mutton, killing four or five sheep a week. He is employed out of
doors all day, but has plenty of time in the evenings for reading I
found him well-informed and intelligent, and he expresses himself
exceedingly well. We rested here an hour, and as we went outside
and prepared to mount, F--- said, "I really believe there is
_another_ sou'-wester coming up," and so there was: we could not go
fast, for we were riding over a dry river-bed, composed entirely of
loose large stones. Every few hundred yards we had to cross the
river Selwyn, which was rising rapidly, as the storm had been raging
in the mountains long before it reached us; on each side were high,
steep hills, and in some places the river filled up the gorge
entirely, and we had to ride in the water up to our saddle-girths.
All this time the rain was coming down in sheets, but the wind grew
colder and colder; at last the rain turned into snow, which speedily
changed us and our horses into white moving figures. Eight long
weary miles of this had we, only able to trot the last two, and
those over very swampy ground. In your country a severe cold would
probably have been the least evil of this escapade, but here no such
consequence follow a good wetting; the houses are so little real
protection from the weather, that you are forced to live as it were
in the open air, whether you like it or not, and this hardens the
constitution so much, that it is not easy to take cold from a little
extra exposure. Men are apt to be careless and remain in their wet
things, or stand before a fire till their clothes dry on them; and
whenever I scold any one for being foolish, he always acknowledges
that if he does but change when he comes into a house, he _never_
catches cold from any amount of exposure to the severest weather.