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 CHAPTER I.

reads much now-a-days of the progress of colonization. One hears much of the rapid rise of communities, of the quick changes of modern life, and the sudden surprises of contemporary history. It is rare, however, that one is privileged to see for oneself the startling contrasts and pregnant transformations, which have been effected during twenty years of bristling activity and onward progress, in a young country like New Zealand. To endeavour to describe something of these is my aim in these notes of travel.

It is now more than twenty years since I first landed on the shingly beach at Port Lyttelton, in the Canterbury province, and with light pockets and hopeful heart trudged over the high