18 



THE KEA. 



By train and bicycle I gradually wormed my way from 

 Canterbury's city of the plain into the foot-hill country of 

 the range that stretches along not far from the western edge 

 of our South (or Middle) Island of Nevv' Zealand. Back of 

 the lesser heights appeared the glistening peaks of the alpine 

 country, where river beds of shingle and terraces of 

 browning tussock and lakes of deep calm occupied the 

 spaces between the sky-piercing points. As I struck in 



KEA COUNTRY: Up the WiLbekforce River; showing the bareness of 



THE MOUNTAINS EAST OF THE DIVIIUNIt RANGE. 



from Glentunnel, Mt. Hutt towered in front ; a gaunt, mute 

 sentinel seven thousand feet in height, with epaulettes and 

 trappings of tussock and helmet of snow. Nothing daunted, 

 I cycled by him deeper and deeper into the ranges by the 

 way the Rakaia River has made for itself in its descent from 

 the heights to the plain. 



