III.
Christchurch, New Zealand,
My dear St. John,
As a preliminary to his visitation of the Diocese southward, the Bishop decided to spend some time on Banks' Peninsula, where several settlers have made their homes. As it is a mass of hills, mostly forest-clad, traversed only by bridle tracks, it was arranged that the expedition should be on foot, our party consisting of the Bishop, the Archdeacon of Christchurch, a ponderous man, who prided himself on being able to walk with anyone on the flat, myself, and a Maori guide, Horomona, Anglicé, Solomon.
Our first day's tramp, after leaving Lyttelton, led us round the head of the harbour to a dairy and cattle station, where we spent the night, the Bishop holding service for all hands, and thence across a low saddle to the sea-beach, and after some miles of that, to a stream flowing out of a very picturesque lake, near which we found a Maori village, situated, as most of these settlements are, where wood and water are at hand.
On the way I had much interesting talk with Horomona, a fine specimen of Christian native manhood, one of Bishop Selwyn's converts in the North Island and, like most natives, one of nature's gentlemen,
