had, perhaps, to cut his way through tangled brushwood at the rate of a mile or two per day, and to spend day after day upon the banks of some stream before he can find a fording-place, perhaps having to leave his bullock-dray for a while and scale awkward hills, in order, if possible, to discover the best way of finding

a practicable road through them, he at length comes in sight of a piece of open country whose expansive downs promise him the wished-for pasturage, and whose magnificent meadows are

watered by some clear winding stream, with its frequent water-holes, to ensure an ample supply if the stream itself should chance to fail. Having taken a note of its landmarks, he retraces his steps; and making his way to the Government Commissioner, pays his 107. for leave to occupy his newly-discovered land, purchases his stock, engages his shepherds, and proceeds to people the yet untrodden pastures with myriads of sheep, whose white fleeces dotting the beautiful green valleys, alter at once the character of the scene, and from a solitary wild convert it into one of the loveliest pictures which nature and civilization together can present to the eye.

The above illustration will serve to convey some idea of the appearance of one of those sheep stations which we have just been describing. The sketch was taken in the beautiful Valley of the Goulburn. The plain so called is about fifteen miles in length, with an average breadth of eight miles, and bears traces of having, at some remote period, formed the bed of a lake, and the ridges that run out into it from either side have all the character and appearance of headlands. The stones with which it is covered in some spots, or which are found by excavation, consist of quartz pebbles, rolled stones and shingle, as if from the sea-beach or bed of a river. There is a series of plains of this character, more or less of alluvial formation, along a large extent

of the mountainous portion of Eastern Australia; the general elevation of these plains being about two thousand feet above the level of the sea. There are the Goulburn and Breadalbane plains to the south, the Bathurst plains to the west, and the Darling downs to the north; the last-named series of plains being a hundred and twenty miles long, and from thirty to forty in breadth.

It is not only to sheep, however, that the squatters direct their attention; cattle are also an equal object of their solicitude; but as regards the latter, it will not do to change a station so often as in the case of sheep. You may remove sheep from one station to another as often as you think proper, as they will feed contentedly anywhere; besides which, they are never left unattended, and at night are invariably confined by hurdles. But the cattle have a peculiar attachment to the place to which they have been accustomed, and require at least six months to reconcile them to a new one. They have been known to find their way to the place where they had been bred, over a distance of three hundred miles. Great care is therefore necessary in selecting a station which possesses sufficient space, sufficient food, and sufficient water to render it unnecessary to remove for many years. The cattle station, the sketch of which is subjoined, is not many miles from the sheep station represented in the previous illustration.

The preeminence of the Colony of Victoria, however, is not confined to its capabilities as

regards pasturage. It has not only surpassed the main colony in the rapidity of its progress, the beauty of its scenery, the excellence of its land, and the exports of its staple produce, but it has also left it far behind in its yield of the precious metal, gold. The subject of this latter discovery we have reserved to a special chapter, in which it will receive due consideration. But the mineral riches of the colony are not restricted

to gold alone, for evidence has been discovered of the existence of other metals, which when the gold is either exhausted, or its collection attended with such difficulty as to render it no longer a subject of more than ordinary interest or excitement, will form a no less valuable source of wealth and prosperity as regards the ultimate progress of the colony. Copper ore has been found quite equal to that from the Burra Burra; samples of plumbago and of lead ore have also been obtained; and we have also specimens of that scarce metal, platina, which is likely, from its greater rarity, to become even more valuable than gold itself. Last but not least, we may announce that that inestimable mineral, coal, without which our knowledge of all the others would be nearly useless, has been discovered in abundance within a few miles of the city of Melbourne.

We may observe, in conclusion, with regard to this colony, that from all the appearances connected with it, from the rapidity of its progress, the salubrity of its climate, the fertility of its soil, the richness of its pastures, the beauty of its scenery, the excellence of its position, and the variety and abundance of its mineral treasures, it appears destined at no very distant date to become the most important portion of the Australian continent, and the first in value and interest of all the colonial possessions of the British Crown.