124 Transactions. 



quantities of a small iDiit beautiful shrub, apparently belonging to tbe 

 EpacridecB {Leiicopocjon ricliei), the sand grass above referred to, and fern. 

 From "Warikauri we proceeded to Taupeka, where we slept. 



" From thence, on the next day, Avp 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 Eurylia and Dracopliyllum I 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 sloj)ing 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 

 hiUs. 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 G-reat Lagoon is 

 very low, scarcely rising in any part more than fifty feet above sea level. 



" The peninsula to the south of Petre Bay is more hilly, the hills pre- 

 senting abrupt escarpments to the sea. The soil is peaty, and often fifty 



