McKay. — On the Hot Winds of Canterbury. 105 



On all hands it is admitted that 200 years ago a numerous population 

 existed in New Zealand, which, since that time, has been gradually on the 

 decline, chiefly on account of the exterminating wars carried on amongst the 

 natives themselves. And, if the population culminated more than 200 years 

 ago, will 150 years be sufficient for the increase of a few immigrants in 

 sufficient numbers so as to render a large country like New Zealand com- 

 paratively populous? 



In all their traditions, treating of nearly four centuries of time, have any 

 accounts of the Moa been handed down to us? The inevitable conclusion is, 

 that the Moa was either exterminated long before by another race, or that 

 the present inhabitants arrived here not 350 years ago, but 1,350, and that 

 one of their first works was the extermination of the Moa. Such is my 

 opinion on the subject. 



Art. VI. — On the Hot Winds of Canterbury. By Alexander McKay, of 



the Geological Survey Department. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, \2th September, 1874.] 



The north-west winds, which throughout most of the summer months prevail 

 in the Province of Canterbury, are generally regarded as dry and hot winds, 

 and an unmitigated curse to the country. Their ravages throughout the 

 agricultural districts and the discomfort they occasion are sufficiently well 

 known ; their character, as there developed, seems to have been applied to the 

 whole province as a rule. It has also been given in explanation of the very 

 different character of these winds on the two opposite sides of the South 

 Island that in their passage across the Southern Alps their moisture is con- 

 densed by the extreme cold of these regions, they descending to the lower 

 regions as dry and hot winds. I shall be able to show that this process is but 

 very imperfectly performed by the higher and snow-clad ranges. 



As dry and hot winds they are chiefly prevalent on the plains of Canter- 

 bury, but only exclusively so at a distance from the ranges that skirt the 

 western borders of the plains. I was resident for twelve months at the Ashley 

 Gorge, Canterbury, during which time north-westers were unusually prevalent, 

 and almost without exception. After blowing for a few hours as a dry wind 

 heavy rain set in without any change in the direction of the wind, though 

 immediately the rain commenced the wind gradually fell away. These rains, 

 however, seldom prevailed to a greater distance than four or five miles in the 

 direction of the plains. What is true of the Ashley Gorge will equally apply 



