The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-10-16
Wonders of New Zealand.
A lady correspondent, writing f

A lady correspondent, Wr1Jlng from
| Auckland, New Zealand, says:
We have boiling springs, or "gey-
sers," which. if once seen, the geysers oi
Iceland will ever after seem like the
ebullitions of refractory teapot; and
vast springs of oil and asphaltum, Oh
| tar, more extensive than any others in
| the world. Trees are here more gigantic
| than those of California. All this, added
to glorious semi-tropical climate, wide
stretches of amazingly fertile soil, vast
herds of cattle, sheep and horses, grazing
the entire year on the nutritious English
grasses lovely cities springing up around
the picturesque harbors; mountains ol
ore of every precious and useful metal
more coal than Great Britain, with the
most perfect Of free governments, ii
would seem that there is nothing more
to be wished for.
If ! could only picture to you the
wonders of this strange country it would
seem like tale of fairy land. There is
no native tree or shrub in all these
| islands that is not an evergreen, still
there are none of our evergreens OF
America, no cedars or pines or spruce,
no naples or beeches or birches but
the boys must not rejoice over the alb
sence of the latter as we have trees pro-
ducing the cutest little switches ever you
saw, and not so merciful as the pro-
| verbal birch as it is almost impossible
| to break them. One feels at first as il
| in the moon or some remote planet on
the first walk out to look at the nature
of New Zealand.
There is an endless variety of trees
and plants and flowers, but not one that
you ever Isaw or even heard of before,
with names and forms most queer and
grotesque. There are no snakes or rep
tiles of any kind, and none of the insects
that ever saw before; there are nc
wild animals except little rat Ct might
be called large wood mouse). No fowl
| larger than a wood hen, and all the birds
are entirely new to me. Twill not men.
into natural history ut some future time.
| The British settlers are introducing
all the wild and domestic animals ol
Europe and America, and without ex-
ception they all thrive. In few years
we may expect to see the forest stocked
with all the game of other countries
with none of the dangerous or trouble
some animals, reptiles or insects.
[ saw number of men digging in O
barren spot of ground few days since,
and, on investigating, / found that they
were digging for "kaurt g,tm," which
is found several feet below the surface
in large masses more than a man could
| lift. The substance looked (when broken
of) little like resin, and how it came
buried in the earth was mystery to me-
but my companion, who is a young lady
"to the manner born, told me all about
| it. Ages ago this barren land was GOV.
cred with kauri trees, and a kind Of
borer attacked the roots of the trees
making incisions through which the
gum exuded Gas the turpentine does
from the pine tree), and it forced its
way into cavities formed by insects OF
small animals in the soil and there be.
came hard; the trees died, and the
species is nearly extinct at present
Where these kauri forests stood the land
leeame barren, and no other trees grow
so now, after thousand years or more,
the emigrants make good living dig.
ging this wonderful kauri gum; its al
most indestructible character makes il
exceedingly valuable.