LETTER THREE.
My Dear Sister,
When we received your kind parcel, I had just finished a long letter to you, from which you will learn we have got on rather better since my last. I was quite overpowered with the sense of your kindness towards us when I saw the four half-crowns, which came as seasonably as unexpectedly, for we had only fourpence left when we received them. Money does not go very far here, everything almost that we have to buy being dearer than it was in Birmingham. Coal, for instance, is 1s. 6d. cwt., mutton 10d. a pound, potatoes 1s. a pound, and everything is of an inferior quality. We had one piece of bacon since we have been here, and it tasted like soap and fish mixed. The water comes out of the Thames, which all the filth of the town is emptied into. They say it is cleansed before it comes to us, but all I know is that it is quite yellow. This water we must drink, as it is, in tea or coffee; as for milk, that is quite out of the question, none under 4d. per quart; and beer as good as the worst in Birmingham, so far as I can learn, would be a novelty. Gin is all the 'go' with the Cockneys. But I am comforted on this score with the thought that I shall be far away when the droughty weather comes. The fogs, too, choke us. The cats (for there are six or seven at the house where we lodge) make horrid noises day and night, but perhaps all Cockneys do not think it necessary to keep as many as the old ladies where we lodge, so I will not call that a London nuisance. I tell you these bits of news merely to make you merry, for I feel half merry myself.
I am in high hopes of Australia, as well I may be when I compare my chance of living there with my chance of doing so here; but I cannot give you much information now or I should be up all night. The colony of New South Wales is three times as large as England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and as beautiful a country as this. The soil produces almost everything which this produces, together with pomegranates, oranges, lemons, figs, &c. Land can be bought in some of the towns for seven pounds per acre, in the second town in the colony for twenty pounds, and in some parts of the country for five shillings per acre. Mechanics can get forty and fifty shillings a week, and buy sugar for two shillings a pound; tea for two shillings; beef, twopence a pound; wine, sixpence per bottle; rent, four shillings per week, Sydney, the capital of the colony, contains 25,000 inhabitants. However, my hopes are not extravagant, though I make sure of getting rich and coming over soon to fetch all of you. I had forgotten to say the climate is the healthiest in the world.
I am very glad the dog gets on so well, and hope you will be able to keep him for a playfellow for little Tom. I am very sorry they are going to take my father's garden, but I wish he was going with me to Australia, and he could then buy a five shilling acre of land and make another. And if you can persuade my mother to live half a dozen years longer I would come and fetch her too, and she should have a dairy; for cows are only four pounds each, the very best.
Your affectionate brother,