THE SURVEY OF THE KING COUNTRY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1831, 1 April 1884, Page 2

THE SURVEY OF THE KING COUNTRY.

THK*!f olio wing " notes" of a journey through the King Country, taken by Mr C. Beale, a member of Mr Spencer's smvey party, will be of inteiest : — We left Kihikihi on tlie Bth .fanuaiy, and, after a delay on the road caused by the king-bolt of the waggon giving way, we safely reached the native settlement of Araikotuie, wlieie we stopped the night and feasted on pork and potatoes. We left the settlement early next morning, but we had not gone moie than about half a mile on the road when the pole of the waggon bioke, and had to walk to Hettit's place, our baggage following, paitly on the pack horses and paitly on the waggon, after patching up the pole. We weie obliged to wait at Hettit's until the 12th, to admit of all theneeessaiy pack horses coming up. On that day we staited with 1") hoit.es, carrying 22 cwt of provisions, &c, and leached Te Ahaioa, lather tued, at 7 p.m. Next morning we weie up and away by 7 o'clock, and anived at Te Kuiti at half-past nine. The natives asked us to stop and pai take of some " kai," a'ld we acundingly halted for about two hours. The Kuiri us a fine settlement, containing about 120 whaies, one of which, "Te Waho," belong to Te Kooti, is adorned with .some of the beet carved woik I ha\e e\ er s^en. Mr .Spencer and Mi Edgecumbe aio of the same opinion, and they are fully competent to judge. Accoiding to the natives the internal decorations far exceed in beauty those on the outside of „ the whaie, but no Europe in is pemutted to entei ;oven Mr Bi yen wcs refused. Aftei leaving the Kuiti the road for about five miles is veiy good, but then it stnlu's a bush-clad lull, chnib'ng winch was about the haid^st work most of our paity had ever expenenoed. When about three-quarters of the wav up this a»\tul acclivity one of our hoises i oiled over, and but for a stump would haw g>ue to the b ittom (foi the lull is almost peipjudiculcii) and been killed. This accident dela\ecl us neailv an hour, and befoie v c had co vied tlnee miles moio it commenced to lam, so we pitched camp on the Mok.iu river. The countiy so tai appears to be excellent ; it is for the most pait coverod with irood gi.is.s and clover, all self-sown. At all the settlements we passed through we found the natives \ery fiiendly and hospitable, always making us stop to have " kai " with them. It lamed ptetty hard during the eaily part of the night, and when we got up the tents weie quite htift with fiojt, which, consideimg the time of \par, was rather surprising. Leaving the Mokau, we got to T.ipuie the same night, and on tlie following do y made W.umiha about 1 p in. It commenced to lain like the mischief, so at the invitation of tlie natives we stayed at that plac, and next monnng the nvois weio too much swollen topioceed that day. The aspect of the countiy has gieatly changed since leaving Te Kuiti. The soil is chiefly pumice, and poor-1 >oking, witli no glass or clover woith speaking of Between Tapiue and Waimiha we came through about two miles of very good bush. Waiuiiha comprises about 40 vvhares, and stands on the delta formed by the Waimiha and the Ongaruhe. These two pietty stie.ims chain two fine \allevs, coveie 1 with " vvi-wi," and cairymg a 1 u^ nunibci of cattle and hoises On the I7tli wo bade our kind enteitaineis good-byo, and louineyed for about five miles to the junction of the Ongaruhe and Mannutaha, wheiethe nver was so swollen with the lccent tains, that we had to send for a cmoe in which to cross over our goods ; the hoises were swam over. Next day, b3' dmt of haul ti a veiling we managed to i each Tuii narunui about 7 p.m., having bjen on the tramp for 14 houis, over some veiy stiff hills. Taumaiunui has been a very laige settlement at one time, as the number of dilapidated wbares testify, but it has crumbled away until now scarcely a dozen whaies aie inhabited. It is on the banks of the Upper Wanganui, just above its confluence with the Ongaiuhe. At this place the Wanganui is a really beautiful river, its swift current running between high hills, and over immense boulders. Having its source at the foot of Ruapehu, the water is icy cold, even at this season After staying heie neatly a week, we went down the i iver in tlnee canoes, as fai as Rinmrapa. wheie the natives again stopped us for the night. There was a gieat tangi going on. This settlement was at out; time the largest on the liver, but it now cmtains only four or five whares. On the following day we leached Pap.iroa, the scene of our opeiations, exactly thiee weeks since I left Hamilton, though it seemed moie like thiee months. We pitched camp, and made ourselves comfoi table, and put up the fir.st flag on the bank of the Wangantu liver, The canoeing down tho river wax most oxciting and onioyable. There are six rapids between Taumaiunui and Paparoa, and the stream runs at a terrific pace between huge rocks, a mass of seething foam. Occasionally, when the prospect of an upset seemed near, we felt a little " .skeered," but we had a splendid skipper, who put us thiough without mishap of any kind. The scenery, so far as we have come, is superb On either side tremendous cliffs clad with beautiful foliage, and waterfalls and oataiacta innumeiable, Where we laud the oliit U so steep that we hay c to make a ladder up the face of it, and haul tlie goods up with rope-.. Tlie natives tell us that there are many places on our line just as bad, so we have a nice time ahead. We. started to woi k on the 2(Jth January on good land, part bush and part fern. From a hill near we got a splendid view of Ruapehu, Tongariio, and also Egmont. Three camps bi ought us to the Ohura river, a pretty little stream about the size of the Waipa. Near here is a salt spring. The fern growth on the hill is enormous, In places it is twelve feet high, and matted so olosely as to form an effectual barrier to our progress. Consequently, we had to burn it, and so quickly did the flames spread that I once came near losing my life ; I got my face severely singed, and only got away with great difficulty. The land about heie is of .splendid quality, but very broken. Up to this river (the Ohura) I have not see 100 acres of flat land. After crossing the river the line runs, for about three-quarters-of-a-mile, through fern land. a_nd thence to the end it goes through heavy forest. On February 18th the natives brought us a fresh supply of provisions from Taumaranui. Up to this time we have had plenty of pork, but there are no pigs about here, so we ha\e to live on eels and bread. On the 29th, while out with a native looking for a particular hill, I came across three of Mr Skeats' survey camps, and on the. top of a. ln'lj, on q, rewarewa tree, J found carved the names " C. W. Hursthouse" and {< R. Donkin," with a pencil memo dated 3rd August. 1883, referring to their journey. On the 2nd March iSunday) Mr Mountfort and his brother found their way into our camp. They are engaged looking for a rajlvpay route from Stratford, fco join Mr Socbefort's at Taumarunui, a.nd informed us that a chief named Taumatu ha<J collared all their tucker, sketch-books, &c, and burned down their tents. On the following Wednesday Mr Skeats also came into our camp, and on Wednesday, the 12th March, ,we completed the line up to Mr Skeats's lower trig, station,, having, been a little over six weeks at Actual vppric on* the line— l 7, miles. The

any incident paiticularly worthy of note, except tha canoeing up tlio Wanganui, which we found to be much harder work than canoeing down. At Aorangi we feasted in a beautiful peach gnue, and also \ jsited the fine flour mill which Moffati was engaged m building at the time he w.u shot. We reached Kihikihi on the 24th March.