78 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



gold lasts. Then they return to their holes in the 

 ground, by this time half filled with water, and set to 

 work, often without the comforts of life, to make 

 another lucky hit with the same termination. 



Hokitika consists of a long row of houses on the 

 seashore, and looks like the mushroom towns of Cali- 

 fornia, which live a mad life for a few months, then are 

 deserted and forgotten, a wonder to the traveller who 

 comes across a town without an inhabitant save owls 

 and wolves. Such towns are numerous in the mining 

 districts of California, and it gives one a feeling of 

 intense loneliness to wander through their deserted 

 streets, and look on the evidences of life and industry 

 now left to decay. 



We did not consider it wise to try a course of lectures 

 in Hokitika, and so left on the little steamer for the 

 North. The sea was very smooth, and on the way we 

 saw many porpoises. They frequently jumped out of 

 water, raced ahead of the vessel, or dived under it, 

 apparently in high spirits. 



We stopped at Graymouth, where an exchange of 

 cargo was made. This was a very pretty place, on the 

 Gray River. California quail had been introduced, 

 and I could hear their well-remembered call from the 

 wooded hills near by. 



Great quantities of dog's-ear a species of fungus, 

 which grows on decayed logs are collected at Gray- 

 mouth, and shipped to China for making soup. The 



