276 ALL ABOARD FOR SUNRISE LANDS.

For these important papers, there was a good deal of preparation,
and for several mornings the boys’ heads were almost hidden behind
barricades of books. There was great interest manifested in the reading
of Ralph’s article, which antedated Risk’s production a number of
weeks :

“ The first European who visited New Zealand, was Skipper Tasman in 1642,
and being a loving Dutchman, he gave the place a name after a district at
home. It now belongs to England. The principal islands in New Zealand are
Stewart’s, South or Middle, and North. We are going to the North Island, and
hope soon to anchor in Auckland karbor. Im all, there are as many as a
hundred thousand spare —I mean square miles in New Zealand, and it would
take a line eleven hundred miles long to measure from one tip of New Zealand
to the other, and one of three thousand one hundred and twenty miles, to go
round the coast. It is not so very wide—the greatest width at any point
being two hundred and fifty miles. Next to Concord, it must be a pleasant
place to live in; for the thermometer doesn’t go up so very much in summer,
or so far down in winter, but stays about where one would like to have it.
When we have our winter, they are having their summer. Their winter
starts in June, their spring in September, their summer in December, and
autumn in March. That is a kind of turning of things upside down.

“Jack Bobstay who has been in New Zealand says there is fine land, big
forests, and lots of volcanoes; and some volcanoes that still spit fire. There are
springs, too, that spout hot water. There is gold, and there are lots of coal,
and there must be a half a million of people, and any quantity of sheep.

“The first inhabitants are called Maoris, and they have been a pretty rough
set, and are mostly in North Island. They did like to make themselves
hideous in war by tattooing; but tattooing is going out of fashion. Capt. Cook
did a good thing for the people by bringing here various vegetables, and among
them was the potato. He let loose some pigs, also, so that the New Zeal:
anders have plenty of pork, and as it runs wild in the forest, a man can get it
for nothing, provided he can shoot it.. I think Jack Bobstay is right when he
says New Zealand has a future before it.”