MR. WRAY’S HOUSE. 
2 5 7 
none of the orchids that I expected to find after read¬ 
ing Messrs. Thomson and Johnston’s accounts. Perhaps 
they were not then in flower, and my scant knowledge 
of botany did not allow me to distinguish them from 
the other herbage. 
On reaching the highest point I rested for a time 
to take breath at Mr. Wray’s residence, which unfor¬ 
tunately was shut up, and, as I learnt from some 
natives, he had just started to visit us at Jovia. 
Mr. Wray lives in a small two-roomed house of 
galvanised iron, consisting of a store-room, and a bed 
and sitting room in one. I looked in at the window 
of the latter in the hopes of discovering an English- 
speaking servant, but the only living things I saw r 
were a cat and litter of kittens occupying Mr. Wray’s 
bed. The house stands in a fine position on the 
brink of a precipice about 1500 feet in depth, and 
is surrounded by a few outhouses and huts tenanted 
by his native Wateita servants. A long and low hut 
was in process of erection, intended, as I was after¬ 
wards informed, for a church and schoolhouse. The 
inhabited plateau is picturesque and nicely undulating, 
extending for several miles mostly under cultivation, 
and the air is very clear and bracing. 
On reaching the camp at Jovia I found the 
caravan had arrived, and the tents pitched and 
everything ship-shape, thus proving that I had taken 
the longer route. We had here an enforced delay 
of one day, as we had expected a contingent of 
R 
