EXCURSION TO THE INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 6, Issue 281, 13 February 1862, Page 3

EXCURSION TO THE INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND.

[We have been favoured by John Jordan/: Esq , of Koreromai-walio, Rangitikei, with the following notes, of a journey to the interior, made over a tract of country of which very little is generally known. 7'lie.account of it would therefore be., interesting at any time; but is so more especially now, when the new regulations as to native lands may he expected to throw them into the market more generally throughout the island.} ICoreromai Waho Station, . V Rangitikei. - -

Long before my arrival in New Zealand, an event which happened some eighteen months back, I had, from the accounts 7 had read and heard of the wonders there to be seen, a strong wish to visit the interior of the North island* Last summer the unsettled state of the.. Maori population prevented my doing so, and'l gladly hailed an opportunity of.getting a companion in these more peaceful times, and putting niy .-desiie ; Jnto-execution. Our party consisted of Mr. • Biggs,.a Maori uam ed~Teira ; ,whom we Tuul hired as a guide and general servant, and myself. He took with us three saddle horses and one pack horse, a large piece of unbleached calico to make a small leaii-to tent, our blankets, beef, tea, sugar, biscuits, tobacco, and a few other small necessaries, and started from my station in the Rangi-. tikei on the 3rd January. Our'intention’ was to have proceeded up the bed of the river some twenty-five miles, but on arriving at its banks we found that a heavy fresh was coming down, which rendered this impossible. We hud therefore to make up our minds to go the whole way through the bush, a^istance: of between fifty and 6ixty miles. We were delayed at Mr. Swainsou’s station, as we had to wait for Teira, whom we had left behind to get some few things that were not ready, and, like a true Maori, he did-not-hurry himself in overtaking us.. We at last however started, and entered, the bush at 5 p.m. -The track lies at first along a ridge overlooking the Porewa river. Ahex procet.ding for about two hours vve descended to the level of the stream, and halted on its bank for the night. -:/n the course of fbe evening we caugbt a fine eel. • Suiurdya, 4th January.— W e were up in good time, and got our breakfasts after a delicious bath. fFe then packed our swag.-: as close as possible on our horses, to facilitate their .passage through the bush, —a measure which is highly necessary, as .in some cases we had considerable difficulty in getting them on with only a saddle on their backs. At half-past live we started, and proceeded up the valley of the Porewa. till, half-past ten, crossing and re-crossing the stream no less, than eleven times in all. Until .vve reached this point vv.e were travelling to the north-west, but we then turned, more to the northward, occasionally diverging to the north-east, over a series of hills. As the rain had begun to fall in torrents, we found these very slippery, and had great difficulty in proceeding ; consequently 7, we did not strike the Rangitikei river until half-past seven, and arrived there very wet, tired, and hungry after about fourteen hours of pretty stiff walking. We proceeded through some scrub in the bed of the river for about a mile, and passed the night at some old worries. The Makohine river here empties itself into • the''Rangitikei through an enormous gorge in the cI.IF, Its course appears to he about due north ami south, while the Rangitikei runs more from north-west to south-east.

Sunday, sth January.—The ;night was very wet, but about,hulf’past eigbt itcleared, and we determined to go a short stage, to a place where there was more food for our horses, and, as it was Sunday, spend'the day in resting ourselves and drying our' clothes. We ascended the cliff of the /fangitilu i, and immediately entered a small open space in the bush of about five or six hundred acres. This we crossed, amTliaving passed through another broad belt of bush, entered a second clearing considerably larger than the last. 7he track here runs for some distance along the cliff, and the scenery is magnificent, overlooking the bed of the river ami the surrounding forest land. We halted at the north side of this opening, and tethering our horses, descended again to the bed of the river and bathed. On inspecting our grub we Were annoyed to find that our biscuits had. got wet and damaged, and that We - were in consequence rather, short. .' We; '.however, • managed to shoot some' pigeons, and ' these, with some sowthistles and . wet biscuits made a delicious stew for oir supper in the evening. Monday, 6th January.—The night was again wet, and the morning commenced most unfavourably ; there wasn’t enough grub to allow of our stopping another day, and we were forced to proceed. We started at half-past six, and took a northerly direction along the top of a ridge running parallel with the left bank of the Makohine river. At the end of about two miles we turned down an abrupt spur and! descended into the bed of the liver, ascending the other side by a similar route. The road here is fearfully steep, ami we had the greatest, difficulty in getting on, taking no less than three hours to get inland out of the bed of the' stream, which was swollen by the rains aud full of large 'rocks and boulder stones, //ad the.day been fine we should have been repoyed by the grandeur of. the spepery, but. as. it was : we were enveloped, in clouds and mist, which soaked us to the skin. Jfe then continued our journey along the top of what appeared to be the highest of the bush ranges, the summit of the ridge being so narrow as hardly to afford space for the track, ,arid the sides being very steep and precipitous, in places almost forming cliffs on either side. To add to the difficulties, we were continually ascending and descending, the various peaks,

and the soil, consisting of stiff clay, was rendered slippery as glass by the rain. The delays were frequent, and twice one of the horses fell over and hung in the brushvvood on the hill side. Tlie' only "way we could extricate him was by making him fast to the trees wiilrionr tether ropes, and, having ' cleared away'lji;l6w him, letting him gently, down until we could get a terrace sufficiently', level for him to get on his legs.; We tlieq' had to make a side-cutting through tlie iimier.woad .to. get him..hack again into ; the. track. AIR this,, was, pretty hard work !'. At.the end of some thirteen or fourteen, miles we ohiained a peep over some lower hush ranges at the open country beyond, and almost immediately, afterwards descended for a'considerable distance, and. then wended our way. along the Lack of one of the smaller -.saddlebacks. IFe had previously been travelling towards the northwest, but now. our heads pointed . direct, .north,.....ln...consequence of the delays we had. met with we were unable to reach the place where vve' intended to camp, and .being overtaken by darkness, vve halted by the-, side of a mud hple. where, we. could obtain some water to "make tea. ‘ The night.was not a pleasant one, as the rain poured down in torrents the whole tiriie, and I had got so seedy that it was doubtful whether on the morrow it .would - ijot be necessary to .semi on for .provisions,-and having got them to return. In spite of the weather vve managed to light-a fire and sleep round it pretty soundly: - ' , . , . Tuesday, 7t\v January.-—We found, ourselves refreshed in the morning, hut hafl to make-rather a light breakfast, as some boxes, of sardines "and one biscuit each was all vve had left in the shape of eatables. We expected, however, to reach a pah in the’afternoori,: and get Well supplied. After crossing some very bad road,-with short lnit : steep hills all the way, we arrived at a spot in the hush called Terata,-.our only accident being a horse going over the side of a hill, ami giving us a little trouble in getting him back. : .We made a stew of sinvtliistlas and sardines, and eat it f->r lunch, and it is a dish I can highly recommend. We started again at two o’qlock, and an hour and a half brought us.out of the principal bush to an open space containing about fifteen/ liundred'acres of very hilly ground. Having crossed this we again entered the hush, and twenty minutes’ sm irt walking brought us clear of precious glad we were to find ourselves hr open country. A ride of two miles through a .fine and rich hut hilly district' brought us. to the most, beautiful natural waterfall I ever beheld. A smaller rrver falling'iiito a large one from a lieight of"about' twelve feet over a bed of stone-of a convex shape, so beautifully chiselled into tiny , ten aces as to bear the appearance of being formedby an artist rather than the/bandivvo.rk of nature herself. The fall is about twelve feet in four, and the little terraces are some six inches high at the bottom and decrease to about two inches at : the top. It would make a lovely orna-ment-to a pleasure garden. ■ V’.e ■ proceeded up a steep hill, and '.'-arrived at a pah iu about half an hour.,, but to our dismay- we. found it deserted. We, however, shot some ka-kas and stewed, them with sowthistles for supper, and as the latter part of the day had, In.eri fine we -were on the whole pretty c.-m fort able,, particularly as we hud cur tent pitched. , 'Wednesday,: Bth January. The night was again wet, but we were by this time getting pretty well used to this. We had int ended to stop for a couple of days to recruit our horses, but the natives being absent we were obliged to get on in order to obtain food. We were lucky enough to get some potatoes out of a Maori garden; and on these we breakfasted, taking a few with us fi.r supper. . We left a civil note and three sticks of tobacco as payment in one of tlie whares. Here too vve observed, witli regret, cabbage blight.. . Oui; route lay northward at first through a beautiful tract of country, watered' l>y clear and rapid streams, and well supplied with large patches of bush. We saw several very fine waterfalls, and succeeded in shooting a brace of wild ducks', which formed a welcome addition to our larder. As we proceeded we were struck by an enormous swamp <-r. morass on our left, of a brown colour and .much resembling an Irish bog ; it must be five or six miles in length ami three or four in, breath.. What ..renders it chiefly remuikable is* the fact of its lying on a gentle slope, and not, as is usual with such places,' on.a dead level. This one weuld suppose would drain it, but the Maories informed us that it is impassable every where at all seasons of the year, ami indeed its appearance hears this out, Some distance farther drivve opened a huge valley running up to the foot 6f :! Ruapehu. We here up some Maories from Otaki, with cattle. As we approached tlie mountain.the country be-' came bare and desolate, and the'vegetation scant and had. Our road lay across several deep gorges, which however unlike any others we hail seen were entirely destitute of bush and. scrub. At last we struck the /Fangaeliu river which vve tasted, hut did not'drink'much of it as it is a kind of mixture of ink and slilplutr. 1 believe any one can try the taste by lighting a box of sulphur matches; and after raking a good smell of them, drinking .a bottle of ink and ■than sucking a penny. It is just that delicious combination. 7/ e proceeded up the left, bank towards the source until stopped by the approaching night, when vve bivouacked Avith three maories vve met and were quite in clover With the Ducks and potatoes for supper.

Thursday , 9th January. The night was fine hut : the dew fell very heavily in the early moriiing. The sun however soon dispelled the mist and afforded us a, magnificent view of /iuapehu. By seven we were on "DUr way and soon after saw the sources of the Wangaehu and Waikato rivers. These are very remarkable; On either side of ari . huge mass of rock about the centre of the eastern face of the mountain they gusli out. 7’he water of the former is hitter and acrid' as I have described it,

while that of the latter is clear and sweet. Amongst other things pointed out to us was the change in the course of the Wangaehu, which- took place ..at the, time that tlie bridge was washed away last year. I’lie idea that * a large avalanche was forced down the river bed by the water behind it is absurd/’ for the’.simple reason that the banks are so, lpw'"lhat tlie water would have Jouml rouiifl,;.the. sides. I’lie account maories.., that : . a -large avalanclie did .descend from the.mounta.in side and block "up", the course of the stream, that the force of the water and heat of tlie sun combined broke off large, masses of ice, which ..were.floated down and collected mar theJjrjdge itself, either "by a shallow or by. a...quantity of trees ami other debris, and- that. the whole .was.-then waslied -against the., bridge,., carrying jit away. This is the more prqbajble,..as,l believe trees • formed part.of. tlie heap of rubbish accuinu luted, and they could .hardly have formed /part of ail avalanche which descended from the side. of. a mountain entirely free from timber of any sort. I’he melting of the snow would of itself account for the heavy fresh,which - came down the river for the, three days previous to the accident. Antiling in the two rivers so olie' another is, that the Wangaehu takes a, southerly direction and finally empties itself into the sea on. the south-west coast, ..while tlie fTaikato takes a northerly course and .enters the sea to the north-west. In doing so it crosses Lake 2’aupo, and preserves a distinct current right through it, a distance of'some twenty-four miles. " ' (To be continued.)