was proposed; and then what a time we had of it! for you are well aware that delicacy is not a characteristic of Australia.  Amidst the crowd, struggling for a wife right manfully, did I observe the teamster whom Smith has in his employ, and who made you one visit with his load of goods while I was at Ballarat.  He did honor to the firm, for the fellow got one of the best looking (and I will say at the same time, one of the most vicious, if I am any judge of faces) on board, out of a cargo of one hundred and ninety-eight.

    I asked your man what he intended to do with a wife in his
    circumstances.

    “Marry her,” he replied, “and take her to Ballarat, and go into
    the mining business.”

    So look out for an addition to the population in a short time.

A day was required to get all the girls married off; for those who were left till the last stage were not of an enticing character; and there was a slight prospect of a row between the snub-nosed women, each of whom thought she was superior in point of beauty to the others; and not until I sent on shore and got three Victoria miners, not over scrupulous in taste, were they disposed to be silent.

You should have been in Melbourne on the first night of the arrival.  Of course, where so many marriages took place, some little latitude was allowed to the happy couples; and more carousing I have not seen since whiskey was only a pound per gallon.  The beauty of the arrangement was that the men got drunk, and one half of them could not tell the next morning whom they had married, or whether they had married at all.

The wives were in the same state of blissful ignorance, for they had not known their husbands long enough to get familiar with their features; and you will admit that where all men wear their beards in full, there is some resemblance between us bipeds.

Our police office was besieged from morning until night, by anxious husbands and inconsolable wives.  Six different times was your friend seized upon and claimed as the lawful spouse of six different women, two of whom were the snub-noses spoken of above.

I hope you will admire the taste of your employee in the selection of a wife, and that you will continue to conduct yourself in a decorous manner after her arrival.  Fair play, and don’t take advantage—­(the balance of the line was illegible.)

I must close my letter by once more recommending you to keep a bright lookout for Steel Spring, and to write me information if he does not come up to your expectations.  Let me hear from you as soon as practicable, and don’t forget to send me all the news that is stirring, including mining tax and other matters.  By the way, the artillery corps in this place have received orders to be in readiness for instant duty and marching order.  They are practising with their guns every day.  Their destination is a secret, although I think I can guess where they are to go.

    Yours in purity and honesty,