Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/384

 the horse covered with white so profusely that at a distance they might pass for a small locomotive pyramid of snow. And such dresses as are worn by the brides and bridesmaids—such silks, such satins, such orange blossoms!

"The city itself, though well laid out, is in the most wretched condition as regards all sanitary regulations, and as regards what is still of more immediate consequence to its inhabitants—protection for life and property. The rains, which have not yet ceased for the season, continue to pour down in incessant torrents, covering all the flat and marshy ground around the city, and within it it is no exaggeration to say that the streets are like so many rivers of mud, and in many instances knee deep. So deep and so dirty are the streets, that one out of every three pedestrians you meet in the course of the day, has his nether man encased in a pair of huge leather boots—no other way of getting along with safety being available. Add to the filthy state of the streets the fact that there is no gas in the town, nor attempt made to light it in any way, and that water for culinary purposes is so dear as to become an article of luxury rather than of use, and you will be able to form some slight idea of the sanitary condition of this city.

"There is not household accommodation for one-third of its present occupants. I have seen instances of over-crowding in sleeping apartments since I came here, that were it to occur in any other country in the world would breed almost instant fever. It is no rare thing to see twenty stout and stalwart men, each requiring as much air for the proper inflation of his lungs as an ox, stretched upon the floor of a close, confined, unventilated room, night after night; and for this accommodation various prices are charged, from one-and-sixpence to half-a-crown. Nor in this respect are what may be termed respectable taverns much better. I know an instance where four men were sleeping in one room, in a respectable hotel, and were all thrown into dirty sheets, handed on the first morning of their sojourn, dirty, nay filthy towels; and after the lapse of four days I happened to meet with one of the party, and making inquiry as to whether there had been any reform in the toilet department—'No,' said he, 'the same nasty things are there yet. We asked for a change, but were told that if we did not like them we might change our quarters, and so we are just as before.'

"A few evenings since I was at the house of a friend of that peace-loving class called Quakers, and several other gentlemen were there besides, when we were all at once startled by a heavy rap at the door. Our host and 'friend' immediately opened it, when a herculean savage thrust a great bullet head inside, and in the most insolent tones