TRIP OVERLAND FROM WANGANUI TO TAURANGA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 466, 1 April 1867, Page 3

TRIP OVERLAND FROM WANGANUI TO TAURANGA.

(New Zealand Advertiser.) Through the courtesy of Mr Donoven, who, in company with Mr Holt, of the Defence Office, and Mr Hector, a surveyor, has performed the journey through the interior from the west to the east coast, we are enable to give the following summary of this interesting trip . The party left Wanganui at 10 o’clock on the 27th of January, and went to London, sixty miles distant up the river, iu canoes, with some chiefs who had come down with the Governor and who had agreed to act as guides. They occupied two days and a-half in going to Loudon, there being a heavy fresh iu the river. On the let of February they started at daylight to walk through sixty miles of bush, having to carry provisions, blankets, &c. Horses are sometimes taken through the bush, butiu consequence of the ditli. cult nature of the country they are useless us beasts of burden, and so were dispensed with. Steep inclines 35 degrees, had to be mounted, over roots, and slipping through day and mud, to that the excursionists had constantly to employ their hands in aiding tluir a.-cvnl. Descents of tqut.l steepness* hail to be gone down, but me three gentleman were bent on gettiii" through, and were not to ho deterred by Ihe difficulties in their way. It look them two days and a half to get over this part of their journey sleeping at night in the open bush. The course taken by the party was about E. by N , iu which direction the spars of the hills run. Ihe Maoris, live of whom were employed m cai-i-yino- the Bwags, and who hah some tilings of thenown that they had bought in Wanganui, oi'ien showed signs of fatague, and took frequent rests. Tney also displayed the usual propensity of all dark peopio'iu conBtanc demands for presents (“ bukshtesh’’ elsewhere), although it was expressly understood before the start tiiat the j arty Weio to go as guests, lor the purpose ut looking ut the land.

Un (Sunday, the 3rd of February a t about It o’clock in the morning, “they emerged from lire bush, aud saw before tueus an immeuso extent of plai ns 0 winch a bright buu was shining down About fifteen miles distant was the gentle Touganro, and beside it liuapeka, wh OS( . summits are covered with eternal snow On reaching the open they rest e d u couple of hours, it being th e 6a , C g place at which air George Urey ailc j i,party stopped belore entering th 0 t )Ui j l At live o’clock in the evening they arrived at Hanoi, whica our informant describing “two huts aud a puudle,” and here L ' immense amount of tangi-ing yVen j. between the returning Maoris an d (j le ° n siuents. Here again the natives strov/to drive hard bargains, aud insisted that fi v shillings a day should be p a id f or ca 'h liorse, which, as the country Wag open, the party endeavored to obtain. T of the pany determined to walk the dT° tance, aud on the 4tb, at 2 o’clock *U started. About eight or ten miles *frmn Hanoi they stopped, having learned that Irom there to the n e vt .. . i i eiage, a distance ot twelve miles w o uld have to be passed without wood or Water, so th *v solved to camp for the night. There thei met a Maori, who joined the p arty jjg ■was driving horses, but refused to hire them even »t five shillings a dav, and the excursionists were much disgusted. Later in the evening, however, they found occasion to alter their opinion as the stranger, when spoken to about land, said that lie had some but it was not good, and they felt pleased at his honesty. He also acknowledged that he was a Hau-hau, and not a Queen's native. About this time 1 the party found that they were runn i n n short of provisions, and then learned that their Maori companions had been stealing both biscuit ana damper, from the beginning, having none of their own. About ll o’clock on the sth they came to a small desert of stone and sand, about seven or eight miles in extent. The Wangaehu river runs through it, the waters , of which contain large quantities of alum and sulphur in solution, and is undrinkable. In this, desert, also is the source of. the Waikato river, which springs from the

ground within about two yards of the Wangaehu, there being only a rook between them. While the one is so unpalatable the other is deliciously pure and transparent, aud was much appreciated by the they arrived within eight or nine miles of Eotoaera, a village on the banks of a small lake of the same name, having walked about thirty miles that day, over prairie land very much resembling the Canterbury plains though not so rich. They are well watered, but the soil, which is light, appeared very dry, the sub-soil being pumicestone. The surface soil varies from ten to eighteen inches in depth, and those of the party who were much acquainted with

such matters, expressed an opinion that the land was very good for sheep-farming, and would carry about one sheep to four acres, or more if laid down in English grasses.

During this day the course had been along the foot of Tongariro about N.E. by E. Arrived at II a.m. on the 6th at Rotosery, having walked twelve miles from last encampment. This place is described as a regular nest of Hau-hauism, and the woman’s lips were noticed to be all sore through recent tattooing, a process which it is supposed they undergo in confirmation of their adheri-uce to their new tenets. Started again after a four hours rest and went to Tokohana, arriving at half-past 6 p.m., having past over a range of hills which is not given in the latest maps. Tokohana is at the extreme S.W. end of Lake Taupo, and is full of hot springs, in which the natives do all their cooking and washing.

On the Bth arrived at Tauranga, a place on the shores of Lake Taupo, about ten miles from Tokohanu. The country about here is described as very rocky. Next morning, started for Motutere the kainga of Aperahama, one of the guides, and here they had the first heavy rain since they started. Here they remained for three days, and found the land about very poor and not capable of carrying more than one sheep to twenty acres. On the 15th they reached Hamaria, the chief of which place was anxious to show them land which he was willing to let them, but afterwards objected, and it appears that all the tativea in that part of the country were bound by an agreement with a committee of Napier people to consult them before doing anything with the hind. Rode next day to to Tepuaeharuru, a distance of about 15 miles, which is at tlu extremity of the Lake from Tokohaiia, and at which the Waikato river takes its exit from the Lake. The chief of this place, Pohipi, is with the Governor in the South. At Orunnui, which lies about twelve miles in a direct line from Taupo, they fell m with Mr Buekland’s cattle and stockdrivers, who had been prevented from going on to the run at Matamata. There a pig was killed, and u great, feast instituted in honor of the arrival of the party. In the houses were tables and chairs, knives and forks, spoons, and all the little adjuncts of an European’s habit.atiion, the natives being evidently desirous of doing llic tiling d I anyfaise. Hop na, tin- eiiiri) engaged to take the party on to Taiiumga Lett Uruanui at 3 p.m. and arrived at Orakokorako at 6'3u p.m. on the Ifith where they rested till next day and then rode on towards Rotorua, passing over some of the best pastoral land to be found in New Zealand. Reached Kctokakahia I ake at 5 p.m., and in two houi s after got to Tarawera, where the Rev. Mr Spence, di- missionary lives. At Orakokorako there was a fanatic named Brown, who threatened tn the presence of the guide to kill the pakeha-, if ho could get a chauce ; but the guide one of Hohepa’s men, said that whatever he did to the pakehas he must also do to him (the guide). For a time they felt anxious lest this fellow should attempt to impede their further progress, but ho did not do so, contenting himself with asseverating that if other white people came that way he would “do for them.” From Oruanui to Orakokoraka the distance is about fifteen miles, ana Ir-jin the latter place to Terawera between thirty and thirty-five miles. On the IBth, bveaklasted at the Rev. Mr Spence’s, and remained there some days, visiting the various places to be seen in the neighborhood. They then started for Tauranga, which they reached on the -3rd, alter a long and circuitous ride, in consequence of the regular road being impassable.

At Oruanui, Captain Holt succeeded in leasing a run of 40,000 acres of capital land capable of carrying 15,000 sheep now, and when laid down in English grasses able to feed some 80,000.