New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-03
LIE ANTIPODEs.

frontispiecc i2mo. pp. viii. 4-S.
Charles Scribncr'S Sons.
PICTURESQUE NEW ZEALAND. BY
Paul Gooding Illustration from pho'o-
graphs. Svo. pp. ~. aS-. ne iio"e"''''
Miflin Company.
In an earlier volume Mr.. Fitchett has
told the beginnings of THE New Word
NJ the south" it's discovery and eNplor-
ors the arrival OF the First Fleet WIN
its cargo Of convict settlers. the oarA
nases Of their story. the treatment max
drove them TO revolt and gave rise %
the free and criminal life of the hrst
generation Of bushrangers. In 'h's
second volume he continues the tale I'D
the same picturesque, episodical way
from the discovery of gold in the ma
die Of the last century 10 the federation
NJ the Australian commonwealth. The
completed work is history in an appar-
emily baphazard way. but its insistence
upon the human and picturesque side
Of the making OF Australia gives me
narrative a vividness that is certain TO
make a deeper impression and to give
a clearer understanding than any
chronological statement of facts could
possibly produce Indeed. the lmpor-
tant dates Of Australian history could
easily he put down on a single page
Here. then. are tales of the gold
fields. Of fortunes sought and paid for
in tragedy: tales, also, Of the later
bushraneers. the outlaws around whose
heads Australian fiction. notably that
OF Mr.. Hornung in his earlier period
has woven a halo Of romance but who
I'm reality. were a very common type
Of criminals. as cowardly as they were
ruthless. with the courage only Of the
cornered rat. Mr. Fitchett assures us
that there was nothing romantic about
them. and that comparisons which have
been made with Robin Hood and ms
hand are pure nonsense. He expresses
surprise at the ease with which strong
men allowed themselves 10 be held UP
without resistance by these craven
knights Of the open. and quotes one IN
stance after another of the efficacy OF
81 determined show Of resistance
OF more genuine importance are the
chapters devoted TO the later explorers
OF the terror of Australia. To Charles
Sturt. whose portrait forms the frontis-
piece Of this volume, belongs the chief
honor Of this period, but a far stranger
story is that of DR.. Ludwig Leichardt,
a Prussian botanist, who made ire
mendous sensation by being the first 10
traverse the eastern part Of the CONT
ncnt from south to north, but whose
attempt TO cross from east TO west
ended in one Of the great puzzles of the
history Of exploration:
Leichardt has been called the Frank
I'm Of Australia. but though every man |
in Franklin's Arctic expedition perlsheu,
yet they left abundant relics IN the
shape Of broken oars, rusty muskets'
torn flag. etc. But Leichardt, with
marty consisting Of seven white men /
and two natives. 270 goats. $50 sheep,
40 bullocks. ] . horses, 3 mules and half
4 dozen carts, disappeared from human
knowledge. and LETT not an eIupl& "a u,
ridge. a WORKOUT horseshoe, broken
wheel the hide of a mule or the skele,
ton OF sheep behind TO tell Wnere' anu
how. the party had perished. men,
n0NkHE.
nor a wheel track on the Landscape OF
a sea- on the bark of a tree. There Is
no other example in the history or eX-
ploration Of the disappearance or an en-
tire party so dramatic and complete
1t is strange, in this day Of Austria
Ian fear Of the Yellow Peril. to learn
that in the forties Of the nineteenth
century much importance was attached
10 the establishment Of route across
the continent from north to south be
cause. as the Sydney Herald ex-
dressed it at the time I'VE want
high road 10 China; stream of popu-
lation is required from Asia
II is curious, also, in the retrospect
70 learn of a belief widely held in those
DAYS that the interior Of Australia con-
talned a large inland sea. Sturt went
An search Of it. carrying with him
beat. and found a desert OF indescrlb-
able heat, which split horn handles and
combs into fine lamine. "Our hair as
we'll az the sleeps wool. has ceased to
grow" he wrote. and our nails be-
come as brittle as glass. We find II
difficult TO write, so fast does the fluid
dry on our pens
The author gives only few pages to
The political evolution Of Australia, but
thew are all that is needed. Here is
federation whose population is less
than that Of greater London, but which
owns continent. and which keeps in
active operation no less than fourteen
Houses Of Parliament. Its growth APP
rears 10 be nothing more than chain
Of trivial. aimless and accidental events,
yet the influence that forged the links
and welded them together was the wis
dom Of British rule. II was not AGA
demic, but practical The political and
legal forms followed the facts as they
emerged. and were fitted 10 them. The
form never ran before the fact never
Jagged far behind IL and never was IN
quarrel with 10. The method was 10
ascertain what were the necessities Of
Australia and TO provide for them in
the way, and in the degree, which
seemed at the moment most practical
This story. II may be admitted, seems
painless when told chronolOgically but
vhen seen in the perspective Of CEN
fury clear principle can be discerned
running through 1.-THE principle. it