rt, and Charlotte plains, where so much is expected by
all scientific men."--_Mr. E. O'Farrell, formerly Chairman
of the Mining Board of the Maryborough District.--Brough
Smyth_, pp. 98, 99.
]

[Footnote 7: Since my return home, letters from Majorca inform me that
things have recently taken a turn for the better. Several of the
alluvial mining companies are getting gold in increased quantities.
New shafts have been bottomed on rich ground, and the remittances of
gold are gradually on the increase.]

[Footnote 8: Since I left Majorca a neat and substantial brick
building has been erected for the purposes of the bank, in lieu of the
former wooden structure.]

CHAPTER X.

MY NEIGHBOURHOOD AND NEIGHBOURS.

"DINING OUT"--DIGGERS' SUNDAY DINNER--THE OLD WORKINGS--THE CHINAMEN'S
GARDENS--CHINAMEN'S DWELLINGS--THE CEMETERY--THE HIGH PLAINS--THE
BUSH--A RIDE THROUGH THE BUSH--THE SAVOYARD WOODCUTTER--VISIT TO A
SQUATTER.

There is no difficulty in making friends in Victoria. New chums from
home are always made welcome. They are invited out and hospitably
entertained by people of all classes. But for the many kind friends I
made in Majorca and its neighbourhood I should doubtless have spent a
very dull time there. As it was, the eighteen months I lived up
country passed pleasantly and happily.

The very first Sunday I spent in Majorca I "dined out." I had no
letters of introduction, and therefore did not owe my dinner to
influence, but to mere free-and-easy hospitality. Nor did the party
with which I dined belong to the first circles, where letters of
introduction are of any use; for they were only a party of diggers. I
will explain how it happened.

After church my manager invited me to a short walk in the
neighbourhood. We went in the direction of M'Cullum's Creek, about a
mile distant. This was the village at the creek which I passed on the
evening of my first drive from Maryborough. Crossing the creek, we
went up into the range of high ground beyond; and from the top of the
hill we had a fine view of the surrounding country. Majorca lay below,
glistening amidst its hillocks of pipeclay. The atmosphere was clear,
and the sky blue and cloudless. Though the town was two miles distant,
I could read some of the names on the large canvas sign-boards over
the hotel doors; and with the help of an opera-glass, I easily
distinguished the windows of a house six miles off. The day was fine
and warm, th