“ More than a century and a quarter elapsed before another European is known to have visited New Zealand, when Captain Cook, after having observed the transit of Venus at Tahiti, went to the south in search of the new lands, and rediscovered Tasman’s “ Straaten Land.” He landed in October, 1769, at a place which he named “ Poverty Bay ” from the hostility of the natives and their lack of manifested hostility. He circumnavigated the main islands, and remained in New Zealand in 1769 and 1770, no less than one hundred and seventy six days, surveying the coast-line and observing the country and its people.
In November, 1769 he touched at a point on the coast which he named Mercury Bay, where he landed and erected an observatory for the purpose of observing the transit of Mercury – one of the chief objects of his expedition on that occasion. A signal station was erected on the headland from which Captain Cook took his observation, now known as Shakespeare Head. On January 30th, 1770 Cook erected a flag – post on the summit of a hill in Queen’s Charlotte’s Sound, where he hoisted the Union Jack, and after naming the bay where the ship was at anchor after the Queen, he took formal possession of the country in the name of His Majesty King George the Third. Cook made three voyages to the South Pacific, during which he visited New Zealand five different times, sojourning there on the several occasions three hundred and twenty – six days. His graphic description of the country and of its aborigines has led to his being generally regarded among English – speaking people as the discoverer.” P532

“ In 1787 the colony of New South Wales was proclaimed. It included in the wide expanse of its territorial limits not only New Zealand but all the islands in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes of Cape York and the southern portion of Van Dieman’s Land, as far east as the hundred and thirty – fifth degree longitude. In 1792 intercourse with New South Wales was established, and the first Europeans became located in New Zealand. Mr. Raven, of the “Britannia,” placed a sealing gang under the command of Mr. Leith, the second mate of the ship, at Dusky Bay. It was not until more than a year had elapsed that Mr. Raven went to look for Leith and his companions. He found that they had collected some four thousand five hundred skins, but had been, according to the stilted prose of Collins, principally occupied in constructing a vessel to serve them in the event of any accident happening to the “Britannia”. The vessel was, although nearly completed, left behind by the “Britannia.” The sealers reported that they had no molestation from the natives, who were apparently as sparse as when Cook visited them, and that the part of the islands where they had resided for over a year offered but few advantages for commerce or settlement. In September 1795, Mr. Bampton, of the ship “ Endeavour”, in company with the “Fancy,” left Sydney Cove for India, but on reaching Dusky Bay found his vessel so leaky that she run on shore and scuttled. The vessel that had been built there by the sealers now came into request, and being found in the same state as she had been left by Mr. Leith, was completed and launched by Mr. Bampton.” P533

“ In 1807 Mr. Marsden accompanied Governor King to Europe, and enlisted the aid of the Church Missionary Society in establishing a mission settlement in New Zealand. On his return to the colony in 1810 he brought with him two lay catechists for his mission.”
“ In 1814, Governor Macquarie gave Mr. Marsden leave of absence to go to New Zealand to establish his mission, provided the natives on the east coast of the North Island were reported to be in a peaceful condition. To obtain the necessary information Mr. Marsden despatched the brig “Active” to the Bay of Islands, under the command of Mr. Peter Dillon, who subsequently became celebrated for his discovery of the remains of La Perouse and his expedition to the New Hebrides. Mr Kendall accompanied the brig, and several native chiefs returned in her to strengthen the chances of Mr. Marsden’s visit.”
“ Mr. Marsden opened his spiritual crusade at the Bay of Islands on Christmas Day, 1814. The natives had made rude preparations for the event by enclosing half an acre of land with a fence, erecting a pulpit and reading – desk in the centre, covered with native mats dyed black, and using seats for the Europeans some bottoms of old canoes, which were placed on each side of the pulpit. A flagstaff was erected on the highest hill.” P535

“ It was not until his (Mr. Marsden) return to Sydney that he heard of the disaster of the “Boyd.” This vessel, bound to England from Port Jackson, and over seventy persons killed and eaten. Four only of all the passengers and crew were spared – a women, a cabin boy, and two little damsels, both the natives of New South Wales.
It had been proposed by merchants in Sydney about this time to form a New Zealand Company in New South Wales, and the preliminary arrangements had been completed before tidings of the massacre came to Port Jackson ; but when the tragedy was made known the idea was abandoned, and the catechists for the New Zealand mission proceeded to Parramatta to wait for a time when the public indignation had cooled. Local feeling ran so high that it was hardly safe for a Maori to be seen on the streets of Sydney. Meanwhile Mr. Kendall came to join the mission, but he also was sent with his wife and family to Parramatta until continued peace on the New Zealand coast begat confidence.” P535

“ Through the influence of missionaries who were desirous of seeing some kind of authority established, thirteen of the chiefs of the Bay of Islands applied, in 1831, to King William IV. for British protection, as the Governors of New South Wales, after the regime of Macquarie, no longer regarded New Zealand as one of the dependencies of the colony, while an at of George III. stated New Zealand to be a place not within His Majesty’s dominions. Representations were about this time forwarded to the Imperial authorities from the governor of New South Wales suggesting the appointment of a British Resident, and in the following year Lord Ripon despatched Mr. James Busby, a civil engineer of New South Wales who was then on a visit to England, to fill that position. H.M.S. “Imogene” was employed to carry him to his Residency, where he arrived on May 5th, 1833, and stationed himself at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, a short distance from the Paihia Mission Station. His appointment not answering the expectations formed, Governor Bourke considered his recall in 1837 an alternative preferable to his continuing to hold office. In 1835 Mr. Busby suggested that the New Zealanders should have a national flag enabling vessels built in New Zealand to possess freedom of trade in British ports, and the proposal being approved, H.M.S. “Alligator” was sent to the Bay of Islands with three patterns of flags for the chiefs to select from. The flag was chosen accordingly, and saluted as the standard of an independent country.” P537/1

“ In October, 1839, a vessel named the “ Comte de Paris,” having on board emigrants, left France for Aaroa, in the middle Island, while the French frigate “ L’Aube” was destined for the same port.”
“ The French frigate “ L’Aube” had reached the Bay of Islands before the “ Comte de Paris” had arrived with the emigrants intended to be placed at Akaroa. Suspecting the captain of the frigate of cherishing designs on the Middle Island inimical to British interests, the Governor sent H.M.S. “ Britomart” to Banks’ Peninsular, directing the commander to proceed thither with all despatch so that before the arrival of the “L’Aube” or the “Comte de Paris possession might be taken.”
“ A charter for establishing in the colony of New Zealand a Legislative and an Executive Council, and for granting certain powers and authority to the Governor, was signed by the Queen on November 16th, 1840, and published in the colony on May 3rd, 1841. P539/541.

“ The choice of Te Wherowhero as sovereign was politic. He did not aspire to be proclaimed king, but offered to act as arbitrator in land disputes. Tamihana was resolved to overcome the old chief’s scruples, and the Waikato tribes were therefore summoned to meet at Rangiriri in April, 1857, to instal their king. Recognising the political importance of this gathering, Governor Browne made up his mind to attend it, and accordingly set out for the Waikato, accompanied by Mr. Mclean, the Native Secretary, and Mr. Richmond, a member of the cabinet. He arrived at Rangiriri simultaneously with Te Wherowhero. In the latter’s presence the leading chiefs made speeches to the Governor. The asked for runangas, a European magistrate, and laws.
In reply the Governor promised to send a magistrate to reside in the Waikato for the purpose of periodically visiting the various settlements, and with the assistance of the native assessors, of administering justice. He also promised to cause a code of laws applicable to native requirements to be framed. The people waved their hats and cried “Hurrah.” Te Wherowhero announced that he would be guided by the advise of the Governor.” P562

“ A more decisive engagement took place at Mahoetahi, between Waitara and the Bell Rock. One morning it was found to be occupied by one hundred and fifty natives just arrived from the Waikato under Wetini Taiporotu, a chief of Ngatihaua. General Pratt sent out a force against it on November 6th, and after some firing a company of the 65th and the Taranaki Volunteers carried the position at the point of the bayonet. The Maoris lost thirty – four killed and fifty wounded, and the British four killed and sixteen wounded. Taiporotu fell in this conflict. The war closed a little later with the siege of Pukerangioro. This was a stronghold on the right bank of the Waitara River, protected at the rear by a precipice. Having resolved to reduce it by means of a sap, General Pratt sat down before it in February, 1861, with considerable force of artillery and infantry ; but after some brisk work, and before he had time to complete the capture, Wiremu Tamihana made his appearance from the Waikato on a mission of peace, and through his mediation peace was proclaimed, the dispute which originated the war being left for the law to decide. The terms were that the title to the Waitara should be further investigated, the survey completed, all plunder restored, and that the insurgents should submit to the law. Waitara was eventually surrendered to the natives. It was computed that the Europeans had lost sixty – seven Killed and one hundred and forty – three wounded, but many of the latter died of their wounds while overcrowding in New Plymouth, and exposure carried off upwards of a hundred settlers. About one hundred and fifty of the enemy were killed. The war cost the Imperial Government something like five thousand pounds, the colony incurred an expense of two hundred thousand pounds through it, and the direct losses of the settlers were estimated to amount to about one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.” P564

“ Meanwhile the Armed Constabulary had been carrying a road through the Pariharka district. In May, it was taken without warning through a fenced field held under cultivation by some of the natives. The fence was repaired by the Maoris, and for three weeks thereafter fences were continually taken down by the Constabulary, and with singular imperturbability were being re-erected by the natives. At the end of July, the fencers began to be arrested ; but as soon as each party was drafted off another party was found with cheerful alacrity to take up the work. The patience and self-restraint of the Maoris compelled even the admiration, while it excited the annoyance, of the authorities. By the end of August, two hundred and sixteen arrests had been made in the two months, and fifty-nine Maoris were sentenced, under the Maoris’ Detention Act. to two years’ imprisonment. In November, the Maori fences began to substitute slip rails for fences, and these the Government allowed to remain. In March preceding, a Royal Commission, which had been investigating the native grievances, reported “that the Plains will never be occupied in peace until proper reserves are made and marked out upon the ground. . . . . To do this is an imperative necessity.” This Royal Commission, which consisted of Sir W. Fox and Sir F. D. Bell, persevered in its task ; and in a final report recommended that, of the one hundred and twenty thousand acres enclosed between the rivers Oeo and Waingongoro, twenty-five thousand acres should be reserved for the natives, and that of the one hundred and twenty-five thousand acres embraced by the Parihaka district, from twenty to twenty- five thousand acres should be similarly reserved.” P575

“ On entering the port of Auckland during one of those bright , balmy, and sunshiny days which are so characteristic of North New Zealand, even the seasoned traveller who has gazed upon the most sublime as well as the most lovely scenery in the world finds himself compelled to admit that the panorama and conditions under which it is presented are singularly prepossessing. The approach to Auckland Harbour is one of the noblest in the world, for the city lies on the south-western shore of the great Hauraki Gulf. The approach must necessarily be from the direction of the north, because the Gulf is flanked on the east by a long peninsular which forms on its shore on that side. The Great and Little Barrier Islands lie just off the entrance to the north, and form there a partial breakwater though they do not enclose the harbour. The Gulf proper commences in the thirteenth parallel of a latitude between Cape Colville and Kawau Island, where the entrance is twenty –five miles wide. The course to Auckland lies south till vessels pick up on the right hand of the Tiritiri Lighthouse, which stands on a small grassy islet separated by a deep and safe channel from the Whangaparaoa peninsular – a long jutting promontory which runs out eastward from the land, and forms a north-westerly breakwater for the rest of the passage. The Great Barrier Island lies thirty-five miles in the rear, and its hazy outlines are just discernible over the ship’s stern. P577

“ Onward from Tiritiri the navigation is in smooth water, the course is straight and broadly defined, there are no impediments or dangers to necessitate cautious navigation, and the vessel is steered steadily on towards the spacious Rangitoto Channel, which leads right into port. This channel lies between the Rangitoto Island and the mainland, which is in this part of a low-lying peninsula stretching obliquely across the bow, and permitting the eye to see over it and catch glimpses of the distant city rising gradually from the water’s edge and disappearing over a ridge behind which isolated hills of volcanic action rear themselves at intervals.
Entering the channel, Lake Takapuna, with its broad, shelly beach, its villas, orchards, and gardens, lies to the right rear, and the hinder portion of the transmarine suburb of Devonport with its curving shore, numerous trim white cottages and stores, its neat racecourse, and its picturesque Mount Victoria, belted with pine trees and crowned by a signal-station, is on the right flank.” P578

“ Auckland already ranks as one of the five or six leading cities in Australasia, and from present indications the chances are in favour of her soon disputing Adelaide’s title to precedence. For capacity combined with the utmost facility of entrance by night or day, the port is without rival in these seas. Vessels of the largest size may fearlessly enter at any state of the tide. Off Tiritiri Light-house an anchorage is afforded of from twelve to sixteen fathoms, and thence to Rangitoto the depth is from eight to nine fathoms.”
“ Of the quays the principal are the Queen Street Wharf and the Railway Wharf. The former, which lies to the side of the city, is the longest in the colony. For a considerable distance outward from the foreshore is an extension of solid stone breakwater with an outer projection and lateral tees powerfully built of wood. This wharf runs out sixteen hundred and eighty feet into the stream, the Railway Wharf being one thousand and fifty feet long. Beyond the Queen Street and the Hobson Street wharves lies a commodious graving dock which was solidly constructed of stone in 1878, measuring three hundred feet in length, forty four feet across the entrance, and having a depth of thirteen feet at average spring tides. But this is now devoted merely to the use of coasting vessels, for on February, 1888. His Excellency the Governor, assisted by Rear-Admiral Fairfax, opened on the northern side of the harbour the Calliope Dock. Which ranks as the largest in the colonies. Its dimensions are five hundred feet long, eighty feet wide at the entrance, and thirty-three feet depth of water on the sill at high water. It is provided with a temporary head, so that in case of necessity the dock may be lengthened. Its capacity and solidity have been sufficiently tested by the fact that, on the day of opening, H.M.S. “Diamond” and “Calliope” were both received into it, and remained for several days. The next largest docks in Australasia are the Fitzroy Dock at Sydney, the Albert Dock at Melbourne, and the Dock at Lyttelton, which are four hundred and fifty feet long, and have much less depth of water on the sill.”
“ The Queen Street Wharf is the seaward extension of the main thoroughfare of the city. Although the conformation of the ground has undergone considerable alteration for the purposes of traffic, it is still evident from the slope of the lateral streets that Queen Street was originally the hollow between two hills. It has a straight run back from the water of upwards of half a mile, and then taking a slight bend to the westward and in creasing its gradient, it reaches the top of the ridge along which the Karangahape Road extends itself.” P580

“ The most striking and imposing buildings in Queen Street are Palmerston Buildings, a four four-story pile at the entrance to the wharf ; the new offices of the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, built of yellowish stone and four stories high ; the New Zealand Insurance Company’s buildings, surmounted by a clock tower containing the town clock with large dials on three of its sides ; The Victoria Arcade, which extends along the entire front between fort and Shortland Streets, and comprise four stories furnished with a patent lift. It is built of red brick, picked out artistically with white stone, and the style of architecture is a modernised Gothic. At the opposite corner of Shortland Street stands the head office of the South British Insurance Company, crowned by the erect figure of Britannia. On the other side of Queen Street, from the South British, is reared the head office of the Bank of New Zealand, solid, square, and massive, as becomes a substantial monetary institution. A little beyond, on the opposite side of the street, stands the new office of the Mutual Life Assurance Society of Victoria, surmounted by its emblematic group of statuary. Three of the four corners which Victoria Street makes in intersecting Queen Street are occupied respectively by the union Bank of Australia , whose office is built in the Grecian style with a row of columns in front ; the City Hall, a three-story building with shops abutting on the street frontage ; and the extensive offices of the Australian Mutual Provident Society. Between this and the intersection of Queen Street and Wellesley Street one passes the Working Men’s Club, the Auckland Savings’ Bank, solidly built and with pilasters of polished granite, and McArthur and Co.’s extensive warehouse while in Wellesley Street West stands the Opera House with sitting accommodation for some two thousand two hundred and fifty persons.” P580

“ The Albert Park is an elevated plateau of land eleven acres in extent in the very heart of the city, occupying the site of the whilom Albert Barracks. It has been turned into trim parterres of flowers interspersed with annular or rounded patches of greensward, and is furnished with a fountain and basin, and a flagstaff flanked by a couple of antique pieces of ordnance captured from the Russians during the Crimean war. It affords the most easily accessible view of harbour and city, the broad waters of the Waitematta gleaming in front of it, and on the other sides the network of streets, with a picturesque old windmill in the foreground.” P582

“ Laving the side of Russell is the Kawakawa River, and four miles from its mouth on the opposite bank is springing up the embryo town of Opua, where vessels of the largest tonnage proceed for coal. There is a regular ferry service between Opua and Russell, and a line of railway extends from Opua to Kawakawa, eight miles further up the river. The town of Kawakawa has been built at the coal-mines, and already boasts its town hall with library and reading-room attached, its Masonic Hall and four hotels. Its streets are regularly laid out and its coal is in general request throughout the province. Manganese mining is carried on opposite Opua, and the district likewise exports timber kauri gum, flax, oil, oysters, fish, etc. Still further north is the harbour of Whangaroa, where Nature seems to have run riot in her effort to pile up rocky scenery into the most grotesque and fanciful forms. Passing through the contracted entrance a splendid haven is soon entered. The township reclines immediately in front of us, and a single glance suffices to show that it possesses all such adjuncts of modern civilization as churches, schools, hotels, and post and telegraph offices, while from its shipbuilding yards have been launched many of the fastest clippers among “ the mosquito fleet ” of Auckland and the South Pacific. To the tourists scenery, enriched with a beautiful cascade four hundred feet in height, will form the best recommendation.” P585

“ Mangonui is the most northerly township on the east coast, and it is reached by a few hours’ steaming from Whangaroa. The land in the immediate vicinity of the settlement is generally of poor quality for pastoral or agricultural purposes, but its barrenness is compensated for by prolific deposits of kauri gum the crystallised exudation of the kauri pine – which denotes that at one time the district was the site of a dense forest. In fact, timber still abounds, and the presence of a saw-mill with good wharfage accommodation shows that it is duly utilised. But the land is not all of inferior quality. A glimpse at Oruru and the fertile Victoria Valley, with their smiling homesteads, will suffice to dispel any illusion of the kind. Mangonui, like Russell further south, and Hokianga on the opposite coast, had its palmy days when whaling was almost the sole pursuit of the white man in New Zealand waters. In that Halcyon day as many thirty-seven whaling vessels have been counted in Mangonui harbour at the one time, while a dozen more were cruising about in Doubtless Bay. From this last point of interest in this direction a return may be made towards Auckland.” P586

“ Fifty miles south of Russell, and within the deep recess of an ample estuary, lies Whangarei, the largest and one of the pleasantest towns north of Auckland.”
“ The district is rich in agricultural resources, rich too in its flocks and herds and its luscious fruit, but richer still in its mineral wealth. The Wairua waterfall, in this neighbourhood, tumbles in a broad and smooth sheet thirty-eight feet across, down a rocky face-work, a height of eighty-five feet, into a secluded and well wooded valley. The famous limestone caves are situated about eight miles south of Mangapai. In the immediate vicinity of Whangarei is also the Puhipuhi forest covering some thirty thousand acres. It is reckoned to be the largest and most valuable forest of native timber in the province, and abounding as it does with splendid specimens of the Kauri.” P586

“ A four hour hours’ trip southwards by steamer down the island studded Hauraki Gulf brings one to Grahamstown, the mining centre of the Thames gold-fields. It is built of wood on a narrow expanse of alluvial flat at the base of the ranges, on whose sides and within whose defiles the operations of quartz reefing have been continuously carried on since the first rush in August, 1867. Like all mining townships, it is grimy with smoke. The distant roar of machinery is the predominant sound, and the appearance of drives, shaft, flumes, tramways, and mining machinery on every hand proclaims the avocation of the bulk of the people. It is only a few minutes’ walk to the sites of the celebrated mines which brought in handsome dividends to the fortunate owners and spread far and wide over the other colonies the fame of the Thames El Dorado. Within the compass of a limited extent of ground lie the Shotover ; the Caledonian, which in its first year yielded the astounding product of ten tons of gold, valued at five hundred and seventy-two thousand pounds ; the Golden Crown, which paid its lucky shareholders two hundred thousand in dividends in the course of a twelvemonth ; the kurunui, which gave a yield of twenty-five thousand pounds’ worth of gold from the first weeks’ crushing ; the Long Drive, Queen of Beauty, Moanataiara, and many others ; the average yield from all round the Thames being an ounce and a quarter per ton.” P588

“ The township of Te Aroha is prettily situated in the contracted space between the Waihou and the base of the mountain. It is a sanatorium of considerable importance, for , for its domain contains no less than eighteen medicinal and therapeutic springs, the great majority of which are thermal.”
“ Here has been erected, at a cost of twenty thousand pounds, one of the largest crushing plants in the colony. It comprises forty stampers and twelve berdans. From this battery a tramway leads to the mines at the mouth of the creek, about one thousand five hundred feet above the sea-level, the principal one being the New Find.” P589

“ The White Terrace surpassed its sister in size and loveliness. At a distance it looked white as alabaster, but on nearer approach was seen to not to be white, but tinged with a faint salmon or cream colour. Sometimes, when illuminated by sunshine, it glittered with the varied colours of an opal, an effect, however, not attributable to the substance of the terrace itself, which was opaque and so nearly white that a close inspection was required to detect the delicate flush over its surface, but arising from the action of light upon the water rippling downwards to the lake. In the crater, and the baths upon the lips of the terrace, this water was a lovely blue, and the crystals deposited in its passage formed themselves into regular groups, covering the whole surface with a fine lace-work. There was not an inch of it that had not is this way been chiselled, as if it were, into graceful lines and curves which the natives, apt to seize upon resemblances, had appropriately compared to tattoo, from which the name Te Tarata was derived. The terrace was fan-shaped, with the crater at the apex, and the full extension on the lake level ; the stairs of buttresses were also of unequal height, varying from a few inches to twelve feet. P592

“ The Pink Terrace has been formed like the White, but it was of smaller area, the surface smooth as enamel, and of a pronounced pink hue. The water in the crater was usually calm, just shimmering and flowing gently over the rim. One might stand on the margin and look far down into its azure depths, a spectacle matched only by the coral forest viewed in the shimmering of placid sea. The baths on the terrace were shallow, but sensuously luxurious, imparting a peculiar smoothness to the skin, as though a fairy Madame Rachel had covered it with an exquisite varnish.”
“ The height of the White Terrace was one hundred feet ; its frontage to the lake measured about eight hundred feet ; and the distance from the lake to the centre of the crowning basin or crater, also eight hundred feet, giving a superficies of silicated terracing of about seven and a half acres.” P593

“ The most famous baths are “ The Priest’s Bath,” with its acidic and aluminous waters ; “ Madam Rachel’s Bath,” with its exquisitely soft saline waters, the silicates in which impart a lovely gloss to the skin ; “ The Blue Bath, ” a large reservoir provided with hot and cold water douches and showers ; “ The laughing gas Bath,” with its fumes of sulphuretted hydrogen ; and “ The Pain-killer Bath, ” this lat being one of the most valuable sulphurous springs which are to be found within the reserve.
In addition to the lakes which have already been referred to, there is quite a chain of others that are well worth visiting. Rotorua is only separated by a slender neck of low-lying land from its companion Rotoiti, and not far beyond it we may make acquaintance with Rotochu, which has been compared to “ a Sapphire set in emeralds,” and the deep blue lake Rotoma, shaped like a Maltese cross, and with densely-wooded shores. Rotochu, by the way, boasts a soda-water spring on its margin, and a Maori settlement named Taheke. A two-hours’ walk through the forest from Rotoma brings the visitor to lake Okatina, and the road thence leads, by way of a gully, to lake Tarawera, in the immediate vicinity of which lies the lovely little Lake Okarika, in whose surroundings and general aspect enthusiastic Scotsmen claim to see in miniature some of the characteristic features of Loch Katrine.” P594

“ From the top of Maungaongaonga a magnificent prospect is obtained of the extensive plain with its thirty-four lakes, and as far south as Lake Taupo, with the snow-clad peaks of Tongariro and Ruapehu clearly defined against the sky. The Pink Cauldron is the chief attraction of the Wai-otapo Valley. It is a deep depression on the south-eastern side of Maungaongaonga, coated with silicates of many hues, but with a predominance of pink. A spring of boiling water occupies one corner of the basin, and, on the upper, three geysers rise one above the other, forming a terrace which, it is hoped, will reproduce in the course of time many if not all of the marvellous beauties of those which have disappeared from Rotomahana. The clear blue water flows over incrustations of white and pink silica, hose slope is covered with thousands of tiny cup-like depressions. A sulphur lake of brilliant yellow lies at the base of the terrace, and the water from it, after skirting the base, tumbles over a precipice thus forming the Primrose Falls. Near the cauldron is a foliage-lined lakelet which is strongly impregnated with alum, and one hundred yards distant from the latter, a mud volcano with a crater twelve feet high and some ninety feet in circumference, from which a bluish mud is ejected in copious quantity. The valley also contains a large steaming lake resting on a basin of milk-white silica, the Rotowherowhero, or green lake, with numbers of wild ducks sailing over its emerald waters, the boiling Blue Lake and the Sulphur Terrace and Cave, the last-named enriched with pendulous stalactites of pure sulphur.
There are two routes over the fifty miles of country extending from Rotorua to Wairakei in the Taupo district, and each of these lies through a stretch of pleasant country presenting its own attractions. One leads by a narrow bridle-track past Whakarewarewa, through the Hemo Gorge and over grassy plains to Orakeikorako, twenty miles down the Waikato River from Taupo. After leaving the Gorge the mountain mass of Hapurangi, swelling like a dome from the plain, dominates the prospect until one comes within view of the colossal Mount Horohoro, rising like a gigantic wall to a height of two thousand four hundred feet above sea-level, with dense forest at its base, and beyond that on all sides a broad plain of pumice. Far away to the south-east lie the Paeroa mountains, quaking with internal fires, and penetrated by boiling mud pools and hot springs.” P596

“ After a journey of about thirty miles we reach Ateamuri, where the Waikato winds through a rocky valley margined by steep mountains, while at the bridge the river thunders over enormous rocks and boulders. Here a tremendous pinnacle of rock called Pohaturoa rears its curious form to a height of four hundred feet and overlooks the mass of huge boulders that lie scattered about its base. Thence we mount to the central table-land of Taupo with its desolate plains overlain with snow-white pumice. Wairakei, or the Valley of Geysers, six miles from Taupo, is certainly one of the marvels of the world. Its precipitous sides, from sixty to one hundred feet in height, are beautifully clad with trees, ferns, and mosses of diversified hues, while down its centre flows the hot stream known as Te Wairakei, replete with thermal phenomena. Clouds of vapour ascend on every hand, and the insecurity of the soil renders it necessary to pick one’s steps with due caution. The hot stream, fed by the hot springs on its banks, opens out into a charming blue lakelet, at a little distance above which heavy thuds followed by reverberations that shake the ground would almost persuade the visitor that he stands over the site of some vast internal forge. This is “ the Steam-Hammer.” P597

“ Napier is what our American cousins call “ a live town,” and it posses all the requirements and conveniences of urban life. Its streets are lit with gas, there is a high-pressure water-supply, and the town is headquarters of the Bishop of Waiapu, in which construction it may be mentioned that a fine cathedral is in course of erection. The buildings are mostly of wood, and the process of architectural evolution has nor yet advanced far enough to justify the people in aiming at much display. A capital view of the town and its environs is obtained from Prospect Hill, whereon stands the light-house, and another excellent panorama may be had from the elevated ground which forms the site of the hospital. The enclosure known as Clive Square, with its spacious band rotunda surrounded by benches, is a convenient resort for the public in their periods of leisure in the summer season.” P601

“ Thence it is not far to Gisborne, the second largest and most southerly town of the Province of Auckland. A second township has also sprung up about two miles off, known as New Gisborne. It has a population of two hundred persons, with a State school, hotel, and post and telegraph office. In Gisborne proper there are branches of the Commercial and Federal Banks, a mechanic’s institute with a well-furnished library of upwards of twelve hundred volumes, a public hall and state and Catholic schools. There are also four places of worship, appertaining to the Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan communions. The country lying round about here is of a fertile character, some of it heavily timbered and the rest devoted to agricultural and pastoral pursuits, Gisborne is the ort of entry for Poverty Bay. Considerable attention has been given to harbour construction and improvement, and the anchorage and landing are both good. The town is built upon a wide stretch of level land at the mouth of the river Turanganui, and in some of its characteristics it resembles Napier. The neighbourhood of this town is historic ground, as being the spot where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand in October, 1769. The bay proper is subdivided into smaller inlets by three small rivers, the Turanganui, Koputetea, , and Werowero, and of these the first-named is celebrated as being the scene of Cook’s landing, while the south-west point of the bay was the first land sighted by the explorers in New Zealand. It was owing to the unfavourable circumstances under which he landed here, and the unsuccessful attempts of his party to obtain provisions, that Captain Cook gave his first port of refuge the somewhat invidious appellation of Poverty Bay.
In the cemetery of the town there is to be found another historic feature in the shape of a memorial monument to the victims of Te Kooti’s massacre in November, 1868.” P601

“ ‘ The City of the Sand-hills, ’ as its people love to term it, is built upon a fertile alluvial flat upon the right bank of the Wanganui River, and about four miles from the Heads, where lie the shipping, and with which it is connected by rail. Sheltered on one side by the banks of the river, and on the others by low sandhills, it lies secluded from raw and cutting winds, and therefore enjoys a singularly mild and pleasant climate. With its broad and placid river stretching away along a diversified country dotted with rising hamlets and curious Maori villages, with the gleaming crests of Ruapehu, Tongariro, and other lofty mountains outlined upon the distant horizon, and with rich and undulating country all around it, Wanganui must certainly be pronounced the prettiest inland town of any note in the North Island. It is laid out in rectangular blocks, the streets running back from the river up to the base of the Northern Cliff, and the cross streets extending east and west. The two principal thoroughfares are Taupo Quay, lying along the river foreshore and at the back of the railway station and Victoria Avenue, which strikes off at right angles from Taupo Quay, running at an even width for fully a mile, and as straight as an arrow. Like most other thoroughfares it is planted with trees, whose clustering foliage presents a charming vista. The river is spanned by a massive iron bridge six hundred feet long and resting upon seven cast-iron cylinder piers, with a swing span one hundred thirty feet long and opening out two clear passages, each forty feet wide.’Away from the symmetrical town, nestling round its sandy moles, and skirted by the silvery river at you feet, your eyes are drawn as by some irresistible fascination to yonder mighty altar, uprearing its spotless architecture right away up from the puny brethren around it, till it stands out clear, distinct, sharp-cut, in virgin purity, looking like a ‘great white throne’ let down from Heaven. It is Mount Ruapehu, crowned with eternal snows, draped with samite, and glistening in the sun ; and yet so calm, peaceful, pure, that as you gaze the spell works, and you stand hushed, subdued, and yet with the sense of a great peace within you.’ To be seen at its best, however, it must be viewed at sunset.” P605

“ Passing Waddel Point and Ward Island we at length reach Hadswell Point, and rounding it we open out to the view the capacious land-locked harbour of Wellington, six miles long by six miles broad, and with Soame’s Island and its Quarantine Station set right in the centre of the noble expanse of water. Straight in front is Wellington, its business centre grouped along the shores of what was formerly called Lampton Harbour, and its environs extending beyond it on either side, but still from the natural conformation of the ground courting the vicinity of the sea. Immediately behind the city, lofty and sombre-looking ranges tower up in fantastic ruggedness, their base converging towards the harbour at the point where lie the wharves and the centre of commerce, but receding inward on either side and thus opening out the flats of Te Aro and Thorndon. Highly unpromising was the original site of Wellington for the location of a large and important city. Well might the earliest Governor of New Zealand feel his heart sink with dismay as he surveyed the infant settlement planted upon a narrow strip of land bounded by deep water and overhung by frowning ranges which seemed to impose an impassable barrier to its expansion. But when the New Zealand Company selected Port Nicholson as the chief seat of its colonising enterprise, its directors discerned how richly the future could be made to justify the wisdom of their choice. The two great natural advantages which dominated all other considerations of straight limits, boisterous gales and proneness to earthquake tremors were the central position of the place from a colonial point of view, and the possession of a splendid harbour with deep water right up to the foreshore. When in recognition of its central position, the seat of government was removed there from Auckland in 1865, both the advantages we have indicated, coupled at last with the presence of the machinery of general administration, quickly transformed the insignificant ‘ fishing village some-where in the Cook Strait ’ –as it was contemptuously styled –into the fourth city of the colony.” P608

“ As a capital city Wellington is not likely to impress the stranger. Its streets are narrow and tortuous, the footpaths of proportionately contracted width, and the buildings of all sizes and designs, and principally built of wood and galvanised iron. Some years ago nothing more durable than timber was used, for the very reason that the prevalence of earthquakes has made people afraid to build with brick or stone. That dread, however is vanished owing to extended immunity from such alarms, and within the last decade many substantial building have been reared at considerable cost. The busiest thoroughfares are Lambton Quay and Willis Street, lying near the Queen’s Wharf, and Manners and Cuba Streets, and if their odd assortment of buildings produces a mean opinion of the city from an architectural point of view, the bustle of traffic and the general appearance of business activity must go far to convince the visitor of the commercial importance of the place. The trend of business is from Willis Street along Manners Street and into Cuba Street, this latter street forming a straight line of shops and warehouses and following a parallel course to Willis Street on its eastern side. Beyond Cuba Street, and also parallel with it, lie Taranaki and Tory Streets, and further eastward still we at last emerge into an ample avenue planted down the centre with a long double line of pines, with broad asphalted footpaths at the side of them, and seats disposed at regular intervals to tempt the traveller to rest.” P609 “ One of the handsomest buildings of Wellington is the Hospital erected on a rather bleak situation on the hill-side near Adelaide Road. It is fitted up with one hundred and twelve beds. Not far off is the wooden structure of the lunatic Asylum, both buildings, along the Gaol and the Armed Constabulary Depot.” P610

“ Still the possession of ‘ a corner lot on the ocean highway ’ countervails many drawbacks, and when one notes at Wellington how the energy and ingenuity of man have triumphed together there over the parsimony of nature, the future becomes radiant with promise. An area of fifty-two acres of ground reclaimed from what was once the beach, flanked by Lambton Quay, is crowned by bonded stores and warehouses, the ruins of the Post and Telegraph offices and Custom House, demolished by fire in the middle of 1887, the Supreme and Resident Magistrate’s Courts, the police station, the railway station and goods shed, and the General Government buildings, while Lambton Quay loses the signification of its title through being thrust back from the foreshore.” P608

“ The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company has reclaimed a tract of twenty acres additional between the Thorndon baths and Kaiwarra as the site for the its own railway station and goods-sheds, while on the other side of the city, between Queen’s Wharf and Oriental Bay, the Harbour Board has reclaimed another vacant instalment of fifty-three acres.
The entire breastwork of all this reclaimed ground may be used for the berthage of vessels, as there is a sufficient depth of water, a powerfully-built wooden structure, but of no great length, extending from the heart of the city, and amply furnished with shed accommodation for cargo. The Railway Wharf is more recent work, and derives its name from its proximity to the station of the Wellington, Hutt, and Wairarapa Railway.” P608

“ There is also an AthenÆum with a clock-tower, but the people have not yet established a Free Public Library. All the leading banks and insurance companies are worthily represented, while the industries of the place comprise several frozen meat and export companies, two foundries, tanneries, soap and candle works, coffee mills, sash and door factories, brick, drain, and tile works, coach factory, saw-mills, flour mill, woollen mills, breweries, boot factories, and cordial, biscuit, and confectionery works. Wellington with gas, and another company has furnished a capital system of trams, extending from the railway station at Pipitea Point, at one end of the city, to Newtown, at its other extremity, whence anyone in search of the picturesque may penetrate to Island Bay, scarcely a mile distant. It is on the shores of Cook Strait, and with its surf-beaten jagged rocks, sandy beach, open glades and terraced hills, commanding an ample prospect seaward, is bound to retain the hold which it has already gained on the public favour.” P611

“ After leaving Wellington, the first port of call in the South Island is Picton, situated on the immediately opposite side of Cook Straight at its narrowest part and within the deep recess of Captain Cook’s favourite haven, Queen Charlotte’s Sound, which h has described as ‘ a collection of the finest harbours in the world.’ Passing through the Tory Channel, we find the entrance to the Sound ample, the water deep, the tides regular, both shores indented with capital bays and coves, and fresh water and timber abundant.”
“ But we are forgetting Picton. It is a very small place, and, if the man of commerce is disappointed with it, the tourist will find the scenery replete with interest. The town is built on an alluvial flat of no great width, backed by undulating ranges, and the buildings skirt the water side. Although only a small place, it supports five hotels, has its own newspaper, and possesses a full quota of churches, besides telegraph office court-house and hospital. There is also saw-mills in the vicinity. Moreover, it is connected by rail with the provincial capital, Blenheim, which lies in the centre of the Wairau Plain, eighteen miles distant that same Wairau Plain which in 1843 was stained with the blood of settles who fell in the first serious conflict with the Maori. Blenheim is situated at the confluence of the rivers Omaka and Opawa, and is a busy and interesting little place, furnished with all the comforts and conveniences to be expected in a township of its size. The leading banks and insurance companies are represented ; Ewart’s Hall and the Oddfellows’ Hall meet fully the demands of public entertainment, and there is besides a literary institute with library, while the hotel accommodation is ample and very good of its kind.
Market Street is the principal thoroughfare. The telegraph station is the most important in the colony, for this is the point whence all South Island messages for the sister island are forwarded to Wellington, and it is also the distributing station for messages from the North Island for places situated in the South.” P617

“ The eastern side of Tasman bay is coasted with the Castor Peak stretching over Croisilles ( Croix He ) Harbour to a height of from three thousand three hundred to three thousand eight hundred feet, while further on the sharp cone of Mount Rintoul pierces the sky at an altitude of four thousand seven hundred and twenty feet. Nestling within the retirement of the bay, and on its south-eastern side, lies Nelson, the chief town of the province. Both shores of the bay are margined by towering mountains, and between the town itself and a lofty range in the background extend the Moutere Hills, composed of irregular and imperfectly stratified beds of shingle, gravel, sand and clay, resting upon tertiary strata. The port of Nelson lies within the sheltering arm of a curious natural breakwater called Boulder Bank. It consists of rounded pebbles on boulders. At high water a large portion of it is submerged, but at low water, a difference of fourteen feet, it is dry throughout its entire length. The largest and heaviest boulders face the sea ; on the harbour side they grow smaller, and near the entrance they are so small ‘ that vessels there can drive on the strand without any damage, thus using the place as a natural dry dock in consequence of the great difference of the water level between ebb and flow.’
Completely environed inland by its hills, secluded too from the gales that frequently whip the waters of the strait into turbulent activity, with a sky of cloudless azure and a balmy climate that seems like perennial summer. Dr. Johnson would have found in Nelson the sober realisation of the Happy Valley which he dreamed of for that creature of his imagination, Rasselas, Prince of Abyssina. It is the Sleepy Hollow of New Zealand, but the term, though frequently applied, is not intended to suggest any disparaging reflection upon its people.” P618

“ The leading industries comprise leather, soap, and jam factories, and breweries, but the distinctive industry of the place is suggested by the prevalence of hop-gardens. Nelson hops are famed throughout the colony as well as beyond it, and it requires no prescience to divine that Nelson is destined to be the Kent of the Britain of the South. But this province is far richer in natural wealth than the English county. It has been pronounced by good authority to be ‘ the veritable home of minerals.’ Coal, copper, oil shales, zinc, marble, granite, and haematite, have all been discovered in goodly quantities ; of haematite ore, the quantity exposed at the Parapara River alone is estimated at about fifty-three million tons and there is another bed in the same locality sixty feet thick.” P619

“ A line of tramway fourteen miles long connects Greymouth with the island mining township of Kumara, which is situated on a terrace about a mile from the southern side of the Teremakau River, on the main road between Greymouth and Hokitika. It is a single, line and runs through a well-wooded country ; but its most novel and interesting feature is the crossing of the River Teremakau in a cage suspended from two wire ropes and propelled by a steam engine. The trams from either terminus run to the river’s bank, and thence the passengers obtain the unique and exciting experience of being whiled in mid-air over the turbid and hurrying flood to the further shore. Nineteen miles beyond Kumara lies Hokitika, capital of the province of Westland, and principal town on the west coast of the South Island. It is built at the mouth of the Hokitika River, and was the scene of an extraordinary rush from Australia when rich discoveries of gold in 1865 produced a fever of excitement which recalled the palmy days of Bendigo and Ballarat. The golden glamour has disappeared, but Hokitika still lives and progresses. It is well laid out and substantially built, and possesses all the institutions common to places of its size and importance.” “ Our route, however, lies to the east, overland to Christchurch, and the coach is ready for the journey. Away we bowl along a good road for a few miles, then cross the Arahura Rive by an ample bridge, and for the next ten miles or so career along a mining district until Kumara is again reached. On again, under all the other evidences of the restless quest for gold. The last reminders of the auri sacra fames are soon left behind, and the scenery of increasing wildness and sublimity succeeds.” P621

“ It would be unpardonable to forget the river Avon in a description of Christchurch, It is a comparatively shallow stream of pellucid water which meanders in tranquil smoothness through the city between low banks fringed with weeping willows and under bridges which are both an ornament to the place and a picturesque feature in the landscape. Nor can we overlook the fine plantation of trees which engirdles the city proper and constitutes what is known as the Town Belt. It proclaims both wisdom and the appreciation of the beautiful in nature and art which possessed those who were privileged to lay the original foundations of this flourishing seat of industry.
And this reflection at once starts the mind upon a consideration of the strange and romantic genesis of the Cathedral City. It was intended to be a very exclusive place – a kind of poetic Arcadia for the younger sons of the English nobility where under the benediction of the Established Church, they were to preside over large landed estates to be farmed by a grateful yeomanry who should look up to them with feudal submissiveness. The Anglican Church was to have supreme domination over spiritual affairs, and middle-class society was to be graciously allowed to furnish the merchants and shopkeepers of the new colony.
In fine, Canterbury was a specimen slice from the English commonwealth with all its characteristic strata, from the spiritual and temporal aristocracy at the top to the hard toilers at the base. It was a very pretty scheme on paper for those who designed it, but it was foreign to the democratic genius of Anglo-Saxon colonization, and therefore was quietly discarded when the settles came to realise the impossibility of setting up in their new home the kind of imperium in imperio which the promoters of the enterprise had contemplated. But traces of the original leaven are still to be met in Christchurch. Its ‘ society ’ is said to be more exclusive than elsewhere, and tries to conform itself to old fashioned predilections for caste distinctions ; the possession of a cathedral possessing its dean and chapter, in addition to a bishop who is recognised as primate of the colony, keeps alive a decided flavouring of High Churchism ; and finally the streets retain the nomenclature which they derive from Anglican bishoprics throughout the world – Hereford, Cashel, Lichfield, Durham, Gloucester, St. Alban’s, Tuam, Armagh, Montreal, Colombo, Madras, Antigua, Barbadoes, and so on.” P625

“ Across the ample width of the well-formed roadway from the station stands a spacious family hotel, and in the intermediate distance there is a group of neat-looking cabs, whose drivers are on the look-out for passengers desiring conveyance to the city. There are also steam trams in waiting, offering a cheap ride through the city to Sydenham or to Papanui, and as far as Heathcote Bridge, on the road to Sumner. The streets are broad and capitally macadamised, the footpaths are trim and clean, and the deep concreted dish-channels at their side indicate an efficient system of drainage. Another grateful feature, and one of pleasant refreshment to the eye, is the presence of trees. As for the buildings, although Christchurch is not nearly so advanced in the age of brick and stone as Auckland, still wood does not predominate to any appreciable degree. In Colombo Street, High Street, and Hereford Street, we pass some stately edifices that would grace any metropolis. As however, these recognised avenues of business are reached, we begin to weary of the monotony of the dead level of the site of the city, and to long for an eminence which will afford something like comprehensive survey of the place. Fortunately, art to a moderate extent supplies the want which nature has ignored. In other words, the tower of the Cathedral, two hundred and ten feet high, is the only real coign of ‘vantage from which to view the capital of Canterbury.
This is the finest ecclesiastical structure in the colony, and its site has been so well chosen that no visitor to the place can fail to see it. It occupies the centre of a large public square in the very heart of the city, and certainly graces it withal. The corner-stone was laid in December, 1864, and for more than twenty years the work of construction progressed at a fitful rate, corresponding to the resources of the diocese. At times the community looked upon it as a work never destined to be completed, and it used to be derisively said that one man and two boys were kept employed upon it to rub the moss off the stones. The project has survived the shafts of sarcasm, and the Cathedral now stands as an enduring monument of the pluck, zeal, and religious fervour of the Canterbury pilgrims.” P625

“ Keeping, however, on the Cathedral side of the river, we skirt its banks past Armagh Street until we arrive at Gloucester Street, where the splendid new bridge carries the thoroughfare over the rippling stream. Still holding steadily on our way, we next arrive at the intersection of Victoria Street, and pass over to the opposite bank by the substantial Victoria Bridge, constructed like others of bluestone, and its sides closed in with neat iron railings. Across the road from it stands the Supreme Court, approached by a line of two or three steps, whence we may pass under low archways into the court itself. To the right the eye rests upon a low, grim, and castellated building, flying a flag from its corner tower, and closer examination shows us that it is the Barracks of the Salvation Army. To the left hand lie some of the scholastic buildings with which the city is amply furnished. In no other respect have the pioneers more convincingly attested their wisdom and foresight than in the splendid provision they made for secondary and higher education. At a time when Provincial Government was in receipt of a princely revenue from its land fund, and when the settlers of the North Island had to struggle on as best they could without any such wealth, no less than three hundred and fifty thousand acres were set apart in this favoured province as educational endowments, while in 1873, fourteen thousand pounds were voted for the erection of a Normal School where teachers might be properly trained. The Canterbury College, which now stands in Worcester Street at the western end of the city, is affiliated to the University of New Zealand, and boasts a long list of graduates. It is a building of Gothic order, with a high clock-tower over the main entrance. And the Church of England has not been one whit behindhand (sic) in educational enterprise. It established, in the very early days, the still flourishing institution of Christ’s College, which is now equipped with a large playground, fives’-court, practice grounds for cricket and football, and an ample swimming-bath.
In addition to these seats of learning, there are boy’s and girls’ high schools, both richly endowed, six or seven State primary schools, and a well-endowed School of Arts at the corner of Hereford and Antigua Streets. P626

“ To row up the river by the side of Hagley Park is a delightful experience, and the time may be agreeably varied by angling for some splendid trout that disport themselves in the clear stream. But the trout have by no means a monopoly of the running water ; it is also populated by shoals of whitebait. The principal arena for cricket and football is at Lancaster Park, a fine reserve of eleven acres, admirably laid out and furnished with the necessary buildings.” P628

“ Sumner and New Brighton are very popular seaside resorts, and at Sumner also is located the colonial institution for the deaf and dumb. It is a charming little watering-place, full of attractions for holiday-making and vacation- spending folk from Lyttleton and elsewhere, who have a few idle days to enjoy in the warm and pleasant summer months away from the business concerns of every-day life. From where the observer stands looking out towards the fringe of dim purple that bounds the horizon far out to sea, the beach sweeps round the bay to left and right like ‘sickles of white sand,’ crowned with merry groups of children and their elders whose light summer costumes go with the sunlight and the bright waters to make up a characteristically lightsome and sunny picture of watering-place in the season. One of the sights of the place is a striking natural feature known as Cave Rock. It is a great mass of heaped-up crag that juts out from the sandy beach, crowned by a signal-mast at the seaward side. Just beneath this flagstaff is a large aperture hollowed out by the immemorial action of the sea.
We return to the city and take the train to Lyttleton, eight miles distant, the chief port of the province. The last stage of the trip is through the tunnel that pierces the lofty hills between city and port, and commemorates the spirit and enterprise of the late Mr. Moorhouse. It is two thousand eight hundred and seventy yards long, cost one hundred and ninety- five thousand pounds in construction, and is still the largest engineering work of the kind in New Zealand.” P630

“ Lyttelton, as a town, can neve be very large o extensive, owing to the formation of the surrounding country. It is situated within the bight of a range of bleak, sombre, and lofty hills which form a kind of horse-shoe shape, the sides in most instances descending in a steep and continuous slope to the water’s edge, and the bight itself sloping more gradually upwards from a contracted area of comparatively level land. It was over the face of one of these bleak and barren hills that travellers who had occasion to visit Christchurch in the early days were compelled to climb laboriously. The entire extent of the foreshore is bounded by a wooden breastwork from which wharves and jetties constructed of the same material stretch out at right angles ; and at either extremity of the breastwork spring the substantial rubble-stone piers of the breakwater that hold within their secure embrace all the shipping of the place. Long lines of galvanised iron sheds lie within the breastwork, and on both sides of them and down the full extent of the wharves run lines of iron rails pretty well covered with railway trucks. So ample is the shed accommodation of the port that two of the largest sheds will alone hold eleven thousand tons of grain.
Immediately beyond the sheds is situated the business portion of the town, durably built of stone or brick, its buildings being of an average height of two stories. On the slopes of the hills, to the sides and at the back, are dotted wide in all directions widely scattered villas and dwellings more or less picturesque and pretentious.
The harbour, originally called Port Cooper, has had more money spent upon it to ensure perfect security for shipping and to provide maritime facilities and conveniences than any other seaport of the colony. The harbour works were projected so far back as 1863, and about half a million of money has been spent upon them. The two arms of the encircling breakwater, formed of rubble stone faced on the outer slopes with huge blocks, and extending respectively from Officer’s Point and Naval Point, enclose a water area of about one hundred and seven acres, the depth of water ranging from nineteen up to twenty-five feet at low tides.”
“ Within this inner harbour the berthage space is, computed at upwards of eleven thousand feet, and will accommodate without trouble twenty-two ocean ships and steamers, twenty barques and brigs, eight intercolonial steamers, and thirty schooners and smaller craft.” P630

“ Timaru is solidly built of dark blue stone taken from quarries in the neighbourhood, and the presence of trees within the limits of the town and standing bush in the outskirts gratefully salutes the eye. A glance at the port suffices to indicate that scientific skill backed by colonial enterprise has transformed a dangerous roadstead into a comparative safe haven. The strand was formed of shifting shingle, upon which the surf broke with great violence when the wind blew in from the sea, and as a consequence, landing under such circumstances was a perilous feat, while shipping was exposed to great danger. In fact, two English ships were wrecked on the beach with loss of life so recently as 1882. Since then a powerful breakwater has been constructed at a cost of something like two hundred thousand pounds. Immense wooden tanks were formed on the beach, and filled with cement and shingle which solidified into titanic blocks of concrete, some of them weighing as much as thirty tons each. These were then carried seaward by a gigantic travelling crane and placed in their required positions until they united to form a solid breakwater of concrete blocks thirty-six feet wide, reaching to half-tide in height and capped with a monolithic concrete block of about five hundred tons in weight. This wall has been pushed seaward some sixteen hundred feet, and at that distance takes a cant to the north and extends four hundred feet further. It is also proposed to build a mole from the shore on the north towards the extremity of the cant so as to produce a near approximation to a perfectly enclosed harbour. At present vessels of a thousand tons can anchor in safety under the lee of the breakwater, and even with a heavy sea running can come alongside the wharf to load or unload. The buildings of Timaru are substantial if not strikingly handsome, and some of them are of considerable proportions.”
“ The windmill constitutes a notable feature of the landscape, and from this latter point may b obtained a good view of the town. There are thirteen hotels within the borough, and its leading industries comprise three flour mills, six agricultural implement manufactories, meat preserving works, a woollen factory, and a barbed wire factory. A morning and an evening paper keep the people well poste up in the news of the day.
Timaru is favourably situated for a Canterbury town, inasmuch as it is set in the midst of a billowy expanse of gently undulating plain, and any departure from the prevailing dead level, however slight, is very welcome.” P632

Fairlie Creek. “ From the Creek to Lake Tekapo, twenty-six miles, there is an excellent road, and, with fine weather, the drive is most enjoyable. At the of the first five or six miles is Silverstream, famed for its trout, and seven miles further is the township of Burke’s Pass. It is stiff pull to the top of the Pass, two thousand five hundred feet high, from which is obtainable a capital survey of the great Mackenzie Plains, so named from a daring outlaw who from this secure retreat made regular forays in the early days upon the stations of the more settled country, drove off flocks of sheep and cattle, and, after he had accumulated a sufficiently large stock to trade with, took them to distant parts of the island and there sold them. The Rev. W. S. Green, M.A., who made the assent of Mount Cook in 1882, says that the vast area now occupied by the Mackenzie Plains ‘ was once covered by the great glacier-field of the Waitaiki."

“ The great ice fall of the Hochstetter Glacier pour down from the hollow or basin between Mount Tasman and Mount Cook, and presents a spectacle of surpassing grandeur, forming in its descent ‘ a splendid cascade of ice four thousand feet high.’ At its juncture with the Tasman Glacier there is a hole about five hundred feet deep. The Hochstetter Dome stands at the northern end of the Hochstetter Glacier, and dominates all the peaks of the Malte Brun range. It is especially remarkable for the length, breadth, and depth of the crevasses on its southern slope.” P638

“ Gradually the level prairie becomes more undulating, and shortly after three o’clock we find ourselves in the outskirts of Oamaru. Looking seaward the port is seen to be a fac-simile of that at Timaru. Originally a dangerous open roadstead, skill and enterprise have combined to convert it into a safe and commodious port by the construction of a concrete breakwater one thousand eight hundred and fifty feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and thirty-two feet high, and of a rubble mole stretching out for one thousand seven hundred and twenty feet in the direction of the breakwater, the entrance between them being about four hundred feet wide, and the space enclosed having an area of about sixty acres.”
“ The town is very well-built, of an almost perfectly-white stone, from the prevalent use of which as a local building material it has received the very appropriate title of ‘ The White City.’ It is the handsomest town of its size in the colony. The stone, of which extensive quarries exist in the immediate neighbourhood, contains no less a proportion than 90.15 per cent, of carbonate of lime, and is said to be exactly similar to the Maltese Limestone of which the town of Valetta is built. Oamaru is the outlet of the most extensive and prolific grain-producing district of New Zealand, and the massive piles of architecture grouped about the business portion of the town as well as the presence of numerous local industries, indicate the energy and progressive character of the population. Thames Street is a noble thoroughfare, possessing some stately buildings ; among those that readily catch the eye being the branch offices of the Banks of New South Wales and New Zealand. The noticeable three-story block consisting of the Queen’s Hotel and shops forms about the finest pile of masonry in the place. From Thames Street one proceeds by the intersecting thoroughfare of Severn Street to the Botanical Gardens, amid which a charming fresh-water creek winds a very serpentine course. The Esplanade is a spacious promenade facing the harbour, and there is a capital cricket-ground near the North Town Belt. Oamaru is the terminus of two branch railway lines, of which one extends up the valley of the Waiareka twenty-four miles, and the other up the valley of the Waitaki to Hakateramea, about fifty miles.” P641

“ Then through the Deborah Bay tunnel we plunge, and out again into the brilliant sunshine, until passing the Maori ‘ kaik ’ at which we reside with (sic) the chief Taiaroa and his people, we find ourselves gazing down from an eminence upon the substantial little town of Port Chalmers, lying secluded within the bight of Otago Harbour. This important haven is an estuary or arm of the sea fifteen miles deep. The entrance is between Taiaroa Head, a bold, dome-shaped headland, two hundred and forty-four feet high and crowned by a battery of guns, and Hayward Point a precipitous bluff at the end of the peninsular which projects from the mainland below Dunedin. Between these two heads, a bar of hard white sandstone extends about a mile in a north-westerly direction. It is the chief draw-back to the port.”
“ Port Chalmers is small but decidedly solid, most of its buildings being constructed of a bluish stone quarried in the neighbourhood. The wharfage accommodation is ample, and all the conveniences of a first-class harbour are provided. The graving-dock, which was opened so long ago as 1872, measures three hundred and twenty-eight feet long by forty-one feet wide, while the depth of water ranges from seventeen feet six inches to twenty-one feet six inches. There is also a floating-dock one hundred and seventy feet long by forty-two broad. Since January, 1882, the largest steam-dredge in the world has been busily engaged in deepening the entrance to the port and the channel of the Upper Harbour to Dunedin, which has now been completely buoyed.” P642

“ Dunedin is a very attractive pretentious city, only lacking a harbour such as that of Auckland or Wellington to give it pre-eminent rank. From the bridge over the line at the fine railway station one may gain a moderately good view of the business heart of the place, throbbing with deep pulsations of active commercial life. Rising from a slightly elevated site to the left stands the First Presbyterian Church, a stately and well-proportioned edifice built of the white Oamaru stone and proclaiming to the stranger the devotion of the pioneers of the settlement to ‘ the auld kirk. ’ Turning to the harbour, the eyes rove over Rattray Street wharf and its companion piers to the evidences of continuing enterprise in the reclamation of land from the sea, and of plodding energy in the deepening of the channel for the improvement of maritime facilities.”
“ The Gaelic name of Edinburgh has not been inaptly bestowed upon this very prepossessing New Zealand city. In the first place it resembles its Old World prototype in its hilly situation. But a stronger resemblance still to the modern Athens is the high regard in which learning and culture are held. Splendid provision has been made for higher education, while the City School Committee controls seven State primary schools with an aggregate attendance of three thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. The chief seat of secondary education is the handsome building known as the Boy’s High School, which was completed in February, 1885. It has a curiously castellated appearance, a square and massive tower rising from the centre of the facade to a height of sixty-eight feet, and its corners being finished off with steeples.” P644

Dunedin. “ At the corner of Dowling Street is the Garrison Hall and the Lyceum. The next intersection of Princes Street is that of Rattray Street, which leads at once to the railway station. On the seaward side, the bank of New Zealand occupies one of these corners of Princes and Rattray Streets, with an attractive edifice built of Oamaru and Port Chalmers stone, and at the opposite corner stands the colonial Bank. Midway between the two corners and filling up is reared the Cargill Monument, furnished with drinking fountains. The Colonial Bank is flanked on one side by the Post Office and on the other nearer side by the Telegraph Station. This is the very heart of the city. It is also the dividing point between the old and the new portions of Princes Street. The part already described is narrow, with extremely contracted footpaths and with a gradual slope. The remainder of its length southward is spacious in width as becomes the leading avenue of business in a metropolis, and level withal. At this point also it is ornamented with two of the handsomest hotels in the colony –the Grand Hotel, a four-story pile just opposite the Monument, and Wain’s, another four-story structure some little distance beyond. The thoroughfare striking up the hill round the corner of the Grand Hotel is High Street, one and a half miles long, along which a branch tram-line, worked by cable, extends to the borough of Mornington. Nearer the harbour stand the fine imposing buildings of the Otago Daily Times and The Evening Star newspapers, the Union Steamship Company, and the Otago Harbour Board. The Queen’s theatre is in Princes Street, and another and larger one, the Princess’s is situated a short distance up high Street. At the southern end of Princes Street lies the Southern Recreation Ground, at the seaward side of the thoroughfare, with the Caledonian Ground at its back, and, on the opposite side of the street, the Southern Cemetery, the largest necropolis of the place.” P647

“ Kingston, lying at the Southern end of Lake Wakatipu. ~~~ Here a smart little steamer awaits the arrival of the train to convey the passengers right on to Queenstown, which, if we compare Lake Wakatipu to the letter S, occupies the bend halfway between Kingston and the head of the lake. Wakatipu is fifty-two miles long, from one to three miles broad, and it covers an area of about one hundred and fourteen miles. It lies one thousand and seventy feet above sea-level, and its depth varies from one thousand one hundred and seventy to one thousand two hundred and forty feet. The bottom of the lake, therefore, is below sea-level. The scenery on the lake between the two places is very striking. Towering ranges appear to hem one in upon every side on leaving Kingston. To the left lie the foremost peaks of the Eyre Mountains, and opposite Queenstown the Walter and Cecil Peaks thrust their lofty summits right through the clouds floating in the atmosphere. To the right extends the impressive range of the Hector Mountains, starting with the Devil’s Staircase and swelling up into the Remarkables, whose highest peak is Double Cone, seven thousand six hundred and eighty-eight feet high. Ruskin’s vivid word-picture of the Rochers des Fys, above the Col d’Anterne, will forcibly apply to the Remarkables : - ‘ In many spots inaccessible with safety, dark in colour, robed with everlasting mourning, for ever seeming to totter like a great fortress shaken by a war, fearful as much in their weakness as their strength, and yet gathered after every slide into darker frown and un-humiliated threatening ; for ever incapable of comfort or healing from herb or flower, nourishing no root in their crevices, touched by no hue of life on buttress or ledge ; Knowing no shaking of leaves in the wind, nor of grass beside the stream –no motion except that of the shivering shale and the deathful crumbling of atom from atom in their corrupting stone.” P654

“ Queenstown is a most picturesque little town, bulwarked at its back and sides by towering and sombre mountains and smiled or frowned upon in front by the ample waters of the lake, just as the prevailing mood happens to be tranquil or stormy. The town consists a town hall, garrison hall, AthenÆum, free library, Dominican convent and school, State School, churches, banks, etc., as well as a brewery and numerous brick and stone stores. There is also a public park, while the esplanade affords a pleasant walk around the margin of the bay. The visitor may likewise walk or ride to the suburb of Frankton, the Shotover Gorge, the Hospital, and the Kawarau Falls, or drive to the mining settlement of Arrowtown by way of the Shotover and Lake Hayes, a lovely sheet of water about a mile long and broad, returning thence by way of Miller’s Flat. The best excursion from Queenstown is unquestionably that to the summit of Ben Lomond, and if the tourist be an expert Alpine climber he will doubtless feel inclined to ascend its neighbour, Mount Bowen, as well. A bridle track leads from the hotel to the Saddle, from which may be seen, to the right and left respectively, Mount Bowen and Ben Lomond.
The former is easier of ascent, but the view from the other peak is far preferable. A little beyond the Saddle the mountaineer must tether his horse and divest himself of all superfluous clothing in order the more comfortably to clamber up the steep side of the colossal giant. A moderately athletic person will gain the summit in about three-quarters of an hour, and once there a most extensive panorama amply rewards his exertions. ‘ Turning his face to the east his eye ill catch Frankton and the long range of the Hector Mountains. The forward peaks of the range, with their jagged edges, we know at a glance. They are the Remarkables, which seem to haunt us everywhere. At their base sweeps round the Kawarau River, which a little way down is joined by the Shotover, then by the Arrow, and hurries on through the Carrick Ranges with its mass of dirty waters to meet and contaminate the Clutha at Cromwell.” P654

“ Another very attractive excursion is the twenty-mile drive through the Shotover Valley to Skipper’s, where a lovely waterfall may be seen, and where also one obtains a very good idea of the progress and magnitude of gold-mining in this part of the colony.” P655

Other Pacific Islands

“ In studying the houses of New Guinea it must be remembered that the people are still in the stone age, and that all their houses are built with the tools it affords. No tool of metal is used, and no iron nail is to be found in any house from foundation to ridge- pole. In the western part of the island the houses are very long , capable of accommodating a number of families. Mr. Chalmers visited one in the Elema district which was one hundred and sixty feet long. It had a large peaked portico thirty feet wide, supported by posts eighty feet high. From this high front it tapered and narrowed away to the end, and one hundred feet distant.”
“ The canoes are of great variety. They are made out of a log, which is hollowed by fire and rude stone adzes. The small canoe is used for fishing inside the reef, the large ones being for trading purposes and used singly as well as double. All are propelled by mat sails. New Guineans will never paddle if they can help it, preferring to wait a long time for wind to same them the trouble. At the east end of New Guinea they build large canoes very much like whaleboats, and can sail with them as close to the wind as we can with our vessels. They are profusely ornamented, and the decorations and carvings are really graceful and artistic. Tons of sago are bought every year from the gulf to Port Moresby in hugh square-shaped vessels. These are made of eight, ten, and even twelve and fourteen great canoes firmly lashed together ; they are then decked over with saplings, bulwarks made all round, and a house built at each end ; a crab-claw shaped sail is hoisted, and with a fair wind these unwieldy craft make good progress and safe voyages.” P666

“ Nets of various kinds are made by the men, who use a mesh and needle like those of Europeans, but do not hold the needle in the same way. They are made all sizes, from a small hair net to the heavy dugong or kangaroo net. At the east end of New Guinea the natives show great taste in carving. Everything upon which a design can be cut is ornamented by a graceful and pretty device. The figure-heads of their canoes, the tops of their paddles, the floats of their nets, the gourds for holding lime, the spatulas used for the lime, and most other suitable articles are all beautifully carved.” P668

“ The Malay practise of building on piles is common all over New guinea, even on the hills. This is the characteristic of the New Guinea house, the piles varying from six to twenty feet in height. There is a necessity for this in the coast villages, as they stand mostly in the water ; many of them, Naile, Kapakapa, and Tupuselei, in the Pot Moresby district, and Hula at Hood Point, are always surrounded by deep water.” P666

“ The methods of burial vary among the various tribes. At Port Moresby the dead are buried, but in the case of a chief or much loved manor woman the body is not covered in the earth, a light covering of mats or boards is laid on, and an enclosure made around the grave, inside of which the principal mourners sleep. In the Koiari district, and among the hill tribes generally, the honoured dead are not buried, but laid out in state in the house, while the relatives live in the same house. After decomposition has far advanced the body is put on a platform of sticks in the sun, a fire is lighted and the body soon dries up. After the bones fall apart they are collected , tied up in a bundle, and hung up in the house where the dead man or woman formally lived.
Superstition reigns over New Guinea, and the people are in bondage to medicine men and sorcerers who live on the credulity and ignorance of the people. Here and there, as at Hood Bay, there is sometimes a ceremony which seems to recognise a Supreme Being who has power to make the earth fruitful, and holds life and death in his hands, but its original meaning is almost lost. The signification of the rites is forgotten and gone, but everywhere there is a strong belief in the deathlessness of the soul. The spirits of the departed go away into hades, which is sometimes ocean space and sometimes mountain tops. A recent death is said to bring the spirits about in crowds.” P667

“ For many years vessels had been trading to Fiji for sandal-wood, trepang, and tortoise-shell. Subsequently a few traders established stations for the purchase of coconut oil ; and in 1858 Mr. Frederick Hennings, connected with the enterprising firm of Godeffroy, of Hamburg, came over from Samoa, and began operations on a more extensive scale. Later on the cotton famine arising out of the war in America gave a great impetus to the settlement, and a considerable number of gentlemen came from Australia to engage in cotton planting. At this time Thakambau, who was in reality Wunivalu, or War King of the Mbau matanitu, but, who was styled King of Fiji, was in difficulties with the United States Government, who claimed from him some nine thousand pounds as compensation for injuries said to have been inflicted many years before on certain American citizens."

A company formed in Melbourne paid off this claim, and Thakambau readily presented to them about two hundred thousand acres of land on much of which durst not set his foot at that time without a strong band of warriors at his back. A number of settlers came down under the auspices of this company, and stir made at the time attracted still further attention to Fiji. Disputes arose with the natives, and the want of some regular government soon made itself felt. An absurd attempt was made to form a constitutional Government, with the usual parliamentary machinery, Thakambau was crowned King of Fiji by a few irresponsible adventures, and the Parliament an its talking business.” P670

Fiji. “ The entire land area of the group is greater than that of all the British West India islands.
A great barrier-reef more or less broken surrounds the group to the eastward, northward, and westward, closing in with the land to the south-west of Navitilevu, and leaving the southern quarter open. This barrier is broken by numerous passages ; to the eastward it consists merely of coral patches of greater or less extent, with or without islands upon them, between which vessels from the eastward, coming in under a clear sky, find easy entrance, but the navigation in those parts is dangerous in thick weather. In addition to the great barrier nearly every island has an encircling reef of its own, many of which have commodious passages through them and afford excellent harbours to a vessel that gets on the right side of them, but they are very dangerous to the mariner who is caught by bad weather on the wrong side. The general outline of the islands is bold and striking. They look like, what perhaps they are, the mountain-tops of a sunken continent. Nowhere does nature present a more beautiful picture than one of the larger islands as approached from seaward on a sunny day. The bold background of the wooded hills, with intervening valleys cut out by the numerous watercourses, or torn out by volcanic cleavage, the fringe of palms on the beach, with the brown roofs of the native villages peeping out of the green foliage, bordered by the narrow strip of ‘ ribbed sea-sand,’ the still waters of the lagoon with their varied colours, and the white ring of encircling surf, present a picture of marvellous beauty. But it is always the same ; the eye soon becomes satiated with it, and longs for the changing loveliness of an English landscape. As a general rule the soil is not of good quality, excepting on the river deltas, and the flats caused by the running streams ; but scattered throughout the group there is a large area of fruitful soil capable of bearing in abundance all sub-tropical products, and where good judgment is used in the selection of plantation grounds, the soil responds liberally to the demands of the planter.” P669

“ The Fiji group ( properly Viti ) lies between the fifteenth and twenty-first parallels of the south latitude, and longitude one hundred and seventy east to one hundred and seventy-eight west, the meridian of Greenwich passing through Taviuni, in the middle of the group. It consists of more than two hundred islands, some of which are of considerable extent, with a numerous population, while others are mere islets of sea-sand and rock, many of them uninhabited, and visited only occasionally by the natives for fishing or other purposes. The largest island is Navitilevu ( Great Viti ) ; the first syllable na, which is the definite article, showing that Viti was at one time a common noun with a meaning now lost beyond hope of recovery, which if it could be recovered might tell us something of great value.” P668

“ The principal European settlements are at Levuka and Suva. Levuka is situated on the eastern coast of Ovalau, a considerable island within the Navitilevu reef, while Suva is built on a promontory between two extensive bays on the south cast of Navitilevu. Levuka is the earlier settlement, but the seat of Government was removed to Suva by Sir Arthur Gordon, and since the removal Levuka has been dwindling in importance and population. The history of Fiji may be said to begin in 1643, when Tasman passed through the group, though there is some evidence that the old Spanish adventures were there before him. Captain Cook discovered Vatoa or Turtle Island, the easternmost island, and laid it down on hs chart with his usual accuracy. Bligh sailed through the group in his wonderful boat voyage after the mutiny of the ‘ Bounty,’ and subsequently a few shipwrecked or runaway sailors, and escaped convicts from Norfolk Island, managed to establish themselves here and there among the natives. But it was not until Christianity began to make its way under the influence of the Wesleyan missionaries that anything like a considerable settlement took place.” P669

“ It has been amply proved that excellent cotton, tea, and coffee can be grown, but then excellence of quality does not do away with the fact hat their growers have not been able to make them pay. Some years ago sugar, at the price it was then bringing, offered a certainty of splendid profit, and very large sums were invested in mills, machinery, and plantations, especially in the splendid sugar district on the banks of the Wailevu ( Great Water ), or ‘ Rewa River .’ But with the fall in price of the sugar the broad margin of profit the prospect of which presented itself as a temptation to the capitalist has dwindled down. Copra –the dried cocoanut –is a valuable article of export, and can be produced to almost any extent. The returns are not so speedy as are those of the sugar-cane, for the palm requires several years to come to full bearing even under the most favourable circumstances ; but when a cocoanut plantation is once established, it goes on yielding year after year with comparatively little outlay. Of minor products the banana is an article of export of some value, though its perishable nature makes the ventures in it somewhat hazardous, and the Australian market does not offer room for any great extension of the trade. Pea-nuts are easy of cultivation and extremely prolific. The coral reefs afford a considerable quantity of bêche-de-mer, but the gathering of it has been stopped by the Government in the interests of the natives. There is a large quantity of good timber, some of it probably of considerable value, but it is not likely to come into the market to any great extent, forest conservation being especially needed in a country such as Fiji. One of the most remarkable of the native trees in the group is a splendid forest specimen known as the Backa Tree, which grows to an enormous height and attains an extraordinary girth measurement. Spice cultivation will probably be attempted if Sir John Thurston can prevail upon qualified persons to take it up, but the losses which the cotton and sugar planters have already sustained make our capitalists extremely shy of new investments. The losses that enterprising colonists have at various times experienced from this cause have led to a certain feeling of diffidence in the possibilities of the country. Fiji is now at what seems to be its lowest ebb, and any change will probably be a change for the better. There can be no doubt that it is a country of splendid capabilities, but a heavy cloud of commercial depression at present rests upon it. This will without doubt pass away in due course ; but whatever the future of the may be, the demand for native labour must stand in the way of the formation of a large white population.” P674

“ There is a missionary vessel actively employed in the service of the New Hebrides.
Trade first began in sandal-wood. The labour traffic then swept the islands for recruits for the sugar plantations in Fiji and Queensland. Settlers in some islands attempted to introduce trade among the Islanders, but till missionary work prospered they did not want clothes, and only exchanged their produce for tobacco, guns and ammunition, fish-hooks, knives, and beads.
The French New Hebrides Company has recently acquired extensive tracts of land near convenient harbours, and has promoted a brisk trade in copra, bêche-de-mer, and other things. The Company bought out most of the English settlers. The colonists in New Caledonia then began to desire the annexation of the group by the French Government and the employment of convicts there. A military post was actually set up near Havannah Harbour under the excuse that the French subjects who had settled there stood in need of protection. The natives, however, did not like this, and Australian colonists who had already objected to the further sending of recidivists to New Caledonia, many of whom escaped to the mainland, further protested against the military occupation of Havannah Harbour as a step towards the eventual establishment of a permanent settlement on the part of the French. Those interested also feared for the safety of the British Missions, and the violation of the existing agreement, by which the English Government and France both agreed to abstain from establishing a dominion in these islands. After a long and anxious diplomacy the French and British Governments have agreed to appoint a mixed commission of naval offices to jointly administer justice and protect European interests, and then French troops have in consequence been withdrawn.
Life is now comparatively safe on these islands, where formerly it was very insecure. Steam communication from Australia on the way to New Caledonia and Fiji has been established ; and as the native population is rapidly decreasing, and the dangers that menaced settlement are passing away, it is probable that the islands so fertile and so near Australian ports may have their resources developed and ultimately become European colonies.” P678

“ The present king, George Tubou, is one of the most remarkable men in the South Seas. He was first called Taufaahau, and was originally the king of the Haabau group only. In 1833 he was nominated by Zephaniah Ulukalala (the Finow Fii of Mariner)"

Text: "Picturesque Atlas of Australasia 1886"