induced m e to accompany him on a winter night to attest the performances, and though he protested he could see everything as described passing before his eyes, the only view I could obtain was the " cold, chaste moon," looking sulkily down through a dim cloud; and the only conclusion to which I could come was that m y companion's superiority of vision was a species of second-sight, produced by the enlightening influence of an over-indulgence in alcoholism; and when I hinted so much I was plainly laughed at as a fool, who could not see beyond his nose. Richmond, Prahran, and Collingwood Flat had each its special guardian goblin in the popular fatuity, and though no reliable evidence, either direct or circumstantial, could ever be adduced to elicit a verdict of the existence of supernatural appearances, even from a jury of spiritists, a vague belief in such could not be effectually divorced from the public opinion of the period. Readers at the present highly-educated time may consider it unpardonable trifling to reproduce such items of Port Phillip folk-lore, and m y reason for so doing is a desire to convey an accurate notion of one of the idiosyncrasies of the time treated of. Besides, I a m disposed to think that there is no country or era without its special psychological absurdities, and some of the supernatural fads of the present day are just as absurd and irrational as the gruesome traditions evolved from the Old Cemetery. From all I have read and heard of such mysterious influences, I have formed a conviction that the ghost theory in all aspects and ages is about the most arrant myth that ever imposed upon humanity. I cannot by any mental process bring myself to believe that any churchyard ever yawned in the sense enunciated by Shakspeare, or that in the discomforting dictum of Milton— " Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both w h e n w e wake and w h e n w e sleep."
POINT ORMOND BURIAL GROUND.
Beyond St. Kilda, near what was once known as "The Little Red Bluff," moulders the dust of three m e n buried so long ago as the 21st April, 1840. Their names were—William Armstrong, Samuel Craig, and John James. They were passengers by the " Glen Huntly" immigrant ship, from Greenock, which arrived in the Bay on the 17th April, and having typhus fever on board, she was quarantined there, and all hands were camped near the beach. The three m e n were buried close by, and where they lay was enclosed with a wooden railing. T h e enclosure was preserved with some ordinary regard to decency for several years, but during the last decade, or more, it has been so utterly neglected that at the present time it is difficult to find the whereabouts of the graves. There are four or five old posts stuck in the ground, but in such a manner as not to distinguish the spot from the rest of the bare, weather-beaten plateau. Having, in the course of 1883, heard it stated that the municipal authorities of St. Kilda intended to take some steps to protect and specialize the locality in a befitting manner, andfinding,after some time, that the project did not progress beyond the stage of intention, I ventured to communicate with the T o w n Clerk on the subject. For the courteous consideration accorded to m y enquiries I beg to tender m y acknowledgments, and as the topic has been lately ventilated in some of the Melbourne newspapers, I would hope that the following letters, addressed to me, may be deemed of sufficient interest to justify their publication :— Town Clerk's Office, T o w n Hall, St. Kilda, 7th January, 1884. Sir,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 31st ult., enquiring whether the St. Kilda Borough Council has done anything to enclose and distinguish the spot where three persons were buried at Point Ormond, in 1840. In reply, I beg to inform you that as yet nothing has been done in the direction indicated. S o m e two years since the matter was brought under their notice (the Council), and it was intended to enclose the graves, and erect a memorial slab. T h e matter, however, still rests in abeyance. Within the last six months the Council m a d e application to the Lands Department to have the reserve at Point O r m o n d placed under their control, with a view to a fence being erected along the cliff, and to plant certain portions, but was not successful.
