November 21 Thursday – In Auckland once again, Sam went sightseeing with unnamed friends and liked what he saw:

There are charming drives all about, and by courtesy of friends we had opportunity to enjoy them. From the grassy crater-summit of Mount Eden one’s eye ranges over a grand sweep and variety of scenery — forests clothed in luxuriant foliage, rolling green fields, conflagrations of flowers, receding and dimming stretches of green plain, broken by lofty and symmetrical old craters — then the blue bays twinkling and sparkling away into the dreamy distances were the mountains loom spiritual in their veils of haze [FE ch. XXXIII 308].

Interviews published Nov. 21: New Zealand Mail; New Zealand Herald.

Livy wrote to Joseph Kinsey: “It seems a long time since we left you & Miss Kinsey on the platform in Lyttleton that dark rainy night, now nearly a week ago. We went from our pleasant quiet chat in the railway carriage into a perfect pandemonium.” She related the crowded conditions of the ship, with “every corner …turned into a sleeping room,” and having to share with two strange women [MTP].

In the evening at Auckland’s City Hall Sam gave his “At Home” performance to a full house of 1,100, which had entered at 6 p.m. Sam mixed his programs for this performance. Reviews published Nov. 22: New Zealand Graphic; Auckland Star; Nov. 30: N.Z. Observer and Free Lance.

David Mitchell Luckie inscribed a gift copy of his book, The Raid of the Russian Cruiser “Kaskowiski”, etc. to Sam with this date: To Samuel L. Clemens — / Better Known as “Mark Twain” — / with respectful compliments / From D.M. Luckie / 21.11.95 [Gribben 429].