Immense Consumption of Spirits. 4.3 



tions of liquor ; a greater consumption of spirits than in any- 

 other country of the globe I * 



The rest of our return journey being by rail was performed 

 in two hours. The telegraph is in full activity between 

 Campbelton and Sydney, the charge for a message of ten 

 words being two shillings, and two-pence for each succeeding 

 word. Towards 6 p. m. we reached Sydney, driving in the 

 present instance to the Australian club, where accommodation 

 had in the kindest manner been provided for us. 



Wliile one section of our staff had been making the excur- 

 sion southwards which we have just described, among the 

 forests and barrens of the Illawara district, another party 

 visited the sources of Hunter River and the Newcastle stone- 

 fields, whence they returned laden with botanical, mineralogi- 

 cal, entomological, and palseontological collections, samples of 

 coal, fossil plants, and specimens of the Silurian formations. 



The most interesting episode in their excursion was their 

 stay on Ash Island, a small isle in the Hunter River, the 

 property of A. W. Scott, Esq., M. L. A., who has settled there 

 with his family. Two of his daughters are hardly more con- 

 spicuous by their loveliness and grace than by their profound 

 acquaintance with entomology, which they pursue with the 

 utmost zeal. In addition to geological and conchyliological 

 collections, they have also a carefully classed collection of in- 



* In Prussia, the annual consumption of spirits would fill a basin one mile long, 

 33 fe^<: wide, and 10 feet deep. In England, the annual quantity of tvine drunk per 

 head is 0"267 gallon; in France it is 19 gallons! The British nation pays annually 

 £70—74,000,000 taxes, and £74,000,000 for spirits! ! 



