Thamanampalli Surekha

This stream flows through the town of Geelong, with sufficient depth of water for ships of a thousand tons. Unfortunately, line many of the Australian rivers, it possesses no navigable entrance from the sea, otherwise it would soon raise the part of Geelong for above that of Melbourne. Paint Lonsdale, which forms the western, and Point Nepean, which forms the eastern headland at the entrance to Port Philip, both terminate in abrupt crags which are not more than two miles apart. There is nothing very remarkable about them, excepting the appearance they present, as if they had been rent asunder by some violent concussion of the earth, which allowed the waters of the strait to rush in. On reaching the entrance, our ship had stem the ebb-tide, which forced way out in an impetuous current. It was as much as she could do to keep moving ahead while sailing through the strength of it, although she was impelled by a good eight-knot breeze. While in mid-channel we were surprised to see a belt of sea-weed growing across the entrance, which to us suggested the presence of shallow water we were astonished, therefore, when the leadsman in the chains sounded a depth of seven fathoms. The tide slackened as we overcome the influence of the confined stream, and, rounding Point Nepean safely, we sailed into the smooth water of this broad estuary, which presented to our delighted eyes all the picturesque features of an extensive lake, surrounded by undulating prairie-lands, and covered with a rich grassy turf to the water's edge. Hence and there the scene was relieved by hills. On the eastern shore, Arthur's Seat and Mounts Eliza and Martha gave variety to the landscape; and within a few miles of us on the western shore, the lighthouse upon Shortland Bluff presented a pleasing object to our longing eyes. From this spot we saw a boat push off, which the captain informed us was the pilot-boat, As it neared the ship all eyes were bent upon its occupants, each one speculating upon the news which would first greet us in this far-off land. Whatever those ruminations might have been amongst the motley groups of passengers assembled on the deck of our ship, certainly none of them were prepared to hear the astounding intelligence communicated to us upon this occasion; for we sailed from England shortly before a knowledge of the gold discoveries in Australia had reached there, and we arrived in the colonies when the "great fact" was seven months old; during which period, as all the world knows, the unparalleled extent and richness of these gold regions had fully developed themselves. The pilot was if they accompained by three gentlemen, settlers in the vicinity of the pilot-station who had come on board to see if they could engage servants. These gentlemen, you may suppose, were eagerly listened to by us all for a relation of the astounding facts. They stated that in the midst of their pasture-lands they had discovered incalculable treasure. That gold, the reputed source of all evil, the universally-coveted metal, was s rewed in abundance around them. They had only to dig, and wash, and blow away the debris of the mountains, and the glittering spangles appeared before them. In the rocky clefts shepherds had found masses of even a hundred pounds weight; and granules had been picked up in the streets of Melbourne by children. Their flocks and herds had been cropping the very grass which grew upon the "gold fields;" and they knew, it not until now. They had been ploughing and harrowing the auriferous soil, sowing grain upon it, and reaping the golden harvest above, without perceiving thegold soil below. Nay, they had even been building dwelling-houses and bridges upon its rocky matrix finding it. So easily and plentifully did it come to the hand of the digger, that it bore the aspect of having only then spring into existence from the land, or that it had been scattered there within the last few years through some mysterious agency, instead of carrying along with it the geological fact that its veins are coeval with the primary rocks. Happy for them that it has been so! The fickle goddess Fortune has, in this instance, borrowed the shield of Minerva, in order to screen the tempting are from the greedy eyes of man, until he was prepared to work it peaceably and wisely. At first she hid it from the felon-labourers, who were employed constructing the very road to her golden dwelling; whilst the simple aborigines were either ignorant of its existence, or found no utility in its properties. Next, she covered it from the sight of the free emigrants until they had grown sufficient food upon the land, where, in a state of nature, there was so little for the support of civilised man; and until they had established laws, and were ruled by an efficient government, to prevent the crime and anarchy which have invariably accomplished the gold-seekers in other lands. The few brief chapters which compose the history of these colonies thus inform us how the shackled felon has become the instrument of human progress, in clearing the way for the corn-grower and sheep-feeder; how, in their turn, they have furnished food for the gold-digger, who now travels comfortably along the convict-made roads in New South Wales, and partakes of the lavish abundance provided by the free settler, even amongst the mountains and valleys which yield the spontaneous treasure. These providential circumstances, and this succession of events, had shed their begin influence over the doings, of the gold-seekers. Well fed and well clad, with the gold easily attainable, they had nothing to grumble at; for the greater part of them were men who respected a