Thamanampalli Surekha

At a short distance from the washing - pool, situated upon the brown of a hill, stood the wool-shed, where the sheep are shorn. It was a large and commodious building of sawn timber, and capable of accommodating 1500 sheep at a time. There were innumerable compartments and pens for separating the sheep before and after shearing; with tables and smooth floors for laying out the fleeces, and a powerful screw-press for packing the wool into bales. As we entered this spacious building we were much gratified at the scene before us. The bustle and excitement of the men and sheep, the shouts of the one and the struggles of the other, rendered it a most unusual scene on the generally quiet routine of a sheep-station. Here were the helpless animals possessed of their thick fleecy coverings, dragged along by the legs to a platform, where the shearer knelt down, and in the course of a few minutes deprived them of their coats with his formidable-looking shears, as easily as a man would undo his outer garment. And then the naked-looking sheep, piteously bleating, were started to their feet and driven into another pen, as unlike themselves as a dandy would be when stripped to the buff. The fleeces were then rolled up and put into a wool-pack within a strong iron- bound box, and subjected to great pressure under the screw-press. After this the packs were taken out and sewn up, each containing on an average 250 pounds weight of wool and then branded with the initials of the proprietor, besides the quantity and quality of each bale. They were then rolled into the wool-store ready to be taken by the bullock-drays to the ship. And it was a satisfactory sight to our enterprising host to witness the goodly array of bales heaped up in that part of the wool-shed, considering the difficulty of obtaining extra hands for shearing. We reluctantly took our departure from the station of this hospitable squatter; but as we had resolved on accompanying his two neighbours, to have a peep at their cattle-station on our way back to Melbourne, we thought it most advisable to proceed with them that day on their return. As we lingered over the lost glimpse of that pleasant spot, and watched the blue curling smoke fade amongst the trees, we could not imagine it to have been so recently settled. An air of occupation floated around that human oasis in the wilderness, which seemed to stamp its existence from all time. The primitive character of many things about it also seemed to link it with the past; a remnant, as it were, remaining of the patriarchs of old, who tended their flocks on Judea's plains: the rude bullock-yoke, and the unleavened bread, appeared vestiges of that by-gone time. We could scarcely suppose it to be connected with the civilised, the railway, the electric-telegraph world of the present age. And yet part of those fleecy treasures we had just seen shorn from the Australian sheep's back are probably now flaunting through the streets of some gay metropolis. Physical appearance of the male population-The gentleman squatter-A bushman's qualifications-Cattle pastures-Indigenous grasses-A herd of cattle-Cattle-driving-The squatter's home-Comforts of smoking- Boiling down the order of the day-Value of cattle and sheep-Agricultural farms- Return to Melbourne. The two gentlemen with whom we were now travelling were the very beau ideal of the Australian squatter. They were both muscular men, about six feet high, between thirty and thirty-five years of age, with clear healthy complexions embrowned by exposure to the sun and air. They were dressed in strong shooting- jackets, their trousers were lined outside with leather, and fastened round the waist with a belt, each had a cabbage- tree hat on, and wielded a stockwhip in his right hand. Altogether, as they sat upon their high- mettled chargers, they exhibited in their persons much manly grace, and showed in their countenances evidence of the salubrity of the climate. During the whole of our travels through this province of Victoria we were particularly struck with the smart and robust appearance of the men. And as they constitute more than two-thirds of the adult population of the colony, we shall here note a few remarks for the special information of our fair countrywomen who are inclined to take a trip, to the antipodes. Although the motley population at the diggings, and the shepherds, stockmen, bullock-drivers, and other members of the tribe of bushmen whom you encounter in the interior, present a rough and somewhat uncouth aspect, yet they exhibit more manliness of deportment than you will find amongst the peasantry of the most favoured localities in Great Britain or Ireland. We seldom observed that loutishness which so strongly marks the English labourer, or that sullenness which stamps the Scottish farm-servant, and certainly none of that whining servility which often disgraces the manners of the "finest pisantry in the world. " Again, we saw scarcely any lane or deformed men in the colony, while their average stature appeared to be about that of our regiments of the line. At public meetings, at the diggings and elsewhere, which we attended, when there were many thousands assembled, we can safely state, that we saw, more above this average than below it. And whatever objection we, as a nation of " shavers, " can have to the growth of the beard and moustache, in our estimation, it adds greatly to the manly appearance of the Australian bushman. In the towns, however, all this is on the square; and there is no difference between the exterior of a Melbourne