How I Envied My Companion, As Accustomed To These Disagreeables,
She Slept Soundly By My Side; But Morning At Length Dawned, And I Fell
Into A Refreshing Slumber.
The next few days were busy ones for all, though rather dismal to me,
as I was confined almost
Entirely within doors, owing to the awful
state of the streets; for in the colonies, at this season of the year,
one may go out prepared for fine weather, with blue sky above, and dry
under foot, and in less than an hour, should a COLONIAL shower come on,
be unable to cross some of the streets without a plank being placed
from the middle of the road to the pathway, or the alternative of
walking in water up to the knees.
This may seem a doleful and overdrawn picture of my first
colonial experience, but we had arrived at a time when the colony
presented its worst aspect to a stranger. The rainy season had been
unusually protracted this year, in fact it was not yet considered
entirely over, and the gold mines had completely upset everything and
everybody, and put a stop to all improvements about the town or
elsewhere.
Our party, on returning to the ship the day after our arrival,
witnessed the French-leave-taking of all her crew, who during the
absence of the captain, jumped overboard, and were quickly picked up
and landed by the various boats about. This desertion of the ships by
the sailors is an every-day occurrence; the diggings themselves, or the
large amount they could obtain for the run home from another master,
offer too many temptations.
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