书城外语澳大利亚学生文学读本(第5册)
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第40章 ROUND THE COMPASS IN AUSTRALIA

The most delightful thing in the life of Northern Australia is its care-free appearance. Existence is literally out of doors, and people live as if burglars were unknown. I have ridden past houses in the early morning, and have seen the verandas littered with books, bric-à-brac, walking-sticks, hats, lamps, and other articles-and the door wide open. Night after night things are left so, and they are not stolen. Stealing is punished in Queensland with the greatest rigour. A man might be guilty of manslaughter, and stand in better odour with the authorities than the thief.

I have ridden to a plantation late at night, turned my horse into the horse-paddock, entered the house, struck a match, found a sofa, lain down, and awakened in the morning to find life bustling about me, my breakfast ready on the table; and I an utter stranger.

Such is the freedom of life. I was a traveller. I suppose I did not look like a vagabond; they appreciated the desire on my part not to disturb their rest, and they apologized for the hardness of the sofa.

Gilbert Parker, in Round the Compass in AustraliaAuthor.-Sir Gilbert Parker was born in Canada in 1862. He became a world traveller and a prolific author of novels and travel notes as well as of a few poems. His best-known romances are The Seats of the Mighty, When Valmond Came to Pontiac, and The Right of Way. Round the Compass in Australia was published in 1892.

General.-What are the two chief virtues of the Queenslanders, according to the author? Do you think this applies to all Australia? Give instances to support your view. Bric-a-brac is a French word for curios.