THE WILY CELESTIAL 227 



perceived when I mention that one of these cunning money- 

 gatherers charged me a shilling for a shave, and two more 

 for cutting my hair. A week's washing (the climate is hot, 

 and clean linen an essential) usually cost a sovereign, and 

 all other things were charged for in proportion. 



The Chinaman cannot be correctly termed an immi- 

 grant : he is simply a sojourner in the land in search of a 

 competency, which he intends to enjoy in his own land. 

 Money is his one want, and for this he sacrifices every- 

 thing, including health. He is here, as elsewhere in 

 Australia, a mean, cringing fellow, who is never properly 

 fed, unless when he is a domestic in a colonist's house 

 and has not to buy his food. Half-starved, dirty in habit, 

 and facing every risk, many Chinese die of privation ; yet 

 all those who have spent a year or two in the country are 

 passing rich. In from five to seven years they have 

 generally saved sufficient to enable them to live an inde- 

 pendent life in China, and thither they return with their 

 wealth. 



No white followers being procurable, I was compelled 

 to ramble accompanied only by my personal servant, a 

 man only twenty-two years of age, a couple of Chinese 

 rogues who robbed me systematically, and three black- 

 boys for horse-leaders. The horses, by the by, were the 

 most wretched specimens of their race that I ever owned. 

 There are no good horses at Port Darwin, and few horses 

 of any kind. I had to make a shift with such animals as 

 were procurable ; and the lack of proper transport and 

 reliable companions deterred me from undertaking any 

 long or adventurous journey. I advanced just so far into 

 the interior as to get a tolerably good idea of the nature 

 of the country ; but not so far, by several hundred miles, 

 as I would have ventured had I been properly equipped to 

 undertake the risk. 



Generally, the country within three hundred miles of 

 Port Darwin is a flat plain, undulating occasionally, more 

 often very marshy, and according to my experiences, 

 impassable. The scrub is tall and exceedingly dense, 

 and there is plenty of wood, not massed in extensive 



