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time in the dark, the Waimakariri river, the bed of which is composed of round boulders, sometimes a quarter of a mile wide, the latter part when it was quite dark, we at last reached the Bealey Hotel where the coach from Christchurch had arrived, also full of people. The next day, after an early start, and much grumbling about boxes, &c, having to be left behind, we reached Springfield, and went on by train, arriving in the evening at Christchurch. Here I stayed six weeks painting; first the flowers I had brought with me in tins, and then some out of the native garden (the best in the colony), in the beautiful Botanical Gardens, where the Armstrongs, father and son, have cultivated the indigenous flora with great success, collecting the plants from the mountains, and also from Stewart's and the Chatham Islands. They were very kind in giving me those I wanted, and also packets of seeds which I brought over to my friends in England. They have many orders, but it seems very difficult to acclimatize the New Zealand flowers. It was intensely hot when we arrived, but soon after there was a fall of snow on the mountains, and I had to give up going to Lake Wakatipu, for which I was very sorry. We went for two days to Dunedin and back, and saw Mr. Buchanan, who, when he was the Government botanist, drew for the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute all the newly discovered plants, but he has now retired, a martyr to rheumatism, the usual result of exposure to our climate. He was much pleased that the flowers should be painted and made known before they were lost by burnings and the cultivation of the ground. He asked how he could help me, and kindly painted for me the two Senecios (plate 20), which I could not get, and gave me the paragraph published in my prospectus. I went back to Wellington, and overland to Taranaki by another route, by train and coach along the sandy beach for six hours, then by train again from Foxton, and steamer to Auckland, seeing some more beautiful scenery, and having some adventures, which, as my account is, I fear, already too long, I must not relate.
My sketches created some surprise in Auckland, as even people who were born in New Zealand had no idea we had such lovely flowers. I left shortly after for England in order to have my plates well done. On seeing some works similar to mine, published by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, beautifully produced, I determined to give them mine to do, and I have great reason to be pleased that I did so. I have to thank them for their great kindness and consideration, without which this book would never have appeared.
I am also much obliged to Messrs. Leighton Brothers for the way in which they have executed the plates, they have rendered my paintings exactly, except in a few cases. The proofs were sent to me for correction in Madeira, and the Portuguese Government detained the parcel in Lisbon two months. It was only from agitating through the Postmaster-General in England that I received them at all. This caused the long detention of Parts II. and III.; the plates were
