II.—BOTANY.
Art. XXII.—Notes on the Three Kings Islands.
By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S.
[Read before the Auckland Institute, 3rd October, 1887.]
During the return voyage of the Colonial Government steamer Stella from the Kermadec Islands, Mr. Percy Smith and myself were enabled, through the kindness of Captain Fairchild, to land and spend two or three hours on the Three Kings Islands. As up to the time of our visit nothing whatever was known of the natural history of the Islands, and as their position at the extreme north of New Zealand renders any information on their plants, birds, &c., of value to those who are working out the geographical distribution of the flora and fauna of New Zealand, I propose to give an account of what we were able to observe during the short time at our disposal.
The Three Kings are a group of small islands situated about 33 miles W.N.W. of Cape Maria van Diemen. One of them is considerably larger than the rest, and is known as the Great King. It is about 1¾-mile in length, by ¾-mile in width and King. its highest point, according to the Admiralty charts, is 997 feet above sea-level. Two smaller islands are called the East King and West King respectively. They are each of them somewhere near ½-mile in length, and about 600 feet in height. On the outside of the West King is a straight row of 8 or 9 tall conical rocks, terminated by a small island about 350 feet in height. This group is called the Prince's Islands, and has a most singular and picturesque appearance when seen from the distance of a mile or two.
The Stella approached the Great King on the S.E. side. Seen from the sea, the aspect of the island is barren and forbidding in the extreme. Black and rugged cliffs, bare of vegetation, and often several hundred feet in height, form the greater part of the shore, and against them a heavy surf continually rolls, the spray dashing far up their sides. The summit of the island appeared to be covered with short tea-tree, flax, and sedges, and gave little promise of anything but a very scanty vegetation. Steaming slowly along the eastern shore in search of a landing-place, we passed between the East King and the main island. Further to the northward the cliffs were still
