milk and butter; and it does seem wonderful that
where land is of comparatively little value, and where grass springs
up in profusion the moment that land is cleared, people should not
keep a cow or two, especially when the family comprises numerous small
children, and there is a constant though scanty stream of passing
travellers to provide for, whose number will be increased when the
railway passes within a couple of miles of the inn.

Just as we were starting I discovered that the old smith living close
by had been engaged on one of my father-in-law's contracts in South
Wales, and had worked for four years in the Victoria Docks in London.
He was delighted to exchange greetings with us; and it was quite
touching to hear his protestations that he 'did not want nothing at
all, only just to shake hands,' which he did over and over again,
assuring me of his conviction that our visit was 'certain to do a
power of good to the colony.' I suppose he gave us credit for having
inherited, or at all events profited by, some of my dear
father-in-law's good qualities.

The next stage was a long and weary one of another fifteen miles,
mostly through heavy sand. Luckily, we had rather a good pair of big
black horses this time, which took us along well. It was a fine warm
afternoon, like a September day in England; but the drive was
uneventful, and even monotonous except for the numberless jolts. We
only met one cart and passed two houses, one of which was uninhabited
and falling into decay. We also passed a large iguana, a huge kind of
lizard about two feet long, lying sunning himself on the road. The
aborigines eat these creatures, and say they are very good; and I have
heard that white people have also tried them successfully. Their eggs
are delicious, and when roasted in hot embers taste just like baked
custard. They lay from twenty to thirty in the large ant-heaps which
one constantly meets with in the bush, and which when rifled, in
January or February, yield a rich harvest of these eggs. A shrub very
much like dogwood, with a lilac flower rather like a large thistle,
but with the leaves turned back, was plentiful, and is a valuable
product, horses being able to live upon it for many weeks without
water, though it does not look especially succulent. We saw beautiful
parrots of all colours flying across the road, besides magpies and
'break-of-day' birds, a species of magpie. Our driver was very
obliging in pointing out everyth