JOURNAL OF A WALK ALONG THE EAST COAST, FROM WELLINGTON TO TABLE CAPE, BY MESSRS. THOMAS AND HARRISON. (Concluded from our last.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 31, 10 May 1845, Page 2

JOURNAL OF A WALK ALONG THE EAST COAST, FROM WELLINGTON TO TABLE CAPE, BY MESSRS. THOMAS AND HARRISON. (Concluded from our last.)

Crossing in a very frail canoe, our road lay for two miles along a sandy beach, when we again came on rocks over which we slowly proceeded for some hours, then for three hours over a hard sand which brought us to Cape Turnagain where we slept } at the south side of the cape there is anchorage and shelter for vessels, but the north tide showed some ugly looking rocks some distance out peeping at intervals from the breakers. On the 25th, not being able to pass the rocks, we ascended to the summit by a veiy steep and rugged way. After passing over hill and dale,- towards noon we descended on the other side to the beach : all this loss of time and fatigue might have been saved, if we had known the turning off ; fronjjjthe summit of Turnagain, called by the natives Polo-pilo, we had a fine view of the Rua Wahina range covered with snow, the coast stretching to the northward as far as the Kidnappers ; at half-past four we arrived at a small stream flowing from a valley, along which, we supposed, was the maori path avoiding Turnagain : a little further on, we came to a settlement, and after two hours more scrambling on the stones, we stopped on the beach for the night. The shore about Turnagain is bold, and the cliffs marked in the charts as " chalky," have that appearance from the sea, but consist of a blue clay : the next day we started early, and at six reached a small settlement, where we procured a native to take us across the Porongahou ; we had now? a ' fine hard sandy beach, but we soon struck inland, and .in a muddy stream found « nw- • tbiswp drfl"*""* -'""*■ "

ahd 6roSsed the river, which here is as wide as the Wanganuiat the township; after crossing, we walked down the banks, and thence along a hard sand formed between the sea and a sort of lagoon, in which were multitude? of wild ducks : on this side Black Point, or Parama, as the natives call it, is a small settlement, and on the hill at the Point, very prettily situated, is the missionary house: the -valley of the Porongahau must be large, and containing much flat land ; as far as we could judge, there. .might be 3,000 or 4,000 acres ; the natives told us it is flat, consisting of grassy plains all the way to Manawatu, to which river they cross in two or three days, according as they are loaded ; the river appeared to hare several mouths, but it was difficult to ascertain the number from the sand banks ; I should think by the npjwaranee of its entrance, it was not available for small a <.' ; tl.pre is, however, a fine bay to anchor in, with huu.fc bhclter from Black Point ; should it be navigable, it will' be at some future day of much importance and interest to all concerned in the wool business, as it must open a large extent of country towards the Manawatu and Wairarapa : after passing Parama, we found some rough walking for two hours, when we got some good travelling on the sand, and stopped for the night in a bay called Owipete. On- the 25th we started early, and walked about three miles over hard sand, when we reached a settlement called Tenare : the chief, named by the white people, «? Morning," or " Daylight," was just starting in his canoe laden with crayfish, which here abound, and offered us a passage ; this we readily accepted, and r^achwLhis place at about three in the afternoon'; at this settlement, called Manawaraka, with a small river of the same name, we stopped for the night ; he was very desirous that some white man should come and live there, and before dark, took me up the river, to shew me the pa situated on a high hill, where in former days he beat off the Waikatoes and "Watanui's people ; the river is navigable for large bbftts of four or five tons, and there is good anchorage outside, and shelter near some rocks. At daylight the next day, two canoes leaving, we got in ; the wind was against us, so our progress was slow : we passed close in shore, which was all rocks. At eleven a.m. we reached Waimurrima, an open sandy beach, with a river opening into it ; from Manawaraka to this place, the road lays inland, avoiding the rocks on the sea .shore ; here we found Hakld-Tie and his people planting kumeras ; they are missionaries, and *re the most notorious thieves on the coast ; they were very indignant at my telling them the bad opinion the white people had of them ; they, however, promised us a boy to show the road, and get us across the rivers, for which they required a blanket and six yards of calico ; this we gave, and stopped for the night ; I saw here some barley and wheat, which looked indifferent enough ; there is some flat landiere, as the hills recede some distance from the beach, but it is a bad shipping place ; next season there will be a whaling station here. On the 27th, after three .hours' walk along a sandy beach, we came within three or four miles of the Kidnappers, when the road turns off on some sand-hills, thence up a very steep and high hill ; the path now lay across the summit of the range forming the southern boundary of the Houriri plain ; towards the S.W. we saw the river Tuki-Tuki winding through a valley till it discharges itself with the Awapuni into the sea; descending the hills, we again came on the beach, along which we walked four hours, passing Karupa's pa and some lagoons, crossing the Tuki-Tuki and Awapuni at its junction : here is a large pa, at which we stopped for the night ; we were well taken care of, the natives providing for 1 us well? according to thechiefs instructions. The next day, with a man and boy, we went off in a canoe for the Bluff of Houriri, the wind blowing very strong, and coming ahead, delayed us much ; it was two p.m. before we got through the channel and lagoons, and had landed at the opposite side of the Houriri river; the harbour formed here by the river opening the lagoon, or what is termed M'DonneU's Cove, is good for vessels of about 100 tons ; there is a strong tide at all times ; the land immediately around the lagoon is swampy, and would require an embankment to render it available for the formation of a township ; at the mouth of the river there are two small low sandy islands, which might answer for a few stores ; but there is no wood, and water must be brought from a distance ; the plain of the Hooriri, laying between two ranges of hills running north and south, and stretching away towards the Manawatu, with which it is connected by other valleys and plains, is about 60,000 to 70,000 acres in extent, consisting for the most part of grass, intermixed with bullrush . and swamp ; the natives are anxious to sell it, as they want white people to come and settle among them, and doubtless it will make a fine settlement, and possess much of the trade of the East Coast, offering, as it does, the only' place of shslter against all winds from Port Nicholson to the East Cape ; having taken some bearings, we pursued our journey onwards over a heavy sand, and in the evening stopped at a native settlement. The next day, after leaving the settlement, we had better walking, till we arrived at a pa situated by a lagoon, from which the walking was heavy, till we reached some rocks, over which we scrambled for a mile, when we reached Wakari fishery, where we remained the rest of the day. Oct. 30. — Leaving Wakari, our path lay across a rugged broken and barren country, from hence to Poverty Bay, and inland to Taupo, there is nothing but ' hills and mountains piled one on the other in all sorts of forms : we crossed one pretty valley called Warri-pawenui; the ascents and descents from passing across the ridges were continued and very steep, making the walking very laborious. On the 31st, having started at daylight, in an hour* walk we reached a deep glen, into which we descended nearly perpendicularly, and rose as suddenly on the other side ; we continued our walk across the same sort of country as yesterday, till reaching the a very high hill, we nad a fine view of Hawke's Bay, Portland Island, &c. &c. ; descending into a valley, we reached at 2 p.m. a small settlement called Waikarri, situated on the seashore on a river of the same name : we crossed the river in a canoe, and after two hours' walking along the sea chore under high cliffs, which are dangerous from con'tantly falling, reached Mowaka at half-past five. The soil of this valley is good ; the river is large, taking its rise in the mountains of Taupo, but its mouth, like most of the rivers in Hawke's Bay, is blocked up hmjf the year. Leaving Mowaka on the 2d, we passed through some bush and fern, and ascended a steep hill, thence along a ridge for three or four miles, when we descended to a email stream ; ascending again, we arrived at a few wanes on the summit of the ridge, called Waihua, overlooking the valley of that name-; there is some pasturage here ; descending into the valley, we forded the river, which took us up to the neck ; after crossing the valley, we at length came out at the beach at a small pa and kumera ground; four miles more along the beach brought us to the Wairoa river, and we stopped for the night at the whaling station. They had a tolerable season here, and bad got 32 tons of oil ; -want of casks prevented them getting more; a freshet in the river also swipt

away two heads of bone, and the blubber of two whales ; this river is large, and has some excellent flat land on its banks ; it rises behind Poverty Bay, and is joined by another large river called the Waihou from Taupo ; it is a large river, but its mouth is confined by a sandy spit, and the surf that prevails all along the shores of Hawke's Bay, prevents it becoming a place of any importance for shipping ; it is a favourite resort of the whalers, many of whom pass their summers here : it rained and blew so hard all day, that we stopped here. The next day the weather moderating, we crossed in a canoe to a low sandy spit, along which we walked, and thence among sand-hills till we arrived at Wakaku, a pa situated a short distance inland on a lagoon, where they have plenty of eels and ducks ; the hills from the Wairoa river hence are covered with grass, and offer good pasturage ; passing along a heavy sandy beach, we arrived at Nuwaka ; its river it large, but in liimmer time its mouth is choked with sand finding its way into the sea underneath, or emptying itself into the numerous lagoons. Two hours' walk brought us to Waikokapo, another fishery, belonging to Messrs. Ellis and Perry, under whose good management it is the most successful on the East Coast ; last season they had 100 tons oil here, which is about the usual quantity caught ; heie we stopped for the night. On the sth, refreshed with good fare, and a good night's rest, we reached in three hours across a neck £>t v low land, Wangawei or Table Cape, the end of our jourr, ney : the distance from Port Nicholson to Wangawei we computed at 310 miles : Table Cape is a .conspicuous object on the East Coast ; the land is light, but yields •good crops ; formerly, before the missionaries stopped the wars, it was the place of refuge for all the Ngatikahunis; here they were at different times attacked by the Waikato Ngapui tribes, as also by Watanui from Otaki by Manawatu, driven from Wairarapa and Hauriri; they defended themselves here, and always drove off their enemies.