CHAPTER III
GEO GKAPH Y OF NEW ZEALAND
The area of New Zealand equals that of Great Britain New Zea-
lcv}td 2 s
and half Ireland. Middle Island is just the size of England, described. Wales, and their islets ; North Island is half as large again as Scotland ; Stewart Island is the same size as Herts. The figures are as follows: — N.Z. : N. I. =44,468 sq. miles, M.I. = 58,525 sq. miles, Stewart I. = 665 sq. miles; depen- dencies= 1,093 sq. miles. Total = 104,751 sq. miles. Dependencies include the Pacific islands which lie 600 to 1,800 miles north-east of Auckland, and which have already been discussed; the Chathams, 536 miles east of Port Lyttelton, and the uninhabited Snares, Bounty, Antipodes, Auckland, and Campbell islets, 60 to 460 miles south or south-east of Stewart Island. 1 These islands on the east, south-east, and south form one country — geologically, ethnically, historically, in flora and in fauna.
New Zealand is a land of lakes — New Guinea is all but lakeless — of flightless birds, even in its islets and in the Chathams (until after white men went there), of Lycopods, ferns, yews, and pines, especially kauri pines. 2 Kauri pines attain a girth of 50 to 60 feet, put their first branches forth 70 to 100 feet above ground, and rear their heads a little higher than Nelson's in Trafalgar Square. Plochstetter assigns as their southern limit Kawhia on the west and Katikati on the east; but only a few still linger in Coro- mandel Peninsula, fewer in the Wairoa range, and the rest dwell and dwindle somewhere north of Auckland. Elsewhere, yews — such as ' white pine,' totara, matai, and ' red-
1 See Trans, of N. Z. Institute (1901), xxxiv. pp. 243-325 ; (1903) xxxvi. pp. 225-333. a Dammara Aitslralis.