But then railways and ordinary lines of communication are chiefly along the coasts.

The unadventurous or hurried traveller sticks pretty closely to these.

It happens that the rivers, almost without exception, show plainer features as they near the sea.
He who wishes to see their best must go inland and find them as they are still to be found in the North Island, winding through untouched valleys, under softly-draped cliffs, or shadowed by forests not yet marred by man.

Or, in the South Island, they should be watched in the Alps as, milky or green-tinted, their ice-cold currents race through the gorges.
[Illustration: ON A RIVER--"PAPA" COUNTRY Photo by A.MARTIN, Wanganui.] Of forest rivers, the Wanganui is the longest and most famous, perhaps the most beautiful.

Near the sea it is simply a broad river, traversed by boats and small steamers, and with grassy banks dotted with weeping willows or clothed with flax and the palm-lily.