JEANIE TAMSON TO MARY M'PHAIL. Per favor of the Colonist.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 292, 7 August 1860, Page 2

JEANIE TAMSON TO MARY M'PHAIL. Per favor of the Colonist.

My Dear Mary—Oh hough lam langin to here from c; an how you are likiii Nilson. I can hardly tell yej what Iv been thinkin o' this place beih in. war iime, but I think its a veranice lukin kintrft' and a vera high hill twise as high as Behledievitv bcotlap, forby the great hillox of IrbnsWnd, all along jthe beach, which the people say will make, gued steel an iron bath. An I am veryvexed that uncle |ged to Astralie a gold seekin, for in thip queer place the fofc say.;that you culd by,a big Gold nuget for twopence-halfpenny, and even think it dear at that price, and are very ancis to export old Gold! I have seensom of the Moariesthat ar» fighten with the sogers at the" Whitra, an'l'm sure I widna be frightend at them, for Im sure that 50 or 60 oh the ould wives frae the braes 0 iCorby linn, wad fight a thousan of them^an yet the foks her c think of them comin to the town an killah tha men an tha children, and, takin awa tha weman to ther own pas ; an "tha" 'Comander here is afraid of that, and is goiri Itb send all us^weamen foks to Nilson and Canterbery, an ah the children to be safe til the war is our. But Jamie said, ah; monieen mair beside him, that he wadna lat awa lils wife, forshewas far more valuble this place ? than gold, for she washes an keeps us ah clean.' Besid, what \vad ah de in Nilson, it wad just be ah toun 0' peticot sogers a fine coup for the Mouries, an I'm sure the poor milishiamen. wad sadly mis their wives in comin haiiie to a cauld housi we' nae fire an little to eat, but a pice cauld beef an a morsel 0' bread, for this is ah there aloance fra Sunday mornin till Saturday night: a' punda', beef an the same a' bread, wi a shillan a day, for sic wark as they have to., dp. Qur Gorge was inlyan piket.qn Sunday, night, that Jo> waks jn tjje mud a bout the toun an tfre flagstaf, an :§p,in of ther oncers dont know how bad to use the men in showin off tlier atharity; then on Monday, he was on ths raccouis'e piket all night j oh Tuesday ; bin) and'a lot more men were sent alang wie some eight or nine carts about nine miles into *.thje bush to a Captan Hatkinson's place, for a cow shed 01 pultry house, I blive it is to be put up at fort Herbert, for a gardrootn to thef ri)ilisna, Uvplapp pf the wharies which the; piket burnt down, wnar the officer M'Kechney gad to sleep, an got his" lang boots jaurned, an som got tin- blankets burnd, and one cried—o ray gun i» burnt; 0 damn the gun, said M'lCechney, its my boots; an just think how his lang bare taes got home thvou the fern stalks, but tliier was nothiri done to him, bina a great freen of the commanders the farses ; and on Wednesday he was all day digin in the trencher Thursday on fort Stap piket, it is now one of the best places for the men, the wharies are dry but the vermin both creepin and jumpin, are terrable, their is no firewood given for the piket houses, but they generaly help themselves from the nearest fencing. Saterday, again in the trenches all day, and he says many are harder wrought then him, and many men have goten colds that they will not gate over, and many are dying; and all-this hard labor and night wark, they say, is a punishment for speakin against the comander and other oficers at the Wiraka, but they are ah liftet up tha nue wie the idea of gatjn a new comander. J[ts a badfjob \fiv ijpip.''a't 'Jhjer^ii-aka, b,ein p«r nishd jn that sqrt q'w'ay, q;p tfier is |Q or of the brave mareem belongin tp ; tjie Niger, statiqned at fort Niger, and: they fought ?it the Wiralfi and savd our men, and for that they li^ye .\q j}p duty every other night, and the 05th have ajwa^s fiye or six nights in bed, but I must stop nou about »'h this wark, I'll tell ye in my nixt how were gatin on. Give my love to Helen and Jane, an tell uncle an Jamie not to go any more to the creek nor the rocky river bat to come to Taranaki, an he'U see that* weve Gold to spair. Your affectionate sister, JEANIE TAMSON. NtW Plymouth, July 20^,,1860.