oper places, we invited our shepherds and those neighbours immediately
around us to attend service on Sunday afternoon at three o'clock. F----
officiates as clergyman; _my_ duties resemble those of a beadle, as I
have to arrange the congregation in their places, see that they have
Prayer-books, etc. Whenever we go out for a ride, we turn our horses'
heads up some beautiful valley, or deep gorge of a river, in search of
the huts of our neighbours' shepherds, that we may tell the men of
these services and invite them to attend. As yet, we have met with
no refusals, but it will give you an idea of the scantiness of
our population when I tell you that, after all our exertions, the
"outsiders" only amount to fourteen, and of these at least half are
gentlemen from neighbouring stations. With this number, in addition
to our own small group, we consider that we form quite a respectable
gathering. The congregation all arrive on horseback, each attended by at
least two big colley dogs; the horses are turned into the paddock, the
saddles deposited in the back verandah, and the dogs lie quietly down
by their respective masters' equipments until they are ready to start
homewards. There is something very wild and touching in these Sunday
services. If the weather is quite clear and warm, they are held in the
verandah; but unless it is a very sunny afternoon, it is too early in
the year yet for this.

The shepherds are a very fine class of men as a rule, and I find them
most intelligent; they lead solitary lives, and are fond of reading; and
as I am anxious to substitute a better sort of literature in their
huts than the tattered yellow volumes which generally form their scanty
library, I lend them books from my own small collection. But, as I
foresee that this supply will soon be exhausted, we have started a Book
Club, and sent to London for twenty pounds' worth of books as a first
instalment. We shall get them second-hand from a large library, so I
hope to receive a good boxful. The club consists of twenty-eight members
now, and will probably amount to thirty-two, which is wonderful for
this district. At the close of a year from the first distribution of the
books they are to be divided into lots as near as possible in value to
a pound each, the parcels to be numbered, and corresponding figures
written on slips of paper, which are to be shaken up in a hat and drawn
at random, each member claiming the parcel of which the number answers