Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/142

124 streams; but wind mills will yet be in general use. There, has been but one experiment of the latter kind, and it has succeeded well.

30th.—Some of the settlers have met to take into consideration Mr. Lyon's plan for civilising the natives. I wish they were convinced of the evil of their pig-killing ways; "but," as Leod says in "Ennui," "I doubt if it will be very easy." On returning from the house at which the "grand palaver" was held, I found great difficulty in crossing the river, which was much swollen by the rains, particularly as the night was very dark.

31st.—Admired my little flock of sheep greatly, and thought the tinkling of their bells most musical. Have I ever before mentioned that our cows and sheep are furnished with bells, not for the mere sake of the tinkling sound, delightful as it is in the stillness of evening, but as indispensable for guiding us through the woods to the places where the cattle are grazing? Without them we should be sadly perplexed, from the difficulty of providing herdsmen to watch their ramblings. Send me some bells, English spades, and prongs, by the first opportunity. I want a flute sadly, mine was broken on the passage; and this day, when I took up one which an itinerant schoolmaster left in my kitchen, I found that my fingers had lost their wonted familiarity with it. Cut a drain to convey water from a low piece of ground, and planted some turnips on a piece of land covered with wood ashes from some trees which had been recently burned. Got a chest of tea, which came by the Sulphur, and cost about 2s. a pound; but it is execrable stuff, smelling like musty hay, and of course unfit for use.

August 1st.—Cut cauliflowers for dinner, and killed a pig weighing 112 lbs. Cut him up, salted, and packed him in a cask: this is one which I saved from the natives.

There is no domestic animal more useful here than the goat; if I were again coming out I should bring a score of goats from