172 [PART i. 



CHAPTER IX. 



On the Climate of Cook's Straits and New Zealand in 

 general. 



IN preparing these few remarks on the climate, I 

 have had before me a nearly complete series of me- 

 teorological observations, made at Port Nicholson, 

 taken daily at 8 A.M., at noon, and at 5 P.M., and re- 

 cording the temperature and pressure of the air, the 

 quantity of rain, the winds, and the general state of 

 the weather during an entire year. The observations 

 on temperature were not made with the self-register- 

 ing thermometer, and therefore do not comprise the 

 greatest degree of heat or of cold : this, however, is 

 of little consequence. The deductions derived from 

 the observations made at Port Nicholson will apply 

 to the whole of New Zealand, but not without great 

 restrictions, as it is obvious that marked differences 

 must exist in a country extending through nearly 

 thirteen degrees of latitude, and in which there are 

 central and coast positions, hills covered with forest, 

 and mountains reaching above the limits of per- 

 petual congelation. It must also be observed that 

 the year in which the observations were made 

 was a very wet one, according to the testimony of 

 the old settlers. 



