52 



AUSTRALIA. 



1868-'69, he was several times able to observe 

 the spectrum of the luminous arc which sur- 

 rounds the dark segment, and is never want- 

 ing in faint auroras. The light was almost 

 monochromatic, and consisted of a single bright 

 line, which was on the left of the well-known 

 group of lines of calcium. Traces of three very 

 faint bands were also observed, which extended 

 nearly as far as F. Only once, when the lu- 

 minous arc was much agitated, did he see the 

 regions in question momentarily illuminated by 

 some faint spectrum lines ; yet, from the feeble 

 intensity of those rays, he could still say that 

 the light of the luminous arc is almost mono- 

 chromatic. In March of 1867 he observed, for 

 a whole week, the same line in the zodiacal 

 light, which at that time displayed an extraor- 

 dinary intensity. Finally, on a starlight night, 

 when the whole sky was in some degree phos- 

 phorescent, he found traces of the line even in 

 the faint light which proceeded from all parts 

 of the heavens. This line, so far as he has in- 

 vestigated it, does not coincide with any of the 

 known lines of simple or of compound gases. 

 He suggests that an intense northern light, such 

 as can be observed within the polar circle, will 

 probably give a more complex spectrum. 



AUSTRALIA. This continent is now di- 

 vided into five colonies : New South Wales and 

 Queensland in the east, Western Australia in 

 the west, South Australia in the southwest, 

 and Victoria, the smallest, but most important, 

 in the southeast. 



The area of Victoria is 86,831 English 

 square miles, or about as large as that of Great 

 Britain. Its population was, at the end of 

 1868, about 684,000. The proportion of the 

 male population to the female is as 4 to 3. The 

 soil is for the greater part undulated and trav- 

 ersed by some mountain-ranges of consider- 

 able height. Of its area, 40, TOO square miles 

 are adapted for sheep-breeding, 26,000 for agri- 

 culture, 583 square miles are calculated to be 

 auriferous, the unexplored land being about 

 20,000 square miles. There are numerous 

 rivers, but only one, the Murray, is large ; it 

 has a length of 2,400 miles, 2,000 of which are 

 navigable. The climate is dry, but pleasant. 



Gold-mining is now principally in the hands 

 of companies, and is regulated like any other 

 branch of industry. But there still are many 

 diggers who work on their own account, and 

 would not work for any wages in the richest 

 quartz-works. 



The yield of gold amounted in 1867 to 

 1,433,687 ounces. There were 470 steam ma- 

 chines in the alluvial works, and 532 in the 

 quartz-works. The total value of the machines 

 used in the gold-works amounted to 2,068,527 

 pounds sterling. The average wages of the 

 miners was 87 2s. sterling. The total value 

 of gold obtained in this colony up to the end 

 of 1867 was 136,000,000 sterling. The yield 

 of gold in 1868 amounted to 1,657,598 ounces, 

 and the value of machinery to 2,150,432. 

 There was obtained in 1867 silver valued at 



3,462, tin at 195,000, copper at 4,000, 

 antimony at 30,000, coal at 3,000, slate 

 and flagstone at 18,000, .diamonds and jew- 

 els at 8,000. The number of miners has for 

 several years continually been on the decrease. 

 It was, in 1868, 63,000, 15,000 of whom were 

 Chinese. The main centre of the gold-diggings 

 is Ballarat. The city contains a very industri- 

 ous population of 28,000. The annual receipts 

 of the municipality amount to more than 

 20,000. A railroad connects it with Mel- 

 bourne via Geelong. The next mining cities 

 in importance are Bandigo and Castlemaine. 



The present agricultural population is about 

 14,000. The yield in wheat is about twenty 

 bushels, in oats about twenty-two bushels, an 

 acre. The dry climate is favorable to wheat, 

 which is of excellent quality. There were, in 

 1868, 121,000 horses, 622,000 cattle, 77,000 

 hogs, 8,460,000 sheep. The export of wool 

 amounted to 3,800,000. The value of agri- 

 culture was, in 1866, 865,693. The squatters 

 had 1,156 stations for sheep-breeding, extend- 

 ing over thirty-two million acres. The cul- 

 tivation of tobacco, flax, and the vine, is pro- 

 gressing favorably. The vineyards, in 1868, 

 covered 5,000 acres. The Society of Acclima- 

 tization manifests great activity. Almost all 

 the domestic animals, fruit, vegetables, and 

 corn, are acclimatized, and thriving very well. 

 The want of sufficient flowing water, arising 

 from the nature of the hard upper strata, has 

 been a serious drawback both for mining and 

 agriculture, so that the supply of water has 

 become the matter of paramount importance. 

 Among other means of remedying this want, 

 the large river Murray is to be brought into 

 communication with many other rivers, gigan- 

 tic reservoirs are to be constructed, large salt 

 lakes to be emptied, and changed into reser- 

 voirs. 



All other branches of industry have also 

 been greatly developed. There were, in 1866, 

 114grindmg-mills, with a capital of 384,385; 

 86 breweries, with a capital of 266,000 ; and of 

 other manufactories there were 786, with a 

 total capital of 1,980,911. 



With this development of domestic industry 

 the English export has decreased. The legisla- 

 ture was compelled to introduce an almost pro- 

 hibitory protective tariff. Wages are exceed- 

 ingly high, and every industrious and competent 

 working-man finds occupation readily, as may 

 be perceived by the fact that the deposits in the 

 savings-banks amount to a sum of 8,000,000. 

 The Government of Victoria aids immigration 

 but very little now, the legislature, which is 

 elected by universal suffrage, representing the 

 views of the laboring classes, who think that 

 immigration depresses wages. The squatters 

 are mostly Scotchmen, the farmers mostly 

 Irish. The English are not so numerous ; they 

 are mostly shopkeepers and mechanics. The 

 miners are for the'greater part from Wales and 

 Cornwall ; they are skilled miners and smiths. 

 The considerable immigration of Chinese is 



