Several extensive views are got from the Pirotiroad. li&e most of the country north of Auckland the prevailing features are low, fiat ridges and hills covered with manuka scrub or bush. It is only on the coast that the ridges become ranges and the hills mountains. The open ridges are generally stiff untractable clay, better for nt»fe<ng bricks than growing crops. The best land occurs in the bush and pa the flats where the volcanicclaysaremixed with calcareous or vegetable matter. The bush ia very beautiful, broken up into glades, and groves and clumps, with occasionally a "specimen , ' standing by itself in the open. iChe predominant trees are Toratre (Nesodapkne TarnriJ,Pvairl (Vitez imoralis)j> K-saka (Coryiwcarpus lavigata), Kohenohe PysoeyMHn epedabiU), and other broad* leaved kinds. This Is quite different from other parts of the colony, where the most of the bueh ia : either pine or beech. Although 600 miles, nearer the Equator, the forests of the King Country are essen tially the same as those of Southland, but north of Auckland there is a sudden and radical change, which cannot be accounted for by the further difiEerence in latitude of aOOmiles. " ,

To-day we make the acquaintance of the kauri gunvdigger, a colonist whose con txygtftopt to t£e trade of New Zealand ace

in a* Inverse ratio to the position he occu pies Iβ society. Gum-digging is essentially & vagabond industry to be taken up when everything else falls, or when times are lutfd. tod other work scarce. It is the last refuge of the "remittance man" —the broken-down swell who is sent to the Colony "to be reformed." The plant required in the industry is very simple. A pointed steel-rod to feel for the lumps of gam, a spade to dig them out, and a bag to carry them. The digger walks about tne ranges with the bag on his back, and the spade on his shoulder, and he prods the ground like an exciseman looking for con" traband goods. We looked into a gum" digger's tent by the roadside. The plenishing consisted mainly of a red blanket, a billy, and a gin bottle. - The whole philosophy of the craft, as oftenest followed, is summed up in this In ventory. A Maori prophetess had arisen in the Whangarei district shortly before our visit. We often hear of Maori prophecies, but seldom of their fulfilment. 