ther was ready to supply him, and
determined upon sheep-farming. He made several excursions looking
for country, and ultimately took up a run which is still called
Mesopotamia, the name he gave it because it is situated among the
head-waters of the Rangitata.

It was necessary to have a horse, and he bought one for 55 pounds,
which was not considered dear. He wrote home that the horse's name
was "Doctor": "I hope he is a Homoeopathist." From this, and from
the fact that he had already contemplated becoming a homoeopathic
doctor himself, I conclude that he had made the acquaintance of Dr.
Robert Ellis Dudgeon, the eminent homoeopathist, while he was doing
parish work in London. After his return to England Dr. Dudgeon was
his medical adviser, and remained one of his most intimate friends
until the end of his life. Doctor, the horse, is introduced into
Erewhon Revisited; the shepherd in Chapter XXVI tells John Higgs
that Doctor "would pick fords better than that gentleman could, I
know, and if the gentleman fell off him he would just stay stock
still."

Butler carried on his run for about four and a half years, and the
open-air life agreed with him; he ascribed to this the good health
he afterwards enjoyed. The following, taken from a notebook he kept
in the colony and destroyed, gives a glimpse of one side of his life
there; he preserved the note because it recalled New Zealand so
vividly.

April, 1861. It is Sunday. We rose later than usual. There are
five of us sleeping in the hut. I sleep in a bunk on one side of
the fire; Mr. Haast, {22} a German who is making a geological
survey of the province, sleeps upon the opposite one; my bullock-
driver and hut-keeper have two bunks at the far end of the hut,
along the wall, while my shepherd lies in the loft among the tea
and sugar and flour. It was a fine morning, and we turned out
about seven o'clock.

The usual mutton and bread for breakfast with a pudding made of
flour and water baked in the camp oven after a joint of meat--
Yorkshire pudding, but without eggs. While we were at breakfast
a robin perched on the table and sat there a good while pecking
at the sugar. We went on breakfasting with little heed to the
robin, and the robin went on pecking with little heed to us.
After breakfast Pey, my bullock-driver, went to fetch the horses
up from a spot about two miles down the river, where they often
run; we wanted to go pig-hunting.

I go into the gar