Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/52

36 a short service, baptizing the children, and adding thanksgiving for their merciful deliverance from such imminent peril.

Proceeding southward we reached the furthest point of my former journey, and from thence onward met with rather rough adventures. The district of Otago is mountainous, and the approach to Dunedin difficult; passing through some rich lowlands, we were directed to follow up a long winding spur, leading to the summit of a mountain range which looks down on the town. We could get no guide, and were left to our own devices, with frequent opportunities of going astray and missing the one track which reached the hill-top; the going, too, was very slow, as the ridge on which we rode was often so narrow that we had to go in single file, leading the horses. Evening was closing in as we made the summit, strewn with rocks, and with patches of snow here and there, and a good deal of boggy ground, with a steep descent to the town, which we could make out below us, a few scattered houses amongst low hills, which enclosed a large sheet of water. Making long reins to lead the horses with, we manoeuvred, as best we could, in amongst loose stones and slippery herbage, in increasing darkness, until, about nine o'clock, we found ourselves barred by a line of "bush" trees growing thick together, which seemed impassable, but, finding a pathway, we went in, until we were brought to a standstill, practically tied up in a tangle of shrubs and supplejack vines. I had a lantern in case of need and, lighting it, attracted the notice of a dog, who came up to us, and in a most sagacious fashion led us to a house on the other side of the trees. It proved to be the residence of the Magistrate of Dunedin,