Graham has been getting soil from the farmyards to spread over the field which is being put up for hay, and the wall of which he has just finished repairing. The oxen are doing the drawing, but it is very slow work, and I expect this year he will have to content himself with half the field. I fear the flowers will not do very well because of the wind, but still if only a few grow it will be something to look at. I should like to try anemones.
Mollyhawk eggs are just in. They are large in size, of a long oval shape, and with reddish-brown markings and spots. The men say this bird never lays more than one egg each season.
Sunday, October 7.—I got up about 6.30, made the beds and put the room straight before early service. After breakfast I generally practise hymns, and John Glass, who takes the harmonium up to church, comes in early, as do William and some of the boys, to listen to the music. Confirmation classes begin this week. Graham intends holding them twice a week, and hopes men will attend as well as women. The Bishop told us that if a man-of-war were sent he quite hoped to come by it.
Tuesday, October 9.—John Glass has made each of us a pair of moccasins. He brought them in with much satisfaction on Saturday evening, and we at once tried them on. They are made with rather pointed toes which do not quite suit our feet. They have to be put on damp so that they may take the shape of the foot; and when they get very hard, as they do in summer, have to be soaked in water. They soon wear out, generally not lasting longer than three weeks, as the ground is so rocky.
Repetto is writing letters to be corrected by Graham, and really writes them very well for one entirely self-taught. He and his wife are most generous people and are always sending us small presents. I shall have some quaint mats and little bags of skin made by the people to bring home.
The Hagans have lost the grey cow they watched over with such care. They started slinging it too late, with the result that it got so bruised by the constant falls it could not recover from them. Now they have only one left, and the Repettos also have only one. The people depend much on their milk.
An east wind has been blowing the last few days which tries the trees and plants. The little peach-tree against the house is almost done for. I protect the small seedlings in the garden by putting tins round and over them. Plants are almost twisted out of their sockets.
Thursday, October 11.—Yesterday Graham began the Confirmation Classes. Most of the elders attended—nine men and fifteen women.
John Glass came in to-day to have his hand treated. It was much swollen through, as he thinks, the bite of an insect. He had left it nearly two days uncared for.
Monday, October l5.—On Sunday morning just before service Mrs. Bob Green came in for a remedy for her husband's foot which was badly swollen, and from her account it also seemed to have been bitten by an insect. I went across and found she had bathed it in hot water. We bathed it again, adding soda. To-day it was very much better and our services not required. Their little girl was christened yesterday Annie Gertrude Ellen.