Buchanan. — Sketch of the Botany of Otacjo. 189 



tlie economy of nature, by raising the land and making it fit for tlie growth, 

 of superior plants, the ground being soon taken possession of by Phormiwin 

 tenax and other shrubs. These raupo-fringed lagoons are the favourite 

 haunts of ducks. 



The Fhormium tenax is abundant in this district, where it finds good soil 

 and moisture, so essential to its full development. Areas are also covered 

 by the fern Uteris ag^uilina var. esculenta, growing in some places six feet 

 high. The tutu (Goriaria ruscifolid) is abundant on the Lower Clutha : it 

 is generally found in gullies, where it finds the deepest soil for its large 

 ramifying roots. 



Perhaps the most striking plant of the district is the cabbage-tree (Gor- 

 dijline australis). It is abundantly scattered over the ridges, having, from 

 its non-inflammable nature, escaped burning. Hidges dotted with cabbage- 

 trees, and filled in between with the graceful plumose toitoi grass (Arundo 

 conspicua), j^resent one of the most singular features in ISTew Zealand vege- 

 tation. 



The grasses are numerous in species and of good kinds, and the con- 

 ditions of sufiicient heat and moisture, with good soil, being present, the 

 pasture is superior. 



Erom the Tuapeka to the junction of the Manuherikia, eighty miles, the 

 river is more or less closed in by mountains, with forest on the slopes and 

 scrub on the flats, although considerable portions are now burned and under 

 grass. 



At the junction of the Manuherikia Eiver with the Clutha, the country 

 opens out into a large, terraced, ancient lake basin, through which the 

 Clutha Eiver runs from its leaving the Dunstan Grorge, twelve miles. Over 

 this large district the country is open grass, and, when first visited, of a 

 remarkably sparse growth, consisting of three species on the terraces, but 

 richer in the small valleys. A little scrub Avas at that time found on the 

 banks of the Manuherikia, chiefl^y Olearia virgata. The parching winds 

 and light dry soil of these interior basins must have always been an obstacle 

 to a luxuriant vegetation, and from the same causes, they would be con- 

 tinually liable to be cleared by fire. 



The river passes fifteen miles through the Dunstan Grorge, hemmed in on 

 each side by the mountains, with a narrow terrace on both sides. The slopes 

 of the mountains here are steep, but carry a good pasture of numerous 

 species of grass. 



At the termination of the gorge, upwards, the Clutha is joined by the 

 Kawarau Eiver, and the country opens out again into another ancient lake 

 basin, fringed by terraces, and stretching forty-five miles to the "Wanaka and 

 Hawea Lakes. The whole of this district is similar to the last, with poor 



