rees make no shade, the leaves hang from the stems edge up, and
look just as if they had been whipped into shreds by a gale of wind; and
you rarely see a tree with a bit of bark on it.

"But what completely upset me, was the cherries, sir--fine cherries,
plenty of them, but the _stones were all on the outside!_ The bees have
no stings, the snakes no fangs, and the eagles are all white. The north
wind is hot, the south wind cold. Our longest days are in summer; but in
Australia, sir, the shortest days come in summer, and the longest in
winter; and," says the Captain, "I can't begin to tell you how many
curious didoes nature seems to cut, in that country; but, altogether,
it's one of the queerest countries I ever did see, by ginger!"

And we have come to the conclusion--it is. If the gold continues to
"turn up" in such boulders and "nuggets" as recently reported, Australia
is bound to be the richest and most densely populated, as well as
_queerest_ country known to man.

A General Disquisition on "Hinges."

Did you ever see a real, true, unadulterated specimen of _Down East_,
enter a store, or other place of every-day business, for the purpose of
"looking around," or _dicker_ a little? They are "coons," they are, upon
all such occasions. We noted one of these "critters" in the store of a
friend of ours, on Blackstone Street, recently. He was a full bloom
_Yankee_--it stuck out all over him. He sauntered into the store, as
unconcerned, quietly, and familiarly, as though in no great hurry about
anything in particular, and killing time, for his own amusement.
Absalom, Abijah, Ananias, Jedediah, or Jeremiah, or whatever else his
name may have been, wore a very large fur cap, upon a very small and
close-cut head; his features were mightily pinched up; there was a
cunning expression about the corner of his eyes, not unlike the
embodiment of--"catch a weazel asleep!" while the smallness of his
mouth, thinness and blue cast of his chin and lips, bespoke a keen,
calculating, pinch a four-pence until it squeaked like a frightened
locomotive temperament! His "boughten" sack coat, fitting him all over,
similar to a wet shirt on a broom-handle, was pouched out at the pockets
with any quantity of numerous articles, in the way of books and boots,
pamphlets and perfumery, knick-knacks and gim-cracks, calico, candy, &c.
His vest was short, but that deficiency was made up in superfluity of
_dickey_, and a profusion of sorrel whi