IV THE NORTH AND WEST COAST 113 



100 inches in the year, whereas on the east coast it 

 averages at most about twenty to thirty inches, 

 and the winters are usually intensely cold. There 

 is also evidence that this state of affairs has lasted 

 for long periods, since on the west coast mountains 

 there are distinct signs of glaciation right down 

 to sea level, whereas on the drier east coast the 

 only doubtful signs of a glacial period are con- 

 fined to the summits of some of the mountains, 

 such as Mount Wellington and Ben Lomond in 

 the north. The very great rainfall has a distinct 

 influence upon the vegetation ; the xerophytic 

 Gums are almost everywhere replaced by the 

 Evergreen Myrtles or Beeches, and the under- 

 growth attains a rankness and density which have 

 to be seen to be believed. If it were not for 

 occasional patches of gum forest with its under- 

 growth of Wattle, Honeysuckle, and Tea-scrub, it 

 would be difficult to believe that one was in 

 Australasia at all. The Myrtle or Evergreen 

 Beech {Fagus Cunninghami), which forms the 

 main constituent of the west coast forests, grows 

 into a tall spar, sometimes attaining 150 feet, and, 

 from the crowded manner in which the trees grow, 

 the branches do not spread much. The leaves 

 are very small, stiff, and waxy, and the foliage 

 has a feathery appearance (Fig 35, E, p. 121). 

 The tree is closely allied to a species which forms 

 the main constituent of the temperate South 

 American forests, and to make the resemblance 

 more complete a large orange fungus is parasitic 



SMITH : N.T. TT 



