EXPLORATIONS IN THE KING COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6787, 18 August 1883, Page 9 (Supplement)

EXPLORATIONS IN THE KING COUNTRY.

[BY J. H. KEBKY KIOHOLLS, SPECIAL COMMISSIONER FOR THE JTEW ZEALAND HERALD.I 2*o. XI. OUR COMMISSARIAT GIVES OUT. When morning broke over our camp on the Onetapu De-ert the rain poured down without intermission, the flood waters of the great mountain swept oyer the plains in every direction, and the -whole country, obscured for the most part by heavy mists, looked indescribably desolate. To remain camped where we were was simply to court starvation, We were now nearly a hundred miles from ; where we had started, and, while our horses were eo weak as to be hardly able to walk, through exposure and want of proper food, ou>- own commissariat was ieduced to its lowest. Yet, up to this point, we had not accomplished one-half of our intended journey. It is true we had 1 ascended the great mountains,' and had seen their wonders, but there were still dense !

forests and unknown regions to be traversed. We had been told before setting out from Tapuaeharuru that a sheep station known as Karioi could be reached by travelling in the direction of Wau janui. This was out of our course, but there was 110 alternative but to make for it, in order to-recruit our horsea and replenish our commissariat. We therefore looked towards this place as a kind of Land of Promise, flowing with the pro- ; verbial mill", and honey.: We bad no idea of its exact locality, only that it was some- : where ; in the direc.tiou of the south-east. We therefore struck camp at once, and set out to ! do what afterwards proved, by our mistaking the track, to be a forty miles ride,' the rain descending in torrents the whole' time, and the wind blowing a perfect hurricane, To such an extent had our horses now been reduced, and so bitterly did they feel the cold rain and wind that they actually shivered uader us as we rode along, and so far gone was our pack-horse that we conld only get him to move at a funeral pace.

THE MURIMOTU PLAINS. Qnco clear of the sterile desert, we took a southerly course along the Wangaebu River, until' we reached the magnificent tract or open country known as the Murimotn Plains. This, wide district, which forms, as it were, the southern slope of the great central table ,land, stretches in the west to the borders of the forest country which extends to the valley of the Wanganui, while to the eastward it is bound by the lower hills which branch out in the form of extensive ridge 3 from the southern end cf the Kaimanawa Mountains. These plains, which resemble in general features those to the north of the desert forming the Rangipo plateau, s>,re covered with a network of streams and rivers, and, for the most part, with a luxuriant growth of native grasses, the ridges and lower hills which dot them towards the east being carpeted with low fern. We travelled across the plaina principally by compass bearing, and we had to cross many swollen streams in our course, the waters of one pouring in the orm o' a cascade into a deep circular basin. Beyond this point we again struck the Wangaebu, which had now become a wide stream, but its waters were still quite white. After a journey of nine hours, during which time the rain and wind never ceased, we sighted a three-rail fence, which we joyously hailed as the first sign of civilisation we had seen for some time.

KARIOI. The fence proved to be the horse paddock of tho station, and, following it along, we soon came to our destination. We found the various whares and rustic huts : composing the settlement of Karioi, scattered promiscuously about the banks of the Tokiahuru River—a tributary of the Wangaehu, which wound through the station in its course to the south. The site of the settle ment was most delightfully chosen, and the views from 4 every part of it were most attractive. To the north-east were the low, ■ forest-clad hills forming the northern boundary of the Kaimanawa Mountaius; to the north-west was Ruapehu, its southern end clothed with dense forests, which seemed almost to touch the snow line, while around in every direction were rolling plains,covered with a luxuriant growth of native grasses. This 'station, which, I believe, comprises somewhere about 260,000 acres, embraces a large portion of the Murimotu Plains. Upon arrival at the homestead, we found that the manager had left the same morning for Wanganui, but, in his absence, we were heartily welcomed by Mr. Newman, who was then in charge of the place. In fact, all hands came to greet us, although nobody knew who we were, nor where we had come from ; nor were we asked whether iwe were huDgry. With true bush etiquette, ' that was taken as a matter of course, and we were soon invited to partake of what was to us a magnificent repast. Since the time we had set out to make the ascent of Tongariro, just six days previously, we bad managed to bold out upon five scanty meals of ship biscuit and tea, and up to the moment when we arrived at Karioi nothing had passed our lips for twenty hours. It was therefore riot to be wondered at that when Turner saw the rich viands before him he should exclaim, in the m< sfc solemn and earnest tones, "Holy God, be thanked."

SOCIETY AT KARIOI. Wo found 1 the. good .people of Karioi true cosmopolites,,, ready to enter into conversation and to furnish all the news in their power in exchauge for what we could tell them of the country we had passed through, and the. wouders of Ruapehu, which from this, part of the country formed a conspicuous and beautiful object in the distant landscape. Strange oa, it may appear, in this small settlement of whites and natives', which formed the last link in the chain of European settlement stretching from ' the East Coast int'i this portion of the country, our pleasant party at Karioi was composed of,representatives of many nation?. A Mr. Rees, who had come up from Waoganui, was a native of Australia, and bad served, in the Armed Constabulary at tha bloodless sacking of Parihaka, Mr. Newman hailed from the South of England, one of the " hands" waa a New Zealander, another an Austrian, a third came, from the Alpine districts of the Tyrol, and another from the Land o' Cakes, while Turner, although having nothing of the ape about him, formed, as it were, the missing link which served to unite the white with the native race, which was here represented by several hapus of one of the principal VVanganui tribes. To listen to the spiritf d description given by Mr. Rees of the inglorious Parihaka campaign and to his delineation of Te Whiti and other notable chiefs—both white and black—to participate in the varied conversation upon the wonders of the surrounding country, and to chat with tbo Tyrolese in hiß native tongue, and to feel that a great vacuum had been filled in our insides was so great a change to what we had recently experienced that we now seemed to be partaking of the pleasures of the varied society and seductive luxuriesof a first-class Antipodian caravansary, where the hospitality was boundless and good-fellowßhip the order of the day. . i THE NATIVES. ;

Iti the evening we visited the native kianga, and spent some: time with the Maoris in the -wharepuni. There were about twenty natives present, men, women, and children, and in the centre of the primitive

apartment blazed a huge fire, which throw out a ..terrific heat, and rendered the place almost unbearable. ; The natires were mostly j short iof stature, with hard features, and I remarked.-that they spoke with a much • harder accent thrn those further to the ncrtb, and.that they clipped many"of their words in a remarkable fvay. • When Turner enquired for an explanation, of this habit, j ihey atated that;their great ancestor, Ngatoroirangi, when he came over in the Arawa

canoe wan engaged in. bailing but that Jrail -bark' daring a storm, and that whilsfi so doing he caught a severe cold, which causcd him to speak in a sharp, halting kind of way, which Has been imitated ever since by many of the Wang3nni tribes, who claim deseent from that celebrated chief, ana who hasbaen before alluded to-in these articles as - She first explorer of the country. We learned from the natives that Tawhiao had passed through the district : some weeks before, and that the King, during his sojourn at Karioi-, had been feted by his subjects, and presented with valuabTa presents, while the mans of a great deal of the land still in the hands of the Maoris in this portion of the country had been, handed over to him.

. THE NAPIER MAIL, On the second evening after oor arrival at Karioi, and, wßen all hands were assembled ia the homely whare watching the big pots boiling for. supper, iri fact, when everything looked couteur de roue a horseman rode np bespattered with mud from head to foot, biinginga packet of papers and a handful! of letters. This was the Napier Mail and we hailed it with delight .as it was the- first, tidings of. civilifation we had obtained since we left Tapuaeharurn, over twenty-four days past. We anxiously scanned the telegrams to see what had arisen with regard to the Mabuki difficulty, when we learned that the Native Minister was abontto leave Alexandra to travel by 'way of the Mokau River to Tarana.ki, in company with"a bodyguard of armed' Natives, under the chief Hone Te Wetere, that Mahuki's tribe was going to oppose his journey through that portion of the country, and that a gallows* had been er-'cted at Te Kumi, to hang the Native Minister and all other Whites that might be caught across the aukati line. This news which was about the most exciting item of intelligence the papers contained was discussed with much gusto. The mere idea of war in the King Country—Alexandra in flames, and a Minister hanged—seemed to act like magic upon the heroic hearts of the cosmopolitan community at Karioi. This new phane of the Native difficulty Turner and myself treated with apparent indifference but in reality coming as it did at that moment we secretly deemed it of no. small concern, as we had determined to. leave Karioi on the following day, . re-enter the King Country at its southern end and come out : somehow across the : northern frontier. In the.suggestive words of.the school boy we never " let on" but as a matter of fact from the time -sCe left Karioi until we'crossed the aukati line at Alexandra, .five weeks afterwards this significant item of intelligence was our bete, noire as during our. progress northward we could never tell from day to day what difficulties we might run into with the natives by reason of the Hursthonse-Mahuki episode, and it was not until we arrived at Mongo-o-rongo, the last stage of our jo.urney that 'we learned from Te Rooti that Mr. Bryce ; and his party had got through to Taranaki in safety.

THE START FROM KARIOI... We were invited to stay as long as we liked at Karioi, but as we were anxious, as the weather was,breaking, to push , forward: as toon as we had to content ourselves with two days', rest, and on the mornine of the 24th of April we again set out. , Having examined all the wonderful natural features of the country; for. over. two hundred miles northward of this point, I- determined to traverse the plains to the southward of Ruapehu, and then pass through the great forest to the westward of that moun-. tain, in order to reach the Manganui a-te-Ao. River, near to its junction with the Wanganui, and. afterwards proceed northward thrungh the whole extent of the King Country to Alexandra by. the best route /we could find! We had heard from the natives that there was an unfrequented track, leading somewhere in the direction of tho Manganui-a-te- Ao River, through the region iwe . were. going to explore, but it was, at ail times, difficult to travel, and still more difficult to find, unless by those, well acquainted . with the country. We were told that it led ..over, .high mountains and steep hills, and across rivers and boggy creeks innumerable.' With these difficulties ahead, we endeavoured to. secure the services of ; a native .guide; to accompany ns as far as Ruakaka, the. Maori settlement on the Manganui o-te-Ao| .but no one among the many natives \ye . treated, with was willing to make the journeysome, excusing themselves upon the plea that they did not liko to undertake the responsibility of introducing strangers into- the. country, and others because tho journey, at that time of the year, would he' too rough; on tli'ir horses.: At last, after.considerable parleying a native mmed Te Wheu agreed to put us on to the i rack fnr a consideration, so . we set out w.thout delay. As it was clear that wo would have to. traverse' the great .forest, on foot, we abandoned our pacK-horso at Karioi, toother with our gun,' which, Jnp to thi? time, had been of little service, and/ reducing our camp equipage to the . lowest, packed our horses with ' the tent and.-blaiiv ket-, and carried just sufficient provisions to last us for three days, by which time we hoped to reach Ruakaka. All the good people of Karioi turned out to bid us farewell, and I. take this opportunity ta.thank. them for replenishing our commissa>riat,.nnd extending to us a bountiful hospitality, without which our'expedition must* have inevitably broken down.

. . ,TK WHEU. W« picked.up our-guide Te .Wheu -at the Whakahi kninga, and took: a westerly course across the Murimotu Plains, which .extended,?: in the form of a well-grassed tract of coun-. try, as far as the southern base ofCßuapeHu, and beyond which a' thick, andapparently impenetrable, forest rose, in the form of a' barrier of varied and beautiful, vegetation. Near to the southern, end of .the greatmountnin we passed tho Maori settlement of Ohinepu, situated on. a; slppe, - low; : mounds on its western side, on which were several tombs. We .rode within . : a ; short' distance of this place, and the. natives hailed us with loud shouts of .',' teria koe, pakeh'n; where are you going.?.''..' Upon which,.. :Te Wheu rode up and told them, we .were; out, on; a pigeon excursion. .. .There was a. pretty piece of flat country beyond, bordered by a thick bush to the south-west, while to the north a tremendous forest seemed to sweep down from the clouds as lhey..roUed..over,thp. giant trees that formed a. thick mantle of.| vegetation over the western slopes of Ruapehu. We crossed the Wnitaki Creek, flowing southerly from the.,mountairi,:.and. near to a native kainga, situated on a rock-bound, hill, beneath which the.. Mangaeliu .Streamflowed, like a moat. -...This place had a very picturesque appearance,, and here, again some. Maoris hailed us, with the. same,;reply, ; from Te Wheu. , Prom this point,..after.passing, a swamp, we soon hit the . so-called, .track, which would have ..been, impossible., to find,; without native assistance, hiddenj as the entrance to it was away in. the winding; of -the dense forest. - Here the.colossal trees.; I .rose up on every side a thisk undergrowth .of the most varied shrubs hedged . .us,:- in wherever we turned, and coiling roots...of trees and blaak, swampy mud, with here imd there a blaz> d tree, was the only indication of our course. To ride through this was impossible, and we, therefore, had to dismonnt and lead our horses. Wo had not gone,, far hefore we had to cross another , stream, the, Mangaohuehu, and then another, the Mangawharaw'haru, the latter a rapid .watercourse, »ith very Btenp, boggy sides. ~.The native, with Turner and the two horses, got over safely, but as it was necessary to take a long jump from the. branch of a'' tree), to..a. big boulder in tho centre of the'creek, .just, as I made the spring the branch broke, and I landed in the middloof the.deep, icy-cold i water. This was my . first introduction to , the difficulties of . the : forest, but it .. was nothing in comparison with, what we . after- | wards experienced during our .eight' days'l journey through this wild and bewildering , region. Te Wheu accompanied us to ; ;,the summit of a densely-wooded hill, which rose 500 feet above the plain we had recently left. Before leaving us, however, we induced him to sketch out roughly, on tho ground, the lay of the cpivatry we were about to travese, when he gdvo us the names and directions of the pri.ii.oipal rivers and creeks we would have to cross He then' told vs that as he was knowii at Euakaka wie might/mention his name to the natives, but that he could not guarantee our safety, as the Maoris of that part \vere true Hauhaus, and r 1 jocted to" whites and half-castes going-\into their country. r THE TERANSAKAIKA FOREST.

As soon as To When had disappeared on hia homeward track W8 bent on car way

through the: great,- primeval solitude. W< had been so much.- oat' in the open conntrj hitherto, that ths ssenery of the foresl seemed at first like a pleasant < change, bul this idea was completely altered after a jour ney through'it of sixty miles,, TheTerangakaikba Forest, which from the western slop of Ruapehu, forms part of the wide expanse of busb country, which stretches into tne valley of ihe Wanganui, and thence, westerly, ta.Tnranaki. It grows.to ■within a I thousand feet or so of the snow-line of , the > great mountain, and covets neaily the whole I of its western side, as well as the wide ' plateau near tbia-portion of its base. Whet we had got well on our way, we found ; this enormous wilderness spreading itself oni over a perfect network of broken, ragged ranges, which in many pltces appeared tc hove been hsrled abcmt by the terrific throes of an earthquake. The soil was everywhere of the richest description, and many of. the colossal trees averaged from thirty to fortj feet in circumference at. the base, and towered above ns to a height of considerably over a hundred feet, forming a grand canopy oi foliage r above and beyond which nothing could b3-seen but the b'ue of the sky and the golden rays of sunlight as they lit up the. bright green tinia of the'splendid vegetation. Among the largest trees was the towai (Fagns J&emxesii), which' here attained to-a larger grow th than'any we had previously seen, its enormous branches, supporting a canopy of, small shining green leaves, giving it a very beautiful appearance. Next to the towai in size was the ritnn {Dacnjdiuvi ci/pressinurx,),. its pendulous branches making it everywhere a conspicuous and attractive feature, but it is worthy to remark that wh-re on the volcanic soil, formed by the decomposition of rocks oi that kind, the towai attained' to its largest size, we found that the rimu grew to larger proportions on the marly soil we afterwards met with as we,approached the valley of the Wanganui. Jit was also in the latter localities that the rata (Meii'osideros roinlsta) likewise 1 attained to its most colossal proportions ; [ many of these parasitical giants clasping the enormous rimus in a death-like struggle for existence. Besides these grand representatives of the vegetable world, which.' formed by far the greater part of the forest growth, we also found many noble specimens of the hinau (Elcecarpus dtn('atus), the t*w» Mesodaphne taxca), the miro (Podocarpus Jerrurjinea), and matai (Podoearpus sp'catus), the berries of the three former .trees being scattered over many parts of our track in enormous quantities. In fact almost all the principal trees peculiar to the, forests of the North Island here'flourished in wonderful luxuriance, together with an extensive variety of shrubs and ferns, while mosses, lichen*, and . trailing vines clothed the tall trees to the topmost branches in gay festoons of vegetation, which presented the brightest and most variegated hues.

: DIFFICULTIES OF TRAVEL. . With all these marvellous creations of the vegetable world arouod us, wa soon, However, found that travelling through the great _ forest wilderness was both fatiguing and difficult. There was not a hundred'yards of level ground, and the track, what little there was of it, led over steep precipitous ridges, from 200 to 400 feet in height, which were constantly ascending and descending in a way which rendered our progress not only slow but difficult and tedious. The steep ascents up which we had to drag aur animals at every turn were as slippery as glass, with the .dank humidity of the surrounding vegetation, and were encumbered with the gnarled roots of trees in' every direction, while the descents were in many places so precipitous that it was impossible for us to lead our horses without the risk of them rolling over on us, so we were cornpelled to let them go their own way down, when they would, owing to the slippery nature of the soil,, slide down on their haunches and never stop until they were pulled up by a boggy creek below. ?These.creaks, filled with thick black, mud, impeded our progress at every descent, and struck terror into our animals; so that we would often bave to flog them across, when their struggles to climb the slippery ascents on the opposite side fatigued. them fearfully. It was not as if we had only to .encounter these difficulties now and again, but tUoy presented themselves in the. mosii aggravated forms at every few hundred yards of our journey from morning üßtil night, and for day after day. Thus, aueid solitude and Bhade, we pursued. our onward way, now plunging into the deep and gloomy chasms of the mountains and anon rising to the opposite ascent, till the distant openings in the forest, restoring the welcome sunlight;' revealed mountain and vallev yet to be traversed. ■ ;

THE-LAKES. - -Our first day's journey brought us to two lakes, which ~Te . When told us we would find somewhere along our track, and which ; would serve as our first..camping place. A little before dusk, we came- suddenly out of the forest into. a small circular- open flat, fringed with toetoe and covered with a luxuriant growth of native grass. On our left, a grassy ridge rose in a semicircle, and all around the open space the trees roße one above the other, in the most attractive way, while , a variety of shrubs, dispersed about in the most picturesque order, made the place appear like a perfect garden. Right in the very.'centre of the natural parterre, was . .Rangatauaiti, . a beautiful lake of a complete circular form, and the. water of which, : lookin? like a polished mirror, was of the deepest. ■ blue. Beyond this flat, tho.native .name of which was Rangatanua,: and . separated ; only by a low ridge crowned with a. luxuriant growth of vegetation, was another".'iopen space, in the centre of which was * Rangatatianni, an. oval-shaped lake larger - than. the former, but in which'the water. was. of the same limpid "blue. The trees, on the i further.. side rose in a dense forest growth, and as they came close down to the water they were reflected in the.: depths, below.with grand , and beautiful .effect. .. -In . fast, the whole surroundings of ■these lakes appeared so attractive after our long journey through the forest that we seemed to have got into a quiet corner of Paradise. . We remained here the following clay, as much to rest purselves as our horses, and wo enjoyed'the. quiet ; romance of the place immensely. - The primeval region was a perfect elysium for birds of all kinds, and at daylight the forest was alive with - their., warbling?, , and with the soft note of , the tui . came the harsh screech of tliokaka; flocks of . pigeons enroled , about tho tree top 3 and gaily, plumed parrots winged in a. rapid\flight through 'the air. One of . the latter birds which we, fonnd dead had a green body and light green breast, with a dark crimson, patch . on and a small patch under the eye of the Same colour.' This was the : first bird of the kind I liad seen in New Zealand,- and it resembled very much one of the green mountain parrots of Australia.

. PAKIHI. ■' When we left our camp at Rangatanua it was in thn hope that we would be able to reach the Ma'nganui-a-te-Ao by nightfall, but in this .calculation we were immensely out. We passed round the western end .of Lake Raiipatauanui and entered a boguy, densely wooded country, where the trees, especially the' rimu, were larger arid more gigantic in proportions than any we had yet seen.The dense forest here literally rained with moisture, and as we had to lead oar horses we were ait place's compelled to plunge through swamps, where the big rootß of trees threatened to break our own legs and those of our struggling animals. We crossed a branch of ..the Mangawhero, and towards, sundown came to .a small op*n flat called Pakihi, snrronnded entirely by the forest, and where we found excellent feed for our horses. It had tak«n 'us seven hours of hard travelling to reach this spot, and during that time we had to cross no le?s than ten boggy creeks, besides other streams. . The Mangawhero River ran round the western side of this small oasis, : !the towai trees forming a conspicuous feature along the. banks'of the ftrer.ra.. We camped sit Pakihi for the night, the stillness of the place being only broken now and again by the shrill note of the whistling duck. : (To bo tontinULvl.)