322 TEMPERATURE. [PART II. 



flows a little streamlet. We pitched our tent in 

 one of these valleys ; and the natives talked of esta- 

 blishing a plantation here, in order to be provided 

 with food on their road to Taupo. In the evening 

 we were joined by some inhabitants of Taupo, who 

 were returning from a visit to Otawao. 



The temperature of the air showed the difference 

 between the climate of the coast and the interior. 

 Although rising at noon to about 70, it fell in the 

 evening to 45, and in the morning we found ice 

 about half an inch thick covering the ponds and 

 swamps, and a hoar-frost whitened the plains. 

 To the northward a thick mist indicated the bed 

 of the Waikato, and again, at a farther distance, 

 that of the river Thames. The wind during these 

 days was from the south-east; towards evening it 

 subsided into a perfect calm, and the landscape 

 assumed that clear autumnal aspect which is so 

 pleasing in Europe. 



On the 4th of May we proceeded over a low un- 

 dulating fern country, and entered a wood, in which 

 the principal trees were matai and totara. The 

 former (Dacrydium matai) bears a dark-blue berry, 

 of the size and shape of that of the whitethorn, the 

 pulpy shell of which has a sweet and aromatic 

 taste. The tree is a pine of moderate dimensions, 

 about seventy feet high at the point where the 

 branches begin ; the wood is durable, though light ; 

 it is red, and looks well in furniture. The totara 

 (Podocarpus totara) is the most durable of the New 



