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buildings, fine shops and warehouses, its news papers, and all other appliances of modern civilization; but as one pictorial sketch conveys a better idea than a hundred pages of description, we subjoin a view of the town, merely

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premising that its progress has been so rapid that even a single month is almost sufficient to produce most important variations in its appearance.

Immediately to the westward of Geelong there is much fine land and beautifully picturesque scenery, in what are called the Barrabool Hills, consisting apparently of decomposed trap rock, and presenting the most fertile soil. to their very summits. All descriptions of European roots, fruits, vegetables, and grain thrive and flourish luxuriantly. The land is naturally so lightly timbered that the plough can be thrust into the rich chocolate-coloured soil in every direction without any previous preparation as regards felling the trees. Indeed, were it not for the shelter they afford to the parrots and cockatoos, which destroy the grain, their extreme beauty in the landscape would almost induce one to spare even those which occur in the midst of the cultivated fields.

A larger quantity of wool is exported from Geelong than from Melbourne, and a larger quantity from the colony of Victoria than from the older one of New South Wales. In fact, the rich pastoral districts of this colony not only led to its first establishment, but have ever continued to be its distinguishing feature. It must be a matter of earnest hope that the present preeminence of the colony also as regards the abundance of gold, will not interfere to prevent the continued development of its resources as regards this intrinsically more

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valuable production. The prospects of the pastoral farmers for the present year are certainly of the most discouraging character. The rich prizes which the auriferous soil confers in such abundance upon its workers, seems to have acted with magnetic force upon every class of the community; and whilst the earnings of a whole year can so frequently be obtained by the labour of a single week, it is not surprising that all classes should endeavour to participate; and although sooner or later such a disproportionate application of labour must tend to cure itself, that reflection by no means tends to render those whose wool may be perishing on the backs of the sheep for want of shearers, or whose crops may be rotting on the ground for want of hands to wield the sickle, better satisfied with the existing condition of things. Unless the great body of gold miners should themselves be seized with a fit of reflection, and determine upon a short patriotic secession from the search after the precious metal, in order that the colonies may not run the risk of losing their hard-earned position as the chief woolgrowers in the world, we can see but little hope for those who seem at present doomed within a few months to stand idly gazing, Tantalus like, at millions of "golden fleeces," without being able to collect them.

There is a wide difference between an agricultural and a pastoral farmer. The former is most frequently the proprietor of the land he cultivates, while the latter is no more than a "licensed squatter," a tenant at will to the Crown, liable to be dispossessed of his land the moment a purchaser of it may appear. At the present time, and for many years to come, it will be impossible that this should be otherwise. The large quantity of land required for pastoral purposes completely forbids the idea of purchasing it. There are some large sheepowners who occupy perhaps as much as twelve thousand acres of land, which, at the Government price, would cost as many pounds, and the mere interest on the money would probably absorb nearly the whole amount which the wool itself would produce; and when we recollect that there are some six millions of sheep in the colony of Victoria, requiring for pasturage from twelve to eighteen millions of acres, we shall see at a glance that it would be simply impossible for the land to be purchased, even although the returns were much greater.

It is mainly to the exertions of the "squatters" that we are indebted for the great extent of land which has been explored and occupied. Having fixed upon a tract of land suitable for pastoral purposes, the squatter pays his licence

fee of ten pounds for liberty to occupy his land for a year, he places his stock upon it, and continues for a few years paying an annual visit to the metropolis to dispose of his wool, pay his annual licence-fee, and purchase stores for the ensuing year; amusing himself as best he can in his chosen solitude. But new-comers are ever arriving, and the land round his station is gradually occupied, until no more remains available without the labour and privations of a new exploration to still more remote portions of the interior. The capitalist, fresh from home, and scarcely yet reconciled even to a "life in the bush," hesitates to enter upon this task, and looks round for some one who will be willing to part with his established location, for a "consideration." Our old squatter, of course, cannot sell his run, having no title to the land; but he sells the sheep which are upon it, at an advanced price per head, in consideration of relinquishing his claim and his licence to occupy the land, to the purchaser. He then yokes his bullocks to his dray, having stored it with provisions, and placed in it his gun and some ammunition, mounts his horse, and, with his compass in his pocket, sallies forth, soon leaving the last trace of civilization behind him, and, like a minor Columbus, proceeds on his way to discover a new (pastoral) world. After having

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