insufficient provisions, had better prepared us to encounter hardships; and the discomforts on board, like other trials, might have been attended with beneficial effect, by enabling us to contemplate with more philosophy the rough life of a newly-imported emigrant. I at least, for one, was heartily tired of the ship, and gladly accepted a passage on shore in the boat which had brought the gentlemen to the Canterbury.

24

CHAPTER III.

LYTTELTON AND CHRISTCHURCH.

FOR Some time my attention was fully taken up with preserving my seat in the boat, and avoiding as much as possible the seas, which were continually washing over us; but after rounding Officer's Point, we were in comparatively smooth water, and I had time to examine the bay into which we were entering.

After the dismal accounts of our visitors of the preceding evening, it may well be supposed that we did not expect to be enchanted with our first view of the town of Lyttelton. What then was our astonishment at the panorama that opened before us as we pulled slowly round the little point! Wide streets, neat houses, shops, stores, hotels, coffee rooms, emigration barracks, a neat seawall, and an excellent and convenient jetty, with vessels discharging their cargoes upon it, met our view; whilst a momentary ray of sunshine lit up the shingled roofs and the green

hills in the background, until the whole place seemed to break into a bright triumphant smile at our surprise.*

There are few prettier towns than Lyttelton as seen from the sea. Situated in a small but picturesque bay, it is, as it were, framed in the bold and rugged hills, by which it is on three sides surrounded, and whose wild and uncultivated aspect contrasts very effectively with the neat houses and busy streets of the town. The most striking object is the jetty: it is well built and convenient, running into the sea for about a hundred yards, and is, I believe, the best in New Zealand. On landing there, a wide street leads directly up the hill towards the Police Court and the upper part of the town. The Emigration Barracks are neat and commodious buildings, standing in a spacious area immediately on the right of the jetty. One of them is at present used as a church, another is converted into schools; the remaining space is appropriated to the accommodation of immigrants on their first landing. According to the arrangements made by the Association with the land purchasers, one-third part of the purchase money that is to say, 17. per

* Plate I.

acre, was to be set apart for church purposes, and the building and endowment of a church has been authoritatively promised. There seems, however, little expectation that this pledge will be soon redeemed, although upwards of thirty-five thousand acres have been sold. Indeed, we had not been twenty-four hours in the colony when we were requested to add our contributions to a subscription then going forward by the members of the Establishment for the erection of a church independently of the Association; the Dissenters having already provided for their own accommodation.

A little above the barracks, and at the foot of the projected road to the plains, stands Mr. Godley's house.* It is a picturesque gableended building, with comfortable well furnished rooms and an excellent fruit and flower garden. The "Sumner Road," as it is called, that is to say, the road for which a further payment of 17. per acre is made by the land purchasers, and which at some unknown period is to lead by way of Sumner to the plains, runs to the right, and London Street lies to the left. Returning to the jetty, you turn to the right, along the esplanade, the most finished * Plate II.

street in the town, although subject to the annoyance of an ill-conducted public house at the corner, facing the jetty, where intoxicated men constantly congregate, to the annoyance of passers-by and the serious interruption of the services at the temporary church. Proceeding along the esplanade, several of the principal stores and public houses are passed, until we reach the corner of Canterbury Street, on the opposite side of which stands the Mitre Hotel, which has the reputation of being the best in New Zealand.

Two or three hundred yards in advance, is the foot of the "bridlepath," a steep and nar. row road leading directly over the range of hills at the back of the town, to the ferry across the Heathcote on the way to Christchurch. It is altogether inaccessible for carts; and, from its excessive steepness, small loads only can be carried over by pack-horses. The ascent is upwards of a mile in length, and the descent. on the other side is about the same. The ferry is then two miles distant; and from thence the road to Christchurch, about four miles in length, is good and level.*

* During the progress of this Chapter through the Press, a Letter, stated to be "written by an experienced