between the boat-house and the store-room, and at last I was
entreated to go and put on my hat. While doing this I heard
cupboards being opened, and a great bustle; so when I reached the
shore I was not so much surprised as they expected, to see in the
pretty little sailing-boat (which was moored to a primitive sort of
jetty made out of a broken old punt) the materials for at least two
substantial meals, in case of being kept out by a sudden head-wind.
I was especially glad to notice a little kettle among the
_impedimenta_, and there were cloaks and wraps of all kinds to
provide against the worst. Four gentlemen and I made up the crew
and passengers, and a very merry set we were, behaving extremely
like children out for a holiday. The wind was a trifle light for
sailing, so the gentlemen pulled, but very lazily and not at all in
good "form," as the object of each oarsman seemed to be to do as
little work as possible. However, we got on somehow, a light puff
helping us now and then, but our progress was hardly perceptible. I
had been for a long time gazing down into the clear blue depth of
water, every now and then seeing a flash of the white sand shining
at the bottom, when I was half startled by our host standing
suddenly up in the bow of the boat; and then I found that we were a
couple of miles away from our starting-point, and that we had turned
a corner formed by a steep spur, and were running right into what
appeared a grove of rata-trees growing at the water's edge. The
rata only grows in the hills and near water; it is a species of
broad-leaf myrtle, with a flower exactly like a myrtle in character,
but of a brilliant deep scarlet colour, and twice as large.

When the bowsprit touched the rata-branches, which drooped like a
curtain into the water, Mr. H--- made a signal to lower the mast,
and parting the thick, blossom-covered foliage before us, with both