Bees, tui, geckoes, and bats all feed on the Pohutukawa tree, but the possum threatens the life of the tree, until a boy comes to the rescue and catches it. The cycle of life continues and the seeds of the tree are blown to the ground. New seedlings spring up and soon there are more trees by the sleepy blue sea.

Drawing on oral histories of the indigenous Maori peoples of the area, archaeological evidence, and early missionaries’ diaries and histories, this model of local history provides a comprehensive contextual history of the city of Auckland from first settlement of the area about 800 years ago up to 1840.

A comprehensive account of the vegetation, its origin, ecology, biogeography and community structure.

Is what could have happened but never did as real as what did happen? What did happen, but isn't happening now, happened at another time. Analogously, one can say that what could have happened happens in another possible world. Whatever their views about the reality of such things as possible worlds, philosophers need to take this analogy seriously. Adriane Rini and Max Cresswell exhibit, in an easy step-by-step manner, the logical structure of temporal and modal discourse, and show that every temporal construction has an exact parallel that requires a language that can refer to worlds, and vice versa. They make precise, in a way which can be articulated and tested, the claim that the parallel is at work behind even ordinary talk about time and modality. The book gives metaphysicians a sturdy framework for the investigation of time and modality - one that does not presuppose any particular metaphysical view.

This volume of studies on the Pacific, most of which relate to the French presence and influence in the region, has been planned as a tribute to the invaluable role John Dunmore has had in advancing historical knowledge of the Pacific and encouraging scholarly interest in this field.