Rev. Mr. Taylor 1 believed that, from the presence of fossil 
gum in the brown coal of the North Island and South Island, 
— which he erroneously considered to bo identical with the gum 
of the Kauri pine, — it was a natural consequence to infer a high 
geological ago, and a formerly far-extending range of the tree. A 
closer investigation, however, proves plainly that this fossil resin 
is totally different from the Kauri gum. Since, moreover, the 
points , where Kauri wood is found half fossillized and imbedded in 
recent lignite layers, as at the harbours of Hokianga and Kaipara, 
are likewise comprised within the boundaries above designated, there 
is no reason to suppose that the range of the Kauri had origin- 
ally been another than it is now. Three degrees of longitude and 
three of latitude, therefore, encompass the entire and the only 
range of this remarkable tree; and oven within those narrow limits 
the Kauri has at all times been by no means a common tree; be- 
sides, extensive districts within that range which formerly had 
been covered with Kauri woods, are now totally destitute of such ; 
and the extermination of that noble tree progresses from year to 
year at such a rate that its final extinction is as certain as that 
of the natives of New Zealand. The European colonization treatens 
the existence of both, and with the last of the Maoris the last of 
the Kauris will also disappear from the earth. 
The vitality of this tree would appear to depend upon two 
conditions , namely the moist sea breeze and a stiff clay soil. Both 
are found united upon the narrow, northern peninsula. On the 
East Coast , the sea enters by deeply indented bays far into the 
land; and in a similar manner, on the West Coast the estuaries 
of the Hokianga and Kaipara rivers are formed by ramified and 
far-reaching arms of the sea. It was on the shores of these very 
bays and estuaries, that the first settlers found the most luxuriant 
Kauri forests. Tracts near the sea coast, exposed to the sea breeze, 
yet beyond the reach of salt-water itself, and places sheltered 
from violent blasts of wind, are most favourable to the growth 
of the tree; and it crows on such places most luxuriantly even 
1 tt Te Ik a a Maui” p. 438. 
