iffer in
appearance and leaves, according to age and locality. This gives
the appearance of variety, when, in fact, there is none. The wood
is hard and splits easily. The bark is tough and thick, and can be
converted into canoes by closing the ends of a piece taken from
half the circumference of a tree, and tying a cord round the centre
to keep it from spreading. The colour is of a beautiful red. A
moisture sometimes exudes from the leaves in such abundance as to
convey the idea of an animal having been slain under the branches.
It has the smell of carraways and is agreeably sweet. "How it would
delight Bessy and Hannah," (his young sisters, then quite
children), he says, "to go into the woods, picking up comfits under
the trees!"

He then speaks of the blacks in that district; of their habits and
ideas; but expresses a low opinion of their intellectual powers,
and thinks little can be done with them. In May, he wrote to his
mother and myself conjointly, fearing his former communications
might not have reached us, and briefly recapitulating their
purport. I afterwards heard at Deniliquin that he had successfully
performed a surgical operation. A shearer had run the point of his
shears into the neck of a sheep, and opened the carotid artery. My
son having a small pocket case of instruments, secured the vessel
and saved the animal. I remember when it was considered a triumph
in practice to effect this on a human subject. The letter I am now
alluding to concludes by hoping that we were all as comfortable at
home as he and his brother were in the bush. He never tired of
expatiating on the beauties of Australia and its climate. His next,
in August, gave a more extended account of local peculiarities and
features. Deniliquin is at this time (1862) a place of considerable
importance, with a thriving population. The island on which my sons
shepherded their rams is formed by two branches of the Edward
River, which is itself a branch of the Murray.

CHAPTER 3.

I arrive in Australia.
Join my two Sons at their Sheep-station.
Return to Melbourne and Remove to Ballaarat.
Visit to Mr. Skene.
My son studies Surveying.
His rapid proficiency.
Appointed to take charge of a Party.
Letters on various Subjects to his Mother and Brother at Home.

IN the month of August, 1853, I reached Melbourne, after a good
voyage, having obtained an appointment as superintending surgeon of
a government emigrant ship, commanded by Captain Young,