f his exploits, mine host
smilingly dealing out the fiery poison, with now and again the presence
of the dripping forder from the river, come in for his glass of grog and
pipe before resuming his perilous occupation.

Smith and I put up in the parlour, and when we had dined and lit pipes
proceeded to look after our horses, after which we paid a visit to the
kitchen for a little hobnobbing with the motley assemblage collected
there, and, of course, we stood liquor round in the usual friendly way.
We soon retired, and ere long the kitchen floor, too, was covered with
sleepers rolled in their blue or red blankets without which no colonist
ever travelled.

Early the following morning we were piloted over the river, and in the
afternoon made the Ashburton, where was a very superior house of
entertainment, conducted by a Mr. Turton, a man above the general run of
bush hotel keepers, and who, I believe, subsequently became a rich
squatter, as he well deserved.

The third day's ride brought us to our destination. There was a
comfortable rough dwelling house and the usual adjuncts in the way of
station buildings.

The situation was pleasant, at the opening of a wide gorge at the foot
of the downs, and a fine stream ran along the front of the enclosure. A
considerable portion of the run was hilly, and was at that time one of
the best in the province.

It was on this journey that I first came across the most wonderful
optical illusions, called mirages, that I had seen, and there is
something in the atmosphere maybe of the New Zealand plains that lends
itself specially to the creation of these beautiful phenomena.

We were riding over the open plain on a clear morning, near the
Ashburton river bed, more than twenty miles from the nearest hills, when
suddenly within fifty yards of us, appeared a most beautiful calm lake,
apparently many miles in extent, and dotted with cabbage trees (like
palms), whose reflections were cast in the water. Neither of us had seen
the like before, and for a while really believed we were approaching a
lake, although how such could possibly exist where a few moments before
had been dry waving grass, was like magic. We rode on, and as we went
the lake seemed to move with us, or rather to recede as we advanced,
keeping always the same distance ahead. The phenomenon lasted for about
a quarter of an hour, and then cleared away as magically as it came.

In the same district I subsequently observed some