The Australian Crusoes; or, The adventures of an English settler and his family in the wilds of Australia . f sheer old age. How old reallyis he ? We dont exactly know, said I; he owns to eightytwo, but from his remembrance of past events in Eng-land, we think he must be much, older. We soon arrived at Cherry-tree Bottom, which wnssituated in a little hollow, embosomed among the sur-rounding hills. Crab had made it the very model of anEnglish farm, and the rick-yard contained, in additionto several imposing stacks of wheat thatched to a nicety,and kept untouched, because, as he said, they made
The Australian Crusoes; or, The adventures of an English settler and his family in the wilds of Australia . f sheer old age. How old reallyis he ? We dont exactly know, said I; he owns to eightytwo, but from his remembrance of past events in Eng-land, we think he must be much, older. We soon arrived at Cherry-tree Bottom, which wnssituated in a little hollow, embosomed among the sur-rounding hills. Crab had made it the very model of anEnglish farm, and the rick-yard contained, in additionto several imposing stacks of wheat thatched to a nicety,and kept untouched, because, as he said, they madea farm-house look warm and homelike, a tolerable stackof hay made from native grass. The garden presentedthe autumnal maturity of luxuriance, which is so strik-ing in this country, and an ample orchard of cherry-trees proclaimed that the name of the favoured spot waanow deservedly bestowed. On a stubble-field, enclosed within a hawthorn-hedge,two horses in a line were ploughing, with a Shropshireplough; Crab holding in abomination the colonial prac-tice of employing bullocks in ploughs and carts. With-. His Alarming Illness. 507 in sight of the house, a pond had with much labour beenexcavated to receive the waters of a little rivulet thattook its source from a distant tier of hills. IndisputableEnglish geese and ducks disported themselves in thiscapacious reservoir, gladdening the old mans eyes withthe picture of his early youth. But those cjes werenow about to close; and with a heaviness of heart whichI did not attempt to suppress, I approached the doorof my ancient friends dwelling. We found the old man seated in an easy chair, hissilvery white hair hanging on his shoulders, by an openwindow, having a view at the same time of his wheat-stacks, his duck-pond, and his twelve-acre wheat field,at which his servants were now at work-. He had been com-plaining, Betsy told us, of the mistiness of the atmos-phere, although the air was clear and pure—I well knewwhat this mistiness m
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidaustraliancr, bookyear1853
