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with a spreading network of pohuehue ; then entering again a stretch of what is known as “ mixed 
bush,” where all kinds of New-Zealand trees and shrubs and ferns are crowded together in harmonious 
confusion, presenting a study to which no pen, however gifted, could do adequate justice. As you 
gaze upon this sylvan picture you are forced to admit that there is nothing in the world more 
beautiful ! 
As we approach the river-banks, the low bushes are covered with a thick mantle of convolvulus, 
closely studded or spangled with the pure white flowers, like innumerable luminous stars on a cloth 
of vivid green; and the tree night-shade ( Solatium nigrum) grows in wild luxuriance, its pale blue 
bells having a pretty effect against the sombre foliage. 
But the principal charm of these woods is the rapid change in their aspect as one season succeeds 
another. In the autumn months, when the berries of various trees have ripened, they are swarming 
with Pigeons, especially in the more fruitful seasons which occur at intervals of two or three years. 
In the winter they are deserted, and you may travel for a whole day without seeing or hearing a bird 
of any kind, except those that commonly frequent the road. But this lifeless season is of short 
duration, and is followed by the gladness of the early spring-time. The whole bush is then decked 
out with the beautiful star-like Clematis, hanging in garlands round the trees, festooned in clumps 
among the lower vegetation along the open roadside, and displaying its petals of snowy white in 
great profusion. The pukapuka, which is abundant everywhere, supports on its poisonous stems a 
crown of creamy blossoms in clusters so thick as quite to conceal the leafy top ; the kowhai, having 
shed its leaves, is transformed into a glory of golden yellow, each branchlet bending under a cluster 
of horn-shaped flowers of uniform pale yellow with a green peduncle. 
Visit these woods again at the commencement of summer and the whole scene has changed. 
The hanging festoons of Clematis have disappeared and in their place may be seen bunches of green 
silky tassels, containing the seed-vessels of this plant and possessing a characteristic beauty of their 
own ; and underneath the golden kowhai trees the ground is carpeted with fallen petals. But the 
crowns of Cordyline are now bearing, in rich plenty, their drooping branchlets of fragrant flowers ; 
the tawhero, of which the lower forest is largely composed, is covered with bottle-brush flowers of 
delicate waxy white ; the miro is one mass of whitish inflorescence, intermixed with the pale green 
foliage of that tree ; whilst clinging to the underwood and hanging from almost every branch the 
kohia creeper exhibits its minute pearly bells in rank profusion. Then every here and there may be 
seen, placed high up in some sturdy fork, a bunch of Loranthus ablaze with its crimson flowers and 
forming a picturesque object amidst its green surroundings. The rata, or Christmas-flower, as it is 
called, is just making its appearance; here and there a vigorous young tree in advance of the rest 
has swathed itself in colour, but for the most part the only indication at present is a crimson blush 
on some of the branches. Before the ides of December have passed these noble rata trees will be 
enveloped in a mantle of fiery red. But the whole woodland already seems abloom and the air is 
laden with a faint but pleasant perfume. As a consequence of this, and the abundance of insect life 
which it betokens, the bush is again alive with Tuis and other birds. 
We rest for awhile in a lovely wooded valley which is illumined by the bright afternoon sun and 
exhibits some wonderful effects of light and shade. The road lies before us, straight as an arrow, 
through a wooded vista nearly two miles in length ; fringing it, where we stand, is a grove of the 
beautiful silver-leaved Pittos_porum, with shapely tops as if specially trained for some ornamental 
garden ; beyond this a clump of its broad-leaved cousin ( Pittosporum undulatum) closely commingled 
with the ramarama and many other stately shrubs, whilst in the shaded hollow below us are some 
splendid specimens of the native fuchsia, attaining to the size of veritable trees, some having trunks 
two feet in diameter and branches laden with moss; then behind comes the low forest all abloom as 
described, and beyond that, far and away, the rolling “ forest primeval ” of rimu and rata and kahi- 
