LONGSHORE MEMORIES 195 
weather for a time. If they hovered and cried over- 
head, and made for the upland fields, foul weather 
was certainly coming, and they must prepare for it. 
When some strange sea-fowl, one that was an unusual 
visitant to our shores, was found in the fields, there 
would be much shaking of wise heads, and mutterings 
about storms that were brewing somewhere away, and 
of high tides ; and the safety of the banks had to be 
seen to. Birds were the weather omens, for good or 
for ill, and our folks were rarely or never misled in 
heeding them. Light-heartedness was a rare quality 
on our shores, heredity and the force of circum- 
stances made the natives grave and solemn of de- 
meanour. 
If they detested one thing more than another, it 
was having a case of any kind brought before ' the 
justices.' Matters were usually fought out between 
man and man, and the system worked well. Tena- 
cious enough they were, each one for what he knew 
belonged to him, such as fur, fin, and feather ; also 
concerning their various boundary marks. As a rule, 
all made common cause, helping one another when 
danger threatened or help was needed. News spread 
quickly over the flats, for the graziers had good 
horses ; no better of their sort were to be had. 
One marshland farm I often visited stood by itself 
