The Book Of The Bush by George Dunderdale (books to read to improve english .TXT) 📕

Utmost Ceremony.  The 21st Fusiliers Escorted Him To The Wharf.  As

He Entered His Barge His Friends Cheered,  And His Enemies Groaned,  And

Then Went Home And Illuminated The Town,  To Testify Their Joy At

Getting Rid Of A Tyrant.  He Was The Model Governor Of A Crown

Colony,  And The Crown Rewarded Him For His Services.  He Was Made A

Baronet,  Appointed Governor Of Canada And Of Bombay,  Was A Member Of

Her Majesty's Privy Council,  A Colonel Of The Queen's Own Regiment,

And He Died On September 19th,  1854,  Full Of Years And Honours,  And

Worth 70,000 Pounds.

Laming Was Left An Orphan By The Death Of Lizard Skin.  The Chief Had

Grown Old And Sick,  And He Sat Every Day For Two Years On A Fallen

Puriri Near The White Man's Pah,  But He Never Entered It.  His Spear

Was Always Sticking Up Beside Him.  He Had A Gun,  But Was Never Known

To Use It.  He Was Often Humming Some Ditty About Old Times Before

The White Man Brought Guns And Powder,  But He Spoke To No One.  He

Was Pondering Over The Future Of His Tribe,  But The Problem Was Too

Much For Him.  The White Men Were Strong And Were Overrunning His

Land.  His Last Injunction To His Warriors Was,  That They Should

Listen To The Words Of His Pakeha,  And That They Should Be Brave That

They Might Live.

When The British Government Took Possession Of New Zealand Without

Paying For It,  They Established A Land Court To Investigate The

Titles To Lands Formerly Bought From The Natives,  And It Was Decided

In Most Cases That A Few Axes And Hoes Were An Insufficient Price To

Pay For The Pick Of The Country; The Purchases Were Swindles.  Laming

Had Possession Of Three Or Four Hundred Acres,  And To The Surprise Of

The Court It Was Found That He Had Paid A Fair Price For Them,  And

His Title Was Allowed.  Moreover,  His Knowledge Of The Language And

Customs Of The Maoris Was Found To Be So Useful That He Was Appointed

A Judge Of The Land Court.

The Men Who Laid The Foundations Of Empire In The Great South Land

Were Men Of Action.  They Did Not Stand Idle In The Shade,  Waiting

For Someone To Come And Hire Them.  They Dug A Vineyard And Planted

It.  The Vines Now Bring Forth Fruit,  The Winepress Is Full,  The Must

Is Fermenting.  When The Wine Has Been Drawn Off From The Lees,  And

Time Has Matured It,  Of What Kind Will It Be?  And Will The Lord Of

The Vineyard Commend It?

The First White Settler In Victoria Was The Escaped Convict Buckley;

But He Did Not Cultivate The Country,  Nor Civilise The Natives.  The

Natives,  On The Contrary,  Uncivilised Him.  When White Men Saw Him

Again,  He Had Forgotten Even His Mother Tongue,  And Could Give Them

Little Information.  For More Than Thirty Years He Had Managed To

Live--To Live Like A Savage; But For Any Good He Had Ever Done He

Might As Well Have Died With The Other Convicts Who Ran Away With

Him.  He Never Gave Any Clear Account Of His Companions,  And Many

People Were Of Opinion That He Kept Himself Alive By Eating Them,

Until He Was Found And Fed By The Blacks,  Who Thought He Was One Of

Their Dead Friends,  And Had "Jumped Up A White Fellow."

While Buckley Was Still Living With The Blacks About Corio Bay,  In

1827,  Gellibrand And Batman Applied For A Grant Of Land At Western

Port,  Where The Whalers Used To Strip Wattle Bark When Whales Were

Out Of Season; But They Did Not Get It.

Englishmen Have No Business To Live Anywhere Without Being Governed,

And Colonel Arthur Had No Money To Spend In Governing A Settlement At

Western Port.  So Australia Felix Was Unsettled For Eight Years

Longer.

Griffiths & Co.,  Of Launceston,  Were Trading With Sydney In 1833.

Their Cargo Outward Was Principally Wheat,  The Price Of Which Varied

Very Much; Sometimes It Was 2s. 6d. A Bushel In Launceston,  And 18s.

In Sydney.  The Return Cargo From Port Jackson Was Principally Coal,

Freestone,  And Cedar.

Griffiths & Co. Were Engaged In Whaling In Portland Bay.  They Sent

There Two Schooners,  The 'Henry' And The 'Elizabeth',  In June,  1834.

They Erected Huts On Shore For The Whalers.  The 'Henry' Was Wrecked;

But The Whales Were Plentiful,  And Yielded More Oil Than The Casks

Would Hold,  So The Men Dug Clay Pits On Shore,  And Poured The Oil

Into Them.  The Oil From Forty-Five Whales Was Put Into The Pits,  But

The Clay Absorbed Every Spoonful Of It,  And Nothing But Bones Was

Gained From So Much Slaughter.  Before The 'Elizabeth' Left Portland

Bay,  The Hentys,  The First Permanent Settlers In Victoria,  Arrived In

The Schooner 'Thistle',  On November 4th,  1834.

When The Whalers Of The 'Elizabeth' Had Been Paid Off,  And Had Spent

Their Money,  They Were Engaged To Strip Wattle Bark At Western Port,

And Were Taken Across In The Schooner,  With Provisions,  Tools,  Six

Bullocks And A Dray.  During That Season They Stripped Three Hundred

Toc SPELL, THE GOVERNOR HOPED TO GET POSSESSION OF ALL THE OLD CANNON,

POWDER AND BALLS, RUSTY SWORDS AND MUSKETS, AND EVERY THING ELSE THAT

WOULD BE SERVICEABLE IN KILLING FRENCHMEN. DRUMS WERE BEATEN IN ALL THE

VILLAGES OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO ENLIST SOLDIERS FOR THE SERVICE. MESSAGES

WERE SENT TO THE OTHER GOVERNORS OF NEW ENGLAND, AND TO NEW YORK AND

PENNSYLVANIA, ENTREATING THEM TO UNITE IN THIS CRUSADE AGAINST THE FRENCH.

ALL THESE PROVINCES AGREED TO GIVE WHAT ASSISTANCE THEY COULD.

BUT THERE WAS ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING TO BE DECIDED. WHO SHALL BE THE

GENERAL OF THIS GREAT ARMY? PEACE HAD CONTINUED SUCH AN UNUSUAL LENGTH OF

TIME, THAT THERE WAS NOW LESS MILITARY EXPERIENCE AMONG THE COLONISTS,

THAN AT ANY FORMER PERIOD. THE OLD PURITANS HAD ALWAYS KEPT THEIR WEAPONS

BRIGHT, AND WERE NEVER DESTITUTE OF WARLIKE CAPTAINS, WHO WERE SKILFUL IN

ASSAULT OR DEFENCE. BUT THE SWORDS OF THEIR DESCENDANTS HAD GROWN RUSTY BY

DISUSE. THERE WAS NOBODY IN NEW ENGLAND THAT KNEW ANY THING ABOUT SIEGES,

OR ANY OTHER REGULAR FIGHTING. THE ONLY PERSONS, AT ALL ACQUAINTED WITH

WARLIKE BUSINESS, WERE A FEW ELDERLY MEN, WHO HAD HUNTED INDIANS THROUGH

THE UNDERBRUSH OF THE FOREST, IN OLD GOVERNOR DUMMER S WAR.

IN THIS DILEMMA, GOVERNOR SHIRLEY FIXED UPON A WEALTHY MERCHANT, NAMED

WILLIAM PEPPERELL, WHO WAS PRETTY WELL KNOWN AND LIKED AMONG THE PEOPLE.

AS TO MILITARY SKILL, HE HAD NO MORE OF IT THAN HIS NEIGHBORS. BUT, AS THE

GOVERNOR URGED HIM VERY PRESSINGLY, MR. PEPPERELL CONSENTED TO SHUT UP HIS

LEGER, GIRD ON A SWORD, AND ASSUME THE TITLE OF GENERAL.

MEANTIME, WHAT A HUBBUB WAS RAISED BY THIS SCHEME! RUB-A-DUB-DUB!

RUB-A-DUB-DUB! THE RATTLE OF DRUMS, BEATEN OUT OF ALL MANNER OF TIME, WAS

HEARD ABOVE EVERY OTHER SOUND.

NOTHING NOW WAS SO VALUABLE AS ARMS, OF WHATEVER STYLE AND FASHION THEY

MIGHT BE. THE BELLOWS BLEW, AND THE HAMMER CLANGED CONTINUALLY UPON THE

ANVIL, WHILE THE BLACKSMITHS WERE REPAIRING THE BROKEN WEAPONS OF OTHER

WARS. DOUBTLESS, SOME OF THE SOLDIERS LUGGED OUT THOSE ENORMOUE He Had Built A Hut And Planted A Garden With

Potatoes And Other Vegetables.  Flesh Meat He Obtained From The

Kangaroos And Seals.  Their Skins He Took To Launceston In His Boat,

And In It He Brought Back Supplies Of Flour And Groceries.  He Had

Observed Dead Bodies Of Women And Men,  And Pieces Of A Wrecked Vessel

Cast Up By The Sea,  And Had Travelled Along The Shore With His

Family,  Looking For Anything Useful Or Valuable Which The Wreck Might

Yield.  After Hearing The Story,  And Seeing The Miserable Plight Of

The Castaways,  He Invited Them To His Home.  On Arriving At The Hut

Scott And His Lubras Prepared For Their Guests A Beautiful Meal Of

Kangaroo And Potatoes. This Was Their Only Food As Long As They

Remained On King's Island,  For Scott's Only Boat Had Got Adrift,  And

His Flour,  Tea,  And Sugar Had Been All Consumed.  But Kangaroo Beef

And Potatoes Seemed A Most Luxurious Diet To The Men And Women Who

Had Been Kept Alive For Three Weeks On Nothing But Shellfish.

Scott And His Hounds Hunted The Kangaroo,  And Supplied The Colony

With Meat.  The Liver Of The Kangaroo When Boiled And Left To Grow

Cold Is A Dry Substance,  Which,  With The Help Of Hunger And A Little

Imagination,  Is Said To Be As Good As Bread.

In The Month Of July,  1835,  Heavy Gales Were Blowing Over King's

Island.  For Fourteen Days The Schooner 'Elizabeth',  With Whalers For

Port Fairy,  Was Hove To Off The Coast,  Standing Off And On,  Six Hours

One Way And Six Hours The Other.  Akers,  The Captain,  And His Mate

Got Drunk On Rum And Water Daily.  The Cook Of The 'Industry' Was On

Board The 'Elizabeth',  The Man Whom Captain Blogg Was Flogging When

His Crew Seized Him And Threw Him Overboard.  The Cook Also Was Now

Pitched Overboard For Having Given Evidence Against The Four Men Who

Had Saved Him From Further Flogging.

At This Time Also Captain Friend,  Of The Whaling Cutter 'Sarah Ann',

Took Shelter Under The Lee Of New Year's Island,  And He Pulled Ashore

To Visit Scott The Sealer.  There He Found The Shipwrecked Men And

Women Whom He Took On Board His Cutter,  And Conveyed To Launceston,

Except One Woman And Two Men.  It Was Then Too Late In The Season To

Take The Whalers To Port Fairy.  Captain Friend Was Appointed Chief

District Constable At Launceston; All The Constables Under Him