Waikato District.

The great interior naturally of Auckland, is the Waikato district; the river of that name rises at the base of the Tongariro, active volcano, flows through the Taupo lake, and descends by a course of 180 miles in length to the sea about 45 miles from Auckland. About half way down its course it receives the Waipa. The triangle of land between the two rivers is one of the most fair and fertile districts in New Zealand. Along the course of both streams there is much good land, but for the greater part in the hands of the natives, suitable for grain or grass, presenting eligible localities for settlement, with the facility of water carriage for the transport of produce; in all an area estimated at 570,000 acres.

At Mangatawhiri, where the great south road strikes the Waikato, the scenery is strikingly beautiful and will repay the trouble of a journey from Auckland. Native villages are more frequent on the Waipa than on the Waikato, and towards Otawhao the houses of European settlers are met with, and carts and ploughs may be seen at work together with native owned flour mills, driven by water power.