514 Transactions. — Botany. 



as Tararua, Euahine, Kaweka, Eaukumara, here ends in bold 

 mountain masses worthy of a range that has run such a 

 course. Above all is Hikurangi (5,606ft.) ; on the eastern 

 side is Aorangi, somewhat lower ; and on the western is 

 Whanakao (4,323ft.). Close to Hikurangi is a hill, known 

 locally as Little Hikurangi, that looks as if it belonged to a 

 lunar landscape. 



" Leaving the Waiapu Eiver, the track improves as it runs 

 southwards, although it often passes over very high hills, 

 until it reaches Tolago. The highest hill is probably Tawhiti, 

 1,680ft. Calceolaria sinclairii grows almost at the top of it. 

 Inland from Tawhiti are the Waipiro hot springs, rising 

 through rock-salt, and encouraging a growth of Samolus 

 repens and other littoral plants. Close to Tolago (or Uawa) is 

 Cook's Cove, where what is known as Cook's well is still to be 

 seen.* Between Tolago and Gisborne there is a road along 

 which an adventurous man drives a weekly coach. 



" The alternative road, the Motu track, is only 110 miles 

 in length. It passes over lofty ranges, along rocky precipices, 

 and through dense bush, the scenery throughout being almost 

 as beautiful and striking as that of the coast road. The 

 happy traveller to-day finds the Motu bridged. In former 

 times he had to cross by a ford on a bottom of much- worn 

 papa rock, with the cold water running like a mill-race, at one 

 moment not above the horse's fetlocks, at the next up to the 

 shoulder." 



The flora of the district, although most luxuriant, is pro- 

 bably less rich in species than might have been anticipated, as 

 portions of the area are clothed with Leptospermuvi, Cassinia, 

 and Pteris. The extensive forest districts exhibit great variety 

 and luxuriance, differing but little from the best forest of the 

 North Auckland district, except in the total absence of kauri 

 (Agathis australis, Salisb.). Perhaps the most remarkable 

 characteristic is exhibited by the puriri (yitcx lucens, T. Kirk), 

 which is extremely luxuriant, and attains large dimensions in 

 many localities, features of great interest when it is remem- 

 bered that this subtropical tree finds its extreme south-eastern 

 limit on the East Cape peninsula. 



The appended catalogue of flowering-plants and ferns 

 known to occur within the limits of the district comprises 

 about five hundred species, but cannot be considered an ade- 

 quate representation of the flora. When Aorangi, Hikurangi, 

 and other peaks, with the high country about Waikaremoana 



* See Trans. N.Z. Inst., x., "On a Cavern near Cook's Well at 

 Tolago Bay, and on a Tree found there," by the Rev. W. Colenso, F.R.S. ; 

 also, an article on the visit of Cook to Poverty Bay, by Bishop Williams, 

 in vol. xxi., 389. 



