Carse. — Flora of the Mauku District. 363 



has shown it to be not, indeed, a rich district botanically, but 

 certainly much better than I had at first anticipated. 



My neighbour, Mr. Heywood Crispe, who has lived here 

 all his life, and who served against the Maoris in the war- 

 time, tells me that in his younger days all the land round 

 here, where now fertile soil and prolific crops repay the 

 settlers' toil, was covered by dense primitive forest. Indeed, 

 that such was the case is even now evident from the stumps 

 and roots of old monarchs of the glade remaining here and 

 there. Small isolated patches of bush, many of them of 

 second growth, and these rapidly disappearing Defore axe and 

 fire, are all that are now left of the great forest which a few 

 decades since covered a vast tract of countrv. 



The most fertile part of this region, which was in con- 

 sequence of that fertility the first to be settled, was acquired 

 by confiscation from the natives for their share in the war. 

 It consists mainly of a more or less undulatory tableland, 

 stretching from Pukekohe nearly to Waiuku. The avei'age 

 height of this tableland is, I believe, about 300 ft. above sea- 

 level, and rising from it are two points of higher elevation 

 — viz., Pukekohe Hill, near the village of Pukekohe, and the 

 Bald Hills, near Mauku. These hills rise to a height of about 

 700 ft. above sea-level. Towards the north the area above 

 referred to sinks more or less gradually to the level of the 

 Karaka Flat ; on the south it is bounded by the lands sloping 

 down to the Waikato Eiver and the Ake-ake Swamp, the 

 latter being little above sea-level ; on the west lies the 

 Waiuku arm of the Manukau Harbour, beyond which the 

 country is more or less broken and rises towards the sand- 

 hills which lie parallel to the coast from the Manukau to the 

 Waikato Heads. It is in this stretch of country that most of 

 what remains of bush is to be found. 



The Karaka Flat is an undulating stretch of country ex- 

 tending from near Drury almost to Waiuku, and lying 

 between the area above referred to and the Manukau 

 Harbour. It is intersected by the Mauku arm of the Manu- 

 kau Harbour, the W 7 aiau arm, and other smaller openings. 

 This part of the district is somewhat dreary in appearance, 

 the vegetation as a rule being low and stunted, except in a 

 few spots more sheltered than the general run of the surround- 

 ing land. In fact, were it not for the frequent clumps of 

 introduced shelter-trees surrounding the houses of settlers 

 here and there the scene would be very monotonous. 



One thing that has struck me as remarkaoie in this 

 district is the absence of certain plants which, in most parts 

 of the country, both north and south of Auckland City, are 

 more or lets common. Nowdiere along an)' of the creek- 

 banks — not even along the Waikato — have I seen Plagianthus 



