sariat arrangements were on the same scale.
Cold tea is supplied all day long to the shearers, and they appear to
consume great quantities of it.

Our last visit was to the Dip, and it was only a short one, for it
seemed a cruel process; unfortunately, this fine station is in technical
parlance "scabby," and although of course great precautions are taken,
still some 10,000 sheep had an ominous large S on them. These poor
sufferers are dragged down a plank into a great pit filled with hot
water, tobacco, and sulphur, and soused over head and ears two or three
times. This torture is repeated more than once.

I was very glad to get away from the Dip, and back to the manager's
house, where we refreshed ourselves by a delicious cup of tea, and soon
after started for a nice long drive home in the cool, clear evening
air. The days are very hot, but never oppressive; and the mornings and
evenings are deliciously fresh and invigorating. You can remain out late
without the least danger. Malaria is unknown, and, in spite of the heavy
rains, there is no such thing as damp. Our way lay through very pretty
country--a series of terraces, with a range of mountains before us, with
beautiful changing and softening evening tints creeping over the whole.

I am sorry to say, we leave this next week. I should like to explore a
great deal more.

Letter VI: Society.--houses and servants.

Christchurch, January 1866. I am beginning to get tired of Christchurch
already: but the truth is, I am not in a fair position to judge of it
as a place of residence; for, living temporarily, as we do, in a sort of
boarding-house, I miss the usual duties and occupations of home, and the
town itself has no place of public amusement except a little theatre, to
which it is much too hot to go. The last two weeks have been _the_ gay
ones of the whole year; the races have been going on for three days, and
there have been a few balls; but as a general rule, the society may
be said to be extremely stagnant. No dinner-parties are ever given--I
imagine, on account of the smallness of the houses and the inefficiency
of the servants; but every now and then there is an assembly ball
arranged, in the same way, I believe, as at watering-places in England
only, of course, on a much smaller scale. I have been at two or three
of these, and noticed at each a most undue preponderance of black coats.
Nearly all the ladies were married, there were very few young girls;