the benign influences of burgundy, claret, hock, sherry, mareschino, curacoa, and aqua vitæ.

G― has settled down in a newly-discovered district of the colony, called after the present governor's euphonious surname, Gipps' Land; and intends to cultivate cattle, and not sheep. The country, it is asserted, suits the former best, being moist, in consequence of its vicinity to the mountains and sea; and he is now chartering a vessel in order to remove his lady and establishment thither.

Alone in the wild! what a life will it be for a woman of fashion and elegance, with native blacks on every side, and her home regularly guarded, as if danger were ever at the door! She ought indeed to have a bold Scotch heart. And yet, when one casts a look back towards home, what is life in the far highlands and islands of Scotland? what is society there? or to the sister isle, " that first gem of the sea," as we are commanded to term it! where is the security for life there? And what a change to G- himself is this! In his native mountains he was laird-chief" prince of all the land." With his tail on, his clan around him, he was mighty among the chieftains. Now his country owns another lord-a Southern-and the descendant and representative of his chivalrous and ancient race, (for a time only, I trust,) is a stockholder in the wilds and woods of Australia. May he be spared to rebuild the walls of his house, and one day tread again the mountains of his fathers as their rightful lord!

CHAPTER IV.

AUSTRALIA-THE BUSH.

My eldest son and his partner Mr.

Connobolas-His brother leaves me to join him—Their meeting-My eldest son joins me at Sydney -Costume of the bushmen-Coolness-State of the colony-My own view of things-Hot wind-Purchases-Start for the bush-Paramatta Frogs and locusts-Bad roads-Bungarrabee-Paramatta factory-The inns-Penrith-Droughts - Change in the character of the country Bushrangers Insecurity of property-Guyon-Frederick's Valley-Class of settlers suited to Australia-Succession of crops-Seed times and harvests-Native birds-Length of the days in Australia-Graveyard-The boundary of the colony-Connobolas-The Gunyah-Impressions on first seeing my future abode in the bush.

ON my arrival in Australia I found, to my surprise, but scarcely to my regret, that my eldest son had left Bourolong, in New England, and was then residing at a station called Connobolas, about two hundred miles to the westward of Sydney, to which he had removed only about a month before my arrival. No previous settler having made it his permanent abode, he had found it, in point of comfort and accommodation, anything but what he could have wished. Very shortly after he landed in Australia, he became acquainted with a Mr. another enterprising youth from the "Land o' Cakes," whose pursuits. and views were similar to his own, and who had arrived at Sydney only a short time before him. On comparing notes, they found, as many canny Scotchmen" do, that

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it might be to their mutual benefit to unite their interests. They accordingly set off together on a long excursion of above two thousand miles, spying the land previous to fixing on their future stations. Such, indeed, is the common practice in the bush. They became partners, and settled themselves at Bourolong, agreed well together, and were satisfied with their location. After some time, however, my son and his companion were induced to leave the county of New England, in consequence of the loss sustained in that district by the terrible catarrh, a disease unknown when they settled there, but which had carried off a great many of the flocks in that county.

About this time they received an offer for the stations and stock from a new arrival with plenty of money in his pocket. They gladly availed themselves of it, in the dread of further injury; and having concluded the bargain, as Mr. preferred agriculture to the risk and annoyances of sheep, and my son still kept to his original intention of wool-growing, they determined one to take the right hand and the other the left; and thus they amicably separated. My son had again bought sheep, and taken them to the station of Connobolas just before I came to the country; not with the view of making that his permanent residence, but to obtain a temporary run for his stock, which he proposed shortly to remove six hundred miles to the northward, in the new country of Moreton Bay.

When, therefore, my son who had accompanied me from England, set out from Sydney, it was to join his brother at this new abode among the mountains and glens of the lofty Connobolas. He arrived at an inn twelve miles from that place, by the mail, on the fourth day; and on asking the landlord to direct him to Mr. Hood's station,

MEETING WITH MY SON.

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was told, to his delight, that he would find Mr. Hood in the next room. The pleasure of the brothers at meeting in this distant land may be imagined. Our arrival was unknown to the Australian; and, of course, his surprise was unbounded, as well as his delight; and it will easily be believed, that when he was told, that I had crossed the ocean to visit him,-that I was at that very time within two hundred miles of him, and was now to be his guest for a time-there was little delay in making arrangements for his journey to Sydney. Having placed his brother at the head of affairs during his absence, he the next day mounted his horse, and as, in the bush as well as in the town, every one gallops as if on an errand of life and death, he was by my side on the second day. Rapidity is the grand characteristic of Australian life; and the habits of this country remind me much of what is asserted of the Americans. "They are born," it is said, "in a hurry, educated at full speed, make a fortune with a wave of the hand, and lose it in like manner, but only to remake and relose it in the twinkling of an eye. Their body is a locomotive, travelling at the rate of ten leagues an hour. Their thoughts are a high-pressure engine. Their life resembles a shooting star, and death surprises them like an electric shock." I was walking in Prince's-street to my lodgings, when my son overtook me. I heard a bounding step behind me; and, looking round, saw a countenance that I felt I ought to know, although I could not instantly recognise it; but the very first accents of his voice removed all doubt. The first greetings over, I began to examine my boy. He was but eighteen when we parted. He was altered, of course, and had become more manly in figure and face-bronzed, older-looking, changed! I felt somewhat disappointed at not seeing exactly the same slim

young creature that had left me three years before: but, if I had lost the boy, I had found the man; and so, after a second look at his garb-and a look of amazement I fancy it was, for his toggery partook largely of the backwoodsman's style of costume-the past was dismissed with something like a feeling of regret, and the present became all in all. The negligence of dress that these sons of the forest indulge in in this country, is somewhat appalling to a stranger. The face is adorned with a luxuriant growth. of beard and moustache. The dress consists of a cabbagetree hat, as large as an umbrella; a round cut-away jacket; no waistcoat; a black glazed belt round the waist; white trousers; and frequently a stock-whip in the hand, almost as long as a South American lasso, while clouds of smoke unceasingly issue from the mouth. My son was not quite after this fashion; but, had I met him in the recesses of the bush, my first impulse would, I confess, have been to have looked to my pistols.

One gentleman, who is, I am told, a distinguished disciple of the fierce beard-and-moustache school, finding it necessary, when in the further end of New England county, to make a visit to Sydney, bethought him that it would be as well to inspect his wardrobe. This was done, and with tolerably satisfactory results, until the protection due to his head was remembered, which it had been his wont to cover with anything that came nearest: he was now at a loss. Hats, or anything resembling felt, he had none. His cabbage-tree chapeau was withered and gone. Imagination was taxed to the uttermost for a substitute, when, at last, the happy idea occurred to him that what served him by night might serve him by day also; and so he literally mounted a red nightcap! and rode with it one hundred miles to the River Peel! This gentleman was a