XLIV 

 THE UNKNOWN LAND 



CUNINGHAME returned the next day from 

 V.'s, bringing more potio and some trade 

 goods. We sent a good present back to Naiokotuku, 

 and prepared for an early start into the new country. 

 We marched out the lower end of our elliptical 

 valley toward the miniature landscape we had seen 

 through the opening. But before we reached it we 

 climbed sharp to the right around the end of the 

 mountains, made our way through a low pass, and 

 so found ourselves in a new country entirely. The 

 smooth, undulating green-grass plains were now 

 superseded by lava expanses grown with low bushes. 

 It was almost exactly like the sage-brush deserts of 

 Arizona and New Mexico; the same coarse sand 

 and lava footing, the same deeply eroded barrancas, 

 the same scattered round bushes dotted evenly over 

 the scene. We saw here very little game. Across 

 the way lay another range of low mountains clothed 

 darkly with dull green, like the chaparral-covered 

 coast ranges of California. In one place was a gun- 



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