R PIONEER FARM. II. 196

IX. OUR SHOW-PLACE 227

X. OUR NATIVE NEIGHBOURS 253

XI. OUR SETTLER FRIENDS 285

XII. A PIG-HUNT 319

BRIGHTER BRITAIN!

CHAPTER I.

A "NEW-CHUM'S" INTRODUCTION.

Three months on board ship seems a long while to look forward to, yet it
is but a short time to look back upon. Emigrants, being for the most
part drawn from among dry-land-living populations, are apt to be daunted
by the idea of a long voyage. People would be more ready, perhaps, to
contemplate becoming colonists, were it not for that dreaded crossing of
the sea which must necessarily be their first step. Their terrors may be
natural enough, but they are more fanciful than real; and once overcome,
the emigrant smiles at his former self.

After the first week or two at sea, the most inveterate "land-lubber"
begins to feel at home; in another week or two he has become quite
nautical, and imagines himself to have been a sailor half his life;
while, when the voyage is over and the time come to go ashore, there are
few who leave their floating home without regret.

As things are managed nowadays, there exists no reason for apprehension
of the voyage on the part of would-be colonists. Emigrants who are taken
out "free"--that is, at the expense of the colonial government--as well
as those who pay their own passage, are cared for in most liberal and
considerate style. The rivalry between the various colonies of Australia
has had this effect among others--that the voyage is made as safe,
smooth, and inviting to emigrants as is possible. They are berthed with
an ever-increasing attention to their care and comfort, while they are
absolutely pampered and fattened with abundance and variety of the best
food.

No one expects to commence life in a new country without undergoing some
amount of hardship and difficulty, and when the emigrant gets on shore,
and begins to experience the various little annoyances that a "new-chum"
must necessarily undergo, he realizes most thoroughly the pleasures and
comforts he has left behind him on board ship; and, very frequently,
vainly endeavours to suppress the wish that he was back on board "the
old hooker" making the voyage out over again.

As to _danger_, nothing amuses an old salt more than the bare idea of
the "perils of the sea." To him, a railway journey, short or