there are tracts, partly overgrown with gorse and brambles, exactly as they must have been after the last eruption. And this in the midst of a city! But the volcanic hills are green now, and the valleys at their feet make a lovely land of beautiful gardens, pasture-lands, orchards, and corn-fields, although cinders and ashes lie thick on the earth, and one would think it impossible that any green things could grow on such a basis. And this scoria runs right out into the sea at Onehunga. As it was low tide when we got there we were able to see the extent of the lava-flow, and better able to imagine the fearful ravages that that red hot river of fire made on the country side.
There is a little tea-kiosk overlooking the water at Onehunga, and there we found the Greendays.
“What do you think of Auckland, my dear?” asked Captain Greendays as soon as we joined them. “I think it the cheapest place in the world, for they actually give you things here! I went into a barber’s for a shave, and asked the fellow if he kept Roger and Gallet’s Cosmetique Blanc. ‘Never heard of it,—what’s it for?’ he said,—they are rather off-hand out here, and one has to keep reminding oneself that it is not insolence, but merely the manners of a democratic country! I thought that he could not have caught the name, so I repeated it, and explained what it is for, you know. And then he said that he thought after all he had a tube, and went off to find it. When he returned with it he actually would not let me pay for it, my dear, refused to take a farthing, said it was of no use to him, for he didn’t stock it, but had got it for a customer who never came for it, and that I was welcome to it. It was really quite embarrassing,—but I’d like to see the barber at home who would refuse money,—ha-ha!”
Mrs Greendays had been cross-examining Colonel Deane as to our adventures, but now she turned to me and exclaimed:
“Oh, that is nothing, Mary,—the man had, as he said, no use for the stuff, what is far more wonderful is the absurd charge they make for food. My dear, you see the lavish array on the table,—now what do you think is the charge? You see, there are hot scones, bread and butter, and three,—four—oh! ever so many varieties of cake. Sixpence, child, sixpence each, whether you clear the board or decently refrain! There is a proof for you of the prosperous condition of the community,—they would be ruined in a day, these tea-room people, if they attempted such a thing in hungry London!”
“And another surprising institution is the Government Tourist Department!” said Captain Greendays. “My friend Jackson took me there, said they’d put me in the right way of things, and by gad, they did too. I came away loaded with maps and booklets and information enough to take us all round the country without ever troubling to ask a policeman the way, and there again it was free, all free, gratis, and for nothing. Cheap advice is not generally worth much, but here is a Government institution, if you please, especially established for the benefit of tourists, a sort of glorified Cook and
