Christchurch is very prettily situated; for although it stands on a
perfectly flat plain, towards the sea there are the Port Hills, and
the town itself is picturesque, owing to the quantities of trees and
the irregular form of the wooden houses; and as a background we have
the most magnificent chain of mountains--the back-bone of the
island--running from north to south, the highest peaks nearly always
covered with snow, even after such a hot summer as this has been.
The climate is now delicious, answering in time of year to your
September; but we have far more enjoyable weather than your autumns
can boast of. If the atmosphere were no older than the date of the
settlement of the colony, it could not feel more _youthful_, it is
so light and bright, and exhilarating! The one drawback, and the
only one, is the north-west wind; and the worst of it is, that it
blows very often from this point. However, I am assured that I have
not yet seen either a "howling nor'-wester," nor its exact
antithesis, "a sutherly buster."

We have lately been deprived of the amusement of going to see our
house during the process of cutting it out, as it has passed that
stage, and has been packed on drays and sent to the station, with
two or three men to put it up. It was preceded by two dray-loads of
small rough-hewn stone piles, which are first let into the ground
six or eight feet apart: the foundation joists rest on these, so as
just to keep the flooring from touching the earth. I did not like
this plan (which is the usual one) at all, as it seemed to me so
insecure for the house to rest only on these stones. I told the
builder that I feared a strong "nor'-wester" (and I hear they are
particularly strong in the Malvern Hills) would blow the whole
affair away. He did not scout the idea as much as I could have