Part 1: General introduction

Abstract

Secretary Island lies where an eight-mile length of Fiordland's western coast is separated from the mainland by the intersection of Thompson and Doubtful Sounds (Figs 1 and 2). It consists of ice-worn benches and steep ridges rising to nearly 4,000 ft and amounting to about 30 square miles in area. Forest and scrub clothe the island from high-water mark to the tree line at about 3,000 ft and, above this, there are grassland, herbfield, patches of low scrub and bare rock. The fiords that isolate it are a mile or more in width, except where Bauza Island intervenes, and have so far proved effective barriers to the spread of naturalised animals. This account therefore deals with a virgin vegetation.