214 EXCURSION TO [PART II. 



correctly, a jungle ; and the beautiful crowns of 

 these monocotyledonous, mostly dichotomous, or 

 many-branched trees, with their bunches of delicate 

 white flowers below the crown of leaves, as in the 

 palm-tree, give the landscape a most novel aspect, 

 the more so from my having seen few such open 

 flats in New Zealand. The higher we went, the 

 more agreeable was the scene. On the shores were 

 native settlements, with long seines hanging out to 

 dry, and many natives at work mending canoes and 

 their fishing apparatus, for the season is approach- 

 ing when the shark is caught in great numbers. 

 Here and there fields of potatoes, kumeras, melons, 

 and pumpkins, neatly fenced in, and kept extremely 

 clean, show all the vigour of vegetation for which 

 New Zealand is so remarkable. Their owners 

 welcomed us as we went along, but did not evince 

 any pressing curiosity. The setting sun threw a 

 stream of gold over the western horizon, which 

 caused the mountains to stand out in sharp relief 

 against the sky, and made them appear almost of an 

 indigo colour. Early in the evening we arrived at 

 Southee's farm ; it is situated on both banks of the 

 river, which here forms by its serpentine course 

 several natural paddocks. The maize, growing ten 

 or twelve feet high, and the fields of yellow wheat, 

 bowing under the weight of the grain, showed what 

 the land is capable of producing. Cattle were graz- 

 ing about, and the well-stocked farm-yard bore 

 testimony to an industry such as is very rarely met 



