friendship for me in the water--a friendship which terminated only
with his life; and which was rendered the more valuable, by his never
extending it to another living thing.




THE GOLD-FEVER IN AUSTRALIA.


The discovery of gold in the new continent has thrown the country into
a state which well merits examination. The same circumstance in
California was no interruption to progress of any kind. It merely
peopled a desert, and opened a trade where there was none before;
while in Australia it finds an established form of civilisation, and a
commerce flowing in recognised channels. It is an interesting task,
therefore, to trace the nature of the influence exercised in the
latter country over old pursuits by the new direction of industry; and
it is with some curiosity we open a mercantile circular, dated Sydney,
1st November 1851. This, we admit, is a somewhat forbidding document
to mere literary readers; but we shall divest its contents of their
technical form, and endeavour, by their aid, to arrive at some general
idea of the real state and prospects of the colony.

Up to the middle of last May, the colonial heart beat high with hope.
Trade was good; the pastoral interests were flourishing; the country
properties, as a matter of course, were improving; and the
introduction of the alpaca, the extended culture of the vine, and the
growth of cotton, appeared to present new and rich sources of wealth.
At that moment came the discovery of the Gold Fields; and a shock was