PREFACE. 



THE following volumes contain an account of 

 several journeys into various parts of New Zealand 

 during the years 1839, 1840, and 1841, a part of 

 which time was occupied in visiting the Chatham 

 Islands and New South Wales. 



My researches as Naturalist to the New Zealand 

 Company might have been far more complete, had 

 it been in my power to make an entire survey of 

 New Zealand, but circumstances rendered this im- 

 possible ; and it appears evident, from the principle 

 which has guided the Government and the public, 

 that we shall be indebted rather to an extension of 

 colonization, than to a previous examination, for a 

 more intimate knowledge of the country. I have, 

 therefore, no>, other pretensions in bringing these 

 volumes before the public, than that they contain 

 unvarnished descriptions of the places I visited. 



I must, however, observe that I have been over 

 much untrodden ground. I was the first to visit 

 or describe Mount Egmont, many places in the 

 northern parts of the island, and some of the pic- 

 turesque and interesting lakes and thermal springs 

 in the interior. The excellent map which Mr. 

 John Arrowsmith has compiled with the aid of my 

 notes and sketches, will amply illustrate the routes 

 I have taken. 



I have entered, on several occasions, upon ques- 



