64 NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND. 



at a native settlement, and then proceeded on foot, which, from the late heavy- 

 rains, made it very unpleasant, being something after the American fashion of 

 travelling by mud ; the first two miles being knee-deep in their mud and water. 

 The road passed through a large native village, to which were attached large 

 flats of Indian Corn, Kumaras, and Tarra. The Kumara is a species of sweet 

 Potatoe {Ipomcea batatis), about six inches long, and one inch thick. Some are 

 red, others yellow and white. It is the sacred food of the New Zealanders at 

 their religious ceremonies or tapus. The Tarra belongs to the natural order 

 Aroidece, but to which of its divisions I could not ascertain, as I never saw one in 

 flower. The natives had also large quantities of Peach-trees. 



I now began to ascend a range of lofty hills, the road having been cut on the 

 summit of a high range, through a dense forest : the foliage of the forest was 

 splendid in the' extreme. The Palms on the hills were from thirty to forty feet 

 high ; some of them were in flower, others in fruit, which was produced in clus- 

 ters like grapes, and of a crimson colour ; they seemed, as Humboldt observes 

 of the Palms of South America, to have a region of their own. The road over 

 which I past had been cut some years previous, but in 1831 a dreadful hurricane 

 visited the island, spreading devastation all around ; upsetting houses and 

 huts, overwhelming the noblest ornaments of the forest, which in a great man- 

 ner blocked up the road. Some of the arborescent species of Ferns were splen- 

 did. Nor were the herbaceous Ferns less beautiful, some of which clasped the 

 trunks of trees and stones to such an extent that the ground was literally 

 covered with this tribe of plants. 



I observed in this part of the road immense blocks of stone of the same kind as ' 

 the adjacent hills, which could only have been removed by volcanic agency. 

 After proceeding about four miles through this forest, I arrived at a fine piece of 

 table land, about 1000 acres in extent, and of good rich soil. TVe travelled four 

 miles over this clear plain, and then entered the second or great forest, which, if 

 possible, is thicker and denser than the first ; on the edge of the forest I found 

 Charleswoodia stricta, C. indivisa and C. Australis, growing with the greatest 

 luxuriance, some of them being fourteen feet high. 



The path now became very intricate, from the fallen timber, which in many 

 places obstructed the road ; the late rain having made it slippery, and my two 

 native guides, being barefoot, were as sure-footed as Chamois, while I with strong 

 shoes had much to do to get on. After ascending the mountains for about ten 

 miles, I came to an opening in the trees, from which one of the finest vistas in 

 the world is to be seen. Far below in the valley the white cottages of the Mis- 

 sion station, imbedded in the most luxuriant hanging woods ; whilst the rivers 

 Whimar and Hookeanga wound their course like huge Serpents in the valley, the 

 distant hills covered with verdure, the high bare perpendicular rocks towering 

 above added grandeur to the scene. The scene now changed, the ground being 



