XI.—LEITH VALLEY AND WATERFALLS.
By most people, a journey up and down this sequestered dell is considered one of the most enjoyable around the city. It is not now so lovely a grove as it was in days of yore, when the dense bush was penetrable only to the more intrepid of the citizens, and even to them, for a good portion of the way, the margin or bed of the creek was the only traversable spot, shut in as it were on to the sides of wood-clad precipices and steeps, along which progress could, with the utmost difficulty, be made even with the aid of the branches of the overhanging trees. To walk, drive, or ride, is now at the option of the visitant. In many respects the natural beauties have been considerably marred by the encroachments of the settlers, who are studded thickly along almost the entire route; in other respects, the prospect has been opened up by removal of the timber, so that a much more extensive range is exposed to the vision, still a sufficient number of the romantic attractions remain, and will continue to the end to exist, fully entitling this valley to a place in the front rank among our picturesque delights.
The traveller may leave Dunedin by the coach, which for a modest fare takes him close up to the Waterfall, which forms an interesting feature in the scenery of the valley. Before reaching this spot, however, he will pass through the Town Belt, on which will be presented to view the first saw and flour mill, erected in the Province in 1850; not exactly the identical building, for it has undergone many enlargements as well as mutations, but the present building occupies the same site, and the same motive-power is