and mail contractor there. In the Bay the weather was terrible. O n the 29th the inundation had to a great extent subsided, and people were able to turn their attention to business. Lynch's punt at the Salt Water River had sunk, and the Racecourse was four feet under water. A dead body recovered from the Yarra was interred without an inquest. T h e coroner resided at Brighton, and could not get to town, but was m u c h censured. T w o m e n named Bruce and Chips perished in the Deep Creek near Keilor. A large boiling-down vat was swept away from Watson and Wright's melting establishment, below Batman's Hill, and a wooden house, freighted with three pigs, sailed away from South Yarra, and disappeared. There was great loss of sheep, over 50,000 on the rivers E x e and Werribee, Deep Creek, and other places, and amongst the settlers w h o suffered heavily were Messrs. Aitken, Vuille Staughton, Riddell, Hamilton, and Learmonth. Several gardens laid out at m u c h expense on the Yarra and the Merri Creek, were completely wiped out ofthe landscape by their submergence, and the accumulation of all sorts of recrement deposited on them. This flood was believed to have been the result of snow melting in the ranges, more than rainfall. It was in its'consequences the most destructive that had occurred, and the Rev. A. M . Ramsay improved the opportunity by preaching two very eloquent and pathetic sermons in the Protestant Hall, entitled " T h e Force of the Storm; or a Memorial of the Late Flood." They were published in pamphlet shape, and had a good circulation.
The Great Old Flood (1844).
A respected old colonist has favoured me with the following communication, which is well worthy of perusal :— M R . G A R R Y O W E N , — D e a r Sir,—I have just read the 91st number of the World,* and can well remember the great flood, when the rain came pelting down on the last day of September, and thefirstday of October, 1844, and I will draw your attention to a circumstance that took place during the occurrence. Seven of the leading mechanics at Langland's and Fulton's foundry had built a paddle-boat for their o w n amusement, called the " Democrat." It was both built and owned by James Dow, John Dutch, William Fulton, James Patterson, George Stewart, T h o m a s Elder, and E d m u n d Ashley (all gone to their long home but the two last-named). T h e builders also made and put in machinery to bring the speed up, by multiplying cog-wheels, and it was so arranged that the crew of seven could all use the vessel for their o w n pleasure, which was often indulged in, up the Yarra to Dight's Mills, and down the Yarra up the Saltwater River to Solomon's Ford, and round the Bay by Williamstown. At that time the steamers " Yesta," " Aphrasia " and others were running, and considered fast boats. T h e " Democrat," with its crew, used to race these larger boats, and could and did always catch them, and then get towed up the river to anchorage at the Melbourne Wharf. During thisfloodthese amateur tars launched their " Democrat" at the foundry yard, and proceeded up Flinders Street, crossed the river over the Falls to go to Sandridge overland, round by Williamstown, and up the Yarra to Melbourne again; but when skirting Emerald Hill the boat struck a stump and sprung a leak, though of small dimensions. They then turned back to town, staunched the boat, and then proceeded round Batman's Hill, up the s w a m p to the racecourse, d o w n the Saltwater River, and up the Yarra to Melbourne again. W h e n thefloodwent down, the vicinity of the river banks was strewn with drowned pigs, dogs, fowls, cows calves, etc, and many residents on the low-lying ground were almost ruined. The writer was an eye-witness to the above, and you can make use of this m e m o , as you please. Yours truly, E. A. P.S.—This is thefloodthat made the deep gulley from Sandridge Lagoon to the Bay.
Melbourne's Only Snow-storm.
Snow in our city may be regarded as a phenomenon, for during the memory of the white m a n it has only put in an appearance on two occasions. Forty years ago, when there was little or no opportunity for general travelling in the interior, a person might grow old and grey in Melbourne without seeing a snowflake, but since the settlement of the colony and the facilities offered by modern locomotion, the snow-capped pinnacles of Mount Macedon, and the Gippsland and other mountain ranges have become, if not tamihar, at least not unknown, objects to the people of to-day. T h efirstsnow known to have fallen in Melbourne was on the 14th July, 1840, when the quantity was small and its effects harmless and evanescent. T h e winter of 1845 was intensely cold, with heavy frosts and thick ice, and on the morning of the 27th June there was a br.sk, though brief, snow-fall at Heidelberg. T h e winter of 1849 was also raw, cold, and frosty, with hail, ice, and sleet; and on the morning of the 31st August the good people ofthe • T h efirstchapters of the "Chronicles" were published in the IK,,,// „ J , , . Evening/lerald.-Ku. puDUsneu in the H o, Id newspaper, and, on the demise of that journal, were continued in the
