The Duel on the Creek: And Other Tales of Victorian New Zealand

Miss Cornelia was religious. To her, mirth was an offence, and laughter a sacrilegious thing. Also she believed in the divine use of the rod. And the Villiers girls prayed for an earthquake, even if only a little one; they petitioned Providence to erupt the nearest volcano. But the gods were on a journey, or asleep, of something.' New Zealanders enjoy a good yarn - and here are some of the liveliest tales told in magazines and newspapers of the 1880s and 1890s. In turn salty, ironic, mildly naughty, exotic and realistic, they are as engaging today as they were to readers a century ago.