tenderest green. The flower beds are dotted about the lawn, which
surrounds the house and slopes away from it, and they are brilliant
patches of colour, gay with verbenas, geraniums, and petunias. Here
and there clumps of tall trees rise above the shrubs, and as a
background there is a thick plantation of red and blue gums, to
shelter the garden from the strong N.W. winds. Then, in front, the
country stretches away in undulating downs to a chain of high hills
in the distance: every now and then there is a deep gap in these,
through which you see magnificent snow-covered mountains.

The inside of the house is as charming as the outside, and the
perfection of comfort; but I am perpetually wondering how all the
furniture--especially the fragile part of it--got here. When I
remember the jolts, and ruts, and roughnesses of the road, I find
myself looking at the pier-glass and glass shades, picture-frames,
etc., with a sort of respect, due to them for having survived so
many dangers.

The first two or three days we enjoyed ourselves in a thoroughly
lazy manner; the garden was a never-ending source of delight, and
there were all the animals to make friends with, "mobs" of horses to
look at, rabbits, poultry, and pets of all sorts. About a week
after our arrival, some more gentlemen came, and then we had a
series of picnics. As these are quite unlike your highly civilized
entertainments which go by the same name, I must describe one to
you.

The first thing after breakfast was to collect all the provisions,
and pack them in a sort of washing-basket, and then we started in an
American waggon drawn by a pair of stout cobs. We drove for some