NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND. 
3 
passing through a thick flat of Phormyum tenax (New-Zealand Flax) four feet 
high, we entered a dense forest, in which all the trees and plants were new, 
with the exception of Fuchsia excorticata. The first thing that strikes the tra¬ 
veller is Damara Australis (Kowdy tree), commonly called the New-Zealand 
Pine, which often rises to the height of a hundred feet before it gives out branches, 
looking more like works of art than of Nature. It has a fine smooth bark, and 
is perhaps the only tree not infested by parasitic plants. In company with 
Damara Australis are generally found Dacrydium cupressum , D. plumosum , 
Vitex littoralis , Melicytis ramiflorus , and Taxus matai. The Palm and Fern 
trees were of large dimensions, which, as well as other trees, were covered with 
a variety of epiphytes and parasites, which imparted to them a beauty not their 
own; whilst the ground was covered with a profusion of Filices , Musci , and 
Fungi , of the most varied forms and colours, the whole of which were quite new 
to me. The numerous decayed trees and vegetable matter, the density of the 
foliage impervious to the sun s rays, caused a cool damp atmosphere so congenial 
to the growth of the lower orders of vegetation. 
The Ornithology of New Zealand—or at least of this part of it—seems scanty, 
as the only birds I saw in my course up the river were a few Cormorants, 
small ash-coloured Herons, a little Bittern, and a black bird the size of a Star¬ 
ling, having a small plume of white feathers under its chin, somewhat similar to 
a clergyman s bands. Higher up the river again expands to about two miles 
broad, but is very shallow; the stones on the banks are curious, most of them 
being spherical, and, piled upon each other in grand confusion, recall to the mind 
of the romantic traveller the wars of the Tartars. They are composed of a spe¬ 
cies of basalt. 
The traveller, still ascending, arrives at a very confined part of the river called 
“ the Narrows,” the river suddenly contracting from two miles wide to one-fourth 
of a mile, the banks being high and steep, and the water rapid. Here we had 
to stand waiting the return of the tide. On the banks I gathered Adeantum tri- 
gonum , Fteris rotundifolia , and Asplenium hulbiferum. The distant mountains 
now appear up the valleys, which, from the natives continually setting fire to 
the woods, have a light blue shade, looking as if in a continual smoke. 
Above the Narrows the muddy banks of the river are covered with a species of 
Mangrove. The tourist now comes in sight of the Wesleyan Mission station, 
situated on the right bank of the river, where the rivers Monomoka and Whioa 
fall into the Hookeangah. I spent some weeks there, and found in their garden 
fine trees of Peaches, Apples, Figs, Plums, White Mulberries, Agara Ameri¬ 
cana, Arracaria excelsa , Coffee, Psedium piriferum, Oranges, Lemons (in fruit), 
Vines, Gooseberries, Currants, Strawberries, and other vegetables. 
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