Occur pregnant
with interest to a landsman; moreover, there are sure to be many on
board who have travelled far and wide, and one gains a great deal of
information about all sorts of races and places. One effect is,
perhaps, pernicious, but this will probably soon wear off on land. It
awakens an adventurous spirit, and kindles a strong desire to visit
almost every spot upon the face of the globe. The captain yarns about
California and the China seas - the doctor about Valparaiso and the
Andes - another raves about Hawaii and the islands of the Pacific - while
a fourth will compare nothing with Japan.
The world begins to feel very small when one finds one can get half
round it in three months; and one mentally determines to visit all these
places before coming back again, not to mention a good many more.
I search my diary in vain to find some pretermitted adventure wherewith
to give you a thrill, or, as good Mrs. B. calls it, "a feel"; but I can
find none. The mail is going; I will write again by the next.
CHAPTER III
Aspect of Port Lyttelton - Ascent of Hill behind it - View - Christ Church-
-Yankeeisms - Return to Port Lyttelton and Ship - Phormium Tenax - Visit to
a Farm - Moa Bones.
