Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/156

146 less romantic and exciting than what they had originally sought. Thus it was that agriculture became the primary occupation of the Colonist, and the epidemic of the gold mania gradually died out, to recur, however, again and again in less violent forms up to the present day.

It must be borne in mind, however, that the decay of this original enthusiasm by no means implied the non-existence of the precious object which had evoked it. It was on the contrary wholly due, firstly, to the unfitness and want of preparation of the motley crowd of those who started out in the wild pursuit and to the disgust