During the three days of our stay in that clearing among the great pines of the Wanaka Bush, I gave my hostess a complete abridgment of the history of England--political, social, and moral, beginning from my earliest recollections.

Then we ran over contemporary foreign affairs, dwelt minutely on every scrap of colonial news, and finally wound up with a full, true, and particular account of myself and all my relations and friends.

When I paused for breath she would cease her washing and cooking on my behalf, and say entreatingly, "Go on now, do!" until I felt quite desperate.
All this time whilst I was being "interviewed" nearly to death, F----employed himself in making excursions to different parts of the run.

One of the sawyers lent him a miserable half-starved little pony; and he penetrated to another sawyer's hut, seven miles distant up the Matukituki river.

But no matter whether he turned his steps to north or south, east or west, he met with the same disheartening report.