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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]

Land District

page break

Land District.

The land district of Hawke's Bay is situated on the east coast of the North Island, and extends from Cape Turnagain to Lottin Point, about thirty miles beyond East Cape. The original province of Hawke's Bay stretched from the Waimata just to the south of Cape Turnagain, to the 39th parallel, a little north of Mahia Peninsula, and south of Poverty Bay. But the land district now includes the whole of the Poverty Bay country up to the East Cape. It has a coast line 300 miles long, with an average depth of forty-five miles from the sea, and an area of 6,063,000 acres; whereas the province of Hawke's Bay contained something less than 3,000,000 acres. The western boundary of the district is formed by the Ruahine, Abimanawa and other ranges which form the watershed between the east coast and the Bay of Plenty.

Most of the sea board is included in the large bay named by Captain Cook after Admiral Hawke, then first Lord of the Admiralty. The coast from Cape Turnagain north to Hawke's Bay consists of a succession of steep cliffs and broken headlands. Cape Kidnappers, a conspicuous limestone promontory, 900 feet in height, marks the entrance to Hawke's Bay. The Bay receives a number of rivers, and in its southern curve lies Ahuriri roadstead, which forms the harbour of Napier. Beyond Napier the coast sweeps north-east in a regular curve to Mahia Peninsula, a triangular piece of land, about 1,000 feet in height, off the southern extremity of which lies Portland Island. North of Mahia, the coast
Napier

Napier

page 276 runs due northward and curves east again, forming the large inlet of Poverty Bay. Then the trend of the land is north and slightly east toward East Cape—the coast being broken by several inlets, the chief of which is Tolago Bay. The country north of Mahia is very hilly, and forms admirable grazing ground, while the roadsteads and bays along the coast afford reasonable facilities for shipping wool.
In the Forty Mile Bush.

In the Forty Mile Bush.