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[Page 168]

164.
Some account of New Zealand

either steep hills, or vast tracts of Sand, which probably is the reason why the people in these parts were so much less numerous, & livd almost intirely upon fish: the Northern & Eastern sides make however some amends for the Barrenness of the others; in them we often saw very large tracts of Ground which either actualy were, or very lately had been cultivated; & an immense quantity of Woodland which was yet uncleard, but promisd great returns to the people who would take the trouble of Clearing it: of the latter especialy in Taoneroa or Poverty bay, & Tolaga, besides Swamps, which might doubtless Easily be draind, & sufficiently evincd the richness of their soil by the great size of all the plants that grew  there upon them, & more particularly of the timber trees, which were the streightest, cleanest, & I may say the largest I have ever seen; at least speaking of them in the Gross: I may have seen several times single trees larger than any I Observd among them, but it was not one but all these trees which were enormous, & doubtless had we had time & opportunity to Search, we might have found much larger ones than any we saw, as we were never but once ashore among them, & that but for a short time on the banks of the River Thames; where we rowd for many miles between woods of these trees, to which we could see
 

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