A First Year In Canterbury Settlement By Samuel Butler


















































































































 - 

January 27, 1860. - Oh, the heat! the clear transparent atmosphere, and
the dust!  How shall I describe everything - the little - Page 32
A First Year In Canterbury Settlement By Samuel Butler - Page 32 of 167 - First - Home

Enter page number    Previous Next

Number of Words to Display Per Page: 250 500 1000

January 27, 1860.

- Oh, the heat!

The clear transparent atmosphere, and the dust! How shall I describe everything - the little townlet, for I cannot call it town, nestling beneath the bare hills that we had been looking at so longingly all the morning - the scattered wooden boxes of houses, with ragged roods of scrubby ground between them - the tussocks of brown grass - the huge wide-leafed flax, with its now seedy stem, sometimes 15 or 16 feet high, luxuriant and tropical-looking - the healthy clear-complexioned men, shaggy-bearded, rowdy-hatted, and independent, pictures of rude health and strength - the stores, supplying all heterogeneous commodities - the mountains, rising right behind the harbour to a height of over a thousand feet - the varied outline of the harbour now smooth and sleeping. Ah me! pleasant sight and fresh to sea-stricken eyes. The hot air, too, was very welcome after our long chill.

We dined at the table d'hote at the Mitre - so foreign and yet so English - the windows open to the ground, looking upon the lovely harbour. Hither come more of the shaggy clear-complexioned men with the rowdy hats; looked at them with awe and befitting respect. Much grieved to find beer sixpence a glass. This was indeed serious, and was one of the first intimations which we received that we were in a land where money flies like wild-fire.

After dinner I and another commenced the ascent of the hill between port and Christ Church. We had not gone far before we put our knapsacks on the back of the pack-horse that goes over the hill every day (poor pack- horse!). It is indeed an awful pull up that hill; yet we were so anxious to see what was on the other side of it that we scarcely noticed the fatigue:

Enter page number   Previous Next
Page 32 of 167
Words from 8474 to 8778 of 45285


Previous 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Next

More links: First 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 110 120 130 140 150 160 Last

Display Words Per Page: 250 500 1000

 
Africa (29)
Asia (27)
Europe (59)
North America (58)
Oceania (24)
South America (8)
 

List of Travel Books RSS Feeds

Africa Travel Books RSS Feed

Asia Travel Books RSS Feed

Europe Travel Books RSS Feed

North America Travel Books RSS Feed

Oceania Travel Books RSS Feed

South America Travel Books RSS Feed

Copyright © 2005 - 2022 Travel Books Online