The Waxeye 



lEBOUCHING on to the flat 

 upon which the Tutira house 

 is built is one minature gorge 

 and several smaller valleys, 

 or dens, each sheltering its 

 own trickle stream. Yet these insig- 

 nificant rivulets it is that have created 

 the flat, for in winter rains, and when 

 the hill sides are slipping, avalanches 

 of mud and water are carried down and 

 stones, weighing hundredweights, rolled for 

 scores of yards. One great slip in the 

 nineties came down close to the house, 

 filled all the open drains, washed through 

 the stockyard into the garden and tennis 

 court, and even inundated the back room 

 of the house with its mud puddle of fine 

 silt. These valleys, as far as possible, have 

 been allowed to remain unspoiled and uncut 

 and to act as bird sanctuaries. Resident 



