TOUR OF EAST COAST

Gisborne Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5665, 20 December 1920, Page 3

TOUR OF EAST COAST

WAIHAU TO TE KAHA,

WHERE MUCH MAORI HISTORY WAS MADE.

NUMEROUS OLD PAHS • AND COASTAL DEFENCES.

(Specially written for the Gisborne Times by C. H. C. Worthington.)

' No. 6. ' The only difficult problems on the road constructed right through from The Waihau to Opotiki, are the river crossings. Of these there are five main streams and other "lesser creeks of no moment. The first, the Raukokore —swift and ■ treacherous, the Kereru of the same type, the Haparapara, at Maoi, an easily: fordable creek; the Mitu, wide and formidable, with' everchanging banks and shoals of shifting shingle. This river should never be attempted, even in moderate floods, without a guide. With the source high up in the hills, and fed by the precipitous ranges of the Raukumara, floods come down with amazing suddenness and power. The smooth and slippery shingle makes precarious footing for man and horse, and once that footing is lost the traveller is a mere cork at the mercy of the scouring floods. One casualty-—a canoe with school-children capsizing, cost seventeen lives. Even with the water running crystal clear, the depth and the pace of the current are deceiving. The fiver at the Hawai is not a serious undertaking. Leaving the Wailian and its hospitable host, you take the high level flats that run for miles. along the coast, broken at intervals by the rocky spurs that run down to the sea. Running up into the foothills are the fine estates of Messrs Rutledge (father . and son), energetic Victorians who have introduced tractors for ploughing and land .. cultivation—splendid crops of turnips rewarded their enterprise—and land that a few years ago was virgin bush is now in a high state of productivity. Messrs Neilson and Barker’s station adjoins, and follows the banks •of the lovely Raukokore into the ranges. Here the cocksfoot and English grasses cover the very crown of the hills, and the view fi ; om the saddle above the station, where the river at the foot debouches from the gorge that cleaves the Raukumara, defies description. The river is brilliant emerald green—so green that no painter would be courageous enough to give expression to it. The sea is the deepest blue, and White Island, robed in a mantle of rose pink steam, is a very jewel of Nature’s setting. The sheep and cattle of this district are enough testimony to the skill of these settlers, and it is suspected that the bank accounts would endorse this opinion. The native clings to the foreshore, and maize patches and potato and kumara fields, hear witness to his sporadic activity. The Maori has not the land-using habit in any settled quantity. A great portion of Maori history was made on this Coast, and some of its most terrible and bloody episodes took place at the great pahs that existed on almost every headland and vantage point from the Runaway to Opotiki. Passing Raukokore, with its l post, office and historically informative custodian —Capt. Allison, of the old tea. clipper days the road runs along the beach to Otifci Point. Six miles out, in the deep indentation of the hay, under giant pohutukawas, is the grave of an unknown man. A cedarbuilt boat, wijfch no •identification marks, was found upon the beach, and at some distance from it. the body of a man. It was assumed that they were connected' with some tragedy, although nothing definite was ever known. The nectar of the scarlet blossoms of the overshadowing trees in summer drips in tears upon this lonely grave, the grim rocks to seaward protect it from water storms, and some kind thought has prompted a passerby to erect a little cross cf a treestick tied by flax, upon the last resting place of some fond mother’s son. So we pass on to Otiki, a bold headland protecting deep, indented bays. Maraehako! Here, on a plateau overlooking a little bay, completely sheltered, is the homestead of Mr Chas. Fairweather. At this hospitable house all are welcomed, and East and West Coasters meet- and are entertained. The descent into the bay over the headland is somewhat of a nervestrain for the timid being a rather secondhand goat-track cut in the hill face, with a most discomfiting drop to seaward. Here fruit grows to perfection, great baskets 1 of nectarines and peaches being given to the boats’ passengers who call at the natural landing below the house. Great progress is being made in bringing on the country, the pasture being pushed far into the hills. The work of the pioneers of settlement has to be seen to be understood. The difficulty is greatly increasing by the diminished labour supply, and decreasing capacity. On from easy country to Te Kaha. Mr G. Powell manages Mr I. Murphy’s station, “Waikawa,” a fine estate adjoining Maraehako. The whole of the long high-level fiats that follow are in Maori occupation more or less. Maize, melons, fruit of any description, flourish; no frosts come to harm them and no winds sweep this bland country.- At one period this district must have carried a. big Maori population, as witness the great fighting pahs that exist every few miles. Maractai held an unconquered record until the guns of the marauding' Ngapuhis destroyed the people. Great pahs, triple possed, with hime Pohutukawas growing on the base of the old palisading, still dominato the headlands. For miles these occur, and it would take days to explore-and understand this system of old-time defence'. There is no evidence that, permanent penetration was ever made by the Maori into the bush country. The sea is teeming with fish, the woods with ga,me, ’together with kumara patches, ’ appear to have filled their wants. The Very exteneive flats supplied the latter. Herb the outlet of the Kereru to t.he sea is typical ,of the north-west of this East Coast peninsula. Enormous beds of shingle that stand twelve and fifteen feet perpendicular seem to defy gravitation./ At the vibration of the horses’ feet, however; great rune come down with a prodigious clatter. A bar of shingle.twenty feet above low water level forms a huge filter-bed through which- the water dammed behind pours. The beaches are fortunately all sound. Road metal on the coast is inexhaustible.,

The road passes through Maungaroa. Here, under great Pohutukawas, the white angel of the monument to the late Mrs Howie, faces the sea, and on the point, almost smothered in flax growth, is another to the memory of a Mrs Sjriit.h. ' The situation of this Native “God V.aere’’ is and the colouring of’native scrub is unique. The. road is well defined and passes through- flafs for ; miles to Te Kaha-. where, an- excellent hotel is owned and managed by Mr W. Walker. A stay at this spot is a great experience. The sea fishing is unrivalled, and as a base, from 'which to explore the old Maori pahs' and ancient coastal defences' against Nga.puhi invasion, it is admirably situated. .