A WANDERER'S NOTES IN NEW ZEALAND NO. 1. (FROM THE "WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3017, 28 March 1867, Page 6

A WANDERER'S NOTES IN NEW ZEALAND NO. 1. (FROM THE " WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT.")

Some time lait year I threw up my appointment in order to prooeed to some one of the disturbed districts, where I hoped to partake of some more stirring deed! than it was then my lot to witness. I offered my services to the Government as a volunteer, wasacoepted, and ordered to proceed to Wanganui and join the colonial troops then about to proceed on active service on the West Coast. But the weather was so unpropitious at the tune that it was impossible to get away. It was blowing a stiff south-wester— real Wellington weather—and the master of the steamer refused to put to sea. Never did I witness a scene more dreary and dasolate than on that occasion. The same sullen neutral tint pervaded everything— the leaden sky— the bleak brown hills surrounding the" city— the houses trembling and quivering as if shaken by some rude giant's hand— the chafing waters in the harbour lashed to madness, i trying in vain to make themselves heard, but all sounds and pleasure were drowned in the trumpet of the mighty south-wester. During the night, however, it rained, and by the following afternoon the storm abated sufficiently to permit of our going to sea. The signal whistle pounded, and the passengers tumbled •r staggered on board the steamer as choice or chance directed. Fifteen hours' hard steaming, with frequent nips of brandy-pawnee, brought us safely over tne Wanganui bar, and soon after we were landed on the wharf. We went to the Eutland Hotel, where we made trial of the accommodation and comfort provided for ■travellers,and,with muoh satisfaction,agreed that fame had spoken truth for once in extolling the manner aftpr whiob. Host Howe looks after the comfort of Mb guests. We drove out 6f town, ' and from the top of a high hill, on the north aide, we obtained a capital view of the surrounding country. Comfortable nomesteads, surrounded by well-cultivated, well-stocked, and wellwatered farms, were visible everywhere. But large tracts of land were still unoccupied, and much was still intthe hands of the natives. The latter, however, will shortly be available for settlement, as the natives obtained Crown grants at a recent sitting of the Land Court, and intend either selling or leasing it. The town and district of Wanganui seem to be in a. very piosperous state, and the people alive and working. The company to which I was attached (the N.C:) had been for Borne time quartered at Pipirik^ but had not yet arrived in town. I was therefore permitted to go'up the river and me t them. Although somewhat disappointed in the expectation which various descriptions h»3 led me to form of the unusual beauty of the scenery along the banks of the river, jE found it altogether of very great interest. The country is volcanic, and a traveller for the first time passiing through it remains in a constant state of excitement, and at every step is, arrested by something remarkable and new. There is a profusion of interesting objects everywhere. The lofty hills rise abruptly from the river-bank, split into chasms and fissures, covered witji a hundred varieties of fern or other plants of a most interesting character. Sometimes cliffs rise from tht water's edge as a mighty wall to the height of from one to two hundred feet, which in the rainy season become magnificent waterfalls. The scenery everywhere, however, had one main striking feature, which was that of terrible convulsion. Between the Wanganui settlement and Fipiriki there is but little agricultural land in the neighbourhood of the river, and I was informed that all the back country on either side is worthless and covered with dense bush. There never can ibe, therefore, a large white population settled on this beautiful river. At the various native settlements we were hospitably received. Food was provided for us without asking, and whares set apart for us to sleep in. The native mode of cooking is interesting and worth knowing. A circular hole about eighteen by thirtyinches is dug in the earth ; a wood fire is then lighted in it, and stoneß varying from three to five pounds weight are heaped upon it. When warmed to a white heat the fire is withdrawn, and the stones sinking to' the bottom of the oven are sprinkled with water. Damp fern leaves are then placed over them, and the oven is | ready for cooking. The food about to be cooked is placed on the; fern leaves and covered over with sow-thistle and: flax mats, which in turn are closely covered with carth ;— thus by a process of steaming the Maori cooks' his food. The sow-thistle gives an agreeably bitter 1 flavour to the vegetable cooked this way. At one of the settlements a Boman Catholic priest is located, and , by all accounts has made a great many converts. ' During our stay at this settlement we visited the chapel, , a neat wooden structure with painted^ windows and , pictures on the walls, but not such a thing aa a bench was visible anywhere. There were many natives present, some of whom were engaged in conversation, whilst others were absorbed in the use of their beads, j ! I asked one fellow. who had just completed his devotions, if he were a Catholic : " No," he said indignantly with an oath, " I am a militiaman." I questioned many others as to their religious tenets, but in most cases found them as ignorant of the first j principles of Christianity as the juvenile occupants of a nursery. It is a lamentable fact that, after an expenditure of large sums of money in supporting missions to the Maori, he is now in a worse condition morally than when the white man came to him. He lives still as his fathers lived— in indolence, filth, and degradation — and is likely to do so to the end of th» chapter. We arrived at Pipiriki before the Native Contingent left. There is a perpendicular cliff here, in elevation about two hundred and fifty feet, over which the natives in olden times used to throw their dead, and a little way up the river there is a magnificent cave which has not yet been fully explored. It is said that before the war there were about a thousand natives belonging to this place } now there are not fifty. The remains of achurch,school-house,parsonage,and flour-mill are are still visible, but where life and mirth once echoed among the hills — all is silent.