"Do you think we'll have a good voyage through the Bight, captain?" asked a passenger. "The barometer indicates fair weather," he replied. Continuing, he said: "The last time we came through we had very 'dirty' weather. Slowly the heavy sea was forcing us to shore. I saw we could not keep our course with safety, so I pointed the nose of the ship to the storm, but for 24 hours we gained only half a mile against the force of the sea." "Did you fear for the ship?" "I wasn't afraid," he answered, "so long as the engines stood the strain; but they were taxed for every ounce of power. Look at the black mark on the chart. That is where a vessel went down," he added. When a sailor uses the term "dirty" weather, as stormy and rough seas are called by seafaring men, a landlubber will be at a loss to find a word in any dictionary to describe what he thinks of such weather. We fortunately had good weather through the Bight.
Cape Otway, about a hundred miles west of Melbourne, marks the eastern end of the line that divides the Southern Indian Ocean from the Southern Pacific Ocean, and the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, marks the western end of the line dividing the Southern Indian Ocean from the Southern Atlantic Ocean. The distance separating these two points is 6,000 miles. The meeting of the currents of the two seas, confined by the western coast of Australia, makes the water very rough in the great bay, or Bight. From Cape Otway eastward we were in the Southern Pacific Ocean.
Twenty-seven days after leaving Durban we sailed into Port Phillip and up the Yarra River to Melbourne, where the Swedish vessel was made fast to a wharf. "I trust we succeeded in treating you right," said the captain on going down the ship's ladder to the wharf. "Fair weather through life," were his parting words.
It is said an American laid out the city of Melbourne; if that be so, this one service reflects much credit on the land of his birth. In a world contest for the Commonwealth's capital site design an American of Chicago was awarded first prize. Australia aims at having the most attractive capital in the world, to be located at Canberra, in the State of New South Wales. American civil engineers also have taken a prominent part in the construction of the large weirs or reservoirs that the Commonwealth has erected for land irrigation purposes. Melbourne's streets, 99 feet in width, run at right angles, are kept clean and well paved. Built on each side of these grand thoroughfares are splendid buildings, utilized for banking, trade and general business purposes. What are called alleys in Melbourne are wider than most of the business streets in Buenos Aires. All goods brought to and from business houses go by the back entrance. The sidewalks are free of all incumbrances, such as iron doors and gratings. No abrupt steps from the sidewalks are met with here, the walk, at an incline, sloping gradually into the roadway.
One feature, though, mars that well-laid out, well-built and well-managed city. It is a privately owned and privately managed street railway system, which is of the antiquated cable type. Some fifteen years ago a franchise was granted by the city to a company to install street railways, of cable type, for a term of 20 years. The fare is six cents, and the light in the cars is from murky, coal oil lamps. The street railway company is getting all it can out of the system, for it is well aware that at the expiration of the franchise the city will not renew the agreement, but will at once tear up the present line and construct a modern one, more in keeping with Melbourne.
Melbourne is the capital of the State of Victoria and temporary capital also of the Commonwealth. Victoria is termed "The Garden State," and the prosperity of the country is reflected in every part of the city by the splendid homes of its citizens. They are healthy looking, well fed and well dressed. This State, being visited by a regular rainfall, suffers less from drought than West Australia, South Australia or New South Wales.
The arrangement and scope of parks is admirable, and seats are free. Streets, boulevards and roads here could not be bettered. Within the city limits are over 5,000 acres of parks and public gardens. An imposing Parliament House, a splendid museum, art gallery and a zoo are other notable features.
Americans are not the only people who speak with a "twang," for one meets persons in the capital city whose "twang" would make a down-east Yankee green with envy. Still all have the British accent. By nature, the Australian is unreserved, and seems more American than British.
Melbourne is termed the "American City," and in the nature of wearing apparel there is no difference in the cut of the clothes. In South Africa, among the English-speaking people, the brand of England is stamped on most customs, but in Australia there is a difference.
Splendid college buildings, with nice grounds; training schools, technical schools—at every turn the air is punctured with turrets and spires on buildings in which the citizens of Victoria are taught the sciences that enable them to take a leading part in the advancement of the world.