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TUTIRA 



blood ; the few wild sheep, black or white, on the Opouahi block had 

 kept themselves to themselves. 



We must now revert for a moment to those changes of vegetation 

 which have been fully explained elsewhere. In the early 'eighties the 

 Opouahi block was under native grass ; gradually, however, on this 

 block, as in other parts of the run, manuka began to take possession. 

 From the 'nineties onward it spread at an increasingly rapid rate ; each 

 year the shrinkage of open country became more marked, until at length, 



Ravine Opouahi. 



over hundreds of acres, it was impossible for a man to see more than a 

 few yards in front of him. By 1900, except for certain tops, slopes, 

 sheep-camps, and small oases in the scrub, the whole of the land in turf 

 during the early 'eighties had reverted to manuka; only where native bush 

 had grown it still grew thick and dense. The block, in fact, had become 

 unworkable to shepherds ; where over three thousand sheep had been 

 fed less than six hundred were now carried, and carried moreover for but 

 a few weeks each year. At last, except in winter, no sheep were run on 

 the block at all. Feed, consequently, during spring, summer, and early 



