THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



449 



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

 fields, placed there as if by an enchanter's wand, was exceed- 

 ingly pleasant. Mr. Williams not being at home, I received 

 in Mr. Davies's house a cordial welcome. 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 were standing 

 in full ear ; 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 pro- 

 duces; 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, gorse for fences, and English oaks ; also many 

 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 ploughshares and other tools: in 

 the middle was that happy mixture of pigs and poultry, lying 

 comfortably together, as in every English farm-yard. At the 

 distance of a few hundred yards, where the water of a little 

 rill had been dammed up into a pool, there was a large and 

 substantial water-mill. 



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 effected 

 this change; — the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's 

 wand. The house had been built, the windows framed, the 

 fields ploughed, and even the trees grafted, by a New Zea- 

 lander. At the mill, a New Zealander was seen powdered 

 white with flower, like his brother miller in England. When 

 I looked at this whole scene, I thought it admirable. It was 

 not merely that England was brought vividly before my 

 mind; yet, as the evening drew to a close, the domestic 

 sounds, the fields of corn, the distant undulating country 

 with its trees might well have been mistaken for our father- 

 land : nor was it the triumphant feeling at seeing what Eng- 

 lishmen could effect ; but rather the high hopes thus inspired 

 for the future progress of this fine island. 



Vol. 29— O HC 



