CHAPTER XV
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CHAPTER XV.
Harbour of Wangaroa.
The harbour of Wangaroa has already obtained some celebrity by the catastrophe which happened to the Boyd, and the murder of her crew and passengers by the natives, in the year 1809. It is situated about twenty-five miles to the northward of the Bay of Islands. From Point Surville to the entrance of this harbour the coast is cliffy and steep, consisting of fragments of volcanic rock very firmly cemented together into a conglomerate. The entrance to the harbour is formed by towering perpendicular rocks of the same description, and is only about 150 yards broad. Pohutukaua-trees and others overhang these black walls, and form a very picturesque contrast with them. The entrance looks as if the solid rocks had been rent asunder by an earthquake, and the steep opposite sides had undergone a continued friction before they parted. Deep fissures penetrate the coast, and high cubical masses are piled one above another in-shore to the height of several hundred feet. The most remarkable is Waihi, or St. Peter, a cluster of these solid
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WANGAROA HARBOUR.
rocks on the northern head. The water in the entrance is of great depth close to the rocks, and there is no sunken rock or other hidden danger below the surface. This volcanic conglomerate overlies a formation of volcanic ashes, which contains carbonized remains of fern and wood.
Nearly opposite Waihi a dome-like elevation crowns a pyramidical wooded hill, called Hakiri: the top of this cupola is accessible, although with great difficulty, and served in former days as a retreat for the natives. Its formation is a decomposing trachite, and it has probably been pushed up into its dome-like shape through the basaltic rock which is seen at its base; or it may have wasted away to that shape from the effects of rain and climate. To the northward are the hills which separate Wangaroa from Mango-nui, and which are called Tara Tara: their step-like outlines give us an insight into their formation. The south side of the harbour is likewise rocky, and consists of much fissured wakke and basalt. The harbour itself is very spacious and deep, possesses anchorage for the largest fleet, and is sheltered from all winds. As a harbour it ranks with the best in New Zealand, and the beauty of its scenery is nowhere surpassed. There is, however, but little available land in its immediate neighbourhood: to the northward the sea forms some inlets with flats, which are overgrown with trees; and kauri-timber is found on the neighbouring hills, but at some distance from
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"THE BOYD."
the coast, all that grew nearer the sea having already been cut down or destroyed. Several vessels have here been laden with timber, and craft of small burden have been built here. About 2000 natives live in the immediate neighbourhood of this place, part of whom have become Protestant, part Roman Catholic converts. Mission-stations for both confessions are established here, and the natives seem to be in a fair state of advancement. They belong to the tribe of the Nga-pui, who took possession of the country after the original tribe had been conquered and nearly destroyed by E'Ongi. This original tribe was the one that was led on by the chief George to destroy the Boyd. You ask in vain for people who took part in, or know much of, this affair: the short time of thirty-one years has been sufficient for a whole tribe to disappear. Of this, however, I became convinced, that a small portion only of the blame rested with the natives. E'Ongi received in his last fight here the wound of which he afterwards died.
Besides the missionaries, about a dozen other Europeans, mostly sawyers, live in different parts of this district; but, with the exception of Mr. Shepherd, the Church missionary, no one has made any attempt to cultivate the soil.
About two miles from the south head of Wangaroa harbour a beautiful red and variegated marble is found on the coast, of a close fine grain, and in
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WANGAROA HARBOUR.
sufficient quantity to become of importance for domestic architecture at some future time. This marble occurs in connection with chloritic and argillaceous slates, and seems to belong to the transition or secondary series, if we may judge from its mineral character, for it does not contain any fossils.
The entrance to the harbour can be easily found, being opposite to the northernmost of the Cavelles, a chain of islands chiefly of basaltic formation, and extending along the coast towards the Bay of Islands. The island opposite to the harbour is resorted to by the natives for fishing; but otherwise it is a hilly and exposed spot of no importance.
