The Old Redoubt.

Leaving Atiamuri, the Orakei-Korako road diverges to the left and skirts the banks of the Waikato River. At two miles is Te Niho-o-te-Kiore (“Rat's Tooth”), where the road passes close by the ruins of the redoubt built by the Armed Constabulary at the time of the last Maori war, 1869–71, to guard the river and prevent the Hauhau leader, Te Kooti, from crossing the Waikato. Flax and fern soften the outlines of the old fort, and give an air of antiquity to the parapet and deep trenches. The earth works on this hill top above the river command a prospect for many miles. The hillside slopes steeply down to the Waikato, where weeping-willows indicate the site of an old kainga, long since deserted. On the opposite side of the dark-blue river a wreath of steam curling slowly from the waterside indicates a boiling spring. On our side of the river (the left or western) there are also some hot bathing springs, now seldom visited. Passing the old redoubt we observe that its eastern side page 25 is defended by one of those deep gulches or natural cuts in the pumice, common throughout this region.