IN NEW ZEALAND. 39 
and ashes. 'The sun was intensely hot, and the roads, in 
several places, worn into deep and hollow gorges, were ex- 
tremely dry and dusty, our feet, and even our ancles, being 
often completely buried in the loose and broken pumice 
through which we had to travel. Gaining the summit of the 
highest hill, the view was most extensive and striking. Im- 
mediately beneath, meandered the Wirinaki, a bold brawling 
river, flowing quickly over its stony bed, and possessing 
water sufficient to float a moderate sized boat; beyond, rose 
barren hills of all possible irregular shapes and heights; far- 
ther still, an extensive plain extended E. and W. as far 
as the eye could reach; next, a chain of lofty, table- 
topped hills bounded the range of vision; whilst, here and 
there, far away in the extreme distance, several high and iso- 
lated mountains reared their barren heads above the horizon. 
On the left appeared Tauwaura, a high mountain in the 
Taupo district; Paeroa and Kaingaroa, near Rotorua, pre- 
sented themselves in front; whilst, to the extreme right, 
Putauaki, the high mountain, near Wakatane, on the east 
coast, upreared its two-peaked summit to the clouds. Here, 
notwithstanding the pleasurable height to which my imagina- 
tion had been raised, whilst engaged in contemplating the 
magnificence and extent of the prospect before me, it soon sank 
below its ordinary level, on finding that not a human being 
dwelt in all that immense tract of country on which my eager 
gaze then rested! The grass grew, the flowers blossomed, 
and the river rolled, but not for man—solitude all! Even 
the little birds, few though they were in number, seemed 
to think with me, for they flew from spray to spray, around 
and about my path, with their melancholy “ twit, twit,” as if 
wishing to have all they could of the company of a passer-by. 
Their actions were quite in unison with my feelings, and I 
could but exclaim, “ Oh! Solitude, where are thy charms MW 
etc. 
Descending to the banks of the river Wirinaki, I was re- 
warded with the discovery of a few new plants: among 
them a linear-leaved Coprosma nee a procumbent and 
