PURCHASE. 55 



ing to the difficulties met with, he works along 

 the ridge for a third side of your kingdom, turning 

 homewards at the big jack tree on the spur ; and 

 then, his work done, spends a last night with you 

 drinking prosperity to the little realm of which he 

 has thus set the frontiers. 



The price of land will vary greatly, not only 

 according to soil, but also in regard to communi- 

 cations. No one likes the farthermost lots, where 

 civilization has not penetrated and roads are un- 

 known, whether it be in India or elsewhere, and as 

 a consequence such blocks are usually the cheapest. 

 If they are promising in other ways they are not 

 to be despised, however, for Government very rarely 

 leaves an estate upon which work is actually being 

 done long without means of communication, and 

 the arrival of the road largely increases the value 

 of the pioneer estate. There is almost as much 

 difference between the price of a garden amongst 

 others and bounded by good roads, and a tract of 

 as yet unopened " impenetrable " forest, as there 

 is between a villa on the Thames and a " villa " on 

 the west coast of Ireland! In Ceylon, the best 

 Coffee soil has been costing 8 to 10 per acre, and 

 20 to ^30 per acre is estimated for bringing 

 the land into bearing, providing proper buildings, 

 roads, drains, &c. In other countries it is far less. 

 In Queensland, as an instance, we see by a recent 

 Blue-book: "Any applicant for selection of land 

 within ten miles from the coast or a navigable river 



