San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-10-30
BLACKS OF AUSTRALIA.
SOME OF THE DANGERS OF LIFE IN
THE BUSH.

AincnS the oaNaSes.
The Schools of Australia
at surprises me that your blacks all seem
so civilized. They appear to work Just like
white people, Isee 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 50 little through
her red lips She is a 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 the bush Of New South
Wales, this is the first time that Mrs. Reid
has beheld other than Australian shores.
1.-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
as we do of yours. 1t seems strange, for We
are each such great countries We have
beautiful land, too, much lovelier, think.
than America, and | have been from San
Francisco to Boston since came to the states.
Our climate is more agreeable and | have
looked on no scenery here to compare with
ours.
DANGERS OF THE BUSH.
Any fathers house was seven miles from
that of our nearest neighhor. OF course, we
had cottages for our help, which, with the
stables, made quite little settlement But
it was in the wild bush whore grew up,
peopled by wild natives. II you could see
our blacks you wouldn't wonder that I'm
astonished when behold folk of that color
who behave like human beings. We have
been able to accomplish very little toward
civihzing our natives. Yet they are far
better than when / was a child. Then wei
were obliged to keep continual guard against
them. At any moment they might fall upon
the settlers and murder them Do you seel
this scare pointing to one near her eye.) Al
gin gave me that. What is 'ginF TheI
black women are called gins She drove al
knife into my head ono 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 OFF
with corn as fast as it was garnered. Work
they would not. Do you think one of these
naked savages would so demean himselfl
Well, this day in my play ran close to one
Of the barns packed full Of the newly gath
cred grain From out low growing clump
Of bYushwoed up rose big gin She beck
oned me to her. More fearful to turn than
to face her, advanced. When neared her
she drove tho knife into my head. Then she
ran. My father sent men for the nearest
physician and for a 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
the blacks in the bush then, for whenever any
depreciation is committed all in the vicinity
are shot on sight like rabbits We don't
adopt the lenient policy toward them that I
learn you do toward your Indians.
sour 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 sleeve, letting the garment
hang from her shoulders and displaying one
side of her bosom. The blacks find an abund-
ance of food, ard there is thus no incentive
for them to accept civilization and learn to
work. The country swarns with kangaroos,
walvarbies ian animal similar to the kanga-
roo, rabbits and birds. Then the blacks
make large part of their diet of snakes and
worms Worms they eat raw, just as they
dig them from the earth. They eat snakes of
all kinds
SAVAGE CoURTSHIP.
1.-THE blacks are not prolific, q 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.
When a black wants a wife he falls upon
some young gin chokes 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 his own
tribA 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
utterly failed to supply her with sufficient
worms. kangaroo meat and snakes-he can
keep her. But for year he must stay out Of
the way of her tribe, for if they catch him
they will kill him and take the young gin
back The sign of the married state adopted
by the women is the pulling out of one front
tooth. When the male becomes a 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 l think are in every respect beneath the
North American Indian in intelligence.
1--WE have several kinds of fish unknown
here, and delicious fruits that are not grown
on your soil Meat is very cheap. The best