THE SUBURBS OF AUCKLAND.--EXTINCT VOLCANOES.--MAORI FORTIFICATIONS.--A
KAURI FOREST.--KAURI LUMBER AND GUM.--HOW THE GUM IS FORMED AND
FOUND.--TREES OF NEW ZEALAND AND THEIR VALUE.--FERNS AND THEIR
VARIETY.--A PAKEHA MAORI.--HIS REMINISCENCES.--CURIOUS NATIVE
CUSTOMS.--BUYING HEADS.--SALE OF A LIVING MAN'S HEAD.--THE LAW OF
MURU.--NEW ZEALAND BIRDS.--THE GIGANTIC MOA, OR DINORNIS.--NATIVE
WEDDINGS.--KAWAU ISLAND.--SHARK FISHING.--OYSTERS.--VISITING THE
THAMES GOLD-FIELDS.--SIGHTS AND SCENES.--GOLD MINING IN NEW
ZEALAND.--POPULATION OF THE COLONY.--ENCOURAGEMENT TO
IMMIGRATION.--JOURNEY TO THE HOT LAKES.--CLIMATE OF NEW ZEALAND.
[Illustration: LAKE IN THE CRATER OF AN EXTINCT VOLCANO.]
After a glance at the interior of Auckland, our friends naturally turned
their attention to its surroundings. They were reminded of Naples, as
Auckland is in a region of extinct volcanoes, one of which, Mount Eden,
rises only a mile from the city. Following the advice of the landlord of
the hotel, they drove thither, passing numerous villas of the well-to-do
residents, with which the sides of the mountain are dotted. From the
edge of the crater there is a fine view of the city and its
surroundings, and the view takes in several volcanoes.
The Maoris had formerly a fortification on the top of the mountain; it
surrounded the crater, so that a whole tribe could be concealed there,
if necessary, for purposes of defence. Frank and Fred traced out some of
the terraces that formed the original fortification, and Doctor Bronson
said the works showed a good deal of military skill.
Within a radius of ten miles of the city no less then sixty-two points
of eruption have been found, the greater part of them being only
insignificant cones or hills. The largest and best specimen of the
extinct volcanoes of Auckland is Rangitoto, which rises from a great
mass of black lava, presenting a forbidding appearance. Unfortunately
for the beauty of the landscape, the forest that once covered this
region has been nearly all cut or burned away, and Auckland will
doubtless regret in the near future the desolation which her settlers
have made.
[Illustration: SAWING A KAURI PINE.]
The youths were anxious to see the famous Kauri pine (_Damara
Australis_), which is confined wholly to Auckland, and is the most
renowned of New Zealand trees. Before returning to the city they were
driven where they saw a single specimen, and before their departure from
the district they had the satisfaction of seeing a Kauri forest. Frank's
note on this subject is interesting, and we are permitted to quote it:
"The peculiarity of the Kauri pine is that the trunk does not appear to
diminish in size from the ground to where the limbs begin to spread. We
saw some trees more than two hundred feet high; they were eight or nine
feet in diameter at the base, and had no limbs within forty or fifty
feet of the ground. They reminded us of the famous big trees of
California, but were taller in proportion to their diameter. We don't
think we ever saw more graceful trees anywhere. They haven't a great
deal of foliage, and it grows in little tufts very much like bushes.
"The wood is full of gum, and is very valuable as timber. They told us
it was the finest wood in the world for shingles, as the gum preserved
it from the effects of the weather. A great deal of the lumber from the
Kauri pine is shipped to other parts of New Zealand, and also to
Australia, China, Feejee, and other places where it can find a market.
Many of the sticks have been sent to England to serve as masts and spars
for her Majesty's ships of war, and altogether the trade in Kauri lumber
is very large. The result is, a great deal has been cut away, and the
time is not very distant when the Kauri forests will be gone.
[Illustration: STOCK-FARM IN THE SUBURBS.]
"While we were walking among the Kauri trees our guide prodded the earth
with a spear that he carried, and he kept doing this so frequently that
we asked what it meant. He answered that he was looking for Kauri gum,
and after a time he struck a hard substance, which he dug down to and
brought to light.
"It was a lump of Kauri gum, and looked more like amber than anything
else; in fact, it is said to be used very often in place of amber for
the mouth-pieces of pipes and cigar-holders, and for other purposes
where amber is ornamental. It is worth eight or ten cents a pound, and
the shipment of Kauri gum from Auckland amounts to nearly a million
dollars annually.
"'How do you get the gum?' one of us inquired of the man who was showing
us through the forest.
"'In just the way you see,' he replied. 'The gum cannot be obtained
from the tree by any process of tapping or reducing from the wood. The
tree falls and dies, and then, when it decays, the gum collects in lumps
in the ground. It takes years and years for it to collect, and this
little lump, which I have just taken from the ground, has probably been
lying here for centuries. A new forest has risen where the old one
stood, and has taken a long, long while to grow.'
[Illustration: A WATER-OAK.]
"We asked what other timber-trees there were in New Zealand, and our
informant mentioned the Kahikatea, or white pine; the Rimu, or red pine;
the Totara, which is claimed to be impervious to the attacks of the
teredo; and the Tanekaha, which has a handsome, close-grained, and
durable wood, and whose bark furnishes a strong dye. Then there is the
Matai, which is much like the English yew, and is used for making
furniture; the Miro, which has a beautiful red fruit on which pigeons
grow fat; and the Kawaka, which has a remarkable leaf and a durable
wood.
"There is a great variety of tree-ferns, some of them reaching a height
of forty feet, and a diameter of twelve inches or more. The most
tropical of all the trees of New Zealand is the Nikau, which is the only
representative of the palm family. The ferns are more tropical than the
trees, and add very much to the beauty of the forest, though they impede
locomotion in many places. As for fruit-trees, there are very few
indigenous to the country, but nearly everything that grows in the
United States or England flourishes, and they have many things here that
are strangers to us at home. Peaches, apples, apricots, figs, oranges,
strawberries, pears, and other fruits are abundant in their seasons, and
some of them reach a luxuriance and perfection surpassing that of the
countries whence they came.
"Near the Kauri forest we were shown a Maori _pah_, or fort, that is
said to have been the scene of severe fighting in the early days of the
colony. While we were looking at it a man joined our group, and our
guide told us he was a _pakeha_ Maori. You will wonder, as we did, what
a pakeha Maori is.
[Illustration: A PAKEHA MAORI.]
"Well, he's a white man who lives among the Maoris, and in former times,
before the colonization, there was a goodly number of them, for the
simple reason that unless a man was a missionary he couldn't easily stay
in the country without living among the natives. _Pakeha_ means
stranger, and is applied to any white man, and a pakeha Maori is a white
man living among the natives. The tribes were very desirous of having
pakehas among them, for the reason that they could learn useful matters
from them, but more particularly they could buy muskets, gun-powder,
tools, and other trade goods, of which they were in great need. A pakeha
who had trade goods was always welcome, but a man who had nothing was of
little consequence, and sometimes had a hard struggle to keep his head
on his shoulders.
"With a judicious present of a few shillings we got on the right side
of this man, and induced him to talk about what he had seen or knew
among the Maoris. I have written down some of the things he said. I
can't vouch that they are all absolutely correct; but his statements are
corroborated by intelligent white men who have long lived in the
country."
Here we will close Frank's journal for a few minutes and listen to the
pakeha Maori.
[Illustration: A PAKEHA MAORI'S HOME.]
"You see I'm an old man; I came here when I was very young, and have
seen a great many changes. I was in Sydney, and heard New Zealand was a
good place for trade, so I loaded some goods on a schooner that was
coming this way, and in due time was landed in the country. At first I
made my home with one of the whites, who had come here before me and got
on friendly terms with the tribe where he lived; it didn't take long to
do it, as the Maoris were very anxious to buy my goods."
Frank asked what goods they wanted most.
"Muskets and ammunition," was the reply, "and for these they paid
fabulous prices in wild flax, which was the principal product worth
shipping away. They were constantly at war, and the tribe that possessed
the white man's weapons could destroy any tribe that was without them.
This happened in many cases, and whole tribes who were without guns were
destroyed by their more fortunate adversaries. They were literally eaten
up, as the natives were cannibals in those times.
"To get muskets they impoverish themselves, neglecting their agriculture
in order to gather flax to buy them with, and literally starving
themselves. Many died of starvation in consequence, and in another way
muskets proved the death of those who owned them. In the times of clubs
and spears the Maoris had their pahs and villages on high hills, where
the air was pure and the ground dry; when they got muskets they moved
into the low ground, where they were carried off by the dampness and its
consequent fevers. I have known whole villages and tribes killed in this
way, so that not one man, woman, or child remained. The musket was as
fatal to those who owned it as to those who did not; it was deadly
either way.
[Illustration: VIEW OF A PART OF AUCKLAND AND ITS HARBOR.]
"Now about some of the customs of the Maoris. They used to be tattooed
very finely, and some of the fighting-men were beautiful to look at. The
warriors used to bring back the heads of those they killed in battle,
and some of the traders got to buying these heads provided they were
finely tattooed. They gave a musket for a good head, and as soon as this
was known some of the tribes began to make war on others just for the
sake of getting tattooed heads to sell.
[Illustration: MAORI TATTOOING.]
"You may think it strange, gentlemen," said the pakeha, "but I've known
the head of a live man to be sold and paid for beforehand, and
afterwards honestly delivered according to the agreement; and one time
when the heads of warriors were not equal to the demand for them, some
of the chiefs tattooed the faces of several slaves whom they intended to
kill whenever the traders arrived who had agreed to buy the heads. But
the slaves were not faithful to their masters, as they all ran away into
the bushes just as the inflammation in their faces was passing away and
they were getting in good condition to be marketable.
"They had the tabu in its most rigid form here," he continued; "but as
you probably learned all about it in the South Sea islands I won't take
your time to talk about it.
"Another curious custom of the Maoris was the _muru_; the word means
'plunder'--and some folks might call it robbery, which it amounted to,
though it was the custom, and practically the law of the country.
"If a man's child fell into the fire and was severely or perhaps fatally
burned, he was plundered of nearly everything he possessed, and the same
was the case if his canoe upset while he was fishing, or any other
accident happened to him. The people of the tribe assembled and gave him
notice that they would be there for the muru on a particular day. He
prepared a great feast for them, and after the feast they sacked his
house and carried away pretty nearly everything he had. Sometimes he did
not have enough left to live upon, but he had the opportunity of getting
even by joining in a muru against somebody else. These performances were
never opposed, and in fact a man would feel insulted if a serious
accident of any kind happened to him and no notice was taken of it. The
greater the robbery, the greater the honor conferred upon the victim.
"If a man killed another through malice and with deliberate intent, the
act was generally considered of no consequence, or it might even be
meritorious. If it was his own slave that he killed, it was considered
his personal affair entirely; if the victim was of another tribe, it was
a matter of tribal revenge or retaliation; and if of his own tribe he
would be defended by his family or section, and nothing came of it. But
if he killed a man of his own tribe by accident, such as the discharge
of a gun, then the law of muru had full force, and the man and all his
relatives were plundered of everything they possessed."
[Illustration: INLAND SCENERY.]
Fred asked if the Maoris were given to the ordinary kind of thieving,
like most savage nations.
"Much less than you might suppose," was the reply. "Of course there were
pilferers; but, on the whole, private property was pretty safe from
burglary and sneak-thieving. The muru gave an opportunity for
plundering, and so did the warfare between the tribes; but a man could
exempt himself from the muru if he wished, by giving up all claims to
its advantages on his own account. When I first came to New Zealand I
was the subject of a muru, and afterwards joined in one upon a Maori
friend; but I found so many disadvantages, losing so much more than I
gained, that I stipulated to have nothing to do with these affairs in
future.
"In actual honesty the Maoris have been injured by their contact with
Europeans. They will steal and do other improper things more than
formerly; but against this we must offset the abolition of slavery,
cannibalism, tribal wars, polygamy, and many of their superstitious and
cruel practices. When anything is stolen from you the chief can recover
it, and will do so if you apply to him. Custom requires that you should
tell him to keep it as a reward for his trouble, and so you don't gain
much by the recovery of the plunder.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN COOK'S GIFT TO THE MAORIS.]
"They were not favored by nature," continued their historian, "as they
did not have the bread-fruit, banana, and cocoa-tree to supply them with
food, and they did not even have the pig until it was given to them by
Captain Cook. Dogs and rats were their only quadrupeds, and they ate
both. The native dogs are extinct, as the Maoris did not care to
preserve them when pigs became plentiful.
"It used to be the custom to make human sacrifices on the death of a
chief; prisoners of war were used for this purpose, their blood being
sprinkled on the grave, and the flesh roasted and eaten. There was a
grand feast at a funeral, and even now this custom is kept up, though
they have no longer any human sacrifices. The festivities at a Maori
funeral are very much like those of an Irish 'wake,' and something like
an Arab burial ceremony. They eat and drink all they can get, and the
mourning is performed by the women, who howl and cry for hours, simply
because it is the custom to do so."
As the time of our friends was limited, they bade adieu to the pakeha
Maori, and left him to meditate upon the changes that had taken place
since his advent into New Zealand.
"He might have told you," said their guide, "that the native rat has
been killed off by the European one, which was introduced from ships,
and the European house-fly has driven away the native blue blow-fly. The
foreign clover is killing the ferns, and European grasses generally are
supplanting the native ones very rapidly. The English sparrow has become
very common in New Zealand, and will doubtless destroy some of the
native birds."
Fred asked about the birds of the country, but his informant could not
describe them with any degree of accuracy. Later the youth learned that
there are one hundred and thirty-six varieties in all, of which
seventy-three are land birds. One of these, the Apteryx, or Kiwi, is
wingless, and lives in the mountains. He is very scarce, and only rarely
captured or even seen. There are six varieties of parrots, and two of
falcons--one about the size of a pigeon, and the other a very active and
industrious sparrow-hawk. There is one owl, and there is a blackbird,
which is called the "parson bird" by the settlers, for the reason that
it has two white feathers under its chin like the ends of a clergyman's
neck-tie.
[Illustration: SKELETON OF THE EXTINCT MOA (DINORNIS).]
Fred asked if New Zealand was not the home of the now extinct Dinornis,
the largest bird of which we have any positive knowledge.
"Yes," replied his informant; "the bird was called _Moa_ by the natives,
and it is pretty clearly established that he was abundant when the
Maoris came here, but was wiped out of existence some two hundred years
ago. Skeletons of the Moa have been found, and show that the largest of
these birds must have attained a height of fourteen to sixteen feet."
"Were they dangerous?" was the very natural query which followed.
"Not by any means; they were wingless, and belonged to the ostrich
family, and the naturalists say they were stupid birds, that could
easily fall a prey to man. This fact accounts for their extinction in
the first two or three centuries of the presence of the Maoris in New
Zealand. It is fortunate that their skeletons have been preserved in the
earth, so that we can know positively that such great birds existed."
"How do you know the Maoris lived upon these birds?"
"Partly through their traditions, and partly from the discovery of many
of the bones of the Moa in the ovens and in the heaps of rubbish around
the ruins of ancient villages. The natives devoured any birds they could
catch; parrots, pigeons, parson-birds, anything and everything edible
was legitimate food. Those that dwelt on the coast lived chiefly on a
fish diet, and those in the interior made annual or more frequent
migrations to the sea-side for purposes of fishing. The rivers abound in
eels, and they grow to an enormous size; I have seen eels weighing fifty
pounds each, and have heard of larger ones."
Frank asked what the clothing of the natives was made of before the
Europeans came to the country.
[Illustration: DRESSING FLAX.]
"It was made from the fibre of the flax," was the reply. "There are
several kinds of flax, and it grows everywhere and near every village.
Not only did it supply the material for garments, but for nets, baskets,
lines, mats, dishes, cordage, and other things. They used cords made
from it for binding the walls and roofs of their houses together, and
thus made it serve in place of nails. Great quantities of flax are
raised here nowadays, as you will understand when you know there are
some forty and odd flax-mills in the colony, and considerable flax is
exported every year.
"Most of the Maoris that you will see during your stay in New Zealand
wear clothes of European style, as they find them more convenient than
the cloaks and mats of former days. On ceremonial occasions the old
finery is displayed, and the cloaks of some of the chiefs are really
magnificent. Cloaks and mats or blankets were the ordinary dress, one
mat being wrapped around the waist, and the other thrown over the
shoulder. Men wore their mats on the right shoulder, and women on the
left, and they sometimes adorned their heads with the gayest feathers
they could find. Children went naked in their early years, except in the
coldest weather, when they wrapped themselves in any old garments they
could lay hands on."
The youths learned many other things about the Maoris, but we have not
room for all the notes they made on the subject. Frank asked
particularly about the marriage ceremonies of the natives, probably for
the information of his young lady friends at home. He learned that
children might be betrothed by their parents when very young, or if not
so betrothed they could marry very much as in civilized lands. Sometimes
the parents and families, and more frequently the whole tribe, discussed
any proposed match, and made all sorts of hinderances to it. Courtship
was begun by the girl quite as often as by the young man, and when
marriage was decided there were great preparations for a festivity, and
the bride and bridegroom were provided with new mats and many other
articles of household use. The funny part of the business was that
during the marriage-feast everything movable was carried away by the
friends, under the law of muru already described. The young couple
started in life with nothing except the clothes they wore and the house
that had been built for them.
During their stay at Auckland our friends visited some of the islands in
the bay, including that of Kawau, where Sir George Grey, a former
governor of New Zealand, has a fine residence. The house is quite
English in appearance and character, and contains a good museum of Maori
and other curiosities. The grounds around the house abound in pheasants
of several kinds from Europe and Asia, kangaroos from Australia,
tree-kangaroos from New Guinea, and several members of the deer family.
Near Kawau they saw a fleet of boats manned by Maoris engaged in the
capture of sharks. The creatures they pursued were not the ordinary
shark, which is abundant in New Zealand waters, but a smaller variety
measuring about six feet in length.
As the sharks were hauled into the boats they were killed by sharp blows
upon the nose, and then flung into the hold. When a boat was filled it
proceeded to an island, where the prizes were hung up to dry; and Frank
was told that from twelve to twenty thousand of these sharks are taken
in the bay of Waitamata every year, and either dried for winter food or
eaten fresh. Out of curiosity our friends took a luncheon of shark
steak, which had been baked on a hot stone after the native fashion.
They found it palatable, but rather tasteless, and so dry that Fred
suggested oiling each mouthful, or smothering it with butter. It was
unanimously voted that shark with the Maoris was not half as enjoyable
as salmon with the Indians of the Columbia River, or shad with the
fishermen of Delaware Bay.
[Illustration: FAMILY OF DEER ON KAWAU ISLAND.]
More palatable than shark steak were the oysters which abound in the
bay. The island of Kawau has a coast-line of about thirty miles, and all
around it there are oyster-beds, some of them of great extent. Not only
do the oysters grow on the rocks and in the water, but they cling to the
overhanging limbs of the trees, and grow there quite contented with
their immersion of a few hours twice a day during the rising of the
tide. Frank and Fred found the oysters of good flavor, and soon became
quite expert at opening the shells with the oyster-knives which were
opportunely brought along in the boat.
"Don't fail to visit the gold-mines and the Hot Lake district," was the
injunction repeatedly made to Doctor Bronson and his young companions.
As soon as they had exhausted the sights of Auckland and its
neighborhood they proceeded to follow the foregoing advice.
[Illustration: PROSPECTING FOR GOLD.]
First in order were the Thames gold-fields. A steamer carried them in
five hours from Auckland to Grahamstown, and as soon as they were on
shore they began their inspection of the mines. There are no placer
diggings here, the mining being almost entirely confined to the veins of
quartz in the mountains, which rise abruptly from the shore of the bay
on which Grahamstown is built. For this reason Grahamstown, which takes
its name from Robert Graham, its founder, has a more permanent and
substantial appearance than the ordinary town in a newly opened mining
country. It lies along the shore of the bay, and the numerous
reduction-works, founderies, and similar establishments were suggestive
of a manufacturing centre rather than a mining one only a few years
old.
[Illustration: STAMP-MILL AT GRAHAMSTOWN.]
Doctor Bronson had a letter of introduction to a gentleman interested in
one of the largest mines, and the trio of travellers were at once made
welcome. Clad in appropriate costumes, they were taken into the mine,
where they walked a long distance through a tunnel, and were then
conducted through a perfect maze of shafts and levels, where the workmen
were busily occupied in removing the auriferous rock, which was carried
directly to the reduction-works, where it was crushed and the precious
metal extracted. The gold contains a large amount--thirty per cent.--of
silver, and consequently has an appearance of pallor when turned out
from the retorts. As the work of gold-mining has been described
elsewhere in the wanderings of the boy travellers, it is hardly
necessary to give it here, the processes of mining and reduction being
practically the same all over the world.
Frank and Fred obtained the following information relative to
gold-mining in New Zealand, and especially in the region now under
consideration:
"Gold-mining in New Zealand properly dates from 1861, when gold was
discovered by Mr. Gabriel Read at Tuapeka, in the province of Otago. The
existence of the precious metal was known nine or ten years before that
date, it having been found at Coromandel by a Mr. Ring, who reported his
discovery to the authorities at Auckland. Since 1861 it has been found
in many places, and is now an important industry of the country. Some of
the mines are wholly alluvial, or placer, diggings, others are wholly
quartz-mines, which are called reefs in New Zealand and Australia, and
others are combinations of alluvial and quartz mining.
[Illustration: "STRUCK A POCKET."]
"For the enlightenment of some of my younger readers I will here explain
that alluvial, or placer, mines are those where the gold is found in the
earth or soil and is separated from it by washing. Quartz-mines are
those where the gold is in the ledges of the mountains and requires to
be removed by tunnelling or blasting, or both. The rock containing the
rock must be crushed to powder, and the gold separated from the powder
by washing and mingling it with quicksilver. Quartz-mining requires a
great deal of money to carry it on; so much, indeed, that it is
generally conducted by companies, and these companies, it is proper to
say, very often take more from the pockets of the stock-holders than
they do from the mines. Alluvial diggings are the resort of the poor
man, who needs only pick, shovel, and pan to set him up in business.
"During the year ending March 31, 1886, the mines of New Zealand yielded
233,068 ounces of gold, which was valued at more than four millions of
dollars; at least this was the amount entered at the custom-house for
exportation; some was doubtless absorbed in the colony, but no one can
tell how much.
"The yield of the Thames district for the same time was 61,939 ounces,
or more than one-fourth the entire amount for the colony. During the
month of May, 1886, 3039 ounces of gold were taken from 2574 tons of
rock. Some of the mines have paid good dividends to their owners, but
others have never made any returns. The ups and downs of mining in New
Zealand are about the same as in other parts of the world.
"There are nearly five hundred mining companies registered in New
Zealand, with a paid-up capital of about ten million dollars. Down to
the end of 1885 more than two hundred million dollars' worth of gold had
been exported from New Zealand, so that there can be no question of the
importance of the colony as a mining region. According to the official
returns there are more than eleven thousand men engaged in mining; two
thousand of these are quartz-miners, and the rest, including three
thousand Chinese, are in the placer mines.
"The placer miners do not confine themselves to the valleys of the
rivers among the mountains, but seek gold along the west shore, where
they find it under the bowlders and other stones embedded in the sand of
the beaches. The popular idea is that this gold is washed up from the
sea during severe gales; the scientific men say it is really washed up
by the lifting power of the waves on the sand that has been brought down
by the rivers and drifted along the shore. Some of this gold is obtained
by washing the sands in sluice-boxes, just as in operations among the
mountains; and deposits, or 'pockets,' are occasionally discovered in
the sand under the loose stones. Sometimes these deposits are of
considerable value, and we have been told of a miner who found a single
pocket containing nearly thirty ounces of gold. Similar pockets exist
in the mountains, and it is the height of a miner's ambition to find a
well-filled one and secure its contents without anybody's help.
"The alluvial mines in North Island are less extensive than those of
South Island. It is estimated that these mines cover an area of twenty
thousand square miles in South Island alone, and as very little capital
is required for working them, they are more popular than the others.
[Illustration: GOLD-MINING ON THE SEA-SHORE.]
"The principal quartz-mines are in the Coromandel and Thames districts;
the reefs have been prospected to six or eight hundred feet below the
sea-level, and also to a height of two thousand feet above it. In some
places the rock has yielded six hundred ounces to the ton; at least it
has assayed to that extent, but the amount obtained upon working it in
quantities is far less. Of course such rock as this is a rare exception
in New Zealand as everywhere else.
"In the province of Otago there are rich reefs, and in some places gold
has been found at elevations of six and seven thousand feet above the
sea. The highest mine in New Zealand is on the summit of Advance Peak,
near Lake Wakatipu, in South Island.
"The mines have been beneficial to the country in two ways: first by
the yield of gold, and secondly by attracting attention and emigration
to New Zealand. Like the colonies of Australia, New Zealand offers
inducements to emigrants, and is very desirous of promoting emigration
from the overcrowded countries of the Old World. An agent-general is
maintained in London, and a vast amount of printed matter setting forth
the advantages of the colony to actual settlers is issued annually from
his office. Emigrants with families are carried to New Zealand at a
reduced rate of fare, and at one time they were transported almost free
of charge, so anxious was the Colonial Government to increase its
population. The colony now has nearly if not quite six hundred thousand
inhabitants, which is certainly a good showing when we remember that the
settlement had its beginning in 1840, when its first governor came out
from England."
[Illustration: A MINER'S CAMP IN THE MOUNTAINS.]
Our friends remained at Grahamstown over Sunday, and observed a state of
affairs which was an improvement over that of American mining towns in
general on the first day of the week. All work was suspended, and the
whole population turned out in its best clothes. There are churches of
nearly every denomination at Grahamstown, and all were well filled with
worshipers; one of the churches has a stained-glass window which cost
some fifteen hundred dollars--certainly an unusual sight for a mining
town.
[Illustration: VISITING A MINE.]
Monday was spent among the hills and in the mines of the Thames, and the
youths retired to bed that night thoroughly wearied with the exertions
of the day. On Tuesday the party returned to Auckland, and immediately
arranged for a visit to the Hot Lake district. The trip was planned as
follows: Their heavy baggage was sent by steamer to Tauranga, which is
on the east coast, and the nearest port to the district they were to
visit. Then, with only their hand-bags and some rough garments and
necessities for mountain travel, the trio proceeded by rail, coach, and
horseback to their destination. By this plan they were enabled to see
the country and avoid travelling the same route twice over. The route
for the ease-loving tourist is from Tauranga by coach to the Hot Lakes,
a distance of about fifty miles, and back again over the same route. It
is proper to say that travellers who come as far as New Zealand for the
sake of sight-seeing are greatly disinclined to repetition, and nearly
all visitors go by one route and return over another. The Government has
established a sanatorium and laid out a town in the centre of the Hot
Lake district. It is building a railway from Oxford to this town, and
the promise is confidently made that by the end of 1888 travellers may
go by train from Auckland direct to the Hot Lakes without the fatigue of
a coach-ride over the present rough road.
"We had a charming ride," said Frank, "over the railway to Oxford, where
we took the coach in the direction of the famous region of New Zealand
geysers. Much of the country through which the railway passes resembles
England both in scenery and products; English fruit-trees grow well
here, and English grasses seem adapted to the soil. American pines have
been introduced and are doing well; they make a pleasing contrast to the
New Zealand wattle-tree and cabbage-palm and the ferns which abound
everywhere. The country is thinly settled, but will undoubtedly support
a large population in course of time. Villages with European houses
alternate with Maori encampments, the latter abounding with lazy
aboriginals.
"One of the advantages claimed for New Zealand is its similarity to
England in climate and products, with the great point in its favor that
while the climate has all the mildness of that of England it lacks its
severity. The average temperature of London is said to be seven degrees
colder than that of North Island, and four degrees colder than the
temperature of South Island.
"They tell us that snow seldom lies on the ground at the sea-level on
North Island, and not very often on South Island; but the summit of
Ruapehu, the highest mountain in North Island, and also the tops of the
peaks of the great mountain chains in South Island, are perpetually
covered with snow. The snow line is about seven thousand five hundred
feet high.
"The sun was shining brightly and there was a genial warmth to the air
when we left Auckland, but within an hour we were in a terrific rain
that beat heavily against the windows of the railway-carriage and
pattered like hail on the roof. 'This is our one drawback,' said a
gentleman who accompanied us, when the rain began to fall. 'The changes
of weather and temperature in New Zealand are very sudden. The
alternations from heat to cold, from sunshine to storm, from calms to
gales, are so frequent and marked as to defy calculation and prevent our
saying with truthfulness that there is any uniformly wet or dry season
throughout the year.'
"Then he went on to say that compared with Great Britain the climate
seemed to be far superior when the death-rate was considered. It was
less than eleven in one thousand annually, and lower than in any of the
colonies of Australia. He claimed that the salubrity of the climate was
due in great measure to the breezes for which New Zealand is noted,
there being no less than one hundred and twenty-six gales or high winds
in a single year (1885), and good winds for nearly all the rest of the
time. The prevailing winds are from the north-west and south-west, with
occasional storms from the opposite quarters. The annual rainfall is
twenty-eight inches at Auckland, thirty-six inches at Wellington, and
twenty-five inches at Dunedin, and there is more rain on the east coast
than on the west."
We will learn in the next chapter what our friends saw among the Hot
Lakes of New Zealand.
[Illustration: INLAND SCENERY.]