XEW ZEALAND. [CHAP. xvm. 



At length wo reached Waimate. After having passed over so 

 many miles of an uninhabited useless country, the sudden appear- 

 ance of an English farm-house, and its well-dressed fields, placed 

 there as if by an enchanter's wand, was exceedingly pleasant. Mr. 

 Williams not being at home, I received in Mr. Davies's house a 

 cordial welcome. After drinking tea with his family party, we 

 took a stroll about the farm. At Waimate there are three large 

 houses, where the missionary gentlemen Messrs. Williams, Davies, 

 and Clarke, reside ; and near them are the huts of the native 

 labourers. On an adjoining slope, fine crops of barley and wheat 

 were standing in full ear; and in another part, fields of potatoes 

 and clover. But I cannot attempt to describe all I saw; there 

 were large gardens, with every fruit and vegetable which England 

 produces ; and many belonging to a warmer clime. I may instance 

 asparagus, kidney beans, cucumbers, rhubarb, apples, pears, figs, 

 peaches, apricots, grapes, olives, gooseberries, currants, hops, gorse 

 for fences, and English oaks ; also many kinds of flowers. Around 

 the farm-yard there were stables, a thrashing-barn with its winnow- 

 ing machine, a blacksmith's forge, and on the ground ploughshares 

 and other tools : in the middle was that happy mixture of pigs and 

 poultry, lying comfortably together, as in every English farm-yard. 

 At the distance of a few hundred yards, where the water of a little 

 rill had been dammed up into a pool, there was a large and sub- 

 stantial water-mill. 



All this is very surprising, when it is considered that five years 

 ago nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover, native work- 

 manship, taught by the missionaries, has effected this change ; 

 the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house 

 had been built, the windows framed, the fields ploughed, and even 

 the trees grafted, by the New Zealander. At the mill, a Xcw 

 Zealauder was seen powdered white with flour, like his brother 

 miller in England. When I looked at this whole scene, I thought 

 it admirable. It was not merely that England was brought vividly 

 before my mind ; yet, as the evening drew to a close, the domestic 

 sounds, the fields of corn, the distant undulating country with its 

 trees might well have been mistaken for our father-land: nor was 

 it the triumphant feeling at seeing what Englishmen could effect ; 

 but rather the high hopes thus inspired for the future progress of 

 this fine island. 



Several young men, redeemed by the missionaries from slavery, 



