252 
CHRISTCHURCH 
CHAP. VIII 
away. The view from the crest of the hill was most 
beautiful. The bright blue waters of the bay with its small 
historical island, the many homesteads and the little 
town all nestling under the hills, lay below us. Down 
we rattled over a capital road and round the sharpest 
curves, with hundreds of feet above and below, and 
only the nerve and skill of one man to save us 
from instant death ; but the horses are as steady and 
sure as the man’s strong arm, and you never think of 
fear. At Morton’s hotel on the shore, after a cup of tea 
I induced the landlady’s sister to take me for a regular 
tramp, first through the Government Reserve with its 
beautiful wild bush and winding paths, then up and 
down little higgledy-piggledy streets, with immense 
walnut trees lining the roadsides, the nuts too common 
here for even school-boys to pocket ; and up on to the 
high rock -strewn mountain behind, where the whole 
outline of the many indented bays lay below us without 
a ripple on the water, and the fishing boats coming in 
left their long serpentine trails for miles behind them. 
At half-past seven next morning I drove to Pigeon 
Bay, 1 6 miles off, and from there caught a small steamer 
to Lyttelton, the chief seaport town of Christchurch, with a 
tunnel i J miles long, and a very fine graving dock and 
breakwater. The town is built on an extinct crater, 
and there are still one or two small thermal springs 
carrying on their volcanic forces. We had more than 
an hour to wait, so I found out the agents for that 
cargo of Akaroa cheese we brought from there with us, 
and bought two of them. They are supposed to be 
the best in Canterbury, and tasted exceedingly good. 
