A HOLIDAY TRIP.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1015, 30 March 1883, Page 2

A HOLIDAY TRIP.

• A gentleman in Patea forwards us "the following account of a. trip Up;the river made during the Easter holidays in company with*a friend f At about half-past nine on the morning of Good Friday we left Patea and rowed leisurely up the river, the tide being then with us. It was a beautiful cloudless and calm day. The river is not very interesting till you reach Hukatere, (four miles ■from Patea) where the respected old chief Tauroa resides. Here we made a stay of a few minutes and paid Tauroa a visit. He gratuitously presented us with several melons, which wore exceedingly fine. In speaking about the ;peaches stolen by the pakehas he remarked that, ' he would willingly let people have some if they asked his permission, but objected to being robbed as he has been, some people being content with nothing less than sacks full. At Hukatere the bush commences and continues up to the source of the river. The scenery now gets more interesting but for about the next three miles, has lost much of its beauty by being denuded of many of the graceful tree ferns, some thousands of them having been taken by contractors, for use on the railway . On arriving at Otauto, about two miles beyond, wo stayed,a short time for lunch, and then continued our journey to Mr F. Bead’s where we arrived about dusk, havto ascend a hill from the river, which occupied us fully half an hour. Mr Read being absent, his men made us as comfortable as they were able for the night. Mr Read’s farm is about seventeen miles from Patea by road, but not quite as far by river. On this farm (the furthest one up the river) a considerable area of land has been cleared. The following morning we arose early, and endeavoured to obtain some pigeons, but were unsuccesful, not t«3ing any. We left here about halfpast nine in the morning, hoping that the flow of the spring tide would assist us, hut unfortunately the river is not influenced by the tide at this distance from the sea. Now came some hard pulling 1 , for here the rapids begin, and finding it impossible to row up some of them,

one of us had to get out and back the boat up. Continuing our journey, after few rests, about four o’clock we landed and pitched our tent, and made ourselves comfortable for the night, having come that day ten or twelve miles, and all against the stream. The scenery at this spot is exceedingly beautiful, dense bush extending from the tbps of the hills to the river bank, the various trees being interspersed with magnificent fern trees, from ten to thirty feet high. After passing a somewhat restless night on account of the numerous mosquitoes, we turned out about 6 a.m. After breakfast wo determined not to proceed further in the boat, as it is almost impossible to get a boat up the rapids,, which are more numerous the further you pfoceed up the river. We were very sorry we had no canoe (which is far preferable to a boat for ascending the rapids and not nearly so liable to be upset or injured by a snag, of which there are; a considerable number) in order that we might have proceeded further. We consequently decided to go a short distance up the river on foot, and then ascend \ a spur to the summit of the range, which we did. From this spur we had a good view of the river winding far up the wooded valley; Here we noticed some trees uncommon near Patea, and a few rare plants and ferns. Having shot some pigeons we returned to our camp, and after enjoying a bathe, started on our homeward journey about noon. On account of the strong current we had to exert ourselves very little, and consequently had a better opportunity of admiring the view than we had in going up, and it certainly was exceedingly pretty, and a glorious day. Only staying on the way to shoot some ducks, we arrived in town about 6 p.m., having had the benefit of the stream and tide the whole way, and so ended our thoroughly enjoyable trip. With regard to the contour and quality of the land : It rises immediately (with the exception of a few inconsiderable flats) from the river to a height I should imagine of nearly, if not quite, a thousand feet, and is very broken. The soil near the river appears excellent, but on the sides of the hills not nearly so good. The timber trees consist chiefly of red and white pine, rata, and black birch. The river flats are covered principally with koromiko and other scrub, and 1 believe have been at one time cultivated by Maoris; and as evidence of that, I saw several pits used by the Natives for keoppotatoes, kumaras, &c., in, overgrown with scrub. I believe the river Could be made navigable for steam launches and vessels drawing very little water for a considerable distance ; but X am - afraid the expense would be great to keep it so, in consequence of the high freshes the river is subject to, rising as it does in'some places to full}' twenty, feet above its ordinary level. But I have no doubt greater use will be made of it as a mode of conveyance in time to come when more of the land is occupied, especially now that the weirs have been demolished, nothing having been able to get through them except a canoe.