MR. E. J. WAKEFIELD'S TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE NORTHERN ISLAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 5, 9 April 1842, Page 20

MR. E. J. WAKEFIELD'S TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE NORTHERN ISLAND.

{Continued from our last."] The northern side of Puki Onaki slopes down very suddenly to the shores of a small lake, called Roto aira, and not Roto iti, as Mr. Bidwill calls it in his " Rambles." On the western side of this lake, the land is flat and clear for eight or ten miles, when it becomes hilly and wooded, though a branch of the prairie there runs to the northward. The eastern end of the lake is also level and clear, but of that I shall speak hereafter. The northern end of the lake is separated from the southern end of Taupo lake by two mountains ' called Kakaramea and Pianga, and the wooded ridge which unites them. From the Wanganui to the western shore of Roto aira is about five miles, the last two miles through a swamp in which we sunk up to our knees at every step. The greatest length of the lake is from N.N.W. to S.S.E., about five miles. At the N.W. end a swampy peninsula of 100 yards breadth joins a small island to the main. This island, called Motu o puhi, is about half the size of Somes' Island, and its junction with the peninsula is defended by a very strong double fence. On the island are the houses inhabited by the natives of the lake when compelled to take refuge there from the attacks of hostile tribes. A canoe from the eastern shore soon answered our salutes from the island, and took us over to a settlement called Tuku tuku, where we got abundance of boiled potatoes, and fell asleep in less than a quarter of an hour, notwithstanding the jabber of at least fifty natives of both sexes, who crowded into the house to stare at the new pakehas, and hear the news from Wanganui. The house was a ware puni, or native hot-house, but of very large dimensions. It was very lofty; held fifty people comfortably ; and was adorned inside with paddles, spears, and nets of two or three sorts. Whether the active members of another tribe mustered in force or not, I slept far too sound to know or care.

26th. We remained at Puku tuku to rest. This is a pretty settlement in the N.E. corner of the lake. The underwood has been cut away, but the tall forest trees, chiefly matai or mai, remain standing and still alive. The plantations and villages are disposed among their banks on the acclivity which rises from the side of the lake to Pianga. They grow all their potatoes here by throwing up the soil on patches of unturned ground about four feet in diameter; so that the whole cultivation takes place above the surface in artificial beds. The soil is a rich brown loam, mingled, however, with a large proportion of powdered pumice-stone. The rain continued at intervals, and the clouds hung below the summit of Puki Onaki. Half way up the steep N.E. face of this mountain a boiling spring juts out, which is considered by the natives a sovereign remedy for some diseases : they travel from all parts to benefit by its healing qualities. Watanui, the head chief of the Ngatirukawa tribe, is stated to have obtained here a wonderful cure. 27th. The rest of our party arrived ; and the day was taken up with the usual tangi, or crying, and feasts of potatoes, pigs baked whole in the native oven, and pots filled with small fish out of the lake. This fish is called inanga, and resembles our white bait in size and flavour. Their colour is a pinkish white, spotted with black. The rain continued all day, but was no interruption to the festival. Aboui 200 people, of all ages and sexes, assembled from the villages at this end of the lake, to greet the strangers. 29th. The rain continued ; and we were not sorry to have another day's rest for our sore feet. 30th. Passing over the low wooded neck which unites Kakaramea to Pianga, we emerged, after about four miles' easy walk through wood, into fern ground, from which we had a magnificent view of Lake Taupo and the surrounding country. This lake lies much lower than Roto aira, but still is at a great elevation above the sea. At the opposite end- of the lake, a mountain called Tauwera is a conspicuous object, rising, as it does, from a level table country to the height of 3,000 or 4,000 feet. It bore from our position N. 20° E., and might be thirty- five miles distant. I should estimate the length of the lake at thirty miles, and its mean breadth at twenty. The shores, from N.W. to N.E., seem to be lined with cliffs of considerable height, from the edge of which a clear table land stretches to the horizon on all sides, except where the tops of two isolated mountains may be dimly distinguished in the extreme distance to the north. On the eastern shore the cliffs recede from the lake, and become more gentle in their slope from the table land to a marshy flat, which reaches without interruption to the S.W. corner of the lake. In the S.E. corner a long low isthmus joins a peninsula of considerable size and height to the main ; and in a line between the peninsula and Tauwera a small island rises to the height of two or three hundred feet from the water. The peninsula is called Motu o apa, and the island Motu Taiko. About three miles to the southward of the isthmus the Waikato flows into the lake by three sluggish, shallow mouths ; and the valley of the river, from four to five miles in breadth, stretches away to the S.E.; between Pianga and Tonga Riro to the west, and the western extremity of Kai Maoawa to the east. Kai Manawa is the name given to that part of the Rua hine which lies to the westward of the Rangitiki river. The chain of hills formed by Pianga, the ridge which we. had just crossed, and Kakaramea, approaches gradually to the lake; and a little beyond the S.W. corner the shore* again consist of rocky cliffs, fringed with wood to the water's edge, for two or three miles.

Further to the north, the land again gradually slopes from a beach to the table prairie, which extends for about twelve miles to wooded mountains in the direction of Kawia, and apparently with little interruption to the northward. About ten miles from the S.W.' corner the geri<tle acclivity is interrupted by an isolated mountain, called Wareroa, whose eastern face appears to be a basaltic, cliff. Beyond this, the shores are again gradual in their rise to the table land for several miles, till the cliffs close in, and continue round the northern extremity of the lake. Between the base of the mountain ridge, on which we now ctood and the banks of the Waikato, a curious isolated hill rises to the height of 600 or 700 feet, out of the marshy flat. This hill is called Maunga Namu, or sand-fly mountain, and is used as a cemetery by the natives. Descending from the high, ground, we now crossed the Tokanu, a stream which flows from the northern side of Pianga, and, passing between the hills and Maunga Namu, flows into the lake near the S.W. corner. After crossing a small swamp and a coppice of low manuka, we came suddenly on a novel scene. A space of about ten acres on either side of the Tokanu stream is perforated with holes and cavities of various sizes, from which steam issues in large quantities. Some part of this space is barren, and whitened by the sulphureous exhalations from the hot springs ; but in other places manuka and rich grass grow to the very edge of a boiling cavity. In some places a small hole only is perceptible, from which issues a stream of st sam : here the natives form their ovens, and cook food very nicely and with great expedition. In other places, large cavities, from ten to thirty feet in diameter, are filled with water of various temperatures : some nearly boiling, others tempered by the cold stream which runs through one part of them. In one of the latter we all had a delicious bath. The cavity was too deep to reach the bottom, though we dived off a bank eight feet high, and the temperature varied from 70° to 100° as you approached or not the embouchure of the different springs that supply the bath. In all directions steam or hot water issues from the ground ; and the clouds of steam which cover the spot, and the gurgling of the different hot fountains around you, add to the wonder excited by the novel scene. A stranger requires to be careful as to where he steps. We were shown two deep basins full of nearly boiling water, into one of which a man threw his slave for stealing potatoes, while a pig had forced a man who was pursuing him into the other. They said that the bones of both were plainly visible but a year or two since, but have been completely destroyed by the action of the water. Half a mile from the springs we reached a settlement named after the stream, where 300 people were assembled to receive us. I was ushered into a house newly built on purpose for me, and then the tangi and speeches went on as usual. This place is close to the mouth of the stream, on the flat, which is here perhaps a mile broad from the lake to the hills. Extensive patches are R?wn with the kumera, neatly fenced in and cultivated. The remainder of the flat is equally divided between a raupo swamp* and grassy plains. This settlement owns for a leader a chief named Here kie kie, who behaved t.) me in the most hospitable and pleasing manner for a month that I remained here. Exceedingly handsome as to figure and face, and of commanding stature, he blended great dignity of mien with a very affable disposition, and pleased me no less by the well-earned respect and obedience which he exacted from his followers than by the unassuming way in which he strove to do the honours of his residence, and to make us enjoy our sojourn with him. Although only about twenty-eight years of age, his authority seemed unquestioned; and he used it with perfect good nature in keeping the natives from coming into the house, and importuning us by their too frequent questions or observations. I consider him decidedly one of the finest specimens of a New Zealander that I have yet seen. My companion fell ill soon aftei we arrived at Tokanu ; so that I was detained a month here, instead of pushing on, as I had intended, to Auckland by way of Waikato and Manukau. The Waikato flows out of the northern end of the lake, and thus affords an easy communication with the western coast. 1 ascertained that in eight days I might have reached Auckland from Taupo by that route. During- my sojourn I visited the different settlements between Motu o apa and one called Pukawa, a few miles to the S. of Wareroa. Pukawa is pleasantly situated in the left bight of a little cove beyond the wooded cliffs before mentioned. About 100 natives mustered to receive me and my train, who had arrived in a large canoe, in pursuance of their invitation to a feast prepared for, us,, They are chiefly missionaries at. this settlement, which is headed by a chief named Pairangi. At all the other settlements, a family or two called themselves converts, but are very heartily despised by the others, who are instructed by their head chiefs to adhere to their ancient rites and customs. South of Pukawa the wooded cliffs are broken by a cascade of 100 feet in height, which' falls into the lake out of a bower of mingled foliage. This fall, and the settlement at its base, are called Waihi. From thence to Terapa, at the extreme S.W. corner of the lake, plantations of coin, melons, pumpkins, and kumeras., cover the steep bank of ; rocks, which rises from the water to the same level as the top of the fall; and at Terepa is a small stream and another settlement, at which the head chief of the Ngatipehi tribes* old Heuheu, resides in time of peace. The terraced flat between a gorge at the western extremity of. Kakaraxnea and tlie lake is covered with plantations and isolated houses. [To be continued.] "