﻿Anniversary Address. • 15 



publislied reports of my visits to all parts of New Zealand have av/akened 

 much interest in the mother country. Time will not permit me, on the 

 present occasion, to disciiss the future prospects of settlement on the Sounds 

 of the West Coast, of which I have attempted a general description. It has 

 been proposed to place some Norwegian emigrants on one or more of these 

 fiords, but any scheme of this nature will require careful consideration. 

 Thei-e are now no inhabitants whatsoever, either European or Maori ; — the 

 few families of natives seen in Dusky Bay in 1773, by Captain Cook, appear 

 to have become extinct ; — and the tales related by the old whalers of thirty 

 years ago, concerning a tribe of wild men haunting these desolate shores, have 

 probably as little foundation as the stories of flocks of moas having been seen, 

 within living m.emory, stalking over the neighbouring mountains. Nor can I 

 trespass on your patience any longer with remarks upon the fauna and flora 

 of this part of New Zealand. The supply of timber seems almost inexhaustible. 

 Ducks and other wild fowl are numerous. Whales and seals abound, as well 

 as excellent fish of various kinds. We were tolerably successful in shooting 

 and fishing. I may enliven this part of my address by reading Dr. Hector's 

 animated account of one of our seal-hunts, in which, however, we were not 

 fortunate. '' On one occasion," he states, " the chase of five seals with the 

 steam pinnace of the ' Clio,' in the waters of Milford Sound, aflTorded a most 

 exciting and novel sport. The seals, startled by the snorting of the little 

 high-pressure engine, instead of taking their usual dignified plunge from the 

 rocks into deep water, and so vanishing out of sight, went off at full speed, 

 diving and reappearing in order to get a glimpse of the strange monster that 

 pursued them so closely. The utmost speed that we could make barely kept 

 us lip with them, until they began to show signs of distress, and, one by one, 

 doubled and dived under the pinnace. Two of the seals held out for a run 

 of three miles, and succeeded at length in getting into safety among the 

 rocks on the opposite shore of the sound. From the experience of this run, 

 the force at which seals can go through the water would seem to be not less 

 than six or seven miles an hour." On the occasion to which Dr. Hector here 

 refers, we, unfortunately, had not our rifles with us, but on subsequent days, 

 as was stated above, 1 shot several large seals, in addition to a number of 

 wild ducks and other water-fowl. 



In conclusion, gentlemen, I beg to thank you for the indulgence with 

 which you have listened to this somewhat desultory address. I am fully 

 sensible that these imperfect remarks on rarely- visited regions of this Colony 

 can claim little merit beyond their fidelity. My original notes were written 

 in full sight of those wonders of natiire which have left so deep and lasting an 

 impression on the memories of all who have had the good fortune to behold 

 them. 



