62 My New Zealand Garden 



necessity, and was ordered down everybody's 

 throat for every malady the more grievous, the 

 more port and one's often infirmities must have 

 been braced up to concert-pitch, if not flooded out 

 altogether. What prodigious wine-bills it took to 

 souse the system to such an extent, especially as 

 most butlers required sousing as well ! I remember 

 hearing of a large cellar where, on the departure 

 of the soused one, every bottle was discovered 

 to be empty, with the exception of one, which, 

 he confessed afterwards, he had left for his master 

 to go on upon ! Butlers and cellars are chiefly 

 imaginary here, and a full complement of servants 

 generally consists of one ; so the drawing of corks 

 and other troubles which stimulants involve have 

 ended in abstemiousness in our own house, and a 

 pop is seldom heard. Solids, on the contrary, in 

 New Zealand receive a great share of attention, 

 and cooking is, perhaps, the most useful accom- 

 plishment, and may fall to the lot of anyone. It 

 fell to mine, but I lacked the accomplishment, and 

 I speak from bitter experience of myself and 

 others when I say that the meat-pies had no 

 holes in their tops! It is surprising to see the 

 beautiful cookery produced by some ladies, and 

 equally surprising to see the entire absence of all 

 knowledge of it in others. One of our visitors 

 offered to roast the chops ! She would soon have 

 had them hanging in a row, suspended by strings 



