212 
Memoranda of an Excursion 
veries of all those gentlemen whose names are now mentioned, there is 
one of them who deserves more particular mention, Mr. Colenso, and 
who, if his health and strength be spared, and leisure from liis arduous 
duties as a devoted Missionary be granted, will contribute still more than 
he has yet done to the elucidation of the botany and natural history, 
generally, of New Zealand. His continued residence in the Islands, 
his entire familiarity with the language, his acquaintance with the cha¬ 
racter of the Aborigines, his influence as one of the most energetic of the 
Church Missionary Society,* liis liberality and hospitality to visitors (as 
the officers of H.M. Discovery Ships, Erebus and Terror, can testify), 
and his frequent journies, all give him advantages which no other tra¬ 
veller there has enjoyed; and admirably does he take advantage of the 
facilities he thus possesses. The pages of this Journal, and more espe¬ 
cially those of our “ leones Plant arum" bear witness to many of the 
discoveries made by Mr. Colenso. We have lately received a valuable 
Monograph of several new Ferns of New Zealand from the same pen, 
published in the Tasmanian Philosophical Journal , an admirable Me¬ 
moir on the Fossil Bones of a bird allied to the Ostrich, which, together 
with the specimens of the bones themselves, 1 have placed in the hands 
of Professor Owen ;—and now I have lately had the pleasure to receive 
the following letter, giving a most interesting account of a three 
months* tour across the widest part of the northern Island, which 
was productive of still more botanical novelties, and which I am sure 
will be hailed with pleasure by every reader of this Journal. Great 
though the tide of emigration to New Zealand has been, the hills and 
the vallies are still clothed with their aboriginal vegetation; but ere 
the next generation shall have succeeded the present, its stately forests, 
proved to be so valuable in yielding spars for the British navy, will 
be levelled with the ground; and, as in St. Helena, and other islands of 
limited extent, an exotic but naturalized vegetation will take their place; 
even the very animals now common will be extirpated. Already the ma¬ 
jestic G’owdie, or New Zealand Pine, is become scarce in many parts of 
* As a specimen of the services rendered to the cause of Christianity, I 
may observe, that there are now lying before me, admirably bound copies 
of the New Zealand Testament and the Prayer Book, each of them hearing 
the inscription, “ At a time when no mechanic was to be found here 
(New Zealand), this book was composed and finished, binding included, 
by the writer, W. Colenso, Superintendent of C.M. S. Printing Depart¬ 
ment in New Zealand, 1842.*' 
