JOURNAL

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 458, 4 September 1850, Page 3

JOURNAL

Of an Expedition Overland from /luckland to Taranaki, by way of Rot or ua, Taupo, and the West Coast under- . taken in the Summer of 1849— 50, hy His Excellency the GovERNOR-iN-Cmcr of New Zealand. [From the " Maom Messenger."] [Continued.] Saturdayi Bth.— Rose at 5, and the first thing done was to cool our burning skins, still aching from the effects of the mosquito onslaught, in the limpid waters of the Thames, during which time breakfast was in course of pieparation. We were delayed till 9 o'clock this morning, having to wait for the turn of tide, when we started for Opita ; here we landed and found that one canoe only, of the two we had bespoken ihe previous day, was ready for us, the other being on shore and could not be launched without delaying us longer than we could afford to wait. Here the Kaweranga canoe left us, alter we had paid for her asiistance Bs. and 6 figs of tobacco—this payment, however, included a basket of potatoes which had been sent on after us in the afternoon. We had great difficulty in making arrangements to get the natives to go on with the canoe which was ready, and as for the other wo had to give it up altogether. So much difficulty had we, that to avoid unnecessary delay, it was determined that two of us should remain behind to make arrangements about the canoe, while the boat proceeded on her journey with the re»t of the party. Our principal difficulty was owing to the absence of Te Amo, the Chief of this settlement, who was somewhere down at Hauraki, and in consequence the natives were more exacting and less manageable than if we had had the assistance of their chief. After a delay of about an hour, we succeeded in obtaining the services of a fine stout young fellow named Opita, and half a dozen others, who as the sequel proved, turned out to be the very best men we had in our party, being not only stronger and better travellers, but also better tempered, and in every way more agreeable and useful men than any others we engaged on the jouinty. We hurried them off without making any definite arrangement as to pay, and I imagine our success was mainly attributable to the presence of Te Heuheu, before whom— (being a chief of bo much importance) — the natives were ashamed to appear too hard or exacting. We found that our canoe, though not a very large one, was capable of containing a very fair load, nnd that she was moreover very fast, and we pulled merrily along through some i extremely pretty scenery, till we arrived at a small mahinga or plantation of potatoes at a place called Putakina. Here we found that the boat bad stopped a short while before our arrival, and that some tea was being 1 prepared by way of lunch. This place is inhat bited by a few monstrously wild looking savages, headed by a tall man called Whakareho, he had a small pair of twinkling black eyes, with a very peculiarly formed mouth, and an immense black beard, which upon the whole gave him a very remarkable expression of countenance. We obtained a canoe and crew from this gentleman and then pushed on for MoUi, a place about 20 miles from Opita, where we arrived at about 5. This place, like Putakina, is not a settlement, but only a small potato cultivation, with about ten natives living on it. We encamped here and made all as snug a^ possible for Sunday. Weather still very fine, but slight indications of an approaching change are obgervable. Did not forget Saturdny night, but drank " sweethearts and wives" with the usual honors, which being done we prepared our beds and set to work to regale the mosquitoes with as great a quantity of tobacco smoke as we could conveniently raise. The Thames mosquitoes must however have differently constituted lungs from others of the species, as they seemed rather to enjoy the smoke than otherwise, or else perhaps they bit us all the harder in revenge — be that at it may, we scarcely had a wink of sleep the whole night. Sunduy, Dec. 9tb, — Still superb weather, almost too hot if anything, We had some eels for breakfast, cooked in a way which was new to most of us, called kohe or kope, and which is done in the following manner :— fern stalks are iun down the whole length of the fish (which is not skinned or in any way prepared for cooking) from the mouth to the tail— then two eelß thus skewered are wrapped in leaver of the raurekau tree, and tied together with flax, when they are roasted before the fire with one end resting on the ground and the other leaning against a stick supported in a hori« zontal poiition in front of the fire for the purpose. When cooked in this way, they are eaten leaf and all, the leaf serving as a relish, and are considered by the natives a great delicacy, though they proved rather too rich for our European stomachs. At noon we bad native service, and a very fuir sermon from an old native teacher named Marakai (Malachi) who had followed us on from Opita, after which the Governor, Symonds, and I, ascended a high hill called Te Papa at the back of the settlement, about halt a mile from the river. Hence we could trace almost the whole course of the Thames from Waiharakeke to its mouth. We could also sec a great portion of the Piako, with the whole of

the countt; lying between the two rivers, which is a dead flat and very swampy — it is in fact an immense valley, a ridge of hills running on the east, between the Thames and the coast (of which ridge Te Papa is one) and another to the westward of the Piako. The valley extends far beyond Matamata, and may indeed be said to reach as fdr as the high land at Patetere, a distance of about 100 miles from Hauraki. The land between the Thames and Piako appears for the most part un« vailable, at least at present, and until a considerable sum has been expended in drainage, which from the flatness of its surface, would be a difficult as well as an expensive operation ; but on the right bank of the Thames, i. c. between the river and the range on which we were standing, is a large extent of very valuable land, drained and watered by several streams— »ome of them indeed considerable creeks— running from the hills into the main liver. Thii belt, as it may bo called, of land varies much in breadth in different places, the result of the winding of the river and the irregular course of the range, which is in some placet at a distance of perhaps from five to ten miles from the river, and at others either the main ridge or Bpuri from it run close to the banks of the stream. The va ley of the Thames contains a considerable quantity of va-' luablc timber— there is one large wood on the Thames in the shape of a nearly regular parallelogram of perhaps 30 miles by 8, through which the river runs ; it extends from Hauraki to a little beyond Mr. Thorpe's tation, and contains quantities of Kahikatea, Totara, and other valuable timber. Above this the river runs through low swampy ground, with small patches of rugged wood here and there on the banks. We saw the peak of Tongariro and several hills on the Waikato, Waipa, and the West Coast, and Symonds took the following bearings with Cator's Compass, viz. :— Pirongia, 203° ; Maungakawo., 195° ; Tongariro 103° ; Maungatautari, 3S9° ; Thorpe's Station, 345° ; Kaweranga, 339° ; Taupiri, 337° 30. Monday, December 10. — Rose at half past four. Mosquitoes in thousands, and sundry other appearances indicative of an approaching change in the weather. It was still very fine, however, and by six we had breakfasted, packed up our traps, loaded the canoes, and were ready for a start. This bein? the highest point on the river to which the boat could conveniently reach, we took leave of Mr. Rough, and started in ourMaoii cenveyancei. The river is rather dull in this part, be* ing so thinly inhabited, but the scenery ii nevertheless very pretty in many places. We were nearly all day under the foot of a magnificent hill, called| Te Aroha, the highest peak of the range on the right hank of the river. It is wooded from the top nearly to the baße, and from it run several spurs and minor hills, which add greatly to its appearance. Beyond (farther south) is another peak nearly as high, called T6 Aroha Uta, but of this we could not obtain a good view to day. Halted at noon for lunch on a level spot on the left bank, where stands by itself a large totara tree, on which we cut our names and the date. Started again in about half an hour, the appearance of the weather every moment looking more and more threatening, and landed at four p. m. at Mingawbenga, a little creek with a patch of wood at the mouth. About this time it began to rain pretty smartly, so we lost no time in pitching the tents, and preparing for a wet night. When the tents were pitched and we had had some dinner, the Governor and I went out with Whakareho and some other natives in one of the canoes to witness the sport of eel- spearing. They have a bayonet fattened on the end of a pole about eight feet long, which they thrust into the banks, as the canoe drops quietly down the stream, in places where they know by experience that there are eel-holes in the mud. When the man with the spear has transfixed an eel, he calls out "ka tv ! ka tv !"— he is struck! he is struck! — and while he holds on by the spear, another man jumps out Of the canoe with a larga hank in Mo lianxl, nhnnt the size of a shark hook, with which he pulls the eel out of the mud after grubbing for it with his hands, in which operation the natives often get severely bitten by the lan>e fish. During the time that the canoe is going down the stream, and the spearer is thrusting lis weapon into the banks in search of sport, one of the other natives, generally the man who steers the canoe, repeats the following karakia, or religions ceremony, for the success of the fishing— " The tides of Rangiriri flow ana ebb, And bieczes fan her sandy shores, -while wave On wave rolls on. By man's beguiling arts You'ie taken, nor does your bed of waters Shield you from his snares. The rudely captured And degraded, tho 1 placed before him as His evening meal— revenge, revenge is yours, You cat him in letnrn. Man's sini betray Him, and sin is ever punished ; but 10, 1 launch me on the sea, regardless of - My future destiny. Hence, hence my sins, And hence ill omens too. Now seize my hook ; Come hither if you will— but if you will — lethe. 1 This karakia, however, being a remnant of their former state of heathenism, has, it muct be understood, like all their other ancient ceremonies, fallen, since the introduction by the Missionaries of the Christian religion, almost entirely into disuse. The sport to day wai not very good, even with the assistance of the above karakia, as they only caught one eel, but it wai &n enormously large one, so large indeed, that they were obliged to use a knife to sever the vertetrae of the back before they could draw him out of his hole. Towards nightfall the rain increased, and gave every appearance of a decided change in the weather, to the great danger of our provisions, for which we had brought no tarpaulins, not having calculated upon encountering such ba weather at this season of the year*