TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13673, 14 February 1908, Page 7

TONGA RIRO NATIONAL PARK.

•;; DR. COCKAYNE'S VlSfi. In a letter sent to Mr. H. G. EH, M.P., from the Tongariro National Park, Dr. Cockayne writes interestingly of his observations and experiences. His camp, he states, is at the base of Mount lluapehu, four miles from the Waiouru-Toka-anu coach route, and is 3600 ft above the sea-level. Three miles off Mount Ngaruhoe shows an intermittent column of steam, and six miles southward lies Ruapehu itself, with its glaciers, snowfields, and scoria deserts. The camp, in a patch of beech forest, is enlivened by the tricks of the tailless wren and the whitehead, and by the creaking song of the cicada. Outside the bush grow veronicas, including veronica hevis, with lilac-coloured blossoms so plenteous as to hide the foliage. The scoria fields, though burning hot by day and frozen by night, are the home of a dwarf veronica, whose white blossoms give the plants the appearance of patches of snow. Ngaruhoe's sides are without vegetation, but its summit of dry mud is full of insect life—beetles, flies, and spiders. Referring -to rare birds, Dr. Cockayne states that there are no hnias on the Kaimanawas, but they are to be found on the Huahine llange. and especially at Moawhango. There are plenty of kiwis on the Kaimanawas, and he is told that a dozen or more can be caught in a day. Kakapos, too, are plentiful there.