Giuies.— Notes on some Changes in the Fauna of Otago. 809 
all intending emigrants that the fine natural waterways which traversed the 
Otago block were kind dispensations of Providence for the special benefit of 
the Free Church settlement not accorded to the rival Church settlement in 
"Canterbury, and which effectually precluded the necessity for such expensive 
new-fangled contrivances as railways. It is true that shipments of flour or 
goods generally have been known to be detained for months at the Heads 
waiting a fair wind; but time was not of much value then, and if settlers 
could not get their things, they had just to do without. Well, on one 
occasion we (my brothers and I) heard that the boat had been round and 
landed a lot of flour, sugar, etc., for us at the head of the lake. It so 
happened that it had been very wet weather, and the rivers and creeks were 
flooded to such an extent that it was impossible to bring home such com- 
modities on the sledge without great loss; so one of us went down to the 
lake with a large woollen waggon-cover, exactly the same as those used by 
carriers in the old country. With this large new cover the goods were all 
securely protected from rain at least, for from rats there was no escape. 
Unfortunately the wet weather continued, and from the long rough herbage 
that everywhere covered the country the water was retained, so that it 
was six weeks before the creeks became sufficiently low to bring these 
goods home. You may judge of our annoyance and disgust when we went 
for them to find the large woollen cover one mass of rottenness crawling 
with maggots which had eaten away yards of it, and reduced it all to a . 
useless mass of rags. So common and prevalent were these blow-flies that 
no damp or greasy surface was safe from them, even though not woollen. I 
have seen an iron crowbar that had been grasped by a greasy hand fly- 
blown in a very short time. As for mutton or beef it could scarcely be 
placed steaming on the table before these pests would attack it, and it was 
rare in the summer time that, you used your knife and fork without having 
to remove from the crevices of perfectly fresh and wholesome meat the 
small living larve of these flies. Many of you may think that this was bad 
housewifery, or that I am greatly exaggerating, but it is not so. A story 
used to be told of an old lady at Clutha, who in her endeavours to keep 
cooked meat free of these pests, adopted the plan of putting it into a very 
large tin kettle, but she soon found out it was of no use, for, as she said, . 
“ the nasty things just ganged down the spout.” 
Mr. C. H. Street tells me that on one occasion, many years ago, he 
was out pig.hunting at the back of Warepa bush along with a gentleman 
now holding a high judicial position in the north, and that being unable 
to carry the pig which they had killed and disembowelled, they were com- 
pelled to drag it along some distanee on the fern and grass. On looking 
back some one hundred yards they were astonished to see the broad track 
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