we could not eat while it was good; a whole quarter of a calf at once; so
we had two or three quarters in a little time, and seven stone of beef.
One old gentleman came and brought us a wagon load of wood, and two chucks
of bacon; some sent flour, some bread, some cheese, some soap, some
candles, some chairs, some bedsteads. One class-leader sent us 3_s_. worth
of tin ware and many other things. The flowers are much here as yours;
provision is not very cheap; flour is 1_s_. 7_d_. a gallon of this money,
about 10_d_. of yours; butter is 1_s_., your money 6_d_.; meat from 2_d_.
to 6_d_., yours 1_d_. to 3_d_.; sugar 10_d_. to 1_s_. yours 5_d_. and 6_d_.
Tell father I wish I could send him nine or ten pound of tobacco; for it
is 1_s_. a pound; I chaws rarely.


_Constantia, Dec._ 2, 1828.

Dear Children,

I now write for the third time since I left old England. I wrote a letter,
dated October 8th; and finding that it would have four weeks to lay, I was
afraid you would not have it; and as I told you I would write the truth,
if I was forced to beg my bread from door to door, so I now proceed.
Dear children, I write to let you know that we are all in good health,
excepting your mother; and she is now just put to bed of another son, and
she is as well as can be expected. And now as it respects what I have got
in America: I have got 12-1/2 acres of land, about half improved, and the
rest in the state of nature, and two cows of my own. We can buy good land
for 18_s_. per acre; but buying of land is not one quarter part, for the
land is as full of trees as your woods are of stubs; and they are from
four to ten rods long, and from one to five feet through them. You may buy
land here from 18_s_. to 9_l_. in English money; and it will bring from 20