inds of fruit and vegetables, except Brussels sprouts, are
cheap and plentiful. I will quote one or two prices at random from a
market-book: artichokes, l1/2d. a lb.; tomatoes, 2d. a lb.; beetroot and
cabbages, 1s. 6d. a dozen; potatoes, 6s. a cwt. During the season fruit
is very cheap. Splendid Muscatel grapes can be bought in Adelaide from
ld. to 2d. a lb.; peaches, 3d. a dozen; apricots, 2d. a dozen;
raspberries, 5d. a lb.; cherries, 2d. a lb.; strawberries, 4d.; plums
almost for nothing; but by far the best is the passion-fruit. Neither
vegetables nor fruit, as sold in the markets and shops, are as good as
those you buy in England. The inferior quality is due to the
grow-as-you-please manner in which the fruit is cultivated, pruning and
even the most ordinary care being neglected; but you can get as
fine-flavoured fruit here as anywhere, and to taste grapes in perfection
you must certainly go to Adelaide.

Of course meat is the staple of Australian life. A working-man whose
whole family did not eat meat three times a day would indeed be a
phenomenon. High and low rich and poor, all eat meat to an incredible
extent, even in the hottest weather. Not that they know how to prepare it
in any delicate way, for to the working and middle, as well as to most of
the wealthy classes, cooking is an unknown art. The meat is roast or
boiled, hot or cold, sometimes fried or hashed. It is not helped in mere
slices, but in good substantial hunks. In everything the colonist likes
quantity. You can hardly realize the delight of 'tucking in' to a dish of
fruit at a dinner-party. I once heard a colonist say, 'I don't like your
nasty little English slices of meat: _we_ want something that we can put
our teeth into.' Imagine the man's misery when dessert came on the table,
and he was asked whether he would take a _slice_ of pear! Vegetables are
for the most part despised, though the thoroughly old English dish of
greens remains in favour, and potatoes are largely eaten.

Tea may fairly claim to be the national beverage. A large majority of the
population drink it with every meal, and you find cases of this even in
the metropolitan middle classes. With them, however, it is more usual to
drink beer with their mid-day meal, and to have meat-tea in the evening.
This practice extends through the upper and middle classes, and into many
wealthy houses. Next to tea may be ranked beer, English or colonial,
which I have come to think is a necessity