Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Letters from Early New Zealand

Ricarton. March 4th, 1852

page 288
Ricarton. March 4th, 1852.

My Dear Mother,

I believe my last two letters to you, both marked "per Midlothian", are still at Wellington, for the ship has been Indefinitely delayed there, and the second was only a short one, for me, written when the Voelas parcel arrived. But I must begin one to-day, in remembrance of the double birthday, with every kind of good wish to both. This used to be such a great day wherever we were and now. My celebration of it Is, to-day, to consist in going into Christchurch with Mrs. Russell in her dog-cart, and there paying some necessary, but not very enticing, visits. I wonder how long it will be before we hear where you all were, for now that our regular ships have to come to an end, I fear we shall be much worse off for news. We hope for our next account by the Agra, a ship that was advertized to sail in the middle of November for Wellington, so that we might get her letters in about a month.

Our great event lately has been the arrival of the Calliope, Sir Everard Home in command. My husband went in to pay his respects on Saturday, and to ask anyone who would be contented with such entertainment as we could give, to come out here, and so on Sunday evening when we came back from drinking tea at Ham (Mrs. Russell's), we found a middy here, whose father my husband knew very well in Ireland; a Mr. Nugent, a very nice boy of fifteen, or, as he said, going on for sixteen, and looking much older. Unluckily, he had a dull time of it, for my husband was quite bad just then, for three days, with a cold, and we had two bad days, one very windy, and the other a wet afternoon, Sir Everard Home had an idea both of seeing the Plains, and the coal which has been lately found at Mr. Deans' station; but the puzzling thing was to get him here, for he is an immense man, and quite unfit for hard work of page 289any kind; so that the idea of getting him over the bridle path at all, either walking or riding, was soon given up as hopeless, and at last he came round (like the heavy luggage) in a boat, on the stormy morning that preceded the wet afternoon. All that day we kept expecting him, in some alarm, for my husband was not at all fit for talking, and receiving people, and our quarters, as you may suppose, are only calculated for very fine weather. The rain poured, and found its way in, all down the ridge of the roof, so that we had to live only on each side of the room, and our fire would not burn, as all the wood had got wet. Mr. Nugent helped us to hold the newspaper, blower fashion, across the fireplace, and kept wondering about his captain, of whom all the middies are excessively fond, and saying, "I wonder where he is, poor old man". At night, after the rain stopped, we had a great frost, and it was very cold. Sir Everard has a horror of ladies, and I had meant to get Mrs. Russell to ask me to have tea with her, and so get out of his way, but of course, I could not go out in such weather; for the rain did not stop till 11 p.m. However, to our great relief, the great man did not appear until next morning, which was quite lovely. We met him close by the bush here, as we were going into Christchurch, where there is Service at eleven, on Wednesday and Fridays. My husband, of course, went to him and I went on; as I was leaving Mrs. Rose's house on my way home after Church, I caught sight of them walking in together, to look at the maps, etc., of which he is very fond, in the Land Office; and then she came to the door and we stood there, country fashion, to see him pass. He is about fifty, but looks ten years older at least, and is just like a very rough-looking farmer, only that he has no shirt at all, visible, and wears all dark blue cloth with gold buttons, and a tall, oldish beaver hat, narrow to the top, and still narrower in the brim. He said a few words, and Mr. Nugent went home with him; and this, and a visit from the Officer of Marines, was all I saw of the Calliope; but she was in port for about ten days. Lady H. Mostyn's son is, I hear, a favourite, but is at present on board the little Bramble acting as "tender"; he belongs, too, I think, to the Pandora, the other ship on this station, where Sir Everard page 290is Commander par excellence. It seems too small a command to call it "Commander-in-Chief".

We were very sorry to hear, just a week ago (March 13th), that poor Mr. Tancred had met with a bad accident; he went up the country, to form his station, having chosen the "run" next to Mr. Deans' present station, and carried-up with him some timber, to begin the house, and some provisions; but unfortunately, In getting on his horse, something went wrong, and he got a kick or a slip (he cannot remember a kick), which has broken the bone just above the ankle, but so near the joint as to make it a very bad fracture. He was at Deans' station when it happened, and Mr. Ross, who, you may remember, came out with Mr. Perceval (No. 2), and who is to live at Mr. Tancred's station for the present, rode down here at once for the doctor. However, that is easier said than done, as many new hands find. It is all very well to say, "ride as straight as you can go across the Plain, by compass"; but where there are so few landmarks, only unvarying plain for miles and miles together, the new people generally lose their way, more or less, and though they arrive at last, it is by a circuitous route. Mr. Ross lost his way, and was twice thrown by his horse, and though it is only about thirty miles in a straight line, it was nearly twelve hours before the doctor was told; and quite dark before we could find a man to ride up with him. So then, although it was Mr. Deans' own stockman who went, in the dark they got wrong again, and went seven miles out of their way, arriving between three and four in the morning. I am afraid it is likely that his foot will always be a little crooked, so as to be awkward, though not disabled in walking.

March 23rd. Mr. Tancred is still going on well, and we have had a visit from the Governor. He arrived on Friday, in the Government brig, and on Saturday he rode out here with my husband, and went on to Mr. Russell's, and Mr. Bray, who has made quite a nice large place beyond them. Sir George is quite irresistibly gracious and good humoured now, far more than when first I saw him in Wellington, but I believe that is his "line", when there has occurred anything unpleasant; as, for Instance, his page 291attack upon us in the Council at Wellington. Lady Grey has stayed behind, as she is always ill at sea, but he has brought with him the Mr. Bulkeley, of the 65th, who came out with us in Lady Nugent. They go from here to Auckland, where Mr. Bulkeley's lady-love resides; a Miss Cockraft, daughter of one of the officers there, and rather a protégée of Lady Grey's, who had her and her sister staying with her at Wellington, where the mischief was done. Sir George talked a good deal of Mr. Perceval, the elder brother, whom he saw at Nelson, where he went en route to New Plymouth, where he was to be married and about which I wrote to you. At Nelson, he heard that the young lady had, most fortunately, married someone else; so he consoled himself with a great deal of brandy and water, and a great deal of attention paid to another lady there! Sir G. said he did all in his power to persuade him to come away with him, but at the last moment he would not. However, he has since heard that Mr. Lee, of whose arrival across country from Nelson, about January 2nd, I wrote you word, had started with his flock of sheep, and with Mr. Perceval to help him. The younger Mr. Perceval is going on very well, and seems very happy here, and one of the steadiest young gentlemen that we have, always at church, etc. Sir George is, or says he is, in great admiration of our progress, and has never, he says, seen anywhere, anything like the rapid progress made here since a little more than a year ago, when he was here last. He has allowed £2,000 of our surplus revenue to pass into my husband's hands, for the purpose of making further roads into the plains, which we want sadly. The road, from Lyttelton to Christchurch, cannot be attempted, as it would require from £12,000 to £15,000 to make it passable, and then it would be so narrow that there would be some danger for loaded drays. In the meantime, this is a great gain to us; but I wish we had one or two shiploads of emigrant labourers arriving to help our labour-market, These Australian diggings are a sad temptation to men of that class. Although wonderfully few have left, as yet, to go there, we cannot help fearing that such continual accounts of fortunes made, must entice a good many at last, especially among single men, for it is almost page 292always the bright side of the picture that travels here; and besides, it gives a feeling of insecurity; no one can calculate, with even ordinary certainty, upon how prices, etc., are likely to be.

My husband had to stay three nights in Lyttelton, while Sir G. Grey was there, which does not add to my amusement. I had to send Powles in, too, for a few days, for I found that our good-natured Captain Parsons, who, you know, is living on in our house there, and who would give away his head, with pleasure, to anyone who asked him, was being a little too good-natured, as I thought, with our things; and neither William, nor either of our maidens, ever said no. Chairs, knives, plates, tubs, buckets, spades, were all lent about, and not forthcoming without much trouble; and garden produce was a famous thing to make presents of. So Powles went in "to make arrangements for our return", and "to make an inventory", and to lock up all that could be spared; but you may suppose this cannot be done very thoroughly with Captain Parsons, and Hamilton Ward, staying in the house, and my husband sometimes sleeping there. However, we cannot have everything and we enjoy our visit here very much, in many ways, and must manage to replace anything that will not come back. It was just the same after Mrs. Jackson, last year, though I am sure they meant to be most careful; and as for expecting Capt. P. not to lend anything he has at hand, it is mere nonsense. It is much if he does not give them away when we are there.

Then I must tell you that William has made a marvellous recovery. He is at last even getting fat, and though not very strong yet, I begin to think that, with care, he may be able to do all we want again. We have been very fortunate, too, in the servant we got in his place, who is brother-in-law to Turnbull, the man who is to marry Elisabeth; we shall be quite sorry to part with him. He was an Oxford scout, and can turn his hand to anything, and is, moreover, very quiet and obliging; only, as a groom, he is not quite au fait. We have had William out here, from time to time, and the change has, I think, helped his recovery; but now he must go into the Port; for Elisabeth, who has been the one left there of late, leaves this very day page 293(April 2nd) intending to be married on the 12th, Easter Monday. She has not been quite so nice since her lovemaking began; never would do the least bit of work where she was not watched, and made to do it; and so ill-tempered with the other servants that they rejoice in the idea of getting rid of her. She never showed it to me, and has only of late been so at all, though she was always given to be idle if she could; but I fancy, now, she felt too independent. Her husband is a very respectable, sharp man, but I hear has a temper that would keep her, or anyone else, in order. Charity, who is just seventeen, has had "a very good offer" since she came out to us at Riccarton, but announced herself, I hear, pre-engaged. However, I hope she will not be married just yet; though not so sharp, she is a much better servant than Elisabeth; so steady and can cook a little now.

We had, on Monday, an alarm of fire, and I began to think we should be burnt out, as we were last year. The piece of ground opposite to us is to be ploughed for a crop, next year, and it was covered with fern, often breast high, and having once been forest had also a great many stumps, and trunks of trees, lying about it, which make excellent firewood, and were worth a great deal of money, too, for that purpose. These were to have been collected and stacked, ready to be sold, before anything was done to the ground; but an old servant of Mr. Deans', who was to plough it by contract, either mistook, or did not care for, this part of the arrangement, and one fine morning came and set the fern alight on the far side, just before a violent "nor'-wester" began driving the flames straight to us. We were crying all the morning, from the smoke; but the flames as they got to the edge of the river, gave us a much more serious annoyance, for the river, though deep, is very narrow, and in many places the bushes on each side often grow into it, and their branches meet; besides the numerous bridges made by trees that have fallen across, of which there is one just opposite our house. Then, as the tall stumps lighted, the wind blew pieces across, of lighted wood, which would set anything on fire; which the sparks from fern generally would not. At last, a tall dead tree, standing just between us and the corn-ricks, caught fire in one of the page 294upper branches, and then the sparks from that, flew quite into the bush, before they could cut it down, I can scarcely understand how it was saved, or how we were, for the rushing hot wind made everything as dry as tinder, and blew up the smallest spark. Mr. Deans, as you know, is gone to Scotland, and Mrs. Williams is looking after his concerns. She was in a great fright, as you can imagine, and came herself to look after the men. Powles, Charity, and William were all rushing about with pails of water, and at one time the firewood at the corner of our house was on fire; however, at last, the wind lowered, and in the afternoon quite died away, and we noted the fire was nearly out; but as night came on, it looked worse than ever. My husband came back from the Port at dusk, and just then came a puff of wind, and in a moment every stump, and every clump of fern that had escaped, seemed in a blaze; the whole of the ground before us seeming covered with little furnaces, glowing brightly through the darkness, and though this was very pretty to look at, it was not a little alarming. Two of Mr. Deans' men were sent to watch the cornstacks, and John, and William, and Wheeler, spent about two hours in trying to cut down some of the highest-burning stumps, and put others out with buckets from the river. Happily for us all, the wind never rose high again, but we didn't go to bed till very late for fear … and then left one up all night to watch. The stumps kept burning, from time to time, for two days, and there was a sad waste of fuel, which is a melancholy sight here, where it is so dear.

I don't think I have mentioned in my writing the letters which arrived by the Agra, which sailed to Wellington direct, about the middle of November. We got them about a month ago, but they were not quite all we wished to get. My husband heard from Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Adderley, Sir W. James, and I think one more; but did not receive one despatch, or any letters from his family, nor had I one from mine. My only letter was from Mrs. Ward in Ireland, thanking us for taking care of Hamilton W., and telling us that his brother would come out to join him. He is not going to live with us any longer. We are much disturbed on hearing of the chance that Mr. Fox may be sent out as page 295Agent. Whatever he may be as an Individual, he would be a most unfortunate selection in that capacity out here, judging from his old opinions, and very small love for the Church; indeed he cannot accept it at all, without the greatest inconsistency. It would be all the more disagreeable for us, personally, to have him arrive so, from our having known him so much already. There is great "alarm" throughout the settlement about it. His friends at Wellington, and the "Liberal" newspaper there, hoping that it may not be true of him, etc.; and his adversaries saying, what else could you expect from such a man? You may suppose how tantalizing it is not to know what the truth may be. Letters from himself to Wellington mention that he had been asked to go out, and indeed almost that he was coming; while, at the same time, Captain Simeon's brother, Cornwall, writes to him that Mr. Fox had been thought of, as if it had been only a passing thought, and given up; but from nothing official arriving, everything is left in doubt. In the meantime we heard, on the Thursday before Easter, by a vessel from Hobart town, that a London paper has announced the actual appointment of Dr. Rowley as our Bishop, and that he is to come out unconsecrated; and also of the Revolution, or whatever it was, in Paris, and of Louis Napoleon's election, and of Lord Palmerston's resignation! Which last is the most surprising of all, and now we are looking out most anxiously for the Stag, with all the news about everything; and we should like much, if possible, not to be in the Port when she arrives, but to be still out here, and out of the way, at the first landing and receiving.

Mr. and Mrs. Fitz Gerald came over, with their baby, for a week's visit to the Plains, and on the Sunday the young lady was christened at Christchurch, by the name of Amy. My husband and I, and Mrs. Jacobs, standing sponsors. It cried tremendously, and so did four others, I think, out of the six who were baptized at the same time, in the font given by Walter Cocks, which is a beautiful one. I don't, know whether he has ever been told how well it looks. We had a most threatening morning for Easter Day, but it happily kept quite dry, though it was very cold and "un-Easterlike" all day, and I could only manage to get over to page 296Church. Easter Monday, there were some races, and it was much finer; Arthur went to see them with Powles, and met his father on the ground; indeed, I sent all the servants, as it was only a mile off but I believe they were very poor performances, and I suspect the horse my husband was on would have beaten them all. I contented myself with one great effort, the ball at night. It was a "got-up" ball, with a committee of gentlemen to arrange everything, and four Lady Patronesses to decide upon who should be asked in doubtful cases, and so on. The room was the great difficulty. I hope, by the next occasion, a better one will be ready; but we had to content ourselves with a large place, intended for a carpenter's shop, which, when lined with calico and festooned, etc., made not a bad dancing-room; but they were obliged to make a kind of "lean-to" for the tea and supper room, which was a very cold affair for all those who were either unwilling, or unable, to dance assiduously the whole night; and the ladies' cloakroom was a tent on the bare ground, which on a frosty night felt rather fresh. I hear, too, for I did not see it, that the supper and the little wine there was, were bad, and that is the dark side of the picture. Otherwise the whole thing was most successful; there were thirty-three ladles, besides a few prevented coming at the last moment, and more than a dozen unmarried! an amount of singularity quite unexampled in the Colony. A few of them too are really quite pretty, and everyone looked well, and wore a clean, if not a pretty, dress. It was really a most creditable assemblage as far as looks went; no frights, and the gentlemen, except in some cases of a little superabundance of ornamental planting about the face, were quite unexceptionable. There were more than eighty people, and the dancing continued from before nine o'clock until just five in the morning. The Simeons came over from the Port, and stayed with the Roses, who would not come. Mrs. would, but Mr. Rose, when my husband reproved him, said he thought he had done quite enough by having people to stay with him, and refused to think of coming, although he carried a lantern to light his visitors as far as the door of the tent. He is absurdly grumpy and ungenial still, but is improving, certainly, and is quite proud of his page 297new house, and glad to have it admired, which is a great step towards general contentment. They look really comfortable in it, too, and the sitting-room is large, and very pretty (anywhere), with pictures and prints all round, and several nice pieces of furniture, which look so home-like out here; and large French windows of plate-glass, and a deep verandah outside. He has seven acres, altogether, of town land, and he now owns that his garden about the house is a bit of most splendid land. I think for such a man as he is it is quite lucky that he has built in the town, which must keep them a little amongst other people and in civilized life. We are here just three miles from the ballroom, and so I went in with Mrs. Russell, who is still further off, and we dressed at Mrs. Jacobs' house, as did Mrs. Cookson, who was another lady patroness, and then about eleven she let us have her dog-cart to come home, and William took it back again for her, but we were not at home till about one, as we had to walk all the way. There is a very nice family at Christchurch, and luckily a large one, by name Westenra, who came out in the ship with the Roses, and were nearly the only people that they quite like out here. The father was a Captain in the Army, and they have been for some years living in Germany; I fancy to make small means go a little further. They were not a little cast down, on arriving, at the look of the place, but are gradually taking courage; though it is almost funny to hear their plaintive laments over all the small advantages which they had at Mannheim (where they knew Miss Sigel's sister, you must tell Frances) and miss here—band, cheap opera, and indeed the not so very small one that all their weekly bills, with more abundance, were not half what they are here; but they are, on the whole, very reasonable about it, and above all, not in the least cross. The old captain is very stupid, but a very good sort of man, and they are good church-people, and not what you would fancy of people who have been living cheap abroad. All for instance, even the children, speaking with a very strong brogue. The eldest girl, about seventeen, is our "beauty", at present, par excellence, and would be very pretty anywhere, being very gentle, and very well-dressed, and they have a nice aunt with them, who i page 298still quite pretty herself. Mrs. Russell now talks of giving a ball herself, at Ham; a bread-and-butter ball, that is to say, without any attempt at a grand supper, champagne, or indeed wine, at all. We have been very anxious that some such beginning should be made, because it is really, here, very desirable that there should be occasional meetings, it does people so much good to rub against others; and for the young gentlemen it is a real advantage not to be always alone, or with each other in blue shirts and cigars, and yet, as long as people fancy an expensive supper a necessary part of such meetings, even those who have large enough houses to attempt them, cannot afford to incur such an expense often. You can fancy how at each succeeding ball people will try to outdo the last, and so a beginning of the other line will be most desirable. The Ham ball is intended to set a bright example, and is to take place if all goes well at the next full moon.

On Saturday in Easter week, we had a school feast, a tea; after which twenty-four of the best had rewards, in the shape of toys and books, sent out by the Association for that end; we did not know of these articles when we had such a day (that is of prize giving) at Christmas, at the school in Lyttelton, and had great difficulty, as you may fancy, in getting things of our own that would do. These toys and puzzles were very good, only it was rather sad to see that the Prayer-books and Testaments were not chosen until everything else, almost, was gone. The prizes are given here altogether for general good conduct, an equal number being given in each class, and so on, and then each child chooses in succession, as its name is called. Mrs. Jacobs lent us, for the tea, a large room, still unfinished, which is being added to their house for a Grammar School, and there they ate so rapidly that in a short time it was evident that an end of everything was approaching, and Powles had to rush off to the bakers for a reinforcement of buns and bread-and-butter. He explained the result by telling her that he knew many of the children had had no dinner, in order to do justice to the tea. Several people came to look on. Mrs. Rose, for one, with her little boy, who could not understand why he might not have any one of the prizes; page 299and then, when the playing, and the tea, and the prize-getting was all over, we had some singing, and a very loud "God Save the Queen"; and then some very loud "hurrahing", and then they all went home, apparently very much delighted, and the whole thing was very much like England, especially the appetites. We thought several times of the little boy at Blackheath, and expected to see them stand up, for one more try. I think you would have been amused, the other evening, to have seen me hard at work, till past seven at night, ironing shirts. There is a small encampment of about twenty Maoris near us, now, who have built a little place to live in, while they dig potatoes for Mr. Deans and Mr. Russell; and they often come round our out-of-door fire to warm their hands, and ask what o'clock, and talk a little. One Saturday, after noticing some washing of ours hung out to dry (for we do ours partly at home here, the river water is so tempting), one of the Maoris came to ask Powles "how much to wash a shirt?" She thought he meant how much was the fair price. So she said fourpence. Then he came back, and asked how much "make it de iron, Maori woman wash?" So she said twopence, and then began to think that he might have thought she could do it for him. Presently he returned with four rough-dried shirts, of different patterns and makes, which he said he wanted done immediately. My husband was standing by when he brought them, and he was so much amused at the idea, that he said, very gravely, he would ask the wahina (meaning me) how much she would do them for, and so I undertook them at twopence a shirt. They were so nearly in the state in which they were taken off, after a good long wear, that we put them into a pail of hot water, and then dried and starched them, and I ironed them all myself, and had them ready at eight o'clock, as I promised, when the man came back and paid me a copper eightpence that I am not a little proud of. Indeed, though I say it, they were so well done that I begin to think I have an undeveloped talent for laundry-work. You should have seen how beautiful the fronts and collars were, and not one button "ironed off".

I have no words to describe the beauty of our fine days page 300just now. I do not know how I am to make up my mind to live in the Port again; and yet, if we moved bodily over here, we could not stay where we are; and if we leave the bush, half the charm of our life would be gone, for in with the bush comes the birds singing, shelter from the cold wind—the very bad winter ones—and also the sort of pleasant home-farm-like look of this place, with corn-stacks, and so on, and the mere look of the trees and the rivers, after our long stay in Lyttelton, can be fully appreciated. In bad weather, the house seems certainly very incomplete, especially for the servants, and it is almost worse than rain when we have one of those violent warm winds, which last perhaps a day and a half, with occasional lulls, for hours at a time. The other night, just as I was dropping asleep, one came on in a sudden gust, and I had to get up quickly, and shut the window, which we generally have open, lest it should be torn off; and then as another came, still stronger, had to jump up again, to take my clock down from the chimney-piece, for fear of accidents; as a stone, some curiosity of Arthur's, had just fallen, having been, I conclude, just opposite one of the chinks in the wall. The wind kept me awake, the noise was so great, but it lulled towards morning, and then blew, strongly at times, through the day, reserving its energies till the evening, when, just as some scones were being baked for tea, a hurricane almost carried the fire bodily into the bush, and it had to be quickly put out, with the water boiling for the respective teas of the establishment; and then a fire lighted inside, in spite of the heat, on which to boil the kettles. An hour or two later, the ridge-pole of our long tent was broken, and in the morning, which was lovely, only the ruins were to be seen, and the servants sitting at breakfast in the open air, that being considered pleasanter than the close tent where the men sleep. Then upon our ruins, and uncovered goods, came rain, but fortunately not much; and the next day the tent rose again, in renewed strength and beauty. The night before last we were thrown into great excitement by hearing that a large ship was off the Heads, without wind enough to move. Of course, we thought it was the Stag, and could think of nothing else; but it turns out to have been the page 301Tory, from Melbourne, with cattle; a most excellent arrival for the settlement, but which does me no great good Individually. It is so long since we had any news now, eleven weeks yesterday since I got my last letters by the William Hyde, that I am rather more anxious than usual, and though I could only half rejoice when I thought I was to hear the next day, I am now disappointed at getting nothing. My husband went into Port yesterday, and remained at night, for this is to be a very great day there; being no other than (D.V.) the laying, by himself, of the first stone of the first Church in the settlement. You may suppose I am not a little vexed and disappointed at not being present, but so it was that I could not manage to get over there. However, I have sent Arthur in with Powles, and William to look after them, and the day seems made on purpose so far. We were up before it was light, and they started just as the sun rose. Such a morning! and the child in great delight, riding before Powles with an imitation stock-whip in his hand, to keep "Rosinante" (as we call the horse, one we are taking care of for Mr. Lee) at her quickest walk, and a piece of scone in the saddle pocket, for he was much too happy to eat breakfast. I long to see them back again and hear the events of the day.

April 27th. I hear that Saturday was a most successful day in Lyttelton. I should like to send you the book with the order of the " Procession and Ceremonial for the laying of the first stone of the Church of the Holy Trinity", which is now, thank God, fairly in process of building. The day was quite lovely and enjoyable in Itself, for almost everyone in the Port, even Mr. Rose. The music was very good, too, and I hear my husband's speech, or address, which was part of the affair, very good; but I suppose I shall never be able to judge of Its merits for myself, as he has refused to have it published. During the morning another large ship came in, the Duke of Roxburgh, from Sydney, bringing back Mr. Hamner with stock, which indeed was what he went off there to get. This arrival does do me individual good, as he kindly undertook to get me some shoes, and if they fit, that will be no small benefit. Stock has been our great want, and the difficulty of getting it down (from scarcity of page 302sailors) a great drawback, and all may be laid to the account of the diggings, but now we shall be a little better off; for the same afternoon arrived another ship, the Oriental, which has, like Mr. Hamner, been long expected, and now we are still promised one more, immediately. The Tory brought, from Melbourne, where the best diggings are, a tutor and some pupils who are making the round of these Colonies, and one of them has a letter for us, partly from Mr. Blancowe and partly from you! and though it is very old (written just as you were leaving London last year), there is a make believe of news about only seeing the handwriting that is very pleasant, out here. The tutor (the Rev. Mr. Hogg) seems a very nice person; he stayed in the Port to assist Mr. Dudley on Sunday, and we were glad that they should happen to come in for such a good day, in every sense. It is about twelve miles from here to our house in Lyttelton, which was rather long for Powles and Arthur's ride, but there is a spring cart conveyance every day between the ferry and Christchurch, and on this day it was engaged for Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Jacobs to come home in, and to go quite to the foot of the bridle path to fetch them. I got two places kept in this, and so they were carried about six miles in coming back, quickly and easily; William riding the horse after them, so as to be ready when they got out in Christchurch. They were back here just about twelve hours from the time of their start, after a supremely happy day. Everything at the Port has now, to Arthur, the double charm at once of novelty, and of being an old friend, and he is lost in admiration of the garden, and so on. Besides that, Captain Parsons had occupied some of his leisure time in new-painting his large schooner, and making all the sails movable, and I had much to hear, and he to tell.

On Sunday, we had a very late visit from Mr. Hogg and one of the pupils, Mr. Blackison, who wanted to arrange about starting up the country the next day, with my husband, in a new direction from his former expeditions. They came to dine next day, and started afterwards, as it was to be only a ride of about eighteen miles the first day. They all went on to Ilam to pick up Mr. Russell, who was to be guide, having been there before; and then Mr. page 303Blackison turned back, preferring another expedition that is going on, to the detriment of the wild pigs. He shewed me some of the Port Phillip gold, which was quite tempting, it seemed to be in such nice little drops. The Californian gold that I have seen has a great mixture in it, looking something like our specimens of coppali spa, only more flaky; but this was in roundish lumps and drops of apparently the purest dead gold, and quite a smooth surface, as if it had been washed, or melted into shape. They give a very good account of the state of things at the diggings, where they said there were about fifty thousand people, many having wives, and even families, with them. Mr. Hogg said that he had been about at all times, even in the night, and that there was no more noise or disturbance than in a quiet English village. Indeed, possibly less, inasmuch as no spirits were allowed by Government to be sold there; some few spirit-tents, that had been attempted to be set up, were soon seized and destroyed, but I believe this law was likely to be in some degree relaxed. Some people have done very well there, and every Saturday work is given up at twelve o'clock, and they have a grand wash-down, besides those who make their fortunes by some very lucky "find". The captain of the ship that brought them down here is said to have made common cause with his whole crew, and gone up there for a certain time, and they returned with £90 each. The average is £I a day; if they don't get that, they don't care to stay; and living and provisions are dear in proportion, so that they do not make a great deal, in general; but it is far from being the horrible kind of place that the Californian diggings are, so we are a little proud that Britishers can do it so much better than the Yankees. But, of course, an old settled place has advantages, as to police, etc., which a perfectly new country has not. I believe some business may now be done, by those who have some ready money, by buying the newly-found gold from those who are in want of cash for their weekly bills. A baker from Lyttelton, a roaming Scotchman, went up to Port P. and made some money so; very lately, however, he has returned, and brought his family over to Christchurch, and there set up his shop. He has tried almost every part of the world page 304now, and once been back to Scotland, and then out again, with his wife and family. We heard down here that there were eight hundred sail lying at Port Phillip, unable, for the most part, to get hands for a voyage anywhere, and perfectly useless. They say there were eighty altogether, and that if you choose to pay them £45 for the voyage home (say four months) sailors can be collected with a little patience, the usual pay being about £2 a month.

My husband got safely back from his journey up the country, yesterday, about the middle of the day; but he had had bad weather, and such expeditions are really only pleasant in summer, and in the long days. The last night he was out was at Deans' station, where there was no sort of candle, which does not do when you have thirteen hours of darkness, as we have now. The morning before was most uncomfortable; they were at the station of a Mr. Stodart, who came here from Port Phillip, and although he has been here about a year, he still lives in a horrible den, or cabin, into which you creep through a hole; there being neither door nor window. The floor was of liquid mud, and on the best bit of it they spent the night; my husband having a little drip from the roof on his legs, and Mr. Russell, one on his head. Imagine yourself getting up after such a night, and finding yourself obliged to go down to the river to wash, through two inches deep of snow (in which form the storm we had here fell among the mountains); thereby completely and irretrievably wetting your feet. The alternative was to get up and shake yourself, and content yourself with washing on fine mornings, about twice a week. I believe it is rather the Australian plan to live in this discomfort, unless there is a lady concerned; but it seems the more extraordinary because Mr. Stodart appears to have money, and it would certainly cost very few shillings to make a wonderful change as to cleanliness. I can hardly believe still that there was no window! There was one, let us hope, but without glass; only a shutter which was shut for bad weather!! And he is, moreover, when he appears in the world, quite a gentlemanlike man, fond of drawing, poetry, reading and so on; and so clever and pleasant, that he made them spend a very agreeable evening, in spite of the locality. The view page 305from his place is very fine, as it is quite amongst the mountains, and looks full on to one about six thousand feet high. Mr. Hogg has stayed a little longer, to explore amongst the hills. In the ride home the last morning, they came upon some wild pigs, and managed to separate one from the rest, and drive it nearly six miles before them. They began to think they would get it home, when suddenly it announced itself tired out by lying resolutely down in the fern, and violently charging at the legs of either man or horse who came near to disturb it. They had neither pig-dog nor pig-knife, and had nothing for it but to let it alone, and a little further on they actually caught a little one, and got it on to the horse, but it was so tiresome that they were glad to let it go again, as they were about sixteen miles from home; rather a long way to carry such an unruly baby. I believe the great wish of William's heart, just now, is to be allowed to go pig-hunting for a few days. Three labourers about here were out a week, at the beginning of this month, with a horse and dray and brought home with them one ton and a half of pork, salted in barrels, that they had taken up with them! A great help towards winter provision.

To-day, April 30th, Mr. Hanmer came here, looking very well, but complaining that the trip to Sydney had been most disagreeable. He could not bear the place, or the diggings —the Sydney ones. He saw Mr. Denison, only by chance, though, travelling in the same steamer somewhere. Mr. Hanmer and Mr. Wortley are, I believe, going up in a few days to their station, but Mr. Wortley had an accident a few days ago, his horse falling on him at night, and either breaking, or pressing in, his collar-bone so as slightly to affect the lung. However, he was walking about, apparently in very good spirits, at the cricket match we were at to-day. He has had a worse accident lately, by proposing to the youngest but one of the Miss Townsends, when I am sure he was not a bit in love, in any good sense, and he never even liked the family, but I need not go into details. He is nineteen, or perhaps just twenty, and she sixteen, so it is pretty silly, without money, or any compensating degree of love. I suspect it will end in nothing.

May 1st! and such a sharp frost. I find I have a good page 306opportunity of sending this home by the Duke of Roxburgh to Sydney, so I must send it off at once; I had hoped to have had your next letter first. And so good-bye, and God bless you all. Nearly three months since I had my last news, but I always hope for the best, though I am in a great fright when the letters come. Arthur is much pleased with his own letter, and our home-made envelope, and the seal is the one off the watch Aunt Sara gave him, on Christmas Day. I don't know whether you will understand the picture of the races. The flags are to mark out the ground, and there is an imaginary crowd standing near a little wooden public house, in reality of very curious form. This house was built for the ploughman, whence the name. I send you two attempts of my own at it, which are very correct as to likeness, but the character of the wood is very difficult to give; such thick dead green, with so many edges all round the house. Good-bye.

Yours very affectionately,

Charlotte.