A LETTER FROM MAORI-LAND. 25 



It is not our intention to dwell so much on what are perhaps the 

 more generally attractive features of that portion of the land 

 which we have had opportunities of inspecting, as to speak of 

 some of the more striking natural history objects, which, by their 

 contrast with what we have previously experienced, naturally 

 attract our first attention, and are more likely to prove of interest 

 to our old friends at home. Many people have remarked that 

 the country around the city of Auckland bears a very striking 

 resemblance to home scenes. By home we of course mean the 

 old country, and it is curious how people out here, even though 

 born and brought up in the colonies, invariably speak of the 

 mother country as home ! 



Persons going by road or rail to one or other of the charming 

 little villages in the vicinity of Auckland might very easily imagine 

 themselves to be in some of our Scottish country districts, for the 

 aspect of the land is certainly more Scotch than otherwise. 

 Indeed, going by rail from Auckland to the suburban village of 

 Remuera, the scenery bears a startling resemblance to that with 

 which we are so familiar between Greenock and Kilmalcolm. 



On either side of the line are the farm-yards, with their fields 

 fenced in with hawthorn, and the national Scotch " Dry-stone 

 Dyke " ; on every side are vast quantities of the golden blossoms 

 of the yellow whin bushes, which here attain a luxuriance of 

 growth seldom surpassed even on the bonny hills of Renfrewshire, 

 and which, when in all their glory of bright-coloured blossom, well 

 seem to merit the tribute paid to them by the great Linnaeus. At 

 frequent intervals are '' plantings " of Scotch and American firs ; 

 while scattered everywhere are poplars, oaks, and other familiar 

 trees, to say nothing of the hosts of docks, thistles, and other 

 weeds, which, having found a congenial home, have flourished 

 apace. 



The native trees and plants are quite in the minority ; for one 

 New Zealand plant we find dozens of foreigners. Still, those 

 native plants which do flourish side by side with their imported 

 rivals have about them such a stamp of originality as to prevent 

 us losing sight of the fact that we are indeed in the home of a 

 strange flora. By their mere individuahty, the native trees are so 

 striking in appearance that they at once attract and rivet atten- 



