human
In the evening, Mr. Meredith put his boat ashore, and went to his hut, had his supper, and was preparing for bed; and taking up a prayer-book, as was his custom, was reading the prayers before the fire, with his back to the door, when some natives looked through the window, saw their advantage, and opened the door silently. The woman, his attendant, then entered with an axe belonging to him in her hand, and several men followed her. She approached the unsuspecting youth, and, while his soul was devoutly engaged in prayer, she raised the fatal axe, and, with one blow, severed his skull, and the men with their clubs beat his body into a shapeless mass.
gpt
Poor Mr. Meredith! What a frightful murder!
human
The Australians thought nothing of it, for they glory in the most atrocious deeds. I fear it will be long before they will be civilized. But let us look at their country, of which, in some respects, but little can be said; for it is not remarkable for its fertility, and in many parts exceedingly barren. But few animals range there, and in the south-west the natives subsist during the winter chiefly on opossums, kangaroos, and bandicoots, in the summer upon roots, with occasionally a few fish.
gpt
Port Adelaide appears to be a neat town. Its harbor is a deep creek or inlet of the sea, running out of Gulf St. Vincent: it contains two spacious wharfs, alongside of which, vessels from Great Britain, Singapore, Manilla, China, Mauritius, Sydney, Hobart Town, and New Zealand, are continually discharging their cargoes.
human
There are many lakes in Australia, but none of them very large. Lake Alexandria is the largest, but it is very shallow; and Lake St. George, the second in size, which, in 1828, was a sheet of water 17 miles long by 7 broad, was said by an old native female to have been a forest within her memory, and in 1836 it was dried up to a grassy plain.
gpt
Does not Van Diemen's Land belong to New Holland, mamma?
human
Yes, my dear; and the part nearest to it is New South Wales, from which it is separated by Bass's Straits, which are 100 miles broad, and contain a great many small islands. Van Diemen's Land was discovered by Tasman, in 1644, and named by him in honor of the Dutch Governor-General of the East Indies: but it is now more appropriately called Tasmania. This island contains several mountains of considerable elevation. The highest is ascertained to be 3964 feet in height. Hobart Town is the capital. The population of Tasmania has of late years much increased, for, owing to its eligibility, the tide of emigration has been strong. For many years, three or four vessels have annually sailed from Great Britain, laden with emigrants possessed of more or less capital, and they have, in most cases, prospered equal to their expectations.
gpt
Are there not more coral reefs about Australia than in any other part of the Ocean?
human
It is generally supposed so; but, in asking that question, do you know what coral reefs are?
gpt
Yes, papa; they are the work of insects, who build them for their habitations; but it is very wonderful.
human
It is wonderful, my dear; and there are many other marvellous productions of the Most High God, so infinitely beyond the power of man to produce, that, in meditating on them, the mind is lost in wonder and surprise. 'The most powerful, acutest, and holiest mind,' says a learned divine, 'will eternally be unable fully to find out God, or perfectly to comprehend Him.' May these wonders then increase our reverence, and humble us before the mighty Creator of all things.
gpt
Captain Hall examined some coral reefs during the different stages of one tide, and gives the following description as the result:--'When the tide has left it for some time, it becomes dry, and appears to be a compact rock, exceedingly hard and rugged; but as the tide rises, and the waves begin to wash over it, the coral worms protrude themselves from holes that were before invisible. These animals are of a great variety of shapes and sizes, and, in such prodigious numbers, that, in a short time, the whole surface of the rock appears to be alive and in motion. The most common worm is in the form of a star, with arms from four to six inches long, which are moved about with a rapid motion, in all directions, probably to catch food. Others are so sluggish, that they may be mistaken for pieces of rock; and are generally of a dark color, from four to five inches long, and two or three round. When the coral is broken about high-water mark, it is a solid hard stone; but if any part of it be detached at a spot where the tide reaches every day, it is found to be full of worms of different lengths and colors, some being as fine as a thread and several feet long, of a bright yellow, and sometimes of a blue color; others resemble snails, and some are not unlike lobsters in shape, but soft, and not above two inches long.'
human
We must be content to see these in imagination. But sometimes I feel disposed to regret that we are not _really_ afloat in the 'Research;' and at other times I congratulate myself that the voyage is only imaginary; for in Polynesia particularly, we have met with so many ignorant, savage people, it is well for us that we can, if we choose, steer clear of them. I suppose it would not be possible in all Europe to find a country where such unreasonable things were done from religious superstition?
gpt
My dear Dora, you are very much mistaken. Europe has been, and still is in many parts, a slave to superstition; and, although not savages, there are many vices and iniquitous deeds committed in civilized Europe, which no temptation would induce the savages of Polynesia to commit. But, to assure your mind that horrible crimes were perpetrated from zeal in the doctrines of their religion, I will give you an instance connected with Sweden in olden time. The story is told by a slave girl named Kumba, thus:--'My mother was amongst the slaves of Queen Gunnild: she was the most faithful of her servants. Poor and heavy was her lot, yet did she wish to live. My father was a free-born person, who thought little of forsaking the woman who loved him, and the child she had nursed for him. I remember a night--that night has stretched itself over my whole life. Flames arose from a pile: they ascended high into heaven. It was the corpse of the Queen which was burned. My mother was amongst those who tended the pile: she with many others was cast alive into the flames. The Queen, it was said, needed her attendance in another world. I stood amongst the people, still a child, and heard my mother's cry, and saw her burn! Fatherless and motherless, I went thence into the world alone, and wandered in the woods without knowing whither. There came people who seized me, and carried me back to the Court of King Atle. They said that I wished to run away, and I was conducted to the presence of the king. I answered haughtily to his questions, and he caused me to be whipped till the blood came: in punishment, as he said, of my disobedience.' Is not that barbarous enough for a savage land, Dora?
human
Oh yes, madam, that is very shocking. Poor, unhappy Kumba! What a life of wretchedness was hers.