Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/324

 306 busy hour it would be! I came up this morning from Perth, and must return on Monday again. Mackie sets out on that day for King George's Sound, on circuit. I shall feel lonely in Perth until his return. I have hitherto lived with him while in town.

Sunday.—A pair of wild ducks were feeding on the lucerne in the front of the house to-day, and I wounded one. The dog jumped into the river and tried to catch it, but it dived so as to get out of reach. I also plunged in to help the dog, and it was a rare chase of nearly half an hour. At last I caught it under the water, but I had not bargained for such a swim.

Saturday.—Went to Perth on Monday last and took possession of my new house. Had dispatched J— from this at 11, with a bullock team and a cart loaded with divers things, and, amongst others, with a leg of mutton, ready roasted, for dinner. I expected him about five o'clock, but it was near nine before he arrived, and so dinner was at a very fashionable hour. It is a singular-looking house,—a wooden one, no less than 60 feet long, divided into four rooms and a hall. I think of getting it lath and plastered in the inside, and painted on the outside. The verandah droops too much and wants alteration. The purchase consists of two allotments, one on each side of a street running parallel with the river. That next the river has a fine site for a house, on the top of a bank or terrace 20 or 30 feet high, commanding a view of the river. The house is on the other side of the street and rather buried in a hollow.—I am trying an experiment here on potatoes. Some that were left in the ground last season have come up so strong that I have thought it worth while to transplant them into regular drills. If the frost does not cut them off, I may expect an early crop. We have much more rain this season than hitherto at the same period.

Sunday.—John Mackie spent the day with me. He says he has had about 320 bushels of wheat off his ground (10