Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/15

Rh Here at the outset she has the same advantages, from a mercantile point of view, over the colonies on the continent of Australia as the islands of Great Britain have over the other countries of Europe. She has an isolated and independent position, and the ocean, the high road of commerce, surrounds her on every side.

The two main islands of New Zealand are separated from one another by a narrow channel called Cook's Straits, which rivals the British Channel for the roughness and uncertainty of weather experienced by those who cross it.

If we take an imaginary voyage in one of