Page:The new British province of South Australia.djvu/96

If the peculiar mode of colonization adopted, should accomplish the end with which it has been devised, rendering South Australia different from all modern colonies, and far superior to any with respect to wealth, refinement, and the state of society, the existence of this colony will prove highly advantageous to the British inhabitants of India. As the European constitution suffers from the climate of Hindostan, it is the prac- tice with British residents in that country to remove their children at an early age (and generally accom- panied by their mother) to be educated in a more healthy spot. The nearest country in which, under a healthy climate, good education can be obtained, is England! It follows that parent and child, as well as, in many cases, husband and wife, are separated by an immense distance, for a great number of years, and not unusually for life. In the next place, change of climate is the general prescription of Indian phy- sicians to Indian invalids. But in order that the resident of Bombay, Madras, or Calcutta, should reach a cooler climate, he must either travel by land to a temperate northern latitude, or sail across the line (through the fire, as it were) into the temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. This course being infinitely more convenient to persons in bad health, is much preferred by those who can afford to pursue it; and thus, Cape-Town, Hobartown, and Sydney (the only towns in the South where an in- valid can remain to recruit his health) are commonly visited by Indian invalids. But in none of these towns does the Anglo-Indian gentleman meet with a state of society that is otherwise than disagreeable to him, or even with the physical comforts, much less with the Digitized by CjOOQIC