service; the slip-shod shoes; the habitually
dirty hands, and still dirtier feet and stockings;
the endless horrors of dirt and disorder
in all shapes that met us in our attempts at
reform.

For several years we succeeded in obtaining
good, honest emigrant house servants,
all of whom have married; and very
highly did I appreciate the comfort of
knowing that if the store-rooms or
cellaret were left unlocked, or my drawers
open, the wine and spirits would remain
untouched, and my wardrobe unrummaged;
but the subsequent scarcity of emigrants,
and the difficulty of inducing any of them
to live in the bush, when town places and
exorbitant wages were thrust upon them,
forced us again to endure the domestic
miseries which we hoped had passed away for
ever. In immigration lies our only resource;
and we thankfully welcome the promise now
given us, of an abundance of free emigrants.

Of the extravagant stories that came over,
relative to the gains of individual diggers, I
cannot now render any adequate account.
The love of exaggeration which forms so
prominent a feature in uncultivated minds, had
here a magnificent opening, and ample
employment was given to it. One of the first
stories we heard, concerned the late servant
of a friend; who, it was said, had in a
month found gold to the value of twenty
thousand pounds. We marvelled little at
the stir such an announcement made, nor at
the impetus it gave to the already active
emigration to the diggings. Some time after,
however, the fortunate man came to our
house, bearing some letter or message from
his former master, and, on our inquiring how
he had invested his great capital, he
explained that he had taken with him to the
diggings the savings of several years' servitude,
had spert all in the purchase of food
and other necessaries, had found scarcely any
gold, and had some difficulty in obtaining
the means to return to his old master, into whose
service he had again thankfully entered.

Hundreds of similar cases might be cited.
Some men were, of course, much more fortunate
than others, earned more in digging
for gold, than they would have done in service;
but they had to endure great hardship,
privation, and the hardest labour; many, from
drinking unwholesome water, and suffering
from want, damp, and exposure, contracted
serious disorders, which, though not immediately
fatal, remain incurable. The persons
who made the most money (excepting the
great nugget-finders), were those who kept
stores, or worked on the roads as carriers;
these, from the enormous prices of many
indispensable articles, and the immense charges
made for conveying goods, often engrossed
the lion's share of the digger's gains.

One of the most melancholy feelings I
have connected with the diggings, and the
great amount of wealth acquired thus
suddenly by so many of the most ignorant and
uneducated people, arises from the inevitable
conviction of how very small an amount of
good it has effected for the individuals
themselves. The grand object of the common mass
of gold-diggers seemed to be to dissipate
and get through their gains as rapidly as
possible; having no idea of a rational disposal
of their hard-earned wealth.

Any one, witnessing for the first time, a
gold-digger's wedding (and in Hobart,
Launceston, and Melbourne, they were of daily
occurrence, sometimes several at a time)
would very naturally think he beheld a
troop of lunatics escaped from Bedlam.
Driving furiously through the streets in
as many vehicles as could be hired and filled
with guests, was one chief enjoyment of these
people. Drivers, carriages, and horses alike
streamed with long, broad, white satin
ribbons. The bride, usually a convict of
the lowest class, in every sense, was
commonly attired in a dress of the most
superb white satin, with a London bonnet
also of white satin or lace, and frequently a
magnificent Canton crape shawl; yellow the
favourite colour. The jewellery, parasol, and
other adjuncts of this costume being always
as gorgeous as money could buy, and as
heterogeneous in character; but always including
an enormous gold watch and a massive chain.
The bride's female friends were generally as
fine as herself, and the occasional variety of
black worsted stockings, or leather ankle boots,
peering out beneath a dress of costly brocade
or velvet, was common to the whole party.
When an attempt was made in unison with
the rest, white satin shoes invariably
appeared, and almost as invariably were worn
down at heel; never being made in the prospect
of such ample dimensions of foot. In
gloves, too, considerable discrepancies
occurred; red, coarse, bare hands and wrists,
loaded with valuable rings and bracelets,
being usually preferred for street costume.

The male portion of these wedding-parties
displayed still greater contrasts. Such dress-
coats as are supplied by Jew slop-shops, with
waistcoats and neckerchiefs of astonishing
splendour, and shirt-pins of amazing dimensions,
were often companioned by trousers
of corduroy or fustian, turned up round
the ankles (so as to show the lining, and the
hob-nailed boots), and the whole outer man
worthily finished off by a green or blue wide-
awake hat. Nosegays of gigantic size, such as
would fill an old-fashioned fire-place, bottles of
rum, and short pipes, were the unfailing
accompaniments of these decorations. Thus
armed at all points, and crowded by eights
and tens into open carriages, standing on the
seats, waving hats, handkerchiefs, and ribbons,
and singing, or rather yelling in a maniacal
tone ditties unknown to ears polite, as they
tore furiously through the streets, from one
public house to another—these wretched
possessors of useless wealth, were wont to