XXXVli.] PINES. 389 



Wellington, and in the middle island, it is only sparingly 

 met with. It is not a true Pine at allj but is allied to 

 the " Monkey Puzzle " (Araucaria). 



It is a tall and very handsome tree, with a slightly 

 tapering stem, and reaches, in sheltered situations, a 

 height of 100 to 140 feet, with a circumference of from 

 9 to 15 feet; and even much larger specimens are 

 occasionally met with. At Wangaroa, a little to the 

 northward of the Bay of Islands, I measured one that 

 was 48 feet in circumference at 3 feet from the ground. 

 It was -a well-grown, healthy-looking tree, with a heavy 

 cluster of branches thrown out at about 66 feet from the 

 base, and these, spreading obliquely, covered a large 

 space. Many others approximating in dimensions to 

 this magnificent specimen were seen, but the largest that 

 I ever met with was one standing near to Mercury Bay, 

 which measured 80 feet to the branches, and 72 feet in 

 circumference. 



The Kauri is a slower-growing tree than most Firs 

 and Pines ; it is slower even than the Pitch Pine of 

 America, and makes only i inch of wood diameter in 

 about 6 or 7 years. Thus, the two noble trees to which 

 I have referred were, by computation, respectively about 

 1,300 and 2,000 years old ; they were, however, almost 

 unavailable for any industrial purpose, as it would be 

 impossible to move these excessively large trees if they 

 were cut down. 



The Kauri has a dense foliage of tough leathery 

 leaves, resembling in shape those of the Box plant ; they 

 vary from ^ to i^ inch in length, are sessile, and the 

 fruit is a cone of a spherical form of about 3 inches in 

 diameter, enclosed in which are the winged seeds. The 

 bark is quite smooth, and about i inch in thickness. It 

 is a peculiarity of this species of Pine, that a fluid gum, 



