estate was recently sold by auction at prices ranging up to £31 per acre.
Reaching the small township of Outram, where the railway terminates, before partaking of a slight repast a little time can be delightfully spent in a stroll to the West Taieri Bridge, where the river emerges from the gorge, little in bulk at present, but at times of great magnitude, overflowing its banks, covering the lower portions of the Plain, causing immense devastation and destruction. Councils and Boards have been created to do their best to keep the old river within bounds, and they have exerted their utmost skill in this direction, but a flood comes and the puny efforts are swept away by the raging element. It is to be hoped better results will be obtained in the future.
Maungatua shows his immensity, towering away above, 2,944 feet, and stretching miles away before us. For the purpose of getting a better view, instead of driving along its base by Woodside, we keep the road line further out on the Plain, and pass through lands of extraordinary fertility. We have the Grants of Gowrie, Granton, and Cray, Patrick, and Heenans, Hastie, Ford, Thompson, Gordon, McDiarmid, and all the rest of the numerous clansmen.
Laying aside all prejudice or preformed opinion, it may be safely asserted that in no part of the globe which we inhabit could the eye be regaled with the sight of finer crops of all descriptions than can here be seen. It could not indeed be otherwise. The soil is rich alluvium, of considerable depth, with excellent drainage. This season has been very favourable, and the general management of the various farms shows that the owners know their business and attend to it.
We are now at the border town, Berwick, and it has been well named, as at this point the level lands terminate, and to proceed further would take us into a hill country indeed. Not that the journey would be devoid of interest, contrariwise it is brim full thereof, but it is beyond our scope. We are also entering on a Lake District, as immediately in front lie Waihola and Waipori, with their swampy margins and fantastic outlines; and it should not be omitted that in this land of Scotchmen, where everything Scotch has been renewed, the only sheet of water bearing the name of "Loch" is here situated. Loch Ascog lies
