of the puriri or New Zealand Teak (Vitex littoralis) the hardest* and
most durable of all the woods of the country. A short search among the
damp stones and moss brought to light some small but interesting
landshells, consisting of a pupiform Cyclostoma, a Carocolla, and five
species of Helix. This leads me to mention, that although the number of
New Zealand landshells hitherto described scarcely exceeds a dozen, this
does not imply any scarcity of such objects in the country, as an
industrious collector from Sydney, who spent nine months on the northern
and middle islands, obtained nearly a hundred species of terrestrial and
fluviatile mollusca. The scarcity of birds during our walk surprised me,
for the only one which I saw on shore was a solitary kingfisher (Halcyon
vagans): during our ascent of the Keri-Keri, however, many ducks (Anas
superciliosa) flew past the boat, and gulls, terns, and two kinds of
cormorants were numerous.

(*Footnote. This wood was much used in the construction of the pahs
which, in 1845, under the Maori chiefs Heke and Kawiti, long resisted the
attacks of disciplined forces, aided by artillery. In reference to the
puriri wood used in the palisading of one of these, it was officially
stated, that "many of our six-pound shot were picked out of the posts,
not having actually entered far enough to hide themselves.")

Returning to the road by a path which avoided the swamps our guide had
taken us through, in little more than half an hour we reached Mr. Kemp's
house, and after partaking of that gentleman's hospitality returned to
the ship. On our way we landed at sunset for an hour upon a small island,
which will probably long be remembered by some of the party as having
furnished us with a supper of very excellent rock-oysters.

Having effected the necessary repairs, and disposed of the decked boat,