C—No. 1

up a ridge, near to Mr. Selby's, through whose fencing it is necessary to pass. The road then leads through a wood, in which are some steep descents, down to the banks of the Waikato river, near, the mouth of the Mangatawhiri creek. From the end of the Papakura forest to Mr. Selby's, is about two miles, and thence to the mouth of the Mangatawhiri, about two miles further. The road after reaching the Waikato, lies through high sedge, close to the bank of the river, about a quarter of a mile to Mangatawhiri. The ground all about here is spongy and damp, but safe in summer, at least, to pass over. We were lucky enough to find a canoe here, in which myself and all the saddles, saddle bags, &e, were ferried across the mouth of the creek. The first branch is forded a few yards from its embouchure into the Waikato. and is rather muddy at the crossing place. A few yards further on, is the other branch, which is crossed at the mouth, making a curve outward, towards the Waikato, so as to ford on a bar. Both these fords are pretty deep, and in the absence of a canoe it would be necessary to carry all baggage across on one's head. After fording the second branch of the Mangatawhiri, the road leads close along the bank of the river, occasionally turning a little inland to pass round a cultivation, on the whole, an unpleasant looking, but not really a bad road. After passing a clearing in the bush, the road leads up a short but steep rise, and follows a ridge in a curve upon a well beaten track, till it again descends to the bank of the Waikato at the mouth of a small deep river called Maramarua ; the landing place is called Whangamarino. There is a settlement on an island in the Waikato, directly opposite, whence the Natives, on being hailed, will come to ferry travellers across Maramarua. The stream has the appearance of having been cut ; it runs through level land and curves from the direction of the head of the Waiho or Thames river. The track again lies along the bank of the Waikato, as close as possible to the water, through thick sedge and flax, not very easy to find, to a settlement called Meremere, where we arrived at 2 p.m., having passed Mr. Selby's house at 10 a.m., riding at a slow pace ;we stopped for food and to rest our borses till 3.30, pm. From Meremere, the road, after passing through a narrow belt of bush, lies over low barren ridges of stiff white clay, covered with short fern ; it is well defined and easy to travel, being free from swamps or steep hills to Rangiriri, a settlement on the banks of the Waikato, which we reached at 5 p.m., riding at a pace of about h\ miles per hour. Here a small stream has to be forded; the ford is only knee deep, and the bottom hard. The road then lies along the bank of the Waikato, through very high flax, exceedingly disagreeabla riding, about 1^ miles to another stream, the ford over which is deep, but with a hard sandy bottom. About two miles of good road, running parallel to, but not very near, the bank of the river, takes the traveller to Mr. Armitage's station. Ihe road still lies along the bank of the river Waikato, and is pretty good to the foot of Taupiri mountain, opposite to the cultivation of Kaitotehe, and about half a mile below the Mission Station. There is one swampy stream to cross between Mr. Armitage's station and this point, which requires examination before crossing ; the ford for horses is to the right of the regular crossing place, and the track to it not very clearly defined. On arriving at the foot of Taupiri, hail the other side, for a canoe to ferry over. This crossing of the river is rendered necsssary by a strict " tapu" on the right bank of the Waikato above this point. On reaching the other side, the track lies through a cultivated ground to the Rev. B. Ashwell's station, which we reached in 2 hours IS minutes from Mr. Armitage's. A ride of half an hour takes the traveller to Pepepe, a school station, where the Waika fo is again crossed, opposite to a new wooden building which is being erected on land the property of the Taupiri school. A distance of about four miles lies between this and the ferry across the Horotiu (Upper Waikato) at a small village called Pukete, thence up the left bank of the river to Te Rapa ; and thence in a south west direction across the Otawhao plain (taking care to avoid two roads branching off to the left to Tieke and Rangiawhia) to the station of the Rev. J. Morgan. Every stream and swamp on this road is bridged, and the ferries are good, so that, though the distance from Mr. Ashwell's to Mr. Morgan's is not much under forty miles, it is not a severe stage for a horse. I rode the whole distance in eight hours. We remained a few days at Otawhao to refresh the horses, and having laid in a small stock of tea, sugar, and bacon for the road, with pannicans, a bill-hook and a bushel of oats for the horses, started at noon to ride to Arowhenua, a distance estimated at 25 miles. An hour's easy riding brought us to the village of Orakau, passing through Kihikihi and crossing two small swamps about twenty yards each, passable at present, but requiring filling up to be sound. At a distance of less than half a mile from Orakau, is another swamp dammed across for a mill. Reached Mr. Morgan's cattle station, Aratitaha, at 3 p.m., after crossing three small swampy streams about five or six yards wide beetween the first stock-yard and the station ; there is no difficulty in getting over these. Finding Mr. Morgan here, we stopped for lunch, and started again at 430 p.m., and found the road very good to the village of Taupaki, which we reached at 6'20 p.m., crossing two small streams, both of which are bridged. From Taupaki to Arowhenua is about three miles, and there are four small streams to cross, the first of which is forded over a good limestone bottom, and the other three are bridged. There is a short ascent before reaching Arowhenua, the only place at which we had to dismount. We reached the village at 7 p ra., having been five hours and a half travelling ; a Native named Ahuriri treated us very well. From Arowhenua to Tuaropaki is a hard day's travelling. We started at 8 a.m., and immediately entered a wood, through which there is a very fair road. In the second glade there are three swampy streams to cross, the first of which (at some distance to the right of the old road) is but a moderate jump; the second is also a jump, but wider, and the banks rotton on both sides ; the third is a bad swamp, some ten or twelve yards across ; travellers should throw down fresh fern before taking horses over. After this is a small stream with good bottom and steep banks ;in the next wood is a steep descent with a stream at the foot, which however has a good sound bottom

RELATIVE TO LAND PURCHASES.

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