510 



NEW ZEALAND. 



Dec. 1835. 



their potatoes, Indian corn, or pigs, to exchange for 

 blankets, tobacco, and sometimes, through the persuasions 

 of the missionaries, for soap. Mr. Davies^s eldest son, who 

 manages a farm of his own, is the man of business in the 

 market. The children of the missionaries, who came while 

 young to the island, understand the language better than 

 their parents, and can get any thing more readily done by 

 the natives. 



A little before noon, Messrs. Wilhams and Davies walked 

 with me to part of a neighbouring forest, to show me the 

 famous Kauri pines. I measured one of these noble trees, 

 in a part which was not enlarged near the roots, and found 

 it to be thirty-one feet in circumference. There was another 

 close by, which I did not see, thirty-three ; and I heard of 

 one, no less than forty feet. The trunks are also very 

 remarkable from their smoothness, cylindrical figure, absence 

 of branches, and having very nearly the same girth through 

 a length from sixty to even ninety feet. The crown of this 

 tree, where it is irregularly branched, is small, and out of 

 proportion to the trunk ; and the foliage is likewise diminutive 

 as compared with the branches. The forest in this part was 

 almost composed of the Kauri; and the largest, from the 

 parallelism of their sides, stood up like gigantic columns of 

 wood. The timber of this tree is the most valuable pro- 

 duct of the island : moreover, a quantity of resin oozes 

 from the bark, which is collected and sold at a penny 

 a pound to the Americans, but its use is kept secret. 



On the outskirts of the wood, I saw the New Zealand 

 flax growing in the swamps : this is the second most valuable 

 export. This plant somewhat resembles (but not botanically) 

 the common iris ; the under surface of the leaf is lined by a 

 layer of strong silky fibres ; and the upper consists of green 

 vegetable matter, which is scraped oiF with a broken sheU, 

 and the hemp remains in the hand of the w^orkwoman. 

 In the forest, besides the kauri, there are some other fine 

 timber trees. I saw numbers of beautiful tree-ferns, and 

 was told of palms. Some of the New Zealand forests must 



