of grandeur and
beauty in this isolated land, but there is an utter lack of pathos.

Unlike Australia, New Zealand is rarely visited by drought; the whole
eastern coast, north and south, abounds in good natural harbors, while
the rivers and streams are ever-flowing and innumerable. Though it is a
mountainous country, it differs for instance from Switzerland, in that
it has no lack of extensive plains, which seem to have been left by
Nature ready to the hand of the farmer, requiring scarcely ordinary
cultivation to insure large crops of cereals. The diversity of surface,
as well as the fact that these islands extend over thirteen degrees of
latitude, give New Zealand a varied climate; but it is a remarkably
temperate one, its salubrity far surpassing that of England or any
portion of the United States. While snow is never seen in the North
Island except upon the highest mountain peaks, the plains of the South
Island--as far south as Otago--are sometimes sprinkled with it, but only
to disappear almost immediately. The rivers are generally destitute of
fish, and the forests of game. It is no sportsman's country; but
vegetation runs riot, the soil being remarkably fertile, clothing the
wild lands with perpetual verdure and vigorous freshness. Persons
competent to express an opinion, compare the climate in the north, say
at Auckland, with that of Spain; the middle, represented by Wellington,
with that of France; and the southern, say at Invercargill, with that of
England. The area of the islands is about one hundred thousand square
miles, being a few more than are contained in England, Wales, and
Ireland combined. The entire coast line is four thousand miles in
length. There are here nearly seventy million acres of land, forty
millions of which are deemed worthy of cultivation. The soil being light
and easily worked, favors the agriculturist, and New Zealand is free
from all noxious animals and venomous reptiles.

There are other islands besides the two principal ones named (adding
Stewart Island), but they are too small to require mention. The
wonderful collection of geysers, sulphurous springs, and natural baths
of the North Island are famous all over the world, and we shall
presently ask the reader to visit them with us. Slight shocks of
earthquakes are not uncommon here, but only one serious volcanic
eruption has occurred for many years. The remote situation of the
country, surrounded by the greatest extent of ocean on