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Show 506 NEW ZEALAND. Dec. 1835. weather is cold they sleep there. They eat, however, and pass their time in the open part in. fro~t. . My guides having finished their pipes, we co.ntmued our walk. The path led through the same undulatmg country, the whole uniformly clothed as before with fern. On ~ur • right hand, we had a serpentine river, the banks o~ W~ICh were fringed with trees, and here and there on _the ~Ill-si~es there were clumps of wood. The whole scene, m s~Ite of Its green colour, bore rather a desolate. aspect. . The sight ~~ so much fern impresses the mind with an Idea of sterility· This, however, is not the case; for wherever the fern gr~ws thick and breast-high, the land by tillage beco.~es pr~ductlve. Some of the residents, with much probability thmk t~at all this extensive open country was originally co~ered with forests, and that it has been cleared by the aid of fire. It is said that by digging in the barest spots, lumps of the kind of resin which flows from the kauri pine, are freque~tly found. The natives had an evident motive in thus clearmg the country; for in such parts the fern, formerl! so staple an article of food, flourishes best. The almost entire absence ?f associated grasses, which forms so remarkable a feature m the vegetation of this island, may perhaps be ~ccounted for, by the open parts being the work of man, while nature had designed the country for forest land. The soil is volcanic ; in several parts we passed over slaggy and vesicular lavas, and the form o~ a crat~r co.uld clearly be distinguished in several of the neighbounng hills. Although the scenery is nowhere beautiful, and only _occasionally pretty, I enjoyed my walk. I should have enJoyed it more, if my companion, the chief, had not possessed extraordinary conversational powers. I only knew three words; " good," " bad," and " yes:" and with these I answered all his remarks, without of course having understood one word he said. ~his, however, was quite sufficient : I was a good listener, an agreeable person, and he never ceased talking to me. Dec. 1835. WAIMATE. 507 . At length we. reached W ~imate. After having passed over so many miles of an unmhabited useless country, the sudden appearance of an English farm-house, and its welldressed fields, placed there as if by an enchanter's wand was exceedingly pleasing. Mr. Williams not being at ho~e I received in Mr. Davies's house a cordial and pleasant w'elcome. ·After drinking tea with his family party, we took a . stroll about the far~. . At W aimate there are three large houses, where the misswnary gentlemen Messrs. Williams, Davies, and Clarke, reside ; and near them are the huts of the native labourers. On an adjoining slope fine cr~ps of barley and wheat in full ear were standing; and, in another part, fields of potatoes and clover. But I cannot attempt to describe all I s~w; there were large gardens, with every fruit and vegetable whiCh England produces ; and many belonging to a warmer clime. I may instance, asparagus, kidney beans, cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, pears, figs, peaches, apricots, grapes, olives, gooseberries, currants, hops, gorze for fences, and English oaks; also many different kinds of flowers. Around the farmyard there were stables, a thrashing-barn with its winnowing machine, a blacksmith's forge, and on the ground ploughshares and other tools : in the middle was that happy mixture of pigs and poultry, which may be seen so comfortably lying together in every English farm-yard. At the distance of a few hundred yards, where the water of a little rill was dammed up into a pool, a large and substantial water-mill had been erected. All this is very surprising, when it is considered, that five years ago, nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover, native workmanship, taught by the missionaries, has effected this change :-the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house has been built, the windows framed, the fields ploughed, and even th~ trees grafted, by the New Zealander. At the mill, a New Zealander may be seen powdered white with flour, like his brother miller in England. When I looked at this whole scene, I thought it admirable. It was not merely that England was vividly brought before my mind |