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KAIPARA
OR
EXPERIENCES OF A SETTLER IN NORTH NEW ZEALAND
Written and Illustrated
BY
P. W. BARLOW
LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON
LIMITED
St. Dunstan's House
FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E. C.
1888
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[Library annotations only.]
[DEDICATION]
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Inscribed
TO
W. H. BARLOW, ESQ., F.R.S.,
OF HIGH COMBE, OLD CHARLTON,
AS A TOKEN OF
DEEP RESPECT, GRATITUDE, AND AFFECTION,
BY HIS NEPHEW,
THE NARRATOR.
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[PREFACE]
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PREFACE.
THE fact that nothing has hitherto been published concerning life in this part of New Zealand from the pen of a bona-fide settler has induced me to write the following pages.
Before commencing the undertaking, I had been at considerable pains to satisfy myself of the truth of this fact, and naturally so, for it is the life-buoy I cling to as I take this, my first dip, in the sea of literature; it is my one excuse for troubling the public, and in it consists my hope that they will consent to be troubled.
I do not pretend to literary talent, and my highest ambition is to lay the true narrative of my experiences in New Zealand before the public in a readable form. If successful in doing this, I shall be content, and trust that my readers will be also.
Many books have been written describing colonial life in this and other parts, in some of
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PREFACE.
which the writers have identified themselves with the characters in their stories; but these have invariably been the works of visitors to the colony, not settlers in it.
There is to my mind as much difference between the two experiences as there is between the experience of a volunteer and that of a soldier of the line, and it is on this account that I approach the public with some small degree of confidence, and venture to lay before my readers the experiences of a settler in North New Zealand.
THE NARRATOR.
MATAKOHE, KAIPARA,
PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND.
[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. OUR ARRIVAL IN THE NEW COUNTRY ... I
II. AN AUCKLAND TABLE-D'HOTE ..... 7
III. A CHAT ABOUT AUCKLAND ...... 14
IV. MORE ABOUT AUCKLAND ...... 21
V. MY FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY ..... 27
VI. LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND ...... 33
VII. A PERILOUS JOURNEY ....... 40
VIII. THE "TERROR" ........ 50
IX. A SALE BY AUCTION ....... 60
X. THE FAITHLESS MARY ANN ..... 66
XI. MY INTRODUCTION TO KAIPARA ..... 72
XII. A WILD PIG HUNT ........ 80
XIII. PURCHASING LIVE-STOCK ...... 88
XIV. A COLONIAL BALL ........ 102
XV. THE FORESTS OF NORTH NEW ZEALAND ... 107
XVI. THE LABOURING-MAN SETTLER..... 118
XVII. KAIPARA FISH ........ 125
XVIII. GODWIT SHOOTING ........ 135
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CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
XIX. THE KAURI GUMDIGGER ...... 142
XX. A STORY OF A BUSHRANGER ..... 159
XXI. SPORTS .......... 166
XXII. SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND .. 176
XXIII. KAIPARA INSECTS ........ 183
XXIV. A MAORI WEDDING ....... 194
XXV. SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND .. 201
XXVI. A MEETING OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL ... 206
XXVII. CONCLUSION ......... 212
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