Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/281

Rh and suddenly reached the summit of a hill, which gave us a magnificent view. To the north was a great plain, which seemed almost as limitless as the ocean that filled the western horizon, and lay far below us at the base of an almost precipitous hill. Rising out of the sea was the island of Kapiti, its summit nearly two thousand feet high, and forming a striking feature in the picture before us.

"The driver called attention to something that resembled a white cloud on the horizon to the north-west, and told us it was Mount Egmont, nearly a hundred and fifty miles distant, and which we should see very closely as we approached New Plymouth. We used our eyes every minute of the time the horses were taking breath, and then started down a steep hill-side to the sea again.

"As soon as we reached the sea we turned along the beach, and followed it for forty miles till we drew up in Foxton. In a year or two the railway from Wellington will be completed to Palmerston, where it will connect with the Foxton-New Plymouth line; when this happens it is probable that the old stage-road will be abandoned, and travellers deprived of a very interesting ride.

"Foxton is a flourishing little place, with perhaps a thousand inhabitants, on the bank of the Manawatu River, four miles from its mouth. We saw numerous fields of flax in the vicinity, and were told that flax was an important article of export. We had little time to look around, as our coach connected with the train, and in less than half an hour we were rolling up the valley of the Manawatu, which the railway follows for some distance.

"Ten miles out of Foxton we entered the forest, or 'bush,' as they call it here, though much of it has been cleared away. Lumber is an important product; we saw a goodly number of saw-mills at work, and met freight-trains laden with lumber on its way to the seaport. The gentleman who accompanied us pointed out some villages which he said