NEW ZEALAND. 371 



of Islands to myself as a place of surpassing beauty, and I could not 

 but feel gratified at the idea of paying it a visit : it did not, however, 

 realize my expectations. It might, with more propriety, be called the 

 Bay of Inlets. The best idea that can be given of its geographical 

 features is, to liken it to an open hand with the fingers spread apart. 

 The land is much indented with bays, or arms of the sea, running up 

 among hills, which are nearly insulated. The distance between the 

 two capes (Brett and Point Pocock) is ten miles, and there are several 

 secondary bays facing this opening. Four rivers flow into them, the 

 Kawa-Kawa, Kiri-Kiri, Loytangi, and Waicaddie, into which the tide 

 flows a few miles, after which they become small streamlets, varied 

 by some waterfalls. There are many minor indentations, which 

 render it impossible to move any distance without a boat ; and it is 

 often necessary to make a turn of five or six miles around an inlet or 

 marsh in going to a place, which might be reached in one-tenth of the 

 distance by water. 



The land has the appearance of barren hills without accompanying 

 valleys, and there is so little level ground that terraces are cut in the 

 hills to build the cottages on.. The whole view is any thing but pictu- 

 resque, and there is little to meet the eye except bare hills and extensive 

 sheets of water. Some fine views are, however, to be met with from 

 the elevated ridges, which afford occasional glimpses of the bay, with 

 its islets. 



Many of our gentlemen were struck with the resemblance of this 

 land to that of Terra del Fuego. Black islets and rocks, worn into 

 various shapes, are found, as in that country, at all the points in the 

 bay through which a boat can pass. These rocks are of a basaltic 

 character. About the Bay of Islands the rock is compact and argilla- 

 ceous, showing little or no stratification, and is for the most part 

 covered with a layer of stiff clay, two or three feet thick, the result of 

 its decomposition. The hills about the Bay of Islands are generally 

 from three to five hundred feet high, but some of those at the head 

 of the bay reach one thousand feet. The district about the Bay of 

 Islands, and the northern portion of the island, may be styled volcanic ; 

 for, in addition to rocks of undoubted volcanic origin, all the others 

 had in a greater or less degree undergone the action of fire. Our 

 naturalists were informed that the valley of the Thames was of a 

 different character, although many persons represented the whole 

 island as volcanic. The ridges in the northern part of the island 

 were not thought to rise more than two thousand feet. The Rev. 

 Mr. Williams, missionary at Pahia, has crossed the island from Port 

 Nicholson to Taaranga, during which journey he passed a district from 



