judges, under whom no Christian has a chance of
justice; and to enjoy the benefits of a system of
law as much as possible in accordance with that
of his own country, and which shall be a
sufficient protection to his property. This is
nearly all that he demands. He does not want
to domineer or to dictate. He does not desire
to oppress the native, with whom he is always
ready to live upon friendly terms. He wants,
in fact, the remains swept away of that policy
by which he was once kept out of the country,
and which even now exists in sufficient force to
render it hazardous for him to remain in it.
Considering the incalculable benefits which his
presence confers—through the capital which
he circulates, the industry which he employs,
the example of energy and prudence which he
sets—it is scarcely too much to ask that he
should enjoy something like the rights of an
Englishman at home or in any of the colonies of
the crown.

SOME SNAKE EXPERIENCES

I HAD been but a short time in Australia,
before I first became cognisant that snakes in
great numbers contribute their quota of
society towards the grand total of living
inhabitants of that much lauded land. "Guides
to Emigrants" to Australia are silent on that
point, but then they also ignore the presence
of mosquitoes and other disagreeables. Would
that unfortunate emigrants could do the same!

My first encounter with snakes took place in
the district of Moreton Bay. I was travelling
in the bush, and had camped for the night at a
lonely shepherd's hut. Feeling rather chilly, and
as it is the custom of the bush always to make
one's self at home, I set about replenishing the
fire. Selecting a huge log of wood from the
heap of fuel outside the hut, I threw it on to
the hearth. Ere it had fairly reached the fire,
a snake sprung from the interior of the hollow
log, and all but attained its aim at my face. I
say almost—my preservation from, perhaps, a
mortal bite, I owed to the sexagenarian shepherd
who stood by my side. Quick as had been
the reptile's spring, bis eye was quicker, and
with the paddle-shaped piece of wood with
which bushmen build up their wood fires—that
providentially he held in his hand—he struck
my assailant to the ground and destroyed
him.

Bushmen, both white and black, invariably
declare that the bite of most of the snakes of
the country is fatal. Shepherds following their
flocks are always exposed to danger from this
source. The "run" is often strewed with fallen
trunks of trees, the abiding-places of snakes. To
tread upon such a log is almost to ensure the
bite of a snake. Still, I cannot say, of my own
experiences, that many instances of deaths of
white men by snake-bites occur in Australia;
but the aborigines frequently succumb to them.
More than once during my residence in Moreton
Bay, on asking a native what had become of his
companion, I was answered in the colonial jargon
of "A snake yacka that fellow, him bong!"
which, being interpreted, means, "A snake bit
him—he is dead." This is not to be wondered
at., when one considers that the natives are
always prowling about the bush, with legs and
feet entirely undefended—in fact, their entire
persons generally in a state of nudity; and
that they do not possess any remedy for snake-
bites. In revenge, however, the aborigine
always kills the snake when he sees one. It
is the same to him as a poor hungry man in
London finding a leg of mutton—he has a
dinner. Several times when I have slain a large
snake I have presented it to my black friends,
who would cut off its head, coil it up like a
rope, and cover it carefully up in the embers of
their wood fire. When sufficiently baked, the
skin by that time being converted into a hard
crust, was peeled off, and I must confess that
the white, firm, and delicate flesh was a sore
temptation to a man who had lived like myself
for the last three months on the inevitable bush
fare of mutton and damper. One particular
the natives, however, carefully inquired into
when they received a snake from my hands,
and that was, if I had slain it in their own
fashion, namely, by striking it over the head,
otherwise they would reject it. The reason
of this is, that snakes when wounded in
any other place but the head, invariably
turn round and bite the wounded part, thus
diffusing the virus through the whole system,
and of course rendering the flesh unfit
for food.

More than once in California I had narrow
escapes from rattlesnakes. At one time, in
conjunction with a friend, I was camped in a valley
of the Shasty Plains, working a claim. The
temperature of the valley, always hot, resembled
sometimes that of the torrid zone, while the
ground was of a peculiarly dry, rocky, and slaty
nature, a state of things I need hardly remark,
highly favourable to the development of the
reptile kingdom. Our tent was pitched some
fifty yards distant from the scene of our mining
operations; it was just big enough to allow room
for our bedding, with a small intervening space.
We slept upon the ground on skins, my pillow
consisted sometimes of a heap of spare clothing,
often only my boots. One afternoon while
engaged on our claim, a hail from a stranger who
was passing the rear of our tent caused us to
throw down our tools and hasten to ascertain
what he wanted. A single glance explained
matters. Half in and half out of the tent was a
huge rattlesnake, his head buried amongst the
heap of clothes that formed my pillow, underneath
which he was rapidly coiling himself. Of
course he was slain in an instant. My escape
was most providential, for, on retiring to rest
at night, the pressure of my head upon the
pillow would have disturbed the snake, and
brought upon me certain death. This snake
measured about six feet in length, and
possessed no less than eight rattles, proving it
to be a full grown one, as each rattle, as the