Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-10-04
BLACKS OF AUSTRALIA.
SOME OF THE DANGERS OF LIFE IN
 THE BUSH.
Slow Progress of Civilization Among the Natives - Wounded by Revengeful "Gin''-Courtship Among the Savages. The Schools of Australia.

Gin'-CouFtship Among the Savages.
 The Schools of Australia.
 ''It surprises me that your blacks all seem so civilized. They appear to work just like white people. see that they all wear clothes, and some of their women are exceedingly smart in their attire"
 Mrs John R. Reid of Townsville, New South Wales, Australia rested her hands in her lap and looked at the reporter with pair of eyes as black as her velvet robe. About the collar of her gown was a massive neck lace of South Australian gold. Her dark hair curled in little rings over her forehead, and her white teeth showed ever so little through her red lips She is handsome brunette, the very embodiment of health. With her husband and fourteen year-old daughter, Mrs. Reid has been visiting relatives on Fullerton avenue. Born in tho bush of New South Wales, this is the first time that Mrs. Reid has beheld other than Australian shores
 'The place of my birth is upon the John son river" she said. My father was the first settler there. He has a great plantation on the banks of that stream. He is ninety years old now, and no one could get him to go away from that country. And it is beautiful country we have You people here know as little of us, of our ways and customs as we do of yours. It seems strange, for we are each such great countries We have a DeauCl1ul ldnu, too, Inucn lOVeuer, Cn1nk, than America, and I have been from San Francisco to Boston since came to the states. Our climate is more agreeable and I have looked on no scenery here to compare with ours.
 DANGERS OF THE BUSH.
 | My fathers house was seven miles from | that of our nearest neighbor. Of course, we had cottages for our help, which, with the | stables, made quite little settlement. But l,,sI, r peopled by wild natives If you could see | our blacks you wouldn't wonder that I'm l astonished when 1 behold folk of that color l who behave like human beings. We have been able to accomplish very little toward l civilizng our natives. Yet they are far | better than when 1 was child. Then we were obliged to keep continual guard against | them. At any moment they might fall upon | the settlers and murder them. Do you see | this scar2 (pointing to one near her eye) 4
 'gin' gave me that. What is 'ginP The black women are called gins She drove a
 knife into my head one harvest time. You | see, at harvest time the natives loitered on | the outskirts of fields, stole up near to the | stables and watched all the time to make of | with corn as fast as it was garnered. Work they would not. Do you think one of these naked savages would so demean hirnselfi
 Well, this day in my play ran close to one I
 cred grain. From out a low growing clump
 of brushwood up rose a big 'gin.' She beck
 oned me to her More fearful to turn than
 to face her, advanced When I neared her
 she drove the knife into my head. Then she
 ran. My father sent men for the nearest
 physician and for squad of police The
 knife stayed in my forehead till the doctor
 came and pulled it out. Luckily the point
 was imprisoned. The police shot seven of
 
 depreciation is committed all in the vicinity
 are shot on sight like rabbits. We don't
 adopt the lenient policy toward them that l | learn you do toward your Indians
 "Our blacks are different in type from the
 African. Their hair stands up, wiry and
 bushy, like that of the Circassian women in
 your dime museums. In the bush they wear
 no clothes, but when they come in town the
 authorities compel them to be clad. The
 gins object most strenuously to clothing. If
 you give gin gown she will seldom put
 but one arm in a sleeve, letting the garment | hang from her shoulders and displaying one
 side of her bosom. The blacks find an abund-
 ance of food, and there is thus no incentive for them to accept civilization and learn to
 work The country swarIns with kangaroos,
 walvarbies tan animal similar to the kanga- 1 roo), rabbits and birds Then the blacks
 make a large part of their diet of snakes and !
 dig them from the earth. They eat snakes of all kinds. SAVAGE CoURTsHIP.
 "The blacks are not prolific, couple sell dom having three children The women, of course are brutally abused by the males and | kept in the most degraded state of servitude. l When a black wants a wife he falls upon some young 'gin,' choAes her so she cannot
 cry out and runs with her into the bush. There he must stay with her for three or | four months He cannot return to bis own tribe until the expiration of this period. When he does take her back, if she utters no
 complaint of hunger against him-that is, if she does not show that he has l utterly failed to supply her with sufficient worms, kangaroo meat and snakes-he can keep her. But for year he must stay out of 7 the way of her tribe, for if they catch him
 they will kill him and take the young gin l back. The sign of the married state adopted
 by the women is the pulling out of one front : | tooth. When the male becomes benedict he indicates the joyful fact by cutting off the little finger of his right hand at the first ? joint They live in low, skin covered huts
 and think are in every respect beneath the
 North American Indian in intelligence. "We have several kinds of fish unknown here, and delicious fruits that are not grown , | on your soil. Meat is very cheap. The best 7 ! cuts of beef and mutton arc but three cents c , | pound and pork four cents. Game is to be r l had for the taking, and we have game birds f of every description. Living is much cheaper s than here and wages higher. The lowest :: 1 wages paid common laborers are g day. , | We have common schools now, although . education is not compulsory. In the Sydney 1 district 1t is compulsory. Our private schools
 arc excellent. I was never in school We l had masters at the plantation. We are more :; | hospitable than Americans, less chary o1 ! courtesy, and more generous in entertaining. Our children, too, are more respectful to their seniors, quieter, and fully as intelligent t according to the age, as those I've met here" :" @ Chicago Herald.