Kawhia from the inside.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 381, 16 October 1908, Page 2

Kawhia from the inside.

(By Demus, in the Opunake Times) I am sorry not to have been able to continue my narrative sooner. After landing in Kawbia one has to travel by launch to got anywhere. There must be half-a-dozen or mere plying about. My destination was Kinohaku. ( took the launch for that landing. When the tide is out at Ktaobaku it is a dismal enough looking spot, the usual Maori curse rests heavily upon its present chest. The land for about three miles deep ia largely owned by those eff irtless wasters, and stagna tion results. Leaving the launch here you travel byroad—spare the name—it ia a streak of mud in which weary horses ceased from travelling through it and the overburdened lie ai. rest.

After getting through the Maori belt a much pleasanter scene meets the eye : progress everywhere, Tilda homesteads, fine healthy looking pastures and sleek coated stock ; it is a kindly climate both for man and beast. When one stands upon the junction one gets an idea of the vast extent of country in this last and loneliest spot in New Zealand. It is fasr t getting settled And is good stock country. This is where the railway lijae must come. Here is where the prosperous township is going to be. Bight down the Kinonaku road a vast amount of improvements have been effected, and the country ia carrying a great number ofstocx. The whole country abounds in clear crystal streams. 1 doubt if any part of the world is watered better ; scenic beauty spots it abounds in and it is not so devoid of bird life as the Taranaki coastal province. One can hear tbe lively tui, the soft*tfiel low note of the bell-bird ; and I saw, while travelling a stray “mookey.” But when you stop to lunch you miss the inquisitive prying of the “bob robin,” so familiar and friendly to travellers through bush in the Bouth Island. Many parts of this country call to mind the South. And in Kiritehere. although not bearing tangible evidence, it has tbe physical features of mineral country, and I would not be surprised to hear once more the musical rattle of gravel upon the tin dish. Upon rounding a bend one is faced with a fine looking stream called the Marokopa, so we travelled up this a mile to look at a beautiful waterfall —BO feet or more of a straight drop, and a beautiful sight it is, as it shivered into sparkles in the waning sunlight. For the present: 1 shall leave you there, and perchance, if you meditate until tbe old moon sends its silvery beams over mighty Taumatatotara, and tells to your fancy things that have happened, you will boar the stealthy tread of the men of Rauparaha as they “walk backwards, to deceive their enemies”; or pehaps you will feel Che silent angniab of the Maori mother, when practising infanticide, must throw her female child intp, that awful torrent to be carried over that i terrible precipice, because now you stand upon one of tbe most ancient of Maori highways, between tbe famed Marokopa and the inland pahs.