it really is so; the hot winds appear to parch up everything, at all
events. round Melbourne, till the greatest charm of foliage is more
or less lost; the flowers also look withered and burnt up, as yours
do at the end of a long, dry summer, only they assume this
appearance after the first hot wind in spring. The suburb called
Heidelberg is the prettiest, to my taste--an undulating country with
vineyards, and a park-like appearance which, is very charming. All
round Melbourne there are nice, comfortable, English-looking villas.
At one of these we called to return a visit and found a very
handsome house, luxuriously furnished, with beautiful garden and
grounds. One afternoon we went by rail to St. Kilda's, a
flourishing bathing-place on the sea-coast, about six miles from
Melbourne. Everywhere building is going on with great rapidity, and
you do not see any poor people in the streets. If I wanted to be
critical and find fault, I might object to the deep gutters on each
side of the road; after a shower of rain they are raging torrents
for a short time, through which you are obliged to splash without
regard to the muddy consequences; and even when they are dry, they
entail sudden and prodigious jolts. There are plenty of Hansoms and
all sorts of other conveyances, but I gave F--- no peace until he
took me for a drive in a vehicle which was quite new to me--a sort
of light car with a canopy and curtains, holding four, two on each
seat, _dos-a-dos_, and called a "jingle,"--of American parentage, I
fancy. One drive in this carriage was quite enough, however, and I
contented myself with Hansoms afterwards; but walking is really more
enjoyable than anything else, after having been so long cooped up on
board ship.

We admired the fine statue, at the top of Collins Street, to the
memory of the two most famous of Australian explorers, Burke and