Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/68

 The furnishing of these huts depends a good deal on the habits and taste of their occupiers, which of course vary very much, men of very different grades of society being comprehended in the class of squatters, which, in addition to those mentioned in a former chapter, contains several very excellent and respectable men sprung from the farmers and wealthy yeomanry of England, and besides these a nondescript class embracing considerable variety of character and respectability. This being the case, the interior of some of these simple dwellings resembles the inside of an English farm-house; some (such as that which I have described) have an ambiguous character, something between a rude sporting-lodge and the theatrical representation of a bandit's retreat; while others are chiefly characterized by want of cleanliness and comfort.

The mode of living adopted by the different settlers, varies for the same reason. Mutton is indeed the staple dish at all sheep stations, and beef at those of cattle. Damper, too, in some shape or other, is in general use instead of bread; but the mode of dressing and serving, the cleanliness or dirt with which this is done, all in fact which makes a meal comfortable or the contrary, vary with the habits of your entertainer. Besides this, the addition of butter, eggs, potatoes, and other vegetables, and occasionally fowls, bacon, or ham, makes a considerable variation in the monotony of eternal mutton. If to this be added two or three fine melons for a desert, you cannot complain very much of your fare; and the comfort is, that none of these things cost any thing but a little trouble. Damper is unlea-