"except a Chinaman. No European would venture to put it into his mouth, but that's no reason why we shouldn't send it to China for consumption."
Doctor Bronson and his young friends remained a day at Napier, and then proceeded by railway, coach, and railway again to Wellington, the capital of the colony. Napier is distant from Auckland by sea about three hundred and seventy miles, and two hundred from Wellington. The railway carried them southward to Tahoraiti, a distance of eighty-three miles, where they took the coach for a ride of forty miles to Mauriceville. There they found the railway to carry them to Wellington, another ride of eighty-three miles. They were told that within a year or two the gap would be completed, and the whole distance between Napier and Wellington could then be made by train between sunrise and sunset.
The first part of the ride was through a broken country, and the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle scattered on the hills supported the statement of their Napier acquaintance that the country was an excellent one for grazing. After leaving the grazing country they entered a forest region, where there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of lumber; and farther south they came to a comparatively level and open territory, admirably suited to farms. The whole region was sparsely settled, but is said to be rapidly filling up. Rabbits are numerous, and our friends were told that the Government and settlers had expended a great deal of money to get rid of them; but in spite of all efforts they are on the increase, and have already rendered worthless large areas of good pasture land.
We will have more to say of the rabbit pest in another place. For the present we will land our travellers at Wellington, and send them to one of its many hotels.
