etimes
made of glass or of matched boards, but most commonly of corrugated
sheet-iron, supported at the edge-stones by small iron pillars. They
form a shelter from both rain and sun,--recalling the Rue Rivoli of
Paris, or the streets of Turin in Italy, or of Bologna in Spain. The
ladies and gentlemen strolling under these covered ways, before the fine
display in the shop windows, present a gay and attractive picture at the
fashionable hours of the day. But in broad contrast to these bright and
cheerful centres, there are in the northeastern section of the town
filthy alleys and by-ways that one would think must be, owing to their
filth and squalor, hot-beds of disease and pestilence, well calculated
to supplement the inevitable effects of the defective drainage of this
rich capital on the banks of the Yarra-Yarra.

One cannot but notice the peculiar pronunciation and mode of speech
common among the people here. It is what we call cockney in America,
with some added local effects. The misplacing of the letter _h_ is
almost universal. This is a habit which appears to be infectious; one
individual who practises it is liable to corrupt scores of others. The
drawling hesitancy of the Londoners of a certain class is also easily
transmitted, being as catching as stuttering or the measles.

One who passes through foreign cities and is able to spend rarely more
than a couple of weeks in each capital, is not competent to speak
authoritatively of its social life, or in detail of its best society.
But it is safe to say that ladies and gentlemen are the same everywhere.
They form perhaps the higher element of a social centre, but they do
comparatively little toward determining its outward aspect or its
political status. It is the people _en masse_ who form the general
character of a large population,--such individuals as one meets in
omnibuses, railroad cars, hotels, places of public amusement, and upon
the fashionable promenades at the favorite hours.

The General Post-Office of Melbourne is situated at the junction of
Elizabeth and Burke streets, presenting a striking architectural aspect,
with its tall tower, bold reliefs, illumined clock, and chime of bells.
It is admirably designed for the purposes of this department of the
Government, and covers an entire block by itself, with a pillared
colonnade about it similar to that already described as forming the
outer portion of the Post-Office at Sydney. It affords room not only fo