noon
Until practicable wagon roads are cut through these forests of scrub , New Zealand will only be accessible to foot passengers . The ferns , whose name is legion , concur with the Maories in keeping strangers off the lands . The little party overcame many obstacles in crossing the plains in which the Hakarihoata Ranges rise . But before noon they reached the banks of the Waipa , and followed the northward course of the river . The Major and Robert , without leaving their companions , shot some snipe and partridge under the low shrubs of the plain . Olbinett , to save time , plucked the birds as he went along . Paganel was less absorbed by the culinary importance of the game than by the desire of obtaining some bird peculiar to New Zealand .