en you have to keep them on your lap whilst
you eat your chop). We were all so terribly hungry that we were obliged
to have a course of bread and cheese and sardines _first_; it was really
quite impossible to wait patiently for the chops. The officiating cook
scolded us well for our Vandalism, and the next moment we detected him
in the act of devouring a half-raw potato. The fragments of our meal
must have been a great boon to the colony of wekas who inhabit the
island, for as they increase and multiply prodigiously their provisions
must often fall short in so small a space. No one can imagine how these
birds originally came here, for the island is at least two miles from
the nearest point of land; they can neither swim nor fly; and as every
man's hand is against them, no one would have thought it worth while
to bring them over: but here they are, in spite of all the apparent
impossibilities attending their arrival, more tame and impudent than
ever. It was dangerous to leave your bread unwatched for an instant, and
indeed I saw one gliding off with an empty sardine tin in its beak;
I wonder how it liked oil and little scales. They considered a cork a
great prize, and carried several off triumphantly.

After luncheon there was the usual interval of rest, and pipes on the
part of the gentlemen. I explored a little, but there is nothing very
pretty or abundant in the way of wild flowers in the parts of New
Zealand which I have seen. White violets and a ground clematis are the
only ones I have come across in any quantity. The manuka, a sort of
scrub, has a pretty blossom like a diminutive Michaelmas daisy, white
petals and a brown centre, with a very aromatic odour; and this little
flower is succeeded by a berry with the same strong smell and taste of
spice. The shepherds sometimes make an infusion of these when they
are very hard-up for tea; but it must be like drinking a decoction of
cloves.

About three o'clock we re-embarked, and sailed a little higher up the
lake beyond the point where we lose sight of it from Mr. H----'s house,
every moment opening out fresh and more beautiful glimpses. Quite the
opposite end of the shore is fringed with a thick deep forest, and
another station has been built there, at which, I am told, the scenery
is still more magnificent. At first I was inclined to wonder where the
sheep live amid all this picturesque but mountainous country: however,
I find that between and among these hills stre