CHAP. XII.] NORTHERN ISLAND. 



201 



sisting principally of manuka (Leptospermum sco- 

 parium), fern (Pteris esculenta), Lycopodium den- 

 sum, and some mosses, with here and there a bunch 

 of coarse, wiry grass, or Phormium tenax. In the 

 ravines, however, the vegetation is more luxuriant, 

 and consists of various trees, such as Fuchsia excor- 

 ticata, puriri (Vitex litoralis), interspersed with 

 fern-trees and cabbage-palms. On the whole there 

 is very little wood, although in not very remote 

 times the kauri pine (Dammara australis) must have 

 covered all these hills, as is proved by the burnt 

 remains of large trees of this species, and by the 

 resin which lies everywhere scattered on the sur- 

 face. At present there are only a few solitary trees 

 of this species ; these are to the northward of Kai- 

 taia, and are of stunted growth. The destruction 

 of the forest, which was a barrier to the encroach- 

 ment of the sand, has sealed the doom of this 

 northern part of the island, and a time may pro- 

 bably arrive when the whole will become its prey. 

 Where the kauri once grew the soil is now only 

 fit for the manuka and the fern. Evidence that 

 this overwhelming sand-drift is of a modern date, 

 and is owing to the destruction of the forest, may 

 be seen on the western coast. Although there, also, 

 almost the whole is covered with sand, still there 

 are islands, or oases^, so to speak, rising twenty or 

 thirty feet above the sand, one or two miles from 

 the sea-shore, showing on their steep sides the 

 ancient structure of the land. The sand, working 



