"He always prophesies evil, and complains about his rations." "He knows more about sheep than any man this side of the Mary," said her husband.

From all this I trust the reader will understand that the Christmas to which he is introduced is not the Christmas with which he is intimate on this side of the equator--a Christmas of blazing fires in-doors, and of sleet arid snow and frost outside--but the Christmas of Australia, in which happy land the Christmas fires are apt to be lighted--or to light themselves--when they are by no means needed.
The young man who had just returned home had on a flannel shirt, a pair of mole-skin trowsers, and an old straw hat, battered nearly out of all shape.

He had no coat, no waistcoat, no braces, and nothing round his neck.

Round his waist there was a strap or belt, from the front of which hung a small pouch, and, behind, a knife in a case.
And stuck into a loop in the belt, made for the purpose, there was a small brier-wood pipe.

As he dashed his hat off, wiped his brow, and threw himself into a rocking-chair, he certainly was rough to look at, but by all who understood Australian life he would have been taken to be a gentleman.