and sixpence here. The town of Melbourne is all on one side of the
river, but on the opposite bank is Canvas Town, connected with
Melbourne by a good bridge of one arch. Canvas Town takes its name
from being entirely composed of tents, except a few wooden
erections, such as a public-house, and the Immigrant's Home, where
we had lodged. I do not like Melbourne in its present state. You
are not safe out after sundown, and in a short time you will not be
safe during the day. There were some men taken out of the river
drowned, suspected to have been murdered, and several attempts at
robbery, while we were there. I sold my box of chemicals, after
taking out what I wanted, for 4 pounds, and the soda-water
apparatus for 2 pounds 5 shillings. I also sold some books that we
could not carry, but got nothing for them. Scientific works do not
take. The people who buy everything here are the gold-diggers, and
they want story books. A person I know brought out 100 pounds worth
of more serious reading, and sold the lot for 16 pounds.

We started from Melbourne on a Saturday, with the drays, eight
bullocks to each, laden entirely with the luggage of the party,
twenty-three in number. We made only five or six miles that
afternoon, and slept under some gum trees. Our clothes were nearly
saturated with dew; but as we advanced farther inland, the dews
decreased, and in a night or two there was no sign of them. The
land for a few miles is dry and sandy, but improves as you proceed.
The woods extensive, sometimes without interval for two or three
days' march. There was no scarcity of water, except for the first
fifteen miles, after leaving Melbourne. We enjoyed the journey
much, and shot many birds, which constituted our principal food.
Ducks abound in the creeks, [Footnote: Watercourses, running in
flood time, but partially dry in dry seasons.] and up this way