SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GREENSTONE COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 16, 2 August 1849, Page 3

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GREENSTONE COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND.

From the traditions and songa of the Nativea of New Zealand, it would appear tlmt they have always attached great value to the Poenamu, as is termed by them, the axnite greenstone which exiaU in the mouotuin ranges of the interior of the Middle Island. The high estimation in which the natives hold it has most probably arisen from the circumstance of its hardness causing it to be a fitting material for their favourite weapon the meri; and also, from its smoothness and beauty, for their various neck and ear ornaments. The ircumstance of its scarcity, and the difficulty *! 'access to the locality in which it exitts, has perhaps contributed to the value which lim been attached to its possession. On the western coast of the Middle Island, in about latitude 43 °, is the mouth of the Ara Hura River, which is the chief locality in which the Poenamu is found. In some of the old maps of New Zealand a lake is maiked, bearing the name of "Te Wat Poenamu," a name which appears to be a corruption of "Wahi Poenamu," or Place of Greenstone, no similar lake existing near the locality, and no Poenamu being obtained in the district.

liesidcs tlio Pucnamu of tlio Ara llura River, a species of greenstone is founil at Waka Tipu or Milford Haven, also on the western coast, where it exists in the form ofn large block, apparently nil erratic boulder, on the beach oi a creek near the sea* The quality of the greenstone there' is, however, inferior. The Ara Hura River is, by the coast route, distant 86' miles from the settlement of Nelson. The way lies nloug the beaches au'l rocky points of the Taitnpu or Cupe Farewell, the Karamea, and the Kawa Tiri or Duller llivet districts. Along this track no food is to be obtained other than what may be procured with the gun, caught by snaring wild fowl, or the -sliell-fiali taken amongst this reefs at low water. There are no settlements from Taiiapu to Kararoa in the A-a llura country,* and tlio rugged nature of the way precluding tlio possibility of any considerable ipi'intity of provisions being carried, and rendering the progress of the traveller slow and uncertain, and subjects him to much privation and danger during the journey. Upon starting from the settlement of Pakiwau Mussacrc flay, it is necessary for the traveller to load himself with about 85 or 90 lbs. of provision. fiacli one of the party must be thus supplied, as no man, however strong, can carry more food during the journey than he himself will require for subsisience. >

To the northward of Toura te Weka, or Rocky Poiiil, the way along the sea coast is over a succession of rocky beaches, and over or round, precipitous jutting points, I lie bases of which are washed by the sea. Fragments of granito, of from five to forty feet in diameter compose the beaches, and along these, at low ■vater, the path lies. In many places these masses of stone arc piled in such iinneusa heapj, that fifteen or twenty minutes will elapse ero the traveller can mike fifty yards progress oVer them ; and occasionally where their steepness precludes the possibility of their being crossed it is necessary to wait until llio recedence of the wave to pass round, and then, crc its return, to pass the point waist-deep in the broken water. Inland of these beaches, the cliiT rises abruptly, backed by high wooded mountains. Where, occasionally, a point of the higher cliil'jults into the deep water, rude ladders h ive to lih placed against its sido, the crevices of the soft rock to be enlarged with the tomahawk for foothold, and the precipice so to be climbed. Along the narrow ledges ot its front, the traveller must creep 011 hands and knees, and to effect the descent 011 the farther side by aid of a knotted flax rope which holms fastened to soma projection above, I-'orty miles of such travelling as I have described near Rocky Point occupies in the winter season, or during unfavourable weather, about eleven days, and frequently a period of three or four days elapses ere as many miles distance is accomplished. About ei»ht miles northward of Rocky point is tile l'recipice of Tnupari Kaka. The natives of the rugged coast of'Taitapu—many of whom had gone as far ns this cliff, 011 their way to the gieenstone country, and then returned—considered that no white man could possibly pass this rock, even should he rashly venture so far. Here the ledges 011 the ficC of the clill' will neither admit of walking or creeping, but, holding on by the fissures ill the rock, the traveller lias to lean backward over the precipice to obtain liis footing farther along its face. A dug, if there be one with the party, must be carried down a portion of the descent, as it could riot otherwise get round the projecting ridges which intersect the path. This precipice was for a long time deemed the bar to the greenstone country. . Rocky Point, and the cluster of reefs about it, were, some twenty years since, much frequented by sealing parties. The seals, however, wefe soon scared away from that locality, and the pursuit generally, 011 the New Zealand coast, became almost abandoned. Latterly the seals have returned, although not in such considerable numbers as formerly. The writer of this observed, at ltocky Point, three within easy gunshot, on a reef near the beach. Along this cast the Ngatitama chief, Nga Nihu led his people, in the year 1827, against the Nguhitau, of the Greenstone country, whom he defeated ,in every combat. The assailants had, all of thcin, guns ; and although amid the almost inaccessible rocks anil fastnesses of their coast, the Ngaliitau might have defied any enemy similarly armed to themselves, yet the fear of the fire arms which their assailants brought against them, together with their deadly effects, caused them in every instance to givo way. The localities of the great fights ure yet pointed out, and scorched stones, which formed the " umu," are still discernible. Jieyond Rocky Point the ICurawea, Minkhiimi, and the great Kawa Tiri, or Uuller

rivfirs have successively to Le crossed. Moki, or rafts, are nfccessa'y for the piit'pose, ns ihc rivers Rt the coast are too deep "to lie forded. The best materia) for the construction o; the raft is the' knrare, or dr£ stalk of the flas flower; where this cannot lie procured, three or four totara logs of about twelve feet in length and a f,ot in bicadth, jointed at eitliei end, and held together by hax lashings ovei smaller transverse pieces, will make a rafl capable of supporting four persons, with Iheii baggage. Such a raft, however, sinks deep in the water, and cannot he paddled fast without great labour. The " Kornre" is made into tightly lashed bundles of about sixteen feet long, and a foot in diameter, tapering at cither end to a point. Five or sis of these bundles are lashed together in the shape of the deck of a boat, making a raft of about six feei in breadth anil sixteen in length. Tho two centre bundles are placed lowest, and the others somewhat higher on ell her side in succession. The raft is thus made alijjhtly concave, and the hollow being filled with the broken pieces of stalk, lashed down ; a very bouyant and stable raft is formed, which will support, in smooth water, four men, two dogs, and one hundred and fifty pounds weight of baggage. Rough paddles arc cut from diy drift wo id, and the raft may be propelled at the rate of about one and a lialf miles per hour.

Along the coast the traveller subsists on the birds, which may occasionally he snared, the Mamakn, or heart of the tree fern, and the shell fish and blubbers which are obtainable at low water pmong the reefs. At only one place in the whole distance to 'Ara Hura can a hook and line be used successfully, from the exposed nature of the coast and the heavy surf which almost incessantly breaks upon it. But the native goes along the beach imitating the shrill call of the wood hen, or weka; and when he is so successful as to entice one near to lu'm, crouching down he repents the moie familiar cry of the bird, which he soon decoyed within reach, n flax-noose is then cleverly slipped over the bird's neck, and the traveller has provisions which will supply him until some other article of food may be taken by the exercise of similar vigilance and dexterity. While the high tide is in on the beach, anil the way round the projecting point obstructed by it, the traveller will, with a strip of flax, make his anare for the coimorant he observes amongst the rocks, or for the blue duck which he has seen alight up an adjacent stream. Half his time is frequently occupied in thus procuring his food ; and even at night he oust leave his hut, with his ilog, to hunt penguins, or to wade through the shallow tide pools with a reed-torch to spear the patiki. : In the warmer weather eels may be taken in soma of the streams; a large fish-hook is lied to the fore finger of either hand, and along the edge of rocky streams the stones are turned over, and the crevices examined, until the eel is felt, w hen the barbed hook prevents him slipping from the grasp, and ere many minutesare past he is placed between two fl.i*leaves and spitted before the fire, fcr a breakfast which has been well earned. Frequently days —perhaps weeks will elapse, during which the traveller can obtain nothing but the Tori Tori, or rock blubber, with the mamaku of the fern tree for vegetable, and inland, in the great birch woods, not even those can be obtained. (To be continued in the next.)

* Two native families arc now forming a plantation at the raoutU of the Kcuva Tiri, or Uullcr Kivcr,,