Sandflies.

But we have ere this discovered that we have a little tormentor who is not going to allow us to have our meal in peace. We are, in fact, beset by sandflies. We have up to the present not been very much troubled by them, but here all the requisite conditions are present—heat, not a breath of air, human victims,—and the little scourges make the most of their opportunity. There are two lunches going on at the same time—our own and the sandflies'. It is true that we have the best of it, for we don't actually suffer the last penalty, and that is the sure and certain fate of our persecutors. The slaughter is great. We conclude our lunch in quicker time than we should otherwise have done, and all go ashore. Some of the party make their way up the difficult course of a delightful little snow-fed creek, and enjoy the cool shade of the luxuriant foliage on its banks. Its bed is full of granite boulders and detritus, the denudation of the mountain down which it has its course. New and beautiful forms of vegetation meet the eye and give pleasure to everybody. Meantime two of the party have set up a camera, one of them a lady well known as a successful amateur photographer, who has succeeded in getting two or three pretty views of lake and mountain.

We are all loth to embark again, for in the cool shades of the beautiful creek, surrounded by a wealth of interesting plant life, we have escaped the persecuting sandfly, and are experiencing truly tranquil and placid enjoyment. But a warning whistle breaks the dreamy ailence, and imperatively calls us on board. We find our way to the beach, and soon being all embarked, we steam away from the Free- page 8 manburn and its picturesque surroundings. We eagerly scan with renewed enjoyment the many notable points of interest to which our attention has been directed as we steamed up the arm in the morning pass within a stone's throw of the beautiful waterfall previously referred to, and enter the lake with a fair wind to help us on our homeward course, reaching the landing place beetween 6 aad 7 o'clock, after a day of almost unalloyed pleasure. (I regret having to say almost; but truth compels me to use the word, for the [unclear: sadflies] of the Freemanburn mouth are still a remembrance.)

After dinner we take our chairs out to the front of the house, and here we sit until 10 o'clock, reluctant to go inside and break off interesting conversation on astronomy and other subjects, pursued amidst the softening influence of a truly glorious moon and starlit night. We watch a brilliant star and the pale golden section of the new moon successively disappear over the peaks in the west, and as our landlady, who has to be up betimes in the morning, unmistakably wonders whatever can induce us to stop outside until 10 o'clock at night, and suggests that it is time the house was in darkness, we take in our chairs, and prepare for a good night's rest preparator; to taking our departure for Te Anau in the morning, and regretting that time will not admit of our spending a few days more on the waters of beautiful Manapouri, and in exploring its charming inlets and islands.

The following day the steamer was to leave for the head of the lake with some fresh arrivals, and as we could easily reach Te Anau if we started after lunch, we decided to have a few hours on the lake pulling about the tittle coves of the peninsula referred to in the preceding section of these notes, and landing where practicable. The steamer took our boat in tow, and until the point at which we were to cast off was reached we became passengers. After a little more than half an hour's steaming we reached our destination, and, getting into the boat, we pulled to a suitable landing place, Here, as everywhere else in these regions, the bush was mainly beech, with patches of manuka and rata trees interspersed. We landed in one or two pretty little nooks, and while some of us explored the immediate vicinity for plants and ferns and mosses, one of the Ladies sketched, and our lady photographer took several views. A very pleasant morning was spent, and the row home accomplished by mid-day.