V THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES COLONIAL EXPERIENCES. PUBLISHED BY JAMES MACLEHOSE, GLASGOW. MACMJLLAN AND CO., LONDON. London, . Hamilton, Adams and Co. Cambridge, . . Macmillan and Co. Edinburgh, . - Edmonston and Douglas. Dublin, . . W.H. Smith and Son. MDCCCLXXIV. COLONIAL EXPERIENCES; ^ ' -. 277 COLONIAL EXPEKIENCE. CHAPTER I. "NEW CHUMS," on their first arrival in the colonies, hear a great deal said on all sides about "Colonial Experience," and are apt to imagine, as many of the colonists themselves appear firmly to believe, that this phrase means a great deal, and that a man possessed of this quality has acquired a degree of infallibility to be gained nowhere out of the colonies. A person coming from England may perhaps sup- pose that he should be the teacher, not the taught; that the inhabitants of these antipodean 2 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. regions are a long way behind the age; but, if he assumes an air of superiority, he is sur- prised to find that he is looked on as immature, and perhaps patronised somewhat, for wanting "colonial experience." By-and-bye, however, he discovers that this great desideratum is a myth invented to keep new-comers, such as himself, in their proper place. The expression, notwith- standing, is not without foundation, and though the adjective might with better propriety be dropped, colonists may more readily become experienced in the ways of men of all classes, dispositions and nationalities than those who live quietly in some steady, slow-going country town in Europe; but those who have been in business in the larger cities, or have seen any- thing of the world, have little or nothing to learn on settling in the colonies. The discovery of gold drew to these southern lands a motley collection of people, and they for the most part were restless, stirring, ener- getic fellows. It is not the plodding slow- coach or man of timid disposition who emi- COLONIAL MEN. 3 grates, for the colonists, as a people, bear the same characteristics. From the possession of these qualities, and the fickleness of fortune where gold is so eagerly sought after as here, the ups and downs in life are more frequent and noticeable than in England. The sparser population, too, prevents a man when he is " down on his luck," to use the current phrase, from disappearing altogether from the view, and the greater democratic feeling which pre- vails, prohibits any notions of false pride, so prevalent in the old country, from intervening between a man and any honest means of liveli- hood. Colonial . men appear to have a knack of turning to anything. You may meet a man who has been long in the colonies, and discover in the course of half-an-hour's conversation that he has applied himself to some half-dozen occupations during the term of his colonial resi- dence. It is never safe to judge what a man has been or done from what he is ; for instance, a man may be managing a bank on your forming 4 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. his acquaintance, and you are somewhat amazed to discover at one period of his previous history he had been a bullock-driver, carting goods to the diggings; some accident happening to his team, in disgust he left that occupation, and took to digging ; not making a " pile " so quickly as he would desire, he gave that up and started in business as an auctioneer, and then losing all his money in some bad speculation, he succeeded in obtaining an appointment in a bank, and has risen to the rank in which we now find him. Another man is a thriving lawyer ; he began his colonial career by mining, and was singularly successful; with his newly- acquired wealth he returned to his native place and started some kind of manufactory, by which in a few years he managed to ruin himself; still, undaunted, he returned to the colonies to find the palmiest days of the diggings gone by, and nothing else presenting itself he ap- plied for a situation in a lawyer's office, which he obtained, in a short time was articled, and in due course passed his examination and com- A JACK OF ALL TRADES. 5 menced business as a solicitor on his own ac- count. This diversity of experience is by no means confined to any particular class, though it is perhaps less surprising amongst illiterate men. Such an one I have known, who had been digging as a matter of course, a seaman on board a whaler, a hotel-keeper, an auctioneer, a contractor, had speculated in shipping horses from Australia to India, and at the time I made his acquaintance was proprietor of a butcher's shop. Doubtless these men gained great ex- perience whilst engaged in their diverse occupa- tions, but the acquisition of it by such means alw r ays reminds me of the old story of " paying too dear for one's whistle." Many will perhaps think that this versatility of disposition is not a valuable attainment, though the ready adaptability to circumstances which it betokens undoubtedly is. By no means a large proportion of the inhabitants of the colonies have undergone such vicissitudes or changes, but those who have are sufficient 6 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. to leaven the mass who acquire at second-hand some of the experience of the others at a cheaper rate ; thus recalling what the old farmer told his spendthrift son on his return from a trip to the city, where he had expended of the paternal substance somewhat freely : " Ah ! John," said the old man, "you should remember that a rolling stone gathers no moss." " Well, father, if it does not, it gets polished," replied the young reprobate as he superciliously surveyed the bucolic cut of his father's coat. " If your polish only regulates the style of your clothes and I don't see much difference in you, barring that it's not worth the price you've paid for it, John, for . have you not seen that since you came home several of the young bucks in the village have copied the pattern of your coat to a nicety, and so got as much polish as you for next to nothing." There is a recklessness about many colonists which begets an unwonted degree of caution in others ; this shows itself not merely in com- mercial life, but in almost every department. IMPRUDENCE. 7 An instance of this recklessness recently came under my notice, and though the scene lay in a neighbouring colony, it may be related as illus- trative of my meaning. A man belonging to the middle rank of life had emigrated to Australia, and invested what little money he had in a quartz mine for a time all prospered, and he wrote home to a lady Avhom he had for some years been engaged to marry, urging her to come and join him before, however, the young lady arrived the quartz ran out, and the shares fell from a high value to absolutely nothing, and our friend was ruined. Just at this time he received a letter telling him his fiancee had sailed he borrowed twenty pounds from a friend, and proceeded to the seaport to await her arrival her ship came in before long, and he, like a fool, without apprising her of his altered circumstances, married her at once. The sequel is soon told. His wife's recriminations caused him to take to drinking; she followed suit, and the last I heard of them was, that this woman, born and educated a lady, was 8 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. living in a miserable hut with, several squalid- looking children, supplementing the small por- tion of her husband's earnings which he brought home, by doing a little washing for the sur- rounding diggers. This is without doubt an extreme case, but I have sometimes seen men, in different ways, act with as much indifference to what were apparently the inevitable consequences of their actions, and perhaps, after all, we have not more of this sort of person in the colonies than could be found in the home-land, but there is this difference, that in the latter they sink more rapidly and completely out of sight. In a country where labour is so dear as it is here, most people have had, at some time or other, to do things for themselves which, had they remained in the country whence they came, they would never have thought of at- attempting, besides having to "rough it" oc- casionally. If an unfortunate new chum ventures mildly to protest against some trifling hardships, he is at once silenced by being told THE COLONIAL WORKMAN. 9 that it is evident he is not " colonised " yet, and that he must get used to such things. If any particular philologist should read this, he will probably object to the word colonised in place of the more correct but uglier word colonialised, but he would find it a vain task to attempt to argue the colonists into the use of any other. A man of aristocratic proclivities would have to undergo more colonising than another; he would soon have to learn the meaning of the proverb that " Jack was as good as his master," as any appearance of what may be termed " uppishness " would be quickly resented. One, recently arrived from England, on going to look at a property belonging to a friend, found a labourer leisurely surveying the pre- mises. With an eye to his friend's interests, and thinking to annihilate the intruder at once, the gentleman pompously asked him if he was aware he had no right to be there. The work- man, recognising that his interrogator was a new chum, replied, " Oh ! we make rights for ourselves in this country." This unlooked-for 10 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. reply caused the complete collapse of the would- be annihilator, but he relieved his feelings afterwards by storming to his friend against the insolence of the lower classes, and nearly quarrelling with the latter for his advising him not to use the adjective lower in this country. Fortunately for his subsequent peace of mind, this individual did not remain long in the colony. Other men, again, are so wonderfully "green" and unsophisticated that, no matter where they went, they would have a vast deal to learn. One of the kind I refer to, on his being told that if he went up country, as he spoke of doing, he would have to rough it a bit, said, " Oh ! I should not mind that much, so long as I can get a cutlet and a glass of sherry for lunch, I am not particular about the rest of the day." It takes many a hard rub be- fore such men as these acquire any colonial experience. The following pages contain a few of the writer's experiences, to which have been added AN APOLOGY. 11 one or two chapters giving a little information about the country. Some of the chapters were written before the idea of publishing them in their present form suggested itself, and to this is to be attributed any apparent disjointedness which it is now too late to remedy. CHAPTER II. THE name of the capital of Otago is a peculiarly happy one. It combines the charm of associa- tion with that of novelty. Being the disused yet familiar Celtic name of the capital of Scot- land, it awakens within every Scotchman the remembrance of his native land, yet as the appellation is never now applied to " Auld Reekie," and there is no other town of the same name, no confusion is created. The people of Dunedin, however, narrowly escaped the bar- barity of having their infant city christened New Edinburgh, that being the original inten- tion of the founders of the settlement of Otago, THE CITY OF DUNEDIN. 13 when fortunately Dr. William Chambers, the eminent publisher, seeing some mention of the proposal, wrote to the newspapers suggesting the present name. The idea was caught at, and the change made ; even in minor respects there is much to remind one from Edinburgh of the parent city. Most of the streets are called after those of the Dunedin of the northern hemis- phere, the stream that flows through the north end of the town bears a name well-known to the inhabitants of Midlothian, the " Water of Leith," and then down the bay there is an embryo water- ing place designated " Portobello." There is nothing, however, in the natural situation or general aspect of the town itself which recalls the "Modern Athens," although a Dunedinite might well exclaim with Scott, "mine own romantic town." The city of Dunedin is situated at the head of a long narrow bay running almost parallel with the sea-board, so that though it is about twenty miles from the entrance to the bay, it lies distant not more than three from the ocean. 14 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. The passage from the heads or entrance up to Dunedin is through a panorama of rare beauty. The hills which rise on both sides are wooded down to the water's edge, brightened and re- lieved by the clearings and homesteads of the settlers. The former are year by year becoming larger, and are already too large and numerous for the beauty of the scene, but as the settlers on the sunny slopes of the " Peninsula" doubt- less study more the growth of early potatoes than aesthetics, Dunedin must submit to lose in time a little of its loveliness. But it will only be a little, for man the destroyer cannot change the outline of the hills, nor wholly rob their sides of verdure. About half-way up the bay lie two islands, and beyond these, vessels of large burden do not proceed. Here, therefore, is situated the port of Otago, now connected with Dunedin by a railway, while steamers also ply on the water. The pilgrim fathers of the Province called their harbour Port- Chalmers after the Scottish divine, which name it still bears. I was amused once ASPECT OF THE CITY. 15 with the remark of a cockney girl who, on arriving in port when everything was looking its best in the bright sunlight, exclaimed, with her English accent, "No wonder that they call this Port- Chalmers, it would charm any one." Her knowledge of Free kirk luminaries, if not of the body itself, must have been small. As the channels above the islands are narrow and shallow, only the smaller coasting vessels and steamers go on to the city. The appear- ance of the bay is rather disfigured in places by large mud banks left bare at low water, but their ugliness is in some measure atoned for by the presence of beds of oysters and cockles. These banks are also a hindrance to boating, nevertheless several gentlemen of the place persevere in yachting, and there is even an Otago yacht club. The traveller sees nothing of Dunedin till he reaches the head of the bay, when, rounding a promontory, the fair city stands before him. The fact of the buildings, on the higher grounds especially, being built of wood and painted with 16 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. light colours, imparts a clean bright appearance. Sited upon the hill-side they rise " Line o'er line, terrace o'er terrace, Nearer still and nearer to the blue heavens." On a closer approach the stranger distin- guishes the business part of the town lying on the narrow strip of comparatively level land at the base of the hills. Viewed from the water, this portion of the city presents a confused ap- pearance, but many buildings of white or blue stone or red brick may be distinguished, and though a few tall chimneys are discernible, smoke and age have not as yet removed the charm of colour, and toned everything down into an uniform grey. About the centre of the town the new Presbyterian church, a handsome building of the whitest stone, recently erected at a cost of 16,000, stands prominently forth. To the right is a considerable tract of flat land, well covered with buildings, the most conspicuous amongst which is the hospital, a large structure, built originally for the New Zealand exhibition. STRANGERS SURPRISED. 17 The hills forming the background are to the right covered with native forest, while on the other side they are bare and grassy. Further to the left lies a stretch of low land, bounded by a line of sandy hillocks, on the other side of which is the ocean ; the whole forms a picture not often surpassed in beauty, and seldom equalled. Strangers from England are usually surprised with the aspect of Dunedin, for as a rule they always expect something decidedly primitive, but when they reach the streets, and see the busy throng of people and vehicles of all kinds, and the piles of handsome and substantial buildings, they can hardly believe that all this has sprung up not merely within the recollection of the oldest inhabitant, but within that of those who have hardly attained man's estate. The visitor may, if he be of a meditative turn of mind, find food for contemplation in the thought that every one, except the youngest, has come hither from other parts of the world, and ponder on the many influences which have B 18 .COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. drawn these people together. There is no doubt that Dunedin is a fine town for its age and that it contains many fair and even good buildings. The University, built of white Oamaru limestone, is perhaps the finest, except the church already mentioned ; it stands in the centre of the business part of the town, and not- withstanding that its site is a disadvantageous one, being rather low, it is a commanding edifice. The Banks and government buildings too, would attract notice, as well as many of the warehouses, and every year is fertile in some improvements. The narrowness of the streets is a defect which would probably not escape observation. It is frequently regretted by the inhabitants, but to this I think is partially due the absence of newness in the appearance of the place, which is remarkable. The chief thoroughfare is Princes Street, which, with its continuation, George Street, runs along the base of the hills fully two miles. From this main artery, streets diverge on the one hand to the hills, and on the TO WN AND COUNTR Y SUR VE VS. 1 9 other to the level ground, this at the south end is very narrow, (the result of reclamation from the harbour,) but it is much wider to the northward. It is said that the town was laid out in the old country, and certainly the manner in which the streets have been taken up the hills shows an absence of regard for the natural contour of the ground, which seems to lend some colour to the story. The same thing is to be found, however, in the country surveys, where the surveyors have evidently regarded a straight line as a "thing of beauty," and I doubt not they often looked upon a river that would not flow in an undeviating course as a blemish to their maps. The streets upon the hills have been formed, however, as originally laid out, though in some instances at a great expense of earthwork. If climbing hills be con- ducive to hardiness in a people, the citizens of Dunedin should excel in that quality, for one can hardly go anywhere without ascending an incline. 20 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. Most of the houses built on these hills are accessible with horses and carts, though there are a few streets up which it is impossible to drive. There is a reward, however, for living on the heights, as the houses command a magnificent prospect. The "new chum" direct from the home country is often astonished to find nearly every one, both rich and poor, living in wooden houses, and also to find what comfortable houses they are. In the business part of the city, stone and brick are predominant, but wood will long be the favourite material for dwelling- houses, especially as we have not to withstand anything like the rigour of an English winter. Dunedinites talk of their town as being the commercial capital of New Zealand, and it is not without reason that they assume this position. Dunedin "bagmen" are to be met with all over the colony, and a considerable amount of business is done with some of the other provinces. This entails the keeping of larger stocks than would be necessary for mere local requirements. Talking recently with one of the EXTENT OF BUSINESS. 21 wholesale ironmongers, he informed me that their stock at the last taking was valued at 70,000. Dunedin does not, however, derive so much benefit from this commercial pre- eminence as might be supposed, for many of the wholesale houses in all departments of trade are mere branches of large foreign firms, and the most of the profits are withdrawn to be spent in England and elsewhere. This absenteeism is one of the colonial bugbears, and one of the strong arguments for an income-tax. We have in Dunedin many instances of sections of land owned by people who never saw the place, and who yet draw large ground rents, taking care, however, that their tenants pay all the taxes. From the large numbers of the Tasmanian blue gums (eucalyptus globosus) which have been planted about the town, Dunedin might almost be re-named the city of gums. These trees are quite a feature in the place, and have come into favour chiefly on account of their rapid growth. They will attain the height of 22 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. from sixty to seventy feet in ten or fourteen years. But, though not ungraceful, they are lacking in beauty, on account of their sombre foliage. Poplars and willows are also favourites for the same reason, especially the weeping willow, to which there is attached a slight historical association not uninteresting. When the French made their unsuccessful attempt to colonise New Zealand, and sent a vessel with emigrants, the ship touched at St. Helena, and the passengers possessed themselves of some slips of the willow which overshadowed the grave of the mighty warrior who once slept there. The slips grew, and when the vessel reached her destined port, Akaroa, in the pro- vince of Canterbury, the young trees were transferred to New Zealand soil, where they grew and flourished, and became the parent plants of most, if not of all, the weeping willows in the southern provinces of the colony. Credit is due to those who laid off the town of Dunedin for their forethought in reserving for the purposes of recreation a belt of land RECREATION GROUNDS. 23 round the town, excepting, of necessity, the side which has a water frontage. This town -belt, as it is called, is pretty much in a state of nature, except in one or two places which have been improved, notably the piece used as a cricket ground, and also another portion which has been laid off with considerable taste as public gardens. Part of this reserve is also used as a golfing ground, and the enthusiastic players, dressed in red coats and followed by their "caddies," are to be seen enjoying the game all the year round ; schemes have frequently been mooted for the improvement of the whole, and will doubtless be one day carried into effect. Many villas have been nested beyond this belt, and several suburban villages or, in colonial parlance, town- ships, have already sprung up. The Scotch origin of the province is evidenced by the fact that out of the thirteen places of worship in Dunedin proper, four are Presby- terian, while two are Episcopalian, and various other denominations are represented by one each. The Hebrews are strong enough to possess a 24 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. synagogue, which would seem to indicate that the Scotch settlers, in the transfer from their fatherland to a more kindly clime, have left behind a little of their proverbial " canniness." There is no lack of amusement in Dunedin. Artists of all descriptions are continually coming and going, and there are two theatres, sometimes both with very fair companies. The Athenaeum is a creditable institution, the reading room belonging to it being particularly well supplied with papers and periodicals, both home and colonial, altogether, any one may, no matter what his taste may be, pass his time very pleasantly in Dunedin. CHAPTER III. , potatoes 2s. per ft>, a 4ft> loaf 1, a bottle of gin 1, and so on in proportion for everything else. Money at such times is spent as if there were no end to it. It is a matter of difficulty to get a man to do anything for you, and no matter how slight the service, the remuneration de- manded would never be less than 1. Stories of the extravagance and recklessness of lucky diggers are abundant, but they have always a sameness about them. Making a sandwich of a 20 note and eating it, washing in a bucket of champagne, or setting up bottles of that liquor for skittle-pins; and champagne then meant money, for even till quite recently the most indifferent wine which passed by that name was 1 a bottle. A few minutes conversation with any one who was a " host " in the times I speak of, will evoke many such tales of extra- vagant folly. " Ah ! these were the good old times," said my landlady once, adding that she had seen the men with their pockets full of gold come into the hotel, and, times without number, 90 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. 11 shout for all hands " (that is, treat every one in the house to drink), insisting on paying for even the cats and dogs, and this would probably be continued till the lucky digger was " cleaned out." In this province such a state of affairs has long since passed away, and gold-mining has settled down into a steady permanent industry. The mining population have, it is true, perhaps a little larger share of love of change than most colonists, but the numbers on our gold-fields have not fluctuated much for many years back. The miners, or diggers as they are usually termed, are a hardy class of people who mostly have followed mining as an avocation for many years. In the early days, men of all ranks and grades, professions and callings, might have been found in the digger's garb, but now-a-days the pursuit of gold-mining does not number amongst its followers many men above the rank of artizans. Numbers of them are highly in- telligent, and have seen a great deal of the world, and are remarkable for their sturdy in- THE GOLD DIGGER. 91 dependent air and manner. " I've called no man master for twelve years," I have heard a fellow say in talking of himself, and, from the decided way in which he said it, I am sure he never would again. Many of them have travelled much, either as seamen or in search of the precious metal, and consequently have various experiences to relate on all sorts of subjects. Life in a small diggings township would be most insufferably irksome, especially to the poor civilian or banker, were it not occasionally enlivened by listening to some good digger's yarns. Some of these are sad ones, for many risks are run and many hard- ships suffered; and both in prospecting in a new country, and in following the every-day employment of the miner, one sometimes meets an untimely fate. In Otago the principle kind of mining is ground-sluicing, the modus operandi being very similar to one method of working for tin in Cornwall, there called " streaming." When there is a large deposit of aluvium, with a little 92 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. gold all through it, or perhaps containing differ- ent strata of auriferous soil, too poor to pay for driving tunnels in, ground-sluicing is the only way to make it pay. Water-races are brought on to the ground often from great distances : the races being taken along the sides of the hills, across deep gullies, and round rocky pro- montories and cliffs for many miles, so as to reach, at a sufficient level, the ground to be worked. The only engineering instrument used is a large wooden triangle, or rather a figure like a wide spread letter A, with one leg usually a little shorter than the other, and a weight hung from the apex, which indicates, with the aid of a few marks on the cross-bar, the number of feet to the mile of fall that is being given to "the race." Great expense is sometimes incurred in carrying these races across gullies and rivers, in wooden boxes, or canvas hose called fluming. When at length the water reaches the auriferous ground, the earth is gradually washed away through a narrow channel, or tail-race, in mining phrase- GOLD DIGGING. 93 ology, prepared for the purpose, and paved with stones. This process is carried on for months, the tail-race being prolonged into the space from which the ground has been washed away, until a larger hole or " paddock " is taken out, with precipitous sides, varying in height from a couple of feet to two hundred or more, ac- cording as the ground is deep or shallow. Everything is rushed into the tail-race by the water, the large stones being lifted out by hand and piled up on the sides, while the smaller ones are sometimes taken out with a long handled long pronged sluice-fork, while the earth and gravel are carried away by the stream. When the "paddock" has been taken out, the water is turned off, and everything that is left in the tail-race carefully removed, to be washed again in a sluice-box or cradle, and the desired result is then obtained. The gold, even when fine, from its great weight finds its way down among the interstices of the rough paving of the tail-race, and is thus saved. This kind 94 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. of working is often dangerous, and numerous miners have lost their lives while engaged in it, as the ground is sometimes treacherous and comes away suddenly with little warning in large blocks ; at others it is brought down with difficulty, and even gunpowder has to be re- sorted to. I knew of one poor fellow who was drowned in a horrible manner while engaged in this kind of mining. He was at work during the night- shift looking after the water ; the tail-race was a deep one, and while in it a fall of earth came down from the side, knocked him over, and buried the lower part of his body, leaving the upper part free. He fell with his head up " the race," and there he lay with half a ton of earth holding him down, and the muddy water rising upon him. Several crys and noises were heard that night in the township from the direction of the workings, but as they were supposed to come from the hut of a miner who was known to be "on the spree," no attention was paid to them, and in the morning, when A LUCKY MINE. 95 the people went to work, they found their poor mate drowned in the tail-race. In this province quartz crushing for gold is as yet in its infancy, but it gives abundant promise for the future, notwithstanding that the interest of the speculating public has been somewhat shaken in " reefing," from many bubble companies having been started and some others which were bond-fate proving " duffers," or being ruined by mismanagement. The number of paying quartz concerns is gra- dually increasing, and, without doubt will con- tinue to do so every year, for as capital is amassed in other pursuits it of necessity seeks outlets for itself. One of the most successful quartz mines in the province is in private hands, and its for- tunate proprietors are rapidly making fortunes. Three miners took up the case, and after pro- specting it for some time and spending all their money over it, were so satisfied with the pros- pects that they induced a person with money at command to join them, and they erected a 96 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. quartz battery, which was to be partly paid for out of the results. Before this was accom- plished the trio were very hard-up. The battery was erected and put in operation with most satis- factory results. One of the original owners a few months after, in riding home one night in the dark was thrown from his horse and killed. His fourth share in the mine was sold and fetched 2,000, notwithstanding there were so few people in the neighbourhood able to bid. In a diggings-town one sometimes meets with strange characters ignorant people with large sums of money at their command such as would have surpassed even the wildest dreams of their ancestors, and the mistakes made by some of these are now and then not a little amusing. The commonest source of error is the use, or rather misuse, of words, and in this they beat Mrs. Malaprop hollow. I once heard an old " lady " confidentially inform a friend that she had made up her mind to get an " antimonic dress." Further inquiry elicited that it was a VULGAR BLUNDERS. 97 moire antique, that she meditated purchasing. Another person thought that the mayor of their town should wear " a scarlet robe lined with vermin," and could not see the joke when those around laughed. An enterprising German pub- lican, having obtained for a public supper some- thing which he was pleased to term putes-de- fois-gras, the individual seated opposite this rare dish insisted on calling them "potted photo- graphs." At a similar entertainment, a guest loudly lauded the " blue munge " (blanc mange). Besides such outre expressions, there are many words and phrases current peculiar to the min- ing population. Of these, one of the most inex- plicable is the diggers' good-bye, as in place of using that good old Saxon word at parting, they always say " so-long." There are, of course, many what may be called technical terms in connection with the pursuit of mining, but be- sides these there are words used in general conversation which would not be found in an English dictionary. Such, for example, as "duffer" or "shiser," anything that is useless ; G 98 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. " flash," an adjective, differing in meaning a little according to what it is applied to, but which may be interpreted generally by stylish. Some words do not betoken a very exalted origin, as " scrag," the name given to a digger's blankets and personal baggage, usually carried in a long bundle round the body, which is just the thieves' cant for booty. To treat a person to drink is called " shouting : " the origin of the word is obvious. Balls are great institutions at the diggings. They are got up by the hotel-keepers, who have a keen eye to business ; they give a general in- vitation to the public, usually through the local press, but I have received an invitation on pink paper to such an assembly. The host gives the room, lights, and a supper, and the guests supply themselves and their partners with such liquid refreshments as they may desire, and as it is considered a point of honour for every one to spend something " for the good of the house," the publican drives a roaring trade. I have known a hotel-keeper, in not by any means A DIGGERS' BALL. 99 particularly bright times, take over 60 in one night across his bar being close upon 1 per head for each guest. The miners are fond of dancing, and will even, when partners of the fair sex cannot be obtained, dance with one another ; this amusement they style " stag- dancing." The dresses at a diggers' ball, as may be imagined, are motley in the extreme. The ladies every woman is a lady are ela- borately got up in evening costume, even to orthodox white kid gloves; while the men often make little or no alteration in their toilet. I have seen in a ball-room men with waistcoats of every conceivable kind, from a " flash" white one with gilt buttons to none at all, including, in the intermediate stages, one of showy calf- skin. One of the greatest social evils in the gold-fields is the system of " shouting." Two friends cannot meet without one saying, "Come and have a drink." A business transaction is seldom concluded without the purchaser asking, " Are you going to shout V But 100 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. this, like many another bad habit resulting from the unsettled state of affairs in the early days of the diggings, is, I am glad to say, lessening. CHAPTER IX. ' gams. SITTING at dinner at the public table of a hotel on the gold-fields, the conversation happened to turn on the different articles of food, and nearly every one seemed to have partaken of some unusual dish, betokening diverse experiences. This one had eaten camel's flesh, that one monkey's, and another had made a meal off bear-meat in California. " Well," said an old fellow, " you may talk about these things as much as you like, but I've seen sights of scenes and scenes of sights that would make your hair stand on end like porcupines' quills; and talk about eating, I've 102 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. seen a fellow eat what I'd have been sore put to it afore I'd ha' touched. We were down at the New Highbrides (Hebrides), and some of us went ashore. Me and another chap went up the beach to where we saw a lot of natives, and I'm blowed if the black devils weren't sitting round a fire having a feast of human flesh, and there were rows of human heads hanging round like sheep in a butcher's shop. We thought it best to be civil, and gave the niggers the time o' day, and one of 'em takes an arm up from the fire and offers it to us. If there had not been such a confounded lot of them, I'd have knocked the black rascal down for insulting me, and was turning away when my mate said, ' I am blessed if I don't try it, Bill,' and he lifted the arm and took a bite. Didn't they make it hot for Jack when I told the rest of the crew : we called him Cannibal Jack ever after." I was surprised that a shout of laughter should greet this horrible tale, but I learned that the narrator was so addicted to relating CANNIBAL JACK. 103 extraordinary stories, drawn from his own im- agination and other sources, that none of his hearers ever credited a word. My own subse- quent experience of the old man amply con- firmed this, as he one day had the audacity to tell me the story of Androcles and the Lion, and assure me that the incident had occurred when he was in Moulmain, and that he had seen the man and the lion in the street many a time ! On the present occasion his story had the effect of turning the conversation from, gas- tronomy to the coloured races with whom those present had come in contact. Various experi- ences of Red Indians, Chinese, and Australian aboriginals were related, and generally to their disadvantage, especially in the case of the latter. However, the. Australian black found a cham- pion in a mild-looking middle-aged man, who said he had long lived amongst them, and that they were a greatly maligned people, and much more intelligent than they generally got credit for. He allowed that they were reticent about 104 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. many things, and would not converse freely with every one. They had, he continued, many strange legends. One he told us as to how the emu lost his wings, is amusing. The emu was not originally an inhabitant of the earth, but came hither from the clouds of Magellan, which he had previously inhabited. Being then possessed of very large wings, he navigated the space lying between Australia and his distant land without much difficulty, but on his arrival in this lower sphere his troubles began. The sight of his vast propor- tions aroused a universal feeling of terror in the breasts of the feathered Australians, and, when this began to abate, there was mingled with their fear some envy that this clumsy bird should eclipse all their puny attempts at flight. This impression was everywhere prevalent, when the emu one day, in a spirit of friend- liness, consulted a native companion as to the possibility of his being able to catch some of the fish which he saw swimming in the adjacent stream. " Nothing can be easier," replied the HOW THE EMU LOST HIS WINGS. 105 native companion ; " you have only to put your head under the water, and watch till you see a fish come near, and then you can easily catch it." The emu was simple enough to adopt the suggestion, but no sooner had he put his head under the water than the native com- panion, seizing the opportunity, leaped on his neck, and from this safe position assailed the much-envied wings, and succeeded in twisting them off. So soon as this feat was accom- plished, the laughing jackass, struck with the comicality of the emu's appearance when shorn of his wings, burst for the first time into a hearty laugh, which accomplishment both he and his descendants still keep up. The emu was disconsolate for some time, but he was soothed at last by a visit from his mate, who, wearied by his absence, came down in search of him. The faithful bird was overwhelmingly grieved at the sad condition of her spouse, but when she heard the whole story she was stirred with a desire for revenge. Cheering him, she left him for a time, but again returned, 106 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. bearing with her a supply of fire an element hitherto unknown on the earth. The pair then set to work, and made a large fire, which soon attracted the attention of the native com- panions. So soon as these birds arrived on the scene, the emus asked what this strange thing was, and suggested that there must be some- thing valuable in it. " If that be so," said the native companions, " we had better see at once, or these silly monsters will get it," and they with one accord thrust their heads into the flames. They did not lose much time in withdrawing them again, but not before they had lost every feather from their heads and necks, and to the present day they bear the traces of that awful burning. In order not to shame her mate, the perfect emu now tore off her own wings and shared his banishment ; and, being thorough Darwinians, their progeny inherited their fate. " Humph ! " said a digger, gruffly, " I can't stand black fellows any way, and I don't see how such stupid nonsense as that makes them THE DIGGER'S STORY. 107 any better." " Perhaps not," responded the narrator of the fable, " but as I owe my life to their kindness, I must confess I have rather a soft side to them. I lost myself in the bush, on the Sydney side, once, and after I had wandered about for four days, with nothing to drink and only a 'possum to eat, that my dog caught the first day, I came across a camp of blacks, and they gave me both food and drink, which, I can tell you, I was glad to get." " Oh ! I don't call that anything ; and as for saving your life, I have had many as near a squeak for it as that," remarked the first speaker, surlily. " Tell us some of them," I said, which pro- position he seemed inclined at first to pooh- pooh, but, rising from the table, he drew his chair towards the fire and said, " Well, then, I'll tell you the first fright I got. I think I remember it best, from its being the first. We were working a first-rate claim, with about 100 feet sinking, and were doing very well. We had worked out the greater part of the grounds, 108 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. and had sunk a couple of shafts in the claim, and had not used a stick of timber in either, for it was capital standing ground. One day one of my mates and I, the only ones below, were going up to dinner. Just as I put my foot in the rope, I remembered I had left my pipe in a hole near where I was working, and I set off along the drive to get it, and left my mate to go up first. Before I had got the length of my pipe I heard a loud noise, and, looking round, I saw that the shaft had caved in, and that the stuff must have carried the other fellow down with it. My first thought was that it was a good job that I had not gone up first, and then I thought of poor Joe, that was my mate. I went forward, but could see nothing of him ; there was evidently tons of stuff on the top of him. I saw it was well that I was so far from the bottom of the shaft, for if I had been stand- ing in the beginning of the drive, even in a safe enough position from anything falling down, I should certainly have been killed or badly hurt by the earth and stones which had been jammed HOW WE ESCAPED. 109 into the drive for a considerable distance. I saw and thought of all this in less than half the time I have taken to tell you, and then I thought, how was I to get out. ' Great heaven ! ' I exclaimed, ' am I spared a sudden death to die a lingering one from suffocation or hunger V " There was the other shaft, it was true, but then it had not been used for a long time, and for some months back we had been building the tunnel leading to it up with the large stones that we did not send to the top. I began to pull down this thick wall of heavy stones. I had a feeling that it was little use, but I could not settle down to die quietly. I worked as I never did before, and the blood began to come from the points of my fingers, and, to make matters worse, my candle soon burned itself out. However, I worked on in the dark for some time longer, and was like to drop ex- hausted, when I thought I saw a faint ray of light, which gave me fresh strength, and I soon after made my way into the bottom of the other shaft. I sat down for a while to recover my 110 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. breath, but then I felt that I must get up before the excitement went off, or I might not have strength left to climb. I ' shinned ' * up the shaft with difficulty, and reached the sur- face in safety. I staggered towards a mob of fellows I saw standing round the fallen-in shaft, and I heard one of them say, ' It's no use sinking, for long before we could get down he would be dead, if not that already which it's no doubt Joe is and you would take as long to get in by the old shaft, on account of the stones being built up there.' I was wild to hear them speak like that, and said, 'You're a set of cowards to leave a man to die in that style.' Man ! they all looked as if they had been shot, and would hardly believe me when I told how I had got out. It does not seem much to tell, I daresay, but it was a pretty near go for me, I can tell you." I expressed my surprise that he should make so light of it, for, I remarked, I * The shafts iu such claims are so narrow that a man can go up and down by putting his feet in notches made in either side. This mode, which is mostly used in shallow ground, is called " shinning." CA UGHT IN THE SNO W. Ill could imagine nothing more dreadful than to be buried alive in such a manner. " It must have been a pretty awkward fix," another fellow said, " arid I know something of what it must have been, tho' I never was buried alive in the ground. I was over in Campbell's gully," he continued, " the time so many were lost in the snow, and I was caught like the rest. The country was new to us, and we did not look for anything of the sort, and were quite unprepared for it. When the snow- storm came on I was in my hut, which stood about half-a-mile up the gully from the store. After I had my supper, I looked out and put a tin dish on the top of my chimney, to keep the snow from coming down; and though I saw it was going to be a wild night, I did not think anything of it, and turned in between the blankets to read one or two old English papers I had borrowed. I lay and read till I was tired, and then, blowing out the candle, fell asleep without giving more than a passing thought to the storm. I have often thought 112 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. since it was well for me that I did so, for if I had not, I might have got frightened at the snow and tried to make my way down to the store, and that was how so many of the poor fellows must have been lost, in at- tempting to leave their huts in the darkness. "When I woke up next morning, I tried to open the door to get some sticks to cook my breakfast, but found I could not ; it was blocked up with snow. I opened the shutter of the hole I had for a window, and saw that it was still snowing. I did not know what to do, and, cheering myself with the thought that it would soon stop, I breakfasted on what scraps of cooked meat I had left. I consoled myself as best I could with my papers, but they did not prevent me from turning frequently to the bole-hole each time to find it snowing, still snowing. I began to get alarmed, but was afraid to attempt to make my way out, for I thought I would be sure to be smothered in such a depth of snow. The succeeding night I passed very differently from the previous CA UGHT IN THE SNO W. 113 one, for I lay thinking of my position, which I now knew to be a serious one. In the morning I again looked out, but the snow was now piled above my window. I could see nothing. I had improvidently eaten largely the previous day, with a view to keeping out the cold, and had not a day's provisions left, so that the fearful alternative presented itself of dying there of starvation or forcing my way out, and probably perishing in the snow. " I resolved to attempt the latter, and break- ing down the door, began to dig at the snow, but as the side of the hut in which was the door, looked from the wind, the snow was deepest there, and after digging for some time with apparently no other result than the filling up of my hut, I gave it up in despair. A new fear took hold of me from the depth of snow on the hut no light gained admittance any- where, and I thought, what if such a weight of snow causes the whole to collapse ? I lay down on my stretcher thinking I would have another pipe, for I had plenty of tobacco and H 114 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. matches, and then go at the digging again, but, strange to say, I fell asleep. I don't know how long I may have slept, for since the light was shut out I could not judge of how time passed. When I awoke I was about to recom- mence the digging, when I thought it would be better to try the chimney. Accordingly, I scrambled up, and pushing the tin dish with my head, I was thankful to feel I could move it. I pushed and struggled, and succeeded in forcing it through the snow to the surface, and in a moment more I was free. " The storm had ceased, and it was fine over- head, but how the aspect of everything was changed : there was nothing visible that I could recognise. I started in search of the store, and more by chance than anything else took a pretty straight line for it. It had luckily begun to freeze, and the snow to some extent sustained me, but I often broke through the crust, and the difficulty I had in getting over that half-mile between my hut and the store was worse than anything I ever went through. The store, OUR ESCAPE AND START. 115 standing in an exposed situation, was pretty free from snow, and when I at length reached it I found over a dozen men there all storm- stayed. " The store-keeper, who never kept a very large quantity of provisions, had allowed his stock to run low; and the packer, who had been almost hourly expected, did not get in before the storm came on. When I reached the place nothing was left but some oatmeal, a few boxes of sardines, and a single bottle of gin. A nip of the spirits revived me a bit after my recent exertions, and I was just in time to dissuade the boys from attempting to cross the range that day. Next night it again froze hard, and in the morning the resolution was come to, to make an effort to get out of the gully. There w T ere sixteen of us started, and we all kept together at first; but differences of opinion arose as to the best way to take, and we split up into several small parties. There was, of course, no sign of the track, and the party of four, of which I found 116 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. myself one, took as straight a line as possible to the crest of the range. I can tell you we had a tough job of it toiling up the mountain- side on the snow, but at last we reached the top, and after a short spell commenced the descent, which we found almost worse than the ascent had been, as the sun had partially melted the surface of the snow; but we all struggled on for a time, when one fellow gave in and refused to go farther; nothing could induce him to move, and as we had enough to do for ourselves, we could not carry him. Night was coming on, and there was nothing for it but to leave him. We continued the descent, and got safely down to the Molyneux valley, just at the darkening and as the snow began to fall again. Besides the poor fellow who gave in, there were other two, who just after the start had separated themselves from the main body, and then a fourth, who all left their bones on the mountain." " You must have had a bad time of it," said another of the diggers ; " for my part, I never THE SKIPPER AND THE BEAR. 117 was bothered with the snow in this country, for I never went high enough, but I had plenty of that and cold in my young days to last a life- time. I went on a whaling cruise to the north pole, or some place not far off it I am sure. We were frozen in, and I have always kept out of the reach of cold weather such as you speak of since then. Talking of that time reminds me of a scrape I got into with the skipper, that ended in my leaving the ship. Our captain had a very long rifle, and was a great hand at shooting; he often knocked over the polar bears that used to come and prowl round the ship. One day one of the brutes that had been making towards the ship suddenly veered off on the other tack. The skipper had been wait- ing with his rifle resting on the bulwarks to get a shot, but when he saw the bear clearing out, he called me and told me to come with him, as he was not going to lose a shot in that style. " We descended from the ship and made for the bear, which saw us coming, and, facing round, came to a halt. When we got within range, 118 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. the captain made use of my shoulder as a rest for his rifle. On our stopping, the animal be- gan to advance, and thinking he was getting too close to be pleasant, I turned and called, ' Fire, captain, or I won't stand ! ' At the same moment the skipper fired, but my move- ment having disconcerted his aim, he missed his mark. I did not, however, wait to see the result, but bolted towards the ship, and only stopped when I had left the skipper well in the rear. When I looked round again, I saw the captain following me, trailing and loading his rifle, and the bear still at a safe distance. Feel- ing rather ashamed of myself, I waited till he came up, and said, ' I'll stand like a rock this time.' The skipper took aim again, and I, to redeem my character, never moved, though he allowed a second or two to elapse before he fired. His aim was a good one, for he struck bruin in the head and tumbled him over ; but so long as I remained in the ship he never forgave my bolting." " Well ! that be hanged for a yarn," was the JOE AGAIN! 119 critique which escaped from one of the auditors. " No," said another, "I'm certain it's true : it was so like Joe to run away." With a laugh at Joe's expense, they by mutual consent ad- journed to that almost invariable adjunct of a diggings' hotel the billiard-room. CHAPTER X. Hp the 163 as a regular tyrant), condemned to death. He seemed to consider this a crowning honour, especially as the reprieve only arrived when he was on the scaffold. "That's more than most men can say," he said quite proudly when telling me of ik He did not tell me why he had received such a sentence, but he seemed such a good-natured fellow that I was fain to hope that it was for nothing very serious ; for in these times I believe the authorities were not very particular. Dark crimes were sometimes committed : one man assured me that in one of the penal settlements a gang of lads, who were employed at stone-breaking in a yard, fell in a body on the warder, who was a very harsh man, and beat him to death with their hammers they all knew very well that if anyone refused to assist, he would share the same fate. Thank heaven that, so far as we in New Zealand are concerned, those who could have been either actors or spectators in such horrid scenes could be num- bered by tens. That we do not suffer from 164 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. the few old hands among us, may be gathered from the fact that, although valuable stocks of goods are kept in wooden and iron shops and houses, the crime of burglary is wholly unknown with us. The gaol regulations in Otago, in the early days of the settlement, present a pleasing con- trast to the scenes to which I have referred. The only prisoners were a few runaway sailors, detained till their ships should sail. The gaoler was such a hearty kindly fellow that they were always loath to leave ; and if ever they revisited the port they always called at the house of detention. It is a well-known story among old Otagans, and is, I believe, a fact, that occasion- ally the gaoler would give his prisoners a holi- day, and tell them that if they were not back by ten o'clock they would be locked out ! This was looked on as a serious punishment. How pleasant to have resided in such a primitive settlement. When, on the discovery of gold, the people came from Australia in thousands, a good many bad characters came to New Zea- THE POLICE FORCE. 165 land along with them. The police force, who were also old Australians, knowing from previ- ous experience many of those notorious villains, kept an eye on them. Some returned whence they came, others fell into the clutches of the law, while a few settled down into peaceable citizens. The police force was long one of the boasts of Otago, and really it would have been difficult to find a finer-looking body of men. They were remarkable for their height : the uniforms, too, added to their appearance ; instead of the tight- buttoned frock-coat of the English " bobby," they wore a short loose coat, or jumper, of fine cloth, with a double-peaked glazed shako. A stranger would have supposed every man an officer. The mounted police was a favourite resort of many young fellows of good family. I knew one young Irish "honourable" who was serving as a common trooper, and his chief friend was a Prussian count. Many of the force were old soldiers who had served their country with distinction. During the Crimean 166 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. war only twenty men in the British army re- ceived the decoration of the Legion of Honour ; of these twenty, two ' served for several years in the Otago mounted constabulary. The mounted police are armed with swords and carbines; they are for the most part employed up the country, and of necessity are armed, as one of their duties consists in escorting and taking charge of the gold, which is sent down from the different diggings once a month. Formerly this escort waggon, with its team of four horses, surrounded by the military-looking mounted police, dashing into town at a smart pace, created some stir and excitement; but now-a- days, with a view to economy, it is conveyed by the ordinary mail-coach, and is much less numerously guarded. The force is efficient as ever, but, as regards the personal appearance of the men, it has now deteriorated a little. I remarked on the absence of burglary as a crime, and I may go further and say that, con- sidering the number of inhabitants, the amount of crime generally is small. The most common " NE 'ER DO WE ELS." 167 phase in which it presents itself is embezzle- ment, and obtaining money by false pretences crimes perpetrated by young men from the old country, who, away from the controlling influ- ences of home and friends, fall into habits of gambling and drinking, and so drift to ruin. And here let me raise a word of warning against the practice too often indulged in of sending out to the colonies the class of young men known to the Scotch by the expressive term of " Ne'er do weels." I have known many such; and if they have not all descended so low as to become criminals, they have sunk socially to the lowest depths. To such there are more temptations here than at home, and none of the restraints which the presence and opinions of friends always exercise. The idea that any one will get on in, or that anything is good enough for, the colonies, is a most erroneous one. CHAPTER XIII. (Hhintst. ABOUT eight years ago, at a time when the pro- vince was suffering from the reaction occasioned, by the feverish excitement and overtrading of the early days of the gold fields, some of the Chinese residents in the neighbouring colony of Victoria made overtures to the government, pro- posing that a number of their countrymen should emigrate to these shores provided they received a guarantee of protection. The government of. the day replied, as they could not help doing, that no special guarantee could be given, but that if the Chinese came they would receive the same protection as the other inhabitants. This movement was probably made by the Chinese THE CHINESE. 169 to ascertain if the government were likely to throw obstacles in their way, as was done in some of the other colonies. When they first went to Victoria, a roll-tax of 10 a head was imposed for a time. Here there were many ad- vocates for pursuing such a course, but, though public feeling for a time ran high, no attempt at prohibition was made. It was chiefly on the gold-fields where the spirit of antagonism to the celestials showed itself. The miners attributed all sorts of thieving propensities and villainies to them, and on this account objected to their .coming; and certainly, in a country where the result of months of arduous labour is left not only exposed, but capable of being seriously reduced, if not wholly removed, in a few hours, the diggers are warranted in endeavouring to have only colonists of undoubted integrity intro- duced. The mercantile part of the community, on the other hand, still grieving over the exodus of European miners to the West Coast rush, said, " Give us consumers, no matter whether they be white or yellow." So, despite of threa- 170 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. tened opposition, John Chinaman came, at first from Melbourne and latterly from China direct, till now there are about four thousand of them in our midst. Only at one place was there any open attempt made to deter their approach. At Naseby a few infuriated miners caught an un- fortunate Chinaman, and putting him in a barrel with both ends knocked out, trundled him down the street. The poor wretch managed to escape from his tormentors, and fled as for his life : the fright upset his reason, and he was thrown a burden on the country a pauper lunatic. This was happily about the only instance of violence I ever heard of, and those who had witnessed anti- Chinese riots in Victoria considered it mild. At the time the Chinese began to visit Otago, numbers of men were out of employ- ment, and there were frequent murmurs from the working classes. The strangers did not, how- ever, interfere with the labour market, but at once adopted gold mining as their pursuit, and plodded patiently at it, a course which was open to any of the European " unemployed." They THE CHINESE GOOD ARTIZANS. 171 prosecuted their work with, in many instances, marked success, and before many months had elapsed, a stream of Chinese emigration as well as immigration had set in. Once possessed of two or three hundred pounds, they can return, it is said, to the " flowery land," to pass the rest of their lives in peace and plenty ; and as their paternal government prohibits the emigration of the women, the men, on attaining the wished- for sum, return to their wives and sweethearts. Since their arrival they have quite lived down the evil reports circulated before their coming; and, though one or two have figured in the criminal calendar, they have on the whole proved themselves peaceable and orderly citizens. As one of their number put it, "Chinamen all same Englishmen, some welly good, some welly bad;" and really if one were to compare the conduct of these heathens with a corresponding number of Englishmen of the same, that is, of the lowest rank, I fear the comparison would be unfavourable to the latter. The Chinese often take up old partially -worked 172 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. auriferous ground and work it out so thoroughly that nothing is left by them ; their frugal habits enabling them to live on what a European miner would starve on. Speaking against the Chinese, I heard a miner say, " Oh ! this country's cooked by them. There was Doctor's flat a man knew he could always knock out a few shillings there if he was hard up and now, since these yellow wretches came, there's nothing left but the bed rock." Though eminently a conservative people, they are not slow to make use of the various institu- tions which accompany civilization, such as the post-office and banks. All apparently can write, at least all with whom I Jfrave come in contact. I only met with one who either could not or would not sign his name; and I have seen more than one who could do so in English characters. I asked one of these how he learned this accom- plishment, and he told me that at one time, when working for an Englishman, he had a written agreement with him, in which he found his own name, which he copied till he CHINESE NAMES. 173 was able to write it quite freely. This dis- played a desire for improvement that very few of any English navvies would have exhibited under similar circumstances. They appear to claim kinship with all who come from their own locality, and this is the only feasible mode of explaining the inexhaustible number of cousins which some of them possess. They often render assistance to one another, and thus soon acquire a knowledge of the use of both banks and post- offices. I have often addressed their letters for them in English, while they had covered the other side of the envelope with the address in their own hieroglyphics, including directions to the postman that the letter was to "go quick," by which it is to be hoped that functionary would be edified. Their names are sometimes amusing ; I have known one who gloried in that of "Ah Sin," while another, who belied his title most wofully, answered to the name of "Ah Fat," and the dis- tinguished appellation of a third was "Ah Men." I have been told that the prefix Ah denotes that 174 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. . the individual who bears it is still a bachelor, and that the benedicts take their wives' names along with their own, as in Sun Long, Wong Sing, or Low Ket. Whether my informant was veracious, or no, I cannot tell ; but I thought it might save many a managing mamma a vast deal of trouble if we- adopted such a custom, for she could at once tell from the names of her daughters' partners if they were eligible, in this respect at least. I was once rather puzzled with a name. A Chinaman with whom I was transacting some business called himself "Mac ah Cow." I wondered if any ancient Highland clan had, in antediluvian times, settled in the Celestial empire; but any such idea was dissipated by an inspection of the features of this new Mac. I repeated the vaccine title, and was proceeding to write it down, when its owner strongly ob- jected to my pronunciation, and vehemently reiterated "Mac ah Cow." I could not per-^ ceive any difference, and shook my head in token thereof, when a happy thought struck THE HE A THEN CHINESE. 175 John Chinaman, and he suddenly exclaimed " You savey, Matthey, Mac 1 " I now under- stood him, but, to make sure, said, " Matthew, Mark 1 " to which Mr. Mark ah Cow replied, " All light," and smiled with satisfaction. On inquiry I discovered that he was one of the few converts to Christianity made amongst his countrymen. I have often wondered at the apparent apathy exhibited by the different Christian churches in regard to the Chinese. One would have thought that when hundreds of intelligent heathens came to their very doors, they would have aroused themselves to a vigorous effort to evangelize every man of them. The Presbyterians are the only body which have taken any measures to secure this end; but anything attempted in the province is slight, when compared with what might and ought to be done if the Christians of Otago were fully alive to the additional respon- sibility thus thrown upon them. Taken as a whole, the heathen Chinese are a very hard-working, industrious, steady people, 176 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. generally of a light-hearted, merry disposition, and, though wearing usually solemn counten- ances, are easily amused. I have seen a couple of them pay half-a-crown a head for admittance to an amateur concert, and sit with beaming faces during the performance, which they after- wards criticised as being "welly good sing song." They are fond of being taken notice of by Europeans. A friend of mine, who was very fond of chatting with the Chinamen whenever an opportunity presented itself, was, however, on one occasion sadly snubbed by the celestial to whom he was talking. John conversed pleasantly for some time, but at last his patience was exhausted, and, being anxious to resume his occupation, he said to my friend, whom he evidently supposed to be neglecting his own business, " Ah, you too muchee lazy !" It is almost needless to say the hint was taken, and John was left to pursue his avocation in peace. If the Chinese have their faults, they are mostly such as do not annoy their neighbours, and they are admittedly quiet and peaceable HONESTY OF THE CHINESE. 177 citizens. They gamble, it is true, but it is only amongst themselves;" and if some do smoke opium, the effect is not to send them out to the streets as noisy brawlers. As to their dis- honesty and pilfering practices, my experience of them is that they are no worse than English- men, but only cleverer and more adroit in their modes of swindling. There are amongst them, too, fellows of sterling honesty. I have known a Chinaman return half-a-crown which he dis- covered had been overpaid him, A store- keeper on the gold-fields told me that when the Chinese first came to his district he for a time resolutely set his face against giving them any credit. A party of them, however, who were engaged in an undertaking from which they could not possibly obtain any result for some time, asked for credit, and he, partly as all experiment, and partly because he thought the claim would prove a rich one, granted their request, and opened an account with them. The enterprise proved more laborious than was an- ticipated, and, worse than all, was without the M 178 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. desiderated result. The store-keeper's account against the party had by this time run up to between 30 and 40; and he owned that he. felt he had acted foolishly when the Chinamen told him that the claim was " no good." He satisfied himself that the report was true, and philosophically made up his mind " to grin and bear it," resolving at the same time never to give credit to a Chinaman again. They, how- ever, soon returned, and said to him that they intended seeking "fresh fields of pastures new," but proposed to leave one of their number be- hind, to whom they said they would remit money to pay their debt. The store-keeper, being by this time resigned to his loss, made no ob- jection to their proposal, fully convinced he had seen the last of both the Chinamen and his money ; for, having been more than once left in the lurch by European miners when their claim proved a " duffer," he could expect nothing else from the Chinese. They went away, and, as promised, left a man behind them ; and at the time the store-keeper related his experience to SPURIOUS GOLD. 179 me, more than two-thirds of the debt had been paid. The faith of this store-keeper in the Mon- golian race was subsequently destroyed, as he was made the victim of some gold manufac- turers. A few of the Chinese occasionally adopt this rapid means of acquiring wealth ; and from a basis of lead, with the assistance of a little of the precious metal, make an imitation of the alluvial gold so successfully that even an expert cannot always be certain of the fraud without resorting to the aid of tests. Notwithstanding that the store-keeper was in the habit of buying gold daily, he was duped, and bought a spurious article, containing gold worth only 18s. an ounce, at the rate of 8, 15s.. The fraud was discovered at the bank, and the perpetrators of the swindle captured with the results of their knavery upon them. Since that time there have been only two cases detected, in one of which the swindlers managed to elude the police. It is not to such pursuits and gold-mining 180 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. alone that the cousins of the moon devote them- selves. Many are store-keepers, some of these being very wealthy; others are carpenters or cabinet-makers; while numbers betake them- selves to market-gardening an occupation in which they are very successful, usually under- selling the Europeans. As cabinet-makers, they turn out very neat work; and they may be seen in various parts of Dunedin, squatting down on their low bench, working away with their Chinese planes, in wliich now, however, they have substituted Sheffield steels for those manufactured in their own land. The yellow men are fast spreading them- selves all over the world ; and they appear des- tined to play a not unimportant part in its future history. Possessing all the powers of the Anglo-Saxon race, of adapting themselves to various climates, they excel the Saxon in their powers of enduring heat: and I doubt not their race will one day predominate in many of the hotter parts of the Australian continent, CHAPTER XIV. Eealanb aiib g)is (Ebaxation. IN a province only twenty-five years of age, young New Zealand cannot be expected to have as yet developed any peculiar characteristics. As children they do not exhibit any remarkable precocity like the Yankees, who begin almost as soon as they can speak to "trade off" their old i rattles for toys more suited to their advancing years. In Otago at present the rising genera- tion are most remarkable for healthy sturdiness, and to the visitor from Australia they seem the very pictures of ruddiness. The climate of New Zealand seems remarkably conducive to the production of children of stamina and strength. In a family of my acquaintance, who 182 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. came to Otago after some years' residence in the colony of Victoria, the difference between the children born in Victoria and Otago was very marked the Victorians inclining to be lanky and pale-faced, while the Otagans were stouter and stronger-looking in every respect. The effect which a country will have on the race inhabiting it, cannot, until two or three generations have been born there, be anything but conjecture. But there is even now promise of the New Zealanders becoming no mean race ; and, if a sanum corpus and abundant facilities for acquiring knowledge will produce such a result, they should also be strong intellectually. The early Otago settlers, with a Scottish regard for learning, established early a system of schools as like as possible to the parish schools of their native land. The general management of this system of education is vested in a central board." The provincial council annually votes a sum for educational purposes. Last year (1873) the vote amounted SCHOOLS. 183 to 23,306. Reserves of sections of land in different parts of the country having from time to time been made, the rental from them re- coups the treasury to a large extent for this vote for education. In the different districts where schools are established, committees of the in- habitants are formed for the control of the affairs of the schools. These committees re- ceive, from the central board an annual grant in aid of current expenses, besides occasional special grants towards building and maintaining their school - houses or masters' residences. The children in this way receive a good educa- tion at a much more moderate rate than would otherwise be the case if the schools were self- supporting. The education board also pays the fees for any child whose friends are unable to do so, so that there is no excuse for any child going uneducated, though education is not compulsory. In Dunedin there are three elementary or district schools, attended by over fifteen hundred children, besides the free infant schools, with an attendance of about two 184 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. hundred, and numerous private institutions, as well as three or four district schools in the suburbs. Then there is a High school, designed to carry the boys further than the district schools can pretend to. In connexion with this institution there are twelve scholarships of the aggregate annual value of 382 10s. These are competed for publicly, and are tenable for five years. A high school for girls was also established by the provincial council three years ago, and has proved highly successful. It was founded with the object of affording higher education for girls than can be attained at the district schools at a moderate rate. The fee for the ordinary course at this school which comprises besides the "three R's," French, drawing, and natural science is only two pounds per quarter, which, in the colonies at least, must be deemed very moderate. A school of art has also been founded in connection with one educational system. Classes are held for ladies at the schools in the day-time, and in the evening UNIVERSITY OF OTA CO. 185 for artizans and others who are engaged during the day, and many avail themselves of these classes. What has not inaptly been styled the cope- stone of the educational structure has recently been added, by the establishment of the Otago University. Several large tracts of land, at present leased to pastoral tenants, have been set aside as an endowment, and these, as the colony progresses, will become more valuable. The present income of the institution, apart from class fees, is about 3,300 per annum, of which 600 is received from the Presbyterian Church funds, and the rest is mainly derived from the rents. There are at present four professors one for Latin, Greek, and English Literature ; a second for Logic, Moral Philo- sophy, and Political Economy; another for Mathematics; while Chemistry and Geology are taught by the fourth. Law lectures are also given under the auspices of the University, but the lecturer is not on the same footing as the professors. The attendance of students has 186 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. been greater than was anticipated, and the Otago University, which is housed in an excellent building, is the healthy nucleus of a flourishing institution. An attempt has been made to obtain a Royal Charter for the Otago University ; but this has not been granted, the reason being that, through a feeling of jealousy to Otago, some of the inhabitants of the other provinces suc- ceeded in obtaining an act establishing a New Zealand University. This so-called uni- versity, supposed to be a peripatetic degree- conferring body, possessing no local habitation, but merely a name, has, by the use of that name, prevented the grant of a charter to what should have been a sister, not a rival, institu- tion the University of Otago but for whose existence it would not have been thought of for years to come. The authorities at home decline to grant charters to two universities at present. This spirit of petty jealousy is one of the great evils of the Australasian Colonies ; for, PETTY JEALOUSIES. 187 leaving healthy rivalry a long way behind, it retards many a good measure, and sometimes leads to foolish excess. Colony is jealous of colony, island of island, province of province, country of town, miners of cockatoos, and so ad infinitum; and with no silent somnolent envy, but in a thorough dog-in-the-manger snarling style. It is a fault, however, inci- dental to our youth ; and when some members of this nagging brotherhood have really out- stripped their fellows in the race of life beyond hope of being overtaken the whole will settle down into a contented and happy family. In connection with the educational institu- tions of the province may be mentioned the public libraries. The Government annually appropriated a sum for the purchase of books, which were distributed over the province where- ever the inhabitants chose to form a library ; the Government, subject to a few trivial stipula- tions, giving books gratis, equal in value to the amount expended in the purchase of literature 188 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. during that year ; or, if it were preferred, they would receive money from a district, and give back double its value in books. Excellent libraries have thus been established in every little township, sometimes in connection with the school, sometimes not. The educational system of which I have been speaking is confined to the province of Otago, other provinces having their own, all more or less efficient. A year or two ago a bill was introduced into the colonial parliament, to provide one uniform system of education for the whole colony; but it was ultimately withdrawn, after a tough fight on the question of secular versus religious edu- cation. A colonial bill has also been introduced this session (1873); but as it is not compulsory, but merely one that may be adopted or not by any of the provinces which choose to do so, the battle has not been so keen, and the ques- tion is as far from settlement as ever. The Roman Catholics opposed the secular system to a man. The Anglican Church also threw THE OLD FIGHT OVER AGAIN. 189 their weight into the same, as well as the clergy of many other denominations. It is strange how a question like this has to be fought over and over again, even though the experiment has been tried elsewhere success- fully. The Roman Catholics, of course, in obedience to the dictates of their church, oppose any but a denominational system. Many people too, without considering the real bearings of the question, get up a sentimental cry that we must not have a godless system established : and sentiment carries folks a long way. Godless system, forsooth ! When I recall the days when I had the Shorter Catechism flogged into me, I wonder if that is what they call a godly system. Or per- haps they would prefer the farce of a master, despised by his scholars for his mean and sneak- ing ways, gabbling over a prayer, watching that the boys kept their eyes closed at the same time, and before the echo of the " amen " had died away, mercilessly thrashing an unfortunate 190 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. for some offence which he had discovered in some underhand way had been committed the previous day. Boys see through the humbug and hypocrisy of such doings, and are fortunate if they do not imbibe such opinions of religion and religious professions as lead them to judge them all by their school standard. A great deal of so-called religious teaching does more harm than good, I am firmly con- vinced. If it could be ensured that the teachers were really men of high Christian principle, this objection would be removed. But there still remains the strong one, that in a mixed community, where children of persons of all shades of religious opinion are educated together, it is better to confine the education undertaken by the state, to subjects about which there is no dispute, leaving the religious element to parents and the churches, in the hope that it might stir the latter, both clergy and laity, into greater activity in the matter of Sunday schools, as has proved to be the case in America. THE SANCTIMONIOUS GROCER. 191 The confusion which arises in some minds between the forms and principles of religion, in making use of the expression that it is a thing which should be introduced in every-day life, was amusingly illustrated here some few years ago. A sanctimonious grocer got into pecuniary difficulties, the circumstances not being such as to excite compassion for him. He was compelled to call a meeting of his creditors, and at the appointed hour he entered the room where they were assembled, and gravely proposed that they should begin the proceedings with prayer. When they had recovered from their amazement, and before the proposal could be carried into effect, one of the creditors, who was of the Hebrew nation, gave the godly grocer what is usually termed a piece of his mind, in no measured terms. And so it is with the education ques- tion ; it is a form that is fought for, and very often an empty one, or, at best, the desire to inculcate some dry dogma which is set up on high and styled religion. But it is perhaps 192 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. rather out of place to introduce such questions here. There is one thing in which the Colonial-born youth is rather deficient, and that is perhaps not to be wondered at I mean patriotic feeling. In a place where every one who has attained the age of six or seven -and -twenty must of necessity have come from somewhere else, it is not surprising that the rising generation should not be imbued with a very patriotic spirit. The Colonial youth are always hearing their elders' far-off native lands spoken of by those around them with feelings of affection, and thus ideas are generated that in New Zealand there is not much to be proud of. This is not the case in the neighbouring colony of Victoria, where the people have a dash of the genuine Yankee boast about them. And doubtless, as the proportion of native-born population to immigrants increases, a national feeling will arise, despite the efforts of Caledonian and Hibernian societies to remind them whence they sprung. New Zealand is a country likely to produce in time a truly NE W ZEALAND NA TIONAL SONG. 193 patriotic, if not a boasting people. I can fancy some day a New Zealander singing something in this strain : Dear are thy rugged hills to me, My own wave-circled native land, Thy very soil is dearly loved, From snowy peak to ocean's strand. Thy massive mountains bare and stern, Their crystal torrents leaping free, Thy shady dells, the haunt of fern, Where is their like to me ? My father sings of Scotland's hills, The bonny heath, and harebell blue, And memories of his country's ills, And Scottish hearts both stout and true. My gentle mother tells me oft Of merry England's flowery vales, And pleased my youth in accents soft, With her land's pleasant tales. But these fair lands to me are naught Compared with this mine own, Though not endeared by freedom bought With blood from tyrant's throne. Though quaint old stories tell us not Of the good old merry times, Thank Heaven ! loved hills, 'tis not your lot To remind of ancestral crimes. N 194 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. What though no martyrs' hallowed blood Has stained thy grassy slopes, "Tis not past memories we prize, But our own strong ardent hopes : For thou, Zealandia, yet shall rise The peaceful mistress of the sea, And noble work is ours to build A happy nation, great and free. CHAPTER XV. attb MANY words in daily use in Otago bear traces of importation, from the neighbouring Australian colonies, and; none betrays its Australian origin more than that used to denote the agricultural class, who are usually styled "Cockatoos." Im- portant as they are, the cockatoos are not so interesting, from a literary point of view, as the miners. Farming in Britain is not generally considered a very elevating pursuit, nor are its devotees deemed artistic figures, and in New Zealand it is not different. " The even tenour of their way" is as uneventful on this side of the globe as on that where Gray wrote his immortal poem. Indeed, there are fewer dis- 196 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. turbing influences here than in the old country; with a milder and more equable climate, they are saved from many of the difficulties with which their British confreres have to contend as, for instance, stock thrives better here, and does not require to be winter-fed as is the case in England. But if some slight advantages be gained in that respect, they are somewhat counterbalanced by the lower prices obtainable for their produce. One often hears the complaint that farming does not pay, but, notwithstanding this, many make a good living by it, while others make money. One reason why many fail at farming is that they know nothing of their business. It appears to be the height of some men's ambition to acquire a piece of land. Such men, perhaps by trade carpenters, or even tailors, expend all their capital in land, and then have to borrow money to improve and stock it, so that in such cases it is not to be wondered at if, with high rates of interest and no previous experience, farming be not made CA TTLE FARMING, 197 to pay. Agriculturists have also to pay high rates of wages to those employed by them, and this also reduces the margin of profit. Against all this must, however, be put the great advantage that the majority of the farmers are freeholders, and thus escape high rents and putting the profits into the landlord's pocket. Formerly the Cockatoos used to do very well from the sale of their cattle, but, as the country has become more fully stocked up, cattle have greatly depreciated in value, and were a year or two ago literally unsaleable. Matters are now somewhat improved in this re- spect, partly owing, no doubt, to the establish- ment of the various meat-preserving factories throughout the province, which, by providing a certain outlet, has re-established confidence. Still prices are low. Fat cattle were quoted at 6 10s. in the Dunedin market in the month of August, 1873. Besides being their own landlords, Otago farmers have advantages in the system on which the land is usually sold. A tract of country 198 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. is declared what is called a " hundred," and the land is then opened for sale at one pound per acre. If more than one application be lodged for the same land on the same day, it is put up to auction, and sometimes brings a considerably advanced price. The purchasers of land within a " hundred " have the exclusive privilege of depasturing stock upon the unsold lands within the hundred in proportion to their purchased property. A small fee or assessment of so much per head, is paid to the Government for this privilege, which, as a matter of course, in time disappears as all the land is sold, and then the land which remains unsold for a few years may be purchased at ten shillings per acre, the entire area of the hundred is thus gradually wholly bought up. The land varies greatly in fertility throughout the province. That of first-class quality for agricultural purposes is comparatively of limi- ted extent, but there is a great breadth of it of medium description which, as population increases and prices advance, will be brought FARMING. 199 under cultivation. A disposition to indulge in exhaustive cropping sometimes shows itself, and though this is excusable where the land yields sixty to seventy bushels of wheat to the acre, it is not confined to such cases, as I have known instances of three and four white straw crops being taken off indifferent land in succession, without any manure being put in. Where such reckless farming is carried on, complaints are sure to be heard that agriculture does not pay. The chief white crops grown are oats and wheat, with a little barley. A good deal of the former is consumed locally, both threshed and as "oaten hay," but Otago oats also finds its way into the Australian markets, besides being shipped to the northren provinces. Some ten years ago, little or no provincial grown flour was used: it was said to be quite unsuited for bread- making, and large quantities of bread-stuffs were imported from South Australia and California. It is singular that an amount of prejudice, fos- tered, doubtless, by the importers, then existed against almost everything of local growth, but 200 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. these unaccountable misconceptions have, hap- pily, long since disappeared, liberating flour, amongst other things, from the ban of worth- lessness. Mills are to be found all over the province, and so far from the Otago- grown wheat being unsuitable for making bread, it is now exported for that purpose to Australia and England. The exportation of grain has as- sumed large proportions in Canterbury province, on whose extensive plains vast quantities of wheat are grown. This trade, both in Canter- bury and here, will infallibly receive a great impetus from the extension of the railway sys- tem lately inaugurated, and now being pushed on by the general government. The cultivation of barley is being encouraged by the brewers and distillers offering prizes for malting barley. Malt, to our shame be it spoken, is still im- ported from England. Over 20,000 was sent out of the colony for malt in 1872. Potatoes thrive well here, and as yet the dreaded potato disease has not made its appearance. Turnips, however, are not so successfully cultivated, as PRICE OF LAND. 201 they are often destroyed by the green fly or aphix, but this is not of much importance where stall-feeding is not resorted to, to any great extent. The cultivation of several new crops have been proposed from time to time, but, not- withstanding that the government did every- thing to foster such attempts, by importing from Germany quantities of the seed of the sugar beet, and European flax from Ireland, and distributing them amongst the colonists, I have not heard of either crop being extensively cultivated, nor, so far as I know, have any practical results emanated from the attempts. Hitherto the agricultural settlers on the gold- fields have been on a different footing from those in other parts of the province. Land within a gold-field, until the passing of the "Otago Waste Lands Act 1872," could not be sold at once, but leases for purposes of cultiva- tion were obtainable at a rental of half-a-crown per acre, and at any time after the expiration of three years, if certain conditions as to improve- ments had been complied with, the lessee was 202 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. entitled to purchase the freehold at twenty shillings per acre if the land were not auriferous, and an opportunity is always afforded to the miners of opposing the alienation of land within the gold-fields in this way. The leases could only be granted in localities where the land was not in the possession of a pastoral lessee, or where the inhabitants had induced the govern- ment to give him compensation, and he had given up part of his run for that purpose. Now the system is changed, in so far that where no pastoral lease exists, land is saleable in the gold-fields at once, and agricultural lessees may, after three years, instead of purchasing the freehold outright, change their lease for one for seven years at the same rent with this differ- ence, that the rental goes in extinction of the purchase money, so that at the end of the term of his lease the lessee is entitled to a " Crown grant," or transfer of the freehold without further payment. These " leases on deferred payments," as they are characterised, may also be granted in blocks set apart for that purpose THE LAND LAWS. 203 by the superintendent and Provincial Council. In such cases a license to occupy for three years, on certain conditions and at a rent of half-a-crown an acre, is first granted, and there- after the occupier may either purchase the land occupied (but not exceeding 200 acres) at seven- teen shillings and sixpence per acre, or obtain a lease on deferred payments on similar terms to those already spoken of. The great bone of contention amongst pro- vincial politicians for many years has been the Land laws. Much wordy warfare has been waged over this question, not only in the pro- vincial Council-Hall, but also on the floor of the General Assembly, till the expression, an "Otago land fight," has become proverbial in parliamentary circles. The cry of the agrarian party is, " Land for the people," while the watchword of the pastoral interest is, " Preserve vested rights." The passing of the Land Act of 1872 has for a time quieted the storm, but the administration of the law is now made a subject for squabbling over, and the question 204 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. will probably never be set at rest till the last acre has been sold by the Crown. The theory of the French economist, that all lands should belong to the state and be merely leased, would be, if one may judge from our Otago experience, impracticable. Like many another social reform excellent in theory, the practise can only be looked for, or even expected, to work well when man has attained perfection. Bill Styles would still ask why Percival Talbois should hold such large tracts of the public estate while he had none, and say he must send men to Parliament to alter such a state of things ; though Styles might reap a benefit in lessened taxation, he would not be satisfied if Talbois obtained, or even appeared to him to obtain, any advantage he did not enjoy. But this is a wide digression. So, revenons a nos moutons. The pastoral party may be designated the conservatives of pro- vincial politics, while the other has assumed the name of liberal. The class of run-holders, or pastoral tenants of the Crown, comprises for the most part men THE SQUATOCRACY. 205 of refinement and education, and they are nick- named by the Liberal party the " squatocracy," from the word squatter, which is also a name frequently applied to them. They hold depas- turing lands over large tracts of country, aver- aging about 50,000 acres; nearly all of the leases have still some ten years to run, and the granting of this extended tenure has doubtless been a hindrance in many instances to settle- ment. As pioneers, the squatters were undeni- ably entitled to some consideration, but a decided political mistake was made when, for a greatly increased rental, it is true, an additional ten years and an improved tenure was granted some years ago to such as elected to avail themselves of it, which the run-holders almost without exception did. I have spoken of these large sheep-farmers as being educated gentlemen. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but not many, not so many probably as in the same class in Australia. The mention of this fact, however, recalls the anecdote of the three Australian squatters who, 206 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. having to pass the night from home, occupied the same bed-room. Before going to sleep they conversed for some time, and the subject, as usual, was stock and stations for the worst of all men I ever came in contact with, for talking what is commonly called " shop," are squatters. One of the two, who had risen from the position of shepherd to that of flock-owner, was the first to fall asleep, and the other two talked till far on into the night. The conversation turned upon their college days, and finally on classical authors, and as the somnolent sharer of their room awoke from his first sleep his ears caught the somewhat enthusiastic remark, "Ah, yes! Homer must have been a splendid fellow." With his thoughts still running on the previous conversation, the quondam shepherd exclaimed, " Homer, Homer ; who's he ; sheep or cattle ! " apparently wondering if there had been any squatter in that neighbourhood with whose name he was not familiar. Life on a sheep-station is rather a dull one. There are periodical "musterings" and other SHEEP-SHEARING. 207 duties to be attended to, and there is the annual important busy season, the "shearing," when all is stir and bustle, and the shearing-shed presents a brisk scene. At this time extra hands are engaged for the purpose of shearing the sheep, and as they are paid by the number shorn, they consequently endeavour to shear as many sheep as possible in a day. A good man will get through a hundred sheep, or even more, and will earn for his day's work from fifteen shillings to one pound, and this with rations : not bad payment ; but the work is severe ; they stand at their work and bend over the sheep, and between their exertions and the heated atmosphere of the shed, perspire more profusely than I ever saw men do, except, per- haps, the " puddlers " in an iron foundry. When this great business of the year is over, the squatter often allows himself a holiday, and " after shearing " makes a run to town. His calendar appears to circle round this epoch, and events are spoken of as having occurred so long before or after shearing. 208 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. In ordinary times the station employees are few in number, and vary, according to the size of the run and ideas of the owner. Two or three shepherds, invariably Scotch, and an odd man or two, form the usual staff. The number of the shepherds employed have of late years been decreased on many stations, from the extensive system of fencing which has been adopted. Miles upon miles of wire fences have been erected, and this saves the cost of a shepherd to "keep the boundary." Notwith- standing this, shepherds need not fear ob- taining employment, and wages are still good. 50 to 60 per annum and "found" i. e., provided with rations being the ruling rate. The odd man often fills the position of bullock- driver where a bullock team is kept, and if such be the case, he is pretty certain to be a rough customer. The proverb, " to swear like a trooper," would be more intelligible in colonial ears if bullock-driver were substituted for the last word. I suppose this arises from the fact that the team is mainly guided by the voice, and SWEARING BILL. 209 as bullocks are at times stubborn, the words of direction are aided by expletives. I have heard a man assert that it was no use his try- ing to work his team unless he swore heartily at them all round. There is a story told of one of these station-hands, w T hich is worth repeating. He was engaged in carting potatoes, which were put into his dray without being bagged. In the course of his journey, which was but a short one, he had to go up a pretty steep incline, and by some means the tail-board of the dray was jolted out of its place, so as to allow the potatoes to escape, a few at a time. Just as the top of the pinch was gained, the man looked round and saw his potatoes chasing one another in an unbroken stream to the foot of the hill. His disgust can be more easily imagined than described. On reaching home he related the occurrence to his master, who said " How you must have sworn, Bill ! I am glad I was not there to hear you." "No sir, I did not," said Bill. " What ! not swear ? I can hardly believe that." "No," said Bill 210 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. again, " I did not try it, because I didn't think I could have done the occasion justice." The squatters are a class who must inevitably become extinct before many years are over, but their places as stock-owners will be supplied by large free-holders. A great deal of the land in Otago is only suitable for depasturing pur- poses, and several large blocks have already been disposed of. So long as only pastoral land is sold in this way, no one can complain, but when the run-holders are allowed to acquire land suitable for agriculture, the Liberal party have some cause for dissatisfaction. But even this I would hardly grudge them, were I certain that they would remain here, but when the profits are withdrawn to be spent in Piccadilly, it is high time to look for a remedy. The breed of sheep maintained is the merino. In cultivated lands the Leicester is the favorite, and the two are by many crossed with bene- ficial results. The Cheviot, the popular breed of the Scottish border, is almost unknown. In the southern part of the province flock-owners A POISONOUS PLANT. 211 have sometimes to contend with a poisonous plant called the tutu t (conaria ruscifolia), com- monly pronounced toot; it, however, is quite local, and is the only enemy which does much harm to the flocks. The properties of the plant are very strange, and it may yet prove to be of commercial value as a medicinal herb. To cattle reared where it grows it is innocuous, and proves fattening fodder, but if a hungry bullock unaccustomed to its use should browse upon its tempting leaves, it will soon be seized with a species of mania, causing it to career and tumble about with violent paroxysms till the poor brute falls exhausted and dies. If attended to in time the animal may be cured, bleeding being often a remedy. Sheep do not seem to become so thoroughly accustomed to the use of it as cattle, and those feeding amongst it, on being dogged or driven, are apt to be affec- ted by it, or be, as the phrase is, " tutued." I have known of sheep, feeding for weeks where the tutu grew thick and rank, on being moved a few hundred yards to a paddock where there were 212 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. only a few straggling plants, being poisoned by them, and begin to drop down in dozens; whether this was only owing to the excitement of driving, or to some difference in the plant in the two localities, I cannot tell. Sheep get over the effects more easily than cattle, but it leaves more lasting results. A sheep which has been badly tutued and recovers, loses its gregarious habits, and becomes what the shepherds call a "hermit." It also acquires an additional amount of stupidity, but yields no worse mutton. Squatters whose runs include high country sometimes lose sheep through snow, but this may generally be avoided with care, and there are many more risky occupations than that of an Otago run-holder. One source of annoyance to the squatters is the "swagsmen," as they are called, or men who travel about the country, professedly in search of work, but who do not in reality want it. These men always arrive at a station just about night-fall, and as the nearest house is many miles away, they have to be fed and housed SWAGSMEN. 213 for the night, and as this is a matter of frequent occurrence, it sometimes becomes a serious tax. The form of asking for work is usually gone through, and they occasionally earn a few shillings, enough to keep themselves in beer and tobacco while on the road, but if set to any really hard work, they generally find some excuse to throw up the job, and move on. So long as these men can obtain a living without working for it, they prefer to do so, and grumble about their hardships to any one who will listen to them. CHAPTER XVI. Qbocztions. I HAVE already alluded to the diversities of employment which some men in the colonies undertake, but besides this there is a great difference between the duties to be performed in connection with many occupations here, and similar callings in the parent country. A British bank clerk has a very humdrum life, and so has a colonial one, in a large town, but their work has little resemblance to that of a " banker " at the diggings' agency. The different banking institutions oppose one an- other very hotly at times in the colonies, and when this is the case the opposition is sure to be fiercest on the gold-fields. From this cir- BANKING ENTERPRIZE. 215 cumstance an irregular manner of conducting business, especially in the matter of hours, has been introduced. The banker must be ready to buy gold at almost any time of the day or night ; in fact most business is transacted in the evening, and even till late at night, as the miners prefer selling their gold after dark, as this does not break in upon their working hours, and I have seen a bank clerk turn out of bed at a very early hour in the morning to oblige a customer, which he did though in de'shabille. This is very tiresome to one who has been ac- customed to the regularity of a large town, where the door is strictly closed to the outside public early in the afternoon. But strange though this may be, it is not so strange as the going long distances to buy gold. The contest for gold is so keen that the bank agent sometimes spends as much of his time in the saddle as in the office. In- stead of waiting till the miners and store- keepers bring in their gold for sale, he starts off with as much, or even more than a couple 216 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. of thousand pounds in bank notes in his valise, and a revolver in his belt, to visit such out- lying diggings as are not large enough to sup- port an agency, and sometimes he will be away from home on these journeys for a night or two, returning with a considerable weight of gold. This species of banking begets in a novice a great feeling of responsibility, but it is astonish- ing how quickly it wears away. I can vividly recall my own early experiences in this department on the occasion of my first journey, carrying a large sum in cash to buy gold. I had a lonely road, or rather bridle track to travel through the hills, and on my way I fre- quently felt for my revolver, and made sure that it would slip from its case easily. Arrived at my destination, I sought out the party of miners with whom I expected to have dealings, and found they were not ready, and would not be till the evening. While I was waiting about, and hugging my bag of filthy lucre in a most affectionate manner, another banker arrived on the scene from the opposite direction, belonging, CLEANING GOLD. 217 of course, to an opposition establishment. Then an attempt was made by the miners to get an advanced price out of either of us. Eventually I was successful in securing the parcel, and I proceeded to the miners' hut to clean and weigh the precious metal. Whilst I was engaged in doing so, I learned that the remains of a woman, who had been a servant at the hotel at which I had put up rather more than a year before, and who had disappeared suddenly no one knew where, had just been discovered in a wild gully far up the mountain behind the township. There was no doubt as to the identity of the skeleton; the teeth in the upper jaw, being of peculiar form, were recognised by several people. Conjecture was rife as to how she had met her end, but all concurred that there had been foul play. By the time I had cleaned, or " blown " the gold, it was too late to think of returning, so I went back to the hotel, with the intention of sleeping there. As it was already pretty late, and I was desirous of making an early start next 218 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. morning, I proposed at once retiring to rest. The landlord, whose appearance was very far from prepossessing, so much so that he might be said to have " Hobart-town in every feature," was excessively greasy and officious. "He'd give me a room behind the bar, next his own, where I would be both secure and comfortable. Mr. So-and-so always occupied the same room when he stayed over-night." I wished him good- night rather sulkily, for I felt sufficiently anxious without his adding to it by his disagreeable manner. When left alone, my imagination ran riot. I associated this ugly old publican with the murdered woman, and instead of proximity to his bed-room imparting a feeling of security, it was now the reverse. I could not lock the door, for lock there was none, and if there had been it would have proved but of slight service, for the door was only a wooden frame covered with green baize. The walls on three sides were of the same material, while the fourth was of calico, papered. I was tired with the, to me, A SLEEPLESS NIGHT. 219 unwonted exercise of riding, and very sleepy from the exposure to the fresh air; but the horrible thought would intrude itself, that if I did fall asleep, I should only awake to feel a cold steel at my throat, and then know nothing more. Two hundred ounces of gold, besides several hundred pounds in cash, was a prize worth securing. I strapped my valise to my leg, and lay with my hand on the butt of my revolver, ready for any emergency, and thus passed a sleepless but uneventful night. Very soon I got accustomed to this kind of work, and laughed at myself for my idle fears, but the acquisition of the experience in the first instance was not pleasant. I think it says a good deal for the honesty of our population, that in Otago there have been almost no cases of highway robbery, or " sticking up," as it is spoken of in the colonies. In the first few years of the diggings there were, I think, two, or at most three cases of gold buyers being stuck up, and, considering the number of opportunities, and the facilities 220 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. for committing the crime, this number must be considered small. I have spoken of cleaning the gold before buying it. To accomplish this well is the first requirement of a bank clerk on the diggings. The means adopted is very simple, and yet it requires skill to effect it thoroughly. The gold, when it is such as is usually obtained in Otago, is in water worn pieces, from the size of a small bean or pea down to the finest dust. The miners leave a considerable quantity of sand amongst this, which has to be got rid of by means of blowing. The gold is placed on a flat pear-shaped metal dish, with a perpendicu- lar rim or edge, except at the point of the pear, where there is no rim. This is moved in such a manner that the gold is tossed up, and all the finer particles and dirt are worked forward towards the opening, out by which the operator blows the sand. The tossing and blowing are repeated again and again till the whole is suffi- ciently clean. Sometimes the process is much more arduous than at others, as, where the BANKING A T STA TIONS. 221 sand is heavy and the gold fine, the task of separating them is harder. In any case it is tiresome work to have much of it continu- ously. Bank agents at stations had often to put up with very inferior accommodation for conducting their business ; at first they had merely tents, afterwards sheds covered with the thinnest of iron. Now the size of the building is improved, but the material is still for the most part wood or corrugated iron. But even a tent was deemed quite secure when the agency possessed a safe. A fellow-clerk in the same bank told me that he had, he believed, injured his health by his anxiety while carrying on business in a tent, at the first of a rush, without a safe, and that when a Milner's patent at length arrived, he felt more relieved than he could express. Other difficulties besides those I have mentioned have sometimes to be encountered. I have known of a bank agency so destitute of stationery, which was not to be procured on the spot, that recourse was had to sixpenny passbooks 222 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. for ledgers and brown paper for credit and debit slips. It might be thought that the business of the learned professions would be conducted in much the same manner here as in the old country ; and as regards divinity and medicine there is little if any difference. Some years ago the fair fame of the medical faculty was sullied by its numbering in its ranks several knaves and charlatans. Happily those quacks have been driven to seek fresh fields for the indulg- ence of their empiricism by the interference of the legislature, which requires every medical man to register his diploma, and prevents him practising unless he does so. A slight acquaintance with therapeutics is very desirable knowledge for a colonist, as the services of an amateur have sometimes to be called into re- quisition, and happy the patient if the quasi- doctor is not one who has more idea of treating a horse or a cow than a human being. I remember one fellow, a storekeeper, telling us how once on a time he had treated an A SMART STOREKEEPER. 223 unfortunate miner who had got his leg badly cut while at work in his claim, and who sent to the store for a box of Holloway's Ointment. The storekeeper had none, but he was equal to the emergency, and, spreading a little salt butter on a rag, hastened to the scene of the accident and bound up the wound. The injured man protested that the salve gave him great addi- tional pain, but he was assured that arose from the nature of his wound alone, and was requested to pay half-a-crown down at once for the box of ointment he was supposed to have had. The storekeeper admitted he was a little non-plussed when next day the man sent for the remainder of his box, but he got out of the difficulty in a manner which was more satisfactory than credit- able to himself, by saying that he was not going to keep a half empty box of ointment knocking about, and that he had thrown it away. As regards the profession of law, the chief difference between the colony and England lies in the non-separation of the two branches of the profession. Nominally they are distinct, 224 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. but a barrister may practise as a solicitor and vice versa. Consequently many who are really solicitors devote themselves to the bar, and such anomalies exist as a firm of solicitors giving a brief to one of their own partners, with, as a matter of course, the usual fee. Lawyers absolutely swarm, and the profession is now overcrowded admission to its ranks not being a matter of very great difficulty, and premiums for articled clerks having hitherto been almost unknown. Members of the bar, and solicitors who have been admitted to prac- tise in England or her dependencies, are per- mitted to practise here on passing an examination in New Zealand law. One of our judges (they being the examiners) was in the habit of putting one or two hard general questions to such candi" dates for admission, " to see what they were made of," and an answer once given him to a vivd voce question has seldom been surpassed for cool readiness. The formula adopted in putting the question was, " If a client told you so and so, what course would you pursue ? " THE BUSH LA WYER. 225 " Ask for a payment to account of costs," was the prompt reply. One species of the genus lawyer is rapidly becoming extinct in Otago. They are called "bush lawyers," and flourished chiefly on the gold-fields and in up-country towns, whence they are being supplanted by the younger branches of the profession. The bush lawyers, or min- ing agents, which is the name they accept, are often men who have acquired some know- ledge of law as lawyers' clerks, and are of great use to the diggers. Miners are rather a litigious set of fellows, induced no doubt by their having to make many of their applications in respect to mining matters, to the warden in open court, when objections are heard, and the application decided judicially. Consequently some bush lawyers made money, and if a bill of costs which I inspected was a criterion of their charges, it was no wonder. In the case I refer to, a will had been prepared, which could with ease have been written on a sheet of ordinary note paper, for which eight guineas P 226 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. was the modest remuneration demanded, in- cluding an item of three guineas "for waiting up all night to get the will signed;" a proceed- ing, I was informed, wholly unnecessary, and induced mainly by a desire to partake freely of the sick man's "grog." The mining agents did not by any means confine themselves to con- ducting mining cases, but also appeared in the district courts, and I have seen a gentleman whose designation was " of the Middle Temple, barrister-at-law," engaged in arguing a case, his " learned friend " on the other side being an ex- sergeant of police. It was said of this latter worthy, who, except when " on circuit," devoted his energies to keeping a public-house, that he amassed two thousand pounds in less than four years by his practice as a bush lawyer. Some idea of his fitness may be formed from his remark to the district court judge, when talking about a stream which lost itself in a shingly plain. He said, "The water sinks into the shingle and perlicates down to the river." Such men, however, were perhaps quite good A QUEER FINE. 227 enough to conduct cases in the early times, before some of the justices who acted tempor- arily as wardens. One of these gentlemen, it is said, after getting through a petty case with some difficulty, and desiring to inflict the extreme penalty, expressed his disapproval of the defendant's conduct in most severe terms, and was winding up his peroration with the words " I fine you," when he suddenly stopped, looked puzzled, and asked the clerk of court in a stage whisper, " What should it be ? " Re- ceiving no reply, he appealed to the sergeant of police, but that functionary seemed to have his whole attention rivetted to a spot on the op- posite wall; the justice lost all patience, and burst out with, " I fine you the whole lot, sir !" rather a puzzling sentence, certainly. The entire surroundings of justice in those times were hardly such as to inspire awe. A court-house of canvass lined with druggeting is not an imposing edifice, at least, in one instance, it apparently was not sufficient to convince a raw Irish policeman, who was filling the post 228 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. of crier, of his inferiority to the dignitary on the bench ; for on being told to call the plaintiff in a case, he went to the door and, after lustily bawling the name, returned saying, " No ap- pearance ; dishmiss the case." CHAPTER XVII. l Jbjwts. A STRANGER on his first arrival from Britain is usually disappointed at the un- foreign appearance of his surroundings as regards natural objects. The weeds he finds grow- ing in the streets are identical with those he has left in his native town; the grass in the fields is English; and he may perchance recognise the song of the chaffinch or thrush from the neighbouring thicket. The general aspect of the distant forest presents nothing to attract the eye, as strange or new, and he may note with dissatisfaction that the only discernible difference from an English 230 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. wood is, that the foliage is duller and more sombre. The sentiments excited by this state of affairs are varied ; the pleasure of recog- nising old friends is mingled with disappoint- ment at the want of new acquaintances. Let the traveller wander, however, away from "the busy haunts of men," only a short distance towards the " bush," as the natural forest is designated, and he finds, combined with greater sylvan beauty, a con- trast, indeed, to any British scene he can recall. On the outskirts of the bush he may perchance cross the clearing of some industrious settler, the rough log fence of which, as well as the white bleached stumps sticking up here and there through the green luxuriant grass, somehow carries him back to those tales read in his boyhood of Ameri- can Indian life while the rude hut built of the black stems of the tree fern, though not an orthodox log cabin, strengthens the as- sociation. Let him pass on and enter the bush ; and before he has penetrated many THE FOREST. 231 yards he finds himself repeating the opening lines of Evangeline : "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss and with garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms." Pressing on to the deeper recesses of the dense forest, through a deep undergrowth of shrubs and saplings, interlaced at times with the long trailing branches of the bush " lawyer" (rubus australis), whose inverted hooks take a most tenacious hold of the passer-by, and, if not carefully dealt with, are likely to prove dangerous to his attire; or the long, leafless, cane-like stems of the supple-jack (rhipogomim scandens), which prove an obstructive yet, as compared with the other, a harmless object. Pausing to rest awhile, the profound silence which prevails is almost oppressive. No life is visible ; animals there are none ; but where else could one look for birds ? A short way back the peculiar bell-like notes of the moko- 232 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. moko or bell-bird (anthornis melanura) were heard, and further on the harsh chatter of the parraquet (platycercus novce zealandice) grated on the ear. Now the ear seeks as vainly as the eye for signs of life ; even the murmuring "sough" of the breeze through the tree-tops has ceased, and the only sound to be distin- guished is the half-stifled prattle of a brook at no great distance. We shall go thither, and, seating ourselves in a grove of tree ferns, admire the scene. If animal life be wanting, vegetable life a- bounds in both luxuriance and beauty. And even the former is now represented, for from a branch a few feet distant the bright-eyed New Zealand robin (petroica cdbifrons) is curi- ously watching our movements. Larger than his European congener, whom he resembles only in his build and movements, he is dressed in a suit of rusty black, with a considerable display of sadly- soiled linen in place of the familiar red- breast. Over a larger pool in the stream too, a fantail (rhipidura flabellifera) - THE BUSH, 233 is flitting about catching flies. 'Tis a pretty little bird, less than a wren, with a dark back and head, but lighter underneath ; its chief feature, however, is the tail of long white feathers, which, though longer than itself, the little bird spreads out and flirts about like the fan of a Spanish coquette. A small flight of canaries (orthonyx ochrocephala) passes over- head, their attempts at music being but a poor burlesque of the performances of the caged songsters " of that ilk." But these slight evi- dences of animal life only help to impress the tenantless condition of the bush more fully upon one. In one respect this lack of life is not to be regretted. When an Australian first visits the New Zealand bush, he gives thanks a thousand times for the absence of snakes, from whose fangs there would be little chance of escape amidst the dense vegetation. When St. Patrick bestowed his blessing upon the Emerald Isle, and expelled the reptilia, some of the potency of the spell must, I think, have permeated the 234 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. earth till it reached our antipodean regions, for, save some harmless lizards, reptiles we have none. The large trees of the forest are noble patri- archial giants, the red (dacrydium cupressinum, native name remu) and black ( podocarpus ferru- ginea) pines and the totara (podocarpus totara) yielding excellent, and, especially the first and last, prettily grained timber. The wood of the white pine (podocarpus dacrydioides) is softer, but is also useful, and has the advantage of being free from knots. These pines, and also most of the trees and shrubs of the bush, are evergreens. The few exceptions, such as the kowai (sophora tetraptera) and tree fuschia (fuschia excorticata), are not numerous enough to make any difference in the appearance of the bush in winter. Many of the smaller trees and shrubs would be greatly prized by the owners of English shrubberies for ornamental plants. Several of the coprosmas and olearias are emin- ently suited for such purposes, but, in common with most New Zealand bush trees and plants, BEAUTY OF THE FERNS. 235 they are very difficult to grow away from the friendly shade and shelter of their accustomed forests. The chief beauty of Otagan bush scenery lies in the ferns. Their growth is profuse and abundant almost everywhere, but the height of their luxuriance and beauty is to be found only in some dense gully in the heart of the bush. Here they attain perfection, from the monarch of the tribe, the lofty tree fern,"' 5 " rising like some sculptured pillar with a capitol of wide-spreading fronds, to the tiny parasitical trichomanes (trichomanes venosum) or hyrueno- phyllum (hymenophyllum tunbridgense), which forms the ornamentation of the shaft. They vary, too, in form and texture as they do in size, from the graceful feathery lightness of the todea hymenophylloides, or the translucent sea- weed-like fronds of the hymenophyllum dilata- tum, to the stiff leathery appearance of the * There are four tree ferns common in the neighbourhood of Duuedin dicksonia antartica, dicksonia sgitarrosa, hemitelia smithiij cyathea, dealbata. 236 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. lomaria patersoni. Ferns are everywhere, on the ground, on the trees, and on one another; and the face of yonder rocky cliff is wholly veiled by them. Where the ferns fail, velvet- like mosses of the softest green supply their places; every stump, and even the stones are hid in " greenery," and, were nof flowers want- ing, a ferny gully might be mistaken for fairy- land. But the flowers are not there, nor indeed are they to be found elsewhere. We miss the yellow primrose from the shady banks in spring, we fail to find a foxglove standing ruddy in the summer sun, and the autumn brings no poppies to deck our fields of corn, nor does the purple heather lend its hue to tinge our distant hills. No, alas ! we have none of these, and naught to fill their places. The farmer, it is true, prefers to keep his fields free from poppies, the fox- gloves and primroses are only to be seen culti- vated in garden grounds, and a sprig of his native heath may be found carefully tended in the possession of some patriotic Scot. TREES AND SHRUBS. 237 The indigenous wild flowers are for the most part insignificant and poor. This is more to be wondered at when we consider how well all imported English plants thrive. Numbers of British weeds and flowers have been acciden- tally transported hither, and have spread with amazing rapidity. I have seen a sward white as snow with daisies, and the national plant of Caledonia flourishes and maintains its ground in sturdy defiance of legislators and thistle ordinances. But it is not such plants alone that find a congenial soil and climate here; British trees and plants generally grow with a vigour and rapidity surpassing anything they attain in the country to which they belong. The most striking instance of this is to be seen in the case of the common white clover, which will often be met with growing freely far away from any artificial pasture. By way of compensation for the scarcity of wild flowers, many of the trees and shrubs have abundant blossoms, some of them sweetly scented. For show and splendour nothing can 238 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. surpass the brilliancy of the ruta or iron tree (metrosideros lucida) not the true ruta, though often so called whose mass of scarlet bloom is the boast of the forest. Unfortunately, though plentiful further south, no specimens of this handsome tree grow near Dunedin. In speak- ing of our native wild flowers, it would be an omission not to mention the ' clematis (clematis hexasepala), whose white star-shaped blossoms are shewn to advantage hung in large clusters from the topmost boughs of some dark green tree, not a leaf or flower being visible through- out the entire length of the long thin climbing stem till it attains an airy altitude. It was proposed that the New Zealand war medal should imitate the flower of this plant, and I believe the idea has been adopted. Flowering plants are not the only things we lack; of native animals we have now none, though a dog must have existed in the days of the Moa, and there are rumours of a rat at a later period. This last has disappeared wholly, and surrendered the field to his cousin from THE BIRDS IN OTAGO. 239 Norway. Birds are much more numerous, but many are somewhat local in their distributions, and others again, such as the wood-pigeon (carpophaga novce zealandice) and kaka (nestor meridionalis), a kind of parrot 'both excellent eating, by the way only come near the settled neighbourhoods at certain seasons. Notwith- standing the numbers of species of birds in New Zealand, one may travel long distances and see nothing but an occasional native lark (anthus novce zealandice), running, as they are wont, along a traveller's path, or a solitary hawk sailing leisurely about in the distance. Settlement is producing changes among our avifauna, as well as our flora, and while some species are seemingly dying out, others, such as the moko-moko and the wax-eye (zosterops later- alis), appear to be increasing. The wax- eye is rather interesting, from the fact that it is a self-imported colonist, it having made its ap- pearance and spread over the country since the arrival of the white man. I have been told, but have never had the opportunity of verifying 240 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. the statement, that on their first arrival these birds built a pendant nest, and then, discovering there were no snakes here, they changed their style of architecture, and adopted the ordinary cup-shaped form. One of our common birds is rather a notability on account of the strangeness of his plumage, as well as the richness of his notes. His name and aspect, but not his de- meanour, are clerical, for the parson-bird (pros- themadera novce zealandice) is a wonderfully lively merry rogue. He is also known as the tui, and gets his other name from having glossy black plumage, with two of the funniest little tufts of white feathers under his chin. A closer inspection, however, discovers that his apparently black feathers are shot with brilliant and lustrous hues of green and purple, which are, to say the least, decidedly unclerical. The most celebrated natural curiosities New Zealand possesses are the remains of the extinct gigantic birds, all popularly known as the Moa, although some eight or nine different species are distinguishable, some of them differing REMAINS OF THE MO A. 241 widely from others. Considerable attention has from time to time been devoted to these re- mains, and discussion excited in reference to them. The moot point is the epoch in which these birds lived : some desire to fix the era of their existence at a very distant period ; others argue that they must have lived comparatively recently.* There is no doubt but that the moa was hunted and used as food by man, and that a dog was also co-existent with them ; but the question is, were these moa-hunters the ancestors of the Maories, or some more ancient race 1 The bones of these birds being found in ovens in different parts of the colony, mixed with fragments of egg-shell, charcoal, dog and other bones, shells of the fresh-water mussel, and rude stone implements, establishes these facts beyond dispute, and, although the absence of traditions among the Maories as to the moa, evidences antiquity, yet, on the other hand, the * Those interested in the subject will find several able papers bearing upon it in Vol. IV. of the " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute" Trubner & Co. Lond. 1872. Q 242 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. fact that bones and egg-shells have been found on the surface of the ground, is antagonistic to such a supposition. I have myself seen, in close proximity to the ovens or middens on the Maniatoto plain, count- less minute fragments of moa egg-shells lying on the surface of the ground, and, even ad- mitting that there is very little rainfall in that part of Otago, I cannot believe that these frag- ments have withstood other atmospheric in- fluences for even a tythe of the time which some hold has elapsed since the moa ceased to live. This seems to be further corroborated by the discovery in a cave of a portion of a inoa's neck, with the dried flesh, skin, and feathers partially covering it. Some bones of a giant raptorial bird (harpagornis moorei) have also been exhumed. I do not know what size this bird is supposed to have been, but the hawk which preyed on the fourteen feet high moas, must prove a formidable rival to the roc of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. The absence of fish from our rivers has always BOBBING FOR EELS. 243 been a matter of wonder and regret to the colon- ists, and many a sigh has been heaved over " a capital trout stream," over which it is hopeless to throw a fly. Nothing but gigantic eels were to be caught in the rivers, and they afforded but sorry sport to a genuine disciple of old Izaak Walton. The manner most frequently adopted for catching eels, called " bobbing," is primitive enough, and is by means of a line formed of narrow stripes of flax leaves, to the end of which is tied a bundle of earth worms. The eels bolt the " bob," and are readily pulled out of the water, the same bait serving again and again.. The evident suitability of our streams and rivers for trout has led to their being intro- duced, and the Acclimatization Society have already stocked several streams, the trout at- taining a large size very rapidly. Several attempts to stock the rivers with salmon have also been made, and the last one is, so far, prosperous, some hundreds of young fish having been successfully hatched. If the rivers be 244 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. destitute of fish, the seas are not, and, ano- malous as it may appear, the best and most highly esteemed sea-fish is one which is never caught with net or line. It is only known from being in frosty weather thrown up by the ocean. It is a long ribbon-like fish, frequently exceeding four feet in length, while the breadth is less than four inches. Why it is that it should be cast up by the sea, and that only in frosty weather, is a question still to be solved, but from this circumstance it is known amongst the colonists as the frost-fish (lepidopus can- datus). Some slight reference has already been made to the New Zealand fish from a commercial point of view. One which is likely to prove of great value in this respect, being well adapted for preserving, is the habuka (oligoris gigas). It is tolerably abundant, and is the largest of our edible fishes, often weighing from forty to sixty pounds, while larger speci- mens have been caught nearly twice these weights. It is excellent eating, especially INNOCUOUS INSECTS. 245 the head and shoulders, which form a noble dish. On some parts of the coast, shells are found in considerable variety, but in the neighbour- hood of Dunedin the beaches furnish little to interest the conchologist. The beautiful iridescent shell of the mutton-fish (haliotis iris), so greatly used for inlaying papier mache goods, is not uncommon in the south. Rather a pleasant feature in Otago, in the eyes of many, is the absence of noxious insects. In a few places mosquitoes are found, and in others the sand-flies are troublesome, but with these exceptions the insects are innocuous. Wasps, earwigs, ants, and such like bugbears of young ladies at English pic-nic parties, are wanting, and although insect life is tolerably plentiful, it is not disagreeably obtrusive as in Australia. Butterflies are scarce, both as re- gards numbers and variety. The collector would probably recognise with pleasure among their ranks the painted lady (vanessa cardua), and another (pyrameis gonerilla) which at first 246 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. sight he might mistake for the English red admiral (v. atalanta), as the only difference on the upper side is in the marginal markings on the lower wings. An entomologist would find a large and comparatively unexplored field of labour in Otago. The climate of Otago is a singularly healthy one, and, notwithstanding that some parts of the country are rather humid, while others are too dry, both are equally salubrious. This is evidenced by the way in which all introduced plants and animals flourish and thrive. Whether they be cereals, or domestic animals brought by the settlers, forest trees, song-birds, or wild animals introduced by the acclimatization so- cieties, or even weeds, or the domestic fly im- ported by accident, they all adapt themselves readily to this favoured land. The societies mentioned have been very active, and have successfully acclimatized numerous favourite songsters and insectivorous birds, as well as pheasants, partridges, deer of various kinds, hares, and other game, so that, what with in- DECIDUOUS TREES. 247 troduced as well as native game, the sportsman of the future need not fear for lack of material for his favourite pastime. Rabbits have, where the soil is favourable for burrowing, increased to such an extent as to be a nuisance, and I have heard of a station-holder in Marlborough province who found it requisite to employ three men to keep the rabbits down, otherwise his sheep would have been starved. When the subsoil is a stiff clay, and they do not burrow deep, the cats and hawks keep them under. Rabbits are not the only things that thrive too well : even some trees, it is said, grow too quickly to produce good timber. This has been proved to be the case with some of the English deciduous trees, especially farther to the north. One ash tree in Nelson, which in twenty years had grown to a size it would not have attained in England in half a century, was blown down, and its great limbs were found to be quite brittle, the rapid growth having caused it to lose its characteristic toughness. This is probably in some measure occasioned 248 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. by the want of a sufficient check in winter. In Otago this want would not be so greatly felt, for our winters are more severe, but still we have nothing to compare with the severity of a British winter. The scarlet geraniums in the Dunedin gardens pass through the winter season unscathed, and the earliest spring flowers generally see the last of those of autumn. One of the chief causes of complaint against the New Zealand climate is that it is windy, and the impeachment cannot be altogether denied ; but we are amply compensated by the delicious purity and clearness of the atmosphere. I have often heard it remarked that the moon is much brighter here than on the other side of the globe, and doubtless any apparent difference is owing to this cause. Another astronomical object which often attracts the attention of those from the northern hemisphere, is the constellation of the Southern Cross, but it does not do so pleasingly, for apparently their expec- tations have not unfrequently been raised by descriptions of " the glorious and brilliant con- GRUMBLERS. . 249 stellation of the Southern Cross," whereas in reality it is more than rivalled by Ursa Major. Malcontents occasionally grumble, too, about the sudden changes of temperature, and it cannot be denied but that they have some grounds for complaint. These changes, how- ever, do not appear to have any prejudicial effects on the general health. The almost in- variable coldness of the nights, even in the hottest weather, is remarkable ; but this, no doubt, prevents that enervation which is caused by the heat in summer. CHAPTER XVIII. THE individual who first gave the names of North, Middle, and South islands to the two composing New Zealand and the small one lying immediately to the south of the other two, must have possessed a mind somewhat resembling that of the worthy minister of the Cumbrays (two small islands in the Firth of Clyde), who used to pray for a blessing "on the great Cumbray and the little Cumbray, and the adjacent islands of Great Britain and Ire- land." Although the names indicated are still kept up on the maps, in ordinary conversation the expression South Island is understood to apply to the Middle Island of the maps, and STE WART'S ISLAND. 251 the South Island proper is usually designated Stewart's Island. Stewart's Island, which is somewhat trian- gular in shape, is about fifty miles long, and its greatest breadth is about thirty miles. It is separated from the mainland by Foveaux Strait, some twelve to sixteen miles wide. Who the Stewart was whose name has thus survived him is wrapped in oblivion, but one tradition says that he was a whaler who brought Bloody Jack Te Rauparaha and his followers from the north, when they came down and slaughtered whole- sale the Maori tribes of the south. Mount Anglem, or Hananiu, the highest land in the island, is 3,200 feet high, and though the whole is hilly the slopes are gentle. The greater part is thickly wooded, and a more magnificent spectacle cannot be imagined than these forests present in the summer when the iron-wood trees are in flower. The masses of brilliant scarlet contrasting with the various shades of green, produce an effect which, if once seen, will never be forgotten. There are several fine 252 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. harbours in the island, Paterson Inlet, the largest of them, being a noble sheet of water, fifteen miles long, studded with several islands. On one of the largest of these, Coopers' Island, an enterprising individual has settled, and actu- ally, as our American cousins would say, "runs a store." Who his customers can be it is difficult to imagine, for besides a few hands employed by himself in cutting timber, and some four or five German families who have settled on the mainland, there are no inhabitants. The island has a few Maori residents, or perhaps only visitants, for the purposes of sealing and fishing. There is also one inhabitant who must not be forgotten, as he earns his livelihood by supply- ing the Dunedin market with the splendid oysters which abound there. Stewart's Island is destined not to remain much longer uninhabited, as its many capa- bilities have caused it to be chosen by the government as a site for a special settlement. A large building has been erected for the tem- porary accommodation of the immigrants, and JOHN TOPE, ESQUIRE. 253 it is purposed establishing there a colony of fishermen. A small party of Shetlanders have quite recently been sent down as pioneers. In Foveaux Strait there are several islets, the largest of which is Ruapuke and Dog Island. The latter is only noticeable from the fact of its having a lighthouse 118 feet high, while the former is peopled by Maories. Ruapuke con- tains some eight square miles, and is the residence of John Tope or Toby, as he is popularly called, one of the chiefs of the southern natives. He has a large flock of sheep on the island, and is well to do. I remember once travelling in the same steamer with him. We had among the saloon passengers, a young fellow just from India, who had been talking very boastfully of his black servants and his treatment of them, and when John Tope, Esq. joined the steamer at the Bluff, the purser had him put in the same cabin with the would-be Nabob. The most of the passengers were on the alert, ex- pecting a row. Not long after we had set sail again, the young Nabob, as we shall call him, 254 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. went to his cabin and found this old Maori there ; he quickly backed out again, and, calling the steward, asked what that black fellow was doing in his cabin. He was informed that the gentleman was a passenger. Master Nabob was furious, and protested against the indignity, but all to no purpose, for he had to put up with his coloured cabin mate, the other passengers en- joying a laugh at his discomfiture, and, it is needless to add, he didn't trouble us with any more of his Indian experiences. A Norwegian gentleman travelling in New Zealand, once said to me that he had been greatly struck with the diiference in the treatment by the English of the native races in this country and India the blacks in India, especially the lower classes, being treated with undisguised contempt, while in New Zealand the Maori is not only tolerated but well treated. It may perhaps occasion surprise to some readers that no mention is made in these pages of the Maories beyond a mere passing allusion. But I must inform my English readers for it THE CHATHAM ISLANDS. 255 could only be some of them who would be likely to wonder at this that the aboriginal natives in this great province of Otago are to be numbered in hundreds, there being only about five or six small villages or "kaiks" studded along the coasts. A tatooed Maori in Dunedin streets would attract nearly as much attention as he would do if he were set down in an European town. And this applies equally to all the southern provinces. Before it was taken possession of by the British colonists, the middle island of New Zealand was, com- paratively speaking, uninhabited. The Chatham islands perhaps hardly come within the category of islands adjacent to Otago, being nearer to the neighbouring province of Canterbury, with the capital of which the trade of the islands is chiefly carried on; but as vessels from the group do sometimes visit our port, and as I have recently had a descrip- tion of them from a friend who has just returned thence, I shall say a word or two about them. The group, which lies some 370 miles to the 256 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. north-east, comprises one large island and several smaller ones, many of the latter being merely rocks. The large island contains about 300,000 acres of dry land, and comprises within its area several lakes, the largest of which, lake Wahanga, is twenty-five miles in length, thus raising the total superficial area considerably. The higher grounds in the interior are in places morasses, not unlike Highland peat bogs, but nearer the coast the land is of excellent quality, and has formerly been mostly covered with light bush. Large clearings have been made by the Ma- ories, arid English grasses having been intro- duced, they have spread through all the bush, making every clearing and natural opening a beautiful grass paddock. Droves of wild horses roam over the island. Many of these are caught by being driven into the denser thickets, and secured to be shipped to New Zealand. The Maories, to whom the lands belong, lease large tracts of country as sheep runs to white settlers. Sheep thrive very well, and, besides the pasture already spoken of, the leaves of nearly every THE MORIORIES. 257 tree in the bush furnish superior fodder, upon which all the domestic animals fatten. The climate is a healthy one, and as there is no frost, the grass is green throughout the year. The present white settlers, who all appear to be making a comfortable living, number about a hundred. The Maori population was at one time considerable, but it has been much reduced of late years by emigration to New Zealand, as many as four hundred having left at once for Taranaki some years since. From an ethno- logical point of view, however, the most interest- ing inhabitants are the Moriories,. they being a distinct race from the Maori, and, as some say, were the original inhabitants of New Zealand before the Maori made his way thither from the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The rem- nant, of this nation still lingers in the Chathams, now a miserable race numbering between eighty and ninety, many of them stunted and deformed. There are among their number a few very old men, who must, in their younger days, have been fine-looking ; but the Maories, when they B 258 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. made a descent upon the islands, killed off all the best of them, and kept the remainder as slaves. The Moriori population, which, at the time of the discovery of the islands, in 1791, was estimated at over 2,000, must at one time have been very large, if one may judge from the quantities of bones which are to be found in different parts, some of these places being described as perfect Golgothas, and nearly every one of the skulls being cracked. In these places are to be found the stone implements of this people ; but, as the Maories used them to kill the Moriories rather than, as they said, degrade their own meres, the latter now super- stitiously break any of their own stone weapons which turn up. It cannot be many years before the race is altogether extinct, there being only one pure Moriori child, besides one or two half- caste Maori-Moriories. The population, when numerous, must have subsisted almost entirely on the fish which abound in vast quantities round the islands, ABUNDANCE OF FISH. 259 so much so that captains of whaling vessels, which often put into the Chathams for wood and water, say they never saw anything to equal the fish in any part of the world. The Moriories are still very expert fishermen, and will tell you what sort of fish you may expect to catch merely from the appearance of the day and the aspect of the sea. In the pre- paration and manipulation of their baits, and in knowing exactly where to go to find the fish they want, their unfailing certainty would almost suggest the idea that they had daily bulletins from the depths. The Maories, who are good fishermen also, admit that they are not to be compared to the Moriories. As a consequence of this abundance of fish, and possibly also carried thither by a strong ocean current flowing from the north, sharks abound. The formidable white shark, too, which is usually a denizen of warmer latitudes, has not unfrequently been seen. The northern current is amply evidenced by the fact that a vessel coming from Auckland always overruns her 260 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. reckoning, and also by cocoa nuts, as well as seeds of various New Zealand trees, being washed on the beach. It is probable that it is this current from a warmer latitude which makes the sea so prolific in life of all kinds. The beautiful sandy beaches are strewn with quantities of small but brilliantly coloured shells, while sponges, zoophytes, and sea-weeds, are very plentiful. The scenery of the Chathams is in some parts pretty, and in others, on the bolder coasts especially, it is grand. Basalt cliffs, the regularity of whose columns rivals the far-famed Giant's Causeway, sturdily resist the eroding ocean waves. One little island of about three miles circumference, the little Mangari, rises like a wall sheer up for about 900 feet. It is separated by a deep water channel from the larger island of the same name. No one has yet been able to find an access to this rugged isle, which is a greater cause for aggravation than might be supposed ; for vast numbers of sea-fowl find habitations in the cliffs, and these are eagerly sought after THE ALBATROSS. 261 by the Maories, who dry the young birds and send them, as well as the feathers and oil, to the north island of New Zealand. My friend went out with the Maories, bird- catching 011 some of the other rocks, and in one day they procured six hundred and fifty young albatrosses (diomedia exulans). As each of these birds is much larger than a good-sized goose, that number represents a considerable weight of provisions. He also in- formed me, that from what he saw and could learn, the albatross lays only one egg, and the young bird remains in the nest about eighteen months. I am not aware whether that fact in natural history is generally known, but it confirms what I was once told by an old whaler, except that he said the young bird stayed in the nest for two years. Nor does it seem long to rest and wait " till its wings are stronger," when one considers the immense power of wing possessed by these birds, familiar to every voyager in the southern ocean, who has, in a kind of wondering awe, watched them sail 262 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. with motionless wings lazily past the vessel, though the latter was sailing at the rate of twelve or more knots. The awe may in some measure be begotten in most Englishmen from their first acquaintance with the albatross having been acquired from a perusal of Coleridge's weird poem, while the wonder is the result of greater familiarity. Besides the islands mentioned, the Auckland Islands, lying 180 miles to the south of Otago, have of late years acquired an unenviable noto- riety from the wrecks which have occurred there. The stories of the " Grafton," the " Invercauld," and the " General Grant," are still fresh in the memory, and Captain Musgrave's trials and hardships have already been given to the world. It has been proposed to establish a dep6t on these islands, so that survivors from any wreck might be saved, in the event of the recurrence of similar disasters. A lease of the islands has recently been granted by the Government to some one who purposes to live there and keep sheep on the islands, chacun a son godt ! "SEALING." 263 An offer has also been made to the Govern- ment for a lease of some barren rocks south of Stewart's Island, known as the "Snares," the lessee to have the exclusive right of sealing there. This industry, after having been neglected for many years, is again exciting attention. Two expeditions put out from Riverton in the south of Otago last season, and, as the fur-seal (arcto- cephalus cinereus) is killed on these coasts, sealing in a good season is a very lucrative employment. CHAPTER XIX. (Dtlur ANYONE going home from the colonies is aston- ished at the ignorance displayed by the " Old folks at home " of colonial geography. Colonists are apt to think that all in England are specta- tors of their steady rise and progress, and are consequently grievously disappointed at the erase and confused ideas which prevail, even as to the identity of the colonies. "You're going to Dunedin; I have a cousin in Brisbane; you'll perhaps see him," would be no improbable remark to be made to an intending emigrant; but the speaker might with as much reason say to a person going to Aberdeen that he would probably see some one else who was NEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHY. 265 in Algiers. The new chum who arrives here, full of hope on account of having a pocket full of letters of introduction, is rather annoyed to find that they are of little use to him, as most of them are probably to people in Auckland, more than a week's sail from his port of de- barkation, while others are addressed to persons living everywhere but the place he has come to. The want of knowledge thus indicated is bad enough, but it is not so culpable as when gross and glaring errors are made, as they are now and again by English newspapers of high standing. In the course of these pages incidental mention has been made of some of the other provinces of New Zealand, and as perchance some readers may be a little uncertain, and yet desirous to know something of their whereabouts, I append the present cursory glance at them, which those who know all about New Zealand geography and resources already, and those who prefer blissful ignorance of these subjects, may leave unread. 266 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. The islands of New Zealand are divided into nine provinces. Otago, including the late pro- vince of Southland, which was originally a portion of Otago, but was separated and esta- blished as a distinct province, and after a few years of independent existence has again been reunited, is the most southerly portion of New Zealand. Possessed of a genial yet bracing climate, considerable tracts of highly fertile soil, and large deposits of alluvial gold, Otago has advanced with rapid strides, and has far out- stripped all its older neighbours. Some idea of the measure of this advance may be formed from the fact that the population in December 1858 numbered 6,995, while (about twelve years later) in February 1871, the figures stood at 69,491. This rapid increase is in a great measure to be attributed to the sudden influx of population on the discovery of gold. That this increase is not a mere floating population, there are abundant indications on every side, and it is further evidenced by the census tables, which in 1867 shew a slight decrease of about AUCKLAND. 267 one per cent caused Jby the reflux of the -wave of 1862, while the increase of 1871 over 1867 is, without considering the re-united Southland, twenty-five per cent. Auckland, the province in the extreme north of the north Island, comes next to Otago in influence and importance. Being the oldest province of New Zealand and for long the seat of the General Government, it was for many years the best known and leading province, but now she has been distanced by Otago, which shews every indication of being able to keep the lead. The climate of Auckland, and indeed of most of the north island, though truly delightful to live in, appears to be just a shade too hot for the British constitution. Not that it can be called a hot climate either, for not- withstanding that the city of Auckland is about the same latitude as Sydney in New South Wales, the heat is nothing like what has to be endured on the Australian continent ; but the appearance of the children, who may be taken as the health barometer of any place, indicates, 268 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. from a paleness of complexion, a tendency to an absence of that rude and ruddy health which promises so much for the stamina and vigour of future generations of southern New Zea- landers. The lead which Otago has attained is so slight that there is not much to boast of: the European population of Auckland in 1871 amounted to 62,335, shewing an increase on the numbers in "1867 of twenty-nine per cent., but this was owing to the rush to the gold-fields at the Thames, the population of which has since dwindled down very materially. The mining on these gold-fields is exclusively quartz, no alluvial gold having been obtained, and the presence of some reefs of fabulous richness has given rise to a great deal of speculation and stock-jobbing. The Maori wars were always a source of profit to the provinces of the north, and were sometimes, it was alleged in the south, fostered for the sake of the commissariat expenditure, but these wars are happily now a thing of the past, and Auckland, with her fine land and HAWKES BAY. 269 climate in which vines, lemons, and fruits of all sorts, saving the smaller English ones, grow in wanton luxuriance, will make more real and substantial progress than when pushed ahead and fostered by Government expenditure. The other provinces of the North Island are Taranaki on the west, Hawkes Bay on the east, and Wellington in the south. The first has been aptly described as the garden of New Zealand, which in verity it is, but. the hostile Maories have hindered settlement, and the whole province can only muster 4,480 inhabit- ants. It is on the coast of this province that the iron or steel sand, as it is sometimes called, is found in illimitable quantities. All attempts to work it to advantage have hitherto failed, but renewed attempts are being made, and doubtless the day is not far distant when it will be turned to a profitable account. Hawkes Bay is only a degree above Taranaki in respect of population, but it has made more material pro- gress in the last few years than the latter province, large tracts of land having been leased 270 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. from the Maories for grazing purposes, and occupied as sheep runs, many of them by men from the south. Wellington, the remaining province of the North Island, enjoys the dis- tinction of its capital being the seat of Govern- ment, which elevates it to an importance it would not otherwise possess. It owes its great- ness only to its central situation, the seat of government having been removed from Auck- land at the instigation of the southern members of the Assembly, who objected to being made to journey to the extreme north every year to Parliament, besides the inconvenience which arose, in departments being so far removed from head-quarters. The town of Wellington received a great fillip from the establishment of the seat of government there, but the province generally has steadily advanced with the rest of the colony. Wanganui, the second town of the pro- vince, is a thriving little place. In Wellington, hanging on the skirts of the general govern- ment, may be found plenty of pampered Maories, THE DUSKY SWELLS. 271 occupying a place which has been accorded to the aboriginal inhabitants of no other country in the world. One or two of the chiefs are members of the colonial ministry, and many others enjoy government pay as native assessors and similar appointments. These men and their wives and daughters are invited to entertain- ments at Government House, and the amusing spectacle has been seen of a hoary savage who knew well the flavour of human flesh, clothed and apparently in his right mind, engaged in the endeavour to lift with his hand a whole shape of jelly from the vice-regal supper- table and convey it bodily to his plate. For these dusky " swells " the supper is evidently the chief feature, for it is told in Wellington of one of the Maori belles, that, in giving the " court milliner " directions for a new ball dress, she told her to " leave plenty of room for kai," that is, the food. Amongst the remarkable natural features of the North Island are the hot springs, which are numerous and of varying temperature, so that 272 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. in one a rheumatic patient may enjoy a health- giving bath, and in another boil "kumeras" for his dinner. The . strange yet beautiful terraces of coloured silica, each step or terrace containing a clear bath, which are formed in connection with these springs at Rotomahana, are unrivalled by anything throughout the world ; and as to the springs, travellers who have seen both say, that the great Gyser itself must yield the palm to some of the hot springs of New Zealand. The district containing these natural wonders was till very recently a sealed book to European travellers; but the beauties of Maori-land are now thrown open to the world, and these at- tractive recesses invaded by a four-horse coach and its concomitants. A recent writer in the Pall Mall Gazette, speaking of these hot- springs, says : "I believe that Hotomahana will one day be the health-resort of half the world, and its natural beauties and wonders alone will well repay the trouble and expense of a journey to New Zealand." The provinces in the South or Middle Island CANTERBURY. 273 are Nelson and Marlborough, in the north; in the middle, Canterbury and Westland; and Otago to the south. Of these, leaving Otago on one side, Canterbury is the most important. Differing very greatly in its physical features from Otago, Canterbury consists mainly of a vast plain, stretching from the southern alps on the west to the sea-board on the east. The province was originally founded in connection with the Anglican Church, as Otago was with the Free Church of Scotland, but, like Otago, it has since greatly lost its religious distinction. The principal productions of Canterbury are wool and grain, both of which it largely ex- ports. Christchurch, the capital, will always retain a reminiscence of its origin in the names of its streets, these being named after English sees. It is a scattered town, the ground covered by it measuring a mile square, and it is generally asserted to be the most English- like of colonial towns. How this idea should have arisen, is to some a matter of difficulty to discover, but it is perhaps due to the fact 274 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. that the inhabitants have planted many English trees and hedges which may lead colonists to recall old associations. Between Christchurch and Lyttleton, the port, there lies a long- ex- tinct volcano, and through this the Canterbury folks have with great energy driven a tunnel and opened railway communication. This tunnel, from the nature of the hill it traverses, is specially interesting in a geological point of view, besides being a triumph of engineering skill for such a young province. Westland, which lies, as the name indicates, on the western sea-board, was at one time in- cluded in the borders of Canterbury, but re- mained a terra incognita till the discovery of gold in 1865. A road was made across the islands, and carried through the passes of the lofty alps, traversing some of the most magnifi- cent mountain scenery in New Zealand, but still communication with the provincial seat of government was too slow, so much so that the request of the inhabitants of the west coast dis- trict to manage their own affairs was granted NELSON. 275 them, and their district was separated from the province, and constituted a county. From that anomalous position it has now been raised to provincial honours. The discovery of gold on the west coast roused for a time the province of Nelson into activity. Nelson is a thriving province, but slow-going compared to some of the others ; its chief town, bearing like the province the name of the victor of Trafalgar, has been not inaptly dubbed " Sleepy Hollow." For those who like a quiet life, Nelson has probably few equals as a residence, as it enjoys a picturesque situation and charming climate. In the southern part of the province are large deposits of superior coal, but until quite recently little attention has been bestowed on them, and we in Dunedin draw our supplies of fuel chiefly from Australia. Now, however, this lucrative field for enterprise has been entered upon with every prospect of success. Of Marlborough, the only remaining province, it is sufficient to state that it also is steadity 276 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. advancing with the rest of the colony. It occupies the north-eastern corner, as it were, of the Middle Island. It exports a consider- able quantity of timber to other parts of the colony, besides growing the great colonial staple, wool. CHAPTER XX. politics, .Statistics, anb PERCHANCE some reader may ask, " What are the provinces which have been spoken of 1 ?" I shall not attempt to answer the question fully, which would be impossible in the scope of these pages, but endeavour to give such an inquirer some glimmering ideas of what they are, and their relationship to the Colonial Go- vernment, and, if not then satisfied, he must refer to other sources of information, or come and see. The constitution of New Zealand is some- what after the model of the United States of America. The provinces have each a minia- ture parliament or Provincial Council, conduc- 278 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. ted with all the recognised parliamentary forms. This body, which is elected for a period of four years, is endowed with legislative powers within certain limits, and each has hitherto conducted all its internal affairs, and transacted all the business relating to emigration, the formation of roads and other public works, education, police, and such like. The executive part of this inferior Government consists of a super- intendent, elected by the people for a like term, assisted and advised by an Executive Council, composed of the leaders of the party able to command a majority in the Provincial Council. The Government of the whole colony com- prises the Governor, the representative of the Imperial Government possessing as little real power as the sovereign he represents, and an Upper and Lower House of Assembly. The former, or Legislative Council, is composed of men who are " called " to be members of that august body by the Governor, whereas the Lower House or House of Representatives is, GOVERNMENT. 279 as the name denotes, an elective assembly. The executive power of the Colonial Government lies in a ministry composed chiefly of members of the Lower House. All legislation of colonial importance is enacted by the colonial parliament. And such matters are dealt with by the General Government as relate to the Judicial, Defence, and Native Departments, the collection of cus- toms revenue, and other taxes ; part of which is paid to the governments of the provinces in which it is levied, for appropriation by the Pro- vincial Councils. Now the conduct of public works and immigration has been added to the functions of the General Government. Political principles and parties are not so clearly defined here as in England. For many years the parties were designated Provincialists and Centralists the former being desirous of increasing, or at least maintaining, the powers of the provinces; while the other party was anxious that the provinces should be treated so that they should gradually merge in the Co- lonial Government. And that this result is a 280 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. * mere question of time there can be little doubt, although these parties are for the present al- most forgotten in the policy introduced by the Honorable Julius Vogal, the present premier, the leading idea of which is the borrowing of . funds for the purpose of constructing railways and reproductive works, and introducing immi- grants. All of a conservative cast of mind are to be found in the ranks of the opposition; while the more energetic and sanguine are supporters of the "progressive policy." On both sides are to be found Provincialists and Centralists, the more liberal of the former party supporting the colonial railway scheme, even although they see that the improved inter- communication will do more than anything else to destroy their favorite provincial system. It is almost amusing to hear some members of the opposition old foggies who emigrated thirty or forty years ago speaking against the con- struction of railways, and exhuming and using to their own satisfaction the trite and thread- bare arguments which were in vogue when RAILWAYS. 281 they left home. Others appear to be actuated in their opposition only by personal motives, and seem a little jealous that they did not initiate such a policy, and use the same means for promoting the welfare of the colony, feel- ing like the officers of Columbus when shewn how to make the egg stand, that it was one of those things very easy of accomplishment when the method of doing so was shewn to them. Of the ultimate success of this policy there can be little, if any, doubt. Railways are being made at an average cost of 5,000 a mile not only through old settled districts, but also opening up others now destitute of roads, and making them more available for settlement. Without exception, the lines which are now in operation, and which have been made mainly by provincial enterprise, before the initiation of the General Government scheme, are more than paying their working expenses and mainten- ance ; and when that is the case, even if they do not pay a penny more, the advantages de- 282 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. rived fully compensate for the interest on the money expended on their construction. The benefits derived from cheap carriage and rapid communication are nowhere more obvious than in a new country. Amongst these advan- tages may be mentioned the development of the coal fields of the colony, which have hitherto lain dormant. But now more than one company has been floated for the working of the exten- sive deposits which are found, as I have men- tioned, in the north-west of the Middle Island, and this is mainly due to the initiation of the railway scheme. New Zealand is somewhat proud, and justly so, of the value of her exports as compared with her population. In 1871, the latest year for which statistics have been published, with a population of 266,986, the value of the exports, according to official returns, was 5,282,084, or within a small fraction of 20 per head of the entire European population of the colony. For the same year the value of the imports of the colony were 4,078,193, thus shewing a con- POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 283 siderable balance in favour of the colony. The imports shew a slight inclination to decrease, evidencing that the colony is becoming less dependent on foreign supplies, and more on the progress of local manufactures. The exports, on the other hand, shew a decided increase, their value being, in 1871, 13*78 per cent, in excess of those of 1870, excluding the value of imported goods re-exported from the colony. It cannot be denied that these authentic figures establish beyond cavil the sound and healthy condition of the colony, which has now reached a point whence her onward progress must inevitably be rapid, and the next decade will show a greater stride than the last, gold discoveries and rushes notwithstanding. Part of the policy of the Colonial Govern- ment is the introduction of large numbers of immigrants, to occupy the lands opened up by the railways, and to assist in making them; and, notwithstanding that very liberal induce- ments, in the way of assisted passages, have been offered, this part of the scheme has not 284 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE, proved so successful as it might have done. This is partly owing to the mismanagement incident to the initiation of a new system, the bungling of agents, the higher rates of wages which have been of late prevailing at home, and the counter attractions offered by America and Canada many being induced to go to these fields for emigration in preference to the Australian colonies, owing to their greater proximity, the length of the voyage to the latter being a deterring obstacle. But the passage hither, though long, is a safe and pleasant one ; never yet has a vessel from Britain to Otago been lost, and the voyage to New Zealand is one of the safest in the world. Travellers on the grand tour round the world will find New Zealand not the least interesting of the lands they will traverse, especially if they will leave the beaten track and pause long enough to visit the interior. The stoppage of the San Francisco route puts difficulties in the way of such tourists ; but the re-establishment BRIGHT PROSPECTS. 285 of steam communication between America and this country will soon be accomplished, to the mutual advantage of both. It has been urged by those who delight in detracting from the merits of everything, that New Zealand, from its geographical position, can never become the home of a nation of any importance; but, on the contrary, many hold that her position, the safety of the surrounding seas, and excellence of the harbours, is such that she will command an extensive trade with the vast Australian continent, the States of South America, the many fertile islands of the Pacific, and even with the far-off Flowery Empire, whose people are shewing many symp- toms of awakening from the lethargic torpor which has bound them for ages. But it is not from position alone that the greatness of any land is derived, but from the energy and endurance of her sons. The salu- brity of our climate, and brave perseverance of our pioneers of settlement, give abundant pro- mise of the New Zealanders becoming a robust, 286 COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. hardy, and energetic people, which augurs well for the future greatness of the land, often fondly called, "The Britain of the South." Let us hope that her citizens, while possessing these qualities, may also be, " Men, high-minded men .... . . . . who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain." THE END. GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR, MACLEHOSE, PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY, GLASGOW. Second Edition, in Extra Fcap. &vo, Price 6s. 6d. , Cloth. OLRIG GRANGE: A Poem in Six Books. Edited by HERMANN KUNST, PhiloL Professor. Examiner. " This remarkable poem will at once give its anonymous author a high place among contemporary English poets, and it ought to exercise a potent and beneficial influence on the political opinions of the cultivated classes. . . The demoralizing influence of our existing aristocratic institutions on the most gifted and noblest members of the aristocracy, has never been so subtly and so powerfully delineated as in ' Olrig Grange.' " Pall Mall Gazette. " ' Olrig Grange,' whether the work of a raw or of a ripe versifier, is plainly the work of a ripe and not a raw student of life and nature. ... It has dramatic power of a quite uncommon class ; satirical and humorous obser- vation of a class still higher; and, finally, a very pure and healthy, if perhaps a little too scornful, moral atmosphere. . . . The most sickening phase of our civilization has scarcely been exposed with a surer and quieter point, even by Thackeray himself, than in this advice of a fashionable and religious mother to her daughter." Spectator. "The story itself is very simple, but it is told in powerful and suggestive verse. The composition is instinct with quick and passionate feeling, to a degree that attests the truly poetic nature of the man who produced it. It exhibits much more of genuine thought, of various knowledge, of regulated and exquisite sensibility. The author exhibits a fine and firm discrimination of character, a glowing and abundant fancy, a subtle eye to read the symbol- ism of nature, and great wealth and mastery of language, and he has employed it for worthy purposes." Daily Review. " A remarkable poem, a nineteenth century poem, the work of a genuine poet, whoever he may be, and of a consummate artist. . . The story is wrought out with exquisite beauty of language, and a wealth of imagery which mark the writer as one full of true poetic sensibility, and keenly alive to all the subtle influences that are at work in society." Academy. " The pious self-pity of the worldly mother, and the despair of the worldly daughter are really brilliantly put. . . . The story is worked out with quite uncommon power." English Independent. " There is a music in portions of the verse which is all but perfect ; while for vigorous outline of description, raciness and pungency of phrase, and con- densation of thought, we know no modern volume of poems that is its equal. . . . The satire is most searching, the pathos tenderness itself, and once or twice the passion becomes almost tragic in its intensity. From the first page to the last the fascination is fully maintained." WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. Notices of OLRIG GRANGE continued. Atheneeurn. " That it is one of many books which many would do well to read. The monologues are in a metre which is, as far as we know, original, and is emi- nently well adapted to the semi-ironical tone of this part of the poem. The quaint jolt of the ninth line does the author credit. ... If the author will rely still further on his own resources, he may produce something as much better than ' Olrig Grange ' as that is better than nineteen-twentieth* of the poetry we have to read." Congregationalist. " There is a pathos and a passion, a depth of sadness and of love, which seems to us to vindicate for this unknown author a very high place among contemporary poets. . . . Most charming is the soliloquy of Hester. The Herr Professor is very much in Hester's thoughts, and the shy surprise, the palpitating wonder, the shame, the pride, the sweet delight, which are all blended in her discovery that she is really falling in love, are perfectly delicious and beautiful . . . but the triumph of the author's genius is in Rose's farewell to her lover." Tatler in Cambridge. " One could quote for ever, if a foolscap sheet were inexhaustible ; but I must beg my readers, if they want to have a great deal of amusement, as well as much truth beautifully put, to go and order the book at once. I promise them, they will not repent." Glasgow Herald. " We believe that no competent reader will fail to acknowledge the vigour, originality, humour, dramatic power, and imagination which this poem shows." Scotsman. " We have said enough to lead our readers, we hope, to take up the book for themselves. It abounds in passages full of suggestion, and contains some of no small poetic beauty, and others of much satirical vivacity and dexterity of expression. " North British Daily Mail. " It would be easy to cite remarkable instances of thrilling fervour, of glowing delicacy, of scathing and trenchant scorn to point out the fine and firm discrimination of character which prevails throughout. The lady mother a proud, grand, luxurious, worldly, mean-minded, canting woman the author scarifies with a remorseless hate. " Dundee Advertiser. " If this volume does not place the author in the company of Browning and Tennyson, that is only saying that his book is second to the great master- pieces of contemporary literature." Liverpool Albion. " We look upon this poem as an earnest protest against the hollo wness and pettiness of much that constitutes society. No moral is obtruded, but the pointed barb of sarcasm is there with its sting, that should act, not indeed as poison, but rather as an antidote." Echo. " This is a remarkable poem on contemporary English society, using that term in its most restricted sense, written in a brilliant, humorous, and sar- castic style, but at the same time with a high philosophic aim and a grave moral purpose." WORK'S PUBLISHED BY AIR. MACLEHOSE, Second Edition, Extra Fcap. &vo, Cloth, Pritt Js. BORLAND HALL, A Poem in Six Bookg. By the AUTHOR of ' OLRIG GRANGE.' Scotsman. " The publication of another work by the author of ' Olrig Grange ' may be described as a literary event of no small importance. In almost all essential points ' Borland Hall ' marks an advance on the powers exhibited in 'Olrig Grange.' The remarkable rhythmic resource displayed in that book is more richly illustrated here. There is still more of dramatic force in the construction of the story, in the conception and contrast of character; and at least an equal degree of knowledge of human nature. The ease and felicity of expression which made it difficult to believe that ' Olrig Grange ' was not the work of a practised hand are just as conspicuous in 'Borland Hall,' and a strong yet subtle humour here also asserts itself as one of the author's chief characteristics. Beyond all this he displays a wealth of lyric power. . . . Songs of exquisite beauty stud the poem like gems in some massy work of beaten gold. * Borland Hall ' is a book in which original and vigorous thought, rare dramatic instinct, and profound knowledge of human nature are embodied in poetry of a very high class. This, his latest work, is not only notable in itself, but full of splendid promise." Glasgow Newa "The appearance of a new poem by the author of 'Olrig Grange' is an event of some importance in the literary world. ' Olrig Grange ' was altogether such a success as it is given to few poems to achieve. . . . In ' Borland Hall,' the author has not only come up to, but gone beyond the expectation raised by the earlier poem. ' Borland Hall ' sur- passes ' Olrig Grange ' both in power and finish. It conveys the idea that the author has acquired a greater mastery over his art without sacrificing in the least any of his originality and vigour. There are still some rough- nesses, but they have such a quaint, racy flavour, that we would not dispense with them if we could. . . . ' Borland Hall ' is a book to be read. It is the matured fruit of the poetic inspiration which produced ' Olrig Grange.' The sweep of the poet's fingers on the strings of his lyre are firmer and stronger. . . . Every line is stamped with the strength of vigorous manhood. " North British Daily Mail " ' Borland Hall ' is unquestionably a fine poem. . . . Whoever the author is, he has a poet's eye for man and nature, and a poet's ear for melody and rhythm. The numerous songs interspersed throughout the book are one of its most striking features." Glasgow Herald. "This new work by the author of ' Olrig Grange ' has been eagerly ex- pected, and will be cordially welcomed. Its predecessor revealed to the world a writer full of freshness, and insight capable of subtle analysis of feeling, sensitive to the passing lights and shadows of nature and of human life. ' Borland Hall ' contains more of a deliberate story, we might almost say of a plot ; and the plot is so worked out as to show that the author's artistic skill has not diminished, that he has learned something since he sang of ' Olrig Grange,' and that he is eager to be more than a sympathetic or satirical observer of life. It contains more of a sermon, and exhibits more of a purpose, than ' Olrig Grange ' did, and the purpose is excellent. . . WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. Notices tf/" BORLAND HALL continued. The student's party of the first book gives us a few samples of the author's lyrical power : specimens of it are, indeed, lavished throughout the volume. . . . The writer has a painter's eye, a critic's tongue, and a poet's heart." Aberdeen Journal. "To sum up our impressions of this remarkable book. No competent critic can deny that the author has in him the elements that go to constitute a true poet. Several of the lyrics in the poem are of a high kind. ' Borland Hall ' shows such power of language, such high-minded courage, such tenderness, and such sympathy with the various aspects of life, that we ac- cept it with cordial and thankful recognition." Dundee Advertiser. " The imagery is more profuse and more powerfully expressed more command of passion and more knowledge of the human heart are, we think, discovered in it than even in his former work, ' Olrig Grange.' Besides, it holds out higher hopes as to his achievements in the future." Manchester Examiner. " The characters are well defined, and elaborated with more than ordinary skill. Some of the incidents are extremely pathetic, and several passages in the poem are powerfully written. ... In the course of the poem there are some very effective songs, and the wealth of beauty in the Scotch language is forcibly and artistically utilized in many parts of the narrative." English Independent. "Lyell's mother, stern and unrepentant, even in death, is a terrible portrait. . . . We recognize the genius of the author of ' Olrig Grange ' in the stinging sarcasm with which she combats his hesitation, and the hard straightforwardness with which she rejects his caresses and speaks of her own crime. . . . The author portrays with wonderful insight and refine- ment the tempest of doubt, the angry turbulence of feeling, and the bitter, aching, desperate misery of this poor soul, driven into darkness by another's sin, having lost its hold on faith and truth. . . . Such a poem as this will surely have a distinct influence over social thought and custom, for the lessons inculcated have the added weight and enforcement of a style singularly brilliant and passionately fervent, a verse melodious and various in measure, a command of language unusually extensive and apt, and an exquisite sensibility to all natural loveliness." Examiner. " There can be no doubt that ' Borland Hall ' is full of hearty and healthy feeling. . . . 'Austin Lyell ' is a finely conceived character,, and the conception is wrought out with no mean power. The author has a strong dramatic faculty : the old widow's death-bed story of the patient wiles by which she secured an inheritance for her dearly beloved son is related with a hold upon the tortuosities of obscure feeling of which very few living writers have shown themselves to be capable." Liverpool Albion. " We have no hesitation in pronouncing this volume to be well worthy of its predecessor, ' Olrig Grange.' It is distinguished by the same vigour and ' flow,' the same deep insight into the difficulties of social life, the same keen satirical humour, and a more condensed dramatic power. . . . The book is interspersed throughout with exquisite ballad-lyrics, some of them of so hirfi merit that it is difficult to select one rather than another." WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MA OLE HOSE. Second Edition, Extra Fcap. 8va, Price 6s. , Cloth. SONGS AND FABLES. By WILLIAM J. MACQUOEN RANKINE, late Professor of Civil Engineering in the University of Glasgow, with Portrait, and with 10 Illustrations by J. B. (Mrs. Hugh Blackburn). Aberdeen Journal. " These songs are exceedingly bright, strong, and clever ; quite the best we have seen for long. They are in our judgment far superior to those of Mr. Outram and Lord Neaves, and these are no contemptible singers. They show in parts some touches of a true poetical genius, though the author never aims higher than at a resounding and manly strain of song. The Fables too are good, and Mrs. Blackburn's illustrations are mostly excellent. . . . An admirable photograph is prefixed to the volume." Scotsman. " Professor Macquom Rankine, whose loss science and society alike had lately to deplore, had too much work to do in his professional robes to be able often to don his singing robes. Only his private friends but they were many knew how much was thus being lost ; how much of fun, and sense, and pathos. The public are now, by this volume, admitted into the once privileged circle, though they need to be told, as in the tasteful and befitting preface, that ' his voice and manner lent a charm which the printed page cannot restore.* The tones of Macquom's harp were various, and to the extent to which he played them, he was master of all. Try him by a severe test : Thackeray's Irish Ballads, especially his immortal ' Battle of Limer- ick,' were among his most brilliant successes ; yet, though there may be a resemblance, and therefore a seeming rivalry, we say that not far behind comes Rankine's 'Ode in Praise of the City of Mullingar.' In quite another strain, this stirs like the sound of a trumpet : ' They never shall have Gibraltar.' Though, alas, no more shall hearts be made to bound and emphasizing fists to descend at the thundering, ' No ' sent forth by the poet's own manly voice, yet it may be hoped that this song will continue to be heard, and its sentiment ratified and chorused, at many a table through many a year. In other styles there are other things as good especially good are 'The Coachman of the Skylark,' and 'The Engine-driver to his Engine.'" Glasgow Herald. " His happiest vein is one of mingled sentiment and irony ; but his ballads have the force, the roughness, the directness without which it is impossible for a ballad to be genuinely popular. The subject of ' They never shall have Gibraltar ' is antiquated ; but even a reader who has never heard of Goldwin Smith's advice to us to drop Gibraltar to Spain, as we dropped the Ionian Islands to Greece, to satisfy an even emptier historico-national sentiment, can appreciate the patriotic fire of the ballad. We do not indulge ourselves so far as to quote it, or ' The Engine-driver to his Engine,' which has equally the stamp of genius, or the famous ' Three-foot Rule ' which was published in our own columns by a correspondent immediately after his death. The ' Inf.mt Metaphysician ' is a capital specimen of his irony, and the ' Oc'e in Praise of the City of Mullingar ' might have claimed quotation if it had not happened too vividly to recall similar triumphs of the genius of Thackeray and Father Prout. It may be from professional sympathies, but we find few things in the volume better than ' Loyal Peter,' which brings back the memory of old Peter Mackenzie, of the Glasgow Re fanners' Gazette." WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. Notices of SONGS AND FABLES continued. Examiner. ' ' The songs and ballads composed by the late Professor Rankine in the inter- vals of severe studies, are lively sallies, well worth procuring in a collected form exceedingly clever, bright, genial, and amusing, full of animal spirits." Leeds Mercury. " ' Songs and Fables,' by Professor Rankine, will find readers far beyond the circle of those who knew and enjoyed the society of the writer during his lifetime. Many of the poems exhibit the true ring of genins, whilst all are pervaded by humour of the most catching description. Take for example a few verses from the first poem in the book, ' The Philosopher in Love.' . . . . ' The Coachman of the Skylark,' ' The Engine-driver to his Engine ' are written in a similar vein science and humour being playfully and delicately combined. Along with a genius for philosophical research, which made his name known throughout the whole scientific world, the professor has evidently a keen eye for the comical side of all the discussions in which he engaged. . . . We confess to have seldom met with a patriotic song more brimful of spirit than 'They never shall have Gibraltar.' " Nonconformist. " Professor Rankine was a man of singularly genial spirit and fine intellect, which hardly found adequate expression, notwithstanding that the social instinct was strong in him. This volume of Songs and Fables will suffice to give a hint of the literary possibilities that were in him. There is ready humour, quaint wit, and rare felicity of expression. They are unlaboured jeujc d'esprit, but they are finished in their way, and often, in spite of the dash and freedom, show a very delicate point. The Songs are something after the style of " Songs from Maga," but are dis- tinctly individual in note. " The Mathematician in Love" is really excellent. The Fables are what they profess to be, genuine fables but they are ruffled by a stir of real fun." Manchester Examiner. " The Editor of these Songs and Fables, by the eminent Glasgow professor of civil engineering, whom the scientific world still laments, fears that belief in a necessary incompatibility between philosophic research and playful humour will prejudice the public against them ; and if one of the objects of the publicatioa was to show the fallacy of such a notion, it will possibly be earned out. . . . The cleverest and most ingenious song in the book is ' The Mathematician in Love,' of which the Editor scarcely speaks too strongly when he calls it the meeting point of science and humour. . . . The Fables are very short, but some of them are extremely amusing, and the clever illustrations by Mrs. Hugh Blackburn considerably increase the attractive- ness of the work." Glasgow News. ". . . The 'Songs and Fables' of Professor Macquorn Rankine are but trifles bubbles on the champagne of life, but they are so exquisite in flavour that we gladly recognize the judgment of the Editor in giving them some form of permanence. Each time that one opens the book will be like drawing the cork from a flask of choice vintage. It will be new for some of us, and enable others to appreciate those hours of social enjoyment when philosophers of ' Red Lion ' mark relaxed, and gave to their companions some of that wit which was meant for mankind. Professor Rankine was scarcely known to the general public save as bearing a name of renown for skill in engineering science. His brilliant qualities as an ornament of the social circle were unfamiliar to the many. The volume which is now issued will enable the crowd to participate in that pleasure which was reserved for the few." WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. Just Published, in Extra Fcap. %vo, Cloth, Price "js. 6d. HANNIBAL : A Historical Drama. By JOHN NICHOL, B. A.Oxon., Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Glasgow. Saturday Review. " After the lapse of many centuries an English poet is found paying to the great Carthaginian the worthiest poetical tribute which has as yet, to our knowledge, been offered to his noble and stainless name." Athenaeum. " Probably the best and most accurate conception of Hannibal ever given in English. Professor Nichol has done a really valuable work. From first to last of the whole five acts, there is hardly a page that sinks to the level of mediocrity." Fortnightly Review. " Upon one figure alone, besides that of his hero, the author has expended all his care and power. Of this one ideal character, the conception is admir- able, and worthy of the hand of a great poet. . . . We receive with all welcome this latest accession to the English school of historic drama." North British Daily Mail. " ' Hannibal,' in all the attributes of dramatic poetry, rises as far above Addison and Dryden as they overtop the paltriness of a modern Vaudeville. . But much grander is the final vengeance of Rome upon faithless Capua, and the last oanquet of the Campanian chiefs. . . . We do not know what higher praise we can give to the exquisite lyrics which the author has introduced into this scene, than by warning the Laureate that, if Pro- fessor Nichol take it into his head to write many more of the same calibre, he must look to his bays." Glasgow Herald, " It would be to attribute to Professor Nichol a genius equal to Shake- speare's, or superior even to that, to say that all the difficulties have been triumphantly overcome in the volume before us. But they have been so far surmounted, we venture to say, as to secure for ' Hannibal' a cordial wel- come from all who appreciate the historical and classical drama, and to gain for its author a high place among the poets of the present century." English Independent. death scene ot Arcnimeaes ; ana tne renewed vows ot flanmoal ot everlasting enmity to Rome, when his brother's head is brought to him, are particularly worthy of note." Manchester Guardian. " Fulvia 'makes a golden tumult in the house,' and carries Roman energy into her love of pleasure, and hatred of the cold and stubborn Roman ways, is perhaps the newest and the most delightful character in Mr. Nichol's play. . . . Mr. Nichol has made the old story jive afresh. . . . Mr Nichol is certain to please his readers ; but the audience of historical drama. however fit, is a scanty one, and what the poet has to say deserves the widest hearing. WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MAC LE HOSE. Notices of HANNIBAL continued. Manchester Examiner. "We know no modern work in which the dignity of history has been so justly regarded by a poet possessed of such intense admiration for his hero.' Echo. " Professor Nichol has produced a scholarly and polished work." Dublin Telegraph. "Professor Nichol has just given us a volume which bids fair to open a new era in poetry, and secures to the author a position among the first poets of the day." Morning Post. "Glasgow has good reason to be proud of her Professor of English Litera- ture, in which he now takes a prominent place by right of his admirable classic drama. Criticism will award him a regal seat on Parnassus, and laurel leaves without stint. " Scotsman. " But there is much more than mere historical power in ' Hannibal.' Mr. Nichol seems to us to possess real dramatic genius. His personages are not merely types of Carthaginian or Roman, but they are real men and women. They are nearly all conceived under the influence of a generous sympath) with the strong and heroic qualities of character. . . . As regards dram- atic power, and the spirited representations of action, we think it no dispaiage ment to them (Arnold and Swinburne) to say that we prefer 'Hannibal' eithei to 'Merope* or to 'Atlanta in Calydon.'" Westminster Review. " Professor Nichol has thrown his fine poem ' Hannibal' into a dramatic form, simply because his whole tone is dramatic. He throws himself into each of his characters. ... In Myra's speeches we have the ring of antique valour. . . . The beauties of the lyrics, which are scattered with so lavish a hand throughout the volume, resemble the odes in a Greek play, rather than the songs of our own dramatists. ..." Hannibal' is a re- markable poem, it stands out alone, by itself, from all other modern poems." THE EXPRESSION OF A QUAD- RA TIC SURD AS A CONTINUED FRACTION. By THOMAS MUIR, M.A., F.R.S.E., Assistant to the Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow. In 8vo, paper covers, price is. 6d. Philosophical Magazine. " It differs from the account of the subject to be found in ordinary text-books by the greater generality and completeness of the treatment of the subject." INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, Delivered at the Opening of the Divinity Hall, in the University of Glasgow, on loth November, 1873. By WM. P. DICKSON, D.D., Professor of Divinity. 8vo, is. WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. In One Vol., Extra Fcap. 8vo, Cloth, Price $s. HILLSIDE RHYMES: AMONG THE ROCKS HE WENT, AND STILL LOOKED UP TO SUN AND CLOUD AND LISTENED TO THE WIND. Scotsman. "Let any one who cares for fine reflective poetry read for himself and judge. Besides the solid substance of thought which pervades it, he will find here and there those quick insights, those spontaneous felicities of language which distinguish the man of natural power from the man of mere cultivation. . . . Next to an autumn day among the hills themselves, commend us to poems like these, in which so much of the finer breath and spirit of those pathetic hills is distilled into melody." Glasgow Herald. "The author of 'Hillside Rhymes' has lain on the hillsides, and felt the shadows of the clouds drift across his half-shut eyes. He knows the sough of the fir trees, the crooning of the burns, the solitary bleating of the moor- land sheep, the quiet of a place where the casual curlew is his only com- panion, and a startled grouse cock the only creature that can regard him with enmity or suspicion. The silence of moorland nature has worked into his soul, and his verse helps a reader pent within a city to realize the breezy heights, the sunny knolls, the deepening glens, or the slopes aglow with those crackling flames with which the shepherds fire the heather." Mqffat Times. " The most remarkable thing in these poems is the great and passionate love of nature as displayed on the green hillside, which seems to colour all that the author writes. In this he follows in Wordsworth's footsteps, and seems to have caught the true key-note of his great master. . . ' Alta Montium : Among the Uplands ' constantly reminds us, in its tone and key, of Wordsworth in his highest moods." Border Advertiser. " Manor Water in its summer hues, and also when winter mocks the slant- ing sun, is beautifully described." North British Daily Mail. " These ' rhymes," put before the public in a dress corresponding to the dainty attire in which ' Olrig Grange ' was clad, are, for the most part, pure, pleasing, and graceful. . . . They embody certain touching pictures, re- miniscences, and reflections ;_ they are instinct with a fine enthusiasm as regards the legendary associations, the pastoral life, and the beautiful scenes of Tweeddale. . . . There is something of Wordsworth in the simple, smooth, flowing lines of ' The Grey Stone on Dollar Law.' " Nonconformist. "The author of 'Hillside Rhymes' has true though simple genius. . . . He seizes a few moods, and utters them on the whole faithfully, with now and then a felicitous verse. . . . ' The Grey Stone on Dollar Law ' is finished in execution. . . . ' The Weird of Dawyck ' is one of the best of the poems." Glasgow News. " ' Hillside Rhymes ' is one of the brightest and best little effusions of the modern muse." WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. THE POETICAL WORKS OF DAVID GRAY. New and Enlarged Edition. Edited by HENRY GLASSFORD BELL, late Sheriff of Lanarkshire. In One Volume, Extra Fcap. 8vo, price 6s., Cloth. Extract from Preface. " This New Edition of the Works of David Gray containing, it is believed, all the maturely finished poems of the author, is a double memorial. It commemorates ' the thin spun life ' of a man of true genius and rare promise, and the highly cultured judgment and tender sympathies of a critic who has passed away in the vigorous fullness of his years. " Within a week before his removal from amongst us, Mr. Bell was engaged in correcting the proofs of the present edition. He had selected from a mass of MSS. what pieces he thought worthy of insertion in this enlarged edition, he had re-arranged and revised the greater part of the volume, which it was his intention to preface with a memoir and criticism. He looked forward to accomplishing this labour of love in a period of retirement from active work which he had proposed to pass in Italy." Scotsman. " This volume will effectually serve not only to renew, but extend the feel- ing that the fame and name of David Gray ought not willingly to be let die. His best known poem, ' The Luggie,' abounds in beauties which should be joys for long, if not for ever." Glasgow Evening Citizen. "This new and enlarged edition of the poems of David Gray will be hailed by all lovers of genuine poetry. Young as he was, he lived long enough to make his mark. Some of his sonnets are exquisitely fine." Glasgow Herald. " It is over twelve years since David Gray, at the age of twenty-three, died at Merkland/Kirkintilloch. It is a misfortune that he was not permitted to live until the season of ripeness ; our misfortune, because, judging from the volume before us, we perceive clearly what he might have been, and with what poetic riches he might have dowered the world." Edinburgh Courant. "This volume possesses a peculiarity, independent of the gems which it embodies, in that the editing of it was the last literary labour of the late lamented Sheriff of Lanarkshire. The reverential vigour which pervades the equable verse of David Gray is, however, unique ; there is a more forcible beauty in his pieces than in those of the Westmoreland poet, and the awe he manifests " for things unseen and eternal " is quite as conspicuous as the deep and steady devotion of the poet of the ' Seasons.' The volume is got up with sufficient taste not to befool the precious things within." Glasgow News. ' ' The Works of David Gray are gems of poetry, exquisitely set. " Noncomformist. " We now have David Gray's poems in as complete a form as we are likely to have them. Reading them again, we are struck by the sweet, prolonged pathos of his gentle breathings ; the elevated, tender colouring that he threw into his treatment of the commonest subjects. David Gray's soul must have been beautiful to have imparted such a halo to the commonplace surroundings of his home." WORKS PUBLISHED BY MR. MACLEHOSE. THE SCOTTISH WAR OF INDE- PENDENCE, its ANTECEDENTS and EFFECTS. By WILLIAM BURNS. 2 Vols., 8vo, Cloth, 265. Scotsman. " Mr. Burns displays a wonderful amount of research, and a very con- siderable critical power." Daily Review. " Able and learned the production of an eminent member of the legal profession in Glasgow. . . . His theory is indisputable that North Britain has from the earliest period been inhabited by an ardent, energetic, high-spirited, dour race, who have resolutely and successfully maintained their independence against the incessant attacks of nations mightier and far more numerous than they. . . . The tale of Scotland's wrongs, the patri- otic and disinterested ambition of Wallace, the self-seeking of the great nobles, and the high-spirited and generous patriotism of the minor gentry and burghers, have never been so vividly or so accurately portrayed. . . . Mr. Burns's exposure of the errors and unfounded charges of writers like Mr. Freeman is most complete and withering." North British Daily Mail. "We take leave of Mr. Burns with sincere respect for his ability, pains- taking research, fairness, and patriotic spirit, which his works display. Morning Post. "The author possesses the true historical spirit, which is not that of scepticism, but of belief, as distinguished from credulity ; he also is essenti- ally Scotch and not Anglo-Saxon in his proclivities. For this he deserves credit. . . . The work is, as its title indicates, a history and not a biography. Individual characters are sketched only so far as it was neces- sary to illustrate the surrounding scenes. The author, however, is an excellent antiquary, and enters into minute details upon various archaeological questions that will always afford interest to the inhabitants of this island, both Celts and Saxons. He infuses just so much of his patriotic spirit as to render the narrative interesting from its concrete character, but he possesses all the essential characteristics of an historian moderation, judicial impar- tiality, and respect for the opinions of others. There is a Celtic clearness of thought throughout the work ; it is always easy to follow the writer in his arguments and statements ; there is an occasional sparkle of wit and elo- quence, very little mist, a great diversity both of cultivated an 08B25c