A Trip up the Wanganui River.

Manawatu Herald, 29 May 1897, Page 2

A Trip up the Wanganui River.

[Note —The full text, with three photographs ne\cr published previously, will be issued as a supplement on Tuesday next.]

U? THE BTVSB.

The trip np from Wanganui to Pipiriki is very pretty all the way,** though some portbns are prettier than others. The Wanganui is rather a remarkable river from its having no valley of its own, for it runs through what is termed a volcanic fissure, cutting through valleys at right angles, and thus both ban kg are high and mostly very broken, and generally covered with bush and fern trees, and here and there a witerfall drops down from for up, or breaks over a rise near the river'g bank. Near one waterfall we noticed a peculiar fall of water rushing straight out from the face of tha p.; pa rock through a note very muoh resembling a round drain pipe. Tbif ia probably an outlet of water gathered in some strata. We may further state that there are many rapidfl in the river which require, in ordinary times, skilful navigating, and frequently entail. much hard work upon the crew. The " Wairere " has been specially .built for this work, and being provided' with powerful machinery she drags her way over them by means of wire ropes laid by the firm for this purpose. At the time we went up. the river .was in slight flood and we paddled over every rapid with wonderful ease and undiminished speed, which is proved by our having left Rett's wharf At 7 am. and arrived at Pipiriki at 4.80 p.m., or only eight hours and a half for fifty seven miles against a strong stream.

The starting point for the steamers is Befct's wharf on the bank of the river by the Market Square. Excursionists in approaching the wharf should not fail to notioe the monument erected to the memory of the friendly natives who died in the defence of "the pakeha at the battle of Moutoa. It is one of the very few acknowledgments made of the great service the friendly natives have been to the early settlers. After Btarting from the wharf the railway bridge at Aramoho is passed, and soon after the river banks begin to get higher. Upokongaro, a village of some sise is passed about eight miles distant from the starting point. Ihe river bank is close on forty feet high, though a ferry crosses the river. Then Kaiwhaiki, The Quarrieg, and Taketake are passed, and at 14 miles Baorikia is reached, and. is the point where the Kaurapaoa Stream joins the river. Parikino and Wbakahuruawaka go by, and the next point of interest is Atene (Athens.) This is a native kai'ngq aitn&tedi \u a pretty bend in the river— -some* 28 miles from Wanganui. Koriniti (Corinth), is the next native settle* ment some eight miles further up the river, and in the old war days was a Rtation for the troops. Earatia (Galatia), is three miles further on, and then five miles further -we reaoh London, or Banana. It cannot be mistaken for the centre of the civilised world, but is held to be an important point in regard to the sparse population there is all the way up the Wanganui. ,It used to be a station of the missionaries of the Ohurah Missionary Society, but, sad io say, has been negleoted and thus offers a strong contrast to the establishment at Jerusalem. A BATTL& SOEOTB/ . , ; About a mile above Banana is the historical island of Moutoa, not much to look at, and of a very few aores in extent, but worthy of notioe as hereon, by mutual agreement 'a decisive battle was fought between a war party of the Hauhaus and the Wanganui Maoris living at Banana. This was in 1864 when troubles were rife, and the Hauhaus sent word that they wished to pas 3 down the river to Wanganui. The Wanganni'i believing they held the key of the position refused to agree to this, and, it was arranged that both parties should meet on the island and decide the question by force of arms. The battle was fought on the 14th May, and for a time victory went to the Hauhaus. Mete Kingi at last cried out, " I will retreat no further," and rallying his followers finally routed the Hauhaus. UP RTVEB AGAIN. The path from the Waitotara strikes the river at Tawhitinui and I here is a small kainga. It is by this path that the Haubans came across before the fight at Moutoa. A mile further up we reach Kauaeroa, which was formerly a Bointfn Catholic Mission Station. The vineyard and orchard, planted by the well-known Father Lampila, is still in existence, though the mission station has been removed to Jerusalem. Close to the river there is a hot spring, the water of which is very soft. The spring belongs to the class of mineral waters but is not of any great strength. Mr Hatrick informs us that he intends having this spot further developed and will make it a point at which to land. JERUSALEM. Hirnharama is a very pretty-fcelec-tion for a station. The bluff hills through which one has been travelling break a bib on the southern

bank, and a long point; of sloping land stretches down into the river, causes a bend so sharp that in look ing ahead in steaming up you could almost imagine the end of the river had been reached. This is a very old established Roman Catholic Mission Station, with a handsome church and a large number of dwellings built around. The banks, though comparatively low. are thirtyfive above the water. The celebrated Sister Mother Aubert lives here and tends a large orphanage, and much attention is given to farming. We were informed that reapers and binders and a threshing machine were in the settlement. This used to be a great spot for fruit, and a good deal ia even grown now, but the older trees want seeing to. It is said that Sister Aubert buys all the quinces up and down the river, and has them peeled and quartered and placed in barrels with sugar, and then she ships them to France and reaps a handsome profit. The natives are taken up with vine growing and a good deal of land on therivej will be used for grapes. PIPIBIKI. t ■. A few more miles steaming and than the present 'terminus, Pipiriki, is reached. It does not strike the visitor as a place of muoh importance, bs besides Messrs Hatrick's store, a small shop, and the accommodation house, we noticed, but few other buildings, though there is a school a little further back. " A many years ago " matters were not so peaceful here, as Mr Booth could testify. He is now Stipendiary Magistrate Gisborne way, but then he was teaching the natives, and he and hi? wife resided on the north bank. One dark and stormy night a friendly native warned him that enemies were seeking him,' and they both had to leave by a back way to the river and embark in a canoe down which, shut in by the high banks, they had to paddle over rapids as hard a? they could to save their lives. The Government, in their wisdom, made this a military settlement and took j a small party of soldiers to this spot ! in the steamer Gundagai, under the now veteran Captain Fairchild. The river was in high flood or else the steamer would never have got there. These troops occupied two hills on the north bank an\3 the Hauhaus ooupied a hill on the south bank a little further up the river. Soldiers are proverbially careless, and whilst there many made a point of going to the river edge and cutting their names on the rocky baobs, most foolishly exposing themselves to the fire of the enemy, and many got killed. As was remarked to as by an old settler, they were cutting their own tombstones.

As will be seen from our account the Wanganui River is not only a very pretty one to travel up but is an historical one as well, and it is good for the younger occupiers of the oolony to be reminded that their fathers had far rougher and more dangerous life to that they enjoy. From ripiriki a coaoh runs in connection with the main lines of ooaohea to Taupo and Napier, so that tourists from or to Auckland can very conveniently take this pleasant trip in their route, and they should.