e by the gentleman who
accompanied them, they found numerous private residences, many of them
of a superior character. The gentleman told them that Geelong was famous
for its manufactures of woolens and other goods, and that it built the
first woolen mill in Victoria. Iron foundries, wood-working
establishments, and other industrial concerns were visited, so that our
friends readily understood whence the prosperity of Geelong came. Their
host told them that Geelong had long since given up its ideas of rivalry
with Melbourne, and had settled down with the determination to develop
itself in every feasible way and let things take care of themselves.

Our young friends thought they would like to see something of the gold
mines of Victoria, and asked Dr. Whitney about them. He readily
assented, and the trip to Ballarat was speedily arranged, and also one
to Sandhurst, which is the present name of Bendigo of gold-mining days.
Ballarat was the most important place of the two, and its placer mines
gave a greater yield of gold than did those of Bendigo. At both places
the placer mines were exhausted long ago, but gold is still taken from
the rocks and reefs which underlie the whole region.

The mining establishments of Ballarat are outside of the city itself,
and when the visitors reached the place and rode through the town they
could hardly believe they were in a gold-mining region. The streets are
wide, and most of them well shaded with trees, while some of them are so
broad that they deserve the name of avenues rather than that of streets.
There are substantial public buildings and a goodly number of churches,
a botanical garden, and all the other features of a quiet and
well-established city, and it was quite difficult for them to believe
that they were in a place whose chief industry was the extraction of
gold from the ground. All the lawless features of the Ballarat of
gold-rush days had disappeared, and the town was as peaceful as any one
could wish to find it.

Our friends brought a letter of introduction to a gentleman of Ballarat,
who kindly consented to show them about the place and answer any
questions that they wished to ask.

Harry's first question was, whether the first discoveries of gold in
Australia were made at Ballarat or elsewhere.

"It is very difficult to say exactly," the gentleman answered, "where
the first discoveries were made, but certainly they were not made at
this spot. According to history an