JOURNAL.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 69, 14 August 1851, Page 2

JOURNAL.

Of un Expedition Overland from Auckland to Taranaki, by way of Rotorua, Taupo, and the West Coast, undertaken, in the Summer of 1819—50, by His Excellency the Gover-nor-in-Chief of New Zealand. (Conllmiid from our hst.} Tuesday, January Bth.—Started at six in our wet clothes and had to walk through high fern which was so wet that it was like passing through a pond. The walking was very rough this morning, the face of the country being much broken, we crossed two creeks and three or four swamps, afterwards we arrived at a considerable stream which we had some difficulty in fording, called Whanganui, which runs into the uorthen end of Taupo. Halted at half past nine for breakfast at a small deserted kainga, and started again at half after ten. The walking was still rather rough, our road leading us sometimes up or down steep hills, through patches of wood, with an occasional swamp and

a few creeks here and there, not forgetting high fern and tea tree in the vallies, which wet us just as much as either swamps or creaks, so that we were kept all the morning (thoagh it did not rain a drop), in a comfortable stkte of moisture, very cool for walking, but\ by no means good for the health. After crossing a stream called Titiroa we arrived at the Village of Umurua, consisting of about half\a dozen little huts, with a small patch of cultivation. Here we obtained some potatoes aim hired two men and a boy as additional luggage, carriers. A little beyond Umurua is the) river Waikino, the banks of which are wooded, after passing which we found the face of the country completely changed. Here the traveller enters upon a flat country on which lies an immense quantity of pumice stone. This can be hardly called a plain, though it contains no hills of any magnitude, as the surface of it is only much Broken by clumps, like islands ol .- basaltic rocks, forming vallies which open from, v one to the other, with occasionally a large surface of flat land between, so that the road, notwithstanding the broken nature of the country is perfectly level and easy to walk upon; there is no fern, no manuka upon this land, but it is covered with a course kind of grass, like that which in Australia is called spear grass from being pointed at the end of the blades which are very sharp and will run into the flesh like pins; this grass would afford but indifferent feed for cattle or ahtep, but the country WOUIUbe a good one fo> grazing, if it were sown with'" English grasses which would thrive there very well and would require little trouble to cultivate, but the toil is not fit for any agricultural purpose. The only shrub growing on these plains, is the knromiko, a small delicate plant, the leaves and young branches of which contain a quantity of milk—it is of little use even as firewood, as it grows to no considerable size. The flax which grows in these plains is of a peculiar kind, thefloweis being of a green colour, the fibre is not good. We passed this afternoon over a stream called Waihaka, (dancing water) running at a level far below that of the plain, which is .dammed by an immense flat basaltic rock whioh causes the water to collect in a deep basin, from which it runs on the principle of a mill dam, in a little rapid stream by the side of the dam, forming lower down, a pretty little cascade with woody banks. The road after passing the obstruction in the river, ascends a steep hill to the plain beyond, where is a magnificent pile of basaltic columns bearing somewhat the appearance of a ruined castle. We passed a settlement to the left at a distance of about half a mile at four o'clock. Our intention was to have pushed on to Tutakamoana this evening, but the natives were so lazy that we were obliged to give up the idea, so we halted at half past five in the plain, and it was after six before all the party were together. We calculated that we had traversed about twenty-three to twenty-five miles of country during the day.