of which is high mountainous country, and bush clad to the snow line. In consequence of this the rainfall is profuse, heavy at times, but by no means continuous, periods of fine calm weather with bright sunshine being frequently experienced. As a result, the forest, while dense, is luxuriant to a degree, and, as a matter of fact, is sub-tropical in many places. Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson, an authority already quoted, paints, in “Reminiscences,” a virile pen picture of the Province as it was in the beginning; he says: “Westland from the Grey River southwards presented, in 1863, a very different aspect from what it does at the present time. The whole of the country up to the snow line and down to the water’s edge was covered with thick forest. Every flood brought down to the sea great quantities of timber, which were thrown up on the beaches, and excepting where the Coast was rock bound the timber piled up in such vast masses that it was quite a climb to get over it into the bush beyond. In many places it was from ten to fifteen feet in height, and from two to three chains in width. At a distance from a river this belt would get smaller, but it was always there. Where the ground was low immediately beyond high water mark, thick scrub grew, with small patches of grass here and there. The scrub on all the low ground was almost impenetrable, small trees up to three and four inches in diameter growing thickly together,
