

CHAP. XIV.] FORESTS. 223 



clothed with a thick forest, the dark verdure of 

 which is uninterrupted, except by the bright green 

 of a raupo-swamp in the bottom of the ravines, or 

 by the brown hue of the fern, which covers some 

 districts, especially towards the coast. The forest 

 is a mixed one ; that is to say, there is no prevailing 

 kind of trees, and only towards Mango-nui, Wan- 

 garoa, and Hokianga are groves of kauri. Many 

 of the trees, especially the rata (Metrosideros ro- 

 busta), the totara (Podocarpus totara), the rimu 

 (Dacrydium cupressinum), the pukatea (Laurus pu- 

 katea ?), are of immense dimensions. They are 

 intermingled with fern-trees, especially Cyathea me- 

 dullaris and Cyathea dealbata ; while the cabbage- 

 palm (Areca sapida) grows in the deepest recesses. 

 The mouldy soil, refreshed by continual moisture, 

 bears numerous other species of ferns, as well as 

 some beautiful mosses, jungermannias, livermosses, 

 lichens, and a few kinds of fungi. Many trees 

 have been uprooted by gales, or have fallen down 

 from natural decay, whilst all around vegeta- 

 tion is springing up from destruction, and this 

 apparent destructive process gives a true, image of 

 the continual destruction and re-creation of Nature, 

 and displays those unchanging laws which pervade 

 the universe, and which are nowhere more power- 

 fully impressed upon the mind than in a primeval 

 forest. At first, all the trees in a New Zealand 

 landscape seem to be of a uniform dark tint ; but, 

 on inspection, one cannot fail to discover as many 



