r a certain amount of population
and business before furnishing the expensive railroad facilities
required for their accommodation.

The kauri-tree, though a conifer,--the pine of this country,--is not at
all like our North American pine; instead of needles, its foliage
consists of leaves of sombre green. The botanists call it _Dammara
Australis_. It produces a timber, however, which for some uses is
unequalled. It is very slow of growth, is remarkably durable, easily
worked, of fine grain, and does not split or warp by atmospheric
exposure. We were told that the kauri-tree requires eight hundred years
to arrive at maturity. One of the first objects to attract our attention
upon landing at Auckland was a number of kauri tree trunks brought to
the wharf for shipment. Some of these logs measured seven feet in
diameter, and were from eighty to ninety feet in length. To visit the
kauri-forests of the Auckland district one takes cars from the city to
Helensville, a distance of forty or fifty miles, where the Kaipara River
is reached, upon which small steamers ply, taking one directly to the
desired spot. Here the busy saw-mills, which are gradually consuming
these valuable trees, are so located that vessels of two thousand tons
can load at their yards, and with their cargoes pass directly out to
sea. It is singular that while this district is the only place in New
Zealand where the kauri-trees are found, nearly every other species of
tree indigenous to the country is also found here,--among them the rimu,
the matai, the white and silver pines, the tooth-leaved beech, and the
totara, all in close proximity to the kauri, and together forming a most
remarkable conglomeration of species.

It was our good fortune to travel in the kauri-forests with Professor
Kirk, Conservator of State Forests, and from him many interesting facts
were learned. Here over seven millions of acres are forest-covered. The
mills give permanent occupation to five or six thousand men, and the
gum-digging carried on close at hand is pursued as a regular occupation
by at least two thousand more. The saw-mills, as regards their machinery
and capacity, are among the most complete we have ever seen, employing
the best modern inventions to facilitate their operations and output,
which averages six or seven million feet of dimension-timber annually.
There are six of these mills in this immediate locality, each of which
has in its own right many thousand acres o