At length the word of command was spoken. Foremost came the gallant
captain (as we had dubbed him), and with him two ship doctors, in
partnership together, who carried the signs of their profession along
with them in the shape of a most surgeon-like mahogany box. Then came
the two Germans, complacently smoking their meerschaums, and attending
to their dray and horses, which latter, unlike their masters, were of a
very restless turn of mind. After these came a party of six, among whom
was Gregory and two lively Frenchmen, who kept up an incessant
chattering. Joe walked by himself, leading his pack-horse, then came
our four shipmates, two by two, and last, our own particular five.

Most carried on their backs their individual property--blankets,
provisions for the road, &c., rolled in a skin, and fastened over the
shoulders by leathern straps. This bundle goes by the name of "swag,"
and is the digger's usual accompaniment--it being too great a
luxury to place upon a dray or pack-horse anything not absolutely
necessary. This will be easily understood when it is known that
carriers, during the winter, obtained 120 pounds and sometimes 150 pounds
a ton for conveying goods to Bendigo (about one hundred miles from
Melbourne). Nor was the sum exorbitant, as besides the chance of a few
weeks' stick in the mud, they run great risk of injuring their horses or
bullocks; many a valuable beast has been obliged to be shot where it
stood, it being found impossible to extricate it from the mud and swamp.
At the time we started, the sum generally demanded was about 70 pounds per
ton. On the price of carriage up, depended of course the price of
provisions at the diggings.

The weight of one of these "swags" is far from light; the provender for
the road is itself by no means trifling, though that of course
diminishes by the way, and lightens the load a little. Still there are