One
Cannot Take One's Horse Out Of A Walk In Many Parts Of The Plains When
Off The Track - I Mean, One Cannot Without Doing Violence To Old-World
Notions Concerning Horses' Feet.
I said the rivers lie on the highest part of the delta; not always the
highest, but seldom the lowest.
There is reason to believe that in the
course of centuries they oscillate from side to side. For instance,
four miles north of the Rakaia there is a terrace some twelve or
fourteen feet high; the water in the river is nine feet above the top of
this terrace. To the eye of the casual observer there is no perceptible
difference between the levels, still the difference exists and has been
measured. I am no geologist myself, but have been informed of this by
one who is in the Government Survey Office, and upon whose authority I
can rely.
The general opinion is that the Rakaia is now tending rather to the
northern side. A fresh comes down upon a crumbling bank of sand and
loose shingle with incredible force, tearing it away hour by hour in
ravenous bites. In fording the river one crosses now a considerable
stream on the northern side, where four months ago there was hardly any;
while after one has done with the water part of the story, there remains
a large extent of river-bed, in the process of gradually being covered
with cabbage-trees, flax, tussock, Irishman, and other plants and
evergreens; yet after one is once clear of the blankets (so to speak) of
the river-bed, the traces of the river are no fresher on the southern
than on the northern side, even if so fresh.
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