and by a public dinner in the evening at one of the principal hotels. On the Wednesday everyone flocked to the race-course, where the contests seemed to afford far more pleasure than is often created by the struggle between the high-bred animals at an English meeting, since everyone knows both the horses and the riders, and takes a deep interest in their success. The festivities are nominally over after the conclusion of the races, but the excitement has by this time risen to such a pitch that the remainder of the week is barely sufficient to cool it down, and no one thinks of returning into the beaten and monotonous track before Saturday night has passed.
In these six days seemed to be concentrated all the amusement of the year, and the shepherds and labourers from the bush farms, who could probably count every human face that they had seen for a year past, crowded into the town by scores, too often to return penniless after having spent a twelvemonth's wages in the tap-rooms of Barladong. There is no country in the world, I should think, where "Jack's dullness" is so excusable as West Australia if the old adage be true, for nowhere are there fewer means of recreation or amusement; in fact the labouring man, except perhaps at Perth, has literally no possible change of scene and companionship open to him, when wearied by long monotonous labour, except the public-house bar.
A country must have arrived at a certain stage of prosperity and wealth before any provision for public amusements can be made, or a class of public entertainers can be expected to arise who would provide such amusements as a matter of business. Much, therefore, as one would
