Page:Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute - Volume 1 (2nd ed.).djvu/197

Rh over which the flood of colonial enterprise is spreading, were to them unknown. Dr. Hooker himself, with the antarctic expedition, visited the Bay of Islands for a short time; but unless we are mistaken, the ships did not touch at any port in the South Island.

The characteristic features of the vegetation of the South Island of New Zealand may be largely stated thus:— The eastern and central portions of the country are covered with grass; the western side with forest. It is not unreasonable to conjecture that at a former period, possibly not very remote, the whole of the surface of the island was clothed with continuous forest. On many of the sheep-runs, now lamentably destitute of growing timber, the settlers find an available substitute in logs of sound, fresh wood lying plentifully scattered on the hill sides; and in travelling over perfectly treeless plains, where nothing woody at present grows loftier than a “ Wild Irishman” (Discaria toumatou, Hook. f.), stumps are frequently encountered, with their roots spreading out laterally just as they grew when the tree was living; and the swamps and hollow places on these plains contain an immense abundance of prostrate logs and large branches, affording a supply of firewood sufficient to last for many years. The great agent in the destruction of the primitive forest has undoubtedly been fire. Unlike the Euacalyptus of Australia, the New Zealand forest tree is at once killed by excessive heat. A fire may pass through an Australian forest, clearing up the dead fallen timber and scorching and blackening the living; but the gum trees (many of them even if burnt to the ground) still retain their vitality, and, Phoenix-like, send forth new foliage and branches. I cannot call to my memory a single New Zealand tree that does the same. As the New Zealand forest is generally much more dense and humid than that of Australia, fires running through it are not so frequent, and occur only in the very driest seasons, when the moss which carpets the surface has parted with all its moisture, notwithstanding the shade of its leafy canopy. Such, however, was the case two years ago, when immense quantities of valuable timber in the neighbourhood of Wellington and Banks Peninsula were destroyed in this manner. When this happens, the forest is completely killed. Melancholy skeletons of dead trees represent what were formerly masses of cool foliage. No growth takes place either from the stems or roots. But a secondary growth of shrubs arises. Various species of Veronica, Aristotelia, Pittosporum, Aralia, Coprosma, Fuchsia, Leptospermum, and others, soon form dense copses, and with these are blended, according to climate and nature of the soil, varying proportions of ferns and grasses. The larger forest trees will also make their appearance occasionally, growing from seed — more especially the varieties of the birch of the colonists (Fagus), and the totara (Podocarpus totara). But as fires are now the rule,