Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/52

34 A list of what we found in Mr Beverly’s wallet will be useful in showing, at least, some of the resources of the West Coast.

—Metrosideros, florida and lucida. Iron-wood or rata. Very large timber trees, with dark green leaves, and a profusion of scarlet flowers. Its wood very hard and heavy. For firewood superior to manuka, and well adapted for ship-building. The lucida is obtained at the Bluff and on Stewart’s Island, but the florida, which prevails on the West Coast, is not obtained there.

Weinmannia racemosa.—The Karmai of the Natives, or bastard birch of the Colonists. A large handsome tree, with opposite-toothed leaves.

Fagus solandri, Menziesii, and fusca.—The birch of the Colonists:—the fusca being the least common of the three.

—Hedycaria dentata, obtained from Preservation Inlet to Breaksea Sound: common. A small straggling tree, with large glossy leaves, well adapted for shrubbery.

Ascarina lucida.—A similar small tree, with beautiful serrated foliage; also found from Preservation Inlet to Breaksea; but not so common as the Hedycaria.

Gaultheria rupestri.—A beautiful shrub, producing an abundance of clusters of white flowers and berries similar to the snowberry; grows on the rocks at the sea side; common.

Archeria Traversii.—Another handsome shrub, intermediate in appearance between a young totara and manuka, producing clusters of small red bell flowers.

Cyathodes Oxycedrus.—A handsome coniferous-looking shrub, bearing white berries; very ornamental. It is found in the woods generally at Preservation and Chalky Inlets; but it was less common at Dusky Bay and Breaksea Sounds.

Plagyanthus Lyelli.—A rare form of the ribbon-wood. Grows by the side of small streams at Dusky and Breaksea. It is a straggling small tree, with very large egg-shaped toothed leaves, and white flowers nearly two inches in diameter.

Olearia operima.—A maritime small tree with large daisy-like flowers, about two inches in diameter, and the leaves arranged in rosettes or star-shaped fascicles at the tips of the branches. A very ornamental shrub for gardens.

Senecio rotundifolia.—Another maritime small tree, with very large circular leathery leaves.

Veronica.—A new species, undescribed by Hooker, and supposed to be new. Has lance-shaped leaves, bright green above, and milk-white underneath; and clusters of fine white flowers, with pink centre. Grows by the margins of streams, and found only in Dusky and Breaksea. Veronica ligustrifolia and parviflora.

A shrub, name unknown. Handsome, and with leaves cottony on both sides. Only one plant was found. Supposed to be a senecio or olearia.

Pinelia longifolia.—A handsome erect-growing shrub, with excessively tough bark, leaves like a veronica, and clusters of white flowers on the tips of the branches. Got at Dusky and Breaksea Sounds, near the sea.

Dracophyllum urvillearum.—A species of the black oak of the Colonists, with broad grassy leaves and black bark.

Dacrydium laxifolium.—A handsome coniferous shrub, like a dwarf white pine. These last two are found generally in the woods.

Cordyline indivisa.—A climbing species of cabbage tree, which bears large bunches of flowers, eaten by the Natives. It is a climber, trailing along by trees, which it ascends.

Gaultheria oppositifolia.—A handsome shrub, allied to the snowberry. Got at Milford Sound.

.—Ourisia macrocarpa and sessilifolia. Robust herbs, with rough leaves, and bunches of large white flowers, and roots which spread like the daisy, and propagate in the same way.

Silmesias.—Two, name unknown. Aster-like herbs, with long cottony leaves, and very large daisy-like flowers. Alpine.

Anthericum Rossi.—A herbaceous plant, with fascicled roots, thick lily-like leaves, and a tall stem, bearing a large cluster of yellow flowers. Got at Milford Sound.

It was scarcely daylight on Monday, December 8th, when the “Geelong” lifted anchor, and steamed out of the snug shelter of Cuttle Cove. The dim light of morning was just discernible over the tops of the eastern hills, and as their western slopes were still in the darkness of night, they looked like a country cut out of cardboard, or a section of stage scenery half lit up. As we passed out of the Inlet close by its northern shore, we had a nearer view of the situation of the coal-seams, and a better opportunity of estimating its value as a shipping place. Should coal be wrought, a short shoot or tramway would readily bring it to the ship’s side, and except in S.S.W. gales, a vessel would be sheltered from the swell. As soon as we passed the headland, Balleny Reef