nicely
gravelled road-beds, lined with ornamental trees; but there are yet no
dwelling-houses here except the very comfortable Hospital structure.
There is, however, a grocery store, a Post-Office, and a Town
Hall,--these last two being of brick. It seemed to us that the
atmosphere of Sulphur Point must always prove an insuperable objection
to its being adopted as a permanent home. The constant odor rising from
the subterraneous fires not only excites disgust, but is disagreeably
suggestive of the nearness to active volcanic agencies. The Lake House
is situated upon a gentle elevation, thirty or forty feet higher than
the lake, and overlooking the lands all about it; but Sulphur Point is
nearly on a level with the water, and is so low that any rise of the
lake would inevitably flood it, and it must always be very damp.

Yet invalids have come all the way from the North of Europe to test the
advantages of these springs, and, as we were assured by the attendant
physician, with almost unvarying success. A railway is constructing from
Oxford hither which will connect Ohinemutu with Auckland direct,
obviating the necessity for staging, which no invalid should attempt
unless the road is in a very different condition from that in which we
found it. The railway will doubtless be finished within a twelvemonth.

One must start before sunrise from Ohinemutu in order to reach Auckland
on the same day, though the distance is only a hundred and sixty miles,
all but thirty of which is by railway. We have shown that the road
between the Lake District and Oxford is one requiring time to deal with.
When we left the Lake House, the silvery gray of the morning was
struggling through the clouds of hot vapor and sulphurous steam which
hung over and about the place. The stage lanterns and those in the hands
of the attendants cast a weird and fitful glamour all about us. A dog
was baying down among the Maori cabins, albeit the hamlet as a whole
still slept. The horses brought out from their stable into the crisp
morning air were a little restless, and a hostler held the bits of the
two leaders. Presently the driver called out, "All right! let them go!"
and in a moment more we were rolling smartly away by the borders of Lake
Rotorua.

The extended programme was completed, and now our steps would be turned
toward distant America.

No intelligent person can be blind to the favorable position of New
Zealand or to the promise of its future comm