RAMBLES ROUND DUNEDIN. 195 



Chapter XIV. 

 Rambles round Dune din. 



fPHE study of geography should begin at our own doors, 

 -*- and the immediate surroundings of our home and 

 neighbourhood can furnish abundant material for a whole 

 course of lessons on every branch of natural science. 



This proposition was frequently strongly emphasized by 

 Huxley, and his book, entitled Physiography; an Intro- 

 duction to the Study of Nature, published in 1877, was an 

 attempt to realise the idea, and lead others to what he 

 considered the right lines of study in this direction. 

 Starting from London as a centre, he sought to lead his 

 readers to consider the various agencies which had been at 

 work during the preceding ages to produce the present 

 contour and surface features of the Thames valley. The 

 work, though professedly only an introduction, was of 

 an extremely suggestive character, and it led me some 

 years ago to apply the ideas in part to the surroundings 

 of our own romantically situated town. It seemed to me 

 that an attempt to sketch out the main features of the 

 watershed in which Dunedin stands would interest me and 

 others also, and all the more, perhaps, that the area 

 though of a very diversified nature was a limited one. 

 My notes on the subject were used as the basis of a course 

 of lessons in Physiography, and I thought it would be an 

 appropriate and interesting subject to bring under the 

 notice of the members of this Institute. The whole ground 

 included in the survey is readily accessible, and all of it 

 abounds with most charming walks and views. 



A good walker that is, a man who can do thirty miles in 

 a day without feeling any the worse of it can walk round 

 the crest of this watershed in a day. He will, of course, 



* Delivered as a Presidential Address to the Members of the 

 Otago Institute. 



