The Traveller.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 41, 6 January 1894, Page 5

The Traveller.

“NEW AUSTRALIA.”

A LETTER FROM A LADY. Says a correspondent of the Sydney Town and Country Journal: “On the day before the Royal Tar sailed I -went on board, and walking along the wharf picked up a horseshoe pointing to the ship. On board I saw a lady playing with some children, and giving her the token of “ good luck,” said, “ Will you accept this and keep it in the land you are going to, and may it bring you luck.” She accepted it and promised to write, therefore this letter: “ Villa Rica. “ Sept. 9, 1893. “ Dear Mr F n, —I know it is not usual for ladies to write to gentlemen on such a short aquaintance as ■ours, but I can plead stamps, of which I obtained several at Monte Video. I was only ashore a few hours, but enjoyed myself exceedingly. Monte Video is a typical Spanish :town ; the streets are very narrow, und are paved with flagstones. All the windows are strongly barred, on account of the frequent revolutions, and every one turns in for a siesta at noon. The houses are very beautiful ; the stairs are of marble, and the floors are tesselated in beautiful designs, the wainscot is of lovely porcelain, and every now and then you get a glimpse of a courtyard. The court is a square in the centre of the building, and often has a marble floor, and is full of shrubs and flowers .growing in green tubs. No one is in a. hurry, as they all say ' Many an a ’ (to-morrow) when asked to do anything. If you go into a shop to make a purchase the shopkeeper will hardly exert himself to show you anything, and does not seem to care if you buy or not. Most people were well dressed in European style, and no one seemed very noor. We were eight weeks at sea, and, taken all in all, had a very pleasant time. We did not shovel any ice off the deck when rounding the Horn, and even had a dance the night before. We had really beautiful weather round the Horn, and a long time after. On August 30 we saw the first iceberg. It was a magnificent sight this huge block of glistening ice, about eight miles long, It was triangular in shape. We sighted two other large hertjs and several smaller floes, all at night, but had no further trouble. It was rather monotonous at times, ■hut the daily routine was disturbed once or twice by a wave coming over and giving us all a ducking. The worst feature on the Tar was the ■difficulty of walking on account of the children; they were everywhere, and the only possibly way of effecting •a. passage was by calling out ‘ scaldings ’ or ‘ grease,’ We had remarkably few casualties. There was only -one death, and that a baby. We had no accidents, no infectious illness, but a couple of children would occasionally fall down the hold, but never hurt themselves. We transhipped at Monte Video into the Rio Parana, which took us to Asuncion. We were about a week on the river, and a pleasanter week I never spent. The scenery was exquisite, and the sunsets lovely. I never believed there could be such sunsets, and would have ridiculed anyone who painted them. We used to have a dance on the hurricane deck every night on the Rio Parana, while some Spaniards played the guitar. On the river hanks were any number of crocodiles, ;and though very ugly they are almost harmless. When we arrived at Asunicon we were welcomed by crowds of people. We had - to go by train to an old theatre begun 23 years ago by King Lopez and still unfinished. There was plenty of room for us all, -and the Spaniards were very kind, bringing us baskets of eggs and bread, and showing us every consid•eration. We were guarded inside .and out by soldiers, and drinking water was brought to us two or three times a day, and bags of oranges.

They would not hear of us paying for anything. We stayed in Asuncion two days, and came on by train to Villa Rica. Most of our party are gone on to the settlement, and the remainder go up to-morrow. Our address is ‘ New Australia Settlement, via Villa Rica, Paraguay.’ I still have the horseshoe you gave me on the Tar, and I am inclined to believe it has brought ‘ good luck.’ The people of Villa Rica are most hospitable ; we have been invited several times to breakfast, dinner, and tea, and have found the people very nice indeed. There is an orange grove here, and the English owner invited us to come for oranges as often as we like. The Indians seem to live almost exclusively on maniox and oranges. The men all wear ‘ ponchos ’ and the women ‘ mantillas.’ The Indians are dreadful thieves, and will steal while you are looking on. They are all beautifully clean, and that is one great point in their favour. Still I prefer the Spaniards. We are going to open a school for the children as soon as possible, and lam appointed one of the teachers. We are not going to teach the children as they were taught in Old Australia, but whether the change will prove best I cannot yet say. The hours are from 9 to 5, they are to have frequent spells for play, and after every lesson are to go through a few gymnastic exercises. The object is to have healthy minds in healthy bodies. There is to be no corporal punishment, no detention, and no home lessons! As one of the boys said, ‘ School is to be one long Jai-ki !’ We have a few poets along with us, and have opened a literary club. I am the only girl that has joined as yet, but our numbers will soon increase. Some of our members are very w r ell educated, and we manage to get a good deal of interest and pleasure out of new scenes and new phases of life. My father is to have charge of the publishing department when things are settled, You know I only left school (Brisbane Grammar School) last year, and taught -while at Carlingford College. I hope I have not wearied you with my chatter. —Yours, &c.,

“ K.M.”