The fiery wattles of the sun startle into flame The marbled towers of Shushan: So at each day's wane, two peersthe one in Heaven, the other on earthwelcome with their Splendor the peerless beauty of the Queen.

Crooked stunted gums and stringybarks, with a thick underscrub of wild cherry, hop, and hybrid wattle, clothed the spurs which ran up from the back of the detached kitchen.

The hut was built of rough wattles which admitted plenty of fresh air and gave us comfortable ventilation.

'Possum Gully, 25th March, 1899 Christmas, only distinguished from the fifty-two slow Sundays of the year by plum-pudding, roast turkey, and a few bottles of home-made beer, has been once more; New Year, ushered in with sweet-scented midsummer wattle and bloom of gum- and box-tree has gone; February has followed, March is doing likewise, and my life is still the same.