Full text of "Diary of a working clergyman in Australia and Tasmania, kept during the years 1850-1853; including his return to England by way of Java, Singapore, Ceylon, and Egypt"

DIARY

A WORKING CLERGYMAN.

LONDON
Printed by G. Bakclat , Castle St. Leieester Sq

DIARY

WORKING CLERGYMAN

AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA,

KEPI DDE1M THE ISAM 18W-185S;

INCLUDING

, s ^ TO ENOEANO « W« OF JAVA,
SINGAPORE, CEYLON, AND EcYPT.

BY THE

»V. .JOHN DAVIES MEREWEATHEB, B.A.

A»*or .f » LIS » Board » ««*«* **

LONDON :
HATCKAKD AND CO. 187 PICCADILLY.

MDCCCLIX.

PREFATORY REMARKS.

In the year 18o2 I published a little work, en-
titled " Life on Board an Emigrant Ship, being a
Diary of a Voyage to Australia." This small
volume was so well received by the public, and so
favourably criticised by the press, that I am
emboldened, although conscious of having been
already treated better than I deserved, to give to
those of my countrymen, who have at heart the
spiritual and temporal welfare of their compatriots
at the Antipodes, a continuation of the aforesaid
Diary. This continuation will comprise my
doings as a working Clergyman during the four

VI PREFACE.

years set forth in the title-page, in Van Diemen's
Land, now called Tasmania; in the vast tract of
country lying north of the Murray, New South
Wales, called the Edward River District; and
also in the city of Sydney. As on my return to
England by way of Java, Singapore, and the
Overland Route, I repeatedly did duty in Batavia,
Ceylon, and on board the Indian steam-vessels,
it will not be irrelevant to my present purpose
to include in this publication the Diary which I
kept during that period. Thus the present pub-
lication will contain notices of my proceedings
from the time I reached Adelaide, in South
Australia, which took place about the middle of
the year 1850, until I arrived in Southampton in
the early part of 1854. During this comparatively
long period there will be necessarily numerous
gaps in the Diary. The occupant of a quiet
country chaplaincy in Tasmania does not en-
counter very exciting adventures. The Clergyman
of the Australian Bush, riding from station to
station on his arduous mission — now fevered with
the glare of the summer sun, and now half-
drowned with the winter's rains and floods, is

PREFACE. Vll

not always, after a long clay's journey, capable
of committing to writing all that he has seen, or
done, or thought during the previous four-and-
twenty hours. But all that can prove of general
interest to the reader will be introduced into this
work. I allude more particularly to the discovery
of gold which took place during my residence in
the Australian colonies ; and its effects, as I saw
myself, on the moral and religious principles of
the population. Nor is it possible to omit some
information on the convict population of Tasmania
and New South Wales. The aboriginal popula-
tion, too, will be also touched upon. This Diary
pretends not to give valuable statistical or geo-
graphical information ; it contains no essay on
Church Government in the Colonies : as for
Colonial Politics, it is a blank : nor does it contain
sufficiently exciting episodes to satisfy the mere
novel reader. It is a plainly written account of
what befell an English Clergyman who went to
serve his Master at the Antipodes ; and it is hoped
that, however it may want in elegance, not an
assertion will be found in it inconsistent with
the strictest unvarnished truth. In Colonial

Vlll PREFACE.

statements there is an exaggerated tone, which
renders it very difficult for a stranger to get
at the exact truth on any subject : thus, that
I, though misled myself, may not mislead others
in my narrations, I will, in all my assertions of
which I am not positively certain, avail myself
of the wg Xeyovai of the veracious old historian
of Halicarnassus.

DIAEY

SfC.

The last entry which appears in my published
diary is dated Sunday, the 16th June, 1850, and
recounts how the passengers of the emigrant ship
and myself all went to the little church at Port
Adelaide, to return thanks to Almighty God for
having extended His fostering protection over us
during a long and perilous voyage. For 138
days we had been exposed to the chances of
"lightning and tempest; to plague, pestilence,
and famine;" but He who sits above, in grandeur
inaccessible, had of His tender mercy delivered us
from them all. From that date I commence my
present narration.

June 17, 1850. — To-day, though in mid-
winter, we have a glowing sun, modified by a
balmy breeze. All the deck is in confusion, for
the emigrants, who go no further than Adelaide,

I DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

are getting out their baggage. I, at the request
of the passengers, drew out a testimonial for the
doctor, which was unanimously signed; and he
deserves this mark of attention, for, profession-
ally, he has been most assiduous, and socially,
he has behaved as a gentleman should. Many
of the surgeons on board of emigrant ships are
disreputable characters in every way. In the
course of the day I went with two passengers to
Adelaide. We travelled in a public conveyance,
which was a Whitechapel cart, drawn by two
horses, tandem fashion. The drivers of these
vehicles carry as many passengers as they can
get. We were said to be lucky, for there were
only six besides us three. The road, which
passed through a desolate tract of country, was
full of large holes, which by recent rains had
been converted into round ponds; these ponds
we had to coast round, making a great half-
circle, so that instead of travelling seven miles,
the distance between Port Adelaide and Adelaide,
we travelled at least ten miles. On our way we
met and passed innumerable bullock-drays, drawn
by eight, or ten, or twelve, patient, hard-tugging
bullocks. We also saw several of the aborigines,
clothed in duty blankets and kangaroo and
opossum-skins ; they looked half-starved, like
the dogs that followed them, and were hideously
dirty and ugly. Adelaide strikes me as a very

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 6

miserable, squalid place. Wide streets are laid
out, but there are few bouses in them, and those
few are mean and wretched : the roads are full
of- holes, receptacles of dust in summer and mud
in winter ; public-houses abound, and drunken-
ness seems everywhere prevalent. There is a
substantial Change for the merchants to con-
gregate in, but all the business of Adelaide
seems done at a noted public-house, kept by a
man called Coppin, or Choppin. Here is to be
seen a strange mixture of merchants, newly-
arrived immigrants, squatters, bullock-drivers,
shopkeepers, loose characters, trafficking, blas-
pheming, laughing, singing, yelliug, and drink-
ing innumerable nobblers. Everybody goes there,
for every business, rendezvous is made at Chop-
pin's. As I could get no conveyance to the
port in the evening, I slept at an inn there.
Each bed-room has three very plain sofa-couches;
and I was told that if I didn't wish companions,
I must pay for all three. The guests here live
table-d'hote fashion, and their breakfasts, dinners,
and teas, are served with a monotonous pro-
digality. At every meal there are beef sausages,
mutton chops, beef steaks, roast mutton and
boiled beef, good potatoes, and most delicious
bread; and of these three substantial meals the
guests partake with the most persevering elas-
ticity. The table-talk is of bullocks, highly-

4 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

flavoured with oaths, and each person seems bent
on making his fortune as quickly as possible.
I can imagine the early Puritan settlers in North
America to have been a very different set of
persons. A young woman at table, speaking
contemptuously of some newly-arrived immi-
grants (" Jimmy Grants," I think, was the slang
term she applied to them), I asked her how long
she had been out herself? " Oh," she said, " I
have been out six weeks, and I feel quite colonial
already." I told her I could well believe her.
But the affectation and pretension of these
people is to me very extraordinary. To hear
them talk, you would suppose they had held
important social positions in their fatherland,
instead of which, three parts out of four have
been driven out of it by hunger, or by crime.

June 18. — I returned to the port almost blind
with the dust. Walking out with the doctor in
the evening, I saw ever so many of our pas-
sengers drunk, some of whom had during the
voyage made many promises of amendment of
life. Now I am quite sure that these men were
sincere when they made those promises, and if
they were to renew them to-morrow I should
believe them sincere, although perfectly conscious
that they would relapse at the first temptation.
St. Paul explains all this when he says, " I
delight in the law of God after the inward man ;

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 5

but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my

members So then, with the mind I myself

serve the law of God ; but with the flesh the law
of sin." After all, perhaps, evil may not be
without its uses : the moral world would become
flat, stagnant, and inactive, if the acid of sin
were not introduced into its composition to cause
fermentation, and subsequently purification. As
in the political world, so in the moral world,
fermentation is more wholesome than stupid
stagnation.

June 20. — To-morrow is mid-winter, and it is
very hot. What must the summer be here !
Went to Adelaide in a Whitechapel cart as
before. Saw a monument erected in memory of
Col. Light : it is ugly enough. Walked over to
Kensington to call upon the Bishop of Adelaide,
who lives in a charming cottage nestling in a
flower-garden. I had a cordial reception from
this excellent prelate, who combines the dignity
of a high ecclesiastic with the simplicity and
goodnature of an English country gentleman.

June 22. — A very beautiful day again, cloud-
less and warm as an English August day. In ge-
niality the climate here far exceeds that of Italy
in winter. There is no wind approaching to the
piercing Tramontana. But I understand that

DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the heat here during the summer months is
frightful. At that period, during a hot wind, the
thermometer will range from 100° to 120° in the
house. Visited the school of the aborigines, where

1 found thirty-three boys and seventeen girls.
I examined them before the inspector and master,
and they answered me correctly some simple
scriptural questions. I was shown their writing,
and one of their copy books was presented to me,
which I have now. The penmanship is capital.
They sang one or two hymns very nicely, and if
I had not had before me their swarthy faces and
restless, flashing eyes, I could have fancied my-
self in an English parish school. But these Aus-
tralian aborigines are a very unsatisfactory race
of people. They slip away from the grasp of
civilisation in the most extraordinary manner; and
as to permanent religious impressions they are,
as far as I can judge, incapable of them. With
very acute perceptive faculties, they are absolutely
without reflective faculties, and it is next to im-
possible to create the simplest religious impres-
sions in the breast of a being who can't think.
These people, too, are pure Atheists ; they do not
even worship idols : but they have a childish fear
ef some harming spirit, equivalent to what our
children call Old Bogie, and of the influence
which the spirits of the dead may have over them.
They believe, too, in magical powers. They cling

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 7

to their boundless plains and their forests with a
tenacious animal instinct which nothing can
quench, neither good masters, good clothes, good
food, nor the most excellent religious instruction.
I can give two or three examples of this. A
squatter in the province of Victoria took a black
from the bush and made him his servant, cloth-
ing him well and teaching him to be generally
useful. At the end of a year or two the master
wished to pay a visit to England, and the black
implored him to take him, too. He consented.
The man accompanied him to England, and dur-
ing a two-years' sojourn behaved most admir-
ably, performing all the duties of a first-class
man-servant. He, if I mistake not, learned to
read and write, and cast up little accounts, and
was always delighted at the idea of going to
church. By and by he returned to the colony,
and went up into the bush with his master. Not
very long after he came one day to his master,
and, looking very confused, said he wished to
leave him. "Why?" said the gentleman, very
surprised. Well, he wanted to see the other
black fellows in the bush. "But," said the
squatter, "you are in the bush as it is ; the other
black fellows are always camping round the sta-
tion : however, if you want a run, go by all
means, and then come back." The man looked
very serious at the concluding order, and went

8 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

out of the room without saying more. In the
morning he got out of his bed before the dawn,
and leaving all his clothes behind him, went off
entirely naked. He never came back, and his
master subsequently learned that he was roaming
about the wilds with a couple of wretched women,
living on the precarious product of the chase, an
unclothed, half-starved, untameable savage.

Another case in point is still more to be re-
gretted. A lady took a girl of eight or nine years
old out of the Aborigines School at Adelaide,
and brought her up as a companion to her little
daughter. The child, under the auspices of her
kind mistress, read well, wrote well, ciphered
well, dressed well, was cleanly in her ways, went
to church regularly twice every Sunday, sang
hymns nicely, and said her Catechism perfectly.
This lasted about three years, at which period
the girl must have attained the age of twelve.
One day she came running in to her mistress,
looking very pale (for black people can look pale
enough, sometimes), saying that she had seen in
the street the young man destined by her family
to be her husband, and that he wished her to go
back with him immediately. Her mistress en-
deavoured to quiet her by telling her, that if she
were so annoyed again the offender should be
given into custody. She also ordered the girl not
again to go out alone. For two or three months

JN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. iJ

all went well, and the girl had almost forgotten
her fright; when, one unlucky evening, the lady
having need of some little thing, sent her to a
neighbouring shop to purchase it. In about ten
minutes the poor girl rushed in wildly, and
weeping, told her mistress that she must now in-
deed leave her, for her lover had met her, and
told her that, having given his sister as wife to
her brother, her brother had in return given her
to him (this exchange seems to be a universal
custom among the Australian aborigines) that
the old men of the tribe had sent to say, that if
she would not obey their law and return imme-
diately they would solemnly curse all that she
should eat or drink; and that she knew their
power so well that she dared not resist it. After
this second interview, not all that the lady did or
said could tranquillise the mind of the scared
and distracted girl. She neglected her duties;
she sat moodily sighing all day; she sobbed all
night ; she refused nourishment, even that on
her mistress's table, saying that it was accursed to
her. The doctor was called in, and both his rhe-
toric and physic were unsuccessfully employed.
They began to have serious apprehensions about
her health; when, one morning, her bed-room
was found untenanted — the occupant had flown;
yes, had jumped out of the window before the
dawn of day and had fled away naked into her

10 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

native woods, unpossessed of a single article of
clothing or anything else, to propitiate the anger
of the old men of her tribe, and to obey the mys-
terious impulses of a savage nature. In about a
year afterwards there came up to the door of the
lady's house a group of blacks begging. First
came an ill-looking savage, with features scarcely
human, with a murderous-looking spear in his
hand and a filthy opossum rug thrown over his
shoulders. Behind walked an ugly, worn, dirty
woman, seemingly of forty, with features scarcely
visible from the clots of matted hair which hung
about her face. The rags that straggled about
her served rather to exaggerate than conceal her
nakedness, and from her long breast, thrown over
her shoulder, she fed an unclothed baby which
she was carrying on her back. Five or six lean
dogs, of indescribable breed, accompanied and fol-
lowed this miserable couple, carrying their noses
to the ground, and every now and then silently
swallowing any filthy offal lying about. The wo-
man was the once neat Sunday-school child, who
used to love going to church and saying her Ca-
techism, and she had come to see her former kind
mistress and to beg some cold meat. She was
sufficiently content with her lot, she said, and
would not wish to come back to her former ser-
vitude.

June 23 {Sunday). — Head the Litany and

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 11

preached on board the ship. Went ashore after
lunch to see one of our passengers, who is lying
very ill at the Commercial Hotel. He was the
father of the poor little child who died on the
passage out. A party of our people strolled upon
the sea-beach and brought back pieces of coral,
beautiful shells, bits of sponge, and pretty peb-
bles. Hear that the Port Church was well at-
tended to day.

June 24<. — Mid-winter, and yet it is a lovely
day, with a hot sun, as in August with us.
Transferred my effects on board the " Sea Queen, •'

Captain W , a very fine barque, originally

intended for the opium trade. The London ship
goes no further than Adelaide, and has contracted
with the " Sea Queen" to take on to Port Phillip
the Melbourne passengers. Before starting I
took tea with my good friend, the surgeon of the
ship which brought me from London. We were
put into a very nice room, with a good carpet,
mahogany table, wax lights, a fire-hearth, three
couches or sofa-beds, and a wash-stand. At night
one of our passengers, who was very drunk, pass-
ing from one ship to the other, fell between the
two, and was drowned. His brother, who was, if
possible, more intoxicated, abused the captain in
unmeasured terms for his want of proper pre-
cautions. All was confusion on board the two
ships. Lights were waving to and fro amidst the

12 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

baggage and down in the holds; boats were
lowering to endeavour to find the drowning man,
women were screaming and crying, men were
shouting and swearing, whilst in the midst was
the brother, sobering by degrees, mingling strong
hysterical sobs with his imprecations. The body
was never found.

June 25. — We were towed down to the light-
ship at daybreak, and anchored there. The poor
people were huddled together below without com-
fort, and almost without decency. Provisions for
a fortnight are put on board.

June 26. — Still at anchor, waiting for the cap-
tain. One of the emigrants caught a strange fisb,
as big as a large sole, prickly all over, with two
lateral and two dorsal fins, which has the power
of swelling itself out like a toad. It was a very
unkcd specimen of the finny tribe. Some called
it a sea-porcupine, others a devil-fish, others a
sea-toad. All the three names are applicable.

June 28. — Weighed anchor at day-break, and
stood down the Gulf at eight knots. When we
got to the entrance of the Backstairs Passage, the
wind became so foul that we were obliged to let
go anchor for the night. Continue giving re-
ligious instruction to some of the passengers.
My two boys said by heart the Catechism and all
the more important Articles. Where we anchored
was in Kingscote Bay, Kangaroo Island.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 13

June 29. — Fine weather, but the wind foul as
it can blow. Were beating through Backstairs
Passage all day, and at night got no further than
Antechamber Bay in Kangaroo Island, where we
found good shelter and good anchorage. We
have already consumed five out of our fourteen
days' provisions. An old woman, of at least
seventy-five, assured me that she was just turned
fifty-eight.

June 30 (Sunday). — A very fine, calm day, and
inexpressibly warm, considering it is midwinter.
Left Antechamber Bay at daybreak, and got well
out to sea before nightfall. Could have no ser-
vice in consequence of the confusion which pre-
dominated down below.

July 3. — A wonderfully bright day, of uncom-
mon brilliancy, but no wind. The emigrants are
looking serious, and speculating as to whether
the water and provisions will hold cut; for we
are only victualled for fourteen days, and already,
the ship not having made half her passage, we
have entered upon the ninth day. We were told
that the voyage would probably last no longer
than a week.

July 5. — A fair wind sprung up during the
night, which took us abreast of Cape Otway, which
lies about eighty miles from the entrance of Port
Phillip. In the afternoon the captain caught a
shark, six feet long, with my hook. After he was

14 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

hooked he was partially lifted out of the water ;
a running noose was then run down the line, over
his head and under his fins. He was then hoisted
by this on to the deck.

July 6. — A calm day and a foul wind. The
land seems to be flying from us as we advance.
Our water and provisions will be entirely out to-
morrow or next day. We caught two barracootas,
long fish, lean, and hungry-looking, and full of
bones. They are, however, very eatable. The
sea here is full of them. A captain of a trading-
vessel between Port Phillip and Van Piemen's
Land had so great a renown for catching these
fish, and giving his passengers nothing else to
eat, that he was called " Barracoota Jack."

July 7 {Sunday). — A fair wind having sprung
up during the night, we found ourselves off Port
Phillip Head at early morning. At the entrance
of the magnificent sheet of water called Port
Phillip stand two points, Point Lonsdale and
Point Nepean. Between these two points a strong
tide runs, with great force, through a narrow
channel two miles wide. As we entered, the wind
blew from the south, and we had the tide against
us, so that the water was turbulent and much
agitated, and numerous were the vortices through
which the ship ploughed her way. Pleasing was
the sail up this beautiful bay, which has a length
of 45 miles and a breadth of 40 miles. The blue

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 15

sky smiled above us, and the blue water beneath
us responded with its avriot&iiov ye'kouff&a. The
atmosphere which we breathed was as pure as the
purest Italian, and all felt that elasticity of spirits
which springs from clear fine air passing through
the lungs. On our left rose boldly against the
sky the picturesque summit of Station Peak; in
front of us the Mount Macedon range of blue
mountains mellowed into the bluer sky ; whilst on
our right the distant Alps, stretching away into
Gipps' Land, completed a scene of beauty which
I had then never seen surpassed, nor have I yet,
writing this as I do after a lapse of many years,
and after much travel. Towards the gloaming of
the evening we anchored in Hobson's ^ay, at the
entrance of the Yarra Yarra (flowing, flowing, or
everflowing), river. Stayed on board all that
night.

July 8. — Left the "Sea Queen," after bidding
farewell to the amiable captain, and went aboard
a small river steamer at 8 a.m. Steamed up the
Yarra Yarra, whose banks are very ugly. They
are low, covered with sad-looking, short scrub, and
studded with boiling-down establishments, which
circumfuse most fetid odours. In about a couple
of hours arrived at Melbourne, a considerable
town, sufficiently well situated on two hills and
the intervening valley. The main streets are
wide — too wide, if anything — and the drainage

16 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ought to be perfect. The river is spanned by a
handsome stone bridge of one arch. The streets
are infested by enormous dogs, who thrive here
on the cheap butchers' meat. Went to a very
excellent hotel called the Prince of Wales, where
I dined and slept.

July 9. — Called on the Anglican Bishop and
on the Governor, but found neither at home.
They inhabit pretty cottages, surrounded by
grounds and gardens, on the banks of the Yarra.

July 11. — Received an intimation from the
Melbourne Club that I was received as an
honorary member. Dined there with my in-
troducer, an old member, and six others. We
sat down ^at six o'clock at a well-appointed table,
lighted by many wax-lights, and we were waited
upon by two men-servants, one in dress livery
the other out of livery. At night, as I lay in an
excellent bed at the hotel, I could not help
making the following reflections. Here am I,
after a voyage of thirteen or fourteen thousand
miles through the great ocean, arrived on a
vast continent, the existence of which was un-
known to the world until two hundred years
ago, and which was not inhabited by white men
until sixty-two years ago. More than that, I
have been partaking of an excellent repast,
served in a way which would be considered cre-
ditable in London or Paris, in the society of

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 17

educated and wealthy men, in a portion of that
continent which was only discovered seventeen
or eighteen years ago, and in a city which six-
teen years back was a savage waste, trodden by
savage men in chase of the emu and the kan-
garoo. In this city there are 25,000 inha-
bitants, surrounded by all the necessaries and
comforts of life; there are well-built houses;
shops filled with everything one can require;
two churches, besides chapels ; active Ministers
of all denominations ; a well-managed custom-
house, gaol, and post-office; numerous colonial
trading vessels clustering at the river quays ;
whilst at the mouth of the Yarra, by William's
Town, lie at anchor fourteen or fifteen full-rigged
ships. What wonderful civilising tendencies the
Anglo-Saxon race seems to have! Instruments
are they of an All-Wise Providence to substitute
in the remote extremities of the world human-
ising Christianity for savage Paganism, a pure
code of morals for abominable impurities, govern-
ment for anarchy, peace for bloodshed, industry
for idleness, the certain fruits of agriculture for
the precarious yield of the chase ! An English-
man is never content to do anything that he
undertakes, by halves ; he will pull all surround-
ing influences up to his level ; he never descends
to them. It is the genius of the British colonist
to reproduce in the most distant regions, and

18 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

under the most unfavourable auspices, the mi-
nutest details of early associations, to surround
himself at the antipodes with the atmosphere of
home. With dogged energy he never rests till
he has reduced to practice the great theories
necessary to the birth and existence of common-
wealths, which have been familiar to him from
his childhood. Thus, in the colonies we find the
same adoption of a constitutional form of govern-
ment; the same regard to the majesty of the
law; the same tendency to open discussion of
religious matters, mixed up, however, with a
profound respect for religion in general ; the
same appreciation of personal liberty ; the same
adherence to the great principles of commerce, as
we find in the fatherland. And this imitation of
" home" is carried into all the details of private
domestic life, even down to the furnishing of a
house or the arranging of a dinner. Old ideas
born in him, as it were, and customs pertina-
ciously upheld, are the Sacred Fire, the Penates,
which the Englishman carries with him from the
old shores wherever he goes. He may change
the soil — he cannot change his country, for
dear Old England contains him still ; an England
of his own creation, substituting the sunny
beauty and brightness of youth for the majestic
vigour of age. And why has Providence chosen
England from all other nations to carry Christ-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 19

ianity, and its offspring, Civilisation, into the far-
away wildernesses of distant lands, inhabited by
savage men, devouring one another ? Other
races, other empires are more extensive, more
populous, possess more natural intelligence, more
taste for what is elegant, are equally robust,
equally enduring. But the glorious office of
creating light in an atmosphere of moral dark-
ness, in pouriug spiritual day on the sightless
eyeballs of the heathen, has not devolved on
them. How does this come to pass ? If we
may, without presumption, canvass the designs
of Providence, the question would be capable of
the following solution. It is, then, that every
Englishman is brought up from his earliest in-
fancy to read, learn, and digest the pure and
undefiled word of God. He early forms a ha-
bitude of judging for himself in religious matters,
biased, perhaps, but not peremptorily dictated
to, by any man, or any body of men. And this
independence of judgment, once formed, extends
naturally to secular matters, and prevents the
growth of vacillation of character. And more
than this, he learns within the book of life that
every man should consider himself a responsible
being, gifted with certain talents by his Creator,
of which he is to make use. This gives him
early an idea that he has an object in life, and
that he must not run to seed down here; and

20 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

though the religious part of the matter is, alas !
often lost sight of, yet the moral tone remains
kneaded into his character, and begets in him a
ceaseless activity, and a tenacious perseverance in
carrying out all that he begins. To this, I
imagine, must be attributed the superiority of
the English national character over all other
national characters ; and this is why he is called
upon by Heaven to accomplish that in which
other nations, from want of moral ballast — fixity
of purpose, would fail.

July 12.— Breakfasted with Mr. N , the

truly excellent incumbent of St. Peter's Church.
He lives in a pretty house, quite close to the
church. The mud renders the streets almost
impassable : it rears itself up above the boots.

July 13. — Saw the Bishop of Melbourne (Dr.
Perry), a thin and very acute-looking prelate.
Bought a Queen's head for a letter. The portrait
of her Majesty is a wonderfully coarse production
of art, very much like a public -house sign
reduced.

July 11 (Sunday). — Waded to church through
mud four inches deep. St. James's is the first
church that was built in Melbourne. Its external
architecture is very hideous ; internally it is, if
anything, worse. The prayers arc read, and the
sermOD preached, from two lofty desks of polished
wood in front of the chancel. The font is placed

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 21

between these, so as to impede the view of the
communion-table. The service was celebrated
with great decorum, and the Bishop preached
a clear, logical, and impressive discourse, of
what is termed the Low-Chi*rch School. He
took his text from the 3d chapter of St. John,
the 3d verse. In the course of his sermon lie
said that " he would not now touch upon the
connexion between baptism and regeneration, but
would leave that to a future opportunity; that in
infant baptism regeneration may be the cause of
faith and repentance, but in adult baptism it
would be the consequence; that instead of dis-
puting upon baptismal regeneration, we should
strive to realise our own individual regeneration."
July 16. — Mr. La Trobe, the Superintendent
or Deputy-governor of the Colony, did me the
honour of calling on me. This gentleman is a
Swiss by birth, and has distinguished himself
by publishing several amusing and instructive
works, such as " The Alpenstock," " Travels in
Mexico," &c. It requires a great deal of tem-
per to be governor of a colony. The game of
"Ministerial" and "Opposition," "Conservative"
and "Liberal," is played out here just as in the
mother-country ; but it is done in a coarser and
rougher spirit. The head of the Government is
always the butt of the most personal and virulent
attacks from the opposition journals, which, like

22 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

mosquitoes, are always buzzing about his ears,
and sometimes they sting very sharply. A nerv-
ous, irritable, or a refined, fastidious man, had
much better stay at home tban accept such an
office. •

July 17. — Hear that the climate is very vari-
able. Last autumn influenza was very prevalent
in Melbourne, and all the blacks retreated from
the city and immediate neighbourhood into the
bush. When questioned on their reasons for
leaving, they replied, "No good stay; white man
too much sniffle." Hear that shepherding is such
a solitary, idle life, that some of the men become
half-witted and foolish. Walked to Richmond, a
pretty village, partly seated on a gentle eminence,
close to the Yarra. In going I passed a stately
house, half-finished, which is being built as a pa-
lace for the Bishop. In Richmond abound wea-
ther-board cottages, nestling in flower-gardens.

July 20. — Walked over the fine bridge to a
pretty village on the shores of the bay called St.
Kilda, about three miles from Melbourne. Bath-
ing would be delicious here, if the locality were
free of sharks. Formerly, there were none here ;
but now so much offal floats down the river from
the boiling-down establishments, that these mon-
sters prowl about everywhere. Wherever the car-
case is, the vultures congregate.

July 21. — A most brilliant, clastic day. I at-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 23

tended divine service at St. Peter's Church, a
plain, unpretending building, not ugly and not
handsome. There is no regular reading-desk
there at present ; the prayers are read from inside
the altar rails. In the afternoon I visited the
Cemetery. It is a melancholy bit of ground, of
about ten to twelve acres, laid out in poor taste
and wretchedly kept. A few dismal trees attempt
to flourish among the graves ; long coarse grass
springs up in rank luxuriance, and the paths are
overgrown with weeds. Some of the inscriptions,
both Latin and English, are misspelt. The Latin
word "excelsis" seems to puzzle the graver, for
in one inscription there is "Gloria in excelces
Deo;" in another, "excelxis." Only two monu-
ments struck me as interesting; one a broken
granite column in memory of a bank clerk cut
off at an early age ; the other in memory of Dr.
Hobson.

July 22. — One of the immigrants who was my
fellow-passenger out, came to ask me what he
should do with his money, saying that he had
had pressing offers of wonderfully remunerative
investment, by which his fortune could be soon
made without trouble. Advised him to thank his
disinterested new friends for their kind offers, and
to peremptorily decline them ; to place one hun-
dred pounds in the Savings' Bank, and the rest in
the Union Bank; to get into some employ at

24 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

good wages; and to look about him for a year
until he became colonialised. After that, I told
him, he would gain sufficient experience to be en-
abled to invest his small capital with advantage.
This man was a respectable, hard-working agri-
cultural labourer of the better class, inDevonshire,
who, having come into a small legacy, determined
to bring his wife and family to Australia, and try
his luck as a farmer. Hear that every newly ar-
rived immigrant is beset by sharpers, who do
their best to ruin him. Indeed I am told that no
new man is good for anything till he has been
clean ruined. Ruining, they say, is good for the
experience. This means, that the stupidest dupe
becomes the cleverest knave.

July 30. — Walked to Heidelberg and back to
pay a visit to the estimable clergyman there.
My way lay through the bush till I came to the
Merri Creek. Having crossed that, I found a
good road through an inclosed country, which
took me to Heidelberg. This township straggles
over a large space of fertile hill and valley, and
has the Yarra running through its precincts be-
tween very deep banks. On a little eminence
they are building a substantial stone church.
Land here is high in price, on account of its great
fertility and its proximity to Melbourne, being
about seven miles off. Walked home by sunset
with the greatest ease. The air is so transparent

IX AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA.

and elastic, that no amount of exercise seems to
tire. The thermometer (in the shade) during the
last week in Melbourne was as follows :

S£ A.M.

2 J P.M.

Sun3et.

9p.h

Monday

49°

55°

52°

48'

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday .

Friday . .

Saturday

Sunday . .

Aug. 4. — Rambled about Melbourne, and
was astonished at the well-being which seemed
to prevail everywhere, at the well-filled stores, at
the number of butchers' shops, at the independ-
ent, contented, young look of the population.
The scarcity of old people is very striking. The
chief streets in Melbourne are Collins Street,
Bourke Street, and Lonsdale Street, running east
and west ; and Elizabeth Street and Swanston
Street, running north and south. These are very
fine, wide streets, but the east and west streets
have a little street running parallel with them, a
sort of diminished double, all of which are ill-
kept and have miserable buildings in them. The
inhabitants are low and dirty, and these localities,
seaming as they do the very centre of the city,
are so many nuclei of bad smells and disease. At
the first laying out of the town it was intended

26 DIARY OF A "WORKING CLERGYMAN

that these streets should be appropriated as mews
to their big brothers; but as land increased in
value, men, not horses, came to inhabit them. The
west end of one of them, called Little Collins
Street, is nicknamed Chancery Lane, on account
of the great congregation of lawyers in that lo-
cality. To show the increasing importance of
Port Phillip, as well indeed as of the whole of
Australasia, I give the value of the exports from
this group of colonies to Great Britain during the
past year (1849): New South Wales, 1,260,600/.;
Port Phillip, 976,620/. ; Adelaide (S. Australia),
535,130/.; Hobarton (Tasmania), 215,500/.;
Launceston, 180,180/.; and N. Zealand, 10,000/.
Wool and tallow, and the copper from the Burra
mines, compose the staple commodity of this vast
commerce.

Aug. 5. — Having received an invitation from
a wealthy squatter in the neighbourhood of Gee-
long, the second city of the colony, I embarked on
board a small steamer at the Melbourne Wharf at
eleven o'clock, and reached Geelong at half-past
four. The Yarra banks were as desolate-looking as
ever, the boiling-down establishments defiled the
air with their usual smells. When we reached
llobson's Bay a breeze sprung up, and carried us
gaily onward in a southerly direction. In about
two hours we bore westward, and entered the fine
sheet of water called Geelong Harbour. We soon

IN AUSTEALIA AND TASMANIA. 27

crossed the Bar, and steamed alongside of the
wharf. In a few minutes I entered a fine free-
stone palace-looking place, called Mack's Hotel,
where I slept, partially interrupted in my slum-
bers by the drunken roarings of a rich proprietor
in the neighbourhood, who was trying to force his
way into somebody else's room.

Aug. 6. — As I sat at breakfast in the coffee-
room of Mack's Hotel, a coarse-looking person,
well dressed, entered into conversation with me.
He told me that he was one of the early settlers
in that part of the country, and that he had se-
veral sheep-runs, which he was about to let for
two or three years, that he might make a visit
home to England. He said that his property was
worth to him from 2500/. to 3000/. a-year; and
did I think that he could get on in England with
that? I asked him if he was a married man. He
said, No. I answered him that, as he was a single
man, I thought he might, with strict economy,
make two ends meet in England on 3000/. a-
year. I don't think he quite liked my answer.
I afterwards learnt that he was as rich as he re-
presented himself to be, that he came to the co-
lony very poor, that his character did not stand
very high, and that he was much given to boast
of his wealth. This being so, I am glad I an-
swered him as I did. After breakfast, took a sur-
vey of Geelong. This city, which from its situ-

28 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ation is more worthy to be the capital of a colony
than Melbourne, is built on a steepish declivity,
which commences from the water. It has fine
wide streets, and the houses are for the most part
freestone. Behind the city, a mile or two away,
runs the river Barrabool, which sometimes makes
sad devastations. From every part of Geelong is
an exquisite view of the harbour: on the right are
high clowns, with a soil of wonderful fertility;
turning round, one sees in the background the
picturesque summit of Station Peak, which some
one told me bears evidence to being an extinct
volcano. And all the time I was looking about,
there was a glowing sun and a cloudless sky, and
a pure elastic air quite life-giving. In Geelong, I
hear, there is a great deal of dust in summer and
inexpressible mud in winter. For morality, Gee-
long is no worse than its bigger neighbour. The
crying vice is drunkenness, and that arises from
the filthy adulterations practised by the publicans
more than from the quantity drunk. The to-
bacco that should be in the cigars which they
sell, is put into weak rum and water, to give it
flavour and force and make it intoxicating. It
may be supposed how pernicious such intoxi-
cation is. My hospitable friend came into Gee-
long expressly to meet me ; so at two o'clock in
the afternoon we mounted, and rode over the
clastic turf nineteen miles, without drawing bridle,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 29

in two hours and a half, till we came to his sta-
tion near the Anakie Hills.

Aug. 7. — My friend's place is situated at
the commencement of a forest, which extends
over a hill at the back. The gum-tree, the
sheacke, vulgarly called the she-oak, and the mi-
mosa, flourish abundantly there. The house in
which he lives is rather a collection of many
houses or hut3, accumulated as necessity required.
It is, however, rendered very comfortable, and as
he has a good garden, his table is well served.
The annual income which he derives from the
wool of his sheep cannot be less than 2000/.
sterling. After breakfast read a little of the
" Canterbury Pilgrimage," which I found in
his library, then mounted on horseback, and
rode to the base of the left-hand peak of the
Anakie Hills. It consists of enormous fragments
of rock in grotesque shapes, which seem to have
been belched up from the plain by volcanic
agency. A great deal of soil has accumulated
amid the interstices of these rocks, and there
are to be found rare plants, and shrubs, and
heaths.

Aug. 8. — Returned to Geelong.

Aug. 9. — Intended to return to Melbourne,
but the day was so transparently lovely, and the
bay smiled so brightly, that I determined to stop
to-day. Wandered on the banks of the river,

30 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

which meanders prettily through the valley after
emerging from the Barrabool Hills. The soil
seems of indescribable fertility, but the sad-co-
loured foliage of the trees throws a dusky veil
over an otherwise brilliant landscape. And the
leaves of the trees do not droop, but stick out
quite stiff. They are small, too, and give little
shade. As scarcely any of the trees in Australia
are deciduous, every landscape is saddened at all
seasons by this dull green tint everywhere pre-
vailing. All is monotony. With us, on the con-
trary, the changes of our foliage keeping pace
with the seasons, the annihilation in winter, the
new birth in spring producing the radiant green
of youth, mellowing into the rich summer tint,
followed up by the " sere and yellow leaf" of
autumn, bring forth those strong contrasts which
so much delight tbe lovers of nature. Called on

a Mr. C , the worthy incumbent of the

church here, who received me with much hospi-
tality. This excellent clergyman has laboured in
the cause of his Master as a missionary in South
Africa.

Aug. 10. — Returned to Melbourne in a little
steamer called the "Vesta." The voyage took us
six hours. The bay looked as brilliant as ever.
The mornings are crisp and cold. The thermo-
meter in the sun at noon is 105°.

Aug. 11 (Sunday). — Assisted the incumbent

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 31

at St. Peter's Church, Collingwood, a suburb of
Melbourne. I read Prayers in the morning and
preached in the afternoon. The behaviour of the
people was as perfect as could be — no whisper-
ing, no fidgeting, no sleeping. They joined
heartily in the singing and responding. I could
hardly realise to myself that I was out of Eng-
land.

Aug. 12. — Went to see some gymnastic
sports, which were celebrated to day on the race-
course. All was confusion and careless manage-
ment. None, save those in the front rank, could
see anything; and there was nothing for them to
see worth struggling for. Saw a man haled off
by the police for picking pockets. All put me
in mind of the old country — the want of arrange-
ment, the drinking, the cursing and obscene talk-
ing, the prostitutes, thieves, and policemen.

Aug. 18 [Sunday). — Attended divine service in
the morning at St. James's, the Cathedral.

Aug. 19. — Went to the Botanical Gardens, a
piece of twelve or fourteen acres on the other side
of the Yarra, planted and arranged in a very
tasteful manner. There are gum-trees, mimosas,
cactuses, apple-trees, stocks and geraniums, and
many other trees and plants which I cannot par-
ticularise. There is one exceedingly pleasant seat
under a gigantic gum-tree, commanding an exten-
sive prospect.

32 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Aug. 22. — Went on a visit to a worthy clergy-
man who is incumbent of Heidelberg. He lives
in a pretty weather-board cottage seated on an
eminence. From the broad verandah which sur-
rounds the house is a charming view of the vil-
lage green, and of the half-built church on a little
hill in the midst. The course of the river with
its hidden waters can be traced by the brilliant
golden blossoms of the mimosa, which adorn the
precipitous and overhanging banks. It looks like
a gigantic golden serpent stretching its sinuous
length on a brilliant greensward. At intervals
I heard the liquid tones of the bell-bird, and the
discordant notes of the bird called (from his me-
thod of expressing himself) the laughing jackass.
My friend took me to see a black ant's nest.
These insects were an inch and a half long, with
an immense forceps and a most venomous bite.
Their eyes are large and most expressively fero-
cious.

Aug. 25 {Sunday). — A fine day, though not
without rain. Assisted at divine service, which
was held in a little school-room built of logs in
the bush by a Quaker. I preached to about
forty persons — all decent, quiet people, who re-
sponded very nicely during the prayers. Around
us were waving old gum-trees, which fourteen
years back were waving over the savage, as yet
sole proprietor of the soil. After lunch I rode to

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 33

a cottage in another direction, and preached to
twenty attentive listeners on the subject of re-
wards and punishments bestowed on mankind in
this world as well as the next. The text was
from the 8th chap. Ecclesiastes, 11th verse. Was
shown a large tract of land, which is said to be-
long to some titled family in England. It is now
the object of a Chancery suit. It will in time
have a great value. Found an enormous spider
which had his haunt close to my bed. They
called him a tarantula. He had a hairy body
and huge hairy legs. When I turned a full-sized
tumbler down upon him, I could not inclose his
legs, and cut one of them, which he immediately
put into his mouth and began to suck.

Aug. 26. — llode in to Melbourne. The sun
shone brightly, and the birds made the best noise
they could. They do not sing here.

Aug. 28. — Paid a visit to a clergyman, who is
the incumbent of Brighton, a straggling town-
ship situated on the shores of the bay, about six
to eight miles from Melbourne. The road is a
track through a forest full of gum-trees, sheackes,
and mimosas. Passed a swamp on my right
thronged with rushes, from which issued a sound
as of heavy castanets. Who were the performers
I did not see. The view from my friend's
verandah was enchanting. The laughing waters
of the bay clapped their hands under the bright

34 DIARY OP A WORKING CLERGYMAN

sunbeams. The soil at Brighton is light and
sandy, and excellent vegetables are grown there.
Land ranges there from' twenty to forty pounds
an acre.

Aug. 30. — Gave half-a-crown for a ticket to a
lecture on mesmerism at the Mechanics' Hall, and
attended the lecture. A great many people were
there. The lecturer operated on two boys, one a
white, the other a black just arrived from the
Murray River, and made them perform a variety
of wonderful feats. He spoke disjointedly and
unconnectedly, and, with cool audacity, drew a
parallel between himself, Mesmer, Elliotson, and
Jesus Christ. The effrontery of the orator was to
me the great trick of the evening.

Sept. 4. — We have weather, the like to which,
for beauty, I have never experienced. Mountains
at sixty miles' distance seem but twelve away, and
the air is so pure and fresh that one feels as if he
were inhaling laughing gas. Took a long walk
in the environs the other side of the Yarra. All
is beautiful, but the parched-looking green colour
of the trees is a great drawback. Attended a
government land sale. The land is put up in lots,
varying from two roods to six hundred acres, at
prices varying from one pound to three hundred
pounds an acre. It is a strange sight to see the
rough-looking bush men, mixed up with tradesmen
and gentlemen, eagerly bidding in a room blocked

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 35

up with stores, some sitting upon, others strad*
dling across, barrels, cases, chests, and boxes.

Sept, 13. — In the afternoon there came a
tornado, driving before it an incredible quantity
of dust. This they call " a brickfielder."

Sept. 22. — A hot north wind in the morning,
a cool south wind in the afternoon. These north
winds come from the Central Desert, and during
their prevalence one feels to be standing at the
mouth of a furnace. The thermometer rises to
120° in the shade; books get dog-eared; writing-
desks split ; many people go to bed ; universal
physical demoralisation prevails. This lasts one,
two, and even three days. All of a sudden, the
wind chops rounds to the south in a moment, the
thermometer falls to 60°, all nature is refreshed,
and people resume their accustomed activity.
These hot winds are said to possess great purify-
ing qualities.

Sept. 25. — One of the Crown Commissioners
having hospitably invited me to his house at the
township of Gisborne, a place between thirty and
forty miles to the north of Melbourne, on the
Mount Macedon road, I started with my friend
from the door of the Club at two in the afternoon.
We had three spaniels with us, and a greyhound,
and a mounted policeman followed, in the capacity
of orderly. As the day was black and lowering,
and we feared rain, we put our horses into a fast

36 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

canter, and continued them at it, with the excep-
tion of five minutes for watering, until we arrived
at Gisborne at six o'clock. The exact distance is
thirty-three miles. This is not particularly fast,
considering that we traversed dry, springy turf,
and that the weather was cool and bracing, like
an autumn day in England.

Sept. 26. — My friend has a nice cottage in a fertile
garden, which descends to a stream. It contains
all the comforts and luxuries of a bachelor's home
in England. Started after breakfast for Pastoria,

a sheep-station belonging to a Mr. P . Our

route lay through the Black Forest, which extends
under a lofty ridge of Mount Macedon. The
weather was most malignant, and we got very
wet. The rain and mist prevented us from seeing
much except the trees on either side; I had,
however, one momentary glimpse of a giant cliff
on my right. After a wet ride of eighteen miles
through this forest, we stopped a little at the
Court-House to see if any magistrates' business

was to be done, and then went on to Mr. P 's,

where we had a warm welcome and dry clothes.

Sept. 27. — Employed all the morning in read-
ing a great portion of Watson's " Apology for the
Bible." It is an answer to Thomas Puine's "Age
of Reason," and puts me in mind of a sturdy
wrestler throwing his adversary heavily at every
bout. After all, I am convinced, that if a man have

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 37

an evil heart of unbelief, no Apologies or Analogies
or Evidences in the world will argue him into the
right path. Infidelity is a disease of the heart,
not of the head. Thus, arguing with an hardened
unbeliever is time thrown away. He is prede-
termined not to be convinced. Reasoning cannot
touch him — he is not open to conviction; whilst
we, who are open to conviction, run the risk of
being made very uncomfortable by his weak or
lying arguments, speciously dressed up and
audaciously advanced, the logical defects of which
we cannot, in the heat and hurry of argument,
detect. To say the truth, if we were as active in
the cause of our Master as sceptics and infidels
are in the cause of theirs, the religion of Christ
would have a much more extended influence over
the hearts of men. At two o'clock started for a
large sheep-station on the Campaspie River, the

hospitable proprietor of which is a Mr. M .

This gentleman has just built a fine wool-shed,
which is admirably adapted for a church. Find
in the house every comfort one can possibly
require. The Campaspie has the characteristics
of other Australian rivers : in the dry season it is
but a chain of seemingly stagnant water-holes ;
during the rains it is a raging, rushing torrent.
Many people, however, think that water-holes are
not stagnant, but that they have an underground

38 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

communication, by means of the vanished river
running in a subterranean channel. In the course
of the day stopped at a shepherd's hut out of the
rain, for an hour and a half. The sides were logs
of fir-wood laid horizontally one on the other ;
the roof was pointed at a high pitch ; there were
two beds on stretchers in the hut, and at one end,
opposite the door, was a huge fire-place built of
stones. There was no flooring. To the roof were
hung to dry, opossum-skins, of which people here
make rugs to keep them warm. The two beds
belonged to the shepherd and his mate, the hut-
keeper — the duty of which last, is to cook, and
make everything comfortable for the other, and
make himself responsible for the sheep when folded
round the hut at night. The shepherd takes care
of the sheep by day in the pastures round about.
The hut-keeper gave us all he could — a disagree-
able, bitter, hot syrup, which I found to be strong
green tea, and an immense quantity of coarse
brown sugar; also some heavy cake, very indi-
gestible. This was " damper," and made without
leaven. I ate of his bread and drank of his tea,
though they were not to my taste, for I am given
to understand that a hut-keeper feels himself very
much insulted if a traveller — especially a gentle-
man — refuses to partake of the poor fare he can
offer ; and it is the poorness of the fare which puts

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 39

him on his mettle in this regard. However,
clamper, if it be very well made, is by no means
bad food.

Sept. 28. — After breakfast started for Gisborne.
Called at the Court-House, or Bench, as I believe

it is called, and lunched at Mr. J 's station.

This gentleman is a wealthy squatter. We then
rode through the unamiable Black Forest in the
midst of a tempest, and arrived at Gisborne, wet
through and through, after a day's journey of
thirty-three miles.

Sept. 29 {Sunday). — A stormy wet day again.

Bode over to the station of a Mr. R , who,

with his partner, Mr. H , said to be a lineal

descendant of Sir William Wallace, are wealthy
squatters. Celebrated a full Service in the draw-
ing-room, to a congregation of twenty people.
The singing was very nice, for there were several

ladies present, and Mrs. B accompanied on

the piano.

Sept. 30. — Started for Melbourne after lunch,
and rode there in four hours, stopping for twenty
minutes or half-an-hour at the house of a rich
importer and breeder of rams, situated on a plain
of wonderful fertility. The last fifteen miles we
rode in an hour and twenty minutes, without
distressing the horses at all. Thus ends my tour
in the Mount Macedon district, in which I was
first initiated in the mysteries of squatting. In

40 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

my childhood I always pictured squatters as a
party of dirty people, squatting and lying round
a large cauldron, full of inexpressible things,
suspended from three sticks, and simmering
over a fire. That idea has, I confess, a little
haunted me since. At all events I never thought,
until I went to Australia, a squatter's life to
be an agreeable one ; but now I am quite un-
deceived. I find well-educated and wealthy gen-
tlemen squatting in the midst of their flocks
and herds, surrounded by every comfort and
luxury, and enjoying a delicious climate. They
have nicely furnished dwellings; their dining-
tables sparkle with glass and plate, and they
ride the best of horses. Some of them are
married, and the bush ladies make excellent ma-
nagers, especially those that are gentlewomen by
birth. They have good gardens, which yield
them flowers and vegetables ; and they are per-
mitted to cultivate as much land as their home
consumption may require. As they have vast
tracts of fertile land given them by the Govern-
ment for sheep and cattle-runs, at almost a
nominal yearly rent, it would not be just to-
wards the farmers, who buy land at a high price-,
that they (the squatters) should be allowed to
sell the product of the soil. But every squatting
has its drawbacks ; the sheep are liable- to three
diseases, one troublesome and noisome, called

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 41

the foot-rot, the cure of which is one of the most
disagreeable operations that one can imagine ;
the other two mortal and ruinous — scab, and
the terrible catarrh. Of these two last, the first
is so contagious, so expensive to treat, and the
treatment so uncertain in its results, that many
sheep-owners say they would rather that sheep
would die at once, and thus put them (the sheep-
owners) out of the misery of their incertitude.
As to the catarrh, it is positively a heart-
rending disease. A squatter on Monday morning
may find himself the possessor of ten thousand
healthy sheep, worth from eight to twelve shil-
lings a-piece. His run will be crossed by a flock
of unhealthy travelling sheep ; his sheep will get
infected; they will show the symptoms of violent
influenza ; the disease will make most rapid pro-
gress, and by Saturday night he will find four
thousand remaining out of his ten thousand —
perhaps all will be taken ; and no remedy has
been found for this accursed and mysterious dis-
ease. Sheep with foot-rot and scab can be dressed
with mercurial preparations and turpentine. Loss
and trouble enough supervene with these; but
but for catarrh there has been no remedy — no
alleviatory course of treatment discovered. The
only plan is to cut the throats of those sheep
that show any symptoms of the disease, and draw
off the unaffected ones to a distant part of the

42 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ran, leaving that part tabooed for many a long
day. If there be a boiling-down establishment
near, the bodies of the victims can be converted
into tallow; if not, they must be burned or
buried, and then the loss is total. Thus squat-
ters — particularly those whose runs adjoin the
high roads — have always the sword of ruin
hanging over their heads. They are subject, too,
to drought, when the stock dies from the drying
up of the water-holes. Their sheep, also, get
rushed and worried by the wild dogs ; and some-
times Government steps in, when the lease of the
run is up, to take possession of the land, that it
may be surveyed and sold in lots for the pur-
poses of cultivation. In that case the squatter
receives just compensation for the buildings he
has erected.

Oct. 5. — Hear that I have been appointed to a
Government Chaplaincy in Tasmania. A Chap-
laincy like this is much more satisfactory to a
clergyman than a cure, the remuneration of which
is raised by the direct voluntary system. Coarse-
minded people often presume upon their con-
tributions towards the support of the clergyman,
and dictate to him in an indelicate manner.
People, I find, will contribute freely enough to-
wards the support of a minister in a new district;
but when the novelty of having a clergyman is
worn oiF, or they find that he is not a mere

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 43

puppet in their hands, and has ideas of his own,
some cantankerous little-great man will withdraw
his support, and persuade others to do the same.
Thus the poor clergyman, if he have no private
means, is placed in a very awkward position;
and the laity, in a colony like this, should reflect
that any minister coming among them can only
be actuated by pure and disinterested motives : for
there is scarcely any employment which is not
more remunerative to a man, with a fair share of
intellect, than that of the cure of souls. The
Bishop, they say, has many difficulties, in a pecu-
niary way, in regulating this diocese. I am
much surprised that colonial bishops in general
do not turn their attention more to the endow-
ment system. Nothing makes a church so inde-
pendent of the caprices of the laity as endowment.
In this colony, judiciously chosen land, bought
at the present price, would, in fifteen or twenty
years' time, if not before, increase twenty-fold in
value, and thus would give to the clergy increased
means of doing good. At all events, care should
be taken to surround every new-built parsonage
by an extensive glebe. This has not, as far as I
know, been done in this diocese.

Oct. 7. — Three of the immigrants who came
out with me paid me a visit in the evening. One
was an old man of seventy, and in this colony,
where everybody is young and vigorous, it is rather

44 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

a refreshing change to see a venerable old man.
They seem happy and healthy, having got work
to do at high wages ; even the old man is not
idle. If all trades were to fail in town, they
can but go into the bush and take employment
as shepherds and hut-keepers. The squatters
would receive them with open arms, and give
them between twenty and twenty-five pounds
a- year, together with excellent rations of tea,
sugar, beef, and flour, in quantity such as one
stomach could never digest. This is, indeed, a
land of promise, where the climate excels that
of the much-vaunted Ausonia, and where famine
and ruin are unknown. It is the famished
Englishman's Paradise. Thus, those who think
to punish convicts by sending them into this
quarter of the world, make a mistake; they
are rather rewarding them ; they are giving
them health and food, and, perhaps, putting
them in the way of amassing great wealth. The
greatest boon that good people in England can
bestow on a deserving poor family would be to
give them means to emigrate to one of the
Australasian colonies — it docs not matter where,
for throughout, want is unknown to the indus-
trious, steady man.

Oct. 10. — Having taken leave of all my good
Melbourne friends, 1 embarked at the wharf on
board the steamer " Shamrock," bound for Laun-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 45

ceston, the second town in Tasmania. Steamed
down the Yarra in the evening, and passed the
night at anchorage in Hobson's Bay.

Oct. 11. — At daybreak started from our
anchorage. When I went on deck I found that
the vessel was battling with the eddies of the
Port Phillip channel. Sea smooth, but the
" Shamrock" rolled very unpleasantly. All the
day crossing Bass's Straits.

In the morning at daybreak, I entered
Launceston harbour, and steamed up the river
Tamar, which is very beautiful indeed, every
now and then swelling into lake-like expanses,
studded with green islands, and surrounded by
graceful declivities wooded to the summit. Lay
at anchor for several hours in a pretty reach,
waiting for the tide. Discovered that the boiler
being thin, the steam had escaped through a hole
close to my baggage, and had blasted it in a most
extraordinary manner. The effects were those of
a damp flash of lightning. My saddle had the
leather loosened from the tree ; a large black
wood trunk, covered with leather and bound with
iron, had all its leather torn from it, and this
leather was hanging about it in pitiable festoons.
All the metal that was touched, was discoloured
with a sort of blue mould, and the bindings of
the books were scarified, and the leather shrivelled
in a most deplorably capricious manner. Every-

46 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

thing but ray clothes was more or less injured.
At five in the evening I landed on the wharf at
Launceston, and very shortly afterwards saw a
gang of convicts in their dismal attire. Went to a
very excellent inn, as good as any English country
inn, and was soon surrounded by every comfort I
could wish. Felt a little fidgety at first on being
told that the intelligent waiter, who was so atten-
tive to me, had probably come out at Her Majesty's
expense ; but the feeling soon passed away.

Oct. 14. — A cold, piercing wind, with a hot
sun. Find Launceston to be a spacious, clean
town, with very good shops. There are too many
public-houses in it. The immediate environs are
very picturesque. In the distance, lofty hills
stand out sharp and clear against the blue sky.

Oct. 15. — Rode out to Patterson's Plains, the
scene of my chaplaincy. Patterson's Plains is
the name given to a. fertile valley running be-
tween two ridges of rather lofty hills, watered by
a limpid stream called the Esk. About five miles
from Launceston, at the left side of the road, on
a slight declivity, where the hill-side mellows into
the plain, stands a pretty little church, called
St. Peter's. It will hold a hundred and twenty
people, and has a north aisle, a porch, and a
vestry. It has also a bell turret ; its lateral
windows arc intended to be in the style of Early
English. At the east end there is a very good

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 47

triple lancet window. It has too small a reading-
desk and too large a pulpit. The view from the
churchyard, of mountain and mountain-forest, of
smiling valley and sparkling stream, of bright
villas and of labourers' cottages, is inexpressibly
charming. But yet the sad-coloured foliage of
the trees detracts very much from all this beauty.
My churchyard is full of lugubrious wattle-trees,
under which the grass does not grow well, so
that the whole area has a spotted appearance.
In the evening, attended a conversazione held at
the house of one of the leading ladies in Launces-
ton. A merchant who was present, read a very
nice paper on Shakspere's " Antony and Cleo-
patra," or rather on the dramatist's conception
of Cleopatra. When I looked round on the
elegantly-furnished room, and the well-dressed
people all listening intently to the frequent quo-
tations from one of the finest of the poem-plays
of the myriad-minded man, I could hardly be-
lieve myself to be in the great convict settlement
of Van Diemen's Land. Probably the very ser-
vants who were bringing in the refreshments,
and who were lingering at the door to catch the
last immortal longings of the dying Egyptian
beauty, whose " infinite variety age could not
wither, nor custom stale," were convicts banished
for ever from their country for some hideous
crime.

48 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Oct. 16.— Rode to the White Hills district,
which is to be united to my Patterson's Plains
cure. Rode out on the right side of the riyer
and back on the other. The district of White
Hills adjoins that of the Patterson's Plains, but
lies farther away from Launceston. It consists
of undulating hills of wonderfully corn-bearing
capacity, and is inhabited by a hardy, vigorous,
independent race of farmers. This district ex-
tends into localities as yet uncleared of its
gigantic timber, but is everywhere very fertile.
The church is on the summit of a hill command-
ing an extensive and varied view. It looks pretty
enough with its lancet windows, but it has been
cheaply and flimsily constructed. It is cold,
damp, and dirty inside, and is without a Com-
munion-table. In fact, I am the first clergyman
who has been regularly appointed to this place.
Am told that I shall have some trouble with the
people, who are very sore at having, after build-
ing a church, to remain so long without a
minister. I do not at all despair, for I find that
in nine cases out of ten, quarrels between clergy-
men and their parishioners arise from want of
judgment, and tact, and conciliatory manners on
the part of the former. From St. Paul's, the
name of the White Hills Church, I rode to St.
Peter's, the Patterson's Plains Church, crossing
the foaming torrent of the Esk on a very pic-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 49

turesque and very insecure bridge. Close to St.
Peter's is a fine house, called Mount Esk, now
partly inhabited by a wealthy yeoman. It has a
fine garden, and overlooks the river most charm-
ingly. Here I have arranged to fix my abode.

Oct. 18. — A bright, transparent day, with a
sun darting red-hot beams, and a keen, piercing,
searching wind. Attended Divine Service at
Trinity Church, one of the two churches in
Launceston. It is St. Luke's Day, and the Fes-
tivals are always observed in this church. Walked
to the Roman Catholic Cemetery — a beautiful
spot, very much neglected.

Oct. 19. — Bought a mare: induced to do so
by the fact that she had just been brought from
Hobarton, a distance of 120 miles, in two days,
having been one day driven, the other ridden.

Oct. 20 {Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity). —
Began active service in my new cure. Had Morn-
ing Service at St. Peter's, Patterson's Plains. As
I was something new, a good many came. There
was a very well-conducted ladies' school, which
filled up much ; also a neighbouring magistrate
with his family ; also some people who ordinarily
frequent the Wesleyan Chapel close by. Some
neighbouring farmers and farm-servants com-
pleted a congregation which was much more
numerous than I expected. All behaved most
admirably, and, there luckily being no clerk,

50 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

responded perfectly well. Dined at the hospitable
table of the magistrate to whom I have just re-
ferred, and then rode over to take the Evensong
Service at the White Hills. As I anticipated,
things were not so satisfactory at St. Paul's as
at St. Peter's. All looked cold and neglected.
Few came, and some of those behaved as if they
had never been at church before in their lives.
A woman brought her child to be publicly bap-
tized without sponsors. Of course I refused to
baptize the child, which discontented her very
much, as she had prepared some little feast for
her neighbours. I was chagrined at being ob-
liged to make my ddbut under such an unfavour-
able light among a set of people rather awkward
to deal with, but I always find, that when pal-
pable right and palpable wrong are laid before
us for choice, it is our best policy, leaving alone
all higher considerations, to boldly choose the
right, regardless of all seeming consequences.

Oct. 23. — Rode over part of my district, and
called on some of the inhabitants. Some of these
were old settlers, who had been induced by the
cheapness of land and labour to choose Van
Diemen's Land for their home ; others had left
their country against their will, but having taken
more healthy views of their responsibility as
members of the great human family, had become
respectable small fanners, anxious to promote the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 51

moral aud religious well-being of their families
by every means in their power.

Oct. 24. — Called on the most extraordinary
person in my district, a small landowner, of the

name of Dr. . I had been warned to be

careful with him, if I wished to make the slightest
impression. Some call him an Atheist — others
an astrologer — others a madman. It is certain
that he refuses to attend a place of worship, and
that he is not complimentary to the clergy. As
he is a very old man, I thought it my duty to
try what I could do with him ; so I rode down
to his house. As I approached the domicile of
the old Doctor, I heard an unmeasured barking
of dogs ; and when I entered the barton, not
without spurring my unwilling mare, I found
myself almost surrounded by six huge, furious
mastiffs, whose houses were stationed in a sort
of semicircle in front of the house, and who were
rearing in the air, hanging on their chains, fran-
tically barking. By and by there came to the
door a lean, withered, very old man, miserably
dressed in a shabby paletot, with a white cotton
nightcap for his head-gear. At sight of him
the six mastiffs slunk into their dens, exhaling
smothered growls, amidst much rattling and
trailing of chains. He welcomed me very cor-
dially, and took me up-stairs to a wretched, dark
little room, poorly furnished. Then he sat down;

52 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

and, during the space of one hour, poured forth
the strangest jargon I ever heard; through which,
every now and then, gleamed very shrewd and
sensible remarks. He talked about the sun and
moon, the stars and clouds; gave them fantastic
names, mixed them up with heathen mythology ;
and gave vent to some strange notions about the
Deity. He told me he was eighty years old,
was the son of an archdeacon, the brother of an
English beneficed clergyman, and that he had
been in the colony forty-six years. He showed
me the genealogical tree of his family, but did
not seem to have much communication with his
relations. He was very garrulous; and had a
sour, disagreeable eye. I sat an hour listening
to him, and scarcely saying a word ; and when I
rose to go, he said 1 had made him very happy
by my visit, and requested that I would soon
call again. I am anxious about this poor old
man, thus living by himself, at the mercy of his
servants. Some say he is rich ; others, that he
is poor; others, that he is bad; all, that he is
half mad. His case requires careful handling,
and a long course of spiritual medicine admi-
nistered in infinitesimal doses. Too premature
a zeal will spoil all.

Ocl. 25. — Rose early, and rode to Longford,
a substantial country town, with an excellent inn
in it, called the Blenheim. It is of common

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 53

occurrence for the prisoners here to start an inn
as soon as they have acquired their freedom, and
amassed some property. And these inns, with
their stabling and tap, are the exact counterparts
of substantial English inns, and are kept with
every regard to cleanliness and comfort. As the
landlords hold land, they make the farm help the
inn. I am not aware that these hotels are very
profitable : on the contrary, I have been told that
these establishments are kept more for amuse-
ment than anything else. The masters take a
pride in them. They remind them of old days
in the old country, when they, too, much yearned
after the public-house, and thus got into trouble.
Called on Dr. Davies, the excellent archdeacon
of Launceston, who is the incumbent of Long-
ford. He took me over his church, which is very
large, cost a great deal, and presents few points
of interest. The foundation has lately been dis-
covered to be defective. One thing interested
me very much ; and that is, a magnificent east
window of the finest stained glass, made by
Wales of Newcastle. My way home in the
evening lay partly through a pine-forest, and the
trees exhaled their delicious perfume. It is diffi-
cult to enjoy a more agreeable emotion than that
of riding rapidly through the sandy soil of a
pine-forest, just when the shades of evening are

54 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

closing in, thus rendering surrounding objects
uncertain and indistinct.

Oct. 26. — A hot sun, with a violent cold wind
blowing from the north-west. The climate is
said to be most healthy; but this mixture of
glaring sun, and keen, penetrating wind, is most
trying to rheumatic constitutions, and is pro-
ductive of neuralgic pains. Called on several of
my poorer parishioners. Many of them have
been convicts, or (according to the appellation
which they prefer) prisoners of the crown. When
giving an account of themselves, they generally
say that they were sent out for poaching. They
received me very cordially, and seemed particu-
larly anxious that their children should be brought
up morally and religiously.

Oct. 27 (Sunday). — Took the Morning Service
at Patterson's Plains. Congregation remarkably
attentive. Gave warning for the celebration of
the Holy Communion next Sunday. Head the
exhortation all through. I shall always do that;
for, like everything in our Prayer-book, it em-
bodies a marvellous amount of spiritual teaching
in a very few words. The cleverest divines of
the present day cannot come near a style, which
unites lucidity with terseness, and infuses im-
mense vigour of expression into the most rhyth-
mical periods. Took Afternoon Service at the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 55

White Hills ; a better congregation than on last
Sunday, but affairs still flat. I do not wish
things to go on too swimmingly at first: the
stronger the plant is, the slower it grows. Spoke
to some young girls about the Confirmation,
which the Bishop intends to hold here shortly.

Oct. 28. — Held a churchwarden's meeting, at
which everything passed off satisfactorily. After-
wards rode in company with the Archdeacon to
Evandale, and was introduced to the good-natured
pastor thereof. Evandale is a dull country town,
with a church, one or two chapels, and plenty of
public-houses. Went on to Longford to sleep.
The roads I find very good; but the absence of
hedge-rows, and the want of green fields and
green trees, render travelling much less pleasant
than in England. The land is inclosed by a
strong fence of posts and rails, which have more
utility than grace.

Oct. 29. — A scorching sun and wind, dispen-
sing rheumatism to the rheumatic. There is,
if I may so express myself, a want of solidity in
the atmosphere here, which irritates the nerves.
When one breathes, one fills the lungs with a
cold, dry air, which keeps life going, and that is
all. One feels no satisfaction in a gulp of air.
After breakfast, the Archdeacon drove me to
Christ Church College, which the Bishop, after
great difficulties, has founded and raised to its

00 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

present admirable state. It is intended to be a
place of education for youths whose parents may
wish them brought up on strict Church-of-Eng-
land principles. Here an excellent education,
on the model of the home Universities, together
with board, and two excellent rooms, is given for
the trifling sum of 35/. per annum. The warden
is a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford. He is,

1 believe, clever, and does everything he can to
win the confidence of the pupils and forward the
interests of the institution.

Oct. 31. — Called on three respectable women,
sisters-in-law, whose husbands have gone to Cali-
fornia in search of gold. The young men have
written to say that the climate of San Francisco
is execrable; that a thick, damp fog, enwraps
the city at sun-down, and remains till about
eight or nine the next morning; that it then
suddenly clears away, and is succeeded by a
burning sun and cloudless sky, which lasts till
evening. Thus people get severe colds. Hear
that this country of Tasmania abounds with very
venomous snakes — such as the black snake and
the diamond snake — whose bite, unless the part
bitten be instantly cauterised, will cause certain,
speedy death.

Nov. 3 (Sunday). — A tremendous, un warming
sun, scorching the skin, and yet leaving a chilly
feeling. Administered the Holy Communion to

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 57

ten persons. The communion plate is very
handsome : it was presented to the church by a
wealthy neighbouring clergyman, a Tasmanian,
who was educated at Cambridge. Hear that
there is to be a meeting at White Hills to-
morrow, about church matters. This shows a

little awakening. Called on old Dr. A , who

talked his insane rant about wind-steeds and
cloud-chaos, like a Shelley run mad, but he was
adroit enough to slip out of any religious con-
versation ; so I must have patience. My mere
presence, sitting by his side, may be of some
service to him.

Nov. 4. — As I was riding through Launceston
I saw a gang of convicts clad in a hideous yellow-
dress, dragging an enormous road-roller after
them. Their very forbidding look was, I believe,
mainly owing to their dress, particularly their
cap, and the way they wear it. The convicts,
after being subjected for a certain period, which
varies according to their behaviour, to prison dis-
cipline, are released with a ticket-of-leave, and
allowed to earn their bread at large within the
island, until their term of transportation be
expired. When that comes about, they consider
themselves quits with society, and they ostenta-
tiously assert it. These ticket-of-leave men are
spread over the island, some in service, and some
practising trades. My servant has a ticket. He

58 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

has no peculiarities, except that he is dirty, and
that on Sunday, when he lays the dinner-table,
he crosses my knife and fork. He says he was
sent out for poaching, but I believe he got into
trouble for something very much worse than that.
We are all quite safe in the hands of those
persons; but I fear that the neighbourhood of
so much crime has a bad effect on the moral
atmosphere around. In old times a different
system was pursued. As soon as the convicts
arrived they were let out to masters for a certain
term, who treated them like slaves, got as much
work out of them as they possibly could, and
sometimes treated them with great severity. For
a very little fault they were flogged. I hear that
when a master was dissatisfied with a servant, it
was not uncommon to send him to the nearest
Police Magistrate with a turkey, and a note to

the following effect : " Mr. presents his

compliments to Mr. and begs him to accept

the accompanying turkey. He will thank him
to give the bearer three dozen for misbehaviour
and send him back as soon as possible." This
harsh discipline, however, produced capital serv-
ants, who could turn their hands to anything, and
who when their time was up would settle down
and make steady fathers of families, capable of
being depended on in everything except absti-
nence from drink. Now, things are altered.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 59

Those who come out are better educated, and are
good for nothing as far as general usefulness is
concerned. They are wonderful talkers, hate
hard work, can quote Scripture enough to dazzle
the clergyman, are clever at forgery and petty
larceny, are sober rather than otherwise, have no
sense of honour or gratitude, are wonderfully
plausible and soft in their manners, and corrupt
everything about them. The rough, old, brutal
convict, who was a very good fellow in his way,
is fast disappearing, having amalgamated with
surrounding society : the new style of people still
remain, serving their masters as ill as they can,
having no triangles and a three-dozen in the per-
spective. But the style of convicts most univer-
sally disliked by the gentry, and thoroughly hated
by the other prisoners, are those from Penton-
ville, called Penton -Villains. They are an exag-
geration of all the bad qualities I have just
enumerated. Most abominable hypocrites, one
is never sure of them. The other day I heard of
one who, if I recollect right, was landed at Mel-
bourne with his ticket of leave. I think that
some were foisted off on the unwilling colonists
there. However that may be, this youth travelled
up northward, crossed the Murray, and sought
for employment of a publican in an out-of-the-
way part of the country, away to the westward,
towards the Adelaide side. As there is a great

60 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

prejudice against Penton -Villains everywhere, the
landlord at first refused to take him in, but as he
begged very hard, and wrote a beautiful hand, he
gave him employment as barman and keeper of
his accounts. For some time the youth served
his master exceedingly well, and was accordingly
treated with kindness and consideration. But
one day, the master hearing half-stifled cries pro-
ceeding from an outhouse near, found the servant
on the point of treating most infamously his
daughter, a pretty child, thirteen or fourteen
years old. The incensed father stripped him
naked, tied him to one of the posts of the veran-
dah, and flogged him till he fainted. He then
threw a bucket of water over him, to bring him
to his senses, and turned him out into the bush,
naked as he was. By the greatest good luck in
the world, he fell in with a tribe of blacks, who
fed him and gave him some skins to cover him.
With them he stayed some time, and then went
into service with a squatter, who ultimately
placed every confidence in him, and made him
storekeeper. I Jim he defrauded to a great
amount, and escaped to Sydney with three valu-
able horses which he had stolen. He sold these
horses, and went into the far bush, where, report
says, he is slill following the calling of horse-
stealing and horse-dealing. And he gets off with
impunity, for to follow a fraudulent person three

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 61

or four hundred miles in a country like Australia,
to prosecute him for the sake of a hundred
pounds, would be most prejudicial to one's in-
terests. Whilst on the subject of convicts I must

narrate what I have heard of *, said to be

the original of the character of Gabriel Varney,
the hero of the most disagreeable of Bulwer's
novels, "Lucretia, or the Children of the Night."
This wicked man, although he was very strongly
suspected of having poisoned several people, could
only be convicted of forgery, and he was sentenced
to be transported for life. He was landed with
other convicts at Hobarton, and in process of
time was allowed to leave the prison on ticket of
leave, and then followed the profession of portrait
painter. As he was very clever at this art, he was
much patronised by the first people in Hobarton
and the neighbourhood, and gained a very good
livelihood. He had long black hair, and piercing
dark eyes, and thin bloodless lips, and a hooked
nose, and his reputation was so bad, and
his manners so mysterious, that people were
afraid of him, although his behaviour out here
was apparently void of blame. After dinner he
would send for his landlady's little girl to give
her bonbons, and the poor woman was quite per-
turbed at letting her go to him, being divided

* By some accident I have lost the name, which I have
often heard mentioned.

62 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

between fear of offending an excellent lodger, and
of having her child poisoned off, by way of expe-
riment, with some subtle poison. I heard a story
told of this man (it was told me by a clergyman), so
incredible for depravity that I cannot guarantee its
truth. As he was a clever surgeon and knew a
good deal about anatomy, he was employed, dur-
ing some part of his career — either as amateur or
paid servant, I do not know which — in the capa-
city of dresser in the prisoners' hospital at Hobar-
ton. Now in this hospital there lay a man on
his death-bed, who had incurred the hatred of
. When this poor fellow was in his death-
agony, having all his senses about him, that
wicked man glided up to his bedside, bent over
him and whispered, but not so low that he could
not be heard by the inmate of the neighbouring
bed, " I wish to say something to you before you
die." " What is it?" said the poor wretch. " In
five minutes your soul will be in hell flames, and
before the day is over I shall have my dissecting
knife in your body." And the poor creature
breathed his last sigh, staring with fright at the
glittering eye and satanic smile bent upon him.
I can hardly think that this story will bear sift-
ing; but yet I heard it from a good source.
This person died suddenly, not without strong
suspicions of having poisoned himself.

Nov. 7. — A small proprietor in the White

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 63

Hills district generously offered me a commu-
nion-table and a cloth for St. Paul's ; also a chair
for the vestry ; also one pound towards the liquid-
ation of the debt. Gladly accepted it all. Pre-
pared a young married and a young unmarried
woman for confirmation. Hear that towards Port
Sorell there are gigantic nettles, which will sting
a horse to death in a quarter of an hour, causing
lumps as big as one's fist, wherever they touch.
Heard of two cases in which horses, out hunting,
had leaped into them, and actually shrieked with
pain. One of these died directly; the other re-
covered by being bathed with very hot water for
several hours.

Nov. 8. — Received a memorial from the
White Hills people, claiming to have the Sunday
Morning Service alternated there with Patterson's
Plains. This is very satisfactory, for it shows
that a hitherto neglected district is beginning to
take an interest in church matters. Some one
told me that he had this morning put a large
scorpion into a nest of black ants as big as cock-
roaches. They soon killed him. These ants are
very venomous ; but not so venomous as an ant
which I saw yesterday, of the tint of a blue-bottle
fly. A bite from one of these, causes intense
agony for the moment, acting sharply on the
nervous system.

Nov. 10 (Sunday).^ At White Hills, before the

64 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

sermon, I read an answer to the memorial in
regard to alternation of services according to the
request. I then passed it to the clerk, that it
might be read at leisure by the parishioners.

Nov. 14. — Called on some of my people in
the White Hills district. They are very civil,
and will do everything to please me. They have
filled up an ugly trench in the churchyard, and
rooted up the wattles. One of them told me
that he had this morning killed in the road a
diamond snake, five feet long. If people are
bitten by these reptiles when out shooting, their
best plan, if they wish to live, is to boldly cut out
the part bitten, fill the wound with gunpowder,
and then fire it. But no time should be lost. In
the evening I had a live centipede brought me
to look at. It was about four inches long, of a
light blue colour, with red legs. The bite of these
disgusting creatures is more venomous than the
sting of a scorpion. Hear that the male platypus
has spurs on the hind limbs, which, at certain
seasons, are venomous. A few days ago, a man
having wounded one, took the struggling creature
in his arms. It spurred out and scratched his
arm, and almost directly he became black in the
face and convulsed. Strong stimulants were
administered to him, and he recovered in about
two hours. These platypi abound in the rivers
in this district, and are often shot. My church-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 65

warden says that they are " oviviviparous." He
killed one last month with a very large quantity
of eggs in it. These creatures have many extra-
ordinary characteristics, which are not generally
known.

Nov. 19. — Had a Morning Service at St. Peter's,
Patterson's Plains, expressly to include, after the
second lesson, the baptism of a child of one of
my parishioners. To my surprise and pleasure,
although it was not a Feast day, thirty- five people
attended. The farther I proceed, the more do I
see grounds for encouragement. Afterwards I
was on horseback all day, visiting parts of my
immense district. One of the churchwardens
accompanied me, mounted on a Timor pony
of astonishing strength and endurance. These
creatures are about thirteen hands high, and have
an easy ambling pace of five to six miles an hour,
at which they will continue all day. Visited a
wretched family, occupying a small clearing in
the bush. The father was away ; the mother, an
unmarried woman, was in gaol for thieving. Two
children, one a dirty, stunted, half-naked little
girl, nine years old, and a baby, were the sole
occupants of the hovel. The girl was half-savage
in her ways, glaring about her like a tiger cat.
Of course she had never heard of God or Jesus
Christ. These people have a very bad character
among their neighbours.

66 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Nov. 26. — Was on horseback nearly the whole
day, visiting from house to house. Called at the
"White Hills school, and heard three children say
their Catechism. If we well consider the matter,
we cannot fail to see in the Anglican Catechism
a most admirable compendium of theology,
combining brevity and lucidity and catholic
orthodoxy. Not a phrase is there too much, not
a phrase is there that could be spared. Every
high Christian doctrine is set forth there, all
Christian practice is inculcated there. Thus the
child who has got it thoroughly by heart has
always, during his after life, with its cares, follies,
and labours, some religious recollection, some
spiritual fortress, some, if I may so say, " wan-
dering witchnote of a distant spell," on which he
may fall back and cling to. When young, we
learn it by rote, understanding comparatively
little of it ; we, in fact, swallow it without
mastication : as age creeps on, and we discover
that life is not perpetual sunshine, we bring up
from the depths of memory little detached
passages, to be meditated on at our leisure ; and
then, during this process of after-digestion, we
discover that, unknown to ourselves, we have
been the possessors of every word of a religious
creed, and of a code of morals which have been
appointed as our guide through life, even as the
pillar of fire acted as a night guide to the Israelites

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 67

in the desert of the Red Sea. I consider the
inculcation of this admirable embodiment of
Christian doctrine and practice in the youthful
minds of our children to be one of the chief causes
of that high sense of honour and morality which
certainly characterises the English to a greater
degree than other nations. Let the seed once be
sown and there it remains, ready for practical
development in after life, according as God in his
own good time shall see fit. Walked in my
churchwarden's garden. Saw a native myrtle.
Find that it is the custom here to grow thyme
borders to the beds instead of box.

Nov. 30. — Visited a wealthy clergyman at
Entally, in whose park a return cricket-match
has been played to-day between the students of
Ch. Ch. College and a Launceston eleven. The
finest park in the island belongs to a Mr. Cox of
Clarendon. It is spacious and well stocked with
deer. This gentleman is sufficiently wealthy to
drive four horses in his carriage.

Dec. 1 {First Sunday in Advent). — Was driven
to Morning Service at White Hills in a gig with
a vicious, lunging horse. Had a very satis-
factory congregation of forty-five. Some singers
from the neighbourhood having volunteered their
services I accepted them, although I have a great
dislike to these amateur perambulating performers,
who, in fact, by their bellowing destroy all

68 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

congregational singing, and are very often im-
pertinent to boot. But White Hills affairs
being in rather a crude state, and there being
none of the congregation who could lead, I gave
them permission to perform, requesting them to
sing the Glorias and the Versicles between the
Commandments. They got on more subduedly
than I expected, except that they alleluiaed most
uproariously. So far so good. But whilst I was
taking the afternoon service at Patterson's Plains,
where ninety people of a more refined stamp than
the St. Paul's congregation were assembled, and
quiet congregational singing had been organised,
at this juncture, to my great dismay, in walked
my White Hills singers, who doubtless thought
to do me a great favour by coming. Now in
St. Peter's, at that moment, were a good sprinkling
of Wesleyaus belonging to the neighbouring
chapel, so that I had about me the elements of
very imposing melody. But I did not anticipate
what followed. After the third Collect, for Aid
against all Perils, I gave out a psalm that had
previously been agreed upon between myself and
my worthy churchwarden, who, with his family
of young ladies, had kindly taken in hand the
musical part of the Service. My good friend had
hardly sung five notes of a quiet church tune,
followed by the lady part of the congregation,
when the White Hills choir struck up a jaunting

IN AUSTRALIA. AND TASMANIA. 69

Wesleyan air with tremendous power, in which,
of course, they were joined by the members
present of the chapel. The effect was electric,
for one half of the congregation were singing at
the top of their voice — and such a voice! —
against the other half, and all with the best
intentions in the world. The charivari was such
as to equal Rousseau's first debut as a maestro.
My little friend looked round on the rebellant
crew, with vexation depicted on his countenance.
He put me in mind of Hogarth's enraged
musician. Some of the people tittered, some
laughed outright, others looked disgusted, others
frightened; but the " cattivo coro," went on
sereuely singing all the same, thundering forth a
succession of alleluias at the end of each verse.
And we suffered, too, from treachery from within,
for the Wesleyans, who were sitting mixed up
with the regular attendants, ardently joined them.
Thus tranquil, easy-going orthodoxy, was strangled
by the zeal and noise of the heterodox, for the
opposition had it all their own way. Of course
the decorum of the rest of the service was broken
in upon : so, after all was over, I had these men
down to my house, gave them two bottles of wine,
thanked them for taking so long a walk for the
sake of assisting at the singing, and begged them
for the future to confine their talents to the
White Hills district, as the church was already

70 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

provided for here. So I hope to be rid of them
in future. Probably all these men have been
prisoners.

Dec. 5. — Went in a carriage to Bishopsbourne,
passing by Entally. The road was excellent, as,
indeed, are all the roads. There was a com-
memoration at Christ Church College previous to
the vacation, and all the relations and friends of
the students were invited. The Warden made a
Latin oration, enumerating the occurrences of
the past year. Archdeacon Marriott spoke, —
and spoke well, too. Archdeacon Davies gave a
poor account of the finances. A very good feast
ended all. This college seems a most admirable
establishment, and well calculated to bring up a
young colonial gentleman to talk and think of
something else than "of bullocks." Yet it is
not as popular in the island as it deserves to be,
having incurred the opposition of a class of hard-
mouthed, influential individuals in Hobarton,
who do not assist the bishop in his designs as
much as he deserves.

Dec. 6. — Called on Mr. Rose, a Scotch gentle-
man, who is a great breeder of thorough-bred
horses. He showed me an English race-horse
called Jersey, which he had imported.

Dec. 9. — Had a meeting at the Patterson's
Plains school-room about a schoolmaster. Had
nine children guaranteed for one year. I am

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 71

obliged to make the parents sign a paper to that
effect, otherwise they would keep the children at
home on every little excuse, and the poor school-
master would be deprived of his miserable daily
pittance. I find, however, that ignorant parents
are sufficiently anxious that their children should
receive education, though they will not make
any sacrifices to obtain it for them. But there
is no doubt that it is the duty of a Government
to provide for the compulsory instruction of all
members of the commonwealth in the rudiments
of knowledge, such as reading, writing, and the
four rules of arithmetic. This foundation once
laid, the clever will, even in spite of all obstacles,
advance onwards in the path of knowledge.

Dec. 16. — Was introduced to Dr. Nixon, the
Bishop of Tasmania, who received me with great
goodnature, and talked much and well on many
subjects. Dr. Nixon is by no means an ordinary
character. Gifted with great impromptu elo-
quence, he is a sound divine, for he has published
a standard work on our Catechism, the best that
we have. He plays the organ admirably, and
can compose music. He is an excellent painter
in oils and water-colours, and sketches beau-
tifully. He is a good scholar, and is inde-
fatigable in his pastoral labours. Yet this
excellent prelate has very many enemies in his
diocese, of whom some, I am sorry to say, call

72 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

themselves Church-people. He is a firm friend
to all his right-thinking clergy, and supports
them to the uttermost in carrying out that which
he conceives conducive to the interests of the
Church.

Dec. 18. — Was on horseback from nine until
seven, making a round of visits in my two
districts. Visited the White Hills school and
catechised the children. Heard a story of a
young lady of the north of the island, who not
long ago was married to a respectable farmer.
Her husband took her for a wedding-trip, and on
their return introduced her to her future home,
where was a table nicely laid for supper, and two
excellent mould-candles burning. She had no
sooner entered the room than she burst into
tears ; her husband, who was a very good fellow,
was alarmed at her hysterical sobbing, and
begged her to explain herself. At last, after
sedatives had been administered to her, she gave
vent to her agitated feelings, and pumping up
her words at intervals, said, " I didn't think, when
I left a comfortable home and took you for my
husband, that I had married into mutton fats/'
The fact was that the young lady, who probably
was the daughter of a convict, was chagrined at
finding mould candles, instead of wax or sperm,
on the table.

Dec. 19. — The usual weather — a scorching

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 73

sun and a withering wind. Went to a Clergy
meeting at Longford, at which the Bishop pre-
sided. Prayers were read in the church at eleven,
and then we retired to the vestry, where his
lordship gave us a very interesting address con-
cerning the doings of the six bishops at Sydney,
whence he is just returned. These six bishops
were the Bishops of Sydney, of Newcastle, of
Melbourne, of Adelaide, of Tasmania, and of
New Zealand. The Bishop of Sydney presided
as Metropolitan (by courtesy). During their
various meetings they cordially, and with the
greatest harmony, interchanged their experiences
as chief pastors of dioceses remote one from
another, and there is no doubt that the Colonial
Church will benefit greatly thereby. They were
all unanimous, with the exception of Dr. Perry,
the Bishop of Melbourne, on the doctrine of
regeneration by baptism. That prelate, in the
minutes of the Sydney Conference, protested
against their views of the question, although
towards the end of his rather long protest he
states that it is more charitable to suppose that
children are made regenerate by baptism, or
words to that effect.

Dec. 20. — Distributed prizes to the children
of the White Hills school.

Dec. 22. — Held Matin-Service at White Hills;
Even-Song at Patterson's Plains. It being Christ-

74 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

mas time, the people are beginning to get drunk,
and very drunk too. Only twenty assisted at
the Morning Service, and I could not have
singing, because my choir-leader had been sent
to the treadmill for two months. The clerk,
too, if he was not tipsy, resembled a tipsy man
very much. He made the responses with a most
startling fervour.

Dec. 25 (Christmas Day). — Rose at five, and
went into the garden to cull roses and lilies for
the altar at St. Peter's : " Manibus date lilia
plenis" Made up three beautiful bouquets. I
had Morning Service at St. Paul's, White Hills,
at ten, a.m. My schoolmaster, who acts as clerk,
came to church so drunk that I was obliged to
turn him out. He had this time advanced be-
yond fervour, and got into the realms of inarti-
culation and partial inanition. Thirty attended,
of which a great portion were orderly and well-
behaved children ; and in the afternoon, at Pat-
terson's Plains, thirty-seven were present. Christ-
inas time is quite a saturnalia here, and drunken-
ness abounds.

Dec. 27. — Presided at a meeting for choosing
churchwardens. Began it with prayer, and closed
it with the blessing. Three churchwardens were
chosen, and three trustees, — all people of great
respectability. There arc nine more seats taken
than last year.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 75

Dec. 29 (Sunday). — Opened the Sunday-school.
About twenty children came, and two or three
families of young ladies from the neighbourhood
came as teachers. My White Hills clerk never
came to the service ] he is still drunk, I fear.

Dec. 31. — Hot and cold together — weather
that stirs all rheumatism to the depths. Pre-
sided at a churchwardens' meeting in the White
Hills district. Had a very satisfactory attend-
ance of neighbouring farmers, who seem now to
take a great interest in Church matters in this
hitherto neglected locality. Let nine seats, at
the rate of 3s. a sitting. Many people paid
up their arrears, so that the church received
71. 5s. in cash, and 4/. Is. in I. 0. UVs. Three
substantial landowners were chosen wardens, and
three others trustees. All these officers have
been hitherto quasi in abeyance. Now all is re-
organised ; the church debt is in a fair way of
getting paid, and people are in great good-
humour. This is a cause of great thankfulness
to me, because I had been led to apprehend that
I should meet with nothing but dogged oppo-
sition in this district. I have found that quarrels
between clergy and laity often take their rise
from some little want of straightforwardness,
often unintentional on the part of the former,
and that if a clergyman behaves to his flock with
thorough single-miudedness, he can have his

76 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

own way with them. The harmony with which
we all parted is an excellent closing scene of this
year, and makes a good augury for the next.

Jan. 5, 1851. — At Patterson's Plains Church
I preached a sermon on the subject of Circum-
cision being the type of Baptism. Some of the
people affixed their names to a petition for con-
secration of the churchyard, which has hitherto
been delayed, chiefly for want of a resident
minister.

Jan. 6. — To-day was appointed for the Con-
firmation, and Consecration of the Churchyard.
The Bishop, the Archdeacon of Launceston, and
one or two of the neighbouring clergy, breakfasted
with me. At eleven o'clock Divine Service began,
the church being crowded. I read the prayers ;
the chief clergyman of Launceston, the Lessons
and Epistle. After the Nicene Creed, the con-
firmation began, and was conducted in a most
impressive manner by the Bishop. The candi-
dates numbered thirteen, two males and eleven
females, and were of the respective ages of 21, 19,
16, 14, 18, 17, 21, 16, 14, 13 and 9 months, 20,
19, 19. These young people, children of neigh-
bouring gentry and farmers, behaved most be-
comingly, as if fully impressed with the quasi-
sacramental nature of the rite of Confirmation,
that coping-stone of the edifice of Baptism. The
girls all wore white dresses, and most of them

IX AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 77

long white veils. The Bishop gave two most elo-
quent extempore addresses, one immediately be-
fore the Confirmation, the other immediately after
it. These addresses, dwelling forcibly on Baptism
and its pendent, Confirmation, seemed to make
a very serious impression on the congregation,
The offertory amounted to 6/. 4s. Afterwards the
Bishop consecrated the churchyard. Thus every-
thing passed off most satisfactorily. All was a
reproduction of the old country.

Jan. 9. — On horseback nearly ten hours, mak-
ing visits in the White Hills district.

Jan. 12 (Sunday). — Had Morning Service at
Patterson's Plains, and commenced the bi-monthly
offertory. The collection was 8s. l\d. Was at
the Sunday-school an hour previously. At the
White Hills Evening Service I had a good con-
gregation of fifty-five persons. Examined the
children there in their Catechism.

Jan. 14. — The gaol-chaplain in Launceston
took me to the gaol, where he is preparing for
eternity three poor fellows who are condemned to
be hung for deeds of violence and robbery. One
killed his rival in a fit of jealousy. The others, I
think, were highway-robbers. They seemed very
penitent.

Jan. 18. — Rode about twenty miles, and
called on fourteen people, all farmers. People
like very much to be called on by their clergy-

78 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

man. Whether it is that they are anxious to im-
bibe religious knowledge from his mouth, or
whether they take it as a personal compliment,
certain it is that a clergyman can make more way
with his people by house-to-house visitation than
by pulpit eloquence.

Jan. 22. — Just after I had risen in the morn-
ing I felt something cold crawling rapidly up
my foot. I stamped, and the thing fell off.
Turned quickly round and saw a centipede,
two and a half inches long, running away at a
great pace.

Jan. 25 (Saturday : Conversion of St. Paul). —
Had Morning Prayers and gave a short sermon
at Patterson's Plains. Two neighbouring families
attended.

Jan. 28. — Visited some of my people at the
further extremity of the White Hills district, quite
in the bush. Found a great many children, dirty,
untidy, ignorant, and healthy. They had all been
baptized. Rode for about ten miles through forest
land. Discarding the track, we rode by the sun.
The leaves of the gigantic trees overhead sighed,
stirred by the soft wind. These trees seemed con-
versing together in fitful whispers. Many of their
brothers had fallen, blasted by thunderbolts, and
impeded our way. Their withered, leafless bran-
ches could not join in the conversation. In the
midst of the forest a strange incident occurred.

IN AUSTRALIA. AND TASMANIA. 79

A black snake, ten feet long, disturbed by our
approach, undulated gracefully towards some long
grass near. Now it happened that my companion,
a young Tasmanian gentleman, was one of the
most modest, taciturn people I had ever met. But
when he saw the great reptile gliding off to his
hole, his nostrils dilated, his eyes glared, the veins
of his forehead stood out, and his whole nature
seemed changed. " Hold my horse, sir ! hold my
horse V he cried with a voice, half frantic, half
dictatorial; "let me kill the beast. " So saying he
jumped off, and followed the snake. And then it
was curious to see his immense excitement and
his evident fear, and in spite of that, the fascina-
tion, which drew him on to the creature's cover.
For a considerable time he showered great sticks
and stones at the serpent, one of which lighting
on his head, killed him. And then there were
great exclamations of triumph. But I was not
allowed to approach till the beast's head was
smashed into an undistinguishable mass. Having
contemplated the object of his victory for some
time in utter silence, the placidity and taciturnity
of my companion returned; he mounted his horse
and resumed his journey, silent as before. The
fact is, that all the snakes in this country are
highly venomous, their bite quickly destroying
life, unless immediate aid be at hand; and there-
fore the people of the country, though very much

80 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

afraid of them, think it their bounden duty and a
point of honour to kill them whenever they see
them. It is strange, that we are all so moved
with disgust at the sight of a serpent, whether it
be venomous or not ; for, indeed, a snake, glis-
tering with its many colours in the morning sun,
rolling along with head erect through the dew-
spangled grass, is a beautiful object. It must be
a traditional terror which we feel, I suppose, en-
grafted in us from the time when "the spirited
sly snake " worked our common mother's fall.

Jan. 30. — Bought sufficient red cloth of a
tradesman in Lauuceston for an altar-cloth. I
intend it for White Hills Church.

Feb. 6. — Rode into Launceston and back. The
heat was intense, and there was a fog in the after-
noon, like a London November fog. People left
off work two hours before their time, thinking it
was sun-down.

Feb. 9 (Sunday). — Administered the Sacrament
at St. Peter's to twelve communicants. Used a
new white cloth, which has had a beautiful fringe
crochctted for it by the ladies of the district. Took
the new crimson altar-cloth to the White Hills
Church. The people were much pleased with it.
They had never seen one before.

Feb. 12. — To-day took place a great cricket-
match between the gentlemen of Port Phillip and
those of Tasmania. The Port Phillipians have

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 81

come over expressly, and are of course treated
by the Van Diemonians with great consideration
and hospitality. The islanders beat those of the
continent, with three wickets to go down.

Feb. 17. — The Victoria cricketers left the
Launceston wharf in the " Shamrock " steamer,
amid much shouting and noisy adieux.

Feb. 20. — One of my people, a respectable
small farmer and father of a family, met me on
the road, grasped my mare's bridle, and fran-
tically waved a letter before my face. It was a
dirty valentine, containing an ugly caricature,
which he had received by the post. He suspected
that certain relations, thoughtless young girls,
had sent it him. Hinc furor. I promised him I
would use my influence that the insult should
not be repeated. I could hardly help laughing
when I saw it first. If I had laughed, it is
probable that the Wesleyans would have gained
a very decent family.

Feb. 21. — Fished all the morning, and caught
one (so-called) herring, and three dozen (so-
called) trout. The fish here are soft, and require
soaking a night in salt and water, or water with
vinegar, previous to cooking. Dreadful details
are reaching us of the great bush fires which
took place at Port Phillip on the 6th of this
month. It was the smoke which caused the
thickness of atmosphere here on that day,

82 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

although the seat of the fire was 150 miles away,
and Basses Straits lay between. This great fire,
caused by the imprudence or carelessness of some
camping bullock-drivers, devastated, with the
rapidity of lightning, a great part of the western
portion of the province of Port Phillip. It ran
along the dry grass of the plains with incredible
swiftness, destroying the stock. When it reached
a forest, the fiery hurricane leaped from tree top
to tree top faster than the speed of a galloping
horse, forming a terrible roof for the affrighted
traveller, whilst slower fires burned downwards,
and completed the devastation of the trees. The
occupants of sheep-stations and shepherds' huts
could only save themselves by precipitate flight,
leaving the folded sheep to their inevitable fate.
In one instance the devouring, insatiable element,
rushed on so fast, that the inhabitant of a cottage
had barely time to jump up to his neck in a
water-hole, whence he saw, without a possibility
of assisting them, his shrieking wife and six
children consumed. The loss of human life, of
sheep, of cattle, of houses, of pasture, has been
terrible, and many families have been reduced to
utter ruin. Already it would seem that the
appellation of " Black Thursday " has been
given to the Gth February, 1851, for it was on
that day that the fires raged with the greatest
fury.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 83

Feb. 22. — Read the following " Pensees de
Pascal/' which seem to have a happy con-
nexion.

" II est dangereux de trop faire voir a l'homme
combien il est egal aux betes, sans lui montrer
sa grandeur. II est encore dangereux de lui
faire trop voir sa grandeur sans sa bassesse. II
est encore plus dangereux de lui laisser ignorer
Fun et l'autre. Mais il est tres avantageux de
lui representer Fun et l'autre."

Now he show's man's bassesse : —

" Voila notre etat veritable. C'est ce qui
resserre nos connaissances en de certaines bornes
que nous ne passons pas, incapables de savoir
tout, et d'ignorer tout absolument. Nous sommes
sur un milieu vaste, toujours incertains, et flot-
tants entre l'ignorance et la connaissance ; et, si
nous pensons aller plus avant, notre objet branle
et echappe a nos prises; il se derobe et fuit d'une
fuite eternelle : rien ne peut l'arreter. C'est
notre condition naturelle, et toutefois la plus
contraire a notre inclination. Nous brulons du
desir d'approfondir tout, et d'edifier une tour qui
s'eleve jusqu'a Pinfini. Mais tout notre edifice
craque, et la terre s'ouvre jusqu'aux abimes."

Sad enough. Now for the more exalted side,
the grandeur' : —

" L'homme est si grand, que sa grandeur
parait meme en ce qu'il se connait miserable. Un

84 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

arbre ne se connait pas miserable. II est vrai
que c'est etre miserable que de se connaitre
miserable; mais aussi c'est etre grand que de
connaitre qu'on est miserable. Ainsi toutes ces
miseres prouvent sa grandeur. Ce sont miseres
de grand seigneur, miseres d'un roi depossede."

Thus, then, does the great writer first lay
before us our bassesse, and then our grandeur.

March 2 (Sunday). — Service at White Hills
Church in the morning. Some incendiary has
burnt 300 bushels of wheat and 19 tons of hay
in the close vicinity of the church. A great
many Methodists assisted at the Evening Service
at Patterson's Plains.

March 5 (Ash- Wednesday). — Rode to White
Hills and read the Commination Service to nine
children and four adults. A gentleman, a squat-
ter of the Edward River district, in the province
of New South Wales, called upon me, and of
himself, and in the name of his neighbours,
begged me to act as chaplain to the sparse and
isolated white population of those remote parts.
He candidly told me that the country was not
very inviting, being subject to great heats in
summer and heavy rains in winter; but that the
people there, chiefly consisting of shepherds and
hut-keepers, were sadly in want of pastoral super-
intendence, which, until now, they had not been
able to obtain. No clergyman had as yet been

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 85

found, he said, to undertake the arduous charge.
I determined to go there, thinking that there is a
greater want of a clergyman in such a district
than in such a settled and orderly diocese as
Tasmania.

March 12. — Wished a great many of my
parishioners good-by. Had a fine stuffed male
platypus given me, which had been caught in a
river of my district.

March 16 (Sunday). — Read the Prayers at
Trinity Church, Launceston. The Bishop preached
a very excellent sermon on baptismal regene-
ration. In the evening the Bishop read Prayers,
and I preached.

March 17. — Breakfasted with the Bishop, at
the house of a mutual friend. Afterwards I
explained to his lordship that I was anxious to
enter upon a sphere of labour more arduous than
that of a parish in Tasmania ; that a gentleman
from the remote district of the Edward River had
entreated me to undertake a very difficult charge
in those regions, which no one else could be
found to undertake, and that I had decided to go
there, and do my best in a country which, in an
ecclesiastical sense, seemed as unpromising as any
I could weil have chosen. The Bishop expressed
his regrets for the decision I had made, and
wished me every success in my new undertaking.
Thus finished my interview with one of the most

86 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

worthy and talented bishops which the Anglican
Church possesses. Afterwards I rode back into
the country, and took affectionate farewells of
several of my late parishioners.

March 18. — Left the Launceston Wharf in
the " Shamrock" steamer, and steamed down to
George Town at the mouth of the Tamar, where
we anchored for the night.

March 19. — All day at sea, but hugging the
land. We have between thirty and forty cuddy
passengers aboard, and one hundred and thirty
steerage. At sunset we arrived at Circular Head,
a promontory to the extreme north of Tasmania,
where we landed some of our passengers.

March 20. — All day at sea, traversing Bass's
Straits. At noon arrived in the soft, delicious
Australian atmosphere. At three we entered
Port Phillip Heads, and in the evening anchored
at Hobson's Bay, under a bright moon's rays.

March 21. — Weighed anchor early. Steamed
up the Yarra with its thousand smells, and at
seven debarked at the Melbourne Wharf.

April 4. — A gentleman here, who is an enthu-
siastic believer of all the marvels of animal mag-
netism, begged me to pass the evening with him,
that I might see a black from the Murray ex-
perimented on. This gentleman, I hear, con-
ceives that animal magnetism acts as a valuable
substitute for all revealed religion ; and that

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 87

Christ becomes a dead letter by the side of
Mesrner. The Murray boy when magnetised
went through a number of wonderful feats, which
could hardly have been the result of collusion
with my host, who is a man of character. For
instance, the operator drew an imaginary circle
round him, and he tried in vain to overstep it.
His limbs were rendered cataleptic, and were held
motionless for a longtime in strained and painful
positions. The science of phrenology was brought
into play, too. When his organ of combativeness
was touched, he wanted to fight everybody : the
operator's finger on the bump of benevolence
caused him, with the rapidity of lightning, to
commence divesting himself of his clothes to give
tbem away, which display was effectually stopped
by the finger being shifted to secretiveness or
acquisitiveness ; and so on. I could hardly doubt
that it was a bond fide transaction. In the per-
formance of the evening I saw nothing to con-
vince me that Christianity is in danger from
mesmerism, but I saw sufficient to convince me
that mesmerism is a science which might easily
perplex superficial and unstable minds. Mesrner,
I find, was born in 1734; in Vienna, it is be-
lieved. In 1766 he took his degree of Doctor
of Medicine in Vienna. The subject of his thesis
on that occasion was, " The influence of planets
on the human body." The conclusion he arrived

88 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

at in this theme was, that as the planets act the
one on the other, as the sun and moon act on
our atmosphere and on our seas, so these great
bodies act on animated bodies, especially on the
nervous system, by means of a very subtle, all-
penetrating fluid. And also, that as under this
influence there exists in the sea the perpetual
operation of a flux and reflux, so also in animated
bodies there is a tension and relaxation, just like
the tides. This subtle fluid, the general agent in
these changes, resembles very much the magnet
in its properties ; consequently its name should
be Animal Magnetism.

April 13 {Sunday in Passion Week). — Heard a
very good sermon from the Bishop of Melbourne.

April 1 8 ( Good-Friday). — The terrible drought
still continues drying up all the feed for the stock.
In the neighbourhood of Melbourne, oxen are
dropping down in the yoke from starvation.
Witnessed a wonderfully beautiful sunset from
the Botanical Gardens.

Aprils. — Rode to St. Kilda, and then along
the beach to Brighton. The day was most trans-
lucent; the bay like a tranquil lake; and to the
westward, the mountain called Station Peak
stood out bold and sharp against the clear blue
sky. Saw the carcases of bullocks dead of star-
vation lying about ; and on the banks of the
Yarra there arc numberless carcases to be seen.

TN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 89

Weak with hunger, the poor beasts stagger down
to the river to drink, get bogged in the mud,
are unable to disengage themselves, and so die
lingeringly. And very piteous it is to see them
thus dying by inches, all helpless and mute.

May 1. — Received a letter from the Bishop of
Sydney, licensing me to the Edward River dis-
trict.

May 15. — Started with my friends into the
interior, to take possession of my pastoral charge.
We lunched first, and did not get away till four
in the afternoon. I find it is the custom of the
settlers here, when undertaking a long journey,
to make a short spell on the evening of the first
day. Two of my companions drove a tandem ;
another and myself rode together on horseback,
each leading a horse. If a horse is well trained
to follow, this leading is pleasant enough, for
two horses travel together better than one, but
if a led horse jibs or shies, he makes himself very
troublesome and uncomfortable. After dark we
arrived at Keilor, where there is a good inn.
These country inns are becoming very valuable
property. Five days ago the inn at Seymour was
sold for 4900/. The quantity of spirits sold at
the bar is great, and an immense profit is made
somehow by that which is sold.

May 16. — Rode to Carlsruhe, a distance of
about forty miles, where we arrived nearly be-

90 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

nighted, very tired, and very cold. The ride
through the Black Forest was wet and dreary.

May 17. — Rode through a fertile, undulating
country, for thirty miles, and slept at FarreFs
inn.

May 1 8. — Lunched at Mr. E 's station, and

by nightfall arrived, after a forty-mile ride, at an
excellent inn, called the Campaspie inn, kept by
a most respectable man of the name of Barrow.
On the table in the sitting-room were a quantity
of books, among which I noticed the " Penny
Magazine," some of Chambers' Works, and Bul-
vver's. A few yards from the doors were savages
sleeping around their watchfires. Strange mixture
of barbarism and civilisation !

May 19. — Still continued our course north-
ward, over fertile plains devoted to sheep pas-
tures. Lunched at Mr. Sims's station, and ar-
rived at Hopwood's inn, on the Murray, at night-
fall, after a ride of thirty-five miles. Having
crossed the Murray, I am no longer in the Port
Phillip province, but in that of New South Wales,
the capital of which is Sydney. I now enter on
my clerical duties.

May 20. — Rested all day, and was hospitably

entertained by a Mr. S , who has a boiliog-

down establishment in the immediate neighbour-
hood. Baptized a child. Held Divine Service in
the wool-shed. Twenty persons attended, chiefly

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 91

people employed by Mr. S . Although it

was not Sunday, they dressed for the occasion,
and behaved most decorously, making the re-
sponses with an aptitude which would shame
the old " Parson-and-Clerk" system of some
churches in England. They are a very rough
lot though, induced by a restless spirit, or per-
haps something worse, to come into this remote
district. The inn where I slept is nothing but a
large weather-board hut, with three or four bed-
rooms and a sitting-room ; but it is clean and
comfortable, and has some entertaining books in
the sitting-room ; such as Bulwer's " Godolphin,"
the u Penny Magazine/' Chambers, and Gifford's
translation of " Juvenal and Persius." It is
almost entirely supported by the bar business.
The Murray just here is about eighty or a hun-
dred yards across, running between high banks.
The depth is about fifteen to twenty-five feet. It
never dries up, like most of the Australian rivers,
but is navigable, save at certain periods of the
year, from Albury to the sea. Thus, to compare
very small things with very great, it may be
called the Mississippi of Australia. It must here-
after act a great part in developing the internal
resources of Australia.

May 21. — Although the days are very fine
the nights and eai'ly mornings are intensely cold,
so that we were not very much surprised at seeing

92 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the horses, which had been out in a paddock all
night, look very much tucked up. Started early,
and passed through a dismal tract of country,
consisting of ungrassy plains, lugubrious gum-
trees, and stunted bushes, called salt-bush. I
am told that these salt-bushes afford a most suc-
culent nourishment for the sheep, when there is
no grass. Lunched from provisions we had with
us around a fire which we made. We then left
the beaten track, and plunged into a forest of
thick brushwood, travelling by the sun. After a
long and weary ride in the dark, we arrived at
a Mr. C 's station. The horses, after travel-
ling thirty -six miles without baiting, were put
into a paddock with no grass in it. I under-
stand that, in this country, horses can travel very
far on very little nourishment.

May 22. — Baptized the female child of my
host, and travelled for sixteen miles through a
thickly -wooded country to a small hut, where
we slept on the floor. We should have had no-
thing for supper if we had not killed a poor old
hen, who was unconsciously roosting on the roof
of the hut.

May 23. — Started at daybreak, and travelled
till long after dark. A most uninteresting coun-
try, consisting of grassless plains, studded with
the withered-looking salt-bush, and bounded by
forests of the gum-tree, with its foliage of faded

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 93

green. Had no food at all till two in the after-
noon. Late in the evening arrived at a township
on the Edward River, called Moolamon, wearied
out, having ridden forty-six miles at least. This
locality, consisting of an inn, a store, a court-
house, and two sheep-stations, and a few other
miserable wooden huts, must be considered, I
suppose, the chief place of my district.

May 24. — Bi'eakfasted with an Australian
gentleman, a squatter here, and afterwards rode
for twenty-two miles along the banks of the
Edward River, until I came to a station called
Moolpar, which, for the present, I am to make
my head-quarters and home. I am very glad to
have done with travelling; for I am quite tired,
having, since the lcth of this month, ridden 280
miles.

May 25 (Sunday). — Before breakfast read one
of the admirable Family Prayers of Bishop Blom-
field. At eleven the servants of the home-station
were called in, and I read the Litany and
preached a sei-mon. All were very attentive.
Before going to bed I read the Evening Prayers,
and preached a second sermon.

May 26. — Strolled about the environs of the
station, and, by means of a small bit of tobacco,
made friends with an intelligent black fellow,
named Charley. Tried to get out of him some
definite information about a wonderful creature,

94 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

much talked of here, called the bunyip. Some
say it is an amphibious animal, which makes its
home at the bottom of deep water-holes in the
beds of rivers, and which draws down blacks,
whilst bathing, to devour them ; sometimes even
pursuing them on the banks. Others assert that
it is a beast, like a small hippopotamus, which
lives among the reeds in the marshes by the side
of rivers, and which causes great harm and loss
to the indigenes, by sallying out at night and
destroying the apparatus for catching fish : others
declare that it is a gigantic, blood-thirsty otter,
that eats children when it can catch them. When
I asked Charley to portray me one on the dust
with the point of my stick, he drew a great bird.
I suspect that this creature does not exist now,
even if it has once existed. The savages, how-
ever, unanimously declare that some voracious
animal exists in or about their rivers, and they
have a great dread of it. It may be a tradition
that they have, just as we have of dragons.

May 27. — Took a survey of the sheep-station
where I live, and its position. It stands on the
north bank of the Edward River, which is an
offshoot of the Murray, on the verge of an exten-
sive plain, which reaches to the Murrumbidgce
River. Close by it is an extensive paddock, in
which are kept visitors' horses, and those horses
of the establishment which are required for im-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 95

mediate service. There is also a piece of land
laid down with oats, which, for the last three
years, have grown up very well, and just when
ready to be cut have been blasted by the furnace-
like north wind. The station itself is a large
cottage, partly constructed of weather-board and
partly of rough planks, fitting into grooves, top
and bottom, which are cut in the main timbers.
A large apartment, with an immense fire-hearth,
serves as the living-room, whilst around are con-
structed five or six little dens, which serve as
bedrooms. The out-buildings consist of a store
— where are kept the flour and other provisions
of the establishment — a stable and a dray-shed.
Farther off is a small paddock, called a stock-
yard, inclosed by a high, strong rail, into which
the horse and cattle stock are driven for inspection
or otherwise. The Edward River partakes of the
nature of most of the Australian streams. At
times it is full to overflowing; at times entirely
dried up; but contains, at intervals, deep ponds
or water-holes, of fresh, clear water, which seldom
or never dry up, and which alone render this
country habitable. It is now so empty of all
moisture, that I can hardly picture it to myself
as what it must be when the great rains com-
mence. Close to the head-station is a camp of
the natives, consisting of fifty or sixty men,
women, and children, and innumerable mongrel,

96 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

mangy dogs. These poor people pick up what
they can get, and make themselves useful in
many ways. But they like their wild life, and
cannot be prevailed on to enter into regular
service.

June 1 {Sunday). — Rode into the township of
Moolamon to hold Divine Service. It is a dis-
tance of about twenty-two miles, and the road
lies through forest and plain, by river-side and
over sand-hill. These sand-hills are studded over
the vast plains of the district, and are thickly
planted with pine-trees, which at early morning
and at evening send forth a most grateful fra-
grancy. And most refreshing is it, after tra-
versing in the drought season dreary wastes,
barren of all verdure, to enter the domains of a
sand-hill, standing like an oasis in the desert,
with its green grass and its innumerable shade-
giving pines. How they came here no one seems
to know ; perhaps they were caused by the eddies
of a great flood, which might some time have
swept over the face of the country. When I
arrived at Moolamon I found a congregation
of about thirty people, chiefly women and chil-
dren, waiting for me in a log- building, called
the Court-House. After the second lesson I
baptized three children, to see which ceremony
numbers of blacks crowded the door. My chief
supporter here — an Australian gentleman — could

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. ( J7

not attend, being laid up by that curse of
Australia, ophthalmia, or sandy blight. His eyes
are bandaged over, and he is suffering excruci-
ating pain. Got back to my station by dusk.

Jane 3. — Tried to find out a neighbouring
station by compass, but could not. Experienced
bush men say that a compass rather perplexes
them than otherwise. They guide themselves in
day-time by the sun, and by the Southern Cross
at night. Was present at the slaughtering of
a beast for home consumption. A large lot of
cattle had been driven from the plains into the
stock-yard, and there the creatures were huddled,
all in confusion, and looking very wild, lowing,
butting one another, and making short runs,
trying to find a way of exit. The superintendent
came with a fowling-piece loaded with ball, picked
out a likely beast to kill, and aimed at the
centre of his forehead, wishing to kill him at one
shot ; but the creature would not stand steady,
and shifted his position continually : then he
picked out another, but neither would he stand
steady ; and then, tired of waiting, and out of
temper, he aimed at a steady old cow, great with
calf, and shot her dead. In a moment the rails
of the entrance to the stock-yard were thrown
on the ground, and all the herd rushed furiously
out, and galloped towards the plains, — all save the
defunct animal, which lay dead. Her throat was

98 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

then cut, and she was hoisted up with tackling,
and skinned and quartered in an incredibly short
space of time. Then the blacks, with great glee,
gathered round, and carried off the head, the
feet, the heart, liver, &c, in immense triumph to
their camp ; and, joy of joys to them, the calf
was nearly full-grown, and its poor little carcase
was trailed along the ground, followed by an
infinity of dogs, all licking it. Although it has
been said that we are all of us at heart only
savages dressed up, I must confess that this was
a sufficiently disagreeable sight to me, and I
never wish to witness the slaughtering of a beast
again.

June 4. — On horseback from eleven until six,
visiting the out-stations. These stations are in-
habited by two men, — the one, a shepherd, who
takes care of the sheep by clay ; the other, a hut-
keeper, who cooks for his mate, and is responsible
for the sheep by night. The hut is rudely built
of logs or planks, has a large chimney also of
wood, and contains two stretchers and a few
utensils. At the fire is a pannikin of tea always
to be found. Far away in the plains, at a dis-
tance of perhaps twenty miles from the head-
station, do these poor exiles stupidly vegetate,
tending stupid sheep, for sheep are the most
stupid of animals. Now and then some blacks
puss by. Once a- week they get their rations from

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 99

the head-station. At times the superintendent
rides over to see how the stock is getting on.
With these exceptions, their life floats by them
like a lazy dream. The sheep here run in flocks
of from 1500 to 3000, and if the shepherd is worth
anything, he ought to keep them moving gently,
so to eat clown the run fairly. But very often
it happens that he goes to sleep, or leaves them,
whilst he idles at the hut, and so the sheep loiter,
and do not get well pastured, for a sheep is a most
uninstinctive beast, and must not be left to itself :
it is, as a young shepherd once remarked to me,
" the most spooney of animals, I assui-e you,
sir." The shepherds about here are many of
them old convicts from the Sydney side, many
of them fugitives from the sea-board for some
crime, but nearly all of them have brought on a
premature old age from early excesses, and are
suffering from various chronic diseases. One of
the men whom I visited to-day is, I am assured,
so accustomed to take corrosive sublimate, that
he will lick it up from the palm of his hand : his
name is Mulligan, and he is an excellent shep-
herd. At the end of their year's engagement
they go to the home -station to get their wages,
which amount to between 18/. and 25/. Then
comes a fierce change, from fasting in the desert
for a year on salted meat and tea and un-
leavened bread. They take their wages to the

100 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

nearest public-house, and begin eating and drink-
ing furiously. I have heard of a man eating two
bottles of pickles without stirring from the spot.
And as to drinking, it is really frightful. They
will drink all sorts of liquors till they get
delirium tremens, whilst the whole vicinity of the
public-house resounds with drunken impreca
tions. By and by they awake from the sick
lethargy into which they have fallen, and find
that all their earnings have melted away in ale
and porter, wine and rum. They then sadly and
slowly wend their way to their solitary hut in the
plains, to resume for another year their deaden-
ing life of petrifaction. I believe that all the
liquors sold at the " publics " are terribly adul-
terated, the rum with tobacco especially ; and it
is this adulteration which induces delirium tre-
mens. To-day I have seen seven or eight shep-
herds and hut -keepers, of whom two are old " lags"
(so convicts are called), and two from Pentonville,
or as they arc called here, " Penton-Villains."
They were all very civil and teachable. I tried
to impress on them that I took a personal interest
in their welfare, and that they might look upon
me not so much in the light of a paid Minister
as of a personal friend. There is no feeling so
demoralising to a man as that of being alienated
from all surrounding human sympathies. Such a
Jceling with some produces recklessness {iucuria),

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 101

with others despair. The former, among the
lower classes, sometimes leads to terrible results.
Their hand is against every man. If a clergyman
would bear in mind that great truth propounded
by Rochefoucault, that self-love is the spring
of all men's actions and determinations, he would
make personal appeals to his flock in private,
rather than appeal to them in the mass from his
pulpit ; for there is nothing that we like so much
as being taken notice of by our superiors : it
touches our self-love. That which I endeavoured
chiefly to persuade these poor men was, that they
should not spend their wages in those horrible
drinking-bouts, but save them until they could
get sufficient to establish themselves in some
more lucrative mode of life ; but they answered,
" Ah, sir, if you lived here by yourself a whole
twelvemonth, with nothing but salt rations and
that raking green tea, you would like a change
sometimes." And I can believe them, for my
food is coarse enough, and I have nothing to
drink but coarse green tea, tasting strongly of
copper, mixed with coarse brown-black sugar,
flavoured with the perambulations of large, strong-
smelling, red ants. This tea, which for the most
part is drunk without milk, owing to their indo-
lence in not breaking in cows for milking, costs
only Is. a pound in Melbourne, and is as near
poison as can be : the sugar alone renders it

102 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

endurable. As for eating, I have salt beef, fatless
(for they always slaughter the poorest beasts for
home consumption), hot for dinner and cold for
breakfast. Vegetables are rarely seen in these
quarters, and the bread is of coarse flour, and
unleavened. I rejoined, that this miserable fare
was the very reason why they should get into
another mode of life as soon as they could save
a little money, and entreated them to consider
their responsibilities as Christian men. I told
them that their master took as much interest
in their spiritual welfare as I did, and that he
would willingly keep their money for them. I
gave them some books to read, and so went my
way, they thanking me very cordially, I said
very little to them on religious matters, this
being my first interview with them, for there
is nothing that the lower orders of English
dislike so much as having, as they term it, re-
ligion thrust down their throats by a person who
is strange to them. Let us, clergymen, show our
people that we have their welfare at heart, and
they will submit to as much exhortation and
reproof as we like to give them. Rode through
a forest of short trees, consisting of innumerable
stripling trunks springing from one root. This
is called Malice scrub, or Eucalyptus Dumosa,
and is almost impenetrable to man and horse.
1'iisscd over vast grassless plains, of a light clayey

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 103

soil, thickly variegated by sickly-looking prickly
brush. In the distance I saw careering a mob of
five emu, with the speed of a race-horse. The
grass not having sprung up yet, the whole
country has a most miserable aspect; but yet
the sheep are looking admirably, owing to the
succulent verdure of the salt-bush which grows
on the plains. It is this shrub which makes this
hot district, which is called the India of Australia,
so valuable. The saline succulence of the salt-
bush is meat and drink to the sheep during the
greatest droughts. Although our horses had
been out seven hours in a hot sun, without
refreshment of any sort, they showed no fatigue ;
owing, I suppose, to the dryness and elasticity of
the air.

June 9. — Heavy rain from morning until night.
Find that the blacks construct their shelters so as
to be impervious to wet. They have no huts, but
support pieces of bark in a sloping position on
sticks. As the wind shifts, they shift their bark.
They lie with their heads and shoulders inside,
and their feet towards the entrance, where a fire
is kept up. Last night a black woman was de-
livered of a half-caste child. I sent her some
gruel, but found that she shared it with all around
her. She talks of killing (he child, but I hope,
by threats and bribery, to dissuade her from so
great a sin. I am told that probably she will not

104 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

do it now, but will let it grow even until it attain
the age of four, five, or six years, and then it will
mysteriously disappear. She will deny that it has
been killed, and on being questioned, will coolly
remark that it was taken ill and died suddenly.
This conduct probably arises from the fear that
if the half-castes were permitted to live, they
would obtain too great an influence in their re-
spective tribes.

June 11. — Went fishing with Charley the
black, but was unsuccessful. He used a spear,
and watched motionless until fish should pass,
that he might pierce them ; but none came.
Charley does not seem to have an idea of a good
creative Spirit, but has much fear of a bad de-
structive spirit, whom he calls debil-debil. But
the error of devil-worship is not peculiar to the
Australian indigenes. Went on the plains to
gather mushrooms, which have sprung up in great
abundance during the late rain. They have an
excellent taste. The blacks, however, prefer a
poisonous -looking, disgusting, yellow fungus.
They are very odd in their tastes. They will not
touch salt ; and they think delicious, wild-fowls'
eggs, when the chicks are near ready to be
hatched.

June 13. — During the last two days, and to-
day, the rain has descended in torrents. I have
employed a considerable portion of to-day in ex-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 105

amining a map of the country which the Bishop
of Sydney has allotted to me for my pastoral
labours. I find that between the Adelaide bound-
ary westward, to Albury, eastward, there are six
degrees of longitude ; and that from the Murray,
at the junction of the Campaspie, south, to the
Murrumhidgee, at the junction of the Lachlan,
north, there intervenes a degree and a half of
latitude. My district, then, is comprised between
141° and 147° east longitude, and between about
34° and 36° south latitude. All this vast country
lies in the interior, at the back of the colony of Port
Phillip, or Australia Felix, as it is appropriately
called, and has, I believe, been penetrated and
taken up by squatters only within the last six or
seven years. The Government map chai*acterises
it as consisting of " table land," " supposed
hilly country," " dense mallee scrub/' " exten-
sive open plains," " polygonum scrub," " low,
level, timbered country," "forest and scrubby
country," " barren country," " open forest coun-
try;" whilst towards the east exist ''granitic
ranges." It is copiously watered, and during a
portion of the year flooded, by the rivers Mur-
ray, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Darling, Edward,
Neimur, and Wakool, which three last are
nothing more than branches of the Murray,
leaving the parent river through the channels of
what are called the Gulpha and Tuppal Creeks,

106 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

meandering in tortuous windings through a hun-
dred miles of country in a westerly direction, and
uniting in one common stream called the Logan,
through the bed of which the errant waters
hasten to rejoin their long-abandoned parent.
Two other small water-courses, called creeks,*
the Yanko and the Billebong, at one period of
the year dry, at another full of water, serve, the
one to connect the Murrumbidgee with the Ed-
ward, the other to render habitable a large tract
of arid country. To the westward is the Golgol
Creek, containing backwater from the Murray;
also the Bengallow. Several lakes, too, exist in
this vast district, such as Benanee, Paika, Tala,
Yanga ; but they get very dry during the
droughts. The s;eneral characteristics of this
country are, I am told, immense plains, bounded
by belts of forest land, in which the gum-tree
predominates, but which also contain the sheacke
and the box, the polygonum scrub, and the tea-
tree. Here and there are to be seen sand-hills,
covered with innumerable pine-trees. The plains
would be unfit for the pasture of sheep during a
great portion of the year, if it were not for the
salt-bush, prickly bush, and pig-face, which stud
them thickly over, and fatten sheep where not a
blade of grass is to be seen. Over the country

* Creek is a term used by the early explorers, to denote the
smaller interior streams, cither tributary or independent.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 107

which I have been just endeavouring to describe
are distributed eighty to a hundred squatters, who
all pasture sheep or cattle, and who rent from the
Government large tracts of land, thoroughly use-
less for any other purpose. Some of these reside
on their stations, some are absentees ; some are
small stockholders, having their thousand or two
thousand sheep, or their four or five hundred head
of cattle ; whilst others have their twenty or thirty
thousand sheep, or their four thousand head of
cattle. Of these squatters many are educated
gentlemen, many are enterprising Scotchmen;
all are intelligent persons, well calculated to cope
with the difficulties which surround them. Many
of them began life as prodigals, and have now
tamed down into wealthy proprietors. This dis-
trict is thinly populated by innumerable small
tribes of blacks, whom some call Malays, others
Australian negroes. To those poor savages the
arts and sciences are quite unknown. Strongly
gifted with the perceptive, entirely wanting in the
reflective faculty, they pass their time living on
the precarious tenure of the chase, too idle to till
the ground, and too careless even to construct
huts. The kangaroo, the emu, the wild turkey,
the opossum, and fish, afford them food, and
these they kill with the spear and the boomerang,
for they have not arrived even at the art of
making bows and arrows, nor are fish-nets by any

108 DIARY OP A WORKING CLERGYMAN

means general amongst them. The}' are divided
into small tribes or clans, to which tradition has
appropriated a certain district, which is never
overpassed with impunity, unless by a friendly
tribe. Each clan has a nominal chief, who is
expected to head them in their fights; but he,
with the rest, is subject to a senate, which is
composed of the old men ; who, in their turn, can
only act on the usages established among them
from time immemorial. Whether their chieftain-
ship is elective or hereditary I cannot learn. I
suspect that it is hereditary, with exceptions in
certain cases. With regard to religion, they come
up to my idea of pure Atheism, for they have no
idea of a God, no name for him, no worship of any
sort — not even idol-worship. They have no definite
idea of an evil spirit, nor have they any idea of
an after-life ; though, for some time after the death
of one of their tribe, they have a perfect horror
of the dark, and on no account mention the
name of the deceased. This they carry to such
an extent, that should the dead person bear the
name of any object, animate or inanimate, that
name is immediately changed. In morals they
are Socialists, and Socialists to the most ex-
aggerated extent. I cannot repeat all that I
have heard on this subject. AVith regard to
their wives, a man has seldom more than two,
and the second is rarely taken until the first is

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 109

old and worn out. The new wife then acts as
handmaid to the other. If a wife is discovered
to be unfaithful to her husband, which is not a
common occurrence, she receives a good beating
from him, and the affair passes. Infidelity, how-
ever, with a white, is esteemed an honour to the
tribe ; and, considering their ugliness and filthy
habits, not without reason, one would imagine.
The poor creatures have much perceptive intelli-
gence : shoot well, ride well, make excellent
mounted police, are very honest, not addicted to
pilfering, great newsmongers, wonderful mimics,
and pick up our language very rapidly : but they
cannot count ; they can relate no traditions of
the past, and seem utterly impervious to all
religious teaching : not that they resist it at all;
they are delighted with the honour done to them,
especially when the doctrine is accompanied by
tobacco ; but it all passes through their heads
and hearts as water through a sieve. Each tribe
has an individual who is set apart to perform the
functions of medical man and magician. Him
they call " Doc-doc," and he is expected to cure
diseases, which he sometimes does by a mesmeric
process, to charm down rain, or to curse the
unruly members of the tribe. These things he
does at the request of the old men, whose tool he
is. So that, alter all, their form of government

110 DIARY Of A WORKING CLERGYMAN

is nothing new. Other nations, not calling them-
selves barbarous, have, and have had in times
past, their nominal chief, their oligarchy, and
their established church. The men and women
go entirely naked in summer ; in winter they wear
opossum-skins. This, then, is my district, and
it is my duty to visit from station to station, to
hold morning and evening prayers, and to endea-
vour to impart spiritual knowledge and religious
consolation to the white people scattered up and
down in this wilderness. May God grant me
power to do it as I should ! I am not sent as
missionary to the blacks, but I will study their
character closely, and prevent the publicans from
giving them fermented and spirituous liquors.

June 15 [Trinity Sunday). — Rode to the Poon
Boon station, belonging to the Royal Bank
Company, where there are no less than 35,000

sheep. A Mr. M , a very gentlemanlike

young man, is superintendent of this important
property. He is evidently anxious to forward
my views in every way that he can. As he was
not certain of my coming to-day, he could only
get together a congregation of ten. There are
two unbaptized children in the neighbourhood,
whose parents defer baptism under various flimsy
pretexts. Returned to my head-quarters to a
seven-o'clock dinner, after a fatiguing ride over

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. Ill

boggy plains, with difficulty fording the Wakool
river, and had evening service before going to
bed.

June 18. — Received letters and newspapers
from Melbourne, which last are full of accounts
of the discovery of gold in New South Wales.
This discovery is occasioning immeasurable ex-
citement.

June 19 — Rode to a small station about twenty
miles away, on the right bank of the Logan. The
track lay through extensive plains, rendered soft
by the late rains. The host and hostess were hard-
working, aud in every way respectable Scotch
people, of the Presbyterian persuasion, who re-
ceived us most hospitably. On the river's bank
near there, a solitary rock of red sandstone seems
to have grown up like a plant, and protrudes
far into the river's course. Before retiring for
the night I read the Lessons for the evening,
expounding as I read, and some of the prayers.
My accommodation for the night was coarse, but
the hearty welcome refined everything.

June 22 (Su?iday). — Had Divine Service at the
Court- House, Moolamon. Thirty-five were pre-
sent. Baptized two children after the Second
Lesson. The blacks, as before, crowded the
door; and I understand, on account of the part
I take in this ceremony, they have given me the

112 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

title of " Maker of children to the white men."
They also call me " White man's Doc-doc."

June 24. — Commenced a visitation in the
eastern part of my district. Commenced by
having the horses swum over a creek : then sad-
dled them, and proceeded due east on the north
bank of the Edward. Our journey was extremely
fatiguing, for the heavy rains which had fallen
had saturated the clayey soil, so that at times the
horses' going was a succession of plunges. In
places, too, the river had overflooded its banks,
so that we had to wade through water for miles.
It was chiefly low forest-land where the floods
were, and the ragged-looking gum-trees, with
their withered or broken limbs, had a most lu-
gubrious aspect under the threatening sky, sur-
rounded as they were by the seemingly inter-
minable flood. After thirty-two miles of this
wearisome riding I arrived at a large wood hut,
which was a public-house kept by a Scotchman.
The good landlady gave me an excellent bed.

June 25. — Whilst paying my bill to the land-
lady, she told me that the men, when drunk, use
the most horrible language, and she feared her
children would become corrupted. She said (so
I understood) that she paid 250/. a-year rent for
this road-side inn; and I suppose that these
enormous rents force the innkeepers to adulterate

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 113

their liquors. Gave her some advice about keep-
ing her family away from the influence of the
tap, and at eve prosecuted my journey. Found
travelling a repetition of yesterday — saturated
clayey plains, and flooded forest-land at the river-
side. Came to a station where I was warmly
received by three ferocious bull-dogs and coolly
received by the master, so I rode on through the
slush in the midst of a mournful silence, which
seems characteristic of nature here. Called at a
hut where lived a woman with several daugh-
ters ; she was an Irish Romanist, and very bi-
goted. Came up with the postman, who was
riding a Timor pony of thirteen hands, or less ;
these little creatures have a peculiar run of about
"five and a-half miles an hour, which they can keep
up, I hear, for eighty miles, with scarce a stop-
page. They are highly valued on account of
their hardy, indefatigable habits. Just at sunset
we lost our track in a most dismal swarrfp, from
which I thought we never should have emerged.
After much difficulty we arrived at the Sand Hills
public-house at Deniliquin, having waded, as it
were, our horses for thirty-five miles.

June 26. — Rested a 'little. Called on a sur-
geon who is settled in this district. He seems
a quiet, gentleman-like man, and people say that
he is clever. Conversed with a poor fellow suf-
fering from ophthalmia, commonly called sandy

114 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

blight. He told me that the pain was intense,
especially at night ; and I could well believe him,
for his eyes were covered with a purulent dis-
charge. This painful disease is very prevalent
here. It weakens the organs of sight very much,
and the first attack renders them sensitive and
more obnoxious to successive visitations. People
are by no means agreed as to how it is caused.
Some say it is the bite of a fly ; others, grains of
sand blown by the wind; others, heat of blood,
and fever thereupon ensuing. To this last ex-
planation I am disposed to incline. The best
course to be adopted during an attack is to stay
quiet, living very temperately indeed, and taking
daily small doses of cooling medicine, not for-
getting to bathe the eye with a mild lotion of
sulphate of zinc. This being done, the malady
must be patiently allowed to have its course ;
which may occupy one week, or may occupy four,
as the case may be.

June 28. — The mornings and evenings are cold,
although the weather from ten to four is, beyond
all expression, elastic and enjoyable. Called on a
sawyer's wife; distributed tracts; baptized three
children; tried an old entire horse, which is to be
lent me for my excursion up the Billibong. He
is a cream-coloured Arab, and is rather stiff in
the joints. My companion, who also wants a
fresh horse, cannot get one. It is the custom

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 1 1 i ~)

here, when horses are not immediately wanted,
to turn them out on the vast plains. So long as
you do not require their services, you are sure
to see them every now and then either hovering
about the station or coming into the river to
drink. But if one wants them particularly for
some special and urgent service, the perverse
animals, as if moved by some special instinct of
contrariness, are never to be found ; and per-
haps one has to wait a week to catch a glimpse
of a horse, which but a few days ago was always
in sight.

June 29 {Sunday). — Rode to one of Mr. B 's

stations, which is on the Edward. Was most
hospitably received by two steady and intelligent

young Australians of the name of H , but in

consequence of all hands being employed lambing
at the out-stations, could only get together a con-
gregation of seven. To these I read the Prayers
and Litany and preached, and afterwards bap-
tized a child. Find many Romanist families all
about, but they will in no wise avail themselves
of my ministry. Their nearest clergyman is at
Kilmore, forty miles from Melbourne. Rode back
to Warbreccan, and read the Evening Service to
nine persons.

June 30. — Started on a journey of fifty or sixty
miles, along the banks of Billibong Creek, to visit
three or four home-stations. The morning was

116 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

intensely cold, in consequence of the sharp night-
frost ; but when the sun exerted his power, all
thawed, and the road became a channel of half-
solid glue. The scenery, as usual, grassless plains
skirted by belts of timber. Overtook a Billibong
squatter, struggling homewards through the mire
with his wife and family, in two carriages, each
drawn by three horses. He was returning from
Melbourne. He told us that he could not lend
us horses on to the next station after his ; so we
turned back, I resolving to visit this district at

a more favourable season. Returned to B 's

station, after a ride of four-and-twenty miles,
dined, and before going to rest had in eight or
nine of the servants, to whom I read and ex-
pounded the Lessons of the day, and afterwards
availed myself of the Bishop of London's Prayers.
July 2. — My mare came in from the plains
dead lame. This is a most provoking and disap-
pointing country for locomotion. Horses are
numerous as the leaves on the trees, and yet never
to hand ;

" Water, water everywhere,
And not a drop to drink."

Either they are lame, or in foal, or out of condi-
tion, or they have sore backs, or they are out on
the plains ; there is always some hitch with these
indispensable animals. At last a horse was lent
me, and 1 rode across a vast plain covered with

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 117

tufts of prickly bush, and admirably adapted for
pasturage. Rested for the night at a most hos-
pitable station, the lady of which is a Uoman
Catholic. Had prayers at eight p.m., and ex-
pounded the 15th chapter of St. Luke to eleven
persons, including servants.

July 3. — Had prayers non pr&ter solitum, before
breakfast, and baptized a child immediately after
breakfast. My kind host lent me a strong grey
horse, and offered me pasturage for my lame
mare, and then I rode twenty-five miles to the
station of a Mr. L , one of the most intelli-
gent and right-thinking men whom I have yet
met in this country. He was busily engaged in
painting his hut when I rode up, and did not give
me a particularly warm reception at first, which
is often the case with downright, sterling people.
But I soon learned to appreciate him. He is very
anxious to get up a National School at a Township
sixteen miles off, called Maiden's Punt, where is
an important ferry over the Murray. My friend
knows Shakspeare almost by heart ; for often, in
times past, when keeping sheep in the wilderness,
has he sat in a rude log-hut, round which the un-
reclaimed savage was sleeping and the wild-dog
howling, and kept himself awake during the
anxious night by reading at the light of a half-
extinguished fire the grand philosophy of the
" o'erthrown mind " of Hamlet, the eccentricities

118 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

of Launce and his " cruel-hearted cur/' Crab, or
the inextricable woes of " the gentle lady married
to the Moor." Before going to bed, I gave
prayers and explication to a congregation of ten.

July 4. — After Morning Prayers baptized a
child. Saw a young half-caste, who had none of
the Malay features. Hear that the indigenes here
prefer lending their daughters to the white people
to marrying them to their black comrades. If
that be the case, the race must soon disappear,
for the half-caste children are all eventually put
out of the way.

July 5. — Rode to Maiden's Punt, where an
enterprising individual from the Sydney side has
arranged a ferry over the Murray, and started
a very good inn. Here is already formed, or will
shortly be formed, a Township. The hamlet now
consists of an inn and about eight or ten huts, with
a population of about thirty persons, of whom half
are children, all very much neglected.

July 6 (Sunday). — Visited the people. Find
only one Romanist family of four children. About
twelve persons attended Divine Service at the inn.
Baptized two children. The mother of one, a
Romanist, made a great resistance, but the hus-
band — a stanch Protestant — doggedly insisted
on the Sacrament taking place. 1 did not inter-
fere in the slightest degree, but let them arrange
it between themselves. I hope gradually to do

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 119

something in this wild district ; but I foresee that
all progress will be very gradual. I shall not
see this progress myself, but I pray that my suc-
cessor may.

July 7. — Rode to a station belonging to Messrs.

H and B , who are both lately married,

and who have everything very nice about them.
Had family prayers in the evening. One of the
ladies had been used to attend St. Paul's, Knights-
bridge.

July 9. — Travelled to Mr. L 's, on my

return to the Edward.

July 10. — After a ride of twenty-five miles of
intricate steering through the bush, arrived at
Mr. B 'a, where I found my mare sound.

July 11. — Arrived at the Edward River.

July 15. — Travelled to M 's public-house,

a distance of thirty-five miles. Was subjected to
most disgusting noises all night. There were
dogs barking; babies crying; mothers making
even more noise by endeavouring to tranquillise
them ; drunkards blaspheming ; — all this was
going on in a room or rooms contiguous to mine.

July 16. — Rode on in the wet to Moolamon, a
distance of forty miles. The creek there being
swollen, my poor mare had to be swum across it
before her heavy day's work was done. I was
kept awake a great pai't of the night at the public-
house by the most horrible blasphemies, uttered

120 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

by drunken men. To swear by " the Holy
Ghost " seems very much the custom here. But
all my experience in swearing sinks into insigni-
ficance in the face of what I heard to-night.

July 17. — Summoned the landlord, and asked
him how he could permit such language as I heard
last night, and at so late an hour. He apologised,
and assured me that the man who was the chief
offender in the disgusting scene of the previous
evening was a shepherd in the employ of a neigh-
bouring squatter, and that he had the reputation
of being a steady respectable man when sober,
but that, when drunk, he was outrageous. 1 told
him that it was impossible that the utterer of such
language could ever be respectable. Two reflec-
tions crossed my mind : one is, that rum adulte-
rated with tobacco is the most infernal brewage
that can be, for it makes men demons when under
its influence, and brings on delirium tremens in a
very short space of time; the other is, that if we
are not directly responsible for our words and
actions during the temporary madness of intoxi-
cation, we are equally responsible indirectly for all
this by departing from the strict line of sobriety.
Every man knows the peculiar influence that liquor
has on him, and therefore, at the first departure
from sobriety, he becomes responsible for all the
moral phenomena which may become apparent
during his sequent ebfiety. The wretched sinner

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 121

of last night is as amenable to the punishment of
God for his dreadful blasphemies as if he had
uttered them when perfectly sober, because he was
well aware that excess of liquor had always that
peculiar effect on him. Often had he been drunk
before, and as often had he uttered this frightful
language.

July 20 (Sunday). — Had Morning Service at
the Court-House; thirty were present. Exhorted
them against the sin of drunkenness. The Even-
ing Service I held at the house of the magistrate
of the district. Twenty-seven persons, nearly all
men, attended, and behaved most decorously. A
very satisfactory day altogether.

July 23. — Rode to my head-quarters on the
Edward River, having finished my first progress.
I feel convinced that it is absurd for any clergy-
man to undertake the pastoral charge of this dis-
trict, unless he be possessed of an iron consti-
tution and great patience ; and be cheered by
religious enthusiasm. He must combine physical
strength with moral determination, and above all,
he must look for approval to a higher Power than
his fellow-men. I am not aware that my motives
for living among the wild population of these
parts are as much appreciated as one would
imagine they would be.

July 24. — A part of to-day has been employed
in entering my Baptisms into the book. Received

122 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

a very interesting letter from a young Australian,
who is a superintendent of a neighbouring im-
portant station. It runs thus : —

" Rev. and dear Sir, — Your request, that I
would read parts of the Scripture and a short
sermon to my household on each returning Sab-
bath, is highly becoming in one of your sacred
calling, and I hope I shall never live to doubt
the excellent effect of spending the Sabbath in
the manner you point out; although many trivial
causes, the whole of which put together would
not amount to anything like a reason, have
hitherto prevented me from doing so. The sub-
ject has often had my serious consideration, and
I once commenced to read prayers on Sunday,
but failed to carry it through, in what I thought
an acceptable manner, and so I dropped it alto-
gether. But I purpose, God willing, in accord-
ance with your request, to commence the practice
again. — I have the honour to be," &c. &c.

When I consider that this young man has not
had the advantages of an early education, but has
fairly worked himself into his present position by
his industry and steady good sense, with but
little time to improve his mind, I am the more
struck at the simple good taste, and something
more also, which dictated this letter.

July 25. — In the evening I witnessed a very

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 123

striking ceremonial among the blacks. A neigh-
bouring tribe has been, and is, in great trouble ;
for two of them, named Billy Button and Lon-
don, had killed a black boy, called Aladdin. For
this, another black had remonstrated with them,
and they actually killed him too, but not before
London had been pierced from behind with a
jagged-headed spear through the reins and groin.
All this occasioned immense scandal, as occurring
among people of the same tribe. I was visiting
London, examining his wound, which was mortal,
when all of a sudden some children rushed into
the camp, saying that some strange blacks were
approaching. In a moment all was bustle. The
men put on their opossum -cloaks, seized their
spears, and went out to meet the strangers.
These consisted of five of a friendly tribe, who
came to give them counsel and condolence. They
had their heads plastered over with white clay,
and their faces smeared with the same ; they
wore white blankets, carried spears, and looked
most hideously. On arriving within sight of the
camp, the group separated into two bands ; and
one band commenced an ululation, or wild howl of
woe, whilst the other took it up and prolonged it.
At an eminence within an arrow's flight of the
camp they stood still and waited until some fire
should be brought them, for it is a most import-
ant and indispensable custom among the Austra-

124 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

lian indigenes, that an encampment should not
be approached by a visitor until he shall have
made a fire from fire brought out of the encamp-
ment. He must then wait by the side of it, until
the people come out to him. If they will not
bring fire, it is a sign of enmity. On this occa-
sion the hot embers were brought out, the fire
was kindled, and they sat, or rather crouched,
around it and about it for a full half hour, mo-
tionless and in absolute silence, with their heads
buried between their knees. It was an impres-
sive sight to see these crouching men, all be-
smeared with mud, sitting motionless as corpses,
in the midst of entire silence — a silence which
was responded to by all the tribe in the camp.
For thirty minutes at least, not a child cried, not
a dog barked. I could not prevent my mind
from reverting to the following verse or two in
Job : " Now when Job's three friends heard of
all this evil that was come upon him, they came
every one from his own place ; Eliphaz the Te-
manite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the
Naamathite . for they had made an appointment
together to come to mourn with him and to
comfort him. And when they lifted up their
eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up
their voice and wept ; and they rent every one his
mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads
towards heaven. So they sat down with him

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 125

upon the ground seven days and seven nights,
and none spake a word unto him : for they saw
that his grief was very great." By and by the
visitors broke through this dead silence, and
raised a long, plaintive, and not inharmonious
wail, which, after a momentary pause, was re-
sponded to and prolonged by the blacks in the
encampment. This was interpersed with sobs and
cries on the part of the women. During the
whole of the night, with short intervals, did this
wild ululation fill the glades of the surrounding
primeval forest; and some of the mourners made
gashes on their foreheads and backs with burn-
ing sticks, sharply pointed.

July 26. — Visited the blacks' camp. The
visitors of yesterday were gone. Not seeing
London, the wounded black, I was going to ask
for him, and had pronounced his name as far as
Lou — , when a naked old crone springing up
from the ground, put her hand on my mouth and
shook her head. This was an intimation that he
was dead, and that his name must no more be
spoken; for they believe, that a dead man's spirit
hovering about will highly resent the mention
of his name. Thus the word, whatever other idea
it may represent, must never more be spoken. As
is often the case in civilised countries, these poor
savages substitute unmeaning superstitions for
the rational worship of the living God. And yet,

126 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

before we condemn all superstition in toto, we
must recollect that it is the sole restraining
power to which many savage natures can be sub-
jected. It is, in fact, religion in embryo.

July 27 (Sunday). — Had two Services. The
servants of the station attended. Walked out for
four miles on the plains in the afternoon, when I
saw a very great thunder-storm approaching. I
made up my mind to get very wet, when, by a
fortunate chance, I saw my mare, which had been
turned out on the plains, grazing within fifty
yards of me. I went up to her, jumped on her
back, and galloped home in an incredibly short
space of time, thus avoiding my wetting. But I
made the experience, that when a horse is out of
condition, as mine is, it is better to ride him with
a saddle than without.

July 30. — Am completely imprisoned, for my
mare is too thin for work, and I cannot walk, on
account of the country being saturated with wet.

Awj. 6. — Started to visit some of the western
portions of my district. Slept at the hut of a
small squatter, a Scotchman, who is so much
esteemed by his neighbours, that he is called
" Honest John/'

Aug. 7. — Rode on further fourteen miles, to
the hut of another small settler, who has been a
prisoner of the Crown, but who, by hard work
and good conduct, has amassed a little property.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 127

I was received by him very cordially, as I always
have been by persons of his class, and I promised

to call again. Then I rode on to Messrs. P

and C 's important station on the Murrum-

bidgee, where Mr. P received me most cour-
teously and kindly. Mr. P is a very well-
educated man (I believe he is a graduate of
Trinity College, Dublin), and has the best poets
and prose-writers in his book-cases. In the
evening, before retiring to rest, I pursued my
usual course of reading, and expounding as I
read, the Lessons of the day, and then offering
up Bishop Blomfield's Prayers.

Aug. 8. — Made a pastoral visit to some of the
people about, and employed the rest of the day in
reading Cary's translation of Dante. Mr. Cary
has, with such marvellous accuracy, transfused
into his work both the letter and spirit of the
man who " bad seen hell;" his versification is so
harmonious, his language so original and incon-
ceivably majestic, that if we must not rank him
with the great Florentine himself, and the great-
est poets of the past, I know not in what circle
of poets he may be ranked. While I read the
translation with the original at my side, I seem
not to be reading a translation, but I fancy to
myself that, by the process of metempsychosis,
the soul of Dante has passed into the body of an
English clergyman, and that the Italian has re-

128 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

written his " Divina Commedia" in the widely-
spread language of a more puissant nation, of a
people more capable of appreciating his divine
excellencies.

Aug. 9. — Rode to Kieta, a large station on the
Murrumbidgee, belonging to Mr. Wentworth of
Sydney, and managed by a shrewd, active, and
good-natured Scotchman. In the evening I ex-
pounded to twenty persons, whose behaviour was
most exemplary. There are no less than ten huts
about the chief hut, three of which are occupied
by married people. A large tribe of blacks, too,
are permanently encamped in the immediate
neighbourhood.

Aug. 10 (Sunday). — Held Divine Service at
Kieta, consisting of the two Lessons, Litany, and
a sermon : about twenty-five persons attended.
Churched a woman and baptized a child after the
second lesson. I then rode to Eanranald, a town-
ship, in which there are two inns, a court-house,
and five or six huts. I there read the full Evening
Service to twenty persons: baptized a child there
also. People very decorous. Distributed some
tracts among them before I left, and addressed
the eight or ten children whom I found there.

Then I rode back to Mr. P 's and had another

Service, at which ten or twelve attended. The
group of places which I have visited to-day
musters for me about fifty persons.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 129

Aug. 11. — Strolled along the banks of the
muddy and rapid Murrumbidgee. Could not
help reflecting, how that the world is near 6000
years old, and that this river, and even the sea
into which it rolls, has only been known to civil-
ised man for comparatively a few years. This
river is now rolling a few yards from a hut con-
taining the intellectual emanations of ancient and
modern authors, who nearly all have thought and
written, totally unconscious that such a river
existed, or even the vast continent which it helps
to water. How gradual, and yet never ceasing,
are the developments of Providence !

Aug. 15. — Rode to a station called Poon Boon.
Visited the blacks' camp there, and endeavoured to
explain who I was, but experienced great difficulty ;
for I find that the language of the tribe twenty
or thirty miles off, of which I know something,
is, in a great measure, unknown here. As, when
a black dies, his name must no more be uttered,
and as many blacks are named after surrounding
objects, such as tree, sun, moon, stars, water, it
follows that these objects are continually changing
their names. It is this which will always render
difficult missionary enterprises among these poor
people. And then it is sad to see how quickly a
tribe melts away after contact with civilisation.
Before the whites came they w T ere always un-
clothed; now they are clothed in our cast-off

130 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

clothes half their time, and unclothed the other
half: so then they catch cold, and die of con-
sumption. And I find that they cease to repro-
duce. I have as yet scarce seen any babies or
very young children. I believe that they have a
sort of mysterious feeling that their time is come,
and that a superior race has fixed its dominion
over the ruins of theirs. With regard to the
difficulties which the anomalous state of their
language, combined with their transitory exist-
ence, has placed in the way of religious teaching,
I have heard recounted an anecdote concerning a
worthy minister of religion, on the Sydney side,
who, that he might humanise and christianise a
large tribe of indigenes in his neighbourhood,
began compiling a dictionary and grammar in
their language; but, unfortunately, either on
account of the worthy old gentleman's tardiness,
or unusual mortality among the poor blacks, it
came to pass, that by the time the ponderous
dictionary and grammar had gone to press, every
individual of the tribe had died off, save one very
very old woman, and she was blind and deaf.
The few words of the blacks' language with which
I have made myself acquainted, belong to a tribe
on the Edward River, and are the following : —

Nawhingee

. Sun.

Willangee

. Rain.

Bbckudo

. Moon.

Outungee

. Man.

katinru

. Water.

Murrain en

. Old Man

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA.

131

Kallou .

Old Woman.

Naraiigee

. Small.

Biipu . .

Child.

Guraniantu

• Big.

Outu . .

. Body.

Warrou .

. Bad.

Bourbii .

. Head.

Dalgo

. Good.

Mirmu .

Eyes.

Kokiana .

. To come.

Gintu .

. Nose.

Kanta

. To call.

Ouranu .

. Mouth.

Yanna

. To go.

Wimpulu

. Ears.

K um pa .

. To sleep.

Liantuk .

Teeth.

Wirana .

. To swim.

Nia-Bourbu

Hair.

Tanga

. To eat.

Munnanu

. Hand.

Kopa . .

. To drink.

Trattu .

Arm.

Okiana .

. To give.

Garru

Leg.

Wiripia .

. Good-day

Goumanu

Foot.

Warrigal .

. Wild Dog

Bano . .

Little.

Budge ree

. Beautiful.

But I cannot guarantee the exact correctness
of these words. In this camp at Poon Boon I
saw a case of leprosy on the hips and back of a
black girl : the natives call it " debil-debil." The
part affected was covered with hard pustules and
scales, of a very dingy white colour; she walked
lame, and was scratching herself in a way painful
to see. She told me that the only cure was the
kidney fat of a black of a hostile tribe. This she
said, because she considered herself the victim of
enchantment on the part of a " doc-doc/ 5 or
magician of a hostile tribe. Her brothers are
now looking out for some one on whom to exer-
cise their vengeance, and from whom to bring
deliverance for their sister.

Aug. 16. — An intensely hot day, with the mos-
quitoes very troublesome. Bode to Mr. P 's

132 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

station at Swan Hill, on the Murray. The near-
est way was twenty miles, but we went ten miles
out of our way to look at a large lake eight miles
round. All the plains on our right were inun-
dated by the overflowing waters of the Murray.
The station is on a low sand-hill, rising out of
the plains, and has a most desolate appearance,
there being no timber near. The Murray is quite
close, though scarcely visible, winding as it does
through an extensive reedy flat: it has now
overflowed its banks, so that its exact course
is not to be distinguished. I understand that
these unfertile, reedy flats, extend for thirty
miles above and thirty miles below Swan Hill.
One of the routes from this part of the coun-
try to Melbourne passes by here : the distance is
210 miles.

This Murray is a much more important river
than I imagined. The sources of some of its tri-
butaries are within 200 miles of Moreton Bay,
on the east coast of the continent. At Albury it
becomes an important stream, aud is styled the
Murray, having before borne the name of the
Hume. From Albury it flows in a westerly
direction, bearing slightly northward, forming
the northern boundary of the province of Port
Phillip, and falls into Lake Alcxandrina, on the
south coast, in the province of S. Australia, which
lake is connected by a narrow channel with the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 133

ocean at Encounter Bay. Taking its very nu-
merous windings into consideration, the course
of the Murray from Albury cannot, I hear, be
less than 2000 miles. But it is only at certain
periods of the year that the Murray can be called
a fine river, and be made available for navigation.
At the junction of the Darling, between 100 and
200 miles lower down than this place, its rise
usually commences in June, and it ordinarily
attains its highest level in October, after which it
begins falling, and. descends to its lowest point
about April, at which epoch it may, in numerous
places, be crossed on horseback. Thus, when
the Murray is full to overflowing, it is a magnifi-
cent stream ; but when low, comparatively insig-
nificant : for, indeed, at the entrance of Lake
Alexandrina, it cannot be less than 200 yards
wide and 10 fathoms deep ; thence to the junc-
tion of the Darling, the width averages from 100
to 150 yards, though, during great floods or
droughts, this average cannot of course be per-
mitted to hold good. The Murray, I conceive,
may be considered navigable up to the Darling
for eight months in the year, and as far as Swan
Hill for six months. As I was retiring to rest
for the night, I perceived a large hole in the
flooring of my room ; for this hut, unlike the
generality of the head-station huts in my district,
had a wooden flooring. " Do not be alarmed,"

134 DIARY 01 A WORKING CLERGYMAN

said the sonant who showed me to my bed-
chamber, *'*' if you should see a large black snake
come out ot' that hole in early morning, lie is
wry quiet if he is not disturbed, and merely
takes a turn round the room to pick up anything
lie can get ; that done, he retires to his hole."' I
asked if these reptiles were considered venomous,
and was answered that their bites caused certain
death in eight or ten hoars. I saw nothing of
him. however. And this puts me in mind of a
woman somewhere near here, who was bitten in
the ankle by a death adder at eight o'clock in the
evening. Being far from medical assistance, she
resigned herself to inevitable death. She called
her husband to her. recounted to him all the
business transactions which had taken place in
his absence (he was just returned from a jour:
gave advice as to his future management of his
family and stock, and after vainly attempting to
shake olY the drowsiness which oppressed her.
tranquilly yielded up her spirit in a deep sleep at
midnight.

Aug. \7 {Sunday). — Had service at Swan Hill
— the Lessons, Litany, and Sermon. Six only
were present. Afterwards rode back to Toon
;. and read the Evening Service. I am sorry
I have no surplice with me. for I think that peo-
ple have a right to expect that the priestly func-
tions should be exercised in priestly robes ; but

IN AUSTRALIA AXD TASMANIA. 135

it is impossible to carry a large starched vest-
ment in a horse valise.

Aug. 25. — Visited a poor shepherd, who is
lying in a miserable, helpless plight, suffering
from the effects of having caught cold on mer-
cury. The country is so healthy that, with the
exception of such a malady as this and ophthalmia,
illness is unknown. Found the following valu-
able specimen of French fine writing in ?\Iichelet's
" History of France," which I took from the
bookshelf of the hut. " Wool and flesh are the
primitive foundations of England and the Eng-
lish race. Ere becoming the world's manufac-
tory of hardware and tissue, England was a
victualling shop. From time immemorial they
were a breeding and pastoral people — a race
fatted on beef and mutton. Hence that freshness
of tint, that beauty and strength. Their greatest
man, Shakspeare, was originally a butcher.'"

Aug. 29. — Started alone for a station thirty-
five miles off. Owing to the track being faint,
I missed my way to' the public-house where I
wished to pass the night, and got at nightfall,
after riding fifty miles, into the middle of a forest-
swamp. In my confusion I forgot the direction
by which I had come, and felt very forlorn in-
deed, for the water was up to my horse's shoulders.
Darkness came on rapidly; and then I discovered
a dull, red light, on an eminence at a great dis-

136 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

tance. Spurred my floundering beast towards
it, and found, to my great joy, that the light was
a pine-tree on a sand-hill, burning itself out.
The fire was devouring its interior, and burst
through the bark at intervals, and blazed up
through the top. Thus, when I had given my-
self up for lost, He who feeds the ravens gave
me a dry soil and a good fire, not the less accept-
able from my having been wet through several
times during the day. Soon after a shepherd,
who had lost his way, came up, also attracted by
the light, so that we sat upon a trunk of a tree
together all the night, as near the burning tree
as we could get, whilst my wearied horse, care-
fully hobbled, grazed near. As to any supper, it
was out of the question. Good bushmen never
think it necessary to take any food in their pockets
in the shape of lunch ; and I, who am not at all
a good bushman, had foolishly followed their ex-
ample. And the shepherd related to me his past
life, and told me how silly he had been, and how
bitterly he repented of his folly — which I have
no doubt was quite true, for he seemed miserable
enough; and how, if he had to live his life over
again, he would live it over in quite a different way
— which, I dare say, was not quite true, though
be believed it all at the time. And then I ex-
horted him to make good resolves for the future,
instead of regretting the past; and he said he

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 137

would try. But my exhortations were continu-
ally sliding down to mere worldly advice. Yet
this is a wrong course of action. I have often
found myself giving mere moral and worldly
advice to worldly people, instead of purely
spiritual exhortation, forgetting that these same
persons are themselves as capable, perhaps, of
doing that as I am. It is in practice where
the generality of people fail, not in theory; and
it is only religious considerations that will touch
that.

Aug. 29. — When day dawned I found the
right road, and after twelve miles' riding, heard
the crowing of cocks, and soon after the baying
of dogs; and then saw white buildings shining
among the trees in the early sun-beams ; and
then I entered the little room in the roadside
hostelry, and broke my twenty-four hours' fast.
The crow of a cock has in this country warned
many a lost traveller, faint with hunger, that he
was near human habitations. In the course of
the morning I baptized a baby, and then exa-
mined my hostess's children in Scripture, writing,
and arithmetic. They came off very well. I can
hardly see; for last night I rode up in the dark
against a branch of a tree, with such force, striking
myself just under the eye,* that I was knocked
off my horse. I am, consequently, nearly blind
with the swelling. My landlady did her utmost

138 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

to give me a good dinner, and she succeeded, for
she cooked admirably a wild goose.

Aug. 31 {Sunday). — Celebrated Morning and
Afternoon Service at the Court-House in Moola-
mon. As rain descended in torrents all day, and the
tracks are in a frightfully boggy state, few attended.

Sept. 2. — Could not catch my mare, which
is in the Government paddock, in bad, loose, un-
steady company. Horses, like men, learn bad
ways more quickly than good ones. Called at
the Moolamon Court-House, where petty sessions
are held to-day. Publicans' licenses are also re-
newed now. If a publican's license is refused
it is a very serious affair for him, and the fear
of such a loss alone keeps them in order. Owing
to the inebriety of the working population, these
people get rich too fast. Visited a poor, wretched
old fellow, who is at the last stage of life, from
general decomposition of blood, the fruit of past
errors. He is very poor, and seems very peni-
tent. From the side of his pallet I went to the
inn, which, owing to so much business going on
in the place, was full of people. I represented
the pitiful case to them, and begged them to do
something for the poor creature. They responded
in the affirmative very cheerfully. This occurred
at two in the afternoon ; and to my pleasurable
surprise I learned, at live, that 16/. lGs. 6d. had
been collected for him.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 139

Sept. 5. — Went to a wool-shed to see the sheep-
shearing. The shearers finish off the sheep with
incredible alacrity; others fold the fleeces and
arrange them. The proprietor sits in the middle
to keep the men up to their work, and preserve
order. Some of the shearers earn very much in
the day, and drink their earnings as fast as they
make them. Hear that yesterday, at the wash-
ing, one of the washers was bitten on the foot
by a venomous water-snake, and that he suffered
intense agony for several hours. But it was not
a water-snake; it was a land-snake swimming
about in the river for his amusement, as the
snakes here are wont to do. The man is well,
I believe, to-day, though weak; but he cannot
be prevailed to go again into the water.

Sept. 7 (Sunday). — Had Service twice. The
shearers were very attentive. I exhorted them
not to dissipate their hardly-earned wages. Look-
ing accidentally into some of the books that the
station possesses, I alighted on two admirable
translations, one by Williams, of that portion of
Moschus' " Lament for Bion," which begins
with —

A", a", ra) f£ct\x-£cti ftzv Icrav Kara xa-Tav oXuvtcci.

" Ah ! mallows in the garden die,
Parsley, and blooming dill ;
Yet, wakened by the vernal sky,
Again their course fulfil.

140 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Whilst we, the wise, the strong, the brave,

Have no fresh spring in store ;
But silent in the hollow grave

Sleep on for evermore."

The other is :

" Alas ! alas ! when in a garden fair,

Mallows, crisp dill, or parsley yield to fate ;
These, with another year, regenerate :
But when of mortal life the bloom and crown,

The wise, the good, the valiant and the great,
Succumb to death, in hollow earth shut down,
We sleep, for ever sleep — for ever lie unknown."

The old pagans, with all their exquisite suscep-
tibilities and melodious thoughts, needed indeed
a great many chaplets of "late" roses and myrtle;
a great many goblets of grief-dispelling wine, to
smother such uncomfortable thoughts about the
dark future. Why ! it must have been like a
phantom at all their banquets. What an entirely
different tone of mind does our Christian notion
of the eternity of the soul engender ! How much
more healthy, fresh, and anti-morbid is our moral
atmosphere than theirs !

Equally beautiful with the above lines, and far
more cheering, is the "Elegy on Lycidas," by him
who " soared with no middle flight above the
Aonian Mount :"

" Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more,
For Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor:
So sinks the day-star in the ocean-bed,
And yet anon repairs liis drooping head,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 141

And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore

Flames in the forehead of the morning sky :

So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high

Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves ;

And hears the unexpressive nuptial-song

In the blest kingdoms meek of joy and love.

There entertain him all the saints above,

In solemn troops and sweet societies,

That sing, and singing in their glory move,

And wipe the tears for ever from his eyes.

Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more."

Sept. 8, 9, 10. — Hunting for my mare, which
has been hovering about close to the hut for
the last month. Now that she is wanted, the
aggravating animal has galloped off to the back
plains, and cannot be found.

Sept. 11. — Having found my horse, I rode to
Moolamon, the chief place of the district. Find
that the Edward is rising very rapidly, and that
all the tributary creeks are full to overflowing,
This is very bad news for me, as all my district is
full of creeks and rivers. Formed innumerable
plains for proceeding.

Sept. 12. — Charley, the black fellow, came to
me, humbly petitioning that I would persuade a
young girl to give herself up to him as his wife.
Lucy, it seems (for that was the girl's name), had
taken refuge in a hut belonging to a station
close by, and would not come out to Charley, al-
though by the laws of the blacks she justly be-

142 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

longed to him, ber brother having taken Charley's
sister. Her reason for so acting I discovered,
was, that she abhorred submitting herself to some
impure rites which accompany the nuptials of the
savages. I therefore reminded Charley, that he
had a wife (Polly) already, and that he had better
give up all thoughts of Lucy. Then he became
excited, and said, that if she did not come out to
him he would kill her; but if she would, that
what she feared should not happen to her. I
told him, that it was not in his power to prevent
it; advised him to be content with Polly, who
was already, I heard, furiously jealous of the girl,
and threatened, that if harm came of his threat
it should be the worse for him. He was very
dissatisfied, and looked into the hut with the sa-
vage gaze of a panther at the poor girl, who was
crouching near the fire like a timid fawn. He
dared not enter, but he could watch until she
should come out ; and I left him, watching and
looking, as if he meant mischief.*

* I am grieved to add, that after staying in her refuge two
or three days, she darted out of the hut in the middle of the
night, during a terrihle tempest, and plunged into the Edward,
which flowed close by, with the intention of getting to her own
tribe, ten miles off, unseen by Charley; and that subsequently
her body was discovered in an adjoining forest. Her skull had
been clef! or battered by a waddy (tomahawk). Inquiry was
made as to who was the murderer ; but the natives have mys-
terious ways with them, and baffled all our endeavours to ob-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 143

Sept. 13. — Started up the river from Moola-
mon towards Deniliquin. Had the advantage of
society ; for the chief constable is escorting some
prisoners towards Goulburn, where they are to be
tried, and I was glad to go with the party for so^
ciety ; s sake. We were seven in number : the
head constable and two aides, the clerk of the
bench, a clever and worthy man, and two prisoners.
One of these is aPenton-Villain, accused of forgery,
a pet crime of the rascals which Pentonville turns
out. The other is a very athletic, gloomy-browed
black savage, called Billy the Bull, who is accused
of murdering a white man. This wretched crea-
ture was conducted on horseback, carefully hand-
cuffed, for the blacks have such small bands and

tain sufficient, even circumstantial, evidence of anybody's guilt.
For my own part I have little doubt that Charley, after my
visit, never left entirely the neighbourhood of the hut, but re-
mained watching near, day and night, and that he, too, de-
tecting her flight, plunged into the dark waters of the rushing
river, and following the poor girl fleetly running, brained her
with his deadly weapon. When I saw him some time afterwards
he looked very foolish and guilty ; but when I asked him who
killed Lucy, declared that he had not the slightest idea. I am
not aware that, according to his laws, he had committed a
crime. Lucy had broken her laws by refusing to live with a
man whose property she legally was. He punished her, as we
might punish a refractory animal. Although Charley was a
decent fellow, and could make himself useful about a station,
I never could look on him with pleasure again, nor did I ever
give him any more clothes.

144 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

wrists that few handcuffs are to be found which
they will not slip; and the bones of the murdered
man were hanging in a bag down one side of the
saddle, dangling against his leg. He has escaped
once, and I have little doubt will escape again,
before he gets to Goulburn. He looks very un-
comfortable on the horse, and being naked, with
the exception of some rug thrown over his shoul-
ders, has already galled himself very badly. On
leaving Moolamon, we found that the river had
overflowed its banks, consequently we had to wade
through a mile of water. After this we progressed
favourably, until we arrived at the Deep Creek,
which we found much swollen. We tried one of
our horses over it, and found that he was forced
to swim. At this juncture the clouds seemed to
burst over our heads and let down, not rain, so
much as volumes of water. This effectually cooled
our travelling ardour; we turned our horses'
heads all of us, and came back drenched and dis-
pirited, as fast as our horses could bring us, Billy
the Bull swaying about in his saddle, and bruis-
ing his shin against the murdered man's bones,
looking the picture of misery. I have little
doubt that the murder was fully avenged by his
miserable feelings on that morning. Thus ends
my second attempt at a progress in this difficult
country.

Sept. 18. — A bridge which has been thrown

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 145

over the Edward at the head-station, where I
reside, has been swept away by the force of the
floods. We hear, too, that there are great inun-
dations up the Murray.

Sept. 26. — Made a third attempt to get east-
ward. Accompanied by a barman of the inn at
Moolamon, I crossed the Billibong in a canoe,
or rather a little bark raft. It would only hold
one at a time, together with a black girl, who
managed the frail skiff. I had to kneel and keep
myself motionless, or there would have been an
inevitable upset. Every now and then the water
came trickling through the little clay barricade,
which alone rendered the raft tenable. I was
then necessitated to lean forward with great cau-
tion, and patch up the barricade. As it was, my
knees were quite wet with the encroaching water.
We then had a toilsome ride of forty miles across
the plains, scorched by the sun, and bitten very
badly indeed by the mosquitoes. My companion
related wonderful things of the customs and rites
of the blacks, connected with their arrival at the
age of puberty and their marriages. According
to him, and I have reason to believe that he was
not far wrong, their impurity is something fright-
ful, and cannot here be described — not even veiled
under another language.

Sept. 27. — Had another ride of forty miles, to
get to Deniliquin. The river was so flooded that

146 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

we had to keep out six miles in the back plains.
At nightfall I arrived at my place of destination,
baked with the sun, my face seamed with mos-
quito bites, and with a large swelling behind each
ear from the same cause. Had Prayer and Ex-
position in the public room at the inn before re-
tiring for the night.

Sept. 28 {Sunday). — Had Divine Service at
the inn at Deniliquin. Seven or eight persons
attended. A forge w 7 as at work near, but I
stopped it. The people here are very careless
about religious observances. This is chiefly owing
to the irreligion of a person who is superintendent
of the Royal Bank sheep-station here. 1 went to
this station in the afternoon to hold Afternoon
Service : this person saw me coming, ordered his
horse, and galloped away from the back-door.
But I was very nicely received by his subalterns,
who welcomed me most courteously, and mustered
sixteen well-behaved people for my congregation
in the wool-shed.

Sept. 29. — As the height of the Murray and
Edward prevents the ferries from working, I
determined to visit two stations on the Billibong,
one belonging to two nephews of a late Lord

Chancellor, the other to a Mr. K . My

guide was a handsome black, called Simon, lie
swaggered up to me with a jaunty air at an early
hour, all prepared and equipped for his journey.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 147

This preparation and equipment consisted — and
consisted alone — in somebody's cast-off old black
hat, without either crown or brim. For the rest
he was entirely naked. He was rather surprised
when I hinted to him that I considered his toilet
defective. I at last got something for him to
put on, and we started. For thirty-five miles
we kept on and off the Billibong Creek, or rather
river. This Billibong resolves itself into water-
holes in summer. It is now running bank high.
After passing through the usual succession of
gum-tree and box forest, and seemingly intermin-
able plain, my sable guide and I arrived at the

Messrs. B 's station, called Kurrabungainum,

where I was cordially received by the proprietors.

Oct. 1. — Rode twenty miles to Jareeldree, the

station of Mr. K , who, I am told, has lost

10,000 sheep by catarrh this year. I was most
kindly and hospitably received by the gentle-
men and Mrs. K and her daughters. Their

style of living is superior to anything I have yet
seen in this country, and their house has an
excellent flower-garden, and also a kitchen-garden,
attached to it.

Oct. 2. — Rested to-day. The heat and mos-
quitoes are insupportable. Walked to see an
Irishwoman, and at her request baptized her
child, although she professes Romanism. She
told me that no Romanist clergyman had ever

148 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

been in that district. At this station there are
two half-caste young people, who talk of making
a marriage between them. Conversed with
Selina, the young woman, about religious matters,
for I should object to marry them until they had
been baptized.

Oct. 3.— Rode back to Mr. B 's. The

plains are entirely covered with a thick, coarse
herbage, which is in full flower, and my horse
had to wade for miles and miles through beautiful
wild-flowers, yellow, white, crimson, lilac, and
purple, with yellow predominating. From an
eminence to behold the interminable plains thus
veiled with this wondrous mosaic was a sight never

to be forgotten. At Mr. B 's a quantity of

bottles of water, covered with wet flannel, are kept
constantly hung out in the sun. Thus they have
always deliciously cool water ready.

Oct. 4. — Returned to Deniliquin, quite scarred
from mosquito bites.

Oct. 5 {Sunday). — Married a man and woman
at the inn. I only had notice of it last Sunday,
and I wished the marriage to be delayed for a
week or two ; but the mother, with tears in her
eyes, implored me, now that the man was in a
humour for the marriage, not to delay enabling
him to make an honest woman of her daughter.
I then catechised some children. After that I
rode over to the wool-shed of the Company's

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 149

station. Found that the chief superintendent
had left in the morning, hearing that I was
coming, and had advised his people to bring up a
large flock of weaning ewes close to the wool-shed
as soon as I should begin the Service, so that
their bleating might prevent my being heard.
This is the man who is appointed chief manager
of by far the most important stations in my
district. Close by the wool-shed I found all the
washers and shearers amusing themselves with
horse-racing, and I had to wait until two or
three heats were over before they would come in
to Prayers. After the Service was over I rode
back to the inn, and found a mob of men savagely
drunk. On seeing me they dispersed, and I gave
a second Service to a few steady people. This
unsatisfactory state of things entirely arises from
the great man of the place being an immoral,
irreligious character. At my friend's station on
the Edward, the washers and shearers behaved
in the most orderly manner.

Oct. 6. — Crossed the Edward with my two
horses; but first I had to swim them across the
creek close to the inn. A black rode one, leading
the other. As soon as the mare got out of her
depth she reared up in the water and threw the
man off, who, after swimming a stroke or two,
adroitly caught hold of her tail, and so was towed
ashore. But the black would not undertake to

150 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

guide them across the river, and the consequence
was that one of them was carried too low down
by the force of the current, and with the greatest
difficulty, exhausted as it was, could crawl up the
precipitous banks. I gave him up as certainly
lost. I crossed on a frail bit of bark in a kneeling
posture, ferried over by a black girl. When I
considered how wide and deep the river was, and
how strong the current ran, I considered I had
great canse for thankfulness in getting safely over.
Continued my journey to Ward's Inn on the
Gulpha Creek, where, previous to retiring, I had
Prayers and Exposition.

Oct. 7. — Rode to Maiden's Inn on the Murray,
where I received letters which w.ill cause me to
ride down to Melbourne directly.

Oct. 8. — Swam my horse over the swollen Mur-
ray. Owing to the inundations, the punt, as the
great ferry-boat is called, has ceased to work for
five or six weeks. My horse was towed behind a
boat, and in the middle of the river, getting entan-
gled with the branches of an uprooted floating tree,
was very nearly drowned. I went round in another
boat a distance of two miles. On the Melbourne
side saw a great number of drays camped, await-
ing the resumption of the ferry, ltode to Bar-
row's Inn over thirty-five miles of well-grassc d
plains. My horse is an old Sydney horse, with
a great deal of Arab blood in him, and very much

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 151

addicted to stumbling. In fact, he fell with me
once in the journey.

Oct. 9. — Accompanied by a friend, who was
going to Kilmore, I rode to the Mac Ivor inn, a
distance of forty miles, through a rich and pic-
turesque country.

Oct. 10. — Starting early, I rode to Kilmore, a
distance of twenty-six miles, to breakfast, through
a most beautiful country, combining granitic
ranges, conical, volcanic, well -wooded hills,
smiling valleys, and park-like tracts of country.
Found that a party of twenty-five had left this
place yesterday for the diggings at Ballarat. The
land about Kilmore is of black loam, and is con-
sidered eminently fertile. At one in the after-
noon I started from Kilmore, and by dint of per-
severing and steady riding reached Melbourne,
a distance of over forty miles, by eight in the
evening. Thus I accomplished about seventy
miles with one horse, on the third day of a jour-
ney of a hundred and fifty miles. To-day, as it
was a long way, I stopped to rest and bait for two
hours. The other days I adopted the custom
here, and did not stop at all during the journey.
But I allowed the horse, hot as he might be, to
drink as often as he liked. Horses can drink
when warm in this country, without rendering
themselves liable to inflammation. The great
secret of riding horses long journeys is to ride

152 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

them steadily, and not to keep tbem too long at
the same pace. My journeys average a pace of
six miles an hour.

Oct. 11. — Walked about Melbourne, which,
owing to the auri sacra fames, has quite a de-
serted appearance. Many of the shops are shut,
the occupants having given up sure and pro-
fitable trades that they may have a chance of
getting rich suddenly.

Oct. 23. — People mad about the Mount Alex-
ander Diggings. Four hundred Van-Diemonians
have just arrived from Tasmania, on their way to

them. Dined with a Mr. B , one of the first

merchants here. He is a well-disposed, charitable
man, and a great supporter of the Bishop of Mel-
bourne. He takes a great interest in the religious
and social progress of my district, and highly
approved of my scheme of making every im-
portant head sheep-station a nucleus from which
religious knowledge might be diffused.

Nov. 1. — On my way back to my district rode
through the Black Forest to Kyneton, where the
large inn is full of people going to and returning
from the diggings, eighteen miles off. People
drinking and making a noise all night. No talk
but of gold, and of the great yield of the mines.
The maid-servant, an Irish girl, as savage as the
surrounding aborigines, pulled out of her dirty
pocket three or four nuggets of gold to show me,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 153

worth, at least, 12/., which a digger had given
her.

Nov. 3. — Visited the Mount Alexander Dig-
gings, accompanied by a mounted policeman.
Ilode along a mountainous road until we came to
the locality where the gold was found. In a
narrow valley between two ranges of lofty vol-
canic-looking hills were assembled, on the borders
of a nearly exhausted stream, about three thou-
sand men, some digging earth from pits eight
feet square; others washing this earth in what
are called "cradles;" and others washing the
bottoms of the contents of the cradles in tin
dishes. In the back-ground, away from the
stream, were an infinite number of tents and
shelters of every description. Looking by chance
into one of the numerous pits I recognised a
friend of mine, a young gentleman from Tas-
mania, who, with five others, were come here,
hoping to make their fortune. After digging
through four feet of gravel they had come to a
stratum of decomposed slate, which they were
washing to great advantage. I saw my friend
pick with his penknife into a tin box from the
sides of the pit a great number of small bits of
very pure gold, about four times as large as a
pin's head. On Friday last they got two ounces;
on Saturday, three ; and to-day they had already
got five, when I was there. It is a very exciting

154 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

occupation. The sight of a quantity of rich
virgin gold just taken from the surrounding
mould agitates the nerves strangely.

Nov. 8. — Arrived in my district across the
Murray. Found a mob of drunken men and a
conjurer in the public room at Maiden's Inn.
This vice of drunkenness prevails to a frightful
extent everywhere here. And thus it comes to
pass. It is rarely the custom to keep wines, or
beer, or spirits at the sheep-stations. So people
when at home, whether masters at the chief hut,
or shepherds at the remote outstanding hut,
drink nothing but raking green tea, which I be-
lieve would be poisonous, if the effects of the
copperas were not neutralised by an enormous
quantity of sugar. Drinking several times in the
day of this liquid, they get their stomachs into
such a nervous, sensitive state, that when they
have occasion to visit a public-house, requiring
some tonic, they drink madly of spirituous and
fermented liquors. And to drink moderately of
wholesome drink would be advantageous to them,
but as the rum is strongly tinctured with to-
bacco, the beer embittered with strychnia, and
the wine is some odious fabrication into which
juice of the grape enters not, those who drink
with comparative sobriety earn a headache, those
who drink to excess subject themselves to delirium
tremens.

JN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 155

Nov. 12. — After a solitary ride of fifty-two
miles, churching a woman on the way, I arrived
at Moolamon, the township nearest to my head-
quarters. These long journeys ridden com-
panionless are very disagreeable to me. For the
people, by not entering into sufficiently minute
details with regard to my route, often mislead
me, although unintentionally. And not having
confidence in their directions, I am often in a state
of great uncertainty for six or seven hours as to
whether I am going right or not ; whether my
road may take me into some inundated tract of
country, or may turn out to be a mere cattle-
track, leading nowhere. In spring-time, when the
verdure is abundant, it is difficult to trace out a
comparatively frequented road, whilst all vestiges
of secondary tracks are grown over with grass;
and to lose one's self in this district is a serious
matter. About three weeks ago a shepherd,
having occasion to go about forty miles on horse-
back, lost his way from the floods having covered
the usual track j he left his master's station on
Monday morning after breakfast, and he obtained
no food or shelter of any description until Wed-
nesday night late. He managed to lose his horse,
too. I hear of many accidents and disasters
which have occurred in my district during my
short absence in Melbourne. At Maiden's Punt
a child had been drowned. Also a man fell on

156 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

to the fire in a state of drunkenness, and burned
himself very severely; and then, after he had been
put to bed and his wounds had been dressed, he
tore off the dressings from irritation, and then the
flies got at him, and he became fly-blown, and so
died. At Deniliquin a sawyer's wife has been
drowned; and at the Yarra Creek, the chief
superintendent of the Royal Bank stations, to
whom I have before alluded, has lost his life.

Although this creek was much swollen. Mr. ,

who was in a dog-cart drawn by two fine horses,
one in the shafts, the other as outrigger, rashly
drove into it at the usual place of crossing,
although warned against such a step. And I
believe that he might have crossed it, if the
horses had not become entangled in the limbs of
a tree lying under water. It is supposed that he
got out to disengage the horses, and received a
kick on the forehead which stunned him, so that
he fell senseless under water and was drowned.
The horses, which were noble animals, unfortu-
nately perished with him.

Nov. 13. — To-day, has been held at Moolamon
a Government sale of allotments in the townships
of Moama (Maiden's Punt) and of Moolamon.
The latter sold miserably ; the former remark-
ably well. Maiden himself was the great buyer.

Nov. 27. — A black speared a platypus as it
was swimming in the river close to where I was.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 157

It requires great cunning and dexterity to do
this.

Dec. 1. — A sirocco, which caused the thermo-
meter in the sitting-room to stand at 85° all day.
Caught enough fish for our dinner. We have
what is called cod, which is sometimes found
from sixty to eighty pounds weight, and a black
fish from one to two pounds, and a fish about as
large as a herring. They are all so soft and
pappy, that unless they are boiled with a little
vinegar in the water, they are disagreeable.
With every care in cooking, they are not very
appetising.

Dec. 6. — Thermometer in the shade 95°.
Rode to a neighbouring station, the superin-
tendent of which recounted to me how he once
saved a man who was lost on the plains. My
informant related, that he was some years ago
managing a sheep-and-cattle station on the Syd-
ney side, which comprised some vast plains. He
was one evening returning tired to his hut, after
a long fruitless search after stray cattle, when by
the last gleams of daylight he saw at a great dis-
tance some birds circling in the air over a certain
spot. His first impulse was to go on without
taking notice of this, but afterwards he reflected,
that probably it might be the carcase of one of
the lost cattle, over which carrion crows were
hovering. He accordingly urged his horse to-

158 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

wards the spot, and to his great surprise saw a
man reeling along, every now and then tumbling
down, and faintly endeavouring with his arms to
ward off the strokes which the carrion crows,
wheeling around him, were giving him on the
head with their wings. He at first thought he
must be intoxicated, and called to him, but re-
ceived no answer. He called again, but still
there was no answer. He rode close up to him,
and saw a miserable sight. It was a man, deli-
rious through hunger and thirst, on the point of
dropping on the ground, and becoming, ere quite
dead, the prey of the voracious crows. He was
frightfully attenuated ; his eyes were glazed, a
black foam was oozing from his livid lips.
Sounds, not human, were gurgled up from his
parched throat. My informant, a most estimable
young man, lifted him up across his horse some-
how, and thus conducted him to his hut. Then
he had a difficulty in opening his teeth, for they
were fast clenched; and then he could not, at first,
get some tea down his parched throat. These
difficulties surmounted, the poor fellow took some
nourishment, and was left to sleep through the
night. In the morning he was sufficiently reco-
vered to recount to them that he was one of the
Pentonville people, and that he was proceeding
direct from the coast to take a place as shepherd
at some neighbouring sheep-station ) that having

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 159

to cross on foot a forty-mile plain, he had been
advised at the public-house to wait for some one
to go with him, as he was quite a fresh hand;
that, anxious to get to his work as soon as pos-
sible, he set off by himself; that night came on,
and, there being no track, he had taken the pre-
caution, as he thought, to lie down to rest, with
his feet pointing in the direction in which, at the
morning's dawn, he was to continue his course ;
that in his sleep he must have shifted his body,
so that when he awoke he pursued his journey
in a wrong direction. And thus he lost himself,
and continued, as persons do, when they lose
themselves, ti'avelling in a circle. For six days
was this young man wandering about without
food and (I think I understood my informant)
without water. He said, that he bore up very
well for three days : then he got weak ; then a
swimming of the head came on; then supervened
delirium and total unconsciousness, until my
friend was providentially sent to his deliverance.
Dec. 8. — Hear that Melbourne is gold-mad.
Half-a-ton has been taken down there in one
week. A man and his wife came to the station
as servants at the wages of 50/. per annum, These
wages are, of course, exclusive of a most generous
system of rations. The gold-fury has so seized
on the minds of the working classes, that the
master thinks himself very lucky in getting these

160 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

people. The thermometer to-day is 94° in the
sitting-room.

Dec. 16. — Arrived at Deniliquin, having em-
ployed yesterday and to-day in travelling on
horseback from Moolamon, a distance of seventy
miles. Found all in confusion at the inn : the
landlord and landlady are in bed ill ; the ostler is
tipsy ; the whole population seems to be on the
point of leaving for the diggings. And it is not
to be wondered at ; for I know to a certainty,
that a labouring man, one of a party at the dig-
gings, has gained for his share twenty ounces of
gold in eight days. Baptized a child of a shep-
herd. He wanted to pay me a fee. I thanked
him, but told him that our Church did not sell
the Sacraments, and that I should be liable to
severe Ecclesiastical censure if I took anything
from him. He seemed much surprised and dis-
appointed. Perhaps he thought, that that which
is cheaply obtained is worth little. After many
pourparlers I consented to take something from
him on behalf of the Church Fund ; whereupon
he gave me nine and sixpence, lleceived a letter
from Dr. Broughton, the bishop of Sydney, say-
ing that he was travelling rapidly towards the
Edward River to meet me.

Dec. 18., — As a large drinking-party is ex-
pected at the inn at Deniliquin, I went over to
the neighbouring Royal Bank station to sleep. A

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 161

Mr. is acting as storekeeper. He is in

very bad health, having broken a blood-vessel
when in California, and has an incessant hard
cough, nearly as painful to those about him as
to himself. His history, as he recounted it to
me, is singularly interesting, and full of warning.
He told me that he was the son of a Scotch
Clergyman, and was entered at the Glasgow Uni-
versity, preparatory to following his father's pro-
fession: but that having taken to extravagant
courses and habits of dissipation, which his pa-
rents neither could nor would suffer, he had to
take his name off the books, and give up all
thoughts of entering the Ministry. He then ob-
tained a commission in the Cape Rifles, and re-
mained some time in active service at the Cape :
but he had not sufficient moral courage to shake
off his evil genius; his vicious ways still stuck
by him. So he sold his commission, and em-
barked for the diggings in California. When
there he worked beyond his strength, and drank
beyond his strength, and ultimately broke one of
the vessels of the lungs, which laid him up for
two months. On his partial recovery he came to
Sydney, and the doctors there advised him to
come up to the Edward River district, for the
sake of its very dry atmosphere. He then got
the situation of storekeeper at one of the Royal
Bank stations, where I found him. He exclaims

162 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

against the climate as being too dry for his ma-
lady, and as causing his chest infinite irritation.
He is peevish, despairing, has a presentiment that
he shall die soon, and utters as his sole consola-
tion the not very consolatory Italian words, " Che
sara sara." I felt great sympathy for him ; for
he is evidently an educated person, and of acute
sensibility, and now, owing to his recklessness, he
has brought himself down to be a storekeeper in
this miserable country. I expressed myself so to
him ; but his only answer between his fits of
coughing was, " Che sara sara." I told him
that, if it pleased God to save his life, so as to
enable him to get a situation near the sea-coast
(where he wished to go, the air being moister),
I prayed that the grace of God would enable him
to form healthy resolves for the future. His an-
swer, and his only answer, was : " My dear sir,
the half of man's life is spent in making good re-
solves, the other half in breaking them — Che
sara sara."

N.B. — About a year after the above was

written I heard of the death of Mr. , under

very lamentable circumstances. He got away from
the Edward, and obtained a capital situation in
one of the banks at Gcelong, one of the healthiest
cities in the world. But he could not resist ad-
dicting himself to stimulants. At last he con-
sumed daily two bottles of port wine, which was

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 163

far too much for a person of his frail nature.
He then took to drinking brandy and water in
addition to this, and soon died, thoroughly worn
out with past fatigues and excesses.

Dec. 19. — The Bishop of Sydney has decided
not to come down to the Edward River, but to

give me a meeting at Jareeldree, Mr. K 's

station on the Billibong, sixty miles from here
(Deniliquin) ; so this evening, at six, I started
on horseback for my first stage, thirty-five miles.
Rode it in five hours. My companion was an
Australian gentleman, accustomed to night-riding
through timber. As I am not well versed in this
art, and as our pace was by no means slow, con-
sidering the darkness of the night, I ran some
risk of being knocked off my horse by some
withered limb of a gum-tree, the branches of
which grow remarkably near the ground. After,
however, two very narrow escapes, I arrived at
Mr. B 's station at eleven o'clock.

Dec. 20. — A most intensely suffocating day.
I could neither stand, sit, nor lie ; but I roamed
restlessly about within the narrow limits of the
hut. I found it cooler, when on horseback in

the sun, riding to Mr. K 's. On my arrival

at Jareeldree I was announced to Dr. Brough-
ton, bishop of Sydney. This most excellent and
worthy prelate has travelled from Sydney — a dis-
tance of six hundred miles, I should think — in

164 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

an old caleche, drawn by two lean horses. On
Wednesday night he was out in the bush. For
a fortnight past his nourishment has been de-
fective, and at this station he has got some milk,
for the first time for a week. I strongly advised
him not to come on any further, but to turn his
horses' heads homewards, during these frightful
heats. We conversed on many points, and I
received some admirable advice from this truly
Christian bishop. I mentioned to him a plan
on which I had often meditated for extending the
Church in the colonies, and which he did me
the honour entirely to approve. It was, that
young clergymen of distinguished talents, of
wealth, or of family, should, after leaving the
University, instead of settling down in curacies at
home, until the college living, or the purchased
living, or the family living, should become vacant,
place their services entirely at the disposal of
some Colonial Bishop, with a promise to remain
unmarried and serve the Church in his diocese for
a certain number of years — three, four, or five, as
the case might be. At the expiration of that period
they would return to their sphere of labour in the
mother-country, laden with experience, divested
of their prejudices, possessing the satisfaction of
having laboured in a distant vineyard, where la-
bour was more wanted than at home, and of
having contributed to the Church abroad services

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 165

which the Church at home can well spare. This
is a much more practical mode of serving a
clerical apprenticeship than striving to become a
popular preacher, or engaging in ecclesiastical
polemics.

Dec. 21 {Sunday). — I read Prayers, and the
Bishop preached.

Dec. 22. — Took leave at daybreak of the
Bishop of Sydney, who started towards Albury
on his return to Sydney. I then bathed in the
Billibong. Whilst in the water I felt an unusual
irritation of the skiu, which I could not then
account for. At the end of ten minutes, emerging
from the mud-coloured stream, I found all my
body festooned with lively, vigorous leeches, all
sucking away with great appetite : 1 think I
must have had two dozen on me. Of course,
dressing immediately was out of the question,
for these ministers of health had left on me san-
guinary traces of their presence. Their inten-
tions, no doubt, were excellent ; but as I wished
to start directly, their visitation was ill-timed.

Slept at Mr. B 'a.

Postscript. — I subsequently learned that, owing
to the floods being on, the Bishop lost his way
two or three days after we parted ; that he was
out on the burning plains, without food or water,
for two days and a night ; and that when he got
to a station his tongue was so dry he could scarce

166 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

articulate Of two dozen little paroquets that he
was taking home with him, twenty died from thirst.

Dec. 23. — During my thirty-five miles to the
banks of the Edward River, I experienced greater
inconvenience from heat and fatigue than I had
ever done before. My horse panted and sobbed,
although proceeding at only a foot pace. On the
burning plains no water could be had. A uni-
versal stillness reigned around. Twice I was
forced to get off to rest under a bush. On the
way I met three drays, and the oxen were panting,
with their tongues lolling out of their mouths.
With a very parched throat I arrived at the inn,
and could hardly stand when I dismounted. The
thermometer has stood all day at 106° in the
shade. Received a letter from the superinten-
dent of the neighbouring station, begging me
not to sleep there, as the men were all furiously
drunk : so, in the cool of the evening, I went
on three or four miles farther to a sheep-station
called Warbreccan.

Christmas Day. — Held Service at the Moira
station, with the thermometer at 95° in- doors. Few
attended, for all are gone or going to the diggings.
Everything is turned upside down. A shepherd
has come up from Mount Alexander with 107/.
the fruit of nine days' labour, lie is now drink-
ing it away at the public-house.

Dec. 31. — Having suffered from inflammation

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 167

of the eyes for some days, I applied to a medical
man for advice, who tells me that I am attacked
by ophthalmia, vulgarly called the " gravelly
blight." The feeling is as if two burning coals
were throbbing about in my eye-sockets ; an in-
cessant purulent discharge has supervened, and
the slightest light occasions me agonies. I be-
lieve I brought it on by my ride on the 23d.
As I cannot lay up where I am, I thought it
advisable to go to a quiet inn, ten miles off, for
that purpose ; so, having previously bandaged
my eyes carefully, and placed a green veil over
all, I mounted on horseback, and was conducted
to where I wished to go, by my good friend the
doctor. The pain, as night sets in, is ex-
ceedingly racking, but I am cheered by hearing
that these attacks are rarely followed by loss of
sight.

Jan. 4, 1852. — I have been sitting these three
days in the arm-chair of the inn, blind and
solitary. The window has been carefully dark-
ened. Being very anxious to know if my sight
were seriously impaired, I gi'oped about for a
book, opened it at random, withdrew a little the
green baize that covered the window, lifted up
the coloured handkerchiefs with which I was
veiled, and took a nervous, hurried glance at the
book, to see if I could distinguish the print.
The book chanced to be Gifford's " Translation

168 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

of Juvenal and Persius ;" the two lines which I
had fortuitously singled out, and, to my great
joy, could read, were these : —

" His blear eyes ran in gutters to his chin ;
His beard was stubble, and his cheeks were thin."

Overjoyed as I was at thus proving that I was
not blind, I could hardly but consider the allusion
personal. Hear that the landlord is laid up by
ophthalmia. A poor fellow has been brought
here to-day from one of the neighbouring out-
stations, more afflicted even than I am by this
most painful malady.

Jan. 5. — A neighbouring squatter kindly drove
me to his station, about thirty-five miles from
here. My eyes are still very sensitive to light,
but T trust that the force of the disease is past.
The mosquitoes, towards night, were very trou-
blesome. I was constrained to leave my bed
and walk in the garden during the greater part of
the night.

Jan. 11 {Sunday). — With the blessing of God
my eyes took me through the Service. They
ached, however, towards the end, and the print
seems dim to me. On the whole, the attack has
lasted sixteen days. At night, although the heat
was suffocating, I was obliged to sleep in my
boots, and partially dressed; to avoid the ferocious
attacks of the mosquitoes.

Jan. 14. — The servant of the house has in

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 169

former days been a convict, one of the old-
fashioned sort, — men who were whipped into
usefulness and discipline long before false notions
of humanity, or sentimental sympathies with
crime, completely altered for the worse the con-
vict system. He repays his master's confidence
with fidelity, and can turn his hand to every-
thing. He can cut hair and shave, break in
horses to ride and drive, bleed and physic them.
He can cook, make very good pastry, garden,
thatch, cut posts and rails, and put them up ;
and, moreover, acts as a very good clerk on
Sundays. But there is one important thing that
he cannot do — that is, abstain from drink; he
condemns his own failing, and told his master
when he was engaged that one of his reasons for
entering his service was, that the station was so
far from a public-house. " I will be a good
servant to you, sir, as long as you keep me from
drink; but if I once get to a 'public' I can't
answer for the consequences." He is so attentive
to me that I feel a great interest in him.

Postscript. — lam sorry to say, that about two
months after this was written his master, being
short of hands, sent him to the public-house for
his letters. He began drinking with a mob of
men on their way to the diggings, and in a
moment of inebriety consented to make one of

170 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the party. Thus an excellent master lost an
excellent servant.

Jan. 15. — To-day I asked a black fellow,
called Peacock, if he had ever eaten " black
fellow ?" As I said it laughingly, he was thrown
off his guard, and acknowledged that he had;
and from his look, the reminiscences of the fact
seemed to be rather pleasurable to him than
otherwise. " "What is the taste like?" I asked.
'' Like pig," he unhesitatingly replied. Then I
changed my manner, and asked him how he
could dare do so horrible a thing ? On this he
declared that what he had said was in jest, and
that he had never eaten man. This is the first
time I could ever get a confession of cannibalism
out of a native. I have been told that the blacks
cannot endure a white man's flesh. They say
that it tastes very salt, and is highly flavoured
with tobacco.

Jan. 20. — Having been recommended by my
doctor to go to the sea-side for change of air,
I started three days ago, and am now hospitably

entertained by Mr. M , a wealthy squatter,

about sixty miles from Melbourne. To-day I
have been watching the operation on sheeps*
feet for foot-rot. It must be very disgusting
work for the operator, for he has to hold the
sheep between his knees, and cut off the putrified

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 171

parts of the hoof, which emit a terrible stench.
As it is safer to cut too deep than not deep
enough, deep cutting is inflicted, and the blood
flows in abundance from the poor suffering
animal. After the unsound part has been well
cut away, the sheep is turned into a trough full
of water, strongly impregnated with corrosive
sublimate, and there made to stand for half an
hour. This, I believe, effects a perfect cure.
Many sheep-owners dress the diseased part with
mercurial ointment, but the mode I have been
describing is considered equally effective, and
more expeditious, easy, and economical. In the
evening we burnt a belt of herbage all round the
head-station ; for the heat of the weather and
dryness of the atmosphere is so great that the
proprietor is afraid of that terrible visitation, a
bush-fire. We set fire to the grass, and as the
fire came roaring on towards the premises, the
whole strength of the establishment, white and
black, man and master, were ready at a given
signal to extinguish it with huge boughs, and
with trampling on it. The chasm thus made is
about fifty yards.

Jan. 21. — Rode through the Black Forest.
The road resembled one of the great thorough-
fares out of London, so full was it of waggons,
drays, carts, gigs, equestrians and pedestrians,
proceeding to the diggings. And no wonder ; for

172 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

a very common-looking person, who begged leave
to ride by my side, thinking, perhaps, that my
calling might be a protection to him, told me
that he and three others had dug up sixteen
hundred pounds worth of gold in nine weeks.
He had a hundred and fifty pounds worth about
his person then. He told me, that previous to
leaving England he had been helper in a stable
in Yorkshire. There was immense confusion and
drunkenness at the Bush Inn at Gisborne, where
I slept. At night the chambermaid advised me
to lock and barricade the door of my bed-room,
otherwise she thought I may be intruded upon
by drunken people ; and it was well I did so, for
during the night two men practised upon the
panels of the door for at least an hour, and
though they split them, they could not get in.

Jan. 2.2. — Stopping to bait at a roadside inn
near Melbourne, I spoke with a common labour-
ing man, who had just dug up 800/. of gold.

Jan. 25. — Went to the church at Richmond,
near Melbourne. The preacher styled angels
" the aboriginal inhabitants of heaven."

Jan. 26. — The gold excitement is fast increas-
ing. Seeing a crowd of people around a shop-
door, I found that there was on show inside a
lump of solid, purest gold, weighing twenty-
seven pounds eleven ounces. The men who
found it — four ill-looking persons — were in at-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 173

tendance, waiting to be paid for it. I heard
that they had sold it for 1.200/. The mass of
gold had a very bizarre form, looking something
like a Hindoo god.

Jan. 29. — The chief bookseller here complains
much of his not being able to make a living in
Melbourne.

Feb. 1 [Sunday). — Heard the Archdeacon of
Melbourne preach.

Feb. 3. — Rode to Brighton, and enjoyed the
balmy breeze of the sea. Find that, owing to
the gold discovery, land here has already risen to
the price of 50/. per acre.

Feb. 7. — Diggers are returning into Mel-
bourne in some numbers; many very discon-
tented. It is said that there are, at least, 40,000
at the diggings.

Feb. 24 (Shrove Tuesday). — A strong sirocco
in Melbourne. The thermometer is 113° in the
shade ; and yet so dry and elastic is the atmo-
sphere, that this heat does not affect one so much
as during a hot August day in London.

Feb. 26. — To have my horse shod has cost me
25s. This is one of the primitia of the gold
discovery.

Feb. 29 (Sunday). — Attended St. James's
Church, and heard the Bishop preach an ex-
cellent sermon on the vices of the people here.
The chief moral failings of the population are

174 DIARY OP A WORKING CLERGYMAN

drunkenness, swearing, and most intense sel6sh-
ness. All this exists in the mother-country, but
there the counterbalancing elements exist to a
greater extent than here.

March 11. — Gold is selling in Melbourne at
3/. the ounce.

March 18. — Took my first stage out of Mel-
bourne towards my district. At night the land-
lord and his wife, both very drunk, fought so
furiously, that I was obliged to separate them by
force. During the fray, all the little children
came clustering round the mother, taking her part.
One sturdy urchin boldly attacked his father, by
kicking his shins and the calves of his legs.

March 19. — Gave some serious advice to the
landlord about the scene of last night, and after-
wards rode to Kilmore to breakfast. Slept at
the Mac Ivor Inn, where I heard from one of
the Bendigo diggers that the goings on there
are lamentably immoral.

March 21 (Sunday). — Arrived at Maiden's
Punt on the Murray, after a ride of thirty-two
miles, in four hours and a half. Held Service
immediately, and then rode on ten miles farther
to another inn, lower down the Murray, and held
a second Service.

March 23. — Had a thirty-four miles' journey
to ride, and discovered at the last moment that
my new horse, bought in Melbourne, obstinately

IN AUSTRALIA AND TA.SMA.NIA. 175

refused to lead. Time wore away in vainly en-
deavouring to conquer his obstinacy. The end
was that I had to mount the obstinate one, and
lead my other. I rode eighteen miles, under a
hot sun, in one hour and a half. Stopped half
an hour, and then rode the remaining sixteen
miles in one hour and twenty minutes. The
repugnance that I have of losing my way in this
country would cause me to make any sacrifice to
avoid being out after dark at night.

March 24. — Employed myself the greater part
of the day in teaching my obstinate animal of
yesterday to lead.

April 10. — Went with two magistrates and
the head constable of the district to examine the
corpse of a man, which has just been discovered
on the banks of the Edward River. As we ap-
proached the spot, we came upon a dog, who, on
seeing us, slunk into some bushes, frightened.
Immediately afterwards we saw the body lying
prone, with the head partially submerged in a
little pool of water. As it had been dragged
from a place some yards off, where two or three
people had been camping, I suggested that it
was possible there might have been foul play,
although the corpse was so placed as to give a
first impression that the man had, in the last
state of exhaustion from want of food, dragged
himself down to the water-side to chink, and

176 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

there had died. On closely examining the body,
we found that part had been devoured — probably
by his glare-eyed, guilty-looking dog; and on
turning round the head, which was resting on
the arm, we discovered a tremendous fracture of
the right parietal bone of the skull. Thus it is
certain that a murder has been enacted here.

April 12. — Rode with a magistrate into Moo-
lamon, to hold an inquiry with regard to the
murdered man. We elicited the fact that, about
ten days ago, three men from the diggings had
passed the night here, and talked about having
a quantity of gold about them. In the morning
they went away together, accompanied by a dog,
in the direction in which the body was found.
We likewise were informed that the second day
afterwards two men on horseback, leading a third
horse, and having no dog with them, were seen
going at full speed across the spacious plain,
which extends to the Murrumbidgee. Thus it
is pretty evident that the three must have camped
by the side of the Edward ; and, during the night,
that the two murdered the one for his share of
the gold. They then arranged his body in a
studied attitude, to make it appear that he had
died of exhaustion ; and placed his head to rest
on his arm, so as to conceal the fracture. And
this deceit would have succeeded, if I had not
particularly requested that the head should be

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 177

lifted up. The murderers have, however, got
clean off; and in such a wild, unsettled country
as this, all researches will be useless.

April 20. — Hear that a hut-keeper, going
from one hut to another on this run, has lost
his way, and not been heard of. He started the
day before yesterday in the morning.

April 22. — As I was mounting a horse, lately
bought, he suddenly put his head between his
legs, so as almost to meet his tail, and bucked
his back up, so that I was shot off like an arrow
from a bow. Luckily, I broke no bones. I be-
lieve that an inveterate buck jumper can be cured
by slinging up one of the four legs, and lunging
him about severely in heavy ground on the three
legs. The action they must needs make use of
on such an occasion somewhat resembles the
action of bucking ; and after some severe trials
of that sort, they take a dislike to the whole style
of thing. An Irishman on the Murrumbidgee
is very clever at this schooling. It is called here
" turning a horse inside out/' No treatment
can be too severe for a horse addicted to this
abominable and incomprehensible vice. And
nearly all buckjumpers are good horses in other
respects, which makes the whole thing the more
provoking. Not long ago I witnessed a pro-
fessed jockey mount a very fine horse. He
mounted with great care, for many horses do

178 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

their best to throw their riders before they can
put the right leg over the saddle. The horse
allowed him to get on, and then set off at a
furious gallop, stopping short every now and
then to buck. The man sat beautifully for some
minutes. But at length the furious beast made
the extraordinary movement of turning short
round to the left, bucking fearfully as he turned.
The consequence was, that the man had a most
tremendous throw ; and we all ran up, thinking
that he must be killed. To our surprise be got
up, and began, though reeling a little, to look
stedfastly for something on the ground. To our
questions, as to whether he was hurt, and what
he wanted, he coolly replied that he was looking
about for his pipe, which he had dropped in the
fall. The longer a rider sits a horse when he
bucks, the worse it is for him when he comes off.
April 26. — Went out with my friend to poison
his run. It is thus done. When a beast is
killed, a quantity of small bits are cut off the
carcase. By means of a sharp penknife little
holes are cut in these morsels, and into these
little holes pinches of strychnia are introduced.
These bits are put into a small bag and taken out
on the run. The acting person then, as he rides
or drives along, throws to the right and left this
meat. At night the wild dogs come, eat it all
up greedily, and ere long die. But the strychnia

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 179

has not yet done its work. Wild dogs eat one
another, and begin their repast with the entrails
of their brothers. Now the entrails of the dead
dogs contain the strychnia, which is so strong,
that after passing into the second dog it will kill
him too, and, as I have been informed, even a
third. Thus the poor sheep call poison to their
aid against their terrible enemies.

May 19. — The rain has fallen in torrents all
day, and my condition is wretched enough in such
a country, for there is no pastoral duty to attend
to, and study and privacy in a poor little wood
hut is next to impossible.

May 20. — Rode to Mr. L 's station, and

there I heard of a shocking murder which has
quite lately taken place in this neighbourhood.
The actors in this horrible tragedy were Edward
River blacks ; the victim a man of colour from
the United States, settled for some years as a
pastrycook in Sydney. This poor fellovv gave up
a remunerative business that he might go to the
Port Phillip gold diggings, and was travelling
this way in company with a white comrade. He
was unfortunately seen by some members of a
tribe of blacks belonging to this neighbourhood,
who followed him, chased him, and drove several
spears jagged with bits of glass through his back,
working them up and down in his body as he lay
on the ground. His comrade, insane with terror,

180 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ran, or rather flew, to the nearest station, the
blacks at first following him with his bundle which
he had dropped, and begging him to take it, as
they did not wish to hurt him. They then cut up
the corpse of their victim into three or four pieces,
buried them, and taking up his bundle, as well as
the bundie of his comrade, walked very uncon-
cernedly into the store at the Company's station,
and gave them up to the storekeeper, saying that
they had found them on the road. Now this
dreadful crime has arisen from a most lamentable
blunder. As I believe I have said before, all the
tribes or families of the indigenes which are
scattered over the whole face of the country, are
in a state of natural warfare with one another.
Sometimes alliances are concluded between them ;
but without such an alliance, every black who
ventures into another territory is liable to be
assassinated. Now these stupid blacks mistook
this poor American black for one of themselves,
and thus considered his life lawtully forfeited.
They disdained to touch his property. A black
expressed to me to-day great indignation at their
stupidity, saying, that they ought to have known
the difference between "black fellow" and " white
man's black fellow." It may be supposed that
the whole country is much excited about this
occurrence. The mounted police have been gal-
loping about shooting the wrong people, and

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 181

letting the guilty authors of the outrage escape.
They have shot a lame old woman, I believe.

May 23. — Held Divine Service at the Doctor's
hut at Maiden's Punt. Ten adults and fifteen
children attended — quite a refreshing number, in
comparison with the very few which usually
attend my ministrations.

May 27. — After three or four days of heavy
travelling over boggy ground, the horses having
scarce anything to eat, I arrived at a station on
the Barratta Creek, where I had a fine black swan
served up for dinner, stewed. It ate very like
rather tough fricasseed rabbit.

May 28. — After crossing the Edward River in
a frail canoe of bark, and swimming my horse
over two or three deep creeks, I arrived at the
hospitable and superior head -station of Mr.
G .

June 1, — My horses have strayed away, so
that I am doomed to remain here in a state of
inactivity. In the evening I attended a native
corrobery; or what would be called by the whites,
a soiree dansante. The old men sat and smoked,
the women drummed on skins, and the young
men enacted pantomimic dances. These ballets
were of diverse character : some were joyous,
others warlike, others licentious, whilst one was
funereal. According to their character, so the
women chanted. Naked and painted as the

182 DIARY OP A WORKING CLERGYMAN

dancers were, they looked like demons as they
flitted to and fro among the watchfires. These
ballets are not improvised, I find. They are
carefully concocted in some other district on the
Australian continent, and passed from tribe to
tribe until the popular taste gets tired of them ;
just as performances of a like description pass
from one European nation to another. I found
that all the dances I saw to-night had come from
the coast of South Australia.

June 10. — Still detained at Mr. G 's sta-
tion by the loss of my horses, studying the
" Memorable Relations" of that strange writer of
fiction, Count Swedenborg. A black fellow told me
that a carcase of that wonderful beast the bunyip
is lying rotting on a sand-hill nine miles off. On
further inquiries I find that the tremendous
floods now prevailing would render it impossible
for me to get there without much peril and
difficulty ; but if I were quite sure that the
statement were true I would go, nevertheless. I
also hear of a savage, voracious reptile, called the
" mindci," which is said to haunt the Billibong
plains. It is, so they say, about twenty feet long,
three feet in circumference, and has short legs.

June 15. — My horses came back of their own
accord, so that I was able to get on ; but the
weather is atrocious, and the roads of melted
caoutchouc. The longer 1 stay in this country,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 183

the more hopeless does my position seem. The
floods in winter and the droughts in summer
render the life of a clergyman one of great diffi-
culty and self-denial. It must be recollected, that
riding a horse and leading another over boggy
ground for twenty-five miles, is quite as fatiguing
as walking ten. And the sole refreshment after
such a day's exercise consists of poisonous green
tea without milk, lean beef without vegetables,
and heavy damper.

June 17. — Arrived at my head- quarters on the
Edward. Hear of three men being drowned at
Deniliquin, and of the stock-keeper at Kieta being
drowned ; and of a woman with her three children,
who were bushed for three days and three nights.
I also hear that the blacks on the Darling, where
I hope to go as soon as I can, have become very
insolent lately, and have murdered some white
shepherds. The expression used by my informant
was, that they had become very "jolly" of late.
I see by the journals that an immense immigra-
tion is expected from England.

June 20. — Hear of some bushrangers on the
Sydney side who robbed a gentleman, stripped
him naked, and tied him across a nest of huge
black ants, which ate all the flesh off his bones.
He was their old master, who, by his severity,
had caused them to take to the bush.

June 21. — It having been always the object of

184 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

my wishes to visit the confluence of the Darling
and the Murray, not only from being informed
that the visit of a Minister would be very accept-
able to the people of that district, but also on
account of various objects of interest to be seen
there, I started this morning at half-past nine
from my head-quarters on the Edward River for
the sheep-station of Canally, on the Murrum-
bidgee. Yet at the outset some difficulties oc-
curred which might have affected a sensitive mind.
My stipend is paid by a certain number of sub-
scribers, among whom the names of the Darling
squatters do not figure. My people then seem
not altogether well pleased that I should venture
a hundred miles away from the limits of the sub-
scription list, although they know that there must
be people to be married, children to be baptized,
women to be churched, and, above all, a popula-
tion growing up in a most far-off district, totally
destitute of clerical visiting or of religious minis-
trations. But as I know that my health will not
allow me to remain much longer in this extraor-
dinary country, and that after me no one pro-
bably will dare to come for a long time, I have
thought fit to set at defiance the half-smothered
remonstrances of the subscription list, and to do
the best 1 can for my neglected fellow-Christians
during the remainder of my stay here. Arriving
at the Lake Yauga, we turned to the left, and

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 185

found the road intricate and swampy. A cold wind
blew too, bringing with it showers of rain ; and
although we rode hard, we at one time almost
despaired of arriving at our hospitable resting-
place before nightfall. If we had not done so, we
should have had to bush it. Providentially we
regained the track which we had lost for a short
time, and leaving the " howling wilderness/'' with
its bleak plains and ragged forests of stunted
timber, arrived at six to receive a hearty welcome
from the kind-hearted and intelligent proprietor
of the run.

June 23. — It has rained without intermission
from morning to night. The superintendent has
promised to obtain for me against my return the
'upper jaw of some extraordinary animal, which
the blacks describe as a sort of bear or sloth.
Towards nightfall we swam our horses over the
Murrumbidgee, that we might be ready to start
early to-morrow morning.

June 24. — Raining in torrents, without inter-
mission, the whole of the day. Journey deferred
until to-morrow.

June 25. — I started from Canally at half-past

eight, and arrived at Mr. R 's station on the

Murray at three. The country we traversed is
very bad for stock, with the exception of some
small plains. Passed on my left a pretty lake of
about six miles in circumference, which is fed by

186 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the Murrumbidgee. Although it has never been
known to be dry since the discovery of the
country, fragments of salt-bush exist at its
bottom. The Murray here is at present 200
yards in width, and rolls at a majestic pace.

June 27 (Sunday). — Rode twenty-two miles to
Euston, a township consisting of four or five huts
and a public-house, situated on a pretty plain,
bounded on the north by forest land and on the
south by the Murray. We passed on our left
the Lakes Proa and Benanee, the latter very ex-
tensive, with bold banks all round. As we rode
rapidly along an excellent track, a flight of black
cockatoos flew past — precursors of rain. Saw
several shrubs unknown on the Edward River,
and indicative of a very hot climate. At Euston
I held Divine Service immediately on my arrival,
and had a very well-behaved congregation of
twenty persons. Three children of the publican
were baptized during the service. I was hospit-
ably entertained by Mr. Cole, the Government
Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district,
who has fixed his head-quarters at Euston, and
who has become justly renowned over the Austra-
lian world for his frank hospitality and his excel-
lent salads, in the fabrication of which he seems
to have attained a rare skill. And what renders
these salads objects of wonder as well as good
taste is, that no one can discover where the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 187

vegetable portion of the ingredients comes from ;
for Euston is a country which I should conceive
would only produce salt-bush and coarse grass
one portion of the year, and sirocco and dust the
other. It is well not to pry into harmless mys-
teries. There lay the salad on his hospitable
board, in all its exquisite proportions of much
oil, little vinegar, hard eggs, anchovy sauce,
pepper, salt, &c. What grass or herb would not
pass current with such condiments ? Our dinner-
party consisted not only of myself and my two
friends, squatters, who have accompanied me

thus far, but also of Mr. L , who is on his

way to take his Commissionership of the Lower
Darling, to which he is just appointed, and a clever
young German, a medical man, who is on his
way from South Australia to the diggings. The
conversation at table was animated and instruc-
tive, and turned on many subjects. They dis-
coursed on a remarkable bird found in the
district, called the Looa, four of which, Gibbs, the
publican, is bringing up, and which I subse-
quently saw. These birds are every way like a
mixture of the pheasant and partridge, and are
very fair eating. But they do not hatch their
young in the ordinary way. They lay their eggs,
carefully arranged in a pyramidal form, placing
leaves and herbage between each layer. Then
comes rain, and afterwards sun, which causes

18S DIARY OP A WORKING CLERGYMAN

decomposition of the vegetable matter. The
young birds, then, are hatched by the intense
heat that ensues. It is a great boon for the
blacks and whites to find an egg magazine. One
heap will be composed of many hundreds, in all
stages of advancement. As the indigenes prefer
eggs with chicks in them, and the whites without,
a whole pyramid is soon devoured, and all parties
but the parent proprietors, satisfied. I heard
also evidence which goes far to prove that the
bunyip is but a large and voracious otter.

June 30 — At mid-day started westward, in
company with the new Commissioner for the
Lower Darling, another gentleman, and two
mounted troopers. We thought to strike a
sheep-station called Tapaulen by sun-down, but
somehow, after passing Mount Dispersion, we
missed our way, and travelled onward, onward,
until eight at night, without being able to find
our desired haven. The wind blew coolly,
showers of rain fell, and we would have been
content with a fire and some hot tea. But that
was not to be. We became entangled in a huge
bend ot the Murray, and were perfectly non-
plussed as to our whereabouts. By and by we
smelt fire, which was great joy; and after ten
minutes' riding in the direction of the smell, we
saw, by the light of the moon, smoke rising
among the forest trees A few minutes then

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 189

brought us into a blacks' camp, close to which
was a large flock of sheep put up for the night.
We soon discovered that we had long passed the
track leading to the sheep-station ; that if we
decided to go there, we should have to ride back
six miles, three miles of which would be deeply
covered with water, the Murray flood being out;
and, moreover, that as all the adult males of the
camp were away fishing, we should not be able to
obti.in a guide. Nothing, then, was left for us
but to unsaddle our horses, hobble them, let
them loose into the surrounding forest, arrange
the saddles for our pillows, and compose ourselves
to sleep supperless by the watch-fires of the
blacks. \Ye might have killed a sheep from the
flock, for they all belonged to our friend at the
station ; but the trouble would have been great,
the fresh meat would have been tough, and there
was no bread to eat with it : so we soon gave up
that design, and composed ourselves to rest as we
best could. This blacks' camp was arranged
more regularly than any I had yet seen. For
fifty yards extended in a straight direction large
pieces of bark, propped slantwise on poles, in
such a position that the whole of a human body,
except the feet, could find shelter under them.
Close to where the feet of the inmates would pro-
trude was a row of watch-fires. At either end of
the row were placed, at right angles, large huts

190 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

(if such could be called huts), tenanted by the
old men of the tribe, who from their position
could survey all that passed in the row. This
tribe, it seemed, were not so savage but that they
were trusted to take care of a flock of sheep, now
that white labour, in consequence of the diggings,
was so very scarce. But our difficulty was to
find a spot where we could place ourselves
among the forty or fifty sleeping women and
children. Among them we must go, for to sleep
in the long wet grass was not to be thought of.
But the women themselves did not seem parti-
cularly anxious for an increase to their society.
They had composed themselves to sleep, and did
not wish to be disturbed. After walking down
the whole file, looking out for gaps where we
could niche ourselves, we espied here and there
crevices between the sleeping people. In these
crevices we ensconced ourselves, bribing our un-
willing entertainers with tobacco. The rest of
the night was one of torment to me. Pangs of
hunger, the gnawings of innumerable fleas, the
passionate outpourings of the youthful blacks,
the distant howl of the wild dog, the consequent
uneasiness of the two or three thousand sheep,
their occasional bleating too, the hissing of the
fires as the rain fell upon them, the noise insepa-
rable from seventy or eighty human creatures,
many of them children, congregated together,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 191

'prevented my slumbers from being anything but
very transitory. And every now and then the
grim, dirty old woman, who was snatching a few
uneasy slumbers near me, would jump up, throw
off her only covering, an opossum rug, and trim
the fire, or throw a flaming brand with a shrill
cry among the uneasy and rushing sheep. And
then she would come to my side, and previous to
lying down, address a few grunts to me, kindly
intimating that she hoped I was comfortable.
Thus grimly articulating, she laid down, wrapped
her rug about her, and consigned herself to
slumber; alas! soon to be disturbed. During one
of the pauses in the old creature's activity, a
younger woman, who had a most diminutive
baby, inquired by signs if I were hungry. I re-
plied in the same language that I assuredly was.
She then took from under her head a netted bag,
which served her for a pillow, sat up, and began
taking out the contents. What these were, I
cannot say ; rags and dirt, and small morsels of
things, seemed the chief component parts. But
at the bottom there was a piece of flesh, black
and chaired from the effects of too-rapid cookery.
It had a peculiar smell — not that of decay — to
which I took an instant repugnance. With the
kindest expression and the most good-natured
smile she took it up, gave it to me, and pressed
me to eat it. I took it to the fire; looked at it;

192 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

smelt it ; could make nothing of it ; returned to
her and asked her, what manner of flesh it was.
Was it sheep? no; was it ox ? no; was it kan-
garoo ? no. In fact, I named, or rather imitated
all the animals of the country, save one, and it
was not their flesh. So I returned it with many-
grateful acknowledgements. But she seemed so
hurt that I would not touch it, and used so many
amiable entreaties, that I thought of the touching
language of Mungo Park, and saw a fresh illus-
tration of the beautiful verses of our great novel-
ist, that woman is in our time of need a minister-
ing angel. The tribe were half starved ; the
return of the men was looked for with impatience;
this poor creature was half famished, and yet she
frankly and freely offered me, a stranger, her
mite — all that she had, whatever it was, and was
very chagrined that I took it not.

July 1. — Arose at sunrise from most un-
comfortable slumbers, and proceeded to find and
saddle my horses. Regaining the beaten track
we travelled on as fast as we could, every now
and then catching glimpses of the Murray
majestically rolling along. Sometimes we came
to fertile flats which the river, in times of great
floods, covers ; sometimes the road took us over
the brow of cliffs 150 feet high, overhanging the
w;ttcrs. From these eminences we could see the
impervious Malice scrub stretching away on our

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 193

right, into an unexplored country, as far as the
eye could reach. No signs of human beings met
our eye, no hut, no blacks' camp, no traces of
sheep or cattle. Once or twice, through an
opening in the glade, we saw large ponds fed by
the Murray, round which flocks of pelican were
disporting and washing themselves, with their
snow-white plumage glistering in the morning
sun. Seeing a black fishing in the river; we rode
up to him, hoping to change some tobacco against
his fish : but the poor fellow had caught none,
and looked as hungry as we did. After passing
the Golgol Creek, which is twenty-two miles
from the junction of the Darling, and having on
our right the Golgol mountains, which seemed to
me no more mountains than the Surrey hills are,
we turned to our left into an extensive bend of
the Murray, and arrived at four in the afternoon

opposite the head-station of Mr. J But it

was not yet given to us to enjoy the hospitality
of our worthy friend. The inmates of the hut
had to be summoned, blacks had to be shouted
for, and a canoe had to be procured and launched
upon the intervening waters. We were then
passed over the Murray one by one, the saddles,
bridles, and baggage last. So we sat down to
some green tea, bacon, and damper (nothing else
of any sort was at hand), four-and-twenty hours
after our time, having ridden eighteen hours since

194 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

last breaking our fast. I should have felt the
inconvenience of this journey much more if one
of my companions, who had been an officer in
the Austrian army, had not recited to me at
intervals the wondrous ballads of Schiller, with
his own translations.

July 2. — I found the hut full of interesting
books, among which was Sismondi's " History of
European Literature," which I was delighted to
get. One of my companions i3 laid up with
dysentery, brought on by his being unaccustomed
to such severe exercise. Sent to a station on the
Darling, twenty-five miles off, for some calomel
and chalk for him.

July 4 (Sundaij). — Rode with my kind host
to a neighbouring station, where I held Divine
Service, and baptized no less than eight children.
Four married women were there, with numerous
families. The Service consisted of the Lessons,
Litany, the Communion Service, and a Sermon.
The reason of my finding so large a congregation
in this secluded district is, that many people are
passing by this route overland from South Aus-
tralia to the Port Phillip diggings, and many of
my attendants to-day were composed of these
searchers for gold. Among the children whom
I baptized were two belonging to an actor from
Adelaide, who was on his way to fulfil an engage-
ment at the Geelong Theatre. By an unaccount-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 195

able fatuity, this poor fellow chose to travel
overland, although his wife was near her confine-
ment, instead of making the voyage by sea.
He had been already seven weeks on the way;
his wife had brought forth a child; his mates had
basely deserted him, taking away the two horses;
and, as he assured me with tears in his eyes, for
many days he had yoked himself to his tilted
cart, and staggered along over the miry track,
drawing after him his sick, helpless wife, and his
three little children. His wife, too, had little or
nothing to give the baby, for she had scarce tasted
farinaceous food for a month, and was, conse-
quently, in poor health. Giving him as much as
I could afford to relieve his wants, I told him to
ask the mistress of the station, in my name, to
spare him a little flour at her own price. No one
would sell him any on the road, for every one
feared great scarcity, owing to the disorganisation
of all carrier communication. In a subsequent
conversation he told me that he, his wife, and
eldest girl, were to receive 71. a-week from the
manager of the Geelong Theatre, and that he
was very anxious to get there. I asked him
what his forte was, and he answered, brightening
up, " Why, sir, my forte, 1 may say, is high
tragedy. I am great in Richard the Third, in
Iago, and Shylock. I have also drawn very good
houses in genteel comedy ; and sometimes, on

196 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

particular occasions, when hands are short, I play
clown." As he hesitated a little about giving
this last proof of the versatility of his talents, I
re-assured him by observing that I had heard
that Edmund Kean had played at Swansea, on the
same night, Richard III., Paul in " Paul and
Virginia," and Harlequin in the pantomime.
So, after a little, serious conversation, he pro-
mising me that his theatrical engagements should
not prevent him from accompanying his family
to church on Sundays, we parted.

July 6. — My friend measured the Murray,
and found it 160 yards across. Five mounted
policemen arrived. They are to be stationed here,
by order of the Victoria Government.

July 7. — Having procured a black guide, named
Mickey, I proceeded across fertile plains, inter-
sected by belts of timber, to Dr. F 's station,

twenty-five miles off, and then, to my great joy,
found myself on the banks of that Darling, which
I had so long desired to see. I found it a muddy
stream of the colour of milk, fifty to seventy
yards wide, floating sluggishly between high
clay banks — about as unpicturesque an object
as possible. It is here fifteen miles from the
Murray, and I hear that its present character-
istics are maintained for 150 miles upwards.
1 saw four Darling pigeons, which belong to
the young ladies of the house. These Darling

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 197

pigeons are extremely pretty doves, with lavender,
purple,, and gold feathers. I saw, too, a proof
that the blacks here are wilder than on the Ed-
ward. Visiting the blacks' camp near the hut,
I found the young unmarried women sitting
without clothing of any description. On the
Edward, married women go entirely nude, but
not girls. Saw also some wild tobacco grow-
ing.

July 8. — Had much conversation with the
Doctor, who is a clever, intelligent man. He
tells me that the blacks are very wild and trouble-
some 150 miles up the river, and also that about
that distance, or perhaps ten miles further,
mountain ranges form about the river. I am
also assured, that in these parts there is found
an owl which barks like a dog; also a carni-
vorous kangaroo. I hear, too, tales of the mindei,
or great snake with legs, which, as the blacks de-
clare, eats the sheep ; although I suspect it is
a stalwart black biped that kills and eats them.
The aborigines here, too, obstinately persist in
their belief of the existence of the monstrous
bunyip. I was also shown what was called the
blossom of the mistletoe, a delicate crimson
flower, like a very attenuated fuchsia. In the
course of the day, two gentlemen arrived from an
expedition 200 miles up the Darling. The blacks

198 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

have become so saucy of late in those parts that
they went armed, but found no difficulty. They
tell me that Fort Bourke is 500 miles up. No one
from these parts has yet gone further, I believe.
At night I read the Church Prayers and gave an
Exposition to a large society. We slept four in
the room, for the hut was crowded with casual
visitors. There was some interesting conversation
among my l'oom-fellows, sturdy young bushmen,
before going to sleep. They talked of tribes of
indigenes in the interior, of different characteris-
tics from any blacks which we know. They are
poor, wretched creatures, of dwarfish proportions
and ill habit of body, who inhabit the dense re-
cesses of the Mallee scrub in the far interior, and
who live, or rather starve, upon dead bodies or
vermin; or, in fact, anything they can chew. They
have scarce any arms, and whatever they do
catch, they catch by means of springes. When
they are hard-pressed by hunger they devour
their children ; and as for water, they find it at the
roots of the Mallee. The other blacks have the
greatest abhorrence of them, and kill them when-
ever they find' them ; so the poor creatures retire
into their friendly impenetrable Mallee, and live
there. They arc of the same race with their
neighbours, but have physically degenerated from
persecution and starvation. None of my inform-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 199

ants had seen any of these unfortunate beings,
but they had conversed with blacks who had.
They also told me of a bushman, who from
the Adelaide side, striking the Darling about
300 miles up, had come upon a beautiful
valley, surrounded by lofty cliffs, and watered
by many streams, where the blacks told him
was plenty of the bright yellow metal of which
his watch-chain and seals were composed. But
he was so anxious to get on, that he stayed not
to search. And they told me that 150 miles up
the Darling there is a tree, something like the
ash, which has an extraordinary spotted bark
to it. Thus discoursing we fell asleep.

July 9. — Put into my valise two bulbs of the
beautiful Darling lily, and after bidding farewell
to my amiable and clever host and his wife and
sister, two sons and two daughters, who had all
treated me with so much kindness, I crossed the
Darling, and rode about fourteen miles to Mr.

W 's station, a settler on the Ana-branch of

the Darling. This is a part of the stream, which
abandons its parent ninety miles away and joins
it again near here. I found the poor man in
great grief, for he has lately lost his wife, and is
left with five young children. I scarcely know
how he will be enabled to get on at all now,
isolated as he is. I baptized the two youngest

200 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

children. He told me that the Ana-branch of
the Darling has water six months in the year :
also that the blacks in his neighbourhood are
very wild and troublesome, killing the sheep and
spearing the cattle of the squatters. In the after-
noon I arrived, after a two-hours' ride, at the
Junction Inn, a comfortable public-house, situated
just below the junction of the Darling with the
Murray, and here I slept. I have now arrived at
the western confine of my journey, and to-morrow
must turn my horses' heads eastward. Not that
I have arrived at the Adelaide frontier: from that
I am still sixty miles away ; but the great floods,
which they say are rapidly coming down the
Murray, warn me to get to my head-quarters as
soon as possible. I am now 321 miles from
Maiden's Punt, the south-eastern point of my
district, according to the following distances :
From Maiden's Punt (Moama) on the Murray,
to Deniliquin on the Edward River, it is
fifty miles; from Deniliquin to Moolamon is
seventy miles; from Moolamon to Canally
station, on the Murrain bidgee, is sixty-two
miles; from Canally to Euston, on the Murray,
is fifty-seven miles; and from Euston to the
junction of the Darling with the Murray, eighty-
two miles. During the fatigues and anxieties in-
separable from so long a journey, I have been

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 201

cheered and encouraged by the good-natured
respect which has been paid to me, especially by
the lower classes.

July 10. — Before starting on my return, I
visited the confluence of the Darling with the
Murray. The former does not run into the
latter at right angles, but flows side by side
with its potent friend for a short space, as if
wishing to prove him before entering into his
society. At the confluence the Darling has
now a width of 160 yards, and the Murray
300 yards. This latter is very grand and
majestic, and capable, I should think, of float-
ing the largest ship in the world. It is
strange, that the only boats which plough its
waters should be ferry-boats and the frail bark-
canoe of the savage. Contemplating this grand
sight, the object of my wishes for so many years,
I came upon a blacks' camp. They asked me to
buy some delicate fishes, which were most artist-
ically arranged in leaves, and bound together with
osier twigs. These blacks seem an intelligent,
fine race, and calculate acutely the value of every-
thing of which they have to dispose. One of
them, named Moses, exactly resembles the type
of the Assyrian, as portrayed in the Nineveh
sculptures. In a few years these sons of the
Australian desert will have faded away, and the
grand-children of their successors will perhaps

202 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

curiously search into the habits and customs of
those who held the soil before them. After
crossing my horses in the ferry-boat over the

Darling, I arrived at nightfall at Mr. J 's

station.

July 11 {Sunday). — Had Morning Service.
Among others were present three black police,
with a corporal and sergeant. These poor heathens
went through the dispositions of posture required
by our Service with military precision, although
they understand nothing of English, save the
words of command, and the few expressions min-
gled up with the lingua franca which forms our
only means of verbal communication with them.
The police service seems to be the only channel,
by which the natives can be made serviceable to
the social system which now surrounds them.
They make most excellent mounted police,
although it is necessary to restrain their ferocity
towards delinquents of their own people. To mis-
sionary enterprises, I fear, they are completely
impervious, on account of their having no reflec-
tive capacities. They, however, possess a sort of
conscience, which places them in some moral
relations above the level of many baptized
Christians. They do not every now and then
endeavour to subvert the form of government
which (however rude) is established amongst
them ; they do not steal ; they make an equal

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 203

division of whatever they have amongst one
another, so that there are none poorer than their
neighbours — no pariahs of society among them;
and most of them, ragged or naked as they may
be, have a certain rude dignity of carriage, which
entitles them to every benevolent feeling on our
part.

July 12. — Started for Euston, being a com-
pany of four persons with nine horses. After
travelling till nightfall, we made up our minds to
camp out; but we luckily came upon a shepherd's
hut, where we obtained shelter for the night. The
shepherd told us, that the Murray floods were
coming down so fast that by to-morrow night
the hut will be surrounded by the waters, conse-
quently this is his last night.

July 13. — Rode to Euston, having camped
and rested and lunched in the middle of the day ;
a thing I had never seen done before.

July 14. — A number of persons are crossing
their drays over the Murray. They tie empty
casks to them, to float them, and then tow them
to the opposite bank. The bullocks, of course,
swim.

July 17. — Turning over a box of worm-eaten
books, which I found in a hut on the bank of the
river, I discovered among others a translation of
Plato's "Timseus." I also found the second part
of the "Faust," translated by Reid — a most phan-

201 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

tasmagoric sort of drama, in parts quite incompre-
hensible.

July 18. — Held Divine Service at the inn at
Euston, and baptized three children. A worthy-
squatter from the south bank of the Murray attended
Service. He has a most excellent kitchen-garden,
the produce of which is sure. But on this side,
nothing in the shape of garden vegetation is sure.
Just when everything looks in the best order and
ready for eating, the north wind will come on,
and, like the simoom of the desert, blast and
wither all before it. This is what, I fear, will
prevent a large population from ever settling on
the northern bank of the Murray. What the soil
will luxuriantly produce, the hot wind will de-
stroy. I heard to-day of the immense fatigue
and danger which the surveyors underwent who,
some years ago, surveyed and marked out the
boundary between the Adelaide and Victoria ter-
ritory. They drew a line from the Murray to the
sea at the mouth of the river Glenelg, following
the 141st degree of east longitude. A great por-
tion of the country surveyed, consists of dense
Mallee scrub. Through that, these intrepid en-
gineers had to cut their way, and many times
were on the point of perishing for want of
water.

July 21. — llode to Canally on the Murrum-
bidgee, in company with the proprietor of the sta-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 205

tion. The floods are coming down in such a
volume, that my friend was forced to get a black
to guide him to his own place. The last two
miles lay through flooded ground in the midst of
huge bulrushes, which far overtopped my head as
I sat on horseback.

July 28. — After much fatigue I returned to
my head-quarters, having been absent on my
Darling expedition since the 21st of June. Pound
a letter from the Bishop of Sydney, in which he
appoints me to the district of the Surrey Hills
in Sydney.

July 31. — This morning, water was found
frozen an inch thick on the plains.

Aug. 1. — Gave some clothes to a poor fellow
who has lately been lost on the plains, without
food, as he says, for eleven days. He is, as may
be supposed, in a most miserable state, with a
corpse-like complexion. His toes, too, are drop-
ping off from exposure to frost and wet. For one
to lose his way in this country, who is not a good
bushman, is very perilous. Not long ago, the
bones of a man and dog were found near here,
who had both perished from starvation. The
skeleton of the poor faithful dog was found
nestling close to that of his master. The man's
Prayer-book was found in his pocket, with his
name written in it.

Aug. 3. — Heard a story of a young colonial

206 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

lady, who could " talk bullock " so well, that she
could do anything with the animals. But subse-
quently her parents had got rich, and she had be-
come refined and pretentious. One day walking
with her lover, a young gentleman just arrived
from England, and unacquainted with colonial
ways, both in great toilet, she spied one of her
father's bullocks in a dray, which had lain down
sulky, and absolutely refused to move. The driver,
too, was a new hand, and could do nothing with
the obstinate beast. The young lady, carried away
by the exigencies of the moment, took the whip
as in days of old, struck the animal a sharp blow,
and cried, " Devil burst you, Ginger ! get up ! "
This delicate langue cle bceuf had a most magical
effect. The recreant Ginger immediately arose,
and walked away vigorously with his load. Whether
the lover walked away without his, I was not able
to learn.

Aug. 10. — Began my journey towards Sydney.
My route will lie by Melbourne, and then on by
sea. The rainy season is now at its worst ; and if
I do not make haste, the heavy floods that are
coming down the Murray will keep me a prisoner
perhaps for months.

Aug. 13. — I was on horseback ten hours, tra-
velling up the Edward. The floods were out, so
for hours the water was up to the horses' breasts.
I arrived at a public-house in a pitchy dark-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 207

ness, illuminated at intervals by flashes of
lightning.

Aug. 14. — On horseback for nine hours. The
plains are in a fearful state of swamp. We were
obliged to walk the horses for miles through deep
water, uncertain too of the exact position of the
banks of the river. I never suffered so much from
fatigue as I did to-day.

Aug. 15 (Sunday). — Rode on about two hours
to a public-house between the Edward and the
Murray. The flood being out, the journey was
dangerous. Held Divine Service, at which twelve
attended, and behaved most decorously. At his
earnest request, I administered a pledge of absti-
nence to a man named Charles Brown, who is
going to the diggings. He promised to confine
himself to three half-noggins of spirits per diem
for the next six months, and that only as a matter
of necessity. I made him write out and sign
his promise on paper, and then exhorted him to
trust in a higher Power for grace to carry out
his good intentions. At first, this half-and-half
temperance vow seemed ridiculous to me, but on
farther consideration I reflected that I had no
right to repel any one coming to me with good
intentions, that half-temperance is better than
no temperance at all, and that the Church should
never refuse to meet people half way. The man
was pleased at having signed the contract, showed

208 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

it to his mates, declared he would keep to it re-
ligiously, and ended by pressing me to accept a
bottle of wine of him for my trouble. I think he
will keep the pledge. He could have had none
but honest intentions in coming to me, as he did,
to administer it. As to his proviso of the three
half-noggins, I like him the better for it ; it shows
candour on his part. Besides, it is impossible to
work at the diggings in this inclement weather,
up to one's knees in water, without some sti-
mulant,

Aug. 23. — Rode to Maiden's Punt, hoping
to cross my horses ; but the proprietor of the
ferry absolutely refuses to attempt it. I bap-
tized three children belonging to a man who is
just starting for the diggings. He insisted on
paying me. I said that our Church did not sell
the Sacraments. He said that the clerk must be
paid. I answei'ed, that there was no clerk. He
then said, roughly, that he did not wish anything
from anybody, not even the Church, without pay-
ment. I told him that, in the present case, there
was no other alternative. He then went away
in a rude manner.

Aug. 25. — Find that the man, whose children
I baptized yesterday, has gone away at daybreak,
and left a packet for me. On opening a very
dirty bit of white-brown paper, tightly twisted, I
found at least three ounces of small nuggets of

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 209

pure gold in it. So he gained his point after all.
Visited the camp of a remarkably fine tribe of
blacks, who are temporarily located here. They
have twenty-five canoes with them, and about a
hundred lean, mangy, barking, wolf-like curs.

Aug. 28. — Incessant rains and tremendous
floods. Hear that many squatters in my district
are thinking of leaving their head-stations on
the banks of creeks and rivers, and of retiring
into the back plains. I conceive that, if ever
there should be great simultaneous floods in the
Murray and Murrumbidgee, nothing can save the
settlers and stock of the intervening plains from
being swept away.

Sept. 9. — After waiting sixteen days on the
banks of the Murray, I am able to cross the
swollen river, my horses having been swum over
yesterday. Getting into a small boat, two men
pulled me up the river some way. We then en-
tered a creek ; then punted over a lagoon, until
we came to the spot where my two horses were
grazing, hobbled. Thus I leave the district where
I have but very unsatisfactorily performed my
clerical duties during the space of sixteen months;*
for, during that time, I have been not unseldom
confined by the weather or state of the roads to
some solitary hut in thorough inaction. For
instance, during the 243 days which elapsed be-
* For the Cure to which the Bishop has transferred me.

210 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

tween May 20, 1851, to Jan. 18, 1852, 159 only
were spent in ministerial work, while 84 were
passed doing nothing. And then, the huts are
so small and inconvenient, that retirement and
quiet study are out of the question. My calcu-
lation with regard to the weather in this country,
according to my experience, is as follows: Incessant
rains, resolving the tracks into glutinous swamps,
prevail from about June 8 to Sept. 23 == 109
days; droughts and heats of summer — extreme
heats, I mean, such as to render travelling dis-
agreeable, and almost impossible — prevail from
December to the end of March ; heavy floods —
rendering travelling intricate and very dangerous,
the more so, as the watercourses are very nume-
rous — prevail from September to November, at
least sixty-six days. Then, it must be recollected
that the various paddocks are short of good feed
for seven or eight months in the year. In short,
unexceptionable good travelling in the Edward
district, so far as climate, feed, and absence of
floods are concerned, I found to exist only from
Nov. 20 to about Dec. 10, a period of twenty
days. All the rest of the year is chequered by
some difficulty or other. Whoever my successor
may be, I hope he may be gifted with excellent
health, great capacity for enduring fatigue on
insufficient nourishment, and, above all, a patient,
meek disposition. Aud he must not expect a

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 211

very high appreciation of the sacrifices he makes
in coming into such a country. Many of the
squatters are not gentlemen, but rather people
who will broadly hint that, having paid a certain
sum towards a clergyman's support, they expect
to get something for their money in the shape of
so many visits a-year, be the weather what it
might. I imagine that the best mode of extend-
ing clerical ministrations to this district would be
to send an express itinerant minister, with a sur-
rogate's license, twice or thrice a-year over the
whole country, from Albury as far as the Adelaide
frontier. A permanent residence would be found
very unsatisfactory to any clergyman, on account
of the inaction to which, at all times, he would
be subjected from the state of the weather, of the
roads, and of the floods. If I were asked, if any
of the vast tract of country which composed my
district were capable of any other use than the
pasturing of sheep and cattle, for which it is ad-
mirably adapted, I should be inclined to answer in
the negative. For colonisation I should consider
it unsuited, because I do not think that grain could
be raised to support such a population. The soil
is by no means unfertile; but the hot wind from
the desert, blasts and withers everything. Crops
might be raised in the alluvial soil, which lies in
the close proximity of the rivers; but then care
must be taken that the grain be cut and carried

212 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

before the floods come down, because this allu-
vial soil to which I allude is, in fact, the bed of
the numerous lagoons which border the water-
courses. The climate is particularly healthy ;
and under the influence of the dry, pure, trans-
parent atmosphere, men and horses are capable
of undergoing great fatigue. Kangaroo, and
emu, and bustards, called wild turkeys, abound
on the plains ; wild fowl and cray-fish about the
lagoons, and fine fish in the rivers; but the
squatters are too indolent to take advantage of
so much fine game, and prefer eating salt beef
and smoking strong tobacco at their fire-side, in
the midst of anticipations of bouts of intemper-
ance during the next wool season, at the hotels
of Sydney, Melbourne, or Adelaide. Having
mounted my horse, I rode southward.

As many feel interested in perusing thermo-
metrical observations, I produce two series, the
first taken in December, 1851, the second in
August, 1852, both of them taken from a ther-
mometer placed in a bedroom in a head-station,
not far from the Murray, in S. lat. 36° and

long.

145° :—

Dec. 20

ranging

from 78°

to 86°

„ 79

„ 88

„ 80

i, 94

,, 86

,, 106

ii 80

ii 90

ii 82

i, 94

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 213

Dec. 26 ranging from 85° to 102°

27 „ „ 80 ,, 85

28 „ „ 70 ,, 80

29 „ ,, 70 „ 88

30 ,, „ 76 „ 90

31 „ ,, 59 „ 73

:• 12 „

„ 50

13 „

»>

„ 45

H „

„ 45

15 „

»)

„ 44

16 „

„ 49

17 „

>»

„ 52

18 „

„ 54

Sq)t. 13. — On my road I met a vast number
of persons going to the diggings, in every de-
scription of vehicle, and with cattle completely
used up by the bogginess of the roads.

Sept. 18. — After sleeping at the inn called
Vinges', and paying a pound sterling for a night's
lodging for my two horses, I started for Mel-
bourne, a distance of twelve miles. To describe
the state of the road accurately would be impos-
sible. Let us imagine four feet of pitch half
cooled, and we should arrive at some idea of this
dozen miles of black loam trampled into a deep
mud by the hoofs of innumerable beasts. Woe
to the rider who lets his horse stand still a mo-
ment with his foreleg's together in this glutinous
mass. It would be difficult to get him out, even
with dismounting. Aud what dismounting ! I
met twenty-four bullocks drawing a dray, and

214< DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

with difficulty they slowly progressed. And quite
pitiable it was to see poor families on their way
to the diggings in a cart drawn by one horse.
There were the children extended on the bedding,
screaming, while the lean horse stood still in the
mud, motionless as a statue, and the father and
mother, bogged up to the knees themselves, were
vainly pushing behind. Every now and then
came showers of rain to damp the little remaining
ardour of these searchers for gold. At times
suspicious-looking characters passed me, armed
to the teeth, who looked with a covetous eye on
the quantity of baggage I had on my spare horse.
This colony was the most desirable of all which
the Crown possesses. How changed now ! No
more tranquillity and good-fellowship between
the grades of society. All is confusion, selfish-
ness, license, and subversion of all respect for
worth, talent, and education. Brawn and muscle
are now the aristocracy, and insolently bear their
newly-assumed honours. In fact, we have here
the French Revolution without the guillotine.
\Vhen I arrived in Melbourne, I found the streets
full of a dirty, disorderly mob of people, many
of them tipsy, who seemed to take a delight in
setting the laws of decent behaviour at defiance.
At the hotel where I dined, the waiter was a
young gentleman who had passed his " little
go" at Trinity College, Cambridge. He told me

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 215

that the quantity of English sauces which the
people consumed with their beef and mutton was
something stupendous ; that he had remonstrated ;
that they had answered him impertinently ; that
he had kicked two men down-stairs ; and that his
master, unmindful of his own true interests, had
given him warning on this very account. I told
him that I thought his family would be more
satisfied at his undertaking some other employ-
ment than that of waiter at a Melbourne restau-
rant. I believe it was a former proprietor of this
inn who assumed a lion as his crest, with the
motto of " Noli irritare leonemP His name was
Lyons, a Hebrew by birth.

Oct. 2. — Met in Collins Street a coarse-looking
young woman, very gaily dressed, with a fine
baby in her arms, who, to my surprise, recognised
me with a loud voice, as the Minister who had
baptized her child in the bush. She wore a
French bonnet of a delicate lemon colour, with a
white lace veil ; a common cotton coloured hand-
kerchief tied round her red neck ; a new green
silk dress, sufficiently short to show coarse, puffy
legs and ankles, clothed with dirty socks, and thick
winter boots laced up in front. She had a short
and stocky figure, and from the redness of her
complexion seemed to have just risen from din-
ner. When she found that I rather shrank from
the warmth of her greeting, she said, " Don't you

216 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

recollect me as hut-keeper at the head-station of

, and that you christened my baby, and

wouldn't take anything for doing it ? And now I
have got plenty of money and wish to make you
a present." I interrupted her by asking her
what she meant by walking about town without
her husband, dressed in that way ? " Oh ! " she
answered, " my husband knows all about it; he
is gone to the diggings for the second time, to get
some more gold." " Did he do pretty well on his
first visit to the diggings V J I asked. "Well,
thank God, he did very fairly ; he got 700/., and
he has given it all to me to take charge of till he
comes down again." This young woman, six
months before, was a raw, red-haired, savage
Scotch maid-of-all-work, at a sheep-station 200
miles in the interior, married to one of the shep-
herds. Her husband and she had left service,
gone to the diggings, and found this great prize.
She was now roaming about Melbourne, amusing
herself, and rendering herself entirely unfit for
the only thing nature ever intended her for — hard
labour. She finished a very voluble harangue in
answer to some advice I gave her, by praying me
to pay her a visit next morning, that she might
give me a handful of nuggets. But this is one
only of a thousand strange things which are
occurring. A lady told me yesterday that she
had just lost an excellent maidservant, who one

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 217

day was followed about by a digger, who pro-
posed himself off-hand to her, and backed his
arguments so opportunely by a heavy bag of gold
which weighed down his pocket, that the girl
when she came back, showing her mistress the
gold which the lover had given her to keep, con-
fessed that she was engaged to be married so
soon as a license could be procured. And this
marriage affair goes off thus. After the cere-
mony is over, and the officiating minister has
received generous proofs of the prodigality of the
contracting parties, the couple and their friends
drive to St. Kilda or Brighton, with a suite of
fortuitous applauding acquaintance. The toilette
of the ladies is something preposterously extra-
vagant. Their blue satin bonnets and white
ostrich feathers oppress their heads ; their crim-
son satin dresses blaze upon squat bodies, which
have been submitted for the first, and probably
the last time, to the screwing-in process of power-
ful stays. Next to the dress come the heavy
boots laced up in front. The coachman wears
blue and white ribbons ; so do the horses ; so even
does the whip, nay, even the spokes of the wheels.
During the journey, which takes half an hour to
an hour, English porter, beer, and champagne
are drunk by the driven and the drivers. On
their reaching the inn, an expensive banquet is
served, and the most expensive liquors which

218 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the colony affords are circulated in profusion.
Evening comes on, and everybody accumulates
drunkenness on himself. Night arrives, and the
whole party gallop back to Melbourne in the most
hopeless state of intoxication, having squandered
a sum which I dare not here name, for fear of en-
countering incredulity. A week is spent by the
married pair in all these delicate outpourings of
first love, and then satiety having intervened, and
the gold-bag having diminished, the new bride
awakes one morning without her partner at her
side, and discovers that he has bolted to the
diggings. She suffers great misery, and ulti-
mately discovers that her partner having got more
gold has married again in some other place, and
that, in fact, he has had two or three consorts
before herself. So she too, partly out of spite,
partly from destitution, resolves to marry again.
And thus the lower classes go on setting the
marriage laws at defiance, to the utter despair of
the clergymen, who see the inextricable social
confusion prevailing around them, without the
power to remedy it. It may be supposed that
the publicans reap a rich harvest from so much
social disorganisation. So fast are immigrants
arriving, that this class of people have their houses
crowded to suffocation, and sell their poisoned,
adulterated liquors at fabulous prices. But even
respectable landlords cannot prevent their houses

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 219

from being the scenes of low debauchery. Not
long ago, a party of diggers were sitting drinking
in the tap of a country inn, whilst a party of
squatters were dining in an adjoining room. A
strange idea seized the diggers : " Bring here,"
they shouted to the barman, " three dozen of
champagne, and a large tub ! " It was brought.
" Now knock the tops of the bottles off, and pour
away into the tub ! " It was done. " Now get
three dozen of sherry, and three dozen of porter,
and mix it all up with the champagne ! " That
was done, too. The party then divested them-
selves of their boots and socks, sat round the tub,
and washed their feet in the mixture, amid shouts
of laughter and drunken cries. In a quarter of
an hour they again called the barman, and bid
him take the tub, with their compliments, to the
swells in the next room, that they (the swells)
may drink to their health in it; adding, "the
swells have had it their own way long enough •
it is now the poor man's turn." In the midst of
all this social turmoil, the Colonial Government,
although a little taken aback, acts, on the whole,
with that firmness and good sense which British
gentlemen always show in cases of emergency.
And the press, too, setting apart a little too much
party violence, nobly seconds the cause of order.
The difficulty now is to get a sufficient police
force on foot to check the disorder which prevails,

220 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

for men who come to dig gold will not act as
policemen unless very well remunerated. A
horse patrol has been established, the privates of
which receive 85. per diem, exclusive of rations
and lodgings.

Oct. 4. — Paid the stabling for my two horses.
They were charged ten shillings a-night each. On
my remonstrating at the dearness of the price, I
was told by the livery-stable keeper that I might
think myself very lucky in getting off so cheaply,
for that, in two or three days, he was going to in-
crease the price to a pound a-night. This is on
a par with having a short time ago paid 21. for
shoeing my two horses.

Oct. 11. — Embarked in a steamer for Sydney,
and paid 12/. for a passage of three days. As
we steamed down the bay, we passed three ves-
sels full of immigrants sailing up into the land of
promise.

Oct. 14. — Arrived off Sydney Heads at noon,
and immediately entered through narrow and
lofty portals of rock into the tranquil harbour,
with its innumerable bays and coves, inlets and
beaches. This diversity of the natural formation
of the harbour is exquisitely graceful and pretty ;
yet all is spoilt by the frame of this beautiful
picture; — I mean the masses of unpicturesquc
timber, with its expressionless dull-green foliage,
with which the shores are clothed and the circum-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 221

jacent heights are crowned. Apart from this
great defect, Sydney Harbour is perfect for its
beauty. And near each pretty inlet and glitter-
ing miniature beach, are to be seen stately
mansions, rising in the midst of pleasure-
grounds. And the waters of the bay are most
intensely blue; and this blue is here and there
chequered by rocks or small islands, which give
the charm of diversity to the whole. A man-of-
war and some fine merchant-ships were lying at
the various anchorages with which the bay
abounds, and their sails, partly unfurled to dry
from the night's rain, glistened in harmonious
contrast between the deep azure above and the
deeper azure below. Passing with difficulty
through the busy crowd on the wharves, I put
up at Petty's Hotel, which seems very good and
very dear.

Oct. 15. — Visited the various points of interest
which Sydney affords. George Street is a street
which, for its length, its width, its good houses,
wealthy shops, and busy thoroughfare, would do
credit to any European capital. Of course there
are some inequalities in it, indicative of a new
country. There is the squalid cottage by the
side of the stately warehouse. But the tout
ensemble is most satisfactory to a reflecting
mind. When I looked on the wealth, activity,
and well-being existing around me, and beheld

222 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the squares and terraces where the higher classes
reside, and Government House, and the churches
and public buildings which stud the city; and
wandered through the exquisite Park and public
gardens, with the long avenues clustering with
roses; and watched rolling by me the well-
appointed private and public equipages, my mind
could not help reverting to sixty or seventy years
ago, when the savage indigenes of the district
had to give place to bands of white convicts,
scarcely less savage, and certainly more terrible
than they. Sydney, like the greater Rome, took
its rise from the soil of crime. One was at the
commencement as much a refugium peccatorum
as the other. There are in George Street the
walls of the unfinished Anglican Cathedral, the
state of which does no credit either to the city or
our Church. In the burying-ground hard by is
a very curious epitaph, which I discovered and
copied. It runs thus : —

" Sacred to the Memory of J. Justice, who departed
this life April 20th, Anno Domino (sic) 1804.
A constable & chinea Mender but
Death his Genious has suspended
His chinea broke o well a day
And crates of Ware His turnd to clay."

I also visited the Roman Catholic Church ; a
plain, spacious building. That religion seems
here in a flourishing state. The Romanists have

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 223

an Archbishop (Count Polding) and a Suffragan
Bishop (Davis), besides a very large staff of
priests.

Oct. 17 {Sunday). — At the extremity of the
district allotted to me stands a large building,
with an imposing fagade, called the Darlinghurst
Court- House, where the criminal sessions are
held. As there is no church yet built, the Chief
Justice, with much courtesy, has permitted me
for the present to hold Divine Service in this
place. I accordingly began my ministerial duties
at eleven o'clock this morning. I occupied the
whole of the judge's platform. The congregation
occupied the seats allotted to the jury and the
functionaries of the court, and also several rows
of benches, which were placed where the barris-
ters 1 long table usually stands. In front of me
stood the prisoners' box, like a huge pew, sur-
mounted by strong iron spikes. Behind that,
too, was a large space (space allotted for the pro-
miscuous public), available for my congregation ;
and above that was a heavy gallery, capable of
containing two or three hundred persons. About
seventy attended, which was very satisfactory,
considering that the district, as a regularly defined
Church district, is new, and that it is considered
to be chiefly populated by persons dissenting from
the tenets of the Anglican Church. I felt rather
nervous at the beginning of the Service, seeing

224 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

where I was. Standing, as I did, close in front
of the judge's chair, I had on my right the box
whence the word " guilty " had been so often
dispensed by the foreman of the jury; a little
beyond was the box appropriated to the governor
of the gaol. On my left was the witness-box,
and the space allotted to jurors in waiting; whilst
before me frowned like a fortification a huge
pulpit, in which so many prisoners had heard the
pleasing sounds of acquittal, or convicted crimi-
nals, the solemn tones of the judge pronouncing
sentence of death. Although I believe that most
of those who assisted at the Service were drawn
together more from curiosity than any other
motive, their behaviour was most exemplary. As
I have declined to employ a clerk, a few of my
friends responded with an audible voice ; and the
Offertory, which I have introduced at this com-
mencement of my career, and do not intend to
relinquish, yielded to the Church Fund 22s. I
anticipate great comfort and assistance from two

most worthy inhabitants of my district, Mr. E

and Mr. G , who hold common-sense, unex-

aggerated views concerning the doctrines and
discipline of the Anglican Church.

Nov. 2. — To-day I walked in the Government
Domain and gardens. It is impossible to con-
ceive any site more favoured by nature, and more
gracefully arranged by art, than this. The

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 225

Domain is a spacious park, occupying a penin-
sula, round which the waters of the bay sleep
or fret as the humour takes them. Here are
spacious roads, winding paths, open grass-plots,
mimic forests, all combined with exceeding good
taste in comparatively a small space ; whilst here
and there, on some eminence, are commodious
seats, shaded by some venerable patriarch of the
woods, where, sitting, I enjoyed an extensive
view of the lake-like expanse of waters around,
" dimpled with smiles," and inhaled refreshing
breezes from the cool south. And this is no
lifeless prospect. Lofty ships under a spread of
canvas, swift- moving sailing-boats, and tiny row-
boats, pass and repass with unceasing activity,
and give an increased interest to a scene perfectly
beautiful, even without this extraneous aid. And
just below me, in a small bay, was a commodious
swimming-bath, so fitted up that sharks may not
annoy the bather ; for even here the translucent
waters harbour those demons of the sea. Not
long ago some persons were bathing close to the
baths — unfortunately, not in the baths — and a
large shark seized one of the swimmers by the
top of the thigh, so close to the shore that he
was scarce out of his depth. His companions
came to the rescue, and pulled him back by the
body into his depth, the fish still retaining his
hold. Then commenced a terrible tussle and

226 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

pull — two men against a shark for the body of
an agonised human creature. They were victo-
rious, for they pulled the poor fellow out of the
grasp of his monstrous persecutor ; and yet the
shark was not altogether vanquished, for he kept
his teeth so closely shut that all the flesh of the
thigh and leg remained, in his mouth. The poor
human sufferer died on the bank immediately
afterwards, with the whole of his limb denuded
of flesh and muscle. It had been actually
dragged, through the clenched fangs of his re-
lentless enemy. From the Domain I entered into
the garden. This, too, is laid out with much
taste, and contains rare trees, and. plants, and
shrubs. There are long alleys entirely arcaded
with roses, which shade the path, and at the
same, time shed forth an unspeakable fragrance.
Here is a grand Norfolk Island pine, with its
graceful foliage shooting out in heavy masses
near the trunk, and then gradually diminishing
as it rises most straightly, stage above stage, to
an immense altitude, where it finishes in a spire-
like point. Here, too, I saw a very fine Moreton
Bay fig-tree, with its large-spreading leaves close
to the ground, affording an infinity of shade.
Here, also, I saw a most curious and gigantic
creeper, clasping the lofty wall in its bizarre
embrace. Long was it before I could tire of
strolling through the verdant and well-kept

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 227

alleys of this enchanted spot, and I thought
that, whatever unpleasantness might, from divers
causes, be inseparable from a life in Sydney, this
Government Domain and garden of Arinida ought
to reconcile one to a long residence here. In-
deed I have been told that many Indian officers
prefer spending their leave in Sydney to going
home.

Nov. 8. — The Sydney people seem to be taken
with exciting theatrical announcements, just as
their kinsmen in the old empire. The perform-
ance of to-night is —

TEN THOUSAND TOPSAIL-SHEET BLOCKS ;

OR,

The Gunner and the Foundling.

followed by

GLENDOWER OF SNOWDON;

OR,

The Rock of Death.

Nov, 9. — In passing through the public
garden, on my way to bathe, I walked through
an alley nearly a quarter of a mile long, entirely
hedged and arched over with jasmine and honey-
suckle : the air absolutely reeked with an over-
powering fragrance. I then visited a most sterile
sandy tract, lying at the southerly extremity of
my district, the Surrey Hills. Such a scene of
desolation I never witnessed. A large tract of
sand extended as far as the eye could reach.

228 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

This sand, blasts of the south winds have raised
into hill-like masses, which year after year con-
tinue advancing, little by little, burying houses,
encroaching on the surrounding cultivation, and
even intruding on the public roads. As I toiled
over these hills, twice my foot struck against the
chimney-tops of buried substantial cottages, long
since abandoned to the invading " restless mass/'
thus onward moving day by day. If some
means be not taken to arrest the progress of this
advancing sand-plague, I do not exactly see why,
in the course of many lustres, Sydney may not
share the same fate as these cottages. Much is
talked about arresting its progress, but nothing
is done, because the danger is gradual, not im-
minent : nevertheless, it is danger. The most
feasible plan for stopping these masses would be
to plant them over with a certain shrub of the
country which takes most kindly to a sandy soil.
This remedy is so simple and inexpensive that I
am at a loss to conceive why it has not been
already resorted to.

Nov. 11. — Having become a subscriber to the
" Sydney Morning Herald," which, from the
talents and respectability of Mr. Kemp, its pro-
prietor and editor, its temperate views of things,
its numberless advertisements, and the care with
which it is got up, may well be placed on a level
with any European journal, I amused myself by

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 229

tracking the tone of surrounding society in some
of the advertisements. The following are some
selections : —

" MALCOM'S ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AMPHI-
THEATRE, YORK STREET.

OPEN EVERY EVENING.

" The admirers of grace, strength, and agility, may visit
Malcom's celebrated and fashionable place of amusement,
where every variety of performance, melo-dramatic represent-
ations, on Arab steeds of the purest blood, by Malcom's not-
to-be-equalled artistes, British and foreign (sic). The house
having been recently decorated in first-rate style, the most
fastidious may venture to while (sic) away a dull hour with-
out the slightest apprehension of immorality. See bills of the
day. — J. Malcom, Proprietor."

" To Musicians. — Wanted, a Pianist, one accustomed to
a concert-room ; also, a Comic Singer, and a Steady Man to
drive a Coach. Apply at the Crown and Kettle, York and
Bank Streets."

" Servants Wanted. — Male or Female, old or young ;
any country, colour, or religion, for seven miles from Sydney.
The very highest wages given, but first-rate good characters
will be called for. No lazy humbugs need apply at 360 Pitt
Street, to B. C. Rodd."

" The Nag's Head (corner of Castlereagh and Goulburn
Streets). — S. Robertson (late of the Nag's Head, Pitt Street),
begs leave to inform the public and his friends that he has
removed to the above house, which he has spared no expense
in fitting up in a recherche and first-rate style. The wines
spirits, ales, &c, are of the best qualities to be procured
the colony ; but, above all, S. R. requests that his friends will

230 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

try and appreciate the following iced beverages, which he is
determined to have at a minute's notice ready for distributing
during the summer months, viz.

Sherry cobblers. Mint juleps.

Gin cocktails. Brandy smashes.

Stone fences. Doctors.

Spiders and no flies.

" These delicious, cooling beverages, so well known and
valued in warm countries, shall be totted up in such a style as
to please the palate of the most finished epicure.

" Port, sherry, champagne, and most of the delicious wines
of the south of France and Switzerland, can also be had.

" Board and lodging, and in fact every requisite that a good
licensed house ought to have, will be found abundantly at the
Nag's Head."

Nov. 13. — Was introduced to an English gen-
tleman, who has just arrived from his travels
among the New Zealanders. He told me many
interesting facts of this fine and vigorous race,
who are as far superior to the Australian in-
digenes as the English are superior to the modern
Greeks or Italians. He told me that they call
the Methodists by a long name, which being
interpreted means, " Sweet- is -the-word-of-the-
p reach cr," because they (the preachers) dwell
more on their own sins than on those of the
congregation.* The Romanists they call Ameni-
kons, because they require the people to say
Amen so often. If the wife of a native preacher
presume to go to sleep during his sermon, or to

* I write this as it was told to me.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 231

find fault with his doctrines, he excommunicates
her forthwith. This seems a judicious exercise
and application of the marital prerogative.

Nov. 16. — Rode to South Head, one of the
portals of the Bay, and gazed from a cliff 250
feet in height, over the waste of the Pacific
waters, which stretch away without let or hin-
drance as far as the Antarctic Pole. Returned
by Vaucluse, the beautiful seat of Mr. Wentworth,
one of the Australian magnates, and Alexandria.

Nov. 20. — Made one of a great crowd who
ran down to the battery to see the " Great
Britain " come in on her first voyage to Svdney.
She looked huge and majestical. I thought of
the strange career of this noble vessel. Built
in Bristol, she seemed doomed to inactivity; for
the narrow dock-gates refused egress to her
enormous bulk. Ashore for a year in Dundrum
Bay, her fate seemed inevitable, until she was
rescued from her perilous position at an enormous
trouble and expense. To-day I saw her grandly
steaming, after a prosperous voyage, into a har-
bour of the far Antipodes — a moving monument
of the dogged perseverance and indomitable ener-
gies of the British people.

Nov. 21 {Sunday). — At Divine Service to-day
at the Court-House, observed, to my sorrow, that
gaily-dressed people predominated in the con-
gregation, and that few of the lower classes at-

232 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

tended. Most of these former come from a neigh-
bouring district, called Woolloomoolloo. They
come early and get the best seats. If the Court-
House obtain the reputation of being a fashion-
able resort, farewell to the object for which I was
placed here — that of ministering to the spiritual
wants of a poor and neglected population. For
the British lower orders of society, than whom a
more haughty race does not exist in any part of
the globe, will not amalgamate with what are
called " the better classes " at church; and for this
reason, that they will not allow their shabby ap-
pearance to be placed in contrast with the com-
fortable and well-to-do appearance of others,
whose parents, probably, have been one of them-
selves. It is not immorality or infidelity which
keeps the lower orders of English away from
Church; it is pride, and perhaps not altogether
a useless pride — not, indeed, that any pride is
excusable which leads us to forego the means of
grace : but it is that feeling which stimulates
them to better their condition in life, and raise
themselves out of the slough of poverty and ob-
scurity. Thus originate that intense activity and
unceasing progress which prevail in our social

universe. Dined with the Rev. G. K , a

most worthy and zealous incumbent here, who
for seven years was a missionary clergyman in
West and South Australia, lie told me, that

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 233

once as he was travelling by the sea-side, he was
nearly perishing of thirst, no fresh water being
near ; so he dismounted, undressed, and stood up
to his neck in the sea for ten minutes. This re-
lieved his thirst much, and by repeating it at inter-
vals he was enabled to arrive at the next station.

Nov, 22. — Went with a party to Botany Bay,
the part of New South Wales which was first
occupied by our convict establishments in 1787.
It was soon abandoned for the site where Sydney
now stands. After traversing six miles of sterile
soil, we arrived at the Sir Joseph Banks Inn,
where we left our horses, that we might walk to
Botany Heads. During a thunder-storm we took
refuge in the Coast- Guard House, where we were
hospitably received and entertained. From this
tower is enjoyed an extraordinarily fine view of
the neighbouring heights, and the ceaselessly-
moving waters of the Pacific.

On a well-adapted spot stand plain monuments,
erected to the memory of La Perouse and Le
Receveur. They bear the following inscrip-
tions: —

A LA MEMOIRE DE

M. DE LA PEROUSE.

CETTE TERRE,

GU'lL VISITA

EN MDCCLXXXVIII.

EST LA DERNIERE

D'OU IL A FAIT PARTIR

DE SES NOUVELLES.

234 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ERIGE AU NOM DE LA FRANCE
PAR MM. DE LA BOUGAINVILLE
ET DU CAMPIER, COMMANDANT
DE LA FREGATE THETIS, ET LA
CORVETTE ESPERANCE, EN RELACHE
A PORT JACKSON.

hic jacet le receveur,

ex f. f. minoribus ortus

gallic sacerdos,

physicus in circumnavigatione mundi

dtjce d. de la perouse.

obiit 17 Feb. 1788.

The chief of the Coast-Guard told me that he
delighted in catching sharks; and that when he
got one he took out his liver, which is very large,
and laid it in the sun. The heat would cause it
to run away into oil, which was very fine and
pure, and afforded him light for all the winter
months.

Nov. 24. — A great storm to-day of thunder
and lightning. Hail, or rather jagged masses of
ice, fell as large as small hens' eggs. They fell
with great force on the trottoir, some hounding
up again to a great height, some smashing into
a thousand pieces.

Nov. 29. — Went to the Immigrant Depot,
and saw thirty young women, who have just ar-
rived. They looked a very ordinary, coarse-hred
set. The ladies complain that they are not good for

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 235

much ; that they are idle, saucy, and take to bad
ways. I am perfectly assured, that in a new coun-
try like Australia, where the numerical prepon-
derance lies so much on the men's side, anything
in the shape of a woman is better than nothing;
but yet it would be well if the voyage could be
made the channel of instilling moral and religious
culture into these poor, neglected women : in-
stead of this, it often becomes the means of cor-
rupting them.

Dec. 1. — I went to a choral meeting held in
St. James' School, where were sung by amateurs,
madrigals, glees, catches, and choruses of the six-
teenth century and later, with excellent effect.
In the programme I saw the names of Dowland,
1588; Cavendish, 1598. Among the musical
pieces I heard " Hard by a Fountain," composed
in 1531; " Sweet Honey -sucking Bee/' by
Wilbye, 1GO0; " Come, gentle Spring," music
by Haydn ; " Hark, the Curfew's solemn Sound,"
by Attwood ; " Merry, merry Elves we be," by
Smith.

Dec. 7. — Sat in the Court-House to hear the
criminal trials. One of the prisoners was very
saucy, and cross-examined the witnesses with
great effrontery. The Judge (Dickinson), in
speaking to the Crown Prosecutor, used the term
" out-and-out."

Dec. 10. — News arrived in Sydney by the

236 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

« Chusan " of the death of the Duke of Wei-
lington.

Dec. 14. — Having scruples about receiving
aid from Dissenters towards a church which I
am endeavouring to have built in my district, I
consulted on the subject a high ecclesiastical au-
thority here — (not the Bishop, who is in England)
— for I think that a delicate sense of honour is
compromised by receiving assistance from persons
whose opinions we condemn, and whom we have
pre-determined not to assist in return. In the
colonies, Church matters cannot be carried with
such a high hand as at home. Even the Church
of Rome in Australia is not the Church of Home
in Rome, or Naples, or Spain. Adapting her-
self with wonderful tact and knowledge of man-
kind to the moral characteristics of the races
which she sways, her bands becomes more elastic
as she draws them round the freedom-loving
common-sense members of the Anglo-Saxon race.
In theory " semper eadem," she is in practice
" semper mutabilis" and Proteus-like. The lique-
faction of S. Januarius' blood and other modern
Romish miracles would not go at all in Sydney,
Melbourne, and Adelaide ; therefore they arc not
attempted.

Dec. 15. — Went on board a small cutter just
arrived from the South Seas under the American
flag, and bought some spears and tomahawks

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 237

which had been obtained from some of the islands.
On board there was a poor girl crouching, motion-
less as a statue. In the evening I was told that
the American captain took her as she was
swimming round the ship near Savage Island,
and kept her for his pleasure, and now is trying
to sell her along with his other " notions," as he
expresses himself.

Dec. 22. — Attended a flower-show in the
Botanical Gardens. All the Sydney fashionables
were there, the ladies very grandly dressed in vivid
colours, not too well contrasted. The flowers were
few, but rare and curious. In the evening I pre-
sided at a public meeting about Church matters
at the Court-House, which was very well attended.
Six clergymen were present, and two reporters,
one from the "Herald," the other from the "Em-
pire." I put seven resolutions to the meeting,
which were carried unanimously, and everything
went off most satisfactorily. The difficulty we
labour under is to build our church at the advanced
rate of wages. It will cost three times more than
it would have cost before the discovery of gold.

Christmas Day. — Assisted at the early Com-
munion at Christ Church, a church which, for
the solemnity of its numerous services, and the
devout behaviour of its crowded congregations,
ranks as the first in Australia, and second to
none in England. The incumbent's name is

.238 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Walsh, and this gentleman has immensely for-
warded Church matters in Sydney. No less than
ninety- eight persons partook of the Blessed
Eucharist this morning. Of course, the sentence
accompanying the distribution of the elements
was pointedly addressed to each individual,
according to the not -to-be-evaded rubrical
command, — " And when the Minister delivereth
the bread to any one, he shall say," &c. &c. &c.
I then had my own Service, and afterwards
attended Christ Church Afternoon Service. At
seven I dined at the hospitable table of Sir Alfred
Stephen, the Chief Justice, where, in a midsummer
heat, I endeavoured to realise the fact, that we
were celebrating the Festival of the Nativity of
our Lord.

Dec. 26. — Buried a little child at the Cemetery.
Having no umbrella during the Service, I suffered
much from the heat. This cemetery is not at all
well kept.

Dec. 31. — Thermometer 107° in the shade,
from two to four, p.m. Having purchased a
horse, I bought to-day a saddle for him, also
maize, bran, hay, and straw. The saddle cost me
6/. 10s. ; the maize, 6s. the bushel; bran, 2s. the
bushel; hay, 14s. the hundred weight; straw,
Is. \)d. the bundle. The keep of the horse for two
days at a livery-stable cost me 18s. Thus in
Sydney one's purse perspires as well as body.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 239

Being determined to have a choir of boys to take
the musical part of the Service, I engaged a gentle-
man lately arrived from Ireland to teach the
little fellows the science of music, and to lead
them on Sundays. They are to have two lessons,
of two hours' duration, two evenings in the week.
Our limited finances will not justify me in giving
this gentleman more than 26/. a-year to begin
with, but I hope to be able to increase it soon.
Assisted at a Midnight Service at Christ Church.
The church was crowded to excess, and all went
off very well, in spite of the almost unendurable
heat. The idea of ushering in the new year with
public prayer and supplication is so perfectly in
accordance with Christian tenets, and so sound
and unexaggerated, that I am surprised that the
custom is not more general than it is.

Jan. 1, 1853. — Preached at Christ Church, on
the Circumcision of our Lord, to a very good
congregation. Perused a paragraph in a news-
paper, which is one of the terrible episodes in-
separable from life in the Australian bush : —
" Some parties ti'avelling along the Molong
Creek, when near Gohamma Hill, came upon the
dead body of a man. It had been dragged about
ten yards down the brink of the creek, and was
frightfully mutilated, having been nearly stripped
of flesh by the native dogs. His name and the
manner of his death remain a mystery." It is

240 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

most probable that the poor fellow had been
murdered for the sake of plunder. We have now
a great many Californian adventurers here, and
they have the reputation of being very reckless,
hesitating at nothing, however desperate. A few
days ago I went to the swimming-baths, and
found everything in confusion, for a man had
plunged into deep water, although he could not
swim, and became quite senseless before he could
be dragged out. After a good deal of rubbing
and administering of restoratives he came to
himself, and the first words he uttered were, " I
thought I was a gone 'coon;" and then he added
a few more horrible expletives. He was from
California.

Jan. 22. — Among my sick, is the wife of a
small tradesman. She complains bitterly of the
gold diggings, for she says that they have seduced
her husband away from a very fair business, and
given him nothing in return. In fact, she is so
badly off that I must assist her. This gold
mania, affects the steadiest people with roving
propensities. People say that the sight of the
rich virgin gold cropping out from the soil after
a hard dig, is something too exciting to be
described, And this hunting for the precious
metal is as uncertain as a lottery. Two men will
have two pits side by side. One man will get
three or four thousand pounds' worth before he

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 241

has dug twenty feet, whilst his neighbour will
go down a hundred feet and find nothing. Again,
the latter, in disgust, will sell his pit to the former
for a trifle, and go away to other ground. The
new occupant will dig two feet further and find
a great isolated lump of pure gold, weighing,
perhaps, fifty pounds. It is this gambling and
uncertain nature of the operation which renders
it so fascinating and so demoralising. Yet it is
impossible not to recognise in this great migratory
movement of races in search of gold, the hand of
an All-wise Providence working by secondary
causes. Fertile regions lie unexplored and un-
occupied in one quarter of the globe, overcrowded
populations starve in another. Powerful induce-
ments are required to stimulate these starving
and unquiet masses to traverse a waste of waters,
and occupy regions teeming with every wealth ;
and under Providence a powerful inducement is
found. That lump of gold — the metal which
men most covet — found by a poor black fellow
as it cropped up above the soil near Bathurst,
has entirely changed the destinies of Australia.
Three years ago this wonderful country was so
coolly looked upon at home as a haven for
emigration, that few people availed themselves
even of Government free passages, and cultivation
of the finest land in the world went on slowly for
want of means. Now large ships, with crowded

242 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

living freights, fill the harbours of Adelaide,
Sydney, and Melbourne, the population of which
last city has increased in eighteen months from
25,000 to 100,000. Not many years ago, the
same cause made the fertile desolate California
to become the drain of the restless spirits of the
over-populated United States, seaboard, and the
results in the two auriferous countries will ulti-
mately be the same. Enormous populations will
grow up quite unconnected with the diggings,
and apply themselves to commerce, agriculture,
and the arts. Christianity will have diffused its
blessed influence over countries once inhabited
by the grizzly bear or the almost equally savage
man, and thus the moral universe will advance
with slow and solemn steps to that glorious
consummation prophetically set forth by Isaiah, —
" The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Jan. 24. — Went on a visit to an Australian
gentleman's house in the Vale of Mulgoa, forty
miles from Sydney, lie lives in a spacious man-
sion surrounded by a most fertile estate, which
yields him everything that a family can require.
His table is admirably served, and his equipage,
save in some little details imperceptible to most,
is certainly equal to the turn-out of any country
English gentleman, lie has ten acres near the
house laid down with Rhine, Hermitage, and Tor-

IN AUSTRALIA. AND TASMANIA. 243

tugal vines. The wines turn out very well, but
roughish and tremendously strong. They are also
capricious, and get pricked all of a sudden with-
out any assignable cause. My hospitable friend
consumes all that he produces, and is most liberal
of his wine to all his retainers, who have with
great good taste taken to like his wholesome wine
rather than the poisonous importations from Eng-
land, called spirits, beer, and wine. I am glad to
say that the rising Australian population are par-
ticularly sober, and probably will take, in time, to
a moderate consumption of their own country
wines.

Jan. 25. — Visited Richmond, a town that lies
close under the first range of Blue Mountains,
where, in a beautiful cottage, surrounded by a
small and fertile estate which yields every neces-
sary of life, live two sisters, ladies who are the
kindest and most hospitable people in the world,
gladdening surrounding society. I was intro-
duced to the clergyman and surgeon of the dis-
trict, both excellent men. I wandered in the
spacious garden of my friends, where, amidst the
odour of an avenue of orange-trees, and the fra-
grance of roses and honeysuckles, jasmine, car-
nations, and the thyme borders, i admired under
a pure, elastic atmosphere, the rugged, serrated
summits of the not distant mountain range.

244 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Jan. 27. — While I was visiting the wool-press,
and looking at some young horses, a thunder-
storm came on. It was quite terrifying to see
the forked lightning darting like fiery arrows
amid the surrounding forest, levelling huge trees,
and accompanied, not followed, by roars of thun-
der. We feared for the premises, but, thank
God, they were spared. Two miles away, a barn
was consumed by the fiery javelins of heaven.

Jan. 28. — Rode to see a fine view of the
Nepean river, which here leaves the Mulgoa
plain, and flows through densely-wooded heights
of mighty altitude. We stood upon a rock called
Gibraltar, and looked down a thousand feet,
watching the clear river steadily flowing beneath
us. It was a sight not easily to be forgotten.
In the evening I dined at the bouse of another
Australian magnate, whose rooms were adorned
with pictures and statuary, and whose dinner was
served, setting aside some trifling discrepancies,
quite faultlessly. At night some German vine-
dressers attached to the estate came in, and
sweetly sang, without accompaniment, songs of
the Fatherland

Jan. 29 — Rode into Sydney, and on the way
experienced the effects of the day before yester-
day's storm. The road was cut up by the rain-
torrents, and huge trees, some rooted out of their

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 245

sockets by the hurricane, others blasted by the
lightning, lay scattered round us, or impeded our
path.

Jan. 31. — Made a great many ministerial calls
in my district. Find that the Sydney ladies will
not take the trouble to make their toilet in early
morning. So, when I call at one or two o'clock,
I have to wait twenty minutes or half-an-hour,
and then they come down looking rather flurried
and fragrant of soap.

Feb. 1. — Was present at a meeting of the
Diocesan Society. There was very much irrele-
vant talk, and very little, if anything, done.

Feb. 2. — I took Morning Service at Christ
Church, it being the Feast of the Purification.

Feb. 9. — Having determined to give an Evening
Service every day in Lent, I began this evening

(Ash Wednesday) in Mr. D 's school-room,

which has been kindly lent me for the purpose.
Twenty persons attended, which is a very good
beginning.

Feb. 16. — Having been appointed Chaplain to
Sydney Gaol, I entered on my functions there
to-day.

Feb. 20 (Sundaij). — Took my first Service at
the gaol this morning at nine. In the middle of
a long corridor against the wall is a pulpit
arranged, from which the Prayers are read and
the Sermon is preached. In the body of this

246 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

corridor, to the right and left of the Officiating:
Minister, are arranged the prisoners. A thick
veil divides the males from the females. Every-
thing went off with great order and decorum, but
I felt very gloomy at seeing so many criminals
congregated together, with their short hair and
sad-coloured prison clothes, and at hearing the
occasional clanking of chains.

Feb. 23. — Gave a full Service at the gaol, and
afterwards had certain prisoners brought in, one
after the other, to the cell which is appropriated to
me. I had a very satisfactory interview with four
men, who spoke frankly and honestly, without
making any attempt to deceive me by over-pro-
fessions. Some women whom I saw, were very
disgusting people in every way.

Feb. 25. — Hear a great deal of indignation
expressed at the revelations which have been
made concerning the gambling which has been
going on during the outward voyage of the
" Cleopatra," a fine, gaudily-ornamented steamer,
just arrived from England. They say that French
hazard was played every evening on board ; that
some of the players were professed sharpers ; and
that several passengers were victimised to a large
amount. Whether this indignation be well-
founded I know not, for I find that the most
exaggerated statements find a ready currency in
the colonies. Vet I think that no captain of a

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 247

ship is justified in allowing his cuddy-table to be
nightly occupied by parties playing at games of
chance.

Feb. 27 (Sunday). — At nine a.m. I gave a
full Service at the gaol ; at ten I opened the Sun-
dny-school, and catechised ; then I had full Ser-
vice at the Court-House, which was finished at
one ; I then gave Exposition to some sick prisoners
in the gaol infirmary; at half-past two I dined
with the worthy governor of the gaol, Captain
Webster ; after that I attended the "Sunday-
school, which is opened to-day for the first time
in the afternoon ; and at seven officiated at the
Evening Service in the Court-House. Everything
in my district progresses most satisfactorily.
The Services at the Court-House were very fully
attended, and at the Sunday-schools no less than
forty children were present, many of whom, if
they were not with me, would be running about
the streets. And then I make it a sine quel non
that all the children accompany me from the
school-room to church in due order, two and
two. This proceeding not only makes an effect
in the eyes of Dissenters, who, until now, have
had it all their own way here, but it prevents
the children from slily getting away and going to
chapel, or somewhere worse.

Feb. 28. — Had a very small congregation at
my Lenten Service this evening, owing, I believe,

248 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

to a large tea- drinking going on in a Methodist
chapel hard by.

March 1. — The dust in Sydney and the suburbs
is perfectly frightful to-day. It fills the nose,
eyes, and mouth, until the victim is nearly choked.

March 3. — A certain woman who had prayed me
to visit her on her sick-bed, and professed to have
become aware of the errors of Roman Catholic tenets
which she had formerly held, to-day insolently
ordered me out of her cottage, asserting that she
had returned to the true faith. Without entering
into the vexed question of the demerits of Popery,
and the comparative perfection of Anglicanism as
representing a visible Christian Church, I can
assert, as a practical person, speaking from expe-
rience, that I have the greatest possible suspicion
of lloman Catholic people who profess to see the
errors of their religion and wish to " turn/' as
the lower classes express themselves. None of
the pretended "conversions," to which I have
been witness, have turned out satisfactorily.

March 22. — Having occasion to make use of
a hackney-coach for three hours, I had to pay
15s. for it. Sydney is rapidly becoming as dear
as Melbourne.

March 26 (Saturday in Passion Week). — Gave
a full Evening Service in the school-room, as I
have done every evening this week. Many have
attended, some few Wesleyans.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 249

March 29. — A man is in gaol charged with
murder ; the charge he, of course, denies, and
begs me to busy myself about his defence. So,
to-day 1 have been exerting myself to get alibi
evidence for him. It would be a terrible thing
for me to have to attend him on the scaffold, even
if he were guilty; much more so, if I considered
him to be innocent.

March 31. — Bought one of Alexander's Har-
moniums at an auction-room in Sydney. I will
place it in the Court-House, the singing master
will play it, and I hope to get up a choral-service.
I buy it on my own account for 19/., and on
Sunday I will propose that the congregation
take it from me for 18/. I am sure they would
do it, if it cost double.

April 2. — Spent the morning at the gaol, visit-
ing the men and women's side. One of the men
came up to me very consequentially, and held out
his hand, saying, " I am glad to see a brother clergy-
man, sir." I asked him who he was; and he turned
out to be some popular dissenting preacher —
Wesleyan, Baptist, or Independent, I forget which
— who had had three years' imprisonment given
him for raising money at a pawnbroker's on some
casks of tallow, which on examination turned out
to be full of sand, with tallow ingeniously arranged
at the tops and bottoms. Of course he made out
that the jury were wrong, and that his brother-

250 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ministers would not assist him out of jealousy. I
do not like his manners at all : but, at his earnest
request, I took some voluminous papers and pro-
mised to look over his case. A female prisoner
begged some money of me. Her time will be up
very soon, and she wants to obtain support till she
can obtain a place. I, who know that, though she
is an excellent cook, she is a drunken, depraved
woman, gave her what she wanted, praying her to
abstain in future from her bad ways. She pro-
mised me most solemnly that she would. Find
everything very clean and orderly at the gaol, and
the turnkeys — at least the men turnkeys — decent,
respectable people. The Governor of the gaol is
a gentleman ; he is severe and just, and seems to
be universally esteemed and respected.

April 3 {Sunday). — We tried the Harmonium
to-day, the singing-master playing, and the boys
chanting the Venite, the Psalms, the Te Deum,
the Jubilate, and the Versicles, between the Com-
mandments. All went off admirably. I ad-
vertised after the Nicene Creed the state of the
case to the congregation, and begged those who
wished to contribute to the purchase of the in-
strument to put their names down on a paper
after Divine Service. The result was that 20/.
were subscribed in five minutes, beingJ2Z. more
than required. I always find that the laity, if
they arc treated witli candid confidence, will do

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 251

anything for the Church. My choir is composer!
of the sons of small tradesmen, and they are
little fellows who have distinguished themselves
in the Sunday-school. They have two music
lessons a-week, of two hours each, and are ex-
pected to sing very correctly. I make them little
presents at times, and have got together a small
circulating library for them. They are very proud
of their position, and induce other play-fellows
to come to school and church ; and then, in time,
the careless parents, too, are shamed into coming
also. These twelve boys' and four men's voices,
two bass, one tenor, the other counter-tenor,
made a very good effect to-day. Hitherto we
have been chanting without accompaniment, a
very good exercise for the boys.

April 4. — The woman to whom I gave the
money on Saturday, called at my house to-day
with a terrible black eye, and in a very uproarious
state of drunkenness, to thank " the Minister for
his good advice and his kindness to her when she
was in trouble."

April 6. — Attended the criminal sessions at
the Court-House. Left abruptly, for some dis-
agreeable case came on in which Chinese were
mixed up. These people are the most abominable
sensualists in the world, and 1 cannot conceive it
to be any advantage to any country to be so
overrun with them as Australia is.

252 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

April 9. — Sat in Court ten hours, watching
the trial of that man for murder. I was the more
interested in the case, because I had endeavoured
to procure, at his earnest request, some alibi
evidence for him, and I was not quite satisfied
with the result of my investigations. After a
very long trial the man was acquitted. His be-
haviour in the dock was bold and audacious. In
the Court 1 recognised an individual who, a few
years ago, fled from his country for speculating
with the funds of a public institution, of which he
was secretary or treasurer. These speculations
ultimately induced immense losses. What ad-
mirable means do our colonies afford to faded
characters for turning over a new leaf ! This
gentleman, instead of passing his life in penury
and disgrace in the cheap purlieus of Boulogne,
Paris, or Brussels, is now in a position for making
a brilliant career in a new country. If successful
in his profession, he can accept office under the
Government and become one of the Ministry : if
unsuccessful and soured, he can enter the Oppo-
sition and embarrass the ruling powers under the
guise of patriotism : nay, as time wears on, it
might come to pass that he may sit in the pre-
sidential chair, guiding the destinies of the Great
Australasian Republic.

April 20. — In the evening I was introduced
to a young lady, the daughter of an English

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 253

gentleman by a New Zealand mother. She was
of a rich brown colour, with luxuriant hair, and
seemed possessed of much intelligence, modesty,
and amiability. I heard her play some difficult
operatic German music, with much correctness
and feeling.

April 27. — Saw a small cottage sold for 1630/.
that a respectable English family would not live
in. But a respectable family here must be con-
tent to live in it, and be content to pay a high
rent for it. New South Wales is suffering all
the disadvantages of a gold-producing country,
such as rise of rent, provisions, wages, and uni-
versal confusion, without as yet reaping any cor-
responding advantages.

May 14. — A great many people are ill with
the influenza. Illnesses here are much more
rapid in their progress than in England; and
people recover with great rapidity as soon as the
crisis is passed. I have known persons to be in
excellent health ; then on the point of death,
attended by two doctors; and then recovered
again, though looking a little pulled down — all
in the space of three or four days. I do not con-
sider Sydney a particularly healthy place. The
air is relaxing and causes great nervous irritabi-
lity, and the people look nesh and creamy, and
are continually liable to derangements. The
doctors are always on the run, and some of them

254 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

make excellent incomes. One of them is said
to make three or four thousand a-year. He is
said to have been sent out of England twenty or
thirty years ago for being concerned in a duel.

May 20. — Was introduced to Lord H

S and Lord S K , who, accompanied

by a clergyman, are wisely visiting Australia.

May 25. — To-day came out to Sydney the
melancholy news that our venerable Bishop is
dead. His Joss is a great blow to the colony, and
especially to the clergy, to whom he was a bene-
factor, a teacher, and a friend. We attribute his
death to the hardships he sustained in crossing
the isthmus of Panama on his return home. For
instance, his mule got bogged, became restive,
and threw him heavily.

May 2G. — Went to a concert. Haydn's " Sur-
prise" was deliciously played. The audience be-
haved remarkably well, and applauded in the right
place.

May 31. — Had the pleasure of a conversation
with Mr. Lewis Filmore, who has come out here
as the correspondent of the " Times." This
gentleman has made the best translation of the
first part o! the " Faust " that we have.

June 1. — Bode out to Cook's River, near
which 1 visited two very old people, gipsies, from
whom have sprung a very numerous tribe — no
less, I am informed, than seventy or eighty souls.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 255

June 7 '. — Attended a Diocesan Meeting, which
was much more fertile in desultory conversation
than practical resolutions.

June 9. — Gave the Sunday-school children a
tea-drinking. Seventy attended, a number that
I have never yet seen on Sundays. They were
regaled with a magic lantern afterwards, to their
great glee.

June 15. — Visited the gaol. There is a great
emulation among the prisoners as to who is to
be my clerk. Have some difficulty in deciding.

July 4. — Attended a large public meeting in
St. James's school-room, in aid of the funds of
the Sydney Cathedral. The Bishop of New Zea-
land, who has touched at Sydney on his way to
the islands of the Pacific, presided. 1 was much
struck by his noble bearing and his irresistible
eloquence. He put me in mind of a New Zea-
land chief haranguing his followers. He used
much action, and exquisitely modulated his voice.
He told us how the New Zealanders would spare
no sacrifice in erecting a house of God, and then
appealed to the generosity of the Sydney people,
who had suffered their Cathedral to remain so
long unfinished. He quoted with great effect
those noble lines of Wordsworth : —

" Give all thou canst, high Heaven rejects the lore
Of nicely-calculated less or more "

256 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

His appeal was irresistible. 600/. were subscribed
there and then, and we are filled with hopes that
a great reproach to Sydney will be wiped out.

July 6. — Dined at the same table with twenty
Polynesian boys and two Mare girls, whom the
Bishop of New Zealand, after educating them in
the College at Auckland, is taking home in the
Missionary yacht to their respective parents.
They all seemed well-behaved, intelligent young
people, and regarded their protector and his
good lady with feelings akin to adoration. After
dinner they set to at cricket with great energy.
Future Church chroniclers will say great things
of this Bishop Selwyn. His successful labours as
a missionary and humaniser of savage nations
will cause him to be ranked as one of the great
spirits of the age,

July 19. — Attended a Missionary meeting, at
which were present the Bishops of New Zealand
and Newcastle. The Bishop of Newcastle's see
extends to the northward of Sydney, embracing
Moreton Bay and Wide Bay. He is a bishop
less known in England than the other Austral-
asian bishops, yet he is one of the most success-
ful. Some of the bishops are disliked by their
clergy, others by the laity ; but this excellent
prelate is appreciated and beloved by both clergy
and laity: by the former, because he acts to them

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 257

as a brother, and not a hard taskmaster ; by the
latter, because be acts towards them with judi-
cious firmness and the most entire good faith.
"Our bishop/' many have told me, "is a fair
man and straightforward, and in all his eccle-
siastical arrangements we can depend on him."
An excellent character this of a man, who from
the nature of his diocese has an immense deal of
ecclesiastical organisation to do. His personal
energy, too, is great ; and often fifty, sixty, and
seventy miles a-day are traversed on horseback
by Bishop Tyrrell.

July 21. — A prisoner died in the gaol hospital
from aneurism of the aorta.

July 22. — Visited several sick persons. Many
people are ill, owing to the extraordinarily sudden
changes of the atmosphere. Influenza is now
raging for the third time during the last nine
months.

July 30. — The Bishop of New Zealand left
Sydney in a vessel called the " Gratitude."

Aug. 6. — Rode on horseback to Botany Bay
and La Perouse's monument. I was out three
hours altogether, and I was charged fifteen shil-
lings for the hire of the horse.

Aug. 10. — Had my usual Wednesday Service
at the gaol. There are four men here, escaped
convicts from Norfolk Island. They got away
from the island in a boat, after drowning one

<lOQ DIARV OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

or two of their keepers. They then plundered
of her provisions a small schooner, which was
lying in the offing, and directed their course, as
they thought, for Port Phillip. But they much
mistook their course, for they sighted land in
the Moreton Bay district. They endeavoured at
first to coast along; but being short of pro-
visions, soon desisted from that, and took to the
bush. Soon news arrived from Norfolk Island
of their escape, and they were tracked and hunted
like wild beasts, both by the white settlers and
black police, until, worn to skeletons, they sur-
rendered, and were marched to the nearest town-
ship, whence they were ultimately forwarded to
Sydney, there to await their trial for robbery and
murder. I had an interview with one. He
was a shortish man, of prodigious muscular de-
velopment, and he was introduced to me heavily
ironed. He recounted to me the whole of the
story with great calmness ; and on my exhorting
him not to live as one without hope, he answered,
witli a melancholy air, that for his part he was
without hope, both in this world and the next ;
that he had so suffered at Norfolk Island, and
subsequently, that he felt quite desperate, and
that he did not care what became of him. He
said that the discipliue at the island was so
severe, and the breaches of discipline were so ri-
gorously punished, that the place was intolerable ;

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 259

that for the slightest noise, smoking at forbidden
hours, want of respect to turnkeys, &c., the term
of imprisonment was prolonged — a term of weeks
and months, unknown to the culprit ; so that a
man, originally condemned for three years, might,
for a series of peccadilloes against prison dis-
cipline, almost unnoticed by himself at the time,
subject himself to a detention for five years. He
was anxious for information on two points : one
was, if they were to be tried only for piracy, or
for piracy and murder ; the other, how the gaol
lay with regard to the cardinal points and the
sea. I could not answer one question, and would
not the other.

Aug. 15. — A lady, who lived four years at
Norfolk Island, her husband being chaplain to
the prisoners, told. me that the island is a para-
dise. The climate is perfect, and the island is
composed of miniature hill and valley, diversified
with streamlets, and shaded by groves of that
most beautiful pine-tree which takes its name
from the locality. As she had a beautiful garden,
and convict labour ad libitum to cultivate it, she
and the other ladies, officers' wives, found them-
selves very comfortable.

Aug. 21 {Sunday). — Most satisfactory con-
gregations in the morning and evening at the
Court-House. 284 attended at the first Service;
152 at the second. The choir-boys sang admir-

260 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ably, being very distinct and very correct. Their
singing far exceeds every other church singing in
Sydney. The congregation are learning to ac-
company them in the Psalms. I grieve much
that the shaken state of my health, consequent
on my privations in the bush, will compel me
soon to relinquish all that I have worked up here
with so much labour, and to return to England.

Aug. 22. — Employed a great portion of the
day in endeavouring to find a ship on the point
of sailing for Bombay or Singapore. At last I
engaged a passage in a stout Bremen ship, bound
for the latter place. I believe she will sail in
three, or four days. Before leaving this favoured
land, I cannot think that I have done my duty
unless I strongly propose emigration as the pa-
nacea for all the social evils which prevail in the
overcrowded mother-country. If I were asked
to name the remedies for all the sufferings occa-
sioned by poverty, which too many of our coun-
try people have to endure, I would answer that
the first is emigration; the second, emigration;
and the third, emigration. I am not alluding to
emigration to Australia in particular, but to any
of those numerous colonies which are scattered
over the globe, and which are the brightest
jewels of our crown. There is no want, of what-
ever class of society, which emigration does not
meet. Health, riches, political eminence, a most

IX AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 261

liberal form of government, employment, the
comforts of life, and, above all, a veil of oblivion
over the failings, follies, even crimes, of a past
life, await those who land on our distant colonial
shores; whether it be the poor noble — the un-
appreciated professional man — the ruined trades-
man — the artisan out of work — the starving
agricultural labourer — the reformed thief — or
the wretched little gamin of the streets. Is a
man weakly or consumptive ? let him go to the
Cape or Australia. Is he poor? he will find
riches there. Is he ambitious? then he will
find Legislative Councils easy of entrance. A
Democrat ? he will find a form of government
democratic enough to please a member of " the
Mountain." A criminal? the waters of the At-
lantic and Pacific Oceans act as a Lethe to the
past; and people out there will not inquire too
closely about the antecedents of a man who is a
reformed character, and who does to others as he
would be done by himself. Is a man almost
tempted, in a discontented, scoffing spirit, to
laugh to scorn those beautiful words of the
Psalmist, " happy is the man who has his quiver
full of children?" let him emigrate, and he will
scoff no longer, but experience that children are,
indeed, " a heritage and gift that cometh of the
Lord." Do young people of small means wish
to marry, but are precluded by straitened cir-

26.2 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

cumstances ? let them marry at once, and go out,
not wait at home till they can afford an expensive
establishment; which olten means, waiting until
the freshness of youth has passed away. No
such thing as " ruin" awaits them there. If
one thing fails, another can be taken in hand.
Embarrassment will take place at first landing,
but patience, prudence, and perseverance, will at
last conquer all difficulties, and carry a man on-
ward towards the summit of his hopes. And
then the atmosphere is so pure, so light and
buoyant, that none of the accesses of low spirits,
so common in the mother-country, when one en-
counters a reverse, are felt. In fact, the whole
man becomes physically and morally regene-
rated ; and he feels an independence with regard
to surrounding influences that he never felt
before.

Aug. 25. — Sailed out of Sydney Heads in a
ship bound for Singapore.

Aug. 26. — Find that I have every reason to
be satisfied with the captain, who, with his crew,
are from Bremen, lie seems to be an excellent
sailor, and has gone through an infinity of ad-
ventures, having been engaged in the slave-trade,
assisted in the Portuguese civil war, and held a
high command in the ephemeral German navy.
Thus he has German orders, Portuguese orders,
and Brazilian orders. The crew are a very re-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 263

spectable set, and the ship is well sailed, and
k»'pt in a most admirable state. The steward
was a waiter in an hotel at Antwerp ; but having
won 5000/. in a lottery, he wishes to see the world
a little before settling down in his native town as
master of his own establishment. My fellow-
passenger has been for many years connected
with an Australian newspaper, but having ac-
quired a large fortune by land speculations, he
is returning home to enjoy it.

Aug. 28. — A calm, placid day. Ship rolling
about somewhere off Port Macquarie, without
making any progress. One of my companions
lias been telling stories about his negroes during
the passage from Africa to Brazil.

Aug. 31. — Ship making pretty good way,
going at eight knots. We are now off Moreton
Bay. Captain told me, that the only way to pene-
trate safely into the interior of Cenh'al Africa is to
assume the calling of a slave-merchant. He says
that the population take an interest in the traffic,
and thus the traveller can be passed onward from
tribe to tribe in a rude palanquin ; whilst they
cannot comprehend the idea of a man travelling
for the sake of science. His instruments, too,
excite the suspicion of some, the cupidity of
others. The chiefs think they are for magical
purposes; the lower classes admire their beauty
and glitter, and cuvet their possession. He

264 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

knows a Jew, a slave-merchant, who has twice
made the journey from one of the Portuguese
colonies, in about 10° S. lat. across the con-
tinent to Mozambique ; and he himself travelled
due east in the interior for forty days. He,
however, caught a bad fever from inhaling poi-
sonous night exhalations on the banks of a river,
and was forced to return. As he went pro-
fessedly as a slave-dealer he was treated with
great respect, and was borne onward night and
day, without delay, through various districts, on
the shoulders of four stout negroes; while, as
darkness came on, five or six others preceded
him, waving torches and shouting to scare away
the beasts of the forest. He says that the inland
tribes are not nearly so barbarous as we imagine.
They not only have laws, but they obey them.
The men cultivate the soil in the neighbourhood
of the villages; and on market-days the women
swarm in from the country, decently clothed,
with hair elaborately parted and arranged, carry-
ing baskets of produce, carefully packed. Shells
are their currency, and they will take in a buyer
if they can.

Sept. 5. — Heavy winds all day. At night we
had an awful thunder-storm. A pitchy darkness
enveloped all, save when it was cleft and torn by
jagged flashes of forked lightning, which struck
the seething ocean in all directions. We, how-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 265

ever, providentially escaped. A booby came and
took refuge on our jib-boom.

Sept. 9. — The captain very coolly announced
to me that he had altered his intention, and did
not intend to go to Singapore, but that he
should go to Batavia, in Java, instead. He pro-
mises, however, to pass me on from Batavia to
Singapore.

Sept. 10. — Still lamentable cross-winds. For
ten days the wind has blown steadily from
N. W., and we want it from S.E. We were
taught to expect the S.E. trades in this latitude
(20° S.). The captain, who is not very well
victualled, has promised to kill a pig for some
time past; but as he is not very generous, has
hitherto failed to do it. This morning, however,
he has fulfilled his promise, and for the following
reason, as I think. A shark has been following
the ship for the last four-and-twenty hours.
Now sailors will tell us that a shark following a
vessel is a sign of an impending death on board ;
and our captain, who shares in the superstition
of his brotherhood, has, I believe, sacrificed his
long-withheld pig as a propitiatory sacrifice to
the voracious maw of our persevering follower.
"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good." All
are now satisfied except the immediate victim.
The shark evidently is, for he snapped up the
offal and disappeared. The captain is satisfied,

266 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

for he has evaded destiny at a cheap rate. The
passengers are satisfied, too, for they have some-
thing savoury to eat; and the crew cannot fail to
be content. The captain has placed all the roast-
ing-pieces of the pig into boiling vinegar for five
or ten minutes. By that means, he says, the
meat will keep fresh for a month, and when
roasted, will yield but a slight taste of the
vinegar.

Sept. 11. — Observed the mate tying his
pocket-handkerchief in a peculiar manner to one
of the ropes aft. He told me it was for a fair
wind. I asked him when it would come. " To-
morrow morning, at eight o'clock/' he answered.

Sept. 12. — At eight o'clock this morning, when
I came on deck, I found that the wind was shift-
ing round to a good quarter. At nine it was
entirely favourable. All are in good spirits.
The captain told us, with a great deal of glee,
how he had once, when loaded with slaves,
tricked an English cruiser, by running in among
shoals and reefs, where the cruiser dared not
follow.

Sept. 14 — Had a conversation with my fellow-
passenger about the Colonial Press. He tells
me, that to push a paper into notice in the
colonics, the best plan is to oppose with virulence
the Government, and, above all, the Governor,
on whom should be lavished every species of

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 267

vituperation and personal calumny. If the Go-
vernor regards all these attacks with silent dis-
dain, it is a great misfortune for the paper ; but
if he loses his temper, chafes, and commences
legal proceedings against the paper, the paper's
fortune is made. The editor, proceeded against
for defamation, must defend his own cause, and
boldly become his own barrister : he must
scarcely confine his behaviour in court within the
bounds of decency ; he must browbeat and insult
witnesses as he cross-examines them ; and in his
defence he must, to show his varied attainments,
diverge into matters totally irrelevant to the
subject. Above all, he must impress on the
jury that the object of the present prosecution is
not such an humble individual as himself; no,
it is a powerful combination of a corrupt Govern-
ment (of which the judge is ex officio a member)
against the civil and religious liberties of the
colony, and a verdict against him will insure an
age of tyranny and oppression to a young and
flourishing state. After detaining the court with
this stump eloquence for five or six hours, my
friend continued, the defendant will sit down
with an exhausted air, feebly flashing forth the
indignation of a wronged and oppressed indi-
vidual ; the judge will, as in duty bound, charge
dead against him ; the jury will, unless they are
a perjured set, give a verdict against him ; he

268 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

will go to prison ; an indignation meeting, com-
posed of the scum of the population, will be
held; the Governor and governing authorities
will be assailed with the grossest ribaldry; a
few pounds will be collected ; fresh subscribers
will come forward — some out of sympathy,
others struck by his pluck and talents; from the
prison the paper can be continued ; and when he
comes out he will be received with open arms,
and his journal will have attained a firm and
respectable footing. After our conversation had
ceased, I could not refrain from marvelling that
the newspaper press should have attained to its
present omnipotence among such a people as the
British, seeing that it is an anonymous and irre-
sponsible institution. This great engine for
influencing the minds of men can, for its un-
bounded power, be only compared with the
Church of the middle ages. The pulpit of the
present times is but a puny infant at its side :
whom it will, it casts down; whom it will, it
raises up : even the most powerful quail beneath
its censure. It is a

" Power moving throughout, subtle, invisible,
And universal as the air we breathe;
A power that never slumbers ....
All eye, all ear — nowhere, and everywhere,
Entering the eloset and the sanetuary."

And it is a power as anonymous as the Venetian

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 269

Invisible Three, for the publisher's name at the
end of a newspaper throws not the least light
upon the identity of those " ready writers/' who
with their pens influence society and individuals
for good or evil. And it is an irresponsible
power, for it is amenable to no organised tri-
bunal. The priest is educated for the Church,
and is liable to ecclesiastical discipline ; the
lawyer is under high judicial control ; the soldier
must submit himself to strict military discipline :
but the Press, which exercises a despotism more
complete than the Church, the Law, or the
Army, requires no organised education, is sub-
jected to no legal check, except the law of libel,
which may so easily be evaded as to be equi-
valent to no check at all. Strange anomaly !
that a country so systematic and order-loving as
England is, and requiring that everything should
be fair and above-board, should submit to be
dictated to by a secret power, which, if not ne-
cessarily bad, is by no means necessarily good,
and yet far removed from all direct and imme-
diate censure and control, except the fickle
popular cry.

Sept. 15. — Saw a sail astern. As the captain
wishes company through Torres Straits, he slack-
ened sail for her to come up. She proved to
be the " Homer," the captain of which, I believe,
had no charts of Torres Straits, — an American

270 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

barque hailing from Boston. Captains agreed to
go through together in company. South-east
trades still blowing strong, with a heavy swell.

Sept. 16. — Arrived at midnight nearly off
Torres Straits, as we imagined, and then lay-to,
as the entrance is obscure and dangerous.

Sept. 17. — We did not arrive off Torres
Straits until three p.m. On our left we saw the
wreck of a large ship lying high and dry on a
reef, with her back broken — turpissimum omen !
On our right we saw a low sandy island, crested
with black rocks, and inhabited by innumerable
birds. It is called Rainer's Island. On it I saw
three huts, and a round tower or column, roughly
built of stones, seventy feet high. This is a
beacon proclaiming the entrance of the Straits.
We anchored at sunset thirty miles within the
Straits, urged on by the south-east wind blowing
freshly. Saw sand-banks and breakers all around
us. I understand that the lamentable wrecks
which occur in these Straits arise chiefly from
careless reckonings being kept. Ships come un-
awares on their entrance during the night and
get aground.

Sept. 18. — After a tempestuous night we weighed
anchor at sunrise, and proceeded on our dangerous
route. Two more ships have joined us ; so that
now we are — one Hollander leading the van;
then ourselves; then the Yankee; and in the rear

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 271

two Hamburgh ships. Anchored a little before
sundown ; for, sailing due west as we are, the
beams of the setting sun dazzle the eyes of the
man at the helm, so that he can no longer dis-
tinguish shallow from deep water by the colour.

Sept. 19. — Weighed anchor at daybreak, and
proceeded. On our left is the low, sandy coast of
Australia, where we saw two huge fires lighted by
the natives. At ten a.m. we passed on our right
a dangerous reef, scarcely perceptible, opposite to
Hannibal Island, which lies on our left, close to
the shore. The channel here is about five miles
across. Passed off the mouth of a fine Australian
river, called Escape River, which is twice as wide
as the Yarra at Melbourne. Twenty miles farther
on, we came to Newcastle Bay, where we anchored
for the night. This is a fine bay, and, as I hear
that there are rivers flowing into it, would make
a good locality for a settlement. During the day
I saw a sea-snake idly floating along. It had no
fins, was of a whitey-brown colour, and must have
measured in length six feet at the least.

Sept. 20. — At daybreak all five ships weighed
anchor and started. At nine a.m. we passed Cape
York, a bold promontory, standing far out into
the sea. Soon after, passed between Possession
Island and Prince of Wales Island. Saw four
Australian natives in the distance ; three entirely
naked, and one with an opossum rug on. When

272 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

they perceived us, they fled into the bush swiftly.
On our left were a succession of pretty bays and
small islands, clothed with green shrubs. Behind
rose in gentle undulations picturesque hills, well
wooded and seemingly fertile. Sea calm and
bright. The navigation is still difficult and peril-
ous. The captain scarcely takes his eyes off his
charts from sunrise to sundown. He is indefa-
tigable in his carefulness. In the evening four
blacks came on board from Prince of Wales Is-
land, called in native language Mooralez. They
were a plump, muscular, intelligent set, carried
bows and arrows; and their canoe, a hollowed
tree, was fitted with outriders. These outrisrerers,

' CO CO '

which enable a frail bark to encounter a heavy
sea, simplify the problem of the peopling of these
remote parts. The Prince of Wales Island people
were originally immigrants from the coast of Au-
stralia, twelve miles off.

Sept. 21. — Weighed anchor at half-past six
and proceeded through a tranquil sea, with Prince
of Wales Island on our right and Wallace Island
on our left. Calms rather baffled us, and we
could catch no fish. At last, about two p.m., we
passed eight miles to the left of Booby Island,
and thus emerged with the blessing of God, after
four days' anxiety, from the. redoubtable Torres
Straits, the most dangerous and difficult naviga-
tion in the world. The captain's conduct has been

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 273

admirable throughout. At Booby Island there is
a provision-depot, kept up by voluntary sub-
scription, where shipwrecked crews can procure
food. Every ship passing within sight of the
island is expected to leave in a stone-building
which is there, a cask of pork, or beef, or biscuit,
or anything the captain can spare. There are no
inhabitants in the place. It must be borne in
mind, that people shipwrecked in the Straits en-
deavour to betake themselves to the Dutch islands
of the Eastern Archipelago. To land on the right
in New Guinea, or on the left in Australia, would
be certain death, for the natives are ferocious
cannibals. The captain wondered why steamers
do not run from Singapore to Sydney by way of
the Straits, it being a shorter and calmer passage
than by Cape Leeuwin on the western coast of
Australia. There would be little or no risk for a
steamer in the Straits, unless she were grossly
mismanaged ; and if a settlement were formed at
or near Newcastle Bay, there would always exist
a refuge in case of disaster. Having got out into
the open sea we anchored no more at night. To-
wards sunset we saw nine ships in the distance.

Sept. 22. — Went on board the Hollander, the
name of which is the " President Verkoutren."
She is in a very dirty state — rather extraordinary
for a Dutch East India Company's ship.

274 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Sept. 25. — Hear that we are about 400 miles
from Timor and 1400 miles from Batavia. Saw
two sea-snakes, a fathom long, wriggle by the
ship.

Sept. 28. — Our course lies between the island
of Timor and a long, dangerous bank, running in
a straight line for nearly 100 miles.

Sept. 29. — Got clear of the bank, and ran along
the irregular and precipitous coast of Timor,
famous for ponies. The heights seemed well
wooded, but we could not see much on account of
the mist. This island formerly belonged jointly
to the Dutch and Portuguese, but now, I believe,
the former have bought the latter out.

Oct. 10. — At ten a.m. we came in sight of Java
Head, a huge promontory, thickly timbered. On
our left was an island, called Prince's Island,
precipitous and picturesque. Thus we entered
the S; raits of Sanda, having the large island of
Sumatra on our left, and Java on our right. A
strong breeze and current carried us in quick
succession by the Friar, Second Point, Welcome
Bay, Third Point, to Pepper Bay, where we an-
chored for the night. On our left towered the
huge peak of the island of Pulo Crokatoa.

Oct. 11. — At ten a.m. two Malay boats came
off", with poultry, yams, bananas, ananas, tobacco,
and a beautiful hare in a cas^e. The whole was

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. )l ro

bought for three dollars. The . hare, with its
large, liquid, lustrous eyes, its long, fine ears, its
most slender limbs, was put upon the deck to run
about ; but it refused all nourishment, and began
to mope. At noon we emerged from the Straits
of Sunda, which are ninety miles in length, and
rounded Point Nicholas and Saleyra. Passed by
Kaly. Mountains most precipitous and bizarre,
all inhabited and cultivated, and all indescribably
picturesque. At night we anchored near Man-
eater's Island. The thermometer has been 87°
in the cabin to-day.

Oct. 12. — A dull, hazy morning. After lying
becalmed for some hours only fifteen miles from
Batavia, off Amsterdam Island, which is low, and
covered with verdure to the water's edge, a breeze
sprung up and took us to within four miles of
Batavia. The whole roadstead is covered with
low islands, seemingly of great fertility, but I
understand that fever and death have established
themselves there. After dinner I descended the
ship's side into a prow, a long narrow boat with
a large sail, and a stiff breeze impelled me rapidly
towards the shore, where, having arrived, the boat
entered a sluggish river or canal, and after sail-
ing two or three miles between low muddy banks,
arrested her progress opposite the Custom-IIouse.
After I had arranged some necessary business, I

276 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

vode in an open carriage, drawn by two diminu-
tive ponies, through the crowded streets of Ba-
tavia, to the fashionable "west-end" suburb,
called Rijswijk or Rijwoek, where I dismounted
at the Java Hotel, a palatial edifice, surrounded
by extensive grounds.

Oct. 13. — Rode in a carriage into the crowded
city. I found it impossible to avoid being in-
tensely excited at the novelty of the scene. The
houses were most bizarre, and the streets were
crowded with never-ceasing streams of Chinese,
Malays, Javanese, Islanders, Creoles, and Euro-
peans, all attired in every variety of costume ;
whilst at quick-recurring intervals this mass of
humanity would be disturbed by small carriages
tearing along, drawn by ponies not much larger
than big dogs. An immense trade of comestibles
was going on in the streets — delicate comestibles,
such as pickles, preserves, hot peppers, and small
fish in pickle ; also curry, and rice, and veget-
ables, creams, tea, pastry ; all at three doits each
(sixty go to a shilling;). And as each seller shouted
and each buyer shouted, the noise was deafening.
The seller carries his wares in trays attached to a
bamboo stick, and his cry is that of an earnest
cat. In the evening I went to the races, which
were held in King William's Plain ; some Sydney
horses ran, ridden by jockeys dressed in English

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 277

style : but the most amusing part of all was the
pony-race, a race of a most motley group of ani-
mals, ridden by a still more motley group of
riders, some most grotesquely dressed. The
catastrophes which befell horsemen and horses
from the start to the winning-post were incessant,
and universal laughter reigned around, from the
vast assemblage of human beings of many races
which were there. Some riders were dressed in
masquerade fashion. The winner, if I recollect
right, was got up as a wild Indian of the prairie.
A very sumptuous dinner was served at the table-
d'hote dinner of the hotel. Batavia is very full,
owing to the Exposition being held now, and also
to the races. An intelligent German, who sat by
me at table, said that the Javanese and Malays
are very skilled in the compounding of subtle and
slow poisons.

Oct. 14. — Was introduced at the Concordia
Club-House, which is in Waterloo Plain. Saw a
great many well-dressed Dutch gentlemen there:
also several Rajahs from the country, who have
come up to the Exposition at the expense of
Government. The price at my hotel is, I find,
5 guilders (10s.) a-day, exclusive of wine and
beer, but including Hollands gin ; and indeed
the people are eating and drinking from morning
to night. It requires a strong constitution to go

278 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

through a clay here. The following is the regle-
rnent : —

Des Morgens van 5 tot 8 ure, koffij of thee mit beschuit

(in de kamer) 8 ,,9 Dejeune
Wordt om . 8 ure Gescheld.

Middags . 12^ a, la fourchette

Wordt om . 12g ure Gescheld.
Narniddags . 6^ Dine

Wordt om . 6^ ure Gescheld.

Avonds . . 7 „ 8 Thee.

8 ,,12 Grog van Geneva.

This means, that, after bathing in a spacious bath
at the bottom of the garden, just before sunrise,
and returning to your room, you receive at the
hands of the servant tea or coffee with biscuit ;
that from eight to nine there is laid out in the
sa lie a manger an excellent breakfast ; that at
half-an-hour after noon you sit down to an abun-
dant drjcthier a la fourchette, consisting of fish,
meats, poultry, fruits, vegetables, curries, eggs,
oysters, sardines, and other appetising things;
that at live there is always a good cup of tea to
be had ; that at six, gin and bitters are served ;
riiat at half-past six comes the great event of the
day, dinner; and such a dinner! with every
comestible one can conceive, and many more,
clustering round beautiful vases, filled with
fresh, fragrant flowers, whilst innumerable lights

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 279

of cocoa-nut oil, shrouded in ground-glass lamps,
throw an air of subdued splendour over the scene;
that alter coffee is served, tea is announced in
another room, and afterwards one is at liberty to
drink Hollands gin until midnight. I suspect
that this profusion is a passing spurt on account
of the Exposition. If it is not, I cannot conceive
how the landlord can be remunerated at five
florins a-day. About thirty sit down to dinner,
and seem very abstemious as to what they drink.
Light Bordeaux wine is chiefly called for; also a
delicious bitter beer brewed in Amsterdam, which
is weaker than ours, and has a more genuine
bitter about it. It is much less expensive also.
What I have just written is a programme of a
day at the Java Hotel in Batavia ; and although,
owing to the tropical heat which prevails here,
the bodily juices are undergoing constant evapo-
ration, and require constant renovation, yet I
cannot but think that the renovation carried on
here is rather of too overwhelming a nature to
be exactly conducive to robust health.

Oct. 15. — After taking a bath at sunrise, I
went over the stables attached to the hotel.
There were fifty ponies there, eating cut grass.
These active little creatures travel at a great
pace during the burning heat of the day, but
they are not very enduring, and it is not well to
work them more than three times in the week,

280 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

and then not more than for ten or twelve miles.
Thus the number kept is prodigious. A mer-
chant well to do in the world must have eight
or nine pair. He will require two or three pair
to go into town to his counting-house daily and
return ; whilst his wife and family, for airing and
making calls, and society, cannot do well with less
than five pairs. They cost from four to eight
pounds each, and are not expensive to keep.
Mares are not used here. The stronger Timor
breed costs more, and requires better keep;
whilst the stout Macassar cob of fourteen hands,
is much used for the saddle, requires attention,
and fetches a comparatively high pi'ice. Some
few rich people possess Sydney horses ; but they
cost a great deal — 1200 florins perhaps, and do
not thrive wonderfully well. Visited some Chinese
stores, where I saw second-rate European goods
for sale at very high prices. Drove through the
Chinese quarter, where are houses built in every
conceivable style, many grotesque, all pictur-
esque, and quaint beyond description. I entered
into the fine residence of a rich Chinese merchant.
At the door glared two stone monsters : the in-
terior was scrupulously clean, and contained very
little furniture ; gold and vermilion were not
spared as embellishments, and on the walls were
poor French or English engravings, not coloured.
The more private apartments 1 did not see. I

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 281

hear that there are no less than 60,000 Chinese
in Batavia and the environs. The Dutch govern-
ment, with its usual good sense, has appointed
and salaried certain Chinese officials, with the
titles of Colonel and Major, whose duty it is to
grant permission to Chinese immigrants to land
in Batavia; and who are made personally respon-
sible for the behaviour of their compatriots. A
hundred years ago, the Chinese iD the island,
waxing rich and insolent, rebelled, and were
massacred to the number of 12,000 by the
Malays, who also abound here, and are very jea-
lous of the Celestial people. The Chinese are the
acutest people in the world. Their perceptive
and reflective faculties are most highly developed;
and all this wonderful intelligence is unaccom-
panied by any moral or religious principle. The
depravation of their moral tastes is excessive. It
would be well if our young colonies would act as
the Dutch act — refuse admittance to too many,
and keep those who are permitted to land under
strict surveillance; otherwise mischief will spring
up one of these days. These Chinese immigrants,
who are the off-scourings of the Chinese empire,
come over unaccompanied by women ; but in
process of time the more respectable form con-
nexions with Malay women, and educate their
children as Chinese. At least I have been given
to understand so. Some of these people are

282 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

enormously rich, and hold sugar and coffee
plantations in the interior. Tbe Chinese here do
not undertake laborious callings, but are mer-
chants, shop-keepers, money-changers, pedlars,
and barbers. They live by their heads rather
than their hands. They love to gamble, smoke
opium, and attend theatrical representations,
where men and women, disguised under extra-
vagant and ridiculous dresses, perform intermin-
able dramas, of which no one but themselves can
comprehend the beginning or understand the
end. These people in general are simply and
cleanly dressed. They have a straw-hat with a
narrow brim, white tunic, loose white trowsers,
white stockings, and shoes. Behind them hangs
the tail to the heels, sometimes assisted with false
hair and black ribbon. An umbrella is an indis-
pensable appendage. I am not able to learn ex-
actly what the religion of the Chiuese is, but
I believe it is a mixture of Buddhism, Unitarian-
ism, and Devil worship. Whatever it may be, it
biings forth fruit which we, as Christians, would
decidedly call corrupt.

In the evening a merchant, who has lived in
Bat a via many years, took me to a Javanese feast.
1 was anxious to see an assemblage of pure
Javanese, for in the streets of Batavia I had seen
an infinity of Mala} s and Chinese, but compara-
tively few of the Javanese race.

IV AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 283

About a mile from the hotel we diverged from
the main road, and made our way by the uncer-
tain light of the stars along a path surrounded
and overarched by luxuriant Eastern vegetation,
towards the spot where innumerable lights showed
us that the kampong, or village, of the giver of
the feast lay. These kampongs are villages set
apart in the vast suburbs of Batavia for the
Javanese and Malay population. Between the
well-macadamised roads, where are reared the
palaces of the Europeans, live in quiet rural re-
treats, communicated with by shady lanes, an
innumerable coloured population, in their kam-
pongs (the great Chinese kampong is in the city
proper) ; and very delightful it is to leave the
dusty road, turn up a verdant pathway, and at
the end of a long perspective discover a cluster
of pretty, clean, bamboo cottages, each in the
middle of its little plot of Indian corn, and
almost concealed by the refreshing shade of
cocoa-nut and banana-trees. On the present
occasion, close to one of these cottages, canvas
had been stretched from tree to tree across a
verdant alley, and two rows of tables were laid
out, loaded with sweetmeats, conserves, cakes,
fruits, and tea-cups. Among the fruits the stately-
looking pine-apple, or anana, was not forgotten,
which is here sold for about twopence, or less.
Beyond the tables an open square space was

284 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

appropriated to the dancers, and close on that
was a wooden platform raised dais-like, on which
sat the master of the feast, his three wives, and
intimate friends. As soon as the master of the
feast espied my friend and myself standing at the
lower end of the tables among the crowd, he
hurried down, and bowing very courteously, led
us up between the tables, through the dancers, to
the dais, where he begged us to sit down in a
chair. He then pressed upon us tea and sweet-
meats, to which last we helped ourselves with a
silver instrument like a bodkin. The dancers
were then ordered to begin one of their best
dances. They were four, two men and two wo-
men ; and they danced in an insufferably grace-
less and monotonous manner, hoisting their legs
up high at a very slow pace, then dropping them
equally slow r ly, whilst their hands hung flaccidly
before them like the paws of standing bears. It
looked to me like a quadrille dreamily glided
through by persons under the influence of opium,
who had just sufficient energy left in them for
the lift of a limb or contortion of the body. The
musicians sat cross-legged, beating a small range
of notes on brass plates with little knob-sticks ;
others beat drums of bamboo ; others pieces of
wood, arranged like the glasses of an harmonicon.
The wives of the master of the house sat all the
time very demurely, scarcely moving a muscle of

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 285

their expressionless countenances ; and looking
very much like the female figures depicted on our
china. The assembled multitude — all Javanese,
with their mild, respectable faces — sat watching
the monotony of the dance with extraordinary
intensity. When the dancing was finished all
sat down to the feast, and I left. The long
tables; the bamboo torches; the raised dais at the
further end, sparkling with lights ; the barbaric
music; the. swarthy multitudes, with their rest-
less, flashing eyes ; the huge leaves of the trees
round about, scarcely swayed by the evening
breeze; and the bright, calm, earnest stars over
all, formed a most impressive scene. All present
were pure Javanese, who in Batavia love to spend
their money in feasting one another.

Oct. 16 (Sunday) — Attended Divine Service
at the chief Dutch church in Batavia. It is
built after the model of the Pantheon, and is a
very imposing edifice. Over the entrance is a
fine organ, and in face is a huge pulpit with a
huge sounding-board. In the centre of the area
sat the women on chairs, and in pews clustered
along the walls were the men, all very grave-
looking and decorous. I observed a school of
Creole girls there. The Governor and his lady
were there, sitting under a canopy of state. The
Service consisted of praying, singing, and preach-
ing, the former unaccompanied by kneeling. The

286 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

psalmody was exceedingly well sustained by the
male portion of the congregation. Two collec-
tions were made during the Service; one for the
poor, the other for the Minister. Not under-
standing Dutch I could form no opinion of the
sermon, but I am told that the Calvinist ministers
here preach Socinianism to slender auditories.
The congregation to-day was certainly wretchedly
small, but I am told that this arises from the
clergyman not being a popular preacher. On
Saturday the Sunday preachers are advertised ;
people know whom they are going to hear, and
a poor man who does not take the popular fancy
draws but a few admirers to his preaching.
There are two other Dutch Protestant churches,
in one of which the Service is held in the Malay
language. Returning from church, I saw a
Chinese wedding-party. The bride, bridegroom,
and relations, preceded in two carriages and four,
with red plumes waving on the roof; the friends
followed in no less than thirty-eight carriages
and pair. The galloping, shouting, and dust,
were something overwhelming.

Oct. 18. — Went over the Exposition, where are
collected the produce and manufactures of Java
and the surrounding islands under Dutch sway.
The building was vast, the articles exposed,
numerous, and the ticketing incorrect and em-
barrassing. This exhibition, like all exhibitions,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 287

is tiring to the eyes and legs. Saw more than
100 specimens of wood, some remarkably beau-
tiful in grain, and some very close-grained and
heavy. These woods were very interesting to
examine : some pieces were as hard and heavy as
iron. Saw there also some small nuggets of gold
from Borneo ; some enormous nutmegs ; excel-
lent green tea, opium, coffee, tobacco, spices,
indigo, good refined sugar, and a model of out-
riggers to be applied to large ships. It would be
impossible to detail a thousandth part of the
costly products of Netherlands India, which I saw
amassed under the interminable roof of the Ex-
position. From all I hear, Java must be an all-
producing paradise, inhabited by ten millions of
amiable people ; and the Hollanders, if they had
carried out their once entertained idea of leaving
their swamps to their relentless persecutors, and
emigrating with their household gods en masse to
this island of the blest, would have made no bad
exchange. What much struck me at the Exhi-
bition, was the orderly behaviour of the Asiatics
who were there. The Malays swarmed in the
building, dressed in divers modes. The head-
dress of the men consisted of folds of muslin, or
a coloured handkerchief folded round, or a strawr
hat, or a wooden hat gaily japanned, something
like an inverted punchbowl. As for their body-
dress, some had linen tunics, some jackets, some

4bO DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

nothing at all. For their lower extremities, some
wore loose trowsers down to the ankles, others
tight drawers extending no further than the
knees. None had shoes. As the material of
these dresses is gauildy coloured, the infinite
variety of patterns has a most droll effect. The
Malay women had no head-dress, but wore their
abundant black hair drawn tightly back over their
foreheads, and twisted into a back -knot, where it
is fastened by a pin of a certain value. Their
dress consisted of a loose white linen tunic pinned
over the chest, and a long white petticoat. Nor
had they shoes. They walked with dignity, and
behaved with propriety. I saw likewise many
Javanese Rajahs from the interior with their attend-
ants, and was much struck by their gentleness,
politeness, and quiet intelligence. They were of a
light bronze colour, rather thau black. Some of
the high-bred Javanese ladies are, I am told, well-
educated, extremely handsome, and scarcely darker
than a dark European woman. These gentle-
men at the Exposition were wrapped round the
loins with costly cloths down to the heels. They
were girded with a valuable sash, in which, at
their back, they wore daggers with jewelled hilts.
They had velvet jackets braided with gold ; and
wore a velvet cap resembling our jockey-cap,
with, however, a larger and deeper rim, and a hole
at the top, to allow their long back hair, confined

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 289

with a costly comb, to protrude. In the vast
extent of the building were stationed two sets of
Javanese musical instruments, consisting of metal
plates, or vessels arranged in musical scale, and
beaten with sticks. These instruments are very
costly, having a liberal admixture of silver. The
music produced is liquid, bell-toned, monotonous,
and melancholy. The oratorio of the "Creation"
was played at the theatre to-night by amateurs,
in aid of some charitable institution. The vocal
and instrumental execution left nothing to be
desired, and the building was crowded to excess.
Oct. 19. — A mixed assemblage sat down at
the table d'hote to-day. There were a Javanese
prince, an African prince, a captain of a Dutch
regiment, an engineer, a doctor, a Hanoverian
nobleman turned merchant, a captain of a coast-
ing steamer, and a sugar -planter from Mada-
gascar. The captain of the steamer had a little
Papuan boy, his servant, standing behind his
chair, who, with his tiger-cat eyes, which were
like diamonds set in black enamel, watched his
master's countenance, and anticipated every want.
The boy had been picked up somewhere in the
neighbouring islands, and his master would have
been glad to get rid of him for a small considera-
tion. The New Guinea people are esteemed the
most savage, untameable people in the world ; so
that it would be a perilous thing to bring the

290 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

little fellow to England. The planter had been
ten years without seeing an European in Mada-
gascar, where an unlimited number of slaves had
been allotted him. I conversed much with him,
but I felt a repugnance to him, for there were
many dark things written in his face.

Oct. 20. — Bought some books at the shop of
Lange, the chief bookseller in Batavia. He says
it is not true that the Dutch, who trade with
Japan, go through the form of trampling on the
cross every year. Permission to trade with Japan
is put up to auction every year by the Dutch
Government. The last permission sold for 4000/.
He told me that the Javanese are a quiet, refined,
and lovable people.

Oct. 21. — The Europeans in Batavia visit in
the evening at eight o'clock. After sunset the
Malay coachmen lay aside the inverted punch-
bowl hat, which they wear on their heads during
the day, and assume the European hat. When
a visit is to be made, two servants jump up be-
hind on the foot-board carrying huge torches.
The coachman smacks his whip, the ponies start
off at a furious gallop, and the two men behind
vrave their torches, and shout, and yell, in pro-
portion to the speed of the ponies. As the
suburbs arc frequently crowded with these equi-
pages, the effect is most, embarrassing to the
pedestrian.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 291

Oct. 22. — Hear that the Mohammedanism pro-
fessed by the Javanese is of a mongrel character.
Hindoo traditions have still firm hold upon them,
in spite of the teaching of hiin of Mecca. A
resident in Batavia told me some strange stories

of Madame , a celebrated German traveller.

They went to show, that when a favourite pursuit
develops itself into a passion, every other con-
sideration is often disregarded, even that of
scrupulous attention to toilet arrangements, which
we of England consider the peculiar characteristic
of the softer sex. Impelled by an adventurous
and fearless spirit, this lady, when roaming in the
island of Sumatra, beyond the limits of Dutch
civilisation, fell among a savage people called the
Battas. They immediately determined on baking
and eating her. Her sensations may be imagined
rather than described, whilst their rude, impro-
vised earthly oven, was a-preparing. At last the
heated hole was ready for the victim, and the
hungry savages requested her to undress previous
to the gastronomic immolation. Seeing that the
poor creature was tardy, they roughly assisted her
in this operation, until she stood unclothed on
the brink of the terrible pit. But when the in-
stant barbarians saw that she was thin, old,
angular, muscular, and above all, innocent of
soap for many a day, or, to speak more plainly, a
willing victim of unmitigated neglect, their appe-

292 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

tites ceased, their culinary enthusiasm abated ;
they had not the stomach to cook her and eat
her ; but they bid her clothe herself and be gone,
giving her by signs to understand that her dirt
had saved her life.

Oct. 23. — It being my intention to go to
Buitenzorg to-morrow, a town forty miles from
Batavia, where is the country residence of the
Governor-General, I applied to-day for my pass-
port, and obtained it. The Government is very
jealous of the movements of European strangers
in Java. At dinner, somebody accosted me with
" So you are going to see Java?" I answered,
" Am I not in Java now ? " " No," was the
reply; " we call this Batavia, not Java."

Oct. 24. — At daybreak I started for Buitenzorg
in a light carriage, drawn by four ponies. A
Malay coachman drove, and behind, on the foot-
board, stood the two horsekeepers, one to each
pair. Soon emerging from the suburb, I travelled
at full gallop along a good macadamised road,
bordered by fine trees. At the side of this road
ran a narrower road, not macadamised, which is
appropriated to the traffic of the native popula-
tion, and which was crowded by a swarthy crew,
clad and unclad, all in a state of intense activity.
Met long strings of two-wheeled carts, having
a light wicker tilt, excellently well arranged,
drawn by small, docile oxen, fine in limb and fet-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 293

lock, and small of hoof. Crowds of natives passed,
carrying the produce of the country, either on
their heads or attached to long bamboo sticks
laid across their shoulders. Every now and then
I came on groups of people reposing under the
spreading foliage of some giant roadside tree —
fathers, mothers, and their little ones, in every
attitude of exquisite unconscious grace. Here and
there, at the side of the road, were pretty Malay
wood cottages, with overhanging roofs, sur-
rounded by cultivation sufficient to satisfy all the
owners' wants. Fine country-houses, seated on
eminences, with large estates lying round them,
were not wanting. The swampy parts of the
country were taken advantage of for extensive
rice-fields, the irrigation of which was carefully
and ingeniously managed. About every seven
miles the horses were changed, and with reason,
for the sun of Java is powerful; and we were
travelling over ten miles an hour, including stop-
pages. The pace was a full gallop, never de-
generating into a trot. The rest-stations were
very extensive buildings, comprising bed-rooms,
refreshment-rooms, and stabling for thirty or
forty horses. In these localities shelters are
thrown across the road ; so that the traveller
finds a refreshing shade. I hear that all the
Java main roads are excellent, and that the ar-
rangements for travelling by post are extra-

294 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ordinarily good. Those who wish to travel from
Batavia to any principal town of the island, whe-
ther to Cheribon, Samarang, or Sourabaya, have
only to go to the post-bureau, and pay the re-
quired sum, and they will be hurried in a carriage-
and-four, without stopping, to the place of their
destination, at an expense of 1/. for ten miles. I
found the starting of a relay to be rather a ner-
vous operation, for the four fresh ponies behaved
as if they had never been introduced to each other
before, and acted in unison only in one point —
that of going sideways, and backwards instead of
forwards. However, after screaming, plunging,
kicking, and sitting down on their tails, when
by blows and pushes from four or five experienced
horsekeepers, each a larger animal than the
quadruped itself, they are persuaded to move in
the right direction, the little creatures fly rather
than gallop, till they arrive, all panting and ex-
hausted, at the next station. After travelling
about eighteen miles over the sultry plain I felt
the more bracing mountain air; and, indeed, in
the distance, I could easily distinguish the moun-
tains, at the base of which lay Buitenzorg, the
country retreat of the rich people of Batavia. As
the land became more undulating, the picturesque-
ness of the journey increased. At times I crossed
rapid streams, over bridges carefully roofed in ;
then were to be seen groves of cocoa-nut trees,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 295

studding the landscape here and there; then
cottages nestling amid their own little groves :
in front were the wooded mountains, chequered
with the most marked effects of light and shade ;
passing and repassing in rapid equipages were
Rajahs, with the insignia cf their rank — a gilt
umbrella; or Chinese, posting to or from their
plantations ; whilst the soft air soughed gently
through the luxuriant foliage of the surrounding
trees. At last I arrived at a white obelisk,
standing sentinel-like to a magnificent avenue of
trees, three miles in length, I should think; at
the termination of which lay embosomed in the
massive foliage of Eastern trees the stately country
palace of the Governor - General of Netherlands
India. Soon after that the carriage rolled through
the main street of Buitenzorg, composed of houses
constructed in every style of architecture, and
thronged with dusky forms variously clad. In
a few minutes the reeking ponies were pulled
up at the Rest-haus, called the Hotel de Belle
Vue. Entered the hotel by a wide flight of stone
steps, at the top of which is a spacious verandah,
ranging along the whole frontage of the house.
In the centre was a doorway, through which I
entered the two saloons, which run all through
from the front to the back of the edifice. The
first saloon is used as an eating-room ; the second
as a withdrawing- room. And this second is

296 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

furnished with sofas and easy-chairs, and well-
polished tables, on which lie instructive and
entertaining books ; and from it may be enjoyed
a view of wondrous beauty. The hotel is built
on the brink of a deep and wide valley, with its
front facing the main road, and its back looking
towards this valley, which separates Buitenzorg
from the sloping sides of the mountain Salak.
The whole of this vale is watered by rapid brooks,
which intersect it in every direction, and is filled
up with fine trees of every description, among
which those of the palm-tribe predominate. I
looked over the heads of these stately guardians
of the soil, with their gigantic leaves of inexpres-
sible verdure arching and drooping over one
another, ever changing, as fanned by the soft
winds, the position of their intertanglements,
until my eye rested on the sunny slopes of the
mountain which sweep up from the valley.
These slopes are succeeded by the bold and pre-
cipitous sides of the mountain, rent by earth-
quakes and furrowed by many a lava-stream in
days of old, now clothed with enormous trees and
impenetrable jungle; and then, again, this belt
of verdure fades away into sterile rocks, which, by
a succession of precipices, raise themselves to the
height of four or five thousand feet, moulded into
five distinct peaks, standing out sharp and clear
from the dark blue sky, and form the dorsum

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 297

immane of Salak, no longer vomiting his fires.
This was the scene which enchanted my eyes
from the back verandah of the Buitenzorg hotel.
I find the inn excellent, as, indeed, I hear all the
inns in Java are. The reason is, that they are
under Government control, and the Resident of
the district would dismiss a landlord against
whom well-founded complaints should be made,
or who, in his charges, should exceed the fixed
tariff. The price here is five florins a-day, exclu-
sive of wine or beer ; and for that we get three
excellent meals, consisting of fish, meat, poultry,
fruits, vegetables, pastry, and four made dishes.
Tea and Hollands gin can be had whenever called
for, without figuring as an extra.

Oct. 25. — Went over the Botanical Gardens,
or, as they are called, the Governor's Gardens.
As the climate of Buitenzorg enjoys a happy
medium of temperature, I was able to see assem-
bled in this favoured spot products of the vege-
table kingdom, common to the damp and warm
alluvial soil of the coast, and the drier and more
bracing air of a mountainous district. Laid out
in happy symmetry are here to be seen um-
brageous avenues of the cocoa-nut tree, the betel-
nut tree, the golden plantain, and the rarest
ferns; whilst round some vast banyan-tree, or
Indian fig-tree, or luxuriant bread-fruit tree,
each standing alone in the midst of a little lawn

298 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

of its own, commodious benches are fixed, where
sitting I could enjoy, secure in impenetrable
shade, the laughing landscape around. In one
spot sparkle the silver waters of a fountain; in
another a graceful temple recalls to the mind,
here, at the Antipodes, amongst the worshippers
of Brahma and the followers of Mohammed, the
undying religion of old Greece. From one point
of view I could see the spacious palace of the
Governor, with its Ionic colonnades, its imposing
terraces, and capacious wings ; from another, in
a walk winding round the brow of a hill, I could
discern a spacious lake, filled with rare aquatic
plants, amongst which the sacred lotus of the
Hindoos was not the least conspicuous. Under
the courteous guidance of one of the superin-
tendents I visited that part of the garden more
especially appropriated to the experimental culti-
vation of plants, shrubs, and trees useful in a
commercial point of view. One large area was
devoted to various species of the coffee plant,
with its laurel-like leaves of a healthy dark
green. There was the pepper-tree, too, with
its insignificant leaf. Caoutchouc-trees I saw;
some very large, pregnant with precious sap.
Arrowroot - trees were here in plenty. Much
ground was laid out in the cultivation of
divers sorts of tobacco. Cinnamon-trees like
vast laurels, and odoriferous at certain periods,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 299

were not wanting. The nutmeg-tree, hungry of
manure, and requiring incessant care, was well
represented here ; whilst much trouble had been
laid out in an acre or two of the smooth cactus,
which is very valuable on account of the bug
which it generates. This bug at a certain season
in brushed off the leaves, and when dried and
pounded becomes the famous cochineal, so useful
for dyeing. Of course, the experience gained by
this experimental gardening is quickly diffused
throughout Java. Thus in this favoured island,
under the sage protection of the Dutch, Art
assists Nature; not by stimulating, but by re-
straining and directing her. After leaving the
plants, I directed my course to the menagerie of
animals. Passing on my right a gigantic banyan-
tree, from whose branches drooped down, not
creepers or tendrils, but bold little shafts like sta-
lactites from a cavern's roof, which worm their
way into the ground, and gradually become
firmly fixed there, I came upon a one-horned rhino-
ceros, lazily wallowing, pig-like, in the waters
of a stagnant pool. Then I saw every description
of deer which the island produces ; then a vicious-
looking boar from the Moluccas, with four tusks
of most extraordinary formation; and lastly, a
pair of gigantic cassowaries. On my way to the
gates I saw a funereal monument, erected under
a graceful dome, shaded by weeping willows, near

300 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

a fountain throwing up translucent waters. Ap-
proaching it, I read the following inscription :

" Sacred to the Memory of Olivia

Mariamne, wife of Thomas Stamford

Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Java and

its Dependencies, who died at Biitenzorg on

the 26th November, 1814.

Oh thou, who ne'er my constant heart

One moment hath forgot ;
Tho' fate severe hath bid us part,

Yet still forget me not."

Thus ended my survey of these beautiful gar-
dens, which, indeed, must be considered the
paradise of all gardens, both for the beauty of
their site and their extreme order and cleanliness.
After lunch I ordered a carriage to visit some
Hindoo remains, about six miles from the town.
I had four ponies forced upon me, although I
was alone. The consequence was, that I was
hurried at a furious gallop, with no little risk
(for the road, not being a main road, was by
no means unexceptionable), through a charming
country, and had but a poor chance of contem-
plating at my ease all that lay around me. I
observed that maize was much cultivated, and
that the lower grounds were carefully appro-
priated to the growth of rice. Graceful trees of
the palm family ornamented and characterised
the landscape everywhere. The antiquities which

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 301

I came to see lay on the right-hand side of the
road, and consisted of two groups, one apart
from the other a few paces. Both had been
roofed over and railed in. One group consisted
of three upright blocks of stone, on two of which
I could discern no marks of a chisel ; on the
third I could detect, rudely carved in relief, the
lower parts of a figure, sitting cross-legged. The
second group consists of a stone- slab perpen-
dicularly placed, much injured by violence or
time, with a long legible inscription sharply cut
in it, which turns out to be, I believe, of the
oldest form of Sanscrit, the sacred language of
the Hindoos. Close by is a stone-slab, lying
horizontally, having imprinted on it two human
foot-marks, of a woman's or youth's size. This,
I am told, has a sacred and mysterious meaning.
Probably it commemorates the advent of some
god upon earth, or his point of departure from
the earth. This put me in mind that in a church
in the outskirts of Rome there are foot- prints in
marble (of a large size), said to have been the
spot where our Saviour stood when he appeared
to Peter. The Javanese were, I believe, originally
Hindoos, or, perhaps, Buddhists, and the spread
of Mohammedanism over the island was not
effected until about a.d. 1408, when a noted
Arabian chief partly persuaded and partly coerced
the mild islanders to accept Mohammed for their

302 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

lawgiver, and himself for their monarch. Even
now their Mohammedanism is adulterated by
many superstitious notions and observances re-
tained from the religion of their ancestors ; they
alone of Mohammedans do not adopt the epocha
of the flight of the Prophet ; and a few idolaters
are still found in the recesses of the mountains
at the eastern extremity of Java. Returning to
Buitenzorg, I visited some of the streets and
lanes, and the market. In the main streets the
houses are substantial and spacious, although
bizarre, and even grotesque. The lower apart-
ment is mostly used as a shop or store. This
chamber is not glazed, and the goods are exposed
either side of the doorway on a sort of frame-
work, something like an inclined plane. Mere I
saw drugs, rice, maize, cloth, hats, ironmongery,
tobacco, confectionery, and preserves. In the
lesser streets and lanes I found wooden cottages,
consisting of a large area, roofed in and divided
into a day and night apartment. The market
was full of every kind of fruit and vegetable,
which this fertile country produces almost spon-
taneously; and round stalls and baskets laden
with delicious things, of which we Hyperboreans
know not even the name, swarmed with ceaseless
motion a ; warthy crowd of men, women, and
children, the latter entirely naked, and wonder-
fully pretty. As I passed a handsome house,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 303

and looked in through the open doorway, the
proprietor, a portly-looking Chinese, bowed very
politely, and seeing that I was a stranger, made
signs that I should enter. He then showed me
his chief room. This had a wooden floor, nicely
polished, a few shabby wooden chairs, a very
plain table, a wall-paper representing in vivid
colours Chinese life, and at the end a smart side-
board covered with plate, glass, artificial flowers,
and candlesticks : from the ceiling were sus-
pended two gaudy Chinese lanterns. He then
took me into another room, quite unfurnished,
where he introduced me to his wife, a fat, good-
humoured Malay woman, of about thirty. Many
salutations were reciprocated ; but as they neither
spoke nor understood my language, nor I theirs,
our conversation was necessarily limited. Beyond
this second room was a store-room ; upstairs was
the women's apartments, approached by a ladder,
removable at pleasure. After dinner I gave
orders about an excursion, which I hope to un-
dertake to-morrow, up the sides of the mountain,
and sat during the gloaming of the evening in
the spacious verandah watching the blue lights
of the fire-flies as they darted among the cum-
brous foliage of the surrounding trees.

Oct. 26. — Started at daybreak, with the in-
tention of penetrating the recesses of the neigh-
bouring mountain, round whose summit at noon

304 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

every day I see black thunder-clouds gather, and
soon afterwards take their departure. I was
mounted on a very small chestnut pony, en-
cumbered with, an enormous saddle. The guide
walked before. Leaving the inn, I turned short
to my right, down a road, on one side of which
is the Chinese Cemetery, into a valley, through
which ran a rapid torrent, where were numerous
swarthy people, of both sexes, bathing and wash-
ing themselves. I then emerged into open
country, interspersed with water-courses, where
were many rice-grounds. Many Javanese were
to be seen passing and repassing, with the basin-
like hat glittering in the sun, and their dirks
behind them in cumbrous sheaths. I am told
that the Javanese are permitted to carry dirks,
but not the Malays and Chinese; and to order a
Javanese, of whatever station in life, to give up
his dirk, is a great insult or punishment. Not
long ago, a servant who had, without sufficient
cause, been peremptorily ordered by his master
to give up his weapon, became infuriated, and
massacred master, mistress, and three children
in the most frightful manner. On the present
occasion it was not without great coaxing that
I prevailed on a Javanese, who was walking in
front of me chatting with the horsekeepcr, to
allow me to closely examine his creese. In
the moist rice-grounds were to be seen bare-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 305

legged men up to their knees in water, driving
ploughs drawn by tall grey buffaloes, preparing
the land for the reception of the grain. This
lasted for two hours, and then we began to ascend
the sunny slopes which form the skirts of the
mountain. Our way led through green lanes
inclosed with high hedges, and arched over with
the huge leaves of stately trees, whilst the banks
on either side laughed with most bright flowers,
growing wild here, but probably only to be seen
at home cherished as rare exotics. And every
now and then I had to wade my horse through
harmless shallow brooks of transparent waters,
gurgling among many-coloured pebbles. This
was indeed beautiful; but not so beautiful as the
scene which greeted me when I arrived on the
little plain which lies at the foot of the rugged
declivities which lead to the summit of the
mountain. In front of me lay Salak with his
five rugged peaks, his bold breast girded with
inexhaustible foliage, and his granite crest half
obscured by a veil of mist, always in motion, and
always, kaleidoscope-like, resolving itself into new
and indescribable shapes. And when we turned
our backs upon the giant, the scene was all
changed, yet not less beautiful. Around me
were pretty cottages, some built of sawn timber,
some of bamboo, with environing verandah shel-
tered by the capacious roof. In the verandahs

306 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

were women spinning and weaving with loom,
shuttle, and distaff of primitive construction.
Around them sported their little ones, happily
unencumbered with the cares of a toilet. In the
adjacent gardens were the men, pruning the
luxuriance of their fruits and vegetables. Before
me, and far beneath me, stretched away the vast
fertile, alluvial plain, which ends only at the sea.
Tiiis was dotted with fine mansions, picturesque
villas, pretty villages, isolated cottages, luxuriant
groves, verdant paddy-fields, and groups of
moving things ill-defined in the distance. On
my right were reared the masses of the great
mountain Pangerango, piled like Pelion upon Ossa,
until lost to view in the thunder-clouds. On my
left rose up boldly against the horizon the less
lofty outline of the Badcewi hills, which at the
distance seemed to mellow into the blue ether
which garbed them. Thus I stood in the centre
of a vast amphitheatre of mountains, looking over
an illimitable plain, bounded by the Indian Ocean.
Close to me was a pretty country-house of some
retired merchant, and it had a beautiful garden ;
and there was a field close by full of healthy-
looking tobacco, and another growing Indian
corn, and another full of vines, and another with
some wheat; and below, in a little bottom, was
a small rice-field; and through this paradise ran
a tranquil stream ; and among olive-trees, and

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 307

fig-trees, and almond-trees, grew one large tree
with dark-green foliage ; and as I looked on all
this beauty I thought that, whoever should tire
of the monotonous turmoil and resultless agitation
of European life, would do well to fix his hermit-
age under the shade of the dark tree on the little
plain at the top of the green slopes of the
mountain Salak, among the courteous and peace-
able Javanese. After indulging myself for some
time with the beauty of this scene, I plunged
into the recesses of the mountain, and travelled
along the bed of a dried-up torrent, overhung by
thick masses of foliage. The horstkeeper led
my pony, and two Javanese mountaineers walked
before, carrying a sort of reaping-hook, with
which tho'v lopped off the branches which impeded
my way. At last the ground became so rugged
that I was compelled to dismount and struggle
onward a-foot. The scenery of this mountain
forest was very marvellous to me, a stranger to
Eastern wonders. Impenetrable jungle rose all
around my path, and out of that jungle shot up
every description of tree that the East produces,
from the stalwart teak to the more delicate and
graceful palm.* Trees were below us ; trees

* Sir S. Raffles, speaking of a part of Sumatra, says, " The
trees approached 160 to 200 feet in height. One tree that we
measured was in circumference nine yards ; and this is
nothiny to one I measured in Java."

308 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

were on each side; and trees towered above us
on the heights which we had yet to climb. And
our faces were fanned by huge leaves agitated by
light autumnal breezes. Some were saplings,
others most hoary monarchs of the forest ; some
were healthy and vigorous, others blasted, charred,
mutilated, riven, felled by thunderbolts. In every
conceivable position did they st:nd, or incline, or
lie prostrate. After two hours of striving on
foot through this jungle, the ill-defined track
terminated abruptly at the foot of a precipice,
and the guide intimated that all further progress
was stopped. It was in vain that I gave him
to understand that he was engaged to take
me to the top of the mountain. He either
could not or would not comprehend me. So I
was forced to return to the more open country,
and, scorched and jaded, to take refuge and seek
repose in the verandah of a bamboo cottage,
where a Malay woman sat spinning. Seeing me
exhausted, she ran into the interior of the house
and brought out a fine mat, which she unrolled
on the verandah, and politely motioned me to rest.
I lay down to sleep, whilst she went on with her
spinning, murmuring a monotonous chant, greatly
incitatory of slumber. Alter an hour's sleep I
arose to depart, and thanked my kind hostess for
her hospitality ; and she, making signs indicatory
of God speed, presented to me a line rose with

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 309

much graceful politeness. It would be well that
we Europeans should take lessons in good-breed-
ing and perfect self-possession from these Orientals.
The very indigenes of Australia might teach many
of us something in that way. In the evening the
pony, the horsekeeper, and myself, came back to
the hotel, scorched with heat and faint with toil.
Of the three, the pony endured best, admirable
little beast as he was. After dinner, whilst I was
sitting in the verandah after dusk, a travelling
carriage with blazing lamps, drawn by six horses,
came at lull speed up to the inn. From this car-
riage descended an Asiatic and an European. One
was a Javanese Rajah, returning to his district ;
the other the Dutch gentleman who acts as Re-
sident with him, or political surveillant. The Rajah
wore a velvet cap and velvet jacket, embroided with
gold, whilst from his waist downwards he was en-
cumbered by a costly stuff, wrapped round him,
and girded on him by a shawl of great value.
But I observed that, as he was in full dress, he
wore white European trowsers, carefully strapped
down over Wellington dress-boots — a very anoma-
lous addition to his graceful Oriental dress; and
which, as soon as he gets home, he will exchange
for easy slippers. He bowed very politely to me
as he rapidly ascended the steps and went into
the house to obtain refreshment. He was short
in stature, of a clear olive complexion, and with a

310 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

serious and noble expression of countenance. I
hear that the upper classes of Javanese are very
winning and gentle. They are not considered re-
markably clever and acute, but they are kind-
hearted, frank, and hospitable, with probably a
slight admixture of indolence. While he was
within I had much interesting conversation with
his intelligent companion. Among other things,
he told me that the Upas (poison) Valley is a
bare and bleak hole, fifteen or twenty feet below
the level of the surrounding soil ; that it is about
a mile in circumference ; and that out of nuuier-
ous fissures rise quantities of carbonic acid gas, as
in the Grotto del Cane at the Lago d'Agnauo,
near Naples; that one may safely ride across it
(I think he told me, that he had ridden across it)
on a tall horse; but that any smaller animal,
sueh as a dog, pig, or antelope, would be imme-
diat ly asphyxiated. He told uie that the natives
are terribly skilful in the concoction of poisons ;
and that even the children know where to cull poi-
sonous herbs. Our conversation was interrupted
by the determination of the Rajah to proceed, in
spite of a violent thunderstorm which was raging ;
so at nine o'clock, amid darkness and tempest, these
gentlemen entered their carriage and vanished as
suddenly as they had appeared.

()<■/. 27. — Visite 1 a handsome Dutch church,
and discovered to my great astonishment that

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 311

Divine Service is only held there once a-month.
I can hardly believe it, but I can obtain no other
reply to my interrogatories.

Oct. 28. — Returned to Batavia with six relays
of four horses each, which accomplished the dis-
tance, forty miles, in three hours and twenty mi-
nutes. I have been much delighted with my
journey, and am sure that, although travelling in
Java is necessarily expensive, the traveller will be
well rewarded by the interesting scenes which he
will everywhere behold. In the far interior, I
hear, the traveller cannot fail to be enchanted by
the scenery and the inhabitants. A pure Javanese
village on a gentle declivity, at the foot of which
run the crystalline waters of a small river, is a
thing of surpassing beauty, I am told. And the
bold masses of luxuriant foliage add to the beauty
of the scene, whether adorning the distant land-
scape, or drooping over the roof and verandah of
a bamboo hut.

Oct. 29. — Went to the Concordia Club. Hear
that there is another club in Batavia, called the
Harm on >e. Visited the Chinese Cemetery — a
large desolate tract, particularly ill kept. Slo-
venly constructed tumuli are heaped over the
graves of the dead.

Oct. 31. — Visited the Dutch Cemetery — an
extensive piece of ground, nicely kept. It is
planted with many funereal cypresses; and is

312 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

filled with monuments, some in good taste. I
saw three or four broken columns. One inscrip-
tion, on grey marble, is covered in with glass.

Nov. 1. — Saw artillery exercising. The guns
were small, each drawn by six ponies. Attended
Evening Service at the Roman Catholic Chapel.
It is a plain building. All seems well ordered
there, and the singing was good. I believe there
has been some difficulty with their Bishop, who,
I hear, has been ordered to quit the island rather
suddenly.

Nov. 2. — Went to the General Hospital to see
poor Louis, the steward of the ship which brought
me here. He is laid up with low fever, caught
in the roadstead, which is unhealthy. I was glad
to find him very comfortable, lying in a large,
well- ventilated room, together with a number of
others, suffering from the same indisposition.
In this hospital there are beds for 600 patients ;
and all the arrangements, even the most minute,
are excellently good. The cleanliness is exqui-
site, the ventilation remarkably well managed,
and the nurses and servants looked cheerful and
experienced persons. In returning, the horses
shied, at some goats, and took the carriage up a
steep bank, overhanging the sluggish stream that
lazily rolls through the midst of Batavia. The
coachman lost his head; and 1 jumped out, just
as one of the animals was hanging over the water,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 313

scarcely upheld by the traces. However, as the
little beast was not much bigger than a dog, I
was able to lift him back into his place, and put
him right. I observe that, when these diminutive
creatures shy, they go off doggedly in the direc-
tion in which they first diverge from their course,
and there is no stopping them. Not long ago
I assisted an elegantly-dressed lady and two little
girls out of a wet ditch, where they lay, mixed
up with the overturned carriage, coachman, and
contumacious steeds, all wallowing in the mud
together.

Nov. 3. — Was introduced to an extraordinary
person, an Englishman, a sort of adventurer, al-
though with good English connexions, who, from
circumstances not necessary to be mentioned here,
once held a minor official appointment under the
Dutch Government in Java. He gave me much
information about the island, which I should fear
to reproduce, as I suspect he may be inclined
to give an incorrect colouring to things. For
instance, the following is one of his stories, which
I can hardly vouch for. " He had been," he
said, " a great hunter; but to tiger-hunting he
was especially addicted. And not content Jo go
to seek the tigers, he manoeuvred that they should
seek him, and in the following manner : He used
then to get into a tiger-trap, with a double-bar-
relled rifle, and sit there as bait, waiting for the

314 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

beast." I asked him if he did not find it dull,
staying there so long ? To which he rejoined, that
he generally took a book into the trap to beguile
the time. I ventured to inquire what branch of
literature pleased him best in this critical posi-
tion ? His answer was, " At one time one book ;
at another, another : but that on such occasions
his favourite study was the ' Sorrows of Werter.' "
This story is possible, perhaps, but scarcely pro-
bable, I should think.

Nov. 4. — In the evening I visited the crowded
purlieus of the Chinese quarter, redolent of filth.
I was introduced into a small house, where lay
extended, on couches, four or five Chinese opium-
smokers. It was a wretched sight to see their
squalid, idiotic countenances, relapsing or re-
lapsed into death-like inanition. 1 fancied my-
self in a charnel-house, surrounded by slightly-
animated corpses; and I could not help thinking
how much more like Christians the Chinese Go-
vernment behaved than the English, in being
unwilling to receive into their country a noxious,
deadly drug, which our countrymen insisted on
forcing on them. Thence I went to an open
space, where, on an elevated stage, Chinese the-
atricals were being enacted. All the performance
was most monotonous. The dramatis persona
consisted of an old man, who sat, last asleep, in
a chair all the time 1 was there, full half an hour.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 315

Then there was a sorcerer, who probably had laid
him to sleep. There was a female, too, whom he
wished to put to sleep as well ; but she would
not go to sleep, and there was much gesticu-
lating and scuffling between her and the wizard.
Then soldiers, most monstrously dressed, rushed
in to rescue the oppressed damsel ; when suddenly,
at a stroke of the magic wand, a dragon appeared,
vomiting flames : at which the military ran away,
followed by the wizard and dragon ; whilst the
young lady escaped in the opposite direction.
And then all this was repeated two or three times,
the old man still sleeping. Passing a handsome
Chinese house, from which sounds of festivity
proceeded, a well-dressed Chinese pounced upon
me, took me by the hand, and dragged me into
the midst of a marriage revelry, where people were
playing at cards, drinking tea, and eating sweets.
I was compelled to follow their example, barring
the cards. Everything was costly and well-
served, and my hosts were remarkably polite.

Nov. 6 (Sunday). — Went to the English
Church — " Kirrick," my Malay coachman calls
it — to assist the clergyman there. It is a neat,
plain, well-ventilated little building, kep4 very
clean, and does much credit to the Minister and
his flock. The congregation, English and Ame-
ricans, amounted, I should think, to sixty or
seventy persons, all exceedingly well dressed,

316 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

and of very decorous comportment. The in-
cumbent read Prayers, omitting the Litany,
and part of the Communion Service ; and 1
preached. The Morning Service was so cur-
tailed, I was told, on account of the heat. 1,
however, did not find it so hot as I expected.
It was very delightful to me, after so long a fast
from public worship, to feast on our beautiful
Church Prayers, as offered up in the house of
God. In whatever quarter of the world we are,
however remote, we feel at home, not abroad,
when we sit in a church, side by side with our
countrymen, and hear the almost inspired lan-
guage of our Prayer-book enunciated by the
Clergyman, clad in the accustomed garb. Old
associations crowd upon our memories; our
hearts insensibly become softened, in spite of the
crust of selfishness and religious indifference
which travelling engenders; and when, in the
earnest prayer of St. Chrysostom, we put Al-
mighty God in mind of His gracious promise,
that when two or three are gathered together in
His name He will grant their requests, we re-
alise the truth that we are as near Him at the
Antipodes as in our native land ; that, for pu-
nishment or mercy, lie is always at hand — a
scourge to the impenitent sinner; but long-
suffering and merciful, and one who will never
cast out those who make their supplications unto

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 317

Him. After the Service, I visited my patient at
the hospital. He is nearly well, and speaks with
great gratitude of the kind and good treatment
which he has received during his illness.

Nov. 9. — Took my place in the " Java" steamer,
which starts to-morrow for Singapore, and made
arrangements for my voyage. Before leaving,
however, this garden of delights, I will note down
some memoranda which I have made during my
short stay in Java, which I hope will not be found
to be inexact. Of the 200,000 inhabitants of
Batavia, 1600 are Dutch and about 100 English
and Americans. Many of these are rich, and live
in fine suburban houses surrounded by every
luxury. Both sexes eat and drink a great deal,
and lead indolent lives, consequently they become
very fat. They dress very well. Formerly the
gentlemen were careless and loose in their dress,
as in their morals : now that they have European
wives instead of Malay women, they are much
improved in both. And with improved morals
has come improved health ; for formerly Batavia
was styled the tomb of Europeans, and was
sadly afflicted by diarrhoea, dysentery, and low
rheumatic fever. Now, attention to sewerage,
drainage, cleanliness, diet, and, above all, to
morals, has rendered the place sufficiently salu-
brious. Of course, the city proper, close to the
sea, and on a level with its waters, full of shops,

318 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

stores, and counting-houses, and teeming with
population, is not as healthy as the vast airy
suburb Rijwoeck, two miles away. The dust of
the streets is laid by being constantly kept
watered by Malays, who run about with two
large vessels of water across their shoulders
having callender spouts. The white people of
Batavia are not considered hospitable by the rest
of the Europeans in Java. Of course, the pre-
sence of a number of excellent hotels in a city
tends to obviate the necessity of private hospi-
tality. In Batavia, besides the Hotel Java, there
are the Hotel Nederlands, Hotel Batavia, Hotel
de Guillaunie II., Marine Hotel, all good. In
these hotels the price of living, carriage included,
would not be less than 1/. sterling a-day. In
Batavia, the hottest part of the island, the heat
during nine months of the year averages from
80° to 95° during the twenty-four hours. During
the three months of rainy season it is less. In
the interior it is considerably cooler ; and not
far from Buitenzorg, two blankets can be borne
at night. Tigers abound in Java ; 700 were
killed last year. Not very long ago one w r as
killed here at Rijwoeck, in the streets. Panthers,
too, and deadly snakes, abound. Large bats, or
flying foxes, are very common here. Some of
them measure across the wings four or five feet.
They have heads like foxes, with large staring

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 319

eyps, of very unpleasant aspect, have a strong
smell, but are quite harmless, except to fruit, of
which they eat an amazing quantity. In Batavia
there are four or five newspapers, weekly, or bi-
weekly, or daily; in Sourabaya, three, of which
one is in Chinese or Mala) ; in Samarang, one;
and one in Macassar. But the press in Java is
not what is called a free press. The visitors who
have attended the Exhibition in Batavia from
Oct. 10 to Nov. 1, just passed, are as follows: —
Europeans, 3512 ; Javanese, Chinese, Malays, and
Islanders (i.e. from adjacent islands), 7&53;
soldiers, 1477. Money received at the doors,
from season tickets and catalogues respectively,
4634 guilders, 20 doits; 18i0 guilders; 508
guilders : total, 6y52 guilders, 20 doits. In
1852 a census was taken of the population of
Java and Madura. The sum total amounted to
9,943,075, in the following proportions : of
Javanese, 9,762,682 ; Chinese, 125,407 ; Ori-
ental settlers, 28,291 ; Europeans, 17,285 ;
Slaves, who are not Javanese, but of the neigh-
bouring islands, 9410. The population of Timor
may be reckoned as 2,000,1,00. Of Sumatra
I can get no account. And in the above speci-
fication of the population in Java I do not know
under which heading to class the Malays, who are
very numerous. In 1852, 400,000 Javanese were
vaccinated, or re-vaccinated. In 1852, the tax

320 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

on pilgrims to Mecca was abolished ; so that the
number which in 1851 was 74, rose in 1852 to
413. Since 1830, when Belgium tore herself
away from Holland, the Dutch have devoted
much more attention to Java, which is to Holland,
in a commercial sense, that which the dykes are
in a physical sense — a safeguard from a univer-
sal swamping. Thus they encourage settlers in
the country, and let them have enforced native
labour at a low rate — about 4d. a-day; and
the Government I'emunerates itself either by
taking the planter's produce at a fixed rate below
the market price, or by laying a heavy export
duty upon it. The whole country is divided
into Rajahships, and these Rajahs are feudatories
of the Dutch, and are under the political control
of a civil officer called a Resident. The Rajah
and the Resident arrange about the labour for the
planter. The labourer receives his own wages,
and may not be punished in any way by the
planter. All complaints are made to the Rajah,
who punishes as he thinks proper. The Resident
sees, too, that every district grows enough rice to
support itself, so as to preclude chances of famine.
The women, I believe, are not allowed to work,
but are left to stay at home to spin, tend the
children, and the house. If the Javanese were
left to themselves, they would drive their women
out to work in the fields, whilst they would lie

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 321

about indolently, or go idling with their neigh-
bours, fighting cocks, quails, and beetles. The
women, too, of Sumatra, bless the Dutch for lately
introducing the same admirable social reforms and
just distribution of labour among them. I believe
that the Javanese Rajahs are stipendiaries of the
Government; and they exercise immediate rule
over their subjects. There are two Sultans in
Java and Madura, who live in great state, keep a
great many wives — some of them most lovely
women — live very fast, and get into debt. They
are not allowed to leave their palaces and cir-
cumjacent grounds without permission from the
Resident. I believe that Holland gains a clear
profit out of Java of eighteen millions of guilders,
which is about equivalent to a million and a half
sterling. This has been lost to England owing
to the generosity of England, who, after the over-
throw of Napoleon, gave this garden of Eden up
to the Dutch, greatly to the indignation of that
great and good man Sir Stamford Raffles. The
government of Netherlands India is without any
admixture of the popular element, and the Gover-
nor-General, assisted by his Council, consisting of
Vice-President, General, Admiral, and four Coun-
cillors, has autocratic power over Java and her
dependencies, such as Sumatra, Timor, Floris,
Macassar, Banca, Bali, Sumbawa, and other
islands; holds all the land as Dutch property;

3.22 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

exercises legal, judicial, and administrative func-
tions ; modifies the freedom of the press ; also the
right of holding public meetings ; admits, or re-
fuses admittance, at discretion, to all persons
wishing to land in Java ; taxes all estates in
money or in kind ; wages war, or makes peace.
His appointment is for four years, and his direct
income amounts to 200,000 guilders per annum :
from indirect sources, however, such as rations
for servants, and forage for horses, he increases
greatly his emoluments. The present Governor
lives very quietly, and saves much. He drives
four Sydney horses on particular occasions ; at
other times, four or six ponies. He has not so
fine a palace here as at Buitenzorg. The army
of Netherlands India consists of 976 officers and
20,183 non-commissioned officers and privates,
of which many are Africans. The cavalry and
artillery are mounted with ponies ; and it is a
ludicrous sight to see approaching at full very
small trot, a tall, fat staff officer, with long sword
and white plumes, weighing down beneath his
caudal rotundity a small equine quadruped of
ten hands and a half. The one animal's tail is
half hidden by the dorsal ridge of the other.
The war with the islanders of Bali lasted for two
years, and was very harassing to the troops. I
believe that each soldier is permitted (I did hear,
compelled) to attach himself to one Malay wo-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 323

man, who is recognised by Government, and has
quarters in or near the barracks. If the soldier is
ordered off on a long or difficult service, or dies,
or returns home, the woman is provided for by
the state. There is also, as I heard, a strange
regulation on that score among the negro troops;
but it is not sufficiently well authenticated to
justify me in repeating it. The war-navy consists
of 29 vessels, manned by 2052 Europeans and
559 Javanese, or neighbouring islanders.

As to the island of Sumatra, I hear that it is
more fertile even than Java, and that the Dutch are
doing their best to bring it to the same pitch of
productive perfection as Java; but its immense
size, and the warlike nature of its population, in-
terpose innumerable barriers to their wished-for
consummation. The chief towns are Palembang
and Bencoolen. Slavery is as good as abolished
throughout the Dutch dependencies in these parts.

Thus have I given all the information I could
obtain regarding Java. I trust that it is cor-
rect ; but it is difficult to acquire much know-
ledge from the Dutch here, for they are strangely
incommunicative.*

* From an official return it appears, that in the Dutch
possessions of Java and Madura the imports in 1853 were
44,280,653 guilders ; the exports, 71,692,956 guilders. In
1854 the imports amounted to 63,775,247 guilders, whilst the
exports arrived at 74,385,420 guilders. The number of vessels
arriving in Java were, in 1853, 2170 ; and in 1854, 2348.

324 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

Nov. 9. — Embarked on board the " Java"
steamer for Singapore. The captain is an Eng-
lishman. An Arabian diamond-merchant, with
his wife and family, is on board, going to Mecca ;
also an Armenian jewel-merchant of Bagdad, who
showed me some beautiful sapphires ; also a
Creole lady and family.

Nov. 10. — At sea all day, with Sumatra on
our left, and, towards evening, Banca on our
right. At midnight anchored off Muntok, the
chief place in the island of Banca. Banca, I
hear, yields to the Dutch government 250,000
piculs (cwts.) of tin per annum. A picul costs
seven rupees the raising, and sells for twenty -
four.

Nov. 11. — After discharging sixty tons of
cargo at Banca we weighed anchor, and con-
tinued at sea all day, with the wind ahead and
the navigation perilous. We were surrounded
by rocks, reefs, and shoals. My Armenian friend
from Bagdad drinks a bottle of Cognac brandy
every day. He says that he has a peculiar con-
stitution, which requires that quantity. He has
the scar of a terrible boil on the face, which, he
says, is common in Bagdad and Ispahan, and is
produced — so he says — by too greedy a con-
sumption of figs. He says that an Armenian
patriarch resides in Diarbekir. He tells me that
the people of Bagdad are firmly convinced that

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 325

their terrible miseries of 1831 were God's judg-
ments on account of their shameless vices, and
that now they are greatly reformed.

Nov. 12. — To-day's sail has been very inte-
resting. Small islands, once nests of atrocious
pirates, lay all around us, so that at times we
seemed completely land-locked for leagues. In
the afternoon we touched at Rhio, an island
under Dutch surveillance, producing gambia, of
which the Javanese are great consumers. The
wife and daughter of the Arabian diamond-mer-
chant have been kept below in their close cabin
all this time. He brought up his youngest child,
a baby, for me to see. It was a lovely little
creature, with large lustrous black eyes. He
himself is remarkably handsome and stately.
He tells me that his wife is a lady of Java, where
he has been settled for many years ; but that his
father, who is one of the leading people of Mecca,
has ordered him to leave Java and go to live
with him. " I, of course, obey my father," he
said ; " but Mecca is one of the most disagree-
able places in the world to live in, on account of
its intense heat and its want of verdure." In
the course of conversation he said, in an off-
hand way, that when Jesus Christ prophesied of
a Paraclete, or Comforter, that should come,
He, without doubt, alluded to Mahomet. To
which observation I replied, that I was grieved

326 DTARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN'

to have to differ with him in toto ; for that I
conceived, that when our Saviour promised to
send a Comforter on earth, He meant anything
but a mighty conqueror, winning dominion at
the cost of much blood and human misery, and
waited upon by a numerous band of wives and
concubines : that by the Paraclete I understood
a Holy Spirit, the fruits of which were "love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance;" and that I could
hardly ascribe all those virtues to Mahomet,
however deservedly he might be revered by his
followers. But, although I thought this answer
very mild, he became very angry, and his eyes
flashed fire. We, however, ultimately parted very
good friends. During this dialogue the Arme-
nian was interpreter. At ten p.m. we anchored
at Singapore, the Byzantium of the East, of
which Sir Stamford Raffles, its founder, writing
in 1819, says, " My new colony thrives most
rapidly. You may take my word for it, this is
by far the most important station in the East,
and, as far as naval superiority and commercial
interests are concerned, of much higher value
than whole continents of territory."

Nov. 13 {Sunday). — Landed from the steamer.
Was told to take care that the coolies did not
steal my luggage, they being thieves ; and to
recollect that I was no longer in Java, where,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 327

owing to a strict Government, the lower classes
behave well. Indeed I was told that a Javanese,
finding a valuable article dropped on the main
road from a passing carriage, will immediately
take it to the nearest station. Here, on the
contrary, I am told that the natives must be
looked after. Went to the English church,
where a clergyman, with a very weak voice, was
trying to make himself heard by a miserably
inattentive and carelessly-behaved congregation.
Some Chinese, Hindoos, and Creoles, however,
were behaving very well.

Nov. 14. — Walked round the Government
grounds, which are prettily laid out on a hill.
The population is said to be 80,000, of which a
great number are Chinese. The streets are clean
and well arranged. Went over the bazaar of a
rich Chinese, named Whampou, which is full of
most costly things, of which sandal-wood boxes
and articles of frosted silver are not the least
conspicuous.

Nov. 15. — Visited the Chinese temple. It
covers an extensive square space, and is flanked
by two polygon towers, ornamented with porce-
lain. The facade is supported by pillars, with
monsters carved upon them in high relief. Two
lions guard the door, in the mouth of one of
which is a large ball lying loose, so carved there.
Entering through the main door, I had before

328 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

me a square space, partly uncovered, with deep
verandahs on the right and left, in which are
shrines containing a god of wood, and looking
very wooden indeed. Before me lay the more
sacred precinct, on which side half the square is
covered in with a lofty roof, supported by strong
beams of costly wood, elaborately carved, loaded
with gilding, and swarming with grotesque and
hideous forms, carefully carved, and resplendent
with gold and vermilion. Amongst these forms
the dragon is always conspicuous. On stepping
under the gorgeous roofing, the outer edge of
which is supported by granite pillars, curiously and
fantastically carved, I saw before me three great
altars, before which lamps are always burning,
and costly sandal-wood is diffusing its fragrant
odour. Behind the right and left altars are
two idols, as large, or larger, than life, in a cross-
legged posture. They have strongly marked
Chinese features, with a complexion' of dark
copper colour, and their expression is that of
apathetic repose. But behind the middle shrine,
which is more highly ornamented than the others,
is the figure of a female richly dressed, having
Chinese features ; and behind her, so close as to
almost hold her in his lap, is the gigantic figure
of a great god which is called Joss. His features
are very large, solemn, and unintelligent. As I
looked on the group at a little distance, the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 329

female figure seemed reposing in the very bosom
of the great idol. Does she undertake the
function of mediator and intercessor with their
deity ? This great shrine is guarded on either
side by figures of tall devils, with gigantic horns,
hairy thighs, misshapen feet, clubs, and a huge
fork. I should remark, that in front of these
three altars there is a sort of preparatory altar,
over which a hideous little figure in a warlike
attitude is flourishing some description of weapon.
Indeed the whole of these precincts is swarming
with representations, more or less hideous and
absurd, of the spirit of evil ; whether huge devils
or little devils, or a dragon, or a serpent, or
whatever else in the crawling way is unpleasant
and unked. All the great altars have their fronts
decorated with reliefs in compartments, repre-
senting groups of men, women, and animals.
The entire building is roofed with porcelain ; and
on the ridges of the roof ramp dragons of porce-
lain. All this porcelain is brought from China,
as is the granite which is used in the construction
and ornamentation of the temple.

Nov. 16. — Observe that the coachmen do not
drive the horses from the box, but run by their
side with astonishing nimbleness. I hear that
to keep a good table in Singapore is dear. Ve-
getables are by no means plentiful, and the meat
is not of very good quality. Singapore is, I

330 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

believe, a very healthy place. The tropical sun
is tempered by a keen wind, which makes me
feel as if I were in a constant draft, and gives
me neuralgic pains. Tigers are very plentiful
in the district ; they swim over from the Malay
continent, and attack the labourers in the planta-
tions by jumping on them i'rom behind. The
victim dies immediately with the vertebra? of the
spine broken, and is then carried off into the
jungle to be devoured by the brute at leisure.
Singapore, from its position and climate, is rapidly
becoming a place of immense importance. The
Dutch, jealous of our growing influence in these
parts, tried to check it by making Macassar a free
port. But it is too late. Singapore is, or shortly
will be, the great commercial capital of the far East.

Nov. 18. — Embarked on board one of the
Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers for
Ceylon. There are not many passengers, and
those we have are chiefly invalids coming home
from China.

Nov. 20. — Arrived off Pulo-Penang, which is
said to be the most fertile and picturesque island
in the world. From the ship I saw that it was
mountainous, but mist and rain prevented my
making any further observations.

Nov. 23. — Talked much with some intelligent
Parsees on board. They do not acknowledge
themselves to be sun or fire- worshippers. But

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 331

whilst they are worshipping the invisible God
they look at the sun or fire, or, in fact, anything
bright, as an emblem of His brightness. The
very idea of circumcision they abhor. They
abstain from beef and pork, and pray often in
their temples. They have a regular hierarchy,
and their priests are allowed to marry ; but their
stipends are small, equal to about 60/. per annum.
Their secret writings are the Zendavesta, a trans-
lation of which they study continually. They
were banished from Persia by Mohammedan
bigotry 300 years ago, and took refuge at first in
Surat ; now their head-quarters are in Bombay.
They seem clean, quiet, well-disposed people,
well arranging their own affairs without inter-
fering with their neighbours' matters. They put
me very much in mind of our Quakers.

Nov. 25. — We expect to arrive at Point de
Galle, in Ceylon, to-morrow. Heat very great.
I think we all live too luxuriously ; eating and
drinking is going on all day in our splendid
saloon. Coffee is served at six a.m. ; then break-
fast at nine ; lunch at noon ; a sumptuous dinner,
with many wines, at four; tea at six; biscuits
and spirits at nine. For a seven-days' passage
I have paid 154 dollars. I think it would be
better to pay less and be less expensively served.
A gentleman invalided home from China tells
me, that if one has a weak point in the consti-

332 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

tution, the climate of China will find it out and
aggravate it.

Nov. 26, — At seven a.m. we steamed into the
harbour of Point de Galle, in Ceylon. This town
is the southernmost harbour in Ceylon; and in
times past was strongly fortified by the Dutch.
The natives swarming about the port are great
thieves, with a decidedly Hebrew cast of counte-
nance ; but they are excelled in villany by an
indescribable sort of mongrel creature which in-
fests this place, a compound of Hollander, Por-
tuguese, and Malay. The surveillance exercised
by the police is, I understand, not very strict.

Dec. 1. — Went to Colombo in a sort of char-
a-banc, intended for six passengers but occupied
by nine. Started at five a.m. and arrived at
Colombo at four. The distance is seventy-five
miles. The sea lay on our left; an interminable
cocoa-nut forest on our right. The roads are
excellent ; but the natives looked dirty and neg-
lected, and their huts were many of them half in
ruins. Saw two miserable individuals quite white
through leprosy.

Dec. 2. — Had the pleasure of dining with the
excellent Bishop of Colombo. He is building an
elegant cathedral in the Early English style, with
internal fittings of satin-wood, -beautifully carved
by the natives.

Dec. 3. — Drove out to the Cathedral to attend

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 333

Morning Service, and received the Eucharist.
Breakfasted at the Bishop's residence, and met
there Tamul and Cingalese priests and deacons,
all intelligent and well-behaved persons. After
breakfast one of these gentlemen, a Tamul
deacon, did me the pleasure of accompanying me
to the Lepers' Hospital, an establishment which
has been built and endowed in time past by a
Dutch merchant, who, they say, died a victim
to this loathsome and terrible disease. After
proceeding for some distance in a boat up a large
river, we were landed on the estate appertaining
to the hospital. The establishment consists of
various squares, surrounded by low huts, and
having communication one with the other. In
these huts the lepers live. I felt very wretched,
as thirty or forty of these poor creatures, of
either sex, came clustering around me, all afflicted
by the horrible disease in all its many stages.
All I could do was to give them some money,
and bid them put their trust in God. I could
not bid them hope, for with leprosy there is no
hope ; it is incurable : at least, theirs is con-
sidered so. Some of them had their noses de-
cayed away; some their toes and feet; others
their fingers; and when not decayed, their fingers,
feet, and toes ware horribly bent and twisted.
Two had proud flesh growing over their eye-balls.
One poor fellow had his ears drooping down on

334 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

his shoulders, monstrously swollen; and huge
fleshy excrescences protruding from his forehead,
his cheeks, and his chin; and thus he, having
completely lost his nose, looked scarce human.
They seemed very miserable and woe-begone as
they crowded around me. Indeed, unless there
were a world to come, and these poor creatures
had immortal souls, who could blame them for
self-destruction ? Strange to say, no pain is felt,
as this terrible disease makes its slow progress.
The victim, little by little, year by year, rots quite
away without pain. But many, many years
elapse ere this consummation, so much to be
wished, takes place. My amiable guide, who
visits here fortnightly or oftener, tells me that the
disease first developes itself by the falling off of
the eyebrows. I believe that I am the first Euro-
pean minister of religion, not Roman Catholic,
who has visited this lazar-house. My impression
on coming away was, that the arrangements of
this institution are capable of improvement.

Dec. 4 {Sunday). — Attended St. Peter's
church. Heard the Bishop preach an excellent
sermon to a thin and carelessly-behaved congre-
gation, in aid of the funds of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel. The collection was a
poor one. A heavy gale blowing all day. Some
of the vessels nearly ashore. Colombo is a fine
town, kept clean. It has strong fortifications,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 335

which, I believe, were erected by the Portuguese,
before the Dutch drove them out. The Govern-
ment-House is a vast pile of buildings.

Dec. 5. — Started at five a.m. for Candy, where
I arrived at five in the evening. For thirty-six
miles the route was uninteresting, but afterwards
the scenery became mountainous and picturesque.
The noble road (constructed by Sir Ed. Barnes)
wound under beetling cliffs and over profound
water-courses. Masses of fleecy vapour floated
upon -the rugged crests of the mountains. In a
small gully overshadowed by cocoa-nut trees, I saw
an elephant at work, removing stones. The huge
palm leaves drooped upon the beast's huge back —
fit companionship between the animal and vege-
table world.

Dec, 6. — Candy is an enchanting place, seated
on the banks of a lake surrounded by lofty hills,
exuberant of foliage. In this lake is a small island
with a building on it, once used for a harem, now
for a powder-magazine. A massive terrace runs
along the side of the lake, and to walk there and
watch the reflection of the trees in the still waters
is a delightful thing. Near the lake is a large
building, used as a public library ; also an im-
mense temple of Buddha, bizarre, and full of bar-
baric beauty. There is a fine and well-conducted
hotel here, barracks for troops, and one of the
ugliest churches (Anglican) it has ever been my

336 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

lot to see. It defiles an otherwise beauteous scene,
as one looks down upon it from a neighbouring
height. The streets are well kept, and alive with
an active, intelligent native population ; and it is
most pleasing and amusing to see multitudes of
these people bathing and diverting themselves in
the tranquil waters of the translucent lake.

Dec. 7. — Had the pleasure of an introduction
to a Mr. Ottley, the excellent and capable repre-
sentative of the Church Missionary Society at
Candy. He drove me round the lake and showed
me all its beauties. With mirror-like truth did
the still surface reflect the rosy glow of the even-
ing sky, and not less distinctly the forest-clad
mountains. Afterwards, as I passed by the front
of the Buddhist temple, I heard the sound of
tom-toms, calling the people to prayers. So I
entered the portals, and came to where numbers
of thin and acute-looking priests, clothed in yellow,
were offering on trays large white and yellow
flowers as an evening sacrifice before the shrines
of Buddha. Of shrines there were two, one con-
taining two images, cased with gold ; the other a
pyramid, flashing forth by the light of silver lamps,
burning fragrant oils, the rays of innumerable
gems. The pyramid, surmounted by the repre-
sentation of a flame, is the prevailing symbol of
the Buddhists. The officiating priests received me
with much courtesy. A curiously-chased watch

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 337

I wore attracted their attention mightily. They
clustered round me to examine it thoroughly,
and then passed it eagerly from hand to hand ;
so that the evening rites of Buddha were moment-
arily neglected, that his priests might scrutinise
an English clergyman's time-piece.

Dec. 8. — Went to. the National School. About
forty pupils were there, natives and Creoles. They
sang very nicely- Visited the Botanical Gardens,
four miles distant from Candy. They are of great
extent, and not particularly well kept.

Dec. 10. — Rode through Gambala to the par-
sonage-house of the Chaplain of Pussillava, where
I slept. The scenery was very picturesque. A
deep ravine gaped on our right; and we were
splashed with the spray of an infinity of cascades,
beautiful to see, which came leaping down the
wooded heights on our left. Swift moving clouds
enveloped the neighbouring mountains. Our tra-
velling was impeded by a vast number of trains
of small thatched carts, each drawn by two oxen.
The worthy chaplain was away ; but in his pretty
deep-verandaed cottage, nestling amidst roses,
seated in a locality of surpassing beauty, we found
every physical and intellectual comfort.

Dec. 11. — My companion took Divine Service
at Pussillava church in the absence of the chaplain.
The church is a quiet, unpretending building,
kept very clean, and surrounded by an exuberance

338 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

of roses, which, render fragrant the air. A native
catechist was holding a sort of service in the
church to some Cingalese, before my friend
should begin his. It was most interesting to see
the swarthy folk, wrapped in folds of white mus-
lin, crouching before the catechist with piercing
looks of intense earnestness, whilst he in a stand-
ing position expatiated, with much energy and
grace, on the blessings of the religion of the great
Healer of souls. The regular Service was very
badly attended indeed. A few Creoles and one
European family composed the congregation.
Our planters, who are by no means penetrated to
excess with religious feeling, have a good excuse
for absenting themselves from Public Worship
just now; for it is the critical period of coffee-
picking, during which work is done on Sundays.
Dec. 12. — Made an excursion to an adjoining
mountain called Peacock Hill. On our way we
passed through a fine coffee estate belonging to
three brothers (Israelites) of the name of Behr.
The whole of this property is surrounded by a
hedge of roses, a most delightful thing to see and
smell. The nephew of the proprietors received
us with much courtesy, and conducting us over
the buildings attached to the estate, gave us
every information about coffee cultivation. Saw
the process of picking the berry, of washing it and
drying it, previous to its being sent to Colombo

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 339

to undergo a cleaning process ; after which it is
shipped off to England. The heat of the drying-
room was 145°, so that I could not stay long in
it. The labourers for the coffee-picking come
over express from the southern parts of India, just
as the Irish come over for our harvest. Their
pay is 6d. a-day, and they feed themselves. Each
gang has its own chief, who is responsible for the
behaviour of his comrades. I hear, that if a coffee
estate is well managed, it is very profitable; but
if neglected, it will turn out a most ruinous in-
vestment. Woe to the proprietor who leaves his
estates in the hands of agents ! A healthy plant
should be of a rich, ripe, green colour : if the
colour should verge on black, it is a sign that the
terrible bug has got into it. Afterwards we
ascended the mountain by a corkscrew path.
Saw the laurel-like coffee-tree planted in the most
inaccessible localities. For the cultivating and
picking in such places, it is necessary to secure
the labourer with ropes. The view from the top
of the mountain was very extensive and imposing
indeed. On one side, as far as the eye could
reach, extended a chaos of mountains piled upon
mountains ; on another, a narrow unfertile valley
full of rank grass, through the middle of which
ran a mountain-stream. Returned to Pussillava
by sun-down.

Dec. 13. — Started on horseback at early morn-

340 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

ing for Newera Ellia, pronounced Neuralia, the
sanatorium of Ceylon. After riding through a
pretty country full of coffee estates, we arrived at
Ramboddy, eager for breakfast ; but we found
the Rest-haus shut up and deserted ; so we had
to forage, and by dint of begging and bargaining
procured some eggs, a little milk, and an un-
leavened cake. We had tea with us in a tightly-
corked bottle, a most excellent drink for travellers
in tropical countries. The term "excellent" ex-
presses faintly my ideas on this subject. After
leaving Ramboddy we passed through some very
sublime scenery. Around us were lofty hills,
partly clothed with jungle and forest, partly
cleared for coffee, and profound ravines, at the
bottoms of which ran tumultuously the torrents
which had leaped in cascade from the adjoining
heights. At one point of view we had sight of
four noble cascades, all most diverse, all most
picturesque, and one at a great altitude. I
seemed to be looking at some exaggerated pic-
ture, so unearthly and extraordinary was this
scene. Crossed a rude bridge, under which
bounded a rapid river on its swift way to the
abyss below. Some time ago a man, who was
in custody of the police for murdering his two
wives, jumped over the parapet into the seething
caldron, and thus eluded the laws of man. Other
bridges we passed over, some of them not in the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 341

best repair. At three p.m. we arrived at Newera
Ellia, which is a collection of houses built in a
valley 6000 feet above the level of the sea. Al-
though the sun's rays are severe, yet the heat is
much tempered by the keen mountain air ; for
there are tail mountains, one the Pedro, rising
6000 feet from the plain, all round about. On
the gentle slopes rising from the valley towards
the surrounding hills, are built pretty cottage
residences, with well- wooded grounds about them.
The middle of the valley is a swamp, clothed with
rank grass, scarce good for anything, having a
half-torpid stream running through it. By means
of a dam at the lower end of this valley the
swamp might be converted into a capacious lake,
as was done at Candy by one of the late kings :
and then Newera Ellia would be one of the
pleasantest places in the world. We were hospi-
tably received by the Rev. Mr. Mooyart the
chaplain, a gentleman of Dutch extraction, who
took us to see the church, a substantial building,
but at present a little out of repair. Saw several
invalid soldiers about.

Dec. 16. — Returned to Pussillava. Observed
a well-defined blue haze enveloping the distant
mountains, and white fleecy clouds floating about
in this haze. Some of these clouds looked like
stately ships sailing on and within a sea of
azure. It was a vision of great beauty, for this

342 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

blue haze looked like an ocean, and the tops of
the mountains like islands rising out of this
ocean.

Dec. 18 {Sunday). — Having yesterday ridden
down to Gambala, I celebrated Divine Service at
Gambala church this morning. The church is a
pretty, neat building, well kept, having a bell,
font, raised chancel, and altar chairs. The old
clerk was formerly tom-tom player to the last of
the kings of Candy ; and a good old creature he
seemed to be. A congregation of about twenty
were present. A gentleman of native extraction
drove me into Candy, and gave me much in-
formation about the Cingalese. On my way I
plucked a leaf from a tree, which is said to be
sacred, on account of Buddha having once re-
clined under it. As we drove along, I observed
that all the natives low r ered their umbrellas to my
friend, he being of royal descent. The priests,
however, those gaunt, ascetic men, clothed in loose
yellow robes, did not. Well might they look
lean, if what I have been told is true, that they
eat no food till after sundown. Of course there
is a great deal of scandal a-foot concerning the
morality of the sacerdotal order of the Buddhists ;
every priesthood has its calumniators. I hear
that polyandry is very common among the Cin-
galese. Four or five brothers take one woman,
and they live together, as I am credibly informed,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 343

in perfect harmony. The children sprung from
this alliance claim paternal sympathies from all
the brothers. I am told that hydrophobia is very
common here among the dogs; but that, although
many people are bitten, death very rarely follows.
The Buddhist priests can neutralise the effects of
the poison ; they can even successfully battle
with the disease after it has developed itself in
the patient. But their entire process is a secret.
The bitten person must be conveyed to their tem-
ple or habitations, and at the end of a certain
time he is restored to his friends cured. Cautery
and most profuse sudorifics form part of their
system; but they use drinks and local applica-
tions which are never divulged. The patient is
reduced to the last stage of inanition during the
healing process. My friend told me that he was
bitten by a confirmed mad dog six years ago, and
that he was treated partly according to the na-
tive, partly according to the European custom.
For four weeks his diet consisted of rice-water and
vegetables ; emetics and purgatives were alter-
nately administered every other day, and the
wound was kept open by cautery. As soon as
he became moribund, as it were, from want of
nourishment, they desisted from their severe
treatment, and allowed him gradually to feed
up again.

Dec. 19. — An elephant was in the lake this

344 DIARY OP A WORKING CLERGYMAN

morning, drawing out of it a sunken barge; and
all of a sudden he disappeared as if by magic, the
frightened mahout swimming ashore. It turned out
that one side of the Candy Lake is enormously deep
— a ravine, in fact — and over the banks of this
precipice the poor creature slipped, dragging the
heavy boat after him, the encumbrance of which
prevented him swimming. Mr. Ottley took me
to see an image of Buddha, twenty-seven feet
long, hewn out of the solid rock. The figure
is lying on its right side, with its head slightly
raised on its right hand, and the noble and
majestic countenance has an aspect of profound
meditation. On his head is the representation of
a pyramid of flame, gilt. I understand that
Buddhism is a pure Theism, the tenets of which
Buddha propagated, who lived a thousand years
before our Saviour. But yet idol-worship is
mixed up with Buddhist worship. Others, again,
say, that Buddha is Adam, whose colossal foot-
steps on the Cingalese mountain, Adam's Peak,
both Hindoos and Buddhists worship. Others
say that Buddhism was much modified by the
teaching of early Christian apostles, and that the
monastic institutions and hierarchy peculiar to
the Buddhists took their rise from the followers
of Christ. Some say that Buddhism, as pure
Theism, is the primeval religion of the East; and
that Hindoo mythology and idol-worship are its

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 345

corruptions, just as the mythology and image-
worship of Roman Catholics are corruptions of
the pure Christian scheme. Others, again, assert
that Hindooism was the primeval Asiatic religion,
and that Buddha was a reformer — a sort of
Luther. The religion of Buddha prevails in
China, Thibet, Japan, and Ceylon ; and a German
writer of note (Bitter) in his introduction to the
" Histories of the European Nations," advances
the opinion that the Buddhists migrated to the
shores of the Black Sea, to Colchis, to the modern
Mingrelia, and thence to Thrace, where they laid
the foundation of the civilisation of the Pelasgi
and Hellenes. I take it that a scrutiny into
Buddhism, as to what it is and what it is not,
and above all its relative bearings with regard to
Hindooism, must be a most interesting, though
most difficult task. I could obtain no informa-
tion on this subject either from clergy or laity.

Dec. 20. — Rode down to Colombo in the
public conveyance. Among my fellow-passengers
were an English family and their ayah, a Tamul
woman, with the baby. This woman was loaded
with barbaric ornaments. She had silver anklets
and armlets, two neck chains, no end of rings on
fingers and toes, and six earrings on her two ears,
besides one in her right nostril. Silver chains in
her raven hair completed this argentine toilet.
This was the woman's property, which she carried

3 16 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

about her. According to the number of her
ornaments will she find aspirants for her hand
and heart. In the Australian bush I have seen
young black girls on their preferment, with no
other clothing than a longish stick passed through
the grizzle of their nose. In Europe, also, the same
principle prevails ; subjected, however, to certain
modifications in the carrying out.

Dec. 21— To-day, being St. Thomas' Day, the
patron saint of the College and Cathedral, there
was full Service at eleven. Many swarthy priests
and deacons attended. A number of pupils sat
down to dinner with us, and afterwards sang
some chants very sweetly indeed. I believe that
they are much in want of some new chants. It
was a most exhilarating sight to see these Indian
people, rescued from the demon of Paganism, thus
adapting themselves to humanising Christian
ways. And all Christian people should gratefully
thank our good Bishops, refined and educated
men, who leave the comforts of an English bene-
fice, and break up all the associations of their
youth, for thus devoting themselves to preach
the Gospel of Truth to people sunk in demoral-
ising errors, and that in countries where the
climate is by no means congenial to European
constitutions. Yet, strange to say, many of the
British abroad do not sufficiently appreciate and
reverence the motives which induce learned and

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 347

discreet clergymen to come out into far-away
lands to exercise the arduous duties of the Epi-
scopate. Instead of being supported, they are
often thwarted by people, who, baptized unto
Christ, live as pagans. Many of our Colonial
Bishops are obliged to employ much of their
valuable time in warding off the virulent attacks
of professing Church people, leagued with the
Anti- Church party and a bitter Newspaper
Press.

Dec. 22. — Went to see a vast Buddhist temple.
It has two large chambers, in one of which is a
recumbent figure of Buddha, forty feet long,
with a noble countenance indicative of profound
contemplative repose, or perhaps of religious ec-
stasy. On his head he wears a sort of judge's
wig, and before him is a glass frame, probably to
shroud him in a measure from too penetrating a
gaze of the profane. Other representations, too,
of Buddha are there, as well as of Hindoo gods.
It is this mixture of the two religions which I
cannot have explained to me. The walls of the
other chamber are crowded with vivid frescos of
men and animals. At my request, one of the
priests wrote me with a style a few words on a
leaf of papyrus, as a memorial of the place ; not,
however, without hesitation, for he asked me with
a sneer why I wished for a memorial of a reli-

848 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

gion which I despised. He had the sharp, acute
features of the members of the Society of Jesus.

Dec. 23. — Came down to Point de Galle in
the public conveyance. My fellow-passengers
were an Eurasian gentleman and his daughter
from Madras, and a police-magistrate, a Baliol
man. Horses very vicious : they nearly upset us
three times. ,

Dec. 27. — Embarked on board a. Peninsular
and Oriental Company's steamer, bound for
Suez. As there were only twenty-three passen-
gers, I had a cabin to myself. Each cabin is
made to contain three berths. A Spanish ecclesi-
astic of high rank, from Manilla, is one of the
passengers. He is Vicar-General of the Philippines,
and his frank, honest countenance, shows a delight-
ful mixture of good breeding and good nature.

Jan. 1, 1854 {Sunday, Feast of the Circum-
cision). — The captain sent his compliments to
me, and asked me to celebrate Divine Service.
Of course I acquiesced. Service began at half-
past ten. Nearly all the passengers and officers
of the ship attended. I was obliged to sit, owing
to the motion of the ship and the swaying of the
punkah. The Service consisted of Prayers, Litany,
and a Sermon. At half-past seven p.m. I cele-
brated a full Evening Service. We are now 2140
miles from Aden.

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 349

Jan. 3. — At daybreak we were off the island of
Socotra, once a coaling station of the East India
Company, lying about 450 miles from Aden. It
is very insalubrious and sterile, and has but few
inhabitants. Tamagrida is its chief village ; and
a few miserable Arabs, in a state of anarchy, cul-
tivate all that is cultivable. We were twelve
hours passing it. High mountains with jagged
summits and with sandy slopes at the bases, des-
titute of verdure, were all that we could see
through the haze.

Jan. 5. — At nine a.m. we entered Aden, a mass
of rock joined to the mainland by a sandy
isthmus. It contains a mosque, an Anglican
church (scarcely begun), a Romanist church
(nearly finished), cantonments, and some dwellings
for British officials. The other buildings are
miserable, and an air of sterile desolation per-
vades every part. Aden, however, is, politically
and commercially, a very valuable possession,
lying as it does at the entrance of the Red Sea,
and we have fortified it with great care. The
harbour is secure, and has about four fathoms of
water. The population consists chiefly of Afri-
cans. I saw troops of brawny negresses carrying
heavy burdens; also strings of sour-looking
camels, bringing in forage and fire-wood. I rode
out into the desert, half a mile beyond the
frontier, and encountered a dreary waste of sand

350 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

as far as the eye could reach. Had a quarrel
with a villanous horseboy, who, as I was alone,
tried to rob me. I was obliged to compel him to
accompany me to the police-office, but I could
get no redress, and I longed for Dutch rule here.
The hotel is spacious, airy, and well kept, and
from its verandah we enjoyed at sunset the view
before us. There was the calm sea, reflecting
chameleon-like the fading hues of the sky ; ships
at anchor; that rock in the sea, "inguisa di leone
quando si posa;" beyond were the Arabian
mountains, mantled with blue haze, with slopes
of sand half-way up to the summit. Laden
camels with their drivers passing along the beach,
having their outlines brought out in sharp relief
against the blue waters of the harbour, gave life
to this still evening scene. Having completed
our coaling we proceeded on our way at night.

Jan. 6. — At half-past nine a.m. we passed
through the narrows of Bab-el-Mandeb, the Gate
of Tears, forming the entrance to the Red Sea.
On our right frowned a group of precipitous rocks,
among which the Peak, called Bab-el-Mandeb,
was pre-eminent ; on our left lay the rocky island
Perim, which forms the right side to the wider
straits. An Arab pilot came on board, clothed in
a long dress of striped silk down to his feet, and
having his striped turban tied down with a hand-
kerchief. He carried a huge silver ring on the

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 351

little finger of his right hand, and he wore no
shoes. He fixed himself on the paddle-box, and
there remained attentive and motionless. On our
right and left we see chains of mountains — these
in Arabia, those in Abyssinia. At half-past one
p.m. we passed Mocha, and with a glass saw. dis-
tinctly the Mosque, the Citadel, and a few Arab
vessels lying at anchor. A strong wind blew aft,
and the ship rolled. Observed that the twilight
was very short. Venus throws her track of light
upon the waters like a moon.

Jan. 8 (Sundaij). — No land to be seen on either
side. Celebrated the Morning and Evening Ser-
vices. The morning attendance was very good.
Divine Service is invaluable for the morale of a
crowded ship. It gives people something to think
about, and takes their attention off from self.
We had a hazy sunset, at which time the sea
assumed a peculiar reddish tinge, which lasted
for twenty minutes. This appearance is common
in these parts. At ten p.m. the wind, which until
yesterday was southerly, and is to-day fallen,
began to blow from the north.

Jan. 10. — No land visible, except an island
which we passed on our left; still the same round
of good living. People are getting bilious and
fastidious ; and complain that the cook has not
improved since the commencement of the voyage.
The fact is that, considering what we really re-

352 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

quire as idle people, the whole victualling depart-
ment is one of extravagant wastefulness. Con-
versed on religious matters with the Vicar-Gene-
ral of Manilla. He seems a very amiable, liberal-
minded man, and did not assume a bitter tone
when speaking of Protestantism. But when I
told him that I could not find Scripture warranty
for the intense ultra-veneration which his Church
accorded to the ever-blessed Virgin Mary, he laid
his hand on my arm, and seriously said, " I can
bear your doubts on every other point but this ;
but on this subject I can suffer no disputing. If
you knew how she has always been a blessed
Mother to me, and on one occasion how she
answered my prayers immediately when I was in
great straits, you would no longer undervalue
her divine excellences, nor w r ish to diminish the
homage due to them." Here the good man's
eyes became suffused with feeling, and the con-
versation, of course, was at an end. Are Pro-
testants sufficiently aware, that the worship of the
Virgin is not only an institution of the Church
of Home, but that it springs from the universal
tendency of mankind, in all ages of the world, to
worship the female principle deified ? The Hin-
doos worship Pracriti — the Egyptians wor-
shipped Isis — the Phoenicians, Astarte, the
" Queen of Heaven" — the Greeks, Cybele —
the Scandinavians Freya, and so on. All these

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 353

goddesses were symbols of the generative powers
of nature. This instinctive worship of nature the
Producer, is as strong in the breast of man now as
it was three thousand years ago ; and the Church
of Roine, ever a calm and acute contemplator of
the religious tendencies and wants of mankind,
has satisfied all these material longings after the
gross worship of the principle of fecundity, by
giving to them a more refined and spiritual object
of worship, symbolical of every moral virtue, every
feminine purity and sweetness, every spiritual fe-
cundity, every Divine Power for aiding and con-
soling erring and desolate human souls, in the
person of a spotless virgin, Mother of the Creator
and Saviour of the world.

Thus, if the Papal system were to be broken up
to-morrow ; if the vast and complicated machinery
of the Church of Home were to exist no longer ;
it may be doubted if the Worship of the Virgin
would not still remain deeply rooted in the hearts
of her votaries. For it is a human instinct,
rather than an article of faith ; yet it is certain
that no one who founds his faith on the Canon of
Scripture is justified in worshipping aught but
the Eternal Three in One.

Jan. 11. — Sailed up the Gulf of Suez, leaving
the gulf of Akaba on our right. The Gulf is
from twelve to fifteen miles across. Right and
left were undulating ridges of rock, with sandy

A A

354 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

slopes. About forty miles south of Suez the
captain pointed out to me the spot where, accord-
ing to tradition, the Israelites passed. There is a
break in the cliff just there, by which they could
descend to the sea-side. I did not see any other
gap where they could have done so. This break
is called the Valley of Moses. The soundings at
this spot give five fathoms, and the width of the
gulf there is twelve miles exactly. At four p.m.
we cast anchor in the shallow waters of the gulf,
three miles short of Suez, to which, amid inde-
scribably disorderly confusion, we were rowed in
a barge by four terribly depraved-looking indi-
viduals. Suez does not seem a very interesting
place; but we were partially refreshed by some
weak tea at a bad hotel, and then started for
Cairo in omnibuses on two wheels, drawn by four
horses or mules. The omnibus I rode in was
christened by the rest of the passengers the
Polyglott Omnibus, inasmuch as there were six
people of different nations inside — an English-
man, Swiss, Frenchman, Spaniard, Parsee, and
Eurasian. The travelling was very good ; the
horses were changed sixteen times in the space of
eighty miles ; and at three out of the sixteen
stations there was a good supper laid. The
Peninsular and Oriental Company must injure
their passengers' healths by overfeeding them.
Thus we travelled over an interminable desert of

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 355

sand. No trees were there, no verdure; the soil
seemed to grow nothing but rocks, which cropped
above the surface. The cold bright moon shed
her rays upon us, and the keen winter wind swept
across the waste.

Jan. 12. — Arrived in Caij^o at half-past ten a.m.
Visited the Citadel, and the new Mosque built by
Mehemet Ali. From the heights of the citadel
I saw new and old Cairo, the many-mosqued,
lying beneath me in the distance ; the Nile, with
banks lined with palaces, floating gently down
through its narrow and most fertile valley; and
beyond the arid Desert, having on its confines
the Pyramids of Gizeh and those of Sakhara, all
looking very small. The mosque is of white
marble, and glowing with costly decorations.
Glass chandeliers hang from the roof, and the
pulpit and tomb of the late Pasha are conspicuous
objects; the former for its richness, the latter for
its simplicity. The building is large and im-
posing, and its centre dome of striking dimen-
sions.

Jan. 13. — Hear that Achmet, the celebrated
sorcerer, performed before a party last night at
Shepheard's Hotel. He is a venerable-looking
old man of 80. He insisted on being paid be-
fore he commenced, and thus obtained between
20 and 30 dollars. After making the accustomed
incantations, he failed miserably in describing all

356 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

the personages who were mentioned to him. His
boy and he made sad blunders indeed. For
instance, Mr. Disraeli was described as wearing
a dress coat, white waistcoat and cravat, top
boots, and moustaches. Went to the slave-
market, a very dirty place, where were kept in
miserable rooms men, boys, and girls, brought
down by slave-merchants from Nubia, Abyssinia,
and Galla. They were all very dirty, but
seemingly not at all miserable. On the con-
trary they seemed cheerful, and rather rude,
especially the women ; for as I was retiring they
seized my hand and demanded money, until the
master came and gave them some blows with a
light cane, at which they ran away laughing.
After I left the building I discovered that the
small-pox and the itch were raging among the
inmates. Afterwards I visited various parts of
Cairo, which is accounted the most Oriental city
of the East. Scenes of the "Arabian Nights" are
re-enacted every day. There is to be seen the
stately mosque, with its slender minaret delicately
carved, and the narrow street lined with fortress-
looking mansions, with gateways of exquisite
Saracenic architecture, full of fantasy, variety, and
originality. The shops are very small — little boxes,
in fact — stored with goods behind. In front, close
on the street, is a little stage carpeted; on which
the shopkeeper, leaving his slippers below, almost

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 357

in the throughfare, sits tranquilly smoking his
chibouque or narghilly; and where the buyer
must sit also, if he would avoid being trampled
under foot by the crowd. And what crowds !
what a living torrent of animal life rushes through
the narrow ways ! Here jostle one another
Franks, Arabians, Turks, Egyptians, Nubians,
carriages, camels, horses, mules, donkeys, dogs,
and goats. All is in motion, and rapid motion.
Here comes a stately camel sweeping along with
outstretched neck, his head in horizontal posi-
tion, and a supercilious expression of counte-
nance. He has a doubtful-looking eye, and
an angry pout on his lip. If he is loaded, va
viatori! for he sweeps down all opposition with
his protruding burden. If he is crouching down,
loading or unloading, va viatori! — for he twists
about his long neck in every direction, gnash-
ing his teeth in an agony of rage or pain, and
fills the air with cries difficult to describe, corn-
pounded of a grunt and a groan and a roar and
a squeak. Then comes the gentleman or officer,
loaded with gay clothes, prancing by on his high-
mettled horse, sitting at ease in the comfortable
saddle all covered with housings. Then one
sees a sleek, fat mule, carrying a sleek, fat, con-
sequential eunuch — precious companionship! —
through the yielding crowd. Then come grave
Orientals, merchants, Jews, money-changers, and

338 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

hatted Franks, bestriding small active asses.
Among these latter the Englishman may be dis-
tinguished, by his having the same supercilious
touch-me-not expression of countenance as the
camel ; and by his riding his donkey through the
crowd at full gallop. Then there are the women
— the better classes — muffled up in the yasmak,
going a-shoppingj sitting on ass-back a la four-
chette ; the lower classes exposing their mascu-
line, but not unhandsome features, to the gaze of
men. There, too, are the sweetmeat-sellers, laud-
ing with loud voice the excellence of their bon-
bons. The air is filled with shouts; everybody is
gesticulating; and the expressive Arabian tongue
is applied to praying, cursing, blessing, lying,
trafficking, and shouting to the animals — all in
simultaneous discord. Every animal has a driver,
and every driver maintains an animated conver-
sation with his charge. This is but a faint
description of the bustle in the streets of inde-
scribable Cairo. I hear that Egypt still keeps up
its reputation of being the most licentious country
in the world. I find, too, that a great jealousy
exists between Cairo and Damascus; especially
with regard to the breed of horses. I am told also,
that the Desert is a most healthy place for invalids
to visit who require change of air. Of course it is
necessary to take tents and every convenience.
Jan. 14. — Visited the Pyramids of Gizeh and

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 359

tlie Sphinx. Started at early morning ; and as
we proceeded through a labyrinth of narrow
streets, the moon poured a flood of light on
mosque and minaret, massive palace and sculp-
tured portal. Heard the muezzin's monotonous
chant from a neighbouring minaret. Met a
group of women going, as I was told, to offer
presents at the tomb of Mehemet Ali. A camel
bore them, and they wailed lugubriously. Crossed
the Nile in a sailing-boat, and drank of the un-
transparent waters. Found them sweet and
pleasant to the taste. The cold at sunrise was
intense. Groves of graceful date-trees were
scattered here and there, and much land was laid
down with wheat. Just beyond the verge of cul-
tivation stands, amidst its lesser fellows, the
Great Pyramid of Gizeh, and quite close is the
Sphinx raising its mutilated face above the sand.
In consequence of the enormous bases of these
structures, and of there being no other structure
near by which to institute a comparison, it is im-
possible to realise their great height. There they
stand alone, sand-embedded, on the verge of a
great desert, its untiring sentinels, under the
clear, rainless sky of Egypt. It is well to con-
sider this, else one is disappointed by their ap-
parent want of magnitude, or, rather, of height.
As I walked along the base of the Great Pyramid
it seemed but 100 feet high — it is 476. We

300 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

were immediately assailed by Bedouin Arabs,
offering their services as guides, each vociferating
his own peculiar excellences. This dogging about
and vociferation lasted until we left, and entirely
destroyed all possibility of thought and reflec-
tion, and, consequently, the pleasure which I
anticipated from beholding such renowned ob-
jects. The Pasha has permitted that the Pyramids
shall be a source of profit to a certain troop
of Bedouins. The Sheikh fixes himself in the
immediate vicinity, arranges everything, and re-
ceives on behalf of his tribe one dollar from
each visitor. For this he gives guides, and this
guiding is undertaken by the whole tribe in ro-
tation. The actual guides then bend their ener-
gies to get something out of the traveller on
their own account; and this attempt at extortion
comes to little short of actual robbery. Their en-
deavour is to get the traveller into a defenceless
position, such as at the top of the Pyramid, or
in an inner chamber, and then to commence a
system of importunities which it requires a strong
mind to resist. It must, however, be borne in
mind, that the Sheikh, who remains below, is
answerable to the Pasha for everything which
transpires, so that there are no real grounds for
fear. Trusting myself to two of these people,
I commenced the ascent of the Great Pyramid
of Gizeh, which has a four-sided base of 750 feet

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 361

in length, and covers an area of eleven acres. It
is formed by a succession of stages, consisting of
huge stones, piled one on the other in symmetry.
Every upper stage is less in circuit than its fellow
below. The visitor ascends by stepping from
stage to stage. The stones are of great size, and
three or four feet high; so that, unless I had
been dragged upward by two stalwart Arabs,
one to each arm, I should have found it a work
of time to get up at all. When two or three
travellers are mounting at the same time, it is
the great endeavour of each couple of Arabs to
get their man or woman (for women sometimes
so far forget the dictates of decency as to ascend)
up to the top first, regardless of his remon-
strances. This happened when I ascended; and
I was almost fainting from want of breath and
pains in my sinews, when, after an infinity of
struggling, stumbling, and falling, the wild hur-
rahs of my Arabs proclaimed my victory over
my fellow-victims in this extraordinary race. And
for this dearly-bought and unwilling victory they
demanded " baksheesh," as they termed it. This
ascent of 206 irregular steps, or rather layers
of stone, each step having a height of from 2^
to 3 feet, up the side of a pyramid measuring
470 feet in perpendicular altitude, at an acce-
lerated pace, after a donkey-ride of eight to ten
miles, and before breaking the morning's fast,

362 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

was a most fatiguing operation. From the sum-
mit were to be seen the Pyramids of Sakhara; the
Nile flowing through its verdant valley, closed in
with desert ; and in the distance the Citadel, frown-
ing upon the city of a thousand mosques. On
the area at the summit many travellers' names
were engraved. An Arab offered to cut mine into
the stone for two piastres. I think he told me,
that oftentimes people who did not go up em-
ployed him to carve their names on this work of
Cheops. Declining this dubious immortality, I
engraved a cross on the monument of the Pha-
raohs, and descended as I best could, dropping
painfully from block to block. I had descended by
nine a.m. Afterwards I entered the Pyramid by
a doorway in the centre of the north side. After
creeping down a dark and narrow passage, 100
feet in length, at an angle of perhaps 30°, I
was dragged up an inclined plane until I
arrived at a chamber, having walls of granite,
called the " King's Chamber," or " Sarcophagus
Chamber/' from a sarcophagus having been found
near it. Here the Arabs began a savage dance,
which I stopped ; and on my refusing them money
which they demanded, showed great insolence ;
which I also stopped, by sitting down and threaten-
ing to report them to the Pasha. I then entered
another chamber, called the "Queen's Chamber,"
and emerging from the painful gloom went close

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 3G3

up to the Sphinx. Found the face of this mon-
strous creation more mutilated then I expected.
The head and neck rise twenty-seven feet above
the level of the surrounding sand. A French an-
tiquarian is now engaged in discovering, if pos-
sible, an entrance into the building, which forms
a base to the head. After a combat between my
dragoman and the Arabs, in which the poor fel-
low was roughly handled, I turned my back on
these monuments of the long ago ; trotted through
some wheat-grounds ; re-crossed " old Nile ;" passed
the stately palace of Soliman Pasha, the French
renegade; entered the gate of Cairo ; wound my
way through a busy crowd of men, women, asses,
and camels; and finally dismounted at my ex-
cellent hotel, the Hotel d'Orient. These Pyramids
and the Sphinx are wonderful to see ; but all ro-
mance, all contemplation, all religious commun-
ings, are destroyed by the crowd of debauched
assassins which infest the traveller from his arrival
to his exit.

Jan. 15. — Rode to Boulac, the port of Cairo
on the Nile, in an hour. We then embarked in
a commodious steamer for Atfeh, 130 miles down
the river, where we arrived in ten hours. The
low banks of the Nile are singularly uninterest-
ing here. In some places the Desert swept down
close to the river, in others it was visible in the
distance. Here and there a miserable mud village

36 L DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

deformed the banks, and sometimes was to be
seen a grove of date-trees shadowing some tomb.
The river was running at about three miles an
hour. In an hour and a half we passed the great
work called the barrage of the Nile, constructed
by French engineers ; and, as some say, a great
engineering blunder. At half-past seven we
arrived at Atfeh, and were then shifted aboard
a large covered boat towed by a steamer, which
took us into the Mahmoudie Canal — the canal
connecting the Nile with Alexandria. All the
very selfish passengers rushed forward and se-
cured for themselves the insufficient accommo-
dation which there was. I could get no place ;
so I sat out in the moonlight. By and by these
selfish passengers came out of the cabin one after
the other, all stamping with their feet, blas-
pheming, and saying that the fleas had got into
their very boots. But I had no fleas. So, even-
tually, they were no gainers by their selfishness.

Jan. 16. — We arrived at Alexandria, a dis-
tance of forty-eight miles from Atfeh, by five a.m.
Went to see the stables of Said Pasha, which
were dirty and neglected. He had one very fine
horse, a bay, ten years old, for which — so the
groom told me — he had refused 800/. The stables
were a disgrace to a prince.

Jan. 17. — Went and saw the usual sights of
the city of Athanasius, such as the Catacombs,

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 365

Pompey's Pillar, Cleopatra's Needle, the Pasha's
Palace, the Greek Church, the Anglican Church,
and the Gardens of a son of Ibrahim Pasha. On
the elegant granite column overlooking the sea,
called Pompey's Pillar — because Pompey had
nothing to do with it, I suppose — three Anglo-
Saxons, of the respective names of Button, W.
Thompson, and Bland, having affixed their sig-
natures in large black letters, have, by thus de-
filing an historical souvenir, aimed at immortality.
The Pasha's Palace, under an unpretending ex-
terior, is superbly fitted up. In the Anglican
Church I conversed with an Italian who was
laying down mosaic in the body of the church.
It is built in the Byzantine style, and ornamented
after the manner of the mosque of the Sultan
Hassan at Cairo. It has been seven years in
construction, and if its internal fittings corre-
spond with its exterior, it will hold a high rank
among our churches for its imposing appearance.
The Greek Church is loaded with gilding and
decorations. It has some very rare and old
marble columns, partly imbedded in a brick wall,
and plastered over. A large camp of soldiers is
formed here at present. Some of the recruits are
very young, twelve or thirteen years old, perhaps ;
and they stagger under the weight of their mus-
kets. The women here have a very stately walk.
They carry their little ones astride upon their left

366 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

shoulders. Saw several goats followed by four
kids. My dragoman declares that his goat has
had six at a birth. The population of Alexandria
js under 100,000; and a very motley population
it is, composed of Greeks, Turks, Egyptians,
Negroes, French, German, Italians, and English.
Some very strange-looking people are seen about,
who look as if they were a compound of all these
nationalities. The distinguishing characteristic
of Alexandria is its mixture of Oriental and Occi-
dental customs, manners, and architecture. It
is a very mongrel place indeed, in every way.

Jan. 21. — Embarked on board the Peninsular
and Oriental Company's steamer " Ripon," the
commander of which, Captain Moresby, is an
approved seaman and an excellent man.

Jan. 22 (Sunday). — Celebrated full Service.
Eighty persons were present.

Jan. 24. — Arrived at Malta, and stayed there
during the night. Going on shore I toiled up
many steps in the dark, until I arrived at the
principal street.

Jan. 25. — Sailed out of the harbour in the
morning. Observed a church built by Queen
Adelaide. I was not exactly able to discover its
prevailing style of architecture.

Jan. 29 (Sunday). — Passed near Malaga, and
distinguished its large Cathedral, and four or five
factory chimneys. No trees appear but fruit-

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 367

trees on the barren-looking hills which closely
back up Malaga. They have been all cut down,
as I hear. Soon after saw the frowning rock of
Gibraltar on our right, and his brother-sentinel
on the African coast on our left, girded with
vapour. Rounded the rock, and moored in the
harbour for the purpose of coaling. I saw scarce
anything of this renowned fortress, for at the
end of a long travel the eye gets satiated of
seeing wonders.

Jan. 31. — Nearly ran down a Portuguese
lugger : her boom was carried away. Entered
the Bay of Biscay.

Feb. 1. — On board this steamer we are treated
just as sumptuously as on the Indian side. A
brass band plays before dinner; a full band after
tea, in the cuddy. A programme of the evening
concert is regularly issued. This evening we had
(I copy from the programme) :—

Pietro le Grand

Jullien.

Overture to Norma

Bellini.

Waltz

Strauss.

Overture to Zampa

Herold.

Songs of the Thames.

Schottische.

God save the Queen.

The bill of fare of to-day gives thirty dishes for
forty-five passengers, and the gluttonous con-
sumption on the part of some of them is wonder-

368 DIARY OF A WORKING CLERGYMAN

striking. Selfish propensities are, I find, highly
developed by travelling. Some grave divine
(Thomas a, Kempis, I believe) says truly, " peri-
grination tendeth not to sanctification."

Feb. 4. — Landed in the Southampton Docks
amid a drizzling rain, thus revisiting my country
after an absence of four years and four days.
During my absence I have come in contact with
numberless individuals of many races of men,
and I have found that, however diverse and
varied they may be in aspect and physical deve-
lopment, their moral tendencies are precisely
similar, and that the vanity and self-love pre-
vailing in the breast of the naked Australian
savage, as well as in the breast of the more
refined Hindoo and the more energetic European,
declare that all are equally descended from the
first erring couple, Adam and Eve. Thus, if
climate has modified the perfect physical type of
the primeval pair in their descendants, it has by
no means changed the moral type. In that
respect we seem all cast in the same mould. To
check the inordinate selfishness of mankind, to
prevent the world from becoming a moral chaos,
or, in plainer terms, to turn us away from spear-
ing and eating one another, as the wretched
Australians do, various religions have been be-
stowed upon us ; and I have found that, in pro-
portion as a religion is pure, and its ministers

IN AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA. 369

faithful, so do the people practising that religion
advance towards social and political perfection.
As, judging from effects, we may surely assume
that Christianity is infinitely superior to all other
religious persuasions; so likewise, judging from
effects, we may be permitted, I think, to assure
ourselves that that peculiar form of Christianity
practised by the body of people who have made
the greatest advances in the arts, sciences, and
all the humanising virtues of life — a form of
Christianity equally remote from tendency to
Atheism on the one hand, and to Superstition on
the other — is unquestionably the most deserving
of our unbounded love and veneration.

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STOWELL, Rev. H.— Tractarianism Tested by Holy

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