ly.

The difficulty of housekeeping here must be extreme. It is almost
impossible to keep servants in the far-away bush; they all like to be
near a town. I would earnestly advise everybody thinking of going to
any out-of-the-way part of our colonies to learn to a certain extent
how to do everything for himself or herself. Cooking, baking, and
washing, besides making and mending, are duties which a woman may very
likely have to undertake herself, or to teach an untrained servant to
perform. I should be inclined to add to the list of desirable
accomplishments riding, driving, and the art of shoeing and saddling a
horse in case of emergency; for the distances from place to place are
great, and the men are often all out on the run or in the bush.

About half-past nine Mr. Hassall took me for a drive round the station
and clearing. We saw the remains of the old gold-workings, not two
hundred yards from the house. Up to now they have been unprofitable,
but hopes are entertained that, with better machinery for crushing the
quartz, larger results may be obtained. At present the expense of
working is so great that the gold is not found in paying quantities.

From the deserted gold-field we drove through some enclosed land where
corn and 'straw-hay' had been grown, but had been given up because it
did not pay. Then through more enclosures for cattle and sheep, and
finally over some virgin land, across what might have been an English
park if it had not looked so untidy from many of the trees having been
'rung'--an ugly but economical method of felling timber, by cutting a
deep furrow round the bark so as to stop the circulation, and thus
cause the tree to die. Then we crossed a now dried-up river, and
climbed the opposite bank of a creek, to a point from which we had a
lovely view of the distant Stirling Range.

I was interested to hear that, with the aid of a foreman from Suffolk,
the system of rotation of crops had been tried here with great
success, as far as production went. Never were such wheat and
'straw-hay' crops seen in the colony; but, after all, the farm did not
pay, for flour from South Australia could be purchased cheaper; and as
teams are constantly going into Albany with loads of sandal-wood and
wool, the carriage out costs very little.

I was told that the land here only carries one sheep to ten acres. On
these extensive sheep-walks good dogs are much wanted; but they are
very rare, for the tendency of the pr