Eutland. — On the Rcgroivth of the Totara. 325 



the Maori clearings, and a few small clumps of larger growth 

 in the Eai Valley, totaras nowhere congregated. Throughout 

 the forest they stood generally solitary, surrounded by trees of 

 different species. 



On Mr. Farnell's property, in the Kaituna Valley, an ex- 

 planation of this singular distribution may now be seen. 

 Here, scattered over the grass land on hills and flats, are 

 numbers of young totaras. Mr. A. T. Cavell, who kindly 

 obtained the particulars of these trees for me, writes : " I 

 visited Mr. Farnell as promised and saw the prolific growth 

 of totara. It is really impossible to say how many to the 

 acre, as, like young birch-trees, they grow in patches. In one 

 place I saw about thirty nice young trees in a space 15 ft. 

 square, while it is quite common to see three, four, and five 

 in a bunch. They grow freely, and Mr. Farnell assured me 

 that they transplant easily. The largest, near Mr. Farnell's 

 house, measures 52^ in. in girth 6 in. from the ground. 

 There are any number measuring from 25 in. to 45 in. in 

 girth, and all of these, including the large one, are less than 

 twenty years old. The large one is one of the dark-coloured 

 species." In other parts of the district the same thing may 

 be observed, but, cattle being generally kept on the farms, 

 only a few of the totara seedlings escape destruction. During 

 twenty years sheep alone have been depastured on Mr. Far- 

 nell's property. 



Evidently the totara belongs to the open land, and not to 

 the dense bush ; hence its congregating on the ridges of hills, 

 where it cannot be overshadowed by other trees, and its being 

 most plentiful in the Eai, where the forest is comparatively 

 open. From the appearance of the bush in one part of the 

 Eai, large totaras standing amongst trees of much smaller 

 growth, it occurred to me that the land had at some remote 

 time been artificially cleared, and in writing on Maori matters 

 I ventured to say that probably traces of human occupation 

 would be found there. Since then the clearing of the land has 

 brought to light ovens and other remains ; thus from these 

 forest giants historical data may be gathered. 



Where the mixed bush escapes fire after the milling 

 timber has been removed young kahikatea, matai, rimu, and 

 totara come up in their proper places, but along with them 

 quicker-growing trees, shrubs, and climbers also spring up in 

 a, much larger proportion. These are conditions fatal to the 

 young totara, but apparently essential to the other species, 

 which grow rapidly, running up into tall slender rods, and 

 subsequently increase slowly in girth. 



The abandoned pit-dwellings of the ancient Moriori in- 

 habitants, with large forest-trees growing in and close around 

 them, prove beyond question that much of the bush on the 



