Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/108

 having a pleasant, aromatic odour. The timber is white, and though hard, is of no use except for firewood. It quickly rots when lying on the ground.

Ngaio grows, as a rule, near the sea, but does not grow large. It is usually very symmetrical, having a fine rounded outline. It is not long-lived, say, from fifty to seventy years. It is widely distributed over both North and South Islands.

The Ngaio and the Karaka are supposed to have been brought over to New Zealand by the Maoris, the former for medicine and the latter for food. The Ngaio leaves were used by the Natives chiefly as a dressing for cuts or sores. I have seen the Ngaio, Black Ake-ake, and Kowhai on the Sandwich Islands, the leaves of each being slightly modified. Cattle feed on the Ngaio trees, but if they feed too much on them, or for too long a period, they develop staggers (as from ergot), which in many cases, proves fatal.

Tawa is a North Island tree, chiefly used for firewood, having the advantage of burning green. It soon rots in the ground.

Whitewood is a small tree bearing bunches of beautiful blue berries. Cattle are very