AUSTRALIA 488 



Of birds Australia has a large variety, no 

 fewer than 800 distinct species; but these are 

 not 00 peculiar to the continent as are the 

 mnmmal The emu, or Australian ostrich, 

 and the cassowary are the largest of the bird 

 tribe, as the parrots are the most numerous. 

 These latter, with their brilliant green, yellow 

 and scarlet plumage, everywhere add to the 

 color of the landscape. Song birds vie with 

 those of North America in the sweetness of 

 their notes, and eagles and hawks prey upon 

 smaller and weaker forms of life. Peculiar to 

 Australia are the black swan, the honey-sucker, 

 the lyre bird with its curious plumage, and the 

 bower bird, distinct from all other birds by 

 reason of the fantastic structures which it rears 

 for its own delight. 



Reptiles and fish are also numerous and 

 varied, and while some of these are most char- 

 acteristic, the greater number of them bear 

 resemblances to those of other countries. Each 

 animal named here is described and illustrated 

 in its place in these volumes. 



Mineral Resources. Interesting as are its 

 life forms, fertile as are some of its plains, 

 these advantages alone would never have 

 drawn to this isolated island-continent, with its 

 waste of waters on three sides, the hundreds of 

 thousands of colonists who have made it the 

 progressive section of the world that it is 

 to-day. It is gold that has made Australia 

 important commercially; gold that drew, after 

 its discovery in 1851, streams of adventurers 

 half across the world. And from that date to 

 this, gold-mining has been one of the chief 

 industries. Scores of thousands are employed 

 in it. and the yearly output of the precious 

 metal averages over $50,000,000. Victoria has 

 produced the largest total amount, but of 

 recent years the mines of Western Australia 

 have far surpassed those of any other state. 

 Altogether, the continent has produced since 

 1852 over $3,000,000,000 worth of gold. 



But gold is not the only important mineral. 

 Silver, which was first mined in 1841, is pro- 

 duced by all the states, New South Wales hav- 

 ing by far the largest output. In all, the silver 

 yield, including the value of the lead found 

 with it, is $20,000,000 a year, while copper 

 falls but $5,000,000 short of that amount and 

 coal production has steadily increased to over 

 $22,000,000. Queensland ranks first among cop- 

 per-producing states, and New South Wales is 

 by far the largest producer of coal, its yield 

 being more than ten times that of any other 

 state. Zinc, Iron, lead and various precious 



AUSTRALIA 



stones in small quantities are also found, and 

 it may thus be seen that Australia is one of 

 the world's richest mining regions. 



Agriculture. Not all the people of Aus- 

 tralia are miners or seekers after gold, for agri- 

 culture in its various forms has attained great 

 importance. In the vast interior arid region 

 and along much of the western coast little 

 can be grown, for while the soil and climate 

 are excellently adapted to any of the warm- 

 temperate or semi-tropical crops, the moisture 

 is too scanty for production. No great rivers 

 suggest the possibility of extensive irrigation 

 schemes, but, as in certain of the desert regions 

 of the Western United States, there frequently 

 exists below the surface a considerable supply 

 of water which is made available by means of 

 artesian wells. Hundreds of these dot the 

 country and are helping to increase the pro- 

 portion of cultivated land. Even so, however, 

 the area devoted to crops is comparatively 

 small only about 15,000,000 acres in the whole 

 Commonwealth. Practically all of this is in 

 the well-watered eastern section, on both sides 

 of the Great Divide. Wheat is by all means 

 the most important crop, but corn, oats, barley, 

 potatoes, sugar cane and hay are produced in 

 sufficient quantities to supply home demand. 



Irrigation development was started in the 

 state of Victoria under the supervision of 

 Americans, and having proven successful was 

 extended. In New South Wales there is now 

 under construction the Burrinjuck dam, on the 

 Murrumbidgee River, which when completed 

 will impound 33,381 million cubic feet of water, 

 enough to irrigate over 250,000 acres of land. 



To the present time Australia has been pre- 

 eminently a stock-raising country, but it is 

 predicted that the transformation of Australia 

 from a grazing to an agricultural country will 

 parallel that of the Western United States. 

 Wherever there is sufficient moisture for grass 

 and grass will grow where no crops can be 

 produced the conditions have been found ex- 

 cellent for sheep, and everywhere there have 

 been great flocks. More valuable even than gold 

 have been these sheep, of which Australia has 

 greater numbers than any other country in the 

 world. Naturally, then, it is the chief of all 

 wool-producing countries, the yield in some 

 years exceeding 700,000,000 pounds, often being 

 twice that of Argentina or the United States. 

 Of recent years, too, mutton has been exported, 

 though formerly all the sheep were grown for 

 * their wool. 



Cattle also thrive on the excellent Australian 



