The walking inhabitants are of themselves a study; glance into the
streets--all nations, classes, and costumes are represented there.
Chinamen, with pigtails and loose trousers; aborigines, with a solitary
blanket flung over them; Vandemonian pick-pockets, with cunning eyes and
light fingers--all, in fact, from the successful digger in his blue
serge shirt, and with green veil still hanging round his wideawake, to
the fashionably attired, newly-arrived "gent" from London, who stares
round him in amazement and disgust. You may see, and hear too, some
thoroughly colonial scenes in the streets. Once, in the middle of the
day, when passing up Elizabeth Street, I heard the unmistakable sound of
a mob behind, and as it was gaining upon me, I turned into the enclosed
ground in front of the Roman Catholic Cathedral to keep out of the way
of the crowd. A man had been taken up for horse-stealing, and a rare
ruffianly set of both sexes were following the prisoner and the two
policemen who had him in charge.
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