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 enduring 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 stockyard, 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 Scoone was in the
valley of Strathearne, and that the pillow of Jacob which had been kept
as the coronation stone of the Kings of Scotland, was fated still to be,
where their dominion extended; and as this valley of the Kingdon Ponds,
had not received a general name, that it might be called Strathearne,
etc. etc. We were finally compelled, although it still wanted two hours
of noon, to drink a stirrup-cup at the door--when he most heartily drank
success to our expedition, and I went on my way rejoicing that, on
leaving the last man of the white race we were likely to see for some
time, the ceremony of shaking hands was a vibration of sincere kindness.

We soon overtook the party--and had proceeded with it, some distance,
when a soldier of the mounted police came up, and delivered to me a