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 112 rat, which I have still alive; it is soon a tame thing, very like a kangaroo in miniature; but with a head larger in proportion, and with hair or fur of coarser texture. We saw several old huts of natives; eleven in one place, seven in another, with fur and feathers strewed upon the ground.

4th.—The storm has entirely abated, and the day is mild. One of the peculiarities of this climate is said to be, that rainy weather never continues longer than three days in succession; it was so within my own experience last year.

In the evening sowed a little wheat in the garden where potatoes had been, and as a reward for my labour dined on steaks of kangaroo, and excellent soup made of the forequarter and tail, and afterwards enjoyed vocal music—I mean a frog concert.

5th.—Mr. Burgess tells me that he has purchased two bullocks at £25 each, and advises me to buy one; but as I have only two acres more to plough, it is better to wait until the next season. Mr. Tanner has purchased eighty-two sheep at 33s. each; they are considered worth the money, though in very poor condition after their voyage from Van Diemen's Land. I myself offered in vain £50 the other day for seventeen merinos.

10th.—Nothing very particular or new has occurred within these few days past, excepting a third attempt at a newspaper here in manuscript. It is a rare specimen, and somewhat costly, price 3s. 6d. I ought to have before recorded the shooting of bitterns, pigeons, and parrots, in a hunting excursion with Mackie and Stone, on the margin of a lake which is ten miles in circumference, where we saw swans and ducks in abundance, but could not get near them. However, we had a dinner for six shillings each, of wild ducks, besides pudding and cheese, with three bottles of wine, at a house of entertainment near the lakes. This sounds grandly. But as a set-off, there are but fifteen casks of pork in the whole colony, and they