Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/457

Rh Auckland Island is thickly wooded, with trees belonging principally to the Myrtaceæ, Veronica, Araliaceæ, and Epacrideæ, forming dense thickets, from twenty to thirty feet in height, almost impenetrable, and impervious to the sun's rays. The alluvium beneath is clothed with ferns and cryptogamic plants, growing in rank luxuriance, the decaying trunks of fallen trees being completely shrouded within lichens and mosses. The soil is generally good, composed of a rich black mould, in many places of considerable depth—the result of decomposition of the volcanic debris and a redundant vegetation—so highly productive, that it would render the islands well worth the attention of colonists.

In some of the valleys, the bright golden yellow blossoms of a species of Asphodeleæ are so thickly grouped together as to form the most beautiful lively-looking patches, spread out like a carpet of gold, as if to relieve the sombre shade of the woods.

The climate, although somewhat humid and subject to heavy squalls, is nevertheless very healthy, and the harbours are excellent.

The common hog, introduced originally by some whaling ship, runs wild in the woods; and from the extent of soil rooted up by these animals in search of the roots of an umbelliferous plant, on which they feed, and which gives to their flesh a peculiar flavour, they must be tolerably numerous, although I saw only two during my rambles, the thick cover affording them ample means of shelter.

The birds are few in number, both in species and individuals, and are all belonging to New Zealand species; the Tui (Meliphaga concinnata) and Korimaku (Certhiæ olivaceæ) being the chief choristers of the woods: these, with two or three other small species of the Meliphagidae, and a hawk, a small parrakeet, and the Pihoihoi, or Ground