Story: Smoking

Thomas Selby Cousin's 1875 engraving shows a swagman on the West Coast's Hokitika Road, smoking his clay pipe as he waits for his billy to boil. In the male communities of 19th-century New Zealand smoking a pipe was an almost universal indulgence, and both pipes and tobacco were comparatively inexpensive. Pipe smoking was often, as in this case, a solitary pleasure and an aid to contemplation, but it was also enjoyed in social situations such as the pub.