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    1190 THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    AUSTRALIA AS IT IS. Australia as it is :...

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    A New Volume By Comte Hus Just Appeared....

    but they will also be grateful to him for having furnished in his own person the most striking tribute to them since the days of Dante ; indeed , as we have said before , the tribute paid by Poets and chivalrous natures to that gentle , yet exalting influence which it is woman ' s glorious privilege to exercise , is as nothing compared with the tribute paid by Auguste Comte , a man of austere science , a man grown old and solitary , without the passions or the illusions which are usually thought to be the impulses to adoration . Happy he who has Love for the helm and - star of Life ; who can say of one woman , that to be worthy of her , Ogni basso pensier dal cor m ' avulse , he has banished every unworthiness from his life !

    1190 The Leader. [Saturday,

    1190 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    Australia As It Is. Australia As It Is :...

    AUSTRALIA AS IT IS . Australia as it is : its Settlements , Farms , and Gold melds . By F . Lancelott , Esq . , Mineralogical Surveyor of the Colonies . 2 vols . . Colburn and Co , Theee are travellers with an eye to the picturesque , travellers with an eye to comfort , travellers with an eye to their own g lorification , but veryfew travellers with an eye to what will be of practical advantage as well as interest to the public ; of this last-named order is Mr . Lancelott , whose scientific position has aided him in writing the most instructive and not the least amusing book on Australia which has fallen in our way . Keeping himself and his own affairs modestly in the background , he presents us with , a calm spectator ' s view of colonial life in town and country . The book is correctly indicated in its title , Australia as it is . Mr . Lancelott and climate

    cares more about interesting us in zoology , botany , geology , , than in his own personal mishaps and adventures ; and we are abundantly grateful for the preference . He has described the Australian farms and farm-life , the cultivation of vine and other crops , the various inducements and drawbacks which ought to influence emigrants ;—and he has described them in a sensible , vivid , trustworthy style . The second volume is devoted to the diggings , which are described mineralogically , practically , socially , and politically . The subject acquires fresh interest from-his sensible and authoritative treatment ; but we must refer to the volume itself ; our readers will be more tempted by various glimpses of Australian , life to be met with in ^ the first volume . Here , at the outset , is a picture of

    AUSTRALIAN" CONTRASTS . " Almost everything in nature is , in Australia , the reverse of what it is here . When we have winter they have summer , when we have day they have night ; we have our feet pressing nearly opposite to their feet : there , too , the compass points to the south ; the sun travels along the northern heavens ; the mercury of the barometer rises with a southerly and falls with a northerly wind ; the animals are disproportionately large in their lower extremities , and carry their young in a pouch ; the plumage of the birds is beautiful , their notes are harsh and strange ; the swans are black ; the eagles are white ; the moles lay eggs ; the owls screech and hoot only in the day-time ; the cuckoo ' s song is heard only in the night ; the valleys are cool , the mountain-tops are warm ; the north winds are hot , the south

    winds are cold , the east winds are healthy ; the bees are without sting ; the cherries grow with the stone outside ; one of the birds has a broom in . his mouth instead of a tongue ; another creature ( the duck-billeted platypus ) unites with the body , fur , and habits of a mole , the webbed foot and bill of a duck . Many of the beautiful flowers are without smell ; most of the trees arc without shade , and shed their bark instead of their leaves : some indeed are without leaves , in others the leaves are vertical ; and even the geological formation of the country , as far as ascertained , is most singular . " The chapter on the Aborigines and on the zoology and botany are interesting , though containing nothing novel . As of more immediate importance to those emigrating , or whoso friends have emigrated , read this on the

    CLIMATE . " The seasons in Australia are the reverse of ouvh , July is mid-winter , January , mid-summer . The spring and autumn are brief , and the transition from one Hoason to the other is so imperceptible , that it is difficult to say when the one begins or the other ends . Spring . sets in early in September , when the atmosphere acquires a delightful warmth ; as the season advance , the full of rain decreases , the heat increases , and about the middle of November , summer commences . The heat now becomes great , and by the end of . December , nearly all the rivers are dried up , vegetation has censed , and the ; country assumes the appearance of an arid desert . At the close of February a diminution of temperature commences , autumn beginning about the middle of March , and early in April genial . showers carpet' the country with bright verdure , and tho atmosphere becomes pleasantly cool and buoyant .

    " Kurly in June , the season that can only In ; called winter from its situation in the calendar , commences , and by the middle of July torrents of rain have inundated tin ; country , and Hindered the water-courses mighty rushing Ktrenms ; this cold rainy reason generally terminates by the middle or end of August . " IJet . ween the rains at this season of the year , there are days , and , in homo years , whole weeks together , of delightful weather , cool and bracing as Hpring in England , but more beautiful and exhilarating . " With the exception of about , twenty-five- extremely hoi ; days , and sixty disngreeable wet or cold days , the weather throughout the year is indescribably pleasant , the air is balmy and bright , wcarccly a cloud in visible , and tho huu looks down from the deep blue nicy in unveiled splendour . "

    ' " Day and nighf , are of nearly equal length throughout the year . The sun never remains above the horizon more than about fourteen and a half hours , nor less than iion mid a half ; and , as twilight dooH not linger in these bititmlou , tho chungCH from day to night , and from night to morn , nro to an Englishman unpleasantly abrupt . ** The greater number of tho nights urn most enchanting . The southern , constellations shine forth from tho hard , dark heaveim in unrivalled brightneKs , and the haloed moon pourH hor chastened radiiineo on tho plains and hills with Hiioh refulgence , thai , everything for miles around is dinUnctly visible . The light of both the Him and Iho moon m more intense than in Jiriluin . I should Hay the difference is hh live to three . " Tho climate throughout' the Australian provinces is deciuodly hot . The

    thermometer in Sydney and Melbourne during summer , frequently reaches 90 or 100 deg . Fahr . in the shade ; and occasionally 110 deg ., or even more . In winter It rarely ranges below 46 deg . Fahr . ; hoar frost sometimes occurs : ice , seldom or

    never . " The variations in temperature are great and sudden : noonday is frequentlv 20 deg . hotter than morning or evening , while tKe heat of one day often differ * from that of the next by 15 deg . Then , as the southerly winds are altogether more moist than those from the northward , a change of wind without any alteration in the thermometer often chills severely ; indeed , the climate is much affected by the direction of the winds . That which blows from the northward is always extremely dry , and often violent . In winter it is moderately warm , in summer it is intensely hot , and rushes on with the velocity of a hurricane , raising the thermometer in the shade to 110 deg ., or even 120 deg . Fahr ., drying up the grass like hay , depriving the grape of its watery elements , rendering iron exposed to its influence so hot as to burn the hand on touching it , doing injury to the promising harvest , and filling the air with such quantities of dust and sand , that the sun's rays are shut out and only darkness is visible . The current of heated air appears confined to no particular altitude , but rushes upwards or downwards , according to circumstances ; sometimes it assumes a rotary movement , as if revolving on a series of horizontal axes thus : lllllll ; or undulates thus : Occasionally the hot wind travels

    so slowly that its movement is scarcely perceptible ; there is then little dust , the heat of the sun ' s rays is great , and the earth is so torrid , that a thermometer which I sunk horizontally into the ground to the depth of Z \ inches , in a situation exposed to the .. sun and the wind , stood at 151 deg . Fahr . On another occasion I placed a bar of copper about one foot long and three inches wide by one inch thick , in a situation exposed to the hot wind and the sun ' s rays ; when it had been thus placed for about two hours , I wrapped some common post letter-paper round it , and in doing so , it accidentally came against my hand , which it burnt , and in a few hours afterwards the place blistered . After the paper had been in contact with the copper about an hour its colour changed to a deep straw or pale brown , and it was so scorched and rotten that it broke in pieces when I attempted to unwrap it . During- the prevalence of these siroccos , the high clouds , cirrus , and strata frequently disappear , while the lower remain unchanged ; and at night the air is commonly filled with beautiful sheet lightning .

    " It is believed that there are no noxious gases in these winds , and they are said to exercise no deleterious effects on the health of man ; the climate would , nevertheless , be more salubrious without them , as , during their prevalence , nearly all persons of weakly or debilitated constitutions suffer extreme lassitude and depression . The moisture dries from the eyes , the lips become parched and cracky , the breathing short and quick , the air as it enters the mouth feels burning hot , and while sitting perfectly still the perspiration oozes from every pore in the skin . Individuals of robust constitution , however , are not thus affected : the hardy sun-tanned colonists freely expose themselves to the fiery blast , and , breathing the hot _ air full of dust and sand , toil on indifferent to everything but the demand of a parched thirst , and , in some cases , a wolfish appetite . When questioned , they reply : ' Oh , the heat is no nuisance ; it ' s the choking dust that ' s unbearable . ' "

    " The variation in temperature , from the hot northern blasts to the chilling squalls from the south , is as great as it is sudden . In November , 1850 , a hot wind was blowing ; my thermometer in Melbourne stood at 108 deg . in the shade , a south wind came , drove back the north , and , in rather less than five minutes , thethermometer fell to 60 deg ., and I shook with cold from head to foot . This variation , 48 deg ., is the greatest that I have registered on these occasions ; the least is said to be 25 deg . Though perhaps disagreeably sudden , the change is , nevertheless , most refreshing to all animated nature . Tho birds of the air , and the beasts of the earth , come out from their hiding-places , and gleefully wanton in the bracing breeze ; even the dogs that have buried their noses in the corners of your room , and would not go out , though you severely flogged them , now lift up their heads , and with a wough ! wough ! . joyously rush into the open air . The effect on man is equally great ; in an hour or so all lassitude has vanished , and your wonted

    vigour returned . " Mr . Lancelott instituted close inquiries into the state of mortality , and he thus sums up the results : — . " 1 st- Melbourne is the churchyard of infants ; but tho mortality of children in the country districts is not so great as in Britain . 2 ndly . Healthy natives of the Uritish Isles , of both sexes , who arrive in Australia in the heyday of life , and botuo there , may expect to die about ten years sooner than they would had they mmuneci at home . 3 rclly . Natives of Great Britain , cither male or female , who have passed the meridian of life , will in all probability add ten or twenty years to their existence by going to either of the colonies , and ending their days there . 4 tlily . *» arrive t maturity earlier timn

    vitluals horu in Australia , or taken there in infancy , a they would in England , especially the females ; at fifteen a g irl possesses all inc . charms and many of the graces of womanhood . Btlily . Th * climate usually cuic » dyspepsia , chW ks a tendency to consumption , incmiHOH nervous debility , \ parent ly develops the latent Heeds of insanity . Gllily . During Hummer ophU . u i m , sore Him and mouths , and hilioiiH and intermittent fevrrs occur . 1 he levelh , ever , are neither so violent , ho fatal , nor ho frequent as in India , China , and oi . n - hot countries , where marsh miasma abounds . Vthly . The frequent and su me changes < , f temperature , especially at the close of apring and commence no - autumn , often induce diarrhea and dysentery ; indeed these maladies , al <> r , seldom fatal , are of common occurrence . Htlily . Tho climate exercises a . « ¦ < enect on diseases of the kidneys , renders those of the skin more virulent , I . m Hritain , occasionally induces derangement of tho liver , is baneful to the

    and beneficial to the gouty . ' . As the idciw aljout 1 , 110 IioaUliinoss of Australia aro very yn ^ ie , i < w <\ ll to boar in mind the conclusion arrived at by <> ur author : » j ' t if ,, however , by no means advisable for those who enjoy buoyant health in ^_ cold , moist winter and spring of Unglnnu , and sutlerlassitude ... he l « Mfc lit ,,, « r , to settle in Australia ; for the clinntt ,-, although highly » . hil > iio . i « £ h aH Hcnse , is an extreme one-great drying and heaP )> oing its eharaei , ** ^ i . the hot winds turn green leaven yellow , ho they . « hrivel up those »«}» vh 1 ,,. i 1 wh ^ physical conformation only fits them to dwell in move tempera ! . e en o .. ^ ! vho are not ncrofulous , who suffer from cold and nurture and me most ^ in hot weather , ' have nothing to fear from the climate of Ausixahu Htances of such individual * , after a few years' rewunnrn in tho colours , quite robust , and much invigorated . ^«« ,,, « inlivo habit "As before ntntcd , it i « an ascertained fact , that persons of u conBump Uve

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11121852/page/18/