ed by truly Christian
motives, came hither and devoted their lives to this people,--in more
senses than one, as it is well known that they not infrequently met with
a fate similar to that of their secular brethren.

In 1839 an incorporated association in London, called the New Zealand
Company, sent out a ship loaded with emigrants to settle in the country.
These were the pioneers who established the city of Wellington, the
present capital of the islands. The country was still under the
jurisdiction of New South Wales; but in 1841 it was constructed into an
independent colony, and the first Legislative Council was held at
Auckland. Thenceforth special settlements were regularly made by
shipments from England; and in 1852 the Imperial Parliament granted the
people of New Zealand a charter of self-government. By this act the
sovereign power was vested in a General Assembly, consisting of a
Governor appointed by the Crown, and two Houses,--a Legislative Council,
or Upper House, the members of which are nominated by the Government,
and a House of Representatives chosen by the people at large.

Before taking the reader to the several cities embraced in the route we
followed through New Zealand, a few preliminary and general remarks,
embracing information which is the outgrowth of subsequent experience,
may add interest to these pages and render our progress more
intelligible. First, as to position, New Zealand lies as far south of
the Equator as Italy does north of it. It is divided into the North and
South Islands by Cook's Strait. The South Island is also known as Middle
Island, to distinguish it more fully from Stewart Island, which belongs
to the group, and which lies to the south of it. This last-named island
is separated from Middle Island by Foveaux Strait, some fifteen or
twenty miles across from the Bluff. It is about fifty miles long by
thirty broad, and has a mountain range running through it, the loftiest
peak of which is a trifle over three thousand feet high. There are some
fishing hamlets here, but very few inhabitants. All these islands are
believed to have once been a part of a great continent, which is now
sunk in the sea.

The Southern Alps of the South Island, which were thus named by Captain
Cook, are wooded up to the snow-line, the greatest height reached by any
portion of the range being thirteen thousand feet; and let us add that
in frosty grandeur they are unequalled outside the limits of Polar
reg