Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/317

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IN INDIA.
297

he may make a visit to Stillenbosch, or the Parle, or to the hot and chalybeate springs of Caledon, or if health and strength restored,he may make a shooting excursion to Cape L'Agullas, or northwards, towards the Orange River.

9. AUSTRALIA.—Public opinion is pretty nearly balanced as to the comparative advantages of the climate of the Cape, and the Colonies of Australia. Both are perhaps equally good and bear a strong resemblance, and the choice of the invalid must be determined more by private circumstances than by any decided preference to be given to the one or the other. The length of the voyage and the rate of passage-money are much the same, but opportunities of getting to the Colonies are rare, and must in general be made in ship's of a very inferior description, and not at all congenial to an Indian officer.

However, he will find the Colonies full of interest and enterprise, and be able to trace the elements of society rapidly advancing to maturity; individual exertions steadily attaining to affluence; shielings rising into hamlets, hamlets into villages, and villages into towns and cities. One may walk the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, and fancy himself in a second rate city in England, such as Portsmouth or Southampton; all intense bustle and activity, and fierce encounter in the pursuit of gold. Since the discovery of the