NOTES FROM A JOURNAL

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 163, 22 December 1847, Page 2

NOTES FROM A JOURNAL

Kept during an excursion to the Boiling Springs of Rotorua and Rotamakana, Ay ■way of the Waikato and Waipa countries, in the Summer of Eighteen Hundred and Forty-six and Seven*

(Continued,) We loft the pa at one o'clock with the intention of bivouacking on the bank* of the Waitoa, in ordtr to reach the Wana*i settlement on the Pialco, the following day. The path lies along the banks of the Waitoa, which runs in the ceatre of a deep bed or holm, about twenty feet below the level of the plain, which in tome places is several hundred yards wide and filled with kahikatea, rimu, totara, and tawa : this bed U covered in flood i to a comiderable depth, and the river ii then impamble. A« we advanced northward, tht soil of the plain which around Mats Mata is very rich, became leu so, and the surface is entirely bare of wood, and travened by several fUx-iwtmpi. For this reason a portion of it of levcral iquare miles in extent, was sold

about four yean lince, to Government, and a part of the tribe are anxious to lell the portion nearer to Mata Matt, which hating been ones cultivated, and all the timber destroyed, ii an excellent soil although of no further vie to them. The old men advocate iti immediate sale—" for" say they, "if it is not toon sold, Wd shall hare no share in the utu» Foe Foe was present when the former land was told, but as the utu was not paid immediately, he died and never shared in it," The young men having no idea of dying oppose this by gay. ing — '♦ Wait until the land becomes more valuable !" If, however, both these tracts were in the hands of Qovernment, they would make some fine farms ai there' is a great deal of grass in the old cultivations. After a walk of several mites over perfectly level ground, the plain extending northward as far as the eye could reach, we descended into the dry bed of the stream which we crossed by means of a rude bridge, and continuing along the left bank for three miles further, retched our resting place, a amall open shed, near a p tuna or eelweir. Our Natives soon spread a bed of fern, and t kindling a large fire, we had a good supper and slept com'ort&bly until the morning, by taking the precaution of lying to leeward of the fire, so that thft smokedrove away the mosquitoa. Jan. 16.— Rose at daybreak, and having recovered the usual path across the plain to the Piako, traversed a per'ect level for ten miles, the soil of which was poor, and much intersected with flax-swamps, which were now quite dry, but were covered with a good deal of a grass peculiar to these places and much liked by cattle. Similar swamps but of much greater extent stretched southward to the base of the low bare ridges that run parallel to Maungakaua, the highest point of which it called Maunga Tapu, while to the north . the plain extended in an unbroken level, ss far as the eye could reach, being however less dry from the quantity of raupo that covered it, and which always indicate* the presence of water. We observed a solitary bush on our route, whoie peculiar foliage attracted our attention— we were informed that it had been planted there as a land mark, and was tapu. Ou going to look at it we found a large bare space around, so trodden down as to have destroyed the fern, and this we were told was done to prevent the bush from being burnt by the fires which, lighted either by accident or design, annually destroy the fern over large tracts of country ; and none of the members of the contiguous tribes ever pass by without walking round it, so that this act has become almost a supertitious observance — it ii thus preferred from destruction. The care with which (his bmh is kept is an evidence of how particular the Natives are in denning the respective boundaries of their lands, so that when no natural objects are present, such as streams or ranges of hills, they make use of artificial landmarks. It is an egregious error to imagine that the tribes do not know the extent of their territories, in fact no English 'Squire can point out the bounds of his eitate with note accuracy. I have had the lands belonging to a tribe pointed out to me with as much minuteness as a Surveyor could do after having completed a surrey — every stream— every rock— each peak, and even remarkable trees, are selected for this purpose. It is true that a dispute often arises among tribes about boundaries, but still each will show what they conceive to be theirs— and even these differences announce ihe importance they attach to their lands. We value land for its adaptation 10 agricultural and paste ral purposes* they for its use as a pip-run. We look upon swamps and rivulets as useless, they prize them highly as breed-ing-places for eels. Those who are ignorant of these facts assume that the Natives do not care about their .land because they do not esteem its^value in their fashion, but it will be seen that if any attempt is made to appropriate it after the recommendations of the Select Committee on New Zealand affairs, that the tribes will rather die than suffer an acre to be taken except for an equivalent assented to by themselves. We now reached the Wai-arikeki, a stream. so named from the quantity of flax that fills the hollow in, which it runs: it was now a tu'flinsj brook, and • we stepped over it close to its confluence with the P>ako ; but in the winter it rises many, feet, and with the addition of back-water from the Piako, forms at this spot a small lake, where my fellow-traveller was detained a whole day in consturcting a raft to afford a passage across. The path now follows the course of the Piako, downwards—the river is only thirty feet wide, and rnns in a bed twenty feet below the level of the plain; this proves the facility, with which the swamps that cover it might be drained, as none of them even in the most rainy winter are more than a few feet deep. It rises in the Maungakaua hills, and runs along the foot of the dividing range, between the basins which contain that river and tba Waiho, and that through which the Waikato has its course, receiving ali the water from the eastern face of these hills, as Well as from its own immediate souices, in the steep sides of Maungkaus, and the numerous rivulets of the plain— it therefore rises rapidly in heavy rains, and overflowing its banks, pours in conjunction with the Waitoa, an immense body of water over the plain, towards its mouth, completely inundating it, and forming a vast fresh water' sea, on which canoes and even vessels of some burden, leaving the course of the river can sail with perfect safety. In this way the Delta which lies between it and the WaiI ho, is insensibly but gradually rising in height, from the mud which is thus annually deposited, and by which it has been originally formed. At some former period either bank must have been lined with wood, as its bed is filled in many places with I the trunks of immense trees, which from their position must have fallen into the river from the banks, but with the exception of a few straggling totara trees, it I has entirely disappeared until near Mowkero, five-and-thirty miles from the mouth of the river, where it is bordered for three or four miles with a forest of kahlkatea and tawa, beyond which, until it empties itself into the gulf of Houraki, its' banks are entirely bare of wood. We reached the Wanaki, a small settlement of a sept of the Ngatipaua, about one o'clock, where my companion bas a house for the convenience of carrying on a trade in flax with the people of the place itself, and the Ngatihoua residing at Maungakaua, who convey^, there from the upper Piako in canoes, whence it h again carried to Mowkero, to which place, in ordinary seasons, vessels of ten or fifteen tons burden can ascend. In approaching the Wanaki, we passed over some fine alluvial flats, bordering the river, covered with grass, and which receive every year a top-dressing, from the inundations to which I have alluded—indeed ob either bank there are stripes of alluvial land of greater or less bteadth, but of less extent on the western bank, from which the ground rises by a gradual ascent to the hills, which are about two miles and ahalf distant. The whole western bank, from the A.waroa Creek, which enters the Piako five miles below Mowkero, to nine miles beyond that place, was purchased from the Natives who reside at Mowkero, and the Wanaki, who are tho more immediate possessors, and from the Ngatipaua of Hauraki who had a claim upon it, by Mr. William Webster of Coromandel Hsrbor, in the year 1839, with the avowed intention of bringing out Colonists from England, to settle there. The arrival of

the Got eminent however in 1840, put an end to that scheme, and in the month of June of the same year, he sold nearly the whole of it in various portions to diffe rent individual!, or made it over to parties in Sydney, in. lieu of liabilites he had incurred there. J^When the Land-Claims' Ordinance came into operation Mr. Websttr preferred his claim for the whole purchase, but only 2,560 acres, the maxi num grant authorized by the Ordinance, except in special cased, were awarded to him by the Coinmusioners appointed to inveitigate the claims, although they al owed that the purchase of the wlijl« had been fairly made and acknowledged by the Natives the former possessors. The purchasers of land from Mr. Webster, or secondary claimants, at they are called, were therefore thrown overboard, notwithstanding their petitions which stated that having purchased the land before any pro* hibitory act was in force against mch transactions, that they ought, in their opinion, to be viewed in the light of first purchasers, or primary claimants, but both Captain Hobson the first Governor, and his tern orary successor Mr. Shortland, decided otherwise. On the arrival of Captain Fitzroy, however, the secondary claimants petitioned him on the subject, and he, in their opinion, takiug a more just view of the case, di. rected them to prefer the'r claims, and so much of their purchases were acknowledged as they had paid for a the rate of five shillings per here, and Crown-Grant* were issued accordingly, and although many of the claimants did not receive one-half of what they had originally purchased, yet the grants were 1 accepted as a boon, and gratefully acknowledged. From the difficulty of access by land, nay, the impossibility of conveying cattle there, none of this land has either been cultivnt d or as yet made use of in any way, indeed none but the narrow alluvial strip along the river is suited for agricultural purposes, and that u liable to inundations', bnt the whole tract might be used for pasturing cattle, and it will no doubt be occupied in that way, when the proposed road into the inteiior is formed, and which will pass within a few miles of it. There is a great quantity of flax along the banks of the river, and although not of such fine quality as that growing in the higher districts, would if dressed bo well suited for many purposes, but it is impossible to get the Natives to dress more than a quantity sufficient to barter for the trade they require, except under the •timului of some great necessity. When arms and am. munition were first introduced by trading vessels, some years back, whole tribes would spend night and day in alternate watches, to complete the quantity required for the coveted arms, but at present the case is different, the Natives have many other ways of procuring what they want, without having recourse to a worn they most cordially dislike. The quantity of fljx, therefore, procured from the Natives is even less now than formerly, nor is it likely to increase, unless a price be given as an inducement, whuh would swallow up all the profits of the flax-collectors. The life of these persons is one of great risk and bardihip, for they not only have to advance trade to the Natives before a leaf of the plant is cut, and trust to their honour and good faith to fulfil their engagements, but they meet with a hundred annoyances and delays by which their time it wasted, their means frittered away, and their health hurt. They have to suffer wet, cold, and often hunger, in their various journeys to stimulate the Natives to dresf the flax, and when dressed to bring it to a place of cmbarkat on, and even then all their labor may have been in vain, from the leaky state of most of the coasting vessels, for if wet ■with salt waler it is ruined, unless washed immediately in fresh water, a process which cannot always be conveniently managed. is difficult to say how tho manufacture of this valuable article can be extended and encouraged, unless machinery can be constructed to produce it in as fine a state as it comes from the haHds of the Natives, for as I have before observed, it is vain to trust to them for krij greater supply. There is no doubt, however, but i that it might be cultivated with advantage, the finer kinds being selected for that purpose, ju*t as the NatiYei do in the interior districts where it is not indige- • nous. 1 have taken notice of the manner in which they fence their fields with it as at Mnungatautari, and many places on the Waipa, and in the Lake country, j and although this could not be advantageously practised by European farmers who keep cattle, yet it might be planted in fields expressly fenced for the purpose, and night be cut and dressed by the women and younger members of the family, without interfering with the usual- agricultural occupations. By being (teeped in a running stream, after the mmn«r of the Natives when preparing it for their finer mats, the mucilage with wkich it abounds, and which is the cause of the decay of the fibre, by promoting fermen I tation when clo.«ely packed, would be removed, and the further process of a careful hackling, would enable it to be «ent to England in a very different state from that in which it is usually embarked. In (act, at present it is looked upon by ship-masters more as rubbish wbich must be carried because its freight is uatd for, than as a valuable article — it is consequently crammed into the hold anywhere, and indeed used more as dunnage than as part of the cargo, It is not therefore to be wondered at, that it arrives in London in a deteriorated condition, and is often sold for little mori> than it cast in New Zealand. It ought indeed to be one of the ttsple exports of the Colony, and shouli be as certain a returnofreight for ships coming with cargoes to Auckland, as wool is to thoce arriving in Sydney. My companion's cottige was near the river and the wood, and wat consequently infested with myriads of mosquitoes, whose attacks after sun-set were most intolerable. Moiquito-curtains are not among the luxuries of the " bush," io our only chance of getting rid of thesetormentors and snatching a little sleep, was by kindling a smouldering fire on the earthen floor, in a corner of our sleeping-room, the smoke from which filling the apartment, drove out the insects, but subjected us to almost as great suffering from the sense of semi-suffocation we experienced, and which inflicted a continuous night mare upon us» Jx>r. 17.— Wt hailed the dawn of day with pleasure as it is always a signal for the disappearance of mosquitoes and after getting two hours sound sleep, rose % mnd having performed our ablutions in a wholesale way, ' by bathing in the river, and having breakfatted, we followed the right bank of the river to Mowkero.— There is a good deal of fine alluvial land between the »iver and a line of extensive swamps which lie to the South ; this part extends to the pa, . distance of three miles, and some way beyond it and to the west is continnous with a similar part which I have mentioned at having passed on my way to the Wanaki. This land is claimed by a gentleman who maintains that he purchased it in the year 1839, but the natives who reside at Mowfcero deny the validity ot the purchase, confining it to about two hundred acres which they have carefuly marked out by pickets placf d at the four corners and qn which they have permitted the purchaser to erect a bouse. On our mentioning that the gentleman in question intended to come and measure the land he affirms be has purchased, one of the natives immediately started up and said emphatically, " Yes, he may come and measure it, but he will first pass the chain over our bodies." The fact is, he did p y for it, but unfortu nately for him only to Koenake and other chiefs of the

Ngatipaua who I have mentioned had a claim on all the land en either tide of the river, and in which payment thoie who reside on the soil had no participation ; hence their resiitance to the claims on the land of the east bunk, whereis they acknowledge unhesitatingly Mr. Wehiter's purchase of the western bank and say all that they want is, that the pakehas to whom it belong! would come and live upon it ; and they actually built a house almost gratuitously for my companion, who ii a son of one of the claimant!, in order to induce him to reside among them, and the principal chirf of the place hai him under bit especial patronage, constituting him his white man, protecting him from rudeness,— which slavei and lutua, or plebeians, are sometimes apt to show to pakehai, — and from some other annoyance! incident to a buih life ; for this, like the Highland Chief! of old, and the Arab Sheiks of the preieut day, he levies a kind of black mail, paid in tobacco, and the old gentleman daily stations himself at the door of the cottage smoking the pipe of peace. ;The two old ladies, his wives, (for he rejoices in a plurality of helpmates, being still a pagan,) act as cook and housekeeper and, during my companions absence, they guard his property with an Argus eyed watchfulness, and he Si us never lost a single article. The old chief is inclined to become " millinare" but, as the chcistian code only allows " one wi*e," his affection for both is such that he Is sorely perplexed which to dismiss, and as neither of them nre quite assured which is to be the favored one, they both urge him to adhere to the belief of his ancestors. The pa of Morkero is stockaded and stands on the eastern banks of the river. It may contain about sixty inmates who are fast diminishing in numbers from the effects ot a remittent fever which attacks them in the summer and autumn with deadly effect. It arises from the stagnant water around and the want of ventilation, as the pa is entirely eurrounded by forest, and is flooded every winter. It would indeed be abandoned but for the valuable eel fisheries on the Pinko. The ancient pa was on a high, conical hill, near the western bunk, a short distance below the present one. It was stormed by Honji and the Nghapuhi about twenty-five years since and the inhabitants either slaughtered, carried off as slaves, or drawn away to Maungatautari, and the Piako was abandoned for many years. More peaceful times at length arriving, the NgatipaUa sent some of their inferior rangatira, or freemen, and their slavei to fish, and these men after a time forming themselves into a tribe and having cultivated the soil, founded, according to native custom, a claim upon it, and which, as they became strong enough to assert, they have been allowed to maintain. In consequence, however, of the unhealthiness of the piace, they talk of abandoning it and building apa upon higher ground. It is a miserable, filthy den, and the people with few exceptions are a rude, knavish, set. We returned to the Wanaki by canoe, a route which the winding of the river makes tedious ; but the banks in many places were prettily fringed with wood, and the alluvial soil was many feet in depth. In the afternoon we strolled for some diatance, though with difficulty, up the river, passing on our way through a grassy spot of about an acre in extent, occupied by clumps of large ti, so as almost to form's wood —their tall stems and terminal bunches of long leaves resembled a grove of palm trees, and gave quite an oriental aspect to the pi ice. Some distance beyond this, is the old deserted pj of Kopuahape, which very much resembled a modern redoubt, bsing a parallelogram, defended on tbree'sidei by a deep ditch and rampart, and on the fourth by the steep bank of the river. Its position, on an eminence commanding all the neighborhood, showed the usual skill the Natives display in the situation of their strong-holds. We saw much good flax in the swampy ground thut runs parallel to the river, but the banks were singularly bare of wood, and with the exception of the Wanaki wood, there was none nearer than the summits of hills at the back, a distance of several mile*. , We had to endure the purgatory of another night in the house, as the very heavy new* which fall here after sunset, from the presence of to large an evaporating surface of shallow fresh water, made it un advisable to sleep in the open air. The vapor, which on ordinary occasions' would fall as d-w, sometimes occasions dense fogs, if the temperature of the atmosphere should be reduced during the night, and as they are not very common in New Zealand, the fogs of the JPiako are quite proverbial. It is also noted for its wet and cold, and ■ Native never talks of it without ihiugging his shoulders, and mentioning the two above-mentioned disadvantages. Indeed I believe it would not be occupied at all but for the eels which the river affords, and which are remarkably fine, and abundant. The wet, cold, and want of wood, were probably the reasons why the owners parted so readily with so Urge a tract as I that sold to Mr. Webster, but they took good care in the tramactitn to sell all the worst land, lying above the sites ot their eel-weirs, which could not thus be interfered with, and retaining every acre that contained wood, or was of lertile quality. It Will be found, indeed, that (he New Zealanders have never sold land of any rtal use to themselves, except at its full value, for it mutt be remembered that without wood and convenient water-communication, the richest toils would be almost useless. On the land in question they have reserved to themselves all the clumps of wood botdering the river. (To be continued,)