10 TRAVELLING THROUGH FORESTS. 
ficent, and are totally different in their appear- 
ance from those of New South Wales and Van 
Dieman’s Land. Most of the timber with which 
they abound is of a very useful, and, some of it, 
of a very durable, quality. It is impossible to 
force your way through the underwood : if you 
would travel in a forest, you must keep the beaten 
track : and even here, on account of the roots of 
trees over which you have to pass, and the danger 
of being caught by the chin by some strong 
fibrous creepers, the ratan, or supple-jack, which 
are suspended from the branches, you find that 
it is no easy task to make good your way faster 
than one mile an hour. It is true, that the na- 
tives, within the last few years, at the sugges- 
tion of the Missionaries, and in order that they 
may more frequently and conveniently be visited 
by them, have begun to cut through the woods, 
and to remove the obstacles by which our course 
was formerly impeded. 
At the tops, and on some of the higher branches 
of some of the forest-trees, grows a sedgy, succu- 
lent plant (Astilia angustifolia ), much valued for 
the sweetness of the stem upon which the flower 
grows. The natives will climb the highest trees 
in search of it ; and, when they have gathered it, 
will sit for a long time, at the bottom of the tree, 
sucking out its juice, which, to them, especially on 
a hot day, is peculiarly grateful. These plants 
give the smaller groves the appearance of an 
English rookery ; and it only wants the Tui, to 
