TONGARIRO AND WAIKATO

Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1932, Page 6

TONGARIRO AND WAIKATO

EARLY VISITORS’ REMARKS A SURVEY OF THE AUTHORITIES. DIFFICULT POINT DISCUSSED. In connection with the question which has arisen as to whether the last few miles •of the river flowing into Lake Taupo from the south should be called “Upper Waikato” or “Tongariro,” Mr. W. H. Skinner has kindly made extracts from the writings of early travellers in this portion of New Zealand. Mr. P. Keller recently gave a translation of a passage from Dr. Hochstetler's book. Mr. Skinner has given the corresponding passage from the English edition of t'he book, remarking that it agrees pretty closely with Mr. Keller’s translation. The authorities studied by Mr. Skinner are Mr. Bidwill, Dr. Diffenbach, Bishop Selwyn, Mr. S. Percy Smith and Dr. Hochstetter.

Mr. Bidwi!l, who was the first European to make the ascent of Tongariro, which he did in March, 1839, in his account given in "Rambles in New Zealand” remarks: “Roto-Aire may be said to be the real source of the Waikato, as the stream which runs out of it is called by the Natives; those which run into it are very small . . Dr. Dieffenbach, naturalist to the New Zealand Company, visited the Tongariro country in 1841, and two references in his work are worthy of attention. At page 338 of Vol. 1 he writes: . Of these lakes Taupo is the largest. . . Several rivers fall into the lake from the southward, and the common outlet of all of them is the Waikato. These rivers take their rise in the snow-covered group of the Ruapehu and Tongariro. . . They flow through a low alluvial plain about fifteen miles in length and of a triangular shape. . . One of the rivers flowing through the alluvial land is called by the Natives Waikato, being in fact the largest of all the rivers or creeks flowing into the lake. . . The most interesting hot springs and fumeroles are in the delta which the Waikato has formed in entering the lake on its left Shore, and on the sides of the hills which bound tho delta on the south-west. . . . Where this shore joins the delta of the Waikato there is a narrow belt of land, on which stands the village of Ta Rapa. ...” ' On page 358 the naturalist writes: “Besides the Waikato River, the Wanganui and the Manawatu, the most considerable rivers in the Northern Island, take their rise in this group.” (The Ruapehu-Tonga-riro mountains and ranges). BISHOP SELWYN’S JOURNAL. Bishop Selwyn in his “Visitations Journal,” page 45, mentions the Waikato, but not the Tongariro. These entries appear:— “November 6, 1842 .... and were thankful to land safely at Te Rapa, the residence of Te Heu Heu, the great man of Taupo . . . After further friendly conversation we took our leave and walked by the hot springs of Tokaanu to Roto-Aira Lake, about ten miles distant from Te Rapa.” “November 8, Roto-Aira. Roto-Aira Lake is immediately under the north side of Tongariro . . . The Waikato River runs out of this lake, and after a very winding course falls into Taupo Lake about three miles from Te Rapa. . . In his account jof the journey made from New Plymouth in 1858 Mr. S. Percy Smith has the following reference to the doings of Thursday, January 21:—“After breakfast Te Heu Heu paddled us across to Tongariro Point, which saved us about six miles walking. Here are the remains of a very large pa. Just before landing we passed the mouth of the Upper Waikato, which falls into the lake by three branches, all navigable for canoes some distance. . . .” Dr. Hochstetler's book has already been quoted. Mr. Skinner supplies the following passage from the English edition (page 370) published at Stuttgart in 1867:— “The fertile low lands about Tokaanu are already to be considered as part of the extensive delta of the Waikato River, which here, at the south-east side, flows into the lake. The river in its delta is divided into four branches; the Natives, however, very strangely do not call it Waikato, but Tongariro, like the village situated on its bank not far from the mouth. It is formed by two rivers uniting at the foot of the Pihanga, the one coming, from the south bear ing the name of Waikato, the sources of which are at the Tongariro and Ruapehu, the other, rising in the Kaimanawa range, and, as it seems, the larger branch, retaining the name Tongariro. Evidently it would have been more correct to name the tributary coming from the Tongariro volcano also Tongariro, and to leave the name Waikato, to the main river. Consequently, according to the Maori nomenclature, the Waikato loses its name for the distance from its junction with the Tongariro River to its influx into Lake Taupo.” “By this statement,” Mr. Skinner adds, “Hochstetter makes it quite clear that thjt length of the main river which takes its rise in Roto-Aira Lake and flows into Lake Taupo at the delta near the old village of Tongariro was called by the Maoris at the time of his visit in 1859 ‘Tongariro,’ May it not be that this is the root of the present day Maoris’ contention? If Hochstetler’s definition is correct as given him by the resident Natives of that day, and there does not seem any sound reason for doubting its bona fides, then the main river, known commonly as the Waikato, does lose its name for the four or five miles up stream from the southern margin of Lake Taupo. “No other of the early travellers notices this change of name, but none of them enters into such details as does Hochstetter in describing, this particular region of the southern Taupo district.”