434 NEW ZEALAND. 



summer and the beginning of autumn, from November to March, are 

 from the southeast and northwest, which usually succeed each other 

 at short intervals; during the rest of the year, winds from south 

 round to west are more frequent, and bring with them wet weather. 



The general information which we obtained, -and which has not 

 been included in the preceding portions of the chapter, is as follows. 



The climate of New Zealand is extremely changeable; hut although 

 it may be considered as the cause of many diseases among the natives, 

 it is, perhaps, the best suited to a European constitution of any in 

 the South Seas. A large quantity of rain falls during the year, but 

 I was unable to obtain any record of its exact amount. The tem- 

 perature at Kororarika, during the months of February and March, 

 varied from 53° to 78°, and the mean was 64-2°. In the sun the ther- 

 mometer rose as high as 110°. The principal prevailing winds are 

 from the southeast and west : the former are frequently in squalls, 

 and attended with rain. May and June are the rainy months. 



Warm days are often succeeded by cold nights, which give rise 

 to pectoral diseases among the natives, many of whom are affected by 

 phthisis, or swept off by rapid consumptions. They are also liable 

 to rheumatism and pleurisy. European and American residents, 

 who enjoy better food and clothing, and inhabit more comfortable 

 dwellings, are exempt from these complaints. Measles, hooping- 

 cough, and other epidemics, have been introduced from foreign 

 vessels. While we lay at the Bay of Islands, the influenza prevailed 

 on shore, and was communicated to our crew. The venereal disease, 

 propagated by their licentious habits of life, and unchecked by medi- 

 cine, is rapidly reducing the numbers of the natives. 



The greater part of the soil of the portion of New Zealand which 

 fell under our observation is too sterile to be profitably employed in 

 agriculture. It consists, in general, of an obdurate yellow loam, 

 capable of bearing little else, after it is cleared of trees and brush- 

 wood, than the fern (Pteris esculenta.) Where the soil is volcanic, 

 however, it is comparatively fertile ; but this description of ground is 

 rare. 



Wheat and other grains are raised, and the fruits and vegetables of 

 temperate climates succeed well. The hills are almost bare of vege- 

 tation ; for after the ground is cleared, the heavy falls of rain sweep 

 the soil from them into the valleys, and wear the hill-sides into gullies. 

 In this manner patches of good land are formed in them, which, 

 however, rarely exceed fifteen or twenty acres in extent. The only 



