24 JOURNAL OF A NATURALIST: 
horrid march; fern, fern, nothing but dry, dusty fern all 
around! I gathered, somewhere, in the course of the day æ 
diseased branch of Haxtonia furfuracea (127) which was 
curiously distorted; probably caused by the punctures of 
insects. I have often noticed such deformities in various 
plants, but, as far as I recollect, I never saw it so regular or 
so large before. One river; the bed of which we descended 
into and crossed, ran at the depth of from 30 to 80 feet below 
the surface of the soil on either side. 
23d.—At a very early hour we arose, and with stiff and 
unwilling limbs proceeded. onwards. Want of food, in great 
measure, impelled us forward; as-we had yesterday been led 
to suppose that we should reach the next village by night. After 
three long hours spent in active exertion, we reached ’Wataroa, 
a small village where we were heartily welcomed. Descend- 
ing to this village, I gathered specimens of a Melicope (87); 
11 fruit, a small but graceful tree, probably M. simplex, 
A.Cunn. Having breakfasted and rested awhile, we left this 
village, and. continued our march, which, as yesterday, lay 
over high hills which rose in perpetual succession before us, 
appearing as if they were without valleys between. The 
eountry as we progressed into the interior became more and 
more barren; a scanty vegetation of stunted Pteris. escu- 
lenta, Leptospermum scoparium, Leucopogon Fraseri and such 
plants alone existed on these dry and sterile spots; save 
where, in the deep. glens between the hills, a clump of wood 
was to be found shewing their heads of foliage here and there 
like oases. in the desert. The soil was dry and dusty, and 
principally composed of broken pumice. Towards evening, 
from the crest of one very high hill, we had, in looking back, 
a splendid though distant prospect of Hawke’s Bay, and the. 
rugged and high land bounding the same. On the top of 
this hill I obtained specimens of a small tree, a species. 
Weinmannia? (131 ;) afew plants of which were here scattered 
about. My native guides assured me that no person could 
keep his footing on this elevated spot when the south wind — 
blows; an assertion, which the denuded and bare aspect of 
