there to commence his investigations at a spot where a coal-bed 12 feet thick had been laid bare. The rest of the naturalists strolled about, engaged in botanical and zoological researches among the soft, beautiful woodland scenery of the almost soul-enchaining primeval forest.
"A couple of days were passed in such little excursions in the environs of Drury, in the course of which a trip was made in a Wakka or New Zealand canoe to the Tahike springs, near a Maori village of the same name. Our craft consisted of a single hollowed-out trunk of a kahika tree (Podocarpus excelsa), about 25 feet in length by 2 1⁄2 in breadth. For such a boat a native pays about £5, and it lasts from 20 to 30 years, whereas a canoe of red Totara (Podocarpus Totara) costs when complete about £30, but lasts much longer. Canoes are frequently pointed out prepared from these giants of the forest, 70 feet in length and from five to six in breadth, which were used in old times as war-canoes (Wakka-wakka), and could accommodate 100 warriors. Ours was covered at either end with fresh-gathered ferns, and was provided with four paddles tapering to a point, one of which was used by one of the Maories who accompanied us, while we applied ourselves to learning the management of this novel mode of propulsion by seizing on the rest, and by imitating his motions speedily mastered its difficulties. Unfortunately, owing to the distance, we could not reach the village itself, and, after a variety of curious adventures with
the natives, found ourselves compelled to return when about half-way, in order to husband our strength for the exertions of the ensuing day.
"By dawn the noise in the hotel drove away all further thought of sleep, and presently came flocking in from every quarter the horses, both saddle and pack, which had been engaged for the expedition. The morning broke in uncommon splendour, and the whole landscape lay bathed in a rose-coloured flush, whose exquisite tints recalled the immortal beauties of Claude Lorraine. The winding road that leads over the intervening hills begins at this point to be impracticable for wheeled vehicles, although it is possible to advance a few miles farther in country cars. For upwards of an hour we rode along through beautiful rolling pasture land, for the most part neatly fenced, and covered with herds of noble cattle. Now and then we came upon a stately mansion, buried in flowers and foliage, whose appearance sufficiently attested that the proprietor had long since left behind the struggles of the early days, when the hardy settler inhabited a wretched log-hut (whari), a "clearing" cut with incredible labour amid an almost impenetrable forest, the soil of which he had to prepare for the reception of corn-seed.
"At last we reached the forest, which extended from where we were to the banks of the Waikato. The deeper we penetrated into it, the closer and more majestic grew the trees, and the denser and more impervious was the underwood. Gigantic trees, 150 feet in length of stem, were entwined,
trunk, limbs, and summits, with flexible lianæ and other parasitical creepers, while birds of the strangest descriptions were flitting hither and thither among the trees, alarmed by the tramp of our horses, which echoed strangely loud through the silent depths of the forest. The most frequently visible of these feathered denizens of the forest is the Tui (Prostemadera novæ Zelandiæ), called 'the parson' by Captain Cook, in consequence of its having two white feathers in the lower part of its neck resembling bands. In colour and shape it is very like the kingfisher, and its melodious notes present great variety. In addition to the Tui, the forest is frequented by the Kakariki (Platycercus N. Z.), a small green parrot, which, stealing softly through the mysterious greenwood shade, emits its singular shrill shriek. We also fell in with a solitary specimen of the New Zealand cuckoo (Endynamys Taïtensis), called by the natives Koekoea, which was eagerly bagged by the zoologists.
"After riding half an hour into the forest we came to Rama-Rama, a settlement founded about three months previously by a rich English colonist. About 70 acres English were already reclaimed, and in some parts of this patch of land, so lately arrested from the wilderness, peas, turnips, beans, potatoes, and other kitchen vegetables were already peering above the surface. Two small huts, constructed of the stem of the tree-fern, and thatched with reeds, had been extemporized as kitchen and sleeping apartment for the occupier of the soil, a highly-educated, well-informed, gentlemanly
man, named Martin, and his labourers, while on an eminence at a little distance preparations were being made to erect a handsome dwelling-house of wood, whence this skilful shepherd-prince will be able to overlook his flocks and herds, and delight his eyes with the prospect of his rapidly multiplying horned stock.
"The road now became narrower and more difficult, the horses too began to find their footing less secure, and it was only by great vigilance that we contrived to ride over the marshy soil, thickly covered with massive roots of forest giants. Enormous trunks of trees that had fallen across the path had to be scrambled over, and the baggage removed from the pack-horses and carried forward on men's shoulders. Some of the horses, inured to similar expeditions, clambered nimbly over these obstacles, while for others, more restive or less practised, bridges had to be constructed, which are formed by laying two trunks of trees parallel with each other across the chasm or brook, upon which fern or reeds are placed transversely, and the whole tied together with twigs of liana, so as to afford the animals a firm footing. Occasionally this frail apparatus would break through, when the poor horses would disappear below, whence they were only extricated with considerable trouble.
"Towards evening the forest began to get less dense, and we entered upon an undulating table-land, covered with ferns. Some columns of smoke, curling upwards at the foot of a hill on the further side, indicated that we were approaching