CASTLEPOINT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1938, Page 7

CASTLEPOINT

MASTERTON SEASIDE RESORT INTERESTING FOSSILS. VERITABLE MUSEUM OF EARLY FORMS. It would be difficult to find a more pleasant spot than Castlepoint to pass a holiday, stated on article by “IraTahu,” appearing in the “Wairarapa Age” of January 19, 1919, especially for children, who delight in gambolling on the sandy beach and paddling in the sea. As the latter shoals gradually, it is eminently a desirable beach for walking or bathing. The fishing off the point is excellent, and within a scant half-mile or so is Nicholls’s accommodation house, a quiet and pleasant home for visitors. The attractions of beach and fishing are doubtless well known, but I would like to direct attention to another matter of interest, which has apparently not been recorded. The rocky headland upon which the lighthouse is situated is the remant of a hill devoured by the sea. Aerial erosion has also done its work and no sign of soil remains on this wind-ashed bluff. Bare rock alone meets the eye, carven into grotesque forms by wave and wind. Here we have a veritable museum of fossil forms, illustrating the molluscan fauna of this region in past ages, when this promontory was part of the ocean bed. The rock face to the right, as one ascends the path to the lighthouse, shows a closely-packed mass of marine shells. These fossilised shells consist largely of species of Pecten or scallop shells, of small size; and Chione costata, or a shell closely resembling it, is also numerous. Other genera seen were Ostrea, Mytilus, and Turritella. Of these only Chione was observed on the adjacent sand beaches, or in midden heaps of the vicinity. This rocky headland is connected with the mainland by means of a sand flat, over which spring tides apparently flow. Thus, a wooden bridge connects point and mainland. The place is a most attractive one to a palaeontologist, and calls for thorough examination by an expert. On the roadside, as we coached from Masterton to Castlepoint, were observed fossil-bearing rocks' at various places. Another place that might repay examination is Puke-rakuraku, the remarkable rocky height of Tenui, on the summTt of which, according to Maori tradition, lies the canoe of Kupe, the old-time Polynesian navigator, who discovered this land •of Aotearoa in tinjes long passed away.

NATIVE TRADITIONS. Castlepoint, known as Rangi-whak-aoma to the Maori, is mentioned in many old Native traditions, for' it was one of the ports of call for canoes during coastal voyages. Here came to land the battered vessels called Matahorua and Tawirirangi, the craft of the explorers Kuke and Ngahue. These old Polynesian navigators had crossed the wide seas from Eastern Polynesia, made their landfall near the North Cape, and then run down the coast to these parts. After a sojourn at Castlepoint to replenish food supplies, they moved on to Palliser Bay and Wellington Harbour, eventually returning to the Society Group. In later times, some 28 generations ago, the chief, Tara, and his party landed at Castlepoint when on their way to settle on the shores of Wellington Harbour. Twelve generations ago, the Ngati-Ira tribe marched down this coast in search of a new home, and, on reaching Whareama, fought the local Natives of Oruhi and Nga Wahine-potae. FORMER OCCUPATION. Tokens of former Native occupation by Natives were noted at Castlepoint in the form of shell middens, the refuse of the hamlets of neolithic man. Here were found, several stone implements and pieces of chert and flint used in the manufacture of knives and adzes. Some of these must have been procured from distant places, probably by barter, such as obsidian, many flakes of which were found, as also one large core piece. This obsidian probably came from the Bay of Plenty. These shell middens are composed principally of the shells of the pipi, called Tairaki by the Maori; it is the Mesodesma subtriangulata of the malacologist. Other genera present in middens are Chmoe (costata), Astrea, Haliotis, Mactra, Mytilus, Turbo, Corninella, and Neothais, while one bone ambignus was noted. SHELLS AND PLANT LIFE. The sandy beaches of the vicinity are lacking in shells. Most of those seen are Mactra equilatera. Thus we have the peculiar condition ithat the common shell of the middens is replaced by a species of another genus on the beach hard by, while Pecten, the common shell of the fossil-bearing rock, is unseen on beach or midden. On the rocks at the base of the bold headland, half a mile south of the lighthouse, are seen several species of Helciaxiiscus, the Ngakihi of the Maori, of which an interesting collection might be made. On the huge rock masses of this picturesque headland are seen some interesting forms of plant life, including a yellow flowered shrub termed senecio compactus, not reported from any other locality. From the summit of this headland is obtained a noble view of the far-stretched coast southward, while far away northward, Gape Turnagain looms through the sea haze. Altogether no pleasanter holiday have I spent than that passed at Castlepoint which is but 45 miles from Masterton. IRA-TAHU.