Over Land and Sea. A log of travel round the world in 1873-74

Front matter

OVER LAND AND SEA SENTINEL ROCK, YOSEMITE VALLEY. OVER LAND AND SEA A LOG OF TRAVEL ROUND THE WORLD IN 1873-1874. By ARTHUR G. GULLIÆMARp./^ FIJIAN CHIEFS AND DWARF. LONDON : TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. 1 87 5 [All rights of Translation and Reproduction are reserved.} OVER LAND AND SEA. A LOG OF TRAVEL ROUND THE WORLD IN i873-i874. BY ARTHUR. G. GUILLEMARD. LONDON : TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. 1875. [AU rights of Translation and Reproduction are reserved.] TO LEWIS WILLIAM NOVELLI, IN REMEMBRANCE OF MANY PLEASANT DAYS BY SEA AND LAND, THIS BOOK IS gebrcafetr. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Round The Cape To Australia

A Long Sea Voyage— From London to Melbourne in Four Lines — Passing Glimpses of Porto Santo, Madeira, and the Canaries — Amusements on board the Lord Warden — Cricket at Sea — Our Club and its Doings — Law in the Mizen-top — Lotus-eating — Australia Felix at Last — Hobson's Bay — Sandridge and Williamstown pp. i — 8

Chapter II. Melbourne

The Road from Sandridge — Appearance of the City — Its Streets and Gutters — Melbourne Dust v. Epsom Dust — Cabs and Cab-horses — The New Government House — -The Botanical Gardens — The Public Buildings — The Fair Sex and the Fashions — Melbourne Faces — A Porter of Importance — A Leading Waiter — Manly Physique — Advantages to the Immigrant — High Wages and Cheap Food .... pp. 9 — 25

Chapter III. Across Tasmania

Across the Straits — Scenery on the Tamar — Launceston — Corra Linn — Domestic Economy — Farms and Farming — The Launceston and Western Railway — Westbury — Dog, Cat, Lamb, and Kangaroo — Deloraine — The Trackless West — An Early CONTENTS. VIII Game of Skittles— Perth— A Day with the Kangaroo- Coaches and Coaching in Tasmania — Campbell Town — Oat lands — Scenery on the Derwent — Arrival at Hobart Town pp. 26—56

Chapter IV. An Excursion To The Tasmanian Lakes

Hindrances to Visiting the Lake District — Stella — The Main Road— Melton Mowbray and Rabbit-shooting— Antill Ponds Forge — Our Blacksmith and Guide — His Appearance, Conversation, and Horsemanship — Ascent of the Western Tiers — "A Good Road" — Almost a Catastrophe — A Tableland Forest — A First Look at the Lake — Steve, the Bridge-keeper — Scenery of Lake Sorell and Lake Crescent at Sunset — Interlaken — Stock-driving in the Lake District — Lake St. Clair — The Great Lake — A Day's Drive through the Forest — Bothwell — The Falls of the Clyde PP- 57 — 75

Chapter V. Hobart Town

Aspect of the City and Harbour — Streets and Public Buildings — The Botanic Gardens — Fern Tree Bower — Ascent of Mount Wellington — A Trip to Port Espe'rance — A Tasmanian Regatta — New Norfolk— Hops and Hop Gardens — The First Tasmanian Salmon — Fruit and Flowers — The Huon Forest — A Big Tree — The Wellington Falls — Through the Forest by Torchlight — The Climate of Tasmania . . . pp. 76 — 96

Chapter VI. Tasmania

State of the Colony — Want of Labour — Produce — Wool — Mines and Minerals — Whaling — Cessation of Transportation and its CONTENTS. IX Results — Railways — Emigration — Convicts — Capital and Labour pp. 97 — 105

Chapter VII. Sydney

From Hobart Town to Sydney Heads— Sydney Harbour — Hotels — Streets and Public Buildings — Parks and Gardens — Horses and Horse-breeding— Attractions of Sydney — Up the Parramatta River — Twelve Miles of Jelly Fish — A Parramatta Orangery — A Picnic at Botany Bay — A Heavy Rainfall — Climate of Sydney — Prosperity of New South Wales — Sydney Hospitality pp. 106 — 121

Chapter VIII

A WEEK IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. Scenery of the Blue Mountains — The Great Western Railway — Views from the Line — Mount Victoria — Govett's Leap — Its Cliffs and Waterfalls — Sunlight and Storm — Characteristics of the Gorge — The Weatherboard Falls — Prince Regent's Glen — The Vale of Clywdd — The Lithgovv Zigzag — Bowenfels — Hassan's Walls — The Alum Mount and the Caves — Leicester's Fall — Monaghan's Falls — Weather in the Blue Mountains pp. 122 — 135

Chapter IX

A FEW WORDS ON THE COLONIES. English Ideas of the Colonies — A Worthless Immigrant — Field for Capital and Labour — Openings for Artisans — English Institutions — Freedom and Loyalty of the Colonies — Separation — Victorian Energy — Sydney and New South Wales Prospects — Victorian Policy— Scarcity of Labour — Society- Telegraphs and Mails pp. 13.5 — CONTENTS. X

Chapter X. The Fiji Islands

Best Friends must Part— The New Mail Route— Lord Howe's Island — Kandavu — A Native Congregation — Fijians Aboard —"The Giant Wind;" his Wife and Daughters— An Olive-skinned Venus in Full-dress Undress — Morning Calls — A Luncheon Party — A Fijian Cricketer — The Barrier Reef — Government House — " The Giant Wind's" Turtle Pond — A Love-stricken Princess's Farewell — The Natives — Fijian Politics — Products of the Group — Climate and Position — A Future Naval Station — Levuka — Revenue — Population — Coast and Mountain Tribes — Fijian Prospects under British Rule pp. 145—167

CHAPTER XL HONOLULU.

From Kandavu to Honolulu — The Capital of the Hawaiian Islands — Bijou Villas — Honolulu Beauties — The Pali — The Parliament House and Parliament — A Hawaiian Church — The King's Palace — Charge Bayonets ! — A Political Emenle — King Kalakaua — A Hawaiian Ballet — Mortality amongst the Natives — Products of the Islands — American Views of the Situation — Climate — Volcanoes in Hawaii . pp. 16S — 189

Chapter XII. San Francisco

From Honolulu to San Francisco — A Pacific Gale — The Golden Gate — San Francisco Carriages — Melbourne and San Francisco Compared — The Chief City of the West — Hotels— An Expen- CONTENTS. XI sive Laundress — The Chinese Quarter — A Chinese Theatre — ChyLung — Chinese Ladies— Californian v. Chinese Labour — The Exchange : a " Deal ;" how it is done in San Francisco — Sunday and yet not Sunday — The Fruit Market — Earthquakes, Suicides, and Shooting Affrays — A Brace of Fire-eating Editors pp. 190 — 203

Chapter XIII. Into The Yosemite Valley On Wheels

An American Steamer and Train — From San Francisco to Merced — Stage Travelling — The San Joaquin Valley — Dudley's Mills — Ascending the Sierra Spurs — Forest Scenery and Wild Flowers — Bower Cave — The Merced Big Trees — Opening of the First Waggon Road into Yosemite — Down into Yosemite Gorge on Wheels — The Cascades— The Opening Ceremony — View up the Valley — Yosemite at Last . . pp. 204 — 215

Chapter XIV. The Yosemite Valley

A Morning Ride to Cholock — The Highest Waterfall in the World — Down the Valley — Pompompasus — Cathedral Spires — Tutockahnulah — Cathedral Rocks — Pohono in Sunlight — The Virgin's Tears Fall — Up the Valley — Tocoyce and Tissaack — Mirror Lake — The South Canon — The Vernal Cascades — Piwyack at Sunset — Mahtah — The Silver Shoot — Yowiye by Moonlight — Snow's Hotel — The Little Yosemite Valley — Tuloolweack — The View from Glacier Point — On Sentinel Dome — A Panorama of Peaks — Loya — A Last Look into Yosemite PP- 216—246 CONTENTS. XII

Chapter XV. About Yosemite

Discovery of the Yosemite Valley — The Digger Indians— Hotels and Hotel Expenses — Horses, Saddles, and Riding Costumes — The Buildings in the Valley — Yosemite Photographs — Routes to the Valley— The Hetch Hetchy Valley— The Total Cost of a Visit to Yosemite— Table of Heights of Waterfalls, Cliffs, and Mountains — Winter in the Valley — When to Visit Yosemite 247 — 256

Chapter XVI. The Big Trees Of California

From Inspiration Point to Peregoy's— Forest Scenery — Clark and Moore's — The Mariposa Big Trees — The LTpper Grove — Wahwonoh — The Fallen Monarch — Appearance and Nomenclature of the Trees — Their Bark, Wood, Cones, and Seed — The Lower Grove — The Grizzly Giant — Big Tree Groves — Comparison between the Californian Sequoia and the Australian Eucalyptus — Mariposa .... pp. 257 — 265

Chapter XVII. Across California And Nevada

The San Joaquin Valley — The Richest Corn-land in the World Volunteer Crops — Modes of Reaping — Waste of Straw — A Boundless Ocean of Corn— Tobacco, Oranges, and Silk Stockton — Sacramento — Sleeping Cars —Up the Sierra Nevada — Cape Horn — Gold Mining — Moonlight on the Mountains Fifty Miles of Snowsheds — The Deserts of Nevada — A Courteous Official pp. 266 — 2-] ± CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter XVIII

A SUNDAY IN SALT LAKE CITY. The Great Salt Lake — The Capital of Utah — Its Streets and Buildings — The Tabernacle — A Mormon Service — The Dignitaries of the Church — A Mormon Sermon — A Vindication of the Creed — The Temple — Brigham Young's Houses — The Present State and Prospects of Mormonism — Girl Converts to Protestantism — A Mormon's Dictum on Polygamy PP- 275— 2SS

Chapter XIX. From Salt Lake City To Chicago

Scenery in the Wahsatch Mountains — Weber and Echo Canons — Over the Rocky Mountains — The Highest Railway Station in the World— Across the Prairies — Coggia's Comet — Omaha — The Central and Union Pacific Lines — A Railway of the Future — Through Iowa and Illinois .... pp. 289 — 295

Chapter XX. Chicago

Railway Station and Car Accommodation in America — Chicago's Rise from the Prairie — The Export of Grain — The Lake Shore — Grain Elevators — Trade in Timber and Cattle — Massacre of a Million Hogs— The Great Fire — New Chicago — Its Streets and Buildings — The Largest Hotel in the World — Independence Day and Anti-British Sentiments — The Debts of Chicago pp. 296 — CONTENTS. XIV

Chapter XXI. Niagara

From Chicago to Niagara— Lakes Huron and Erie — Buffalo — At Niagara — Prospect Park and Point— The American Fall — The Horse-shoe Fall — Descent of Twenty Million Cubic Feet of Water every Minute — Nature's Symbol of Force —Goat Island— The Three Sisters— The Grand Rapids — The Cave of the Winds — Under Niagara — Yosemite and Niagara pp. 30S— 318

Chapter XXII. Toronto

From Niagara to Toronto — A Canadian Thunderstorm — Toronto — Facilities of Communication — Toronto Bay in Summer and in Winter — Ice-boats and Ice-boating— A Mile a Minute under Sail — Trade of the City — Toronto Lions — The Queen's Park -The University — Osgoode Hall .... pp. 319 — 327

Chapter XXIII. Down The St

LAWRENCE. Kingston — Sunrise on the St. Lawrence — The Spartan — Amongst the Thousand Islands — River Scenery — The Rapids of the St. Lawrence — Down the Long Sault — Perils by River — A Timber Raft — " When Greek meets Greek" — A Brace of Shipwrecks — Lake St. Louis — Baptiste — Montreal from the St. Lawrence — The Victoria Bridge — Montreal by Night . . pp. 328 — 339

Chapter XXIV

(JUK.BEC. Point Levi — Quebec — A Walled City with a History — The Upper Town : its Sinuosities and Peculiarities — A House CONTENTS. XV in extremis — Breakneck Stairs — The Citadel on Cape Dia mond — The Gibraltar of Canada — The Plains of Abraham — Wolfe's Monument — The Montmorenci Falls — The Trade of Quebec pp. 340—353

Chapter XXV. From Quebec To Liverpool

Afloat Again — The Northern Lights — Through the Straits of Belle Isle — Amongst the Icebergs — The North Coast of Ireland — Lough Foyle — The Scottish Coast from Rathlin Island— Home Again pp. 354—355 OVER LAND AND SEA.

Chapter I. Round The Cape To Australia

A Long Sea Voyage — From London to Melbourne in Four Lines — Passing Glimpses of Porto Santo, Madeira, and the Canaries — Amusements on board the Lord Warden — Cricket at Sea — Our Club and its Doings — Law in the Mizen-top — Lotus-eating — Australia Felix at Last — Hobson's Bay — Sandridge and Williamstown. A LONG SEA VOYAGE is generally supposed ■^ *- to be in every way uninteresting : once out of sight of land, everybody is said to give himself or herself up to a routine of ennui, a species of mental as well as physical torpor which lasts uninterruptedly until the welcome cry of " Land-ho !" rouses all again into life. It is imagined by some that there is next to nothing to be done to kill time, that the petty jealousies of those who take upon themselves the task of catering for public amusement, will cause any entertainment that may be projected to be nipped in the bud, that even the most good natured individuals are put out of temper by the B ROUND THE CAPE TO AUSTRALLA. 2 merest trifle before the ship has been a week in blue water.

Covert jealousies and open squabbling have been said to form the leading features of society at sea. In fact I was warned, before sailing, that by the time I had crossed the Line I should not be on speaking terms with my best friend. All predictions of unpleasantness fortunately failed of fulfilment, and from London to Melbourne every thing went smoothly with our small community aboard the Lord Warden. But a voyage round the Cape to Australia has been described so often, that a few brief notes only need be transferred from my log to these pages. An editor once told a correspondent starting for a voyage round the world, that he could go from London to Melbourne in four lines, and I have this hint before my mind's eye in referring to my three months at sea. The frigate-like hull and taut spars of Messrs. Green's ship, the Lord Warden, moored in mid stream, are looming dimly through the fog and driving rain on a cheerless morning early in Oc tober, 1873, as Novelli and I are rowed off from the Terrace Pier at Gravesend to commence a tour round the world.

Strong head winds and calms alternate to detain us a long time in the Channel, but we have a good run across the Bay of Biscay, and on October 2 7th, the ninth day after having put our pilot ashore at Dartmouth, we sight Porto Santo, and that evening watch the sun setting in a grand o-olden blaze behind the mountains of Madeira. A couple of days later we pass Palma, one of the Canaries, and then see land no more for eighty days. We have the customary " burial of the dead horse," when we have been a month at sea, and, crossing the Line on November 13th, Neptune boards us in full marine toggery, with a crowd of attendant satellites, and celebrates his mysterious rites with due solemnity. Amongst eighty first and second-class passengers one expects to find a little musical talent, and on the Lord Warden we are fortunate in numbering amongst us a very energetic musician.

Thanks to his training, we have a very fair choir of twenty voices, and also a small but diligent glee club. We have several concerts, and an evening in Christmas week is devoted to theatricals by the " Shooting Stars of the Southern Seas," which, as a matter of course, are most successful. But amusements of this kind are common enough B on passenger ships. However, our most popular pastime has been but seldom indulged in at sea, and yet with us scarcely a day passes without it, be the weather what it may. We have a cricket club ! Never were members of a club on shore half so energetic as we ; and in order that future passengers may learn how to kill time pleasantly, I here jot down a short account of our doings. The Lord Warden cricket ground is on the main deck, and, owing to the somewhat limited space at the disposal of the ten members, single-wicket matches are the invariable rule.

The stumps, which are fixed in a frame so as to remain steady on the deck, are about two feet in height, and of course bails are provided but never used. Of bats the club boasts not a few of varied construction. Of these the majority are fashioned out of a thick deal plank, and soon go to pieces ; but one of elm, which is christened off Cape de Verde, survives many weeks of hard usage, and is more precious to the club than the most expensive of Cobbett's productions. It was fully intended by a member of the Maryle bone Club to obtain for this tough little piece of elm a final resting-place in the Pavilion at Lord's, but unfortunately the " leviathan hitter," in attemptinoa huge drive, lets it slip out of his hands, and it is lost to us for ever. The boatswain accumulates a small fortune by the sale of balls, which he makes of spun yarn, and supplies to us at sixpence each.

These seldom have a long life, four or five being frequently hit overboard in the course of an afternoon's play, and we exhaust a stock of nearly three hundred between the Channel and Cape Otway. The wicket is pitched just in front of the weather poop-ladder, the bowling-crease being thirteen yards further forward, by the side of the deck-house. Behind the bowler stands an out-field, whilst mid-on or mid-off, according to which tack the ship is on, has his back to the midshipmen's berth, and has also occasionally to climb over the boom-board above it, and search for a lost ball among a chaos of boats and spare spars. Point, or square leg, is stationed against the mainmast, and his contortions in trying to reach a ball hit under the winch and so save a run, are occasionally most extraordinary.

Run-getting on board ship is a matter of difficulty, the ball having the supremacy over the bat which is exactly reversed on shore. A cricketer who thinks but little of the side-hill at Lord's, wrould find himself thoroughly nonplussed by the incline of a ship's deck in a stiff breeze. A good eye and hard straight driving effected much, but a steady defence and the scientific " placing " of the ball under the winch often succeeded equally well, especially on a wet wicket. The highest score of the season was eighteen, which included two hits on to the fore castle, feats of very rare occurrence. Scarcely a day passed throughout a very fair weather voyage without an hour between tiffin and dinner being devoted to cricket, and appreciative assemblages testified that the game was not devoid of interest to spectators.

But most people spent some part of the day in work of one kind or another, the ladies of course being particularly industrious, and working enough slippers for a whole army of curates. An aspirant to legal fame was wont to devote two hours every morning to getting up leading cases in the mizen top, but even there he was not often left to himself for long. A midshipman would soon descry him, and suddenly remembering something that required attention in the neighbourhood of the cross-jack yard, would give the " landshark " no peace till the obnoxious volume was stowed away. A voyage round the Cape is not often eventful, and ours, thoroughly enjoyable as it is, forms no exception to the rule. It is yachting in blue water on a large scale, and we have but one gale of wind throughout the entire passage.

Du reste, we see our fair share of glorious sunsets, catch our quota of albatross — half-a-dozen being rather a large allow ance — and are well up in the vagaries of whales and grampuses, of flying fish and Mother Carey's chickens, long before we sight Cape Otway, early on the morning of January 18th, 1874. Running up a bold and picturesque coast for sixty miles, we pass between Points Lonsdale and Ne pean, the two low, sandy spits of land which form Port Phillip Heads, at four p.m., and are at last in Hobson's Bay. Leaving Oueenscliffe, the Brighton of Victoria, on our port side, the Lord Warden with a fresh breeze and following tide makes short knots of it up the eastern shore, and at nine p.m. the chain cables rumbling through the hawse-holes bring the ship to an anchor off Williamstown, and our voyage to an end.

Hobson's Bay presents a very busy appearance next morning. Melbourne, the limits of which are at least two miles from the sea, rejoices in two ports, Sandridge and Williamstown ; but so crowded are the piers and wharves, that a large number of ships have to remain at anchor in the bay, where are also two or three men-of-war, including the Cerberus, a small turret-ship built for harbour defence, and con sidered a second Devastation by the Victorians. On either side of the spires and chimneys of the distant city blue hills meet the horizon, whilst on the eastern shore the pretty white houses of St. Kilda peep out seawards from well-wooded gardens. Before mid-day the Lord Warden is safely berthed amongst the tiers of shipping alongside Sandridge Railway Pier. One is so comfortable on board of one of Messrs. Green's Australian liners, and our voyage has throughout been so pleasant, that we are very loth to quit our floating home for shore quarters, to change the beautiful surroundings of our life at sea for the heat and dust and bustle of the Victorian capital. The charms of " blue water" broke more than one heart on the Lord Warden.

Chapter II. Melbourne

The Road from Sandridge— Appearance of the City — Its Streets and Gutters— Melbourne Dust v. Epsom Dust — Cabs and Cab-horses — The New Government House — The Botanical Gardens — The Public Buildings — The Fair Sex and the Fashions — Melbourne Faces — A Porter of Importance — A Leading Waiter — Manly Physique — Advantages to the Immigrant — High Wages and Cheap Food. sTROM Sandridge into Melbourne proper is a **■ three-mile drive along a very dusty road, with absolutely nothing to interest one by the way. The country is a dead flat, intersected by deep ditches, and but a few years ago, after an unusually heavy rainfall, the whole of Sandridge was flooded, and boats were brought up from Hobson's Bay to rescue the inhabitants. However, from present appearances it would seem "that this fact has already been lost sight of by builders, for in all directions houses are multiplying rapidly, the old-fashioned wooden huts giving place to two-storied dwellings of brick.

Crossing the bridge over the Yarra, and MELBOURNE. 10 leavings the wharves where the colonial steamers load on the left hand, we are fairly in Melbourne, and in another five minutes dismiss our cab at Menzies' Hotel. To a " new chum," as the colonists style a fresh arrival from the old country, the aspect of the capital of Victoria, though hardly attractive, is decidedly imposing. The main streets, set out rec tangularly, are all as broad as Whitehall opposite the Horse Guards, the public buildings are each splendidly built and admirably adapted to the requirements of the city, the warehouses and stores are most substantial, and the shops bear ample evidence of a thriving trade. One sees at a glance the wonderful energy of the early settlers, which has enabled them in the short space of five-and-thirty years to plant a mighty city where before was a mere wilderness of scrub.

Nothinghas been left unattempted which might add to the glory of the capital of Victoria. From the very outset the city authorities seem to have considered it their bounden duty to spare no expense, and to leave no stone unturned to make of Melbourne something; whereof the nineteenth century might well feel proud : their sole aim to make it an object of wonder and admi- MELBOURNE. 1 1 ration as the mightiest city of modern times. Per haps the fact that Sydney boasts an earlier origin, and a site of great natural beauty, may have to some extent stimulated the efforts of those who laid out the city of Melbourne, and given the archi tects of the public edifices a keener zest for their work. But, be this as it may, the fact remains that in its earliest infancy a great future was foreseen for the settlement at Port Phillip, that there were energetic men at hand to grasp the opportunity as soon as a commencement was practicable and the necessary means forthcoming, and that the great object in view has all along been carried out without let or hindrance from any class of the community.

Imposing, however, as Melbourne undoubtedly is, there is a sameness about the strict regularity of its streets which is wearisome to the eye, and for which even the grandeur of the public buildings cannot compensate. There are no spacious squares with well-kept gardens and here and there a statue or a fountain, on which the eye may rest, oblivious for the moment of the dazzling; glare and blinding; dust of the streets. With the exception of the few shrubs in the Hospital grounds, there is no green to be seen nearer the centre of the city than MELBOURNE. 12 the Fitzroy Gardens, and it would vastly improve the appearance of the streets if they were planted after the fashion of the Boulevards in Paris. Droughts are frequent enough, it is true, but even in the height of summer there seems to be enough water in the large Melbourne gutters to keep the trees alive.

There is no underground drainage in the city, and it is down these street gutters that the greater quantity of the liquid sewage escapes. Perhaps the water from the Yan Yean reservoir, which supplies the. city, aids in flushing these gutters more or less, but they must be detrimental to health, and the mere fact that they still exist should be sufficient to insure their being done away with at once. They are both unsightly and unsavoury, and though they are spanned by small bridges, it is in many places, and especially in Elizabeth Street, impossible to cross them dryshod after a heavy fall of rain. In addition to this, they are so deep that wherever two streets meet, the springs of a carriage are most severely tried, and the passengers jolted almost out of their seats. Looking at the great works which have already been accomplished in Melbourne, the mere covering-up of the gutters would appear to be a trifle indeed, and an improvement which has so MELBOURNE. 13 long been talked about should be taken in hand forthwith.

People who have gone to the Derby by road are generally of opinion that they know pretty well what dust is. Not a few of them imagine in the innocence of their hearts that a light overcoat and a blue veil are sufficient protection, and don such armour as this more for the look of the thing than for real use. I should like to set down some of these Epsom pil grims in Collins Street when a fresh north wind is blowing, and, when they had walked from Bourke and Wills's monument to Scott's Hotel, a distance of three quarters of a mile, to ask their opinion on the discomforts of dust on the Surrey hills, as compared with that to be met with in the streets of the Victo rian capital. I think that they would be unanimous in giving Melbourne a first-class certificate without any further trial. It seems singular that with the Yan Yean supplying its hundreds of thousands of gallons, and the Yarra flowing almost through the centre of the city, a moderate breeze from any quarter is sufficient to envelop Melbourne in a storm of dust.

And yet such is the case whenever any wind is blowing throughout the summer months, and this, too, in spite of powerful hydrants at regular dis- MELBOURNE. 14 tances along the length of each main street. There seem to be plenty of hydrants and plenty of water, but a grievous neglect of watering. No one who has not been blinded by it can have any conception of the powers of penetration of Melbourne dust. Not only does it fill the eyes, mouth, and ears of every one venturing on the trottoirs, ruining coats, bonnets, and tempers in every direction, but it finds its way into every room and every shop, leaving a deposit almost deep enough to grow small salad in even on one's dressing-table, and doing an infinite amount of damage to goods of delicate fabric. And so it comes about that a feather brush comes as naturally to a Melbourne shopman as a napkin to a waiter, for every article has to be regularly dusted before it can be submitted to a customer's inspection.

It might not be altogether unprofitable to start a feather-brush store on a large scale in Melbourne — provided only there is not one already in work ing order. In the matter of cabs the Victorian city has de cidedly improved upon the London model. There are hansoms in plenty, but none of those abomina tions on four wheels, vulgarly called " growlers." MELBOURNE. 15 In their place are Albert cars, a strong kind of covered dog-cart, and waggonettes, also covered and provided with dust-curtains. All these vehicles are really well horsed, and a "screw" such as is so commonly seen in the shafts of a London four wheel cab is not to be found in Melbourne. The cab-horses are all of a good stamp, stout and cobby ; they invariably trot fast— for slow travelling does not go down with the colonists — and, in spite of the heat, seem to take as kindly to their work as to their food.

They are set on short powerful legs, which look up to plenty of knocking about, but then it must be remembered that they have no work on the stones, for Melbourne streets are not paved but macadamized. And whilst on the subject of streets, I may re mark here that, as a rule, they are either very badly mended or not mended at all. Holes of all sizes abound everywhere, independently of the gutters, and after once enduring a jolting in the course of a drive across the city, one descends from one's car a sorer but a wiser man. For any one requiring a few hours' shelter from the dust, and quiet after the noise and bustle of the crowded streets, the Botanical Gardens will be the MELBOURNE. most pleasant resort. Crossing the river by Prince's Bridge, which connects Melbourne with what was originally Canvas Town, but now rejoices in the more aristocratic name of Emerald Hill, a shady walk through groves of wattle trees close to the water's edge leads to the gardens.