A CENTURY AGO

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 45, 21 January 1939, Page 8

A CENTURY AGO

JOURNEY IN MANAWATU.

• COAST AND RIVER. Accounts of journeys along the Manawatu coast and in the lower reaches of the Manawatu River a century ago are to be found in “Adventure in New Zealand from 1839 to 1844,” by Edmund Jerningham Wakefield, and published in 1845. Extracts dealing with those travels are of particular interest in this, the Centennial Year, and in view of tomorrow being the anniversary of the founding of Wellington Province. Some of the extracts arc as follow: “The boys pointed out to me the mouth of a river called Ohau, about 15 miles from Waikanae. As we ran along about two miles from the shore, I saw a remarkable grove of high pinetrees rising from behind the sand hummocks. This was an hour before sundown, and they told me it was near the mouth of a river called the Manawatu. or ‘hold-breath,’ which flows into the sea about 25 miles from Kapiti. The hills between this and Ot aki turn in to the eastward, so that the country begins to form a plain of great breadth. At sunset the wind died away, and the boys paddled lin.ru to reacli another river called Rangitikei, but we found a heavy surf at its entrance and. although the moon shone bright and fires were made by the natives on shore, it was reckoned prudent to defer the landing till daylight. When we had made an offing of about a mile, the crew repeated a short prayer, and then composed themselves to sleep, except those who alternately watched against a change m the weather or the drifting of the canoe tow.ards the shore. When I woke once or twice during the night, the canoe was lifting over the long swell, the moon and the stars shining bright and clear, and a heavy dew falling on the sleepers coiled in their blankets. The only sound to disturb the calm of the scene was the distant roar of the : surf.

“At the break of day T found the natives engaged in a lively discussion, unable, from the monotonous appearance of the low sand-hummocks which form the coast, to determine our exact locality. After some vain pulling about, they at length made up their minds that Wanganui lay about twelve miles north of us. and pulled in tfc.it direction.” (Subsequently a landing was made.) “I walked along the sand-hills to the south,” proceeds the narrative, “to a small river called the Wangaihu. or ‘nose-opening.’ At its month it was not more than twenty yards broad, but it seemed deep and rapid. Inside, it expanded to the width of ,i quarter of a mile. I picked up. on its hanks, lumps of scoriae and pieces of stone containing petrified shells. Quantities of pumice-stone also spoke of the volcano Tonga Riro, from which the natives told me that this river, as well as the Wanganui and Waikato, tikes its source. . . . After walking about eight miles along the beach, wo struck off across the hummocks, and two miles more brought us to an elevation whence T discovered tho first reach of tho Wanganui River.

FERTILE LAND. “Early in August I proceeded to explore the lower part of the M.anawatu River, to see what- facilities i! might afford for trading. 1 crossed in a canoe from Waikanae to Kapiti and there | engaged a half-decked boat of three tons for tho trip. Starting with the end of a breeze, wo soon reached the mouth of the M.anawatu River, and landed through the surf on the l>eaoh to the north, the bar looking dangerous. At midnight, the tide being more favourable, we threw out our ballast, and poled our boat, through the inner rollers on the north sand-spit, into the river. At daylight wc proceeded alioiit fifteen miles up the river, which was deep and narrow, with the land on both sides level, and apparently very fertile. But the waters of extensive swamps drained sluggishly over the low T banks in many places. Until near the huts of Captain Lewis, of Kapiti, the country was nearly clear of timber. We enjoyed an uninterrupted view of the north-western face of the Tararua range over the high flax and reeds on the south hank. To the north the horizon seemed unbounded. . . .

“The top of a distant range of mountains tipped with snow, called U'ua Hine by the natives, hounded the horizon between Tongo Riro and the east. In that direction a gorge exists, between the southern end of the Rua Hine and the low north-eastern extremity of the Tararua range, which I imagined to communicate with the country' towards Hawke’s Bay. “This conjecture was confirmed by the narrative which Jack Duff, the trader, gave us of his journey. He had ascended the river as far as a whaleboat could go, about fifty miles from the mouth, through country of the same level and fertile character, and abounding with the finest timber. Having obtained a canoe and native guides, he proceeded two or three days' journey higher up, over numerous rapids and shallows, and through a gorge where the river formed a cataract between the cliffy extremities of the two mountain ranges. He described the country as again opening out beyond this gorge, and re la ted that the natives of the furthest settlement to which he attained spoke a somewhat different dialect from the Ngatir.aukaw.a. and called it only two days' walk to the ‘East Cape.’ 1 concluded that his informants probably referred to some part of Hawke’s Bay. He described a numerous population as dwelling below the gorge, and complained much of their rude and savage manners.”