t type of the Chinese who leave their native land to
make a new home elsewhere, and it is not to be expected that they will
be much improved by intercourse with the Australian "larrikins," who are
composed of the lowest and most criminal orders. These refuse of
humanity are largely composed of the rabble of London and Liverpool,
many of whom have had their passage paid by their relatives at home
solely to get rid of them, while others have worked their passage hither
to avoid punishment for crimes committed in England. Murders are by no
means infrequent in the Chinese Quarter of Melbourne, or as some call it
the "Hell of Little Burke Street." These crimes, however, are oftenest
committed by the larrikins, sometimes undoubtedly by the Chinese. It is
altogether a sheltering refuge for criminals of various nationalities,
being a source of constant anxiety to the authorities and a puzzle to
the police officials.

Poor, abandoned white women are mingled with the other habitues of this
Mongolian district, and they too learn the subtle fascination of the
opium pipe. An intelligent man, long engaged in missionary work in
Melbourne, and particularly in this special region of the town, told us
that the girls and women who had become fixed inhabitants of the Little
Burke Street quarter were irredeemable. To break the once contracted
habit of opium indulgence was next to impossible. He declared that in
all his experience he had known but two veritable reformations among
these women, and one of them finally ended her wretched career in a
mad-house.

CHAPTER IX.

A Melbourne Half-Holiday.--Inconsistency of
Laborers.--Vice-Royal Residence.--Special Gold-Fields of
Victoria.--Ballarat.--Great Depths in Mines.--Agricultural
Interests.--Sandhurst.--The Giant Trees of Australia.--The
Kangaroo.--In Victorian Forests.--Peculiar Salt Lakes.--The
Bower-bird's Retreat.--The Wild Dog.--Desirable and
Undesirable Emigrants.--No Place for the Intemperate.

Saturday afternoon is made a weekly carnival in Melbourne, though it
does not by any means assume so picturesque an aspect as in Honolulu.
Here the shops are all closed soon after mid-day, work of every sort
ceases, and amusements promptly begin, being kept up vigorously until
after midnight. The parks and pleasure-grounds are crowded with
foot-ball, baseball, and cricket players, as well as by groups devoted
to other games. In the evening th