﻿W. T. L. Travees. — Notes on the Chatham Islands. G3 



Art. III. — Notes ooi the Chatham Islands, extracted from Letters from 

 Mr. H. H. Tr avers. By W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. 



\Read before the Wellington Pliilosopli'ical Society, 25th Noveniber, 1871.] 



I BEG to communicate to the Society tlie following notes, extracted from letters 

 from my son, wlio is now on a visit to tiie Chatham Islands, and is engaged 

 in collecting objects illustrative of their natural history. He started from IsTew 

 Zealand in the beginning of July, experiencing very severe weather on the 

 passage down. During the voyage he saw considerable numbers of Mollymawks 

 ( Diomedea melanoptorys), Cape Pigeons ( Procellaria ca2)ensis), and other kinds 

 of Petrel, but very few Albatrosses. Unfortunately, the want of hooks pre- 

 vented Lis obtaining any specimens of these birds. The vessel first made the 

 land near Manganui, the residence of a German family (whose name he does 

 not mention), by whom he was received and treated with great kindness. 

 Their place derives its name from a picturesque volcanic hill, at the foot of 

 which the house is built. This hUl is clothed with bush on its lower slopes, 

 from which it emerges, as it were, in nearly perpendicular crags, full of small 

 caves and fissures. He searched these caves for traces of raised beaches, but 

 observed none. He, however, found in them considerable numbers, of bii-ds' 

 bones, but whether any of them are of extinct species does not appear from 

 his letter. The beach near the house is strewed with dead shells, chiefly Turbo 

 Cookii, Elenchus, Iris, a large Triton (the specific name of which is not given), 

 with quantities of bivalve shells, which he describes as generally similar to 

 those on the beach at Waikanae heads. Manganui is near Tuponga, which, 

 before the Maoris' late departure from the Chathams for Taranaki, was one of 

 their most flourishing settlements. This settlement appears to have been 

 nearly destroyed by the tidal wave of 15th August, 1868, by which many of the 

 huts were broken to pieces, the fragments being carried for a considerable 

 distance inland. He next visited Wangaroa, the only harbour in the islands. 

 It has the appearance of a small lake, the shores of which were formerly 

 covered with bush, which has since been destroyed. In walking from Manganui 

 to "Wangaroa, he passed one of the places in which the peat (which covers a 

 large part of the main island to a considerable depth,) has been on fire for time 

 out of mind. Mr. Engst, by whom he was accompanied, pointed out where, 

 thirty years before, the road crossed a place now occujiied by a deep hole, 

 resulting from the burning of the peat, and my son observed that, since that 

 time, the entire space burnt does not exceed an acre in extent, showing how 

 very slow is the process of destruction. Some of the burnt-out holes are now 

 filled with water to the depth of ten or twelve feet. From Wangaroa he pro- 

 ceeded to Waitangi, where the late New Zealand convicts were kept. He 



