. The science of railways . >o a <D St ao PRIMITIVE CARRIAGE IN AUSTRALASIA. The widely separated islands constituting Aus-tralasia form a part of what is known as Ocean-ica. The aborigines were savage blacks. Becauseof their dark skin the territory has sometimesbeen called Melanesia. It comprises the islandsbetween Malasia and Polyne-sia—namely, Australia, NewZealand, New Guinea, the Fijis,New Britain, Tasmania, discovered by whitemen no progress toward civili-zation had been made by theaborigines. The desire to pos-sess property, the first indica-tion of enlightenment—thecrack
. The science of railways . >o a <D St ao PRIMITIVE CARRIAGE IN AUSTRALASIA. The widely separated islands constituting Aus-tralasia form a part of what is known as Ocean-ica. The aborigines were savage blacks. Becauseof their dark skin the territory has sometimesbeen called Melanesia. It comprises the islandsbetween Malasia and Polyne-sia—namely, Australia, NewZealand, New Guinea, the Fijis,New Britain, Tasmania, discovered by whitemen no progress toward civili-zation had been made by theaborigines. The desire to pos-sess property, the first indica-tion of enlightenment—thecracking of the shell of sav-agery^—they lacked. Theywere not familiar with agri-culture, and the dog was theonly domestic animal theypossessed. They had in general no settled dwell-ings but lived in hovels. Their water craft wererude rafts or dug-outs, canoes hollowed out oflogs; those intended for war purposes, however,were frequently of enormous size, in some in-stances being ninety feet long and carrying one (347). 348 CARRIAGE JjV AUSTRALASIA. hundred and fifty men. Men andwomen, especially the latter, boreall the burdens of there was little of the looked for their food from dayto day as do animals, giving littleor no intelligent thought for themorrow. These primitive condi-tions still exist in the unexploredor little frequented parts of theterritory. Like all savages, themen are lazy, idle and do the fighting. The womendo the useful work and bear all thedrudgery of life. Foreigners haveintroduced improved water craft,and, on the larger islands, domesticanimals. In Australia the camel isfound to thrive and to be especiallyuseful in traversing the vast wastesof the interior. The first accountwe have of this great island, thelargest in the group, and, indeed,the greatest in the world, is in1598. It might more properly becalled a continent. It is two thou-sand, five hundred miles from eastto west and one thousand, ninehundred an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1900
