of the god of day tips the horizon; a burst of light follows; and now the morning sun, day's harbinger," comes dancing up the east." The summits of the trees far away in the silent bush are bathed in gold. The nearer trees, that looked so weird-like in the moon's half light, are now decked in green. The chill of the night has departed. It is already broad day. By the time we reach Amherst, eight miles from Majorca, we are glad to shade ourselves from the blazing sun. In an hour more we reach our destination, and after breakfast and a bath are ready to begin the day's duties.

CHAPTER XVII.

CONCLUSION OF MAJORCAN LIFE.

Victorian Life English.-Arrival of the Home Mail.-News of the FrancoGerman War.-The German Settlers in Majorca.-The single Frenchman.-Majorcan Public Teas.-The Church.-The Ranters.-The Teetotalers. The Common School. The Roman Catholics. - Common School Fête and Entertainment.-The Mechanics' Institute.-Funeral of the Town Clerk.-Departure from Majorca.—The Colony of Victoria.

THE reader will observe, from what I have above written, that life in Victoria is very much like life in England. There are the same people, the same callings, the same pleasures and pursuits, and, as some would say, the same follies and vices. There are the same religious bodies, the same political movements, the same social agencies-Teetotal Societies, Mechanics' Institutes, Friendly Societies, and such like. Indeed, Victoria is only another England, with a difference, at the Antipodes. The character, the habits of life, and tone of thought of the people are essentially English.

You have only to see the interest with which the arrival of every mail from England is watched to recognize the strength of the tie that continues to unite the people of the colony with those of the old country. A flag is hoisted over the Melbourne Post-office to announce its coming, and soon the news is flashed by telegraph all over the colony. Every local post-office is eagerly besieged by the expecters of letters and newspapers. Speak

ing for myself, my most exciting day in the month was that on which my home letters arrived; and I wrote at intervals all through the month against the departure of the outgoing mail.

The excitement throughout the colony became intense when the news arrived from England of the defeat of the French before Metz. The first news came by the "Point de Galle," and then, six days later, intelligence was received via San Francisco, of the disaster at Sedan. Crowds besieged the office of the local paper at Talbot when the mail was telegraphed, and the doors had to be shut to keep them out until the telegram could be set up in type and struck off. At first the news was not believed, it was so extraordinary and unexpected; but the Germans in the town accepted it at once as true, and began their rejoicings forthwith. The Irish at Talbot were also very much excited, and wished to have a fight, but they did not exactly know with whom.

There are considerable numbers of Germans settled throughout the colony, and they are a very useful and industrious class of settlers. They are, for the most part, sober and hard-working men. I must also add that they minister in no small degree to the public amusement. At Maryborough they give very good concerts. Here, the only band in the town is furnished by the German settlers, and, being a very good one, it is in request on all public occasions. The greater number of the Germans live at M'Cullum's Creek, about a mile distant, where they have recently opened a Verein or Club, celebrating the event, as usual, by a dance. It was a very gay affair. The frantic Deutschers and their fraus danced like mad things -- Tyrolese waltzes and old-fashioned quadrilles.

There was a great deal of singing in praise of Vaterland and Freundschaft, with no end of "Hochs!" They kept it up, I was told, until broad daylight, dispersing about eight o'clock in the morning.

The Germans also give an annual picnic, which is a great event in the place. There is a procession in the morning, headed by their band and the German tri-color flag. In the afternoon there are sports, and in the evening continuous dancing in a large marquee. One of the chief sports of the afternoon is "Shooting at the Eagle” with a cross-bow, and trying to knock off the crown or sceptre from the effigy of a bird, crowned with an eagle and holding a sceptre, stuck up on the top of a high pole. The crown or the sceptre represents a high prize, and each feather struck off represents a prize of some value or other.

The French have only one representative in the town. As I soon got to know every body in the place, dropping in upon them in their houses, and chatting with them about the last news from home, I also made the acquaintance of the Frenchman. He had last come from Buenos Ayres, accompanied by madame. Of course the news about the defeat of the French army was all falsemerely a vile canard. We shall soon know all. I confess I like this French couple very much, their little house is always so trim and neat. Fresh-plucked flowers are usually set out on the mantel-piece, on the arrangement and decoration of which madame evidently prides herself. Good taste is so cheap and so pleasant a thing that I wish it were possible for these French people to inoculate their neighbors with a little of it. But rough plenty seems to be sufficient for the Anglo-Saxon.

I must tell you of a few more of the doings of the place, to show how very much life here resembles life in England. The place is of course newer, the aggregation of society is more recent, life is more rough and ready, more free and easy, and that is nearly all the difference. The people have brought with them from the old country their habits of industry, their taste for holidays, their religious spirit, their desire for education, their love of home life.

Public Teas are an institution in Majorca, as at home. There being but little provision for the maintenance of religious worship, there is a constant whipping up for money, and tea-meetings are usually resorted to for the purpose of stimulating the flagging energies of the people. Speakers from a distance are advertised, provisions and hot water are provided in abundance, and after a gorge of tea and buns, speeches are fired off, and the hat goes round.

We had a great disappointment on one occasion, when the Archdeacon of Castlemaine was advertised to preach a sermon in aid of our Church Fund, and preside at the subsequent tea-meeting. Posters were stuck up; great preparatory arrangements were made; but the archdeaIcon did not come. Some hitch must have occurred. But we had our tea nevertheless.

The Ranters also are great at tea-meetings, but still greater at revival meetings. Matthew Burnett, "the great Yorkshire evangelist," came to our town to rouse us from our apathy, and he certainly contrived to work up many people, especially women, to a high pitch of excitement. The meetings being held in the evenings, and continued far into the nights, the howling, shouting, and