Ever since the white people
began to settle there, the black people have been dying away very fast;
for the white people have taken away the lands where the blacks used to
hunt, and have filled them with their sheep and cattle.
There are two sorts of white people who have come to Australia. They are
called "Convicts," and "Colonists."
Convicts are some of the worst of the white people;--thieves, who instead
of being kept in prison, were sent to Australia to work hard for many
years. It is a sad thing for Australia, that so many thieves have been
sent there, because after their punishment was over, and they were set at
liberty, some remained in the land, and did a great deal of harm.
Colonists are people who come of their own accord to earn their living as
best they can.
It is a common sight when travelling in Australia, to meet a dray drawn
by bullocks, laden with furniture, and white people. It is a family going
to their new farm. In the dray there are pigs, and you may hear them
grunting; there are fowls, too, shut up in a basket; and besides, there
are plants and tools. When the family arrive at the place where they mean
to settle, they find no house, nor garden, nor fields, only a wild
forest. Immediately they pitch a tent for the mother and her daughters to
sleep in, while the father, his sons, and his laborers, sleep by the fire
in the open air. The next morning, the men begin to fell trees to make a
hut, and they finish it in a week;--not a very grand dwelling, it is
true, but good enough for the fine weather; the floor is made of the hard
clay from the enormous ant hills; the walls--of great slabs of wood; the
roof--of wooden tiles, and the windows--of calico.
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