Page:Transactions NZ Institute Volume 23.djvu/648

528 The fact of volcanic agency having been at work in this part of the country is interesting, in connection with the supposed changes in the conrse of the Waikato River, and would probably go a long way towards accounting for such changes.

I am informed that during the spawning season the mullet swarm round the island, hence I suppose the name; but I have also been told that they acquire such a disagreeable flavour that they are scarcely eatable. At the time of my visit a flock of geese had established their nests on the island.

Tn crossing and re-crossing Waikare in different directions I have taken soundings, and find that the bottom is of a very uniform level at a depth of from 6ft. to 8ft., and is composed of deep mud, the ever-increasing sediment which is being deposited by flood-water. The swamps on the south and west appear to be encroaching rapidly on the lake, and it is only a question of time for this grand sheet of water to be turned into a huge morass.

I also send with this a specimen of iron-sand from the eastern shore of the lake.



I had the honour to be admitted into your society I begged exeemption from any literary or scientific contribution, having been condemned by sickness to suspend my favourite studies, and to avoid all serious mental exertion. It is then with hesitation that, yielding to kind solicitations, I have been persuaded, perhaps not wisely, to record a few remarks on a question of some interest to this province—namely, vine-growing in Hawke's Bay. The following remarks, written by fits and starts, are not a treatise on the matter, but simply the results of persoual practical observations. Incomplete as they are, they may, perhaps, induce some industrious person to avtempt the experiment.

My remarks do not refer either to vineries in hothouses, or to vines planted outside, along a wall, but to real vinevards, in the open air. These already exist in Hawke's Bay: some have been in full produce for many years past; some have been planted recently; and I am convinced that a great many more could be planted, even on a large scale, anywhere under certain conditions. The principal points to which I shall refer are: a proper soil, a dry temperature, and a sunny exposure. 