Dec. 1835. 



WAIMATE. 



507 



At length we reached Waimate. After having passed 

 over so many miles of an uninhabited useless country^ the 

 sudden appearance of an English farm-house, and its well- 

 dressed fields, placed there as if by an enchanter^s wand, was 

 exceedingly pleasing. Mr. Williams not being at home, I 

 received in Mr. Davies's house a cordial and pleasant wel- 

 come. After drinking tea with his family party, we took a 

 stroll about the farm. At Waimate there are three large 

 houses, where the missionary gentlemen Messrs. Williams, 

 Davies, and Clarke, reside ; and near them are the huts of the 

 native labourers. On an adjoining slope fine crops of barley 

 and wheat in full ear were standing; and, in another part, fields 

 of potatoes and clover. But I cannot attempt to describe all 

 I saw ; there were large gardens, with every fruit and vegetable 

 which England produces ; and many belonging to a warmer 

 clime. I may instance, asparagus, kidney beans, cucumbers, 

 rhubarb, apples, pears, figs, peaches, apricots, grapes, olives, 

 gooseberries, currants, hops, gorze for fences, and English 

 oaks ; also many different kinds of flowers. Around the farm- 

 yard there were stables, a thrashing-barn with its winnowing 

 machine, a blacksmith^s forge, and on the ground plough- 

 shares and other tools : in the middle was that happy mix- 

 ture of pigs and poultry, which may be seen so comfortably 

 lying together in every English farm-yard. At the distance 

 of a few hundred yards, where the water of a little rill was 

 dammed up into a pool, a large and substantial water-mill 

 had been erected. 



All this is very surprising, when it is considered^ that five 

 years ago, nothing but the fern flourished here. Moreover, 

 native workmanship, taught by the missionaries, has eflected 

 this change : — the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter^s 

 wand. The house has been built, the windows framed, the fields 

 ploughed, and even the trees grafted, by the New Zealander, 

 At the mill, a New Zealander may be seen powdered white 

 with flour, like his brother miller in England. When I looked 

 at this whole scene, I thought it admirable. It was not 

 merely that England was vividly brought before my mind ; 



