Page:Picturesque Dunedin.djvu/28

18 Cargill, Signal, and Goat Hills, form a bulwark which renders Dunedin unassailable by a land force, and the approaches by water could be easily guarded. Formerly, an old honeycombed gun from on board a stranded ship, having been placed on top of Bell Hill, was sufficient to repel any whale-boat or ship's boat attempting to invade the security of the inhabitants, and, in addition to this formidable weapon, all the male inhabitants were sworn and banded together to defend their hearths and homes against any intruder. Half-a-dozen sailors from an American whaler knew this to their cost when they attempted to disturb the serenity of the locality by boisterously singing songs and otherwise misconducting themselves, in 1848, who were forced ignominiously to retreat before the special constabulary.

The view which the site of Dunedin and its surroundings presented to the beholder from the bay before the theodolite touched the soil, was truly magnificent. Nature displayed herself in her most gorgeous attire. The attraction lay not alone in the wild mountainous scenery already alluded to. There was something more exquisite still to admire. From the shore brink up to and over the lower ranges inland, and stretching east and west as far as the eye could encompass, was one great ocean of forest, over whose vast expanse not one break could be seen. The contour of the land was plainly traceable, now rising up to the ridge top, again descending to the valley below, with interminable undulations, but nowhere could the most experienced eye or powerful telescope descry a glade from which an observation could be obtained. This enormous vegetable carpet did not, however, weary the eye with a continuation of sombre shades and dismal hues; it sparkled with colour, bright, distinct, blended. Shades and tints were everywhere noticeable. The tall-growing pines, towering here and there above their fellows, looked like raised work on the otherwise smooth surface, whilst the vestal purity of the flowers of the clematis peering forth from the uppermost growths of the lesser trees, looked like coy maidens glorying in life's sunshine. There, arrayed in colours equal to those of the rainbow in number, the foliage of the enormous varieties of trees and shrubs formed a groundwork which to the appreciative eye was a source of joy,