DIARY OF A JOURNEY FROM NEW PLYMOUTH TO WHANGANUI IN 1853.

Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 86, 22 March 1854, Page 3

DIARY OF A JOURNEY FROM NEW PLYMOUTH TO WHANGANUI IN 1853.

[Continued from our last.]

Watin'o, Feb. 2.— Wo were cnily astir this morning, and have made we consider a day's fair journey. This pa or rather kainga is to me a new foundation, and is inhabited by a portion of I tie natives of a formerly extensive pn, two miles """farther south unmed Otunvuua, once regarded an the hcadi-quartcrs and main stronghold of all the Tarnnnki tribes. But it is now uninhabited and t so nbandoncd that the open mouldering potatoc I pits arc almost the only memoiials of the site evoi having been occupied by humnn beings. 1 neither wonder at, nor as an occasional night lodger regret the dereliction, for it is a strangely exposed locality, being tho weather-beaten summit of a naked clay and on every hand unsheltered promontory, whose high c'iff beetling fearfully over its base is with thundering noise lashed by tho waves of every returning tide. But Watino is comparatively an agreeable situation, some furlong or more from the coast, and the banks of the stream which ii overhangs have all the capabilities of converting it into a very picturesque place were it in the hands of those who to esteem. It is very pleasing to observe as we advance "on our journey, and to me who bas'not travailed tho road the-c last five years remarkubly so, the various unmistakcablo signs of tho grown and growing confidence of the Maori in the civilizing system of the white man. None, however, are more observablo than thut /tho large fortified pas of by gone d.iya— then their redoubted cities of refuge and defence— either are, or arc being forsaken all along this linn of coast ; hence it is common to see the bristling pnlisndes so disregarded and neglected as either to ho in gapi, or continuon«ly tottering to decay. Kainuas or hamlets unfenced — and such is Watino— each of two or three or more huln are the adopted order of the altered limes — all clearly enough indicating tho transition state, or beginning confidence and salety assurance that savage warfare is come to its end, and that man m<iy sit under bin vine and his (ig;trec now and none to make him afiaid. We had less beach riding to day than on the two .previous; probably however we 'were not farther than half a mire therefrom at any time ; but escaping the noisy sameness of that we encouulered other annoyonces of more disagreeable importance, and thcto were three or four ditch* like swamps in the vicinity of a pa named Umuron. All excepting one, and that the easiest of the whole to ford might have been avoided, by keeping nearer to tho sea-shore ; but our guides preferred the near cut to a resting place, accordingly loci us hy a direct line/ across the 60 lntcrsvclod plain. Three of those sloughs — the term " swamp" is not sufficiently dengnative though not much over forty feet in width were so deep nud miry that our poor horses could find no solidity of bottom to spring from, coniequcntly they plunged distressfully in dirty blink sludge, and with great difficulty surmounted the perpendicular face of the canallike hanks. , "" We lunched at Umuron, and as we fared nt Mokotuiiu, got milk in abundance for our meal, as also the offer of shell and other fish. This pa may almost bo said to be oitur.ted on an oasis in a desert of swampy ground, but i» a nicely kept comfortable looking hamlet; and the whura or hut of tho chief— a most worthy follow mimed William King — is a very creditably got up edifice, pot likely excelled, probably not equalled any where along the whole line of coast. It is merely a fishing establishment, but the interior of the country to the mountain's base forms a several mile's expanse of level land, a great part of which is burdened with flax and heavy dense forest. Hero »nd there cultivation of tho cereals is to bo seen peeping forth amidst those wild growths, and the entire plain bears the aspect^f being exceedingly favorable for all the. ordinary purposes of agri« culture. Leaving TJmurua and journeying on at a walking paco, in about a couple of hours we came to a considerable stream flowing uhrough a'plcaiing looking; valley, and the channel we found somewhat less roughly paved than the generality of tboie we had previously forded. It is called Waiaua, and its southern bank immediately above the ford is crowned with a pa, which five years ago appeared to me very considerable, but now it hat not a moiety of its then wharcs, and its barrier of stakes is entirely down. It is nut a furlong troin, the seashore, is very agreeably situated, and the vale and uplands present the appearance of possessing the natural capabilities of a rich agricultural country* and even novr exhibit 0 rather imposing rural scene. We forded the stream at fall tide, and I notice

the circumstance fur thr> gtiidince of thnsn whn nwy follow, «• tliousb t'ns is nunut the extreme of our dry ■scn-on, wo fuiind loundings inmcwlnt unnleasintly over uirth deep. __ To the right of our rond, at about half why betwixt Waioun and Watino, we pnssrd by th.i deserted Kite of .1 once extensive p» called the Nimu, iho crown of one of tho>'> lofty peninsular headlands of «o frequent occurrence on this c'rffbnund const. To .in enemy unprovided will nrtillciy it must have presented in its murlmlly I equipped day the bearin? of being; imprcgmble ; Hntl indeed it livn in Maori memory as ono of those formidable fastnesses whose carri«mi held out lon' nml vahnnrlv n^ninst the Wnikato mvii)> fis of To a mik i in ISSS ; but which eventually fell into that remorseless enemy* hinds, when ilmnst all its gallant defenders, according to the war prnrtice of the time, fared the finale of being butchered, cooked, eaten, and otherwise exterminated. We dill not visit the spot, but the only visible vestiges of us existence are a few prostrating posts, (he remnants probably of its once proudly defying empalemont. • 11 But nothing else presents '0 tell How hied the brnve, how bounty fell ; But thnt, as cold Oblivion's hand Bloti their frnil stories from the land. The grant, the fair, wh.ite'er their lot. Sleep undistiDguish'd nnd forgot.'' 1 must nnt omit a passing notice of my old oc* quaiutance the chief of Watino, Noble, or as tlia nnme ii rendered in thi" vernacular, Nopcrn. [ ennnot however gay thni I -m v dpr any particular obligation to record bin hospitality, for I •-u-pi-cf ho seldom allows bis friends to rcnimu Inn? Ins debtm << on that score, and he hashiiheito inkvn -pcoinl (■Q'O to keit^rnc on thr squvre hy a sure niuru of visit when ir is his will ond pleasure to visit to«n. However I feel bourn) to nay he Is a very civil fellow in this his own dominion, though I regret to observe he lacks nutlitnity nnd probably inclination to keep our wharo free from a croui l 0' hn unwished followers, who having just finished .. ippi«t__ on some of their litgh. cookeries diffuse mi ndeur which our unfortunately unblimted nensihititiri could mot agreeably dispense with. But it lead* me, while so far under its influence, to remirk how strange it is that this carrion propensity,. of taste should'atikc infatuate the two extremes of humanity— the very refined arid savngism, For it moy fairly be aslted, win re is the difference excepting in the mode of rooking nnd serving np, between tha duorgantzing grouse, venison, and with lil<e happily appropriated bonnes bouchea of our hii;h and wenlthy gourmands, and tho accordant corrupt fi»h, rnnk, racy oil and decomposing corn of th^uiicivi|i7ed Maori ? None of actual quality I ween, for haut-goi.t nnd putrescence arc lellow* namer, nnd, ono or other, though somewhat obversely do but exemplify the old siying, • tho roso by any othor nanv would smell as sweet " But to return to Nopera It occurs to nit/thir^ the circumstance of his chieftainship has somehow retrograded by he and bis people having forsaken the eyrie of Mi forefathers. But this may be a muitcr of fancy, icoing it accoi'ds with ccneml observation that not only Nopera and Onimatui, but nil the nvignnres, and^'coplo and passion" this coast strikingly evmet, more or less alike, the symptoms of progressing decudence. Chiefiainrv is become little mor« than nominal, nnd the Missionary gentlemen concur that the people are numerically on the decrease; and it is obvioui to every passer-by that the pas. as in tha instance bofore us, are diminishing, or bernnun:; abandoned, or ure falling, or have fallen to ruin and obliteration. Scattered kningas may he re«arded as superseding those congregate*, but such are inadrquitta in size nnd number, nnd bear no proportion to tbo means of accommodation which the pas in their original extension afforded, To lie Continued.