NOTES FROM A JOURNAL

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 147, 27 October 1847, Page 3

NOTES FROM A JOURNAL

Kept during an excursion to the Boiling Springs of Rotorua and Rotomahaua, by way of the Wuikato and Waipa countries, in the Summer of Eighteen Hundred and Forty-six, and Seveti. (Continued.)

Dec, 25. — The morning was bright and beautiful, and resisting the invitation ot our hospitable host to spend Christmas day with him, we prepared to continue our voyage, by cutting extempore masts and booms, from the adjacent wood, making sails of our blankets, and twisting flax juto ropes, in order to take advantage of a brisk sea-breeze, which blew up the river. A short distance beyond Paparama, a wall of trap* rock rises abruptly from the left bank, running paral lei to the river for half a mile, and on the opposite side, a stratified sandstone rock projects, covered (with shrubs and creeping plants, forming, together, a Very picturesque pass. Islands now began to appear, generally coveied with flax and towitowi, a species of reed with long drooping leaves, and bearing evidence of having been submeiged in the winter-floods, notwithstanding which, they were formerly cultivated by the Natives, who took advantage of the summer for that purpose, but they abandoned them during the incursions of the Ngapuhi, under the famous Chicf i Houghi and Pomare, and they have ever since reinaiued uncultivated. The ditierent reaches of the river, as we ascended, were very beautiful, varied by projecting bluffs, running up into wooded knolls, which occasionally receded, al)d permitted several acres of rich alluvial soil, covered with kahikatea, ti palms, aud a variety of shrubs, to occupy the space between the river aud their base, while wood crowned hills closed in and formed a fine back ground. A long fiat island, covered with the same rich vegetation as the others, now divided the stream, which would otherwise have been very broad, into two com* paralively narrow channels. It is impossible to note distances on the river, from the irregular manuer, as to progress, iv which canoes ascend, sometimes sailing, at other times paddling, but always making unnecessary stoppages. 1 shall not, therefore, attempt to estimate the extent of each day's voyage, further than by mentioning the lime of our embarkation in the morning, aud disembarkation at night. As we approached the Maungatawhiri Creek, the hills on either band declined in height, and were more bare of wood, aud their recession on the right bauk of the river, displayed a considerable extent of alluvial land, covered with Kuhikatea; before reaching the creek, however, a spur (rom the dividing chain, projecting southward, causes a consi- | derable bend in the river, and forms a very pictur esque object, being richly dotted with wood, ainongsj which I observed some Kauri, and it gradually ascends to the lofty summit' of Maungatawhiri, from whose base the creek descends, and from whence, as I have before observed, a path leads across the cbaiu by Mu ketu to Auckland. A short distance beyond this creek, the river inclines permanently southward, leaving the base of the great dividing chain, from which how ever ranges of low bare hills strike out, ruuriing paral lei to it, at a greater or less distance from its batiks, the intervening space being occupied by rich alluvial flats, covered with kahikatea, On the opposite banks, also, low hills, sparingly wooded, accompany its course, sometimes sloping down abruptly to the water's edge, or receding inland, with similar flats, covered however with a greater variety of wood from their elevation rendering them less swampy, .aud crowded with beautiful shrubs and creepers. Amidst scenery of this character we ascended for some time, the channel of the river being often narrowed by islands, from whose points long^and-banks extended, where slumps of trees were embedded, to avoid running against which, some care was required. We passed several canoes from Maungatautari and the Waipa, bound for Tu^

kau, with cargoes of pigs for the Auckland markej. They shot rapidly past us, aided hy the current, singing the usual buat-song : one however, in which were some acquaintances of our people, stopped to inform us that it was curreDtly reported on the Waipa, that the Ngatirakaua of Taupo, were mustering to join their countrymen at Wanganui, to seize upon the magazine there. As self-interest makes the Waipa tribes very friendly, the usual kakino, expressive of disapprobation at the Taupo people, was loudly voci feralcd by the whole. They very generously recruited our Commissariat by a present of smoked eels, strung on long rods, which are a very great delicacy with them, aithogh rather too strong a food for an Europeau stomach. We " reciprocated" as the Yankees say, by giving them some figs of tobacco, and we parted mutually pleased. A very broad reach of the river opens out beyond apa on the left bauk, called Puketau, and we landed on a grassy flat on the same side almost overhung .by tbepeudant branches of. a kowai, which geneially affects the waterside, and is one of the most graceful of the New Zealand trees, particularly in thespriu<£, when it is covered with large yellow blossoms Their appearance is the signal for the Natives to plant their potatoes as the catkin ot the hazel informs the English farmer that he may sow his barley. We had neither goose nor mince pies, but it was a glorious day—the air was balmy, tempered by a gentle breeze from the river — the scenery was beautitul, and we relished our 818 1 in pie mial, "under the greenwood tiee," as much as if we could have commanded the Christmas fare of an Alderman. Nevertheless, the name of the day brought with it the reminiscences of early years, at our paternal fireside, linked with so many associations, that notwithstanding the enlivening nature of every object around, we could scarce repress some melancholy thoughts. But not &o our companions, after making a hearty meal ou their eels, they filled their pipes, which aie described in advertisement as " with large bowls, for New Zealand" and were s» full of iuu and merriment, as they lay extended around us, that it was with dilficulty we could get them to re-embark After a sharp pull of an hour, we reached the Pukatea, a picturesque, wood-covered hill, with a base of trap rock, which abuts boldly into the river, and so narrows its stream, that a very strong, and if there be wind, rough current is formed. The hills on the left bauk which had hitherto accompanied the river, now turn abruptly southward, and then trending eastward until they almost connect themselves with the Taupiri range, enclose the southern portion of that vast plain, which I have described as being seen from Pdparama. On the right bank, ridges of low bare hills, still rise at various distances from the river, having however flats of considerable extent at their base. Here the picturesque scenery we had so long enjoyed ceased, and a tamer, though more useful, tract of country began to appear, for the hills which I have described as accompanying the course of the river on the right, are mere isolated ridges, having the great plain of the Maramarua in their rear, and indeed are so low, that when t>een from a height as atPaparama, are confounded with the plain, which appears one vast level surface. Immediately beyond the Pukatea, the river, no longer impeded in its course, by hills whose bases are rocky, has cut for itself a very wide channel, in the soft sub soii of the banks, which consists of a puiniieous gravel, and at the same time becomes shallow. We reached Hora Hora at sun-set, passing, in our course, an island in the middle of the stream, which was ouce occupied as a pa, though now deserted, many of the large pallisades which enclosed it were still standing, and their size showed how impossible it must be to take a place by assault, similarly defended, without being pieviously broached by cannon, a fact of which we had a convincing proof at Oheawae. The pa of Hora Hora, which is stockaded, stands on level ground, sloping gently down to the water, and so little elevated, that during the floods of last winter it was nearly submerged, the tops of the houses being alone visible above the water, but as it has a convenient lauding place, and abundauce of tine alluvial soil around, the Natives persist in occupying it. It is the most Easterly settlement of the Ngatipo, a tribe who do not hold a very high character tor morals, being chiefly Pagans, and they are accused and I believe with justice, of being greatthieves, who do not scruple to boast of the depredations they commit, by pilfering from the shops in Auckland. Both the place and the people had so repulsive an appearance, that although urged to remain, and even offered a house for our accommodation, we determined after having some food cooked for our party, to push on, preferring rather to bivouack on the banks of the river, though a dense fog was rising, than to pass the night in so filthy a place. The low hills 1 have described terminated opposite to Hora Hora, they are composed of a stiff clay, with some beds of coarse lignite at their base. The liver opens out a short distance from the pa, and so shallow, that our Natives were often obliged to jump into the water, and drag the canoe over the sand-banks, which they did with their usual-noisy good humor. It now became so dark, from the density of the fog, that for fear of funning oh some of the stumps and snags which encumber its bed at this point, we disembarked near an old Maori settlement, containing a' few ruinous huts, the thatch of which we took for our beds, and appropriated the wooden framework to our fires, and taking advantage of a dry sandy spot, we wrapped ourselves in our blankets, and notwithstanding the apparently uncomfortable nature of our resting- place, slept soundly until the morning, (To he continued.)