become used; but eatables must be carefully kept out of tlieir 
reach by hanging them upon poles. 
Although nature, as I have already said, offers but little in 
the shape of food; yet it furnishes two things for the comfort of 
the traveller, which lie does not learn to appreciate to its full ex- 
tent , until , after a trip through New Zealand , he is travelling in 
other uncivilized countries, where ho has to do without them. In 
the first place I mention the common fern (Pteris esculentaj, which 
growing all over the country, can serve as an underlayer for the 
couch. A bed made of such ferns , provided one understands the 
arranging of it , 1 feels as elastic and soft , as the best spring-ma- 
tress. The second is the flax-plant (Phormium tencixj. It can be 
employed wherever leather thongs or straps would be otherwise 
used; it can likewise be made into wicker-baskets, girths, etc. 
When more than a dozen bundles have to be strapped daily, 
such an article of almost universal application, which is everywhere 
and at any moment at hand, is indeed of invaluable advantage. 
The excellent climate, also, and the abundance of water and wood 
in every part of the country, greatly facilitate travelling. One 
suffers neither from heat nor cold; nor arc there any fever-coun- 
tries to be avoided. Swamp-fevers are totally unknown , and scarcity 
of water , the terror of those travelling in the interior of Australia, 
is out of the question upon New Zealand. But rarely will the choice 
of a camping-place for the night cause embarrassment; the proper 
place can always be easily found, where wood and water are close 
at hand, and where the weary traveller can enjoy his repose, 
secure from the blood-thirsty mosquitoes. Not even tent-poles did 
we need to carry with us, having almost always the opportunity, 
of procuring such upon the places where we encamped. 
Everlasting will the recollection of those scenes be to me, 
when, after the troubles and trials of the day we encamped at the 
edge of the woods by a roaring mountain-stream ; when the fire 
1 Dry ferns must be selected for this purpose, and the plants must he ar- 
ranged so, that the roots and stalks are turned downwards at an angle of about 
45 degrees. Thus the woody stems act exactly like so many elastic springs. 
