JOURNAL.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 66, 3 July 1851, Page 2

JOURNAL.

Of an Expedition Overland from Auckland to Taranaki, by way of Rotorua, Taupo, and the West Coast, undertaken, in the Summer of 1849—50, by His Excellency the Gover-nor-in-Chief of New Zealand. ICtmtimittl fivm our I;\*t 1 Saturday, January sth.— We set out this morning at about ten o'clock for Tokami, the settlement of Te Herekiekie, accompanied by Te Men lieu and several of the Chiefs and ladies belonging to the higher ranks of the aristocracy of l'ukawa. Tokami is situated about live miles fiom Pukawa and two from Te Kapa, on a large alluvial Hat (ormed by the deposits from the neighbouring hills ; through this ll.it runs the small tiver or rather creek called Tokami, and which, hcim? at the opposite extremity of the lake from the embouchure of the Waikato at Jerusalem, the natives call the mie source of that river. On die banks of ibis creek is situated the village of Tokami, surrounded by many acres of beautifully kept cultivations, extending for some considerable distance over the perfectly level surface of the immense Hat, which in all probability contains from one thousand to fifteen hundred Acres, of which at least three or four bundled are under crop, producing samples of wheat of different kinds of most astonishing ~grbwlli7 tiesuleTpotatoei, kuniera, taro, pumpkins maize, melons Sc, Sc, in great abundance. Here we saw the finest specimen I have yet seen of native architecture, being an immense house of abmt fifty feet long by twenty five feet broad, with walls about six feet high, the roof tree not l.ss than twenty feet from the ground—of course it is constructed in the usual! manlier, viz.—of raupo reeded inside, the only! openings—a door, window, or small upeningf protected by a sliding panel—being at one end, under a verandah formed by the projection of the roof and side walls to a disiauce of abo.it ten or twelve feet beyond the gable wall, ll was—n»ry highly ornamented in the usual manner, the facing boards of the projecting roof, the lintel and door posts, the uprights of the "verandah ami the casement of the windo*, Tei/g all composed of slabs of beautifully carved wood, some pieces being of very anciSuit /ale, painted with ochre of n gaudy r/d. When this house was first built, about iwo years ago, it was according to custom muleya strict tapu, to remove which, the gentle inhabitants of this highly civilized region, piously slew two native teachers belonging to file Ngaliawa tribe who had been sent frilin Whangauui to preach the Gospel in their lie.V then ears. 'I he untimely recollection of thiV outrage, so recently perpetrated on two members of his own tribe, made poor I'irikawaii feel somewhat uncomfortable, and I am afraid rather detracted from the pleasure of his visit. The first ceremony which took place on our arrival at Takami was a long tangi in front of the above mentioned house for the recent death of an old chief, this being the first visit of the Pukawa people (to whom lie was related) to bis settlement since his death, ami consequently the first' opportunity they had had of testifying their sorrow for their bereavement. The tangi (which lasted nearly an hour) being concluded and a hongi, or rubbing of noses, which occupied nearly half an hour longer, having been gone through, we were introduced in due form, first to the ladies, who were assembled undei the verandah of the house—and of whom the most remarkable were the widow of the deceased chief who was of course a person of much Kouseoueuce—then there was !

I'uliaha's witc, a guo.i humoured looking young woman of probalily litv and twenty, very respectably dressed in Kuropean clothing ; she received us certainly civilly enough, hut there was a considerable degree of constraint and cold reserve in hct manner, which gave one not a very favourable impression of her. There was also a sister of Te Hcrekiekie's, a tall finely formed young woman, dn s?cd in a gay scarlet cloak, with a commanding but .-inisti-r expression of countenance. '1 e llerekiekie himself was absent having gone to Wliangamii to collect a tana for the purpose of making good his threat against Te lieu Heu, but we saw his brother an impudent looking young man and who behaved —as indeed did all the people here—in rather a cavalier manner lowaids us. They all agreed in saying that (hey had no objection to the pakeha party ascending the mountain, but were determined •he maories should not, and that if we went >h them we must take the consequences—l they obstinately persisted in this delermiinn although we tried of course without in.ry or making a favour of the matter to jue them out of it. A great deal of speeching had been going on since the conclusion the ceremonies of the taugiand hom-i, whilst ; amused ourselves by walking through the lllaye and cultivations, with the appearance jf the latter we expressed oiuselves much pleased, and they really were the best we had seen since leaving Auckland. Having seen what was to be seen, we returned to our camps to dinner, leaving Te lieu lieu and his principal chiefs still talking, as also our friend l'irikawau who was to watch the proceedings and on his return bring us a report of what should take place. I must not omit to mention that Puhaha's wife heariig that we were in want of ilour and having a liandmill and plenty of wheat at hand, very kindly sent us a supply of very good, though somewhat course (lour, which was indeed a most acceptable addition to our fast decreasing stock of provisions ; we repaid her kindness by sending in return a quantity of tubacco of which they were much in want and a few oilier trilles which might be useful to her.