1N NEW ZEALAND. 3 
farum”.* Valuable as are the discoveries of all those gentlemen 
whose names are now mentioned, there is one of them who 
deserves more particular mention, Mr. Colenso, and who, if 
his health and strength be spared, and leisure from his arduous 
duties as a devoted Missionary be granted, will contribute still 
more than he has yet done to the elucidation of the Botany 
and Natural History, generally, of New Zealand. His con- 
tinued residence in the Islands, his entire familiarity with 
the language, his acquaintance with the character of the 
Aborigines, his influence as one of the most energetic of 
the Church Missionary Society,t his liberality and hos- 
pitality to visitors (as the officers of H. M. Discovery Ships, 
Erebus and Terror, can testify) and his frequent journies, 
all give him advantages which no other traveller there has 
enjoyed; and admirably does he take advantage of the facili- 
ties he thus possesses. The pages of this Journal and more 
especially those of our “ Icones Plantarum" bear witness to 
many of the discoveries made by Mr. Colenso. We have 
lately received a valuable Monograph of several new Ferns 
of New Zealand from the same pen, published in the Tasma- 
nian Philosophical Journal, an admirable Memoir on the 
Fossil Bones of a bird allied to the Ostrich which, together 
with the specimens of the bones themselves, I have placed 
in the hands of Professor Owen ;—and now I have lately 
had the pleasure to receive the following letter, giving a most 
interesting account of a three months' tour across the widest 
part ofthe northern Island, which was productive of still 
more botanical novelties, and which I am sure will be hailed 
* See Tabs. pcxxx, DCXXXI, DCXXXIX, DCLII and DCLXx111, of that 
work, 
+ As a specimen of the services rendered to the cause of Christianity, I 
may observe, that there are new lying before me, admirably bound copies 
of the New Zealand Testament and the Prayer Book, each of them bearing 
the inscription, ** At a time when no mechanic was to be found here 
(New Zealand) this book was composed and finished, binding included, 
by the writer, W. Colenso, Superintendent of C.M,S. Printing depart- 
ment in New Zealand, 1842. ? y 
B 2 
