438 AUSTEALASIA. 



disappear as if by enchantment, and the streams fed by the melting glaciers sud- 

 denly become swollen torrents. 



The "England" of the Austral seas has the advantage over the mother countr}'' 

 of being exempt from fogs, enjoying a clear azure sky succeeded at Regular 

 intervals by rain-bearing clouds, without those long periods of unsettled weather 

 which at times render a residence in Great Britain so unpleasant for strangers. It 

 is mainly to this absence of fogs that physicians attribute the remarkable salubrity 

 of the New Zealand climate, a salubrity which, with the magnificent scenery and 

 abundance of all kinds of mineral waters, promises to make the archipelago one 

 vast health resort. But the serene skies are purchased at the expense of frequent 

 and fierce gales. Along the shores of Cook and Foveaux Straits these tempestuous 

 gales prevail throughout a great part of the year, and in 1886 the approaches to 

 the harbour of Wellington were swept by as many as fifty-seven successive storms. 



Flora . 



The New Zealand flora varies with the climate from the temperate zone of the 

 north to the cold southern region, while still preserving a certain general uniformity 

 throughout the archipelago. Thanks to its isolated position in the ocean hundreds 

 of miles from any other great extent of dry land, it possesses a flora very distinct 

 from that of any other region in the Austral hemisphere ; two-thirds of its plants, 

 forming nearly thirty different genera, have absolutely no representatives else- 

 where. The nearest allied forms occur in Australia and South America, and by a 

 remarkable phenomenon the latter, although the farther removed of the two con- 

 tinents, seems to present the most numerous analogies. The eucalyptus and acacia, 

 so pre-eminently characteristic of Australia, are not found in New Zealand, a fact 

 of primary importance scarcely in harmony with the assumption of many geologists, 

 that during recent epochs the archipelago was connected with the neighbouring 

 continent by now submerged lands. New Zealand appears to have been an inde- 

 pendent centre of plant life, whence numerous species have been dispersed through- 

 out the surrounding insular groups. 



The isolation of the archipelago had for necessary consequence a certain 

 relative poverty of its flora, which in fact comprises only 960 indigenous species. 

 The forests contain only a small number of distinct forms, and these forms are 

 for the most part characterised by dull and inconspicuous flowers. Hence the 

 thickets present a sombre and monotonous aspect compared at least with the lovely 

 flowering woodlands of Tasmania and the Cape. Their gloom is intensified by the 

 absence of animal life, and even of the song of birds. After wandering through 

 these dense leafy thickets and returning to the sunlit open spaces, the traveller 

 feels relieved as if from an oppressive sense of awe. 



The characteristic plants are the 180 species of tree-ferns and others which 

 in many districts hold exclusive possession of vast tracts. New Zealand has 

 also some peculiar varieties of the pine family, amongst others the kauri 

 {dammara australis), which is at present restricted to the northern island. The 

 magnificent stem of this conifer attains a height of 200 feet, and it yields a 



