74 ERITONGA VALLEY. [PART I. 



undertaken to cut along the right bank of the river, 

 and which soon approach the hills that bound the 

 valley to the westward. Our road lay over flat 

 alluvial land, covered to a breadth of about four 

 miles from the sea-shore with a recent but thick 

 growth of underwood. Amongst the trees \vas one 

 which, on being pierced, yielded about half a wine- 

 glass-full of a well-flavoured milk. I am unable to 

 say whether this tree, of which I saw only two 

 specimens in Port Nicholson, and those of a small 

 size, belongs to the same family as the cow-tree of 

 Guiana (Galactodendrum), of which Humboldt has 

 given so graphic a description. 



It having at that time been determined to place 

 the town of Wellington on the banks of the river 

 Hutt, I found many of the settlers busily occupied 

 clearing the ground, although it was still very early 

 in the morning. The first colonists at Port Nichol- 

 son were imbued with an excellent spirit of industry 

 and enterprise ; and it was only to be regretted that, 

 from the land not being yet measured out, the 

 colonists did not know whether they should be 

 allowed to retain the spot which they might choose 

 and begin to cultivate, and thus was wanting the 

 principal stimulant for exerting themselves, and 

 thereby fulfilling the first demand on a new colony, 

 namely, of producing in the shortest possible time a 

 sufficient supply for its own consumption. 



Higher up the valley the alluvial land is covered 

 with trees, of which the rimu and kahikatea pines 



