CHAPTER XIV
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CHAPTER XIV.
Harbour of Mango-nui, in Lauriston Bay.
To the southward of Kaitaia the interior of the island is occupied by a range of hills, which sends its branches both eastward and westward, forming narrow valleys that serve as river-courses. The sea enters into several inlets on both coasts, where it is joined by the various rivers, if the mountain-streams deserve that name, and forms several harbours. The general height of these hills is less than 1500 feet above the level of the sea; this height, however, they attain in the Maunga Taniwa. The top of this pyramid, which runs almost to a point, offers an excellent view of the surrounding land. An old Metrosideros stands on the summit, overshadowing the heavy growth all around: the natives have cut steps into its stem to afford an easy ascent. From this place we overlook the whole northern extremity of the island as far as the Bay of Islands, and it will afford an excellent trigonometrical station. We can here perceive that the different ramifications of the chain do not form valleys, but ravines, which only widen towards the estuaries of the sea. The whole is
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FORESTS.
clothed with a thick forest, the dark verdure of which is uninterrupted, except by the bright green of a raupo-swamp in the bottom of the ravines, or by the brown hue of the fern, which covers some districts, especially towards the coast. The forest is a mixed one; that is to say, there is no prevailing kind of trees, and only towards Mango-nui, Wangaroa, and Hokianga are groves of kauri. Many of the trees, especially the rata (Metrosideros robusta), the totara (Podocarpus totara), the rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum), the pukatea (Laurus pukatea?), are of immense dimensions. They are intermingled with fern-trees, especially Cyathea medullaris and Cyathea dealbata; while the cabbage-palm (Areca sapida) grows in the deepest recesses. The mouldy soil, refreshed by continual moisture, bears numerous other species of ferns, as well as some beautiful mosses, jungermannias, livermosses, lichens, and a few kinds of fungi. Many trees have been uprooted by gales, or have fallen down from natural decay, whilst all around vegetation is springing up from destruction, and this apparent destructive process gives a true image of the continual destruction and re-creation of Nature, and displays those unchanging laws which pervade the universe, and which are nowhere more powerfully impressed upon the mind than in a primeval forest. At first, all the trees in a New Zealand landscape seem to be of a uniform dark tint; but, on inspection, one cannot fail to discover as many
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FORESTS.
varieties of colour as there are species. Their forms likewise belong to the most beautiful in nature: what, for instance, can be more delicate than the graceful rimu-pine with pendent branches; or the tree-ferns and stately palms; or the venerable rata, often measuring forty feet in circumference, and covered with scarlet flowers--whilst its stem is often girt with a creeper belonging to the same family (Metrosideros hypericifolia)? Sometimes the vines, a foot thick, of another creeper, the aki (Metrosideros buxifolia), also with scarlet flowers, are seen running up to the highest branches of the rata. Of other parasitical plants, however, the rata-trees are very free, by far more so than some pines, such as the puriri (Vitex litoralis) and some others.
It is remarkable how little this forest is enlivened by living beings: a few birds, it is true, are found in its recesses, whose notes are various and melodious; but at noon they all seem to repose, and the silence is then scarcely ever interrupted.
The formation of which this hilly ridge is composed, so far as the luxuriant vegetation permits of its being observed, is a yellowish argillaceous rock, mixed in fragments with the vegetable mould. It is of various degrees of hardness, and in most cases may be observed in conjunction with compact basaltic rock, which appears sometimes protruding on the surface, sometimes laid bare in the river-courses. The pebbles in the rivers are whinstone of different
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LAURISTON BAY.
colours, and varying in point of hardness, and this rock seems to be everywhere the lowermost, and to compose the greater bulk of the mountain, having in its formation variously acted upon and changed the covering argillaceous rock. Both on the eastern and western coast other kinds of rocks may be seen, --marly limestone, marble, in junction with slates, conglomerates, sandstones, and lignite, of which I shall have occasion to speak more fully when describing the places in which they occur. The flat alluvial land extending on the right shore of the Awaroa to Rangaunu Bay is separated from Lauriston Bay by an offset from this hilly ridge, which juts out into the sea, and forms Kari Kari, or Knuckle Point. These hills are low, covered in some places with a little wood, in others with fern. The first place which claims our attention in Lauriston Bay is Oruru, where a river, which takes its rise on the eastern slope of Maunga Taniwa, and which can be entered by a boat, empties itself into the sea. On both sides of this river is excellent level and clear land, which rises slowly towards Maunga Taniwa. Oruru is separated by low hills covered with a stiff white clay and a scanty vegetation from a similar valley, eight miles to the northward, and out of which another river runs into the sea. The road from Oruru into the harbour of Mango-nui leads over a succession of steep hills and narrow fertile ravines. The distance is about ten miles.
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MANGO-NUI HARBOUR.
I was agreeably surprised to see the native plantations at Oruru. In neatness they exceed everything that would be done by Europeans with similar means; but, strange to say, the natives had preferred the steep sides of a hill to the rich alluvium of the valley.
There are not many people living here: those who do belong to the tribes of the Haupouri, but Pane Kareao, the chief at Kaitaia, claims the whole place and the right to dispose of it, as the present, occupants belong to a subdued tribe. The greater part of the land has been sold, chiefly to Mr. Ford, who was formerly the surgeon attached to the missions.
The harbour of Mango-nui is not laid down in any chart; vessels rounding Point Surville should keep close to the southern shore of Lauriston Bay, and will then have no difficulty in avoiding the reef of rocks which runs off Oruru in a northeasterly direction, and which is the only obstacle to a safe and easy entrance into the harbour. The channel is not above 100 yards wide, but is very deep. Several whalers have at different times resorted to this harbour for provisions and repair. In the narrow part of the channel a vessel can keep close to the southern shore; and, entering the basin, haul close round the southern head, and anchor in five fathoms water about a quarter of a mile off that head, where a small number of vessels are perfectly sheltered. The rest of the estuary is a large basin,
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PU-TE-KAKA RIVER.
spreading out into mud flats at low water, with a channel sufficiently deep for large boats, near the northern shore, up to its head, which is here entered by a river that takes its rise in the hills separating the harbour of Wangaroa from Mango-nui. An arm of the latter stretches towards Oruru, and unites with this river behind an island of moderate size which forms the head of the harbour. This island conceals mangrove-flats, which lie on both sides of the channel.
The river Pu-te-kaka is entered by the tide for about eight miles, and thus far a boat can go up it. It flows through an undulating open country, the elevations alternating with large swamps, which might be easily drained, and would then form good agricultural land. Higher up, the view is shut in by the hills towards Wangaroa, which are about fifteen miles distant, and are covered with kauri-forest, as are also the hills to the west and north. The land up to the base of those hills is devoid of trees. At this point the Pu-te-kaka is only a small creek, but several times during the year it swells sufficiently to float large logs of kauri into the harbour. A melancholy scene of waste and destruction presented itself to me when I went up to see this forest. Several square miles of it were burning, having been fired in order to make room for the conveyance of logs down to the creek. Noble trees, which had required ages for their perfection, were thus recklessly destroyed in great
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CONFLAGRATION OF FORESTS.
numbers, as, in consequence of the great quantity of resin around this pine, the fire always spread rapidly. The cupidity of new settlers too often occasions the destruction of the forests, to the irreparable injury of subsequent colonists. A great many of these first settlers, doubtful of being able to maintain their claims to their immense purchases, have no other object than to clear the greatest possible amount of profit in the shortest time, even at the sacrifice of a large and invaluable forest. It is utterly impossible ever to make good the damage thus done to the real interests of the country at large, as the kauri-land is so exhausted that scarcely anything will grow on it but fern and manuka. Unless the strictest measures are immediately taken to prevent this reckless destruction, it is very certain that the forests of this noble tree will be greatly and irreparably reduced, as the kauri is already a scarce tree, and is confined to very narrow limits. These reflections occurred to me more than once during my wanderings in New Zealand, having many times seen kauri-forest burning, not fired for the purpose of clearing the land, but in order to get a dozen or two of logs: sometimes the conflagration has been caused by neglect: in several places, many square miles in extent are covered with the burnt remains of the forest.
The trees here were cut up into logs sixteen feet in length, and four of these logs were generally
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ORURU--MANGO-NUI.
obtained from one tree. The work was done by native sawyers.
About six miles from its outlet into the harbour the Pu-te-kaka is joined by another river, which flows through a fine cultivated valley. The north side of the harbour is hilly, and consists of a red ferruginous loam, interrupted in some places by basalt and Lydian stone. The southern head of the harbour is a narrow peninsula, with table-land on the top; towards Point Surville the coast is hilly, with occasional narrow valleys, most of which are wooded towards the sea-coast.
There are about thirty Europeans living in this harbour, chiefly sawyers and storekeepers, and a few natives. The latter have their fixed habitations at Oruru, and only come here for the purposes of trade and work. Most of them are Nga-pui, who came from Tai-ama near Waimata, and occupied the land with the permission of the chiefs at Kaitaia. They have sold the whole of the harbour and surrounding country to different people; but the chiefs at Kaitaia deny that they had any right to do so, and have asserted their own claim to the territory by selling the harbour to Government.
Mango-nui is well situated for a small town, as it commands a sufficient extent of agricultural and timber land to insure success. There is an easy communication with the different native settlements in Lauriston Bay; and a good path leads to Kaitaia, which might easily be converted into a road.
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THE KIWI-KIWI;
One of the European colonists here, who had lately come from Adelaide in South Australia, presented me with a specimen of that very curious bird the kiwi, or Apterix australis: it had been killed by a dog, and was consequently much injured. This was the only specimen I obtained during a stay of eighteen months in New Zealand, although I offered a liberal reward to any native who would bring me one. In most places the natives told me at once that none were now to be found, that the dogs and cats had destroyed them all. In the hilly and gloomy forests between Mango-nui and Hokianga they were said still to exist, and also in a swampy mountainous tract in the neighbourhood of Waimate; but the indolence of the natives in those districts frustrated all my efforts. Other places--as the Little Barrier Island in the gulf of Hauraki, some districts near the East Cape and the western coast of the Middle Island, where they are said to be still common--I had no opportunity of visiting. A bird of such anomalous structure as the kiwi, differing, as it does, from all other birds, although most nearly related to the Struthious order, and having habits peculiar to itself, had attracted my most eager attention. That the period is near at hand when this bird will be extinct is quite evident, and is a point of the deepest interest to the natural philosopher, on account of the conclusions to be drawn from such a fact, as regards certain events in the history of the animal creation, and the agencies employed to
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APTERIX AUSTRALIS.
influence the actual state of many tribes, and the fluctuations in their relative positions. Happily for us, the most eminent comparative anatomist of the age, Professor Richard Owen, has, by a most careful dissection of several specimens, the result of which is given in the second volume of 'The Transactions of the Zoological Society,' preserved to science a most complete account of the structure of the apterix. Unfortunately, no such account exists in regard to another bird which has disappeared from the globe within the memory of man; I mean the dodo, formerly inhabiting the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius. A few observations regarding the apterix will not, I trust, be considered out of place.
The kiwi, or kiwi-kiwi, as it is called by the natives, inhabits the deepest recesses of the forest. Here, where gigantic trees are interwoven almost impenetrably with climbers, and where in the indentations of the mountains are formed small open and swampy spots covered by bulrushes and tufts of a high carex, or a liliaceous plant, the Hamelinia veratroides, is its favourite resort. Here it hides itself in the hollows of the trees during the day, being a truly nocturnal bird. It generally lives in pairs, male and female, one pair occupying a certain district. As soon as night sets in it leaves these hiding-places in search of food: this consists of the larvae of coleopterous and lepidop-terous insects, which it scratches out with its pow-
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THE KIWI-KIWI;
erful feet, or turns up with its long slender beak. But insects seem not to be its only food. Professor Owen found seeds in its stomach, which I ascertained to be those of the Elaeocarpus hinau; and, according to the statements of the natives, the seeds of the Hamelinia veratroides are also a favourite food with it. Little is known as to the nidification and incubation of the kiwi; but I have ascertained the following particulars from the natives: --They say that it burrows with its feet, and hollows out to a greater extent excavations already existing under the roots of trees; and in them, on a single layer of grass, it lays one egg of a greenish colour and as large as a turkey's egg. They also assert that the male and female hatch alternately. Their notion as to the period of incubation is rather curious, as they say that the bird sits for several months upon the egg.
During the night the shrill cry of the kiwi is often heard: the male utters the sound hoire, hoire, hoire; the female, ho, ho, ho. By imitating these notes the natives decoy the kiwi, and catch them with the help of a dog, or bewilder them by suddenly displaying a torch made of the resinous kauri-pine; by which plan they catch them alive. A violent struggle generally ensues between the dog and the bird, in which the kiwi uses its powerful legs with great effect. It is said to be very swift in running, although its feet do not seem better adapted for that purpose than those of the common fowl.
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APTERIX AUSTRALIS.
Formerly the kiwi served the natives for food; it is very fat at some seasons, and its flesh is said to be well tasted; its skin, which is remarkably strong and tough, especially along the back, was sewn together, and formed highly valued mats. Never having seen one of these mats, I readily concluded that the bird itself had become very scarce. I possess, however, fish-hooks to which the feathers of the kiwi are attached as artificial flies; and to that purpose they are well adapted. From all I could ascertain, there exists only one species of this remarkable bird. The male is distinguished by being much larger than the female, and by having a longer bill; at least, this is the case in all the specimens the sex of which was ascertained --and there are ten or twelve now in England; and it was also the case in those which I saw in New Zealand in the possession of Mr. Colenzo and the Rev. Richard Taylor, and also in the Museum in Sydney. This difference of size will account for the belief that there were two species.
If it be true, as the natives assert, that the kiwi is found on Little Barrier Island--which is uninhabited, and is situated about nine miles from the main--this fact would give rise to curious geological speculations. How did a bird which cannot fly--for its wings, so to speak, are nothing but small crooked appendages, each about an inch and a half long, and terminating in a claw--come across the sea to that island? It would appear that no
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THE GUANA.
other answer can be given than that the island was formerly connected with the main. Fortunately we have proofs of a similar disruption in the existence, on a small rocky islet in the Bay of Plenty, of a guana, which on the main has almost become extinct. I shall speak of the latter remarkable fact in another place.
