Then there are the peaches, cherries, and strawberries. They find a ready market in Australia, a matter of only a few miles away. So in time Tasmania is bound to be one of the great fruit-growing countries in the world.
Where once the first convict colony made its camp the beautiful city of Hobart stands. It is every bit an English town. The business part of the city consists of fine, substantial buildings; most of the residences are low-built and half hidden in gardens of roses. The school-houses are as good as those in any American city of the same size, and the schools themselves are equal to the best anywhere. Kindergarten, grammar school, high school, and university are within the reach of all who desire.
It is said that an enterprising man can go to Tasmania, make his fortune in fifteen years, and return to England rich, to spend the rest of his days. But why should any one desire to leave such a beautiful island to spend the rest of his life in London smoke and fog?
CHAPTER XXVII
NEW ZEALAND
By digging at London right through the centre of the earth one would emerge about a day's ride, in an automobile car, from the capital of New Zealand—if only the automobile could ride on the water. That is to say, England and New Zealand are almost exactly opposite each other on the earth. That is the short way, however, and the trip would be eight thousand miles. As a matter of fact, the trip by the only available route is not far from sixteen thousand miles; for, go either east or west as one may choose, the route from London to New Zealand is a very roundabout way, and New Zealand is Great Britain's most remote colony.
When Tasman was cruising about the Pacific, or South Sea, he skirted the coast of the islands. That was in 1642. About one hundred and forty years afterward Captain Cook called at the islands and annexed them as an English possession, but the English government refused to take them. Early in the nineteenth century missionaries brought the Bible to the native Maoris, and at the same time lawless traders carried liquor and firearms to those same natives. What was still worse, they kept on supplying them with liquor and firearms until there were but a few thousand natives left.
The Maoris are the most remarkable native peoples of the Pacific. They were not the original people of New Zealand, however, for they drove away the black race—probably like that of New Guinea—which they found there. Like the Hawaiians and Fijians, the Maoris came from Samoa about five centuries ago. Their traditions about their journey are clear and exact; even the names of the canoes, or barges, in which they made the journey are preserved in Maori history. First they went to Rarotonga, an island of the Cook group; then they went to New Zealand.