time than it takes one to write a line. We had retrievers with us
who would face the waves of an inland lake during a nor'-wester,
--which is giving a dog very high praise indeed; but there was no
canine Bayard at hand to brave those treacherous depths, and bring
out our game, so the sport soon ceased; for what was the good of
shooting the beautiful, harmless creatures when we could not make
use of them as food?

I often accompanied F--- on his eel-fishing expeditions, but more
for the sake of companionship than from any amusement I found in the
sport. I may here confess frankly that I cannot understand anyone
being an inveterate eel-fisher, for of all monotonous pursuits, it
is the most self-repeating in its forms. Even the first time I went
out I found it delightful only in anticipation; and this is the one
midnight excursion which I shall attempt to re-produce for you.

It had been a broiling midsummer day, too hot to sit in the
verandah, too hot to stroll about the garden, or go for a ride, or
do anything in fact, except bask like a lizard in the warm air. New
Zealand summer weather, however high the thermometer, is quite
different from either tropical or English heat. It is intensely hot
in the sun, but always cool in the shade. I never heard of an
instance of sun-stroke from exposure to the mid-day sun, for there
always was a light air--often scarcely perceptible until you were
well out in the open,--to temper the fierce vertical rays. It
sometimes happened that I found myself obliged, either for business
or pleasure, to take a long ride in the middle of a summer's day,
and my invariable reflection used to be, "It is not nearly so hot
out of doors as one fancies it would be." Then there is none of the
stuffiness so often an accompaniment to our brief summers, bringing