viii PREFACE 



treated has been treated deliberately from a local point of view. 

 Pererration beyond the marches of the run has never willingly been 

 indulged; the writer lays no claim to other than local knowledge on 

 any one of the subjects treated. No apology, therefore, is offered for 

 the microscopic size of the canvas. Nor again is apology offered for 

 apparent egotism in chapters devoted to the stocking of the run with 

 man. The early failure of homo sapiens on Tutira, his ultimate 

 acclimatisation, has been noted, as far as may be, in terms of the weasel 

 or rabbit ; he has been treated without fear or favour as a beast of the 

 field. First and last, then, ' Tutira ' is a record of minute alterations 

 noted on one patch of land : for the author's purpose, indeed, New 

 Zealand is bounded on the west by the Mohaka river, on the east by 

 the Arapawanui run, on the south by the Waikoau, on the north by 

 the Waikari. 



Every man has his idiosyncrasy : it has been that of the writer 

 for half a lifetime to note small things ; it has interested him. 

 Perhaps, therefore, there may be found, if not a hundred, then haply 

 ten righteous men to share that interest to read, mark, learn, and 

 inwardly to digest the subcutaneous erosion of a countryside, the 

 ancient way of the Maori, the fortunes of pioneer man and beast, 

 the acclimatisation of an alien flora and fauna, the disappearance of 

 the squatter, the rise of the bold yeoman in his stead. 



