The near trees, that looked so weird-like in the
moon's half light, are now decked in green. The chill of the night has
departed. It is already broad day. By the time we reach Amherst, eight
miles from Majorca, we are glad to shade ourselves from the blazing
sun. In an hour more we reach our destination, and after breakfast and
a bath, are ready to begin the day's duties.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 13: The population, in 1857, was 4971; in 1861, 21,104. It
is now nearly 50,000.]

CHAPTER XVII.

CONCLUSION OF MAJORCAN LIFE.

VICTORIAN LIFE ENGLISH--ARRIVAL OF THE HOME MAIL--NEWS OF THE
FRANCO-GERMAN WAR--THE GERMAN SETTLERS IN MAJORCA--THE SINGLE
FRENCHMAN--MAJORCAN PUBLIC TEAS--THE CHURCH--THE RANTERS--THE
TEETOTALLERS--THE COMMON SCHOOL--THE ROMAN CATHOLICS--COMMON SCHOOL
FETE AND ENTERTAINMENT--THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE--FUNERAL OF THE TOWN
CLERK--DEPARTURE FROM MAJORCA--THE COLONY OF VICTORIA.

The reader will observe, from what I have above written, that life in
Victoria is very much like life in England. There are the same people,
the same callings, the same pleasures and pursuits, and, as some would
say, the same follies and vices. There are the same religious bodies,
the same political movements, the same social agencies--Teetotal
Societies, Mechanics' Institutes, Friendly Societies, and such like.
Indeed, Victoria is only another England, with a difference, at the
Antipodes. The character, the habits of life, and tone of thought of
the people, are essentially English.

You have only to see the interest with which the arrival of every mail
from England is watched, to recognise the strength of the tie that
continues to unite the people of the colony with those of the Old
Country. A flag is hoisted over the Melbourne Post Office to announce
its coming, and soon the news is flashed by telegraph all over the
colony. Every local post-office is eagerly besieged by the expecters
of letters and newspapers. Speaking for myself, my most exciting day
in the month was that on which my home letters arrived; and I wrote at
intervals all through the month against the departure of the outgoing
mail.

The excitement throughout the colony became intense when the news
arrived from England of the defeat of the French before Metz. The
first news came by the 'Point de Galle,' and then, six days later,
intelligence was received _via_ San Francisco, of the disaster at
Sedan. Crowds besieged the office of the local paper a