Australia cannot fail to awaken the surprise of the visitor on his
first arrival in the country, an Australian herdsman reckoning his
flocks by hundreds, and even a thousand or two heads of cattle owned
by one man being no unusual occurrence. Indeed, everything seems on a
mammoth scale in Australia--forests of timber trees that outlive
generation after generation of men, and yet have no thought of dying;
ferns like those near Hobart Town, that lift their graceful fringes
high over men's heads or serve as shade trees to their dwellings;
gigantic emus flying like the fabled Mazeppa over plains the extent of
which the eye cannot measure; and those fathomless mines of
inexhaustible wealth that seem to promise gold enough for all the
world for the centuries yet unborn.

[Illustration: LIBRARY OF MELBOURNE.]

Aristocracy is a queer thing in Australia. Many of those now claiming
"respectability" and holding themselves aloof from the members of the
settlements did not have their expenses paid out by government,
because they were born on the island--not convicts, but only the
offspring of those who were. In the race for wealth educated and
refined gentlemen are generally outstripped by those who with less
mind have greater physical strength, more practical knowledge of the
world and more tact in overcoming difficulties; so that one meets
wealthy miners who cannot write their own names, and learned
bootblacks and cooks who have taken their degrees in mathematics and
the languages. One millionaire who had a fancy to be thought literary
sent regular contributions to the English magazines, every line of
which was written by his footman, to whom he paid an enormous salary,
not so much for writing as for keeping his secret, and it was years
before it leaked out. In the struggle for position the man of gold