ler on either of these rivers, that had not a little to spare;
while, in less favoured parts of the Colony, the farmer had to pay
enormous prices for flour to feed his men; and the cart-hire came to
nearly as much as the cost of the flour. I knew one gentleman who
despatched from Sydney four drays loaded with stores for his stations
near Bathurst, each dray drawn by seven oxen; and so great was the
scarcity of water and fodder on the road, that only four of the poor
animals reached their journey's end, the others having died on the road
from sheer starvation. Flour rose during this season to 60l. per ton,
and the quartern loaf in Sydney was sold at 3s. 4d.

One of the greatest discomforts attendant upon a summer's residence in
the bush of Australia, arises from the swarms of flies, large and small,
that infest the house. The large blow-fly is a serious nuisance: many a
good joint of meat they spoil, in spite of every precaution. These
insects find their way everywhere, and destroy whatever they come near.
In the dairy, the greatest care is necessary to prevent these pests from
reaching the milk and butter, which they will taint in a second.
Scarcely less of a plague than the swarms of flies, are the myriads of
fleas which torment the tired farmer, and cheat him out of many an
hour's sleep: these noisome disturbers are in the soil, and not all the
care the best housewife can bestow, can diminish the number.

While on the subject of the settler's troubles, I may mention, that the
cockatoos annoy the farmer in Australia, as much as the crows do in
England: they attack his wheat and maize when the grain is ripening, by
hundreds; indeed, I may say, by thousands; and it requires a very active
watchman to keep them from doing serious injury to the crop, not so much
from the quantity they eat, as from what they destroy and scatter. These
birds, which, by the bye, furnish an excellent dish that occasionally
formed part of our dinner, are remarkably cunning: while the flock are
busily feeding on the farmer's wheat, two of their number are left on
some neighbouring trees to keep watch; these, on the approach of danger,
give a loud, shrill scream, which at once puts the thieves to flight,
and renders it very difficult for the sportsman to get a shot at one of
them. Besides the common white red-crested cockatoo, the woods are the
home of the black species; a rare bird, that I have never seen
elsewhere. Those brought to Singapore by