general vogue. The inhabitants are not many, as may be supposed, but
those there are simply overflow with hospitality and good spirits. One
and all were as pleased to see us, and have us live amongst them, as if
we had been old friends. The population is very variable; the surrounding
district contains some fifty or sixty fossickers, who come into town at
intervals to get fresh supplies of flour and salt beef--the one and only
diet of the bushmen in these parts, who, though very rarely seeing
vegetables, are for the most part strong and healthy. Sometimes cases of
scurvy, or a kindred disease, occur; one poor chap was brought in whilst
we were there, very ill indeed. I happened to be up at the hospital, and
asked the orderly (there was no doctor) what he would do for him in the
way of nourishing food. "Well," said he, looking very wise, "I think a
little salt beef will meet the case." And such would indeed have been his
diet if I had not luckily had some Liebig's Extract; for the town was in
a state verging on famine, dependent as it is on the whims of "packers"
and teamsters, who bring provisions from the coast, nearly three
hundred miles, by road. Twice a year waggons arrive; for the rest
everything is brought per horseback, and when the rains are on, and the
rivers running, their load is as often as not considerably damaged by
immersion in the water.

A monthly mail, however, and the telegraph line places the community much
nearer civilised parts than its geographical position would lead one to
suppose. The arrival of the mail, or of the packers, is a great event,
more especially since no one knows what they may bring. Thus a train of
pack-horses arrived at a time when flour was badly needed, but each load
consisted of either sugar or lager-beer--both excellent articles but
hardly adaptable to bread-making. The climate, situation, surroundings,
and want of means of recreation all combine to make the publican's
business a lucrative one. When, as sometimes happens, a fossicker comes