ZEALAND, NEW. 



161 



landers not only for bread, but even occasionally 

 for a meal by itself. When fish are used, they do 

 not appear, as in many other countries, to be eaten 

 raw, but are always cooked, either by being fixed 

 upon a stick stuck in the ground, and so exposed to 

 the fire, or by being folded in green leaves, and 

 then laid between heated stones to bake. But 

 little of any other animal food is consumed, birds 

 being killed chiefly for their feathers, and pigs being 

 only produced on days of special festivity. The 

 first pigs were left in New Zealand by Captain 

 Cook, who made many attempts to stock the coun- 

 try both with this and other useful animals, most 

 of whom, however, were so much neglected, that 

 they soon disappeared. Cook likewise introduced 

 the potatoe into New Zealand ; and that valuable 

 root appears to be now pretty generally cultivated 

 throughout the northern island. The only agri- 

 cultural implements, however, which the natives 

 possess are of the rudest description ; that with 

 which they dig their potatoes being merely a 

 wooden pole, with a cross-bar of the same material 

 fixed to it about three feet from the ground. The 

 labours of agriculture in New Zealand are, in this 

 way rendered exceedingly toilsome, by the imper- 

 fection of the only instruments which the natives 

 possess. Hence, principally, their extreme desire 

 for iron. Mr Marsden, in the Journal of his Se- 

 cond Visit, gives us some very interesting details 

 touching the anxiety which the chiefs universally 

 manifested to obtain agricultural tools of this metal. 

 Taken altogether, New Zealand presents a great 

 variety of landscape, although, even where the 

 scenery is most subdued, it partakes of a bold and 

 irregular character, derived not more from the 

 aspect of undisturbed nature, which still obtrudes 

 itself every where among the traces of commencing 

 cultivation, than from the confusion of hill and 

 valley which marks the face of the soil, and the 

 precipitous eminences, with their sides covered by 

 forests, and their summits barren of all vegetation, 

 or terminating perhaps in a naked rock, that often 

 rises close beside the most sheltered spots of fertility 

 and verdure. If this brokenness and inequality of 

 surface oppose difficulties in the way of agricultural 

 improvement, the variety and striking contrasts 

 thereby produced must be often at least highly 

 picturesque ; and all, accordingly, who have visited 

 New Zealand, agree in extolling the mingled beauty 

 and grandeur which are profusely spread over the 

 more favoured parts of the country, and are not 

 altogether wanting even where the general look of 

 the coast is most desolate and uninviting. The 

 southern island, with the exception of a narrow 

 stripe along its northern shore, appears to be, in 

 its interior, a mere chaos of mountains, and the 

 region of perpetual winter ; but even here, the 

 declivities that slope down towards the sea are 

 clothed, in many places to the water's edge, with 

 gigantic and evergreen forests ; and more protected 

 nooks occasionally present themselves, overspread 

 with the abundance of a teeming vegetation, and 

 not to be surpassed in loveliness by what the land 

 has any where else to show. The bleakness of the 

 western coast of this southern island, indeed, does 

 not arise so much from its latitude as from the 

 tempestuous north-west winds which seem so much 

 to prevail in this part of the world, and to the 

 whole force of which it is, from its position, ex- 

 posed. The interior and eastern side of the north- 

 ern island owe their fertility and their suitable- 

 ness for the habitation of man principally to the 



VII 



intervention of a considerable extent of land, much 

 of which is elevated, between them and the quarter 

 from which these desolating gales blow. The more 

 westerly portion of it seems only to be inhabited in 

 places which are in a certain degree similarly de- 

 fended by the surrounding high grounds. In these, 

 as well as in the more populous districts to the 

 east, the face of the country, generally speaking, 

 offers to the eye a spread of luxuriant verdure, the 

 freshness of which is preserved by continual deposi- 

 tions of moisture from the clouds that are attracted 

 by the mountains, so that its hue, even in the heat 

 of midsummer, is peculiarly vivid and lustrous. 

 Much of the land, both in the valleys and on the 

 brows of the hills, is covered by groves of majestic 

 pine, which are nearly impervious, from the thick 

 underwood that has rushed up every where in the 

 spaces between the trees ; and where there is no 

 wood, the prevailing plant is a fern, which rises 

 generally to the height of six or seven feet. Along 

 the skirts of the woodlands flow numerous rivers, 

 which intersect the country in all directions, and 

 several of which are navigable for miles up by 

 ships of considerable burthen. Various lines of 

 communication are in this way established between 

 the opposite coasts of the northern island ; while 

 some of the minor streams, that rush down to the 

 sea through the more precipitous ravines, are inter- 

 rupted in their course by magnificent cataracts, that 

 give additional effect to the other features of subli- 

 mity and romantic beauty by which the country is 

 distinguished. Many of the rocks on the coast are 

 perforated, a circumstance which proceeds from 

 their formation. 



The climate of New Zealand, in so far as regards 

 the extremes of heat and cold that are felt in the 

 country, is decidedly temperate. During nearly 

 ten months that Captain Cruise was in the north- 

 ern island, from about the middle of February to 

 the beginning of December, the general range of 

 the thermometer was between 50 and 75, nor 

 did it ever descend below 40, or rise above 80. 

 The coldest day marked, we believe, is the 4th of 

 July, when it stood at the former elevation; and 

 one of the warmest, the 4th of April, when it rose 

 to within two degrees of the latter. A country 

 thus situated, is placed in the very happiest medium 

 between the torrid and the frigid. The prevalence 

 of stormy weather, especially on the west coast, 

 forms the chief exception to the general excellence 

 of the climate of New Zealand. The quality of 

 the soil of this country may be best estimated from 

 the profuse vegetation with which the greater part 

 of it is clothed, and the extraordinary vigour which 

 characterizes the growth of most of its productions. 

 The botany of New Zealand has as yet been very 

 imperfectly investigated, a very small portion of 

 its native plants having been either classified or 

 enumerated. From the partial researches, how- 

 ever, that have been made by the scientific gentle- 

 men attached to Captain Cook's expeditions, and 

 subsequent visitors, there can be no doubt that the 

 country is rich both in new and valuable herbs, 

 plants, and trees, as well as admirably adapted for 

 the cultivation of many of the most useful among 

 the vegetable possessions of other parts of the world. 

 The New Zealanders had made considerable ad- 

 vances in agriculture even before Captain Cook 

 visited the country ; and that navigator mentions 

 particularly, in the narrative of his first voyage, the 

 numerous patches of ground which he observed all 

 along the east coast in a state of cultivation. Since 



