‘Yes, it was Sammy again, and as far as we could make out he had pegged out the ground before the earthquake came, and as his pegs were below water we could not see them. We don’t call him Soft Sammy any more. We call him Seismic Sammy now.’
Amongst the many sights of Wellington we visited the Museum.
Mac kicked against this, and said he didn’t want any moa moas. The compliment I paid him on his pun caused him to go.
The collections, although by no means so extensive as at Christchurch, are certainly worth a visit. There were the usual assortment of minerals and fossils, a rusty-looking moa, a freshly-imported mummy, and at the doorway a diagram showing the districts where an approaching eclipse might be seen.
One afternoon was spent at an exhibition of New Zealand productions, which was then being held. Amongst other things we saw many pictures and photos by local artists, tons of woollen goods, a number of agricultural implements, and a telpher line made by Mr. Fletcher, of Dunedin.
The remainder of our time was spent in interviewing the shops and streets, which were well worthy of inspection.
On one jeweller’s shop I read, as well as I can remember, words like these:
‘Hiki piki waki saki,
Hoki poki rapi taki.’