IN CAMP IN NEW ZEALAND 279 



visit the very numerous hinds roaming ahout over the more open 

 country, hinds which are thus left to mate with young and less 

 perfect stags. With the exception now and then of a "traveller" 

 there is no lack of truth about the local saying, that if you want 

 a big stag you must look for him in the dense bush on the high 

 mountains, and there it is not possible to find him unless he 

 roars frequently and during the day. These monarchs are, of 

 course, attended by hinds, but their sphere of influence remains 

 limited. The reason for fixing the shooting in the rutting season 

 is, according to book, that only then do the big stags come out 

 of the bush and become visible, a theory not, apparently, always 

 borne out in practice. The season March 1st to April 30th 

 this year was a bad one, or my visit March 20th to April 5th 

 was too early, at all events the roaring was very slight 

 and generally only in the early morning in places too far to 

 reach from camp in time, or after dusk when too late to be from 

 home in a country so terribly rough ; during the day rarely was 

 a roar heard and no good stag seen. The weather also remained 

 far too hot and muggy ; on bright frosty days only do stags roar 

 with a will. We did our stalking on Government ground on the 

 high mountains rising up to 4,000 feet, mostly densely covered 

 with forest and very thick undergrowth, here very green and 

 beautiful, there desolation itself where forest fires had done their 

 work and left nothing but blackened scrub and hollow and 

 branchless trunks, some still upright among the many fallen 

 ones. They were all black birch, these massive trees, very black 

 where the charred bark still remained ; silvery white where that 

 had fallen off. Here the ground, being exposed to the sun, was 

 dry and covered with coarse grass, but very wet and swampy in 

 the adjoining heavy forest where flourished many varieties of 

 ferns and a beautiful lichen brilliantly painted in pale yellow, 

 blue and grey. Marching with this Government ground are 

 several private sheep runs, hills and mountains, mainly cleared 

 of bush and sown with English grasses ; on these deer are very 

 plentiful, but the stags do not attain the size and weight of 

 those on Government ground, where they have better shelter. 



A short distance up the shingly bed, but a terribly rough 

 walk, over slippery boulders and brush and fallen trees, took us 

 into the " basin" where several small valleys met, each one 

 providing a feeder to our creek. Along this stream we waded 



