n until the period
already named, when it was formed into a colony subordinate to the
government of New South Wales. As early as 1815, white men of venturous
disposition began to settle in small numbers among the natives; but
often their fate was to be roasted and eaten by cannibals. Before 1820,
missionaries, no doubt influenced by truly Christian motives, came
hither and devoted their lives to this people,--in more senses than one,
as it is well known that they not infrequently met with a fate similar
to that of other settlers.

New Zealand lies as far south of the equator as Italy does north of it,
and is divided into the North and South Islands by Cook's Strait. The
South Island is also known as the Middle Island, to distinguish it more
fully from Stewart Island, which belongs to the group, and which lies to
the south of it. This last-named island is separated from Middle Island
by Foveaux Strait some fifteen or twenty miles across the water from the
Bluff. It is about fifty miles long by thirty broad, and has a mountain
range running through it, the loftiest peak of which is a trifle over
three thousand feet high. There are some fishing hamlets here, but there
are very few inhabitants. All these islands are popularly believed to
have once formed part of a great continent, which is now sunk in the
sea.

Unlike Australia, New Zealand is rarely visited by drought. The whole
eastern coast abounds in good harbors, while the rivers and streams are
ever flowing and innumerable. Though it is a mountainous country, it
differs from Switzerland in that it has no lack of extensive plains,
which seem to have been left by nature ready to the hand of the farmer,
requiring scarcely ordinary cultivation to insure large and profitable
crops of grains. This diversity of surface, as well as the fact that
these islands extend over thirteen degrees of latitude, give the country
a varied climate, but it is a remarkably temperate one, its salubrity
far surpassing that of England or any part of the United States. While
snow is never seen in the North Island except upon the highest
mountains, the plains of the South Island, as far south as Otago, are
sometimes sprinkled with it, but only to disappear almost immediately.
The rivers are generally destitute of fish, and the forests of game. It
is no sportsman's country; but vegetation runs riot, the soil being
remarkably fertile, clothing the wild lands with perpetual verdure and
vigorous fr