222 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
Parliament House with the Speaker of the House, the Hon. Downie 
Stuart, Minister of Internal Affiairs, and about a dozen other 
members of Parliament and prominent officials. After an excellent 
lunch in a beautiful room in which the members were wont to 
take their noon-day meal, we were escorted over the Parliament 
Building, constructed of New Zealand marble of a rich gray tone 
mottled with white. The pillars were finely polished and quite im- 
posing. We saw the Senate Chamber and the House of Repre- 
sentatives which were sumptuously furnished in native wood, 
finely carved. 
We were allowed to go into the lobby (a very special favor) 
where the members gather for a game of billiards or other re- 
creation, a comfortable and well warmed room in which to rest, 
then to the library used by the members. In the Council Room 
the walls and ceiling are beautifully finished with panels of select- 
ed woods, walnut and birdseye maple, presented by the Canadian 
Government in return for a similar donation from the New Zea- 
land Government when the Canadian Parliament House was 
burned down. 
We were then taken in autos to Mr. Hislop’s for tea. His 
brother-in-law’s estate is next to his, a tract of undisturbed native 
‘‘bush’’ with enticing mossy and rocky paths wandering over the 
hills and crossing over little streams on rustic bridges. It must 
be a fairy-land in summer. The hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. His- 
lop is one of the brightest spots in our memories of New Zealand. 
In the evening we went again to the Savage Club with Mr. 
Hislop where I was again asked to sit with the Chief Savage but 
I declined to inflict another speech. Thomas, however, spoke, and 
spoke well, making an excellent impression. The orchestra again 
rendered exceptionally fine music and we had two numbers by a 
celebrated violinist who was on a concert tour in New Zealand. 
We had made friends and I felt that the net results of our stay 
in Wellington were distinctly profitable to the University in the 
way of collections, literature and valuable connections with the 
officials and scientists of New Zealand. 
I was much concerned over the ill-health of Stoner and Wylie 
and greatly dreaded that sailing day, only two days away, might 
find one or both of them too ill to embark, a calamity I had dread- 
ed on all our expeditions but which we had thus far been spared. 
On the morning of August 13 I called on both the invalids and 
found them better, much to my relief. That day was spent main- 
