676 
BOTANY. 
it ; the green fruit much resembles the Jamaica long pepper, 
and when ripe has a rich luscious flavor; it is a delicate 
plant, and seldom seen in the forest at a distance from the 
abodes of men ; the natives state they brought it with them ; 
if a branch of the kawakawa were laid in the marae, or public 
square, it was regarded as an aitua, or omen of death. 
Fam. Winter acce. — Horopito (drimis axillaris). This is 
also a pepper tree, and a much more pungent one than the 
former ; it abounds in the interior, but is not found in the 
north part of the island. 
Fam. Conifer acce.. — Kauri (damar a Australis) . This beau- 
tiful pine is not found south of Kawia on the western coast, 
and the Bay of Plenty on the eastern ; like the cedar of 
Australia, it is confined to the vicinity of the sea ; it loves 
low sheltered localities, and a wet pipe-clay soil ; the kauri 
forest forms a very deep deposit of turfy soil, which, being 
intermingled with much resinous matter when dry, burns 
with great facility ; this tree produces large quantities of 
resin, which is now eagerly sought after as an article of trade, 
being chiefly used in England for glazing calico ; but in the 
United States it forms a substitute for gum copal in making 
varnish, and for that purpose is prized by that enterprising 
people ; this resin being found in almost all the coal measures, 
indicates great antiquity, its remains have been discovered as 
far south as Stewards Island; thus, the surviving forests of 
this noble pine, are now confined to an insignificant region, 
but once had a far more widely-extended range ; the cone 
of this tree is nearly round, and when dry falls to pieces; 
some trees attain a height of nearly two hundred feet, and 
a girth of forty, with a clear stem, rising like a tower to 
nearly a hundred feet without a branch ; the kauri resin, 
when it first exudes from the tree, is of a milky color, or 
transparent like glass, but with age acquires a yellow hue, 
and that found on the sand hills is scarcely to be distin- 
guished in color, brilliancy, and hardness from amber ; the 
largest masses are dug up in marshes, frequently lumps are 
met with in such localities of a hundred pounds weight.* 
* The roots of the fir, from which the tar is chiefly made, are always most 
