colonists, 2, 15, 22, 50, 51, 
 79, 99, 105, 118, 119, 139, 152, 153, 
 174, 206, 207, 241, 245, 254. 
 
 Frontenac, 73. 
 
 Gaboon, 99. 
 
 Gallieni, 104. 
 
 Gambia, The, 87, 89, 91, 98, 104. 
 
 Gambier Island, 222. 
 
 Gando, 102. 
 
 Gaspar, 49. 
 
 Gates, 36. 
 
 Genadendal, 127. 
 
 Geographers Bay, 174. 
 
 George m., 74, 75, 141, 143, 155. 
 
 IV., 221. 
 
 Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 34, 48, 49, 58. 
 
 Gilbert River, 194. 
 
 Gladstone, Mr., 164. 
 
 Glastonbury, 46. 
 
 Glenelg, Lord, 204. 
 
 Glenelg River, 195. 
 
 Gloucester Island, 143. 
 
 Godley, Mr., 212, 213. 
 
 Golconda, 139. 
 
 Gold, 153, 157, 158, 171, 191, 198. 
 
 Gold Coast, 99, TOO. 
 
 Gordon, Colonel, 154. 
 
 Goree, 104. 
 
 Goulburn, 76. 
 
 Granger, Dr., 26. 
 
 Gray, 94, 195. 
 
 Greenfield, General, 31. 
 
 Grenada, 29, 30. 
 
 Grenadines, 29, 30. 
 
 Grey, Earl, 158, 165, 170, 179, 181. 
 
 Grey, Sir G., 190, 214. 
 
 Grosvenor, The, 116. 
 
 Guadaloupe, 20, 22. 
 
 Guatemala, 7, 18. 
 Guiana, 12, 15. 
 Guinea, 87, 112. 
 Guizot, 207. 
 Guy, Sir J., 49. 
 Gyaman, 100. 
 Gympie, 191. 
 
 H 
 
 Hacking, 155. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 28. 
 
 Hampden, 215. 
 
 Hancock, Dr., 17. 
 
 Hargraves, 157. 
 
 Hartpg, 134. 
 
 Hastings, Marquis of, 251. 
 
 Hawaii, 220. 
 
 Hawkesworth, Dr., 221. 
 
 Hayti, 2, 30. 
 
 Hennepin, 69. 
 
 Henrietta Maria, 66. 
 
 Henry vii. , 47. 
 
 Herodotus, 93. 
 
 Highlanders, 76, 77, 106. 
 
 Hinds, Dr., 212. 
 
 Hispaniola, 129. 
 
 Hobart, 160, 167. 
 
 Hobson, Captain, 206. 
 
 Hobson Bay, 168. 
 
 Hochelaga, 67. 
 
 Hodgson, Sir A., 173, 189, 190. 
 
 Holmes, 78. 
 
 Holland, 2, 134, 251. 
 
 Honduras, British, 18. 
 
 Hongi, 204. 
 
 Hong Kong, 232, 246. 
 
 Honolulu, 220. 
 
 Hood, Sir S., 5, 22. 
 
 Hooghly River, 250. 
 
 Hopkins, Commodore, 34. 
 
 Hornemann, 91, 94. 
 
 Hottentots, 108, 113, 126, 131. 
 
 Houghton, 94. 
 
 Houtmans, Abrolhos, 174. 
 
 Hovell, 168, 193. 
 
 Huaheine, 202. 
 
 Hudson's Bay, 47, 64, 73, 75, 76, 140, 
 
 Hue, 247. 
 
 Hughes, Sir E., 231. 
 
 Hugues, Victor, 28, 31. 
 
 Humboldt, 16, 17. 
 
 Hume, 168, 193. 
 
 Hunter, Captain, 147, 152. 
 
 Hunter Island, 151. 
 
 Huron Mission, 67. 
 
Index 
 
 353 
 
 Icacos Point, 12. 
 
 Iceland, 46, 49, 162. 
 
 Im Thurn, 17. 
 
 India, 119, 235, 245. 
 
 Irish, The, 5, 23, 37, 146, 208. 
 
 Home Rule, 82, 83. 
 
 Isandlwana, no. 
 Isla da Gracias, 12. 
 Isle of France, 151. 
 
 J 
 
 Japan, 81, 248. 
 
 Java, 114, 138, 177, 231, 256. 
 
 Jenkins, Sir Leoline, 6. 
 
 Jenne", 93. 
 
 Jesuits, 67, 223. 
 
 Johnson, Dr., 26, 27. 
 
 Johnson, Commodore, 119. 
 
 Johnston, H. H., 88, 101, 102, 103. 
 
 chore, 252. 
 
 oliba River, 90, 93, 95. 
 
 oliet, 68. 
 
 cost, Van Dyke, 29. 
 
 orgensen, 162. 
 Juan Fernandez, 14, 134. 
 Junius, 139. 
 
 K 
 
 Kadavu, 225. 
 
 Kaffirs, 108, no. 
 
 Kaieteur Falls, 17. 
 
 Kakondy, 93. 
 
 Kalm, 118. 
 
 Kanaka, 191. 
 
 Kankan, 93. 
 
 Kano, 96. 
 
 Kapunda, 184. 
 
 Kennedy, 195. 
 
 Kent, Duke of, 31. 
 
 Keppel Bay, 191. 
 
 Kew, 121. 
 
 Keymis, Captain, 12. 
 
 Khayes, 104. 
 
 Kimberley, Lord, 252. 
 
 King, 195. 
 
 King George's Sound, 179. 
 
 Kingsley, Canon, 3, 13, 21. 
 
 Kingston, 5, 27. 
 
 Kirke, Sir D. , 50, 66. 
 
 Koopmanner, 124. 
 
 Korakadika, 203. 
 Koro, 225. 
 Kowloon, 246. 
 Kreli, 108. 
 Kroomen, 103. 
 Kuka, 96. 
 
 Lalor, 173. 
 
 Lancaster, John, 114. 
 
 Lander, Richard, 93. 
 
 Lanne", W. , 163. 
 
 La Perouse, 145, 149, 218. 
 
 Larin, 238. 
 
 Larut, 252. 
 
 Latrobe, 126. 
 
 Ledyard, John, 91. 
 
 Leeward Islands, 20. 
 
 Leguat, 241, 244. 
 
 Leichhardt, 194, 195. 
 
 Leigh, Lord, 9. 
 
 Lememe, Fran9ois, 244. 
 
 Lesseps, 105. 
 
 Le Vaillant, 125. 
 
 Lewis, 71. 
 
 Lexton, 170. 
 
 Light, Colonel, 183. 
 
 Limes, 23, 44. 
 
 Linnaeus, 117. 
 
 Liverpool Plains, 193. 
 
 Livingstone, David, 63, 129. 
 
 Lockhart, Mr., 92. 
 
 Loddon River, 193. 
 
 Lok, Captain, 87. 
 
 Louis xni., 65. 
 
 XIV., 118, 119. 
 
 Louisiana, 69, 70, 73. 
 Loyalists, U. E., 74, 75. 
 Low, Sir Hugh, 255. 
 Lynch, Sir Thomas, 6. 
 Lyttelton, Lord, 213. 
 
 M 
 
 Macao, 240. 
 
 Macarthy, Sir Charles, 101. 
 Macartney, Lord, 231. 
 Macarthur, Mr., 154. 
 Maccassar, 143. 
 Mackenzie River, 71, 194. 
 Macomo, 108. 
 Macquarie River, 156, 193. 
 Madagascar, 118, 129, 240. 
 
354 
 
 Index 
 
 Madras, 138, 231, 242. 
 
 Madulsima, 234. 
 
 Magelhaen, 113, 133, 138, 143, 146. 
 
 Mahrattas, 244. 
 
 Malabar, 231. 
 
 Malacca, 237, 251, 257. 
 
 Malaya, 129. 
 
 Malays, 130. 
 
 Maldives, 237. 
 
 Male, 237. 
 
 Malouines, 139, 140, 243, 244. 
 
 Malta, 176. 
 
 Manchester, Duke of, 4. 
 
 Manilla, 137, 138, 139. 
 
 Manitoba, 76. 
 
 Manoa, 16, 115. 
 
 Maoris, 202. 
 
 Maraccas, 13. 
 
 Mariegalante, 22. 
 
 Marion, Captain, 202. 
 
 Marlborough, 9. 
 
 Marquesas Island, 207, 221. 
 
 Marquette, 68, 69. 
 
 Martinique Island, 2, n, 20, 30. 
 
 Marvell, Andrew, 39, 219. 
 
 Mascarenhas, 240. 
 
 Mashonaland, in. 
 
 Maurice, Prince, 240. 
 
 Mauritius, 153, 225, 240. 
 
 Maximilian, 5. 
 
 Maxwell, W. , 253. 
 
 Melbourne City, 165, 169, 173, 195. 
 
 Melville Island, 185. 
 
 Merino sheep, 154. 
 
 Metcalfe, Lord, 209. 
 
 Mexico, 5, 18, 68, 70, 79, 139. 
 
 Mill, J. S., 210. 
 
 Milton, 132, 133. 
 
 Minto, Lord, 251. 
 
 Miquelon Island, 52. 
 
 Mississippi River, 69, 105, 118. 
 
 Missouri, 68, 71. 
 
 Mitchell, Major, 193, 195. 
 
 Mohammedans, 237. 
 
 Molesworth, Sir W,, 209, 210. 
 
 Mollien, 94. 
 
 Moluccas, 133, 135, 139. 
 
 Monomotapa, 115. 
 
 Montgomery, Earl of, 15. 
 
 Montgomery, Martin, 7, 19, 31. 
 
 Montreal, 64, 67, 72. 
 
 Montserrat, 20, 21, 23, 42. 
 
 Moore, Sir J., 31. 
 
 Moreton, B., 188, 195. 
 
 Morne Fortune, 31, 32. 
 
 Morris, Mr., 21, 41, 42, 101. 
 
 Morrison, 93. 
 Mosquito shore, 19. 
 Mount Ararat, 172. 
 
 Alexander, 170, 191. 
 
 Muizenberg, 121. 
 Muscat, 244. 
 
 N 
 
 Nachtigal, D., 96. 
 Nantes, Edict of, 241. 
 Namaqualand, 115. 
 Napoleon, 78, 115, 151, 176. 
 Natal, in, 113. 
 Navigation Laws, 10. 
 Negn Sembilan, 252. 
 Negroes, 98, 103. 
 Nelson, 9, 28, 212, 214. 
 Nevis, 20, 21, 27, 28, 42. 
 New Britain, 136, 147. 
 
 Caledonia, 145, 201, 220, 223, 
 
 225. 
 
 England, 72, 73, 132, 140. 
 
 France, 51, 64, 65, 72, 132. 
 
 Guinea, 136. 
 
 Hebrides, 145, 201, 220, 225. 
 
 Holland, 135, 144, 151, 174. 
 
 Ireland, 143, 147. 
 
 Norfolk, 161. 
 
 Plymouth, n, 45, 144. 
 
 Providence, 34. 
 
 South Wales, 145, 146, 148, 225. 
 
 Spain, 79. 
 
 Walcheren, 15. 
 
 Zealand, 145, 197, 200. 
 
 Newcastle, 189. 
 Newfoundland, n, 45, 144. 
 Newport, 36. 
 Niagara, 69. 
 Niger River, 89, 90. 
 
 Protectorate, 91, 99. 
 
 Nile River, 90, 95. 
 
 Nisbet Widow, 28. 
 
 Norman, Captain, 254.. 
 
 Normandy, 51. 
 
 Norton, Lord, 80, 97, 98, 158, 182, 
 
 210, 214. 
 Noumea, 224. 
 Nova Scotia, n, 75, 83. 
 Nuyts, 222. 
 
 O 
 
 Ogoue" River, 105. 
 Ohio, 68. 
 
Index 
 
 355 
 
 Oil Rivers, 86, 102. 
 Olive blossom, 8. 
 Ontario, Lake, 65. 
 Orinoco, 2, 10, 17, 115. 
 Osbeck, 118. 
 Osnaburgh Island, 143. 
 Otago, 212, 214. 
 Otaheite, 143. 
 Othello, 80. 
 Ottawa, 77, 82. 
 
 River, 64. 
 
 Oudney, Mr., 93, 94. 
 Overweg, Dr., 94. 
 Owhyhee, 145. 
 Oxley, 188, 192. 
 
 Pahang, 252. 
 Palmerston, Lord, 19. 
 Panama, 7, 43, 106. 
 Pandora Pass, 193. 
 Pangkor, 255, 257. 
 Papineau, 80. 
 Paramaribo, 25. 
 Parham, 25. 
 Paria, 16, 30. 
 
 Park, Mungo, 91, 92, 192. 
 Parkes, Sir Harry, 246. 
 
 Sir Henry, 190. 
 
 Parrett River, 46, 47, 50. 
 
 Parrtown, 75. 
 
 Patagonia, 137. 
 
 Patterson, 1155, 161. 
 
 Paulett, Lord G., 222. 
 
 Payta, 138. 
 
 Pearce, 93. 
 
 Peddie, 94. 
 
 Peel, Sir R., 222. 
 
 Peel, Mr., 179. 
 
 Pelican, The, 113. 
 
 Pelsart, 134. 
 
 Penang, 255, 257. 
 
 Penn, i, 5, 215. 
 
 Pepys, 141, 250. 
 
 Perak, 252. 
 
 Perceval, Mr., 216. 
 
 Peron, 152, 177. 
 
 Perth, 76, 175. 
 
 Peru, 47, 50. 
 
 Philip, Captain, 147, 149, 203. 
 
 Philippines, 258. 
 
 Pigeard, 224. 
 
 Pigeon Island, 32. 
 
 Pitch, Lake, 3, 13. 
 
 Pitons, The, 32. 
 Pisani, 122. 
 Pitcairn, 7, 219. 
 Pitt, Mr., 151. 
 Placentia, 52. 
 Pleiad, The, 95. 
 Pliny, 89, 93. 
 Plymouth, 113, 134. 
 Pomare, 221. 
 Pondicherry, 176, 242. 
 Pondoland, in. 
 Pontac, 127. 
 Pontiac, 72. 
 Port Dalrymple, 161. 
 
 Darwin, 185, 186, 191. 
 
 Dauphin, 240. 
 
 Jackson, 149, 159, 185. 
 
 Louis, 245. 
 
 Morant, 5. 
 
 Nicholson, 206, 207. 
 
 of Spain, 13. 
 
 Porto Nova, 99. 
 
 Port Phillip, 158, 168, 169, 172. 
 
 Porto Rico, 20. 
 
 Port Royal, 5, 6. 
 
 Portuguese, 49, 57, 87, 113, 228, 229, 
 
 238, 240, 250, 257. 
 Prince Edward Island, 75, 76. 
 
 Imperial, no. 
 
 of Orange, 121. 
 
 Rupert, 75, 76. 
 
 Pritchard, Consul, 222. 
 
 Privateers, 242, 244. 
 
 Protestants, 6, 73, 119, 241. 
 
 Ptolemy, 237. 
 
 Punta de la Galera,* 12. 
 
 Punta Gorda, 19. 
 
 Pyrard de Laval, 236, 237. 
 
 Quaelpaert, 246. 
 
 Quebec, 59, 73, 144. 
 
 Queen Charlotte Sound, 143, 201. 
 
 Queensland, 187. 
 
 R 
 
 Raffles, Stamford, 231, 251, 255. 
 Ralegh, Sir Walter, 12, 15, 37, 48, 
 
 64, 115, 215. 
 Recidivists, 224. 
 Redonda, 20, 21. 
 | Reformation, The, 87. 
 
356 
 
 Index 
 
 Reunion, 244. 
 Richardson, Dr., 94, 95. 
 Richelieu, 65, 106. 
 Rio del Rey, 101. 
 Risdon, 160. 
 Robinson Crusoe, 14, 134. 
 
 Sir Hercules, 224, 233. 
 
 Rockies, The, 62, 71. 
 
 Rodney, Lord, 5, 9, 22, 31, 32, 119. 
 
 Rodrigues, 241, 244. 
 
 Rogers Woodes, 34, 137. 
 
 Roman Catholics, 57, 65, 114, 119, 
 
 222, 229, 258. 
 Roraima, 17. 
 Rosemary, 7, 193. 
 Royalists. 10, 34, 38, 50. 
 Ruatan Island, 33. 
 Rusden, Mr., 143. 
 Rut, 49. 
 
 Saba, 20. 
 
 Sahara, The, 94, 95, 102. 
 
 Saigon, 247. 
 
 St. Bartholomew, 20. 
 
 Charles River, 71. 
 
 Christopher, 39. 
 
 Esprit, 68. 
 
 Eustatius, 20. 
 
 Francis, 151, 193, 195, 224. 
 
 Helena, 113, 114, 139. 
 
 lago de la Vega, 5, 6. 
 
 Johns, 48, 60. 
 
 Joseph, 12. 
 
 Kitts, 20, 26, 30, 42. 
 
 Lawrence, 51, 59, 66, 73, 144. 
 
 Louis, 104. 
 
 Lucia, 3, 29, 31, 32. 
 
 Malo, 51, 64, 134, 139, 140. 
 
 Paul's College, 39. 
 
 Pierre, 52, 53, 56. 
 
 Thomas, 20, 29. 
 
 Vincent, 29, 30. 
 
 Salaga, 100. 
 
 Samadu, 100. 
 
 Sandili, 108. 
 
 Sandwich Island, 145, 221, 222. 
 
 San Salvador, 34. 
 
 Santiago, 119. 
 
 Saskatchewan River, 71. 
 
 Sault St. Marie, 68, 72. 
 
 Saunders, Sir C. , 144. 
 
 Schmidt, George, 127. 
 
 Scotch colonists, 6, 14, 203, 249. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 17, 76. 
 
 Seconda, 88. 
 
 Seigneley, 70. 
 
 Seigniors, The, 74. 
 
 Selangor, 250. 
 
 Selkirk, Alexander, 34, 136. 
 
 Settlement, 76, 213. 
 
 Selwyn, Bishop, 211. 
 
 Senegal, 87, 93, 102, 104, 106. 
 
 Sennaar, 91. 
 
 Shakspeare, 35. 
 
 Shand, Mr. Loudoun, 233. 
 
 Shanghai, 247. 
 
 Shark's Bay, 136. 
 
 Shari River, 102. 
 
 Shelvocke, 137. 
 
 Shore Rights, 53. 
 
 Siam, 255. 
 
 Sierra Leone, 86, 98, 104, 205. 
 
 Sikhs, 249, 255. 
 
 Singapore, 177, 184, 247, 255. 
 
 Singhalese, The, 229. 
 
 Sioux, The, 68. 
 
 Sisal hemp, 44. 
 
 Slaves, i, 2, 9, ii, 27, 30, 129, 130, 
 
 146. 
 Slave Coast, 104. 
 
 compensation, 131. 
 
 Sluysken, 122. 
 
 Sofala, 229. 
 
 Sokoto, 93, 96, 102 
 
 Solomon Island, 225. 
 
 Sombrero, 29. 
 
 Somes, Mr., 206. 
 
 Somers, 36, 37. 
 
 Souris River, 71. 
 
 Spain, 2, 133, 139, 141, 215. 
 
 Spanish colonists, i, 2, 18. 
 
 Sparrmann, 117, 125, 201. 
 
 Spice Island, 250. 
 
 Squatters, 156. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 164. 
 
 States General, 121. 
 
 Stirling, Captain, 174, 207. 
 
 Stony Desert, 184, 194. 
 
 Straiths, 144. 
 
 Straits Settlements, 250. 
 
 Streelecki, 194. 
 
 Stuart, 184, 196. 
 
 Sturt, 184, 193, 196. 
 
 Sudan, The, 96, 103, 198. 
 
 Suffren, 119, 120. 
 
 Sugar cane, 9, 25, 26, 30, 225, 226. 
 
 Sumatra, 249. 
 
 Summerhill Creek, 157. 
 
 Sungei Ujong, 252. 
 
Index 
 
 357 
 
 Surat, 135, 250. 
 
 Surcouf, 243, 244. 
 
 Surinam, 15, 25. 
 
 Suva, 226. 
 
 Swan River, 174, 177, 195. 
 
 Sydney, 147, 154, 157, 169, 193, 224. 
 
 Table Bay, 118, 119, 120, 178. 
 
 Mountain, 115, 130. 
 
 Tadousac, 64, 66. 
 Tahiti, 219, 221, 222. 
 Talbot, 170. 
 Taranaki, 214. 
 Tasman, 134, 200. 
 Tasmania, 160, 197. 
 Taviuni, 225. 
 Tea, 9, 234, 235, 247. 
 Teach. Edward, 34. 
 Temple, Sir R. , 258. 
 Ternate, 135. 
 Thierry, 204. 
 Thiers, 223. 
 Thouars, 207, 222. 
 Tidore, 135. 
 Tientsin, 248. 
 Tierra da Brea, 12. 
 
 del Fuego, 145. 
 
 Timbo, 93. 
 
 Timbuctoo, 88, 89, 93, 104, 115. 
 
 Timor, 143. 
 
 Tobacco, 12, 13. 
 
 Tobago, 14. 
 
 Tomund, Earl of, 38. 
 
 Tonga Island, 225. 
 
 Tonquin, 254. 
 
 Toreen, 118. 
 
 Torrens, 182, 186. 
 
 Torres Straits, 187. 
 
 Tortola, 22, 29, 42. 
 
 Tortuga, 134. 
 
 Tory, The, 206, 207. 
 
 Townsville, 190. 
 
 Trafalgar, 9. 
 
 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 15. 
 
 Amiens, 125. 
 
 Nankin, 246. 
 
 Paris, 31, 53, 79, 106, 140, 153, 
 241. 
 
 - Reciprocity, 84. 
 Ryswick, 26, 52. 
 
 St. Germain-en-Laye, 66. 
 
 Utrecht, 26, 39, 52, 56. 
 
 Versailles, 26, 30. 
 
 Treaty of Waitangi, 206. 
 Trelawny, 4. 
 Trincomalee, 120, 231. 
 Trinidad, 12. 
 Tripoli, 94, 95. 
 Trollope, Anthony, 17. 
 Truganini, 163. 
 Tuckey, Captain, 92, 94. 
 Tudor, Mr. , 92. 
 Tulbagh, 122, 124. 
 Turks Islands, 7, 33. 
 
 U 
 
 Unguratua, 94. 
 
 United States, 43, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 
 
 145- 
 Uva, 234. 
 
 Vancouver, 246. 
 
 Van Diemen's Land, 151. 
 
 Gulf, 184, 194. 
 
 Riebeck, 115. 
 Vanua Island, 22. 
 Venables, i, 5. 
 Venezula, 2, 7, 14, 16. 
 Venus, Transit of, 144. 
 Verandrye, 70, 71. 
 Vern, 173. 
 Verrazano, 62, 66. 
 Vesputius, Americus, 47. 
 Victoria City, 247. 
 
 Colony, 158, 176, 225. 
 
 Queen, 81, 169, 170. 
 
 River, 195. 
 
 Vigiti Magna, 115. 
 Virgin Gorda, 29, 42. 
 
 Island, 20, 29. 
 
 Virginia, 27. 
 Viti Levu, 225. 
 Vlaming, 174. 
 Voltaire, 62. 
 
 W 
 
 Wafer, Lionel, 137. 
 
 Wakefield, E. G., 81, 181, 182, 183, 
 
 206, 208, 212. 
 
 Waller, 38, 219. 
 
 Wallin, Dr., 91. 
 
 Wallis, Captain, 143, 220, 221. 
 
 Walpole, Spencer, 197. 
 
 Warren, Sir Thomas, 23, 26. 
 
358 
 
 Index 
 
 Washington, 40. 
 Waterloo, 76. 
 Watermeyer, 21. 
 Watling Island, 34, 
 Weld, Sir F. , 252, 256. 
 Wellington, Duke of, 209. 
 
 City of, 211, 212, 214. 
 
 Wentworth, 155. 
 
 West, Rev. J., 165. 
 
 Whale fisheries, 146, 147, 203. 
 
 Whately, Archbishop, 209. 
 
 Whiteway, Sir W. , 53. 
 
 Whittier, 67. 
 
 Willoughby, 25. 
 
 Wills, Mr., 184, 195, 196. 
 
 Windward Islands, 29. 
 
 Winnipeg, 71. 
 
 Wisconsin, 68, 
 
 Wolfe, 73, 74, 144. 
 
 Wool, 153, 155, 176. 
 Wordsworth, 198. 
 
 Yandi, 100. 
 
 Yarra, 170, 181. 
 
 Yokohama, 246. 
 
 York Peninsula, 187, 195. 
 
 Young, G. F., 206. 
 
 Sir H., 166. 
 
 SirW., 
 
 Yucatan, 18. 
 
 Zaire River, 90. 
 
 Zambesi River, 102, 105, in. 
 
 Zululand, 109, in, 225. 
 
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