2o8 CHALLENGER 



onwards again and southward past New Caledonia to Auckland in 

 New Zealand where the ship was taken in hand for refit, for half 

 of her world voyage was now over and she had encountered weeks 

 of rugged weather. 



Challenger was in New Zealand for seven weeks. It is, above all 

 else, a hospitable country and invitations were showered upon 

 the officers and men to stay on farms and sheep stations. Nearly 

 the whole company went for such country holidays and all made 

 friends. Two of the men even got married within the short spell 

 of time available. The author was invited to Te Aute Station in 

 the prosperous sheep-farming district of Hawke's Bay in the North 

 Island. This station is owned by an old New Zealand family whose 

 great-grandfather was an officer in the Royal Navy, forsaking the 

 life to become one of the first Christian missionaries to settle in 

 New Zealand. His son, also a missionary, was bidden by the 

 Maoris of Hawke's Bay to travel from Otaki on the West Coast 

 on foot and by canoe through the precipitous gorge and turbulent 

 waters of the Manawatu River to bring his religious teaching to 

 them. In Hawke's Bay, loo years ago, he founded a school which 

 became the famous Maori College of Te Aute, where many great 

 leaders have been educated. 



It was now springtime, and all was green, except the golden 

 willows, delicate and beautiful, by the creeks. The lines of macro- 

 carpa trees forming the vsdndbreaks showed dark against the lush 

 and vivid grass of the paddocks and the rounded, rumpled hills 

 beyond. 



The whole country was uniformly dotted with sheep and their 

 lambs, and across every acre, twice each day, rode the shepherds 

 on their rough, unshod horses to see that all was well wdth new- 

 born lambs and mothers. Their teams of dogs followed the riders, 

 alert for a command to head or drive the sheep. 



With one of these shepherds rode the author, a sailor on horse- 

 back, his ship forgotten. Sailing the sea seemed a dull business 

 when compared with these happy spring days on the sunny hills. 

 For the first time during the voyage the ship seemed unimportant, 

 the return to sea a dreaded undertaking. But the stocky Maori 

 tractor driver, the Maori boys fishing for eels in the creek, the 

 carved village meeting houses and the students at the college, all 

 were reminiscent of the Pacific, calling one back. Slowly the mood 



