tement of the
spirits and a sanguineness of temperament peculiar to this sort of
existence; and many are the pleasant evenings, enlivened with the gay
jest or cheerful song, which are passed around the bush fires of
Australia.

The latest accounts from the diggings speak of them most encouragingly.
Out of a population of 200,000 (which is calculated to be the number of
the present inhabitants of Victoria), half are said to be at the
gold-fields, and the average earnings are still reckoned at
nearly an ounce per man per week. Ballarat is again rising into favour,
and its riches are being more fully developed. The gold there is more
unequally distributed than at Mount Alexander, and therefore the
proportion of successful to unsuccessful diggers is not so great as at
the latter place. But then the individual gains are in some cases
greater. The labour is also more severe than at the Mount or Bendigo,
as the gold lies deeper, and more numerous trials have to be made
before the deposits are struck upon.

The Ovens is admitted to be a rich gold-field, but the work there is
severely laborious, owing to a super-abundance of water.

The astonishing mineral wealth of Mount Alexander is evidenced by the
large amounts which it continues to yield, notwithstanding the immense
quantities that have already been taken from it. The whole country in
that neighbourhood appears to be more or less auriferous.

Up to the close of last year the total supposed amount of gold procured
from the Victoria diggings, is 3,998,324 ounces, which, when calculated
at the average English value of 4 pounds an ounce, is worth nearly SIXTEEN
MILLIONS STERLING. One-third of this is distinctly authenticated as
having come down by escort during the three last mouths of 1852.

In Melbourne the extremes of wealth and poverty meet, and many are the
anecdotes of the lavish expenditure of successful diggers that are
circulated throughout the town. I shall only relate two which fell
under my own observation.

Having occasion to make a few purchases in the linen drapery line, I
entered a good establishment in Collins Street for that purpose. It was
before noon, for later in the day the shops are so full that to get a
trifling order attended to would be almost a miracle. There was only
one customer in the shop, who was standing beside the counter, gazing
with extreme dissatisfaction upon a quantity of goods of various
colours and materials that lay there for his