334 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



was at all likely to get within several hundred yards of him 

 without accelerating his movements. Flights of wild- fowl 

 were reposing on the water of the swamps, or winging their 

 flight from one to the other. A long line of horse and bul- 

 lock drays, and foot and mounted travellers, were slowly 

 treading the beaten track across the plain, in the direction of 

 the Australian El Dorado, and the scene was interesting and 

 inspiriting both to the emigrant and the sportsman. 



I arrived at Rockbank Inn, situated in the centre of the 

 plain, and twenty miles from Melbourne. Here a tolerably 

 large, and, in the rainy season, deep creek has to be passed, 

 and at this moment there were upwards of twenty drays and 

 nearly two hundred people on its banks, it having become 

 nearly impassable, owing to the late rains, but the men tail- 

 ing on to the ropes in numbers, manage to pull both the 

 horses and carts through. 



Some were hauling at the ropes, some unloading the drays, 

 some cooking a hasty meal, and some moving off the ground. 

 I refreshed both my horse and myself at this well-conducted 

 little inn, and proceeded over the plains a few miles further, 

 where the scenery changes altogether, and the road is delight- 

 ful. The land becomes more broken, well-wooded, and 

 timbered like a park. " Ladidak" comes in view, a beautiful 

 ravine formed by the convergence of several hills, at the base of 

 which the river so winds that it must be crossed thrice. To 

 use the words of a contemporary "Where formerly was 

 silence only broken by the voice of the bell-bird, now bullock- 

 drays, bullocks, and bullock-drivers are shouting, roaring, 

 and swearing up the hill, or descending splashing through 

 the once clear stream. On until the beautiful valley and 

 highly cultivated extent of land called Bacchus Marsh is 

 reached, and here I remained for the night in one of the 

 best hotels in the colony, the ' Wheatsheaf,' kept by Mr. 

 Pike, and celebrated not only for its good cheer, but for the 



