twenty-five dollars yearly. Most of the coast ports of
Australia, including the great ones of Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney,
are supplied with potatoes from this region.

"The potatoes are among the finest we ever saw. They are large, rich,
and mealy, and when properly cooked they are simply delicious. No other
part of Australia can compete with this district in potato cultivation.
The excellence of this vegetable is supposed to come from the volcanic
nature of the soil. All the country round here was once in a high state
of ebullition, and the lakes I have mentioned are the craters of extinct
volcanoes."

CHAPTER XIII.

JOURNEY UP COUNTRY--ANECDOTES OF BUSH LIFE.

Our friends accepted an invitation to go up country to visit a cattle
station and also a sheep run, and to spend a week or so in the bush.
They went by train as far as the railway could carry them, and were met
at the station by a wagon which enabled them to finish their journey.
They arrived at the station late in the afternoon, after a delightful
drive through the gum-tree forest and across a small plain. It was not
strictly a plain, however, as the ground was undulating, and in the
hollows between the ridges there was generally a growth of trees from a
quarter to a half a mile in width which broke the monotony of the
landscape. The road was not the smoothest in the world, and before they
had gone half way Harry and Ned both remarked that they would have
excellent appetites for supper, and hoped that the meal would not be
long delayed after their arrival at the cattle station.

The party received a cordial welcome from their host, Mr. Syme, who had
preceded them a day in advance and sent his younger brother to the
railway to meet them. About half a mile from the house they saw three or
four men lying on the ground by the roadside, evidently taking a rest or
waiting for something. They reminded our young friends of the
individuals frequently seen in the United States, and known as
"tramps," and after getting out of earshot of the party Ned asked their
new acquaintance, who was escorting them, what those men were.

"Oh! those are sundowners," was the reply, and then there was a pause.

"Sundowners!" exclaimed Harry. "What is a sundowner?"

"A sundowner is what you call a tramp in America," was the reply; "and
he gets his name from one of his peculiarities. It is the custom all
over Australia--I mean in the country districts--to feed and lodg