CH. I.] A COLONIST, 21 



his club, and in the other his bomraereng, with which beseemed 

 to acquire just fortitude enough, to be able to stand on his 

 legs, until I finished the sketch. (See Frontispiece, PI. 1.) 



Dec 2.- — The party moved off at seven, and passing, soon 

 after, near the farm of an old man, whom I had assisted 

 some years before, in the selection of his land, I rode to see 

 him, accompanied by Mr. White. He was busy with his 

 harvest, but left the top of his wheat-stack on seeing me, 

 and running up, cordially welcomed us to his dwelling. 

 A real scotch bonnet covered the brow of a face which re- 

 minded me, by its characteristic carving, of the " land of the 

 mountain and the flood." The analogy between the respec- 

 tive features, was at least so strong in my mind, and the sight 

 of the one was so associated with the idea of the other, that 

 had I seen this face on a stranger, in a still more distant 

 corner of the earth — it must have called to mind the hills of 

 my native land. The old man was very deaf, but in spite of 

 age and this infirmity, his sharp blue eye expressed the 

 endurino- vigour of his mind. He had buried his wife in 

 Scotland, and had left there a numerous family, that he 

 might become its pioneer at the antipodes. He had thus far 

 worked his way successfully, and was beginning to reap the 

 fruits of his adventurous industry. Sleek cattle filled his 

 stock-yard, his fields waved with ripe grain, and I had the 

 satisfaction of learning from him, that he had written for 

 his family, and that he soon expected their arrival in the 

 colony. He immediately gave grain to our horses, and placed 

 before us new milk ; and, what we found a still greater 

 luxury, pure water from the running burnie close by ; also 

 a bottle of " the mountain dew," which, he said, was from 

 a still which was " no far aff." When I was about to mount 

 my horse, he enquired if I could spare five minutes more, 

 when he put into my hands the copy of a long memorial 

 addressed to the government, which he had taken from 

 among the leaves of a very old folio volume of Pitscottie's 

 History of Scotland. This memorial prayed, that whereas 



