The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 65
Paper II. — Memorandum of a Journey into the Interior, — With Additional and Copious Notes
Paper II.
Memorandum of a Journey into the Interior,
With Additional and Copious Notes.
"Upon the sides of Latmos was outspread
A mighty forest;—
And it had gloomy shades sequestered deep
Where no man went."—
Endymion. Keats.
"Alloi kamon, alloi onanto."—Some toil, others reap.
Ancient Proverb.
On a former occasion I narrated my first visit to the Ruahine mountains, in which, after much toil, I succeeded in gaining the summit, although I failed in crossing the range.
* "At the close, Dr. Spencer proposed, and Mr. J. A. Smith seconded, a unanimous Tote of thanks to Mr. Colenso for his very interesting Paper, which was also earnestly supported by th Rt. Rev. Chairman (the Bishop of Waiapu), and warmly accorded by the meeting, with a further particular wish, that the same should be recorded."
Ext., Proceedings, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1878, vol. XI. p. 570.
As may be readily supposed—by those who have heard my first attempt to cross the Ruahine—I had had quite enough of the toil and hardship attending that journey soon to repeat it on the E. sides of the range; yet being still greatly desirous of visiting those Natives living beyond it, I was determined to do so as early as circumstances would permit. This, however, I saw could not be again attempted for some time, as I had not only a great deal to do at home in a newly-formed Station, where everything depended on myself; but I had also a large amount of other distant travelling to perform;* besides it seemed all but impossible to get Natives to accompany me,—although they were quite ready to go with me on other journeys,—the last one having so greatly disheartened them.
During that year, (1845,) I was laid aside for some time through a severe attack of low fever, and when I had scarcely recovered I had to travel on foot in mid-winter to Poverty Bay on important business, and back to my residence at Waitangi;—and then, by the coast line, to Palliser Bay and Wellington, and to Ohariu and Ohaua in Cook's Straits,—and back again to Hawke's Bay through Wairarapa and Manawatu. Being the first European who travelled through the then dense and all but impassable forest ("70 mile Bush, S.") lying between the Ruamahanga in Wairarapa and the Manawatu rivers, where I also gained several rare Botanical novelties. And then I had a similar amount of heavy travelling on duty to perform throughout the following year, 1846; during which year I spent seven months in my tent.
Therefore, it was not until early in the year 1847 that I again recommenced my journey to Patea; this time by the "round-about-way" of Taupo.—I should here however mention, that during the preceding year I had been twice on foot over this new ground as far as Tarawera, between Hawke's Bay and Taupo Lake; and had made every enquiry relative to the Patea natives and the route thither,—though the information received was almost nil.
Having got all ready for our journey, myself and five natives (including my old friend Paora, who was still very desirous of seeing his mother's tribe), we started from Waitangi on the 9th February. Crossing the Ahuriri harbour in a canoe, for which we had to wait there some time, and travelling on, we brought up for the night at a small maori village on the banks of the Petane river,-about two miles above the present School-house, but not by the present near road thither.
* See Note C, Appendix.
——"Above, in the light
Of the star-lit night,
Swift birds of passage wing their flight:—
I hear the beat
Of their pinions fleet:—
I hear the cry
Of their voices high
Falling dreamily through the sky.
But their forms I cannot see."
11th. Early this morning we recommenced our journey; the westerly wind still dreadfully high so that on those exposed heights we could scarcely stagger on against it! Halted at Te Pohue to breakfast; thence on, by the mountain pass Titiokura, to a little village on the banks of the Mohaka river called Mimiha, where we halted for the night.—
* Roots, however, which I obtained and planted at the Bay of Islands, subsequently flowered. Vide, "London Journal of Botany," 1844, vol. III. p. 19.
† "Lond. Journal of Botany," 1844, vol. III. pp. 20, 21. I don't know under which of his three species of this genus in th "Hand Book", Sir Joseph Hooker has placed this (to me) very distinct plant,—I mean, distinct from the other N.Z. species,—possibly under C.thymifolia; but quœ. I have long been convinced of our having four, or, perhaps five species of this genus in N.Z.
——"Where the round ether mixes with the wave;"—
—this landscape is well worthy of a drawing. I have often in passing this way, when the weather was fine and air clear, contemplated it with admiration.§
"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness."——
* In the "Hand Book", not in the Flora N.Z.
† Described in Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science, 1844, vol. II. p. 166.
‡ See, "Trans. N.Z. Institute," vol. XIV. p. 53,—for some remarks on this plant.
§ A modern Ecclesiastical writer has pleasingly said, (in writing on the Apostle Paul.)—"We can hardly believe that he who spoke to the Lystrians of the 'rain from heaven,' and the 'fruitful seasons', and of the ' living God who made heaven and earth and the sea' could have looked with indifference on beautiful and impressive scenery."—As that of Tarsus, with the river Cydnus, and the mountain heights of Taurus. (Conybcare and Hoscson).
The old road by the ancient maori track through the fern, in descending from Titiokura to the banks of the river Mohaka, was then very different to what it is now; for, on nearing the high banks of that river, a sharp turn was taken to the right running parallel with it, by which you descended into a small stream at a place called Mangowhata, and crossed it at the very edge of a cataract, on indeed the slippery brink of the bed of a single rock forming the fall, which curved suddenly upwards towards the verge, and having a deep dark pool close within; and then, on landing on the opposite side you climbed up a steep ascent until you came again quite as suddenly on to the very brink of the cliff, by the edge alone of which the track lay! This was owing to the high hilly back ground immediately above falling very abruptly towards the cliff in front. Both those perpendicular spots, situated too within a few yards of each other, were very dangerous, and, as a track, fearful to look at; and, in travelling towards the interior, you could not see them owing to the thick overhanging fern and other herbage growing on the brink, until you were on, or partly passed, them, and then it was too late to think of retreating. I supposed the height of the waterfall to be about 80, and that of the adjoining cliff about 120, feet. The small stream in the summer season was often lost in fine spray before it reached the bottom, where it fell into a semi-circular basin, or large pool, having thickets of white pine and other trees on the low banks around it. After my first surprise on my first visit, in which I was very nearly carried over, I always managed to crawl along on my hands and knees through the fern and small manuka shrubs:(Leptospermum). Once passed this place, however, the descent to the Mohaka was gradual and easy, which indeed was the sole reason of the old natives adopting that course.*
* Some 2—3 years after this, a party of Natives from the interior bringing some pigs for sale at Ahuriri,—several of the animals went over this cliff and were killed; this, however, was not the first time of such happening. The wonder with me was, how they managed to get them along at all! But not long after that, on the Maoris getting horses this track (with many other similar ones) was completely abandoned.
† On one occasion I was shut up here on the W. side of the Mohaka in time of flood for nearly 3 days, with very little to eat! While we were there waiting the subsiding of the waters, another travelling party of Maoris arrived, also from the interior, who were going in the same direction to the coast; after consultation we managed to cross and to escape, by collecting with no little trouble dry ranpo (Typha) leaves and flax flower-stalks, wherewith to make a big moki, or catamaran,—also, green flax leaves to twist into ropes. Having finished our huge unwieldy raft, which occupied more than a day in making, it was thrown into the river, and towed up through the still water a considerable distance, to allow for the strength of the current, now very great, besides we all feared the waterfall below then, our baggage, myself, and dog being on it, it was dragged and shoved and drifted amid much uproar to the opposite shore, the natives swimming and propelling! Takes altogether, with the dark frowning cliffs on either side, it was a scene worthy of a sketch.
I gained, however, a few new and interesting plants; among which were,—a new species of our endemic genus Melicytus (M. lanceolatus), making, as I think, the sixth species of that genus found in N. Zealand*; also, two species, or varieties of Aristotelia, now placed under A. fruticosa. I also noticed, on the higher grounds in the forests, some remarkably large specimens of that curious genus Griselina, which, from their huge grotesque yet dumpy trunks, seemed very aged; here, also, were some large specimens of Carpodetus serratus,—one which I measured being 4ft. 5in. in girth; a distinct species of Drimys, (originally discovered by me in 1841, on Huiarau,) D. axillaris, a much larger and handsomer tree than the species found at the N., was also common here: this plant would make a fine shrub for a shrubbery if it would live away from the forest's shade.—On the barren pumice plains near Tarawera grew commonly in clumps a new species of low shrubby Dracophyllum (D. subulatum). In the streamlets, deep down in the narrow ravines which intersected this pumice-stone plain, were many elegant fresh-water Algœ,—of the genera Conferva, Tynderidea, and Oscillatoria, of various colours,—one, in particular, possessing a steel-blue metallic appearance; of all these I secured specimens for Home. From the sides of a small river near the village I obtained a peculiar looking Grass, Gymnostichum gracile; and from a cliff overhanging the stream, a fine new species of Gaultheria (G.oppositifolia), which greatly pleased me. Strange to say I have never found another plant of this species, although from its size, large green leaves, and unique appearance, it is not easily overlooked. In subsequent years when passing by this way I often obtained good specimens from it.
* An undescribed plant, a small tree of upright growth, discovered by me in a wood near the sea a little N. of the East Cape, in 1841, and referred by me to this genus, has leaves 10in. in length. Unfortunately, though I saw several trees there, none were either in flower or fruit; and I have never since mot with it. (Vide, Lond. Journal Botany, 1844, vol. III. p. 8.)
——"Within the gloom of these majestic woods;
Roaming or resting under grateful shade,
Where living things, and things inanimate,
Do speak at Heaven's command, to eye and car,
And speak to social reason's inner sense,
With inarticulate language."—
——" forests huge,
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand
Planted of old;"——
* A largo number of them will be found in the "Hand Book Flora N.Z."
† Vide "Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science", vol. II., p. 234; "London Journal Botany", vol. HI., p. 19, 20; also, Hooker's Iconcs Plantarum, tab. 630, 631.
16th. Rose, stiff, and very unwillingly, at 5, and soon started. An hour brought us to a beautiful clear stream of water, which we were told was the head of the Mohaka river, that here takes its rise from a small lake to the S. and E. of the large lake of Taupo,—its water was very cold, and appeared delicious. There being no wood here by this stream we were unwillingly obliged to continue our journey, and that without much stopping, to reach a breakfast place. I obtained, however, an elegant fern, a Gleichenia, which grew thickly together and of uniform appearance and height in beds or patches on the low wet banks of the stream; this novelty pleased me much and I named it G .Hookeriana; but I find Sir J. Hooker has placed it as a var. (alpina) of G.dicarpa; from that old and well-known Australian species I still think it will yet be found to be specifically page 37 distinct. A species of Cyathodes,—apparently differing widely from the N. form, in size, leaf, flower, and fruit,—grew here on the hills, which plant, however, Sir J. Hooker has placed as a var of C.acerosa; to me it seemed very distinct. Travelling on, in an hour more, we reached a wood called Te Kotipu; here, at last! we breakfasted on boiled rice. Looking about in this wood, while breakfast was getting ready, I detected a new species of Pittosporum, a handsome leafy small upright shrub, with dark-green leaves, which I named P. viridis,—now, probably, the P. fasciculatum of Sir J. Hooker. From this wood we proceeded on towards Taupo Lake, passing Te Waiharuru, where a stream rushes leaping and bounding underground through an awful chasm, shaking the earth for some distance around,—whence its fit name = the Rumbling Water. From this place we travelled to Hinemaia, another river of bounding water: thence to Apungao-tekura,—the course being mostly up hill. At 6 p.m. we gained Orona, a small village on the Taupo Lake, very hungry and very tired.—For the last 3 miles, however, the travelling was comparatively easy, over open ground and downhill.
17th. The next morning we did not leave very early, being wholly dependent on these villagers for our breakfast; while it was cooking I strolled on the sandy shores of the lake, and there detected a new species of Chenopodium (C.pusillum,) growing plentifully. In conversing with an aged native, I found, that he was one of that very marauding party who had attempted the descent on southern Hawke's Bay natives in years gone by, and who, owing to the sudden loss of a number of their party on the tops of the Ruahine range, through their being carried down by the snow, had returned without effecting their design (as related by me in my first Paper, page 17). He narrated the whole affair, giving the names also of those who had so miserably perished there; and gravely adding, that it was all brought on through one of them having wantonly desecrated that sacred spot—the heights above (mingit). Which superstitious belief had, I inspect, a great deal to do with their not seeking to afford their unfortunate comrades any relief. It having also been construed by their priests as ominous of future defeat at Hawke's Bay, if they persisted in going thither, caused them to return. When this man heard from Paora, that I had been on that very spot, he got angry, and would not for some time believe him,—making also a great fuss about our now going thither or returning to Hawke's Bay by that way—on account of its sanctity—being a tapu spot! Forcibly reminding me of what the old Maori priests at the N. had formerly said, when they found that I had really been to the Reinga (beyond Cape M.V.Diemen), and had drunk of the sacred "spirits well" there.*
* Vis. On Easter Day, 1839. From this little stream, which runs over the rocks into the sea, close to the celebrated Reinga, or Spirits' Leap into the lower world, (according to their legendary belief,) they (the spirits) take their last draught of earthly water ere they mount the ridge and take their final plunge into the realms below! my dog, on that occasion, had the hardihood to do as I did, and to quench his thirst there! to the great indignation of some of the Natives.
Leaving Orona we travelled S. by the shore of the lake to Motutere, a much larger village than the former, reaching it at 1.30; here were several natives, We staid here a while to dine, being hospitably pressed by the natives. Just outside the village a single large sized Karaka tree (Corynocarpus lœvigata) was growing; a rare sight so far from the sea-coast. At 3 p.m. we left, and travelling steadily on halted late on the banks of the river Waikato, near its head, where we found a small party of natives employed in dubbing timber. We had heard of them, and were in hopes of getting something from them to eat, but, unfortunately, we were again obliged to go supperless to bed.—
18th. Rising this morning we were constrained to await the arrival of a native who had gone to fetch some potatoes. We left, however, at 8, being ferried across the river by the natives in their canoes,* and arrived at Rotoairs village, at the base of the Tongariro mountain, in the afternoon, and were well received by the natives,—so here we stopped the night. As this was the last 8. village of the Taupo country I endeavoured to get a guide hence to the Pates district, and only after great difficulty succeeded; as the country over which our course lay was rugged and difficult, and there was no regular track hence to the Patea villages; only once a year,—or in 2, or even 3 years,—did a small party of Maoris visit Taupo from Patea; rarely if ever did any go from Taupo to Patea. Nothing is more surprising to me among the many and great changes which have been effected in this country during the last 40—45 years, than this,—of common fearless communication between the Maori pahs (villages) and tribes, which intercourse formerly did not exist,—not even between what are now considered (even by the natives themselves) as neighbouring villages. I could not, however, help fearing, that, just as on a former occasion so now, our " guide" would prove to be of little real service.†
* On another occasion, however, I was not so fortunate. We had been staying at Rotoaira, on our returning from Patea and Murimotu, and on leaving the village were assured that we should find canoes and natives here. On our arriving there were neither—not anywhere hereabouts, and we were sorely puzzled how to act, for the river was high, and the distance back to Rotoaira long; we did, however, at last, get over safely, the baggage being the difficulty. I had to swim across with a newly twisted green-flax rope girt round me, lest I should be earned down by the strong current beyond the one narrow landing place among the dense bushy vegetation on that side of the river.
† This had several times happened: notably during my long overland journey in 1841, from Poverty Bay to the Bay of Islands; when, in a terrible gale and at night, in the mountainous trackless and deep forests between Waikare Lake and Ruatahuna, my guide deserted! at a time, too, when we were starving, as well as hemmed in by the flooded rivers: that was on New Year's Day, 1842; a time to be ever remembered by me! See "Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science", vol. II., p. 259.
"The flower of sweetest smell is shy and lowly."
* All now included under one species—A.fruticosa, by Sir Jos. Hooker, in the "Hand Book".
At 3 p.m. we crossed the sandy desert called Te Onetapu,—a most desolate weird-looking spot, about 2 miles wide where we crossed it,—a fit place for Macbeth's witches! or Faustus' Brocken scene! about it, too, the old Maoris have many peculiar stories and superstitious fears; some of which, I have no doubt, are agglutinated around a nucleus of reality. Here and there burnt logs lay, scattered and imbedded in the volcanic sand, as if where a fiery eruption from the neighbouring volcano had issued forth in times long past upon the then living forest; I noticed, also, that much of these anciently charred logs and pieces wore a highly polished and semi-glazed appearance, as if from the ever drifting sand. I was so struck with the appearance of some of the half-burnt timber, apparently so aged—or of old time, yet retaining all its vessels and ducts, that I collected a few specimens, and subsequently sent them to England for high microscopical investigation. On the edges of this lonely desert, a lovely Gentiana flourished in all its beauty, probably G.pleurogynoides, (another fine garden flower,) also Celmisia spectabilis, most luxuriant in gloriously fine tufts or tussocks, and with it grew a much smaller and different looking species of Celmisia (C, glandulosa), for the first time here found, and both species [unclear: tolerably] plentiful. Very curiously also was the formation, or more correctly speaking,—the state in which the old land was left in many spots on the W. edges of this desert. Table-topped mounds, from 6 to 10 feet high, having perpendicular cliffy sides, each containing only a few perches of land, and rising like little islets separated from each other by the barren white sandy arms of the desert were page 41 common; their mounds, or islets, abounded in a peculiar vegetation, which I greatly wished to know more of,—but alas! I was sadly pressed for time; and I was already more than prudently overloaded for the unknown mountain journey before me. It was difficult, too, to climb up on them, although I did manage to get on two. Here I obtained an elegant dwarf Dacrydium, (a "Pine" tree, allied to the large Rimu, Dacrydium cupressinum,) rooting up a few old trees for specimens of a foot or 18 inches high, in full fruit! reminding me of the quaint yet symmetrical little trees so greatly prized by the Chinese for their gardens. This plant is allied to the large species (D. Colensoi) of the Northern* forests, bat, as I take it, is specifically distinct. Rain overtook us shortly after our; crossing the desert, which we were sorry for, but there was no help for it, there being no kind of shelter nor water at hand, so we travelled on, in the pelting rain which was from the S. and in our faces, getting wet weary and dispirited, eagerly looking out for a fit halting place but finding none; to make matters worse, our guide more than once told us, he was "all at sea!" as to the proper course, because the rain hid the hills on all sides (and everything else) from his view, so that he could not see the land marks! We kept on—on—on, however until 7 p.m. (dark), when finding water we were obliged to halt in a deep gulley by the side of a Fagus wood, where everything around for miles of fern or scrub had been very lately burnt off! We had been travelling through this black; country for more than an hour, in hopes of seeing its end, but in vain! Here where we were, we could not find a level spot on which to put up our tent, so, in the darkness and the rain, were obliged to dig away with our axes on the steep side of the hill before we could set it up! That night was a terrible one of wind and rain; insomuch that we expected every moment to be smothered in our half pitched tent: few of us slept that night.
* See Note D., Appendix.
Alas! the old fable-existences are no more,
The fascinating race has emigrated.*
21st. Sunday. Another wet and uncomfortable day. The wind, however had lessened a little, and we could now manage to make up a fire,—which we could not do yesterday. Not really knowing how far we were from help, I could only allow two tea-cups of rice for all my natives (6 in number) for breakfast, and two for their dinner,—and for supper one cup of rice was all that could be spared which, with a few scraps of bacon fat and a little salt, made a mess of [unclear: pottage!] At consultation this evening we agreed to start early in the morning; I privately requested Paora, and two other of my natives from Hawke's Bay whom I could trust, to keep a good watch over our Taupo guide, lest he should give us the slip; a trick I had been served more than once in former travelling. Indeed, to prevent this, on this occasion, I had determined, if needs be, to bind him till morning.
* I have several times montioned "rice": I was early led—taught by experience—to see the necessity of always carrying a few pounds with me on my long journeys. We had found the great benefit of it on our landing at "Deliverance Cove", (p. 2,) as from it we (all hands) had made our first hearty meal on our finding of water. The natives, however, always preferred potatoes to rice; their remarks thereon forcibly reminding me of what I had heard at Homo in my boyhood from our Cornish Miners and Farm labourers, that they preferred the dark-brown and hard barley to the soft white wheaten bread; saying they could not work on this latter. I wonder how it is now with them, in these days of high civilization!
We travelled on pretty steadily all this long day until 8 p.m. without halting, when we threw ourselves down among the fern quite exhausted and spiritless;—not knowing how much further we had to go before we should reach this long-looked for Patea. Our guide, who had been lagging behind, although he had no load to carry, had sunk down some time before, declaring he could go no further, being faint through hunger! so, taking from him the course we were to steer (as far as he knew), we left him, believing that a good nap would refresh him. After a while, we arose from our fern couch, hunger-impelled, and having broken off the tops of the branches of the large and many-headed cabbage trees (Cordyline australis), which grew close by, and which the light of the moon revealed, we made a fire and roasted the stalks of the young leaves, which though both tough and bitter, served to allay our pangs. The Cordyline trees of these parts are the largest I have ever seen, they are not only high and many-branched, but bulky also in the trunk. I remember one, in which a native of Patea had made a house, or room, and fitted it with a door to keep his tools, baskets, &c., in; I went into it, and stood upright within it, the tree was living and healthy; I took down its exact girth, 20ft. 2in. The whole route this day was very hilly and broken, with occasional heavy entangled forests, without the least vestige of any track; we having been obliged to keep much on the higher grounds so as to avoid the streams in the valleys, which were overflowing rapid and dangerous; fortunately for us the open country was much more grassy than we had hitherto found it. During the day I subsisted on a raw potatoe (which I kept nibbling) and a few Gaultheria berries;—in addition thereto following out the Maori plan of "hauling in the slack" (in nautical language), or, in other words, of tightening up my travelling belt; which I have always found in times of severe hunger to be of great service,—although it makes it dangerous for stooping low. That night we all slept just as we were in the fern around the fire.
* Some years after in travelling this way, I found the natives had made a tolerable rustic bridge across, some 6 feet wide, and having a shaky parapet fence, the floor being strewed with manuka faggots; this was done for their one horse.
———"Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild sccluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion."
I should not, however, have recognised them; indeed the whole appearance of that range was strangely different from what it is on the E. side; one huge table-topped spur, projecting towards the N., and uprearing its dark and sharp outline against the sky, interested me greatly; it seemed so much like a built-up rampart; the natives call it Te Papaki-a-kuutaa; of this very peculiar place more anon.
Paora, my companion also on that occasion, was now "in clover" here among his mother's relatives; they had found the scrap he had written on bark, and left at a village some 3—4 miles nearer than this to the Ruahine range, but it was long (more than a year) before they had got it decyphered and read to them! Still it was (as we now found) of service. It was evening before the Chief and the main body of his people arrived; and we spent a large portion of the night in deep conversation. Found them very ignorant of everything foreign (as was to be expected), but most pleasingly simple and willing to be taught. They were all dressed in true Maori costume, in mats of various kinds of their own manufacture, some of which were made from the Toii (Cordyline indivisa); without a single article of European clothing among them.
* Of which may be here mentioned, Brachycome odorata; Olea lanceolata, and another undescribed species of Olea having hairy petioles; Calceolaria repent; Carex dissita; [unclear: Agrusafus] parviflora and A. pilosa; Marchantia nilida, &c.
† See Note E., Appendix.
24th. Very busy all this morning with the natives of this place, who were much troubled at our leaving them so soon, and did all they could to keep us, in which the appearance of the weather helped them not a little, for the Ruahine range was completely enveloped in fogs and clouds, which the natives asserted was a sure sign of heavy rain or snow being about to fall. I too, I confess, was very unwilling to leave—but go we must, duty called. We promised to visit them again next summer (which we did). Our Taupo guide, who was quite at home—through some distant relationship—would probably remain a month or two, or until spring.
* Sophora tetraptera, of "Hand Book".
Another peculiarity, which I noticed here on this occasion, and which struck me forcibly, was, the apparent insensibility of these mountaineer natives to cold. (I again quote from my journal:)—" Past another wretchedly cold day, in which I have scarcely known warmth—even in a small degree. The natives, however, of the place, appear to be almost insensible to cold, the majority of them being but poorly clad, each in a single loose shoulder mat,—and yet they go sauntering about the village in the snow, barefooted and barelegged and barebreeched I of course; or sit down talking together in an open shed, with scarcely any fire, having half of their bodies uncovered. In this respect they differ greatly from the New Zealanders in general (the Lowlanders), who are mostly very impatient of cold.—I, also, noticed some little children, who, leaving their garments (each having only a loose harsh mat), in their huts, came out and frolicked naked about the village! regardless of the snow and sleet; nor did they return to their houses and garments, until I had, a second time, ordered them to do so." Another remark I copy from my Journal of that date:—" Poor creatures! at this season they were all living on fern root, which the children were incessantly roasting and hammering; yet they were all very healthy. Indeed, the great difference in this respect between the low-lying and sea-coast villages (which I had lately visited) and those of this mountainous district, was really surprising; there, in every place, some one had died since my last visit (some 6 months page 49 before), while here, during two years no one had paid the debt of nature. No doubt this is partly to be attributed to the purity of the mountain air, but not wholly so."—Cook's early statement, of their being a remarkably healthy race, I have often proved to be true; would that the introduction of European habits, and of "civilization", had not deprived them of that inestimable blessing!
We left Matuku at noon, several of the natives with their chief Te Kaipou, going with us to Te Awarua,—the furthest outlying E. village of Patea, to which place Paora and his companion Mawhatu had formerly come. Our journey to Te Awarua was nearly a continual descent of a few miles, over a good beaten Maori track. On arriving at the immediate bank of the Rangitikei river, which lay between us and the mountain range, and which we had to cross, I found I had to descend the perpendicular cliff of nearly 300 feet, the worst feature being that one could not see one's way! for at the edge of the precipice one had to turn round, and holding on to the grass and fern drop over somewhere, and so descend sailor-fashion! For some time I did not at all relish it, but finding there was no help for it,—and the natives of the place, men women and children, all did so, and then got across the river in safety, (as I could see from the heights,) I consented to follow,—disliking it the more as I went on; for the sheer height not only made me giddy, but here and there in the descent friendly plants to lay hold on failed, or had been half-pulled up in long use, and in their stead old flax leaves and strips of bark had been tied to shaky shrubs, and other rough makeshift devices of pegs and sticks had been also resorted to, and these, as I proved, were in many places old and rotten, and not to be trusted to:* however, by degrees, the natives very kindly helping me, I got safely to the bottom in the bed of the river.
* I managed here better afterwards, by having new flax leaves and new strips of bark fastened to go up and down by. On one visit after heavy rain, when it was very slippery, and some portion of the earth from the cliff had fallen, I was earned down like a baby, on ft native's back; as I dared not trust to my own legs! This however was by no means the first time of my being so borne by them over dangerous and slippery places; not a few deep dark rivers having high banks, densely bushy, and the vegetation hanging down into the river, with a tree felled or placed to cross over on,—old, denuded of its bark, and slippery with vegetable fungoid slime,—have I had to cross, there being no other known way; when, after trying it without boots,—and also by sitting on it saddle fashion,—I have been obliged to give in, and to have recourse to a native bearer; also on the slimy edges of some cataracts;—and he never missed his footing. On such occasions I invariably used to shut my eyes during the whole time of transit, to keep myself and him the more steady.
* In visiting these localities in after years I was surprised to find such an extensive and formidable growth of English Docks (Rumex obtusifalius) 4—5 feet high, and densely thick; so that in some places I could scarcely make my way through them. On enquiry I found, when some of these people had visited "Whanganui, to sell their pigs, they had purchased from a white man there some seed, which they were told was tobacco seed! in their ignorance they took their treasure back with them, and carefully sowed it in some of their best soil, which they also had prepared by digging; and lo! the crop proved to be this horrid Dock,—which, seeding largely, was carried down by the rivers and filled the country. The same iniquitous trick had also been played with the natives of Poverty Bay, so early as 1837; when, at their pressing request, I visited some young plants they had raised from seed, fenced in and tabooed, believing them to be tobacco!!
† See Note F., Appendix.
—————"O'er pathless rocks,
Through beds of matted fern and tangled thickets,
Forcing my way, I came to one dear nook,
Unvisited."———
"Wreath'd dim around, in deeper circles still
Successive closing, sits the general fog
Unbounded o'er the world; and mingling thick
A formless grey confusion covers all."—
* The only other N.Z. species of Calceolaria (C. Sinclairii) was also originally discovered by me at the E. Cape, in 1841; and, subsequently by Dr. Sinclair at "Waihaki, in 1842". (Vide, Hooker's Icones Flantarum, tab. 561.)
† It has since, however, been found in one spot on the same flank of the range, but lower down and much nearer to th W. Coast.
"Deep in the shade——————
Sat greyliair'd Saturn, quiet as a stone,
Still as the silence round about his lair;
Forest on forest hung about his head
Like cloud on cloud. No stir of air was there.
Not so much life as on a summer's day
Robs not one light seed from the feather'd grass,
But whore the dead leaf fell, there did it rest."
The next summer in revisiting Patea, I learned, that we had got into our sad trouble in this particular and superstitiously dreaded place, through Paora, who was leading, having taken the wrong turn,—leaving abruptly the high stony ridge we were on and turning to the left into that old half-rotten forest, instead of to the right! which spot bore a bad legendary name among the natives of Patea. And I had left it to him to take instructions from the Chief and the old mountaineer as to our course up the mountain. The natives of Matuku,—who had kept looking out with their keen eyes for our night fire on the open tops, and not seeing it,—knew we had gone astray, and guessed pretty well where we were. Our having spent a quiet night therein, unmolested by unnatural night visitants! proved however to be of no small service in our behalf with the Patea natives. Strange to say, that only a little way above to the right, from where we passed that doleful night, was one of the best halting-places in the whole forest on the West side, and where I afterwards (in following years) spent several single nights,—and indeed, on one occasion, a whole Sunday and two nights very agreeably. For, on my very next visit, finding that we could easily manage to make a kind of snow well there, from the form and nature of the ground and the stones that lay about, (exposed from under the surface through the uprooting and toppling over of a large tree,) we did so, planting snow-hole moss (a species of sphagnum) also in it! and, on subsequent visits, I never failed to find a supply of good water,—and, also, close at hand, dry firewood—a thing not always to be obtained in those high Fagus forests,—where all dead wood, both large and small, becomes as it were waterlogged and sappy from the snow. Several parties of natives, including the Chief of Patea himself, also stopped a night at "my well," as they called it,—in going to and fro from Patea to the Mission Station, after I had cleared the track, &c.,—but, on their getting horses they all ceased to travel this way.*
On one journey back from Patea to Hawke's Bay, I happened to see a Kiwi (Apteryx sp.) in an open place in these woods,—the only time I ever saw one wild and free. It did not see me, and so, I, being hidden from it, watched its movements for some time; it ran much faster than I had supposed it would do, and its striding gait strongly reminded me of a hen running after a moth, or winged insect.
* Sec Note G., Appendix.
Another curious incident occurred, in my travelling through these forests some years after this: we had just emerged from a heavy belt of forest, and were sitting down in the open outside in the sun, resting awhile before we proceeded; one of my baggage bearers, who had a short hard-wood spear, kept poking it into the earth, when suddenly he felt something under his spear different from a root or wood, he proceeded to disinter it, and there, under at least a foot of soil, was a very handsome though small green-stone axe! its bevelled edge was very regular and quite perfect. I might have had it but I did not then care about it.—
* Sir J. Hooker, in the "Hand Book" speaks of this species as "a small very straggling twiggy branched bush "; but I have generally found it to be a tall shrub, or even small slender tree, 12—15 ft. high, with long drooping branches: it is a much larger species than M. montana.
† I don't see where Sir J. Hooker has placed this species in his "Hand Book," unless it be under Astelia Cunning hamit; but I never saw it epiphytical, and I think it will prove to be distinct.
——"far beyond,
Where the broad ocean mingles with the sky,
Are seen the cloud-like islands, grey in mists."—
The distant prospect being generally dull and obscured through misty exhalations arising from the low-lands and swamps and forests beneath; and yet the mountains, seen from below, and being projected in bold relief against the sky, appear commonly clear and well-defined,—"robed in their azure hue."
* Mr. Baker, I see, in his last edition of "Synopsis Filicum," has united H. [unclear: unilatrals] (and several other species) with H. Tunbridgense; which species already had included within it not a few of our N. Z. Hymemphyllœ as varieties: to this, however, I cannot agree. No two species of ferns (in my opinion) are more truly distinct than the British species, H. Tunbridgense (including our N. Z. species, H. Tunbridgense, and its "varieties"—cupressiforme, Lab., and—revolutum, Col.,) with its single axillary and serrated [unclear: involucrs] sunk in its frond, and this fern from Ruahine (H. intermedium, mihi, M.S.,) with its many free and pedicelled entire involucres. But I hope for an entire and natural re-arrangement of our N. Z. Hymenophyllœ ere long.
† See Note B., Appendix.
———"On mountains and in vales he taught
To adore the Invisible, and Him alone:"—
* Dr. Horsfield's account of the peculiar little animal Mydaus meliceps, only found on the tops of the mountains of Java,—and Sir C. Lyell's remark thereon,—may be profitably consulted here. (Lyell's Principles of Geology, 12th Ed., vol. H., p. 362.)
———" the wild odour of the forest flowers
The music of the living grass and air,
The emerald light of leaf-entangled beams—
Which drowns the sense."———
I should not omit to mention, that on my way down the mountain from the summit, I discovered a plant which I believed to be a new species of Podocarpus, and therefore named it P. Cunninghamii, (after my dear old friend and early Botanist in N.Z. Allan Cunningham, who first described P. Totara,)—its leaves and male amentæ with the squamulse at their bases were very much larger than those of P. Totara, and the amentæ were also on long peduncles; its bark, too, was semi-papery, more like that of some large specimens of Fuchsia excorticata, and not at all resembling the bark of P. Totara. I subsequently found a small tree of it again in this same forest, but, as before, only having male flowers. I have little doubt of its being a distinct species. The natives call it Totara-kiri-kotukutuku.* We resumed our journey at 2 p.m., not daring to tarry; gained the bed of the river by 5, and travelled sturdily on until 7 p.m., (for the last hour in comparative darkness,) when we halted in the shingly sides of the river's bed;—rejoicing that our difficulties were now over, and that we had really succeeded at last in crossing the Ruahine!—
————" this ravine
Was now invested with fair flowers and herbs,
And haunted by sweet airs and sounds, which flow
Among the woods and waters. Fake ye well!"
Rose early this morning, breakfasted by daylight and started. All agreeing to travel steadily on all day without halting. We did so, rather moodily, and just managed to get quit of the river and the woods by daylight, still keeping on for an hour and half after sunset, when we halted on the N. edge of Te Ruataniwha plain, well tired and worn with our very long clay's march, in which we had waded the main river more than a 100 times.
28th, Sunday. This we made a day of rest, as we greatly needed it. Everything very quiet around. Had two meals to-day of boiled rice. Natives slept the greater part of the day leaving me to my meditations. None of us knowing anything of the country between this place and Waipukurau, and there not being any track hence to that village, we determined to-morrow to keep in the stony bed of the river (Waipawa), until we should strike the maori track† leading from Patangata to that place,—which we knew.
* I find this Maori name is given in the "Hand Book" Index to Liboccdus Donians, but I scarcely think any old Native would call a Libocedrus a Totara, the foliage in the two genera being so very different. The maori name for it, (like many other of their proper names,) is fit and expressive; lit.—Fuchsia-barked Totara.
† This was not far from whore Mr. Avison's house is now.
2nd. Morning prayers, schools, and breakfast over, I married the 9 young couples, who were here awaiting my arrival; at noon I left for Patangata.
3rd. Left Patangata for the Mission Station at Waitangi, reaching it in safety by sunset, and found all well. Laus Deo.
And now for a few further remarks on the peculiar Botany of the higher western sides, and of the summits of the range, not observed on the former occasion.—
In the open ground, on two or three mound-like hills of peaty-looking soil, and near each other, on the W. side, grew that remarkably fine Ranunculus—R. insignis. On my discovering it I was astonished at its size,—its largest golden flowers being nearly 2 inches in diameter, its flowering stems 3—4 feet high, and some of its round crenated leaves measuring 8—9 inches across! Both Sir Jos. Hooker, and his father were equally surprised and delighted, and as it was (then) by far the largest species known, Sir J. Hooker gave it that appropriate specific name—insignis. I only found it in that locality, but it was in great plenty; its principal neighbour was the notorious Taramea plant (Aciphjlla Colensoi,) already fully noticed; and those splendid compositaceous plants Celmisia spectabilis and C. incana, which generally grew close together, forming large dark-green shining patches and bearing a profusion of fine white flowers—a striking contrast to their leaves. At first sight I saw that this new Ranunculus was closely allied to R. pinguis, of Lord Auckland's group and Campbell's Island,—then lately described in the Flora Antarctica, of which work I had received an early part just before I left the Station. Other plants of those far-off Antarctic Islets were also found here, on the summits; notably Oreobolus pumilio, growing in dense tufts in exposed places; while the peculiar straggling Cyathodes empetrifolia, and the pretty little flowering plants, Euphrasia antarctica and Myosotis antarctica, flourished in half-sheltered hollows, with Plantago Brownii and the Grass Catabrosa antarctica. With these last also grew, very closely intermixed (mnch as we have seen the Daisies and Buttercups among low turfy grasses in our English meadows,) the curious plant Drapetes Diejfenbachii; the little elegant Ourisia cœspitosa abounding in flowers; a very small and new species of Plantago (P. uniflora); and a similar-sized Botanical novelty Astelia linearis,—a tiny plant bearing a large orange-coloured fruit; a little Caltha (C.Novœ Zealandiœ,) having pale star-like flowers; two graceful Gentians (G. montana and G.pleurogynoides); and a very small shrubby prostrate Goprosma (C.pumila); together with several little elegant shrubby Veroniœ,—which I have formerly mentioned.—Two Orchideous plants, Pterostylis foliata, and Caladenia bifolia (of which I wished for better specimens,) I also detected page 60 growing sparingly; and with them a couple of Carices, C. acicularis, and C. inversa; and, also, two species of Uncinia,—U. divaricata, and U.fidiformis;—and with them several interesting Hepaticœ and Mosses.—Only in one or two spots, in shady sheltered places near the top and just within the forest, did I meet with that pretty little plant Ourisia Colensoi,—but in those spots there were plenty of them, and always beautifully in flower; the plants of this species grew apart, as if they liked room; in this respect differing altogether from the other species of this genus I have seen. With them were always associated the mute little brown bird with a white head, as if they were the guardian wood-nymphs of those shady bowers!—this bird I have mentioned in Paper I., p. 27.
"Oh! there are curious things of which man know
As yet but little! secrets lying hid
Within all natural objects. Be they shells,
Which ocean flingeth forth from off her billows
On the low sand; or flowers, or trees, or grasses,
Covering the earth; rich metals, or bright ores,
Beneath the surface. He who findeth out
Those secret things hath a fair right to gladness;
For he hath well-performed, and doth awake
Another note of praise on Nature's harp
To hymn her great Creator."———
* I managed to bring living portions with me to the Station, and kept them alive for several months under glass, where they flowered abundantly and well.
"Te living flowers that skirt the eternal frost," &c.
There is yet another curious plant that I should like to mention—to call attention to; not that it is confined to those high woods, for it (or a closely allied species) was formerly pretty common throughout N.Z. in the damp shady forests, but always scattered; and I have good reasons for believing that it is gradually becoming more scarce—like many other of our native plants. It page 62 is an Orchid, a species of Gastrodia, a small genus peculiar to N. Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania, and the E. Indian isles. It is leafless, and has a strange appearance, reminding one at first sight of the larger British species of Orobanche (Broom rape).
Leafless, however, and rapid, up darts the slenderer flower-stalk,
And a wonderful picture attracts the observer's eye.*
Its root, a tolerably large cylindrical tuber, is perennial; its single scaly and spotted flower-stem is 2 feet and more high, stout, erect, and bears several pretty large and peculiar bizarre flowers. The root was eaten by the old Maoris, together with the tubers of other congenerous terrestrial Orchids,—Pterostylis, Thelymitra, Orthoceras, &c. (Much like those of several British Orchids,—as Orchis mascula, &c., from whose tubers the nutritous salep of commerce is obtained.) A chief reason with me for mentioning this Ruahine forest plant, is, that I have good reasons for believing it may prove to be a different species from the Northern one, Gastrodia Cunninghamii, Hook., fil.,—which A. Cunningham its discoverer supposed to be identical with the only Australian and Tasmanian species—G. sesamoides of Brown. This Ruahine plant being taller (2ft, 9in.), and much larger in all its parts than the Northern one, and bears many more flowers, 30—36, on its longer raceme of 15 inches. And though I have more than once met with it in the lower mountain woods, it had always past flowering with withered perianths.
"Blattloss aber und schnell erhebt sich der zärtere Stengel,
Und ein Wundergebild zeiht den Betrachtendcn an."—
Metamorphose der Pflanzen. Goethe.
† Page 46. See Note B., Appendix.
"How divine,
The liberty, for frail, for mortal man
To roam at largo among unpeopled glens
And mountainous retirements;—————
—————regions consecrate
To oldest time! and, reckless of the storm,
Be as a presence or a motion there."
* Ante, page 55.
"Still stands the forest primeval; but under the shade of its branches
Dwells another race, with other customs and language."
Several of those natives, or their descendants, are now settled with their relative the chief Renata, at Omahu, Hawke's Bay.
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways."
Mort d'Arthur. Temnyson.
"Though, changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
I went among those hills;—I cannot paint
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love.——
——————And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky; and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all tilings."———
Tintern Abbey. Wordswoeth.