Never had I been amongst so large a population, where society was in so uncivilised a condition. The number of men and women encountered in the streets in a state of beastly intoxication--the number of both sexes, to be seen with black eyes, and other evidences, that told of many a mutual "misunderstanding,"--the horridly profane language issuing out of the public-houses, as you passed them--in short, everything that met either the eye or ear of the stranger, proclaimed to him, in a sense not to be mistaken, that Melbourne must be the abode of a depraved people. There, for the first time in my life, I saw men allowed to take their seats at the breakfast tables of an hotel, while in a state of staggering intoxication! With much that was disgusting to witness, there were some spectacles that were rather amusing. A majority of the men seen walking the streets--or encountered in the bar-rooms of public-houses--carried grand riding whips; and a great many wore glittering spurs--who had never been upon the back of horse! The hotel keepers of Melbourne did not care for the custom of respectable people, just landed in the colony; but preferred the patronage of men from the mines--diggers who would deposit with them, the proceeds of their labour, in bags of gold dust; and remain drunk, until told there was but five pounds of the deposit left--just enough to carry them back to the diggings! I am not speaking of Melbourne at the present time; but the Melbourne of ten years ago. It is now a fine city, where a part of all the world's produce may be obtained for a reasonable price. Most of the inhabitants of the Melbourne of 1853--owing to the facility of acquiring the means-- have long since killed themselves off by drink and dissipation; and a population of more respectable citizens, from the mother country, now supply their places. I made but a short stay in this colonial Gomorrah. Disgusted with the city, and everything in it, a few days after my arrival, I started off for the McIvor diggings. I travelled in company with several others, who were going to the same place--to which we had "chartered" a horse and dray for carrying our "swags." One of my travelling companions was drunk, the night before leaving Melbourne; and, in consequence, could eat no breakfast on the morning when we were about to start. He had neglected to provide himself with food for the journey; and depended on getting his meals at eating-houses along the road. Before the day was over, he had become very hungry; but would not accept of any food offered him by the others. "No thank'ee," he would say, when asked to have something. "I'll wait. We shall stop at a coffee-house before night; and I'll make it a caution to the man as keeps it. I'll eat all before me. My word! but I'll make it a warning to him, whoever he be. He'll not want to keep a coffee-house any longer."