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ciently acquainted with the state of society and of the country in the nining provinces of South America to be able to draw a comparison with them, but we must not forget that there are now very few places where gold-digging or gold-mining pays, and that, except in Australia and California, they are all places where labour is cheap or compulsory, as for example, Brazil, Russia, and Carolina. Is there not reason to suppose that in these two exceptional localities also the time will soon come when gold-digging will not be found more profitable than it is found elsewhere? However, after all, our speculations have one element of uncertainty so important as to deprive us of much confidence in making them, because all depends on the chance of new discoveries, which no one knows anything about. Upon the question, naturally often asked, whether the Californian or the Australian gold-fields are the richer, there are very various opinions. My own, which has not been formed without at least much inquiry, is that though there are undoubtedly greater prizes, in the shape of large nuggets, to be obtained in Australia, yet the average earnings of the Californian diggers are on the whole larger, and complete failures much more rare. In the mean time, it is curious that the demand for labour and the inconveniences of every kind which result from it, have decidedly increased within the last six months of which we have accounts, although probably 150,000 people have been added to the labouring population, while the gold-fields were less productive in May, than they were in November, last. Of course the reason of this apparent paradox is that the creation of so much fresh capital has set in motion all sorts of enterprises and employments, which have more than absorbed the whole immigration. There is not so powerful an attraction to the diggings themselves as last year, but every other kind of business has increased so largely, that labourers are more wanted and more highly paid than ever. This point must be always kept in mind by those who are speculating on the probability of a fall in wages, with

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a diminution of the necessity for immigration, and of the chances of immigrants finding employment. It will be a long time, even if the production of the gold-field should fall off rapidly and largely, before immigration can overtake the demands which the capital already created and in course of creation is producing, and will produce still more extensively if there be the slightest appearance of a fall in the present exorbitant rate of wages. There

are vast sums actually lying idle, which nothing but the want of labour prevents from being invested, and every day adds to their amount. The only business in which labour can be procured with tolerable ease is fortunately the one which is most important both to the colony and to England-I mean sheepfarming; the reason of which is, that anybody, almost, will do for shepherds, what the Australians call crawlers,' men who cannot or will not do hard work. A very little practice teaches them all that is necessary, and the labour is nothing. Many have left off shepherding to go to the gold-fields, but have very soon returned, disgusted with the hard work; and as to road-making, or any other sort of labour (especially task work), which involves control and regularity, a shepherd will not look at it.

But to return to Sofala. I called on the Anglican clergyman, but did not find him at home; then I looked in at his school (the only one in the place), where I found about sixty children-boys and girls

taught by a man with one leg, who told me he had taken to teaching about twelve months before, in consequence of having been disqualified for digging by the loss of his leg from an accident in one of the holes. The clergyman got the school-room built, and provides the books. The pecuniary remuneration of the master is derived from the fees paid by the children.

I heard from the commissioners that there were plenty of kangaroos in the neighbourhood of Sofala, and as I expressed a strong desire to see a hunt, they promised to get a man who had good dogs in the town, to show me one. Accordingly, the

next morning he made his appearance with five or six strong, handsome dogs, of a breed originally crossed between the greyhound and some coarser variety, but now grown to be almost a distinct species, and very common in Australia. We were just going to start, when our friend, the owner of the dogs, in mounting his horse, got a fall, which hurt him so much that he could not proceed, but went home with his dogs. I was very much disappointed, especially as a plan which had been laid for me at Sydney to hunt kangaroo on Raymond Terrace, north of the Hunter, had also fallen to the ground, so that this was my only chance of seeing the sport. Perhaps it was as well for me that it did not come off, as I understand the riding (almost always through forest, over broken ground, stumps, &c.) is tremendous, even to an English fox-hunter, and my horse, though a tolerable hack, was not fitted for going across country. The kangaroo, I believe, though very fast for a spurt, especially down hill, never stands long before the dogs, but turns to bay either in water or with his back to a tree. They generally slip four or five of the powerful kangaroo-dogs, which I have described, and even these are often not a match for an old forester;' his game is to get them within the grasp of his forepaws, and then to rip them up with his hind ones. All the dogs one sees which have been engaged with kangaroos are seamed with terrific scars received in this way. The claws of these animals' hind feet are peculiarly long and sharp, and do great execution, but they are perfectly inoffensive, and always prefer flight to defence, when possible.

I was present at the settlement of one or two disputes by the Assistant Commissioner, under the authority of the new act. His decision (upon such questions as claims to holes, &c.) is final, but it would not be very easy to enforce it, if it happened to contravene public opinion. I do not mean to say that open resistance would be possible, or even thought of, but his ordinary force is not large enough to prevent an indefinite amount of evasion. In Victoria, where the miners are thirty or forty times as numerous as in New

South Wales, they can do pretty much as they like, their numbers being so great as not only to enable them to defy the police, but also to command the legislature. In fact, they are, as in California, the prevailing interest of the State. The diggers on the Turon seemed to be, on the whole, a quiet and well-conducted set of people, so far as I could judge from observing and conversing with them promiscuously, as well as from inquiry. There were few foreigners among them when I was there, most of the latter having gone away since the new act came into force. The Americans are well spoken of, both as being sober, quiet, and peaceable, and also as having introduced the knowledge of the best system of digging, pumping, and washing, as approved by experience of California. There is of course a great deal of drunkenness, but I could hear of very few cases of other crimes. During the day I spent at Bathurst, I visited the gaol, and inspected the record of the crime of the district. It appeared, of course, heavy in comparison with what had been the case when Bathurst was the centre of a thinly-peopled pastoral district, but not, I think, so heavy as to argue any peculiarly demoralizing tendency in the occupation of the people. What struck me more was the great preponderance of old convicts in the list, showing in a very marked way the effect of the system of transportation on these colonies, particularly

when one considers that the evil produced by old convicts is not to be measured by the crimes alone which they commit themselves, but also by the instruction and example in vice which they diffuse around them. Of twenty-two convictions at the last quarter-sessions at Bathurst, twenty were of old convicts. This, however, seems to have been, by chance, a much greater proportion than usual, for out of sixty-nine prisoners in the gaol, I found only fifty entered as convicts, to nineteen 'free,' and I was told that this was about an average proportion. Still, it is very large.

On the second evening after my arrival at Sofala, I started to ride back to Bathurst, where I arrived just at nightfall. I had found the Royal Mail so abominable, that I

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determined to try the opposition coach' this time. We started at the singularly inconvenient hour of halfpast one A.M., in a better vehicle than the mail. In other respects, there was little to choose between them; the horses were equally bad, the drivers equally uncivil and scurrilous, the arrangements equally defective, and the time kept, or rather not kept, with equal unpunctuality. On arriving at Hartley, where we should have met the down coach,' in which the passengers were to go on, it had not arrived. I was the only passenger, and after waiting five hours, I began to ask whether there was any intention of sending me on in any other way. The clerk in the office said, very coolly, 'No; I must wait until the coach came; they could not even let me have a horse to ride on.' I talked about making the proprietors responsible; he said: Many gentlemen had talked about bringing actions, but he found they never did it.' I began to think I might have to spend a few days at Hartley, when at last the coach arrived. It had broken down,' an event which, I understand, happens on an average in one journey out of three. Patched up as it was, with the spring and the wheel broken, it appeared to me quite incapable of re-crossing the mountains; but there was no alternative, so we started, and after a journey of thirty-two hours from Bathurst (120 miles), including six hours' delay at Hartley, we arrived at Sydney at half-past nine on Sunday morning. That our dilapidated vehicle was conducted by a drunken driver, in the dark, (for our lamps, of course, would not light,) over the Blue Mountains in safety, is certainly an encouraging fact. I think the chances could hardly be greater against a safe arrival on any other similar occasion.

I determined to accept the next week an invitation to Camden, the residence of the Messrs. Macarthur, sons of John Macarthur, who laid the foundations of Australian prosperity, by introducing the Merino sheep. Mr. John Macarthur was a captain in the New South Wales regiment, and, having been struck by the extraordinary condition in which some cattle, which had strayed away,

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were found, when recovered, as well as the rapid rate at which they had increased, he determined to test, and, if possible, develop the pastoral capabilities of the country. He began by buying a few fine-woolled sheep, which had been sent, from Europe, to the Cape, and from the Cape to Sydney. By means of these, and with great care and labour, he succeeded in improving the hair-bearing sheep from India, with which, up to that time, the colony had been exclusively supplied, and in creating a considerable flock of fine-woolled sheep, so as in seven or eight years to have satisfied himself of the great results which might be produced in this business. He then visited England, where he laid his statements and plans before the Privy Council, and succeeded in obtaining what he required,-viz., permission to select and export ten rams from the King's flock of Merinos, a grant of 10,000 acres of land, and a certain number of assigned servants.' He chose his land at the 'cow - pastures,' where the stray cattle that I mentioned before had been recovered, founded there the settlement of Camden, and lived not only to make a very large fortune himself, but to see all his anticipations realized, and the trade which he had created becoming the staple of Australian prosperity.

I arranged to ride with a friend, who was going in the direction of Camden, and one morning we started at six A.M., on two good horses. We had a very pleasant ride, the day being less oppressively hot than usual. The character of the country differs little from that on the Bathurst road, before you get to the mountains. For thirty miles there is hardly any plough cultivation,we passed through an alternation of gum-tree forests and brown arid paddocks, with rail-fences round them, and an occasional mud-hole in the middle, defying ocular demonstration, by their barefaced promises of good grass and abundant water,' placarded on boards over the gates. It is remarkable to observe, in everydirection, as one passes through these open gum-tree forests, the marks of fire; and, in fact, I am told that there is no part of them which escapes fire for many years

together, but that these fires do the trees no harm. The leaves and bark are, of course, destroyed, but no impression being made upon the living wood, they renew themselves immediately, and the trees are as well as ever. In New Zealand, unfortunately, the case is very different, hundreds of acres of forest being destroyed at a time by fire, in dry seasons. I presume the difference results from the fact that, in Australia, the bark is deciduous, and, therefore, self-renewing, while in New Zealand, as at home, the destruction of the bark is definitively fatal to the tree. All along the road we met parties of disappointed diggers returning from Goulburn and the Ovens, all with the same tale, that no good was to be done there.' Of course these accounts are not to be implicitly believed, for there are always plenty who fail at the richest possible gold-field; still the very great numbers of experienced diggers who have the same story to tell, tends to confirm my impression that everywhere the cream has been skimmed. At the same time, for every man who leaves the diggings at least another arrives, and, on the whole, the mining population of the two colonies was doubled during the first three or four months of this year. We breakfasted at Liverpool, an American-looking little town (in new countries there are no villages of the humble contented European sortthey all look as if they were young towns), and got to Camden, another 'town,' about two P.M.

Here my

friend left me, and I went on to Mr. Macarthur's. Camden is a pretty little place, with a church on a hill, a spire belonging to it, a pretty schoolhouse close by, and a handsome bridge over the Nepean, here a shallow river, but one that looks as if it would be deep in winter. Mr. Macarthur's house is three miles from Camden: the road to it is pretty-through open forest, and up and down hill, commanding, at times, a view over a considerable extent of country, and bordered, every here and there, by fenced farms, with farm-houses and wheatstubbles. As I proceeded I saw signs of approaching a gentleman's place, passed some farm buildings of considerable size and pretension,

with large haystacks, had to open many gates across the road, and, at length, arrived in the court-yard of a large country house, where I was most hospitably received. After an early dinner my hosts took me to see their horses, with which great pains have been taken. We found the herd of mares in a valley, about two miles from the house, and walked among them. It so happened that this was the first time I had seen any large number of highly-bred horses, running in a state of nature, and I was greatly pleased with the sight. There were about forty, some of them celebrated winners, and all of the best blood in Austra lia.

Mr. Macarthur was the first to breed largely for the Indian market, and his horses have fetched the highest prices there. Since the discovery of the gold-field, however, there has been such a demand for horses, as for everything else, at home, that it has not been worth while to export them. The prevailing character of his stud is rather Arabian than English, to my eye. The horses are low, compact, with remarkably good heads and necks, and round drooping quarters. One or two were very perfect specimens of the thorough-bred horse, on a small scale. The next morning I went to see the garden and vineyards: Mr. Macarthur (the father) was the first to introduce the vine. as well as the sheep, into New South Wales; he imported vine-dressers from the banks of the Rhine, and went to considerable expense in vineyards and the buildings appertaining to them. Others followed his example, perhaps in localities more favoured by nature, and the culture of the vine has extended itself largely over many districts. Of course vine-dressing, like all other occupations requiring much labour, has suffered materially from the gold-diggings; still I was surprised to find what a shift has been made to meet the difficulty; and here, as elsewhere, there has been a compensation in increased demand for the produce. There is naturally a great difference in the qualities and price of the wine, but Mr. Macarthur told me he could sell a very fair wine at a price equivalent to 15s. a dozen, or 6s. a gallon, in the

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wood. I understand Australian wine is not so much liked as one might expect in the colony, where the people retain all their northern taste for strong and fiery drinks. A good deal of it is bought up by publicans and wine-merchants, for the purpose of being used as a part of the villanous compounds which they sell under the names of port, sherry, and Madeira. Indeed, wine (of any kind) is very little drunk in Australia, compared with ardent spirits, especially rum, of which I should think there is a larger consumption per head than there is of any other spirit in any community in the world.

A considerable part of the land about Camden is let to tenants, on leases for various terms of years, and at rents averaging, I was told, about 8s. an acre. This was the first time I had met with anything like a tenantry on the scale to which we are accustomed at home, and I inquired with some curiosity into its working. It appears that the tenants on the estates in this neighbourhood are generally labouring men, with very little or no capital, who, anxious to go upon land, and yet without the means of purchasing it, have consented to put up with a lease. The landlord is obliged to humour them, however, and often to put up with the loss of his rent in bad seasons, otherwise they would just put their movables on a bullock-dray, and remove to Victoria, or some other remote part of the country. The system does not appear to me a very satisfactory one, and I am told that the tenants are not, in general, a rapidly prospering class. It is only the best lands, along the banks of the rivers, that can be let; the scarceness of such alluvial land in New South Wales giving it a monopoly value. The last two years have been very favourable to these small farmers, as they have all gone up to the diggings between seed time and harvest, and either by digging themselves or by carrying, have earned considerable sums.

In the afternoon of the day after my arrival, Mr. Macarthur and I rode to Mr. Macleay's residence, Brownlow-hill. The ride is exceedingly pretty, chiefly through

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open forest, in part of which the eternal gum is exchanged for what they call here' apple trees,' the most picturesque trees, on the whole, that I have seen in Australia; and in their gnarled, spreading branches, resembling somewhat our English oaks. Why they are called by the absurd name of apple trees,' no one could tell me. Another similar instance of barbarous and inappropriate. nomenclature is to be found in the name of 'she oak,' given to a tree found chiefly in low and marshy places, and which is very like the 'stone-pine' of the northern hemisphere. In the immediate neighbourhood of Camden, there are three or four nice little stone churches, with spires, and being well situated on hills, they make very pretty and English-looking features in the landscape. We dined at Mr. Macleay's, and rode home after dinner by a delicious, cool moonlight. I must not omit to mention that in the morning Mr. Macarthur had made a halfcaste native, who is in his service, show me some of the athletic feats for which his countrymen are celebrated, such as throwing spears and climbing trees. This latter process was performed in a way quite new The native strikes on the trunk of the tree with his tomahawk, just two strokes, one obliquely downwards, the other horizontal, so as to cut out a little wedge of the bark, and leave a step just large enough to admit the great toe. On this he stands, and reaching up about five feet, cuts another step. It is wonderful to see how quickly he will in this way literally walk up the trunk of a high tree, without ever touching the branches. Tree-climbing is an essential accomplishment to an Australian native, as much of their subsistence is derived from opossums, who swarm in every gum-tree forest. I saw a camp of natives subsequently in the Government domain at Sydney, besides a good number acting as stockmen, and in various menial capacities. They are inferior in stature and muscular development to the Maories, and their black skins and woolly heads mark them as of thenegro' family; but I was agreeably surprised at the neatness of their figures, and their graceful, active motions. They are particularly

to me.