districts of the globe-the promoters certainly of civilization, wherever they wend their speculative course. Here was a part of the world, to which, five or six years before, even a canoe was unknown,— for the natives of portions only of Australia "occupy their business in great waters," and yet so rapid had been the change that ships and steamers and coasters were then frequenting the settlement at short intervals, producing the usual wonderful results of commerce and civilization. The approach to Geelong of vessels of much burthen is obstructed by a bar running across the mouth of the bay in which the town is situated, but economy in the department of public works being the order of the day, the obstruction remains, notwithstanding the Government have been much pressed to adopt measures for its removal.

During the two or three middle hours of the voyage, there was little to interest, as the course lay so far from the shore, that, although there are several high points of land in the country bordering upon the harbour, yet scarcely anything but sea could be discerned; and certainly no one could have supposed that the water through which the steamer was cleaving her way was surrounded by land, with the exception only of the narrow entrance.

The boat, which was an iron one, reached Melbourne in five or six hours. In the river she beat a wooden competitor, with whom a contest had been

F

invited by our captain, who had lain-to for the purpose of allowing her to come up, so that the start should be fair: in the mean time he told the engineer and fireman to get the steam well up, and that if they arrived first, he would reward their exertions with bottled beer, a bribe which satisfactorily proved its efficacy by the immediate increased activity in the fires, and by the ultimate success which ensued. Thus, even on the distant waters of the Yarra Yarra, steam-boats, built with English capital and directed by English skill and enterprise, were contending in eager competition, diffusing life and spirit around, and affording facilities for communication of incalculable advantage to a new country.

99

CHAPTER IV.

AUSTRALIA FELIX.

THE reader is now once more at Melbourne, and as it is proposed, the next time he leaves it, to return no more, it would appear to be the proper period to make the few general remarks, which were promised, on the province, but which shall be limited to such as apply exclusively to Port Phillip, it being intended, in the two concluding chapters, to make some further observations upon that portion of New South Wales in connection with the rest of the colony.

The climate of Australia Felix is on the whole remarkably fine; I should say, superior in many respects to that of most other countries.* That it agrees well with the settlers, is sufficiently shown in their extraordinary health: no doubt the active and simple lives they lead, and the quantity of horse exercise they take, contribute to this; but were people in this country, or in India, to expose them

*The following tabular result, showing the comparative mortality of the army in our colonies, was presented at a late meeting of the Statistical Society:

Annual mortality per 1,000-New South Wales, 14.1; Cape of Good Hope, 15.5; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 18; Malta, 18.7; Canada (Upper and Lower), 20; Gibraltar, 22.1; Ionian Islands, 28.3; Mauritius, 30.5; Bermuda, 32.3; St. Helena, 35; Tenasserim Provinces, 50; Madras Presidency, 52; Bombay Presidency, 55; Ceylon, 57.2; Bengal Presidency, 63; Windward and Leeward command, 85; Jamaica, 143; Bahamas, 200; Sierra Leone, 483.

selves to the weather to a similar extent, the former would die of colds, consumption, &c., the latter of fever, cholera, dysentery, coup de soleil, &c. An Australian squatter, of active habits, is generally out from sunrise to sunset, with the intervals only of meals; and often on journeys he sleeps in the open air, or in huts where there is no other bed for him than the floor. The exercise that he takes, too, is frequently severe and harassing, and yet he is stout and strong, and knows no ailing. Who could lead the same description of life, with the like impunity, in England, or in the East or West Indies, in China, or in many other places where Englishmen settle? The more tender of the colonists catch an occasional cold, which, however, never assumes a severe character, and soon disappears; or perhaps, after great imprudence, which they would be too guarded to commit in any other country, they may suffer from a slight attack of rheumatism. In Melbourne, an exception should be made of a more serious character. Dysentery is common there, but though many persons of all ages suffer from it at times, yet it rarely proves fatal to other than infants. The cause of this distressing evil does not appear to be clearly ascertained, but no doubt it is principally attributable to the water of the Yarra Yarra; either to some bad property in itself, to the effect of the tide upon it, particularly when the river is low and the wind blows strongly up, or to the falling and decomposition of leaves

from particular trees overhanging its course. The occasional great variations in temperature to which the climate is subject, though doubtless tending to produce and aggravate dysentery in a body predisposed to it by some other cause, yet are not in themselves sufficient to cause that fearful disease, as is proved by the fact that out of Melbourne the disorder is scarcely known.*

In summer the temperature is extremely hot during the day, but cool, and sometimes cold at night, whereby an agreeable change is obtained, and sound and refreshing sleep-that invaluable blessing to all-is greatly promoted. From the dryness and elasticity of the atmosphere, the heat is not felt to be oppressive, even should the thermometer reach as high as 90°, or more, in the house. One day in February the thermometer was, in my wooden house, as high as 95°, whilst in the sun it stood at 115°; and though from morning to night I was hard at work, lifting heavy weights, and moving enormous sea-chests, unpacking, &c., and this in the sun as well as in the shade, yet, far from the heat knocking me up, the only effect of the day's labour was to give me a hearty appetite, and a sound night's rest. In the summer, likewise, Australia

It is hoped that the cause of dysentery in Melbourne bas been discovered before the date of this note, 1st March, 1845, and that the inhabitants are therefore less subject to that lamentable scourge.