318 SIGHT-SEEING IN NEW ZEALAND. 



was now pointing down, or rather was standing in the natural 

 position of a cross. The stars are not so numerous in the south- 

 ern heavens as elsewhere, but they are certainly more conspicuous 

 and interesting, perhaps from the striking contrasts that are 

 found in the vicinity of the South Pole. The Milky Way is here 

 the brightest, and the dark vacancies are in deeper shadow and 

 contrast than in any other portion of the heavens. 



This morning when I waked, the wind was blowing a gale 

 from the south, with a cold and miserable rain. I was told by 

 some persons, who however did not live about here and perhaps 

 were prejudiced, that this was just a sample of the summer 

 weather of southern New Zealand. And I thought that none 

 but Scotchmen, who never knew what a decent climate was, w^ould 

 ever have found and settled up such a mountainous bleak and 

 unpromising country as this. 



And now what shall I say of New Zealand as one of the nations 

 of the earth ? It is a country that tourists delight in and always 

 will. It has the most remarkable natural wonders and the finest 

 scenery in the world. Its cities furnish unending attractions to 

 visitors. It has many noble and generous citizens, as I know, 

 who have experienced their kindness. But I am obliged to say, 

 though reluctantly, that it is not the prosperous and promising 

 country that I hoped to find. Agriculture is not a success ; for 

 although the yield of w r heat, their only commercial cereal, is 

 often immense, sometimes eighty bushels to the acre, yet the un- 

 certainties of the weather in a moist and insular climate, in both 

 seed time and harvest, makes as many bad years as good ; and the 

 distance from the markets of the world makes sad inroads in the 

 final returns. Sheep-raising is not a success ; for the rabbits that 

 in an unlucky day were imported there without their natural 

 enemies, have so multiplied and overrun the whole country, that 

 grazing animals can no longer find a living when running at 

 large. I passed over ranches on which they told me, one sheep 

 could not now live, where formerly ten found abundant pasture. 

 The gold and silver mines are exhausted. No coal of any value 

 has been found. The government has spent all the money it 

 could raise on splendid public buildings and improvements, and 



