aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

66 AROUND THE WORLD.
tralia, like raining countries gen'erally, are famous for unchastity.
The cause of this cancerous condition of society is
largely owing to the prevalence, and practical influences, of
Orthodox theology. If these sinning parties believed in the
certainty of retribution, and the abiding presence of ministering
spirits, they would immediately turn from the error
of their ways. In Spiritualism, as a Christ-baptism, is the
world's hope.
CLIMATE.
Pale and low in the south-west of clear New-England
skies, swings the sun these wintry days of January.
Here,
in Victoria, it is nearly vertical, and the heat quite oppressive
; while the maddened dust-clouds that whirl and waltz
along the streets of Melbourne are fearful to encounter.
When it rains in these regions it pours.
Considering the latitude and marine position, Victoria can
but enjoy a climate quite genial to Europeans and Americans.
Approximating the tropical, it constantly reminds
me of New Orleans, and the Gulf States generally. The
weather is excessively warm only during the prevalence of
the hot northerly winds. They are something like the California
winds in the valleys of the interior, only more scorchingly
withering. The hottest of all the months is January,
the coldest July. A thin ice, and occasionally frosts, are
seen during the winter months, June, July, and August.
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These frosts vary in different portions of the country, depending
upon the elevation above the le^el of the sea. The
haying season is over in January, immediately after which
the farmers commence harvesting their wheat.
A BROAD OUTLOOK.
Though an immense island, Australia may reasonably be
considered a continent. Its length, from east to west, is
over two thousand five hundred miles, and its breadth nearly
two thousand ; the northern part, approaching the equator,