326 Transactions. — Botany, 



Some years ago an attempt was made to utilize the flat tracts between 

 Mason Bay and Patersou's Inlet as a sheep run, and portions of the lower 

 slopes of the hills were cleared, by burning, to extend the area of grass- 

 bearing land. About six. hundred sheep were placed on the ground, but 

 they did not thrive, and few now survive the hardships of a life in this 

 inhospitable locaUty. The country appears to be wholly unsuitable for 

 de]3asturing sheep, unless considerable portions of the higher ground were 

 cleared and sown with grass, an improvement that would involve a heavy 

 outlay. A few spots of the low land grow grass luxviriantly, but much of 

 it must be under water a great part of the year, and a very large proportion 

 of the remainder is always inaccessible bog. Drifted grass and twigs caught 

 in the branches of the manuka bushes indicated that floods, sufficient to 

 inundate the greater part of the low country, are not unknown. 



The grasses found here are of little value for pasturage. Danthonia raoulii 

 (brown snow-grass) and D. semi-anmdaris were the most abundant, and the 

 latter was by far the most widely spread. Poa australis (silver or white tus- 

 sock) is by no means plentiful, and is dwarfed in size, and inclined to form a 

 loose sward. The only other fodder grass of any consequence was Danthonia 

 quadriseta. In general, the grass is extremely sparse, and is almost choked 

 by the abundant growth of rush-like and Cyperaceous plants. There can, I 

 think, be no doubt that this, the only open part of Stewart Island, is in its 

 present condition wholly unsuitable for either agricultural or pastoral occu- 

 pation. No doubt draining would make some improvement, but the fall is 

 so slight, and the soil so saturated with frequent heavy rains, that general 

 drainage would probably do but little good. However this may be, it will 

 be a very long time before this part of Stewart Island will have any other 

 resources than timber and the produce of its fisheries. 



At the mouth of the inlet lies an island of considerable size called the 

 Neck. It is connected by a sand-bank with the southern mainland, has a 

 very fertile soil, and is occupied by a number of Maori and half-caste 

 families. The sand-bank joining this island to the southern mainland has 

 evidently filled up a former eastern outlet of Paterson's Inlet, and has en- 

 croached on it from the south. We may account for the change by the 

 gradual drifting of the sand before the southerly winds, which are the pre- 

 vailing ones here, and the transportation of material in the same direction 

 by the tides flowing from the southward. The condition and situation of 

 the Neck are strikingly analogous to those of Otago Peninsula. Both have 

 been islands at a recent date ; both are now connected with the southern 

 mainland by a narrow sandy isthmus ; both are fertile and largely composed 

 of volcanic rocks ; and both have been recently converted from islands into 

 peninsulas by the gradual encroachment of sand blown from the south. I 



