than he can carry on his back, except it be to sell. Boots and
shoes are at a great price, but they should be thick and strong.
Wages are very high for butchers, carpenters, and bakers. A
butcher's boy can get 3 pounds a week, with board and lodging.
Bullock-drivers get the same. Innkeepers are making fortunes. I
know a public-house, not larger than the Two Mile Oak, [Footnote: A
small public-house between Totnes and Newton.] that cleared 500
pounds in three months, so it was reported. Sydney, I hear, is as
cheap to live in as London. As to the diggings, I cannot say much
about them. I have seen many who have made money there, and many
who have lost it again. It is generally spent as fast as it is got.
I hope we shall send you some specimens of gold dust soon. Please
to give my love to my mother and all at home.

From your affectionate and dutiful son,

W.J. WILLS.

. . .

His subsequent letters were of the same kind, descriptive of
his management in his shepherd's life in the bush. He tells how he
converted legs of mutton into excellent hams by pickling and
smoking them; and how he also obtained preserves of melons, by
sowing seeds which produced abundantly. The flies and ants were
their greatest torment, particularly the former. The heat was not
great, as there was a constant breeze from one quarter or another.
Deniliquin is in between 35 and 36 degrees south latitude. The
trees are almost exclusively gum trees, but they differ in
appearance and leaves, according to age and locality. This gives