Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  18s8. 
Kauri  Gum  Industry. 
627 
cases  the  trees  are  encircled  to  the  very  top  with  the  Metrosideros  ro- 
busta  (Maori  name — Rata).  In  several  cases  the  tree  had  succumbed 
and  decayed,  leaving  a  large  hollow  shell  of  interlaced  rata.  Here 
and  there  was  left  a  noble  kauri,  the  Dammara  ausiralis,  one  of  which 
measured  upward  of  32  feet  in  circumference.  The  largest  known 
specimen  in  the  colony  measures  about  72  feet  in  circumference,  reaches 
a  height  of  80  feet  without  a  single  branch,  and  is  estimated  to  have 
taken  about  two  thousand  years  to  grow. 
There  were  many  other  trees  in  an  advanced  state  of  decay,  covered 
with  parasites,  which  gave  them  a  very  weird  appearance.  Hillsides 
covered  with  tree  ferns,  Cyathoea  medullaris  (Maori  name — Punga), 
hundreds  or  perhaps  even  thousands  standing  close  together,  with  here 
and  there  a  nikau  palm  with  its  pinkish  flowers  or  red  berries  attached 
to  the  base  of  the  leaves.  The  umbrella  and  scented  ferns  were  also 
in  abundance.  The  first  half  of  our  journey  being  completed  at  a 
place  known  as  Big  Muddy  Creek,  but  on  this  occasion  a  small  stream 
of  very  clear  water,  we  halted  and  soon  had  a  supply  of  hot  tea  and  a 
fair  supply  of  solids  as  lunch.  The  other  half  of  the  journey  Avas  very 
like  the  first  half,  until  we  reached  the  west  coast  with  its  rocks  and 
boiling  surf  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  It  is  common  here  on  such 
excursions  either  to  sleep  out  in  the  open  air  or  to  make  use  of  an 
uninhabited  gumdigger's  hut,  or  disused  whare,  not  always  the  most 
desirable  abode,  as  in  many  cases  you  are  brought  in  contact  with  too 
many  bed-fellows  in  the  shape  of  fleas.  But  Kare  Kare  has  its  idle 
saw  mill  and  workmen's  empty  huts,  in  one  of  which  we  took  up  our 
abode.  The  furniture  consisted  of  a  rough  kind  of  table,  a  form,  and 
one  or  two  boxes.  Our  beds  were  made  on  the  floor  of  the  wiry 
climber,  Lygodlum  articulatum  (Maori  name — Mange  mange),  a  few 
ti-tree  twigs  and  rugs.  Our  cooking  utensils  were  of  the  simplest  de- 
scription, tin  cans  (billies)  and  a  few  preserved  meat  tins  playing  a 
very  important  part.  It  was  here  we  met  with  a  camp  of  gumdiggers 
and  had  the  opportunity  of  gaining  most  of  the  little  information  here 
given  relative  to  the  Kauri  gum  industry.  They  go  out  in  parties  of 
three  or  more,  carrying  with  them  their  spades,  spears,  and  bags,  or 
they  may  have  left  their  spades  in  the  bush  the  night  before.  They 
usually  went  to  their  work  between  seven  and  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  returning  again  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  bringing 
with  them  what  gum  they  had  got.  Friday  was  usually  clearing  up 
day,,  that  is,  they  sorted  and  scraped  their  gum  and;  bartered  it  in  re- 
