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was to be found amongst the indigenous animal or vegetable productions which 

 was useful for the permanent sustenance of civilized man, and it is only 

 necessary to recall the dreadful extremities to which the first European 

 settlers were reduced in the early days of American discovery, and that, too, 

 in a country whose useful natural productions were enormously in excess of 

 those of these Islands, to understand how little could have been done here, by 

 even the most civilized and energetic settlers, without the aid of the animals 

 and plants which have been introduced. 



Take the case of the Province of Canterbury for example. Consisting of 

 several thousand square miles of valuable plain and undulating land and 

 mountain, its lower grounds, near the sea, containing many rich tracts covered 

 with swamp-loving growth, whilst its upper grounds were dry, and clothed 

 either with forest or with waving tussock grasses well fitted to support pastoral 

 animals, it was yet, in its natural condition, utterly unfit for the abode of civilized 

 man. Not a plant did it produce which could have been turned to account for 

 purposes of constant food ; and with the exception of a few birds, which would 

 have yielded an occasional but scanty meal, it was devoid of all animal life. 

 But now, how changed is all this ! The city of Christchurch, destined, in my 

 opinion, to occupy a foremost position amongst the cities of the colony, built 

 upon a spot of which a large portion was originally a swamp, now presents to 

 us substantial and elegant public and private buildings, which might faifly vie 

 with those of maiiy large provincial towns in England ; markets supplied with 

 meats and vegetables and fruits, in no degree inferior, and in many respects 

 superior, to those which are produced in the best gardens of Europe ; well 

 kept streets, in which a busy population is carrying on trade and commerce 

 and intercourse ; foundries and factories producing machinery and implements 

 of trade necessary for the agriculturist and the artizan ; collegiate and other 

 schools for the instruction of youth, and institutions of various kinds for the 

 diffusion of knowledge amongst those of more advanced years, and which in 

 their operations are guided and governed by men whose intelligence and 

 perseverance are not only making their fellow-citizens better acquainted with 

 the natural resources of their adopted country, but are also greatly instrumental 

 in relieving life from the weariness and tedium inseparable from the struggle 

 for fortune — whilst those lighter distractions are not wanting which are 

 essential, at all events to youth. Outside of the city we see extensive tracts 

 of country redeemed from the character of a wilderness ; handsome villas with 

 well kept grounds, in which are flourishing the flowers and plants, the trees 

 and shrubs, of many foreign countries ; smooth Macadamized roads, along 

 which a great and increasing traflic is cariied between the chief city and many 

 outlying towns and hamlets, and upon which are to be seen every kind of 

 vehicle, from the elegant carriage built in England or America to the humble 

 spring cart of the market gardener, and fi'om the huge five-horse coach of the 



