good hair ones—are spread out in one corner of the room. In another is a load of wood, for which I paid this day the sum of 1 5s., and my large trunk stands against a partition, with the lid covered with all my books and papers. The house has two rooms. Mr. Hutton and his wife stay in one apartment, James Pett and his wife are living in the other. There, now you have a picture of our domestic economy; and when I add that both Mary and I are cheerful and happy in it, I give you full liberty to enjoy a laugh at what I have the honour to call my first house.
"The advance of Melbourne, in a commercial point of view, is surprisingly rapid, and so far her prosperity seems to be based on a safe monetary foundation. The business part of the city is crowded each day by an anxious throng, mostly parties preparing for or returning from the diggings. In one lot you will see the lately arrived 'new chum,' with his carefully cultivated moustache, raised on the voyage, a la, Bond-street; his leathern overalls, his fancy stick, and his 'swag' done up in Mackintosh. In another you may behold the 'old hand,' the wary old file who has campaigned it at the Turon, at Braidwood, and at the Mount, and who is now preparing for a trip to Bendigo, but who declares that there is no use going till the roads are open. With him there is none of your finery. A pair of stout boots, a blanket, and the everlasting 'hook-pot,' complete his equipment. Anon you enter a gold-buyer's shop, and perceive a party disposing of the proceeds of their adventure. One party of three that I saw the other day had 145 lbs. weight to dispose of. Another, a sailor lad, had 28 lbs., the produce of three months' work at the Bendigo. Such instances are of no rare occurrence; in short they are rather the rule than the exception.
"I have said much about the immorality of the place; it is but fair to state that my remarks apply only to a certain class, who are, as it were, beyond the pale of society, but whose conduct exercises a pernicious influence upon the whole social system. I have been to most of the churches on Sabbath, and I was pleased to find all of them well filled with respectable and attentive congregations. In one particular the clergy are reaping a golden harvest from the diggings themselves. I allude to the demand which there is for their services in that ceremony which binds the sexes together 'for better for worse' through life. And let me inform you that a digger's marriage here is no everyday affair, though they be upon each successive Sunday. The turn-out on all occasions is spicy. I have seen even the wheels of the vehicles (six in number) adorned with rosettes of love ribbons; the jarvey and
