in these settlements. Professions have been abandoned because they
are laborious and unprofitable, while clergymen, medical gentlemen,
soldiers, government officers, in short, all classes of men, have made
haste to get rich by holding land and stock. An estate, which originally
cost little or nothing, grows yearly in value, without a penny being
spent upon it; stock speedily increases at very small cost, for there is
abundance of pasture for it; and when the settler finds these means of
gaining wealth opened to him, he is too apt to devote all his thoughts
and energies to this one object. "I have known," says Captain Grey, "an
honourable member of council, and leading magistrate in a colony, take
out a retail licence, and add to his already vast wealth from the
profits of a gin-shop."[204]

[204] Grey's Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. pp. 192-3.

The evil spirit of covetousness assumes to itself various shapes and
appearances according to varying circumstances; and among the characters
which it calls into life in Australia, that of a _land shark_ is one of
the most remarkable and hateful. When an emigrant arrives at Sydney, he
is able, perhaps after considerable delay, to give notice to Government
of his wish to purchase some desirable spot of land, which is then
selected to be put up to auction; and when it has been duly surveyed,
the sale at last takes place. But to the poor emigrant's astonishment
and disappointment the land, which he has chosen so as not to interfere
with other property, which is unoccupied, and entirely useless both in
a public and private sense,--is bid for, and finally knocked down
to another at an unreasonable price.[205] This other person is a
"land shark," who has gained, perchance, a fortune by regularly attending
sales and buying up land that is known to be desired by another. The
"shark," true to his name, wishes either to get his opposition bought
off by a bribe, or else hopes to sell his bargain at a profit from the
unwillingness of his victim to lose any more time or money in gaining
a settlement, with the risk of meeting, after all, with a second
disappointment. In case of the "shark's" scheme proving unsuccessful,
there is only the small trifle required as earnest of the purchase to be
paid; of course he never completes the engagement, and in due time, in a
year possibly, the land is declared forfeited to the crown again. Such
is the occupation of a "land shark," and it would