planking, so as to make the house what is styled bug-proof.
There is a broad verandah round the whole or part of the house. There
are brick chimneys inside the house, though, as they are usually an item
of considerable expense, this is not invariable, and chimney out-puts
like ours will be seen not infrequently. There are various rooms, and
possibly an upper storey, which may or may not have a balcony above the
verandah. It is a common practice to have French windows, opening upon
the verandah, instead of doors.

Such houses can be made very elegant as well as comfortable. They are
painted and decorated with carvings outside, and the inside walls may be
painted, papered, or varnished. Furniture and upholstery of all kinds
is, of course, procurable in Auckland; so that one can have all the
comfort of an English home, if one is able to pay for it.

Necessarily, the cost of house-building will vary considerably,
according to the style and size of residence. A cottage with two to four
rooms will cost L100, or less. The average price paid for houses in our
district--large roomy houses for prosperous family-men, contracted for
with a carpenter, to build, paint, and thoroughly finish off--runs from
L250 to L500, or something like it. Kauri timber is used almost
exclusively in the North, so that we may say we live under the shadow of
the Kauri pine.

We keep up the usages of society so far as to pay visits occasionally,
especially to houses where there are ladies. You have got to live in a
country where petticoats are few and far between, where there is not one
woman to twenty or thirty men, as is the case here, in order to
thoroughly appreciate the delights of feminine society. People at home
don't know how to treat a lady; they are too much used to them. Why,
there are actually more women than men in England!

We treasure our ladies, because they are so rare among us in the bush.
Good creatures they are, these settler's wives. How kind and benevolent
they are to us, to be sure! And how they do delight to "boss" us about!
But we like it, we enjoy it, we revel in it. We would lay ourselves down
for them to trample on us, and be truly grateful for the attention.
That is our loyal feeling towards the married ladies resident in the
district. Conceive, if you can, how much more extravagant is our
gallantry when certain other persons are in question--young ladies whom
the irreverent covertly term "husband-hunters!"

Those good