in New Zealand . 
213 
the northern Island, and that most remarkable bird, the Apteryx aus¬ 
tralis,* is almost extinct. 
Very many of the plants alluded to in the following pages, are here 
only mentioned by the numbers they bear in the collection sent to us by 
Mr. Colenso. Several of these have proved new; others require inves¬ 
tigation, and a comparison with specimens already existing in our own 
and other Herbarium, a work of much time, arid I am unwilling to with¬ 
hold the Journal from the public till such period as these plants could 
be named with accuracy. The circumstance is the less to be regretted, 
since the Botanist of the recent Antarctic Voyage, "Dr. Hooker, is pre¬ 
paring a “ Flora of New Zealand” in which Mr. Colcnso’s plants of 
the present Journey will be referred to according to their numbers. 
Having made arrangements for visiting the native tribes 
residing on the eastern coast of the Northern Island of New 
Zealand, I embarked at the Bay of Islands, on Friday, No¬ 
vember 19, 1841, on board a little vessel bound for Poverty 
Bay. The wind failing, it was evening ere we rounded Cape 
Brett, the southernmost head of the Bay of Islands. This 
peculiarly bold headland has a very picturesque appearance, 
from a high and perforated perpendicular islet lying off it, 
called by the natives, Motukokako; which formerly possessed 
a fortification on its summit. This natural tunnel, large 
enough to admit of a boat being rowed through it, is vi¬ 
sible from a great distance. Many of the rocks on the 
eastern coast of New Zealand are thus perforated; a circum¬ 
stance arising from their formation: one such, it will be re¬ 
collected, is represented in the plates to Cook’s Voyages* 
The next morning, the wind freshening, we progressed de¬ 
lightfully down the coast, which here is much broken, and 
but thinly inhabited; the high ground in the back being 
covered with dense continuous forests of Kauri (Dammar a 
Australis, Lamb .). At Wangarei (Bream Bay), the sand¬ 
stone formation first conspicuously shews itself; the lofty and 
fretted peaks of the northern side of the harbour invariably 
* See vol. iv. p. 3 12, of the Annals of Natural History, for an account 
of this bird, by Mr. Allan Cunningham. 
