CHAPTER XXI
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CHAPTER XXI.
Harbour of Manukao, or Symonds Harbour.
I will now proceed in my description of the island, by relating the particulars of an expedition which I undertook from Waitemata into the centre of the island, to the volcanic group of Tongariro and Lake Taupo, thence to the eastern coast and along the valley of the Thames, back into the Gulf of Hauraki. In company with Lieutenant Best, of the 80th Foot, I started on the 31st of March, 1841. At the moment of my departure I had the disappointment of finding that all the natives whom I had engaged to accompany me, and whom I had brought with me from the northward, had absconded, enticed by promises of high wages in Auckland. I advise any one who intends to travel in New Zealand to avoid the towns, if he wishes to find natives, of whom a great number are required to carry provisions and baggage. In this case I was obliged to start without any of these men, the baggage being placed on a packhorse with which his Excellency the Governor had kindly furnished me; and we trusted to accident to find
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VOLCANIC CONES
natives on the road or in one of the next settlements.
The country between Waitemata and Manukao is not only highly interesting to the geologist, but also very promising to the agriculturist. A number of cones rise above the even table-land, which is intersected by moderate valleys. All these cones are extinct volcanoes. The most interesting of them is Maunga-wao, which, according to barometrical and thermometrical measurement, has an elevation of 500 feet. Its base, which is lengthened towards the north-west, is strewed over with large masses of hard and black cellular scoriae, often forming ridges, or heaped up by the former inhabitants into mounds, to enable them to cultivate the light black soil between. Near the summit, which is on the southern extremity of the hill, these scoriae are more friable and of a reddish colour. Here is a funnel-shaped crater beautifully perfect and regular. The margin is a little lower towards the north, in the direction of the longer axis of the hill. The interior of this funnel, which is about 150 feet deep, contains small gravel of red scoriae, and is overgrown with short fern. On the outer surface of the hill about twelve terraces rise throughout its extent, at regular intervals of about twelve feet. All the cones in the neighbourhood of Maunga-wao have this terraced appearance; and although the natives, who formerly had settlements on almost all these hills, have contributed much to
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NEAR MANUKAO.
this regular appearance by levelling the steps, they are evidently in their origin the work of Nature, indicating the flowing of the ejected masses in one direction, that of the longest axis, and towards that side where the margin of the craters is least distinct. A great quantity of shells and quadrangular excavations, where their houses stood, bear witness of the former native inhabitants: the time is still remembered by old men of the Nga-te-whatua tribe when all these hills were covered with fortified villages and numerous inhabitants. But this unfortunate tribe, pressed by the Nga-pui from the northward, the Nga-te-paoa from the Hauraki, and the Waikato from the southward, have dwindled down almost to nothing, and their whole number in the neighbourhood does not amount at present to more than 200.
As the soil between the boulders is very fertile, it may be expected that, at no far distant time, the flanks of these cones will again form sheltered and productive gardens, as a large quantity of scoriae will be consumed in the construction of roads, for which purpose they are particularly adapted.
At a distance of two miles from Maunga-wao is Maunga-keke. This extinct crater differs little from the former, except that there are scarcely any scoriae on its base, and its summit is less regular. It is overgrown inside with brushwood and trees, and on the top stands an old pohutukaua-tree,
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MANUKAO HARBOUR.
which serves as a good landmark for ships entering Waitemata harbour. Other conical hills are visible at a little distance.
The similarity of these craters with those of the Auvergne, and especially the similarity of their igneous products with those of the extinct volcanoes of that place, is striking. They surpass them, however, in the preservation and regularity of their funnel-shaped summits.
The distance across the country from Auckland to the head of Manukao Harbour is about seven miles; the land slopes gently towards the latter, and is covered with grass, flax, or the beautiful Veronica speciosa, which at the time of my visit was covered with its lilac flowers, filling the air with their perfume. Where this shrub grows it is a sure indication of the richest soil.
Between Auckland and Manukao there is no wood, excepting that where the plain is intersected by valleys a few shrubs grow. At the head of Manukao are some native huts, called Onehunga, occasionally inhabited by a few people of the Waikato tribe, who have abundant crops on their neighbouring cultivations, especially of maize.
The harbour of Manukao, an inlet about fifteen miles long and eight broad, sends an arm towards the Tamaki in the Hauraki Gulf. Between these points, as I have already mentioned, is the shortest portage connecting the eastern and the western sea. The upper part of the harbour is shallow, but there
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COUNTRY NEAR MANUKAO.
is a navigable channel for small craft nearly to its head. Part of the shore at the head is strewed over with hard basaltic lava and cellular scoriae, and it is not difficult to point out, in a cone on the southern shore, the source of this volcanic produce. The northern shore is cliffy, and consists of stratified greyish sandstone, or sandstone conglomerate. The stratifications of the latter are sometimes curvilinear. The cliffs are wooded with various trees; I observed especially Vitex litoralis, which is remarkable for its dark leaves, pink flowers, and cherry-like fruit, --Metrosideros tomentosa, Persoonia tora, Knightia excelsa, Laurus tarairi, Fuchsia excorticata, Myrtus bullata, Corynocarpus laevigata, Edwardsia microphylla, and the lower shrubs Rubus australis, Solanum laciniatum, Piper excelsum, and others. But this vegetation is merely confined to the coast, as the land which extends from the north shore of Manukao is not covered with anything of higher growth than fern, rushes, Leptospermum, Drosera, and a few Orchideae. This land consists of low hills, the upper soil of which is a stiff clay; the whole has formerly been covered with kauri-forest, as is proved by the gum or resin, of which pieces are everywhere found. This tree grows now only near the heads of Manukao Harbour, and on the hills which extend along the seashore from Kaipara to Manukao. Here the kauri, as in other places, is associated with other pines, especially rimu, kawaka, tanekaha, and miro (Da-
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MANUKAO HARBOUR.
crydium cupressinum, plumosum, Phyllocladus trichomanoides, Podocarpus miro); larger trees of the graceful and acacia-like Dacrydium plumosum are scarce; in fact, this pine seems to grow only to a very moderate size. Several creeks, capable of turning mills, flow into the harbour.
The north head of Manukao is formed by three rugged conical hills: inside the outer head the coast presents a bold rocky precipice, alternating with small secluded bays; but a vigorous vegetation covers them to the water's edge, and kauri-trees have grown in places where the precipice is inaccessible on account of its rapid declivity. About three miles from the outer headland, the coast sweeps at a right angle round a cliffy inner headland, thus forming a neck of land about three miles long and as many broad. Round this inner headland, close in-shore, is the best anchorage in the harbour, perfectly sheltered from the N.W. and S.W. winds A swell, which would be liable to set in from the harbour itself, is broken by a long sandbank occupying the centre of the basin.
This place is called Karanga-hawe, and is part of the land claimed by the Manukao New Zealand Company: it has now no inhabitants, as almost the whole of its former possessors--a tribe, belonging to the Nga-te-whatua--have been exterminated: the remains of their village and plantations are still to be seen.
The southern shore of the harbour consists of
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MANUKAO HARBOUR.
undulating and fertile land, which extends from Onehunga towards the Waikato. There is a second channel on that side of the harbour; and a channel for boats extends towards an arm of the Waikato river--the Awaroa -- with a very easy portage of two miles and a half.
The south head is a remarkable steep hill of white moveable sand, heaped up by north-westerly gales; the northern head, however, is a black conglomerate of a rugged shape.
Although the harbour of Manukao has a bar at the entrance, there is a deep and free channel three-quarters of a mile broad close to the northern head. Once between the heads, the channel is deep and free from danger.
The tide is full two hours and three-quarters later in Manukao than at Waitemata, and rises to ten feet and a half.
A regular survey of this harbour, and, indeed, of all the harbours on the western coast of the northern island, is still wanting. This deficiency has probably arisen from the coast being a lee-shore, and consequently being more difficult to survey; but it is evident that that very circumstance renders it more important that it should be well surveyed.
Manukao is evidently a place of some importance, from its near neighbourhood to Auckland, and the facility of communication with that town and the river Waikato. The best anchorage, and all the timber, and, moreover, a very good situation for a
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CAPTAIN SYMONDS.
town, are to be found on the northern shore; but all the good land is on the southern. To connect the two sides by a road will be difficult and expensive, from the high price of labour. A communication between the different parts of the harbour is always open for boats. 1
In 1836 no natives resided in Manukao, having all been dispersed by wars some years before. Subsequently the remnant of the original tribe--the Nga-te-whatua--returned: a Waikato tribe, moreover, had a village on the southern shore, where a Church Missionary station was established. Almost all the natives have become converts to Christianity.
On the 2nd of April we left Onehunga, in a canoe, for Kauwitu, a small native village near the southern head of Manukao. The natives detained
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COUNTRY NEAR MANUKAO.
us two days by demanding an exorbitant sum for the hire of a canoe; indeed the effect of their contact with Europeans has been to render them covetous and extortionate, as among the colonists they see no transactions but what are based upon an exchange of money and labour. But their knowledge of the value of time and money will remain for a long time very imperfect.
The northern shore of Manukao is the last place on the western coast where the Dammara australis, or the kauri, is found. It is true, that a little farther to the southward, in Kawia, in latitude 37 deg. 27', there are some dozen trees or so, but they are of stunted growth. I have already mentioned that on the eastern coast the range of this pine does not even reach thus far; and this fine tree has therefore a range of less than three degrees of latitude and one degree of longitude; and even within these narrow boundaries it is by no means a common tree. It generally grows in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, but not in parts exposed to the spray, and on the sides of ravines; it is, in fact, entirely confined to hilly situations. Large districts within the above-mentioned boundaries have formerly been covered with kauri-forest, but are now bare; and its destruction, through waste and negligence, is now going on in other districts. There is no proof that the kauri ever grew to the southward of its present boundaries, although conflagrations of forest have taken place throughout the island. With the de-
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THE KAURI-TREE.
struction of the forests many trees and shrubs disappear, especially those which required the full aliment and moisture afforded by the forest: for instance, the arborescent and several other species of ferns, which are only found in conjunction with the kauri.
The kauri is the only cone-bearing pine in New Zealand; all the others bear berries, and are therefore to be classed amongst the very numerous family of the Podocarpi or Taxideae.
I cannot omit to mention a fact connected with the kauri which seems to throw some light on the formation of amber. The resin which the tree exudates is very hard, and forms large solid masses at the base of the tree. It is generally of a whitish colour, but through age, and as it would seem by exposure to the sea-water, it assumes the gold-yellow colour of amber, becomes transparent, and very closely resembles that substance. It appears to me not improbable that amber is derived from a tree of the same genus as the Dammara australis, as no other resin that I am aware of is so hard, or is acted upon in this remarkable manner by the sea-water.
