Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/77

Rh host, wielding a long iron spoon, ladled out to each of us an ample supply and, with a flourish of the spoon, said, "You will excuse the lack of silver, and perhaps remember that 'He who sups with the D…l needs a long spune. "I'll take my chance of that," said I, "and don't think I run much risk," whereat the men at table grinned. Taking note of my surroundings, I observed several Latin and Greek books, and began to wonder how long the "Overseer" in the jumper and moleskin trousers would be content to lose himself in the pasture of this wild mountain solitude.

Next morning I tried a dip in the lake; its water is as sapphire blue as the deep sea, but so icy cold that I came out as fast as I went in. It is as yet un-fathomed by any length of available cord. Then I travelled down the Rakaia valley and made for the Gorge where it flows through a deep, winding chasm, cut through a barrier of rock, and finds its way to the plains; a most picturesque spot, for the rocky sides of the gorge, clad in places with small shrubs, average three hundred feet in depth, its southern side flanked by the spurs of Mt. Hutt, which reaches an altitude of five thousand feet. There is one small landholder here, the first in this district to purchase a few acres, carrying some cattle, in a place where he rarely sees a visitor, so I go to make his acquaintance. As I approach I notice that he and his wife, and son's wife, and their little boy, all seem to be keeping holiday in their best clothes, strolling about and looking at their garden. I introduce myself, and speak of the services I held yesterday, and am answered with: "But isn't to-day Sunday?" As is the case with many living in remote places, they had lost count of the