Twain begins this chapter by proclaiming the virtues of the New Zealand Railways, the Ballarat Flyer in particular. The Ballarat Flyer, however, seems to be a fictitious railroad. His 50 mile journey from Palmerston North to Whanganui was aboard "The Napier Express", which ran from Napier to Wellington, and not all of this line was as pleasant as the leg to Whanganui.

The War Memorial at Whanganui:

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/moutoa-gardens-nz-wars-memorial

Twain is in Christchurch, New Zealand. He learns of Maori migration legends and their artistry and puzzles over the extinction of the moa. Woman had achieved the right to vote just two years prior and he ponders their superiority over men. The American edition of his book includes a scathing expose' on the Union company that owned the ship, the Flora - a cattle scow, on which he sailed from Lyttleton to Wellington.

Mark Twain takes the train from Timaru to Oamaru, in New Zealand. He is impressed. “They are not English, and not American; they are the Swiss combination of the two. A narrow and railed porch along the side, where a person can walk up and down. A lavatory in each car. This is progress; this is nineteenth-century spirit.” This leads him into a satire on his train ride from Maryborough and the hotel in Maryborough. “The government chooses to do its railway business in its own way, and it doesn't know as much about it as the French.

This chapter touches several interesting points. The Clemens group takes ship from Tasmania to New Zealand, landing in Bluff. Twain notes that Bluff is the same distance south of the equator as Quebec is north, about 47 degrees, yet he is perplexed at the great difference in climate between the two places. Twain then comments on the rabbit infestation of New Zealand. Rabbits were first introduced for commercial purposes but it soon became apparent that they were/are destructive to the native habitat.

October 31 Thursday –

The Clemens party boarded the Union Co.’s 2,598-ton ship Mararoa, to sail down the eastern coast of Tasmania to Hobart, then to New Zealand. Malcom Ross, a journalist, was on board and gave Sam several books on Tasmanian aboriginal history. Other passengers included Irish nationalist Michael Davitt, and Sam’s agent Carlyle G. Smythe.

November 1 Friday – Sam’s notebook: