CHAP. X.J COOK'S STRAITS. 187 



growth of the wool. Goats, asses, and mules seem 

 to be more adapted to this part of the country than 

 the rest of the domestic animals. All those plants 

 which are natives of England can be produced here, 

 but not the natives of warmer climates. I have 

 already expressed a doubt whether the products of 

 the south of France would succeed, as, for instance, 

 the olive, the vine, and the mulberry, although it 

 has been frequently asserted that they would. 



A squatting population, therefore, living apart 

 from each other, but connected by a safe water com- 

 munication, are the best pioneers for a colonization 

 of that part of Cook's Straits. Shipbuilders also 

 should choose a position in Queen Charlottes Sound 

 where they can command a great variety of useful 

 timber. 



It was a common impression that through the 

 centre of the Middle Island there was a mountain- 

 ous ridge rising above the limits of perpetual snow, 

 and falling off to wards the coast on both sides, leaving 

 but little land for an agricultural population. From 

 the concurrent testimony, however, of some Eu- 

 ropeans and of the natives, I have reason to believe 

 that the Middle Island has a configuration similar 

 to the Northern; that its mountains form coast- 

 ridges, which leave a sort of table-land in the inte- 

 rior, although from the narrowness of the island 

 this cannot be of great extent. On the western 

 coast these hills approach very near the shore, being 

 broken however in places, and forming some conve- 



