the old one which is always delightful. I do not advise people to
make large purchases of elegancies for a colonial life, but a few pretty
little trifles will greatly improve the look of even a New Zealand
up-country drawing-room.

You have asked me also about our wardrobes. Gentlemen wear just what
they would on a Scotch or English farm; in summer they require perhaps
a lighter hat, and long rides are always taken in boots and breeches.
A lady wears exactly what would be suitable in the country in England,
except that I should advise her to eschew muslin; the country outside
the home paddock is too rough for thin material; she also wants thick
boots if she is a good walker, and I find nails or little screws in the
soles a great help for hill-walking. A hat is my only difficulty: you
really want a shady hat for a protection against the sun, but there are
very few days in the year on which you can ride in anything but a
close, small hat, with hardly any brim at all, and even this must have
capabilities of being firmly fastened on the head. My nice, wide-brimmed
Leghorn hangs idly in the hall: there is hardly a morning still enough
to induce me to put it on even to go and feed my chickens or potter
about the garden. This being winter, I live in a short linsey dress,
which is just right as to warmth, and not heavy. It is a mistake to
bring too much: a year's supply will be quite enough; fresh material can
easily be procured in Christchurch or any of the large towns, or sent
out by friends. I find my sewing-machine the greatest possible comfort,
and as time passes on and my clothes need remodelling it will be still
more use ful. Hitherto I have used it chiefly for my friends' benefit;
whilst I was in town I constantly had little frocks brought to me to
tuck, and here I employ it in making quilted cloth hats for my gentlemen
neighbours.

Letter XI: Housekeeping, and other matters.

Broomielaw, September 1866. I am writing to you at the end of a
fortnight of very hard work, for I have just gone through my first
experience in changing servants; those I brought up with me four
months ago were nice, tidy girls and as a natural consequence of these
attractive qualities they have both left me to be married. I sent them
down to Christchurch in the dray, and made arrangements for two more
servants to return in the same conveyance at the end of a week. In the
meantime we had to do everything for ourselves, and on the whole