1847 - Angas, G. F. Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand Vol.II - CHAPTER II.

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CHAPTER II.

WE started from Waingaroa this morning, calling on our way at the house of the chief Te Moanaroa, or Teyene (Stephen), which is situated on the banks of one of the branches of the harbour. Here we remained for half an hour, that our lads might get some food, and the chiefs wife boiled some eggs for us to carry with us on our journey. Te Moanaroa is related by marriage to the government interpreter, whose native wife I have previously alluded to. Before we entered the court-yard at the back of the house, we were almost suffocated by the violent stench of kaanga, or stinking corn, arising from a large pot over the fire in the yard, filled with a sort of gruel prepared by boiling the putrescent maize. Two slave women sat stirring it round with sticks, inhaling

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with evident delight the odour that to us was indescribably disgusting. My companion, looking across the mud flats left uncovered by the tide, remarked that we should have a difficulty in crossing. "Oh, no," says Tepene, "you shall have my horses, and ride over like Rangiteras." "But you have no horses," replied Forsaith. "They are there," responded the chief, pointing to some of his men who sat near the door of the house, "and on the tops of their shoulders you shall ride across the flats."

It was a lovely and cloudless day of spring, and our road lay for eight miles through continuous forests, until we reached Te Mata; where we found extensive clearings for potato grounds, and a few Maori huts, round which were congregated about twenty natives. Here we rested, and partook of some food. The children were besmeared with kokowai, or red ochre and grease, to defend them from the attacks of the sand-flies (namu). An aged woman, reduced almost to a skeleton, was assiduously engaged in making a basket of the long leaves of the parasitical tawara (Freycinetia Banksii); and another woman appeared equally busy in preparing flax for an ornamental mat. She was forming the long strips of rolled flax leaves in the manner before described, which are worked into the cloth at intervals, and being alternately banded black and yellow, somewhat resemble the quills of a porcupine. The violent colds some of these poor people had, and the spitting of this old creature all round us as we were taking our food,

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together with the lingering odours of kaanga, made it a trial for the strongest stomach.

Travelling onwards for some distance through dense forests, with occasional steep fern hills commanding exquisite scenery, we arrived at sunset on the shores of Aotea harbour; and, after wading across a succession of mud flats, in another hour we reached the mission-house of Aotea, the residence of the Rev. Mr. Smales, where we were hospitably entertained. The harbour of Aotea is remarkably picturesque, and, when the tide is up, presents a noble expanse of water; but the extensive mud flats, that are uncovered at low tide, stretch out for miles, leaving but little water to be seen. These mud flats, abound with the cardium (pepi), the mya, and several species of turbo, which form part of the food of the natives: the settlements and kaingas on the shores of this harbour being numerous.

Oct. 9th. --A clear and balmy morning. The summer birds of passage are already arriving, and a most brilliant little Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus), with green and golden plumage, was brought in from the garden, killed by a cat. From whence come these birds of passage? Are they from the South Sea Islands? or do they merely migrate from one part to another of New Zealand: which possesses nearly eight hundred miles of latitude?

At Aotea, old Paora Muriwenua stood to me for his portrait. He is one of the most important chiefs of this district, and has quite a patriarchal appear-

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ance, which is heightened by a white and flowing beard. He is tall and thin, with a commanding aspect; but his great age frequently causes him to exhibit signs of imbecility, and his second childhood is coming on apace. The costume that he wore consisted of a topuni or war-mat of dog's skin, with the hair woven in alternate stripes of rufous and black, so as to resemble the skin of a tiger. Muriwenua is strongly attached to the heathen customs of his race. The following incident will show how deeply the belief in witchcraft, and the supposed influence of the atuas, obtain amongst those who are still heathens. The missionary was showing me some small green lizards preserved in a phial of spirits, Muriwenua and another man being in the room. We forgot at the moment that the little creatures in the phial were atuas or gods, according to the superstitious belief of Maori polytheism, and inadvertently showed them to the man at the table. No sooner did he perceive the atuas, than his Herculean frame shrank back as from a mortal wound, and his face betrayed signs of extreme horror. The old chief, on discovering the cause, cried out, "I shall die! I shall die!" and crawled away on his hands and knees; whilst the other man stood as a defence between the chief and the atuas, changing his position so as to form a kind of shield till Muriwenua was out of the influence of their supposed power. It was a dangerous mistake to exhibit these atuas, for the chief is very old, and in the course of nature cannot live long; and, if he dies

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shortly, his death will certainly be ascribed to the baneful sight of the lizard-gods, and I shall be accused of makutu, or witchcraft.

The katipo, a small, black, and very venomous spider, is found upon the beach on the west coast; and the natives all say (as a girl assured us this morning) that, if a katipo bites you, you will most assuredly die; but if you are clever enough to catch the katipo, and make a fire round him, so that he perishes in the flames, you will then recover from the effects of the poisonous bite.

In the afternoon, which was brilliant, we left Aotea, and walked along the sand flats towards Kawhia; having in charge a little girl, the daughter of one of the missionaries. She travelled in an amo, or litter borne upon poles, which was carried alternately by the lads. Several Maori children accompanied us; and one pretty little fellow assisted me to gather shells, and the flat white sea-eggs (Echinarachnius Zelandiae) which occur plentifully on the west coast.

We crossed an arm of Aotea harbour in a canoe, passed a picturesque promontory skirted with fine pohutukaua trees, and, after a couple of hours' more walking through the bush, reached the margin of Kawhia harbour, where we found Mr. Whiteley's boat moored, ready for the reception of our party. It was now sunset, and the rich orange glow of the sky above the line of the distant ocean, and the garish purple of the hills across Kawhia, rendered the scene very lovely. Our lads pulled

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away merrily, singing, and tossing their heads at every stroke of the oars. The breadth of Kawhia harbour is about six or eight miles; but, it being low water, we had to pull round several sand-banks, and got aground twice, so that it was very late before we arrived at the mission-station at Ahuahu. It was a cold night, and the water so phosphorescent that our boat appeared as though it were cleaving a lake of fire. Long flights of small coast birds passed rapidly against the glowing sky, and the stars shone with unusual brilliancy. A meteor, shooting across the dim and distant ocean, seemed like a beacon, flashing for a moment to tell of kindred spirits in that far and glowing west. The lights from the mission house at Ahuahu reflected their cheerful ray in the calm water, and we received a hearty welcome beneath the hospitable roof of the worthy missionary.

During the few days we remained at Mr. Whiteley's, I was engaged in portraying the most important chiefs of the neighbourhood, together with their families; and through the kindness of that gentleman I was enabled to procure likenesses of many who, under ordinary circumstances, would have been difficult of approach.

Oct. 10th. --Whilst in the verandah at Ahuahu, several natives came up from their canoes at the water side and looked over the paling; among them was a very remarkable old chief and tohunga (the father of Te Pakaru, the principal chief of Kawhia), who had a large bump or wen upon his forehead, imme-

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diately over his right temple, the size of a goose's egg, and which was as carefully tattooed as the remaining portion of his face. Being tapu, he refused to enter the verandah, and I took his portrait as he stood resting against the rails. He was evidently delighted at the representation of his "bump," and the natives screamed and shouted with ecstacy at seeing old Te Upehi and his bump on paper; putting their double fists against their foreheads to exaggerate his deformity.

Oct. 11th. --The natives are gathering from all quarters to be present at the great meeting or korero that is to take place between Forsaith and the chiefs of Kawhia, respecting the settlement of lands; amongst them are Te Pakaru or Apokia, and Te Waro; two of the leading men of the Nga ti Maniapoto and the Nga ti Apakura tribes.

Several miles up the Waiharikiki river, a stream which flows into the harbour of Ahuahu, is a wahi tapu, or sacred repository of the property of a deceased chief, which stands at a small heathen kainga. The scenery along the Waiharikiki is varied and romantic; steep banks clothed with the most luxuriant foliage rise on either side, and almost every opening discloses a kainga maori or native settlement: the water was strewn with the golden-coloured blossoms of the kowai, and the day was warm and sunny. On arriving at Te Pahe, we landed from the boat and proceeded to the wahi tapu, which stood upon the side of a hill sloping

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towards the river. The sacred enclosure was surrounded with a double set of palings; and within the inner row, which were painted red, were the decaying remains of the tapued property, elevated upon a frame-work of raised sticks; the weather-worn garments were fluttering in the wind, and the chests, muskets, and other property belonging to the deceased were arranged in front: a little canoe, with sail and paddles, was also placed there to serve as a ferry-boat for the spirit to enter in safety into the eternal abodes. 1 Calabashes of food and water, and a dish prepared from the pigeon, were placed for the ghost to regale itself when visiting the spot; and the heathen natives aver that at night the spirit comes and feeds from the sacred calabashes. So fearful are the natives to approach this wahi tapu, that they will not even come within some yards of the outer enclosure.

This afternoon the meeting of the natives with the Protector was held on the slope of a grassy hill, not far from the mission-house: three old chiefs sat (like the three wise men of old) above the speakers, against a fence; the others were scattered around in groups along the slope of the hill. Te Waro and Te Pakaru were the principal orators. During the speechifying, I painted Ohu, the tohunga or heathen

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priest of the Waiharikiki river, and the little lame old chief Rangituatea, who was wounded in the battle of Taranaki. The latter is a man of note amongst the Nga ti Maniapoto tribe, and I requested him to wear his war-mat instead of a dirty blanket all besmeared with kokowai, in which he was clad; but he gravely touched his meri poonamu, his tiki, and the ornament of boar's tusks about his neck, signifying that these were sufficient indications that he was a great rangatira.

After the meeting was concluded, the old gentleman sat down to a delicious repast of the gruel made from stinking corn; which they ate out of the iron pot in which it was cooked, dipping their fingers into the vessel and then licking them.

Forsaith's lads are enjoying a few days' rest, before proceeding onwards to Taranaki. One of them is a youth of the Puketapu tribe, who was taken prisoner at Taranaki by Hamana, a Waikato chief; and having recently been liberated, through the influence of Christianity, is now returning to his native district. Another of our travelling "helps" is a merry young fellow, rejoicing in the singular name of "troutete" or trousers, from his having appropriated to his own use a pair of those peculiarly European articles of dress, which had belonged to a deceased relation.

The arrival of Kiwi, a great chief returning from the south, caused a considerable commotion, accompanied by the usual speechifying. The women stood upon the hill, and loud and long was their tangi to

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welcome his approach; occasionally, however, they would leave off, to have a chat or a laugh, and then mechanically resume their weeping. The old sages spoke in turns: the tohunga looked like some priest of the furies with his gorgon locks streaming in the wind; and, as he grew excited with his speech, he stamped upon the ground and uttered deep-toned shouts, that rent the air like the roarings of some wild beast.

Oct. 13th. --The mission-house is prettily situated on a point of land jutting into the harbour of Ahuahu, which is a branch of Kawhia; a glassy sheet of water extends in front of the house, and beyond it rises the bold and rugged outline of the mountain of Perongia. To the left of the house is a steep cliff, with an abrupt descent on the other side, where the goats belonging to the mission-station generally browse; and from this elevation a fine commanding view may be obtained over the surface of Kawhia harbour, with the ocean breaking into foam beyond. The chapel stands on an elevated terrace behind the house. At the morning service, which was conducted both in the Maori and English languages, about fifteen Europeans, including the missionary's family, were present, and the number of natives congregated together could not be less than two hundred; they all sat grouped about on the floor in their customary attitudes, and nothing could exceed their attention and decorous behaviour. In the afternoon the chapel presented a lively and

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interesting scene; the children were gathering for school, and it was a striking sight to observe the old chief Kiwi, who had arrived in state on the previous day, now sitting quietly in the midst of hem, employed in teaching the little ones to read! The bright and sunny faces of the pupils showed the interest they took in their learning; and this delight was equally manifest in the countenance of the deeply-tattooed warrior.

Oct. 14th. --From Ahuahu my companion and myself prepared to start on separate routes; his being along the coast towards Taranaki, and mine striking at once into the very heart of the interior, through the wild region of Mokau and Wanganui to the Taupo Lakes. Forsaith, who had proved a most agreeable and intelligent companion during the journey to Ahuahu, left in Apokea's canoe, accompanied by his four lads, whilst another canoe conveyed my party in an opposite direction across the harbour. My travelling companions now consisted of my two natives, E Pera, who was a Nga Pui from the Bay of Islands, and E Rihia, a mission lad of Waipa, belonging to the Ngati Apakura tribe; we were also joined by a couple of natives proceeding homewards to Wakatumutumu. Our departure caused quite a commotion in this peaceful little settlement of Ahuahu, and as our canoes diverged in their different directions, farewell shouts rent the air from the groups on shore, which were loudly responded to by the departing travellers.

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Landing at the head of one of the branches of Ahuahu harbour, we came to a European cottage, with a settler's clearing; we then struck at once into the bush up very steep hills. The ponga, one of the species of tree-fern, is very beautiful at this season of the year; putting forth a double coronet of fresh curls, which gradually expand into leaves. The crimson fuschia and several other elegant flowering shrubs also adorn the bush. From the hills we obtained a succession of fine views of Kawhia and the surrounding country, with the southern ocean beyond. At four miles we halted at a plantation of Cape gooseberry plants, where we found a few old slave women and some children; the latter stripped the plants of all the remaining fruit, as a present for the pakeha (stranger), whilst my natives regaled themselves with stinking maize, a calabash of which the old women had (fortunately for all but me) just prepared as we arrived.

All day we travelled onwards through a dark and gloomy forest without a single break; and the narrow track lay up and down steep gullies and over fallen trees. A peculiar odour arises from the decaying vegetable matter, which at times is almost overpowering.

In this forest I saw the hinau-tree growing, from which the natives prepare the black dye; and of its seeds, when compressed, the unwholesome-looking cakes are made to which the children are so partial. The fuschia and the horopito were also abundant;

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and several of the large shelving fungi, growing from the trunks of the trees, near their roots, are so broad and strong as to form capital seats. At night these moist woods are peculiarly luminous; the decaying vegetable matters sparkling like stars in every direction, producing an effect of singular beauty. We frequently observed among the branches a small green parroquet (Trichoglossus aurifrons), which was so tame as scarcely to move at our approach.

About sunset, an opening in the forest showed us the Marakopo river, which we crossed; and passing through a patch of fern-land, arrived at Piri-piri. A remarkable appearance is here produced by the white limestone rocks, cropping out on the edge of a hill in cubiform masses above the fern. Immediately above this brow are a number of straggling huts, which are occupied by a community of Jesuit natives, who style themselves pikopo, in contradistinction to the mihonari people.

At the time of our arrival at the settlement, all the inhabitants of the kainga were congregated in an open court on the brow of the hill, partaking of their evening meal. Almost before we had entered the court, we were most violently assailed by upwards of twenty fierce dogs, and had I not instantly seized a stick and defended myself, I should, in all probability, have come off badly; the natives threw their potato kits and sticks at the dogs, and the confusion and din were universal.

We halted for some time in a court-yard appro-

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priated to strangers, where we found a cook-house and a dormitory. As no food is allowed to be prepared in a dwelling or sleeping house, cooking-sheds are built expressly for the purpose; they are usually composed of stakes, or the trunks of the arborescent fern, placed upright in the ground, a little apart from one another, so as to admit a current of air to carry off the smoke, and covered with a roof of tohi-tohi, or nikau palm leaves. Seated on some fern in the verandah of this cooking hut, I ate my supper; the natives regarding me with almost the same sort of wonder that they would some strange animal.

Presently the bell tolled for vespers; the "Ave Marias" of these poor people sounded very differently from the rich and melodious chants I have heard in Sicily and Brazil, yet, in their soft and simple language, the effect was pleasing, as their voices, chanting the evening hymn, sounded at a distance, through the dull and dewy night. I took up my quarters on a heap of dry fern, and was just dropping off to sleep when my lad Rihia commenced his devotions aloud, which lasted without intermission for at least an hour.

Oct. 15th--A thick fog ushered in the day, and after travelling for some hours through dew-drenched forests, we reached a deep ravine, where the road descends winding into the glen. On a mossy bank on one side of this ravine the natives showed me the foot-prints (according to their tradition) of Whatumaui, a giant of former days, who, on arriving at

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DIFFICULT MOUNTAIN PASS.

this spot, instead of taking the trouble to descend into the ravine, jumped across it, a distance of at least 160 feet: these foot-prints are two hollows in the rock, each about twenty inches in length. We next passed over steep fern hills, and through a tract of country completely devastated by fire--all black as a cinder--and crossed the small river of Wahuatakawau, where there is a pretty waterfall over blue limestone-rock. At the next stream, Pera told me there were plenty of snakes, and whilst I was looking out to avoid them, my guides were suddenly in the water, divested of their garments, busily searching for eels, which were the snakes alluded to by Pera. From the summit of a ridge of steep fern hills, rendered very slippery from the night's rain, we obtained a view of Pirimokau mountain, celebrated in the journey from Kawhia to Taranaki, as being a most difficult and dangerous pass--where the native women are obliged to be let down and drawn up with ropes, whilst the men venture along a ledge of rock overhanging a giddy precipice, beneath which the ocean lashes in whirlpools of boiling surf. Beyond us we could trace the course of the Marakopo, winding between hills clothed with endless and gloomy forests. Upon the margin of the small streams and moist swampy watercourses, there peeps up from the ground a little white flower with a faint jessamine-like perfume: nothing but the blossom appears above ground, and that is quite close to the earth.

The forests in this unfrequented part of the coun-

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try are almost impenetrable. Many of the hill-sides were so clothed with roots intertwining one with another as to form a series of steps, down which we forced our way; the liands (smilax) continually catching us like ropes round our bodies.

Late in the afternoon, we struck out of the path, when on the side of a lofty ridge covered with dense forests, to gain a steep buttress of limestone rock that covered the summit of the mountain. We were now somewhere about two thousand feet above the level of the sea, and after pushing through the brushwood and matted liands, we reached the summit of the naked rock, which commanded a most extensive and magnificent view across the region of Taupo, with the volcano of Tongariro and the still loftier Ruapahu rearing their snow-clad summits at a distance of at least eighty miles. The intervening scenery consisted of range beyond range of hills in every variety of form, with the pale and shadowy mass of these vast mountains, relieved by a clearly defined outline against the blue of heaven. It was a glorious sight to look around, from that rocky pinnacle, upon the grandeur and the majesty of nature. The Tongariro was pouring forth volumes of steam, which rolled down the mountain's side; and a cloudy mist passed over the Ruapahu whilst we gazed upon its broad and eternal snows. Descending this steep range, a few miles farther brought us to the kainga of Warikaokao, consisting of a few decent huts within a square enclosure. The shades of evening were grow-

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ing longer , and as we had had a fatiguing journey, we halted here for the night, instead of proceeding onwards to Mania.

Oct. 16th. --Last night I lay in a very windy cookhouse, and got no sleep, though extremely tired. At daybreak we started for Mania, a distance of eight miles, where we breakfasted on potatoes and kumeras. There I painted the chief Ngohi and his principal wife. This lady had once been handsome, and even in her declining years she still bore traces of her former charms. She was under a tapu; and, whilst in this state, was not permitted to touch any article of food with her hands. A female slave brought water in a calabash, which she poured out into her filthy hand, applying it to the lady's mouth, who drank eagerly from the hand of the slave; for, had she touched the calabash herself, it would have become tapu, and could not again have been used for ordinary purposes. The boy who had accompanied us from Ahuahu was a son of Ngohi, and remained here. Instead of saluting his parents and friends, he sat down in silence upon a fallen stump. The journey had been undertaken solely for the purpose of fetching a domestic fowl from Kawhia, and the newly arrived bird underwent a long nursing from the younger branches of Ngohi's family, before the poor hungry thing was liberated. There were several pet pigs at this settlement; at almost every plantation, indeed, they are to be found: they will run for miles after their mistresses, and, being very

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small as well as very tame, they are nursed for hours, as lap-dogs are amongst a more refined community. Extensive maize and potato grounds occur in the neighbourhood of Mania, and an ancient carved house stands not far from the kainga.

On leaving this place we were joined by Ngohi's eldest son, who was proceeding to Whakatumutumu along with our former companions from Ahuahu. We crossed the river Mokau, here about ten yards in breadth, and passed along a valley shut in on one side by a vast wall of perpendicular rocks. In this wild valley was a deep-toned echo; and young Ngohi's cries and shouts reverberated again and again as we went by. Here, too, a river, which falls into the Waikato, bursts out suddenly from the limestone rock, forming a thundering cascade, which flows in a deep stream along the valley. At 4 P. M. we reached the native settlement of Whakatumutumu, situated amongst romantic hills covered with fern.

The scenery here somewhat resembles that of the Highlands of Scotland, in the bold outline of the hills and the barren rocks jutting up in huge and picturesque masses. In this secluded spot, buried, as it were, from all intercourse with the surrounding world, dwell a missionary and his wife, named Miller, who most kindly welcomed me to their humble abode. The cottage stands on an elevated and rocky steep, overlooking an extensive country, with the river Mokau flowing beneath, and the native village occupying a hill to the right: from the

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summit of a lofty rock behind the cottage, Mount Egmont, or Taranaki, is clearly discernible when the atmosphere is unclouded. On the top of a neighbouring hill is a small wahi tapu, surrounded by railings, where the bones of about a dozen chiefs, taken from a cavern, were buried some few years since by the tohunga. Here I painted the chief Te Ngaporutu and his wife: he was formerly a distinguished warrior belonging to the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, but has lately embraced Christianity; and his wife, who belongs to Wanganui, was bought by him for thirty pigs. This chief had several wives previously to his becoming a convert; but he put away all, excepting only Rihe, whom he retained as his partner in life. The cast-off wives are all anxiously waiting for Rihe to die; each one hoping that she may be the successful candidate for the next wife.

Near Whakatumutumu, on the Mokau, there resides a European, or Pakeha Maori, who has become almost more savage than the natives themselves: he is partially tattooed, and clothes himself in a mat or blanket; he has at least six wives, and adopts all the habits and manners of the Maori people.

Te Ariki (lord), who was the most celebrated chief of all Mokau, died two months since at Pari-pari, a native settlement and pah one day's journey from Whakatumutumu; he was unconverted, and even during his last illness he was carried on to the field of battle. After his death a great contest ensued, respecting the disposal of his body, between the

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Papist natives and those who still adhere to their heathen customs: the latter argued that he had died a heathen, and ought therefore to be buried in a secret cave, according to the heathen form for the greatest chiefs. The contest resulted in a scuffle for the body, and, after it had been placed in a box or coffin by the Jesuits, Taonui, the chief next in importance to the deceased, tore the body from the coffin, and, in his rage, threw it across the pah: it was eventually carried off by the heathens, and placed in a secret cave. About a mile from this place the body of another chief is hidden in a hollow tree in the forest.

Eko, the celebrated witch of Waikato, is the wife of a chief not far from Mokau: she performed some actions which were considered by the natives as attesting her powers of witchcraft, and ever since she exercises, by her arts of sorcery, unbounded sway over the minds of the superstitious inhabitants: to such an extent is her power exerted, that many natives die under the influence of fear. Not long since she told one of her victims that she had taken out his heart; and he actually died, out of a belief that his heart was gone.

Oct. 17th. --Early this morning we took leave of the missionary and his wife. Their isolation from the civilized world may be inferred from the fact that Mrs. Miller has not seen a European female since she has resided at Whakatumutumu: nor does she expect to do so without undertaking the long

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and tedious journey through the forest to Ahuahu, which she must accomplish on foot. We proceeded to Pari-pari, a distance of about eighteen miles. On arriving at the small pah of Whakatumutumu we heard a loud tangi; and, on entering the stile, found the natives all crying and lamenting over the body of an old woman, which was wrapped in a blanket, and laid out beneath the verandah of a small wari pune, or sleeping-house. The corpse looked bloodless and sallow, and the surrounding women were beating their breasts and cutting themselves with shells, howling all the time most dismally.

About four miles beyond Whakatumutumu we reached the falls of Mokau, an exceedingly romantic spot, where that river dashes down a perpendicular wall of rock, from a height of about sixty feet, in one broad sheet of water. The rocky steeps on each side of the chasm are clothed with evergreens, amongst which the graceful rimu pine stands pre-eminent; high broken rocks, resembling castles, fortresses, and towers, rise on the opposite side of the glen; and the surrounding hills are wild and covered with fern. During the day we passed many swamps, and followed the winding course of the river Mokau along valleys surrounded by strange, desolate-looking hills, with rocks of micaceous schist cropping out. In various parts of the river, native weirs for catching eels are frequent; these the natives keep up with great care, as they also do their eel-pahs, for the reception of these fish. The importance and value

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of the eel-pahs is frequently a subject of dispute amongst the chiefs. At the summit of a steep hill we met a party of slave girls, travelling towards Whakatumutumu, heavily laden with baskets containing cakes of stinking maize; they were accompanied by a pretty-looking young woman, the daughter of one of the chiefs at Pari-pari, gaily attired in a string-mat, with a bunch of myrtle leaves in her ear. The grace and gentle bashfulness of this rangatira damsel were in strong contrast with the coarse and rude appearance of the half-clad slaves who were her fellow-travellers.

The day was hot and the hills steep; we passed along a desolate and swampy valley, where there grew many fine dragon-trees (ti); and after fording the Waipa across drift timber, at a place where that river was not more than a dozen or twenty yards broad, we reached Pari-pari about four o'clock in the afternoon.

Pari-pari means, literally, "broken ground;" and the whole country in the neighbourhood is a succession of hills and gullies.

At Pari-pari there lives a European, named Lewis, who has married the daughter of Taonui, the principal chief of the district, and successor to Tariki. Under the auspices and protection of his father-in-law, Lewis enjoys his Robinson Crusoe-like life in perfect security. He has a hut of his own construction, together with a garden, and a flock of seventy goats, besides pigs, fowls, and other small domestic animals During my stay for a few days at Pari-pari

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I experienced every hospitality from Lewis, who took infinite trouble and pleasure in pointing out to me all the antiquities and remains of pahs and ornamental architecture in the neighbourhood. It was an unexpected treat to sup upon brown bread and milk: the former made by my host from the produce of his last year's crop. The concluding dish at supper would appear less inviting to a European appetite, for it consisted of a quantity of fine plump grubs, nicely browned before the fire; and repulsive as such an article of food might at first appear, they are not only agreeable in flavour, but resemble in taste the most delicious cream. Taonui's daughter had procured them from the decayed timber of the rimu pine in the adjoining forest.

At a small pah not far distant from the abode of his pakeha Lewis, Taonui, the chief, has his residence. He is one of the most powerful and superstitious of the old heathen chiefs, and is scrupulously attached to the religion of the Tohunga; around his neck he usually wears a small flute, constructed out of the leg bone of Pomare, a northern enemy of his tribe, and upon this instrument he frequently plays with peculiar satisfaction. He has also in his possession the original suit of armour that was given by King George IV. of England to the Bay of Islands chief Shongi (E Hongi), when that warrior visited England.

The subsequent history of this armour is somewhat curious: it passed from the Nga Puis to Tetori, and from Tetori to Te Whero Whero at the Wai-

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kato feast, and came into Taonui's hands under the following circumstances. On the death of a favourite daughter, Te Whero Whero made a song, the substance of which was that he would take off the scalps of all the chiefs except Ngawaka, and fling them into his daughter's grave to revenge her untimely death. The words of this song highly insulted the various individuals against whom it was directed: more especially as it was a great curse for the hair of a chief, which is sacred, to be thus treated with contempt. But the only chief who dared to resent this insult, from so great a man as Te Whero Whero, was Taonui; who demanded a taua, or gift, as recompense for the affront, and received the armour of E Hongi in compensation. I made a drawing of the armour, which was old and rusty: it is of steel, inlaid with brass; and, although never worn by the possessors in battle--for it would sadly impede their movements-- it is regarded with a sort of superstitious veneration by the natives, who look upon it as something extraordinary.

About half a mile from the present native settlement stands the ruined pah of Pari-pari, which contains, in a state of almost perfect preservation, two of the finest carved and painted Maori houses still existing in New Zealand. This pah was erected on the memorable occasion of the Taranaki war, when the Mokau warriors set out on their expedition to that fated district; where the inhabitants of the principal pahs were either slaughtered and eaten, or

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taken as slaves, by the conquering party. In this manner the beautiful district of Taranaki was almost depopulated, and human bones whitened many of the battle-fields. At the present moment, many of the former slaves, and their children, are returning to occupy the land of their forefathers, having been liberated from their bondage through the combined influences of Christianity and civilization. Within a small railing, in one corner of the verandah of the largest house, is a wahi tapu, where the head of Te Kawaw (fowl), with his feathers, hani, and mat, were deposited. Te Kawaw was a great warrior, and very swift of foot, which obtained for him the appellation of "bird," or "fowl:" he was killed during one of the engagements of the Taranaki war, close to the pah of the besieged; and his people, not being able to remove the body, cut off his head, which they deposited within the sacred inclosure at Pari-pari. The head has since been removed by the Tohunga, but the mat and other articles still remain, though in a very decayed state. For several days I was constantly exploring the ruins of this once magnificent pah: rich fragments of carved work, of the most elaborate character, lie scattered on the ground, concealed by the tangled masses of vegetation that have long since grown over them; and I had to cut down a large and spreading pura-pura bush, that almost concealed the verandah of one of the most exquisitely ornamented houses, before I could make my drawing. With a view to perpetuate the singular

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and beautiful architectural remains of these people, I made carefully finished drawings on the spot of all those most worthy of record, and thus rescued from certain and speedy oblivion the works of art of a race of men who are undergoing a most rapid and extraordinary change.

At the period of my visit, I found Taonui and Ngawaka his ally preparing to go to Taupo to join Te Heuheu in an expedition to fight the Ngatiruanui people, who reside on the shores of Cook's Straits between Wainganui and Taranaki. I was anxious to take the portrait of Taonui, and eventually succeeded, after some trouble, in obtaining a good likeness of him, as he sat upon the roof of his house, abusing the queen, and using all manner of provoking language. He was angry because I had painted one of his slaves -- "That ugly slave of mine," exclaimed the haughty chief, "before me, the lord of all Mokau!" At length he became pacified, and I successively painted his whole family as they sat in the verandah of his carved dwelling-house. His eldest son wore over his blanket a small black mat, made from the fibrous bark of a tree, and dyed with hinau. It was the only one of the kind I remember to have seen in the country.

Oct. 18th. --All day sketching at Pari-pari. I took the portraits of the widow and child of the late Tariki before mentioned. The widow was a middle-aged woman, dreadfully disfigured by the cuts and gashes which she inflicts upon herself with a pepi-

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shell whenever she cries; and she wore a crown or garland of large green leaves upon her head as the emblem of mourning. Since the death of her husband, which took place about eight months since, she has been tapu, and not allowed either to feed herself or to change her garments; which are all in rags. She is either fed out of the hands of another native, or she eats like a dog by putting her mouth to the ground. The period of her mourning and the force of the tapu are to continue for four months longer, when the unhappy widow will be released from her trammels, and permitted to re-enter the marriage state.

I have nowhere seen the law of tapu more rigidly adhered to than amongst these wild inhabitants of Mokau. Even poor Lewis himself is a sufferer from this cause: to-day he wanted to kill a pig, that we might make merry, and have some provision to carry along with us on our journey towards Taupo; but the unfortunate pig in question having unwittingly trespassed upon some sacred ground, it had become tapu, and neither Lewis nor any one else dared to touch the sacred porker. Not long since, Taonui laid a tapu upon the road through the forest from hence to Taranaki, so that no one could travel that way without incurring the anger of the chief and the wrath of the invisible atuas. Taonui has just undergone the solemn ceremony of having his locks cropped; this duty was intrusted to his wife alone, and she is thereby rendered tapu for the period

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of one week--the penalty for touching the sacred hair of a chief: the hair itself was carefully buried, that it might not come into contact with any object connected with food.

An instance occurred near this place of a suicide of a most determined character: a man deliberately throttled himself with his hands, whilst lying in a sleeping house, beneath his blanket.

On the 19th we started for Waipa; but hearing at Pukemarpou, a small pah upon a hill about two miles from Pari-pari, that the chief Wirihona, our fellow-traveller on the Waikato, was absent from Waipa, with Mr. Buttle, the missionary, I resolved not to proceed further in that direction, but to take the road to Taupo, by the way of the Wanganui.

In the mean time I visited and explored some limestone caves that are situated in the side of a lofty hill, about a couple of miles further on. The rain fell in torrents; but we carried fire-sticks with us, and made torches at the mouth of the cavern, from the light and inflammable bark of a tree. A large fuschia grew at the opening of the cavern, which was evidently an occasional place of shelter with the natives. The entrance to the largest cave is a spacious arch in the side of a perpendicular wall of limestone rock. For about sixty feet the cave runs inwards, forming one grand and lofty antechamber, hung with stupendous masses of stalactite; the stalagmitic encrustations on the floor assuming the forms of huge mushrooms,

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tables, and pillars, and frequently joining with the stalactites from above, producing columns of a picturesque appearance. At the inner extremity of this vaulted chamber is a steep descent, nearly dark, at the bottom of which a rapid subterranean stream flows across the cave; and beyond this river the cavern was supposed by the natives to terminate.

The tide being much lower than ordinary, I succeeded in crossing, by the light of a bonfire that my natives had kindled at the entrance of the cave. I was bent on exploring this subterranean fissure to its full extent, thinking it probable that other chambers and galleries existed beyond the river; and without waiting for the torches, I managed to climb up the almost perpendicular side opposite, and reached the entrance of a gallery about twenty feet above the river, and just large enough to admit four persons crawling in on their hands and knees. I entered, but had not proceeded far, when the smoke setting into the cavern, enveloped me in total darkness; and, almost in a state of suffocation, I was compelled to feel my way back as I best could, and scramble for my life, towards the mouth of the cavern. As soon as the smoke had cleared away, we lighted our torches, and leaving the timid natives at the entrance, Lewis and myself pursued our way into the cave, crossing the river, and regaining the opening that led to the gallery I had before reached.

After crawling along a corridor of sparkling stalactites for about thirty feet, forcing our bodies between

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huge pillars of stone, we suddenly entered a spacious chamber of indescribable loveliness: it appeared as though gnomes and fairies had been at work to adorn this magic hall. The roof, hung with stalactites of the most exquisite and pearly whiteness, was supported by columns of yellow and transparent spar, that gave it the resemblance of a natural temple; and the crystalline walls and floor were covered with a sort of fluoric bloom of the most delicate hue and texture. Ours were the first human eyes that beheld this resplendent saloon hid in the bowels of the earth: it was evident that no one had ever entered this fairy abode, for our footsteps destroyed the bloom on the floor, and not the slightest mark of intrusion was anywhere discernible. We felt it to be almost an act of desecration to intrude on this secret and glorious chamber, whose chaste splendour shone forth in the unsullied purity of its pristine beauty. The scene seemed to realize Coleridge's poetic description, in his "Kubla Khan," of "that sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice"--

After we had fully explored this cavern to its further extremity, we retraced our steps back to the open air, and to the sunshine that had succeeded to the morning's rain. The natives have a tradition

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that whoever enters this cavern, and brings away any portion of the stalactite, however small, is certain of being drowned; and it is a singular coincidence that two Europeans, who in passing entered the outer chamber and broke off pieces of the stalactite, were afterwards drowned: one of these was a missionary, who was upset in a canoe at the mouth of the river Thames in Houraki Gulf.

In the forests near Poukemarpou we regaled ourselves on our return with the sweet and fleshy bracteae of the tawara {Freycinetia Banksii), which are now in season. The taste of the lower portion of these bracteae, when fully ripe, is somewhat like that of a rich and juicy pear, with an aromatic flavour resembling vanilla. The plant yielding this vegetable luxury is parasitical; climbing in clusters of long narrow leaves to the summits of the lofty forest trees.

Oct. 20th. --Again at Pari-pari, where I received a letter from the chief Wirihona, the purport of which was that he regretted not being able to accompany me to Taupo, but that if I returned to Waipa he would let me have his canoe to go down the Waikato.

Oct. 21st. --This morning I started with only my two lads for Taupo: our road lay for the first eight miles along the same path we had travelled from Whakatumutumu; we then struck off to the left, fording the river Mokau twice; and many swamps had to be crossed, during our passage through an

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open fern country, the valleys of which were clothed with a coarse wiry grass, called by the natives wiwi. In the woods beyond Pari-pari we encountered a number of wild hogs, that roam at large through the forests of Mokau: at periodical intervals the natives go out to hunt these animals, with dogs trained for the purpose; and they not unfrequently receive dangerous wounds from the infuriated boars. It was formerly the custom for the chiefs to wear the tusks of the boars they had killed, strung round their necks as trophies.

The country now began to assume a volcanic character: small lumps of cellular pumice were thickly scattered over the ground in every direction, and the soil appeared formed from the decomposition of light volcanic ashes. On the margin of the swamps, a small white violet, slightly scented, grew in the utmost profusion; the New Zealand daisy and the little aromatic white bell which I have before alluded to, were also abundant amongst the moss and fern.

We reached Pouketouto towards the evening: a small kainga, the residence of an inferior chief with his family and a few slaves, occupies the side of a hill. I took up my night's quarters in an open cookhouse, where my lads prepared me some food; but several filthy slave women came in and cooked a mess of gruel of stinking corn, the odour of which almost drove me from the premises. It was a bitter night: the wind blew terrifically; and in so exposed

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a situation it was difficult to obtain the repose that we needed.

The sun sank in a stormy sky, and a solitary kaka now and then whirring homewards, passed over the kainga, uttering its shrill cry. The fires in the warm-houses were lighted; and when heated like ovens and full of smoke, the natives as usual crept into these dens, and stopping every orifice, shut themselves up until morning.

The few natives residing in this district are either Papists or Pagans. The women are tattooed considerably on their breasts and shoulders, with cross-lines; and some wear human teeth round their necks.

Oct. 22nd. --We started very early, taking on with us a supply of potatoes; as there are no more native settlements for a distance of forty miles along the desolate and dreary region we had now to traverse. Near the path leading from Pouketouto, I observed a miniature pah, constructed by the boys, who amuse themselves by building tiny fortifications, and emulate the courage and skill of their sires in the sport of besieging and defending them. The mounds were made by heaps of earth, and the fence-work constructed of upright sticks, displaying the characteristic ingenuity of the Maori children.

The scenery was wild, and not unlike that of some portions of Dartmoor; whilst the rain falling heavily nearly all day, added to the dreary prospect. Some of the swamps we crossed were strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The river Mokau

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here runs through a valley, bordered on each side by precipitous chasms of rock; and the steeps are covered with fern. Wild ducks were numerous along the river, unmolested in these waste solitudes. At one bend of the stream, where it breaks into foam over masses of rock, we observed an eel-pah, whither the natives occasionally resort for the purpose of taking these fish in their kupengas or nets. The swamps were all thickly studded with white violets; and the country continued to present a wild and rocky aspect until we once more arrived upon the borders of the forest. Here we halted to cook some potatoes; my lads having brought materials for procuring fire after the native manner. Their method is this: a piece of hard-pointed wood is rubbed very briskly along a groove in another piece of wood of a flattened shape, but less hard than the former; the friction soon produces a fine dust from the groove, which kindles and acts as a tinder; when it smokes, this is carefully collected and put into a parcel of dry fern, or a wisp of grass; and upon being blown gently, the whole bursts into a blaze.

After toiling, wet through, up and down an intricate mountain forest for some miles, we suddenly came in sight of a most remarkable region, from the brow of a steep hill, where the forest abruptly terminated upon open fern. Beneath us was stretched out, for miles in extent, a plain entirely destitute of trees, broken with deep ravines and chasms, and

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scattered over with an infinite multitude of abrupt little hills, like Alps in miniature. Some of these hills rose into tapering cones, resembling craters; others presented the appearance of castles, and steep ridges crowned with masses of rock; the whole scene, backed by distant ranges of mountains, had the aspect of having once been the seat of intense volcanic action. Through this singular region the river Wanganui wound its serpentine course, along a bed of white sand and pumice: it is here about twenty yards in breadth, and so tortuous are the windings of the stream, that during the day we crossed and recrossed it nine times. The entire country is covered with lumps of pumice, and the rocks appear of igneous origin; the rounded hillocks presenting cliffs consisting of tufaceous lava, or of lapilli of pumice and sand cemented by volcanic ashes. Dark clouds hung in sullen masses over these broken peaks, and the scene might be truly called the Valley of Desolation: almost the only vegetable production consisted of a coarse wiry grass, with here and there occasional tufts of low fern. Toiling on till after sunset, we arrived at the opposite side of the extensive valley that we had contemplated from the verge of the forest; and, to our infinite delight, we found a camping place, where there was a roof or shed of tohi tohi grass, that had been erected by native travellers, on the edge of a chasm of pumice, and close to the margin of the swiftly flowing Wanganui. Here we took up our quarters for

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the night; we kindled a blazing fire in front of the shed, dried all our wet clothes, roasted our potatoes in the glowing embers, and ate them with a satisfaction and relish to which the sons of luxury are indeed strangers: in short, we passed the night comfortably in this romantic and secluded glen.