DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND. 



1087 



once had at his command. In Mechanics' Bay the hostelry still exists which a conciliatory 

 Government provided for his accommodation when he chose to sojourn in the city. 

 Kven now, as of yore, the digging of kauri-gum that peculiar product of Nortli New 

 Zealand forms a never-failing means of making a good livelihood when other employ- 

 ment fails, and its value to the province may be gauged when it is stated that in 18X7 

 no less than three hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds' worth was exported abroad. 



A day's journey 

 by rail or by 

 water will still 

 carry one into the 

 forest primeval or 

 into the haunts 

 of the quondam 

 owners of the 

 soil ; or will take 

 him into that mar- 

 vellous region of 

 hot springs and 

 geysers which one 

 writer has not 

 hesitated to pro- 

 nounce as fit to 

 be styled the 

 first wonder of 

 the world. There 

 is one noticeable 

 feature of a sub- 

 tropical character 

 .than cannot well 

 be overlooked 



the prevalence of verandahs in connection with 

 the shops and places of business. One may 

 traverse almost the entire length of the busier 

 side of Queen Street without leaving the grateful shade of the 

 '& verandahs except when crossing the intersecting streets. These 



shade projections cover the whole width of the footpaths. 



Auckland does not lack public parks and other reserves for recreative purposes. 

 First there is the Domain, covering one hundred and ninety acres of gently undulating 

 land, and lying between the city proper on the east and the suburban borough of 

 Parnell. One goodly division, enclosed with a separate fence, constitutes the Acclimati- 

 zation Gardens. Another division is laid off, and has been prepared at great expense, 

 for the purposes of cricket. It offers one of the best wickets to be obtained in the 

 colony, and the slope of the ground on all sides of it, planted as it is with umbrageous 

 trees, forms a natural amphitheatre from which thousands of spectators may watch the 



A COALING-STATION IN THE 

 BAY OF ISLANDS. 



