174 CLIMATE OF [PART I. 



The east coast, on which Wellington, Auckland, 

 and the Bay of Islands are situated, is colder than 

 the western, where the settlements of Nelson and 

 New Plymouth have been founded, and where the 

 air is far softer and milder. I ascertained this by 

 actual comparisons, and in this respect the western 

 coast must have great advantages over the eastern. 

 In the interior of the islands the climate is colder 

 and less changeable, in consequence of the presence 

 of a snow-clad mountain-group and the greater 

 distance from the ocean. I found at Taupo the 

 acacias of Van Diemen's Land, the Ricinus palma 

 Christi, and potatoes, affected by the frost a cir- 

 cumstance which never happens near the coast ; the 

 leaves also of several trees had become yellow and 

 deciduous ; the landscape assumed an autumnal tint, 

 although it can scarcely be said ever to have had a 

 wintry appearance. At Wellington, on the con- 

 trary, and along the whole coast, the natives plant 

 their potatoes at all seasons of the year, the forest 

 remains evergreen, and the opening of the flower- 

 buds is merely a little retarded during the season 

 of winter, the presence of which is only indicated 

 by more frequent rains and winds. 



Owing to the continual interchange which takes 

 place between the heated air of the equator and the 

 cold air of the antarctic regions, an almost continual 

 wind is kept up, which blows either from the 

 north and the north-west, or from the south and 

 the south-east. Out of 365 days the entire year 



