(2.) In high, mountainous country, especially in regions where the climate for the greater part of the year is cold and wet, the floor of the bush, instead of being covered with an esculent growth of underwood, is chiefly coated with a layer of damp moss; so that there is not much to attract the wandering beasts or to feed a fire even in the driest seasons. In such country the conditions of soil and climate preclude the possibility of settlement, while the trees are generally too small or too difficult of access to be of much economic value from the timber-getter's point of view. This favourable state of things obtains in all high altitudes, but especially in the mountain districts of the south and west; and here it is satisfactory to think that Nature will manage to hold her own, and that the bush will remain in perpetuity to form the appropriate setting of the wild and romantic scenery.

(3.) Scattered throughout the two Islands are numerous portions of country where the contending forces are pretty equally balanced—the cattle and the fire doing a considerable amount of damage, while Nature displays a marvellous power of resistance and recuperation. This class of country occurs principally in hilly and broken districts of moderate elevation, where the soil is of too poor a quality to take grass readily. It is frequently of large extent, and often abounds in scenery of great variety and beauty. A general feature will be at once remarked: that the bush is chiefly confined to the gullies, while the sharp crests and rounded backs of the ranges are covered with fern or scrub tea-tree. The reason of this is obvious. The fires which swept over the dry and exposed surfaces naturally died out when they reached the damp and sheltered hollows. Occasionally, extensive areas occur where even the most exposed ranges still retain their virgin mantle. This happens when some natural obstacle—as a river, a deep ravine, or a rocky cliff—- has prevented the flames from getting a start on the block. Such wooded areas are not uncommon in localities where the soil is too poor and the surface too broken to make farming a profitable undertaking, or where the bushman has not yet made his appearance. Sooner or later, however, a road or telegraph-line is cut through the thick of the bush, or a settlement laid out in the vicinity, when the balance is upset, and the whole aspect of things rapidly alters; as, once the fires find an entrance, they burn year after year, gradually denuding the most exposed spots, and continuing on until they are once more met by some natural obstacle. A notable instance of this may be seen in the case of the Puhipuhi State Forest, between Whangarei and the Bay of Islands, a few years ago the most extensive kauri bush in the country, and estimated to contain some 400,000,000 ft. of that valuable timber. From mistaken