124 Transactions. 
quantities of a small but beautiful shrub, apparently belonging to the 
Epacridee (Leucopogon richei), the sand grass above referred to, and fern. 
From Warikauri we proceeded to Taupeka, where we slept. 
“From thence, on the next day, we proceeded to Kaingaroa, travelling 
along a sandy beach fringed with bush, into which we occasionally passed 
in order to avoid rocky places projecting into the sea. With the exception 
of a Eurybia and Dracophyllum Y found no plants in flower, and the weather 
was so extremely wet that I was unable to enter the bush. We remained 
at Kaingaroa three or four days, one of which I spent at the residence of 
Mr. Shand, at Wakuru, by whose family I was hospitably entertained. 
From Kaingaroa we went to Okawa, formerly the principal Maori settlement, 
and the chief scene of their cannibal festivities; and from thence we re- 
turned to the Red Bluff, passing across the great lagoon along a reef which 
lies about a foot below the surface of the water, and intersects the lagoon from 
east to west. This reef is generally from twenty to thirty yards broad, but 
occasionally narrows to less than ten, with a sloping bank on each side. 
The lagoon is nearly forty miles in length from north to south, and from 
eighteen to twenty broad at the north end, narrowing to five or six at its 
southern extremity. It almost intersects the island, the space between the 
north bank and the sea shore being little more than three or four miles, 
whilst at the south end it is only separated from the sea by a sand-bank a 
_- hundred or a hundred and. fifty yards wide. This sand-bank is periodically 
broken through by the accumulated waters of the lagoon; the beach, after 
the lagoon has sunk to high watermark, being repaired by the wash of the 
sea from the south-east. The lagoon is in some places bordered by 
extensive spongy tracts, in others by grasses, sedges, and rushes, and 
in others by bush similar to that which occurs on the sea shore. I did. 
not notice any water plants such as Potamogeton, &c., in any of the lagoons; 
though in the centre of one of the smaller lagoons, on the north side of the 
island, I saw some plants spread upon the surface of the water. In conse- 
quence, however, of the depth of the water, and of their distance from the 
edge of the lagoon, I was unable to obtain any specimens. 
“The general surface of Chatham Island, except of that part which lies 
to the south of Petre Bay, is low and slightly undulating, with occasional 
For example, on the tract to the north of the bay there are three 
or four conical hills attaining an elevation of five or six hundred feet, and 
composed of volcanic or igneous rock. These hills are clothed with bush 
~ from top to bottom. The country to the eastward of the Great Lagoon is 
ae Migs iiv, scarcely rising in any part more than fifty feet above sea level. 
| a oue Mats more hilly, the hills pre- 
a n e The: soil is peaty, and often fifty 
Ed E a 
