414 Transact ions. 



away from its present bed across the plains, as only a verj' large river woulcT 

 be competent to move such enormous logs. The former extension of the 

 bush on the plains is proved by the occurrence of vast quantities of fallen 

 timber and numerous stumps in position throughout the belt of country 

 stretching from just north of Amberley, through Woodend at the north of 

 the present Waimakariri, and through Marshland on to Christchurch. The 

 presoit writer has examined such a forest with trees in situ when the excava- 

 tions were being made for extensions at the Christchurch Hospital. This 

 forest belt extended south through Tai Tapu, round Lake Ellesmere, towards 

 the mouth of the Rakaia, and again on towards Timaru, since extensive 

 deposits of swamp-timber are found near Longbeach, between Ashburton 

 and the sea, and again from the mouth of the Orari River to the termination 

 of the downs just north of Timaru. 



On several parts of the coast-line the roots of trees are found in position 

 either submerged below the level of lakes or within the limits of the tide.. 

 Such occur in Lake Ellesmere (J. Rennie), at the mouth of the Opihi (J. 

 Hardcastle), near Washdyke, and again near Pareora (W. AVilson). These 

 shoAv distinctly that the coast-line has been sinking recently, a miovement 

 in all probability only a phase of the great sinking movement of the land 

 which, with minor temporary rises, set in during Quaternary times. 



This coastal forest was largely of swamp origin, and it was composed 

 chiefly of white-pine, or kahihatea {Podocarpus dacrydioides), and manuka 

 {Le-ptospermum scoparium), the former a tree which makes a pure associa- 

 tion principally on swamps, and the latter a very xerophytic type, but 

 found freely on all classes of soils and in many situations. Remains of 

 black-pine {Podocarpus spicatus) and ribbonwood (probably Plagianthus 

 hetulinus) are also found. On the arrival of Europeans relics of this 

 forest existed in a few localities on the plains — for example, at Riccarton,. 

 Papanui, Woodend, Rangiora, and at Temuka. These were mostly of 

 white-pine, black-pine, pokaka {Elaeocarpus Hookerianus), and totara as 

 the timber-trees, in that order of importance, but with little of the last- 

 named. The presence of this swamp-forest was largely determined by the 

 presence of moisture in the form of ground-water, but its disappearance 

 from certain areas may be due to the fact that they had become so swampy 

 that even trees like white-pine could not maintain themselves in the presence 

 of so much water, this tree being really an oxylophyte — that is a xerophytic 

 form which has adapted itself to moist conditions. It is possible, there- 

 fore, that the disappearance of this forest may be partly due to altered 

 climate, although the waterlogging of the soil may be also put down to the 

 sinking of the land which has taken place in fairly recent times. 



Apart from this coastal forest there were at the beginning of settlement 

 considerable areas of standing bush, containing totara, black-pine, and white- 

 pine, at Mount Peel, Geraldine, Waimate, and specially on Banks Peninsula, 

 as well as in a few other localities in hilly places favoured by a good rain- 

 fall and a rich soil. At Mount Peel a considerable area still remains. 

 These were in all probability remnants of a regional forest containing 

 totara which covered extensive areas on the eastern slopes of the main 

 range of the South Island. Excepting that which remains at Mount Peel, 

 its most extensive remnant occurs now in the valley of the Upper Rakaia. 

 Here for miles on the northern bank of the river the slopes of the moun- 

 tains are covered with a thick forest composed largely of this tree. It 

 occurs also in patches on the southern bank. In this locality the wet 

 westerly winds reach well across the main divide, and the mountains to the 



