ee that the building was only one board in thickness,
and scarcely more substantial than the scenes at a theatre. We lunched
at the principal hotel, where F---- was much amused at my astonishment
at colonial prices. We had two dozen very nice little oysters, and he
had a glass of porter: for this modest repast we paid eleven shillings!

We slept on board, had another walk on shore after breakfast the
following morning, and about twelve o'clock set off for Lyttleton, the
final end of our voyaging, which we reached in about twenty hours.

The scenery is very beautiful all along the coast, but the navigation is
both dangerous and difficult. It was exceedingly cold, and Lyttleton
did not look very inviting; we could not get in at all near the
landing-place, and had to pay 2 pounds to be rowed ashore in an open
boat with our luggage. I assure you it was a very "bad quarter of an
hour" we passed in that boat; getting into it was difficult enough. The
spray dashed over us every minute, and by the time we landed we were
quite drenched, but a good fire at the hotel and a capital lunch soon
made us all right again; besides, in the delight of being actually at
the end of our voyage no annoyance or discomfort was worth a moment's
thought. F---- had a couple of hours' work rushing backwards and
forwards to the Custom House, clearing our luggage, and arranging for
some sort of conveyance to take us over the hills. The great tunnel
through these "Port Hills" (which divide Lyttleton from Christchurch,
the capital of Canterbury) is only half finished, but it seems wonderful
that so expensive and difficult an engineering work could be undertaken
by such an infant colony.

At last a sort of shabby waggonette was forthcoming, and about three
o'clock we started from Lyttleton, and almost immediately began to
ascend the zig-zag. It was a tremendous pull for the poor horses,
who however never flinched; at the steepest pinch the gentlemen were
requested to get out and walk, which they did, and at length we reached
the top. It was worth all the bad road to look down on the land-locked
bay, with the little patches of cultivation, a few houses nestling in
pretty recesses. The town of Lyttleton seemed much more imposing and
important as we rose above it: fifteen years ago a few sheds received
the "Pilgrims," as the first comers are always called. I like the name;
it is so pretty and suggestive. By the way, I am told that these four
ships, sent o