Banks Peninsula has an oval form, and is nearly 70 miles in circum ference. The surface is very irregular and hilly, mid some of the hills aro visible at sea from a distance of 40 miles. The higher parts are barren, but the lower slopes of the hills are well wooded aud the soil Is favourable to vegetation. It has harbours on each side. The most capacious, called Akaroa, is near the eastern extremity of the penin an Its; it has sufficient depth for large vessels, is easy of access, and well sheltered. On the northern side of the peninsula are Port Victoria and Port Ashley, which are little inferior to that of Akaroa. Pegasus Bay, extending between the peninsula and the mainland, is shallow and not safe. The country in the vicinity of the bay is in general level, and rises gradually from the shore. The shores north of Banks Peninsula are very high and rocky, and generally there is no beach between the high grounds and the sea. At a few places iulets occur, but they are open, and not well sheltered from the prevailing southeast winds. The best harbour is in Lookers-on Bay, n small asstuary, into which two rivers fall, both of them navigable some miles from their mouth.
Opposite the southern extremity of New Munster lies New Leinster, or Stewart Island. The strait which separates it from the mainland was discovered iu 1816 by Stewart, the captain of a sealing vessel, and called `Foveatix Strait,' but it is now called Favourite Strait. This strait is about 40 miles long and 12 miles wide on an average. It is very dangerous on account of numerous rocks which are dispersed over it, especially at the eastern entrance of the strait. New Leinster has nearly the form of an equilateral triangle, and measures in its greatest length and width about 40 miles. The coast is generally rocky and high. Along the western coast it has only anchorage under the lee of some small islands, but on the northern shores there are some small bays which afford good anchorage. The south-eastern shore has one of the finest harbours on the globe, called Pegasus, or Southern Port. At its entrance are two islands, which divide it into three channels, and each of them is deep enough to admit large vessels. The island is rather mountainous than hilly, and is almost covered with forests, which contain abundance of ship timber. Between the hills are many fine valleys and some plains of moderate extent.
Climate, Soil, and Productions.—The climate of New Zealand is frequently compared with that of Great Britain, and certainly there is a great similarity between the two countries, so far as respects the frequent changes of the weather, the moderate heat and cold, and the limited annual range of the thermometer, the limited daily range of the thermometer, and the slow passage from heat to cold, and vice Dem!, at the change of the seasons. The following is the mean tempe rature at Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, and London, from the observa tions of one year only at each place, but not the same year :— The temperature of the air thus appears more equable at Auckland than at London; as at Auckland the difference between the hottest and coldest months is not more than and at London it is At Nelson the temperature is lower than at Auckland, and the daily range of the thermometer is greater. The daily range of the
thermometer on the coast frequently does not amount to more than 4°, and probably it never exceeds 8'; but on the table-land surround ing Lake Taupe, which may be considered as 1500 feet above the Fesaelevel, it sometimes amounts to 25', and in these parts the ponds and awnnipa are sometimes covered with ice about half an inch thick. On the table lend the trees shed their leaves in winter ; but along the whole coast the natives plant their potatoes at all seasons of the year, and the forest is always green.
The climate of New Zealand is very humid. In ten months (from April, 1841, to Fobronry, 1842), there fell 34.49 inches of rain in Wellington, and in 1846 there fell 2313 inches at Nelson. In London the mean annual quantity of rain is 24'10 inches, but in some districts in the west of England double that quantity falls. Dews are frequent and particularly heavy during the winter months. Fogs are rare on the sea-coast, owing to the brisk winds, which hardly ever cease to blow ; but in the interior they rest upon the lakes and watercourses until they are dispelled by the sun or driven away by the winds. This abundant moisture renders vegetation so vigorous, that it covers even the rocks where only a thin layer of vegetable mould is found : it is not injurious to health, tlq the country is generally so well drained that swamps are comparatively rare and of small extent ; besides, it feeds the numerous streams and rivulets, which render the island ono of the best-watered countries on the globe. Rain falls in New Zealand in all the months of tho year, but the largest quantity falls in winter and spring.
Every part of New Zealand seems to be subject to frequent winds and heavy gales. The winds at Wellington blow either from north and north-west or from south and south-west. In 1841 it blew from north and north-west for 213 days, and from south and south-west for 119 days. During the winter the north-west wind prevails; but when the sun has a southern declination southerly winds are most general. But in Cook Strait, which is nearly inclosed by high mouutaine, the directiou of the wind changes so frequently and suddenly that no two puffs follow each other from the same quarter. and the nearer the shore the more this is felt. At Nelson the prevailing wiuds are north east and south-west : in 1846 it blew from the north-east on 219 days, and from the south-west on 71 days. At Auckland, and in general ou the northern narrow peninsula, south-west and west winds prevail. They geuerally commence about 10 o'clock in the morning, and increase gradually almost to a: smart gale, but subside at sunset into a calm. Easterly gales generally occur at the full and change of the moon, and contiuue for two or sometimes for three days. lu the whiter mouths they sweep with great violence over the more exposed part of the country. These winds nearly always bring heavy talus. Northerly winds are of rare occurrence.