have heard of ladies who continued the practice of it daily throughout the summer, yet, as no ice is procurable, the substitute of cream, scalded in the Devonshire fashion, looks at that season far more inviting and appetizing than the semi-liquefied butter. But, as a general rule, all dairy produce was very costly "over the hills," the price of butter, whether salt or fresh, being half-a-crown a pound, and milk being so scarce as to be often obtained with the greatest difficulty. Cheese, when it could be bought, often cost nearly as much as butter, but it was only at distant intervals that we were able to procure it, and the absence of this sheet anchor of the English larder perplexed me sorely when I commenced my colonial house-keeping. If a stranger breakfasted with us the sight of milk always provoked more or less comment upon its scarcity, and discussions of the comparative merits of cows and goats. The latter are more commonly kept than cows, and that both should be dry is a still commoner occurrence. Goat's milk is so rich that, if not intended for sale, one feels it no crime to water it; but to milk a goat is back-aching work, and makes one wish that the creatures stood upon a pedestal.
I once found a little fair girl watching a goat and two kids by the road-side, and the group looked so pretty that I stopped to admire the flock and its shepherdess, when she, laying her hand caressingly upon one of the buff-coloured innocents, dispersed my romance with the words "We shall have this for dinner next Sunday." The usual feeding-ground of the cattle belonging to the pensioners and other towns-people of Barladong was what was called the "Government run," a phrase which denoted all such
