126 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



Connected with the Library is a rich and elegant 

 Art Museum, where works of the best artists of France, 

 Germany, and England are to be seen. 



The climate of Melbourne is temperate. In winter* 

 which comes in June, July, and August, it is seldom 

 cold enough to snow, arid the summers are warm and 

 dry. The dust is sometimes almost intolerable. Every 

 breeze hurls clouds of blinding particles into the air, 

 and people may frequently be observed, standing on the 

 street corners, trying to clear their sight, that they may 

 see to go on. Often on entering my room at the hotel, 

 the furniture and especially the bedclothes were so 

 covered with dust, as to defy any one to tell their 

 original colors. 



Truly here " it never rains, but it pours ; " at such 

 times some of the streets are filled with turbid torrents, 

 where a man has small chance of saving his life, should 

 he happen to fall in ; even during our stay, there was 

 an instance of a man drowning in this way, in one of 

 the principal streets of the city. 



Melbourne is a very social city, and while there we 

 met many agreeable people, and had many a good time. 

 My engagements were so numerous, in fact, that it 

 became necessary to keep a list of them for daily con- 

 sultation. Frequently I did not get to bed till it was 

 growing light, and I sometimes found myself speculat- 

 ing on what day it was when I awoke. At last, one 

 morning, after having been out until the small hours, - 





