AN ANCIENT FOREST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12956, 15 January 1913, Page 4

AN ANCIENT FOREST.

An interesting discovery of "an ancient forest, which at one tjme was buried by. the sea, has been made in the North Auckland district.

, A week; or so ago, Mr John Macintosh, a .gum merchant of Houhqra, ami .Mr John.;Hgsd,,;also a. resident:.. of Houhora, were out riding in search of some lost calitlo in the- vicinity of Mangamii Bluff, Avhich lies some 15 miles south of Cape Maria Van Dieman, onrthe west const. Mr Macintosh's course took him for some miles along the beach, in a region which neither white man nor native frequents. The land here from sea. to sea measures only 17 miles across, and is part of a Government kauri gum reserve. When just, south of Mangonui Bluff, Mr Macintosh found himself on the edge of ,a partly-exposed forest, and he told an Auckland Herald representative that the sight which confronted him was one of 'the most wonderful he had ever seen.

"The trees, which cover an area of some 30 -acres," he said, "riuf nearly down to the water's edge. From what I could see, I oame to the conclusion that they were thousands of years old. They had at one time been covered by the sea, but recently they must have j itet been under the sand, and tihe winds and tides had gradually uncovered them. At ofie timo, evidently ■ just before they were buried through the sinking of the land, a. terrific hurricane must have SM'ept over tlhis part of the country. None jof the treps have been left whole, but they ar-a all cut off about 7ft from the groiiind, The appearance of acres and acres of these'. rimu and totava. trees all beheaded is most) remarkable. I closely inspected some of the vegetation, and found that the fqre,st, 'where the hurricane had not wrought havoc, was an. a remarkable' state oX preservation. The bark of Uie tfces . was in every oase. just as, it, grew when the trees were, alive ; the rata vines and other undergrowth twined, in and out just as in a growing bush, arid the wood in the tree-trunks, although hardened .with age, had, .as far .as I couJd see, been preserved iij a remarkable manner."

It is thought that it must only be a very short time since the unearthing of this remarkable piece of bush. Sttrong winds and high tides are constantly changing the sandy beaches of this lonely part of New Zealand,, and these haye evidently shifted the sand from the trees.