JW: Xitlitt 4^rrti EECOLLECTIONS A LIFE OF ADVENTURE. VOL. IL RECOLLECTIONS OE A LIFE OF ADVENTURE. ViriLLlAM STAMER. ('MARK TAPLEY, JrN=-') IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON : HUEST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHEES, SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 13, GBEAT MAELBOKOUGH STBEBT. 1866. The righi of Translation ie reserued. LONDON : SAV1LL AND EDWARDS, FRINTBBS, CHAK DOS STRKLT, C0TBN7 GABDKN. CONTENTS THE SECOND VOLUME. CHAPTER I. Melbourne and its History — Its charming Environs — The Climate of New Holland — The High Road to Castlemaine — ^Motley Groups — Ching-Chong-Chow at the Diggings —The Effect of Six Years— The Plough versus the Gold- pick — Australia in War Time — England and her Colo nies — Australia and America compared — Absenteeism the Bane of Australia pp. 1 — 17 CHAPTER II. An Australian Village — The Hounslow Heath of Victoria— An awkward Summersault — The Gold-field of Forest Creek — Castlemaine — Sandhurst — A Gold-digger's Music Hall — Sunday at the Diggings — The Bendigo Gold-fields — The Life of a Gold-Digger — Unsatisfactory Condition of th-^ Australian Gold-fields ..... pp. 18 — 32 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. Port Jackson — The general Aspect of Sydney — Its Parks aud Gardeus — The River and City of Brisbane — Tallow worth more than Meat — A Boiling-down Establishraent — Off up Country— A Squatter's Homestead — The Cause of its Roughness — Australian Sheep-shearing — The Author makes an unsuccessful Experiment — The Resources of Queensland — A Warning to intending Emigrants — Australian Bullock-drivers pp. 33 — 53 CHAPTER IV. A Kangaroo Hunt — The Game in Sight — An "Old Man" in Trouble — A little too Fast — A Kangaroo at Bay — An unfortunate Scratch — Rough Surgery — Lost in the Bush — Making " Back-tracks" — The Musquitos make a Night of it — Lost in the Bush — " Charcoal," the Model Native — Boomerang Throwing — A first Introduction to an Australian Scrub — The Wallaby .... pp. 54 — 77 CHAPTER V. The Author turns Man-of-all Work — Sheep-shearing — A Cattle-mustering Expedition — A Shepherd's Hut in the Bush — A sad, true Narrative — Night Hunting for Bush Cattle — A Moonlight Scene — Draughting Cattle at a Stockyard — Stockmen at Loggerheads — News of an old Acquaintance — The Squatters aud the Aborigines — A few Words on Extermination — A liberal Offer — Sheep- farming in Australia — Purchasing an improved Station — Certain Drawbacks on Pastoral Happiness — Select ing a " Run" — Establishing a Head Station — A dismal Life pp. 78—109 CHAPTER VI. Dr, Lang on Qnccii.sland— .V Dream of Paradise— The Cli mate of Quceuslaiid — A Grumble at Elorual Summer — CONTENTS. vii America and Queensland compared — The Coolie Trafiic — State of the Labour-market in Queensland — Shepherding in Australia pp. 110 — 129 CHAPTER VII. An interesting Character — Colt Roping — An unpleasant Incident — A rash Promise — Mr. Snaflies' Eloquence — Australian Horses, and how they are Treated — Farewell to the Station — A Model Station— Missionaries in Aus tralia — Setting Sail for Home — Gloomy Weather — A regular " Snorter" — Under Hatches — Heavy Seas — The Bay of Rio — Home again pp. 130 — 157 CHAPTER VIII. A Quixotic Idea — The Author becomes Food for Powder — Uninviting Quarters — Repentance — OflScers and Privates in England and in France — The Reveille — Untidy Soldiers — Breakfast in an English Barrack-room^ Wasted Food — Military Cookery Schools — An English Canteen — A Real Soldier's Grievance — The Delights of Burnishing— Promotion — The Serjeant's Mess-room — Ill- natured Comrades — 'Refractory Recruits — Character of the English Soldier — Inefficient Corporals — An Absurd Routine — How Soldiers are Spoiled — Advantages of taking Her Majesty's Shilling — The Private Soldier Married — A pet Medicine — The Use ofthe Lash — Why the Service is Unpopular — How to Obtain a better Class of Soldiers —The Bane of the British Army . pp, 158—209 CHAPTER IX. A fruitless Journey — Philadelphia astir — Washington in War Time — A Scramble for Government Loaves and Fishes — President Lincoln — An Open-air Meeting — A Discussion at a Drinking-bar — The Danger of Speaking out — Alexandria — A Confederate Hero — The Fairfax viii CONTENTS. Troop— Causes of the American War — The Attitude of the Southerners — A Military Orator — A select Body of Troops — Limited Ideas of Military Discipline — An unfortunate Oversight — A few Thoughts on Slavery — Slave-owner's Retort — A Slave's Opinion of his Com rades pp. 210—248 CHAPTER X. Norfolk, in Virginia — Ill-founded Hopes — Disagreeahle Quarters — The Confederate Battery at Sewell's Point — Hot Weather — Jefferson Davis — Tempting Offers to England — Hours of Idleness — An awkward Predica ment — A doubtful Consolation — An idle Proclamation — The Author's Position becomes Critical — A grievous Disappointment — The Value of a Foreign-oflSce Pass port — Back to the North — On Board the Cumberland — An Evening Landscape — A Money Difficulty — A fresh Disappointment and a bold Move — An old Friend lost for Ever — ^At a Window in New York — Unsatisfactory Interview with a Banker — A lucky Thought — The Author is in a Miserable Plight — But " All's well that ends well" pp. 249—300 CHAPTER I. Melbourne and its History — Its charming Environs — The Climate of New Holland — The High Road to Castlemaine — Motley Groups — Ching-Chong-Chow at the Diggings — The Effect of Six Years — The Plough versus the Gold- pick — Australia iu War Time — England and her Colo nies — Australia and America compared — Absenteeism the Bane of Australia. TTT HAT a wonderful place Melbourne is ! To * look at its busy streets, handsome shops, and well-built houses, who would believe that the very spot upon which it stands was unknown to Europeans at the commencement of the present century? And yet such is the fact — Port Phillip heads having been first entered by white men in 1803, when Lieutenant Murray, in the Lady Nelson, sailed into that noble harbour, in which the finest fleet of vessels in the world can now be seen at anchor, whilst the settlement itself dates only so far back as 1835, when Fawkner aud a party of colonists from Tasmania first pitched their tents on the banks of the pleasant Yarra- Yarra. Where but little more than a quarter of VOL. II. B 3 THE ENVIRONS OF MELBOURNE. a century ago the laughing jackass chuckled, and the white cockatoo shrieked undisturbed by the presence of man, is now heard the rattle of the steam engine and the busy hum of the human hive, and flocks and herds innuraerable may be seen quietly fattening for the ]\Ielbourne market on those well-watered lowlands, once sacred to the wallaby and kangaroo. But, apart from the interest which must attach itself to a city of such rapid growth, jMelboume has few attractions. I went out once with the hounds, but the country was altogether too " stiff ¦'^ to be pleasant, and after getting a couple of " croppers" in a suicidal attempt to take my hired hack over some split timber fences, I suddenly came to the conclusion that hunting a miserable dingo was not a gentle manly sport after all, and made the best of my way back to the stables. There are, however, several charming places in the environs, HeideU berg more especially; and, accompanied by S., I scoured the country in all directions, until there remained nothing more to be seen nor to detain me longer in IMelbourne. I therefore proposed to S. that he should act as my guide to the diggings, a proposal to which he at once assented ; so, having purchased a couple of horses which were warranted sound and free from vice, we bid THE CLIMATE OF NEW HOLLAND. 3 adieu to Melbourne for a while, and took the road to Bendigo. It was a lovely spring morning, the air was soft and balmy, and the earth, refreshed by the heavy rains, looked charmingly fresh and verdant. Early spring is, in fact, the season at which the Australian landscape can be seen to the best advantage. Australians are very fond of talking about their magnificent climate, and the park-like aspect of their country, but, for my own part, I could never appreciate the one, nor see any par ticular beauty in the other. The climate of New Holland will, no doubt, compare favourably with that of Northern Europe, but to say that it is the finest in the world is perfectly ridiculous. During the summer months the heat is intense, and although I never had the misfortune to encounter hot winds, I have seen the thermometer at 106° in the shade on more than one occasion during my sojourn in the Moreton Bay district. But more on this subject hereafter. Although the general aspect of the country for some distance out of Melbourne was not particu larly interesting, the constant succession of strange novel sights that met my eye as I jogged along the high road to Castlemaine, made the ride any thing but tedious. Teams of panting, reeking B 2 4 THE HIGH ROAD TO CASTLE.MATNE. bullocks, dragging heavily-laden drays through the mire and slough, the drivers cursing and swear ing as only Australian bullock-drivers can; closely- packed six-horse coaches, skilfuUy tooled by Yankee Jehus, dashing past at full gallop, swaying, surging, jolting, creaking, in a manner which would have made me tremble for my neck, had I been a passenger ; dog-carts drawn by horses, and smaller ditto drawn by dogs; mud-stained, half- starved hacks, carrying swarthy, hard-featured in dividuals, who looked so extremely like what I had pictured bush-rangers to be, that my band stole involuntarily towards my holster ; mounted troopers on Government business ; well-to-do spe culators on their own, and stockmen aud shep herds ou their masters', all bound to or from the diggings. But a considerable numberof those whom we met or passed on the road were pedestrians — and a motley appearance they presented. There were old hands returning to the diggings after their spree in Melbourne, seedy, dissipated-looking rascals, evidently upon anything but good terms with themselves, and suffering the consequences of their late debaucheries — new chums, recently landed, toiling along with their heavy packs, and almost "gruelcd" by their unwonted exer tions — horny-fistcd, broad-shouldered, iron-tliewed CHING-CHONG-CHOW. 5 chummy from the plough or anvil — soft-pawed, weak-jointed chummy from the desk or counter — ne'er-do-well chummy, whose hands had been more accustomed to the billiard-cue than the pick, and to the dice-box than to the " cradle" — French chummy in Parisian hat and dilapidated bottes vemis, the last remaining souvenirs of better days — Teutonic chummy, with a long-stemmed china- bowled-pipe hanging from his lips — American chummy, with his inevitable quid — Spanish, Italian, Scandinavian, and last, not least. Celestial chummy, with a stick across his shoulder and a bundle at either end, shufiling along, just as I recollected to have seen him represented on that old-fashioned china service which had constituted the nursery dinner-set in the days of my childhood. Yes, there was Ching- Chong-Chow the Chinaman, sure enough, with his sallow face, flat Mongolian features, pig-tail, and slippers — the pagoda alone was wanting to complete the picture. By S.'s account, my friend Ching was not a favourite among the digger fraternity, for his morals were even below digger par. Mrs. Ching had been left behind in the "flowery land," and the fair sex at the dig gings did not as a rule smile favourably upon their Celestial admirers. To do Ching justice. G SOMETHING ABOUT CELESTIALS. however, it appeared that whenever he had been fortunate enough to obtain a wife, he generally made an exemplary husband. But the Benedicts formed but a very small portion of the Celestial community, and the conduct of the bachelors was shocking. But there were other reasons for the bad odour into which the Chinese had fallen ; they had a weakness for working out old and abandoned "claims," and it riled the barbarian diggers to see the Celestials making a living where they had been unsuccessful. Never having been subjected to digger law in their own favoured land, it was not an easy matter to make them un derstand that they must abide by the will of the majority, nor to teach them that the hole from whence the diggers drew their drinking-water was not the place to wash their clothes, nor the. door of their huts the spot to throw their offal. Then the manners of my pig-tailed friends were not particularly winning. Ching was not of a social or convivial temperament. " He kept his self to his self," and but a very small portion of his earn ings found its way into the pockets of the pub lican, who was on this account his bitterest enemy, and the man above all others whose voice was raised the loudest against the influx of the Celestials, who, he would declare with AN EVIL DAY FOR VICTORIA. 7 an oath, had no right to be aUowed on the diggings at all, as not a single mother'^ son of them had paid the Government capitation tax upon landing. This was, no doubt, in a great measure true. Although the Colonial Govern ment had passed a bill authorizing a poll-tax of lOZ. to be levied on every Chinaman landed in Vic toria, the act was almost a dead letter, for coolie- ship captains were not the sort of men to dis burse their owners' money when such disbursement could be avoided. So their cargoes were landed some, miles up the coast out of sight of the Government authorities, and the Celestials were left to make their way to the diggings as best they might. It was an evil day for Victoria on which the advanced guard of these Celestial hordes first set foot on her too-hospitable shores, for the Chinese are now as great a nuisance in Australia as are the emancipated negroes in the Southern States. They have, however, managed to make good their footing, and the Australians must put up with their presence, and endeavour to civilize them by the aid of alcohol, the gallows, and religious tracts printed for their especial behoof in the Chinese tongue. It would be an easy matter for the Legislature to pass an act by which Ching 8 THE EFFECTS OF SIX YEARS. would have to pay his footing by working for a certain fixed period on Queensland cotton planta tions — that is, if the Government of that Utopia would consent to such a thing. But then what would the Exeter Hall gentlemen say if the liber ties of these dear heathen were to be interfered with ? No ; such a scheme would never answer. The Chinese will, of course, be brought into the fold at the appointed time, and until then they must be allowed to conduct themselves in their own fashion, to the edification of the rising gene ration in our colony of Victoria. As we leisurely rode along, S.'s conversation was essentially " diggerish." He spoke of the past, present, and future of the colony ; but gold was the Alpha and Omega of his discourse — the all-powerful magnet towards which his thoughts biassed. But little more than six years had elapsed, he said, since the first discovery of the precious metal, and even in that short space what a mar vellous change had that discovery effected in the prospects of the colony ! The value of her exports, which, in the year' preceding the gold dist-ovcrics (1850), amounted to barely one million, had, in the yeai" 1856, risen to upwards of fifteen millions sterling. THE PROSPERITY OP VICTORIA. 9 whilst her imports had increased at a like ratio. Gold, and gold alone, had effected this, for two- thirds of the entire amount had been derived from her gold fields; wool, the second great staple of the colony, having only contributed one million and a half to the sum total. During the same period, her population had increased with enormous rapidity, the city of Melbourne alone numbering nearly one hundred thou sand souls, whUst large and prosperous cities had sprung up, where, prior to 1850, was the vast unexplored wilderness. " The Americans," he said, " boasted of the rapid growth of some of their western states and cities, but Victoria had outpaced California, and Melbourne their far- famed San Francisco; and, before many years had passed away, Australia would most assuredly become the England of the Southern Seas and the rival of the United States, both in wealth and maritime greatness." Of course there was no denying the statistics ; but I was by no means as sanguine concerning the future of Victoria as friend S. Before Victoria, or any other colony, can hope to be come a great and powerful state, she must have other than golden foundations upon which to rest her pretensions. It is to the plough of the 10 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PICTURE. husbandman and not to the pick of the gold- seeker that she must look, if she desires to be come one of the nations of the earth ; and, until she is able, like the United States, to rely alto gether upon her own internal resources, she must be content to remain the dependency of Great Britain, or of the nation that, for the time being, " rules the waves." Of aU our colonies, those in Australia are the worst protected, and in the case of another American war — a by no means improbable event — one of the first acts of the Yankee Government would be to despatch a few cruisers or letters of marque to the -\ustralian waters ; and we have only to caU to mind the ravages committed by half a dozen Confederate vessels during the late war, to form some estimate of what we may ourselves expect when ever the privateers of Brother Jonathan make their appearance in the track of our x\.ustralian liners, between Melboui-ne or Sydney and the Horn. England would, doubtless, endeavour to protect her colonies to the utmost of her ability, but that she would be in a position to afford material assistance to her Australian depen dencies, I very much question. " It is a long cry to Lough Awe." Victoria is a long distance from Do^vning Street, and we have other colonies ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 11 nearer home, which, with an equal claim for protection, could be much more readily and ad vantageously assisted when the time came for action. There is, however, no earthly use in endeavouring to impress this upon your genuine Australian ; for, like the rest of our British colonists, he has got the idea into his head that the mother country is in duty bound to afford him every protection and assistance of which he may stand in need, and to send him a fleet when ever he is menaced by his next door neighbour. That he should consider himself entitled to all this is not surprising, for England has so often assisted her colonists, whUst they stood quietly looking on with their arms folded, that she has almost established a precedent. But precedent or no precedent, even though England had the wUl, she has no longer the power to protect all her colonies, and the sooner the elder children are in a position to take care of themselves the better, both for them and her. Hitherto she has received nothing but ingratitude from these children. Jonathan, her eldest hope, has proved himself an nnfllial young reprobate, and it is now from his bony fist and horny foot that Dame Britannia shrinks in motherly horror; for that he wiU be deterred by a family feeling from 12 AMERICA AND CANADA. administering the cuff and kick whenever he may happen to have the opportunity, no one who knows the amiable young gentleman's character can suppose for a moment. Even as it is, we hold the Canadas solely by his gracious permis sion, for that he can take possession of them whenever he feels so disposed, I think there can be very Uttle question, unless we at once make them mUitary colonies, and detennine to hold them at any cost. In the late civU war, the North alone brought into the field, from first to last, upwards of one mUlion armed men. Beunited, she can now count upon aU Lee's veterans besides, for, with our usual tact, we have made bitter enemies of both parties, aud nothing would, I feel confident, be more likely to soothe the angry feelings of these late beUigerents than the occupation of H.B.^M.'s North American dominions by an army composed of mixed troops, drawn from every state from Elaine to Texas. The Canadians would lose little bv becomiu"' citizens of the " Model RepubUc," for Brother Jonathan would be only .too happy to admit them into the Union on their o^Vn terms ; but I much doubt whether he would treat my Aus tralian friends with the same amoimt of con- sidcnitioii. In tlie event of a war -with England, THE FUTURE OF VICTORIA. 13 he wiU no doubt honour the Victorians with a visit ; but it wUl not be to make offers of ad mission into the Union, but to present bUls drawn on the mother country for payment — bills which wiU have, I fear, to be paid at sight. But, after aU, our Australian colonies will only have to do that which other British colonies have done before now — pay the penalty for the blunders and penny- wise-pound-foolish policy of the home Go vernment with as good a grace as possible, and sing " Rule, Britannia," whUst a hostile fleet is sweeping her commerce from the seas. It is to be hoped that the Australians, instead of looking to England for help, as they have done hitherto, will think for the future what they can do to protect themselves ; for if they do not, it strikes me that they will have a rough time of it when the storm breaks. It is not, however, simply because Victoria is unable to protect herself that I am sceptical con cerning that great future, which my friends as a rule believe to be in store for her : it is rather because I cannot discover within her borders, apart from her gold-fields, any of those elements of prosperity which have been scattered broad cast on the wide domains of Uncle Sam. What constitutes the present wealth of the colony ? 14 UNCLE SAM's resources. Rich gold-fields, and flocks and herds — apart from these, she has little to depend on but the fertUity of her soU. "And a very good sheet- anchor too," my AustraUan friends wUl exclaim. No doubt of it ; but bear in mind that Brother Jonathan offers that and a good deal more to the intending emigrant. The products of his inheri tance, more especiaUy the mineral, are not to be enumerated ; and it would almost seem as if Nature's laboratory were situated somewhere beneath the crust of Yankeedom, so rich and varied are the chemicals which exude from her soU — oUs, soaps, gases, spirits, and let Liebig or Faraday say what besides. But there can be Uttle use in recapitulating aU the sources of wealth which Uncle Sam has within his borders. I have merely aUuded to some of them to prove how little need he has to fear any competition on the part of his Austi-alian cousins, and to show upon how much more solid a basis his house is founded. Nothing would afford me more sincere satisfaction than to see our Aus tralian colonies rivaUing the United States m wealth and prosperity ; but that I have small hopes of ever beholding them in that enviable position I must candidly confess. My AustraUan REAL bases of COLONIAL PROSPERITY. 15 friends may assure me that the gold-yielding quartz reefs of Victoria are inexhaustible, that her soU is rich, and that her pasture lands are boundless. It won't do. I must know some thing more than that. .1 must be thoroughly convinced that Australia's prosperity is alto gether independent of her gold-fields ; and that were they to cease yielding the precious metal to-morrow, it would not materiaUy affect her prospects. I must be satisfied, that were she to become agricultural instead of pastoral and gold-yielding, she could enter into successful competition with other countries in the produc tion of corn, cotton, silk, oil, indigo, or whatever other articles of commerce could be raised on her soU. I mnst know that she is self-supporting, and no longer dependent upon other countries for the means of subsistence ; and that the value of her exports, irrespective of gold, exceeds that of her imports by at least twenty per cent. Above aU, I must be persuaded that the colonists themselves have that faith in the colony's future that they say they have, and this I shaU never be, so long as I see them for ever tuming such wistful glances in the direction of Europe, or hear them heave those deep-drawn sighs, when- 16 AUSTRALIAN ABSENTEEISM. ever they speak of the " old country." No. If my Australian friends desire that the land of their adoption shaU one day rival the United States in greatness and prosperity, the sooner they can forget that old country across the seas, and look upon the new one as their home and the home of their children, the better. There must be no ties to bind them to the old world save those of gratitude ; they must be jVustraUans and nothing else. Hitherto there have been too many birds of passage in our AustraUan colonies — vultures, which only alighted to see what they could pick up, and which took to flight the in stant they had a fuU craw. The miUions that were made at the gold-fields were not invested in the colony — a pretty fair amount of the yeUow metal found its way to London and Paris. The fortunate squatters and speculators have not as a rule settled in that pleasant land of promise, which is to become the New England of the Southern Seas. Absenteeism is not confined to Ireland by any means, and it may be the ruin of Australia, as it has been tho ruin of that " jim of the say" of the Northern hemisphere. In fine, notwithstanding the assurances of my Vic torian friends, in spite of her present apparent prosperity, nny, in spite of -nliat I ara told is A DOUBT. 17 only common-sense, I have but small faith in that great future which is predicted for Austra lia, and fully expect, before I die, to see a reflux tide of emigration setting steadUy towards the shores of the American continent. TOL. II. IS CHAPTER II. An Australian Village— The Hounslow Heath of Victoria— An Awkward Summersault— The Gold-field of Forest Creek — Castlemaine— Sandhurst— A Gold-digger's Music Hall— Sunday at the Diggings— The Bendigo Gold-fields — The Life of a Gold-Digger — ^Unsatisfactory Condition of the Australian Gold-fields. AFTER leaving Keilor, the first stage out of Melbourne, where we made a halt to " liquor up " with a party of rough-looking gen tlemen diggers, quondam pals of friend S., who I may mention, en passant, appeared to possess a most extensive circle of rather dubious acquain tances, our road lay for some twelve mUes through a flat country, but after having passed the " gap," the scenery became more varied, and indeed, between that spot and Gisborne, might almost be caUed picturesque. The ^•iUage of Gisborne itself was most decidedly so, being situated in a ravine, the gener.il aspect of which brought to my remembrance a certain little vU lage, unknown to the mass of English toiu-ists, which I chanced to discover when out on a fish- THE HOUNSLOW HEATH OF VICTORIA. 19 ing excursion in Saxon Switzerland. Gisborne passed, the next point of interest on our road was the Black Forest, the Hounslow Heath of this part of Victoria — a spot that has gained a most unen viable notoriety from the number of murders and robberies which have been perpetrated in its immediate vicinity. Here it was that after the first rush to the Forest Creek gold-fields, the most desperate of the bush-ranging fraternity took their stand, and here it was that armed men were wont to look to the priming of their pistols, and that the unarmed banded together for mutual protection and support. It was in the Black Forest that drays were pUlaged, horses stolen, diggers "baUed up," and it was on the verge of this same Black Forest that we arrived about dusk, for S. had stopped so frequently to shake hands and have a " cuffer " with friends on the road, that our advance had been of the slowest. Although he assured me that we were as safe as if we were in our beds at the Criterion, I must confess that I did not feel altogether at my ease. My eyes wandered restlessly from side to side ; I began to revolve in my mind the possibUity of my pistols having been tampered with during our halt at KeUor, and I was more pleased than I would have cared to acknowledge c3 20 WARRANTED A PERFECT HACK. to friend S., when he proposed that we should put our horses to the canter, and endeavour to make up for lost time. My horse, which had been warranted to me a perfect hack in every respect, had already proved himself the hardest- mouthed, laziest, most vicious brute it had ever been my bad fortune to throw a leg across. But lazy or wiUing, for that night, at aU events, I was deter mined he should go, and by dint of constant application of spur and whip, I did get him into a sort of hand gaUop, at which pace I kept him until S. swore that if I did not puU up, I might go on by myself, and get baUed up for my trouble. The words "baUed up," which my worthy guide yeUed out with fearful signifi cance (I verily believe the wretch was in mortal terror at the thought of being left behind in the dark by himself), had a magical effect in bring ing me to a halt. I puUed short up at once, and waited patiently until S., who was a long way in the rear, overtook me, leaving it to him to regulate the pace for the remainder of the distance ; and lucky it was that I did so, for had I continued my headlong course, I should have broken my neck to a certaintj', the road being in a tmly diabolical state, even for Victoria. Wc halted for the night at a place called HORSE AND RIDER PART COMPANY. 21 Wood End, where S. of course fell in with a lot more digger friends and acquaintances, and they kicked up such an infernal row in the room next to mine, that there was no getting any sleep that blessed night. We had agreed to make an early start in the morning; but when daylight came S. was still in a state of " fourpenny," or what was worse still, " new rum," and I could not get him out of the dirty blankets in which he was coUed up untU it was past ten o'clock. Even then there was another hour's delay ; for hardly was I well in the saddle ere my brute of a horse took it into his head to initiate me into the mysteries of buck-jumping ; and so effectually did he commence his performance that he sent me flying over his head into a heap of mud, which lay " convanient," as Pat would say, for my reception. WhUst S. gaUoped after the brute, which made back-tracks towards Melbourne the instant he had effectuaUy disposed of his rider, the ostler scraped me down with the back of a carving-knife, pretty much in the same manner that he would have done had I been a hunter in a lather of sweat ; and by the time my guide made his reappearance with the runaway, which had luckUy been caught a mUe out of the town, I was ready for another trial. I did 22 THE FOREST CREEK DIGGINGS. not think it advisable to give my gallant steed a chance of acting on the offensive a second time, but at once gave him the benefit of both spurs, which sent him off at a rate that soon left the hamlet of Wood End mUes behind me. Our second day's ride lay through an apparently fertUe and well- watered tract of country — about the most promising district for the intending agriculturist that I had as yet seen in the colony — through the towns of Kyneton, ^lalmsbury, Elphinstone, without drawing rein, until we at length came in sight of what was once the far-famed gold- field of Forest Creek. I certainly was most sadly disappointed when S., pointing exultingly to a bare, bleak, upturned tract of country in front of us, suddenly ex claimed — " There, old feUow ! those are the Forest Creek diggings." Forest Creek, indeed ! There was not a tree to be secu — nothing but a hare, dismal expanse, upon which a battle of evU genii might have been fought, the upturned hUlocks marking the spots where the giant slain lay buried. The glory of Forest Creek had indeed departed. The place was, in American parlance, " ])retty well played out," and hardly anything remained on that once famous gold- field but the mounds which the digger-ants had CASTLEMAINE. 23 thrown up, and some few parties of Celestials, who were " fossicking" amongst the deserted claims, after their peculiar fashion. It did not take me a very great length of time to do this side of Forest Creek, for in less than half an hour my curiosity was satisfied, and we were again on the high road to Castlemaine. The entrance to that second great mart of the northern gold-fields reminded me of that modem " city of the plain," that Canadian " Gomorrah," so dear to drunken soldiers, roUicking saUors, and hard-fisted lum bermen and raftsmen, which lies on the heights above Quebec. There stood the same class of tumble-down, seedy frame-houses ; the same dissipated, don't- care-a-damn looking population. Even the very smells were the same as in the Gomorrah aforesaid ; and had it not been for an occasional tent and " slab" hut, I might have imagined myself re-transported once again to the Heights of Abraham. An hour's gentle riding brought ns into Castlemaine, and I was fairly on the gold-fields, and surrounded by a "digger" population. I was as agreeably surprised with the appear ance of Castlemaine, as I had been disappointed vrith my first glimpse of the Forest Creek diggings. This city of six years' growth is situ- 24 THE CITY OF SANDHURST. ated in a pretty roUing country, and possessed, even at the time of my visit (September, 1857), several good hotels ; stores, where everything was sold that the digger community could re quire ; banks, churches, chapels, and American drinking-saloons galore. There appeared to be a pretty smart trade doing at the different stores, although the quantity of gold found in the vicinity was trifling, the majority of the diggers having made tracks for !Mount Alexander and Bendigo, or joined in the rush to INIount Ararat, which had recently taken place. There being nothing to detain us in Castle maine, we started at an early hour on the fol lowing morning for Sandhurst, the metropolis of the northern gold-fields. Some few nules out of Castlemaine the countiy reassumed its pastoral appearance, which it pre served untU we arrived on the skirt of the Bendigo gold-field, a short distance from Sandhurst, where we arrived just in time for dinner, which was cooked and served in better style than any meal to wliich I had sat down at the far-famed Criterion in Melboiu-ne. Truly rapid, even for Australia, has been the gi'owth of this same city of Sandhurst. j\.t the be ginning ofthe year 1852, the shepherd pastured his ITS MARVELLOUSLY RAPID GROWTH. 25 flock along that Bendigo Creek upon which there now stands a city of some fifteen thousand inhabi tants ; and perhaps on the very site of his slab hut there may have been erected one of the many hand some public buildings which adorn this modern Ophir. No man visiting Sandhurst for the first time, and ignorant of the city's history, would beUeve that so great a change could possibly have been effected in so short a time — ^unless, indeed, he were an American from some Western State ; and even he would open his eyes " some," I warrant. It was, without exception, the most " go-ahead" place for its age that I had ever come across in my travels; and I made S. quite jubi lant by assuring him that it beat the western cities of the United States hollow. And so far as " go-aheadedness" went, beat them it most certainly did. Not only had the plan of the town been weU conceived, but many of the buUdings were handsomely designed and solidly con structed. There were several commodious hotels, vast stores, banks, theatres, music-halls, and churches and chapels for every denomination. And what was more, they aU appeared to be doing a good business — the places of amusement more especially; but I have no doubt that even " running" a church or chapel was a paying^ 26 AN AUSTRALIAN MUSIC HALL. speculation, for a smart parson can be pretty certain of getting a flock together on the gold- fields, for there are devotees to be found even amongst diggers. The evening of our arrival we went to a large music-hall, the name of which I now forget ; and for a new chum, who desired, as I did, to study digger character, a better place could not possibly have been selected by friend S. It was a Saturday night, and the diggers were in great force, every part of the hall being crammed to suffocation. I had ex pected to find a perfect pandemonium — a barn full of brutal, drunken, yelling diggers — instead of which I found a fine handsome haU, that would not have disgraced London itself, and as orderly an audience as any man could desire to meet. It is true that the applause at the conclusion of a song was a little louder than I was accus tomed to hear — for diggers are, as a rule, ex ceedingly demonstrative ; but taking it aU in aU, the behaviour of the audience was most praise worthy, and I did not see more than half-a- dozen men the worse for liquor during the entire evening. But what a mixed lot they were ! Not a country under the sun but had its repre sentative in that well-filled hall ; and as I looked upon the different types around me — the Anglo- SUNDAY IN SANDHURST. 27 Saxon, the Yankee, the Mongolian, the Negro, and a whole host of others — I was obliged to acknowledge the universal sovereignty of King "Gold, that mighty potentate who has but one mightier than himself — King Death — at whose presence even he must bow his head, the glittering sceptre dropping from his grasp, and nothing remaining but dust and ashes. The entertainment provided was considerably above the average — indeed out of London I never saw anything to equal it — and the proprietor richly deserved the success which had attended his spirited attempt to cater in a Uberal manner for the amusement of the good people of Sand hurst and the surrounding gold-fields. The next day being Sunday, there was not much doing except drinking and preaching ; for, as in Scotland, preachee-preachee and drinkee- drinkee go hand in hand at the diggings, only that in Scotland both the one and the other are carried to a greater extent, there being more Puritanical cant and more Glenlivat whisky. I stood at the door of my hotel and watched the good people going to church, and, for any dif ference I could discover in their general appear ance, I might have been posted at the door of the Hen and Chickens in Birmingham. If the 28 BEHIND THE SCENES. features of the passers-by were more varied, their dress was generally of English cut and texture, for even Mr. Ching sported a " tUe," and had his garments cut by some colonial Moses or NicoU. The women were decked out in sUks and satins, and the men wore tweed and broad cloth, and instead of the rough, unkempt, dirt- stained communitj' that I had expected to find, I beheld a staid, church-going population. I could hardly believe my eyes, but there was no mistake about it, and had not S. taken me behind the scenes and pUoted me to a vagabond quarter of the town, where his digger friends were domicUed, I should most probably have left Sandhurst with the impression that it was the sort of place where, to use tlie words of an American friend of mine, " Those ninety and nine just persons might have lived who needed no repentance." But my trusty guide was determined that I should form no erroneous notions of the morality of the Bendigo diggers. His digger pride revolted at the very thought of my taking the digger fi-aternity of which he was a member for a moral aud religious class of men, and lie spared no pains to prove to me that for drun kenness and low dcbaueliery the town of Sandhurst stood unrivalled. Need I sav that he succeeded. THE BENDIGO GOLD-FIELD. 29 Early on the Monday morning we commenced our tour of inspection of the Bendigo gold-field, and for six entire days our time was fully occu pied in riding from one rich " claim" to another, descending shafts, making inquiries, which were not always answered, and watching the miners at their work. The Bendigo gold-field proper has an area of nearly one hundred square miles, and contains within its Umits quartz-reefs of sufficient magni tude to keep the miners at work for centuries to come, if quartz-crushing should continue as lucrative a business as at the present time, which I, for one, am very much inclined to doubt. Of the great Victorian gold-fields, it stands third in order of discovery, BaUarat being the first and Mount Alexander the second ; but for rich ness, and for the intrinsic value of the precious metal that it has yielded, it is second to none in the colony. Within six months of its discovery, fifty thousand diggers were hard at work on the spot, and successful they most certainly must have been, or they would have perished from downright starvation, for the common necessaries of life soon reached famine prices, flour being 200/. a ton, and everything else in proportion. Indeed, the diggers were supposed at that time 80 GOLD DIGGING UNREMUNERATIVE. to be making at the rate of 250/. per man per annum; but what is that when the price of provisions is taken into consideration? — a bare existence ; nothing more. The Bendigo dig gers confined themselves at first to " surfacing" and aUuvial mining ; but as the rich auriferous deposits near the surface became exhausted, they had to try deep-sinking and quartz- mining, and their labours soon increased ten fold, without their reaping any corresponding advantage. It is not my intention to give a de taUed description of the various methods for separating the gold from the dirt in vogue at the diggings, for who has not heard of " washing" and " puddling," "sluicing" and "amalgamating," usque ad nauseam ? Neither do I purpose enteiing into an elaborate account of what I did and saw at those diggings, for the Bendigo gold-fields have already been described by scores of better writers than myself — men who had as many years' as I had days' experience. Suffice it to say that I made the most of my time, and when, at the expiration of a week, I bid adieu to Sandhui-st, 1 had seen and heard quite sufficient to couAince me that there were mauy other piu'suits more suited to my taste than gold digging, and I politely declined S.'s proposal that I should tlu'ow UNFORTUNATE PROSPECTS. 31 in my lot with a party of " devilish good feUows" of his acquaintance, who were about to commence quartz-crushing, and take up my abode for a sea son on the Bendigo. The life of a digger is both hazardous and laborious, and were it not for the excitement that he experiences whilst seek ing for the precious metal, hoping against hope that his sUce of luck in the shape 'of a nugget wUl be laid bare at each stroke of his pick, and above aU, for the satisfaction he experiences from being a free agent, working on his own hook, I very much doubt whether, at the end of a twelvemonth, there would be five hundred diggers on the Bendigo gold-fields, unless indeed they were in the employ of the large quartz-crush ing companies, and received their weekly wages. People may say what they like — gold-digging is not a remunerative employment. We only hear of the lucky ones who have drawn a prize in the lottery ; of the thousands of poor devUs who eke out a miserable subsistence on the different gold- fields we hear nothing. Now that the alluvial diggings are well nigh exhausted, the chances of those who have no capital are worse than ever. They vriU soon have to leave off " fossicking" and work at fixed wages for the gold-mining capi talists, and, having no interest in the venture. 32 FAREWELL TO MELBOURNE. even the little excitement that made the labour endurable wUl be wanting. The rate of wages, at the time of my visit to Sandhurst, was as high as fifteen shiUings a-day, but they have considerably faUen since then, and, on referring to the last accounts, I flnd that the amount made annually by employers and employed on the Victoria gold-fields averages only 70/. per head. Were I to write for a month, I could adduce no stronger evidence to prove the present unsatis factory condition of the much- vaunted Australian gold-fields. I returned to Melbourne alone, S. having determined to try his luck on the Bendigo. Whether fortune finaUy smUed upon him I know not, for I have neither seen nor heard of him since the day we parted at the door of the hotel in Sandhurst. I only remained in ]Melbourne untU my horse was disposed of, when, taking a berth in the City of Sydney steamer, I left ^'ictoria for the sister colony of New South AVales. 33 CHAPTER III. Port Jackson — The general Aspect of Sydney— Its Parks and Gardens — The River and City of Brisbane — Tallow worth more than Meat — A Boiling-down Establishment — Off up country — A Squatter's Homestead — The Cause of its Roughness — Australian Sheep-shearing — The Author makes an unsuccessful Experiment — The Resources of Queensland — A Warning to intending Emigrants — Australian Bullock-drivers. A S the City of Sydney rounded the Southern ¦^-*- head and the noble harbour of Port Jack son burst upon my view, I was obUged to admit that there was, after aU, something worth seeing in the colonies, and that my voyage to the anti podes had not been entirely thrown away. Sheltered from the swell of the ocean by two projecting headlands, which are not more than three-quarters of a mile apart, the harbour of Port Jackson presents all the appearance of an inland lake, and as I looked at its calm unruffled surface I coiUd hardly bring myself to believe that it was part and portion of the restless surg ing Pacific. From the entrance of the harbour to Sydney Cove, a distance of some six mUes, VOL. II. D 34 PORT JACKSON. the scene is one of surpassing beauty. The shores on either side present every variety of aspect, now sloping gently down to the sandy beach, now rising precipitately from the water, indented here and there by the most charming little nooks and coves imaginable. At the head of many of these miniature bays the country house of some wealthy Sydney merchant may be seen peeping through the foliage, which here at least is luxuriant and verdant, even in the hottest days of an AustraUan December. Truly, the Sydneyites have just reason to be proud of the site of their city, although the harbour may not exactly be what they vauntingly assert that it is — the finest in the world. I was agreeably disappointed to find on landing that Sydney was not such a go-ahead place as the capital of Victoria. The citj- had in a great measure re covered from the gold fever, and, once away from the bustle of the whai-ves, I might, so far as out ward appearances went, have imagined myself in some provincial town in England. After the noise and stir of Melbourne, it seemed what the Yankees would call a very " one- horse sort of a place." There was not even a fight amongst the porters for the possession of my baggage ; and when I was finally deposited at SYDNEY AND ITS ENVIRONS. 35 the door of Petty' s Hotel, on Church HUl, my cabman took his fare and drove off, without favouring me with any of that slang which I had been accustomed to hear from his brother whips in Victoria. So much has been already written about Sydney and its environs, that a detailed description of the town would be out of place. Seen from the har bour, it does not present a very imposing appear ance, but it improves upon closer inspection. The streets are fuUy as good as those met with in the majority of our provincial towns ; the houses are substantiaUy buUt, the shops large and well supplied, whUst many of the public buildings, the Government House and the College more especiaUy, have considerable pretensions to archi tectural beauty. Parks and gardens are not wanting to add to the health and enjoyment ofthe citizens. There are the Botanical Gardens, beauti fully situated on Farm Cove, a most delightful retreat in the hot summer weather, when a Ught breeze is stirring on the waters of the harbour ; the Domain, a pubUc park, the fashionable resort of Sydney sweUdom, and some of the most charming walks and drives in the outskirts of the town that can well be imagined. The road be tween Sydney and the South Head wUl compare D 2 3(5 THE BRISBANE RIVER. favourably for picturesque beauty with the far- famed Cornice itself, and the north shore of the harbour would be a second Garden of Eden were it not for the sad-coloured foliage of the eternal gum-trees. What with picnics to the Heads and riding parties to Botany and fishing excursions in the harbour, a fortnight passed pleasantly away, at the end of which time I accepted the invitation of a ^Moreton Bay squatter to spend a month at his station on the Condamine, and taking leave of Sydney for a while I saUed in the Boomerang for Brisbane. The gallant Boomerang did not make a very smart run of it, and it was only on the morning cf the fom-th day that we passed ^loreton Island and entered the Brisbane river. I had heard so much of the beauty of this river, that my disappointment was considerable when I found that it had all the chai-acteristies of an American bayou. The stream was sluggish, the banks covered with impenetrable mangrove thickets, whilst for downright gloominess it might have been the Styx itself. .Vs we approached the town, however, a derided improvement took place in the aspect of aft'airs. The mangroves dis appeared, tlu' Brisbane no longer bore any resem blance to a Louisianian bayou, but flowed along THE CITY OF BRISBANE. 37 like a sensible river, now expanding itself into a miniature lake, now coursing through some nar row channel, overhung by precipitous rocks and banks rich with tropical vegetation. The city of Brisbane is situated on a bend of the river, some fourteen miles from its mouth, and was a place of considerable importance even at the time of my visit, which was prior to the separation of Moreton Bay from New South Wales, and the formation of the colony of Queensland. It was from Brisbane that many of the Moreton Bay squatters obtained their supplies; and as the greater portion of the wool and tallow produced in the district found its way down the Bremer and Brisbane rivers, the ex port tradewas considerable. A bar at the mouth ofthe river at present prevents vessels of large size from entering; but should this eventually be cleared away, as they confidently expect that it wiU be, there is nothing to prevent Brisbane from becoming a first-class seaport, for the depth of water in the river itself is sufficient to float ships of the heaviest tonnage. There being nothing to detain me in Bris bane, I, the moming after my arrival, took the steamer for Ipswich, the second town in the colony, which is situated some fifty miles higher 38 IPSWICH IN QUEENSLAND. up the river. Although not to be compared with a score of American rivers that I could name, the Brisbane is unquestionably a very picturesque stream, and what is of more con sequence to the Queenslanders, a wealth-bearing one Ukewise. Coal is found in considerable quantities on its banks ; forests of valuable timber are in its immediate vicinity ; whUst as a high way of commerce, it is priceless. Thirty-sis mUes above Brisbane, it is joined by the Bremer, and it is at the head of the navigation of the latter river that the town of Ipswich has been buUt. It is a thriving little place, although im measurably inferior, both as regards situation and extent, to its rival, Brisbane. A short distance fi'om the town is situated the boUing-down estabUshment of Mr. Fleming ; and he it was who first initiated me into the mysteries of tallow-making on the Australian principle. Prior to the gold discoveries, both sheep and cattle had so decreased in value that the squatters were at their wits' end to know what to do with their surplus stock. In fact ruin was staring them in the face, when it sud denly occurred to some individual Avho had his wits about him, that although sheep were at a discount, fat was a marketable commodity, and A BOILING-DOWN ESTABLISHMENT. 39 that nothing would be easier than to boil down the surplus stock and export the tallow to Europe. The idea was immediately acted upon. Boiling-down establishments, as they were called, started up in every direction; thousands upon thousands of sheep and cattle were converted into taUow; the market value of distant "runs" increased fifty per cent., and the squatocracy • began once more to breathe freely. The flood of immigration which foUowed the gold dis coveries, and the increased demand for butcher's meat consequent thereupon, had sadly interfered with the boUing down business, and at the time of my visit there was but little doing at Mr. Fleming's establishment. However, I saw the whole process, and a most disgusting sight it was, too. The bullocks were driven, one by one, down a narrow passage, over a certain spot in which was stationed the executioner, watching for his victim. Bellowing moumfuUy, as if in anti cipation of his approaching end, the doomed beast was urged onwards until he reached the fatal spot. A rapid stroke, deUvered with a pre cision which practice alone could give, a low moan, a heavy fall, and all was over with poor taro. The atmosphere of this Aceldama was heavy vrith blood. Blood on the fioor, on the 40 UNPLEASANT ODOURS. waUs, upon the hands and faces of the men, and like Le Chouan in the " Mysteres de Paris," I could almost have imagined that I " saw red " myself. The rapidity with which a beast was broken up was perfectly astounding. Before I well knew what had become of the buUock which I had seen slaughtered, the hide, horns, and hoofs had been removed, the carcass cut up, and the pieces were on their way to the boUers. If the smeU in the slaughterhouse was sicken ing, that outside the building was, if possible, even worse, for great heaps of refuse from the boUers lay rotting in the sun, and for a consider able distance the air was impregnated with the most deadly stench that it is possible to con ceive — that of puti'cfying animal matter. They say that it is an effluvium to wliich one soon grows accustomed ; but had ^Mr. Fleming offered me his pretty cottage, and the miU to boot, on the condition of my taking up my abode there, I should most certainly have declined doing so. Having purchased a clever little fourteen-hand mare to carry me up-country, I left Ips-ndch in, company with a squatter, who, on hearing that I was bound for the Condamine, had not only offered to be my guide but my host Ukewise, if I would consent to break my journey at his sta- A squatter's HOMESTEAD. 41 tion, which lay a little out of the direct road to Drayton. A right good fellow was X., as squat ters generally are, and so amusing, that when we reached his paddock fence I could hardly believe that ten hours had elapsed since we left Ipswich, nor that fifty mUes of ground had been covered. My worthy friend's homestead was not a very imposing edifice. The walls were con structed of split timber slabs, put together in the roughest manner, aud but for the honour of the thing, there might just as weU have been no doors and windows, so warped and ill-fitting were they. Squatters, as a rule, appear to dread making any outlay on their residences, and few up-country stations are in a condition to receive a lady accustomed to the comforts and requirements of civUized life. In America, the settler has an affec tion for his rude log shanty, and takes an honest pride in making it as cheerful-looking and com fortable as his circumstances will permit, for to him it is a home. But this is not the case with an AustraUan squatter. The land upon which his fiocks and herds are grazing is his only upon sufferance ; the interest that he takes in his " run " is dependent solely on the amount of money that he derives from it ; neither does he consider AustraUa as the land of his adoption. 42 A ROUGH STYLE OE LIVING. nor his station as his home ; and he is constantly looking forward to that happy day when, having at length realized a handsome fortune, he will be able to bid an eternal adieu to Kangaroo- land, and steer his course once again for that " old country " which a prolonged absence has made doubly dear. The result of aU this is, that the head station generaUy remains pretty much in the same condition as it was when he first took possession of it ; and if any money should be expended on improvements, the chances are that a new wool-shed wUl be considered of greater importance than a dweUing-house, aud a few acres of additional paddock than either kitchen- garden or shrubbery. The rough style in which some squatters are contented to live would hardly be credited ; their ordinary menu consisting of badly-baked bread, gi'easy mutton-chops, or beef steaks done to a cinder ; and on more than one station that I risited, there was neither fresh butter nor mUk on the breakfast-table, although five hundred head of cattle were grazing on the run aud half a dozen cows iu the paddock. I am sui'c that my old Moreton Bay friends wiU forgive me for having spoken thus dispariigingly of their tables, when I add that it is just because their hospitality cannot be questioned that I SHEEP-SHEARING. 43 have ventured to make these remarks. Had there been a doubt about it, they may be sure that I wotdd have thought twice before touching upon what noight then have been a most un pleasant, not to say dangerous subject. Sheep-shearing had commenced on my friend's station, and as extra hands were wanted I volun teered for the wool-shed, the superintendent having given me a quiet hint that I could make myself ex ceedingly useful in the fleece-roUing department. The wool-shed was a long bam-like building, divided by a row of hurdles into two compart ments — the shearing-floor, and the catching -pen. Twenty men were hard at work when I entered, and the click of shears was incessant. There was no noise or flurry, for the shearers knew that the superintendent's eye was upon them, and he was a martinet of the first water. Under his inspection the work was conducted in the most methodical manner. A batch of sheep haring been driven into the catching-pen, and the word given to faU to, every man would seize upon a sheep, and in an instant twenty shears would be cUcking away vrith aU the regularity of clock work. The fleece removed, the shearer would mark his sheep vrith a piece of ruddle, and in a moment he would be hard at work on another. 44 THE AUTHOR MAKES HIMSELF USEFUL, for to be the " boss " shearer of the party is a distinction for which they all strive, and to achieve it a man cannot afford to remain idle for an instant whilst in the wool-shed. AU the sheep in the pen having been shorn, and each individual's score entered in the superintendent's note-book, another batch would be driven in, and the work would begin di nuovo. That the labour is incessant may be beUeved, when I state that one man will often shear his five and even six score sheep in the day, and that fifteen hundred to two thousand are sometimes disposed of between sunrise and sunset on the large stations. As the fleeces feU they Avere coUected and laid upon a table, at which I had the honour to be stationed, alongside the superintendent, it being his duty to inspect, mine to fold them ready for the bale- packer, who was hard at work with his screw-press in an adjacent corner. I worked most patiently until the meu knocked off for dinner, when it occurred to me that it would bc a good time to try what kind of a shearer I was myself, as I was alone in the wool-shed and ran no risk of being disturbed at my labom-s. I accordingly possessed myself of a pair of shears, and having dragged an unfortunate sheep into the shed, commeneed operations. I soon discovered that AND TRIES HIS HAND AT SHEARING. 45' shearing was by no means the easy work that I had imagined it to be. The old wether that I had foolishly selected appeared to know instinc tively that he had faUen into the clutches of a new chum, and made such frantic efforts to escape that it was as much as I could do to hold him. Finding, however, that he could not get away, he Uke a wise sheep resigned himself to his fate, and grasping my shears I began the work of spoliation. I had been told that the easiest way for a beginner was to take off the belly-piece first, and this I proceeded to do in what I con sidered to be a most scientific manner, but which my victim evidently did not ; for I had hardly^ been at work half a minute when his struggles recommenced and he began to bleat in the most piteous manner. This was not surprising, as I had made a deep gash in the region of his ribs with the point of the shears, but this mishap being altogether owing to his own perversity and restlessness, I gave him an admonitory cuff and continued my labours with redoubled ardour. To this day I blush when I think of that un happy wether. I cUpped and clipped and clipped, now giving my victim the point, now the edge of my weapon, so that when at length his blood-dyed fleece dropped upon the floor of 46 THE EESULT OF AN EXPERIMENT. the shed, a more pitiful appearance than he pre sented could not well be imagined. I had barely time to contemplate my handiwork when in trooped the men from their dinners, and the comments passed upon my skill and humanity when they beheld the wretched sheep standing bleating in the middle of the shearing-floor, with the blood trickUng from many an ugly wound on his panting body, were by no means flattering to my vanity. The poor brute's sores having, been dressed with tar he was turned into the paddock, some facetious individual haring first written " Lazarus " across his back in large letters with an N. C. underneath, which I have an inkling was meant for "new chum," or some other pointed sarcasm, for it appeared to tickle the other shearers immensely. Heartily ashamed of my self I left the wool-shed in disgust, and bidding adieu to X., who tried in vain to keep me, I the same evening continued my journey westward. My first halt was made at a station which lay but a short distance fi'om the foot of the mountain range which separates the ^loreton Bay dig- trict from that of the Darling Downs, where I Avas most hospitably entertained, my host accom panying mc the following morning on my road as far as Drayton. IMMENSE RESOURCES OF QUEENSLAND. 47 It was a most deUghtful ride, and the riew as we ascended the " ranges" was truly magniflcent, extending over an immense tract of well-wooded country, which, when looked down upon, did in some degree resemble English park land. On arriving near the summit we dismounted from our horses and gazed long and admiringly on the landscape at our feet, my friend expatiating the whUe on the immense resources of the colony, and the advantages which it possessed over every other dependency of the British crown, in Ame rica or elsewhere. Not only was the soil ad mirably adapted for the production of corn, wine and oU, but for cotton, sugar, tobacco, and most of the fruits and plants indigenous to a tropical climate Ukewise. Moreton Bay wool was finer than the vaunted Saxony, her timber of the best description, nor was even coal want ing to complete the list of her natural produc tions. With a back country of immense extent, a fertUe soil, and a cUmate second to none, what, he should like to know, was there to prevent the co lony from eventually becoming the most precious jewel in the British sceptre, or her people the most prosperous in the world ? And in his dream of the future, the thinly-inhabited plain at our feet teemed with Ufe ; towns and hamlets dotted 48 CONCERNING EMIGRATIOX. the landscape in every direction ; and instead of the sombre forest were seen golden fields of waving corn. In fact, my friend was so eloquent that, for an instant, I could almost have beUeved that the parched-up country through which I had so recently travelled was, as he said, a veri table garden of Eden, and emigration to !More- ton Bay the most desirable thing in Ufe : asser tions which I, for one, regret to say I cannot now, on calm consideration, endorse. Emigration is a desperate remedy for that most desperate disease which Falstaff caUs a " consumption of the purse." If fortune refuses to smUe at home she must be wooed abroad, but she must have indeed been adverse if the exile never heave a sigh of regret when he thinks of the green lanes and pleasant homesteads of dear old England, nor desire to visit once agaiu his native land. I myself have wandered over a considerable portion of the globe, and pitched my tent on many a fair spot in both hemispheres, but there was in variably something wanting; and taking it for all, there is to my mind no place like home, nor any country in the wide world like England. Nothing amuses mc more than to read the highly-coloiu-cd descriptions given Ijy interested Avritcrs of those l'a\oured spots where they EXAGGERATED STATEMENTS. 49 themselves have found a " local habitation and a name." Not long since, I was reading a work upon Queensland, and had I not already been there, I should have secured a berth in the very first ship bound for Brisbane, so splendid was the account given of that rising colony. I could hardly credit that the author was that same straightforward conscientious man to whom I had been introduced whilst in Sydney; but he had, like many other writers, described the coun try more as he wished it to be than as it was in reality. By his account the climate is delightful, the country a garden, whUst even in the character of the aborigines themselves he finds something to praise and admire. If what he asserts be really the case, I must have been singularly un fortunate, for I found the heat intense, the country badly watered, and the aborigines the most hopelessly degraded race that it had ever been my bad fortune to meet in any part of the world. But I shaU have occasion to return to these subjects when I describe my life on the Condamine river. The town of Drayton is built at a short dis tance from the slopes of the ranges, and at an elevation of some two thousand feet above the level of the sea. Although nothing more than VOL. II. E 50 AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITY. a AoUage, it is the principal town on the northern side of the Darling Downs, and as it lies on the main road from the Upper Condamine to Ipswich, is a bustling little place in the wool season. At Drayton I took leave of my enthusiastic friend, and continued my ride alone as far as Gowrie, a station on the Downs, where I passed the night. Nothing can be more praiseworthy than the manner in which hospitality is exercised in Aus tralia. The weary traveUer rides up to the homestead, and, after tuming his horse into the paddock, walks straight up to the house, where he is certain of receiring a cordial welcome, be he friend or stranger. On many stations there is a room especiaUy set apart for such chance guests, in which three or four beds are ranged barrack-fashion against the waU; and when the homestead lies near the main road, it is a rare thing to find them aU untenanted. With two exceptions, I was always, during my wanderings in AustraUa, most kindly welcomed at every station that I risited. I found that the only difficulty was in getting away from my hospi table entertainers; for haring but recently arrived from Europe, aud being well up in all the gossip of the day, I was a welcome guest among men whose general topic of conversation, fr'om yeax"'s UNFORTUNATE BULLOCK-DRIVERS. 51 end to year's end, was of wool, woolly. Gowrie was the first downs station that I had seen, and not a little surprised was I at the prairie-like ap pearance of the country. These downs are vast plains which extend from the Condamine river eastwards to the ranges, a distance of nearly three degrees. They are the finest grazing lands in the colony, and, although well watered, are exempt from those dreadful floods which occa sionaUy devastate the less elevated districts. From Gowrie I continued my joumey to Myall Creek, and the ride was anything but a pleasant one. Not only was there a fierce Australian sun overhead, but the grass had caught fire in several places, and the heat was so intense that, as I rode across the unsheltered plain, I fairly reeled in my saddle. Although no favourites of mine, I could not help pitying the unfortunate bullock- drivers, whom I met toUing along by the side of their drays, enveloped in clouds of burning dust, which would have suffocated an English wag goner in a twinkling. The billet of bullock- driver is no sinecure. From the time he leaves the paddock-raUs to the time he re-enters them, a period of often two months, his life is one con tinued round of troubles. In summer obliged to plod his weary way amidst clouds of stifling dust, E 2 52 A ROUGH LOT OF CUSTOMERS. and to see his best buUocks drop dead by the road- side from heat and exhaustion; and in winter wading the live-long day through a sea of mud, his dray often stuck fast for hours in some hole or quagmire. Even Avhen asleep under the tilt of his dray, his mind is not at rest, for his dreams are of straying buUocks, and he often wakes up with a start to find his worst fears realized, and his beasts wandered mUes away from the camping-ground. Subjected as he is to a life of perpetual trial and hardship, that his temper should be none of the best is not surprising. He curses and swears at his buUocks in a manner truly appalling, and he is apt to grow quarrelsome on the very slightest provocation. Rum is his bane. Even with the thermometer at 90°, I have seen these men tossing down pannikin after pan nikin of stiff grog, without winking; and on more than one occasion they have wanted to pick a quaiTcl with me because I refused their proffered dram. Taking them as a class, a rougher lot of customers could not well be found, and the colony has every reason to be proud of them. With all due deference to the feelings of my Darling Downs fi'icnds, I must confess that I was truly thankful when I lost sight of the vast I COMMENCE MY BUSH EXPERIENCES. 53 smoking plains, and found myself once more in a wooded country. The downs may be admirably adapted for sheep farming, but not being a squatter myself, I prefer a less open country, and a little more variety of scenery than these downs present. On the evening of the second day after my departure from Gowrie, I safely reached my des tination on the Condamine, and my bush ex periences began in eamest. 54 CHAPTER IV. A Kangaroo Hunt — The Game in Sight — An " Old Man " in Trouble — A little too Fast — A Kaugaroo at Bay — An unfortunate Scratch — Rough Surgery — Lost in the Bush — Making " Back-tracks" — The Musquitos make a Night of it— Lost in the Bush — " Charcoal," the Model Native — Boomerang throwing — A first Introduction to au Aus tralian Scrub — The Wallaby. ¦Q HEARING not having commenced on my ^ friend's station, he proposed that the few days which remained to us before the men set to work should be devoted to kangaroo hunting ; and to this arrangement I joyfuUy consented, for I was exti'emely anxious to tay the speed of a couple of kangaroo dogs which I had purchased in Brisbane, and for which I had paid a pretty long price. Orders were therefore given to have the horses driven from the paddock into the stock-yard, and I was invited by my host, whom I will caU Mr. B., to saunter down and pick my mount for the next day's run from amongst his " mob," as he would not hear of my riding the SELECTING MOUNTS. 55 little mare which had carried me from Brisbane. His stud consisted of some fifty horses, one half of which were supposed to be in working condi tion. They were not long in driving a score of them into the stock-yard, and from the top rail of the fence we leisurely canvassed their merits, and questioned the stockman as to their fitness for a hard day's work. Many of them were suffer ing from saddle-galls, and others had but recently come off a cattle-mustering expedition, and were eridently completely done up, so that, after half an hour's weeding, there were only six horses re maining from amongst which to select a mount. One animal, a black mare of immense power, B.'s especial favourite, I particularly fancied, and picked her out for my use on the morrow, much, I fear, to my hosf s disgust. But he was too good a feUow to raise any objections, and he let me have her, selecting for himself, much to my surprise, a great ugly chestnut, with a coat on her Uke a Shetland pony's. The superintendent and stockman haring, in their tum, selected their mounts, the horses were again turned into the paddock, and we retraced our steps to the house to discuss over a glass of toddy the best means of ensuring a good day's sport, B. and the super intendent squabbUng on the subject untU ten 56 A GLORIOUS MORNING. o'clock, when we all turned in, so as to be ready for an early start in the morning. My bedroom was certainly not a luxurious apartment, al though admirably suited for an astronomer, every star in the firmament of heaven being distinctly visible through the cracks in the roughly-con structed split-cedar waUs. Not being astrono mically incUned, my AigUs were of short dura tion, and in a few minutes I was in the land of dreams, riding desperately after a mob of kan garoo Arith the field to myself, B.'s black mare having distanced the rest of the hunt in no time. I cannot now remember whether I succeeded in kUling the old man kangaroo, whose tail was the object of my ambition, before I was roused ft'om the "balmy" by B.'s deep bass voice summoning me to turn out ; but I can distinctly recoUect that I was nothing loth to change the ideal for the real, and that I was up and di'cssed in a trice. It Avas a glorious morning, and the tops of the taU gum-trees in the paddock were already gUtter ing in the golden rays of the rising sun. Hundreds of white cockatoos screamed a Avelcome to us, as laden Avitli saddle aud bridle avc Avended our Avay to the stock-yard, the laughing jackass adding his discordant notes to the general hubbub. We found the superiutcudeiit and stockman already EGOTISM OF AUSTRALIAN SQUATTERS. 57 at their posts, and in less than ten minutes we were aU in the saddle, and clear of the rails which surrounded the head station. The line of country through which our road lay was as tame and uninteresting as usual. Endless stretches of burnt-up pasturage, dotted with scraggy blue gum and iron-bark trees, which scarce threw a shadow on the burning ground, so scant and poor was their foUage ; at one moment skirting a dense scrub, impassable save to kangaroo and waUaby, and the next, perhaps, wending our way by the side of some deep, gloomy water-hole, fit habitation for those bogies so dreaded by the Australian aborigines. As we rode along, B. beguUed the time by giring me what he, no doubt, considered to be necessary instructions for the guidance of a " new chum." How I was to ride — how to bridle, saddle, hobble, feed, water and physic my horse, and myself too, L verUy believe — ^for your genuine AustraUan squatter is egotistical to a degree; no one can possibly do anything right but himself. One piece of advice which he gave me, however, ap peared sensible enough. " If ever you should happen to lose your way," he said, "halt at once ; it wUl be easier for us to find you than for you to find us." Unfortunately, I paid but 58 A MORNING AT AN OUT-STATION. little attention to his weU-meant adrice, for I likewise was particularly self-sufficient — and how I had reason to repent my perversity the sequel wUl best show. After about three hours' gentle riding we arrived at the out-station, in the ricinity of which B. had decided to hunt for kangaroo. It was not much of an estabUsh ment — little better than a hoAcl — but clean, the shepherd and his wife being both Germans. The horses were hobbled and turned out to graze. Frau .Brandt set to work to get breakfast ready ; B., Uke worthy John GUpin, haA-ing an eye to business as well as pleasure, started off Arith his superintendent to count the sheep; AvhUst I, spreading my blanket on the floor of the hut, quietly composed myself to sleep. On B.'s retum we breakfasted, and then alternately smoked, yarned, and nobble rized — and nobblerized, yarned, and smoked — untU thi-ee o'clock in the afternoon, when our leader gaA^e the signal for starting, telling the old lady to be ready to receive us and have supper ready by sun-doAvn. The after noon had turned out cloudy, which was all in our favoiu", as the kangaroo would the sooner leave the dense scrub Avhere they had taken shelter from the noon-day heat, and again com mence feeding in the open. We had Aa'c dogs — A KANGAROO HUNT. 59 three belonging to the station, and my couple — aU well bred and up to their work, combining the fleetness of the greyhound with the tenacity and endurance of the sleuth-hound. We had ridden a couple of miles or more, and were skirt ing a dense scrub, to the right of which lay a long stretch of open country, when we suddenly heard the heavy thud, thud of kangaroo tails, and in another minute we came in view of the whole mob making tracks at full speed across the plain. The dogs caught sight of the game and were off at once, and B., Avith a loud coo-ey, ripping the spurs into his chestnut, gaUoped away in fuU pursuit — a lead which we were none of us long in foUowing. And now for the first time I could feel the mare under me, and I was not disappointed in her, her long, easy stride being perfection itself. The kangaroo had a good start, and for the first half mUe the dogs did not appear to gain much on the mob. B. and myself rode together for some time, the ugly chestnut going in a style which I had little expected from her appearance. But the pace was kiUing, and the plain over which the " old man" was leading us, more than a mile across. Another half mUe, and a great change had taken place in our rela tive positions. B.'s weight beginning to tell on CA) AN " OLD man" in TROUBLE. the mare, she graduaUy dropped astern, and the superintendent on his grey coming up with a rush, was soon in his place, eridently bent on being first in at the death, if a light weight and good riding could accomplish it. The dogs, aU Avell together, were now close on to the mob, Avhich consisted of the old man and three others. Another minute, and the unfortunate lady who brought up the rear would in aU probabUity have been turned over, when the whole lot suddenly broke, one going away to the right and two to the left, the old man alone keeping steadUy along Arith aU the dogs after him. Although I pitied the poor old fellow, I could not help laughing at the extraordinary figure he cut, as Arith tremen dous bounds and an occasional sly peep over his shoulder to see how things were progressing be hind, he made one last desperate effort to gain a clump of trees which were uoav but a short quarter of a mile in front of him, calculating no doubt that they Avould proA-e a haAcn of safety. Less and less grew the distance between the dogs and himself, but he did succeed iu gaining the timber, and I then thought it time to caU upon the marc — a call to which she responded in gal lant style, shooting aAvay fi'om the grey like a rocket. In an instant I A>'as close alongside the A STIFF COUNTRY. 61 dogs, and not more than a dozen yards from the old gentleman himself, of whose tail I had already begun to concoct imaginary soup — when thud, thud, thud, away burst another mob of kangaroo right in front of us, and after these my dogs and one of B.'s immediately broke off, leaving the other two to settle Avith the old man at their leisure. I could not of course let my dogs hunt by themselves so with a hearty malediction at my bad luck, I puUed the mare's head round and kept away after the interlopers. I soon found that I was in a very different sort of country to that which I had just left. The timber lay rather too close to be pleasant, and it required some steering to keep clear of trunk and branch. Fallen trees there were in abundance, some of them ugly enough for a new chum to ride over, but evidently old friends of the mare's, for she took them in her stride without effort. Seeing that she was well up to her work, I determined to let her have her head, and soon found that it was a move in the right direction, for we shortly afterwards came up vrith the dogs, which I had lost sight of for some minutes. The country became more and more broken as we advanced, and a couple of dried-up watercourses, which 62 A " SMART touch" WITH THE SPUR. the mare took upon her oAvn responsibility, I should most positively have declined crossing, had my blood been cooler. The pace was nothing like so severe as at starting, the dogs beginning at length to feel the broken ground and the effects of a double run. However, they kept along gamely, I shouting and yelling at them, untU the mare put a stop to my music by getting her foot in a hole, and coming doAvn Arith a force that sent me flying out of the saddle. Luckily she was uninjured and I only a little shaken, but it was a couple of minutes before Icould "pick myself up" and manage to get into the saddle again. The delay had throAvn me a long distance in the rear, so I gave her ladyship a smart touch Arith the spurs, just to waken her up a Uttle; but never in my life had I greater reason to regi'et such a proceeding, for she no sooner felt the rowels than Arith a snort of rage she gave one spring which nearly sent me flying, and, Arith the bit between her teeth, stai'ted fuU tear after the dogs, I endeavouring in vain to hold her. To the day of my death shall I ever forget that ride ? The mare Avas perfectly frantic, and all I could do Avas to stick to the pigskin, and pray fervently that she might break down or come to grief somehow or another, for I had lost all fear THE BLACK MARE RUNS AWAY. 63 of B.'s displeasm'e, and heartily Arished the brute in the infernal regions. My prayers as usual did not " eome off." She had the endurance of an Arab, the wind of a deerhound, and the temper of the devil. Her pace seemed to increase rather than slacken, and from sheer devilment she picked out the very ugliest places over a country by no means easy to ride over at the best of times. Now she would be topping a faUen gum- tree, now clearing by a few inches some yawning hole or gully, the very look of which was enough to take away one's breath and make one close one's eyes involuntarUy. How long this pleasant state of things eontinued I am perfectly unable to say. To me it appeared hours, days, weeks, months, years — a whole lifetime — con densed into a few minutes. But as the longest night must have a morning, so at length the mare bethought herself that she had nearly had enough, and again settled doAra. into a quiet canter. It was some minutes before I could regain sufficient composure to look about me, and when I did do so, I was as ignorant of my whereabouts as new chums generaUy are. It was an open piece of ground not far from a water-hole, and I at once saw that the mare must have covered a considerable distance during •64 A KANGAROO AT BAY. her run, for we were again close to the dogs, which now, thoroughly beaten, were only just able to crawl along after a booming old man kangaroo, who, in not much better pUght, was heading direct for the water-hole. This was in deed a most unexpected piece of good luck, and for a moment my spirits were raised higher than ever, only to faU the next hopelessly below zero. As the kangaroo reached the pool he stopped, and turning his back to the water, resolutely faced his pursuers. My best dog, " Tige," was the first up, and finding that he could not get at the old man's taU, he at once sprang at his throat. But he paid dearly for his temerity, for before I could dismount he lay bleeding on the ground, his body ripped open by the sharp claw of his des perate enemy. The whole thing took place in less time than I have taken to describe it. ThroAring myself from the mare, I Arith one blow of my loaded riding-Avhip stretched the old rascal on the turf, aud my vengeance being satiated, I next proceeded to examine poor old Tige. He Avas in a sad state, beiug ripped from the tlu-oat downA\ards ; but the cut was not so deep as I had at first feared, and the > itals Avere uninjured. I am sure 1 felt almost as bad as he did, poor felloAV I Avhen looking piteously into my face. ROUGH SURGERY. 65 he seemed to beg of me to do something for his relief, although Avhat that something was to be I knew not. I had neither needle nor thread, and could not therefore scav him up. He would not bear removing, and by the time I coidd send assistance, he would in all probability be dead. Much as he had cost me, I would willingly have given twice the amount to have seen him once again as sound as when we had left the station in the morning. There was, however, no time to be lost, if I Arished to save his life. Neces sity is the mother of invention ; and it suddenly struck me, that Arith the pricker- out of my hunting- knife and narrow strips of handlcerchief, I might possibly be able to fasten him up and keep the Ufe in him untU I could have him doctored in a more scientific manner. I at once pro ceeded to put the idea into execution. Begin ning at the throat, therefore, I made incisions on either side of the wound, at intervals of about an inch, and through these I passed a narrow strip of handkerchief, drawing the skin together as I proceeded, thus lacing him up as if he had been a Balmoral boot. Never having been a student at " Guy's," I fear I made a sad bungle of it, and the poor brute must have suffered tortures. But he evidently knew that it was all VOL. II. F 66 LOST IN THE BUSH. for his good, and he never whined nor attempted to bite during the entire operation. The lacing accomplished, I pounded some wet grass, which I bound to the wound with my necktie ; and after making the sufferer a bough-hut close to the water, I again turned my eyes in the direction of the spot where the dogs were Ucking the blood from the body of the dead kangaroo. He was a splendid feUow, and had a taU of tremendous calibre. To cut off this appendage was my next move ; haring possessed myself of which trophy, I put some slices of the flesh before Tige, and remounting the mare, endeavoured to make " back-tracks," being anxious to reach the hut before sundown. I soon found out, however, that in Australia back-tracks were not so easily made as I had imagined. I rode and rode and rode, and the more I advanced the more per plexed and uncertain I became as to the direction of the hut. The evening wore rapidly away, and when the sun Avcnt down, I was no nearer to my destination than when I started. There Avas no alternative but to camp ; so haAdng hob bled the mare and giA'en the dogs some kangaroo meat, I placed my saddle against a tree and en deavoured to compose myself to sleep. Sleep, indeed ! I might as avcU have tried to sleep on A DISMAL NIGHT. 67 the rack. I was in the vicinity of a water-hole, and entire brigades of mosquitoes kept charging at me Arith a vindictiveness truly diabolical. I had not the means of Ughting a fire, and the hand kerchiefs with whieh I might in a measure have screened myself from their attacks, were encasing the carcass of poor " Tige." In sheer despair I took off my coat and Avrapped it round my head ; but after enduring half an hour's semi-suffocation, I was obliged to throw it off again, and keep my enemies at bay by waving the branch of a tree, punkah fashion, in front of me. For a couple of hours or more I kept on at this lively work, anathematizing the colony and everything belong ing to it in the most bitter spirit, until through sheer exhaustion I dropped my fan and fell asleep. My slumbers were not peaceful by any means, and every few minutes I would awake vrith a start. At one moment I would dream that some huge snake was dragging his slimy length across my body, and the perspiration would start from every pore, and my heart cease to beat, for I had in those days a mortal dread of aU such reptiles, and my head was fiUed vrith the most horrible snake stories. Recovered in some degree from my fright, I Avould dream the next moment that the mare had strayed, and F 2 68 HOURS OE DESPAIR. that I was alone in the bush without the means of extricating myself from my dreadful position. And so the night wore away, and the gray light of morning found me htmgry, unrefreshed, dis pirited, in total ignorance of my locality, and of the course T ought to steer to regain the station. After bathing my temples in the tepid waters of the pool, I had a search for the mare ; but no mare was to be found. So caUing the dogs I started off in the direction in which I had last seen her the prcA'ious night : and in that blessed direction I wandered and wandered and wan dered, untU the great red sun was high in the heavens, and the heat became so intense that I was fain to lay me doAvn at intervals and gasp for breath on the burning gi-ound. But why recapitulate the events of that miserable day? How I endeavoured to retrace my steps to the spot where I had left my saddle, and signally faUed, only getting more hopelessly lost than ever in the attempt; how, in my gi-eat thigh boots, I toUed along hour after hotu- over the arid, burnt-up plain, until the very dogs could go no further, and yet I dragged my weai-y blistered feet along, goaded ouAvards by the energy of despair ; how at length, utterly exhausted, I sank at the foot of a gum-tree and gave myself tip all's well THAT ENDS WELL. 69 for lost, the laughing jackass shrieking my requiem amongst the branches overhead; how, as the sun went down, I fell into a feverish sleep, from which I was aroused by the bleating of sheep ; how I succeeded in finding the shep herd in whose hut I passed the night ; and hoAV I was conducted the next morning Avith sadly draggled plumes to the station; — is not the whole story too painful to be told at length ? B. had, I found, sent off the superintendent and a couple of black boys in quest of me, and the same evening they made their appearance (having heard from the shepherd of my safety), bringing vrith them the mare, who looked none the worse I was thankful to see, my saddle, the dogs, and the kangaroo-taU. I was somewhat consoled for the hardships I had undergone when they assured me that the said tail was one of the largest ever taken in the district, and weU worthy of being preserved as a trophy. It stdl adorns the den where I keep my " curios," and whenever I teU my friends the story of my first kangaroo-hunt, I invariably point to it Arith con siderable pride and satisfaction. Having had quite sufficient kangaroo-hunting to last me for some time, I thought I might as weU try what other sport the bush afforded, and I therefore asked 70 MASTER CHARCOAL. B. to let me haA'c one of his black boys as a guide, being determined not to lose myself a second time through ignorance of the " lay" of the country. A young native AA-ho gloried in the name of " Charcoal," was accordingly handed over to me, to act in the double capacity of guide and beater ; and in his amiable society I one moming set off for a certain scrub, where he assured me " chucky- chucky" (the so-caUed AvUd turkeys), wonga- wonga, pigeons, and waUabies were to be found in any numbers. Master Charcoal was Arithout exception the most inteUigent native that I met vrith during my residence in AustraUa. He spoke a little English, and was a great favomite of B.'s, who considered him a great acquisition to the station. No one could foUow up a trail in the dark, nor find a lost buUock like him ; and on cattle-mustering expeditions. Charcoal's adA"ice would be taken in preference to that of either the superintendent or stockmau. His faUings were few. UnUlve the majority of his kindred he seldom got drunk ; and if he had a weakness it was for silk handkerchiefs, uot that he might therewith adorn his portly person, but to teai* up into " crackers" for his stock-whip, in the use of Avliich he Avas an adept. It Avas most amusing to watch the way in Avhich Charcoal's eyes kept SHARP EYES AND DEXTEROUS HANDS. 71 on the move as he walked along. Nothing seemed to escape his notice. The slightest scratch on the bark of a gum-tree was sufficient to convince him that an opossum lay concealed in some hole amongst its branches ; and as the bees flitted past, his quick eye would foUow them to their lurking-place, arrived at which he would point upwards and say, " Sugar-bag in that waddy, guVnor," (Honey-comb in that tree, governor) — and sugar-bag there was certain to be. Once he suddenly stopped, and threw a short stick (waddy) which he carried with tremendous force at a tree which stood at some fifteen paces. distance. But it was only when a large iguana dropped on the ground that I discovered at what he had aimed, for to my inexperienced eyes, the reptUe appeared to be part and portion of the branch on which it lay. Dependent as these blacks in a great measure are on their eyesight for their daUy food, that they should be so observant is perhaps only natural, but the dexterous way in which they throw a stick, spear^ or boomerang, is wonderful to behold. With both waddy and boomerang Charcoal was an expert. With the former his aim was, I may say, unerring, and as a boomerang-thrower I never saw his equal. Taking half a dozen short I'Z THE BOOMERANG. quick steps he Avould, with a sudden turn of his powerful arm and A^Tist, send it skimming along the ground for some distance, when it would take an upward direction, and soar away tUl it became a mere speck in the distance. For an instant it would seem to hover in the air like a hawk about to swoop upon its prey, and then it coidd be seen returning on its marveUous backward course with greater velocity than ever, untU it would at length strike the ground a few yards from the spot it had grazed on starting. It was a very pretty sight to see Charcoal throAving the boome rang, but I used always to watch him from behind a tree, for it is a dangerous sport, and a man may get seriously hurt when he least expects it, the boomerang being rather uncertain in its movements, often striking where least ex pected. I believe the boomerang is the sole invention to which the aborigines can lay any claim, and a most extraordinaiy one it is too, although it ccrtaiuly has neither utility nor beauty to recommend it. After two hours' hard walking we reached the scrub, into Avhicli Charcoal at once plunged, beckoning me to follow him. This Avas by no means au easy task, for, uot only had I to force ray Avay through the dense underbrush, but my IN AN AUSTRALIAN SCRUB. 73 advance was still further checked by the parasi tical plants and orchids, which trailed along the ground or hung in festoons from tree to tree. It was my first introduction to an Australian scrub, and, after my recent experiences, I could not help shuddering when I thought of what my fate would in all probability be were I separated from my guide, and left to find my oavu way out of that gloomy jungle. Unmindful of scratches, bruises, and tumbles innumerable, I made the most desperate efforts to keep up vrith the black, who stealthily crept along, now scanning the branches overhead for wUd turkey, now peering from behind some tree and listening with neck outstretched for the sUghtest sound which might denote the presence of larger game. We kept . along in this way for a quarter of an hour or so, the scrub getting more and more tangled as we advanced, untU all at once Charcoal came to a dead point, and motioning me Avith his hand, said " Wallaby." Cocking my gun, I crept up to the spot Avhere he stood, and strained my eyes in the direction to which he pointed, but nothing could I see save a huge bottle-tree and the same eternal myaU thickets as before. Noiselessly he advanced a pace or two, and pointing again in the same direction, whispered, " Bale you see 74 THE WALLABY. that feUow now ?" (Can't you see that fellow now ?) No, I was blessed if I could ; so I was obliged to answer, " Bale me see him ;" and another advance would be made, and the same pantomime repeated, untU I saw something make a spring from behind the bottle-tree and disap pear in the thicket beyond. It was the waUaby ; but he was too quick for me, and managed to make good his escape, much to Charcoal's dis gust, who eridently regarded me as a new chum of the very greenest description. Three times did Charcoal point, and three times did I fail to catch sight of the game until it was too late. But my eyes grcAV at length either sharper or more accustomed to the gloom of the scrub, for the fourth point was a successful one, as I succeeded in tumbUng over a fine waUaby before he had time to make more than a couple of springs from the spot where he had been caught napping. In the marsupial fainily of Australia, the wallaby ranks next to the kangaroo, being considerably larger than the paddy-mellon, which in its turn is larger than the kangaroo-rat, the smallest of the species. Its flesh is considered a great delicacy by the natives, but for my oavu pai-t I prefer that of the kangaroo, especially the taU, which, when converted into soup, is .ibout the best dish A GOOD DAY S SPORT. 7d one tastes in the bush, and worthy of the table of a LucuUus. After hiding the wallaby. Char coal kept along as before, and a better broken pointer I never foUowed. Game was plentiful, and in two hours' time 1 had bagged three wild turkeys, a couple of wallabies, and a paddy-mellon — but this did not satisfy Charcoal. I had ex pressed a vrish to kiU some wonga-wonga pigeons, and as plenty of those birds were to be found, he assured me, on the edge of the scrub, we made " back-tracks," and soon arrived at the very spot where the iguana had been killed a couple of hours before, for the Australian black can strike a " bee-line'' through the densest myall thicket vrith the most marvellous precision, without haAring either sun or compass to direct his course. The birds were not so plentiful as Charcoal had predicted, but before we tm'ued our faces home ward, I had added both a wonga-wonga and a bronze pigeon to the bag, besides several brace of quaU, which I found among the long dry grass. B. was greatly surprised at what he called my " luck," for, like most squatters, he was not much of a sportsman, his shooting experience being con fined to an occasional crack at a cockatoo in the paddock, or a pot-shot at the ducks, as they came lazUy floating doAvn the waters of the Condamine. 76 THE CONTENTS OF MY GAME-BAG. He agreed with me, however, that any kind of game was preferable to the eternal beef and mutton which graced his table, and he gladly consented to my becoming forthwith " grand veneur" to the establishment, with Charcoal as head gamekeeper ; and " grand veneur" I ac cordingly became. It would have made an English sportsman open his eyes to have seen Charcoal sorting the contents of our bag on our return to the station after a day's shooting in the bush, for our " game" was of the most non descript character. Not only would there be the legitimate game of the district, consisting of various species of duck, pigeon, quad, &c., which had faUen to my gun, but the iguanas, possums, and paddy-meUons, which had been knocked over by the Avaddy of that practised marksman. Charcoal ; besides several specimens of snakes and gaudy-plumaged birds, which I was always going to preserve, but never did. \ kangaroo's tail would likcA^ise not tmfi'eqnently be found amongst the spoU, or, perhaps, a mullet, Avhich my guide had caught in an adjacent creek, Avlulst I Avas taldng my mid-day siesta. For ray OAVU part, I had no reason to complain of the scarcity of game in the bush. That there is a fair amount of sport to bc had iu A day's SHOOTING IN AUSTRALIA. 77 Australia I am perfectly ready to own, but whether many men could be found who would be AvUling to walk for six or eight hours a day under a burning sun, or tear through the dense myall scrubs in search of it, is a point upon Avhich I am by no means so confident; nor would I adrise any one to attempt it, unless indeed he should happen to be a half-bred salamander, with a cuticle as tough as a rhino ceros-hide. 78 CHAPTER V. The Author turns Man-of-all-Work — Sheep-shearing — A Cattle-mustering Expedition — A Shepherd's Hut in the Bush — A sad, true Narrative — ^Night Hunting for Bush Cattle — A Moonlight Scene — Draughting Cattle at a Stockyard — Stockmen at Loggerheads — Xens of an old Acquaintance — The Squatters and the Aborigines — A few Words on Extermination — A liberal Offer — Sheep-fann ing in Australia — Purchasing an improved Station — Certain Drawbacks on Pastoral Happiness — Selecting a " Run" — Establishing a Head Station — A dismal Life. TT must not be imagined that because I was -¦- game-purveyor to the station I did nothing but scour the countiy from moming tiU night, with Charcoal at my heels instead of a retriever. Far from it. On an-iving at the station I had particularly requested B. to have no scruples in turning my senices to account, as I desired to make myself useftd, and see Arith my own eyes how things Avcre managed in the bush. This he faithfully promised to do, and when sheep- shearing commenced, I hung up my gun on the rack, and became the factotum or loblolly-boy of the establishment. AA'hat kind of Avork was THE AUTHOR TURNS MAN-OF-ALL-WORK. 79 there, I should like to know, at which I did not try my hand during the four months that I re mained on his station ? Echo answers, " What ?" I began my noviciate with sheep-washing, and for six mortal hours I remained up to the hips in water, rubbing away at the dirty fleeces until my arms ached again, and my legs became so cramped that I was hardly able to move. One day's experience at the washing-hole was quite sufficient for me, so I was, at my especial request, transferred to the wool-shed, where I was employed pretty much in the same manner as I had been the day I passed at the station of my friend X. I rolled fleeces, helped to pack and mark the bales, counted the sheep, carried the tar-bucket to the shearers, and under B.'s superintendence made myself generally useful. I was rewarded for my diligence by being aUowed to shear an odd sheep whenever my serrices were not in demand; and although I caimot boast that I became a fast shearer, I may safely say that, before I left the station, I could take off a fleece vrithout flaying the unfortunate sheep at the same time, and could account satis factorUy for a score of tough-coated wethers a day, which was not bad work for a new chum. The station was a large one, and some weeks 80 PREPARATIONS FOR A CATTLE-MUSTERING. elapsed before the clip was safely stored in the wool-shed ready for transportation to Brisbane. But at length the last bale was numbered, and marked with my host's hieroglyphics, and then, and not till then, was I at liberty to tum my attention to other pursuits more in accordance with my temperament than the monotonous labours of the wool-shed. At the time of which I am Avriting there were supposed to be upwards of three thousand head of cattle on B.'s run, most of them in a perfectly wild state ; and as it was considered desirable to thin their ranks a little, no sooner was shearing over than the order was given to make prepara tions for a grand cattle-mustering expedition, the moon being then neaidy at the ftdl. This was just what I had been waiting for. I had heard so much said about the excitement attendant upon a moonlight ride after AvUd cattle, that I was extremely desu-ous to make one of a muster- ing-party, and it was solely that I might enjoy this essentially Australian sport in perfection that I had prolonged my A-isit on B.'s station. The order once given, no time was lost in getting ready for a start, aud for cight-aud-forty hours great Ava.s the noise and bustle iu the vicinity of the stockyaid aud paddocks. The horses, look- THE MISERIES OF TAILING CATTLE. 81 ing all the better for their month's rest, were driven in, the " quiet mob" of cattle draughted, and aU the available hands on the station mus tered to take a part in the proceedings, for on these expeditions no man who can sit a horse is aUowed to remain behind on any pretext what soever. Charcoal and the other black boys were in high feather, the demand for sUk handkerchiefs was incessant, and the noise of stock-whips was heard from morning tiU night. At length aU was ready, and one fine morning eleven of us rode through the paddock raUs, driving the " quiet mob," consisting of some forty head of cattle, which had been herded — or, in bush par lance, " tailed" — in front of us. We were bound for an out-station, distant about twelve miles from head-quarters, in the ricinity of which large herds " were knoAvn to be pasturing. We pro gressed but slowly, for having a long night's work before us, it was desirable that the cattle should be kept as fresh as possible, and they were therefore allowed to graze as they went along. TaiUng cattle is dull, tiresome work, on a sultry day more especially, and I soon began to wish the " quiet mob" in Tophet, and myself back again at the station. Not only was I choked and blinded by the clouds of dust raised by the herd as VOL. II. G 82 A shepherd's hut in THE BUSH. they wended their weary way across the bumt- up plains, but the most intolerable thirst was added to my Ust of grievances ; and, as is usual in AustraUa, no creeks or water-holes lay in our Une of march. So I had to sit quietly on my stock- horse, and content myself by alternately anathe matizing the colony, and administering ricious cuts vrith my stock-whip to any unhappy bullock which I saw attempting to struggle from the herd until the long-looked-for hut hove in sight. It was a miserable hovel, as shepherds' huts usuaUy are in the colony, being buUt of rough slabs, and roofed with " staingy bark," or some other AustraUan substitute for slates and shingles. The door was hung in its place by strips of green hide, and the furniture was made of slabs of stringy bark, ornamented Arith the same useful material — green hide and stringy bark, stringy bark and green hide in aU directions — carrying out the bush saying, that " were it not for stringy bark and gi'een hide, the colony would go to the devU in no time." The place was aUve Arith fleas, and the hut-keeper with out exception the most vrretched being that I had encountered since my ai'rival in Australia. He belonged to that class of which I have already made mention, the " pariahs of London * A SAD, TRUE NARRATIVE. 83 society;" and when I heard his sad story, I could not help pitying the poor fellow from the bottom of my heart. It was not an uncommon one by any means. He had been a lieutenant in a dragoon regiment in which play ran high, and in a short time he had managed to get him self hopelessly involved. His father, a second. Brutus by his account, had, immediately upou- hearing of his pecuniary difficulties, paid his debts of honour, and packed him off vrith two hundred pounds in his pocket' to Australia, vrith a parting vrish that he might never behold his face again. Arrived in Melbourne he had, he said, first tried his luck at the diggings. But his strength was not equal to the work ; and, his funds exhausted, he had been obliged to act in the capacity of tent-keeper and cook to a party of brutal ruffians, whose chief amusement con sisted in kicking him whenever they had a leisure moment. After enduring their ill-treatment. untu his body was one mass of bruises, he- thought it high time to skedaddle, and one fine moming left the tent to take care of itself, and made back-tracks to Melbourne in the hopes of being able to find employment as clerk in a store or office. But his education had not quali fied him for a seat at a desk, and he had gained. G 2 54 THE ONE TRUE FRIEND. his bread for some weeks by breaking stones on the Melbourne and St. KUda road. From Mel bourne he had found his way to Sydney — where he had fallen in with B., Avho engaged him as shepherd, and paid his fare to Brisbane, and for some months he had been stationed at the hut where I found him. The tears trickled down the poor feUoAv's cheeks as he touchingly described to me the dreadful Ufe he was forced to lead in the bush. The fearful loneUness of his existence was, he said, driring him mad, and I could well believe it. No one to speak to, except when the superintendent came to count the sheep, or the heavy German shepherd re turned Arith his flock at stmdoAvn, and handed it over to him to guard dui-ing the night. Alone always — alone Arith his bitter thoughts. No books, no papers, nothing to console him but his pipe, that true fi-iend in time of trouble, and his mother's letters. The only true friend he had left in the world, he said, was his mother. Slie, woman-like, loved him afl the better in his adversity, and wrote him cheering letters from time to time, enclosing whatever money she had been able to scrape together Avithout his father's know ledge. Fi-oin a greasy old pocket-book, which he carried in the breast of his jumper, he ex- TEAR-BLOTTED LETTERS. 85 tracted a packet of these tear-blotted letters, which had been thumbed until they had become nearly iUegible, and read me portions of their contents. Sad and dreary as was the poor feUow's lot, I almost euAaed him as I listened to those fond outpourings of a mother's heart. No cruel reproaches — no ill-timed adrice — nothing but the most tender soUcitude for his present welfare and hopeful auguries for the future. Solomon must surely have felt like my poor friend when he said, " As cold water to a thirsty soul, so IS good news from a far country." No one could help taking an interest in the un happy son of such a mother, and before I left him I promised to speak to B. in his behalf, and see whether I could not find him some em ployment on the station, a little liveUer than that of hut-keeper to a German shepherd. We remained quietly at the hut until the sun was low in the heavens, when our march was resumed, and an hour's riding brought us to the edge of the plain where we hoped to faU in with the wild cattle. Here we all dismounted, the quiet mob being allowed to wander onwards by themselves, whUst the black boys kept a sharp look-out for the wild herd which was momen- tarUy expected to make its appearance. The '86 WE ENCOUNTER THE WILD CATTLE. greatest silence prevaUed, for AvUd cattle have sharp ears, and a night's work has been often lost by the inadvertent cracking of a stock-whip. Our patience, however, was not put to a very severe test, for, at the expiration of half an hour. Charcoal came to teU us that the Arild cattle had emerged from ' the scrub, and were rapidly approaching the spot where our quiet mob was grazing. There was not a moment to be lost; girths were tightened, horses mounted, stock whips grasped, and diAdding ourselves into two parties, one of which went to the right, and the other to the left, we skirted the plain so as to ^et between the scrub and the Arild herd without being seen by any wary buU of an inqturing disposition. After a quarter of an hour's steady riding, we met the other party, and the AvUd cattle being now between us and the quiet mob, one half of our task was completed. And now came the exciting part of the business. Away we all went with a rush ; but before wc had covered a hundred yards of ground, our presence was discovered by the sentinels of the herd, and in a tAvinkling the entire mob Avas scouring across the plain with a speed of which I had thought them incapable. But their pace soon sladvcncdj and before thev had succeeded in EXCITING WORK. 87 gaining the forest on the further side of the plain, we were upon them ; and, after a little trouble, they were headed in the direction of the quiet mob, which was noAV pretty well in the centre of the open. The noise was tremendous ; the rush of the cattle sounded like the charge of a body of cavalry, whUst the ear was deafened by the incessant cracking of stock-whips, the yeUs of the black boys, and the hoarse shouts and curses of the more civUized members of the party. Most desperate but futile were the attempts made by these bush cattle to regain the scrub which they had so recently quitted in happy ignorance of their impending fate. Whenever a beast tried to break away from the herd, he was at once headed off by the nearest horseman, and run back again, his hide seamed vrith many a cut from the terrible lash of the stock-whip. The entire lot were soon run into the ranks of the quiet mob, amongst which they became inextricably mingled, and after half an hour's delay, to give them a chance of becoming familiarized with the new state of things, we continued our onward march, driving the com bined herds, which now consisted of some hun dred and fifty head, in front of us, for our night's work was hardly commenced, B. haring made 88 THE MAGIC OF MOONLIGHT. up his mind not to make back-tracks untU four hundred beasts had been mustered. Although our advance was made in the most cautious manner, some of us riding in the rear, and others on the flanks of the herd, buUocks were continually breaking away, and not a few of them succeeded in effecting their escape in spite of all we could do to prevent them. Being a norice at night-hunting, I was stationed in the rear, my share in the proceedings being confined to urging forward the stragglers or administering an admonitoiy cut to any buUock which I thought had an eye to a charge in my direction. The moon had now risen, and seen by her soft mellow light, the open forest presented a totaUy different appearance to Avhat it had done in the glare of day. The herbage no longer looked brown and withered, and the sad-coloured foUage of the gum-trees gUttered like sUAcr when seen from a distance. The di-eary scrubs had been transformed, as if by the wand of the enchanter, into vast plantations of latu'cl and arbutus, the muddy Avater-holes into peUucid lakes, and Avere it not for the dusky faces ai-ound me, I might have fancied myself retransported to some noble domain in the old countiy. After the glare aud heat of the day, the cool RECONNOITERING. 89 night- wind was most deUghtfuUy refreshing, and I soon got rid of that drowsiness with which I had been so nearly overcome at first starting. Not a sound was heard but the mournful lowing of the captive herd, or the dis tant roar of some restless buU, for B. enforced the strictest sUence, and woe to the unfortunate individual whom he caught speaking above a whisper. Suddenly we came to a halt. The black boys dismounted and examined the ground, and, after a short consultation, it was decided that four of the party should be left in charge of the herd, whilst the rest of us reconnoitered the adjacent glades for the wild cattle which, from the fresh footprints in every direction, were knoAvn to be not far distant. B. haring given a reluctant consent to my making one of the advance party, off we set, the black boys leading, as they generally do on such occasions, their quick eyes enabling them to keep the trail with out dismounting from their horses. They struck a pretty direct course, stopping every now and then to exchange a hurried word with B., or Usten for an instant to the belloAring of the bulls of the herd, until a smaU clump of trees was aU that separated us from the unsuspecting beasts whose forms I could see through the intervemng 90 A KNOWING OLD STOCK-HORSE. branches as they leisurely wandered on. After a whispered word of advice from B., who told me to keep close to him and give the bulls a Aride berth, the signal was made to be off, and in another instant we were right in the centre of the herd, which, taken completely by surprise, dirided into two bodies, one going to the right and the other to the left — a move which we at once followed by opening out from the centre and wheeling from both flanks, hke old troopers. We had about a hundred head in the division to which I was attached, and a AvUder lot could not, I am sure, haA'e been found in the district. It was as much as I could do to keep up Arith them, for they went off at score, and doubled in and out of the timber in a manner which, had I been less wcU mounted, would speedUy have be- AvUdered a green hand like myself. But the old stock-horse which B. had taken the precau tion to select for my use, was altogether too knowing a customer to be outAritted by a lot of bullocks, aud he doubled and wheeled of his oavu accord in a way which soon conrinced me that my Avisest plan was to give him his head, and trust myself entirely to his superior sagacity. The Australians are not very far Avrong when they assert that a smart gallop after wild cattle THE DANGERS OF THE CHASE. 91 through the moonlit forest is, without exception, the most exciting sport that can be enjoyed, in the colony or elsewhere ; and they might add dangerous besides, especially for a new chum. The shadows thrown by the moon's uncertain Ught are most deceptive. To judge distance with any correctness is impossible ; and one's only chance is to stick closely to the pigskin, and leave the rest, as I did, to my horse. But there are other dangers to be guarded against besides un expected leaps, turns, and halts on the part of the horse. As one tears along through the tim ber in pursuit, bare treacherous branches often come into disagreeable proximity to one's head ; bulls have an ugly way of charging when least expected ; and before now many a poor feUow has been killed by coming in contact with an over hanging bough, aud scores of horses irreparably injured by the horns of these same wUd cattle. In the hot excitement of the chase the danger is forgotten, and bushmen wiU ride at night, over the most broken country, at a pace that would make even a Galway man stare. I know that as I dashed after the flying herd, aU B.'s adrice was for the second time forgotten, and I rode as if a broken neck was a matter of the very sUghtest consequence. It was a glorious sight to 92 A TREMENDOUS COLLISION. see those hundred wild cattle, vrith tails erect, scouring through the open forest, their sleek parti-coloured hides glistening in the clear moon light. Hid from our riew for an instant by a cloud of dust, or a belt of timber, they would wheel rapidly round and endeavour to escape us by a flank retreat, or some other such crafty manoeuvre. But our stock-horses were up to all their Uttle dodges. They would turn at fuU gaUop, as if on a pivot, and be on the flanks of the herd again in a tAvinkUng. Once or tArice a savage old buU made a charge in my direction, but my steed was always ready for him. He would swerve just at the right instant, and a smart cut with my stock-whip would send blaster Toro beUoAring back amongst his mates again. After a quarter of an hour's haid riding, during which space I was within an ace of being unseated at least a score of times, we succeeded in heading the beasts back again, and hardly was this effected Avhen a cloud of dust ou om- right warned us that the other portion of the mob was coming full tilt in our direction. I had only just time to save myself, Avlien both bodies came into col lision vrith a force that put a sudden stop to the stampede, and afforded us the opportunity of breathing our horses previous to making a fi-esh THE RESULT OF OUR NIGHt's LABOUR. 93 start. A messenger having been despatched to apprise the herders of our whereabouts, we formed a cordon round the surging mass, and sat patiently awaiting the moment when the mob, haring recovered from the confusion into which they had been thrown, should take it into their heads to make another rush. Luckily for us, however, the smart run had taken all the fight out of them, and they delayed making the attempt until it was too late. After ten minutes of anxious suspense, the other herd was seen slowly approaching, the cordon was withdrawn, there was a short gallop, another coUision, and three hundred head of cattle were mustered into one compact body. It would have been weU if B. had been con tent Arith a fair share of success, and had consented to return quietly to the station Arith those three hundred beasts. But no ; he would persist in keeping on, and the consequence Avas that, in our subsequent attempt, we not only faded to increase the mob, but managed to lose a hundred head of those we had already mustered, so that, when we arrived at the stock-yard the next morning, two hundred beasts were aU that we could show as the result of our night's labour. I was weU nigh exhausted, and during the ride homewards more 94 DRAUGHTING AT THE STOCK-YARD. than once fell asleep in my saddle. But there Avas not much rest for me. The next night we were out again ; and three hundred head having been mustered, the work of draughting commenced at the stock-yard. On large cattle stations periodical draughtings are absolutely necessary. There being no fences to diride one run from another, beasts from half a dozen different stations are frequently found in one herd — " strangers " — whose presence it is desirable to get rid of, as they cannot be pounded by the squatter on whose land they stray. Besides these interlopers, there are alA^ays a number of young unmarked beasts to be branded — prime fat ones to be selected for the " pots " or for despatch to the nearest market, and medium ditto for home consumption — so that there is plenty of work for all hands in and around the stock-yard whilst the draught is in progress. Stockmen from aU the adjoining stations are there, looking after their masters' interests, aud a consiil erable amount of squabbling and SAveai-ing is pretty siu-e to take place. Seated on the top rail of the fence, in company Avith half a dozen of the amiable stockmen afore said, I quietly Avatched the proceedings. A heaAy cloud of dust hung over the stock-yard, in which charcoal's agility. 95 four hundred hot panting beasts were rushing franticaUy about, goaded almost to madness by the noise and hubbub around them. The main yard was separated from the smaller or draughting- yard by a heavy gate, at which, armed with a for midable goad, was stationed the hawk-eyed Char coal, to whom had been assigned the dangerous post of draughter. On either side of this draught- ing-yard were gates leading into two smalle/yards, one of which was to receive the strangers and herders, and the other the young beasts that had to be branded; and at each of these gates a man was likevrise stationed, whose duty consisted in preventing aU outsiders from forcing their way into his pen. Some forty head haAong been driven into the draughting-yard. Charcoal shut the gate of entry, and the work commenced. Creeping cautiously towards the corner in which they were all huddled together, he singled out a buUock, across whose buttocks he laid his heavy stick vrith a force that made the poor brute roar with pain and rush desperately at the closed gateway. But Charcoal was after him in a trice. Blows de scended upon his devoted carcass vrith a rapidity that would have bevrildered an Irishman, let alone a buUock. He turned and fled, the black boy in pursuit ; and after one or two doubles was finaUy 96 STOCKMEN AT LOGGERHEADS. driven into the strangers' yard, as he had been claimed by the stockman of an adjoining station as his master's property. The next beast was not so easUy disposed of He showed fight, and instead of being the pursued became the pursuer, chasing Master Charcoal round the yard with an impetuosity that would have soon brought that worthy to grief if he had been a whit less agUe; as it was, he only escaped being gored by vaulting over the fence, which the enraged animal charged vrith a force that made the timbers crack again and nearly sent me flj-ing off the top rad on which I was seated. After recovering his breath the undaunted darkey re-entered the yard, and continued his draughting as cooUy as if buUocks' horns were made of velvet — now belabouring a stubborn beast, now flying from a fierce one, until the receiA-ing-yard was cleared and the Avork com pleted. Before the branding commenced, angry words passed between B. aud the stockmen on the subject of 0A>Tiership, and once or twice I thotight it Avould have come to blows. " Don't you draught that strawbeny heifer into yolu- lot, mate ?" Avould growl a litigious envoy from au adjoining station. " He's one of the mob got by that short-horned bull I brought up, four years agone, from ]\Iount Bris- A LITTLE REST. 97 bane. Any fool could teU that by looking at her head." And then would follow a storm of invec tives, denials, and asseverations, untU one side or the other " caved in," and let the beast go under protest. But long before sundown the entire mob was draughted, the young beasts branded, the " strangers " packed off, and the proceedings brought to a termination by my shooting a fat buUock, for, amongst other things, I was head slaughterer to the establishment, being the only decent shot on the station. After the fat beasts had been despatched to Mr. Fleming's boUing-down establishment, there was a Uttle rest on the station. B. found time for an occasional day's kangaroo hunting, and right good sport we had, although my dog Tiger was no longer of the party. He had managed to craAvl back to the station, and recovered from his wounds, but as nothing would induce him to tackle a kangaroo again I had given him away to a neighbouring squatter. Although B.'s station was my head-quarters, a week seldom passed without my being an absentee for a day or two, and on more than one occasion I extended my explorations to the outermost stations of the district, where the miserable aborigines were vainly endeavouring to arrest the advance of the invaders by murdering shepherds, VOL. 11. H "98 EXTERMINATION OF THE ABORIGINES. •and carrying off their flocks whenever opportunity offered. The murder of the Fraser famUy by the Dawson blacks had but recently taken place, and many of my pioneering friends were Uving in hourly expectation of an attack. Some of them tried concUiatory measures, and aUowed the poor devUs to erect their " gunyahs," and camp near the head station, but I think that, in most cases, the lex talionis was the order of the day. It was enough to make one's blood run cold to listen to the stories that were told of the diaboUcal man ner in which whole tribes had been " rubbed out " by unscrupulous squatters. No derice by which the race could be extei-minated had been left un tried. They had been hunted and shot doAvn like AvUd beasts — ^treacherously murdered whdst sleep ing Arithin the paddock raUs, and poisoned whole sale by having arsenic or some other deadly substance mixed Arith the flour given to them for food. One " lady " on the LTpper Condamine had particularly distinguished herself in the poisoning line, haA-ing, if report spoke the truth, disposed of more natives than any squatter in the district by means of arsenic alone. There can, of course, bc no doubt that this amiable Avoman, whdst thus externiinating the Avretched blacks, Avas only camy- ing out those inscrutable decrees of ProA-idcncc THE BLESSINGS OF CIVILIZATION. 99 the Arisdom of which it is not for us to question. We are the chosen race, and wherever our blood- red flag flaunts in the breeze, there the human izing effects of Christianity and all the blessings of civUization are pretty sure to be found also. Like the IsraeUtes of old we drive out the nations from before us, and go in and possess their land in the name of the Lord of Hosts. But, although we smite with one hand, we sow the seeds of the Gospel of Peace vrith the other. If we send soldiers to exterminate, we send missionaries to convert, and the gospel dove comes soaring on the vrings of death. What matters it that every species of rice — drunkenness, bloodshed, rapine, loathsome disease, foUow in our train ? Are we not teaching the benighted heathen the blessings of civiUzation, and shoAring them by our own example the " humanizing effects" of Christianity ? Strange, indeed, that they do not appreciate these blessings as they ought, nor understand us when we teU them that although ours is a God of love, they must be swept from off the face of the earth in order that the Scriptures may be accompUshed. Pleasant it is to read the account of those May meetings at Exeter HaU, and to leam how emi nently successful have been the labours of our missionaries in distant lands, and stiU pleasanter H 2 100 OUR MISSIONARIES. to think that in a few short years there wiU be no more heathen to convert, nor lands to cirilize. Where, in a few short years, avUI be the red men of the Far West, the Maori of New Zealand, the aborigines of Atistralia, and the Polynesians of the Pacific ? Where, indeed ! The red Indians of North America have dAvindled down to some four hundred thousand; the Maori are being ex terminated in a manner that sheds additional lustre on EngUsh arms ; the AustraUan aborigines are rapidly disappearing, whUst the last of the Tasmanian race is now serving in the capacity of seaman on board an American whaler. Our missionaries, meauAvhUe, are "very successful in their labours in the A-ineyard" (missionaries always are) ; and, as recent events testify, the seed soAvn has borne fi-uit to perfection. The spread of the Gospel in India was effecting wonders amongst the natives — and, lo ! the mutiny. The Maori had leai-ut to loA-e their teachers, and avc hear that they are eating them. But why continue the subject ? Whether at home or abroad the result is generaUy the same. Too much "Preaehee — prcachce" to the heathen, and greater barbai-ism than ever ; too much prcachce amongst oui-sclves, and such scenes as were enacted last year by the revivalists of Bel- SHEEP-FARMING IN AUSTRALIA. ] 01 fast, to the utter discomfiture of those weak mortals who believe in sudden conversions, and estimate a man's faith by the howling standard. The proprietor of one of these remote runs was particularly anxious that I should join him in sheep-farming, and made me what were certainly most liberal offers to induce me to remain for a few years on his station. But to spend the best part of my life in the bush was not my ambition, and I decUned his proposal with thanks. Many • people imagine that sheep-farming in Australia is not only a most money-making business, but an exceedingly pleasant one besides. Never was there a greater mistake, and, as several highly- coloured articles have lately been Avritten upon Australian pastoral pursuits, perhaps a few words upon sheep-farming in the Colonies Arill not be out of place whUst thus endeavouring to describe every-day life on a large station. To commence sheep-farming money is the first thing needful : Arithout it, nothing can be done either in AustraUa or any other part of the world that I have visited. If the would-be squatter have a large capital at command, he can of course purchase an improved station, scores of whieh are always in the market, and begin farming at once. But if he be a poor man, his troubles are increased 102 purchasing AN IMPROVED STATION. a hundredfold, and many years may elapse be fore he finds himself in a position to make a start or take up a " run " on his OAvn account. To simplify matters, we wdl suppose that two men leave England Arith the intention of sheep-farm ing in AustraUa — one a capitaUst, the other pos sessed of say two thousand pounds. On arriving in Sydney, the capitaUst proceeds at once to the merchant to whom he has been recommended, and makes inquiries respecting the different stations that he sees advertised for sale. The worthy merchant is most affable. He is of course only too happy to give him every information he re quires, expatiates largely on the advantages which a certain station, in whieh he himself probably has an interest, possesses over all the othci-s, and in the end persuades him to become the purchaser. Our tyro is charmed at the easy way in which business is carried on in Australia. AU difficulties are smoothed over by his amiable agent, and he starts to take possession in the fuU couA-iction that he has made a first-rate investment, and that he AviU be able to double his capital in no time. What can possibly be easier than to calctdate profits ! The wool, his agent assm-cs him, Avdl pay the work ing expenses of the station, the increase of stock is therefore clcai- gain ; and like the baibcr's brother CERTAIN DRAWBACKS. 103- in the "Arabian Nights," he counts his lambs before- they are dropped, and blesses the vrind that wafted him to Australia. KnoAving absolutely nothing of stock or sheep-farming, the chances are that our friend has been fleeced ; but even supposing that this is not the case, a very short residence upon his station is quite sufficient to conrince him that pastoral pursuits in the colony are neither so lucrative nor so pleasant as he had been led to suppose. His agent whUst calculat ing the gains, left no margin for the losses, nor did he think it necessary to make any mention of those various Uttle mishaps to which Australian stock are subject, in spite of the most carefiil management, and incessant attention. Dingos- make sad havoc amongst his flocks, the terrible " catarrh " sweeps them off by scores, whUst scab and foot rot are common maladies. One dry season may irretrievably ruin his prospects, and a wet one is equaUy to be dreaded. "Bathurst burr " may spring up on his run and his "cUp" be seriously damaged thereby, and if he live on one of the remoter stations, the natives wUl be pretty certain to have a good many fat wethers in the course of the season. His life is one continued scene of anxiety ; year after year goes by and he perhaps finds himseK no richer than when he 104 AN EFFECT OF BUSH LIFE. commenced sheep-farming, sometimes considerably out of pocket, for squatters Uke other mortals have to buy their experience. With the exception of an occasional kangaroo hunt, and a periodical risit to the nearest city, amusements he has none, and when, after a lapse of years, he has reaUzed a competency and retums to the land of his birth, he finds that bush life has totaUy unfitted him for that gay world, the deUghts of which he had so often pictured to himseK when subjected to a more than an ordinary amount of seK-denial in the colonies, and he sighs when he thinks that even amidst the gaieties of London and Paris, he is a lonelier man than he was when inhabiting that mde slab buUt station at the antipodes Arith his superintendent as sole companion. Let us now take a glance at his feUow passenger, and see what he has been doing in the interim. The chances are that on landing he offers his serrices to some squatter on whose station he remains for a few years, " gaining experience," as it is caUed, in the colony, at the expiration of which he Is perhaps promoted to the office of superintendent, with the pririlege of grazing a few sheep of his OAvn on the run, if his employer should chance to be one of the right sort. Even supposing that he does not add one fraction to his capital during AN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 105 these years of servitude, he at all events has the opportunity of learning the internal economy of sheep-farming, and when he at length starts on his own account, he does so with a much better chance of success than did our moneyed friend who purchased the improved station. With only two thousand pounds, or perhaps three, if he have been fortunate in the employment of his capital, he knows that to purchase an improved station is out of the question, so he has to look about for an unoccupied tract of country suitable for a run. Accompanied by a tried stockman and a couple of black boys, he starts off one fine morning on an exploring expedition. Leaving the outermost stations of the district behind him, he strikes fearlessly into the unexplored regions beyond, and scours the country in every direction in search of water — water being the grand desi deratum in a country which, like Australia, is subjected to the most terrible droughts. An immense amount qf judgment has to be exercised in selecting a run, for it often arises that the tract of country which to an inexperienced eye appears to be the best watered in a wet season is the one that suffers most in a dry. Australia possesses comparatively few rivers, the so-called " creeks " being soon drained after a speU of dry 106 SELECTION OF A STATION. weather ; and were it not for the deep water-holes, whieh are found at intervals along their beds, it would soon be aU up with the squatters, unless, indeed, they chose to go to the expense of sinking Artesian wells on their stations. But although an abundant supply of water is undoubtedly the first point, there are many others to be considered by the run seeker, before he finaUy decides upon taking possession. The grass may not be adapted for sheep — the country may be too sci-ubby ; or, perhaps, he cannot find an eUgible site for the head station. But supposing that he is lucky enough to tumble on the very spot of which he is in search, and finds a run on which there is plenty of water, good pastm-age, and a desirable site on which to erect his station, even then he has made but a very short step towards attaining his object. Notice haA-ing been given to the govem ment surveyor, and the boundaries of his run having been clearly defined, our embryo squatter must lose no time in commencing operations. Two or three i-ude huts are erected on the site of the head station, a fcAv hundred sheep hurdles put together, a temporary stock-yard made for the reception of the cattle and horses, and a portion of the futm-e paddock fenced in. The place is now in a condition to receive stock, and our HOW TO PROCURE STOCK. 107 squatter's flocks and herds soon begin to make their appearance, and by their presence give a more life-like aspect to the scene. Little by little things are got into something like order, andthe greatest actirity prevails at head- quarters. Men are busUy engaged from morning tdl night in erecting the permanent buddings ; the noise of axe, saw, and hammer is incessant, and btdlock drays, laden vrith every requisite for the estabUsh ment of a station, are constantly making their appearance. But at length the head station, wool-shed, and out-buUdings are aU roofed in, the paddock fenced, and the stock-yard finished, and for the first time since he started off in search of a run has our squatter a moment's rest or time to look about him. What he now wants is to fuUy stock his station, and stocked it must be, but having no more money of his own his only expedient is to .borrow. Once in possession of a good run this is not a very difficult matter. There are plenty of merchants in Sydney and Melbourne who are only too happy to have the chance of lending money to any squatter who is desirous of increasing the number of sheep on his station, for it is about the best investment for capital that is to be met vrith in the colony. The advance is secured by a mortgage on all the 108 SYDNEY MERCHANTS AND THE SQUATTERS. stock, and the rate of interest is high even for Australia. But it is not from the interest alone that the merchant hopes to make his profits. He has other pulls on the squatter by which he manages to mn up his debit account at an alarming rate. Having lent him money he becomes de facto his agent, and not only supplies him Arith all the stores required on the station, but acts as his broker besides, thus making a handsome percentage on the sale of his wool, hides, and taUow. The broker is to this needy squatter pretty much what the old man of the sea was to Sinbad. Only let him once get a firm grip of his customer, and it is next to impossible to shake him off. I do not by this mean to insinuate that the Sydney capitalists take unfair advantage of the position in which some squatters are placed, or that they are at aU extortionate in their demands — far from it. From what I have heard they are, as a rule, strictly honourable in their dealings, but for aU that, I would, were I a squatter, think tArice before avaUing myseK of their assistance, cveu though by so doing I could double the annual proceeds of my run. If the life of the squatter in the more settled district is dreary and monotonous, what shaU I say of that led by individuals on these remote A DREARY LIFE. 109 stations ? The words dreary and monotonous do not describe it. It is truly dismal — fi'ightful — appalling. No need have they of barrack-rooms for chance guests. The road, or rather the dray- track that leads to their door, ends there ; beyond is the vast unexplored bush, the lurking-place of a savage race, to venture amongst whom would be to expose oneseK to almost certain death. These pioneers of civiUzation, if so they can be caUed, seldom leave their stations for many days at a time, for the master absent, and everything goes Avrong. The blacks carry off sheep whole sale ; the dingos commit greater ravages than ever; the horses break out of the paddock, and go no one knows whither, and when the squatter returns to his station, he is over whelmed by the disasters which have taken place duruig his absence, and solemnly vows never to leave the place again. How men can endure such a Ufe for any length of time is marvellous to me ; for I know that it would drive me mad in a twelvemonth. 110 CHAPTER VI. Dr. Lang on Queensland — A Dream of Paradise — The Cli mate of Queensland — A Grumble at Eternal Summer — America and Queensland Compared — The Coolie Tra£5c — State of the Labour-market in Queensland — Shepherd ing in Australia. IHAVE endeavoured in the last chapter to give my candid opinion as to the merits and demerits of Queensland as a home for the emigrant, but I think it only fair to say that my fidend Dr. Lang in his work upon Queensland grows quite enthusi astic whilst depicting the deUghtful existence led by settlers in that colony, and in the most amus ing manner contrasts their lot Arith that of the unhappy emigrants whom an adverse fate has driven to seek a home on the American con- tin cut. By his account there is " an almost exact co incidence of mean temperatttre between Brisbane and Ftiuchal ; still " he na'irely adds, " I must notice that the range of temperattu-c both iu summer aud Avinter, is several degrees greater here DR. LANG ON QUEENSLAND. Ill than in Madeira : the summer here being a little hotter and the winter colder." A letter from a clergyman — the Rev. Karl Wilhelm Schmidt — is given to prove the truth of his assertions. This reverend gentleman, who must, from the confident manner in which he speaks, have resided in every country under the sun, says, — " Without fear of contradiction I give you my opinion, that there can scarcely be any other cUmate in the world superior to that of Moreton Bay. . . Our missionary establishment consisted, as you are aware, of nine teen indiriduals, of whom only one was removed to the heavenly mansions by a maUgnant tumottr in the cheek," &c. I can well imagine how miserable this worthy missionary must have felt at the prospect of leaving such a terrestrial paradise, even though the cruel tumour was remoring him to a celestial one ; for I find that those whose trade it is to bewaU the miseries of this wicked world are generally the very people who are most un nerved when the hour comes for quitting it. The only wonder is, that with such a salubrious cUmate the people go off the hooks at all; but as Dr. Lang says — " Man, however, is mortal, and in the finest climates under the sun he must sooner or later die ;" an unpleasant fact about which there can unfortunately be no doubt. But it is whdst 112 A DREAM OF PARADISE. speaking on the subject of the "'Adaptation of Queensland for immediate and extensive Colo nization," that my reverend friend is most enthusiastic. He points exultingly to the in ternal water communications of the colony, and gives a Ust of the various rivers, with the number of miles that each is navigable from its mouth, the largest of them, the Clarence, being so for " up wards of fifty mdes" ! ! ! The Queensland settlers Arid therefore be able, he says, " to steam cheerily along with their produce under a cloudless sky to the provincial capital, whUst the Canadian farmer lashes his weary bullocks over the miserable cor duroy roads of British America, up to the knees in mud, or sleet," &c. &c. Iu fact, it is easy to see " how benignant the God of Nature has been to the one country, and how sparing, compara tively, of his benefits and blessings to the other. Indeed," he continues, " there is the utmost difference imaginable between the rigours of a Canadian Avinter of six or seA'cn months' duration and the paradisiacal climate of Queensland, in Avhich the productions of both the temperate and the torrid zones grow harmoniously toge ther, and the process of vegetation goes on uninterruptedly during the whole yeai-. In the single item of clothing, the settler in Queens- CANADA AND QUEENSLAND COMPARED. 113 land, where light clothing of the cheapest fabric is generally worn, would be saved a compara tively large amount of expenditure to which the British North American farmer is necessarily subject. " And what are the exportable productions of Canada to be compared with those of Queensland ? Its only exports that I know of are wheat and timber ; but the timber of Queensland is of far greater variety and much more valuable for aU purposes than that of Canada, while the wheat of the one country is just as good as that of the other. But where is there any article of Canadian produce to match with the fine wool of AustraUa — I mean either sheep's wool or cotton wool — or vrith any of the long list of other valuable productions, whether of the tem perate or of the tropical regions, for which the sod and climate of Queensland are so admirably adapted ?" Then follow a lot of calculations, by which the reverend doctor endeavours in the most ingenious manner to prove, that any man vrith a hundred pounds in his pocket has only to emigrate to Queensland in order at once to be come a landed proprietor, whose " influence would immediately be seen and felt in assisting to send VOL. II. I 114 SKETCHES FBOM FAIRYLAND. fit and proper persons to the Local Parliament to make laws for his adopted country." If the settler should chance to be a man of taste, his house will be something in this style : — "The cottage on a gentle rising ground, in fuU view of the river ; the rustic columns of the verandah festooned vrith the vine, or Arith any ofthe beautiful flowering parasitical plants of the country, and orange-trees, flg-trees, oUves and pomegra nates, interspersed Arith patches of bamboos, bananas, and pine-apples in ornamental groups in front. Even Calypso and her nymphs would not disdain to rent the cottage for summer quar ters K they happened to land in Australia." Now were the worthy doctor present, I should most certainly endorse every word of the above; for I make a point of never differing AA^th clergy men, knoAring full weU that they are as a rule alto gether too dictatorial and self-opinionated ever to admit themselves to be in the Avrong, and too ego tistical to conceive for an instant that any man can possibly be in the right who holds different ideas to their oavu. But Dr. Lang is not here abouts ; so, like his fi-iend, the Rev. ]Mr. Schmidt above quoted, I can write " without fear of con tradiction" — at least for the present. In the first place, theu, I must protest against the cool THE CLIMATE OF QUEENSLAND. 115- way in which Dr. Lang balances his meteoro logical account by giving us the mean temperature of the seasons. Why, by setting off in the same manner the heat of summer against the cold of winter, there is many a rile cUmate that would likewise have the same mean temperature as Madeira. Dr. Lang appears to forget that it is simply because there happens to be so little variation in the temperature during the course of the year, that Madeira is reckoned a fine cUmate. I do not profess to be much of a meteorologist myself, nor am I a first-rate hand at calculating mean temperatures, but I can tell the difference between hot and cold, and am able to distinguish a tropical from a temperate climate.. Why, instead of calctdating mean temperatures,. does not the reverend doctor make a plain state ment of facts, and say — The diurnal heat of' summer in Queensland is excessive, the thermo meter often ranging above 100 degrees in the shade,. but this intense heat is in some degree counter acted by the coolness of the nights, and by sea breezes, which, near the coast, occasionally blow during the hottest months of the year. The winters are remarkably mild, and although frosts occasion ally occur, they seldom do any serious damage to- vegetation. The climate is not considered in- I 2 116 THE GILT OFF THE GINGERBREAD. jurious to European constitutions, although, as the colony is still in its infancy, dating as a free settlement only so far back as the year 1841, it would be presumptuous to assert, that the longerity ofits inhabitants was in any way remark able. Oh no ; that plain matter-of-fact descrip tion of the cUmate would never have answered the doctor's book. To induce men to emigrate to a young colony at the antipodes, the cUmate must be described as something more than good, it must be " paradisiacal," like the doctor's Utopia. It vrill no doubt be urged that I was in Queensland during the very worst season of the year, and am therefore not in a position to speak of the climate. WeU, be it so. I AviU even suppose that after my departure, the re maining seven months reaUy were "paradisia cal," and yet Arith all due deference to Dr. Lang, I would rather live twenty-five years in the United States, or even in Canada, than haK a century in ]\foreton Bay. TNTien the leamed doctor commiserates the Canadian farmer lashinff his bullocks over the wretched corduroy roads of his country up to his knees in mud or sleet, one can see at a glance how far his knowledge of North America extends. For my oAvn part I was under the impression that once the snow A GRUMBLE AT ETERNAL SUMMER. 117 was on the ground, and " runners " had taken the place of wheels, nothing was easier or plea santer than a sleigh ride to market over the hard, smooth roads of the Canadian prorinces ; and at any time I would prefer being jolted over a badly-kept corduroy road in the Western States, to being smothered with dust or stuck fast for hours in the mud on one of the so-called " high roads " of AustraUa. There is of course no accounting for taste, but so far as my experience goes, I can imagine nothing more truly paUing than eternal fine weather, or than that everlast ingly cloudless sky of Queensland, which the doctor dwells upon vrith so much exultation. Those who Uve in the damp, murky atmosphere of Britain, are apt to imagine that to dwell in a land of eternal summer and cloudless skies must be the perfection of existence ; but they have a very faint idea of the fearful significance of that word eternal. Eternal fine weather ! For weeks and months consecutively to see the great sun rise moming after morning in golden splendour from the ocean, to dart its fierce rays for twelve or fourteen weary hours on the parched earth, and to watch him sink again at evening in a flood of crimson over the distant bush ; one's relief at his disappearance sadly alloyed by knowing that 118 THE PLEASURES OF VARIETY. he wiU be sure to make his reappearance on the morrow. Day after day, and not a cloud to be seen in the heavens ; nothing but the same blue vault of infinite space, which in the tropics seems more distant than ever. No means of escape from the intense heat ; no shade out of doors, no air vrithin ; with tepid turbid water to assuage one's thirst — myriads of fleas and mosquitoes to try one's temper — no peace or en joyment, except when asleep, and not much even then. It is surprising how soon one grows sick of such a cUmate, and longs to be once again under the cloudy sky of Old England. Except for the contrast they present to each other, where would be our enjoyment of the seasons ? T\Tiy is it that we so enjoy the balmy breezes of spring ? Is it not because they foUow the chUUng blasts of Arinter? And why the soft airs of autumn ? Simply because they succeed the ferrid heats of summer. Without change there can be no enjoyment. But whUst thus enumerating some of the pleasures upon Avhich the intending emigrant may safely calculate, nothing is further from my in tention than to disparage either the colony or its cUmate. What I do desire is simply to call things by their right names, Avhich I would not QUEENSLAND SETTLERS. 119 be doing were I to style the cUmate of Queensland " paradisiacal." Were it not that Dr. Lang thinks it necessary to institute a comparison between the Queensland settler and his " navi gable streams," and the Canadian farmer and his corduroy roads, I would not revert to the rivers of the colony, and even as it is, the less said about them the better. Any man who could think of comparing the streams of Queensland vrith the noble rivers of Canada, must indeed be prejudiced. Just imagine any one speaking of the Clarence and the St. Lawrence, or of the Brisbane and the Ottawa, in the same breath. Absurd ! If a comparison must be instituted between Australia and America, let it be a fair one ; and if it only be so, I warrant that it wUl be found that the lot of the Queensland settler is not a whit more desirable than that of the American immigrant — quite the reverse. If the American immigrant have a little capital, he likevrise can purchase land and commence farm ing on his own account ; and although he may not at once have the immense privilege of " using his influence in sending flt and proper persons to the Local Parliament to make laws for his adopted country," he wUl, if he settle in the dominions of "Uncle Sam," be entitled, after a five 120 QUEENSLAND CORN. years' sojourn, to the rights of citizenship, and have a vote in the government of that " great repubUc," which in spite of malice Arithout and dissension Arithin, is certain to become, before many years haA'^e passed, the greatest commonwealth that this world has yet seen. WiU Australia ever hold the same proud position amongst the nations of the earth as does even the United States of to-day? I think not. The doctor may sneer at the wheat and timber of Canada, but she has within her, notwithstanding, every essential for becoming a great and wealthy nation, even were she deprived of the fostering care of the mother coimtry. Can as much be said for Australia ? We are told that Queensland wheat is as good as the Canadian. This I am inclined to doubt ; but, even supposing it to be the case, the colo nists would not be materiaUy benefited thereby in a pecuniaiy point of view, for vrith such a corn-producing country as the United States iu the field, they can hardly hope to grow rich by the exportation of flour, at least to the Etu'opean markets. It is moreoA-er asserted that " the timber of Queensland is of fai- greater variety and much more valuable for all purposes than that of Canada." Of this important fact, I was Uke- ITS ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTIONS. 121 wise ignorant, as must also have been the majo rity of our English timber-merchants, for I find, on referring to the trade returns of the Port of Brisbane for the year 1859, that the timber ex ported was 510,000 feet, of the value of 3825Z. — a great amount truly. Whether there wiU be " a large annual export of timber whenever a nu merous and industrious free immigrant population shaU have settled in the colony," is a question upon which I should like to have the opiiUon of such a man as Mr. Fleming, of Ipswich ; but, for my own part, I think that, once the timber in the vicinity of the rivers is used up, the increased difficulty of transport wUl make lumbering any thing rather than a profitable business ; but time AvUl teU. We now eome to what the doctor calls " the artificial productions of Queensland," which comprise, besides wheat, to which I have already referred, arroAvroot, tobacco, indigo, silk, sugar, and, last not least, cotton. Cotton is to be the future staple of Queensland, not slave or coolie- grown cotton, but cotton produced by an "in dustrious and virtuous emigrant population from the United Kingdom." The doctor tells us that " he was led to cherish the hope that the culti vation of cotton by means of British free labour 122 QUEENSLAND AS A COTTON-PLANTATION. in AustraUa might be designed by Dirine Provi dence to give its death-blow to negro slavery in America." Recent events have proved that Proridence designed differently. Slavery has received its death-blow, not in the manner which the reverend doctor predicted, but by the cruel slaughter of tens of thousands of braA'e men. The negro is a freeman ; and now that Providence has emancipated him, it is devoutly to be hoped that the same Proridence avUI take care of him, for I know no mortal less fitted by nature to take care of himseK. If Queensland is eventuaUy to become the cotton plantation of England, her inhabitants had better show what they can do, Arithout loss of time, for it is doubtful whether they vriU ever again have such an opportunity as the present. Massa Sambo hates exertion, and in aU proba bUity but Uttle work avUI be got out of him for the next few years, so that the " industrious and virtuous" Queenslanders wdl soon be able to ascertain how far they arc in a condition to compete with the free negro in the production of cotton and sugai-. Unless coolie labour be em ployed on theu- plantations, I much fear that the American free negroes Avill have the best of it; that is to say, if they can ever be induced to Avork COOLIE LABOUR AND SLAVERY. 123 for fair remuneration, which is more than doubt ful. The virtuous Queenslanders are, however, averse to the importation of coolies ; not because they conscientiously consider coolie traffic to be wrong and inhuman, but simply that such an influx of Chinese would in all probabUity interfere vrith European emigration, " from the peculiar aversion with which Britons regard the degraded races." There it is again. The Anglo-Saxon is the same aU the world over. One only requires to know which way his interests Ue at once to understand his principles, his reUgion, and his poUtics. We pretend to loathe the very name of slavery, and yet we countenance cooUe labour, which is but another name for the same thing. In what respect is a coolie better than a slave ? He is not exactly sold in the same way as the negro on the west coast of Africa ; but, if I am to believe what the captains of many coolie transport vessels have told me, a good round sum changes hands before a full cargo of coolies is safely stowed away under hatches. Once on board and out of sight of the emigration autho rities, and how are these poor helpless wretches too often treated ? Talk of the horrors of the " middle passage" indeed. Just let our soi-disant philanthropists take the trouble of inquiring how 1.04 A DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE. coolies have been treated before now on board vessels flying EngUsh colours, and they wUl perhaps discover that the blessed nigger is not the only being who deserves commiseration. But ship-captains are not the only men who have enlightened me on the subject of cooUe traffic and coolie labour. The intemal working of the system has been explained to me by tea- planters from Assam and sugar-planters from the Mauritius and West Indies, and although they always took care to place the nefarious traffic in its best light, stiU I could never per ceive any very great difference between slave and coolie labour. If " John Chinaman's" body be not exactly paid for in advance, his passage out and home is, and during his term of serritude he is as much the property of his employer as any negro on a Brazilian plantation. He UkcArise must work or undergo punishment, like Pompey or Sambo. He certainly gets paid for his labour ; but what pay ? An old broken-dowu nigger Avould reject it ; and as to his food it is the poorest and cheapest that can be purchased. But Avhy continue the subject ? Om- Govern ment has decreed that the slaAC-trade is contrary to all laws, human and divine, whilst cooUe traffic THE LABOUR-MARKET IN QUEENSLAND. 125 is perfectly justifiable. What can possibly be more conclusive ? As Pope hath it, " In erring reason's spite. One truth is clear — whatever is, is rigJit." And now just one word in conclusion on the state of the labour-market in Queensland. There has been for some years past a great demand for farm and household servants, shep herds and skiUed mechanics, in the colony, and the wages have been proportionately high — that is to say, mechanics have been earning at the rate of from %l. 10*. to 3Z. per week, whUst shep herds' wages have ranged from 25Z. to 35Z. per annum, with rations, which consist of 8 lbs. of flour, 16 lbs. of meat, half-a-pound of tea, and 2 lbs. of sugar, served out weekly. In pastoral and agricultural countries, however, skUled me? chanics form but a very small proportion of the community, so I will confine my remarks on the state of the labour-market to that particular branch of it which relates to shepherds, watch men, and the other hands employed upon sheep and cattle stations in the interior. The squatters have been bitterly complaining of late years of the high rate of labour; and so far as their indi vidual body is concerned no opposition would be offered to the immediate importation of coolies. 126 SHEPHERDING IN AUSTRALIA. niggers, Bosjesmen, or of any other race of men or monkeys that would by their advent give a doAvnward tendency to the labour-market. They pretend that 351. a-year, Arith rations, is altogether too much for a shepherd ; but for my part, as a disinterested indiridual, I must say that I think these men are rather under than over-paid. I know that I have never yet had the eflrontery to offer an American backwoodsman less than twelve doUars a month and rations, nor woidd he have accepted the offer if I had. But what a vast difference there is between the life of an American backwoodsman and that of an Austra lian shepherd ! Whenever a man has been unfortunate in Australia and speaks bitterly of the country, I know it is the custom for old hands to shrug their shoulders and sav — " Poor devU ! what else could one expect ? He is one of our ' white-handed gentry.' " It is some con solation to think that my antecedents have been such as to put it out of the question that any one can accuse me of belonging to this class. I have seen rough times in my joumey through life, and filled situations Avhich Avcrc certainly far from aristocratic ; but the very last employment to which I would advise auy sane man to resort, would be shepherding on au Australian station. A GROSS IMPOSITION. 127 Even putting aside the fearful monotony and loneUness of such an existence, the amount of money whieh the shepherd saves is not so much as might be expected. Although " light clothing of the cheapest fabric" be generaUy worn, even that Ught clothing has to be paid for, and the shepherd has not the chance given him of purchasing his supplies in the cheapest market. His master keeps a store, and from that store he is expected to purchase his clothing and what ever Uttle luxuries he may from time to time require. I do not say that he is forced to do so, but from what I know of the internal economy of a station, I would, were I a shepherd, think tvrice before I offended my master by making my purchases elsewhere. I regret that I should be obUged to have to do so, but I must confess that I was thoroughly disgusted at the barefaced manner in which the hands were cheated at these same stores. Twenty-five per cent, above cost price was what was usuaUy demanded for aU goods exposed for sale, and it is not there fore surprising that when settling-day arrived the shepherd's store account usually swaUowed up a goodly portion of his wages, and left him but a small amount in hand. I cannot con gratulate that squatter who first conceived the 128 A FABULOUS GARDEN. bright idea of making the profits of his store help to pay the men's wages. He must have been a mean and paltry feUow at the best, and I am surprised that any man who caUs himseK a gentleman can so demean himseK as to follow his lead, and endeavour to make a few miserable pounds out of the hard-earned wages of his de pendents. Even vrith the strictest economy, I doubt whether any shepherd can save more than 201. a-year out of his wages, and it woidd take a good many years at that rate before he would be in a position to commence farming on his OAvn account. The rations, although ample, are generally spoiled for want of the means of cook ing them, and any one who has lived for some length of time upon damper and the everlasting fried meat of the bush, washed doAvn Arith " Jack the Painter" tea, avUI, I think, oavu that it is about the coarsest fare to which a man could pos sibly sit down. Of the garden which the shepherd is supposed to have in the vicinity of his hut, I will say nothing. It exists only in the imagina tion of Australian romance-writers, and is about as real as the Garden of Eden, or the hanging ditto of Babylon. But instead of confining myself to the narration of my oavu individual advcutiu-cs iu the colony, as I purposed doing THE END OF THE DIGRESSION. 129 when I commenced, here have I been writing whole pages in the style of an emigration agent; so having but little space remaining, I think I had better resume my narrative Arithout loss of time. VOL. 11. 130 CHAPTER VII. An interesting Character — Colt roping — An unpleasant Incident — A rash Promise — Mr. Snaffles' Eloquence — Australian Horseg, and how they are Treated — FareweU to the Station — A Model Station — Missionai-ies in Aus tralia — Setting Sail for Home — Gloomy Weather — A regular " Snorter" — Under Hatches — Heavy Seas — The Bay of Eio — Home again. TOURING the latter period of my sojourn on -*-^ my firiend B.'s station, I was busUy em ployed in helping an interesting mdiridual, who deUghted in the sobriquet of Snaffles, at a pretty little game which he was pleased to call " horse- breaking." " Horse-ruining " I used to term it ; but upon this point Snaffles and I never could agree. If I mistake not, ^Master Snaffles had receiA'cd the rudiments of his by no means liberal education iu a NeAA-mai-ket racing- stable, of which he was by his own account the ornament and the pride. But like many another Avorthy man, the love of horses had been his nun. One fine morning he Avas sent out to exercise his master's favourite cob, which (being subject to fits of AN INTERESTING CHARACTER. 131 mental aberration) he unfortunately forgot to bring back to the stable, for which offence he was cast into prison and subsequently tried on a charge of horse-steaUng. Being a poor man the jury found him guUty of that crime instead of simple kleptomania, which they no doubt would have done had his name figured in the " Who's Who " of the period, and he was sentenced to trans portation for Ufe. The fact of his having been forced to " leave his country for his country's good " did not appear to weigh very heavily on the mind of my rough-riding coadjutor. Indeed, he rather gloried in having been at one time a " Sydney duck ;" and he used often to declare, vrith an oath, that the judge who had sentenced him to transportation was the best friend he ever had in his Ufe. I do not think that even Dr. Lang would have accused him of being a virtuous Queenslander, and yet he belonged to a class by no means rare, even in that model colony. He made good wages, but spent them in drink. He might, no doubt, have become independent, but never did. He might have used his influence in sending fit and proper persons to the local Parliament, but preferred sending horses to the devil. He might have been virtuous and happy,. had he not been dissipated and miserable ; nay,;! K 2 132 SNAFFLES HIMSELF AGAIN. he might even have been elected a deacon of the Kirk, were it not that he could never open his mouth Arithout swearing. He never changed his mode of life, nor gave a thought beyond the morrow. He would work for, perhaps, a month on some station, during which time nothing stronger than " SArizzle " would pass his lips. But no sooner was the job finished and the inoney paid than he would make tracks instanter for the nearest " public," where he would drink himseK into a state of sheer insensibiUty, in which de lightful condition he would remain until his money was all spent and his credit exhausted. Then, and not till then, would he think of making a start; audit was generally vrith shaking hands and a dizzy brain that he saddled his horse and led him to the fi-ont door of the " pubUc," at which his friend, the landlord, would be standing, ready to give him a stirrup-cup in the shape of half a tumbler of raw spfrits. Once in the saddle. Snaffles Avas soon himseK again; and although lie was a bad hoi-sebreaker, as bad was the best in that part of the country, lie was never very long in finding employment. The first time I set eyes on this amiable indiA-idual, he was in the act of roping a a cry Avild colt, and a more un favourable specimen of colonial humanity it woidd COLT ROPING. 133 have been difficult to conceive. His recent potations and the fierce AustraUan sun combined, had so crimsoned his face that it would have done for the signboard of the Setting Sun Inn, had not a profusion of black shaggy hafr given to it a wUd expression, of which old Father Sol's physiognomy is guiltless. In his contest with the colt, he had apparently got the worst of it ; for his cabbage-tree hat was lying at the further end of the enclosure, his inexpressibles displayed many a formidable rent, whilst his entire person was begrimed with the dirt and dust of the stock-yard. The moment he espied me he saluted me with a — "I say, mate, just lend us a hand in roping this " (here foUowed a string of the most awful curses) " colt, vriU you ?" Although I did not admire the style of the gentleman's address, I got over the raUs and advanced to the spot where he was stationed, roping-stick in hand, ready for another attempt on the liberty of the colt, which was now standing trembling in one comer of the yard, his black sides streaked vrith sweat and foam. Colt-roping is essentially an AustraUan " institution," and one of which the colonists have Uttle reason to be proud; for a more effectual way of ruining a young horse could not possibly have been derised even by 134 AN UNPLEASANT INCIDENT. a "guacho." The modus operandi is simple enough. The " roper," as I suppose he ought to be called, is armed Arith a long stick, which is forked at one end, and over this fork is passed a running noose, bent on a good stout rope of some sixty feet in length, at the other extremity of which haK-a-dozen men are stationed whose duty it is to haul in the slack, and hang on untU further orders. Snaffies was an old hand with the roping-stick, and no sooner had I tackled on to the end of the line, than he told one of the black boys to round-up the colt, and again placed himself in position. Tite nigger immediately made a rush at the poor brute, which had no altemative but again to seek safety in flight. Away he gaUoped full speed rotmd the yard, keeping all the whUe close into the raUs, untU he came abreast of the watchful Snaffles, who, with a rapid motion of the arm, succeeded in passing the noose over his head, and doAvn he came in a twinkUng. But he did not fall alone, for whUst watching Snaffles I had altogether forgotten that I had hold of the Une, and the result was that when the jerk came I not only had my arms nearly pulled out of thefr sockets, but I was sent spraAvling in the dust of the arena like some unskiKid disciple of Rarey. HOW TO RUIN A HORSE. 135 Before I could make an attempt to rise the colt was on his pins again, and as I had not the sense to let go the rope, I was dragged half-way across the stock-yard in the most ignominious manner, to the immense delight of the black boys and Mr. Snaffles, who shouted, " Bravo, Chummy !" untU I thought his parched old wizand wotdd crack vrith the exertion. With a muttered prayer that the colt might lash out and break his ribs, I threw the end of the rope to the boys, and retreated to the stock-yard fence, from the top of which I scornfully looked down upon the grinning rascal and his dusky satellites. Although the colt did not quite succeed in smashing Snaffles' ribs, he managed to give all hands a pretty rough time of it. He plunged, and he kicked, and he bit, and it was not until he was almost throttled, and lay bruised and panting on the ground, that any one ventured to approach him. Then the three boys seated themselves in triumph on his prostrate carcass, and held him down, whUst Snaffles forced a heavy bit between his teeth, and strapped a roUer round him, to which the reins were fast ened in such a manner that the poor brute could not move his head without suffering torture. This accomplished, he was fastened to a post, 136 I MAKE A RASH PROMISE. where he was left to champ his bit for a few hours. Snaffles giving him a kick in the ribs by way of a parting salutation. After three more horses had been handled in the same gentle manner, my friend's work was over for that moming, so he came and sat himseK doAvn on the fence along side of me, and proceeded to give me his opinion of things in general, together Arith a detaUed account of his own life and adventures, Arith a resume of which I have afready treated my readers. Although he was as drunken and lying an old reprobate as ever trod this eai-th, no one could help Uking the rascal, for his stories, for droUery and raciness, were worthy of " Sam SUck." He was never noisy or quairelsome in his cups, and if his lies hurt any one it was him self, which is more than most Uars can say of theirs. I know that he was not long in ingra tiating himseK Arith me, for before half an hour was over, he had extracted a promise that I would act as his vice during the time he re mained on the station, and help him to rough- ride the young horses, which, notwithstanding former expericuces, B. had been foolish enough to confide to his tender mercies. To this rash promise on my pai't, Mr. Snaffles took precious good care to keep me, aud I became forthwith a A GLOWING EULOGIUM. 137 sort of unpaid attache to the worthy horse- breaker. I must, however, confess, that Uke many another honorary attacM I could name, I was often more trouble than I was worth, for Dame Nature never intended me for a colonial rough-rider, and my seat in the saddle was of the most precarious tenure whenever a buck-jumper took it in his head to give me a specimen of his performance. If anything could have given me confidence it was the eloquent manner in which Snaffles used to expatiate upon the manifold virtues and the gentle temper of the animal I was about to mount, for by his account every horse on the station was an angel in equine form. " There now, gov'nor," he would say, pointing to some brute whose restless bloodshot eye spoke not only volumes but whole libraries for the vicious temper Arithin, "did you ever set eyes on an ansomer bit of 'orseflesh nor that ? And quiet — lor love ye, a chUd might ride him vrith an 'alter. Wo ho, my beauty !" Here he would advance a pace or two, and the brute would lash out and be vrithin an inch or so of planting his heels upon my worthy friend's ribs. " Jist watch him," he wbuld continue, tuming to me, in apparent admiration of the colt's clever ness. " Now, isn't he playful ? — ^like a kitten, and 138 MR. SNAFFLES EXCITED. so gentle. 'An't got a Aricked thought in him — curse me. 'Ere, you Charcoal and Strike-a light, kitch hold of his head whUst ]Mr. Tapley mounts ;" and unhappy Mr. Tapley would, even tually, after haring a dozen narrow "squeaks" for his Ufe, find himseK in the pig-skin. And then would commence a desperate struggle for mastery between me and the colt, Mr. Snaffles looking on — arms a-kimbo — amusing the by standers the while Arith a sort of running com mentary on our respective performance, some thing in this style : — " Smash me K he don't stick to him like wax ! Ah ! ye devU, I'm a looking at you — give it him, Mr. Tapley, he'U soon have enough of that. Oh, you eternal thumping vdlain, I'd Uke to cut the liver out of you, I would ! Never mind, sfr, let him kick ; he's got his match this time, I warrant him. Holy jumping ! . . . if he won't have his neck broken. Hold on, ^Ir. Tapley. There go his heels again, as high as a gum tree. He'll be off. Hey ! . . Wo ! . . Stop ! There, I told you " — which generaUy meant that the horse and myself had parted company, and that one of us (there is no occasion to say Avhich of the two) Avas lying stunned and breathless on the sward. Snaffles Avas alAvays loud in his lamentations. I YIELD TO SOFT SAWDER. 139 and generally had some reason ready framed to account for my mishap. " Was I hurt ? No ? Hooray ! There wasn't a man in the colony could have sat the brute better than I had done — a Newmarket jockey wouldn't have had the ghost of a chance. If the curb had only been a link higher, and my stfrrup-leather a trifle shorter, and I had stuck just a leetle closer to my saddle, I wotdd have let master colt know how many blue beans made flve. Did I say that I would have another try ? In course I did. Mr. Tapley wasn't the man to be cfrcumwented by the little game of a miserable four-year-old, he'd take his oath," &c. &c. So the cunning rascal would continue, alternately soft-sawdering and piqueing me, until my foolish pride would get the better of my discretion, and I would, notwithstanding the most dismal fore bodings, consent to mount again. It occasion aUy happened, however, that there was no horse to remotmt, as the colt, after disposing of his rider, would take the paddock-raUs flying, and gallop away into the bush, and hours would elapse before his capture was effected by the black boy sent out in pursuit. On one occasion my precious steed was not brought back until the evening of the second day after his escape, and then minus saddle and 140 TRICKS OF AUSTRALIAN HORSES. bridle — a loss at which my heart secretly rejoiced, as the articles in question were the private pro perty of Mr. Snaffles himself, who Avas sadly put about when the disagreeable intelUgence was conveyed to him by his emissary Charcoal. When I now, after a lapse of years, recal these little episodes of my bush life, Avhat surprises me most is how I ever managed to escape with a sound bone in my body. I have seen some of these same Australian horses actuaUy kick the saddle cloth from under the saddle, and the saddle itself under thefr beUies, although it was made fast A^ith double girths and a surcingle. These Uttle tricks, which are in a great measure pecuUar to Australian horses, are generaUy acqufred whUst they are iu the hands of the trainers. Horse- breakers of the Snaffles stamp being paid so much per head for eveiy colt they can tm-n out sufficiently broken to carry a man vrithout bolting or jibbing, it is of course their interest to get over their work as soon as possible, and it matters not a straAV to them hoAV the animals are handled so long as they can be made passably quiet, aud ^^¦ill stand the crack of a stock- Avliip, according to agreement. The consequence is, that hardly has the young horse the bit betAveen his teeth than a saddle is clapped on his back, and he is THE FATE OF THE STOCK-HORSE. 141 handed over to a black boy, or some other idiot, whose idea of horse-breaking is that the rough- rider must stick on somehow or another, haul away at the curb and use his spurs, until his wretched victim, no longer haring a kick in him, sulkdy resigns himself to his fate. He is ridden in this way for perhaps three Aveeks or a month, at the expfration of which time he is pronounced by the trainer to be a thoroughly-broken oss — and so he is in every sense of the word. But it is not only whilst in the trainer's hands that the Australian stock-horse receives bad treatment. Unless he be an especial favourite with his master, he is knocked about in a way that would astonish an Irish jaunting-car .horse, or even a Brighton hack. After a hard day's work he is tumed into the paddock, all reeking as he is with sweat, to cool himself as best he may in the tepid waters of the creek, and the only grooming he gets from year's end to year's end is an occa sional self- administered rubbing against the fence of the stock-yard. The nutty flavour of oats his palate knoweth not, the dry coarse grass of the bush being his only provender, and even that he often eats with his legs hobbled. From badly- stuffed saddles, his back is hardly ever free from galls or fistula, and lucky is he K he escape 142 OPINIONATED GENTRY. being staked or gored when after wUd cattle, or hipped when driven vrith a score of his mates ftdl gallop through the stock-yard raUs. It is a rare thing to find even one-half the horses on a station in working condition; and yet Arith a little attention the majority of the Uk to which they are liable might be prevented. Although, from being grass-fed, AustraUan horses have softer backs than ours, stUl an occasional re- stuffing of saddles and cleaning of saddle-cloths would have a magical effect in preventing galls, whdst a Uttle extra carefulness and patience on the stockman's part, when driring horses into the yard, would obriate all risk of thefr being hipped against the posts at the entry. But it is useless speaking to squatters on the subject, for there is nothing they hate more than what they caU being " dictated to" on any point relating to the management of their stations; so I suppose things AvUl remain pretty much the same as they are until the end of the chapter. With Snaffles aud horse-breaking ended my experiences on the station, and after a four months' sojourn I reluctantly bid B. fareweU, and mounting my mare turned my face once again in the direction of the coast and civiliza tion. I took a different road to that which I A MODEL STATION. 143 • had followed on coming up country, making a considerable detour to the eastward, visiting so many stations on the way that nearly a month elapsed before I found myself in the vicinity of Ipswich. Mount Brisbane, the last station at which I made a halt, possessed by far the most desfrable homestead that I had seen in the colony. The house had eridently been designed by a man of taste, and with its broad verandahs and high pitched roof, was a remarkably sightly buUding, and one in every waysuited to the cUmate. The rooms were cool and airy, the furniture sub stantial and in good repafr, and, above aU, there was actually a library to beguUe the hours on a rainy day. The kitchen-garden was well stocked ; there was a commodious yard and outbuUdings, stables, saddle-room, and every convenience for breeding and breaking horses in a proper fashion. At the time of my risit the proprietor was ab sent, but his superintendent, Billy B. (to whom I take this opportunity of again tendering my most sincere thanks), acted the part of host iu the most commendable manner. The breeding of horses was carried on to a considerable extent at Mount Brisbane ; and for " Sailor" 'and a couple of other imported stallions Mr. B. had given " long" prices in England. Horse-breaking 144 BRISB.4.NE REVISITED. on this station was conducted on a totally differ ent system to that employed by ]Mr. Snaffles. The horses were properly bitted and lunged before being mounted; and under BUly B.'s watchful eye a very different stamp of animal was turned out to those I had been accustomed to ride on other stations. It would be avcU if some squat ters whom I could name would condescend to take a leaf out of !Mr. B.'s book, and instead of sacrificing present comfort in the hopes of future ease, as is too often thefr wont, they would have their houses kept and their out-door work carried on in something of the same style which has been found, I beUeve, to answer remarkably well at Mount Brisbane. After a sojourn of nearly five months in the bush, the little toAvn of Brisbane looked " quite a place," as the Americans would say, when I once again found myseK in its streets. The hotel no longer presented the same " one-horse" appearance that it had done at the time of my first A'isit ; the shops seemed lai-ger, the budd ings loftier, Avhilst the noise and bustle were per fectly beAvildering. But magnificent as Avas the gcr.eral aspect of the town after B.'s tumble- dc)A\u station, I was not sorry to get away from it, aud the first steamer that sailed bore me and FAREWELL TO AUSTRALIA. 145 some half-dozen screaming cockatoos, which I had been induced to purchase in an unguarded moment, back to Sydney. Arrived in that city I lost no time in making preparations for my de parture fi'om the colony, having seen quite suffi cient to convince me that there were more desirable places of residence in the world than AustraUa. To find a ship bound for England Avas not a very difficult matter, for there were plenty of large vessels filling up Avith wool for London on the berth. But the splendid accom modation which these " liners" offered was not good enough for me, and I must needs make the return voyage of seventeen thousand miles in a little vessel of something less than one hundred and fifty tons burden, which Avas unfortunately for sale at the moment, and in which I was induced to take an interest. This precious hooker was laden vrith horns, bones, cocoa-nut oU, and whatever odds and ends could be hastUy got together, and water and prorisions for four months having been put on board, we were ready for sea. The custom-house authorities caused us a good deal of trouble and delay ; but one lovely March morning we manned the wind lass, and began to heave away. It happened to be a Sunday, and as the missionary bark, the VOL. II. L 146 A MISSIONARY BARK John Williams lay alongside us in the har bour, I fear that the chorus of " RoUing river," which our hands sung with aU the strength of their lungs as they hove away at the Avindlass, must have considerably interfered Arith the devo tions of the white-chokered gentry on board. As I looked at her lying there quietly at anchor with her taper masts, trim yards, and black htdl reflected in the water, I could not help wonder ing whether any of my money had helped to build her, or whether some of the sleek, com fortable-looking indiriduals, whom I saw pacing the poop, Bible in hand, might not once have astonished my young ideas by thefr account of the sufferings and privations that they had to endure whUst labouring as missionaries in distant lands. How well I remembered the quarterly risitation Arith which these proselytizing gentlemen favoured that select academy to which I haA-e afready referred, and the mortal agony I used to feel, not upon being given a pathetic account of their sufferings, but on being obliged to place my Aveckly pocket money as a fi-ee- vrill offering (?) in the plate which was handed round at the conclusion of the missionary sermon ! Once only did I ventiu-c to evade this black-mail by putting a bright button, instead of my precious AND A GROWL AT MISSIONARIES. 147 shiUing, into the plate, and never shall I forget the tremendous flogging which my reverend master administered to me for attempting, like a hardened young Ananias that I was, to de fraud the Church. It did not increase the love I bore the cloth, and ever afterwards I experienced a grim satisfaction whenever . I heard that another missionary had been eaten by his flock. Ahime ! had I only then known the pleasant tranquU lives that these same persecuted mis sionaries lead in the sunny islands of the South ern Seas, my bitterness would have been in creased a hundredfold ! No men that I know of take better care of themselves than mission aries — I mean those of our church, for the Roman Catholic propagandists go where duty caUs them vrithout making any fuss about the dangers and privations to which they are about to be exposed. All honour to them for it ! But our clergy most do congregate where skies are bright, and natives tractable, and thefr cry is always the same — " Money ! money ! ! money ! ! ! ' We can not save another soul without money." If a missionary does occasionally fall a victim to the fury of the natives, it wiU be found that in nine cases out of ten he has been, parson-like, med dling with matters which had nothing whatever l2 148 CLERICAL JUSTICES. to do with his ministi-y — dictating to chiefs, or laying doAvn the law, like a modern Draco ; just in the same way that our clerical friends at home are wont to shoAV their Avisdom, charity, and for bearance, whenever raised by some injudicious Lord-lieutenant to the dignity of the bench, by sending women to gaol for sleeping under a hedge like the Reverend L^riah Tonkin, or giA-ing a wretched old creature two weeks' hard labour for plucking a few ears of wheat, a la Reverend C. HiU. But I have reaUy no right to speak in this Avay of the shortcomings of the clergy, nor ought I to find fault vrith our missionaries, for not one farthing of my money CA'cr finds its waA' into the coffers of the Church ^Slissionaiy Society, nor AviU it so long as mdUons of my feUow- coun trymen require instiniction at home, and men are constantly dying in our streets for want of the common necessaries of IKe, and a Uttle of that " charity" which is so liberaUy bestowed on the heathen. It was with a feeling of relief that I tumed my eyes aAvay from the John JJ'ilUams, and helped to sheet home our topsails. Slowly avc dropped down to the " heads," Avhere'Avc discharged our pUot,and all the sail that the old " hooker" could carry haA'- ing been shaken out, Avith a rattling breeze on A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER. 149 the quarter, we stood "aAvay to the southwards and eastwards, little dreaming of the pleasures that Father Neptune had in store for us, nor of the many long weeks that Avould elapse before we sighted the white cliffs of old England. For the first few weeks of our voyage every thing went along smoothly enough, and I had not much reason for complaint. If our gaUant craft did not prove to be such a fast sailer as she had been represented (with a strong breeze on the quarter all we could knock out of her was nine knots, whdst four was her average on a bowline), and if the smell of bones in the cabin was overpowering, ws had at all events fair winds and fine weather; and that was some thing to be thankful for. But as we got further to the southward, a great change took place in the aspect of affafrs. The weather grew fear fully cold, the days shortened considerably, and strong headwinds succeeded the fair breezes which had wafted us along during the earlier part of our voyage. The greater portion of every twenty-four hours was passed either in vainly endeavouring to keep warm alongside the cabin stove, playing " cut-throaii" (an American game of cards), or swUling steaming jorams of HoUands and water. The few hours we remained on deck 150 A REGULAR SNORTER. were generaUy passed in 'fishing for the albatross, which eame sailing majestically in our wake; and perhaps it was owing to the cruelty Arith which we treated these stately bfrds that we had such a constant succession of headArinds and foul weather. One would be eaten occasionaUy by the saUors, but our only excuse for kiUing them was that we wanted their pinion bones for pipe-stems, and their paddles for tobacco-pouches, although we never could use the one, nor suc ceed in making the others. It was not, however, untU Ave had rounded the " Horn," and were bearing away to the northward, that we came in for a regular " snorter." We were in the latitude of the Falklands when it came on to blow, and before twenty-four hours had passed oA'cr our heads there was a sea miming, Avhich, had I not beheld it with my oavu eyes, I would ncA-er have be lieved that any vessel of our tonnage could have Uved in for five minutes. I had seen some heavy weather in the North Atlantic, Arithout feeling particularly anxious ; but as I Avatched the tremendous seas Avhich came sui-ging along, threatening every instant to overwhelm om- Uttle craft, I must confess that I thought it was aU r-p AA'ith poor me, and inwardly cursed the day OUR BRIG LEFT TO HERSELF. 151 that I put foot on the deck of the infernal hooker, and heartily wished myself safe back again in Sydney. I soon found out that I was not by any means such a practical seaman as I had imagined myseK to be ; and had the working of the vessel been left to my care, I fear that if the blessed craft had not gone to pieces or foundered, she would be at the present moment hard and fast in the ice somewhere in the yiciaity of the New Shetlands, and the "corpseses" of Mark Tapley and the crew " fruz to stun." Uke Captain Sprague's " putrefied" forest. But, luckdy for us, the mate was reaUy a good sea man, and under his advice the brig was hove-to with a tarpaulin in the main-weather rigging, the wheel lashed, the sails secured with double gaskets, and all hands having been sent below, she was left to weather out the gale as best she could. For one entire fortnight, off and on, were we thus at the mercy of the winds and waves ; for having but very few spare sails on board, and those none of the best, it would have been mad ness to have run the risk of splitting the only good suit we had by attempting to carry on in such weather. Although a bad sader, the brig hove-to like a duck, and on two occasions only did a green sea make a clean breach over her. 152 A DREARY FORTNIGHT. During the greater part of this time there Avas not a soul on deck ; indeed, there was nothing to be done there, and it wotdd have been downright cruelty to haA'e kept the men in the bitter cold when they could remain warm and snug between their blanlicts. In the cabin things were as bad as they could be. The hatch being shut, there was but little A'cntUation, and the steam from the horns and bones in the hold, from which we were only separated by a thin bulkhead, was stifling. Although there was always fire in the stove, the cold was so intense that it was impossible to keep the cabin warm, and for eighteen hours out of the twenty-four we remained coUed up like anacondas in onr blankets, amusing ourselves by making calculations as to how many days it Avould take us, drifting as we then were, to get into the ice ; or by playing at the manly game of " Buck, buck, how mauy fingers do I hold up ?" in the dark until we feU asleep. Every momino-, immediately after breakfast, I would go upon deck, quadrant in hand, and try to get an obser- v.ition. But the sun rai-ely condescended to make his appearance, and when he did it was generally at the Acry moment that he was not required. I Avas ahvays glad to get below again, for the look-out on deck Avas not cheering : the THE STORM CLEARS AWAY. 153 masts and yards standing out bare and spectral against the leaden sky, the fierce vrind howling dismaUy as it came sweeping over the waste of waters, or whistling shrilly tiirough the rigging of the laibouring, creaking ship, and all around us great roUing biUows, which, viewed from the deck, seemed on a level with our tops, or, to use the common expression, " mountains high." It was enough to take away one's breath to watch the little brig, staggering and shaking, as she rose to one of these tremendous waves ; and often, as she went down into the trough of the sea on the other side, I thought she would never be able to recover herself before the next wave was upon her ; and I would shut my eyes and clutch the rail in anticipation of the coming crash. But with a roll and a plunge she would breast the toppling bUlow, and with a sigh of relief I would open my eyes and breathe again. Ah, yes ! " Who would not sell a farm and go to sea?" At length the storm cleared away; sail was made, and our little vessel's head turned again to the northward. But our troubles were by no means over. Off the Plate we had some more severe weather, and were obliged to put into Rio for repafrs, and a fresh supply of water and provisions. Right glad am I now that we 154 A saint's day at rio. were thus forced to diverge from our course, for had we not done so I should never, in all proba bility, have seen the capital of the Brazds, and I should have remained tmder the erroneous im pression that the harbour of Sydney was the finest in the world. Never shaU I forget the emotion I felt when the magnificent panorama of the Bay of Rio opened itseK to my riew. We had arrived at the entranceof the port at dusk, and as itwas altogether too late for the Quarantine doctor, the rice ditto, the deputy-Adce ditto, the deputy-Arice assistant ditto, and the other officials innumerable, Arith out Avhose gracious permission no ship can obtain libre pratique, to visit us that evening, we were forced to drop anchor abreast of the fort for the night, and wait patiently untd they chose to make thefr appearance. When I came on deck the next morning eveiything was enshrouded in a thick mist, and I could not see two ships' lengths ahead of where we lay. But it happened to be a sainf s day — nothing very extraordinary in a country where every day is a saint's day, had it hot been that the saint in question was a saint of such importance in the Brazdian calendar that a salvo of artiUery was fired in his honour. Wliether he had been griUed au naturei, a la St. Laurent, flayed alive, a I'Anguille de Billings- A MAGNIFICENT PANORAMA. 155 gate, or fried in oU, like a poulet a la Marengo, I know not, but hardly had I emerged from the hatchway when such a cannonading commenced, that, untU the pUot enlightened me on the subject, I thought that there must be a pronunciamento amongst the inhabitants, and that the fleet was opening upon the town. As report foUowed report in quick succession, the fog rose slowly, like the drop-scene of a theatre, from the water, and the magnificent Bay of Rio, vrith the city in the distance, and the Corcovado mountains as a background, lay exposed to my enchanted eyes. After three months at sea, most deUghtful was it to inhale the soft fragrant breeze that carne off the land, and to behold the green earth once again. Seated in the top, glass in hand, I spent the whole moming in scanning the harbour, and it was only when the health officers came on board, and my presence was requfred, that I descended from my elevated position, or gave a thought beyond the beauty of the prospect around me. After a great deal of unnecessary fuss, and the exhibition of any amount of " Jack- in-office" afrs, these quarantine gentlemen idti- mately discovered that, as -we had come dfrect from Sydney, and had been three months at sea •without having any sickness on board, it was 156 A HAPPY FORTNIGHT. probable that we were sufficiently healthy to enter a port iu which the yeUow fever had been raging for months, and decimating the crews of every vessel in the harbour. So we were given permission to leave our anchorage beneath the guns of the fort, easy sad was set, and in a couple of hours' time I had the satisfaction of again putting foot on terra firma. During the fortnight I remained in Rio, I enjoyed myseK as the man only can enjoy himseK who has been for months at sea in a dirty, foul-smeUing Uttle hooker of one hundred and fifty tons burden. Had I space, I could fiU pages in describing Rio. Its noble harbour, filthy streets, black- eyed women, picturesque negresses, botanical gardens, markets, ainusements, and last, not least, its eternal fireworks. But I have not. All I can say is, that when the time came for leaving it, I felt excessively soiTy at being obliged to depai-t, and since that day I have often wished that cfrctunstances had permitted me to prolong my stay in the dominions of liis Imperial Majesty, Don Pedro, for at the period of my visit the drunken escapade of a lot of asses wearing the English uuKorm, had uot as yet made us unpopular, nor the bidlying despatches of our foreign minister ridiculous in the eyes of the Brazilian people. ONCE MORE AT HOME. 157 The second portion of our A'oyage was un eventful in the extreme, as we had light Avinds and fine Aveather during the entire distance. Oni; moming, eight weeks after my departure from Rio, I was aroused from my peaceful slumbers by the cheery cry of " Land-ho !" and when I tumbled on deck there, sure enough, was the " Lizard " clear and distinct on the port bow. With a slashing westerly wind we glided rapidly past each well-known beacon and head land. The Downs were safely reached, the pUot came on board, and after five months' and a half voyage from Sydney, the old brig was moored in the " desired haven." The happiest day of my Ufe was that on which I finally got clear of her, and when I think of the horrors of that voyage, I never wish my bitterest enemy worse luck than to have to make a mid-winter passage round the Horn in just such another vessel. 158 CHAPTER VIII. A Quixotic Idea — The Author becomes Food for Powder — Uninviting Quarters — Eepentance — Officers and Privates in England and in France — The Reveille — Untidy Soldiers — Break fast in an English Barrack-room — Wasted Food — Military Cookery Schools — An English Canteen — A Real Soldier's Grievance — The Delights of Burnishing — Pro motion — The Serjeant's Mess-room — Ill-natured Comrades — Refractory Recruits — Character of the English Soldier — Inefficient Corporals — An Absurd Routine — How Soldiers are Spoiled — Advantages of taking her Majesty's Shilling — The Private Soldier Married — A pet Medicine — The Use of the Lash — Why the Service is Unpopular — How to Obtain a better Class of Soldiere — The Bane of the British Army. TT was at the time of the Indian Zilutiny that -*- one fine moming it suddenly occurred to me, j\Iark Tapley, jun., that although I had on more than one occasion tried my hand at soldiering Avith but indifferent success, that was no eai-thly reason Ailiy I should not yet become a second Murat in the shape of an English Ught di-agoon. That such a thought could enter the head of a ratioual being may, perhaps, sm-prise many of A QUIXOTIC IDEA. 159 my readers ; but I beg it may be most particu larly understood that a so-caUed rational being is the v§ry last thing to which I have any re semblance. I am neither more nor less than a "victim of circumstances," and cfrcumstances have sometimes been beyond my own control. " Men are the sport of circumstances, when The circumstances seem the sport of men." Don Jvas, c. 5, s. 17. It matters little, therefore, how it arose that the Quixotic idea of becoming an English light dragoon entered my head, suffice it to say, that it did do so, and what is more extraordinary still, I determined to make the idea a reality by joining some cavalry regiment without loss of time. To this end I proceeded to Maidstone vrith the in tention of selecting at that depot the regiment which was to have the distinguished honour of counting me amongst its braves; but an old sergeant, whom I took into my confidence, gave me such a dreadful account of Maidstone riding- school drill, that I changed my mind, and re tumed to London, where I volunteered for her Majesty's Seventeenth Regiment of Light Dra goons. I had certainly no fault to find with the manner of my enUstment. The sergeant who gave me the shiUing had me sworn in and in- 160 I BECOME FOOD FOR POWDER. spected privately, and allowed me, as I did not Avish to be seen hanging about Charles Street, to run doAvn to Canterbury Avhere the depot was stationed, there to await his arrival with the other recruits. During the two days I remained at the Foun tain Hotel in that old Cathedral city, I felt A'ery much like a fish out of water, for although os tensibly my own master, I knew that I was in reaUty the property of the Crown, and I was not sorry, therefore, when the sergeant at length made his appearance to claim me for the gaUant seventeenth. I must, however, confess that my military ardour had considerably cooled since my enlistment, and that it was with anything but a martial bearing that, under cover of night, I sneaked through the barrack-gates, and went in search of my quartei-s. Indeed, had it not been that I had gone too far to recede, I should cer tainly haA'c backed out at the eleventh hour, and these experiences of an EngUsh Ught dragoon Avould never have been Avritten. As it was, I determined to give the seventeenth Lancers a trial, and the result of that trial wiU soon be told. My comrades of the seventeenth were just as much surprised on seeing me, Aalise in hand. AN UNINVITING SLEEPING APARTMENT. 161 stalk into their barrack-room, as had been my red-breeched French friends when, under some what simUar cfrcumstances, I joined the 2"° Regiment de la Legion Etrangere at Bastia, for our service is not sufficiently popular to attract many men into its ranks besides those who are driven thither by downright penury and want. I likcArise was a little taken aback when I saw my quarters, for, a less inviting sleeping apart ment than No. 6 X could not Avell be imagined. Through a dense cloud of pipeclay and tobacco smoke I could just distinguish some haK dozen dragoons in shirt sleeves busUy employed in cleaning thefr accoutrements. Some were burnishing their scabbards and lance-heads, others pipeclaying the white facings of their uniforms, all hissing away like so many geese in a cornfield. By the light of a farthing dip stuck in a ginger-beer bottle, I could see that the thirteen beds which the room contained were ranged much too closely together to allow of any comfort to the occupants, and my nose told me that the atmosphere was not only heavy with pipeclay and tobacco smoke, but foul and un wholesome besides. One of the beds having been pointed out to me as the one which I was to occupy, it was forthwith proposed that I VOL. II. M 162 A DEPLORABLE DESCRIPTION. should pay my footing by sending to the canteen for some beer ; and the beer haring been sent for accordingly, my room-mates knocked off work, and endeavoured to make themselves agreeable. I had, of course, to undergo a considerable amount of questioning as to the reasons which had induced me to join the " Seventeenth," points upon which I thought it adrisable to be as re served as possible, and more than one instance was brought forward of men of independent means haring done the same thing as myself, although it was generaUy agreed that not one of them had stuck to the serrice for more than a month at the furthest. They ridiculed the idea of any one being such a fool as to remain in the regiment who had the money to purchase his discharge, and they gave me such a deplorable description of a dragoon's Ufe, that I inwardly determined to send the serrice to the devU, and let the Seventeenth find the materials for a Murat elsewhere. By thefr account it was one con tinued round of work fi-om reveille iu the morn ing until the last post at night. They were aU under stoppages, and were receiving from a penny to threepence per diem as pay, instead of the sixpence Avhich they had been promised on en listing ; the food Avas bad, aud the ti-eatment they PRIVATE SOLDIERS AND THEIR OFFICERS. 163 experienced unbearable. But what surprised me most was the bitter manner in whieh they spoke of thefr superiors. I had always imagined that a partictdarly good feeling existed between the EngUsh soldier and his officer; but then it was as an officer myself that I had formed that opinion. I had now the opportunity of seeing things from the opposite point of view, and of hearing the actions of every officer in the depot, from the colonel down to the junior cornet, can vassed by men who had formed their own opinion of what the duties of an officer and a gentleman ought to be. That the estimate was not a favourable one there was no denying. There was some screw loose with aU. One had risen from the ranks, and knew too much ; others who had not done so knew too little. Mr. This was so mean that he managed to avoid haring to keep a charger, and Captain That so prodigal that he was afraid to stfr outside the barrack gates for fear of the baUiffs ; aud although Cornet Noodles could not tell off a troop to save his soul, he was awfidly smart in finding out that private Thomp son's belts had not been properly pipeclayed, or that there was a speck of rust on Smith's scab bard, and would confine a man to barracks because his boots happened to be the eighteenth M 2 104 AN ABSURD LINE OF DEMARCATION. part of an inch out of line on the sheK. How different all this was to the manner in which I had been accustomed to hear French soldiers speak of their officers ! Even in the unhappy Foreign Legion there was a certain amount of camaraderie existing between officer and man : it was always " mon Capitaine" or " mon Lieutenant," whilst the soldier was "mon brave," "mon vieux," or " mon ami," as the case might be. And here let me ask, is it because the English officer is ashamed of his rank that he is invariably ad dressed as " Sir," or is he such a mighty per sonage that he cannot speak to a private Arithout having a non-commissioned officer to act as in terpreter ? That strict discipUne is necessary in every army there can, of com-se, be no question ; but there is such a thing as carrying it a Uttle too far ; and the absurd line of demarcation which at present exists in oui- serrice, whdst it signaUy fails to increase the dignity of the officer, has a tendency to lower and degrade the man. My first evening's experience in barrack-room No. 6 X was quite sufficient to conrince me that a general feeling of discontent prcA'adcd amongst the young soldiers at the CanterburA'- Depot, resulting, iu a gi-cat measure, from a number of grievances which, although trifling in A SCENE OF DISORDER. 165 themselves, were together quite sufficient to make the men disgusted AA'ith the service, and ready to desert at a moment's notice, and what these grievances were I will endeavour to ex plain as I proceed. As the first notes of reveille sounded the next morning, I tumbled out of my hard, uncomfort able bed, only too glad to exchange the close atmosphere of my barrack-room for the fresh air of a fine autumnal morning. I was the only one in the room, however, who showed signs of Ufe, all the others remaining coUed up under neath thefr mgs as if trumpet-calls were alto gether unworthy of notice ; and it was not until some one shouted out that the trumpeter was about to sound "stables," that any movement took place amongst the majority of the sleepers. Then, to be sure, there was a frantic hurrying on of clothes, and making up of beds, accompanied vrith a fafr share of cursing, untU the last notes of the call died away, when down they all rushed to answer thefr names, learing the room in a fearful state of disorder. In the Legion every man turned out without having to be told, at the first tap of the drum, the cor poral himseK setting the example, and the room was always ready for inspection before the occu- 166 BREAKFAST IN A BARRACK-ROOM. pants feU in for roU-caU. At Canterbury, it was different. Up the men would not get untd they were forced to do so, and the consequence was that the room-keeper was delayed every moming by having to make a lot of beds which the OAvners had left unfit for inspection. I must say that, for my OAvn part, I think the French plan the more soldierly of the two ; but of course this is a mere matter of opinion. As I had not been furnished with a kit my presence was not required at stables, so I commenced my dragoon ing by lending the room-keeper a helping hand in getting things into something Uke order ; and by the time our laboui-s were completed, the men had been dismissed, and the caU gone for breakfast. Breakfast in an EngUsh barrack-room is not a comfortable meal by any means. In the fu-st place, there are always sure to be a number of bowls missing, and inquisitors have to be despatched to the other rooms to search for the abstracted crockeryware — not a particulai-ly plea sant mission, for there is generally a dispute, and occasionaUy a fight, about ownership, and the envoy retm-ns mi7ms the pipkin, and plus a black eye, Avhich may be the means of consign ing him to " dm-ancc vUe" in the guard-room. A WANT OF MANAGEMENT SOMEWHERE. 167' Then it is nobody's turn to fetch the coffee ; and when it does at length make its appearance, there is sure to be a squabble before anyone can be found to take the breakfasts to the men on guard. In this way so much time is lost that, unless a man have everything cleaned overnight, he has either to bolt his food, or run the risk of being only half-dressed when the trumpet sounds for parade. I am, of course, now only speaking of young soldiers, for your old dragoon is altogether too vride-awake a customer to be caught napping ; or- if he be, a few touches of pipeclay and a judici ous appUcation of the burnisher here and there, wiU make him look cleaner in five minutes' time than poor " cruity" would do K he had been cleaning aAvay for a fortnight. I know that during the whole time I had the honour of being a private in the Seventeenth Lancers, I never felt the slightest incUnation to partake of the breakfast prepared for my delectation. So far as the breakfast itseK was concemed, it was pretty much the same as that served out to me in the French army, with the addition of a little hot water, which was supposed to have a flavour- of coffee, but which it most decidedly had not. If the same quantity of coffee had been served out to any but EngUsh troops, I am convinced 168 UNSATISFACTORY COOKERY, they would have found no difficulty in making something drinkable with it. But in our army, notwithstanding the lectiu-es of poor Alexis Soyer, and our Crimean experiences, and improved kitchen ranges, and a lot of other new-fangled notions, the state in Avhich our soldiers' rations still leave the cook-house is a disgrace to a civiUzed nation, and good food is daUy spoUt from doAvnright ignorance and mismanagement of the grossest description. Under the unskiKul hands of the regimental cook, it is reaUy wonder ful how the three-quarters of a pound of meat which the British soldier is supposed to have for his dinner shrinks away, untd nothing is left but a dry, tough, unpalatable piece of carrion, at which a weU-bred poodle would turn up his nose. Only just fancy a French soldier Arith three- quarters of a poimd of solid meat per diem, Arith potatoes, and occasionally other vegetables be sides ! Why, in a month's time, the rascal would grow so fat, that the /jos acc6lh-4, let alone the pas gymnastique, would be entfrely out of the question. What savoury stews he would concoct ! How cunningly he Avould extemporise a soup, an entree, and a rdli out of the un promising piece of meat, which, under English manipulation, would have remained an un- IMPORTANCE OF THE CULINARY ART. 169 promising piece of meat to the end of the chapter. And why should it be so? Why should our soldiers still remain as ignorant of the simplest rules of the culinary art as they were at the time of the Crimean war, when, although complaining of starvation, they thrcAf. away immense quantities of rations as unfit for food, simply because they had not the remotest idea of how to set to work about cooking them, much to the amusement of our French allies, who were only too glad to pick up their leavings, which they, somehow or another, managed to turn to good account ? If the English soldier is so obtuse that he cannot learn how to cook his food Arithout undergoing a regular course of in struction, the sooner military model-schools for cookery are instituted the better, for that he should have his rations properly cooked is a matter of the gravest importance, not only to himself, but to the nation at large ; for if we are to beUeve history, a battle has been lost before now by a bungUng chef haring spoUt the diges tion of the general vrith badly-cooked mutton- chops, and won solely through the excellence of the fried chickens which formed his breakfast {vide, poulet a la Marengo). But to return to my barrack-room experiences. One of my com- 170 AN ENGLISH CANTEEN-KEEPER's PROFITS. rades, seeing that I did not tackle my breakfast, volunteered to fetch me something from the canteen, an offer which I gladly accepted; and in a short time he retiu-ned, bringing with him a piece of rancid butter, Avrapped in a morsel of paper torn out of an old copy-book, some half-dozen slices of most unsavoury " polony," and a little suspicious-looking ham. If there be a business more than another in which I have a desfre to invest money, it is in that one carried on at an English canteen. In the daily papers I read that rapid fortunes ai-e to be made by purchasing shares in this or that company (limited), or by investing a few paltry hundreds in the can-ying out of some patent, "which only requfres to be knoAvn to be appre ciated." All bosh! The easiest, safest, and best way to make a fortune is by having an interest in a canteen. All the expense and trouble of advertising is avoided, for business comes of itself, and the canteen-keeper has ouly to remain quietly secreted in his parloiu-, like a huge two-legged spider, and the mUitary ffies are caught of their own accord. As there is no opposition, it matters little to the cautceu-pro- prietor Avhat the quality of his edibles and drink ables may bc, the soldier has to take them and SPARTAN FARE. 171 be thankful, or go Arithout untd such time as he can leave barracks to purchase them elsewhere ; and so long as they are approved of by the inspecting officers — who of course only taste and smeU what he chooses to put before them — ^he can afford to laugh at the vny faces pulled by Private GUes as he gulps doAvn his nauseous pint of sour swipes or muddy haK-and-haK. I have no doubt that the sleek appearance of many of our quartermasters is in a great measure OAving to the nourishing quaUties of this same canteen- stout, for there is this pecuUarity about quarter masters and thefr horses, that they always appear to thrive best where others thrive least.. An extraordinary coincidence, people may say, but none the less true for aU that. My first breakfast at the Canterbury depot was of the very Ughtest description. I could not summon sufficient courage to tackle the " polony," and the very look of the ham was sufficient to take away any Uttle appetite that the smeU of the rancid butter inight have left me. So I had to fall back on the Spartan fare of a crust of bread, washed doAvn with a glass of cold water. After breakfast, I had to undergo another series of inspections ; and having been approved of by both doctor and commandant, I was served out vrith a kit, and 172 A REAL soldier's GRIEVANCE. placed on the strength of the regiment. I, Mark Tapley, junior, ci-devant sperm whaler, Legionaire, FMneur de Paris, and the Lord only knows what besides, having advanced backwards, like a tme Irishman, had now arrived at the exalted position of a private — must I say, of a " common" soldier — in a regiment of Light Dra goons. I wonder why the good people of England will persist in calUng a man a " common" soldier simply because he is serving his country in a more humble capacity than Cornet Bouncer, whose father has scraped together sufficient money or interest to procure him a commission ; and what I wonder at stUl more is, that the British soldier should have put up vrith the indignity so long. This is what I call a real soldier's griev ance, and a great one. TMiy should a man, because he has her ^Majesty's umform on his back, be excluded from aU places of entertain ment, excepting the vciy lowest tavems in o"ar garrison toAvns ? Would a landlord in Fi-ance or Italy dare to eject a soldier from his hotel or restam-ant because the galons of an officer Avcre wanting on his "kepi"? I rather think not. Then Avhy should he be permitted to act differ ently here ? Is not the sei-A'ice sufficiently un popular already, that avc desfre to make it (if discontent of ENGLISH SOLDIERS. 173 possible) even more so, by depriving our soldiers of all social status whatever, and reducing them to the same level as the blessed negro on the other side of the Atlantic? And can we be surprised that our troops, instead of being proud of the uniform they wear, look upon it as the badge of forced serritude and disgrace ? If I did not regard my uniform in this Ught, I have no doubt that it was simply because I was diflferently cfrcumstanced to the other recruits, who, not having thfrty pounds wherewith to pur chase thefr discharge, were forced to remain in the regiment, whether they liked it or not. Against the uniform itself nothing could be said. It was neat, soldierly, and much better cut than the long blue-gray coat of the Legionaires which had been served out to me at Bastia. If the cloth was a little coarse, it was quite good enough for barrack wear; and for perambulating the streets of Canterbury I got the regimental tailor to make me a superfine sheU-jacket and overaUs, being determined, if I were only a private, to look as much like a gentleman as the regulations of the service would admit. Once in possession of a stable bag I was not long left idle, and the very first evening after my arrival at the depot, I found myself Avith a 174 THE DELIGHTS OF BURNISHING. brush in one hand and a currycomb in the other, working away at a horse as naturaUy as if I had been brought up as a groom, and not as a gentleman; for it is astonishing how soon a genuine " Bohemian" can adapt himself to cfr cumstances. I was a pretty good hand at clean ing a horse, but I soon found, to my cost; that burnishing bit, bridoon, and stirrup-frons, ac cording to the rules and regulations of her Majesty's Serrice, was the real hard work, and not to be learnt without an immense amount of patience and perseverance. I suppose it was because the English dragoon had not sufficient to do that the Horse Guards determined upon haring his bit, bridoon, stirrup-frons, buckles, scabbard, &c., made of poUshed steel, which he is expected to keep burnished, so that they shine like silver. If this were really the reason they could not haA'e derised a better expedient, for it is a neAcr-ending, stiU-beginning labour, which keeps the poor recitdt, at aU cA'cnts, in a feverish state of anxiety fi-om morning tiU night. He sees the result of thi-ee hours' hard work de stroyed in as many minutes. LeaA-ing the stable Avith arms and accoutrements dazzlingly bright, hardly is he well in the saddle before everything is tarnished by the s\i-cat of his horse, or the DISADVANTAGES OF BRIGHT APPOINTMENTS. 175 damp atmosphere of our delightful climate, and when he returns from mounted parade all the burnishing has to be done over again, to the infi nite deUght of poor " cruity,'-' and the advantage of the serrice generally. It would of course be out of the question to alter this state of things. The interests of the country requfre that dra goons' arms and appointments shall be burnished, and burnished they must be. It of course like wise matters little that on active service these same bright arms and appointments get fearfully rusty, when galvanized ditto would be, if not exactly resplendent, at all events clean and presentable. Oh, no ! the EngUsh dragoon, it would appear, is intended for show, and not for service,- or, at most, for some briUiant charge like that at Balaclava. Throw him on his own re sources and expose him to all the hardships of a winter campaign, and where is he? Let our Crimean experiences furnish an answer. But enough said on the subject. Until the com mander-in-chief and his staff have to clean their own appointments, no change will take place in the present ridiculous regulations, and the " burnisher " will stiU remain, as it is at present, the especial bSte noir of every English dragoon. My mounted and dismounted drills were not 170 TAKING THINGS EASILY. long in folloA^-ing my first introducti(jn to stables. Not having forgotten my infantry drill, I was saved the ignominy of haAing to practise the inevitable " goose step," and the annoyance of having my heels trod upon by a lot of raw recruits, whilst learning the mysteries of file marching. I was at once put into an advanced squad, where some thirty of my comrades were learning the use of sword and lance ; and as I took private lessons from a driU sergeant in my leisure hours, I made a fafr amount of progress. I began once again to take an interest in soldier ing, and to feel a sort of pride iu belonging to the " Seventeenth," which was, to my mind, at aU events, the best eavaby regiment at the depot. Indeed, I may say that I made up my mind to take my turn for India, and see whether I could not raise sufficient interest to obtain, for the second time, a commission in her Majesty's serAdce. I took things very easdy, for after haring once learnt the Avay ter set about cleaning my accoutrements, so that I might experience no difficulty in doing my oa^ii Avork whenever occa sion required, I thought it better to pay a man to act as my batman, preferring a qtuct cigar and glass of brandy aud Avater iu a certain snug little hostcliy near the city Avails (after luy day's MATTERS GO ON SMOOTHLY. 177 labours were over) to a pipeclaying and burnish ing match in my close barrack-room. Of the bad treatment about which I had heard so much talk on my first arrival, I must candidly admit I saw little. I took care that my officers should have no reason to find fault with me either for insubordination or neglect of duty ; and if there were one or two ignorant, disagreeable lance- sergeants in the regiment, they thought it ad risable to leave me alone, so that I, at all events, had nothing to complain of. Riding- school drdl, likewise, which was the reverse of agreeable to most of my comrades, I Uked rather than otherArise, although the fact of knowing that I had a stupid recruit behind me, the point of whose lance was in dangerous proximity to my hump ribs, did not tend to. increase my enjoyment. Guards I had none, for having the best soldier in the regiment to look after me, whenever my turn for duty came, I invariably proved to be cleanest man on parade, and, as such, was excused not only guard, but all work whatsoever, for the next twenty-four hours. And so a month or six weeks passed away, when one morning my presence was desired at the orderly-room, and having been ushered into the presence of the commandant, I Avas asked by VOL. II. N 178 MARK TAPLEY IS PROMOTED. that aU-powerful officer whether I should like to be made a lance-sergeant. Of course I was only too glad to have the chance, and eagerly grasped at the offer. As a sergeant I should, I thought, escape aU the drudgery of the serrice. I would have some one to clean my horse, take charge of his appointments, and do aU my dirty work about the stables ; and as the sergeants' mess was in finitely preferable to that in the barrack-room, I should no longer have occasion to go scouring the town for my dinner. Aud so in the order- book of that evening it was formaUy announced that Private Mark Tapley was to do duty as lance-sergeant, and on the strength of that ukase he transferred himseK, bag and baggage, to the non-commissioned officers' quarters, which were situated in another part of the barracks. The sergeants' mess-room, at the Canterbury dep6t, was by no means a bad sort of place, and it was becarpeted and bcpictured in a style that would have made a French non-commissioned officer stare. There being, at the time of which I am writing, the depots of scacu cavalry regi ments at Cautcrbm-y, the accumulations of the sergeants' mess-fund Avcre considerable ; and as the surplus had to be spent in some Avay or another, a portion of it had been devoted to the JEALOUS COMRADES. 179''" embellishment of the common mess-room. That the money had been judiciously laid out was questionable, for the frames of the prints which hung on the walls were more suited to the morning-room of a nobleman's mansion than a sergeants' mess, whUst the less said about the taste displayed in the papering and painting line the better. But apart from the decorations, the room was everything that could be desired, and I duly appreciated my good fortune in having so soon effected my escape from the noise and. diseomforts of barrack-room 6 X. There was a corresponding change for the better likewise in my sleeping-quarters, as we had only five sergeants in the room to which I was told off, and they were of course a better class of men than those vrith whom I had been associating. I was pretty well received by the majority of my new comrades, the two lance-sergeants of my own regiment forming the exception. Whether it was from a feeling of jealousy, or downright . Ul-nature, I know not, but from the first moment of my promotion these two worthies seemed de termined to have agreed that from them, at least, . I was to receive no assistance in the learning and carrying out of my new duties ; and that they succeeded in giving me no end of trouble N 2 ISO PERFORMANCE OF DUTY and annoyance I cannot attempt to deny. All that men could possibly do to make things un pleasant for me they did, or tried to do. Let a man be never so smart, he cannot be expected to learn the duties of a non-commissioned officer by intuition, and for all the information I could glean from these two amiable indiriduals I inight just as well have applied to the barrack-pump. Had it not been that there were other sergeants to whom I could go for a Uttle assistance, I should have been in a precious mess when my turn for orderly duty came, as I was totally ignorant of the manner in which reports had to be drawn out, those of my predecessor, from which I was supposed to be able to obtain the desired information, being so detestably Avritten — whether purposely or otherwise deponent saith not — that I might as weU have been furnished with a copy of the Koran, so uninteUigible were they fi-om beginning to end. How all our men were distributed, I was left to find out as best I might, for my brother lance-sergeants, like " Signor IMajocchi," ncAcr could recoUect anything that they were pai-ticnlarly required to knoAV, aud alAvays gaA-e CAasive answers to the plainest and most straightforwai-d questions ; so for some days my ucav bUlet was anything but a UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 181 sinecure, and I was kept continually running from one end of the barracks to the other in search of the information whieh I could not otherArise obtain, and so sick did I get of the whole business, that I could wUUngly have resigned my unenriable position had I not knoAvn that by doing so I would have pleased my two disagreeable coadjutors beyond measure. More, therefore, for the sake of depriv ing them of the pleasure of haAdng a crow over my discomfiture than from any love for my duties, I per severed in my endeavour to overcome the difficul ties that were thrown in my way, and in a short -time I had the satisfaction of knowing that I was no longer in their power, being perfectly compe tent to do my work without either their adrice or assistance. But these two sergeants were not the only men in the regiment to give me trouble by any manner of means. As a private, I had found the recruits both obliging and wUl ing, as a sergeant I learnt to my cost that they were as stubborn as mules, and that kind usage was completely thrown away upon them. They appeared to imagine that it was at their option to obey orders or not, just as they pleased; and instead of setting about what they had to do with a will, they invariably began grumbUng at 182 I BECOME UNPOPULAR. the way in which the fatigue-roster was made out by the unfortunate sergeant who had to warn them for duty. Day after day I would " warn" some dozen men to carry forage; and time after time, when the call went, not one of the entire number would put in an appearance, and I would be obliged to threaten them with the guard house before I could get them out of thefr re spective barrack-rooms. The delay occasioned by having thus to do my work tArice over would sometimes make me late at the quartermaster's stores. I wotdd be blamed for what was no fault of my OAvn, and would then and there inwardly resolve to carry my threats into execution the very next time, and confine the whole lot K they failed to respond to my first summons. But when the next time came I somehow or another always thought it better to give them another chance, until human forbearance could stand it no longer, and I at length found myseK forced to show them that they could no longer impose on my good-natm-c, and immediately became, as might have been expected, excessiA-ely unpopular with all those with whom I was brought into con tact. I can easUy imagine how old soldiers will sneer at the confession. Yes, we aU know that ; nothing is easier than to — &c., &c. ; and that a THE CHARACTER OF ENGLISH SOLDIERS. 183 man who cannot enforce his orders without having to resort to extreme measures, must be sadly deficient in those qualities which command re spect. WeU, be it so; and yet in my short Ufe time I have had to do vrith aU sorts and condi tions of men, and have generaUy managed somehow -or another to make myself Uked by those amongst whom my lot has been for the time cast, English soldiers excepted; and to teU the truth I am rather proud of this than otherwise, for a non commissioned officer to become popular in an English regiment must possess qualities which I, for one, have no wish to acqufre. I have no hesitation in saying that our soldiers are, as a rule, the most unsatisfactory lot of men to have any dealings vrith that could be found, were one to search the world over. English sadors are bad enough, God knows, but they are angels in com parison with thefr brother grumblers of the army. I can always get along with Jack, for I know his character " like a book," and whenever he shows signs of turning rusty, I find that a little severity, accompanied with a good deal of swearing, wUl generaUy restore him to reason ; for he is Uke the Australian bullocks — haring been weaned upon curses, he is so .accustomed to them, that he never can be made 184 USELESS CORPORALS. to think that a man is in earnest, unless his conversation is interlarded with a few round oaths. But the young soldiers at the Canterbury depot were neither to be concdiated by kindness nor frightened into obedience by threats of the guard room ; and as it was against the regulations of the serrice to take the law into one's own hands, how to deal with them was not easy to deter mine ; for if I had been constantly bringing them up before the commandant for disobedience of orders, I would soon have been looked upon as the most quarrelsome and inefficient non-com missioned officer iu the depot — a character which I had not the slightest desfre to earn for my self. AU this worry and trouble might easdy have been avoided, had the corporals of the dK- ferent rooms been held responsible for the appear ance of their men, as they ought to have been. In the French serrice, corporals reaUy are of some assistance to the sergeants, but at Canterbury, for all the good they were, there might just as Avell have been none at all. That it was their duty to set the meu a good example, and to sIioav the young soldiers how to do their work, seemed never once to cuter their heads ; aud the conse quence was that their authority Avas nil, and the progress made by their respective squads most THE TROUBLES OF A RECRUIT. 185 unsatisfactory. The bother and trouble there always was before a young soldier was ready to turn out in heavy marching order, Avould hardly be credited. First of aU he would go franticaUy rushing from room to room in search of some one to roll his cloak for him, and then he would re quire some one else to lend him a helping hand in packing his valise. Arrived at the stable, his troubles would commence afresh, for there was his sheepskin to strap on, and his holsters to pack according to regulation, and he Avas sure to have forgotten his hoof-pick or something else ; so that when he was at length fafrly in the saddle, he was the joint get-up of some half dozen men. No doubt the recruit, once at head quarters, soon learns to depend more on himself and less upon others ; but that is no reason why a Uttle more system inight not be displayed iu teaching him his duty whilst at the depot. A fortnightly parade, at whieh the men would have to roll thefr cloaks, pack thefr valises, and saddle their horses under the eye of the adjutant, would have a magical effect in making the young soldier seK-dependent,more especially if corporals of rooms were held responsible for any gross exhibition of ignorance on the part of thefr men. To know what the soldier really can do and what he cannot do. 186 A RIDICULOUS PROCEEDING. a man must himseK have done duty as a private ; to learn it in any other way is out of the ques tion. A soldier weU knows that he cannot im pose on the ignorance of an officer who has himself risen from the ranks, and that is the reason why such officers are as a rule disUked by their men. They know too much, and are always detecting flaws which others Arith less experience would have passed by unnoticed. But K a non-commissioned officer be quick in detecting the shortcomings of those beneath him, neither is he slow in finding out those of his superiors ; and there is no denying that the ridiculously important demeanour of some officers, and the downright stupidity of others, afford him a pretty wide field for criticism. I could never forbear smiUng Avhenever in my course of duty I had to act as pioneer to some man who desfred to speak to an officer, the whole proceed ing was so extremely ridiculous, being more suited to the dark ages of pigtads and gaiters, than to these enUghtcned times of Albert hats and German tunics. Having halted and eyes-fronted my charge, and saluted the beardless young gen tleman in Avhosc august presence I was standing, " Sfr," I Avould solemnly pi-occed to say, " this man Avishes to speak to you." " Oh, he wishes AN EARNEST WISH. 187 to speak to me, does he ?" would respond his mightiness, looking about as wise as an owl in the daylight. " WeU, my man" (turning to the unhappy petitioner), " what is it that you want to say?" Permission to speak having been thus gra ciously accorded, the man would proceed to state his case, which Avould be patronizingly listened to, or pooh-poohed according to the humour the little gentleman might happen to be in ; and then, vrithout more ado, I would salute a second time, and giving the word " Right about face," march the man back to the ranks again, very little the better for the interview. Then there would be the farce of taking young officers round the bar rack-rooms. I soon discovered that the more stupid the subaltern, the greater the chance of his finding fault with something or another, in the manner of dolts generaUy ; and many a time when going the rounds have I wished myself clear of the service, K only for five minutes, that I might be free to administer to the little Avhelp whom I was escorting the horsewhipping he so richly deserved. " Whose bed is this. Sergeant Tapley ?" he would say, turning to unhappy me. " Whose bed is this, Corporal Jones ?" I would ask, turning to the corporal of the room. " Pri- 188 RECRUITS LIKE YOUNG COLTS. vate Smith's," would be the answer. " Private Smith's, sfr," I would re-echo. "WeU then, just see what Private Smith has got there be hind his valise ;" and I would forthArith proceed to fish out a rag, or a brush, or some other tabooed article, which unhappy Smith, in an evd moment, had forgotten to stow away in his "hold-all," and the culprit would be lectured on the enormity of his offence, and cautioned how he transgressed for the future. Scenes of this description were of every-day occurrence, and even K the men were never punished, the constant badgering and fault finding was quite sufficient to make them sulky and disgusted with the serrice. Recruits, like young colts, require very gentle handling, and this is what they very seldom get. They are expected to cast theu- old habits as quickly as a serpent casts his skin. They must be clean, orderly, and respectful to thefr superiors, or the corporal reports them to the sergeant, the sergeant to the officer, and they receive the punishment due to their misdeeds. Of course poor " pilgarlic " is asked for form's sake what he has to say iu his defeuce, but he knows that his Aviscst plan is to s.ay nothing, for the non-commissioned officer is pretty certain to receive the support of his captain, let the case stand hoAv it may. English officers think that WHY THE ARMY IS UNPOPULAR. 189 if they do not always support their sergeants, neither wiU their sergeants support them. That there should be mutual support is aU very weU, but the non-commissioned officer ought not to be protected at the expense of the private, as he is with us. If the private be in fault, let him be punished by all means ; but if it be the sergeant who is the aggressor, neither ought he to escape scot-free. It appears to me that the duty of an officer is to impress upon the minds of his men that he is their friend and adriser, rather than thefr oppressor, and when he is called upon to act as judge, he ought, above all things, to be an impartial one. It seems to be a matter of ge neral surprise, that a better class of men do not enter our serA'ice, considering the numerous advantages held out to induce respectably brought- up youths to enlist. For my part I can see no thing surprising in it, for when I remember what my own experiences were, I have not the sUghtest difficulty in understanding why it is that our army is so unpopular, and how it arises that men, notwithstanding all the baits held out, cannot be induced to join Her Majesty's service. All the advantages of which we hear so much, are more than counterbalanced by many a grievance of Avhich we hear nothing. If, prior to taking the shilUng, the recruit were badly lodged and fed, he 190 DRUNKENNESS IN THE ARMY. was in a measure a free agent, and liberty counts for something all the world OA-er. No sergeant had he constantly dogging his footsteps, ready to pounce upon him for the sUghtest dereliction of duty, and if he got drank on Saturday night, the sum total of his punishment was a temporary confinement in the poUce cells, foUowed by a slight fine on the Monday morning. And whilst on the subject of drunkenness, I wonder whether it ever strikes those gaUant gentlemen of Her Majesty's serrice who are in the habit of occa sionally getting what they caU "tight," that the soldier must feel it rather a hard case to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for drunk enness, by an officer whom he knows to have been carried to bed time after time in a beastly state of intoxication by his own batman, and Avho, although on court-martial duty, has not even recoA'ered from his last debauch. Of course the soldier has no business to talk of the doings of his superiors ; but unfortunately he wUl talk for aU that, and if the " lushingtons " of our army could only hear the contemptuous manner in which their conduct is spoken of by the men Avhose opinion they affect to despise, it would bring the blush of shame to their cheeks, if such a thiuff -' O as shame Avcre to be found in their composition. ADVANTAGES OF BEING A SOLDIER. 191 But let me enumerate all the advantages which a man can gain by simply taking Her Majesty's shilling. At the time of which I am writing, not only was he given a free kit, but he had three pounds bounty besides, the possession of which kept him alternating between the public- house and the guard-room for the first three weeks — at the expfration of which time he would be just ripe for desertion in the hopes of getting another bounty elsewhere. The Government gave him his fire, lights, and lodging gratis, and suppUed him vrith food at so low a figure that he was supposed to have sixpence remaining out of his day's pay of sixteenpence, to spend as he thought fit. I say supposed to have, for when his stable-jacket and overalls began to wear out, and his boots to show signs of holes, he was placed on the one penny per diem platform — one penny being the entire amount that a man is entitled to when under stoppages, which a recruit generaUy is unless he be a very rare specimen of his class. His food was, as I have before stated, about as badly cooked as it well could be, and his barrack accommodation not much to boast about. But then, Khe behaved himseK he might hope some day to obtain permission to take unto himseK a wKe, and remove his quarters to one 192 THE SOLDIER MARRIED, of the commodious rooms provided by the English Government for married soldiers, where, as closely packed as the "happy famUy" in Trafalgar Square, if not quite as peaceable, he and his helpmate would be aUowed to enjoy all the pleasures of married IKe with some haK-dozen other couples similarly situated to themselves. As a married man, the monotony of his Ufe would be enlivened by hearing constant squab bUng going ou between the wife of his bosom and Mrs. Kitty Flannigan or Mrs. Corporal O'Toole about the possession of one of those innumerable clothes-lines Arith which our barrack- yards are so gracefuUy festooned ; and K particu larly favoured by fci-tune, he would, when the regiment was ordered for foreign serrice, carry his amiable partner along with him, to be a greater nuisance in India than she had even been at home. If, on the contrary, fortune proved unkind, and his wife had to be left behind, he would have the satisfaction of knowing that his chances of meeting her again were slightly — very slightly — better than the negro's when separated from his Avife aud family and packed off to another plantation. What business a soldier has Avitli a Avifc at all, is a mystery to me. Soldiers' wives are, as a rule, not only slatternly and dirty. THE BRITISH SOLDIEr's PROSPECTS. 193 but they are meddling and quarrelsome besides; and until nine-tenths of them are sent to the right-about, with their noisy, ragged children, our barracks wdl continue to present to the eye the same half-foundling-hospital, half-laundry- establishment appearance which they do at the present time. But the chance of becoming a domesticated animal such as I have briefly described, is not the only bait held out to induce men to enlist in our service. Oh no ! If the British soldier escape death by the sword on the field of battle — death by pestdenee in unhealthy climates — death by infection in our garrison-towns — ^he wdl, when his protracted term of servitude is ex pfred, be rewarded with a pension which vrill be just sufficient to keep him out of the workhouse (not always that, K he have a wKe and family to proride for) ; or if he have been wounded and lost a limb in action, he may look forward to becoming some day a member of that corps of Commissionaires, about which so much has been written and for which so little has been done. What a truly splendid prospect for the deserving soldier ! — the alternative of either dragging through the remainder of his days in the back- slums of one of our over-crowded cities, or of VOL. II. o 194 MILITARY CHAPLAINS AND SURGEONS. eking out a miserable subsistence after the manner of those Commissionafres whom we see standing daily idle in our streets, Uke the men in the parable, and for pretty much the same reason. But, whether married or unmarried, there are at least two things vrith which the soldier is really liberaUy prorided — ^balm of GUead for dis eases of the soul, and balm which is not of GUead for those of the body ; garrison chaplains, army Scripture readers, and colporteurs innumerable supplying him Arith the one, the regimental surgeon with the other. Never haring had occa sion to require the assistance of the former gentlemen during my stay in Canterbury, I am unable to speak of the efficacy of thefr treatment, but if thefr spfritual medicine be anything like that with whieh I was drenched by our staff- surgeon, it must have been soul-stfrring indeed. In our mUitary hospitals — the Canterbury one, at aU events — they appear to have come to the con clusion that an emetic is the panacea for aU those lesser Uls that soldiers' fiesh is hefr to, and an emetic is accordingly administered for every imaginable complaint, fi-om a pain in the head to a diseased liver. Twice had I to present myseK at the surgery for a little medicine, and twice Avas I served out Avith an emetic, although on PUNISHMENT BY THE LASH. 195 the first occasion I was suffering from boUs, and on the second from lumbago. I may just mention here, that on both of these occasions I was kept waiting, with some score of fellow- sufferers, in the barrack-square until the orderly sergeant was ready to march us up to hospital, for it is altogether against the rules and regu lations of the serrice for a soldier to proceed thither by himself, or indeed even to feel Ul untU the time arrives for the surgeon's daUy inspection. Finally, that nothing may be left undone to make the serrice attractive, the disgusting spectacle of punishment by the lash is occasion ally provided by our military authorities for the amusement and edification of the young soldier. It matters not that it is only resorted to in ex treme cases, and administered to the most incor rigible ruffians. That it should be resorted to at aU is quite sufficient to prevent any respectable man from enlisting in the ranks of the British army, and to make those who have enlisted dis gusted with a service to which they ought to be only too proud to belong. I am not particularly chicken-hearted, and yet I can never see a man flogged vrithout turning deadly sick, and I am not a solitary instance by any means. If I could 0 2 196 soldiers' grievances. only see any good that arises from the use of the lash, it would be different, but I can see none ; for corporeal punishment, as I have had occasion to say before, hardens and degrades, vrithout in the sUghtest degree benefiting the recipient ; and when a man has become so incorrigible as to be a fit subject for the cat, the sooner he is igno miniously dismissed the serrice, or sent to the hulks as in France, the better. ^Vll very weU in theory, wiU say those miUtary wiseacres upon whom anything like common-sense reasoning is completely thrown away — all very weU in theory ; but if corporeal punishment were aboUshed, the desertions from our army, which are afready enormous, would be increased fourfold. The very reason that some alteration should be effected in its organization Arithout delay, for it carries out my assertion, that the serrice is most unpopular, and likely to remain so untd some thing more is done for the soldier than at pre sent. And lioAv very easdy that something might be done, if those whose busiucss it is would only give themsehes the trouble of first enqufring what our soldiers' grieAauecs really arc, and then set themselves earnestly about the work of redress ing them. Why is it that our soldiei-s are more discontented than the soldiers of other armies. raised FROM THE RANKS. 197 when they are at all events better fed and better paid, if nothing else, than any other troops, the American excepted ? It is because they are differently treated, not only in barracks but out of barracks; for with us a man instead of rais ing himseK in the social scale, lowers himself by enUsting, and let him have been what he may, he is, both to his officers and the public, the " common" soldier, and nothing else; Unlike his French brother, he carries no marshal's b^ton in his knapsack, or if he should ever attain the rank of Ueutenant or captain, a more unenviable position it would be difficult to conceive. True, he is osten sibly on precisely the same footing as his brother officers, but he weU knows that these same amiable brother officers do not forget that he is a "^ ranker," and that the very privates talk of him disparagingly as a man who was at one time no better than themselves. Without any private means of his own, he is hard set to make both ends meet, and has the mortification of seeing junior officers, whose purses happen to be better lined than his own, constantly passing over his head, and of being obliged to deny himself many of those little luxuries, which, as sergeant-major, he could well afford. Of course he has the option of accepting or of rejecting his commission as he 19S WHY SOLDIERS ARE DISCONTENTED. thinks fit. You would not have the Govern ment provide him with pocket-money as weU as vrith pay, I think I hear demanded by some vfrtuously indignant gentleman, who, if he had been in the ranks, would in aU probabUity have remained there. Certainly not, I must answer; but as at present I am writing about the soldier's grievances, I must leave those of his officer for some future occasion. I have said that it is be cause our men do not hold the same social posi tion as their mUitary friends across the Channel, that they are, as a rule, discontented ; and so it is in a measure, for nothing gaUs a soldier nio^e than the feeUng that he is despised by those who, were he not a soldier, would be his equals. But this is not the only reason. Like his feUow- sufferer, " Jack," he has nothing to look forward to — nothing to induce him to lead a steady, thrifty life, and existing only for the present, Arithout hopes for the futiire, he grows dissatisfied Arith his lot, and is constantly brooding over his real or imaginary wrongs. But let him once have an aim in life — let him feel that, as a soldier, he is but fitting himself for more remunerative labours in another sphere, and before six months are over, he wiU become an altered man. Our army would undergo an entire change. There would WHAT TO DO WITH DISCHARGED SOLDIERS. 199 be no longer any need for the brutal lash — deser tion would be almost unknown, and instead of the ranks being fiUed with " ne'er-do-weels " of every denomination, as at present, they would only be open to orderly and weU-conducted men. And what difficulty would there be in bringing about this most desirable end ? Absolutely none. Supposing that a man's serrice were limited to twenty years, he would, if he had enlisted at an early age, receive his discharge about his fortieth year, or in the very prime of life. WeU, then, aUowing that he was only entitled to a pension of sixpence per diem, he would if he lived to the age of sixty, have cost the Government, from first to last, very close upon 2001. This money which, when dribbled out by quarterly instalments, would be barely sufficient to provide the pen sioner vrith the common necessaries of Ufe, might, I think, vrith proper management, be turned to much better account, and be made the means of not only reaUy benefiting the recipient, but the country at large. This could be effected in a very easy manner — by simply making him a mi Utary colonist. The discharged soldier, instead of being forced to eke out a Uring by picking up odd jobs here and there, would at once receive a free passage to Canada, and the .grant of, say. 200 MILITARY COLONISTS. sixty acres of land. The 200^. which the Govern ment would have had to pay him sooner or later, might be laid out at the discretion of the resident inspector in clearing and stocking his farm, so that the ex-soldier might have the means of beginning work on his oavu account Arith as little delay as possible, and have the satisfaction of feeUng that he had at length a home Avhich he could caU his oavu. The money would of course be invested in such a manner as to prevent th6 possibiUty of the pensioner dis posing of his interest in the property, should he feel incUned at any time to desert his colours and shelter himseK under the protecting folds of the star-spangled banner in the neighbouring dominions of Uncle Sam. Why, might I ask, could not that splendid tract of country on the Red River be settled in this manner ? and what more satisfactoiy solution coidd there be to that eternal Canadian question? These colonists would not only be tdlers of the sod, but veteran troops as Avell, ready, at a moment's notice, to help the Canadian mUitia in the defence of thefr common country ; aud as such they might receiA'e a small annual alloAvance from the colonial government. These veterans Avould be com manded by veteran officers, for the reward held THE HELPLESSNESS OF BRITISH SOLDIERS. 201 out to meritorious " rankers" might likcArise be a farm of a size and value in proportion to thefr services. Only let the Government hold out such inducements as these, and there avUI be any number of good men to be had for the asking, and we should soon be in a position to save the black sheep the trouble of deserting by sending them about their business, whether they liked it or not. But, to qualify our soldiers for back woodsmen, it is absolutely necessary that they should be taught something a little more useful than the use of the pipeclay, sponge, and bur nisher during their period of service. Our soldiers are, without exception, the most helpless lot of men to be found on the face of the earth, and K they were to be sent out to Canada in their present state, I fear the soldiers' colony would soon resemble that celebrated nigger settle ment which John BroAvn the martyr founded at Elba, in the state of New York. In some regiments — the twelfth Foot more especiaUy — ^industrial bazaars haA'e been organized with a considerable amount of success. Is there any reason to pre vent simdar schools of industry from being esta bUshed in aU our infantry regiments, or do commanding officers think, like a certain gaUant old colonel of the old school with whom I had a 202 THE USUAL EFFECTS OF IDLENESS. discussion on the subject lately, that, as the EngUsh army had done without such schools hitherto, it could continue to do so untU the end of the chapter. The dragoon when at home has quite sufficient to occupy his time As-ithout extra labour of any description, but Arith the infantry soldier it is different. Neither has he a horse to clean, nor a burnisher whercArith to begude his lei sure moments, and Avhen he retums from parade, after touching his belts Arith the pipeclay sponge, and his pouch Arith a Uttle bees-wax, he has only to rub doAvn his rifle with an od rag and his labours are complete. The consequence is that the time often hangs heavdy on his hands, and he repairs to the nearest pubUe to droAvn " his cares in heavy wet." The devU tempts every man, but the idle man tempts the devU to tempt him. Let om- soldiers be taught some useful trade, and whdst working at that trade, they avUI forget themselves ; let them forget themselves and the chief cause of thefr- discontent is at once removed. Somehow or another it appears as K om- Govem ment had a decided objection to the scK-support- ing system. Iu the Fi-ench ai-my every ai-ticle that can be made in the regimental workshops is made there, and in America aud other coimtries they manage to make cveu thefr convict estabUshments REGIMENTS FOR GENTLEMEN VOLUNTEERS. 203 seK-paying ; why cannot Ave do so here ? Of course there must be some exceUent reason for it, but I, for one, have never been able to discover what that reason is. But there is yet another way by which men of good famUy and Uberal education might be in duced to enter the ranks of our army. It is by forming two regiments of gentlemen volunteers, one cavalry, the other infantry. There are hundreds of young men, gentlemen by bfrth and education, who would only be too happy to begin Ufe at the very lowest rung of the miUtary ladder, K they were not deterred from enUsting by knowing the class of men amongst whom they vriU be thrown. Once let that objection be removed by two regiments being reserved espe ciaUy for young men of good famdy and educa tion, and in a few years, any number of efficient soldiers would be forthcoming to supply the places of the UUterate non-commissioned officers of the present day. It wiU of course be urged that such an innovation wotdd cause an immense amount of discontent in the serrice, and so it might at first. But that it would ultimately succeed I have not the sUghtest doubt, and that our army would be considerably benefited by haring a better class of men for non-commis- 204 I RESOLVE TO QUIT THE RANKS, sioned officers, wUl, I think, be aUowed by even the greatest sticklers for the old regime. However, I never expect to see such a state of things during my Ufetime, nor is there much chance of the condi tion of our army being materiaUy improved, untd our absurd purchase system is entfrely done away. But to return to my OA\'n indiAddual expe riences as a non-commissioned officer, the more I became acquainted Arith the routine of the service, the more clearly I perceived that my room-mates iu f) X had not been far Avrong in saying that no man but a fool would remain in the army K he could obtain a Uving elsewhere. I grew thoroughly disgusted with soldiering, and made up my mind to cut Her Majesty's serrice the instant the mutiny was ended, and no more draughts were requfred from the depot of the gaUant 17th. ^Vt one time I was in daily expec tation of recciAang orders to hold myseK in readi ness for embai-kation, and had made my preparations for departure at a moment's notice. But I was happily saved the annoyance of haAdng to make a voyage to India in a government troop-ship. The news of the final suppression of the mutiny arrived before my tiu-u came for foreign serrice, aud I Avas at liberty to purchase my discharge, aud depart whithersoever I listed. But I had BUT FIRST CONFRONT MY ENEMIES. 205 not quite done with the regiment. Whilst serv ing in the capacity of lance-sergeant, it had often been thrown in my teeth that I owed my promo tion more to the fineness of my jacket than to my fitness for the office, and I knew that more than one man had threatened (behind my back) to give me a " good licking," if ever he should happen to meet me minus the stripes on my arm, or in the dress of a civiUan. I thought it would be a pity to deprive my chivafrous comrades of the opportunity they desired, and I therefore applied for permission to resign the appointment of lance- sergeant, and once more re-enter the ranks as a full-blown private. This permission was of course accorded, and in the order-book of that evening it was formaUy notified that Lance- sergeant Mark Tapley had returned to the ranks at his OAvn request. Stables dismissed, with my valise and accoutrements on my back, I once again entered that same 6 X barrack-room which I had left five months preriously to take upon me the thankless duties of a lance-sergeant. With a pair of scissors I removed the stripes from the sleeve of my jacket, and the gold lace from my forage-cap, and after having unfastened the silver " Death's-head and glory" badge from my arm, I was once again a simple, or rather a common 206 ONCE MORE A FREE AGENT. private of Her Majesty's 17th, and in no way superior, so far as the serrice went, to the lowest rough in the regiment. My amiable com rades had UOAV the chance of carrying thefr threats into execution, but they thought it adAdsable to postpone doing so siTie die. I found, in fact, that those men who had given me the greatest trouble, and who had threatened the most, were the veriest curs when the hour arrived for action. For sis weeks I remained at thefr disposition, doing my work meanwhde at stables and else where, just iu the same way as I had done on my first arrival at the depot. At the expiration of that time I appUed for my discharge, and after eight months and two days' serrice the parchment was placed in my hand by the commandant, and I was once again a free agent. During that term of servitude I alway endeavoured to do my work like a good soldier, and despite the impediments which were thrown in my way, I think I may say that I succeeded. !My character was the best that the soldier could receiA-e, and I can confidently assert that no man, from the colonel doAvnwards, had ever to find fault Arith me for insubordination or neglect of my own duties. But that I had a hard up-hill time of it I do not attempt to deny, aud Avlicn I doffed the blue and white unKorm of ENGLISH officers' IDEA OF SMARTNESS. 207 the 17thj I felt infinitely more rejoiced at my emancipation than I had done when I bade adieu to the 2™® Regiment de la Legion Etrangere ; for my short experience of the British army had been sufficient to convince me that the IKe of a private in even the lowest French regiment was infinitely more desirable than that of a non commissioned officerin an EngUsh regiment of light dragoons. I wotdd rather be a green hand before the mast of an American whaler, a red-breeched Legionafre, ay ! even an Australian shepherd, than an EngUsh soldier; not because his pay is small, his promotion slow, andhis duty monotonous, for in every service such is always more or less the case, but simply because the constant worry ing and fault-finding would drive me mad in a ¦twelvemonth. English officers appear to have got a notion into thefr addled pates, that to be "smart" it is dovmright necessary to be con stantly discovering that something or another is not iu accordance with the " rules and regulations of Her Majesty's serrice." From the colonel down to the last joined cornet, who was flogged at school for being a " bad boy" only some six months prcAdous to joining his regiment, fault-finding is the order of the day. When the captain or sub altern inspects his men, or thefr barrack-rooms. 208 THE cause of military murders. he does so with the eye of an inquisitor, and is deUghted K he can only discover that something is wrong. Instead of endeavouring to praise, he thinks it his duty to censui-c, imagining, poor deluded being, that he is impressing the men Arith a due sense of his " smartness " and importance. Do our officers suppose that men wiU patiently submit to aU this buUying and badgering? or that the spirit of vengeance does not bum as fiercely in the breast of a soldier as in that of any other mortal ? In battle buUets have before now been known to diverge in the most unac countable manner from the dfrect line of fire, and of late years miUtary murders have been by no means uncommon occurrences — quite the reverse. And upon whose shotdders does the blame rest ? The officers Avdl say that it is aU the fault of the men — the men that of the officers, and it is my own private opinion that the men are right. ^Rlurdcrs ai-e not generaUy committed without considerable provocation; and knowing, as I do, the detestable manner ui which some of the gentlemen who hold Her ^Majesty's commission think proper to conduct themselves, I am never surprised avIicu I hear of another mUitaiy murder, and, although I loathe the coAvardly assassin, I have not the smallest pai'ticle of pity for his THE FIRST DUTY OF AN OFFICER. 209 victim ; for I know, from my OAvn experience, how much the British soldier has to endure at the hands of those gentlemen of Her Majesty's serrice who forget that the first duty of an officer is to endeavour, by kind treatment, to make his men look upon him as a fidend, and not as an unjust taskmaster and brutal oppressor. VOL. II. 210 CHAPTER IX. A fi-uitless Journey— Philadelphia astir — Washington in War Time — A Scramble for Government Loaves and Pishes — President Lincoln — An Open-air Meeting — A Discussion at a Drinking-bar — The Danger of Speaking out — Alexandria — A Confederate Hero — The Fairfax Troop — Causes of the American War — The Attitude of the Southerners— A Military Orator — A select Body of Troops — Limited Ideas of Military Discipline — An un fortunate Oversight — A few Thoughts on Slavery — A Slave-owner's Retort — A Slave's Opinion of his Comrades. I MAY safely affirm that never am I, Mark Tapley, so supremely happy as when taking part in other people's quarrels, or when mixed up in any of those little distm-bances which, to use a common expression, " occasionaUy cloud the poU tical horizon." It wiU therefore be easily under stood how it arose that, towards the close of the year 1860, I proceeded to Italy, Arith a vague idea that General Garibaldi, who was then at Naples, might possibly have need of my assist ance in driving King Bomba from Gaeta. Arrived in Genoa, I found to my disgust that the star of Garibaldi Avas no longer in the ascendant, and A FRUITLESS JOURNEY. 211 that my friends the Garibaldians were at a de cided discount. After haring borne the burden and heat of the day, Cialdini had marched ia Arith his Piedmontese troops at the eleventh hour, and Garibaldi and his foUowers had been poUtely given thefr conge by the grateful " Re Galan tuomo." On seeing the frue state of affafrs, I determined at once to return to England, for there was no longer anything to detain me in the " City of Palaces," in which, by the way, as an American once truly observed to me, nine things are to be found in perfection — fleas, priests, and stafreases — priests, fleas, and stafrcases — stafr- cases, priests, and fleas. But before my departure my sympathies were again enlisted in another gigantic poUtical contest, and I became a Con federate Arith the strongest Southem " procliri- ties," and the sworn foe of Abe Lincoln and his party. The United States steamer Lroquois was then lying in the port, and I had frequent opportunities of hearing the American question discussed, for her officers appeared to be pretty equaUy dirided, some holding to one side and some to the other. On one point they aU agreed, that the time for the " irrepressible conflict " had at length arrived, and that the South would either have to fight for her independence, or be content p 2 212 PHILADELPHIA ASTIR. to yield that political precedence which she had held since the first formation of the RepubUc. The South would have to fight for her indepen dence — that was quite sufficient for me. I had been disappointed in my Garibaldian aspfrations. I would now offer my serrices to the Confederates, and have a brush Arith those upstart Yankees whom I aU at once discovered to be the greatest rascals under the sun. I therefore retumed to England Arith the intention of at once embarking for the States; but business detained me some months, so that it was only towards the end of April, 1861, that I at length found myseK in Phdadelphia. I hardly recognised the quiet Quaker city of Penn, the apostle. Flags had been suspended across all the streets (a large dis play of bunting being then considered a proot ofthe loyalty of the exhibitor) — troops were being driUed in all du'cctions — ^recruiting placards met the eye at every ^step, and the ear was deafened hy miUtary brass bands playing " Had, Columbia 1" " The Star-spangled Banner," and such Uke pa triotic afrs, in the Adlest manner, from morning to night. Even the sfreet cars were adorned Arith loyal mottoes — " Right or Avi-ong, the Umon one and indivisible," and such like. !Men wore miniature star-spangled banners in thefr button-holes ; en- BAD WORDS FOR SECESSIA. 213 velopes were ornamented vrith the same blessed gridiron, and with effigies of the Northern Presi dent ; and in one outfitter's estabUshment in Chestnut Street, a rope with a hangman's knot was exhibited in the vrindow, underneath which was written, " Cravat a la Jefferson Davis." Bunkum speeches were the order of the day, and could Washington have only risen from his grave at Mount Vernon, and Ustened to the virulent tfrades hurled by mob orators at his own beloved State, Virginia, or at her sister, South Carolina, I think he would have been inclined at once to have throAvn in his lot with the Confederates. The scurrdous abuse, vde slanders, and unmanly threats which I heard uttered in that degenerate city of brotherly love, could only have fallen from American Ups, or been Ustened to by an American audience. No name was too bad to apply to the unhappy denizens of Secessia. It had sud denly struck them that their late partners were not only rebels, but thieves, cowards, cut-throats, viUains of the deepest dye. What wotdd they not do to any prisoners who inight faU into their hands? It should be short shrift and a noose from the nearest tree for them — they shotdd have no mercy. All this was certainly very consolatory to a man going South, but it rather amused than 214 WASHINGTON IN WAR-TIME. . frightened me ; so I tumed my back on Phda delphia and its hypocritical inhabitants, and con tinued my joumey to Baltimore. There was nothing to be done in the " Monumental city," for, although the Southem faction was in the majority, the guns of Fort McHenry overlooked the toAvn, and the unhappy Marylanders were given the altemative of either remaining quiet or having thefr houses leveUed Arith the ground. A Yankee regiment marched past the hotel at which I was staying, and it was easy to see, by the compressed Ups and flashing eyes of those who stood beside me on the verandah, how the hot Southern blood boded in thefr veins at the indignity of having thefr city occupied by the descendants of the fanatical. Puritans of New Plymouth. I pitied them fi-om my heart, and felt perfectly miserable untd I had left a State where, to use the words of an American poet — ? * * # " The laws of the land were con-upted. Might took the place of Right, the weak were oppressed and the mighty Ruled with an iron rod." Washmgton was all astfr, and presented the appearance of a gi-eat mUitary arsenal. Troops Averc quai-tcred everywhere : in the capitol — ^in the public offices — at aU the hotels, and under canvas iu every dfrection. The mUitary appeared SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FO?,. 215 to have taken possession of the entfre city. Noisy drunken soldiers reeled through the sfreets ; and dirty, iU set-up Irish and German mer cenaries crowded all the hotel bars, and bragged over thefr cups how they would chaw up the "rebs" when once the order was given to march to Richmond. Anything like discipline was nowhere to be seen — officers and men were on terms of perfect equaUty, and a private would tell his captain to go to h — ^1 vrith the utmost sang froid. I must say that I found the Yankee soldiery more patriotic than I had expected, but the Irish and Germans no more knew about what they were going to fight than the man in the moon. I asked one stalwart Mdesian what he was going to fight for, and his answer was charac- ¦ teristic of the race : — " For thirteen doUars a month and my rations, sur, and very good pay too." Yes, for thfrteen dollars a month and his rations he was vrilUng to carry fire and sword amongst a people who had never done him any injury nor vrished him any harm. I know it may be urged that he was doing no more than I was about to do myself. But is this really so ? A man who joins the weaker side has at least the consolation of knoAving that, however much he may be censured for taking part in a quarrel 216 EVERYTHING AT SIXES AND SEVENS. which is none of his, no one can accuse him of haAdng had an undue regard for his ovm safety, nor throw in his teeth that he backed the winning horse. People were not very loud in thefr censure of those who fought under Garibaldi ; but I tliink that few Englishmen pitied those men who, having first forsworn the country which gave them birth, voluntarily enlisted under the American flag for the sake of plunder, and met an inglorious death at " BuU Run," Manassas, or on the banks of the Chickahomiuy. During my stay in Washington I spent the greater part of each day in strolling about the different camps, looking at the preparations which were being made for the invasion of Vfrginia; and when I come to recal the sorry mUitary exhibitions which met my eyes in that city of " magnificent distances," I cannot say that I feel at aU surprised at the disastrous result of the first campaign undertaken by the " gi-and army of the Potomac." Every thing was at sixes and sevens — nobody appeared to know his own place nor the duties he had to perform. Officers were more occupied in talking politics and drinking brandy smashes and gin sliugs, than in driUing their men ; whUst the soldiers themselves, never imagining for a moment that the stern realities of wai- were before them. VIRGINIA. 217 talked of the march to Richmond much in the same way as if it were only a pleasure excursion to a neighbouring viUage. What a seene did that national monument erected by a united people to Washington, the great founder of thefr repubUc, look down upon ! White tents filled with fighting men drawn indiscriminately from every nation under the sun — Americans, Irish, Germans, Hungarians, Poles, ItaUaijs — differing in race, religion, and language — ^united only in thefr malignant hatred of the South. There, on the opposite side of the Potomac, in all the freshness and verdure of early summer, lay Virginia, whose pleasant woods were soon to resound with the heavy tread of a brutal foreign soldiery, and whose fertUe soil was doomed to be crimsoned with the blood of her noblest sons. At that time it almost seemed as K those sons were in different to the dangers that threatened the " old dominion," for although a guard was mounted at the Columbia side of the " Long Bridge," not a soldier was to be seen on the Virginia shore. The time for action had not yet come. But to return to my description of the sights which met the eye in the American capital. At the time of which I am speaking, the " White House" and aU the public offices were daily 218 GREEDY PLACE-HUNTERS. besieged by crowds of hungry place-seekers, and for the first time I began to see for myseK the many erils attendant on a Republican form of govemment. Almost every civUian I met at the hotels had come to Washington for the ex press purpose of soliciting Govemment employ or patronage, and it was most amusing to hear the very sUght grounds upon which many of these indiriduals based thefr claims for Govemment sinecures. One had khown Abe Lincoln from a chUd, and therefore he wanted a company in some regiment for his eldest boy ; another had been a staunch supporter of the Chicago platform, and had gone the whole hog for Lincoln, so the least the RepubUcan party could do Avould be to give him the commissariat contract he had appUed for ; and so forth. No one appeared to rely on his OAvn indiAddual merits, but on the amount of interest he could get to bear on honest Abe and his adAdsers. Of com-se thefr claims could not all be attended to ; and great was the indignation of the rejected appUcants, and most bitter the envy they bore tlicfr more fortunate competitors in the scramble for Government loaves and fishes. It was only later in the day, Avhen jSIr. Lincoln had the small-pox, that he could, as he said, " at length give something to every applicant." ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 219 Whilst in Washington, I had the pleasure of making my salaam to the Northern President, and I must say that no man ever impressed me less favourably than Abe Lincoln. It matters little now what I thought of him. He is dead and gone, et de mortuis, &c. But what can the Americans expect from thefr Presidents — party spfrit running so high that, to avoid political squabbles, the leading men, on both the Demo cratic and Republican sides, are forced to yield thefr claims to the presidency in favour of some unknown individual, whose sole claim to public suffrage is that he is too insignificant ever to be able to cut out a fresh course for himseK, or make himseK obnoxious to either party ? How many men are there in England who had heard of Pierce, Buchanan, or Lincoln, prerious to their election ? Who or what was Mr. Lincoln ? Americans wUl teU you that he was a lawyer of the " Chicago platform," a man of the people, who had in his day Arielded an axe and split raUs like the poorest settler in the state of lUinois. WeU, that was all, no doubt, very much to Mr. Lincoln's credit; but wiU any one tell me that instead of spending his youth in raU-splitting, he would not have been better employed in studying the constitution and the laws of his country. 220 A GRAND FLAG-RAISING. which, after his accession to office, he entfrely forgot ? I heard both Mr. Lincoln and his right- hand man, Seward, speak in pubUc, and I must say that I have heard better orators. Mr. Seward's speech was, however, the cause of my haring to beat a hasty retreat from Washington, and it happened in this way. There was to be a grand flag-raising at the post-office, and I heard at my hotel that Mr. Lincoln, ]Mr. ScAvard, and some other Northem celebrities would, in aU pro bability, take the opportunity of giving the assem bled crowd thefr opinions of things in general. So, as I had nothing particular to do, I thought I might as weU see what was going on, and Usten for haK an hom- to ]Massa Lincoln and his col leagues. On an-iving at the post-office, I found that not only was I rather late, but that such a number of people had congregated in front of the budding as to render a near approach to the balcony, on which thefr magnificences were perched, out of the question. I could, therefore, only catch a word here aud there ; but when at length INIr. Sewai-d raised his A-oice to tickle the cars of his audience with a little of that "bunkum" Avithout Avhich au American statesman's speech Avould bc considered incomplete, I did hear a sentence or two AAhich, unfortunately for me as A DISCUSSION AT AN HOTEL-BAR. 221 it turned out, I was foolish enough to remember. At this date I cannot, of course, recollect the exact words he made use of, but one sentence ran something in this style : — " Ah, feUow-citizens, there are at least two things of which those Southern traitors can never deprive us : one, the glorious stars and sfripes (pointing with his finger to the bran new bunting above his head) ; the other, our national anthem, the ' Star-spangled Banner.' " After Mr. Seward had done speaking, not feel ing incUned to Usten to any more of such bosh, I returned to my hotel, and repafring to the bar of that estabUshment, was just about to indulge in a cool glass of sling, when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and tuming round, beheld a tall, lank, tobacco-stained Yankee, who, without further ado, began to question me in the most impertinent maimer. "Wai," said he,. in a horrid drawling voice, "what did yer think of the flag-raisin'? Fust- rate speech that of Seward's, warn't it now ?" " To teU you the truth," I replied, wishing to bring his investigations at once to a fiiU stop, " I heard so little of his speech that you could not have applied to a worse person than myseK to give you an opinion on the subject ;" and turn- 222 A PERSISTENT TORMENTOR. ing my back to him, I quietly commenced drink ing my " sling." But my friend was not to be so easdy snubbed, and at once renewed the attack. " Now K that ain't good," he persisted, tum ing to a lot of men who were drinking at the bar. " Dam me, K I didn't see him swaUoAving every word that was said, as if his Ufe depended on it, and now he wants to make beUeve he couldn't hear. That story won't do, nohow ye can fix it." " Even were it as you say," I repUed, getting ex cessively vexed, "I can assure you I faUed in catch ing even the purport of his speech. I am, as you have no doubt perceived before this, an EngUsh man, and you cannot therefore be surprised that I take but little interest in your poUtical dif ferences, so Arith your permission we AviU drop the subject altogether." To this, however, my tor mentor would by no means agi-ee, to the erident amusement of the bystanders, who kept en couraging him by sly winks and nods when they thought I was not looking, and he kept on at me in the most pei-sistent uianner. I had resolutely determined, on my arrival at Washington, never to join in a poUtical discussion on any pretext A^ hatsoe\er, so long as I remained north of the THE AUTHOR LOSES HIS TEMPER. 223 Potomac ; but the ruffian so enraged me by his cool impudence that I forgot all my good reso lutions, and instead of freating him with the most supercilious contempt, as I ought to have done, I was, in an unguarded moment, foolish enough to answer him. " You have asked me," I said, " what I thought of Mr. Seward's speech, and as you appear so exfremely anxious for my answer, that you can not leave me for one moment in peace, I wiU give you my opinion of it in one word — an American one — ^bunkum !" " How so ?" they aU demanded in a breath. " Simply in this way," I repUed. " Mr. Seward stated, I believe, that there were two things of which the Southern traitors could not deprive you — one, the glorious stars and sfripes ; the other, your national anthem, the ' Star-spangled Banner.' Now, K I mistake not, it is the South and not the North that has the right to claim both the one and the other : the first owing its existence to General Washington, a Vfrginian ; the second having, I have heard, been composed by another Southerner, a Mr. Key, whose grandson was brutally murdered in cold blood, not long since, in this very city." Had I tried for a month I could not have 224 A PROPOSED REFERENCE TO LYNCH LAW. made a more imfortunate speech. My inter locutor grew perfectly pale with rage. "Cuss me," cried he, " K I didn't think you were nothing better than a traitor Avhen first I sot eyes on yer, and now I'm darned sure of it. It ud sarve yer right if they turned yer out of the house, and kicked yer across the bridge to yer friends on the other side of the river." " That's so," chimed in the bystanders ; " it's tarred and feathered he ought to be." Now I had heard of Lynch law, and by no means Uked the threatening looks of the rowdies by whom I was surrounded, but I knew that no class of men are so easUy cowed as your arrant buUies ; so I thought I wotdd just try what a few quiet determined words would do before matters went any further. " I feel very much indebted to you, gentlemen," I said, " for your kind desfre to kick me out of the house, but I beg most respectfuUy to decUne that honour, and before I, of my own free atUI, leave your agreeable society, I trust you AviU permit me to say a few words. I have already told you that I am an Englishman — now let me teU you a Uttle morc. In my counfry the right of every man to express his opinion is seldom disputed, and perfect freedom of speech is held so PRUDENCE DICTATES A RETREAT. 225 sacred by aU classes of the community, that I might enter the lowest tap-room in London, and declare myseK opposed to aU liberal measm'es and averse to any plan which might tend to elevate the condition of the masses ; or, on the other hand, I might take my seat in the coffee- room of some fashionable hotel frequented ex clusively by the upper classes, and give the g-uests to understand that I hated the aristocracy, and was a Chartist and RepubUcan of the most uncompromising caste ; and you may believe me when I teU you, that in neither one place nor the other would I find a single indiridual who would think it worth his whUe to pick a quarrel with me simply because his poUtical opinions and mine happened to be at variance. But in this land of Uberty it appears that one cannot even express an opinion vrithout being subjected to insult, or running the risk of being ejected from the company, as in my case. Gentlemen, I have the honour to wish you aU a very good afternoon." Although they aUowed me to depart unmolested, I knew that it would be most unwise to remain any longer in the hotel after what had happened, so I at once packed up my traps and secured a place in the Alexandria stage-coach. On reach ing the Long Bridge, our luggage was examined AOL. II. Q 226 ALEXANDRIA. for contraband of war, but they did not think it necessary, luckUy, to search our persons, or they would have found a brace of revolvers on me, a discovery which inight have been attended Arith disagreeable 'consequences. It was not untd I was fafrly across the Potomac and on the sacred sod of Secessia, that I again felt myseK a free agent and amongst a fidendly people. Nothing in the aspect of Alexandria could have led one to suppose that it was but seven mUes distant from the camp of a hostde Power, nor the frontier town which would have ere long to bear the brunt of the battle. Business was being carried on as usual, and weU-dressed men and women thronged the sfreets, although the Paw nee frigate lay Arith open ports at the foot of the principal sfreet of the toAvn. Confederate flags were hoisted in defiance of the Yankee, and from the roof of my hotel, the Marshall House, floated that ensign which a few days later caused the death of the landlord, and the first blood to bc shed on Virginian soU. Poor Jackson ! Little did I imagine when I shook him by the hand on learing for Richmond, that his hours in the land of the liAdng Avcrc numbered, and that his body would bc mutilated by the bayonets of Colonel Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves on thcA-cry spot where we THE FAIRFAX, TROOP OF HORSE. 227 were then standing ! Quiet, and apparently of anything but an impulsive temperament, he was the very last man for whom I would have pre dicted such a fate. Peace be to his ashes ! Let the Yankees caU him murderer, assassin, what they AvUl, he died like a true patriot, defending his household gods ; and the name of Jackson, the first Vfrginian who fell in the cause of Southem independence, wUl not be forgotten when future historians write the annals of that accursed war. While in Washington I had on several occasions amused myseK by watching the United States regular cavafry at driU ; and on the evening of my arrival in Alexandria I had the opportunity of comparing them vrith the volunteer horse of the Confederates. The Fairfax troop was being exercised in a field near the toAvn, and thither I repafred without a moment's delay, being ex fremely anxious, as may well be imagined, to form some idea of the men with whom I was about to be associated for an indefinite period. It was with serious misgivings that I entered the field, for I had been repeatedly assured that the Southern army was little better than a mob, being composed of reckless adventurers from whom the respectable portion of the community held stu diously aloof. I was therefore most agreeably Q 2 228 FRUITLESS MARTIAL. ENTHUSIASM, surprised to find that the Fairfax froop at least was of a totaUy different stamp, both officers and men haring evidently been drawn from the very best stock in the country. A sergeant fresh from the riding school at Maidstone might certainly have found fault with the manner in which they sat their horses, and their accoutrements were not quite as bright as an EngUsh light dragoon's, but they had a certain dash about them that I admfred excessively, aud for raw froops they promised weU. EA-ery man in the froop was wcU mounted, and the uniform was neat and soldier like — their broad-brimmed felt hats looped up on one side, and ornamented with a black feather, reminding one of those cavaliers fi-om whom the Vfrginians are so proud to ti-ace thefr descent. It was easy to see that the Vfrginian ladies were at heart just as " secesh " as the men, the fair sex of Alexandria haAdng tumed out en masse to cheer the troopers by their presence. But sad to relate, all this martial enthusiasm Avas of very little avaU, for a fcAv days later, when the Federal advanced guai-d entered the tovm, the gallant Fairfaxers were caught napping, and the majority of them taken prisoners iu the most stupid aud inglorious manner, without, so far as I can recollect, a blow having been struck on cither RICHMOND. 229 side. Being in happy ignorance of the fate that awaited them, my pleasure Avas unalloyed ; and I left them full of confidence that ere long I should hear of thefr gallant bearing on some hard-fought field of battle. There being nothing to detain me in Alex andria, and being anxious to reach head-quarters vrithout loss of time, I started the very next moming for Richmond. It was the memorable day on which the Vfrginians were to decide whether they wotdd submit to Yankee rule or throw in their lot vrith the seceding States, and the greatest excitement prevaUed along the entire route. On arriving in Richmond, I proceeded to the BaUard House and inscribed my name in the guest book of that establishment, in company with generals, colonels, and civd dignitaries innumera ble. The house was full of soldiers, who, K one might judge from appearances, were determined, like Arise campaigners, to enjoy themselves to the utmost whUst they had the chance. Nothing that the house contained was good enoughfor them, and the way they made the champagne corks fly was a " caution to snakes." They eridently thought that K they had to march out to meet the Yankee, it were Ariser to do so with empty pockets, and they spent their money accordingly. 230 CAUSES OF THE "IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. No sooner did I intimate that I was a candidate for a commission in the Confederate cavalry, than nothing could exceed thefr courtesy and attention; and before the day was over, I had many friends both miUtary and civiUan, who had promised to exert themselves in obtaining for me the appoint ment I desired. Amongst them was one of the leading politicians of North Carolina, who took the trouble of explaining to me, in the kindest and most unaffected manner, the various compUcations which had at length brought about what the Abolition party were pleased to term the " frrepres sible conflict." " You are no doubt aware," he said, " that at the time of the Declaration of Independence there were thirteen States which, although distinct in themselves, agreed to be united for mutual pro tection and support. These States were aU, Arith the exception of ^Massachusetts, originaUy Slave States, the right to have and to hold slaves being guaranteed to every State by that act which we caU the Constitution. Now as years roUed away, the tide of European emigration began to flow into the Northem poi-ts, and the fanatical de scendants of the Puritans of Ncav Plymouth soon discovered that slaA'c labour Avas costly, whilst free labour was comparatively cheap. Having, HOW THE NORTHERN BECAME FREE STATES. 231 therefore, no longer need of the negro, they thought it was high time to get rid of him as best they could, and so the unhappy slaves were sent South and sold to other masters who could tum thefr serrices to better account. No sooner had Sambo been packed off to 'Dixie,' than great was the seK-laudation ofthe ex-slave-OAvners. They aU at once discovered that slavery was a heinous crime, and that it was contrary to the laws both of God and man to hold a feUow-creature in bondage. WeU rid of the slave, they could now afford to bewaU his unhappy lot, and his task masters of yesterday became his worshippers of to-day. One after another all the Northem States became in this manner free States, and that breach which had always existed between the respective descendants of Puritan and CavaUer, became, K possible, wider than ever. During the earUer years of the RepubUc, the South had undoubtedly a poUtical precedence, for nbt only did she send more presidents to Washington, but she managed to have it pretty much her own way, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate. But that same tide of immigration which had swept the negro southwards, was Ukevrise the means of depriring the South of that poUtical supremacy which she had so long 232 STRUGGLES FOR POWER. enjoyed, for, as new territories were colonized and admitted into the Union as free States, two anti-Southern ^Members were added to the Senate and one to the House of Representatives for every 130,000 of its inhabitants. It was solely to obtain a balance of power in the Senate, that the South has for years past been sfraining every nerve to have slavery extended to the territories and more Slave States admitted into the L^nion. Texas and ^Missouri, and more recently Kansas and Nebraska, were in this way added to the Southem league, and various acts Avere passed for the protection of the slave-OAvner, the celebrated FugitiA'e Slave Law being one of them. So long, therefore, as Southern interests Avere properly cared for by the govemment at Washington, the Slave States were content to remain in the Union, or rather they consented to put off the day of that secession which they knew must CA'CutuaUy an-iA-e, indefinitely. Unfortu nately the day has come rather sooner than we anticipated, for not only are we uow iu a hopeless minority in both Houses, but the North, taking advantage of oiu- Aveakness, has of late years been endeaA'otiring to force upon us certain laAvs and tariffs, which, Avhilst they benefit her maniKacturiug population, arc downright injurious SELF-INTEREST AND NOT PATRIOTISM. 233 to our most vital interests. Do not for one moment imagine that the slavery question has aught to do with the matter, or that the North insists upon our remaining in the Union solely from pafriotic motives, as she falsely pretends. It is seK-interest and not patriotism that makes her so bitter against us. " For years past the South has been to her a veritable Pagoda-tree ; she is ahout to become a Upas. We have always heen her best customers. Our hardware has come from Pennsylvania ; LoweU and Lawrence have supplied us vrith cloth ; our ' notions' we have purchased in Con necticut, and New York has done our ' bill- shaving' to the tune of some mUUons per annum. AU that Uttle game is now at an end. Once a separate and distinct people, and we wUl be at Uberty to purchase our goods in the best and cheapest markets, and you may depend upon it the Yankees vriU have but a very smaU portion of our custom. They are aware of this, and they tremble when they think of the consequences which must ineritably result from a separation, so they are determined, if possible, to prevent such a dfre calamity by forcing us to remain in the Union, whether we like it or not. This we have determined they shaU never do. AU we desire is 234 THE ATTITUDE OF THE SOUTH. a peaceable separation, and if we are forced to fight weshaU at least have the satisfaction of knoAring that we are battUng for Uberty and not for empire." Every man to whom I spoke on the subject of the coming conflict appeared to hold pre cisely the same views as my South Carolina friend. I hardly think they reaUzed what the fury of the storm would be, but they were at aU events determined to brave it, let it burst when and how it might. Such a change had come over the Southem people since I had last Adsited the Slave States, that I could hardly beUeve that they were the same race of men. I had expected to find the whole country in a state of the most hopeless confusion ; stump orators at the comer of eveiy street, and a mob of lawless ruffians drawn from the Border States, ready at any moment to take the law into thefr OAvn hands. Instead of whieh I found a quiet, determined people, who had a respect for thefr govemment and confi dence in themselves. No bunkum — no rushing after govemment siaecm-es as in Washington. SeK-ncgation and not selfishuess Avas the order of the day in the Southern capital. There one might see the Avealthy Louisianian planter stand- iug in the ranks shoulder to shoulder A^dth the humble mctlianic of New Orleans ; the proud THE SOUTHERN LADIES. 235 Vfrginian meekly taking his orders from some rough diamond who, from his having, perhaps, served in the Mexican war, had obtained the com mand of a company ; the man who had raised a battery at his own expense doing duty as a private, he having himseK voluntarUy conferred the com mand on one more quaUfied to take it. Such were the sights which dady met the eye in the various camps in and around Richmond ; and truly the South had reason to be proud of the patriotism of her sons and the devotion of her daughters. I had always looked upon Southern women as the most listless beings in creation, unfitted even for the ordinary fatigues of fashion able Ufe. But there was a latent energy in their composition of which I was unaware. No sooner was thefr beloved South in danger, than aU then- apathy vanished in a moment, and, like Spartan women, everything they possessed was at the service of thefr countiy in her hour of need. Wives saw thefr husbands depart, perhaps never more to re turn, Arithout a murmur ; mothers sent forth thefr sons to die, K necessary, for the coinmon weal; and the daughters of Vfrginia showered such bright smUes on thefr gaUant defenders as would have made Bayards of the veriest cowards in Christendom. Rocking-chafrs were consigned to 236 A soldier's address. the lumber-room and palmetto fans to the flames, and fragile fingers which had never been accus tomed to any harder work than the very flimsiest of crochet, now toUed unceasingly, fi-om morn tiU night, to complete the outfit of some beloved mem ber of the famdy efrcle, about to start on his first campaign. AU honour to those noble Southem women ! What a contrast did thefr conduct afford to that of those degenerate Northem sisters who feasted and made merry Avhen those nearest and dearest were perhaps sfretched wounded and dying on a bloody bed. A day or two after my arrival in Richmond the first regiment of the North Carolina contin gent marched in, and was addressed fi-om the steps of our hotel by Colonel ^Moscs, of South Carolina. It Avas a speech weU suited to the occasion ; one part of it more especiaUy eUciting a groan of indignation from his audience, and a general hiss for Abe Lincoln. " And now, men of North Carolina," he said, " as I see you ahout to march forth to meet the invader, but oue thing gives me pain. It is this — that you have no worthier foe than the mer cenaries of Abraham Lincoln, the sweepings and the riff-raff aud the scum of every European city, meu Avhose Avar cry is ' Booty and Beauty,' and AN EXTRA BOUNTY FOR GAOL-BIRDS. 237 who receive an extra bounty K they can only prove that they have been inmates of a States prison." This was a particularly sore point with the Southern soldiery. Abe Lincoln, not content vrith haAdng a fighting population three times greater than that possessed by the Confederate government, was about to endeavour to over whelm them Arith hordes of foreign mercenaries of the vUest description. In the War of Independence this had been one of the chief charges against un happy George IIL, and the Yankees were now about to do the same thing; and although I cannot beUeve that the recruiting department in New York ever offered an extra bounty for gaol-bfrds, stiU the very fact of the notorious " Billy Wilson " having been appointed to the command of a regi ment, gives colouring to the story, for it was the boast of the ruffians whom he commanded, that there was not a single man in the regiment, from the colonel down to the smaUest drummer-boy, who had not at one time or another been in the hands of the police. After the secession bf Vfrginia, troops began to pass through Richmond on thefr way to the front in quick succession. And many of the re giments had in thefr ranks some of the hardest- 238 LAX IDEAS OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE. looking customers it had ever been my fortune to set eyes on. I used to stand for hours watching them at drdl, and I have to thank Proridence that I was not thefr instructor, for I should most certainly have lost my temper, and perhaps re ceived the point of an Arkansas toothpick in my hump ribs for my pains. The froops from the South-western States were, I think, the roughest of the lot, and would have driven any EngUsh drill-sergeant disfracted. When the word was given to stand at ease, they would either amuse themselves by digging up stones Arith thefr bayo nets, or with a gentle, " Reckon, sergeant, I'U go and git some sfrawbendes and cream," doAvn would go thefr muskets, and off they would stalk to some Iruit-staU in the Adcinity, where they would remain tmtd it was nearly time to be dismissed. Thefr ideas of miUtary discipline were exfremely Umited. Poor feUows ! they soon learnt that soldiering differed sUghtly from Border-raiding, aud that a man might bc admfrably fitted for a free fight in a bar-room, and yet helpless as a chdd on a field of battle. On arri\ ing iu Richmond, it had been my inten tion to have at once applied at the Wai- Department for permission to act as a cavalry di-iU-uistructor,for although I had not graduated at ^Maidstone, stiU I THE BILLET OF DRILL INSTRUCTOR. 239 knew more about the internal economy of a riding-school than most of the Confederate officers who acted in that capacity. I soon, however, gave up this project, and determined to join the first cavafry regiment proceeding to the front in which I could obtain a troop. The fact was that the billet of driU-instructor was not an enriable one, there being neither miUtary rank attached to the office, nor, indeed, anything to be gained except money, which it was not my intention to accept. There was a little Belgian, half maitre d'armes, half dancing-master, lodging at our hotel, who, K one might judge from his advertisements, was a great card in the drUl department. These advertisements — ^headed, " Volunteers, attention !" — ^used to appear in all the daUy papers, and set forth that M. SpeUier was ready to instruct regiments in manual and platoon drdl, the sword-bayonet, and Zouave exercises, &c., on moderate terms. Once only had I the honour of crossing sticks vrith this terrible sabreur, and I have not the sUghtest doubt that he recoUects the occasion perfectly. M. SpelUer disgusted me vrith everything relating to his particular branch of the serrice, so, as I have before said, I made up my mind to join some cavalry corps if I could only obtain a com- 240 AN UNFORESEEN DILEMMA. mission, and sufficient money from England to purchase a horse and accoufrements. On leav ing England, it had never once occurred to me that aU postal communication Arith the Southem States Avould be stopped on the breaking out of hostilities, so I had given dfrections that my letters should be addressed to me, " Post-office, Richmond," and I now learnt, to my dismay, that, for the future, no letters would be received vid Washington untU after the conclusion of the war. This was certainly a Uvely look-out, considering that I had but twenty pounds in my pocket — barely sufficient to last me for three weeks, even with the strictest economy, my hotel bUl alone amounting to some twenty-five doUars per week without extras. All I could do was to write to a fidend in New York, requesting him to send me a few hundi-ed doUars, by private conveyance, without loss of time, and patiently await the result of my application. I luckily receiAcd an invita tion to pass a fcAv days at a country-house, near Petersburg, and thither I proceeded without loss of time, the state of my finances not permitting me to throw such a chance away. jSIy host was, of com-se, a slavc-OAvner, and during the fort night that I was his guest, I had the opportunity of studying the slavery question in all its bear- NEGROES ON A VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 241 ings, every facility being afforded me for seeing how things were managed on a Virginian planta tion. WhUst my friend unhesitatingly admitted the many erils attendant on a system of slavery, he could not, he said, understand what advan tages would be gained by any party in the case of a general emancipation. Neither could I. The negro, although made to work, is, even in a state of slavery, as happy as most mortals who are forced to gain thefr dady bread by the sweat of thefr brow ; but being by nature lazy and de pendent, he almost ijivariably degenerates in a free atmosphere, and faUs at once into the most hopeless state of helplessness and moral degrada tion. The " Uncle Toms" of Southern planta tions are as rare specimens of thefr class as are the " Mr. Legrees ;" and although I do not mean to assert that the negro is incapable of social im provement, stdl the instances where he has shown himseK inteUectuaUy on a par Arith the white man have been so extremely rare, that I should as soon think of bringing forward the large number of idiots in Great Britain to prove the mental decay of the Anglo-Saxon race, as, by referring to a few isolated cases, like that of Toussaint I'Ouverture, endeavour to deduce therefrom the inteUectual capacity of the negro. VOL. II. R 242 SHORT-SIGHTED PHILANTHROPISTS. Do our aboUtionists assert that God made aU men equal ? Do they advocate the cause of the negro, and desfre that the black and white races should Uve together on terms of perfect freedom and equality ? Then let they themselves set the example. Let them give thefr daughter to some black Othello, and take up thefr abode for one short year in the weU-govemed island of St. Domingo, and I AviU beUeve them ; untU then, I cannot. Oh, shaUow, short-sighted phUanthropists of the Exeter HaU cUque, whose eyes have been so often dimmed whUst Usteqjjng to the exaggerated wrongs of the negro, hear what Southem gentle men say of you : — "There are those fooUsh EngUsh Avould-be phUanthropists who are never happy except when finding out motes in their brother's eye, uor charitable but when the recipient is at a distance, and who, AvhUe expatiating for hours on the evUs of slavery, are yet so inconsistent, that they would pm-chase slaA'c-groAvn sugar in preference to that produced by free labour, simply because it happened to be some halfpenny a pound cheaper. Who are these men that dare to lay down the law to us, and so persistently insult us by their ill-timed interference ? Do they forget that chaidty begins at home, and that those who CERTAIN APOLOGIES FOR SLAVERY. 243 care not for thefr own house are worse than infidels ? Do they ignore the fact, that in their OAvn free England there are thousands upon thousands of thefr feUow- countrymen whose sad lot is more to be pitied than that of the negro whose cause they espouse — men whose lives are one continued battle vrith penury, whose bodies have grown prematurely old through want, whose minds are in a more heathen darkness, who are altogether in a more wretched, degraded state than were even the slaves, (as represented by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe) on the plantation of Mr. Legree." And with shame I have been obliged to own that they spoke the truth. Enough can be said against slavery vrithout at tempting to paint the slave-OAvner in more hideous colours than he deserves. Common sense will teU one that it is not the master's interest to mutUate and ill-freat his slave, and, except in exfremely rare cases, the negro was infinitely better off than the labouring population in many of our own agricultural counties. He was, at least, certain of food and clothing. His labours were comparatively light; he was tended when sick, and cared for in old age; no workhouse stared him in the face ; he was one of the famdy. It is only in the Northem States, amongst his R 2 244 SLAVES WHO LOVED THEIR MASTER. abolition friends, that the unhappy negro is made to feel that he belongs to an accursed race. True, on southem plantations he was a slave ; but never haring tasted the sweets (?) of freedom, how could he feel thefr loss ? and notArithstanding all that the Ward Beechers and Cheevers may say to the contrary, no one wiU be inclined to question the great devotion he bore the famUy whose property he was, even when subjected to the greatest temptation. Never shaU I forget the hubbub there was on the plantation the day my host's son left home to join his regiment. His mulatto boy fell doAvn on his knees, and prayed to be aUowed to accompany him, and his old black nurse went nearly crazy Arith grief at his departure. " Oh, sar," she said to me, the tears sfreaming doAvu her cheeks, " I raise Massa George, sar. I raise ^Massa George, and now he's gAvine to be kUled by dem Yankee trash. Oh Lor, oh Lor ! what shall I do !" and the poor old creature wrtmg her hands in the agony of despair. Ouly fancy Belgrarian Jeames going down on his maiTow-bones to make such a re quest, or my lady's head nurse smothering young hopeful Avith kisses ou his leaving the paternal mansion for the seat of war. Instances of affec tion and devotedness, such as the one to which MY host's BUTLER. 245 I have just alluded, I myself more than once witnessed during my sojourn in the Southern States ; in fact, I may say that I almost invariably found the slave devotedly attached to his master, and the master kind and considerate to his slave, and the conduct of the negroes, after the com mencement of hostUities, wUl, I think, bear out my assertion. Did not President Lincoln him seK invite the oppressed and suffering slaves to take shelter under the protecting folds of the star-spangled banner? Was not liberty the tempting bait held out to induce them to desert ? And yet how few of them proved faithless to their salt, even when freedom was to be had for the asking. Poor benighted wretches, they failed to appreciate "honest Abe's" liberal offer, 4nd elected to remain vrith thefr old masters. My host's butler was one of the finest speci mens of a spoilt nigger that I ever met. Not only was he the butler, but major domo, overseer, "Keller meister ;" in fact, the commander-in- chief of the establishment, standing in awe of no one but his master, and not very much afraid of him. I somehow or another managed to gain this gentleman's esteem, and he not only con stantly honoured me vrith his company, but likewise gave me his opinion of things in general, 246 THE NEGRO A HARD TASK-MASTER. and initiated me into all the mysteries of the plantation. I feel convinced that the very fact of my being chaperoned by such an aristocrat as Mr. Chris, added not a Uttle to my dignity, and the respect Arith which I was always greeted by the hands on the plantation. From the height of his magnificence, Mr. Chris, could afford to look doAvn Arith supreme contempt on these same field hands, whom he would occasionaUy notice by a pafronizing nod, or smde of approbation. *' Dem niggers ain't of no account," he wotdd confidentiaUy say to me ; " dam lazy frash. Massa too good to dem by haK, and dey grow sassy as de berry debU. Look dar at dat boy ' Jake ;' dere ain't no sort of mischief dat yere liidb ain't up to. He'd spoU de best gang ob niggers in de country, and I reckon he hasn't been whipped dese two year or more," and Chris.' hand would grasp an imaginary cow-hide, and I could pretty weU guess what sort of a master he would make had he possession of a plantation. The negro, whether he be a slave on a plantation, or a free mau in Liberia, or one of our West India Islands, almost invariably proves him self a hard task-master whenever invested Avith the slightest authority — cringing and obedient to his superiors, brutal and tyi-annical to those in LIFE ON A VIRGINIAN PLANTATION. 247 a lower grade than himself. The whip was sel dom used on my host's plantation ; he told me that whenever it was reported to him that a hand had misconducted himself, it was his custom to send for him, and teU him that K ever he offended in a Uke manner again, he should be sent south instanter, a hint which generally had the desired effect. I asked one very old negro whether he had ever been whipped. " Only twice, massa," he said ; but he added with a broad grin, " I war a reg'lar bad nigger dem times, and reckon I desaiVd it." I wonder whether any of om- soldiers or sailors, who have received corporal punishment, would own to as much. Prerious to the war, IKe on a Vfrginian plantation was a very different sort of existence to that led by hard-working farmers in the Northern States ; and after three journeys south of "Mason and Dixon's Une," I came to the conclusion that there were to be found in the world many more undesfrable positions than that of a Southem planter. Indeed, notvrith standing my horror of slavery, I fear that, had I been offered an estate with a hundred slaves upon it in the " sunny South," I should almost have felt inclined to accept it. The every-day IKe of a Southem gentleman differed little from that of 248 THE VIRGINIAN PLANTERS. any landed proprietor in our oavu country. He walked or rode over his plantation, and saw vrith his OAvn eyes how things were getting on, giving his orders to the overseer, and Ustening to any complaints that might be made. That over, the remainder of the day was at his oavu disposal; and K he had guests staying Arith him, the chances were, the greater part of his time would be devoted to looking after thefr comfort and amusement. Southem hospitality was proverbial, and many a planter of my acquaintance liA'cd in a style which would have been considered luxurious even in England. AU that is over now. The proud Vfrginian planter of former days is reduced to the same level as his late bondman, and holds the remnant of the property which was once his OAva in fee from a man who, a very few ye.^rs back, Avould not have entered his presence Arith his hat on. After that, who would not Arish to be a republican ? 249 CHAPTER X. Norfolk, in Virginia — Ill-founded Hopes — Disagreeable Quarters — The Confederate Battery at Sewell's Point — Hot Weather — Jefferson Davis — Tempting Offers to England — Hours of Idleness — An Awkward Predica ment — A Doubtful Consolation — An Idle Proclamation — The Author's Position becomes Critical — A Grievous Disappointment — The Value of a Foreign-office Pass port — Back to the North — On Board the Cumberland — An Evening Landscape — ^A Money Difficulty — A Fresh Disappointment and a Bold Move — An Old Friend lost for Ever — At a Window in New York — Unsatisfactory Interview with a Banker — A Lucky Thought — The Author is in a Miserable Plight — But " All's well that ends well." A T the expfration of two weeks I took leave -^-*- of my hospitable entertainer, and continued my joumey to Norfolk. Prior to the com mencement of hostiUties, Norfolk had been the great naval arsenal of the United States; and one of the first acts of the Virginian Government had been to seize upon the men-of-war then lying in the Navy Yard. Fearing lest the Federal fleet might make a dash upon Norfolk, and 250 THE BATTLE OF BIG BETHEL. recapture these vessels, orders were sent to General Taliaferro to erect batteries which would prevent the advance of any hostile ships from the dfrec tion of Hampton Roads. Unfortunately for the Confederates, however, the Pawnee managed to run the gauntlet, and the men-of-war lying at the Navy Yard were all set fire to and scuttled, with the exception of the Cumberland frigate, which was towed in triumph to Hampton. At the time of my risit to Norfolk, efforts were being made to raise the Merrimac. How far they were successful I need not state, for the short but gaUant career of that ship (re-chris tened the Virginia), must be stdl fresh in the minds of my readers. Norfolk being vrithin a short distance of the enemy's lines, the toAvnsfoIk were in a constant state of feverish excitement, which the news of the battle of Big Bethel, received about this time, did not tend to allay. Great was the joy of Secessia on hearing of this first Confederate success. It wotdd have been dangerous even to have hinted that such a ric tory was worse than a defeat ; but yet it was so, for it made the Southern troops faU into the error of underrating the enemy, and a most fatal one it proved to be, doing more injury to the Confederate cause than even a dozen sanguinary KING COTTON. 251 defeats. The good people of Norfolk were, if possible, more sanguine as to the final issue of the contest than the Richmondites. If they could only hold their own for even a few months, they said, all would go well. " King Cotton" would assert his power, foreign intervention would ensue, and the Southern Confederacy be triumphantly established. Need I say that I endorsed this opinion? I had only to turn to the pages of history to see that England had almost invariably managed to find some pretext for interfering in the quarrels of other nations whenever she imagined her own interests were en dangered. What interest had she at stake greater than the cotton one ? Hundreds of thousands of her citizens were altogether dependent on cotton for thefr dady bread. The supply stopped, what would be the result ? Gaunt famine in Lancashire, bankrupt cotton- spinners, universal discontent amongst a class never celebrated either for patience under suffering, nor moderation in thefr demands. Taking the question in another point of view, it was undoubtedly the interest of England to acknowledge the Southern Con federacy, if only for the sake of securing an aUy on the American continent, to whom she could look for assistance in case the North might 252 FEELING IN AMERICA TOWARDS ENGLAND. attempt to carry her threat of Canadian annexa tion into execution. Real sympathy between the two nations there could be none. We had been continuaUy humbugged by tricky Yankee statesmen, cheated out of Jlaine, robbed of our fisheries, deprived of our right of search. There had been the Oregon, the San Juan, and the Lord only knows how many other " difficulties" out of which our statesmen had iuA-ariablymanaged to craAvl with draggled plumes; our ambassa dor had been dispensed Arith, and our consuls dismissed on the very flimsiest of pretexts ; nothing, in fact, had been left undone to try poor John BuU's patience to the utmost. England was the target at which aU shafts were hurled. Did a lawyer find the case going against his client, a timely slap at Great Britain and her institutions would win over the judge, and cany the jury to a man ; EngUsh refugees had only to declare, like INIr. EdArin James, that the " cold shade" of the aristocracy had blighted thefr existence in their native land, and they were re ceived Avith open arms. Anything anti-British met Avith immense success. With all these facts before mc, I could not but believe that the recognition of Southern independence by England Avoidd take place at no distant date. Events AN UNCOMFORT.\BLE HOSTELRY. 253 have proved that, with many others, I over estimated the importance of the Southern cotton trade, and underrated the patience and long- suffering of my fellow-countrymen; but it has yet to be seen whether Yankee statesmen wUl remember our forbearance, and consent to leave us in peace now that the war is over, and employment is required for some three hundred thousand lawless soldiers, who would desire no better amusement than to carry fire and sword into her Britannic Majesty's defenceless American possessions. I cannot say that I consider Norfolk a desir able place of residence. During my visit the heat was intense, and to make matters worse, my hotel was, without exception, the dfrtiest and worse conducted hostelry it had ever been my bad fortune to enter in either the Northem or Southern States. The cooking was atrocious, and it was perfectly sickening to behold the myriads of flies which, despite the unceasing efforts of the unsavoury black waiters to dislodge them with thefr feather fans — swarmed on the dfrty table-cloth, or charged in clouds at each dish as it was uncovered, unmindful of the fate of scores of thefr comrades already struggling in the unctuous mess. As in Richmond, the mUi- 254 THE CONFEDERATE TROOPs' ARMS. tary mustered in force at aU the hotels in the toAvn, and at ours more especiaUy. Troops from different states in the Confederacy were being daUy driUed in the Navy Yard. Right good material they were too, the Louisianians in thefr dark blue umform, " Chasseur de Vincennes" style, bearing the palm for cleanUness and sol dierly appearance. But whatever might be said of the men, their arms were certainly not much to boast ahout. At the commencement of hos- tdities the Confederate Govemment had at once seized upon the arsenals of Augusta, Harper's Ferry, and Norfolk, in which were stored many thousand stand of arms ; but they were, for the most part, of the old " BroAvn Bess " pattern, and not to be compared vrith the bran new rifles served out to the Northem froops. The fact of thefr arms being of an inferior description did not appear, however, to frouble my Southem fidends in the slightest degree, fbr when told of the Enfield rifles, Avhich wotdd most assuredly be shipped to the Northern States by English houses, they simply said that " they reckoned," when it came to a fight, they wouldn't give the " Yanks" much chance at long range, but charge and try them with the bayonet. "\Miilst in Norfolk I paid a visit to the Coufe- A VISIT TO sewell's POINT. 255 derate battery at Sewell's Point, opposite to which was Hampton, where the Federal fleet lay quietly at anchor. With the aid of a glass I could see every movement on board the hostUe vessels, and the soldiers at drUl on the further shore. But although in such close proximity to the enemy, the Confederate officers did not ap pear to stand in the least fear of an attack, and laughed heartUy when I expressed doubts as to the safety of thefr position. It was just possible that, vrith guns of enormous caUbre, the Yankees might be able to annoy them from the " Rip raps," an island in the sound; but as to any gun boats like the " Harriet Lane" making an impression on thefr works, it was out of the question. And so they amused themselves by watching the movements of the enemy, and the officers on board the Cumberland and United States fidgates passed thefr time in pretty much the same manner untU that day when the Merrimac steamed down from Norfolk, and paid off old scores by sinking them both where they lay at anchor. Never shaU I forget the day of my visit to SeweU's Point. The heat was overpowering, and for eight mortal hours I was exposed to the full force of a Vfrginian sun. Although I had fflled 256 A SCARCITY OF ICE. my hat with green leaves, I expected every instant to be sun-struck, and fairly reeled as I walked along, the perspiration streaming from me so profusely, that on my retum to Norfolk I found the bank-notes, which I carried in my pocket, converted into a sort of pulp, resembling papier mache, and perfectly worthless for further cfrcu lation. Worse than all ice was scarce, the Uttle that yet remained being reserved for the concoc tion of " juleps" and " slings," from which seductive drinks I was unfortunately debarred, ovring to the shattered state of my finances. Truly, the Yankees at Hampton had thefr re venge. If, after a couple of hours' drdl, thefr throats were parched, and thefr mouths fiUed with the bitter dust of the " Old Dominion," they eould at least allay thefr sufferings vrith a deUcious glass of iced-water, which, in a climate like that of Vfrginia, is not simply a luxury, but one of the necessaries of Ufe, whdst the drink of their enemies was warm and nauseating, K not absolutely unwholesome, aud the long summer and autumn Avould have to pass away before they could enjoy a cool draught of auy description. Right glad Avas I to get back to Richmond, Avliich, although hot and disagreeable enough in all conscience, Avas stiU infinitely preferable to THE SOUTHERN PRESIDENT. 257 Norfolk. It was the seat of Government, and there was always something going on. Generals and statesmen, upon whom the destiny of the Confederacy depended, were as thick as huckle berries. Jeff Davis, Stephens, Beauregard, and scores of other celebrities were daUy to be seen at the various hotels, and no one would have guessed from their outward demeanour what angry passions fiUed their breasts. I am not naturally a " tuft-hunter," but I must confess, that whilst in Richmond I used to hang about any locality where I thought there was a chance of meeting the Southern President. It was very bad taste, no doubt ; but to watch the movements of a man who had just taken upon himself the Govemment of ten millions of human beings had a fascination for me whieh I tried in vain to overcome. I was introduced to him in due form, and, although he said no more to me than to the scores of others whom he greeted dady, yet I felt more pleased vrith those few words of wel come than K they had been uttered by the greatest potentate in Europe, and much would I give to be able to say that I was the personal friend of Jefferson Davis. No one can say that President Daris is a man of a commanding pre sence; quite the reverse — the manner in which VOL. II. s 258 TAVERN POLITICS. he wears his beard detracting much from his personal appearance. But there is something in the expression of his eye which is partictdarly winning, and you feel at once that you are talking to a man who, if he be a stem and unre lenting enemy, can UkcArise prove a warm and devoted friend. Most of the great guns put up at the Spotis- woode House ; but K the company at the BaUard was not quite so select as at the rival hotel, our politicians, of whom we had any num ber, were infinitely more noisy and uncom promising. The tenor of the conversation at the BaUard was of course poUtical ; poUtics the first thing in the moming and the last thing at night. What schemes were not dcAdsed by these embryo Metternichs to drag England into the quarrel and solve the slavery question ! Would England only raise the blockade of the Southem ports, she should have her cotton at a price slightly in adA^ance of the cost of production for the next ten years ; her manufactures would be admitted duty free into Southem mai-kets, nari gation laws Avould no longer interfere with her mercantile maidne, Avhilst a freaty offensive and defensive Avith the South would give her a political importance on the American continent AN EASY MODE OF LIFE. 259 such as she had not enjoyed since the " Declara tion of Independence." As I have before said, no one appeared to entertain a doubt that European intervention would fail to follow the first mUitary success ; and most grievously dis appointed must they have been when obUged finaUy to own that no hopes could be enter tained of foreign aid, and seen themselves throAvn altogether on thefr own resources. On looking back at the events of the last four years, one can see at a glance where have been the weak points of the Confederate harness. It is reaUy surprising how wise we all are when discussing the errors of past campaigns, how foolish when asked to form an opinion on the probable events of a future one. I led a very lazy ItaUan sort of Ufe whilst in Richmond ; in fact, it was altogether too hot to do anything else. I used generally to rise early and take a plunge in the clear waters of the " James," after which a smart walk as far as the cemetery — one of the prettiest spots near Rich mond — had generaUy the effect of giving me an appetite for breakfast, and that over there was the usual amount of political controversy and tobacco smoke untU I felt drowsy enough for my s 2 260 ANXIOUS HOURS. mid-day nap. Dinner took up another hour, and then, when the cool ofthe evening came on, I would either take a drive into the countiy with some friend who owned a buggy, or I would give the Richmond troops the benefit of my mar tial presence, and after that smoke my cigar in the Capitol grounds. But K the time passed rapidly away, my few remaining doUars fled even faster. The letter which I so anxiously awaited never made its appearance. IMorning after morning I presented myself at the post-office as soon as it was opened, hoping against hope that there might perchance be a letter. But no. The clerk's answer was invariably the same : " I reckon there ain't any lettei-s for you this morning, Mr. Tapley ;" aud I would return to my hotel and sit for hours at the Avindow nearest the portico, watching the arrivals Arith an an xious eye, fearing lest the bearer of my de spatches might make his appearance and I not there to receive him. I began to feel extremely anxious, for K I faded in obtaining the money, what was I to do ? Without the means of pur chasing a horse aud accoutrements it would, I knew, be doAvuright folly to apply for a commis sion, aud even should I eventually make up my mind to return to England, I had barely sufficient IN A REGULAR " FIX." 261 to pay my passage as far as Baltimore, unless I disposed of some of my personal efiects. No wonder my friends could not make out what was the matter with me. I, who had been but a short time previously so anxious to join the Southern army, no longer appeared to take any interest in the matter, nor to care whether I received an appointment or not. Little did they know how very few dollars remained in my pocket-book, nor how anxiously I was debating within myself in what manner I should liquidate my next hotel bUl when it was presented to me for payment. Had I only hinted to any oue of them the " fi.x" I was in, right sure am I that thefr purses would have been immediately placed at my disposal. But, unfortunately for me, K there is one thing more than another that I dread and studiously avoid, it is placing myself under an obligation to a comparative stranger. More than once in my Ufetime I could have saved myself an infinity of frouble and annoyance by accepting a tem porary loan from some acquaintance : but, no, Uke a fool, I would always rather apply to some one upon whom I reaUy had a claim, and of course be refiised for my trouble. I had to un dergo a considerable amount of good-natured chaff on the subject, and, being rather thin- 262 THE queen's PROCLAMATION. skinned, I Avrithed under it more than I should have Uked to oavu. " Don't you be in the least alarmed, Tapley," they would say, " at the Yanks threatening to hang every prisoner not American born who falls into their hands. Two can play at that game, and if they hang you, we'U string up a dozen in retum, and you'U be at least avenged, K thaf s any consolation ;" or, " You know, Tapley, K you should happen to be kiUed, we can pickle you and send you home, or pack you in an herme tically sealed coffin, like the Yankees do thefr dead." But if I laughed at the terrible threats by which " Honest Abe" hoped no doubt to drive all the aliens in the Southem States into the ranks of his own army, there was stUl one little objection to my taking up serAdce with the Con federates, viz. that, according to the Queen's proclamation, I forfeited my rights of citizenship, and, although I liked the South much, I loved my own country more. At that time I did not suspect that the said proclamation was only so much waste paper, nor that after the dressings that we had received from the American Go vernment during the Crampton- Stanley difficul ties. Federal agents would be permitted to recruit men in Ireland and other parts of Great Britain, REFLECTIONS ON MILITARY GLORY. 263 in open defiance of the authorities and all inter national law. Had I done so, money or no money, I would have joined some regiment of Confederate cavalry, and my bones would perhaps now be rotting in a Virginian grave, and these adventures of Mark Tapley, jun., never have been written. If any of my readers regret that such were not my fate ere I attempted to turn author, I can conscientiously say that I do not endorse the sentiment, for, although a soldier's grave may be a very honourable bed, I am prosy enough to fancy that one grave is pretty much the same damp, uncomfortable sort of place as another ; and as to military glory, we aU know that a real hero is, as " Arthur Lloyd " would say, " a man we often read about, but very seldom see ;" and for my own part, I wotdd not consent to lose a leg to become com mander-in-chief of the English army, even were the bdlet a less unenviable one than it is. But to continue my story :' my affairs drew rapidly to a crisis, and at last only two courses were left open to me — either to borrow some money from an acquaintance, or else endeavour to make my way back to some Northern port, where I could obtain a supply, and return South again, either by way of Kentucky, or by slipping through 264 A SAD DIS.\PPOINTMENT. the enemy's lines. It was with great reluctance that I finaUy determined on the former course, and as the friend to whom I was about to apply lived near Norfolk, for Norfolk I one morning started, intending to return to Richmond the next evening at latest. But I had counted with out my host ; for I found on my arrival in Norfolk that my friend was away from home, and was not expected back for a day or two. This was indeed a most unlooked-for mischance ; but as his mulatto servant positively assured me that his master would be back in two days at the outside, I thought it would be a pity return ing to Richmond as empty-handed as I had left it, and determined to remain where I was untd he should make his appearance. As I had left all my baggage in Richmond, I had no altema tive but to take up my abode once again at the vUe hotel Avhere I had lodged on my prerious visit, and to the landlord of Avhich I was personaUy knoAvn ; for it is not particidaily pleasant to enter a strange hotel when the Avhoie of one's personal effects consist of the clothes on one's back and an umbrella. If I found the hotel as dfrty and uncomfortable as ever, I must at least acknow ledge that so far as courtesy and attention M'ere concerned, my landlord left nothing to be desired ; for he was the very essence of politeness, and A BOLD MOVE. 265 spared no pains to make the time hang less heavdy on my hands, by showing me the different sights in Norfolk and the environs ; and so two weary days passed away, and the morning of the thfrd came, and my friend had not yet made his appearance. Seated in the hall of the hotel, I was suUenly pulling away at a vile rank "plantation," and brooding over my Ul luck, when I was suddenly aroused from my lethargy by hearing two men, who were standing near me, talking of a certain steamer which was to leave Norfolk for Fortress Monroe the very next morning, bearing a flag of truce. By what I could glean from their conversation, she was to take on board any persons who were desirous of proceeding northwards, all that was necessary being to obtain a pass from the general com manding in Norfolk. Here was a chance. I could go to New York, and be perhaps back again in Richmond in ten days, or even less. Much better to do that than to waste my time in waiting for a man about whose movements there appeared to be the greatest uncertainty. Up I jumped, and after calling once again at my friend's house to see if perchance he might not have returned, I went straight to the presence chamber where General Huger sat in judgment. I found a good many people hanging about the place, many 266 FOREIGN OFFICE PASSPORTS. of them bound on the same errand as myseK, but I do not think that there was a single man amongst the whole lot who desfred ever again to return to the " Sunny South," I alone excepted. I did not get my pass so easdy as I anticipated. A grim smde passed over the miUtary secretary's face when I told him that I hoped to be back again in ten days. He eyed me with erident suspicion, and subjected me to a considerable amount of cross-examination — ^how long I had been in the Confederate States — where I had resided during that time — why I desfred to leave, and so forth. My answers, however, did not appear to satisfy my interrogators, and they were eridently about to subject me to still further examination, when I thought it best to bring matters to a finale ; so, putting my hand into the breast pocket of my coat, I Arithdrew there from my passport, opened it, and laid it on the desk before them, Arithout uttering a single word. Now it is aU A-ery well for " honom-able gentle men " in the House to give us an occasional taste of the " CiAds Romanus " clap-trap, but I know for my own part, that my Foreign Office passport has never been of the slightest use to me when ever I have come into collision with Govemment employes on the Continent of Europe, and for any " protection " I have deriAcd fi-om being armed AT A DISCOUNT. 267 with that formidable, K not costly document, I might as well have presented the officials with a copy of the " Dafryman's Daughter." I do not think that we are such a very mighty people on the Continent as we imagine our selves to be, nor that we are, as a rule, treated with that " distinguished consideration " which, as citizens of a countiy on whose flag the sun never sets, we have (as we say) a right to demand. Formerly, perhaps, a threat to appeal to one's ambassador might have had some effect, just in the same way that extortionate innkeepers used once upon a time to be kept in order by threats of letters to the Times. But now-a-days both Government officials and hotel-keepers have ceased to be fidghtened by English bluster, and John Bull's beUovrings are no longer of the slightest avaU. However, in a young repubUc like the Confederate States, they could not be expected to have as yet learnt the real value of the im posing document which I had the honour of submitting for thefr inspection. There were the arms of England at the top, and those of my Lord Clarendon at the bottom, in themselves sufficient to strike awe into the hearts of men whose knowledge of heraldry was as Umited as that possessed by my worthy Confederate inquisitors, whUst the number of vises with which the book 268 A FLAG OF TRUCE. was crammed, gave to the whole thing a smack of respectability which there was no disputing. For the first time in my IKe the old passport had commanded respect. It was retumed to me vrith a bow, a pass was at once given me, and Arith a light heart I left the presence of the mighty Huger. I did not think it adrisable, on my return to the hotel, to say anything about my intended de parture, for there was not sufficient time left to obtain any portion of my baggage from Richmond, and I did not care about its being knoAvn that I was going north in such very Ught marching order. I Avrote a letter, therefore, to the fidend whose non-arrival in Norfolk had been the cause of my hasty departure, teUing him my reasons for taking advantage of the flag of ti-uce, and begging him to keep my effects, as I should certainly be back again in less than a fortnight, K I were not taken prisoner Avhdst endeavouring to sUp through the enemy's lines. The flag of truce was adver tised to sail the next day at one o'clock precisely, and at that time, armed with my pass, I found myself on the jetty, at the end of which the Westpoint Avas to call for her complement of passengers from Norfolk, she haring fii-st to receive ou board a considerable number from Portsmouth, a toAvn on the other side of the ON BOARD THE "CUMBERLAND." 269 river. We soon saw her coming towards us, with a very smaU Confederate flag at her peak, and an immense white ditto at her bows, those in command being determined, it seemed, that we should not be mistaken for a hostile craft through the smallness of our fiag of truce, which, as it floated in the breeze, looked like a large- sized table-cloth, and about as clean as those generaUy seen at the hotels in Norfolk. We steamed at a good rate down the river, blowing our steam-whistle aU the time, so that our Yankee friends in Hampton might have due notice of our coming; and in a short time the Federal fleet eould be seen ahead, looming dark through the haze, and immediately the order was given to ease the engines, and the fVestpoint began screaming, as K in defiance of the foe into whose presence she had come vrith impunity. At length M-e saw some boats putting off from the fieet; the engines were stopped, and there we lay, at about half-a-mde's distance from the shore, patiently awaiting the orders of the com modore. On the boats coming alongside, we found, as we expected, that we were to be taken off in them, and conveyed on board the Cumber land frigate, there to remain until the Adelaide steamer should be ready for departure. The crews of the said boats were in exceedingly bad 270 A KIND INVITATION. humour, knoAring as they did, from former ex perience, the hard afternoon's work there was in store for them, and the number of trips they would have to make ere our refugees were safely deposited with thefr household gods on board the fleet. All, with the exception of myseK, appeared to have with them thefr entfre " menage," and the decks of the Westpoint were blocked up Arith mountains of furniture, comprising every article of domestic economy from a cradle to a four- poster. Having neither Arife nor chdd, nor, as I have before mentioned, any personal effects, vrith the exception of an umbreUa to look after, I left in the first boat, and in a few minutes found myself on the deck of the Cumberland. Had it not been for the Yankee flag waving in the breeze above my head (which flag, by the way, her crew at least never disgraced — for when her htdl was shattered by the Merrimac, she sank colours flying), I might have been on board au English vessel for any difference I could perceive in her equipage, and a large portion of her crew were most unmistakably subjects of her Britannic Majesty. I had not been on board many minutes Avhen a stcAvard came up to me with an iuAdta- tion from some of the officers to join their pai'ty in the ward-room — au invitation Mhich I, of GRATEFUL LIBA'TIONS. 271 course, immediately accepted. Down I went, and was formally introduced to some half-dozen rather gentlemanly-looking men for Yankees, whom I found pleasantly employed in endeavour ing to cool their parched throats by copious libations of Monongahela whisky and iced water. It is needless to say how my mouth watered when I saw the huge fragments of ice floating about in the earthenware pitchers, nor how delicious it was to feel the cooling liquid trickUng gently once again down my own burning throat. It made me almost look vrith an eye of friendship on the enemy, for alas ! with many of us, the heart lies nearer the stomach than is generaUy supposed. My entertainers were exceedingly communicative, and appeared rather more than anxious that I should be the same ; in fact, if it were not libel even- to hint such a thing, I shotdd almost be inclined to say that the naval gentlemen in the ward-room of the Cumberland endeavoured to pump me. If they really did attempt such a thing, I regret exceedingly for their sakes that they were not more successful, and that the " Monongahela" was not sufficiently potent to unloose the strings of my tongue, nor make me forget the difference between friend and foe even for an instant. However, putting this 272 A GLORIOUS EVENING. inquisitiveness aside, I had no reason to com plain of the treatment I received, for whUst on board I had everything that I required, and towards evening I was conveyed to the Baltimore steamer, Avhere I found the rest of the passengers already assembled, and everything ready for an immediate departure. It was a glorious evening. The haze had cleared away, and from the hurri cane-deck of the steamer I could command the entire estuary of the " James." Anchored close to us, lay a smaU fleet of merchantmen and two or three large transport steamers, m hich had just dis charged thefr Uring freight into Fortress Monroe. Beyond them the tall masts of the Cumberland and United States stood out clear and distinct against the evening sky, now crimsoned Arith the setting sun, and a Uttle farther to the left lay Hampton, peacefuUy reposing under the protecting guns of Fortress Monroe. To my right was Old Point Com fort, and, crossing over to the starboard side of our vessel, I could see far away, on the fai-ther shore, the Confederate position at SeweU's Point, inside of which I had been admitted as a friend but a few short days before. Standing on the deck of a Yankee ship, I almost felt as if I Avere a ta-aitor to the Southern cause, and ashamed of myscK for not having had the patience to Avait for the AT BALTIMORE. 273 return of my friend to Norfolk, which would have obviated the necessity of a journey north wards. Little had I thought, when scanning the fleet from that very battery, in how short a time I myself would be ostensibly demanding its pro tection; but, as Mrs. Partington would say, " Sich is Ufe." As I thus mused over the past our paddles began to revolve, and I was once more on my way to the " Monumental City." I remained on deck watching each famdiar object rapidly disappear as we flew through the water, untd darkness shut out the prospect, and the shores of Secessia were lost to view. When I awoke the next morning from a troubled sleep, I found that we had already reached our destination, and were underneath the guns of Fort McHenry. FeeUng that the crippled state of my flnances did not permit of my putting up at one of the principal hotels, I, on stepping ashore, made dfrect for a small inn, which I had noticed on my previous visit to Baltimore, and which was situated close to the PhUadelphia RaUway depot. I thought it would be just the kind of place to suit me, for it was unpretending and quiet, and as I might be de tained some days in the tovni it was desirable I should study the closest economy. On arriring VOL. II. 1" 274 SOUTHERN NOTES AT A DISCOUNT. at my destination, I told the landlord that, as I should most probably be detained for a week, I would pay for my room in advance, tendering him at the same time the amount of the rent in Southern notes, which, to my astonishment and disgust, he unceremoniously rejected. Now, on learing Norfolk, it had never struck me that the notes of such a weU-knoAvn bank as that of " Cape Fear " would not pass current in the Northem states, and I had not therefore taken the precaution of converting my money into Yankee " shin-plaisters." Here, then, was a nice commencement to my joumey north. I Avould most probably have to lose some twenty per cent. of the Uttle money that remained to me before I could CAen pay for my breakfast. However, there was no help for it, so out I started again in search of a money-changer, and in due course my poor notes were converted into Northern currency at the quoted rate of exchange. With pockets considerably lightened by the trans action, I returned to my inn, Avrote my letters, and hurried off to the post-office to inquire after a certain clerk, who wotdd, my landlord assured me, if I only mentioned his name, give me every information respecting my lost despatches. After some difficulty I found the indiAddual in question. AN UNSATISFACTORY ANSWER. 275 and repafring vrith him to a neighbouring bar, explained to him in as concise a manner as possible how affairs stood, taking care, however, not to arouse his suspicions respecting my Southern " procUvities." His answer was by no means satisfactory — quite the reverse. " If," he said, " my letters had been stopped at the Wash ington post-office, as they no doubt had been, I might get them perhaps when the South ' caved in' " — in other words, at the conclusion of hos tUities ; " but as to supposing for one moment that the Postmaster General would have some mUlion letters sorted for my especial convenience, he guessed he wouldn't do it for Pontius PUate." So there eridently was nothing to be effected in that quarter, and aU I could do was to wait patiently untU answers arrived to the letters I had written to my friends in New York. On the morning of the thfrd day a letter did arrive for me, but it was not the one I expected, but just a line from a gentleman in New York to whom I had also written — fearing lest my friend might be away from home — to tell me that Mr. T. had left the city on a fishing excursion, and had gone no one weU knew whither, but it was probable that he was up the Saguanay river, not far from Quebec, and would not retum for T 2 276 ON THE TRAMP. another six weeks at soonest. What was to be done ? Remaining any longer in Baltimore was out of the question, and I at once made up my mind to continue my journey northwards. But this was more easdy said than done, for after settling vrith mine host, I had not sufficient left to pay my fare further than PhUadelphia, and that was but haK-way. CaUing, however, to mind the old proverb, " He who hesitates is lost," to Philadelphia I took the " cars," caught the Delaware up-river steamer, and found myseK the same evening in the streets of Trenton, vrith a quarter of a dollar, or one shiUing British money in my pocket. Entering an hotel bar, I invested a fourth part of my capital in a glass of apple- whisky, a vUe compound for which the State of New Jersey is eelebrated ; and finding by a map which hung against the waU that my shortest route to New York was vid Amboy, for that place I at once started, trusting to luck for finding some means of crossing the Bay when I got there. The weather was fearfully hot, and as I was in light marching order — my kit, d, la Sfr Charles Napier, consisting of a Crimean shfrt, four col lars, comb, tooth-brush, and a piece of soap — aU of Avhich luxuries I had purchased in the most reckless and extravagant manner before leaving OUT FOR THE NIGHT. 277 Baltimore, I determined to get over as much ground as I could during the night. My line of march lay along the raUway, and although the sleepers seriously impeded my progress, stiU I managed to push along for a couple of hours at a sufficiently rapid rate. But as the darkness came on my stumbles became more fre quent, and my rate of travelling slower and slower, untd at length, after several narrow escapes of breaking my neck by tumbling off the embankment, I was forced to come to a dead halt, and make preparations for camping out for the night. Being an old backwoodsman, these preparations were soon made, and in ten minutes I was fast asleep, and perhaps just as comfortable as if I had been reclining on a bed of down, instead of the sandy soil of New Jersey. The day was breaking in the east when I awoke, and after a wash in a brook hard by I continued my journey, never once stopping to take rest untU I had covered a good fifteen mUes of ground and the sun was high in the heavens. Halting for an instant at a small vUlage, where I purchased twelve-and-a-haK cents' worth of bread and cheese — ^thus reducing my finances to the small sum of threepence — I kept on walking until I reached a clear stream, on the banks of which 278 I PART WITH AN OLD FRIEND. stood a thick clump of trees, tmder the shade of which I determined to breakfast, and sleep until the heat of the day was passed. I was fearfuUy tired, for fifteen mUes along a line of raUway in America — where one has either to hop from sleeper to sleeper, or else trudge through the hot loose sand — is in itself a good day's work, and equal to double the distance over a good EngUsh macadamized road. At four o'clock I resumed my march, camped out again that night, and the next evening arrived in Amboy, hungry, hot, and tfred. As I just managed to miss the boat, there was no alternative but to remain in Amboy for the night, and start by the first steamer in the morning. But my last " red cent" had gone, and in a civUized country bed and supper are not to be had Arithout money. What was to be done ? Alas, my poor old pipe wotdd have to go after aU. It was to avoid the pang of parting Arith this pipe, which had been my companion in many lands, and ofttimes my only solace in hours of frouble and danger, that 1 had taken this weary tramp across the State of New Jersey, for by disposing of it in Philadelphia I might haA'c realized more than sufficient to have paid my fare to New York : and wotdd it uow have to go, after all ? The thought Avas MORE BAD LUCK. 279 agonizing. It was like parting with an old and valued friend, and I held out against the double temptation of bed and supper, until the sun went down and the night breeze began to blow so freshly across the water as to send a chUl through my overworked and heated body, and made me long for a place of shelter and a glass of something " stiff." Then, and not tiU then, did I waver in the resolution I had formed, not to part with my beloved meerschaum at any price; the cravings of nature carried the day ; my dear old pipe be came the property of a stranger for the paltry sum of six doUars, and I had my supper — ^but at what a cost ! The next morning I arrived in New York, and after tidying myseK up a bit, I went in search of some old fidends who Uved a few miles out of the town near Harlem. But the same bad luck which had so constantly pursued me since my departure from Richmond, seemed to foUow my steps in New York. Every one I knew who could be of serrice to me was out of town. One had gone to Newport, another to Saratoga, whdst a third had started off for Europe, and the entfre day was spent in fruitless inquiries, and five o'clock came, and I was precisely in the same position as when I started off in the morning. 280 A MOTLEY TIDE OF HUMANITY. Now as I knew that the banker through whom I drew when in New York was a rabid AboU- tionist, I had deemed it adrisable under the circuinstances to give him a wide berth ; but on finding that my friends were aU out of town I thought it would perhaps be better after aU to teU him how I Avas situated, and ask him to honour my draft on London as he had frequently done before. On arriring at his place of busi ness, I found it, as I had expected, closed for the day, and it being erident that nothing more could be done untU the foUoAring moming, I went to French's, a cheap hotel near the Park, where I found ample amusement during the remainder of the evening in watching the motley crowd passing and repassing in front of the window at which I was seated. In no city that I have ever been does the stranger see a more constant succession of novel and amusing sights than in New York. Just let us watch for only five minutes this tide of humanity pouring down Broadway, and then say in Avhat part of the world, in what other city, coidd one find such an olla podrida, of diverse nationalities and queer faces as in this great mercantile emporium of the United States. A GENUINE YANKEE. 281 See, here comes the genuine Yankee, saUow and thin, with lank black hair and piercing eyes, chevring away as if " the whole duty of man " con sisted in munching "Honey-dew" from morning tdl night, and staining the pavement with con stant squfrts of tobacco juice. Mark ho.w ner- A'ously energetic he looks — what determination in the Unes about those closely compressed lips, and how careworn the features for a man of his years ! Ah ! we may say what we like of the Yankee, he has some wonderful points in his character, and is vrithout doubt the man of aU others whose seK-reUance is the strongest, and who is therefore the best fitted to battle with the world. Probably that very man before us has in the course of his short lifetime tried fifty different pursuits and failed. Is he dispirited ? Not a bit of it : he is going to try again. Little does he care what it is that he turns his hand to, so long as he can turn over the almighty dollars. If he find that he cannot make a smart trade in eight- day clocks that wont go and Yankee " notions," he will try book-hawking, preaching, lecturing, rail-spUtting — ay, anything and everything ; and perhaps some of these days he will run for Pre sident, or be elected governor of his State. And underneath that rugged exterior there perhaps 282 YOUNG AMERICA. beats as kindly a heart as could be found, were one to search the world over, for your true Yankee, although close at a bargain, is open handed with a friend, and has nothing mean or paltry in his composition. Yes, there are many worse feUows than yourself in the world, my worthy Yankee, but haring Southern proclirities I am bound to hate you on principle ; so pass on, and never let me see your face again. But look here ; close on his heels comes a little monkey of a very different stamp. Allow me to infroduce you to Young America : a creature who has all the bad quaUties of his sfre without his Adrtues, and whose sole aim in Ufe consists in aping French manners and customs, to the amusement of the vulgar herd. Our Uttle friend yonder belongs to that codfish aristocracy which in New York is designated the " Upper-tendom," and he is a fafr specimen of the exalted class to which he belongs. His father^s parfronymic was the good old Iidsh one of Murphy, but on making a handsome fortune out ofthe celebrated "Knock me Down" bitters, and removing from a small fi-amc house in Eleven hundred and fortieth Street to a brown stone ditto in Fifth Avenue, the vrife of his bosom suddenly discovered that the name was plebeian, and by the adrice of young Hopeful, who had just re- HIS TRICKS AND HIS MANNERS. 283 turned fi-om Paris, it was changed into the aris tocratic one of De Morphie, and De Morphie it remains to this day. Alphonse De Morphie having been in Paris and Vienna, and picked up a few new vices not famdiar to American Hobble- dehoydom, is looked upon as an authority by his brother imps of FKth Avenue, and is quite a pet vrith thefr sisters, the Misses Flora McFlimsey of that quarter. In fact, our friend is a great sweU in his way, drives a " span" of trotting horses, has a cottage near Brooklyn, patronizes the opera, when there is one, dines at Delmonico's, where he afrs his bad French, and gambles away his "parient's" money, in the same manner as other American youths of his age. Unlike the EngUsh fast man, there is nothing manly about him. Hunting, boating, cricketing are unknown to him, and a saunter down Broadway is the utmost fatigue his precious carcass is capable of undergoing, at least, so he says, and perhaps for once we may beUeve him. Rudely jostling this little atom of creation, the ubiquitous Hibernian comes swaggering along, vrith Biddy his sweet heart locked under his arm, whom it is difficult to recognise, so bedecked is she vrith cheap finery and borrowed plumes. On this side of the Atlantic, Pat is not only 284 A FIRST-CLASS NEW YORK ROWDY. as good as his master, but a great deal better; at least so he boasts, although, until food for powder was wanting, he was snubbed by all parties, and freated very little better than that blessed nigger, who shuffles along after him Arith a hangdog expression of countenance, as K he expected every moment to be kicked off the side walk by some free and enUghtcned citizen of the great republic. Here come a party of stoUd German immigrants, just landed from some Ham burgh packet, who, open mouthed, are listening to the wonderful accounts which thefr cicerone, a Ger man Yankee, is giAdng of the riches of his adopted country ; and after them, half-a-dozen live Yankee sailors, in glazed caps, red shirts, and WeUington boots puUed over their black cloth "pants," are staggering in the dfrection of the wharves. This wonderfully got-up indiridual, in the blue coat with brass buttons, and diamond brooch stuck in his elaborately worked shirt-front, is a Ncav York " rowdy" ofthe first-class: a gentleman constantly to be met M'ith at the bars of thfrd-class hotels, bowling-alleys, low gambling-houses, and other resorts of even a more dubious character ; and these two interesting-looking youths, Arith short sixes stuck in their mouths, belong to the genus " b'hoy" — young roughs, who would fight, rob. THE MISSES DE MORPHIE. 285 murder, or do anything else rather than engage in any useful or honest employment. If Colonel BiUy Wilson did nothing more, he cleared New York of some of these gentry, and for that at least he deserves the thanks of the community. But the Uving stream sweeps rapidly onwards. There are gray-coated soldiers, red-shfrted fire men, sober followers of Penn the Apostle, and drunken ditto of John Barleycorn ; swarthy CaUfomian diggers, " bearded Uke the pard," and yellow-skinned Chinamen vrith pigtads. Men from every State in the Union and from every country in the world, aU rushing in one compact mass down the main artery of New York, Broadway, on this blazing summer's after noon. The ladies likewise muster strong, although the majority of the " upper tendom" are recruiting themselves at the different watering-places, where they can dance, dress, and talk scandal to their hearts' content. See there, dressed in all the colours of the rainbow, the Misses De Morphie go sading along, as if the whole side- walk belonged to them. They are pretty and have small feet and hands, but the less we say of their figures the better, for — tell it not in Gath — were it not for Madame de Corset, the Parisian staymaker yonder, all that contour which we admire so 286 I CALL UPON MY BANKER, much would be wanting. Fat German Jewesses, overladen with rings, chains, and bracelets, smart slim Yankee gfrls from New England, negresses with caf4 au lait coloured babies in their arms, and occasionally, I am sorry to say, a white woman with an infant of the same suspicious hue, keep passing before us in endless succession, the "cavalerie legere" furnishing a much smaUer percentage than they would have done in our own strictly moral and decorous land. But in thus attempting to describe some of the loungers one meets in Broadway, I have wandered far away from my narrative and French's Hotel, where I am supposed to have been seated aU this time at the open window of a very dirty reading- room. So to continue. It was not untU four o'clock the next aftemoon that I succeeded in catching my worthy banker at his office, and when I did do so I might as weU have stayed away for aU the good that resulted from the interriew. He received me cordiaUy enough, but when he heard that I had been South, his manner changed in an instant, and he coldly told me that it was out of his power to comply with my re quest, negotiating biUs such as I described being altogether out of his line of business. " But," I m-ged, " you have often done so be- AND GET NOTHING BY SO DOING. 287 fore for me, why not now ? As you are well aware, a considerable amount of my money has before now passed thj-ough your hands, and no difficulty has ever yet arisen ; why then should you decline to render me this very sUght serrice, even though it should be, as you assert, contrary to yom- rules of business ?" I might as well have stood talking to the Washington monument. Let me have the money he would not, and I left his office as empty-handed as I had entered it a few minutes before. " Many a fat saddle of venison and basket of trout has that man re ceived from me before now," I thought, " and this is the return I get for past courtesies." England or America, it is aU the same : gratitude means simply a " Uvely sense of favours to come," and I sup pose he begins to fear that no more such favours are in store for him. I could not help laughing. There was I, in a city where I certainly ought to have been pretty well knovm, unable, it appeared, to raise even the small amount I requfred : with out luggage of any '^description, and worse than that, again reduced to the smaU sum of five cents, which was aU that remained to me of those six doUars for which I had sold my pipe. Walking to the Battery, I sat myself down on a bench near the water, and took what the Americans call 288 AN UNPLEASANT STATE OF THINGS. *' a riew of the situation." That it was far from an enriable one there was no denying, but it was absolutely necessary that I shotdd put on a bold front, and at once make up my mind what course it were best to adopt under the cfrcumstances. If I still persisted in my determination of return ing South, I might perhaps have to remain for weeks in New York, before I could either receive letters from England or hear from my fidend who was supposed to be up the Saguanay, and in whose possession were all the deeds upon which I had hoped to be able to raise the money I re qufred. To remain in New York, I must have the AvhercArithal to pay my dady expenses, and the soUtary five-cent piece that I possessed would not go very far in furnishing forth a single meal of dry bread, let alone a week's boarding at French's. On the other hand, if I made up my mind at once to retm-n to England I should stUl want money to pay my passage, and where was that to come from, unless, indeed, I could borrow it from somebody ? From somehody! Yes ; but everybody Avhom I knew appeared to be out of town, at least aU those with Avhom I Avas on terms of sufficient intimacy to be able to propose such a thing as a loan. Cai-efuUy I ran OA'cr in my raind the names of aU my acquain tances iu Ncav York and its viciuity, hoping that A FORTUNATE IDEA. 289 I might stiU think of some one on whom I had a claim. But not a soul was there in the entfre lot to whom I would wilUngly have placed myself nnder an obligation, and I was about to dismiss the subject from my thoughts, when I suddenly recollected a certain indiridual holding a high government appointment, who had passed some days with me in the woods, and who had expressed a desfre to be of service to me, K ever it lay in his power. Fool that I had been not to think of him before ! Why, he was the very man of all others best quaUfied to give me the assistance I requfred, for he knew everybody and everybody knew him. It was too late to caU upon him that day, but I would pay him a visit the very first thing in the morning, when everything would be arranged, and I could start for Richmond without further delay. Up went my mercury fifty degrees at least, and I felt as K I had no longer a care in the world. So jubUant was I indeed, that, re gardless of the consequences, I determined to spend the whole of my five-cent piece on some cheap deUcacy; for not haring eaten anything since the morning I began to feel rather peckish — no unusual thing for poor Mark. The deUcacy I selected as being the most fiUing at the price was VOL. II. ^ 290 A ROUGH REBUKE. West India pine-apple, which an old Irishman re taUed, at one cent per sUce, at a staU hard by. Pafs pine-apple had not been improved by its exposure for twelve hours to a broiling sun, neither had the dust which was flying about the South Ferry added to its flavour; but I must allow that it was fiUing for the money, for after eating my five sUces I do not think I could have disposed of another had it been to save my IKe. It also had the effect of making me so intolerably thfrsty that I kept running to a neighbouring bar for iced water, which is always to be had gratis in the Northern States, until I so maddened the bar-keeper that he removed the pitcher from the counter, saying as he did so — " Guess, old boss, you'd better go for your water where you get your ' Ucker,' and that ain't here, darn me if it is." What answer could I make him ? The Avretch eridently guessed the state of my finances — the old proverb, "pas d'argent point de Suisse," holding good in other countries besides Fi-auce, as I have had the pleasure of finding out ou more than one occasion in my journey through life. That night I had again the deUght of studying the stars from my hard couch in the Battery grounds ; at daybreak I MEET A FRIEND AT LAST. 291 I refreshed myself by taking a plunge into the cold waters of the harbour, and at mid-day pre sented myseK at the office of my sporting friend, who had, as I fully expected to hear — " only just gone out." Not having the slightest desfre to keep on wandering up and down the streets of New York until his return, I said that I would wait for him, and quietly installed myself in his easy-chair, where I slept soundly untU late in the evening, when he at length made his appearance. If he were surprised to find me in his office, how much more so when I told him the reason of my being there. How he roared with laughter when I gave him a sketch of my journey from Norfolk ; but when I concluded by saying, " And now, my friend, if I do not look very fresh it is simply because that, with the exception of a morsel of pine-apple, I have had nothing to eat for thfrty-six hours," his merriment ceased in a moment. " " Why, my poor fellow," he cried, " here have I been sitting listening for the last half-hour to your adventures, and you all the while dying with hunger ! Come along at once and have something to eat ; it wdl be time enough to talk on business when the crarings of your stomach u 2 292 MY TROUBLES ARE AT AN END. are appeased and your waistband a little more tightened than it is at present." As may be supposed, I did not require to be asked a second time. To the nearest restaurant we repafred forthwith, A»'here I pitched into the comestibles M'ith a voracity which made even the waiters stare ; nor did I desist so long as a morsel remained of aU the dishes which had been placed before me. But at length I had to cry enough, and then, and not tiU then, did my friend propose that we should adjourn to his quarters, where, comfortably seated in an easy-chafr, vrith a fragrant Havannah between my lips, I could listen to what he had to say on the subject of my intended retum to Richmond. To this I readdy agreed, and in a very few minutes we were quietly installed in what he called his " den" — a room on the walls of whieh were hung troplues of the chase and " curios " fi-om all parts of the world, coUected by my friend himseK during a IKetime of more than ordinary travel and adventure. I must do my friend the justice to say that not ouly did he prove himseK a perfect master of rhetoric on that evening, but that his liquor Avas unexceptionable, so much so indeed, that the more 1 imbibed of it, the GOOD ADVICE. 293 more plainly did I see the force and justice of the arguments of the man Avho had an unlimited supply of such nectar in his cellar. In fact, there was no opposing such a flood of eloquence, no resisting such a flow of brandy. My mentor was altogether opposed to my plan of returning to Richmond; no good, he said, could possibly result from such an insane proceeding, for even if I did make a start southwards, the chances were that I would be taken prisoner the instant I attempted to cross the lines. Besides, I was an EngUshman, and had no right to mix myself up in other people's quarrels, more especially when, by my sovereign's proclamation, I was ex pressly forbidden to do so. What had the Southerners ever done for me that I should take such an extraordinary interest in their welfare, or run the risk of losing my Ufe only to be laughed at for my trouble, as intermeddlers always were ? Much better to remain in a country where aU the comforts of life were to be had (here he pushed the cognac and iced water to wards me), than to return to a country where the necessaries, let alone the luxuries of life, would soon be wanting. But why enumerate aU the arguments he used to dissuade me from 294 I RESOLVE TO RETURN TO ENGLAND. my project and shake my Southem " proclivi ties ?" Suffice it to say, that the last glass of brandy finished the matter, and that when I arose to say good night, or rather morning, for it was then three o'clock, I had given my promise not to return to Richmond, let affafrs take what tum they might. I did not feel altogether satisfied vrith myseK when I awoke the next moming and called to mind the promise I had made my host the prerious night. The promise I had certainly given, under what circumstances it mattered not, and I was bound in honour to carry it out. WeU, K I could not retum to Richmond there was nothing to detain me in New York, and up I jumped, fidly determined to start by the very first steamer to England. I took care, however, not to allow my kind host to suspect for an instant that I felt annoyed at the tiu-n my affairs had suddenly taken, but I firmly expressed my determination to leave for Europe by the very first steamer K a berth could be had. Finding that he could not induce me to become his guest, even for a week, he most kindly gave me peruiission to draAv upon him for any amount I might require, and forth I sallied to engage a berth on board one of the Inman line of steamers. A SCANTY SEA-KIT. 295 then about to sad. Finding that the steamer was to start the next morning, I determined to go on board that night, so as to avoid all the flurry and bother attendant upon an early start from a strange house, and after having purchased a little under-clothing — a very Uttle, I may say, for it was all contained in a brown paper parcel — I re tumed to my friend's house without having ex pended more than twenty-five pounds at the out side. He perfectly ridiculed the idea of my going across the Atlantic with such a scanty sea-kit, but on this point I was stubborn and not a stitch more would I buy. We should not be more than twefre days on the passage, I said, and for that time I had clothes enough and to spare ; and as to what people thought, they might go to HalKax for all I cared. So that very evening I went on board the steamer, my friend promising to pay me a visit the first thing in the moming and introduce me to the captain. The boatman who rowed me to the ship evidently eyed both me and my parcel Arith suspicion, and sung out to the man at the gangway as I mounted the ladder, " I guess that feUow's luggage wont give your ship a Ust anyhow; what do you say, mate ?" 296 SENT TO COVENTRY. I could have knocked aU the rascal's teeth dovrn his throat, and my indignation was not lessened by the disrespectful behariour of one of the stewards, who, seeing me walking aft, shouted out, " That's not the way to the steerage. Just make tracks forward, wiU you, unless you wart the officer of the watch on top of you, which he wUl be 'K he sees you on the quarter deck !" Producing the receipt for my passage, T took Master Steward by the ear and told him to read it, which he did, looking very foolish aU the whUe, not knoAring what to make of me. He sulkily told me to follow him, aud proceeded to show me my berth ; haring taken formal posses sion of which by depositing therein my precious parcel, I thought I might as weU infroduce my seK to some of my fellow-passengers. Of these there were already a score or more on board. Infroduce myseK indeed ! The moment they saw me make my reappearance they slunk away from me as K I had been only just discharged from a plague-hospital, and not a single Avord wotdd they exchange with me ou auy considera tion Avhatcvcr. All this rather amused me than otherwise. Hoav could I expect that the cod- I FRIGHTEN MY FELLOW-PASSENGERS. 297 fish De Morphies and De Velins eould possibly be seen talking to an humble individual like myself, whose whole impedimenta was packed in a not over large piece of brown paper. What could I be but a fraudulent bankrupt, or a house breaker, or a murderer, perhaps ; and they turned up thefr by no means aristocratic noses as I passed along. Even when I weftit into the saloon I had a table to myself; for, fearful of contami nation, not a sold would come near me. I was to be put in Coventry during the entfre passage. Poor mean Avretches, I thought, why should I be angry Arith you ? How can it be expected that men brought up as you have been can have any other standard by which to judge a man than his apparent wealth ? The freemasonry of good society is Sanscrit to you, and the old doggerel, " Dollars and dimes, dollars and dimes. An empty pocket is the worst of crimes," is for ever ringing io. your ears. Be it so. But it is time for me Ukewise to stand upon my dignity, and from this time I wiU freat you all vrith the most superciUous and sovereign contempt. The next inoming, as I was dressing, I heard a great bustle in the saloon, and a man's voice. 298 MY FELLOW-PASSENGERS DISAPPOINTED. which was almost inaudible from excitement, which said : — "It's just as I told you. L. has come on board to apprehend that feUow Arith the brown paper parcel, and we shall get rid of him after all." Now it just happened that my late host was the very man who would have come on board to arrest m& had I committed any capital offence in the State of New York, aud it may be therefore imagined what excitement his advent occasioned when it became generaUy knoAvn that he was in search of poor me. There was a rush upon deck to see me handcuffed and carried off, and great was the surprise and disappointment of my feUow-passengers when they saw the terrible official kindly draw my arm Arithin his own and lead me off to introduce me to the Captain. Never shaU I forget how perfectly ashamed of themselves they all looked, as they one by one sneaked below again, to the amazement of L., who eould not imderstand what all the row had been about, nor did I feel at aU inclined to en lighten him. But the hour had come for departure. With many a friendly Arish for a pleasant and prosperous voyage, my Avorthy friend stejipcd into his boat and sailed away. The screw began to revolve, and for the sixth THE CONFLICT IS OVER. 299 time I bade fareweU to Yankeedom. Although my abrupt departure from Richmond was un questionably a sad blow to the Confederate cause, stUl I cannot, after mature consideration, conscientiously say that I believe that my pre sence in the camp would have materiaUy altered the issues of the contest. The Southerners had a fair stand-up fight for thefr rights and liber ties, and were whipped — not because their cause was accursed, as the Abolitionists say that it was, but simply that " Providence is, generaUy, on the side ofthe largest battaUons," and no longer works mfracles for the weaker host, as in the days of Joshua. After a struggle unprecedented for its obstinacy in the annals of history, those brave Confederate armies, which time after time hurled back the invader vrith tremendous loss, have been annihilated, and the sunny South is at the mercy of President Andy Johnson. Thanks to foreign mercenaries and negro levies, the Yankees have carried the day, and nothing remains for the conquered but to submit Uke brave men to the inexorable decrees of fate. Chivafrous England, by adhering to her modern non-intervention doctrine, missed her last chance of securing an ally on the North American Continent. It is to be hoped that she wiU never 300 THE POLICY OF NON-INTERVENTION. have reason to regret the ignoble part she acted during both the Danish and American wars, and that Avhen another American or Continental difficulty arises, she Avdl not find, to her cost, that there is such a thing as carrying non-inter vention a little too far. THE UND. 13, Geeat MAKtBOROuoH Stkeet, Feb. 1866. MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S LIST OF NEW WORKS. THE HON. GRANTLEY BERKELEY'S LIFE AND RECOLLECTIONS. Vols. III. and IV. completing the Work. 30s., bound. Among the otter distinguished persona mentioned in these volumes are the Emperors Alexander, Nicholas, aud Napoleon III. ; Kings George IV., Wil liam IV., and Leopold I. ; Princes Talleyi'and, Eaterhazy, Napoleon, Puokler Moskau; the Dukes of Sussex, York, Cambridge, Wellington, d'Orleans, d'Aumale, Brunswick, Manchester, Beaufort, OloTeland, Eichmond, Bucking ham ; Lords Byron, Melboui'ne, Lansdowne, Holland, Brougham, Alvanley, Yarmouth, Petersham, CraTen, Salisbury, Devonshire, Ducie, Glasgow, Malmes bury, Castlereagh, Breadalbane, &o. Sirs Bobert Peel, T. Lawrence, W. Knighton, Greorge Dashwood, George Warrender, Lumley Skeftogton, Bulwer Lytton, Count d'Orsay, Count de Momy, the Hev. Sydney Smith, Tom Moore, SheUey, Thomas Campbell, Beau BrummeU, Theodore Hook, Leigh Hunt, W. S. Landor, James and Horace Smith, Jack Musters, Assheton Smith, &c. Ladies Holland, Jersey, LondondeiTy, Blessington, Shelley, Lamb, Breadalbane, Morgan, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Mrs. Jordan, Miss London, the Countess Guicoioli, &o. ENGLISH TRAVELLERS AND ITALIAN BRIGANDS : a Narrative of Capture and Captivity. By W. J. C. MoENS. 2 vols., with Portrait and other Illustrations. 21s. " Mr. Moens tells, in this hook, of his life among the brigands as their prisoner until the payment of the heavy ransom asked for hunself and his friend Mr. Aynsley. Here, then, is a man with a good story to tell. It does not f ollovr as a common law of nature that he happens to know how to tell it ; but, for the comfort of all who would like to make an honest story about robbers, full of adventure, recent and quite true, part of their Christmas reading, be it known that Mr. Moens does know how to tell his tale. He teUs it faithfully and simply. It is very inte resting." — Examiner. " In these volumes, the literary merits of which are numerous, we have the true story of the capture of Mr. Moens by the brigands of South Italy. "We have no doubt that the book will be extensively read ; we are quite sxire that it will do an immense amount of good. It lets in a flood of light upon the dens of these robbers. It wOl bring to bear upon the whole system the public opmion of Europe." — Daily News. " Mr, Moens here tells the story of his captivity among the brigands of Southern Italy. It will be remembered that Mr. Moens and the Rev. Mr. Aynsley were captured as they were retuming from a visit to the ruins at Pcestum. Mr. Aynsley was released that he might negotiate the ransom of Mr. Moens. That unfortunate gentleman was taken about from place to place by the brigands, who were hotly pursued by the soldiers. For several weeks he led a life of great hardship, and finally was released, when his true and heroic wife, with the assistance of Mi. j^ynsley, and other friends, succeeded in raising and paymg £o,100 as ransom. Mr. Moens's book is one which ought to be widely read. It is well and vividly written, and is intensely interesting. It gives us a thorough view of the interior of brigand life in Italy." — The Star. " As a genuine contribution to our knowledge of mankind, this truthful report of the habits of life, the motives, characters, and conversation of a gang of outlawed robbers and murderers, dwelling like beasts of prey in the wilderness, and waging war against the peaceful world lying beneath their mountain stronghold, is indeed a remarkable book. The sordid meanness and callous brutality of these wolves in human shape have never been so vividly portrayed. The chapters of the book Bupulied by Mrs. Moens serve to enhance the interest and sympathy with which we peruse the straightforward and veracious story of the prmcipal sufferer."— /iZaw- ' These volumes wiU be read with engrossing interest. They bear the impress of imrestrained truthfulness of detail, while at the same time they possess much of the charm of romance. The hterary merits of the work are of no mean order."— Post. MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WORKS, NOW READY. A JOURNEY FROM LONDON TO PERSE- POLIS; including WANDERINGS IX DAGHESTAN, GEORGIA, ARMENIA, KURDISTAN, IVIESOPOTAMIA, AND PERSIA. By J. UssHEK, Esq., F.R.G.S. Royal Svo, with numerouB beautiful Coloured Illustrations. 428. Elegantly bound. " This is a very intercBtiog narrativa Mr. Usaher is one of the pleasantest com panions we have met with for a long time. We have rarely read a boc-k of travels in which so mnch was seen so rapidly and so easily, and in which the scenery, the antiquities, and the people impressed the author's mind with such gentlemanly satisfaction. Mr. TTasher merited his Bucceas and this splendid monument of his travels and pleasant explorations." — Times. " This work does not yield to any recent book of travels in extent and variety of interest Its title, ' From London to Persepolia' is well chosen and highly sugges- ti\e. A wonderful chain of association is susi>ended from these two points, and the traveller goes along its line, gathering link after link into his hand, each gemmed with thought, knowledge, speculation, and adventure. The reader will feel that in closing this memorable book he takes leave of a treasury of knowledga The whole book is interesting, and its unaffected style and quick spirit of observation lend an unfailing freshness to its pages. The illustrations are beautiful, and have been executed with admirable taste and judgment" — Pott. "This work is in every way creditable to the author, who haa produced a mass of pleasant reading, both entertaining and instructive. Mr. Ussher's joumey may be deflned as a complete oriental grand tour of the Asiatic west-central district He started down the Danube, makhig for Odessa. Thence, having duly ' done ' the Crimea, he coasted the Circassian shore in a steamer to Poti, and from that to Tiflis. This was the height of summer, and, the season being favourable, he crossed the Dariel Pass northwards, tumed to the east and visited the mountain fastnesses of Shamil's country, recently conquered by the Eussians. Thence he retumed to Tiflis by the old Persian province of Shirvan, along the Caspian, by Derbend and the famous fire-springs of Baku. From Tiflis he went to 'jumri, and over tho frontier to Ears, and the splenilid ruins of Ani, and through the Russian territory to the Turkish frontier fortress of Bayazid, stopping by the way at Erivan and the great monastery of Etchmiadzin, From Bayazid he went to Van, and saw all the chief points of interest on the lake of that name ; thence to Bitlis and Diarbekir. From Diarbekir he went to Mosul bythe upper road, visited Nineveh, paid his respects to the winged buUs and all our old friemfe there, and floated on his raft of inflated skins down the Tigris to Baghdad. From Mosul he made an excursion to the devil-worshipping country, and another from Baghdad to Hilleh and the Birs Nimrud, or so-called Tower of BabeL After resting in the city of the Cahphs. he followed the track of his illustrious predecessor. Sindbad, to Bassora, only ou board of u different craft having got a passage in the steamer Comet ; and the English monthly sailing packet took him from Bassora across the gulf to Bushire, From thence he went to Tehran over the 'broad dominions of the king of kings,' stopping at all the interesting places, particularly at Persepolis ; and from Tehran retumed home through Armenia by Trebisonde and the Black "^o^"— Saturday Rgciew. YllOlsl CADET TO COLONEL: The Eecord of a Lifo of Active Sorvice. Bv Mnjor-Gtjneral Sir Thomas Seaton', K.C.B. 2 vols, ivitli Illustrations, 21s. " Here are two volumefl of pleasant^ racy, personal memoirs by a veteran Holitier, who, with llio rofivshiu^ t'lMiikiiosH of hie class, pivesua all his esperiencee from tho day ho took shippiu)! on ilic Downs as ii Cadet under the Old fompany, down almost to tlic prosotit time. when, full of years und honours, he cujoys his ntrnili' na a Jlajor-LJcucral iu tlio i^uocn's sorvice, and hie well-won decoration as a Knight Commimderof the Bath. The writer buclslod on his sword in IsUi', and niiide (t ilii Koud sorvlco throutth the disastrous Cabul campaign and at the last sie;;e of llelhi. Sir Thomas Seaton has, in truth, produced a delightful Imok." — I 'lilt. U Service Gazdte. " This la a gonnluo and liistntctivo book. 11 is a record of Sir Thomas Seaton's own personal history ami expeiieuce, in which he sheds a clear light upon many (liieslioua of large inipurt, Itosides imlmlng hia narrative with that Uvely interest which alwayt* attaches lu po^^ollu^ advcuturcs." — I'.uhj .\iiv)s. 13, Gbeat Mablborodgh Steeet. MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WORK^— Continued. THE LIFE OF JOSIAH WEDGWOOD. From bis Private Correspondence and Family Papers, in the possession of Joseph IMayer, Esq., F.S.A., Francis Wedgwood, Esq,, 0. Dar win, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Miss Wedgwood, and other Original Sources. With an Introductory Sketch of the Art of Pottery in England. By Euza Meteyard. Dedicated, by permission, to the Right Hon. W. E, Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Vol. 1, Svo, with Portraits and above 100 other Illustrations, price 21s. elegantly bound, is now ready. The work will be completed in one more volmne. " This is the Life of Wedgwood to the expected appearance of which I refen-ed at Burslem." — Extract from a Letter to the Author by tlie Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. ¦* This very beautiful book is the flrst of two volumes which will contain that Life of Wedgwood which for the last flfteen years Miss Meteyard has had in view. and to which the Wedgwood family, and all who have papers valuable in relation to its subject, have been cordially contributing. In his admirable sketch of Wedg wood, given at Burslem, it waS to the publication of this biography that Mr. Gladstone looked forward with pleasure. It is a very accui-ate and valuable book. To give their fullest value to the engravings of works of art which largely enrich the volume, the biography has been made by its publishers a choice specimen of their own art as book-makers. Neither care nor cost have been grudged." — Exaynin^. "The appearance of such a work as Miss Meteyard's 'Life of Josiah Wedgwood' is an event of importance in the sister spheres of literature and art. The biographer of our great potter has more than ordinary fitness for the fulflJment of her labour of love. She is an enthusiastic admirer and a practised connoisseur of Ceramic Ai*t, and she brings the pleasant energy of individual taste and feeling to the aid of complete, authentic, and well-arranged information, and the well-balanced style of an experienced litterateur. The interest of the book grows with every page. The reader will peruse the numerous interesting particulars of Wedgwood's family life and affau-s with unusual satisfaction, and will lay down the work with midoubting confldence that it will rank as a classic among biographies — an exhaustive work of the first rank in its school." — Morning Post. " No book has come before us for some time so stored with interestmg informa tion. Miss Meteyard is a biographer distinguished by a clever and energetic style, by delicate judgment, extensive infoi-mation, and a deep interest in her subject. The history of the Ceramic Art in England, and the biography of the eminent man who brought it to perfection, have evidently been to her a labour of love ; and of the spirit and manner tn which she has executed it we can hardly speak too highly. The splendid getting up of the work reflects much credit on the house from which it is issued," — Dublin University Magazine, "The biography of Josiah Wedgwood has fallen into good hands. Miss Meteyard has infused into her task a congenial spirit, a cultivated taste, and, in addition to flfteen years' study of her subject, she has been able to enrich her book with a mass of private letters and documents relating to Josiah Wedgwood which have been wholly inaccessible to other writers. These give the work a character of reliable information to which no rival can lay claim. The publishers have spared neither labour nor expense in the costly illustrations of the exquisite artistic gems which adorn the book." — The ShilUng MagaziTie. " It needs no special advertisement to make us aware, so soon as we open the book, that this is t?ie life of the great Wedgwood, executed with an enthusiastic in dustry and illastrated with a taste which will be sufficient to satisfy Mr. Gladstone himself. Messrs. Hurst and Blackett may be fairly congratulated on having tumed out the best English bqok of the year on art." — Macmillan's Magazine. '* In this magniflcent volume we welcome one of the very noblest contributions to tiie histoiy of the Ceramic art ever published. We place it at once and perma nently side by side with Bernard Palissy's Memoirs and with Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography, An abundance of rare and very precious materials is here admir ably put together by the dexterous hand and exquisite taste of Miss Meteyard, A more conscientious discharge of the responsible duties devolving upon the biogra pher of a really great man has not been witnessed, we believe, since the days of Boswell, the greatest of all biographers."— ^wa 3 MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WORKS— Continued. MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF FIELD-MARSHAl, VISCOUNT COMBERMERE, G.C.B., &c. From his Family Papers. 2 vols., with Portraits. (In ihe Press.) THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LADY ARABELLA STUART : including numerous Original and Un published Documents. By Elizabeth Cooper. 2 vols, post 8vo, with Portrait. 21s. bound. HISTOEIO PICTUKES. By A. Baillie Cochrane, M.P. 2 vols. 21s. "Mr. Baillie Cochrane has published two entertaining volumes of studies from history. They are Hvely reading. '^My aim,' he says, * has been to depict events generally known in a light and, if possible, a picturesque manner.' Mr. Cochrane has been quite successful in carrying out this intention. The work is a -Jtuily of the more interesting moments of history — what, indeed, the author himself calle it, * Historic Pictures.' " — Times. " These volumes will be read with delight by those whose familiarity with their subjects wUl leave them free to study the new and striking points of view m which they are set forth ; and the pure taste and fervent feeling which adorn them, while they wUl be most valuable to such as have not an extensive knowledge of history, as a means of stimulating their taste. No reader will lay down the book withont feeling grateful to the gifted mind which has thus employed its scanty leisure, and hoping that Mr. BaUlie Cochrane may be induced to continue researches productive of so much proflt and such keen and rare pleasure.'" — Morning Post. " Mr. Baillie Cochrane has here employed his graceful and picturesque pen on some scenes from modem history. The reader will find valuable and pleasant in formation in every paga" — Moming Herald. "Mr. Cochrane gives evidence in his ' Historic Pictures ' of sufficient vividness of fancy and picturesqueness in description to make his sketches very lively and agreeable to read." — Saturday Revieio. BRIGAND LIFE IN ITALY. By Count Maffei. 2 vols. 8vo, :28s. "Two volumes of interesting research." — Times. " Count Maffei's work is obviously of an authentic character. The preface is dated from the Italian Embassy, and the volumes show many evidences of their author having had tbe advantage of special infomuitiou uot hitherto made public. The volumes must be read by all who would understand the present position of South Italy. They are written in a lively style, and combine the value of history with the entertainment of a romance."— io»i./(i/* Rtciac "These extniordinaiy volumes contain some of the most astotmding revelations of brigand life and adventure the world ever heard of. They savour so much of the marvellous that nothing could induce us to suppose that they were not wild legends but for the references giveu t.i documents of unquestionable authority, and from which the narratives are oliietly l:ikeaL Let Count Maffei's two volumes be read aa they ought, and assuroilly will be, for their more than romantic adventures and obvii'UH truthfal rehitions, and all tnio-hearted Englishmen \vill for ever hold all piirtles aBsoeiatoil with Italian brigandage in righteous abhorreuce. In all respects I Iki book is worthy of iia distinguished author, aud of the eulerprising publishing house from which it has iasiieti" — Slur. AVn.LIAiM SHAKESPEARE. By Cardinal Wu^KftlAN. 1 vol. Svo, 5s. " A noblo tributo to tho great poet"— /oA« Bull "ThiM work is evidence of on exquisite relliiement of thought and a singular KmcululueHSol iiilelleclual oxpieasiuu, which it would bo difiicult to equal" — ObsitHwr. 13, Geeat MAHLBOBonGH Street. MESSRS. HUEST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WORKS— Contmued. ADVENTURES AMONGST THE DYAKS OF BORNEO- By Fbederick Boyle, Esq., F.R.G.S. 1 vol. Svo, with Illustrations. I5s. bound. "Mr. Boyle's Adventures are very pleasant reading— smart, lively, and indicative of no slight amount of bonhomie in the writer." — Athenseum. " This is an entertaining book. Mr. Boyle saw a good deal of the country, made intimate friendship with a large number of savage chiefs, lived for some time in a native village, and has given us, in an entertaining and humorous style, a very Uvely and pleasant account of his trip." — Satwday Reoiew. " The information contained in Mr. Boyle's Adventures has the great advantage of being recent, and certainly nothing can surpass the interest conveyed in his pages, which are written with spirit and cleverness. The descriptions of the habits and customs of the people, the climate of the country, with its productions animal aud vegetable, and the numberless anecdotes of all kinds throughout the volume, form a work of great interest and amusement." — Observer. IMPRESSIONS OF LIFE AT HOME AND ABRO^VD. By Lord Eustace Cecil, M.P. 1 vol. Svo. 14s. "Lord Eustace Cecil has selected from various journeys the points which most interested htm, and has reported them m an unaffected style. The idea is a good one, and is carried out with success. "We are grateful for a good deal of informa tion given with unpretending good sense." — Satwday Revieio. "The author of this work has earned an honourable place among noble authors." Athenmum.. " 'These sparkling papers are remarkably fuU of sensible thought and solid in formation. They vei-y cleverly and veiy pleasantly sum up their author's judg ment on many matters of iateTesV—ExamtTier. YACHTING ROUND THE WEST OF ENG LAND. By the Rev. A. G. L'Estraj^ge, B.A., of Exeter College, Oxford, R.T.Y.C. 1 vol. 8vo, lUustrated. 15s. " A very interesting work. "We can scarcely imagine a more pleasant and ro mantic yachting voyage than that of the author of this volume round the rough and rugged west coast of England, which forms the coasts of Cornwall and Devon shire. The bold character of these coasts, the Lizard, Mount St Michael, the flne old town of Bideford, Gurnard's Head, the rocky Scilly Isles, the small rock on which the Eddystone braves the fury of the storm, and guides the mariner up Channel, are among the attractions which such a voyage afforded ; whUe the many small towns and villages, and their inhabitants, must have yielded a considerable amount of pleasure to those who for the first time visit these interestuig counties. We might, if space permitted, give many interesting extracts from the work, which woiild convey to the reader the same good opinion of the work which we have our selves formed from its perusal." — Observer. " Mr. L'Estrange's course seems to have led bim from North Devon round by the Land's End and Scilly Isles to Plymouth,^ and the reader may well imagine how much of the beautiful and romantic, both in natural scenery and historic legend, Buch a voyage opened out. The writing is simple and natural. Mr. L'Estrange tells things as he saw, me \ritli, or heard them, with no effort at display or effect, and those who trust to his images need not fear being disappointed We commend this handsomely got-up work to the attention of all desirous of pleasant informa tion upon' a comparativeij" but imperfectly known portion of her Majesty's do minions." — Era. A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF THIRTEEN YEARS' SEEVIOE AMONGST THE WILD TRIBES OP KHONDISTAN, FOR THE SUPPRESSION OP HUMAN SACRIPICE. By Major-General John Campbell, C.B. 1 vol. Svo, with IUustrations. "Major-General Campbell's book is one of thrilling interest, and must be pro nounced the most remarkable narrative of the present season." — Athmamm. MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WORKS— Continued. MY LIFE AND RECOLLECTIONS. By the Hon. Gkantley F. Berkeley. Vols. I. and II , with Portrait. 30s. " A book unrivalled in its position in the range of modem literature. We have here a picture in the recollections of a Uving man of a state of society which is now superseded, and of which very few relics still remain to be illustrated. In the present case there is allowance to be made for the resentment, rightly or wrongly entertained, for what the author considered to be a family plot and persecution. On tlie other hand, his keen appreciation of natural objects, his thorough intimacy witb his dogs and his horses, is not only an evidence of his powers of observation, but a creditable testimony to his possession of some of the higher humanities. Like WUliam the Conqueror, it is clear that he * loved the tall deer as if he were their father,' and we cannot but be tolerant of a true sportsman who might have played a better part if he had had better opportnnitiea." — Tfu Times. " A book unrivaUed in ite position in the range of modem literature." — Times. " There is a large fund of amusement in the^e volnmea The detaUs of the au thor's life are replete with much tbat is interesting. A book so brimful of anecdote cannot but be successful." — Athenseum. " This work contains a great deal of amusing matter ; and that it wiU create a sensation no one can doubt Mr. Berkeley can write dehghtfuUy when he pleases. His volumes will, of course, be extensively read, and, as a Uterary venture, may be pronounced a success." — Post "A clever, freespoken man of the world, son of an earl with £7ri,CK>0 a-year, who has Uved from boyhood the life of a club-man, sportsman, and man of favhi.:.n. has thrown his best stories about himseU and his friends into an anecdotio autt'biogra- phy. Of coiu'se it is eminently readable. Mr. Grantley Berkeley writes easUy and well. The book is fuU of pleasant stories, aU told as eaaUy and clearly as if they were related at a clnb-window, and aU with point of grea ter or leas piquancy." — SpecUUor. HAUNTED LONDON. By Walter Thoexburt. 1 vol. 8vo, with immerous niustratioiiB by F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A. 21s., elegantly bound. " Haunted London is a pleasant book." — AVu^nieum. " A very interesting, amusing, and instructive book. It is weU iUustrated by Sir. Fairholt" — Saturday Reritir. " Pleasant reading is Mr. Thombury's ' Haunted London ' — a gossiping, hist orical, antiquarian, topographical volume, amusing both to the Londoner and the country cousm." — Star. " Mr. Thornbury points out to us the legendary houses, the great men's birth places and tombs, the haunts of poets, the scenes of martyrdom, the battle-fields of old factiona The botds overflows with anecdotical gossip. Mr. Fairiiolt's drawings add alike to its value and interest" — .Wm o/jrf Queries. ** As pleasant a hook as well could be, fomiing n verv handsome volume — an acquisition either for the table or the bookshelf. A capital title is ' Haimted London'— for is it not haunted, this London of oora? Hauntevl happUy. by ghosts of memories that wUl not be laid. %S'hat footsteps have uot traversed theire cause ways, inhabited those dweUing-honses, praved in these churches, wept in these gi-aveyardft, laughed iu these thejitres? And cf all these Mr. Thorabmy dis- I'oui-Bcs — shrewdly, like an observtmt man of the world ; gmcefully, lUte a skiUed man of letters ; lovingly. like o sympathizing fellow-creature ; courtier and play- w-rlght, student and aciivss, Btntosmtm and niouiitolvank, he has au oye for them all SauDiiT with him do^vn auy street, and bof.ir\> vou get to tho end of it we WiiKor you wUlbe wiser than at startiug— certainly you wiflhavo been eutortaiued" — S.ilK RECOLLECTIONS OF A LIFE OF ADVEN TURE. By William St.uier, Esij. (' Mark Taplet.') 2 toIb, with Portniit. (Just readi/.) GARIBALDI AT IIO^[E: Notes of a Visit to Cniin-r,!. Hy Sm CnAHLKS It. MoGmqor, Bart. Svo, with Illus- Irivlions. (In thfs IMsx.) 13, Great Mahlborotjgh Street. MESSRS, HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WO'RKS— Continued. COURT AND SOCIETY FROM ELIZABETH TO ANNE, Edited from the Papers at Kimbolton, by the Duke OF ilANCHESTER. Secoud Edition. 2 vols. Svo, with Fine Portraits. " The Duke of Manchester has done a welcome service to the lover of gossip and secret history by pubHshtng these family papers. Persons who like to see greatness without the plumes and maU iu which history presents it, will accept these volumes with hearty thanks to their noble editor. In them wUl be found something new about many men and women m whom the reader can never cease to feel an iate- rest — much about the divorce of Henry the Eighth and Catherine of Arragon— a great deal about the love affairs of Queen Elizabeth — something about Bacon, and (indirectly) about Shakspeare— more about Lord Essex and Lady Rich — the very strange story of Walter Montagu, poet, profiigate, courtier, pervert, secret agent, abbot — ^many detaUs of the Civil War and CromweU's Q-ovei-nment, andof the Restoration — much that is new about the Revolution aud the Settlement, the exiled Court of St Germains, the wars of WUliam of Orange, the campaigns of Marlborough, the in trigues of Duchess Sarah, and the town life of fine ladies and gentlemen durmg the days of Anne. With aU this is mingled a good deal of gossip about the loves of great poets, the fraUties of great beauties, the rivalries of great wits, the quarrels of great peers. " — A thenxum. " These volumes are sure to excite curiosity. A great deal of interesting matter is here coUected, from source's which are not within everybody's reach." — Times. THE LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING, Minister of the National Scotch Church, London. Illustrated by his Joui-nal and Correspondence. By Mrs. Oliphant. Fourth and Cheaper Edition, Revised., in 1 vol., with Portrait, 6s., bound. '* We who read these memoirs must own to the nobility of Irving's character, the grandeur of his aims, and the extent of his powers. His friend Carlyle bears this testi mony to his worth; — 'I caUhim, on thewhole, the best man Ihave ever, after trial enough, found in this world, or hope to find' A character such as thisis deserving of study, and his life ought to be written. Mrs. Oliphant has undertaken the work and has produced a biography of considerable merit The author fully understands her hero, and sets forth the incidents of his career with the skiU of a practised hand The book is a good book on a most interesting theme." — Times. " Mrs. Ohphant's ' Life of Edward Irving ' supplies a long-felt desideratum. It is copious, eamest, and eloquent On every page there is the impress of a large and masterly comprehension, and of a bold, fluent, and poetic skill of portraiture. Irving as a man and as a pastor is not only fuUy aketched, but exhibited with many broad, powerful, and life-like touches, which leave a strong impression." — Edinburgh Review. "A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. Irving's life ought to have a niche in every gaUery of reUgious biography. There are few lives that wUl be fuller of instruction, interest, and consolation." — Saturday Review. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. By Victor Hugo. Authorized English Translation. 1 vol. Svo, 123. "M. Victor Hugo has produced a notable and briUiant book about Shakespeare. M. Hugo sketches the life of Shakespeare, and makes ot it a very effective picture. Imagination and pleasant fancy are mingled with the facts. There is high colour ing, but therewith a charm which has not hitherto been found in any portrait of Shakespeare painted by a foreign hand. The biographical details are manipulated by a master's hand, and consequently there is an agreeable air of novelty even about the best known circumstances." — AthmxuTn. LIFE IN JAVA; with SKETCHES of the JAVANESE. By William Babkington D' Almeida. 2 vols, post Svo, with Illustrations. 21s., bound. " ' Life in Java ' is both amusing and instructive. The author saw a good deal of the country and people not generally known." — Athenxum. " Mr. D' Almeida's volumes traverse Interestmg ground They are fllled with good and entertaining mstttev."— Examiner. . . " A very entertaining work. The author has given most mterestmg pictures of the country and the people. There are not many authentic works on Java, and these volumes will rank among the best." — Post. % 13, Great Maelbokoush Steeet. MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW WORK S— Continued. REMINISCENCES OF THE OPERA. By Ben- JAMIN LuMLET, Twenty Years Director of Her Majesty's Theatre. 8yo, with Portrait of the Author by Count D'Orsay. 16s. "Mr. Lumley's book, with aU ite sparkling episodes, is reaUy a weU-digested his tory of an institution of social importance in its time, mterspersed with sound opinions and shrewd and mature reflections. " — Times. " As a repertory of anecdote, we have not for a long whUe met with anything at aU comparable tu these unusually briUiant and most diversified Reminiscences. They reveal the Twenty Years' Director of Her Majesty's Theatre to us in the thick and throng of aU his radiant associations. They take us lurmglv— aa it were, led bythe button-hole — behind the scenes, in every sense of that decoying and profoundly attractive phrase. They introduce ns to all the stars — ^now singly, now in very con stellations. They hring us rapidly, delightfully, and exhUaratingly to a knowledge so intimate of what has really been doing there in the Realm of Song, not only be hind the scenes and in the green-room, but in the re ception -apartment of the Director himself, that we are au courant with all the whims and oddities of the strange world in which he fills so high and responsible a position. Reading Mr. Lumley, we now know more than we have ever ^own before of such Queens of the Lyric stage as Pasta, Catalini, Mulibran, GrisL, Sontag, and Piccolomirfci — of such light-footed fairies of the ballet as Taglioni, Fanny EUsler, and Cerito — of such primi tenori as Rnbini, Mario, Gardoni, and Giuglini — of such baritones as Ronconi and Tamburini — or of such bassi profondi as the wondrous Staudigl and the mighty Lablache. Xay. Mr. Lumley takes us out of the glare of the footUghts. away from the clang of the orchestra, into the dream-haunted presence of the great composers of the j\^'e. bring ing us face to face, as it were, among others, with Rossini Mendelss-'hiL Mt^yerbeer, Verdi, Balfe, and Donizetti He lets us into the mysteries of hU com--pi>iKlenoe — now with Count Cavour. now with Prince Mettemich — for, in his doings, in his movements, in his nepotiatiuns. Sovereigns, Prime Slinisters, Ambassadors, and Governments are, tum by tum, not merely courteously, but directly and profoundly interested I Altogether, Mr. Lumley's book is an enthraUing one. It is written with sparkling vivacity, and is dehghtfuUy interesting throughout" — Sun. MEMOIRS OF JANE CA:MER0X, FEMALE COXYICT. By a Prison Matron, Author of " Female Lifo in Prison." 2 vols. 21s. " This narrative, as we can well believe, is truthful in every important particular — a faithful chronicle of a woman's faU and rescue. It is a book that ought to be widely read. ' ' — Exam iner. TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF AN OFFI- CER-y WIFE IX IXDI.V, CHIX.V. AND NEW ZE^VLAXD. By Jlrs. JUm:R, 'Wife of Lieut.-Col. -lu'l D. D. Miter, 13th (Piince Albert's) Light Infantrv. 2 vols. Ul.'!. " Mrs. Mutov's travels deserve to be recommended, as combining instraction and amusement in u nim-e thun onIin:iry degiva The work has the interest of a romance added to that of liisu>i-.v." — Athenit'uuK TR.VVELS ON HORSEBACK IN ^[ANTCHU TARTARY: boin^ a Suunnor's Ri^io boyond the Groat 'Wall of I'binn. Hy Gkokije Flkming, Military Train. 1 vol. royal 8vo, with I\[ap and ">ll Illustrations. " Mr. I'Moniiiig's unrmtivo im n niMst objirmlng one. He has an unti*odden rogion to loll ol', lind hoi'liotngniiihHit und its people and their wjiys. Life-like descriptions are iiitiMs]H'rHod wilh lu'isoiml aurfdotos, Ux'iiI legomls. and stories of adventure, some of Uu'iii rovmiling no comnion urtistii' powor." — inhitor. SPORT AND S1H)KTSMEX : A Book of Eecol- loctions. liy L'lLUiLKS Stiustton, F.ss. A WINTER IN UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT. By G. A. HoSKiNS, Esq., F.R.G.S. 1 vol., with Illustrations. POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ART. By His Eminence CAKDiNAii Wiseman. Svo. 5a. GREECE AND THE GREEKS.* Being the Narrative of a Winter Residence and Summer Travel in Greece and its Islands. By Fkedeebla Bremee. Translated by Mart Howitt. 2 vols. MEMOIRS OF CHRISTINA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN. By Henry Woodhead. 2 vols., with Portrait. ENGLISH WOMEN OF LETTERS. By Julia Kavanagh, Author of " Nathalie," " Adele," " French Women of Letters," " Beatrice," &c. 2 vols. THE OKAVANGO EIVER: A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL, EXPLORATION, AND ADVENTURE. By C. J. Andersson, Author of " Lake Ngami." 1 vol., with Portrait and numerous Illustrations. TRAVELS IN THE REGIONS OF THE AMOOR, ANB THE R0SSIAN ACQUISITIONS ON THE CONI'INES OP INDIA AND China. By T. W. Atkinson, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., Author of " Oriental and Western Siberia." Dedicated, by permission, to Her Majestt. Second Edition. Royal Svo, with Map and 83 Illustrations, elegantly bound. ITALY UNDER VICTOR EMMANUEL. A Personal Narrative. By Cocnt Charles Aerivabbne. 2 vols. Svo. THE LIFE OF J. M. W. TURNER, K.A., from Original Letters and Papers furnished by his Friends anii Fellow Academicians. By Walter Thornbdet. 2 vols. Svo, with Por traits and other Illustrations. THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES; or, THE PAPACY AND THE TEMPORAL POWER. By Dr. Dolunger. Translated by W. B. Mao Gabe. Svo. 9 THE NEW AND POPULAR NOYELS, PUBLISHED BY HURST & BLACKETT. A NOBLE LIFE By the Author of 'John Halifax, Gentleman,' ' Christian's Mistake,' &c. 2 yols. " This is another of those pleasant tales in which the auther of ' John Halifax ' speaks, out of a generous heart, the purest truths of hfe. Of the mere skeleton of the story there would not be much to tell, but hi the clothhag of it with warm flesh and blood the auther uses her own magic arts. The chief of them are her sym pathy with all that is right and kind in human intercourse, and her habitual solution of all problems of life by reference only to the highest grounds of action." ¦^Examiner. "In a 'Noble Life' the author of ' John Halifax' has given us a book which is really refreshing reading. The book is not overloaded with characters. The interest is centred on some two or three persons, but unusual care has been be stowed upon their delmeation. Nor ooght we to pass unnoticed the grace with which the story is told For its style only it is worth reading, so easy and pure is the diction. Add to this the interest of the story, and it will be readily understood that *A Noble Life' is a book to be got and read as soon as possible." — .'ytar. "Few men and uo women wiil read "A Noble Life" without feeling themselves the better for the effort" — Spectator. " This interesting story is beautifully written, and the noblest moral lesBons are most earnestly enforced" — Sun. " This book must rank as one of the most fascin-ating of its kind that,modem flction has produced. It deserves a wide perusaL" — Dispatch. GREATHEART : A Story of Modern Life. By Waltee Thoenbuet, author of ' Haunted London,' &c. 3 vols. FALKNER LYLE. By Mark Lemon. 3 vols. GILBERT RUGGE. By the Author of 'A First Friendship,' &c. 3 vols. MILLY'S HERO. By the Author of ' Grandmother's Money,' &c. 3 vols. "The situation of two women in love with the same man has always been a favourite Pubject with writers of Action. The author of * ililly's Hero' has depicted with considerable skill the mural attitude of two women under such circumstancea The book is worth reading." — 'iYiidiiig sniHc of power mid finish." — Post. " .V clevor novol" — E.raminer, " X chiiinilng book Fi-om incident to iuoldeut the reatier is led in pleasant surprise aud ov(>i- growhig inloivst." — ^!n a lietleriilan ; and Hccontily. it is better oxecuied. Wecansufelv prouoimce it to be the readiest, tho niosl usoiul, and exuctest of motlorn works ou the subject."— Spfcfa^or "A wttrku-hlcheorreeiHHllorr^u'Bof fonner works. It isa mostuseful publication. "—rMiu-s. "A work of Kn'iii value. It is the most faithful record wo possess of the aristo- crac'v of the day."— /'.».«/. "The host existing, and, wo beUeye, the best possible peerage. It is the standai-d authority on the subject,"— y/t'ni/ti 13 NOW IN OOTTESI; 0]? PFBIICATION, HURST AND BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY OF CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAE MODERN WORKS, ILLUSTRATED BT MILLAIS, HOLMAN HUNT, LEECH, BIEKET FOSTER, JOHN GILBERT, TBNNIEL, &o. Each in a single volume, elegantly printed, bound, and illustrated, price 6s. VOL. I.— SAM SLICK'S NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE. "The first volume of Messrs Hurst and Blackett's Standard Library of Cheap Editions forms a very good beginning to what will doubtless be a very successful undertaking, •Nature and Human Nature' is one of the best of Sam Slick's witty and humorous productions, and well entitled to the large circulation which it cannot fail to obtain in Its present convenient and cheap shape. The volume combines with the great recom mendations of a clear, bold type, and good paper, the lesser, but attractive merits, of being well illustrated and elegantly bound."— Pos*. VOL. II.— JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. " This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed to trace the career from boyhood to age of a perfect man— a Christian gentleman, and it abounds in incident both well and highly wrought. Throughout it is conceived in a high-spirit, and written with great ability. This chejip and handsome new edition is worthy to pass freely from hand to hand as a gift book in many households." — Examiner. " The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this his history is no ordinary book. It is a full-length, portrait of a true gentleman, one of nature's own nobiliter. It is also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English one. The work abounds m incident, and is full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better." — Scotsman. YOL. III.— THE CEESCENT AND THE CROSS. BY ELIOT WARBURTON. " Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful and interesting information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is its reverent and serious spirit." — Quarterly Review. "A book calculated to prove more practically useful was never penned than * The Crescent and the Cross '—a work which surpasses all others in its homage for the sub lime and its love for the beautiful in those famous regions consecrated to everlasting immortality in the annals of tbe prophets, and which no other writer has ever de picted witb a pencil at once so reverent and so picturescLue." — Sun. VOL. IV.— NATHALIE. BY JULIA KAVANAGH. "• Nathalie ' is Miss Kavanagh's best imaginative effort. Its raanner is gracious and atlaractive. Its matter is good. A sentiment, a tenderness, are commanded by her wbich are as individual as they are elegant." — Athencemn. VOL. v.— A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. BY THE AUTHOE OP "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." " A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well- written, true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author for njeans of doing so."— .Bxaminer. [CONTINUED ON THE EOlIOWINfl PAUES.] HURST AND BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY (CONTINUED). VOL. VI.— ADAM GRAEME. BY MRS OLIPHANT. " ' Adam Graeme ' is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in life, with a dehcacy, a power, and a truth wliich can hardly be 8urpassed."—Po8t. VOL. VIL— SAM SLICK'S WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES. ""We have not the slightest intention to criticise this book. Its reputation is made, and will stand as long as that of Scoit's or Bulwer's Xovels. The remarkable ori ginality of its purpose, and the happy description it affords of American life and man ners, stiU continue the subject of universal admiration. To say thus much is to say enough, though we must just mention that the new edition forms a part of Messrs Hurst and Blackett's Cheap Standard Library, which has included some of the very best specimens of light literature that ever have been written." — Messenger. VOL. VIIL— CARDINAL WISEMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LAST FOUR POPES. " A picturesque book on Bome and its ecclesiastical sovereigns, by an eloquent Ro man Catholic. Cardinal Wiseman has treated a special subject with so much geniality, that his recollections will excite no ill-feeling in those who are most conscientiously op- posedto every ideaof humaninfalUbilityrepresentedinPapaldoniiiiatioD."—.^Wie;ir»ecially sparkle with repartee. It is a book which the world will like. This is lii^h praise of a work of art, and so we intend it." — Times. VOL. XXX.— LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING. BT MES OLITHAXT. " A good book on a most interesting theme."— 7*1 ises. "A truly interesting and most aflect ing memoir. Irvine's Life ought to have a niche inevery gallery of relieiaiK biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of in struction, interest, and consolation." — Saturdav Serit'tc. " Mrs Oliphant's Life of Irving supplies a long-felt desideratum. It is copious, eamest, and eloquent. Irving, as a man and as a pastor, is exhibited with many broad, powerful, and life-like tomhos, which leave a strong impression."— Brfiniur^ft 'Seview. VOL. XXXI.— ST OLAVES. " This charming novel is the work of one who possis^os » treat talent for writing. aa well ns experience and knowledge of the world. * St 01a\ e's ' is the work of an art ist. The whole book is worth reading."— .^MiCTkrum. VOL. XXXIL— SAM SLICK'S TRAITS OF AMERICAN HUMOUR. "Dip where you will into this lott<>ry of fiui, you are sure to draw out a prize. Those racy ' Tmi Is ' exhibit mont successfully the broad national features of American h\xmo\ii"—Pvst.