RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 58, 2 December 1907, Page 8

RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND.

" RESULTS 01' THE' TRIP. * : (Br TELEGBAPII—I>HI!SS ASSOCIATION.) • ; ' Invercargili, December. 1. ; Tho .little band of scientists • who went to the Campbell and Auckland Islands to collect aiid classify what knowledge of those •islands it was possible for them' to acquire,' returned'by the. Hinemoa on Saturday afternoon; They ; have been very .energetic and industrious in prosecuting their inquiries and collecting their specimens,, and although characteristically modest about .claiming for thomselvos any very large. measure of .success, it would appear that : tlidy; have, not toiled without result., ' ' . ' v -DR. COCKAYNE ■ Dr. Cockayne, on being, interviewed, said: "I am instructed by the Hoii. R; M'Nab, under., whose'.direction I. am"investigating the botany of New' Zealand," to. bring .' back a number of peculiar land'birds-from the" subAntarctic Islands. 1 have 'nowv.'in Invercargili, stored in the warehouse.' of Messrs. Smith, and Lung, twelve .cases -of ybii'ds,' including ten flightless ducks and' twenty-four, parrakeets, some of which are : the; -Auckland Island- species,-, and some .arc specimens of one of the rarest birds in.-the world—the Antipodes parrakeet. I also, had fern birds and robins, and snipe from;.the-Snares, but' notwithstanding every care taken -during my stay on' Auckland Island; -tlioy, finally- ail died. .The present birds arc.in excellent condition, and I have ereat. hopes of landing the entire-, cargo by Thursday . or:: Friday on Ivapiti Island, the plant and animal sane-, tuary in Cook, Strait.. The ducks are fed on biscuits or bread soaked in .milk., or water, and thoy eat tliis .with avidity, although they have tasted nothing before, .but' marine or sea shore .produce., The parrakeets f are fed on oats and wheat. Most of- the land birds were cauglit. ether by hand or. with a butterfly not. The . ducks,- of iVhich . there are hundreds swimming among tho kelp ori Ewing Island, were first driven ashore by the aid of a boat; and then caught by 'ai) active Maori boy. These experiments: of. transferring, birds t-o .0110 of: the' sanctuaries from a distance are the first of their- kind, and, if successful, it is hoped t-htit they will be followed by other similar expeditions:" Speaking more particularly-'of -his work as a".botanist,-Dr. Co.ckayrie said:-'"My'time on this island was spent in .investigating the manner in 'which the.. various . species h'avo got arranged. into associations in., harmony .•with the climate. I have; I believe, discovered some facts, not previously known with ; regard to ' these'msttet-s.';' ; Tho most interesting spot visited was. Disappointment Tsland,- since no botanist had been the.ro previously. It contains about thirty-one species of ' flowering plants and ferns, bi.it - at tho same time these, although sd few in number form a luxuriant vegetatiorijwhich is an additional proof of the hypothesis, that as' a land-area shrinks, the -species greatly decrease in numbers, only . t.hoSo renminbi" which show some special adaptations to' the now conditions.' . ■ ' . ; • The scientific investigation of theso islands has a strong bearmg. on the storv of tho castaways, sinoe from it wo-learn much regarding tho extremely difficult character of the, country, tho impenetrable nature of the scrub and.forest, tho.lack of animals for food over large areas, and tho presonco of such animals in couutloss' littinbors in other places." , , THE BOTANICAL RESULTS. Mr. J. S. Tennant, who, with Dr. Cockayne, conducted a botanical, survey of the Auckland Islands, was good enough to supply the ..following .information. He thought practically all the representatives of . tho various departments of the expedition who had been working on the Auckland Islands wore well satisfied with their "researches. In regard to tho botanical work, it- should be understood that,,tho Islands had already been explored botanicall.v in a way that they had not boon ill .any other department, so that the party on this expedition were mainly occupied iii: verifying tlio chronicled results of Hooker's,examination, made when he visited the Islands with the Erebus and Torror expedition in 1842. So far as was known, somothing like a hundred specimens of plants were recorded as found on the Islands. Perhaps a dozen would bo added to that numbor as tho result of tbo expedition. "Of course," said Mr. Tennant, "we havo made protty complete collections, and theso will bo worked up, and in the .working-up

something fresh may turn up. The most' Tamable work we could do in the botanical me is not in the finding of new species, because thore arc very few of them. Wo (iitl not expect to find them. There is a sameness in the vegetation, and a man would see in a couple of days all that there is there. .Most of our timo was given up to studying the conditions under which tile plants were growing. One rather interesting feature is that wo found tree-ferns growing in Norman's Inlet. Tliey must ba it southerly tree-ferns in the world. Up till the present,' Stewart Island has been credited with having the most southerly t roe-ferns." .... Speaking generally ■ about the resoarch work, Mr. Tennant was very emphatic in assuring the reporter that the trip had been no sort of_a holiday. Everybody had worked as long as daylight would allow,'doing any- ' tiling from twolve to sixteen hours per: day. Added to the long, hours, there were tlia , difficulties met with in getting about. "It is the most fearful place I have ever beard of lor travelling .about in," said Mr.'Tennant. "In fact, we'had to cut tracks where- - over we went." The vegetation was found to be similar all over the Island. The, forest was probably unique in at least one respect. ' The rata trees should. be about fifty or sixty feet high if straight, but as a' matter of fact the bush is-seldom more than twenty foet high, and the'rata trunks mostly spread along the ground in a most weird and uncanny way. The coverim. of the forest is very thick, and und«r aea t.h jt is half dark, and the gromiu is covered with along in some plac.es, but-i as Mr. Tennant thought it looked libo the sort of. place Dante might have described. Near the sea. shore tho forest, was ramified by I sea • lion tracks to a distance of about-half a milo up the hill. Those were the only means the seekers, after knowledge had of getting n?Lm gin some places, but, as Sir. Tennant phrased it, the sea lions do not walk upright exactly, and it was very often a case of (jetting down, on your hands and kneea and crawling through. About the flowers Mr. Tennant was enthusiastic. Hooker has said of them that tbcj- were the finest lie had ever seen qutsido the tropics. The most conspicuous were the gentians, the buttercups, pleurophyllums (very much like the mountain daisy and nearly related to it),-the liguaticum's (a kind of carrot), veronicas, and bulbinella '(a glorious yellow flower). If the party had only been a few weeks later the; sight 'would - have been a-' great . deal liner, bccause a great many 'of the flowers' were not yet in bloom. A curious feature, noticed in the flowers was that while on.the mainland • thoy aro white or yellow; purplo and blue aro the predominating colours on ' the Islands. ; Indeed, 'Mr. Tennant says that some of tho mountain flowers are of th« . loveliest shades ofbluo he lias ever seen either in wild or garden flowers.: Probably tho best-known plant to all those who had had to climb- hills would be that called - siittoiiia divaracata. It is a low scrub, very often not'more .than three feet high,- but..it : is so absolutely dense that a light .'man . can • very often-walk.on .top of it. by the heavy winds which blow ■ perenniallydown there, it forms a' dense 1 interleaved" head. . Thero is nothing . for it but; ,to try to walk over . it,. and . when -you gothrough. .to extricate yourself as best you can. That kind of scrub is so difficult that we could do only two or three. chains ' m half an .hour." . ~ The sheop, which were liberated on the hills have 1 nearly all disappeared', but wild pigs seem, to have increased. These were ■ not introduced, by Government,- 0r... by anyone else with a view to possible profit, but,' seeing that' they "were there when Hooker visited; the Islands, it-' may he. surmised that' .they were let loose by passing- whalers , or scalers. .They are absolutely of. no use.' to castaways - or to anyone';' and it is seldom that any can be soen. Traces of them, aro everywhere, and they are doing .'a deal of damage to vegetatiou. IN THE. CAMPBELL ISLANDS. Professor Kirk, whose business on the expedition was to make a botanical survey if the Campbell Islands, pointed,out concisely the points of difference between tho .flora of those Islands and the Auckjand group., Noting one-or two points, of. interest, no said, ''The flora of tliA'.Oamplicll." Islands 19 very much" more'kcanty"tliaiT on':the- Auck-.... land Islands,. violent winds having. reduced most of the vegetation to herbaceous, plants and a little scrub. This'.sc'ruh consists almost" • entirely iof "■ grass ' trees ' (Drac'ophyllum).' .There • are sheep all over; tho island, and they are making very, greatchanges in tho vegetation. They are eating down native' tussocks rfnd grasses, ; and these are only very, very slowly being replaced by .introduced grasses, so that a large portion of the island bids fair t0... Become liarreti. The magnificent herbaceous ilowcring ligusticums and ' pleurophylluma are fast being eaten'out by the sheep, and the vegetable glories of the islands will Soon be a thing of the past."

THE MAGNETIC SURVEY. , Tho- chief otijcct of the ' trip, frsm' the Government's point of, view was the carrying out of the magnetic survey. , This' was done on Auckland Islands by Dr. Farr. and Mr. H. Cook,, and .in Campbell. Islands by another' detachment'under Mr. H. ,F. Skey. *Tliirty stations; more or less complete, were obtained, live in ■ Auckland. Islands observed at entirely by Dr., Farr and .Mr.. Cook,'and Mr. Skey", who . had with him Messrs. E. Kidston and C. ,H. Opie, were. .able to get throb in the ■ Campbells, at the two.extremities of the group. .The ..combined parties of observers took observations 1 also at - Port Pegasus and the Snares.. _ On', the return; of Mr, Skey and his. party from' the Campbell's, the observers were able to combine forces again, and 'stations were, ob-' tained at Norman Inlet, at Enclorby Island, and Port Ross. ' Between the north and South of the • Campbell Islands a considerable variation in magnetic dip was observed. Mr. Skey thought the observations "had been very, successful, considering ,tbo, difficulty of travel'and'weather. "It took nine of; us," said Mr., Skejy "to carry our stuff from the north, end of Campbell Island to tlio. south end,." 'The survey party were, however, assisted very materially by, Captain Bolions; who accorded all' help in Ins' power, and also-by Mr. Nicholson, who :is in charge, of a sheep. run oil the Campbell Islands. . '•

SUMMARY OF INSULTS. „ • The following particulars abouttbe work of expedition generally were , supplied by i)r. Cockayne and Mr-J. S. 'l'onndnt . Mr.- R. East-on, a.-chemistj tho holder of a'commission from the Agricultural Department, ■ wout to 1 the Islands to make a . soil survoy. Ho -obtained a large number ~of soil' samples .from different plant associations; at different' altituaos, and* under conditions • which entailed immense physical exertions. It .is very probable that- his ro-' suits mav quite change our conceptions to the general soil characters of these Islands, and- this is a;>matter which- lias a strong bearing * on»tho. plant • structure. and (listribution, ■ and is also of considerable importance in connection with the knowledge of New Zealand' soils as a subject which is now occupying his * most earliest attention. : Tho Geological: Department, 111 charge of Mr. R. Speight, had some very interesting work to do in a Sold that was almost entirely new. The Islands (Auckland) had nover boon explored geological)' beforo and'-Mr. Speight, traversed tile wholo of,tlio main island. . Probably the most interesting fact he has discovered is that there are remains of prehistoric. • glaciers' in'/practically all the. valleys, which»may be regarded as cvidcnco supporting the theory that these islands were at ono time coimectcd. with tlio Antarctic continent. - .. Tlio etomologist,' Mr. G; V. s Hudson, was disappointed not only with the time of year —it- was "too early for, many insect's —but also with the bad weather, experienced. Of course, it rains nearly every day "on theso islands, and, as >a matter of fact,- rain fell 011 every day'hut one (luring! .the-stay of-the party on the islands. It is understood, that ho has obtained' about -forty specimens, of insccts, of which he thought, probably twelve would be now. Previously to Mr," Hudson's visit tho insect life of the Auckland Islands was virtually unknown, hardly a dozen species having been recorded. Tho zoologists were J)r.-Bonliam, FIR.S., and Mr. Edgar R-. Waite. They havo been occupied entirely in -.collecting specimens, which thoy pickled at once, and tlioy will not bo in a position to say much about thom until they get home. .. The oflicial photographer, Mr. J. E. Page, ALA.,' was hampered very much' in his work by bad weather.