1235 



ZEALAND. 



ZEALAND, NEW. 



1226 



The province is protected from the sea by numerous dykes, which run 

 along the coasts and the sides of the rivers. The soil is a rich black 

 mould, and very fertile. The climate is damp, and unfavourable to 

 foreigners, though the natives enjoy good health. The inhabitants 

 ara steady, industrious, and wealthy people, devoted chiefly to agricul- 

 ture, cattle-breeding, and the sea fisheries. Zealand wheat, especially 

 that of the island of Schouwen, is very highly esteemed. The pro- 

 vince produces likewise fine rye and malting barley. Kidney-beans 

 and peas, rape-seed and flax, are important articles of exportation, 

 aud the island of Schouwen alone produces '20,000 cwt. of flue madder 

 annually. The sheep are small, and the wool of indifferent quality. 

 The horses are large, heavy, and strong. Poultry, rabbits, ducks, wild- 

 fowl, and fish abound. Besides grain and pulse, the people cultivate 

 potatoes, melons, fruit, and teazels. The inhabitants have a consider- 

 able export trade, and some manufactures of linen, woollen, and fine 

 yarn ; distilleries, breweries, talt-works, and dockyards for ship-build- 

 ing. The following are the islands : 



1. Walckercn, in which are the following towns -.ifidddburg, the 

 capital of the province, a fortified town, connected with the West 

 Schelde by a navigable canal half a league in length. It is a seaport, 

 and has 15,000 inhabitants. FLUSHING. Veere, or Teneere, a fortified 

 town at the mouth of the East Schelde. 2, and 3. BEVELAXD, North 

 and South. 4. Wolfertdyk, with the village of Oosterland, separated 

 by the Zuyd Vliet from North Beveland. 5. SCHOUWEX, separated by 

 the East Scbelde from North Beveland. In this island are the towns 

 otZierickzee, with 7000 inhabitants, who derive their subsistence 

 from the fishery, salt-works, trade in madder, ic. Brouwershafen. 

 mostly inhabited by seamen and fishermen. 6. Duivdand, separated 

 from Schouwen by the Dyl. 7. Tkolen. This island produces the 

 finest flax, and it manufactures the finest thread, of which one pound 

 cosU 300 florins (nearly 252. sterling). The town of Tkolen has 2000 

 inhabitants, and is partly fortified. 



In Dutch Flanders are the following towns : .Sin de Oand, a well- 

 fortified town, with 1200 inhabitants, situated on a canal which leads 

 from Ghent to the West Schelde. Mays, or CEcliue, a well-fortified 

 place, situated on a bay of the North Sea, at the mouth of the Schelde, 

 and on a canal to Bruges. The population is 1200. Aa.rdmbv.rg, on 

 a canal which joins the Zwin, has 1400 inhabitants. Cadsand, on the 

 island of Ca<lsaud (which is 5 leagues long and 4 broad ; it has rich 

 pastures, and u famous for its cheese), is a mere village. Axel, on an 

 island in the Schelde, on a canal from the West Schelde, has 2300 

 inhabitants. Haiti, a fortified town, with 2000 inhabitants, with a 

 h irbour communicating with the Helle Oat, a creek of the West 

 :<le. 



X.KALAND, or SLELAND. [DRHCARK.] 



X. 1C A LAND, NEW, one of the British colonies, consists of a group 

 >f island* situated in the Pacific Oc an and in the southern hemisphere. 

 T.iis group includes two large islands aud a small island at the south- 

 ern end of them. Many other islands still smaller are scattered along 

 the (bore*. The northern of the two large islands is called by the 

 natives Eaheinomauwe, and the southern Tavai-Poenammoo ; they 

 lira separated b/ a wide strait, called from its discoverer, Cook Strait. 

 The northern island is called by the colonists New Ulster ; the central 

 large inland is called New Munster, and the small inland is New 

 ,-r, or Stewart Island. The islands lie between 169 and 178 35' 

 E. long., 34 2V and 47 20' S. lat The entire length of the two 

 large islands is about 1200 miles, and the mean breadth about 140 

 miles. The are* U shout 95,000 square miles, Stewart Island is 

 about 60 miles long and 60 miles wide. The native population in 1850 

 was estimated at 120,000. In 1851 the census taken in the settled 

 district* gave a population of 26,056, of whom 14,996 were males and 

 11,660 female*. 



Caatt-line, Uarboun, <te. New Ulster, the most northerly of the 

 ulanils, is of a very irregular shape, extending north-east and then 

 north-west, with a large promontorial projection near the middle on 

 the eat. It lies between 34 25' and 41 40' S. lat., 172 30' and 

 178* 49' E. long. Ths most northern portion U a narrow tongue of 

 land about 40 miles in length, but hardly anywhere more than 8 miles 

 across, except at the most northern extremity, where it expands in 

 the form of a dovetail, ami where it is more than 20 miles from west 

 to east. This is chiefly occupied by a ridge of hills of moderate eleva- 

 tion, which extends fr'om the western cape, called Cape Maria Van 

 Disown, by Tasman, to the North Cape, or Cape Otou. About 4 

 miles from Cspe Maria van Diemen, on the western coast, begins a 

 cliff which rises almost perpendicularly from the sea, and continues 

 for 6 miles. From this place the ridge of hills recedes from the shore, 

 and run* inland towards the harbour of Pa-reinga on the eastern coast ; 

 but it lends short o&seU to the north and south, so that it is inter- 

 sected by several small valleys. North Cape is high and bold, pre- 

 senting steep sides to the northern and eastern coast, but a flat and 

 swampy tract about 3 square miles in extent runs from the northern 

 to the eastern (bores, separating tlie promontory from the hilly tract, 

 which terminates on the eastern coast in perpendicular cliffs of 

 volcanic conglomerate. A narrow isthmus 30 miles in length, con- 

 istiog of low hills and swamps, connects this promontory with the 

 broken part of the peninsula. On the western shore of the isthmus 

 i* P reiuga Bay, which has always two fathoms of water, and a rise 

 of 10 feet st high tide. On the eastern shore is an isolated hill, called 



Mount Camel, or Houhoura, which rises 500 feet above the sea. On 

 its southern side is a harbour capable of receiving the largest vessels, 

 with anchorage close to the eastern shore ; but the entrance is not 

 more than 40 or 50 yards wide. Where the isthmus terminates on 

 the south there is an extensive alluvial district, which stretches from 

 the western to the eastern coast, and follows the serpentine course of 

 the Awaroa, a river which empties itself into the jestuary of Ran- 

 ganui. The Awaroa, though a small river, is navigable for boats at 

 high water to the distance of about 10 miles; the tides rise 10 feet, 

 and the river has little fall in its lower course. There are several 

 European settlements in this district, and the natives have made roads 

 to the shores of the sea and for internal communication. 



Oa the south of the Vallay of the Awaroa extends a hilly region 

 from sea to sea. The coast on both sides of this region is indented by 

 several inlets, and some of them contain good harbours. On the 

 eastern coast are Doubtless Bay and Wangaroa Harbour, and on the 

 western coast Whangapi and Hokianga. 



The Bay of Islands, called Kororarika by the natives, lies on the 

 eastern coast : it is open to the north and north-east, and the entrance 

 between Cape Pococke and Cape Brett is 11 miles wide. It extends 

 south-west about 1 2 miles, and is studded with several islands, whence 

 it has received its name. There is deep water close to the shore, and 

 there are several good anchorages, even with northerly and north- 

 easterly winds, behind the rocky and elevated islands. It is one of 

 the best harbours in New Zealand. Between the Bay of Islands and 

 Hauraki Gulf, the shores of the sea are bounded by high precipitous 

 cliffs, in which several small indentations occur ; but none of them will 

 receive ships above the size of coasting-vessels, except Wangari Bay, 

 which is formed by the mouth of the Wangari River. The harbour 

 is about half a mile wide and 4 miles long, and has good' anchorage 

 in from 6 to 10 fathoms, and is completely sheltered from all winds. 

 Hauraki Gulf, now called the Frith of the Thames, from its most 

 northern point, Cape Rodney, to its most southern inlet, which termi- 

 nates at the mouth of the river Thames, is about 70 miles long. The 

 entrance is -from the north, where it is 40 miles wide, between Capo 

 Rodney and Cape Colville. It preserves this width to half its extent, 

 but farther south it grows rapidly narrower, and terminates with the 

 estuaries of the Thames, or Waiho, and the Piako, which empty 

 themselves into it within a few miles of each other. Great Barrier 

 Island, opposite Cape Colville, is nearly 80 miles in circumference, 

 and has an excellent harbour, called Great Barrier Harbour, at its 

 most north-western extremity. There are several islands in the wider 

 portion of the gulf, of which those of Raugitoto aud Waiheke require 

 notice. Rangitoto is a cone, rising gradually from the sea, and termi- 

 nating in three peaks, the middle one being the highest. This cone 

 contains a very perfect crater, about 150 feet deep : the highest point 

 of it rises 920 feet above the sea-level. Between Rangitoto and tho 

 mainland U the best channel into Waitemata Harbour, which leads to 

 Auckland. Waiheke is about 30 miles in circumference, aud has a 

 harbour for small vessels, with anchorage for Lirger vessels in the 

 channel which separates the island from tho mainland. 



The peninsula which terminates with Capo Colville contains two 

 harbours, called Coromandel or Waiho Harbour, and Mercury Bay and 

 harbour. From Mercury Bay there is no good harbour till we reach 

 that of Tauranga in the spacious Bay of Plenty. There is here a 

 native village, whence a great number of pigs are exported ; they are 

 mostly brought from the valley of the river Waiho, to be shipped 

 here. Between Taurauga and Katikati which lies about 20 miles 

 north from it, the coast-line is formed by several large islands, which 

 in structure and configuration exactly resemble the mainland, but are 

 separated from it by narrow channels. 



In the Bay of Plenty is the island of Tuhua, or Mayor's Island, 

 which is of considerable extent, aud consists of rugged basaltic rocks, 

 with narrow but fertile valleys. The natives cultivate the land, and 

 occasionally provide passing whalers with provisions. White Island, 

 or Puhia-i-Wakari, is small and low; it contains an active volcano, 

 similar to Stromboli, and produces sulphur. Near Highland Bay, ono 

 of the indentations in the Bay of Plenty, is Mount Kdgecombe, or 

 Putawaki, which reaches a height of 10,000 feet. Other bays on this 

 coast are Hicks Bay ; Poverty Bay, where Captain Cook first lauded 

 in 1769 ; and Wairoa. Cape Kawakawa constitutes, with Cape Camp- 

 bell, the southern entrance of Cook Strait. West of the cape is a 

 wide bay, which on the west is sheltered by the high lauds terminating 

 with liaring Head, or Cape Tourakira. It is open to all winds except 

 those from the north and east, and affords no safety nor good anchor- 

 age. It is appropriately called Useless Bay, also Palliser Bay, and by 

 the natives Wairapara. At the innermost recess of tho bay is the 

 mouth of a river, the Wairapara. West of this bay a headland projects 

 into Cook Strait in a direction from south-west to north-east. It is 

 traversed by two chains of mountains, which terminate at Baring 

 Head and Cape Terawiti. Between these rocky capes Port Nicholson 

 extends northward. It is surrounded by high and steep rocky hills, 

 generally covered with wood, except opposite the entrance of the 

 harbour, where a sandy beach occurs about 24 miles in leugth. This 

 leads to the alluvial valley of the river Hutt, or Eritonga, which ia 

 surrounded by steep mountains, aud extends 7 miles inland, where the 

 hills approach each other and form the gorge of the river. This 

 tract has great fertility. The bay extends about 8 miles, and that 



