Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/492

468   run over by moving cars or stumbled among the piles of goods that lay about. Vessels from all parts of the world were lying at the piers; at anchor in the bay were other vessels, steamers and sailing craft, likewise hailing from the four quarters of the globe. All the great companies known in the East, the “P. and O.,” North German Lloyds, Messageries Maritimes, Orient, and others, were represented, and the ubiquitous "tramp" steamers were there in goodly numbers. Then there were numerous "intercolonial" steamers engaged in the trade between Melbourne and the ports of the Australian coast, and also with Tasmania, New Zealand, Feejee, and other islands.

Some of the steamships have their docks at Williamstown, which is on the other side of Hobson's Bay, directly opposite Sandridge, and connected with Melbourne by railway. The business of Williamstown, like that of Sandridge, is mostly connected with the shipping; a steam ferry carried our friends across the bay, and they spent an hour or two in Williamstown, the time being principally devoted to an inspection of