CHAPTER XIX
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CHAPTER XIX.
Wairoa, Kaipara.
Proceeding from the head of the Kaua-kaua to the Wairoa, the principal stream which flows into the harbour of Kaipara on the western coast, we follow the windings of a fresh-water stream, which joins the inlet of the sea, and on the banks of which the neat and well-tended plantations of the natives indicate a growing industry. After crossing over some hills we are again led into the valley of the river; and here the eye is attracted by picturesque groups of limestone, which in various shapes crop out at the slope of the neighbouring hills, often resembling ruined castles or towers, sometimes half-concealed amongst beautiful tree-ferns and other trees. The valley forms a basin of alluvial and very fertile soil, as is indicated by the coriaria, dracaena, and phormium, which only grow in the best situations. The name of the valley, as well as of the river, is Waiomio. From this point to the part where the Wairoa first begins to be navigable for large boats is a good day's journey. The country consists mostly of low but steep hills, on which
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WAIROA RIVER.
here and there are the remains of the former kauri-forest, half burnt and rotten; but now nearly the whole surface of the region is covered with fern and manuka. The hills alternate with valleys, which, from the stagnation of the waters, are swampy, and contain here and there forests of the kahikatea pine (Dacrydium excelsum), the quickest growing in New Zealand, and consequently the least durable tree of this class. A swampy plain stretches to the eastward as far as the rugged hills of Wangari Bay: it offers some fine situations for farms, and would afford excellent opportunities for forming pasturage by the cultivation of artificial grasses, as the land is rich, and the swampy parts might easily be drained. No natives live here; but my guides assured me that some slaves had lately run away from the Bay of Islands, and lived concealed in the bush--a circumstance which rarely happens in New Zealand, as the natives are too much accustomed to a settled life; and even when they do conceal themselves, they are obliged to cultivate the land in order to obtain food.
The first natives I fell in with were a cheerful and industrious set, near the head of the Wairoa, who were cutting and squaring kauri-trees in a very workmanlike manner. They all left their work on my arrival, as the evening was approaching, and accompanied me to the banks of the river, where they had temporary habitations. The children amused themselves with rowing-matches, their
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NATIVE BOAT SONG.
parents cheering them on, or taking part in the race; and I had a good opportunity of observing the healthy and symmetrical form of their bodies, the graceful and vigorous play of their muscles: the scene offered an excellent study for an artist, or for an admirer of the human form when neither impaired by an artificial state of life nor distorted by the arts of fashion. The little boys dipped their oars into the stream with astonishing precision, to the measure of the following boat-song, which was chanted by one of the party: --
HE TOIERE.
E toia ana pehia; ana kokiri e tiaia; e rumakina, e te wawati; tena, tena, tena te rae ra; e watiia, e te ihu, e waenga, e te kei, e tango katoa; e ana te kaha ko te rite, ko te rite, tena wina, tena wiua, e tiaia, tiaia, tiaia, ana toia, toia, toia; taki, taki wakarere; he ruru kou koua; tena tangohia, e te rae ra tango mai, he piko tango atu, tena kia mau; ae koia ia; tena kia puta; koiri, koiri watiia; uere tai tua, kia rite, tena toia, toia, toia, e kia ngoto i, i, i, i pai rawa; kia rite, takoto wakawiria; e ka mahue, e ki te wana toia, toia, toia.
(Translation.)
A CANOE-SONG.
Pull, push, launch, dip, bend, turn,
Now, now, now.
The point there: bend, at the head,
In the middle, at the stern;
Now pull all together.
Be strong all together, all together.
Dip quickly, now dip quickly,
Dip, dip, dip.
Now pull, pull, pull,
Taki, taki, taki;
Now fetch the point there;
Now take in a reef.
Take out a reef;
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KAIPARA HARBOUR.
Now hold fast--
That is it.
Now let it emerge.
Koiri, koiri, watiia.
All together now,
Pull, pull, pull;
Dip deep, i, i, i, i.
Very well; all together;
Lie down; twist it;
Let it go.
Be strong, pull, pull, pull.
We afterwards sat around the fires, and song followed song until the night was far advanced. It is not astonishing that savage life should possess so many charms even for sober spirits. The naivete of manners, the childlike expression of joy, innate to people in a state of nature, vanishes before the formalities of our civilization: the hospitable savage is changed into a reckoning and deliberating merchant; the incumbrance of our clothing in a warm climate makes him stiff and helpless; and our complicated food soon renders him unhealthy. Is he the gainer or loser by this change?
Kaipara Harbour, into which the Wairoa and other rivers fall, seems to me--on account of the quantity of timber-trees on the shores of the rivers, the length of their navigable course, the extent of the available alluvial land on their banks, and the immediate neighbourhood of the seat of government, Wai-te-mata---to be deserving of an early attention as a place where capital and labour may be very profitably employed.
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SHIPWRECKS.
The accident that befell the New Zealand Company's vessel Tory, which ran on a sand-bank at the entrance of this harbour, the total loss of the timber-vessel Aurora, and the wreck of the brig Sophia Pate, when many lives were lost under circumstances the most distressing--all of which shipwrecks happened in the last two years--have obtained for this harbour a very bad reputation. But I am inclined to ascribe these accidents to the very deficient knowledge possessed of the harbour, which has never been properly surveyed, while incorrect and untrustworthy sketches pass into our charts as surveys.
Kaipara is not a bar-harbour, but a channel-harbour; it is a large basin, into which a tide, rising ten feet at full and change, rushes with great velocity, which, joined with the narrowness of the channel and our imperfect knowledge of the soundings, certainly occasions great danger. Westerly winds, which blow without intermission during some portions of the year, and increase the current setting into the harbour, are another inconvenience, as they prevent ships from leaving the harbour at all times. This, indeed, is the case with all the harbours on the western coast of New Zealand. Whether the shoals and sand-banks in the offing are shifting is not yet ascertained, but it is not improbable that such is the case. I am aware that, being no navigator, my opinion cannot claim much weight, but it certainly appears to me that, notwith-
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KAIPARA HARBOUR.
standing all the disadvantages I have enumerated, there would be no real danger to vessels under the care of an experienced pilot in entering the harbour, if it were properly surveyed and the shoals well buoyed off. Many large vessels, as the Navarino and the Anne Watson, have entered and left it in safety.
At present there exists only a sketch of the harbour from a running survey of my lamented friend the late Captain William Symonds, which has the credit of being the most accurate, although it has been disfigured by a spurious lithograph in Sydney. Kaipara seems to be a harbour particularly adapted for steamers, as they can contend with the tide and contrary winds.
The harbour consists of several arms, which receive streams of fresh water; the westernmost of these is the Wairoa. At the point where you first fall in with this stream in coming from the Bay of Islands, and 130 miles from the heads of the harbour, its breadth and depth are those of the Thames at Richmond. It is navigable for canoes about eight miles above this place, where their farther progress is prevented by rapids. The Wairoa rises in the hills, on the northern slope of which the Waima, an arm of the Hokianga, has its source. The Wairoa is soon joined by the Otamatea, a river coming from the hills in the neighbourhood of Wangari harbour, and this receives in its turn the Oropaoa from the northward, and the Kaiwaka
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KAIPARA RIVER.
and Wakaki from the eastward. Not far from the junction of the Otamatea with the Wairoa, the latter is joined by the Oruawaro, another stream of considerable size, although, as is evident from the breadth of the island at this part from coast to coast, not of any great length. Lower down the Tapara from the south and the Kaipara proper flow into arms of the estuary. The Kaipara proper follows a very serpentine course in a moderate-sized valley formed by the hills which bound the sea-coast between Kaipara and Manukao harbours, and separated from an inlet of the harbour of Waitemata, in the gulf of Hauraki, by a piece of land about three miles in breadth, and consisting of low hills, over which the natives frequently dragged their canoes in times of war. Not far from the highest point to which the tide reaches in the Kaipara proper another river joins it, which runs likewise within a very short distance of Waitemata.
The banks of all these rivers are bounded by hills of no very great height, which do not generally reach to the banks, and are often more than a mile distant from them; the banks are level, and consist of a somewhat clayey and fertile soil. The Wairoa continually carries down a quantity of this soil from the higher to the lower parts of the river, in consequence of which its waters have a yellow appearance. In the upper part of its course a beautiful and fertile valley joins it, which begins in the neighbourhood of Hokianga. Here the chief Parore
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WAIROA RIVER.
lives with his tribe, and cultivates the land. The banks of the Wairoa, with the exception of those parts which are of very recent formation, and of the portions which have been cleared by the natives, are covered with a thick forest of timber-trees of all descriptions, but especially the kauri-pine, which is always in the greatest profusion in hilly situations. I am not acquainted with any place in New Zealand where these trees are more plentiful, of greater height and diameter, and of easier access. The natives are constantly employed in felling and squaring them. The consequence is, that they are well supplied with all our commodities. One careful chief had collected quite a property from the fruits of his own labour and that of his tribe. As they also cultivate a considerable quantity of ground for their own use, and have a surplus quantity for sale, it may easily be foreseen that, if justly treated by their new government, they will prove in time a valuable and wealthy part of the population of the colony.
Small vessels can go up the Wairoa as far as the settlement of a Mr. Stephenson, eighty-five miles from the heads of the harbour, where there is a depth of twelve feet; but only fifteen miles lower down, at the farm of Mr. Forsyth, the river has water and a clear channel for vessels of any burden, and also anchorage close in-shore.
Timber is likewise found on the banks of all the other tributaries, especially of the Otamatea; and
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KAIPARA RIVER
everywhere there is sufficient land to enable the colonist to combine agricultural pursuits with the timber-trade, in which case alone the latter can prove profitable in New Zealand.
The inlet, which is joined by the Kaipara proper, is navigable for large boats as far as the tide runs up. On the hills between Kaipara and Manukao there is much kauri, and the river affords great facilities for conveying the timber down to the sea. It is very serpentine in its course, and forms a number of paddocks of alluvial land; these are at present swampy, but a little drainage would effectually lay them dry. This low land is here and there covered with groves of the kahikatea-pine and the puriri (Vitex litoralis), but in general only fern and flax grow on it.
About forty Europeans live on the Kaipara estuary and its tributaries, and about 700 natives belonging to the tribe of the Nga-te-Whatua. The Europeans claim a great part of the land, and much difficulty will arise in settling their various claims, as the land was sold to them by the Nga-pui, the natives in the Bay of Islands, who formerly conquered and drove away the original proprietors of the soil. But a short time since these latter again returned, and their numbers have increased; whereas the contrary has been the case with the Nga-pui, who have silently given up all claims to the land.
There is a Wesleyan missionary-station up the Wairoa, but in an unfavourable place, there being
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AND TRIBUTARIES.
scarcely any natives within a great distance of the station. In consequence of this there has not been here that success which in other parts of the island has attended the efforts of the missionaries.
The general aspect of the Kaipara and its tributaries is far more open, and the quantity of excellent agricultural land more extensive, than at the Hokianga, and, from the abundance of its timber, Kaipara is a place admirably adapted for ship-building establishments; its advantages, therefore, as a settlement, would seem to outweigh the inconvenience resulting from the harbour being situated on a lee-shore and of somewhat difficult access.
There are many convenient places for a township and for dockyard establishments on the banks of the Wairoa.
The hills in the upper part of that river consist of the stiff whitish clay which characterises kauri-land, here and there with a basis of a hard argillaceous slaty rock: lower down, on the left bank, are steep hillocks of basalt, surmounting which are the ruins of some ancient fortifications; on the right shore, and towards the sea-coast, is a soft ferruginous sandstone; inside and round the northern head the cliffs expose layers of lignite, generally four feet in thickness and superimposed to the height of about twenty feet by a white slightly consolidated sand, which softens by exposure to the water, and on a near examination is found to consist of decomposed pumicestone, of which large globular boulders are still compact. The lignite consists of
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KAIPARA RIVER.
half-carbonized wood, besides kauri and pohutukaua, remains of tree-ferns, indistinct impressions of smaller ferns, and a kind of typha--all which plants are still found in the island. Extensive beds, four feet thick, of the same lignite, and overlaid by sandstone, are likewise found round the south head of Hokianga; they are then lost beneath the surface, but appear again near the north head of the Kaipara. The intermediate space, near the sea-shore, consists of sand-hills, which are covered with a running carex, and farther inland with a scanty vegetation of fern. In some places hereabouts I met with small carnelians, magnetic ironsand, and boulders of brown iron-ore.
In order to reach the harbour of Waitemata from Kaipara, we leave the Kaipara proper where it narrows and ceases to be affected by the tide. The road leads over hills of an unpromising aspect, but a most magnificent prospect over the surrounding country opens from them to our view. To the north we overlook the large estuary of the Kaipara; to the west the valley of the Kaipara proper, its meandering stream, and the hills of Manukao, which are mostly wooded; to the east grotesque-shaped hills on the coast; and by advancing a little farther we overlook the basin of the Manukao and Waitemata harbour. The entrance into the Gulf of Hauraki is pointed out by Cape Colville, the southern headland, which is about sixty miles distant, and by the Great Barrier Island, which appears dimly on the horizon.
