But the New Zealand mountains are far loftier than anything in the British Islands.

The rocky coasts as a rule rise up steeply from the ocean, standing out in many places in bold bluffs and high precipices.

The seas round are not shallow, dull, or turbid, but deep, blue, wind-stirred, foam-flecked, and more often than not lit by brilliant sunshine.

The climate and colouring, too, are not only essentially un-English, but differ very widely in different parts of the Islands.

For New Zealand, though narrow, has length, stretching through 13 degrees of latitude, and for something like 1,100 miles from north to south.