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CONTENTS

PART I 

PART II 

PART III

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

These are only some random reflections. The reflection of a thing is not the thing itself ; but then again, you would sometimes miss the thing itself but for the reflection of the thing. Years ago, in the interior of New Zealand, I was strolling along the green banks of a lovely lake that nestles serenely among the huge snow-capped mountains. Suddenly, on a projecting ledge of rock, almost hidden by the dense forestry, I came upon a little Maori maiden. She was lying at full length, face downwards, peering into the placid sheet of water. Her own comely countenance, the waving grasses that almost buried her, the green boughs and bright blossoms overhead, and the bird that was calling from the branches, were all most exquisitely mirrored in those tranquil and crystalline depths. It had probably never occurred to her to admire, as she looked about her and above her, the rich foliage of the rata, the tossing plumes of pampas, the sword-like blades of flax, and the shining plumage of the tui. But the reflections in the water fascinated her. ‘Look!’ she cried excitedly, in her expressive and musical native speech, ‘it is a sea of silver shadows!’ That is precisely what I should like this book to be. 

FRANK W. BOREHAM
Armadale, Melbourne, Australia