bullocks?" to which we replied No, and asked
in return where we could buy meat. He
directed us to a station and rode off. Not one
of our party had seen his approach until he
was close upon us. Had we not been well
armed (we took care to let him satisfy his
mind on that point), we should certainly have
been attacked.

Then we had an odd parody upon shopping
in the bush. We saw by public advertisement
upon a paper, nailed against a tree,
like the boots of Bombastes, that meat and
flour were to be sold hard by. The place
indicated was a station, situated on a gently
rising ground, around which ran a clear
stream. As there was no bridge to be seen,
I volunteered to leap across the water, and
bring back supplies for all our party. So I
did. The building, when I reached it, proved
to be of the rudest kind. The walls were of
hewn planks, clumsily nailed together, having
crevices between them wide enough to let
the hand through; the floor was of beaten
clay. There were no flowers planted there,
and no attempt whatever had been made to
give an air of comfort to the place. Yet I
learned that the owner and his family had
been residing in that shed for sixteen years.
I went with the dairy-woman to an outhouse
for provisions. She was very independent,
and on my politely expressing a preference
for another joint instead of the one she
wished to sell, I was told that there was
my beef, and that I might take it, or leave it,
she did not care which. A coarse joint being
better than no meat, I decided of course to
take it, and also bought some flour, paying
sixpence for the pound of each. I asked
whether there was not a bridge by which I
could return; she said there was a small one
on the other side for their own use, but that
it would not suit them to build bridges for
strangers. I was glad to leave the scornful
lady and return to my companions; but they,
during my absence, had been walking on by
the side of the stream. I shouted to them
and they stopped; but when I came up loaded
with my meat and flour, I found the stream
between us rather more than could be taken
at a leap; the only way of crossing for a
stranger was to wade through it. So I put
down the flour upon the grass, and walked
into the little river, meat in hand. The
water rose to my chest, but I soon crossed,
and handing up the meat went back to fetch
the flour, which also was brought over safely.
Now, I think a little competition would have
rubbed the rust off those uncivil shopkeepers.
And who knows that there may not be a
very Oxford Street of shops fifty years hence,
across that hill; for we were there getting
to the verge of the Black Forest, and soon
after quitting it, the country became more
open, and we met more travellers. Tents
for the sale of provisions, were set up at short
intervals, and all fears upon the score of
provender were at rest. On the last night's
camp, before entering Bendigo, I felt a desire
to wash the linen frock and trousers which I
had worn during the journey, for I had
noticed what appeared to be a nice pool of
water close at hand. I took, therefore, my
piece of soap, put on my other suit of clothes
out of my knapsack, and set off. Down went
"my wash" beneath the crystal surftice; but
oh! woe was me when it came up again,
converted into a thick lump of green slime.
Rinse it off I could not, for the whole pool
was a fraud, a trick of Nature played on
the unwary traveller. The top of the water
was indeed clear, but underneath it was a
museum of aquatic botany. Naturally
disconcerted, I set to work with my knife to
scrape off the mass of specimens that I had
thus collected, and next morning had to
squeeze the clothes into my knapsack, streaky,
smeary, and damp, a lump of linen most
ridiculous and lamentable.

After we had been fourteen days on the
journey through the wood as aforesaid, we
reached Bendigo. Pits, tents, and people
gradually became numerous. On each side
of the dusty path the earth was turned up,
and there were miners at work; stores of
goods were exposed for sale. We inquired
our way to the Commissioner's camp, in order
that we might be ready to get our licences in
the morning, for we had no mind to lose
time, and having taken up a satisfactory
position, flung off our loads like pilgrims, with
our progress ended, and so camped at last
within our golden city.

In the morning our first care was to seek
the tent of which the carrier had taken
charge. We could not find it; we never did
find it. The carrier had taken our eight
guineas, and remained charged with the tent
into the bargain. He would not burden us
again with it, good man. We also looked
about for second-hand tools, and of these we
found that there were plenty to be had, at
reasonable prices. Having made our purchases,
and taken out our licences, we went
back to our location, voting ourselves worthy
of a holiday for the remainder of the day.
That over we set to work, and dug four
holes. After delving down to a depth of
about six feet, the water came into our holes,
and we came out of them. We found this to
be a common accident, numbers of pits being
rendered useless by the underground springs.
Shifting our operations we sunk four holes
more, and were busy in them for some days.
The ground was obstinately hard, being a
burnt clay, and every shovel full of earth that
we threw out could be thrown out only after
it had been loosened by the pickaxe. We
had built a hut of boughs to shield us from
the mid-day sun; the days were very hot,
but the nights dreadfully cold. One night
while we were asleep a heavy rain set in,
which lasted until morning. The boughs, of
course, afforded no protection; we and our
blankets were soon dripping wet; the camp