THE NATIVE MEETING AT NGARUAWAHIA.

Auckland Star, Volume IV, Issue 985, 15 March 1873, Page 3

THE NATIVE MEETING AT NGARUAWAHIA.

To essay a description of a trip to Waikato will seem to many like giving a description of a tour from the garret to the back yard. But as, peradventure, there be those who have never been in the back yard, nor seen how the chickens feed, so there be those who have never been to Ngaruawahia, nor enjoyed the delectable amusement of peeping into the domestic life of the noble savage. • To those to whose nostrils the aroma of a native runanga is familiar, and from association as sweetly soothing as that of a mild Havannah, we say pass on. To those who, living on the outer skirts of Maoridom, have never enjoyed this luxury, we say come with us and we shall tell you what you shall see and hear and smell when it falls to your lot to first move among the camp-fires of those whom Bishop .Selwyn affectionately calls Nature's children.

Anything on this side of Razorback we scorn to speak of, but when on passing the top, through that interesting-in-the-future, and picturesque but villainously-designated district Pokeno, you begin to descend, and when the whole district of the Lower Waikato bursts at once on the eye you have a view that, for extent and grandeur, will not be readily forgotten. To the left a vast plain stretching away to the Thames, and with those auriferous ranges bounding in the horizon. In front the various reaches of the Waikato river stretching away up. to the gorge through which it has forced its way from what was once a great inland sea, and to the right, the river continuing its course to the Waikato Heads, grim and gloomy in the distance, closing in the horizon. Down the hill, at a thundering pace, rolls the vehicle as if conscious that it bears the expressive name of Quick, but not so fast but in our headlong career we caught a glimpse of Mr Ilobbs preparing himself in his buggy to drive away from his new home among the mountain fastnesses to do the work of a good citizen in the Auckland City Council. For among these grand old hills has the worthy councillor fixed his eyrie, and right proudly as we sped past, like an arrow in its flight, did he point away to the home that he is carving out of the wilderness. And how pleasant must it be to hold communion with nature among these highlands, to see the giants of the forest falling before the vigorous stroke of the axeman, to see the grain sprout and innocently grow and ripen on that grand hill side, or to see the yellow waving grain fanned by the winds sweeping up from the wide plains below, as compared with sitting in Canada buildings dealing with the city sewer, or vexing one's soul with George Staines ; and yet to such work was Councillor Hobbs preparing to start as he pointed with a colonist's honest pride to the clearings among which he had fixed his home.

Away down at the foot of the mountain over little undulating hills, across and by the side of an endless swamp, shooting through a tunnel, and along a flat the visitor enters the village of Mercer, or as it is more ordinarily known Point Russell. What a contrast between that little hamlet as it is to-day and as it will be in future days if the finger of naturejjpoints correctly. Two hotels and a store on the right, three cottages, the telegraph office, and Quick's stables on the left constitute the terminal station of the Waikato Hailway as under construction. A little range of hills on the left leaves the site of the future town somewhat circumscribed, and in.the front rolls the wide aud beautiful Waikato. The nearer hostelry bears the name of the Railway Hotel, and enjoys the favour of the coach proprietors, but the Point Russell Hotel overlooking the river, conducted by mine host Campion, late of the City Club, is of far more pretentious appearance and gives character to the aspect of this secluded but picturesque little hamlet. Bxit we cannot omit to mention the local gaol which stands on the other side of the road from Campion's, and cannot fail to awake the curiosity of the traveller. It is a circular building of iron, loopholed, and did service in other days as the turret of an armed war steamer on the river. We are not aware if it is gazetted as a common gaol. On the point of security it appears to be unimpeachable, but Heaven have mercy on the man whose indifference to conventional usages has consigned him to such a cauldron in the dog dajs. Sharply to the left, around the gaol, and along the bank of the wide and beautiful Waikato, with its eddying stream and many islands; across the bridge over the wide tributary, the Wakamarino ; along through flax and raupo swamp, on a well-made road ; over hills, dreary, desolate, and sterile, save in everlasting and monotonous ti-tree, with the far-stretching plain reaching to Piako and Thames on the left, and wide and beautiful reaches of the Waikato appearing ever and anon away down below on the right the road passes through a country that despite its occasional picturesque, but generally monotonous character, conveys the impression that unless minerals are concealed beneath its hungry surface it will be always as desolate and lonely as now. At last the view is diversified by water, and two good-sized lakes on the left, and a wide curve of the river on the right, confine the country being traversed to an isthmus. At about its narrowest part the road passes through the remains of a Maori pah, and we feel inclined to say " Stop, for thy tread is on an empire's dust." For this is Rangiriri, and it was here that the tide of war was rolled back, and that Maori pride and power were forever humbled. It is vain now to regret the blunders which characterised pakeha strategy, or to point out how, by guarding the lake in the rear, the bloody victory here achieved might have forever settled the Maori difficulty. As it is, the site of these old grey crumbling dykes, and fallen-in rifle-pits, will be embalmed in the history of New Zealand. And when in future generations the dark eye and fair skin of colonists will. tell of the perfect blending of the races, posterity will look back to R.angiriri as the Hastings that laid the foundation of all that is enterprising and vigorous and excellent in the Britain of the South. At the base of an adjacent little hill, on which was subsequently built an imperial redoubt, the remains of which are still standing, nestles what may be called the village of Rangiriri. It consistß of Quick's stables, which constitute the most prominent buildings everywhere throughout the Waikato, and two hotels. The "Traveller's Rest," immediately below the redoubt, enjoys the favours of the coach j proprietors, and " Sherley's," further down the hill, appears to rely more on its own resources and the character of the accommodation, as may be judged from the more pretentious appearance of the building. What particular class of industry or local resource constitutes the hope of Rangiriri we cannot venture to say, but we think it must reside in the fact that just thereabouts people may be expected to get thirsty and want to drink. That such a seemingly trivial circumstance may contain in it the germ of a great and thriving town we do not question ; but however Rangiriri may yet live in story, it appears at present to live on the very unromantic and prosaic nutriment supplied by Quick's coach. With the lakes Rangiriri and Waikiri on the left, away far ahead appears the lofty Taupiri range, and across the plain is seen the gorge to which our course is directed, and which forms the gate of the central Waikato. Through low, monoto nous country, but not void of pic-

turesque beauty, owing to the vicinity of the wide and winding river, with its many islands, and to the amphitheatre of hills closing around ahead, the road leads up to that singular cleft in the long and lofty Taupiri range through which the river flows, and which constitutes, it is said, one of the most picturesque scenes of the Waikato. Closely hemmed in on the left by the overhanging mountain, and by the river on the right, the road conducts from the lower to the central district of the Waikato. In this gorge are passed, though on the opposite bank of the river, the mines of the Waikato Coal Company, the products of which are destined yet to play an important part in the domestic operations of our city homes. From the unusually elevated and admirably situated position of the seams, half way up the hills and abutting on the navigable river, the coal from these mines should be produced at a cost of almost nothing at all: and when once the Mercer railway is opened the means of transit must lead to extraordinary development. In the same gorge, and on the same side of the river, is situated the Maori settlement to which the Rev. B. Y. Ashwell ministers. And on gazing on the settlement, with its little church nestling so cosily at the foot of the hills, on the handsome cottage parsonage so picturesquely situated by the roadside a little farther on, we no longer wondered why the reverend gentleman left the lively inhabitants of the North Shore, where the superabundance of ozone and free iodine so prompts to the exercise of bellicose propensities, and came away to live in so picturesque and peaceful seclusion. As if to add to the effect of the scenery in this truly beautiful mountain chasm, a Maori canoe of superior character was being rapidly propelled up the river en route for the native meeting. It was seventy or eighty feet in length and was propelled by about sixty rowers. It bore a lofty sternpost of about twelve feet high, covered with dark feathers; and a similar pillar, grimly fashioned and horrid with black shaking feathers, adorned the bow ; while two huge antennae, covered with white feathers, projected from the top and waved as the canoe vibrated under the united stroke of three-score paddlers. These completed the picture, which was strikingly that of a huge insect, instinct with life and of dangerous aspect. Two Maories near the centre fantastically dressed in scarlet, gesticulating with hands and body, gave the time, and thus the cance advanced with extraordinary rapidity until it drew up at the Maori settlement in the gorge, where the voyagers landed and were welcomed, dancing the weird dance of salutation and welcome, after the fashion of the race. After emerging from the gorge the road continues to skirt the river for several miles, until at length the traveller approaches the '' meeting of the waters," and comes in sight of

NGARUAWAHIA

(To be continued.)