One would think, there could not be much difference between the criminals of the two colonies: since both originally come from the same school; but the characteristics distinguishing classes of _transportees_, change with the circumstances into which they may be thrown. My new partner proved to be like few of the "downey coves" I had encountered in the diggings: for I found in him, a man possessing many good principles, from which he could not be easily tempted to depart. He did not deny having been a convict, though, on the other hand--unlike most of his class--he never boasted of it. "Drinks all round," can usually be won from an old convict in the following manner:-- Offer to lay a wager, that you can tell for what crime he had been transported; and as his own word is generally the only evidence to be obtained for deciding the wager, ten to one it will be accepted. Tell him then: that he was "lagged for poaching," and he will immediately acknowledge that he has lost, and cheerfully pay for the "drinks all round." This game could not have been played with the subject of my sketch: since he freely acknowledged the crime for which he had been transported: it was for killing a policeman. One evening, as we sate in our tent, he related to me the story of his life; but, before giving it to my readers, I must treat them to a little explanation. This narrative is entitled the "Adventures of a Rolling Stone," and such being its title, there may be a complaint of its inappropriateness: because it also details the adventures of others. But part of the occupation of the hero, has been to observe what was going on around him; and, therefore, a faithful account, not only of what he did, but what he saw and heard--or in any way learnt--should be included in a true narrative of his adventures. Hearing a man relate the particulars of his past life, was to the "Rolling Stone," an event in his own history; and, therefore, has he recorded it. The reality of what is here written may be doubted; and the question will be asked:--how it was, that nearly every man who came in contact with the "Rolling Stone," had a history to relate, and also related it? The answer may be found in the following explanation:-- A majority of the men met with on the gold-fields of California and Australia, are universally, or at least generally, unlike those they have left behind them in the lands of their birth. Most gold-diggers are men of character, of some kind or other; and have, through their follies or misfortunes, made for themselves a history. There will almost always be found some passage of interest in the story of their lives--often in the event itself, which has forced them into exile, and caused them to wander thousands of miles away from their homes and their friends.