Part 
Sketch of the Physical Geography and Climate of New Zealand. 
Chapter I. Physical Geography. 
1. General. 
The New Zealand botanical region comprises those islands Iying in the 
S. W. Pacific between the parallels of 30° and 55° S. lat. and 158° 56’ E. and 
176° W. long. The archipelago, if it may be so termed, consists of the follow- 
‚ing distant groups of islands, — the Kermadecs, the Islands of New Zealand 
proper, the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. 
The total land-area of the region is about 104,581 sq. km 
New Zealand proper consists of two large islands, the North and the 
South and the much smaller Stewart Island. The above, together with some 
other small islands and islets including the Three Kings in the N., lie between 
the 34° 6’ and 47° 20’ parallels ofS. lat. and the meridians 166° and ı79° E. 
long. They constitute the Northern, Central and Southern botanical provinces 
of this work. 
The North Island has an area of 44,468 sq. km; its length is 829 km and 
its greatest breadth 450 km. The area of the South Island is 58,525 sq. km, 
its length 845 km and its greatest breadth 2go km. Stewart Island has an 
area of 664 sq. km and is about 48 km in length. 
. The long isolation of New Zealand far from other land masses is a matter 
of profound significance with regard to the flora. Tasmania, the nearest and 
of importance, is about 13500 in distan. The actual Australian continent is 
somewhat further away (1650 km). Norfolk Island is 750 km from the North 
Island. South America is distant 6483 km from the Chathams and 7700 km 
from New Zealand. Finally, the Antarctic Continent (C. Adare) is 2750 km 
from Macquarie Island and 3700 km from the South Island. 
A consideration of the ocean-depths in the neighbourhood of the New 
Zealand archigelago both serves to emphasize the isolation of the region and 
to show how wide-spread would be the effect ofa general considerable elevation nn. 
of the ocean-bed. The ı80 m line follows rather closely the outline of the ; 
present main islands and includes the adjacent small islands together with the 
“=. Three Kings, Stewart Island and the Snares. The goo m line conforms closely : 
en the above line on the 5 but westwards it extends a considerable distanc e 
