70 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



deepest feelings of disgust and shame. Father escaped 

 all this, as he had no impish propensities. 



The next morning as I lay half awake, the bed was 

 shaken violently. Opening my eyes, I saw that every- 

 thing was on the move. " Earthquake ! " shouted Shel- 

 ley, as he jumped from the bed. The house rocked like 

 a boat at sea when there is a long swell, for the earth 

 waves could be distinctly felt. A low, underground 

 rumbling like distant thunder accompanied the phenom- 

 enon. As earthquakes are very frequent in Christ- 

 church, no one paid much attention to this one, and 

 in half an hour it was apparently forgotten. 



One morning toward the last of March, we three 

 started with a Mr. Hall, an Irish gentleman, for an 

 excursion into the country. Our destination was Mr. 

 Hall's country residence at Motenau. After a long 

 drive over a dreary country, we came to the fertile 

 fields and meadows around Motenau. Mr. Hall's house, 

 situated near the edge of the cliff, overlooked the little 

 island of Motenau and the broad ocean. 



The country was undulating, traversed by deep 

 ravines, which often oblige travellers to make a circuit 

 of many miles to reach a place not half the distance in a 

 straight line. From the sea the hills rose to mountains, 

 and were in some places covered with forest. 



It was a charming spot, and a paradise for a natural- 

 ist. Cormorants (Phalacrocorax novcehollandice) sat in 

 flocks upon the cliffs, or dived beneath the surface of 



