IN NEW ZEALAND. 57 
we halted for the night on the sands, about three miles within 
the Southern head of Manukau Bay. The land to our right 
this day was high and much broken, composed of sand and 
sandstone, and covered with verdure. "The continual falling, 
however, of the sand, &c. of which these hills are composed, 
will, in process of time, cause them entirely to disappear. I 
noticed some plants, evidently species of Edwardsia, the 
habit and foliage of which differed from the one I have 
hitherto seen. I took specimens (243), and regretted there 
not being either flower or fruit. A little Limosella ? (242) 
also grew here in the sand. On the face of a damp cliff, 
near a small water-course which trickled down the rocks, I 
discovered a peculiar succulent plant bearing a raceme of 
obovate red drupe (246). These, with a moss (237), from 
the wet rocks in this locality, comprised the whole of my 
collection during this day's journey. 
The next morning we continued our course by the sinuous 
shores of Manukau Bay. We soon reached a native village, 
where, gaining a supply of potatoes, &c., we recruited our 
strength, and, engaging a canoe, paddled to the upper ex- 
tremity of the harbour, landing at Otahuhu, the isthmus 
connecting the northern and southern parts of the Northern 
Island of New Zealand. This isthmus is very narrow, 
only about three-quarters of a mile across, and an almost 
level piece of ground. There are not any forests in this 
locality, scarcely even a single tree; the eye wanders over 
a succession of low volcanic hills, bearing nothing but the 
monotonous brown Fern (Pteris esculenta), with here and 
there a shrub of Coriaria sarmentosa rising a few feet above 
the common denizen of the soil by which it is everywhere* 
surrounded. This neighbourhood was once densely inha- 
bited ; but the frequent and sanguinary wars of the ferocious 
tribes of this benighted land, have all but entirely depopu- 
lated these fertile districts. ; 
Having concluded to return overland to the ler: of: 
Islands, we procured a supply of rice—the only portable 
article of food obtainable in these parts—for we were now 
VOL, IIL F 
