MoxRO. — Geof/raphical Bofanj/ of Nelson ami Marlhorougli. 163 



over which the flood of colonial enterprise is spreading, were to them 

 unknown. Dr. Hooker himself, with the antarctic expedition, visited the 

 Bay of Islands for a short time ; but unless we are mistaken, the ships did 

 not touch at any port in the South Island. 



The characteristic features of the vegetation of the South Island of 

 New Zealand may be largely stated thus : — -The eastern and central portions 

 of the country are covered v.'ith grass ; the western side with forest. It is 

 not unreasonable to conjecture that at a former period, possibly not very 

 remote, the whole of the surface of the island Avas clothed with continuous 

 forest. On many of the sheep-runs, now lamentably destitute of growing- 

 timber, the settlers find an available substitute in logs of sound, fresh wood 

 lying plentifully scattered on the hill sides ; and in travelling over perfectly 

 treeless plains, where nothing woody at present grows loftier than a " Wild 

 Irishman" (Discaria toiomatoii,, ^ook. i.), stumps are frequently encoun- 

 tered, with their roots spreading out laterally just as they grew when the 

 tree was living ; and the swamps and hollow places on these plains contain 

 an immense abundance of prostrate logs and large branches, affording a 

 supply of firewood sufficient to last for many years. The great agent in the 

 destruction of the primitive forest has undoubtedly been fire. Unlike the 

 Encalyptus of Australia, the New Zealand forest tree is at once killed by 

 excessive heat. A fire may pass through an Australian forest, clearing up 

 the dead fallen timber and scorching and blackening the living ; but the 

 gum trees (many of them even if burnt to the ground) still retain their 

 vitality, and, Phoenix-like, send forth new foliage and branches. I cannot 

 call to my memory a single New Zealand tree that does the same. As the 

 New Zealand forest is generally much more dense and humid than that of 

 Australia, fires running through it are not so frequent, and occur only in 

 the very driest seasons, when the moss which carpets the surface has pai'ted 

 with all its moisture, notwithstanding the shade of its leafy canopy. Such, 

 however, was the case ^two years ago, when immense quantities of valuable 

 timber in the neighbourhood of Wellington and Banks Peninsula were 

 destroyed in this manner. When this happens, the forest is completely 

 killed. Melancholy skeletons of dead trees represent what were formerly 

 masses of cool fohage. No growth takes place either from the stems or 

 roots. But a secondary growth of shrubs arises. Various species of Veronica, 

 Aristotelia, Pittosporum, Aralia, Goprosma, Fuchsia, Leptospermum, and 

 others, soon form dense copses, and with these are blended, according to 

 climate and nature of the soil, varying proportions of ferns and grasses. 

 The larger forest trees will also make their appearance occasionally, growing 

 from seed — more especially the varieties of the birch of the colonists 

 {Fagus), and the totara {Fodocarpiis totara). But as fires are now the rule, 



