The Book of the Bush

ards; their treasure does not lie in that di

any of the stars in this p

hen I was a boy, but there was a good deal of fog and smoke, and latterly I

oet, and his eye was not

rion; he has somehow slipped up to the north, and is standing on his head, heels uppermost. There are the two stars in his heels, two on his shoulders, three in his belt, and three in his sword. There is the Southern Cross; we could never see that in our par

land takes to idleness and grog, and disgraces his family, he is provided with a passage to Australia, in order tha

rink too much. They came to Victoria to acquire the virtue of

ery day on the topgallant forecastle thinking over his past wickednes

y tent, and I gave him a meal of damper, tea, and jam. He ate the whole of the jam, which cost me 2s. 6d. per pound. He then humped his swag and started for Melbourne. On his way through the township, since

ifty thousand pounds in entertaining the Emperor of Germany, but it was money thrown away. The next time the Kaiser comes to Westmoreland he will have to pay for his board and buy his preserves. Bez made a start for Melbourne, met an old convict, and with him took a

runk at a roadside shanty; at least, Bez did, and when the convict picked his pockets, he kindly put

loath to spend for fear of arriving in Melbourne a complete beggar. He lay down famishing and weary on the top of the hill near Flagstaff, and surveyed the city, the bay, and the shipping. He had hoped by this

r Bendigo. We called it a house of refuge, and Bez now looked for refuge in it. There he met Dan and Moran, who had both found employment in the city, and they fed the hungry Bez. Dan was labouring at his trade in the building business, and he set Bez to work roofing houses with corrugated iron. They soon earned more money than they h

roached him for his baseness in deserting to the enemy--Her Majesty, no less--and in self-defence he nearly argued my head off. At last I threatened to denounce him as a "Joey" --he was in plain clothes--and have him killed by the crowd in the street. Nothing but death could silence Mo

s grandchildren, I believe--and was as happy as a king teaching them to sing hymns. I don't think Santley had grown rich, but he always carried a fortune about with him wherever he went, viz., a kind heart and a cheerful disposition. Nobody could ever think of quarrelli

r as Lake Nyalong, but Picaninny Jack told him that he had once been there, and that it was a beautiful country. He tried to find it at another time, but got bushed on the wrong side of the lake; now he believ

red from the pursuit of the three bloodthirsty convicts. Some people might be too proud to look forward to the friendship of a flagellator, but in

gan to be used, instead of the handy but uncomfortable tent, and, at the Rocky Waterholes, Philip had for some time been lodging in a weatherboard house wi

had begun at the beginning. He was now graver even than

n myself, because she has been trained in the schools of the great city of Dublin, and I, unfortunately, had no training at all; she is highly educated, and will be, I dou

t adding up correctly. For this reason she had a horror of examinations, and every time the inspector came round she was in a state of mortal fear. His name was Bonwick. He was a little man, but he was so learned that the teachers looked forward to his visits with awe. A happy idea came into Miss Edgeworth's mind. She was, it is true, not very learned, nor was she perfect in the practice of the twelve virtues, but she had some instinctive knowledge of the weakness of the male man. Mr. Bonwick was an author, a learne

uch judgment and discrimination was a peerless teacher, and

ed up his swag and set out on foot. It may be mentioned as bearing on nothing in particular that, after Philip had taken leave of Miss Edgeworth, she stoo

a young man should be tramping throug

s had to travel with his swag one time or another. We are all used to it; and it ain't no use

Nyalong to look for work. He had tried the diggings, and left them for want of luck, and Philip, having h

now. And maybe it would have been all the better. I have been too long at the fighting to learn another trade now. When I 'listed I was told my pay would be a shilling a day and everything found. A shilling a day is seven shillings a week, and I thought I should live like a fighting cock, plenty to eat and a shilling a day for

battle you ever were

f the stockade that we had to go out again, and we ran down the hill. Our ranks were broken, and we had no time to rally before a lot of horsemen were among us. My bayonet was broken, and I had nothing but my empty musket to fight with. I warded off the sabre cuts with it right and left, so, dodging among the horses, and I was not once wounded. It was all over in a hot minute or two, but, when the

the other diggers. To all appearance his promotion was not worth much; he might as well have stayed at the Wa

boys here--the Boyles and the Blakes. When they saw Mr. Foy was going to use his cane on them they would dart out of the school, the master after them. Then there was a regular steeplechase across the paddocks, and every boy and girl came outside to watch it, screaming and yelling. It was great fun, but it was not school-teaching. I am afraid you will never manage the Boyles and the Blakes. Mr. McLaggan, the minister, once found six of them sitting at the foot of a gum tree

is my duty to educate them; turning them out of sch

al, Vigilance, Piety, and Generosity. I don't suppose any teacher was ever quite perfect in the practice of them, but a sincere endeavour i

re all there; they were expecting some new kind of fun with the new master. In order that the fun might be inside the school and not all over the paddocks, Phili

lease, sir, Hugh Boyle is a-scroodgin." "Plea

, if possible, into little angels. The master rose f

t, and every ear was listening, "Joseph Blak

o me you must hold up your hand, so. When I nod you can come to me. If you don't do ever

t made Tommy Traddles and many other little boys and girls good all at once; but Joseph and Hugh went bac

ng villain. In about two minutes he called out, "Ple

come this w

peaking or reading aloud. Of course you forgot

en three, then four. He began to fear the strap as w

and rebellious when told to return to her seat. She said, in the h

be of a hasty temper, and, as a matter of fact, I had seen Philip's fist fly out

d, and, at a nod, we

y, what is

ey has been calling you

h wide open. Philip looked over his head at Nan

calling me a carroty-he

what she called

eat like a good boy. Nancy

perfect discipline and good o

SH H

ngland, who lived with his wife near the main road. A man from Hampshire is an Englishman, and should speak English; but, when Philip tried to make a bargain about the hut, he could not understand the Hampshire language, and the farmer's wife had to interpret. And that farmer lived to the age of eighty years, and never learned to speak English. He was not a fool by any means; knew

at a hermit, if not holy, should be at least hospitable. With an axe and saw he made his own furniture--viz., two hardwood stools, one of which would seat two men; for a table he sawed off the butt end of a messmate, rolled it inside the hut, and nailed on the top of it a piece of a pine packing case. His bedstead

be unable to administer to her the rites of the church. So her bargain was, that in case the priest should be absent, the schoolmaster, as next best man, was to read prayers over her grave. Philip thought there was something strange, perhaps

holiest kind. He began to save money and acquire stock. He had not been long on the hill before he owned a horse, two dogs, a cat, a native bear, a magpie, and a parrot, and he paid nothing for any of them except the horse. One day he met Mr. McCarthy talking to Bob Atkins, a station hand, who had a horse to s

s riding through the bush, Bob rode

do you like that

he is a capital road

e ever t

hat makes

r to you because I could not ride her. Eve

slung me a buster; she is quieter than a lamb, and she wi

ws, pecked at his skull, and pulled locks of wool out of it, the poor innocent all the while yelping and howling for mercy. Sam never helped Pup, or drove Maggie away; he was actually afraid of her, and believed she was a dangerous witch. Sometimes she pecked at his tail, and he dared not say a word, but sneaked away, looking sideways at her, hanging down his ears, and afraid to say his tail was his own. Joey, the parrot, watched all that was going on from his cage, which was hung on a hook outside the hut door. Philip tried to teach Joey to whistle a tune: "There is na luck aboot the hoose, There is na luck at a'," but the parrot had so many things to attend to that he never had time to finish the tune. He was, indeed,

aggie, at him again," and he ran up to the hut to drive her away. But when he reached it there was neither Pup nor Maggie to be seen, only Joey in his cage, and he was bobbing his head up a

s of the other domestics, and when Philip brought him a bunch of tender young gum-tree shoots for his breakfast in the morning, he did not even say "thanks" or smile, or show the least gratitude. He never spoke except at dead of night, when he was exchanging compliments with some other bear up a gum tree in the forty-acre paddock. And such compliments! Their voices were frightful, something between a roar and a groan, and although Philip was a great linguist he was never quite sure what they were saying. But the bear was always scheming to ge

arvation, or else the boys will find you, and they will kill you, thinking you are a wild bush bear, for you don't show any

issed, and sure enough he hid himself in a lightwood for want of sense, and that very night the boys

eaves near the chimney, through which she could enter the hut at any time of the night or day. While Philip was musing after tea on the "Pons Asinorum" by the light of a tallow candle, Pussy was out poaching for quail, and as soon as she caught one she brought it h

takes her first walk abroad in spring time, she observes something smooth and shiny gliding gently along. She pricks up he

rings his head round under the grass and waits for Dinah, who is watching his tail. The tail moves a little and then a little more. Dinah says, "It will be gone if I don't mind," and she jumps for it. At that instant the snake strikes her on the nose with his fangs

scarcely turn in it from one side to the other. So he made a mattress which he stuffed with straw, and he found it much softer than the stringy bark. But after a while the mattress grew flat, and

he end of the garden, but he had to pass the hut, which when he travelled that way the summer before was unoccupied. After creeping under the bottom rail of the fence, he raised his head a little, and looked round. He said, "I see there's another tenant here"--Bruin was th

d, and whisking the flies from their ears. Maggie was walking about wit

aid, "There is na luck aboot the hoose." Bruin was too stupid to say anything. The snake said, "Here is a terrible row all at once, I must make for a hole." He had a keen eye for a hole, and he soon saw one. It was a small one, in Phil

ason the domestics never told Philip about the snake in his mattress, they had forgotten all about it. If Sam had buried a b

d be best to keep quiet until he saw a chance to creep out, and continue his journey down the garden. But it was awfully dark inside the mattress, and a

, and he was almost suffocated. He said: "This is dreadful; I have been in many a tight place in my time, but never in one s

ntil at last he was clear of it; then, heaving a deep sigh of relief he lay quiet for awhile to recover his breath. He

f being squeezed to death. There was a noise as of something rustling in the straw, and after listening awhile, Philip said: "

nce, shook up his mattress and pillow, and then spread the sheets over

man does when he is lost in the bush. So the day wore on, night and bedtime came again, and Philip lay down to rest once more right over the imprisoned snake. Then that snake went raving mad, lost all control of himself, and rolled about recklessl

is wrist. But he found the match-box, struck a light, carefully examined the floor as far as he could see it, jumped out of bed at one bound, and took refuge in the other room. There he loo

nning dire vengeance. At sunrise he examined closely every hole, and crevice, and corner, and crack in both rooms, fl

nights on a live snake made him shudder a little, but he was bent on vengeance. He took hold of one end of the mattress with one hand, and holding the stick in the other, he carried it outside and laid it on the grass. Looking carefully at every side of the mattress he discovered the hole through which the snake had entered. It was so small that he could scarcely believe that a snake had gone through it, but no other hole was anywhere visible. Philip said, "If the beast comes out it shall be through fire," so he picked up a fe

ossed him back into the fire. Of course a new mattress w

e frail building so much that Philip threw open the door and sent out all the children, the little ones and girls first, and then the boys, remaining himself to the l

on two different occasions to examine the scholars. One of them was scarcely sober, and he behaved in a manner so eccentric that the master had a strong temptation to k

ilip the letter by which he had obtained his appointment and 900 pounds a year. It was only a couple of lines written and signed by a certain lord in London, but it was equivalent to an order for a billet on the government of Victoria. Then the inspector said he would feel extremely obliged to Philip if he would give him one of his little nuggets that he might send it to my lord as a pre

ed close together, and there was a long red scar on his bare neck, where he had on a former occasion cut his

up to the Bo

end, what do

knows," rep

is not here, he has

ce and sat on the top rail gazing into the pool. At last he threw his hat into it, then his boots, coat, shirt, and trousers. When he was quite naked, he stamped on hi

oadcloth, and a white necktie. Philip received him with reverence, thinking he could not be anything less than a lord spiritual, such is the power of broadcloth and fine linen. Nosey, the shepherd, was then living at Nyalong, having murder

O SHEP

d years, as soon as shepherds are required in Australia Felix, they appear once more following their flocks and herds. But they are entirely forgetful of all Greek and Roman civilization; their morals have not improved, and their quarrels are more bitter than ever. In the old times they tootled on the tuneful reed, and sang in purest Latin the sweetest ditties ever heard, in praise of Galat

of the warriors of Sesostris, and send them forth once more to victory and slaughter? Julian the Apostate tried to rebuild the Holy City and Temple of Israel, to make prophecy void--apparently a small enterprise for a Roman Emperor--but all his labours were vain. Modern Julians have been trying to resuscitate old Rome, and to found for her a new empire, and have only made Italy another Ireland, with a starving people and a bankrupt government. 'Nos patri

een turned into salt lakes, and their rolling floods of lava have been stiffened into barriers of black rocks; where the ashes b

on Nosey. The latter was his nearest neighbour, and although he had only the same wages--viz., thirty pounds a year and rations-- he seemed to be unaccountably prosperous, and was the owner of a wife and two horses. He had been transported for larceny when he was only fifteen years of age, and at twenty-eight he was suspected of being still

chimney, and the long shadows of the Wombat Hills were creeping over the Stoney Rise

ulia," said Bald

dy. Any news to-d

y stopped chopping and listened) "and the master says I'll have to hump my swag if I can't find out what

ow, if they were after mischief they'd take care not to make a show.

proud of h

behind; but the thieves, whoever they are, have not left me as much as a lock of the wool of my sheep. I have been talking about 'em with old Sharp; he is the longest here of an

k 'em? I'll tell you what it is, Baldy; it'll be just as well for you to keep your blasted tong

right, Nosey, we'll se

dy was a smaller man than the other and was gr

his favourite remedy for all ailments, both of mind and body. If he could not find out what had become of his sheep, his master might dismiss him without a character. There was not mu

s there were imaginary. Stray cattle were roaming over the country, eating the grass, and the main resource of the squatters was the Pounds Act. Hay was then sold at 80 pounds per ton at Bendigo; a draft of fat bullocks was worth a mine of gold at Ballarat, and, therefore, grass was everywhere precious. No wonder if the hardy bullock-driver became a cattle lifter after hi

y home. He had the lost sheep on his mind, and he could not resist the impulse to have another word or two with Nosey about them. He put down the two bottles of gin outside the door of the hut, near an axe whose handle leaned against the wall. Nosey and his wife, Julia, were inside, and he bade them good evening. Then he t

t to the township all right, strayed away, you know, followed one another's tails,

ll, Baldy," he said, "and what did you

. Old Sharp was right about the sheep, anyway. The thief is not far from the flock, a

e police about '

Baldy. "Time enough yet. I ain'

with unusual sa

sheep, or I'd see you for it? and here you are again, and

t till I get a light, and I'll leav

co, and rubbing it between the palms of his hands, shaking h

as found out something or other about the sheep, and the peelers will have you, if you don't look out, and they'll give you another seven years and maybe ten. You've done your time once, Nosey, and how would you like to do it again? Why couldn't you leave the cursed sheep alone and keep out of mischief just when you were settling down in life comfortable, and might have a chance to do better. Baldy will be telling the peelers to-morrow all he knows about the sheep you stole, and then they'll fetch

he glanced at the axe every time he passed the door. The weapo

and while he is stooping to get a f

some suspicion of danger, for he looked around before takingup a firestick. At that instant the blow, intended for the back of the head, struck him on the jaw, and he f

hile he was doing a man, to do him well. He raised the axe to finish his work with a t

t are you doing to poor Bal

o his wife wit

and keep quiet, or I'

unken eyes, and overhanging brows. He never had a prepossessing appearance, and now his look and attitude were so ugly and fierce that

t he could not feel much glory in his work just yet. He had done it w

overed with only a few inches of soil--rocks everywhere, above ground and below. He could burn the body, but it would take a long time to do it well; somebody might come while he was at the work, and even the ashes might betray his secret. There were shallow lakes and swamps, but he could not put the corpse into any of them with safety: search would be made wherever there was water, on th

him. Excuses of that sort

ed it in the pocket in which it had been usually kept, as it might not be safe to leave anything in the hut belonging to the murdered man. There was a little blood on the floor, but he would scrape that off by daylight, and he would then also look at the axe and put away the two bottles of gin somewhere; he could do all that next morning before Baldy was missed. But the corpse must be taken away at once, for he felt th

could have killed him over again for being so awkward and stubborn, and he begun to feel that the old shepher

of his collar, and I'll pull him up in front

llar, and thus the two managed to place the swag across the saddle. Then Nosey made a second start, carefull

was disturbed by the very echo of his horse's steps; it seemed as if somebody was following him at a little distance; perhaps Julia, full of woman's curiosity; and he kept peering round and looking back into the darkness. In this way he travelled about a mile and a half, and then dismounting, lowered the body to the ground, and began to look for some suit

which he found on it. Then he searched the floor for drops of blood, which he carefully scraped with a knife, and washed until no red spot was visible. Then he walked to Baldy's and pretended to himse

hem." Then the three men went to the deserted hut. Everything in it seemed undisturbed. The dog was watching at the door, and they told him to seek Baldy

d taken too much of the liquor, was lying asleep somewhere, and would reappear in the course of the day. Men both on foot and on horseback roamed through the Rises, examining the hollows and the flats, the margins of the shallow lakes, and peering into every wombat hole as they passed. They never thought of turning over any of the boulders;

minutely inside and outside the two huts, but he could not find anything suspicious about either of them. He entered into conversation with Julia, but the eye of her husband was on her, and she h

een a pursuer of bad works amongst the convicts for a long time, both in Van Diemen's Land and in Victoria, and had helped to bring many men to the gallows or the chain-gang. He had once been shot in the back by a horse

, swearing and finding fault with everything. Julia was prudent and said little; it was best not to say too much to a man who was so handy with the family axe. But at last she made use of one expression which seemed to mean something. She said, "Oh, Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought to be hanged." There was a prophetic ring in these words which delighted the chief constable, and he glued his great ear to the wea

Nosey, you murdering villain, you know you ought to be hanged.' Those were yo

to be caught so ea

s angry. I don't know what to do

, did you, now?" queried the constable, shamefull

saying: "Hi, ho, Harry, if I were a maid, I never wou

e was disgus

e will be nothing to laugh at in

nd, expecting every moment that the constable would produce the handcuffs. Soon afterwards Julia went outside, walked roun

e gan

hrown away his trouble this time, anyhow; but ye must hould your tongu

ollected that what the eye could not see might some time be discovered by another of the senses. So he waited patiently, standing gu

was just like any of the other heaps of rocks around it. He had, at any rate, given Baldy as good a funeral as circumstances would permit, better than that of many a man who had perished of hunger, heat, and thirst, in the shelterless wastes of the Never-Never Land, "beyond Moneygrub's farthest run." Nosey and the weather had done their work so well that for

and he had done him well. Julia was prudent enough to hold her tongue for her own sake; it was unlikely that any further s

o account for putting away his brother shepherd, in this world at any rate; and as for the next, why it was a long way off, and there

of the road coming down from the Bald Hill. Here had been laid the foundation of a great inland city by a bush publican, two storekeepers, a wheel

s often heard loud and abusive. He felt that he had become a person of importance, as the possessor of a secret which nobody could discover. What he said and wha

the Liar. A dispute occurred, in which the presumptuous stranger joined, and Nosey promptly knocked him off the verandah into the gutter. A valid claim to satisfaction was thus established, and the swagman showed a disposition to enforce it. He did not attempt

ood a man as ever yo

d on the verandah for a minute or two, watching the motions of the swagman; he did not seem to recollect all at

and put up their hands. They appeared well-

ood a man as ever yo

his right and left, but his blows did not

blow on the left temple. Nosey fell to the ground, and th

ood a man as ever yo

alry were strictly observed; the stranger wa

blow on the temple. The third round finished the fight. Nosey lay on the ground so long that Bill, the Butcher, wen

did not stay long. He returned to Nyalong and lived awhile alone in his hut there, but he was restless and dissatisfied. Everybody looked at him so curiously. Even the women and children stood still as he passed by them, and began whispering

nd the intruder. Every magpie, minah, and wattle-bird within a mile joins in the clamour. They dart at the hawk as he flies from tree to tree. When he alights on a limb they give him no peace; they flap their wings in his face, and call him the worst of names. Even the Derwent Jackass, the hypocrite with the shining black coat and piercing whistle,

m the township. He descended in the scale of

as gone for good this time. He will ride t

tenants, who knew little and cared less what had become of their predecessors. Time empties thrones and huts impartially, and t

o the hut of a white woman. It was naked and very dirty, and she laid it down on the clay floor. The white woman's heart was moved with pity at the sight of the miserable little bairn. She took it u

ies may have been evolved out of the old species, but nothing of the kind happens now. The white men of Australia were not evolved out of the black men. There are no family t

, lake, or river ever barred his passage. He ate up all the grass and starved the pedigree cattle, the well-born dukes and duchesses, and on tens of thousands of fertile acres left no food to keep the nibbling sheep alive. Every hole and crevice of the rocks was full of him. An uninvited guest, he dropped down the funnel-shaped entrance to the den of the wombat, and made himself at home with the wild cat and snake. He

iest, but he seldom saw or heard of one. The men with whom he worked and wandered were all like himself--lost souls who had taken the wrong turn in the beginning of their days, the failures of all trades and professions; thieves, drunkards, and gamblers; criminals who had fled from justice; men of pleasure and, therefore, of misery; youths of good family exported from England, I

travelled ten miles without breakfast, and were both hungry and weary. They put down their swags

afraid they'd want to select some of his run. Wanted everything to look as poor and miserable as possible. He put on a clean shirt once a week, on Sabbath to keep it holy, and by way of being religious. Kept no fine furniture in the house, only a big hardwood table, some stools, and candle boxes. After supper old Mother Shenty scraped the potato skins off the table into her apron --she always boiled the potatoes in their jackets--and then Shenty lay down on it and smoked his pipe till bedtime, thinking of the best way to keep down expenses. A parson came along one day lifting a subscription for a church, or school, or something. He didn't get anything out of old Shenty, only a pannikin of tea and some damper and mutton. The old cove said: 'Church nor sc

ee there's an orchard there now, and most likely a wegtable garden--and cabbages. I'd like some boiled beef and cabbage. It wouldn't be no harm

quality" so well that he bro

be discovered now, or if they were, that any evidence could be got out of them. Nosey felt sure that all danger for himself was passed, but still the murder was frequently in his mind. The squatter was often lonely, and his new ma

ound me out taking his fat sheep, and was going to inform on me, so I d

lly that part of it referring to the murder. No man who had really

station. As soon as he saw Nosey he e

e is no

is nothing. We are

ame town at home. Nosey began the conversation by saying to his old friend, "I've been a bad boy since I saw you last --I done a man in Victoria"; and

d, "you can tell that

ed with stone walls, and there was a chance that Baldy's grave might be discovered if one of the surveyed lines ran near it, for the stonewall

to their work accompanied by a dog which chased a rabbit into a pile of rocks. The boy began to remove the rocks in order to find the rabbit, and in doing so uncovere

"There is a hole here behind; and, yes, one jaw has been bro

ll that day, but informati

he ankles. There were portions of a blue-striped shirt, and of a black silk necktie with reddish stripes. There was also the brim of an oiled sou'wester' hat, a pipe, and a knife. The chin was very prominent, and the first molar

, placed it in a sack, put it under his bed, slept over it every night, and patiently waited for some tidings of th

ut her steps were slow, and she did not arrive until th

he guise of constable, who p

as Balbus, alias Baldy, at Nyalong, in the colony of Victoria, on the 28th day of February, 1854. You need not say anything unless

cept, "I deny the charge"; h

y. In one of his pockets a letter was found purporting to

ter their long separation, but their meeting was not a

prisoners eyed it intently. It was guarded by constable Kerry, who allowed no one to approach it, but with an authoritative wave of the hand kept back all impertinent intruders. That day was the proudest in all his professional career. He had prepared his evidence and his exhibits with the utmost care

oor Baldy that

tement would damage his chance of esc

r lordship; she is not in her right

inting in such a direction as to show that the body must have rested on the right side. Large stones, but such as one man could lift, had been placed over the feet and the legs. The other bones were together, but had been disturbed. With them he found the brim of an oiled sou'-westr' h

er was going to his grave. He had come over the sea lately to spend the rest of his days in peace and comfort in the home of h

or more than seven months longer, on account of the difficult

of clothing which the wild cats had left was identified, together with the knife, the pipe, the hat brim, and the boots; and the prisoner's own confession was repeated. Julia a

meantime the two prisoners sat in the dock as far apart as possible. They had

y you did. What good could it do you? Sure yo

stable standing near tried to stop the torrent, but he might a

an on to your horse. It is this day you should have remembered before you began that night's work. Sorrow's the day I ever met you at all, with the miserable life you led me; and you know I was always the good wife to you until you gave yourself entirely to the devil with your wicked ways. Wasn't I always on the watch for you every evening looking for you, and the chop on the fire, and the hot tea, and everything comfortable? And is it to hang me now you want to pay me back for the trouble I took for you and all the misery

y acquitted Julia and found her husband guilty. She left the

a duty. Then he put on the black cap and passed sentence. At the concluding words, "May the Lord have mercy on your soul," the condemned man responded with a fervent

he priest. His examination of conscience was not difficult, for he ha

ear nor bravado. The hangman quickly drew down the cap, but he seemed more flurried than his victim. The sheriff, without speaking, motion

te or the black men. It consisted of ranges of hills heavily timbered, furrowed by deep valleys, through which flowed innumerable streams, winding their way to the river of the plains. Sometimes the solitary bushman or prospector, looking across a deep valley, saw, nestled amongst the opposite hills, a beautiful meadow of grass. But when he had crossed the intervening creek and scrubby valley,

er a horseman approached they dashed headlong into the scrub where no horseman could follow them. Wild boars and their progeny

and some fish were caught, but Philip took none home. Gleeson and McCarthy reserved their catches for their wives and families, and Philip's fish were all cooked on the fire at sunrise, and eaten for breakfast. Fishing was sport, certainly, but it was not profi

e were mosquitos in millions, bandicoots hopping close to the fire, and monkey-bears, night hawks

it, but it hopped away unharmed. A few minutes afterwards, as the men were riding along at an easy walk, three other horsemen suddenly came past them at a gallop, wheeled about, and faced the fishermen. One was Bu

eeson, "is anyth

Burridge. "Did na ye h

ired at a

Are you sure it

I see, you think we are after shooting your

t about here, and I'd lik

e close up to Burridge with the gun in his right hand. "His name is Burridge, and that's yourself. Everybody knows you, you old Scotch hound. You have as many cattle on the run with your brand on them as your m

n which he took up, and stocked with cattle bearing no brand but his own. Evil

he Butcher, Bob Atkins, and George Brown the Liar, who brought a rope-net and a cart in which all the game caught was to be carried home. Five dogs accom

tussocks, the dogs barking furiously around him. Bill the Butcher said, "Keep back, you men, or he'll rip the guts out of your horses.

ticking out above his upper lip. The loss of the other tusk left him at a disadvantage, as he could only strike effectively on one side. Lion and Tiger had fought him before, and he had earned their respect. They were wary and cautious, and with good reason. Their

, one on each side, and held on. Bob Atkins and Bill approached the combatants, carrying some strong cord, of New Zealand flax.

socks. Gleenson's dog pinned a young boar, and after its legs were tied Philip agreed to stand by and guard it, while Gleeson fetched the cart. But the boar soon slipped the cord from his legs, and at once attacked his nearest enemy, rushing at Philip and trying to rip open his boots. Philip's first impulse was to take out his revolver, and shoot; but he was always conscientious, and it occurred to him

the animal to the groun

next round he seized both ears and held them. There was a pause in the fight, and Phil

out mercy; and if Gleeson don't come soon he'll find here nothing but dead pig. I must try to thr

in front and rear. For some time there was much kicking and squealing, until one s

holding one ear and one hind leg. Then he p

f an hour, just to keep him alive, and all to oblige a cockatoo farmer, and small thanks to me for that same.

th the rope net. Four other pigs were caught, and then the hunters and dogs returned to the place in which the old boar had been left. But he had

game Philip declined to

had pig enough f

tly five pigs for

's farm. McCarthy brought his dogs, and Philip brought Sam, his revolver, and a club. Barton was too proud to join in the sport; he despised inferior game. It might amuse new chums,

as cutting up his pump

d Philip. "Is anything the matte

Every morning I come to see if the fruit is growing, but this is what they do. As soon as they get as big as a small pota

ready destroyed. He said, "Don't chop any more, Gl

in the fowl-yard, and

, but this one will if it gets a little of the dust from the first flower. The bees or other insects u

d: "Now, my friend, put away the axe, and you will ha

hilip observed the fragments of a clock scatte

to the clock?

fingers were all awry, and the pins wouldn't fit in their places, and the pendulum swung crooked, and the whole thing bothered me so that I just laid it on the floor of the ve

n in the world; all he wan

roos were in full view. She seemed to think that there was a kangaroo behind every tree, so she jumped aside from the trunks. That was to kill Philip at last,

I won't mention it, as some ignorant people might call me a liar. Those killed were mostly does with young, or old men. Any horse of good speed could round up a heavy old man, and then

ool, and saw the empty cage, he called aloud, "Joey, Joey, sweet pretty Joey," and whistled. The bird descended as far as the lightwood, but would not be coaxed to come any nearer. He actuall

e coroner suspected that he had been murdere

an also to stay out late in the evening, which was very improper, and before going to bed Philip would go under the lightwood with a lighted candle, and look for her amongst the leaves, saying, "Maggie, are you there?" She was generally fast asleep, and all she could do was to blink her eyes, and say, "Peet, peet," and fall asleep again. But one night she never answered at all.

efinger, but Maggie stuck her bill in the ground, turned a complete somersault, and caught the finger with both claws, which were very

ilip, "what on earth i

't hear the news, you are such an old stick-in-the-mud. It was in the pap

on't mean to say yo

most awful fright, with your red hair and freckles, so I thought it best to say nothing about the engagement until the ceremony was over. It was performed by the Rev. Sinister Cornix, and it was a very select affair, I assure you, and the dresses were so

e you living

the end of a slender branch. If Hugh Boyle tries to kidnap my babies, the branch will snap, and he will fall and break his neck,

mate--husband, I m

esome, and it takes all your time to feed them. There are two of them, the duckiest little fluffy darlings you ever saw. They were very hungry this morning, so when I saw you digging I knew you wouldn't begrudge them

-tree was on Barlow's farm which adjoined the forty-acre on the east. Barlow had been a stockman for several years on Ca

ellow, who was hammering on the door with his waddy. He was a tame blackfellow who had been educated at the Missionary Station. He could write English, say prayers, sing hymns, read the Bible, and was therefore named Parson Bedford by the Derviners, after the Tasmanian Missionary. He could box and wrestle so well that few white men could throw him. He could also drink rum; so whenever he got any white money he knew how to spend i

ng up into the air like a shot deer, and then took to his heels. He did not run towards the open plains, but made a straight line for the nearest part of the Rises. As he ran, Frank followed at an easy cant

Frank, come o

urious. He had learned the colonial art of blowing alo

p your whip, and I'll fight you fair, same as

, or anywhere on the run, I'll cut the shirt off your back. I shall tell Mr. Calvert what

d when he returned he was d

rocks. They were weeping beauties--at least the daughter was a beauty in Frank's eyes--but now they wiped away their tears, smoothed their hair, and thanked their gallant knight over and over aga

d flattered, at least not since his mother wea

. Say no more about it. I would of c

in to the mercy of the Parson, so he waited

n, a something as near akin to love as a

ht his wife and daughter the use of old Tower muskets. He said, "If ever

nearly every day, enquiring if the

and she smiled so sweetly, and lowered her eyes,

and sowed it with wheat and oats. Then while the grain was ripening he resolved to ask Cecily a very important question. One Sunday he rode to the hut with a spare horse and side saddle. Both horses were well groomed, the side saddle was new, the bits, buckles, and stirrup-irons were like burnished silver. Cecily could ride well

her gently." But the opportunity must not be thrown away, and on their way over the plains Frank told his tale of love. I don't know precisely what he said or how he said it, not having been present, but

with all my worldly goods I thee endow," he gave Cecily the worldly goods beforehand--the horse, with the beautiful new side

together before sundown on a vacant lot in the township, d

k's farm with his chain and began the measurement, the reapers, most of them broken down diggers, following him and watching him. Old Jimmy Gillon took one end of the chain; he said he had been a chainman when the railway mania first broke o

l ceremony was to take place that day, but there was no sign of it,

t was, the bride had e

invar had come

d, fine-spoken

his moustaches. Cecily had for some time been listening to Lochinvar, who was known to have been endeavouring to "cut out" Fr

Cecily going home to her mother for the last night, and while he was looking after her wist

what are you

She is going to marry

ot if you are half the

can I h

for a minute. And if you don't persuade her in five minutes to ride away with you to Ballarat, I'll eat my head off. I kno

he jolly landlord slapped his knee and laughed. He said: "You are right, Bill. S

l, and that was the reason Frank w

ometimes not far asunder, but Frank was not by nature vengeful; he had

or the wounds inflicted by the shafts of Cupid; but Frank tried it. Du

nts I have been unable to give that attention to the legal aspects of this case which its importance demand

Mr. Aspinall and his solicitor retired to a

e a nobbler of brandy

a soda-water bottle, and it

ook his stand in the witness box, and a

ore now. He looked and saw the figure of a little man with a large head,

ly some money, a horse

d

ought a we

it in my

he ring, at any rate, is not lost. It will be r

of the court and shaking his hea

r. There 'ull be no

k raised his eyes, and saw a broad grin on eve

ong doctor and the little lawyer were a strange pair. Everybody knew that they were

ds with the utmost cheerfulness. Whether he recovered all the worldly goods with which he had endowe

a villainous butcher; Bruin had been killed by Hugh Boyle; Maggie had eloped with a wild native to a gum-tree; J

ted them growing wheat. Then she loaded her fleet with a return cargo for the British pauper, one grain of wheat in each ship, and navigated it safely to Old England. She made many prosperous voyages, but once a storm arose which sent all her ships to the bottom of the sea. She sent a Wesleyan minist

rick Adams subscribed 20 pounds, and officers and gentlemen in Madras cont

, and they landed at Sydney. They saw Highland immigrants who could not speak Eng

40, but the health of her young family r

captain and agent to act with humanity. Some place of residence was required in which the new arrivals could be sheltered, until respectable situations could be found for them, and in January, 1841, she applied to Lady

bout my soul. I was amazed when my aide introduced a handsome, stately young woman, who proceeded

ctions, and then alighted on her shoulders. But she outgeneraled the rats. She gave them bread and water the first night, lit two candles, and sat up in bed reading

About six hundred females were then wandering about Sydney unprovided for. Some slept in the recesses of the rocks on the Government dom

t to sleep in. She left married families at different stati

f the poor were taken to the ce

s with influential men, Mrs. Chisholm sought help for the emigran

the Boyles laughed. The Major spoke to the boys and girls whenever he met them. He asked John to tell him how many weatherboards he would have to buy to cover the walls of his house, which contained six

one at a very short notice. She had the whole matter already planned, and was actually canvassing for pupils among the wealthiest families in the colony. The Major smiled benevolently, and said it was of no use for Philip to think of resisting Mrs. Chisholm; when she had once made up her mind, everybody had to give way, and the thing was settled. Philip, too, smiled faintly, and tried to look pleased, dissembling his outraged feel

is foot down and began a countermin

The Major informed him that Mrs. Chisholm had met with an accident and would be unable to visit Nyalong for some time. Philip was secre

Waterholes. McCarthy began to suspect that Philip was a little wrong in his head; it was a kind of action that contradicted all previous experience. He could remember various lovers running away together before marriage, but he could not cal

und the tree Gleeson dismounted, and, going behind the tree, seized the "old man" by the tail. The kangaroo kept springing upwards and at the dogs, dragging Gleeson after him, who was jerking the tail this way a

id Gleeson. "If I let go his tail,

said Philip; "better to club

e throat and held on. The three men mounted their horses and rode away, but Philip's mare was, as usual, shying at every tree. As he came near one which had a large br

Rocky Waterholes to make some enquiries. He c

could not believe it; so I thought I would just ride over and enquire about it, for, of cou

s all, thank you. I might call again at Easter.' So he went away. On last Easter Monday he came again. Of course I had told Miss Edgeworth, about his calling at Christmas and enquiring about her, and it made me rather suspicious when he came again. As you may suppose, I could not help taking notice; but for two days, nor, in fact, fo

give it. Miss Edgeworth has been living with you for some time, and you must be well acquainted with her. I am thinking of

way or the other, for or against. I have my own sentiments, of course

little nearer, until through the little opening between the door and the door-post, I could both see and hear them. He was sitting on the table, dangling his boots to and fro just above the floor, and she was sitting on a low rocking-chair about six

e to live at Nyalon

couldn't have helped giving her a kiss. She never raised her eyes to his face, but I think she just looked as high as his boots, which

know what I mean

low voice. 'I know wh

was really dreadful, and I couldn't think how it was

to think about it. I am going to ride out, and perhaps you wi

It was rather mean of me to be listening to them, but I took a

was too much hurry, for they were married on the Saturday, and he

h, thin nose, and men of that kind are always close and stingy, and the stingiest man I ever knew was a Dublin man. Then his manners, you must remember, were anything but nice; he didn't wasteany compliments on you before you married him, so you may just fancy what kind of compliments you would have had to put up with afterwards. And perhaps y

mfort her very kindly, and she 'gave me fits,' as the saying is; but b

district as the scene of his future labours, so that the country was peopled with old Jack Bartons and young ones. Some of the young ones had been Philip's scholars--viz., the Boyles and the Blakes. They were friends of the Bartons, and Old John, the ex-flogger, trained them in the art of cattle-lifting. His teaching was far more success

life. They were both tall and strong, intelligent and alert, good stockmen, and quite able to earn an honest living in the bush. They had been taught their duty well by Philip, but bad example and bad company out of school had led them astray. The owner of the bullocks, an honest young boor named Cowderoy,

a good moral education wer

put to this witness?" asked

n turning to Cowderoy, he said: "D

tood first on one leg, then on the other; leaned down with his elbows on the edg

on?" asked the Judge sharply. "D

le

, your Honour, that this question comes too late and should have been put to the w

ong," said the Judge: and turning to the witness

said C

ischarged, thanks to

T POLICE

ces' law entitled me to give an opinion on any imaginable subject, I very naturally complied with his request. He was, moreover, a man so remarkable that a request by him for advice was of itself an honour. In his youth he had been complimented on the possession of a nose exactly resembling that of the great Duke of Wellington, and ever since that time he had made the great man the guiding star of his voyage over the ocean of life, the only saint in his calendar; and he

uld, no doubt, have led it onward, or sent it forward to victory. His forces, unfortunately, consisted of only one trooper, but the way in which he ordered and manoeuvred that single horseman proved what glory he would have won if he had been placed over many squadrons. By a general order he made him parade outside the gate of the station every morning at ten o'clock. He then marched from the front door with a majestic mien and inspected the horse, the rid

he court-house, after investigating the dispute in Murray St

yde! is t

the latter merely gave him a slight glance,

ed after him and

, but I see he don't know me now--has grown too big for hi

squatter, and was now on his way home. He explained how he had, just before the disc

hat addicted to petty larceny, but felony had been frightened out of their souls long ago. They knew all the station hands, and the station hands knew them. They soo

himself, "That is not a horseman, nor an emu, nor a native companion, nor a swagman, nor a kangaroo." He could not make it out; so he fetched his binocular, and then perceived that it was a human being, stark naked

cover him decently before he arrived too near the house. It was H

land of Egypt. there was one-eyed Polyphemus, moving among his flocks on the mountain tops of Sicily; a monster, dreadful, vast, and hideous; able to roast and eat these three blackfellows at one meal. And nearer our own time was the youth whose immortal speech begins, "My name is Norval; on the Grampian Hills my father fed his flocks." Our shepherd had a stick in his hand and a collie dog at his command. Now was the time for him to display "London Assurance" to some purpose; and now was the time for the example of the ever-victorious Duke to work a miracle of valour. But th

d matches, and handed them over. A second blackfellow, seeing him so ready to give, took the loan of his tin billy, with some tea and sugar in it, and some boiled mutton and damper. These children of the plains now saw that they had come upon a mine of wealth, and they worked it down to the bed rock. One after another, and with the willing help o

of the home station. He tried to run, and for a short time fear winged his feet; but the ground was hard and rough, and his feet were tender; and though he believed that death and three devils were behind him, he could go but slowly. A solitary eaglehawk sat on the top branch of a dead gum-tree, watching him with evil eyes; a chorus of laughing jackasses cackled after him in derision from a grove of young timber; a magpie, the joy of the morning, and most mirthful of birds, whistled for him sweet notes

and ordered them to start for a warmer climate. He then directed Hyde to return to his sheep, and not let those blank blacks humbug him out of clothes any more. But nothing would induce the shepherd to remain another day; he forswore pastoral pursuits for the rest of his life. His courage had been tried an

s, and unlucky diggers. Lords and lags were equally welcomed without characters or references from their former employers, the Masters' and Servants' Act having become a dead letter. Hyde entered the Government service, and had the good sense to stay there.

g his old employer, Robinson, and died at last of dyspep

E SL

settlers in the bush, for the lot of the assigned servant was often worse than that of a slave, as he had to give his labour for nothing but food and clothing, and was liable to be flogged on any charge of disobedience, insolence, or insubordination which his master might choose to bring against him. Moreover, the black slave might be sold for cash, for

rd to others, the exercise of despotic authority drew forth all the evil pass

ir freedom. They never smiled, and could never regain the feelings and bearing of free men; they appeared to feel on their faces the brand of Cain, by which they were known to all men, and the scars left on their backs by the cruel lash could never be smoothed away. Whenever they met, even on a lonely bush track, a man who, by his appearance might be a magistrate or a Government offic

tty Sessions at the window. It was an open court, to which the public were admitted according to law; a very open court, the roof of which was blue--the blue sky of a summer's morning. A witness was giving evidence against an assigned servant, charged with some offence against his master. His majesty, the magistrate, yawned--this kind of thing was tiresome. Presently a lady came into the room, walked to the open wind

nt service, and although there was some danger connected with it, there was always a sufficient number of candidates to fill vacancies. In New South Wales the number of officers in the ca

ect them from attack by dingoes or blackfellows. If the dingoes and blackfellows had been content with one sheep at a time to allay the pangs of hunger, they could

ach provided with a musket

tick. If they attempted to come inside the hut, Joe ordered them off, backing at the same time towards the inner door, and he always kept a sharp look-out for any movement they made; for they were very treacherous, and he knew they would take any chance they could

. One of them, who was sitting on the top rail with his back towards the hut, seemed to think that he was out of range of the musket, for he made most unseemly gestures, and yelled back at Joe in a defiant and cont

for a fig of tobacco, and, after filling his pipe, the stockman gave him the remainder of the fig he had been cutting, and held out his hand for the firestick. The blackfellow seemed disappointed; very likely expecting to receive a whole fig of tobacco--and, instead of handing him the firestick he threw it on the ground. At the first moment the stockman did not suspect any treachery, as he had seen no weapon in possession of the blackfellow. He stooped to pick up the firestick; but just as he was touching it, he saw the black man's feet moving nearer, and becoming suddenly suspicio

th, the stockman brought his enemy to the ground. He then grasped the thick, matted hair with one hand, and thus holding the black's head close to the ground, he reached with the other hand for the tomahawk, and with one fierce blow buried the blade in the savage's brain. Even then he did not feel quite sure of his safety. He had an idea that it was very difficult to kill blackfellows outright, that theywere like American 'p

d of battle. He found the headless body of the black man, the head at the other side of the track, the tomahawk,

ERNMENT

bours would confer a lasting benefit on his fellow creatures; that, though it might appear a little hard on him individually, he should raise his thoughts to a higher level, and labour for the good of humanity in general, he would very likely say, "Do you take me for a fool?" But if you gave him three dozen lashes for his laziness he will see, or at least feel, that your argument has some force in it. As a matter of fact men work for some present or future benefit for themselves. The saint who sells all he has to give to the poor, does so with the hope of obtaini

pening anywhere within view, he gazed awhile at the sod he had turned over, and then shaved the top off with his spade. Having straightened his back once more, he began a survey of the superficial area of the next sod, and at length proceeded to cut it in the same deliberate manner, performing the same succeeding ceremonies. If he saw me, or heard me approaching, he became at once very alert and diligent until I spoke to him, then he stopped work at once. It was quite impossible for him both to labour and to listen; nobody can do two things well at the same time. But his greatest relief was in talking; he would talk with anybody all day long if possible, and do nothing else; his wages, of course, still running

dden tree, who

nto the world,

years afterwards, he smiled and smacked his lips, re

s he never worked for any man he liked so well. A great philosopher says, in order to be happy it is necessary to be beloved, but in order to be beloved we must know how to ple

hat voyage to Australia Felix from which he never returned. Some portions of a skeleton were found on the banks of a river, which were s

sentenced to penal servitude for the offence, and had passed two years of his time in Tasmania. This incident had produced in his mind an interest in blackfellows generally, and on seeing Gellibrand outside the Colac courthouse, he walked up to him, and looked him steadily in the face, without saying a word or moving a muscle of his countenance. I never saw a more lovely pair. The black fellow returned the gaze unflinchingly, his deep-set eyes fixed fiercely on those of the Irishman, his nostrils dilated, and his frowning forehead wrinkled and hard, as if cast in iron. The two men looked like two wild beasts preparing for a deadly fight. At length, Hooley move

h him several natives belonging to the Barrabool tribe. When they arrived near Lake Colac they found the banks of the Barongarook Creek covered with scrub, and on approaching the spot where the bridge now spans the watercourse, they saw a blackfellow with his l

umption, and was too weak to follow the rest. He looked like a living skeleton, but he was not left behind to die. He was sitting on the shoulders of his brother, his hands grasping for support the h

r to fertilize one corner of the garden, I spread over it several loads of the rich-looking black loam taken from the knoll near the creek. After a few years the vines and trees yielded great quantities of grapes and fruit, and I made wine from my vineyard. But the land on which I had spread the black loam was almost barren, and yet I had seen fragments of bones mixed with it, and amongst them a lower jaw with perfect teeth, most likely the jaw of a young lubra. On mentioning the circumstance to one of the early settlers, he said my loam had been taken from the spot on which th

He held his pipe between his thumb and forefinger, and stopped smoking in stupid astonishment. He said--"That ground i

deep gully near his hut, which was sometimes nearly surrounded with the roaring waters. He then tried to dam the water back on to my ground, but I made a gap in his dam with a long-handled shovel, and let the flood go through. Nature and the shovel were too much for Billy. He came out of his hut, and stood watching the torrent, holding his dirty old pipe a f

uned and disbudded the vines myself, and also crushed and pressed the grapes. The digging and hoeing of the ground cost about 10 pounds each year. When the wine had been in the casks about twelve months I bottled it; in two years more it was fit for consumption, and I was very proud of the art

co-- this liquor was the nectar with which the ambrosial station hands were lambed down by the publicans--and in these latter days by colonial beer, the washiest drink a nation was ever drench

there, too--what was left of them. Billy Leura walked all the way from Camperdown, and on the day before the regatta came to my house with a couple of black ducks in his hand. Sissy, six years old, was present; she inspected the blackfellow and the ducks, and listened. Leura said

g inside. We put on as much style as possible to suit the occasion, including, of course, my best native wine, and the two ducks roa

two ducks, M

r; very f

said dey was black ducks, but dey was'nt black, dey was br

ll them black ducks, but th

money, so he went into de house and bring out a pair of his old lowsers, and

said Miss Sheppard

l blu

ma; "hold your tongue, or I'

black man just now, Miss Sheppard, when he was going to de lake? I sai

he complained to me that his work was very dry. I saw at once an opportunity of obtaining an independent and reliable judgment on the quality of my wine; so I went for a bottle, drew the cork, and offered him a tumblerful, telling him it was wine which I had made from my own grapes. As Taylor was a native of London, the greatest city in the world, he must have had a wide experience in many things, was certain to know the difference between good and bad liquor, and I was anxious to obtain a favourab

ery irrational in the matter of drink, but I fetched another bottle. This time he emptied the first tumbler without hesitation, regardless of consequences. He puckered his lips and curled his nose, and said it was rather sourish; but in hot weat

e crosses before, but I don't see any

atholics, don't you see? too

am sorry to hear that.

eed? I always thought

l he rose to be a three-bottle man. He became reconciled to the crosses on the wall-paper, forgave me for not being a Sc

, and promoted themselves instead. I have seen them since sitting nearly as high as Haman in those expensive Law courts in Lonsdale Street, while I was a despicable jury-man serving the Crown for ten shillings a day. That is the way of this world; the wicked are well-paid and exalted, while the virtuous are ill-paid and trodden down. At a week's notice I was ordered to leave my Garden of E

h the Presbyterian manse was built, and the Colac tribe buried his body there, and stuck branches of trees around his grave. About six months afterwards a Government officer, the head of a department, arrived at Colac, and I rode with him about the township and neighbouring country showing him the antiquities and

as very likely a hole in it, and it would be spoiled; but he said the hole would make no difference. I would do almost anything for science and money, but he did not offer me any, and I did not think a six months' mummy was old enough to steal; it was too fresh. If that scientist would borrow a spade and dig up the corpse himself, I would go away to a sufficient distance

NINET

Y A REMO

and howling gale has helped to build up the beach. The hot winds of summer scorch the dry sand, and spin it into smooth, conical hills. Amongst these, low shrubs with grey-green leaves take root, and thrive and flourish under the salt sea spray wher

as been woven together by the roots of the spiky mangrove, or stunted tea-tree. Upon the muddy flats, scarcely above the level of the water, the black swans build their great circular nests, with long grass and roots compacted with slime. Salt mar

he rivers yielded eels and blackfish. The sandy shores of the islands were honey-combed with the holes in which millions of mutton-birds deposited their eggs in the last days of November in each year. Along many tracks in the scrub the black wallabiesand paddy

t you could kill them with a stick, and so beautiful that it seemed a sin to destroy them. Black cockatoos, screaming harshly the while, tore long strips of bark from the messmate, searching for the savoury grub. B

ing along its huge beak at the receding tide, hour after hou

nt, and dies before it reaches the ranges. Long ropes of bark, curled with the hot sun, hang motionless from the black-butts and blue gums; a few birds may b

nition, is the native bear, sometimes called monkey bear. Its flesh is strong and muscular, and its eucalyptic odour is stronger still. A dog will eat opossum with pleasure, but he must be very hungry before he will eat bear; and how lost to all delicacy of taste, and sense of refinement, must the epicure be who will make the attempt! The last quadruped on which a meal can be made is the dingo, and t

y of stores, suitable for commencing life in a new land. It was afterwards remembered that the deck of the vessel was encumbered with cargo of various kinds, including a bullock dray, and that the deck hamper would unfit her to encounter

he was one of the passengers of the missing schooner, and parties of horsemen went out to search for h

Melbourne. There is little doubt that the letters on the tree had been cut by one of the survivors of that ill-fated schooner, who had landed in the long boat near the Lakes, and had made their way along the Ninety-Mile beach to Woodside. They were far from the usual track of coasting vessels, and had little chance of attracting attention by signals or fires. Even if they had plenty of food, it was impossible for them to travel in safety through that unknown co

dumb forgetfu

anxious being

precincts of t

nging, lingerin

AND PI

E OLD

Gippsland must often have been imparted in Gaelic, for many of t

rain was in charge of a white man, with several native drivers. But rumours of better lands towards the south were rife, and Captain Macalister, of the border police, equipped a party of men under McMillan to go in search of them. Armed and provisioned, they journeyed over the mountains, under the guidance of t

spears at the intruders; one spear of seasoned hardwood actually penetrated through a slab. The men, all but one, who shall be nameless,

ly grew fat; but civilised man does not live by fat cattle alone, and a market had to be sought. Twofold Bay was too far away, and young Melbourne was somewhere beyond impassable mountains. McMillan built a small boat, which he launched

et, and he blazed a track to the Albert River. Friday was an inland black.

d yallock* yan

llock, river. **

o explain the th

along, come back by-and-by." And Frid

1841, saw a broad expense of salt water, and McMill

t's nothing to nobody," he said. He was a bushman, rough and weather-beaten, with only one peculiarity. The quart pot which he slung to his belt would hold hal

e goods of the Port Albert Company. It was in charge of John Campbell, and contained a quantity of axes, tomahawks, saddles and bridles, a grindstone, some shot and powder, two double-barrelled guns, nails and hammers, and a few other articles, but there was nothing eatable to be seen in it. If there was any flour, tea, or sugar left, it was carefully concealed from any of the famishing settlers who might by chance peep in at the door. Outside the hut was a nine-pounder gun on wheels, which had been landed by the company for use in time of war; but until this day there had been no hostilities between the natives and the settlers. From time to time numbers of black faces had been seen among the scrub, but so far no spear had been thrown nor hostile gun fired. The members of the company were Turnbull, McLeod, Rankin, Brodribb, Hornden, and Orr. Soon after they landed they cleared a semi-circular piece of ground behind their tents, to prevent the blacks from sneaking up

ound before the fire. Jack observed that the box was full of eggs, on the top of

; but you have been a long time coming, a

e," said Jack. "Many's the time I've hadshort

, no meat, no flour, no tea, no sugar-- nothing but eggs; but, thank God, I've got plenty o

fficiently cooked, he handed one and a teaspoon to Jack and took another himself, saying, "We shall

e. Did you never try ashes? Mix a spoonful with your egg

roast 'em and salt 'em with ashes, and then take your sticks and try if you can knock down a few parrots or wattle birds for dinner. But don't

ipping, and where are all the settlers? There don't se

whale-boat on the 30th of last May, and I have been waiting for you ever since. In a few weeks we had about a hundred and fifty people camped here. They came mostly in cutters from Melbourne, looking for work or looking for runs. They said men were working for half-a-crown a day

ner Inlet. They were attacked by the Western Port blacks near the River Tarwin, but they frightened them away by firing their guns. The four Port Phillip blacks who were carrying the ammuniti

e Port. They took the road over the mountains, and lived

dog, and used to run down an old man kangaroo for us, until one of them gave him a terrible rip with his claw, and he has been lame ever since. For eight weeks we were living on roast flat-head, and I grew tired of it, so on the 17th of last month I started down the inlet in my whaleboat, and went to Lady Bay to take in some firewood. I knew the mutton-birds would be coming to the islands on the 23rd or 24th, but I landed on one of them on the 19th, four or five days too soon, and began to look for something to eat. There were some pig-faces,

ast? You had a train of pack bullocks and a mob of cattle, looking for

as there about twelve months. My hut was not far from a deep waterhole, and the milking yard was about two hundred yards from the hut. The wild blacks were very troublesome; they killed three white men at Murdering Creek, and me and Francis, Clarke's manager, hunted them off the station two or three times. The blacks were more afraid of Francis than of anybody else, as besides his gun h

or eleven years old, who was very quick and smart, and spoke English very well. One morning, when I was in the milking yard, she came to me an

t, reached down for the gun, and peeped out of the front door, looking for Bill. The lubras began yabbering, and in an instant Bill dropped his rug and the axe, leaped over the heads of the women, and was off like a deer. I took a flying shot at him with both barrels. His lubra went about afterwards among the stations complaining that Jack Quart Pot

ve gone long ago like the rest, but he does not like to leave the stores behind. Here, Mr. Campbel

you. Who are the men in t

reakfast. They were hungry, I reckon, and went away befor

s had often depended on their watchfulness. The sun was growing warm, and there was a quivering haze over the waters. While glanc

are they? Do you t

hape of birds, and they don't swim smoothly like swans, but go jerking along like

a dozen of 'em or more. I can see their long spears sticking out, and they are after some mischief. The tide is on the ebb, and they are going to drop down with it, and spear

r looked up the channel, nor guessed the danger that was every moment coming nearer, for the blacks as yet had not made the least noise. At last Campbell saw several of them seizing their spears and making ready to throw them, so he fired one of his barrels; and Davy stood up in the boa

ay pulled after them; but the blacks soon reached the shore, and, taking their spears, ran into

p a sharp look-out, and if you see a black fac

the line to the whaleboat, shoved off, and sprang inside. The blacks came out of the scrub, yelling and brandishing their spears, a few of which they threw at the boat, but it was soon out of the

, and when the whaleboat returned with its train of canoes

or and pulled away, and then the devils could never got near you. Look here!" holding up a piece of bark, "t

in Yorkshire, and trifles never too

, but we're quite wakken noo. Keep yor s

rk, were drawn up on the beach, nothing was found in them bu

hae deevils have murdered. There is no settler nearer than Jami

. There had been another

OF BLAS

Isle of Blasted Hopes. Its enchanting landscape has allured many a landsman to his ruin, and its beaco

th John King for cattle and horses. Morrison next occupied the island until he was starved out. Then another man named Thomas took the fatal grazing license, but he did not live on the land. He placed his brother in charge of it, to be out of the way of temptation, as he was too fond of liquor. The brother was not allowed the use of a boat; he, with his wife and family, was virtually a prisoner, condemned to sobriety. But by this time a lighthouse had been erected, and Watts the keeper of it had a boat, and was, moreover, fond of liquor. The two men soon became firm friends, and often found it necessary to make voyages to

There were nine men in the water, while the cabin boy stood shivering on deck. He, too, had thrown away his clothes, all but the wrist-bands of his shirt, which in his flurry he could not unbutton. He could not make up his mind to jump overboard. He heard the men in the water shouting to one another, "Make for the light." That course led them away from the nearest land, which they could not see. At length a great sea swept the boy among the breakers, but his good angel pushed a piece of timber within reach, and he held on to it until he could

ometimes passed the night in the old fowlhouse, he looked in for them. But instead of the goats, he saw

eplied the cabin boy; and th

searched along the shore and found the dead body of the captain, and a piece of splintered spar seven or eight feet long, on which the cabin boy had come ashore. The 'Ecliptic', with her cargo and crew, had completely disappeared, while the signalman, near at hand, slept p

s Promontory. The anchors were let go, she swung to wind, and at the fall of the tide she bedded herself securely in the sand, her hull, machinery, and cargo uninjured. The seventy-five passengers and crew were safely

and pulled safely away from the 'Clonmel' against a head wind. They hoisted the lug and ran for one of the Seal Islands, where they found a snug little cove, ate a hearty meal, and rested for

breaker, when they saw three blacks coming down towards th

s. After a night's refreshing repose on the sandy beach, they started at break of day, sailing along very fast with a strong and steady breeze from the east, although they were in danger of being swamped, as the sea broke over the boat repeatedly. At two o'clock p.m. they were abreast of Port Philip Heads; but they found a strong ebb tide, with such a ripple and broken

ers and brought them all to Melbourne, together with the mails, which

buried in the sandspit, and they may still be seen among the breaker

. He sent a party of wreckers who pitched their camps on Snake Island, where they had plenty of grass, scrub, and timber. The work of taking out

ts, and tobacco from the cargo of the 'Clonmel', and oysters without end from a neighbouring lagoon. They constructed a large square punt, which they filled with cargo daily, wind and weather permitting; at other times they rested from thei

the camp with his gun in the hope of shooting some wattle birds, which were then fat with feeding on the sweet blossoms of the honeysuckle. He was sitting on a log near the water-hole talking to his wife, who had just laid out to dry on the bushes three coloured shirt

af it for a station. I could put sheep and cattle on it, and they could not go away nor be lifted, because there is deep water all round it; and we wo

ould be getting the money to buy the sheep and cattle? And who would like to live here for efer a thousand miles from decent neebors? And

w snatched his gun from across his knees, another hit him on the head with a waddy, and a third did the same to

occupied by the wreckers had been enclosed in a thick hedge of scrub to protect them from the drifting sand. There was only one opening in the hedge, through which the blacks cou

alent for mimicry astonishing; he can imitate the notes of e

re in the British Empire. It may be said that "jim Crow" buried the legitimate drama and danced on its grave. It really seemed to justify the severe judgment passed on us by the sage of Chelsea, that we were "sixteen millions

d wheel about,

I turn about I

their murd

a large gum tree beyond the tents, against which a ladder had been rear

blacks were close to him now, but even their colour could not restore his courage. They were cannibals, and were preparing to kill and eat him. But first they examined their game critically,

pearance, but just now fear prevented him

f the blacks could be induced to eat the dinner he was cooking their attention to himself might be divert

taking the food like sensible men, they upset all the pots with their waddies, and scattered th

ces from the waterhole, and they quickly gathered together their stolen goods and disappeared. In a few minutes Captain Leebrace and the wre

ne spoil all de dinner, and run away

d two of his most trustworthy men, and armed them and himself with double-barrelled guns, one barrel being smooth bore and the other rifled, weapons suitable for game both large and small. During the pursuit the captain every now and then, from behind a tree, searched for the enemy with his telescope, until at last he could see that t

ns all finery for his own personal adornment, and never wastes any of it on his despicable wife, but still Captain Leebrace had some doubt in the matter. He whispered to his men, "I don't like t

ed in a water-hole, they were found to have been not much damaged, each shirt having only a small bullet hole in it. It was in this way that the lilac dress escaped, and was found in the canoe at the Old Port; the blackfe

ing toward the beach, full of fear and excitement, screaming, "The blacks, the blacks, they are co

ed with the piebald bodies of the blacks, dancing about, brandishing their spears, and shouting defiance at the white men. They were not in hundreds, as the boys imagined, their number apparently not exceeding forty; but it was evident t

ime, said, "I think it will be better to give them a tast

rammed it home. On this he put a nine-pound shot; but, reflecting that the aim at the dancing savages

then selected a long piece of bark, which he lighted at the fire, and, standing behind an angle of the building, he applied the light to the touch-hole. Every man was watching the scrub to see the effect of the discharge. There was a fearful explosion, succeeded by shrieks of horror and fear from the blacks, as the ball and nails and broken glass went whistling over their heads through the trees. Then there was a moment of complete silence. Campbell

was able. Campbell produced flour enough for a large damper, a luxury unseen for the last eight weeks; McClure gave tea and sugar; Davy brought out a box full of eggs and a dozen mutton birds; Scutt and Pateley furnished a course of roast flathead; Clancy

ng cheerfully, but they made no set speeches. Dinner oratory is full of emptiness and

that what the food wanted was sugar; he believed that nardoo and sugar would keep him alive. The pioneers a

s that he felt quite well, and would soon regain his strength. Before that terrible journey over the mountains he had been the life and soul of the Port. He could play on the violin, on the bagpipes--both

heels still, but it is hard to dance on loose sand, and they had to be contented with expressing their feelings in song. Davy sang "Ye Mariners of England," and other songs of the sea; and Pateley Jim ga

ld tunes, sacred and profane. He dwelt some time on an ancient "Kyrie Eleeso

rin' aw

wreaths in

rin' aw

and o' t

e sorrow t

e caul or

aye fai

and of t

ll pit awa the fiddle, and bid ye a good nicht. I

hed a soothing lullaby through the spines of the she-oak, and his spirit passed peacefully away with the ebb. He was the first man

ampbell and Montgomery, pulling up the long

RY IN G

o early in the morning the two men took a "tightener" of roast eggs, and commenced their journey on McMillan's track, each man carrying his double-barrelled gun, ready loaded, in his hand. By this time the sight of a gun was a sufficient warning to the blackfellows to keep at a safe distance; the discharge of the nine-pounder had proved to them that the white man possessed mysterious powers of m

obarton. Two stations on the mountains were managed by the other two brothers, and their brand was III., usually called "the Bible brand." When the station on the Thomson was put in working order, the Imlays exchanged it for o

known as Reeve's Survey. The new settlers also brought a number of horses, and Norman McLeod had twenty bullocks on board. The steamer could not reach the port, and brought-to abreast of

ferred dignity to cash, they could have any title of nobility they pleased below that of earl. Most of them took the oath and the cash. It is not recorded that any chief preferred a title, but the Macdonnell of 1842 was Lord Glengarry to all the new settlers in Gippsland. His father, Colonel Alexander Ronaldson Macdonnell, was the last genuine specimen of a Highland chief, and he was the Fergus McIvor of W

Sydney bank for five pounds, which was entrusted to Captain Gaunson of the schooner 'Coquette' to purchase groceries. On arriving in Sydney the Gaunsons went on a pleasure excursion about the harbour, the 'Coquette' was capsized in a

ise was a poor gentleman from Tipperary named D

of twenty square miles, on which he might place 500 head of cattle or 4,000 sheep. He selected a site for his head station and residence on the banks of

e management of a station in the new country; the

r superintended the labours of the men and the milkmaids. He sat in his office in a corner of the stockyard, entering in his books the number of cattle milked, and examining the stat

between the Tarra and Albert rivers, called the Coal Hole, afterwards occupied by Parson Bean. there was no yard there, and the animals would require watching at night; so Donald decided to send them back to Glengarry's yards. Then he and the drovers and shepherds would have a pleasant time; there would be songs and whisky, the piper would play, and the men and maids would dance. The arrangement suited everybody. The drovers started back with the cattle, Donald helped the shepherds to gather the sheep, and put them on the way, and then he rode after the cattle. The track l

y had stripped Donald of everything but his trousers and boots, had mutilated him in their usual fashion, and had disappeared. A messenger was sent to old Macalister, and the young man was buried on the

sible to identify any blackfellow concerned in the outrage, and therefore atonement must be made by the tribe. The blacks were found encamped near a waterhole at Gammon Creek, and those who were shot were thrown into it, to the number, it was said, of about sixty, men, women, and children; but this was probably an exaggeration. At any rat

e schooner 'Coquette' (Captain Gaunson), a farewell dinner was given by the Highlanders at the Old Port, and Long Mason, who had come from Sydney to take delivery of the cows on behalf of Thacker and Mason, was one of the guests. But there was more of gloom than of gaiety around the festive board. All wished well to

sand years against the Roman and Saxon, the Dane and the Norman. Only one hundred and fifty years ago (it seems now almost incredible) they nearly scared th

rected towards himself. He was an Englishman, a Southron, and it was a foul shame and dishonour that such as he should pay a Highland chief only twenty-seven shillings and sixpence for beasts that had cost ten poun

h had been done, and it was decided that Long Mason should be drowned in the inlet.

to Thacker and my brother in Sydney, and I only came o

he prosaic Englishman

or the coos, and not twenty-sen and saxpence. It's a pity yer brither, and

shallow, so they waded in until it was deep enough for their purpose. There was a piercing cry, "Help! murder! murder!" John Campbell heard it, but it was not safe for a Campbell to stand between a Macdonnell and his revenge. However, Captain Davy and Pate

ey, "that will cool '

nd fought as a common soldier through the Heki war. Captain Patterson, of the schooner 'Eagle', met him at a New Zealand port. He was wearing a long, ragged old coat, such as soldiers wore, was out of employment, and in a state of starvation. The captain took pity on him, brought him back to Port Albert, and he became a shepherd on a station near Bairnsdale. While he was fighting the Maoris his brot

at Stratford. The McLeods and their men were too many for Leonard. He went to Melbourne to try if the law or the Government would give him any redress, but he could obtain no satisfaction. The continued impounding of his cattle meant ruin to him, and when he returned to Gippsland he found his hut burned down and his cattle gone on th

man who touches those rai

man hesitated; he did not like the looks of Mason. Then McDougall dismounted from h

al in Melbourne. He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment, but after a t

ved in a state of indigence. At last he borrowed sufficient money on a promissory note to pay his

A CATTLE

found to be living under a discipline so strict that his stock-keeper, Jimmy Rentoul, had no meat, and dared not kill any without orders; so McMillan and Davy fried the pigeons, and ate one each for supper. Next morning they shot some ducks for breakfast, and then proceeded on their journey. They called at Mewburn Park, arrived at Bushy Park (McMillan's own station), and Davy began making the sails the same evening. Next morning he crossed the river in a canoe, made out of a hollow log, to Boisdale, Lachlan Macalister's station, and went to the milking yard. The management was similar to that of Dancer at Greenmount. Eleven men and women were

e or more of the natives because a beast had been speared by some person or persons unknown. John Campbell, at Glencoe, tried a dog, a savage deerhound, which he trained to chase the human game. This dog acquired great skill in seizing a blackfellow by the heel, throwing him, and worrying him until Campbell came up on his horse. When the dog had thus expelled the natives from Glencoe, Campbell agreed to lend him to little Curlewis f

in the other boat were William Pearson, John Reeve, Captain Orr, and Sheridan, who was manager for Raymond at Stratford. Sheridan was a musical man, and took his flute with him. When everything was ready they dropped down the river to Lake Wellington, and took note of the soundings during the whole of the voyage as they went alo

e surface, and they were thus able to approach the unsuspecting birds. As opportunity offered they seized them by the legs, drew them quic

place was taken in turn by Pearson and Loughnan. At the lower end of the lakes the water was found to be brackish, so they went ashore at several places to look for fresh water. They landed on a flat at Reeve's River, and Davy found an old well of the natives, but it required cleaning out, so he went

nan, "I did not tether him, but h

gone," re

he tops of the reeds to see if Jimmy was moving amongst them, but they could see no sign of the sheep that was lost. The view of land and river, mountain and sea, was very beautiful, but they were too full of sorrow for Jimmy to enjoy it. On going away they agreed to call the bluff Jimmy's point, but other voyagers cam

we, and the southerly gales, often filled it with sand, and it was not until many years had passed, and much money had been expended, that a permanent entrance was formed. In the meantime all the trade of Gippsland wa

mewhat like a white man browned with the sun and weather, but only the upper part of his body could be seen above the sand. One of the men on shore said, "Look at that white-fellow." That was the origin of the rumour which was soon spread through the country that the blacks had a white woman living with them, the result being that for a long time

point of land where seven or eight men had appeared, but not one was now visible. Davy climbed up a honeysuckle tree, and then he co

s hundreds of blackfellows were seen up in the trees shouting and shaking their

en left behind in McLennan's Straits. There was still some whisky left in the keg; and, before going to sleep, Orr, Loughnan, and Sheridan sang and drank alternately until the vessel was empty. At daylight they pulled up the Avon

ut fifteen miles, the whole area 1650 square miles, one-third of which is useless through scrub and morass, which leaves only 1,100 square miles come-at-able at all, and nearly a third of this is useless. On this 1,100 square miles of land there are 45,000 sheep, 1,500 cattle, and 300 horses. Other herds of cattle and about 2,000 sheep are expected daily. The blacks are continuing their outrages, robbing huts and gardens and slaughtering cattle wholesale, Messrs. Pearson and Cunningham being the latest sufferers by

erage price per 100 for sheep-shearing w

head, and the men hauled on the rope. Sometimes a beast would not jump, and had to be levered and bundled into the punt neck and crop. Then the men got into a boat, and reached over to make the rope fast from the head of the bullock to one of the eyebolts which were fixed round the punt, and even then the bullock would sometimes go overboard. It took a week to load twenty fat bullocks and twenty cows with their calves. The schooner set sail for New Zealand on April 2nd, 1842, and at Port Nicholson the bullocks were sold for fifteen and the cows for twelve pounds each, cash. The 'Waterwitch' returned to Port Albert on April 29th, and took in another cargo of breeding cattle, which had to be sold on bi

which were far superior to those imported from Twofold Bay, soon made the new territory well

which averaged fourteen pounds; one was lost, and two belonging to

nd then Macalister chartered the brig 'Pateena', which would hold sixty bullocks. The 'Clonmel' punt was now dispensed with; the cattle were roped, put in the water, and made to swim between the vessel and a boat. A piece of small ratline was fixed to the slings, with the handlead

ter 'Lucy' took 700 dozen to Melbourne, and in July another 700 dozen. In August the 'Mary Jane' took 500 dozen, and the cutter 'Domain' 400 dozen. The oyster beds were soon destroyed, and when in course of a few years I was appoi

ng licenses, exacted half-yearly assessments on the unsaleable flocks and herds. But the law exacted payment on live cattle only, so the squatters in their dire distress resolved to kill their stock and boil them, the hides and the resulting tallow being of some value. The Hentys, in the Portland district, commenced boiling their sheep in January, 1844, and on every station in New South Wales the paddocks

were still human beings; they were our neighbours, to be treated with mercy; and to seize their lands by force and to kill them was robbery and murder. The State is a mere abstraction, has neither body nor soul, and an abstraction cannot be sent either to heaven or hell. But each individual man will be rewarded according to his works, which will follow him. Because the State erected a flag on a bluff overlooking the

t I can safely say that in the year in which there was neither governor, magistrate, soldier, nor policemen, not one black was shot

ndred and thirteen blacks had been reported as killed by the whites; but he added, "the return must not be looked upon as correct with respect to the number of aborigines killed." The reason is plain. When a white man murdered a few bl

nd fall of his race more truly than the

of them, in the island, and had come over to Gippsland in cattle vessels. Some of them lived honestly, about one hundred of them disappeared when the Commissioner of Crown Lands arrived wi

ECIAL

1841, was gazetted in Sydn

special survey of any land not hereinafter excepted, within the district of Port Philip, whether such Land Receipt be obtained in the

ake to be allowed to every four square miles of area; the other bou

e miles of the towns of Melbourne,

and to be reserved for the Crown, but no other reserv

vey, and then other surveys went on for fifty years, with ever-varying results. It is now a well-established fact that Orr's Special Survey is subject to an alternate expansion and contraction of area, which from time to time vitiates the labour of every surveyor, and has caused much professional animosity. Old men with

the narrow channel called the Caledonian Canal, examined the bluffs, shores, and islands of Shallow Inlet, and at night encamped on St. Margaret's Island. When shelter was required, Davy usually put up the mainsail of his boat for a tent; but that night was so fine and warm that it was

ain, should have been plentiful, but not a spoonful could anywhere be found: the soil of the island was sandy, and all the rain had soaked into it and disappeared. The damper having been exposed to the weather was saturated with water. There was in the boat a large three-legged iron pot, half filled with fat, a hard and compact dainty not liable to be spilled or wasted, and in it had been stewed many a savoury meal of sandpipers, parrots, rats, and quail. This pot had been fortunately left upright and uncoveredduring the night, and the abundant rain had fill

had seen the river when he was duck-shooting. It was then high water, and the wind still blowing strongly from the west, so a reef was taken in the lug, and the boat ran right into the Tarra as far as the site of the present court-house. There the party landed, and after looking at the country Mr. Reeve decided to take up his special survey there. It was partl

D THE INDUSTRIOUS

ND--POR

ll let these farms at the moderate rent of one bushel of wheat per acre. The estate consists of 5,120 acres of rich alluvial flats; no part of the estate is more than two miles from the freshwater stream of Tarra. Many families already occupy purcha

tements in this notice, but, as

e. He was a thief on principle, but simple Mr. Taylor, of Tarraville, put his trust in him, because it would be necessary to fence and improve the land in order to produce the bushel of wheat. The fe

; he impounded them within his bend, and at his leisure selected the fattest for slaughter, thus living literally on the fat of the land. He formed his boiling-down establishment in a retired glade, surrounded with tea-tree, tall and dense, far from the prying eyes and bu

ry without some feelings of compunction. When Joshua first drove cattle int

the fattest and make tallow of them. Beef is worth next to nothing, and we must make a living someh

yes to the nature of the boiling-down business. The brands were

better than cattle stealing; and I've heern folks say at one time it was a hanging m

hat seven years' work? And how am I to get it if I don't take it myself? The Government will give me no pay; they'd give me another seven years if they could. But you see, there are no peelers here, no beaks, and no blooming courts, so I intend to make hay while the sun shines, which means tallow in these times. All these settlers gets as much work out of Government men as they can get for nothing, and if you says two words to

e caught, Josh

y. You see, I does my business quick: cuts out the brand and burns

addition, the Government in Sydney was threatening him with a roaming taxgatherer under the name of a Commissioner of Crown Lands, to whom was entrusted the power of increasing or diminishing assessments at his own w

pport the dignity of the Crown? Then the blacks had to be protected, or otherwise dealt with. They could not pay taxes, as the Crown had already appropriated all they were worth, viz., their country. But they were made amenable to British law

iding and abetting Long Bill t

fellow killed him,

tatement as equivalent t

ly, an abor

I don't say any prayers. It is the best place to go up to Heaven. I learnt about heaven and hell about three years ago at Y

s sworn,

y for Manifolds. I knew Little Tommy at Port Fairy. He is dead. I saw him dying. When driving the team, I fell in with a lot of blacks. They asked me what bl

said sharp

also threw a spear, and wounded him; a lot of blacks also speared him. Long Bill came up and shot him with a ball. Jacky Jacky said to Cosgrove: '

Jacky Jacky, "borack me,

afraid of the Port Fairy tribe. I am sometimes friend with Jacky Jacky's tribe. If I met him at Yass I can't say whether I should

tish law? Question argued by learne

o them to be under that control, instead of being left to seek vengeance in the death of each other;

the murder were not prosecuted, probably could not be found. Before lea

his race, and these he had learned by experience. O

stranger is an enemy, kill him." It was for that reason Jacky Jacky killed

e in casks, until some busybody began to insinuate that their tallow was contraband. Then Joshua took to carrying goods

urden imported some. It was hidden in the recesses of a barrel organ; and, in order to introduce the new instrument to the notice of her patrons and friends, Mother Murden posted on her premises a manuscript invitation to a grand ball. She was anxious that everything should be carried out in the best style, and that the festive time should commence at least without intoxication. She therefore had one drunken man carried into the "dead room," another to an outside

n received them in her best gown at the fron

and it always runs to his head. He'll be all right by-and-by. Come in my dears,

tely gave their hands to the ladies, a

sat down by the barrel-organ, took hold

choose yo

apropriated the b

9, acted as master of the ceremonies, and called out the figu

c grew monotonous. There were only six tunes in the organ, and not all

ow and then a few of the dancers stepped over him, and remarked, "Neddy is having a good rest." In the cool night air they walked t

ball was a grand suc

orn when youth a

owing hours wit

of tallow candles. The first rays of the rising sun fell on Neddy's ghast

rm," as the Latins say; but the worm was dead already. The merry-makers stood around; the men looked serious a

hua's time did not arrive until many years afterwards, when we ha

ENT CAME TO

have heard of the existence of the country and of its settlement, but they were content for a time wit

his address to the Council severely reprimanded the colonists for the reckless spirit of speculation and overtrading in which they had indulged

ch as making roads, dams, breakwaters, harbours, bridges, watchhouses, and police buildings. Assignees of convicts were warned that if they wished to return them to the custody of the G

d in Sydney. The bounty orders were suspended in the autumn of the latter year, but in 1842 Lord Stanley wa

ovember, 1843, the Government requested persons sending wool-

rden. They all wanted billets, and if he made the mistake of appointing a civilian to some office,

ial officer, used to command and discipline, left out in the cold, while that counter-jumper steps over my head. I can't understand you

for twenty years in the preventive service, but had never captured a prize more valuable than a bottle of whisky. He knew nothing whatever about horses, and rode like a beer barrel, but he neverth

ng about a ship, but I'll be blowed

of 60,899 pounds was voted for police services in 1844, and Captain Smith was paid out of it. All the revenue went to Sydney, and

Petty Sessions, and Messrs. John Reeve and John King we

d made his way to Melbourne. There he was arrested, and remanded by the bench to the new court at Alberton. But there was no court

ointed Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district. He endeavoured to make his way overland to the scene of his future labours, but the moun

be fully a quarter of a mile wide, encumbered with dead logs and scrub, and no safe place for crossing the creek could be found. During the night the famishing horses tore open with their teeth the packages containing the provisions, and before morning all that was left of the flour, tea, and sugar was trodden into the muddy soil and hopelessly lost; not an ounce of food could be collected. There was no game to be seen; every bird and beast seemed to have fled from the desolate ranges. Mr. Tyers had been for many years a n

ge were abandoned. Each man carried nothing but his gun and ammunition. All day long they plodded wearily through the bush--wading the streams, climbing

with the hope of soon arriving at some station. No game was shot all that day; no man had a morsel of food; the guns and ammunition seemed heavy and useless, and one by one they were dropped. It

he should be the first man to give way to despair, and partly by force and partly by persuasion he was induced to proceed. About midday smoke was seen in the distance, an

duties, while the baby was asleep in the corner. There was a small garden planted with vegetables in front of the hut, and Norah, happening to look out of the

he door and bolting it, "and they'll rob the

into the garden one after another, and at once began snatching the peas and eating them. There was something fearfully wild and strange in the demeanour of the

s," said Norah, "I w

to the garden fence with two cattle dogs, w

, is it robbing m

tell what he was saying. He dismounted, hung the bridle on to a post, and came into the garden. He looke

illing disorder. Stop ating they pays to wonst, or they'll kill

the peas. Norah had unbolted the door, an

m something warm. The craythurs are starving. I suppose they are runaway prison

ave the peas, until Mat lost all patience, bundled them

he was not strait-laced. He had a gallon of rum in the hut, to be used in case of snake-bite and

ation of a soldier consisted of one pound of bread, one pound of fresh meat, and one-seventh of a quart of rum. But on thi

't know

of. Are ye runaway Government men? Tell the truth, now, for I am not

ed this way, you may reme

Sure I didn't know you from Adam. So

nd we have had nothing to eat for three days. There is one man somewhere behi

e other man; and mind, only to give 'em a little food and drink at a time, or they'll kill their wake stomachs

st man, while his wife watched over

when I seen you in the garden I thought ye were bu

ocks, put all his guests into the dray, and started for Dandenong. On December 23rd, 1843, Mr. Tyers and his

in Melbourne as Paddy Walsh. He had been chief constable in Launceston. Many years before Batman or Fawkner landed in Port Philip, parties of whalers were sent each year to strip wattle bark at Western Port. Griffiths and Co. had found the business profitable, and Paddy Walsh

d four of the barkers, all Irishmen obtained a few days' work in taking out her mud ballast. But no permanent livelihood could be expected from shipwrecks, and the seven strippers resolved, if possible, to return to Melbourne. They wanted to see Paddy Walsh once more, but they had no money, and the storekeeper refused to pay their fare by sea. After much negotiation, they obtained a week's rations, and gave all the tools they had brought with them to Captain Davy in payment for his trouble in landing them at One Tree Hill. They were informed that Brodribb and Hobson had made Western Port in four days on foot, and of course they could do the same. Four of the men were named Crow, Sparrow, Fox, and Macna

udied the direction of his own shadow on the ground. For five days the men followed him with great confidence, and then they found that their rations were all consumed, and there was no sign of Western Port or any settlement. They began to grumb

the same. Before the last man had lost sight of the camp, he could see Spiller in the distance walking towards it. He then uttered a long coo-ee, which was answered by every m

't you, Spiller? Do you know w

ong when I heard the coo-ee, and found myself here. It is most unaccountabl

have been circussing us round the country, nobody knows where, until we have not a morsel of food left; but if I am to be starved to death through you, you miserable little

ippsland and settled there. He was averse to quarrelling and fighting; and, to enable him to lead a peaceable life, he carried a short riding whip with a hammer handle, and kept the lash twisted round his

d we might be justified in making use of what little there is of him. But for my part I couldn't take my share of the meat--not to-day at any rate, because you may disremember it's Friday, and it's agen the laws of the Church t

with his tail.) "I tell you what it is, Sparrow, you are not going to ate my dog. What has the poor fellow done to you, I'd like to know? You may cook Spil

Brown. "We might as well be moving while we

ler's gun, and fired off both barrels; he then said, "Now hand over y

u until you are wanted; and if I see you so much as wink the wrong way I'l

n was held at night, and it was agreed to kill Watch in the morning if nothing else turned up, Crow by this time being too hungry to say another word in favour of

strength to travel two days longer. When they camped at night a tribe of blacks made a huge fire within a short distance, howling their war songs, and brandishing their weapons. It was impossible to sleep or to pass a peaceful night with such neighbours, so they crawled nearer to the savages and fired a volley at them. Then there was silence, which lasted all night. Next morning they found a number of

their return from it. The particulars of these interviews may be imagined, but they were never printed,

fraud committed in 1843. Warrant returned 'non est inventus'; but whether he has left the colony, or is merely rusticating, does not app

t. A detachment of border and native police had arrived from Sydney by the 'Shamrock', and some of them were intended as a reinf

them, arranging to meet them at the head of the Glengarry river. He avoided this time all the obstacles he ha

D UNDER

ive of law and order with one discharge from the nine-pounder. He wanted to be patriotic, as became a free-born Briton. But he was very sorry afterwards; he said he had

rned with them over Tom's Cap. He camped on the Tarra, near the present Brewery Bridge, and

regularities. He rode to the Old Port, and halted his men in front of the company'

ssioner of Crown Lands. I want to

eplied John Campbell. "We have no license, and nev

less you pay me twenty pounds for a license I am sorry to sa

of them for the 20 pounds license fee, which was paid after some

was the n

building?" as

Davy. "I put

ou a li

one since I came here, and I don't se

ation of Crown lands, and you must pay me twen

nd you here to make me pay twenty pounds? What has the Government done for me or anybody else in Gippsland? They have already taken every penny they could get out of the settlers, and, as far as I know, have not spent one farthing on this side of the mountains. They did not even know there was such a country till McMillan found it. It belonged to the blacks. There was nobody else here when we came, and if we pay anybody it should be the blackfellows. Besides, if I had had stock, and money enough t

u just ten minutes to clear out, and then I shall order my men to burn dow

whaleboat on the beach, "There's the ship I came here in from Melbour

friends in Sydney, had a station at Snake Ridge, a special survey on the Tarra,

ne whose services have been so useful to the settlers both here and at the lakes. We have already requested the Government to appoint

rs, "and treat all alike. I cannot allow one man to r

ir pilot, and I will give you my cheque

e was sent back from Sydney, and Mr

n the House of Commons that the colonial press was accustomed to use "a coarseness of vituperation and harshness of expression towards all who were placed

owman, on the Ovens River, do hereby publicly proclaim George Faith

er, March

ry public-house between the Ovens and Melbourne,

otice of the lawyers, and they soon

espass on the case for libel again

was the vulgar term, and to call a settler "duffer"

dings, brushing up the fur

nds Commissioners--the fighting man of the plains of Goulburn--the fastidious Beau Brummel of the Ovens R

the Government he had denounced so fiercely, being appointed pilot at Port Albert by Sir George Gipps, who graciously

s ten minutes to take their goods away, Mr. Tyers ordered his men to set the buildings on fire, and in a short time they were reduced to ashes. The commissioner then rode back to his camp with the eighty pounds, and

oner certified that more was required for stock possessed by applicant. This regulation virtually left everything to the goodwill and pleasure of the commissioner, who first decided what number of square miles he would allot to a settler, then mounted his horse, to whose paces he was accustomed, and taking his compass with him, he was able to calculate distances by the rate of speed of his horse almost as accura

with whom he had come in contact, except those expelled from the Old Port, and a few squatters who did not get as much land as they wanted.

ed his black troopers to search for tracks, and this they did willingly and well. Traces of natives were soon discovered, and their probable hiding-place in the scrub was pointed out to Mr. Tyers. He therefore dismounted, and directing two of his black troopers armed with carbines to accompany him, he held a pistol in e

at judge who prayed to heaven in his wig and robes of office, said that the aborigines were subjects of the Queen, and that it was a mercy to t

t they carried on no business. The stores were removed from the Old Port to the new one, and the first settlement in Gippsland was soon again overgrown with scrub and ferns. Mr. Reeve offered farms to the industrious at the rental of one bushel of wheat to the acre. For some time the township of Tarraville was a favourite place of residence, because the swamps which surrounded Port Albert were impassable for drays during the winter

ured in some inexplicable manner. They could not be confined in barracks, or remain continually under the eye of their chief, and it was not always possible to discover in what manner they spent their leisure hours. But occasionally some evidence of their exploits came to light, and Mr. Tyers be

ely scarce, as the blacks used all they could find at their numerous camps. He was at length so fortunate as to observe a brown pile of decayed branches, and he said, "I think we had better land over there; that deadwood will make a good fire"; and the boat was steered towards it. But when it neared the land the air

l men that our rule was kind and charitable. The country was rightfully ours; that was decided by the Supreme Court; we were not obliged to pay anything for it, but out of

king Alberton his first halting-place, and intending to reach Twofold Bay by way of Omeo. But he found the country very difficult to travel; he had to swim his horse over many rivers, and finally he returned to Melbourne by way of Yass, having added no less than 8,000 words to his vocabu

to bear the blame, and the easiest way is to lay t

ged him to take the first step in the march of progress. His second step was into the grave. The result of the gift of blankets was that the natives who received them ceased to clothe themselves with the skins of the kangaroo, the bear or opossum. The rugs which they had been used to make for themselves would keep out the rain, and in them they could pass the wettest night or day in their mia-mias, warm and dry. But the blankets we kindly gave them by way of saving our sou

refused to feed the shepherd; he had to shake the dust off his feet, and the salvation of souls was, as usual, postponed to a more convenient season. At length Mr. Latrobe himself undertook to pay a visit to Gippsland. He was a splendid horseman, had long limbs

e and property, paying to the Government in license and assessment fees for protection which you have never received, and your quiesence under such a system of robbery has stimulated your oppressor to levy on you a still greater amount of taxation, not to advance your interests, but to replenish his exhausted treasury. Should you

divided among many Ministers, each of whom carries his share with much patience, while our G

he approaching horsemen. Mr. Latrobe had the royal gift of remembering faces once seen; and he soon recognised all those present, even the pilot whom he had seen when he first arrived in Melbourne. He shook hands with everyone, and enquired of Davy how he was getting on with the piloting. He said: "Now gentlemen, go on with your game. I like quoits myself and I should be sorry to interrupt you." Then he went into the hotel and stayed there until

t and upset it. Then the shark saw strange animals in the water which he had never seen before. He swam under them and sniffed at their tarry trousers, until they landed on the rocks: all but one, Olav Pedersen, a strong man but a slow swimmer. A fin arose above the water between Olav and the shore. He knew what that meant, and his heart failed him. Three times he called for help and Wishart

and Yankee Jim, and Page's wife and baby. They built a bark hut, fenced in a garden with a rabbit-

archs of all

tre all roun

to keep watch. But early next morning voices were heard from the beach below the hut; the blacks were trying to launch the boat. Page and Jim shouted at them and went down the cliff; then the blacks ran away up the rocks, and were quickly out of sight. Presently Mrs. page came running out of the hut half dressed, and carrying her baby; she said she heard the blacks jabbering in the garden. In a short time the hut was in a blaze, and was soon burned to the ground. The two men then launched their boat and went to the Port. Davy shipped a crew of six men, and started i

t termination. The baby heir-apparent grew up to man's estate

HE GOLD

burst at the burning of the huts, and his subsequent appointment as pilot, retired to the new Port Albert and avoided as much as possible the haunts of the commissi

made troops of friends, dear brethren and sisters, on whom he lavished his coin; he hired a band of wandering minstrels to play his favourite music, and invited the beauty an chivalry of the convict capital to join him in his revels. When his money was expended he was put on board a schooner bound for Port Albert, on which Davis (of Yarram) and his family were passengers. For two days he lay in his bunk sic

pence, was dismissed by his brother from Wood

get aboard, as they had to fight their way through the breakers to leeward. There was too much sea for the boat to remain in safety near the ship, and Davy asked the captain to lend him a hand to steer the boat back to Sunday Island. The second mate went in her, but she was capsized directly. The ship's boat was hanging on the weather davits, and it was no use letting her down to windward on account of the heavy sea. Davy ran out to the end of the jibboom with a lead line. He could see the second mate hanging on to the keel of the capsized boat, and his two men in the water. The ebb sea kept washing them out, and the heavy sea threw them back

much water in the cabin; but, as darkness set in, and the flood tide made, the seas began to come aboard. There was a heavy general cargo in the hold, six steerag

ps were kept going, but the water gained on them, and all hands had to take to the rigging. The two wome

"what has become o

ing in his bu

ed Davy, "he'

und the man asleep, with the water

me out of this rat-hole?" he said. "Don

looked up

man," he replied. "Let me sleep a lit

the water up to h

t, you confounde

p the companion ladder, and with the help of the men took him u

everything was wet, and they had to cut up some of the standing rigging which had been out of reach of the surf before they could find anything that would burn. With that a fire was made in the galley, and the women and baby were put inside. At sunrise it was found that the sea had washed up a ridge of sand near the ship, and, not wishing to pass another tide

He succeeded in floating her off without much damage, and he ran her in the cattle trade for some time. He then sold her to Boys & Hall, of Hobarton, went to Sydney, bought

ater, and was supposed to have been made fast astern by the crew. At break of day the pilot came on deck, and on taking a look round, he saw that the longboat

aptain and pilot stood on deck watching them as they swam away, hand over hand, leaving foaming wakes behind like vessels in full sail. They were making straight for the longboat, and Davy said, "They will go away in her and leave

aid up the 'Alert', went with his four men to Bendigo, and was a lucky digge

and takes care of the life of Poor Jack," and went in his boat to Yanakie Landing. Mrs. Bennison lent him a pony, and told him to steer for two bald hills on the Hoddle Ranges; he could not see the hills for the fog, and kept too much to port, but at last he found a track. He camped out that night, and next morning had breakfast at Hobson's Station. He stayed one night at Kilcunda, and another at Lyle's station, near the bay. He then followed a track which Septimus Martin had cut through the tea-tree, and his pony became lame by treading on th

a widow. Next morning he was at the wharf before daylight, and went down the Yarra in the first steamer for Williamstown. He found that Captain Bunbury, the chief harbour-master, had gone away in th

master aboard? I

r you'll wake him up," replied R

ed miles on purpose to do it. I want to get a settlement about

p Bunbury,

Ruffles? What's al

Albert. He wants to see

come down bel

ordinate officers. A clerk at Williamstown did his clerical work, and old Ruffles navigated the 'Apollo' for

l you have to do is go to my office in Williamstown, tell my clerk to fill

he door when it was opened next morning, the first claimant for money. A clerk took his paper, looked over it, smiled, and said it was of no use whatever without Bunbury's signature. Davy started for Williamstown again in the second boat, found that Bunbury had gone away again in

and he came into the front room to see what was the matter. Davy told him what was the matter in very unofficial words. Mr. Latrobe listened patiently and then directed Captain Lonsdale to keep the Treasury open until the account was paid. He also said the schooner 'Agenor

t. Here he found another officer bursting with dignity, who s

atch it out, t

When Davy went again to the Treasury with his account, Captain Lonsdale said he had not cash on hand to pay it, and deducted twenty pounds, which he sent to Port A

e mailman. At the Moe he found Angus McMillan, William Montgomery, and their stockmen, afraid to cross the creek on account of the flood, and they had eaten all their provisions. Before dark a black gin came over in a canoe from the accommodation hut on the other side of the creek, having heard the travellers cooeying. They told her they wanted something to eat, but it was t

saddle, threw the stirrup irons over the saddle, and stopped them with a string under the horse's belly to keep them from getting foul in the trees and scrub. In some places the horses had to climb over logs under water, sometimes they had to swim, but in the end they all arrived safely at the hut. They were very cold, and rave

thout a pilot and went to Melbourne to resign his office. But Mr. Latrobe promised to give him a salary of 500 pounds a year

so seldom found. She not only did the cooking and housework, but she also rode after stock, drove a team, killed fat beasts, chopped wood, stripped bark, and fenced. She did not hanker after woman's rights, nor rail against the male sex. She was not cultured, nor scientific, nor artistic, nor aesthetic. She despised all the ologies. All great men respected her, and if the little ones were insolent she boxed their ears and twisted their necks. She conquered all the blackfellows around her land with her own right arm. At first she had been kind to them, but they soon became troublesome, wanted too much flour, sugar, and beef, and refused to go away when she ordered them to do so. W

Mrs. Buntine

ern but old women and children, a circumstance derogatory to his dignity, so he wrote to England for more convicts and immigrants, and he pathetically exclaimed, "To whom but convicts could colonists look to cultivate their lands, to tend their flocks, to reap their harvests?" In the month of May, 1853, Sir William wrote that "the discover

ifteen tons burden arrived at Corner Inlet manned by four convicts, who took the mainsail ashore and used it as a tent. They then allowed the cutter to drift on the rocks under Mount Singapore, and she went to pieces directly. While trying to find a road to Melbourne, they came to Yanakie Station, and they found nobody at the house except Joe, Mrs.

EW

s gathering i

hest, and the jumpers and the lawyers paid particular attention to it. The trail of the old serpent is over everything. The desire of the jumpers was to obtain possession of the rich claim, or of some part of it; and the lawyers longed for costs, and they got them. The prospectors paid, and it was a long time before they could extricate their claim from the clutches of the law. They found the goldfield, and they also soon found an unprofitable crop of lawsuits growing on it. They were called upon to show cause before the warden and the Court of Mines why they should not be deprived of the fruit of their labours. The fact of thei

ter was cut between high walls of impenetrable scrub, and it soon became like a ditch full of mud, deep and dangerous. If the diggers had been assured that they would find heaven at the other end of it, they would never have tried to go, the prospect of eternal happiness having a much less attraction for them than the prospect of gold; but the sacred thirst made them tramp

ch to register them at Foster. It was a great mistake. It was neither the time nor the place for legal forms or ceremony. Time was of the essence of the contract, and they wasted the essence. Other and wiser men stepped on to their ground while they were absent,

"I pegged it out yesterday, and I have

it? I hear you are a fighting man. Well, you just come down off that bare-l

'll see I'll have the law on you, and y

ike. I don't care a tinker's curse for you or the law;

profits, cleared all the gold out of Pe

mer on the wharf at Port Albert, and, being armed with carbines and revolvers, looked very formidable. They proceeded on their journey in the direction of Foster, and it was afterwards reported that they arrived at Turton's Creek, and finding everybody quiet and peaceable, they came back again, bringing with them neither jumpers nor criminals. It was said, however, that they never went any further than the commencement of the ditch. They would naturally, on viewi

p to bottom, and the hills on both sides were tunnelled, but no more gold, and no reefs were found. There was much speculation by geologists, mining experts, and old duffers as

ra Bend Lunatic Asylum. Having an inborn thirst for facts, I conversed with him from the wooden platform which overlooks the gaol yard. He was walking to and fro, and talking very cheerfully to himself, and to the world in general. He spoke well, and had evidently been well educated, but his id

of Customs at Port Albert, I received a let

Bend

-----

rivate and

to hold no communication whatever with the Governor of this colony, as he is the paid agent of the conspirators, and will endeavour to frustrate all efforts to obtain my rights. You will also be most careful to withhold all information from the Duke of Dunsinane, who is a member of the junior branch of my family, and at the head of the conspiracy. You will proceed as soon as possible to enrol a body of men for the purpose of effecting my deliverance by force of arms. As these men will require payment for their services, you will enter the Bank of Victoria at Port Albert, and seize all the money you will find there, th

it was never thought of before. It is this: "Posito impossibili sequitur quidlibet." My philosophy is founded on the firm basis of the Impossible; on that you can build anything and everything. My great work is methodical, divided into sections and chapters, perfect in style, and so lucid in argument that he who runs may read and be enlightened. I have counted the words, and they number so far seven hundred and two thousand five hundred and seventy-eight (702,578). Five year

from my M

ect harmonic combination. This harmonic combination is death. We may say then, in brief, that growth is simply discordant currents progressing towards harmony. One question may be briefly noticed. It has been asked, when did life first appear on the earth? We shall understand now that the question is unnecessary. Life first appeared on the earth when the earth first appeared as an unsatisfied atom seeking combinat

sina

at I was able to receive those of an afflicted lord with perfect equanimity. But as I could not see that my obedience would be rewarded with anything except deat

AFTER TH

land of drow

wave before th

oke in Her Majesty's Court at Colac, then

they resolved to infuse new life into the service, by moving its members continually from place to place. But off

ecame immoveable. Twice the Government tried to uproot

ined that in such a land, secured from contamination by the wicked world outside, I should find

e qui procu

a gens m

k of the evening we sailed through the Rip at Port Philip Heads. Then began the tr

down, and then we was sick; and then we fell asleep; and t

There were some old stores, empty and falling to pieces, which the owners had not been enterprising enough to burn for the insurance money; the ribs of a wrecked schooner were sticking out of the mud near the channel; a stockyard, once used for shipping cattle, was rotting slowly away, and a fisherman's net was hanging from th

village in England, when the man with the donkey-cart comes in sight. To allay my astonishment on observing so much agitation and excitement, the Princ

science to discover for which of my unatoned-f

could ever consent to live in a hole like this?" Here the Principal Inhabitant intervened, and poured balm on the wounded spirit of the stranger. He gently reminded him that first impressions are not always to be relied on; and assured him that if he would condescend to take up his abode with us for two or three years, he would never want to live anywhere else. The climate was delicious, the best in the world; it induced a feeling of repose, a

fields and fa

ains neve

had been the case in other parts of Australia, in Gippsland they invariably died; and it had been abundantly proved that rabbits had no more chance of living there than snakes in Ireland. And with regard to the salubrity of the climate, the fi

a divided it from the outside world, and, on account of the intense drowsiness and inactivity which the delicious air and even temperature of the climate produced, the l

orners or villages about three miles apart, at each of which the police magistrate and clerk had to attend on certain days, business or no business, generally the latter. It was, of course, beneath the dignity of a court

t Gilpin,

in's hat

hbours willing to supply it. Cox, the gaoler, said he knew of a horse that would just suit me. It belonged to Binns, an ex-constable, who was sp

when they said "the island," forgetting occasionally that they had crossed the straits, and were in a land of freedom) "as g

is age?" I

trotter on the island, and has won many a stake for me. When I took Johnny-come-lately to gaol in Melbourne for stealing him, he brought me back in less time tha

so Binns signed an order, in a very shaky hand, to the man in charge of his farm, to let me have the horse on trial. When I harnessed and put him in between the shafts

use the whip, and at last after a good deal of reflection he began to trot, but not with any speed; he did not want to win anything that day. I remarked that his ears look

Bill Mills, a carrier. He stop

t that horse, M

trying him," I repli

hen he was three off. He nearly killed me; ran away with me and my dog-cart a

ong ago?"

He'll not run away with you now; no fear; he's quite safe. Good-da

d found that Johnny-come-lately had been sent to gaol just sixteen years befo

s of a mouse colour, very tall, something like a giraffe; and by the time I got him between the shafts, I could see that he was possessed by a devil of some kind. It might be a winged one who would fly away with me; so, in order to have a clear course, I led him through the gateway into the middle of the road, and while Jackson, junior, held his head, I mounted carefully into the trap. I held the lines ready

y badly. My hat went away, but, for the present, my head kept its place. I managed to steer safely as far as the bridge across the Tarra but, in going over it, the horse's hoofs and whirling wheels sounded like thunder, and brought out the whole population of Tarraville to look at me. It was on a Sunday afternoon; some good people were singing hymns in the local chapel, and as I passed the turn of the road, they left the anxious benches, came outside in a body, and gazed at me, a bare-headed and miserable Sabb

ten pounds for my horse, although sixty pounds was still allowed to the other horse for travelling the same distance, the calculation evidently being based on the supposition that the police magistrate's horse would eat six times as much as mine.

rry, the cobbler, five shillings for being drunk; and Terry did not always pay the fines. What ails British law is dignity, and the insufferable expense attending it. The disease will never be cured until a strong-minded Chief Justice shall be found, who has sense enough to sit on the bench in his native hair, and to take off his coat when the thermometer rises to eighty degrees. It was in t

"The people there are an 'orrid lot." This was very discouraging; but, on making further enquiries, I found she only expressed the opinion which the inhabitants of these centres of population held of each other; and it was evident that I should have to demean myself with prudence, and show no particular affection for one place more than for another, or trouble would ensue. Therefore, as soon as occasion offered, I took a house and paddock within easy distance of all the three corners, so that when the Government allowance had reduced my horse to a skeleton, I might give him a spell on grass, and travel to the courts on foot. The house was on a gentle r

e good enough to round up your sheep and travel." Tityrus said that would be all right; he would take them away as soon as they were ready for the butcher. It would be no inconvenience to me, as my horse would not be able to eat all the grass.

stroying the grass. I therefore armed myself with a gun charged with buckshot, and went to meet the animals by moonlight. I lay in ambus

cause I had not stock enough to eat the grass. One man had a team of bullocks which he was willing to put in; another had six calves ready to be weaned; and a third friend

a big stick; said she was as quiet as a lamb, and would stand to be milked anywhere without a leg-rope. "Here Tom," he roared to his son, "bring a bucket, and come and milk Daisy without the rope, and show the gentleman what a quiet beast she is." Tom brought a bucket, placed the stool near the cow, sat down, a

OFFICERS

ds some mi

e hands

cence, and died early, beloved of the gods. Mr. B. kept a pair of sticks under his desk in the court house, and made a fencing school of the space allotted to the public. Some of the police had been soldiers, and were quite pleased to prove their skill in arms, and show how fields were won. As a result there were more breaches of the peace inside the court than outside. Mr. C. tried to while away his lonely hours by learning to play on

t which most of them arrived. Mr. D. was found dead on the main road; Mr. E. shot himself through the head; Mr. F. fell asleep in the bush and never woke; and Mr. G. was drowned in a waterhole. One officer was not quite so unfortunate as some of his friends. His score at the Crook and Plaid became so long that he began to pass that hotel without calling. Polly, the venerable landlady, took offence at such conduct, and was daily on the watch for hi

o complete his returns, and send in his cash. So he made use of the money collected during the days of grace to repay any sums he had borrowed from the pub

ing recourse to the Government cash. When Grimes was Auditor-General every officer was a gentleman and a man of honour. In the bush no bank account was kept, as there was no bank within fifty or a hundred miles; and it was an implied insult to expect a gentleman

ing chances. He had acquired the valuable habit of the gambler and speculator, of talking about one thing while he was thinking about another. His thoughts ran on in this style: "This fellow (he could not think of him as a gentleman) wants to see my cash; haven't got any; must be near five hundred pounds short by this time; can't b

d vouchers, and concluded that there should be a cash balance of more than four hundred pounds payable to revenue. He looked about the office for

ith him his horse and cart, a supply of provisions, and all the money he was worth. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and the police were on the look-out for him at all the stations from Port Albert to Melbourne, but they never found him. Many weeks passed by without any tidings of the man or his team, when one day he drove up to his own gate, unhitched his horse, and went to work as usual. On enquiry it was found that he had gone all the way to Sydney overland, on a visit to an old friend living not fa

ns, a rail-splitter, who had given him accommodation in his hut on reasonable terms. He had lived in strict retirement. For a time he was in daily and nightly fear of the appearance of the police coming to arrest him; every sound disturbed him. In about ten days he began to feel lonely and disappointed because the police did not co

ost it, and who had won it. It relieved his mind, and the policeman kept the secret of confession until after the trial. Then he broke th

h. In succeeding years he again served the Government as State school teacher, having received his appointment from a minister of merciful princ

ANDS AND

brother's

hose furs always command the highest price. When these animals have not been disturbed in their resorts for some years they are comparatively tame, and it is not difficult to approach them. Great numbers of the young ones are sometimes found on the rocks, and if pushed into the water they will presently come out agai

uld resent an insult as promptly as any knight-errant; but by making an idol of his honour his life had been

t by a man named McKenzie. One evening after tea I was talking to a carpenter at the back door, who was lamenting his want of timber. He had not brought a sufficie

of planks down there in the yard, and if you'll be outside

ated. "Whose planks

n't care," replied Jack. "Say the word

not every man that has a friend like Jack; many men will steal from you, but ve

who commenced a dissertation on the origin of gold. He was most insufferable; would talk about nothing but science. Darwin wrote a book about "The Origin of Species

k observed to me: "You put down that Adelaide

ard it, so I rewarded his intelligence with another glass of br

om by ourselves, when the varra same three niggers come in and stood a bit inside the door. So I took my tumbler and threw it at th' head of th' man I wanted, and then went at him. But I couldn't lick him gradely because th' landlord come in and stopped us; so after a while I went hooum. Next morning I was going along Dale Street towards the docks to work, when who should I see but that varra same blackfellow: it looked as if th' devil was in it. He was by hisself this time, coming along at th' other side of th' street. So I crossed over and met him, and went close up to him and said, 'Well, what have you to say for yoursel' now?' and I gav him a lick under th' ear. He fell down on th' kerbstone and wouldn't get up-- turned sulky like. There was soon a crowd about, and they tried to wakken him up; but he wouldn't help hisself a bit--just sulked and wouldn't stir. I don't believe he'd ha' died but for that, because I nobbut give him but one hit. I thowt I'd better make mysel' scarce for a while, so I left Liverpool and went to Preston. Were you ever in Preston?" I said I was. "Well then, you'll remember Melling, the fish-monger, a varra big, fat man. I worked for him for about six months, and then come back to Liverpool, thinking there'd be no more bother about the blackfellow. But they took me up, and gev me fourteen year for it; and if it had been a white man I wouldn't ha' got more than twelve months, and I was sent out to Van Diemen's Land and ruined for ever, just for nowt else but giving a chance lick to a blackfellow. And now I hear they're going to war wi' Russia, and-- England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales--I hope they'll all get blooming well licked. It don't mend a man much to transport him, nor a woman either for that matter: they all grow worse than ever. When I got my ticket I sometimes went working in th' bush, sometimes whaling and sealing, and sometimes stripping bark at Western Port and Portland Bay, before there was such a place as Melbourne. I was in a whaler for two years about Wilson's Promontory, until the whales were all killed or driven away. I never saved any money until nine years back; we always went on th' spree and spent every penny directly we were paid off. At that time I went with a man from Port Albert to the Seal Islands in a boat. I knew of a place where there was a cave, a big hollow under the rocks, where th' seals

ed drinking, trying to forget that Port Albert man, but it was no use. Every shilling was soon gone, and eversince I've been doing

PY CO

eceive forty st

aol lately. His eyes wandered about the court in a helpless and vacant manner. Two boys about eight or nine years old entered the court, and, with colonial presumption, sat in the jury box. There were no other spectators, so I left them there to represent the public. They stared at the prisoner, whispered to each other, and smiled. The prisoner could not see anything to laugh at, and frowned at them. Then the magistrate came in, rubbing one of his hands over the other, glanced at the prisoner as he passed, and withered him wi

id the prisoner; "I ain't done nothing,

"we don't want idle vagabonds like you wandering about

ilt. He had found the man at nightfall sitting under the shelter of some tea-tree sticks before a fire; asked him what he was doing there; said he was camping out; had come from Melbourne looking for work; was a blacksmith; too

a deep-dyed criminal. I had done it myself, and so was able to measure the extent of

e months in Melbourne gaol," said the magis

orship," replied the prisoner

away, co

ar had no visible lime in it--the ground was strewn with brick-bats, bottles, sardine tins, hoop iron, and other articles, the usual refuse of a bush shanty. It had been, in the early times, a place reeking with crime and debauchery. Men had gone out of it mad with drinking the poisonous liquor, had stumbled down the steep bank, and had ended their lives

ching nearer, I found that he was, or at least once had been, a white man. He had gathered a few sticks, which he was

ys who had represented the public in the jury box at the Palmerston court seven years before. He came back, and said the man declined the offer of shelter; never slept under a roof winter or summer, if he could help it; had lived in the open air for twelve years, and never stayed a night in any building

outh, which, like a great deal of other pa

ing-house, or public. They are full of vermin, brought in by bad characters, mostly Gove

ot tea, bread, butter, and beef. This softened the heart and loosed the tongue of the old swagman. It appeared from his account of himself that he was not much of a blacksmith. He was ostensibly going about

ed that, although he was deficient in some of the inferior qualifications of a great historian, such as spelling, grammar, and a command of words of seven syllables, yet he had the true instincts of a faithful chronicler. He had carefully recorded the names of all the eminent bad men he had met, of the constable who had first arrested him, of the magistrate who had committed him for trial, of the judge who had sentenced him, of the gaolers and warders who had kept him in prison, of the captain, doctor, and officers of the ship which conveyed him to Sydney, of the squatters who had forced him to work for

as nobody coming to marry her, nobody coming to woo. But at length she was determined to find a remedy for this state of things. She had never read the history of the loves of the great Catherine of Russia, nor of those of our own virgin Queen Elizabeth, but by an inborn royal instinct she was impelled to follow their high example. If lovers did not offer their adoration to her charms spontaneously, there was at any rate one whose homage she could command. One Sunday afternoon, while her mother was absent, she went to the stable and ordered Smithers to come and take a walk with her, directing him first to polish his shoes and put on his best clothes. She brought out a bottle of scented oil to sweeten him, and told him to rub it well into his hair, and stroke his head with his hands until it was sleek and s

of glory was clouded. It was now impossible to reach home in time to avoid trouble. Her mother would be certain to miss the watch, and what was she to do with it? What with Jack, and what with herself? Self-preservation being the first law of nature, Jemima resolved to sacrifice Jack in order to shield herself from he

ture destiny, the only dream of fortune his life was ever blessed with. He was to be the landlord of

and he questioned everyone in and about the house, and searched everywhere without result. Last of all Jack was asked if he knew anything of the missing watch. He was faithful and true. How could he be

it. But there is a time for all things; and Jack could never learn the proper time for telling the truth, or for telling a lie; he was always in the wrong. T

d again. They would have to work and sleep in chains; they would be yoked together, and whipped like bullocks; and if they escaped into the bush the blacks would kill and eat them. As this dismal tale went round, some of the boys, who were quite young and small, began

s rarel

ern, which tends the

ed. Jack, and a number of other boys, said they had not cried at all, but the officer in charge thought it was better that a few of the innocent s

le were starving. The first work which he was ordered to do was to climb trees and cut off the branches, in order that the cattle might keep themselves alive by eating the leaves and twigs. Jack had never been used

g," and for the fourth flogging he confessed to me that he had "done something," but he did not say what the "somet

he had one; he preferred the outside. He was free from family cares--never had father or mother, sister or brother, wife or children. No poor relatives ever claimed his hospitality; no intimate friends wanted to borrow half-a-crown; no one ever asked him to buy suburban lots, or to take shares in a limited liability company. He was perfectly indifferent to all danger from bush-rangers, burglars, pickpockets, or cattle stealers; he did not even

ut during his solitary watches in the night or while he tramped alone through the bush year after year in heat and cold, wind and rain? Did he ever think of anything--of his past life, or of his future lot? Did he belie

wards the fire. From time to time he threw a few more sticks on

lear, and mellow, and its tones rose and fell in the silent night air with a pa

s thou wert

a weigh

hine heart, a

ly sorr

be happ

ent. Then someone said: "Poor old

never awoke. His body was quite cold, and he must have died soon after he had sung the last note of his song. He had only sixpence in his pocket--the sixpence I had given him for his biography. T

E