Now, as to food, there are just three items you can buy out here: goats, or sheep that have not an ounce of fat except in their tails. These cost about 2s. 8d. Chickens, which provide sufficient flesh for one person’s meal of very normal appetite, can be purchased for fifty cowrie shells (1¼d.), twenty eggs for the same price, but these are not often cheap, as very frequently they are brought for sale when they will not hatch. Of course our store room, furnished from England, is our grocer; the garden answers to greengrocer and fruiterer, for it produces nearly everything; crops can be had in constant succession if care is taken to sow systematically. We also have from our cows a constant supply of fresh butter, cream, and milk which is churned on the premises in a native gourd. Besides this we are our own bakers. Flour is grown in limited and fluctuating quantities in the country. This is ground up, mixed with carbonate of soda and buttermilk, baked in a native pot with fire above and under, and in less than an hour a very decent wholemeal loaf is ready for afternoon tea. The only drawback is that most of these departments of industry have to be worked by one’s self. It is rather curious the number of professions a European holds out here, simply because he must, there is no one else to do it. The natives have such exalted ideas of the powers of a white man, that they appeal to him in every difficulty. The first week we had brought to us an umbrella to be re-covered, one watch with broken mainspring needing repair, a lamp to be soldered, all sorts and conditions of sick people wanting medicine, and one raving madman! The servant question was one that had to be faced immediately on our arrival, so we decided to write up to the King and Namasole. In reply, four young girls were sent down who did nothing but weep in spite of our kindly assurances of friendliness. They had never seen white ladies before, and were literally scared at us. They all ran away during the first night! So we had to keep on our road-boys until we had won the confidence of the women. We sometimes wondered if we should live to see that time; for one day a cabbage was sent to table that had been cooked in about one pound of soda. The cook had seen the European put a pinch in the water, and judging the diminutive quantity was with an eye to economy, determined on giving us a liberal treat for once! Our best “cosy” was served up at another meal as a dish cover to the roast chicken!