Sir William conducted us, now on horseback, now on foot, now in his carriage, over his extensive domain, and did not fail to acquaint us with the details of everything that could be interesting or useful. Wine cultivation in Australia, though only first raised into importance in 1838, has made such rapid strides, and has proved so profitable, that in no long time England, hitherto so deficient in wines, will be enabled through her colonies to vie with the choicest vintages of Europe; for those of Australia and the Cape are little inferior even now in body and _bouquet_ to those of Spain, and it is only the smallness of the quantity hitherto manufactured, and almost entirely reserved for private consumption, that has stood in the way of their being much more extensively dealt in European markets. The entire product of wine in 1858 was 60,000 gallons, but the reason why the quantity is so limited is not in the unsuitability of the land devoted to it, but the great difficulty of procuring labour, and of getting it at the precise moment when it is most wanted. As often as the journals launch forth upon the discovery of some fresh gold-field, the field hands forthwith strike work, and make off to the "diggings." On such occasions many thousand men are suddenly smitten with the gold fever, and their ordinary avocations are at once abandoned. We saw on one occasion a number of half-finished houses, which had been left in that incomplete state by the thirst for gold of the labourers, who are omnipotent here. "There are no greater tyrants than the labourers of this country," was Sir William's pithy remark, as he looked sadly on their work, abandoned unfinished, and the half-cultivated fields around. Our host made us taste various descriptions of wine, which in every respect greatly resembled sherry, while a redder sort strongly reminded us of Muscat. Even in Australia, the grape has already been attacked by that mysterious disease which has done such mischief in various parts of Europe, and especially in Madeira, but its noxious effects have as yet been confined to a few species only. Much damage is occasionally done by a species of worm, for the extirpation of which boys are engaged at from 1_s._ to 2_s._ per diem. The vintage in Australia usually begins in March and lasts till far on in April.