NEW ZEALAND 



487 



remarkable for its hot lakes and pools, which 

 possess great curative virtue for all rheumatic and 

 skin diseases, its boiling geysers, steaming fnma- 

 roles, sulphur-basins, and pumice plains. These and 

 other interesting phenomena are scattered broad- 

 cast over a wide oelt, stretching from the extinct 

 Kuapehu to the active volcano of White Island in 

 the Bay of Plenty. The exquisite siliceous terraces 

 of Uotomahana, once tlie cynosure of the island, are 

 now buried beneath the debris of Mount Tarawera, 

 shattered to dust by the gigantic steam explosion 

 of June 1886. This region shows better perhaps 

 than any other quarter of the globe the senile and 

 expiring efforts of a prolonged cycle of volcanic 

 activity, and every part of it can be explored with- 

 out hardship and in perfect security. A well- 

 appointed sanatorium is carried on at Kotorua by 

 the government for the healing of the people of the 

 Australian colonies, and is much frequented. Earth 

 tremors and slight earthquakes are not uncommon 

 in the neighbourhood of Cook Strait, but they 

 have done less harm since the colony was settled 

 than earthquakes have done in England during 

 the same period. In the South Island the Central 

 Alp of the Mount Cook district display to the 

 visitor the grandest glaciers in the temperate zones, 

 splendid clusters of snowy mountain-peaks, and 

 stuiMMidous valleys set off by a series of placid 

 yellow-tinted lakes. Farther south the Otago 

 lakes Wanaka, \Vakatipu, Te Anau, and Mani- 

 pori, embosomed in mountains 5000 to 8000 feet 

 nigh present some of the finest lake and mountain 

 scenery in the world, and prove an unfailing source 

 of delight to sightseers from every land. The south- 

 west coast of Otago is pierced by a series of deep 

 ami tranquil sounds of exquisite beauty, charming 

 the beholder now with their picturesque variety, 

 and anon with their precipitous grandeur and 

 impressive quietness and gloom. Milford Sound, 

 near which are the famous Sutherland Falls, 1904 

 feet in height, is justly reckoned one of the finest 

 sights the world has to show. 



Fauna and Flora. New Zealand is a group of 

 true oceanic islands, having been severed from all 

 adjoining lands for countless ages. Originally it 

 contained no mammals except two species of bat. 

 The next highest animals were a few small and 

 harmless lizards, the largest being the remarkable 

 ' tuatara,' famous for its median pineal eye hidden 

 under the skin of the head. Among the* birds are 

 several parrots, one of which the mountain Kea 

 (q.v. ) has recently acquired the habit of kill- 

 ing sheep by pecking the flesh of the loins, 

 and several wingless kiwis (see APTERYX), the 

 puny surviving relatives of the gigantic Moos 

 (n.v.), now extinct, but in former times the lords 

 of creation in these islands. The Maoris brought 

 dogs with them, and doubtless the native rat also. 

 Took gave them pigs, whose wild descendants are 

 still common enough in spots remote from settle- 

 ment. The colonists introduced the common 

 domesticated animals of Europe, which all thrive 

 to perfection. Many kinds of English birds, and 

 also black swans from Australia have been estab- 

 lished in the country, and they are now niimer- 

 oiisi, and in some cases very troublesome. Most 

 unfortunately rabbits also have been acclima- 

 tised, and they swarm in such numbers as 

 to l>e a serious pest, which it costs more than 

 .100.000 a year to keep in check. Fresh-water 

 II-.IH-* of many kinds have been introduced with 

 great success, but salmon have proved hard to 

 establish. The honey and humble bees multiply to 

 an extraordinary degree. In fact, acclimatisation 

 experiments have proved only too successful, and 

 the colony would gladly pay a million or more to 

 be rid of rabbits, sparrows, and linnets alone. 

 Nearly all the native trees and shrubs are ever- 



green. The most important plants are the timber- 

 trees. The best pine is the kauri, but rimu, matai, 

 and totara are also of great economic value. 

 Many other forest trees beeches, ratas, puriri, 

 kowiiai. &c. yield excellent timber. The Phor- 

 mium or native flax thrives best in wet ground, 

 and grows wild in great profusion. The smaller 

 native grasses yield excellent pasture, and the tall 

 'toi-toi' and l)anthonia surpass the well-known 

 pampas grass in elegance of form. Ferns of many 

 kinds greatly abound, including numerous tree- 

 ferns. The fruit and other trees of temperate 

 zones thrive admirably, and a great variety has 

 been already introduced. European grasses and 

 trefoils spread with great rapidity, and so do weeds 

 of every kind, especially sweetbriar, gorse, thistles, 

 cat's ear, sorrel, and docks. Most of these plants 

 grow with a luxuriance unknown in England. 

 Many garden flowers have also run wild. 



Soil and Proil itctions. The deeper alluvial soils 

 and the extensive tracts of limestone formation 

 are lioth extremely fertile. Considerable tracts of 

 the Canterbury and the inland plains are shallow 

 and arid, and require irrigation, which is now 

 extensively applied. The rest of the lowlands is 

 clayey amf heavier to work, but yields a good return 

 for tillage or under posture. The best lands of the 

 North Island regularly carry 8 to 10 sheep per acre 

 on the sown pastures alone. On good land wheat 

 yields a return of CO to 70 bushels an acre, and oats 

 do still better. The average yield of cereals per 

 acre is : wheat, 25 bushels ; oats, 32 bushels ; and 

 barley, 27 bushels ; while potatoes give 5^ tons ; 

 and this wiih the simplest farming, for manuring 

 of any kind is little used. ' In 1889, to which year 

 all the other statistics refer unless otherwise men- 

 tioned, the aggregate production of wheat and 

 oats was 8,44.\:><ii; bushels and 13,673,584 bushels. 

 The area ploughed and laid down in grass or 

 crops was 4,414,199 acres, while 3J million acres 

 were sown with grass without ploughing, chiefly 

 in the fern and forest lands of the North Island. 

 The people are a farming people, and their chief 

 employment is the raising of agricultural and 

 pastoral produce. The volume of these produc- 

 tions may be judged from the present value of 

 the exports, the entire home consumption of the 

 articles exported being of course provided for in 

 addition. vVool amounted to 3,976,375, the pro- 

 duce of 154 million sheep. The home consump- 

 tion was 3,556,004 Ib. Cereals gave 975,983, 

 wheat lieing 489,728 and oats .%0,086. Includ- 

 ing flour, meal, bran, &c., the whole export of 

 grain produce was 1,248,866. This produce went 

 chiefly to Australia, wheat alone going in quantity 

 to London. Frozen, preserved, and salted meats 

 were valued at 922,221, the frozen meat alone 

 reaching 783,374. Nearly a million frozen sheep 

 were shipped to England, and it is believed that the 

 pastures will in a few years yield twice as large a 

 supply. Notwithstanding this enormous drain on 

 the flocks of the colony, they become every year 

 finer and more numerous, since settlers find the 

 rearing of sheep and cattle more remunerative and 

 less toilsome than growing cereals, while the value 

 of their produce is jess affected by sudden fluctua- 

 tions in prices. Kauri gum, chiefly shipped to 

 America, was 329,590. Dairy produce exported 

 reached a value of 213,945, the home consumption 

 of these articles l>eing also very large. The ex- 

 ports of butter and cheese have greatly increased 

 in recent years. Phormitim fibre was valued at 

 361,182, a total many times greater than the 

 average yearly export of this article. See FLAX 

 (NEW ZEALAND). Among miscellaneous exports 

 are skins and hides, 276,393; timber, 199,293; 

 tallow, 159,460; potatoes, 93,996; leather, 

 65,487; seeds, 45,233; bacon and hams, 31,156; 



