as fine and pleasant, and it was very
enjoyable driving down in the Governor's mail-phaeton, and seeing the
other vehicles of all sorts and kinds proceeding in the same
direction. The drivers of these vehicles were so regardless of all
considerations of time, place, and speed, that I began to think
hunting on wheels, or even going to a meet on wheels, was far more
dangerous than riding across country.

I am not sure that I should enjoy my time in Australia so much if I
had not a certain belief in _kismet_; for travelling out here is
certainly very full of risk. What with unbroken horses, rickety carts,
inexperienced drivers, rotten and ill-made harness put on the wrong
way, bad roads, reckless driving, and a general total indifference to
the safety of life and limb, a journey is always an exciting, and
sometimes a risky, experience. A little excitement is all very well;
but when it becomes absolutely dangerous, a little of it goes a long
way. I dislike seeing a horse's hoofs quite close to my head, with a
trace or two trailing in the dust, or to hear the ominous crack of
splinter-bar or bolt; yet these are things of daily and hourly
occurrence in our bush drives. I must say I was fully confirmed in my
opinion that driving was more dangerous than riding when the hunt
commenced. A man in scarlet went first with a little bag of aniseed,
and was followed by about 150 people on foot, and as many more either
on horseback or in vehicles. The drag was so arranged that many of the
jumps could be seen from a ridge near. The clever way in which little
horses of all sorts and kinds, well bred and underbred, with all sorts
of weights on their backs, jumped high timber fences without touching
them, was wonderful to behold. Some of the obstacles were even worse
than timber, for they were made of four wires stretched between timber
posts with a solid rail at top. The last fence of all, after twenty
minutes' run through a fairly heavy country, measured four feet two;
and yet not a horse out of the fifty or sixty who jumped it even
touched it in the least. I noticed that one or two of the riders were
very careless of the hounds, who had to crouch under the fences until
the horses had jumped over them. Afterwards I drove with the children
to 'The Olives,' a pretty house with a lovely garden, full of fragrant
violets, where a large party was assembled to meet us at tea.

[Illustration: _Stypandra umbellata_]

_Monday, June 6th._--Resume