410 NEW ZEALAND. 



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 temperature at 

 Kororarika, during the months of February and March, varied from 

 53° to 78°, and the mean was 64-2°. In the sun the thermometer rose 

 as high as 110°. The principal prevailing winds are from the south- 

 east 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, wdio 

 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 com- 

 municated to our crew. The venereal disease, propagated by their 

 licentious habits of life, and unchecked by medicine, 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 

 continuous level tract of as much as a hundred acres, is on the farm 

 of Mr. Clendon on Manawa Bay. The sterility of the soil is not the 

 only obstacle the agriculturist has to contend with. The fern, of 

 which we have spoken, springs up the moment the forest is removed, 

 and covers the land with a dense vegetation. Ploughing is not suffi- 

 cient to extirpate it, for it will spring again from the severed roots, and 

 choke the grain. It can only be completely eradicated by removing it 

 by hand and burning it. The ashes are then spread upon the ground, 

 and are found to be a good manure. In this manner the sons of Mr. 

 Williams the missionary at Pahia, are endeavouring to bring a farm 



