in bright but cold Wednesday afternoon, F---- and I and our
modest luggage started in a neighbour's "trap" for the station I have
already mentioned on the Horarata, where Mr. C. H---- and I stopped
on our way to Lake Coleridge. It is on the plains at the foot of a low
range of downs, and about twelve miles from us. You cannot imagine
a more charming little cottage _ornee_ than the house is, capable of
holding, apparently, an indefinite number of people, and with owners
whose hospitality always prompts them to try its capabilities to the
utmost. A creek runs near the house, and on its banks, sloping to the
sun, lies a lovely garden, as trim as any English parterre, and a mass
of fruit and flowers. Nothing can be more picturesque than the mixture
of both. For instance, on the wall of the house is a peach-tree
laden every autumn with rosy, velvet-cheeked fruit; and jasmine and
passion-flowers growing luxuriantly near it. Inside all is bright
neatness and such a welcome! As for our supper, on this particular
day it comprised every dainty you can imagine, and made me think of
my housekeeping with shame and confusion of face. We had a very merry
evening, with round games; but there was a strong prejudice in favour of
going to bed early, as we all had to be up by three o'clock: and so
we were, to find a delicious breakfast prepared for us, which our kind
hostess was quite disappointed to see we could not eat much of. Coffee
and toast was all I could manage at that hour. We started in the dark,
and the first thing we had to cross was a dry river-bed, in which one of
the horses lay deliberately down, and refused to move. This eccentricity
delayed us very much; but we got him into a better frame of mind, and
accomplished our early drive of sixteen miles in safety, reaching the
accommodation-house, or inn, where the coach from Christchurch to Timaru
changes horses for its first stage, by six o'clock. There we had a good
breakfast, and were in great "form" by the time the coach was ready
to start. These conveyances have a world-wide celebrity as "Cobb's
coaches," both in America and Australia, where they are invariably the
pioneers of all wheeled vehicles, being better adapted to travel on a
bad road, or no road at all, than any other four-wheeled "trap." They
are both strong and light, with leathern springs and a powerful break;
but I cannot conscientiously say they are at all handsome carriages;
indeed I think them extremely ugly a