Cockayne. — Botanical Excursioyi to Southern Islands. 235 



with great fury ; and it has also rained almost constantly until 

 yesterday at noon. Since then we have had frequent falls of 

 hail and snow." " Sunday, 3rd July, 1864. — Blowing a strong 

 gale at W.N.W." "It has been stormy during the whole 

 of the past week. On Tuesday and Wednesday a con- 

 siderable quantity of snow fell — all the ground was covered ; 

 but since midnight of Wednesday we have had a heavy gale 

 from the W.N.W., with much rain, which still continues." 

 " Sunday, 7th August, 1864. — During the whole of the last 

 week the weather has been very bad ; it has been blowing a 

 very heavy gale from between west and north-west, with 

 either hail, rain, or snow continually falling. From noon 

 yesterday till 3 o'clock this morning the gale was at its 

 height ; it blew a hurricane, and was the heaviest I have ever 

 seen while on shore. Our house is elevated about 30 ft. above 

 the mean tide-level, and is about 50 yards from the water, 

 and during the height of the hurricane the spray was fre- 

 quently dashed against it in heavy showers. Had it not been 

 well built, and securely, it. would inevitably have been blown 

 down." " Sunday, 21st August, 1864. — During the greater 

 part of the past week the weather has been very fine." 

 " Sunday, 26th March, 1865. ^The sea booms and the wind 

 howls. These are sounds which have been almost constantly 

 ringing in my ears for the last fifteen months, for during the 

 whole of this time I dare venture to say they have not been 

 hushed for more than a fortnight together." 



From Mr. W. Joss, who has spent at different times many 

 months sealing on x'Vuckland Island, I have been able to learn 

 the following regarding the climate of spring, summer, and 

 autumn : The rainfall is not very great, nor are the separate 

 downpours heavy, but there are a very great number of days 

 on which rain falls — indeed, generally speaking, it rains more 

 or less every day. Should it rain in the morning it will most 

 likely be fine in the afternoon, and vice versa. During the 

 summer mouths there is perhaps one day in each week on 

 which no rain falls. The rain is usually accompanied by 

 wind. There is no frost at sea-level during spring, summer, 

 or autumn. In the sunshine it is hot, but a perfectly clear 

 sky is a very rare event. 



During my short visit to the Auckland Islands it rained 

 slightly every day, the rain accompanied by squalls of wind. 

 There was a slight frost at sea-level, and a small amount of 

 snow fell. On the hills, both in the north and south of the 

 group, were patches of snow, but Captain J. BoUons informed 

 me that he had never seen more snow on the hills in tlie 

 neighbourhood of Port Boss during any winter visit of the 

 " Hinemoa " than was then present. 



From the above details regarding the climate of the Auck- 



