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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 75

Physical Features

Physical Features.

This land district may be said to have no real mountains, as the most prominent peaks of the several scattered ranges or hills seldom exceed 3,000 ft. in height above the sea-level, an altitude just enough—south of 38°—to clothe the last 1,000 ft. with snow in the depth of winter. North of Hokianga and the Bay of Islands there is one well-defined range of hills rising to a height of 2,463 ft.; whilst south of these place, and extending to the Wairoa River on one side and the Whangarei Harbour upon the other, the country is all more or less broken into ranges from 1,000 ft. to 2,000 ft. in height, with valleys between. The next really well developed main range lies within the Coromandel and Thames Peninsula. With a length of over 150 miles, it has an average height of over 2,800 ft., commencing with Moehau, or Cape Colville, 2,800 ft.; next, Te Aroha, a peak of 3,176 ft.; and ending at Weraiti with a height of 2,527 ft. There are two other well-defined ranges—namely, Tawairoa and Hauturu—lying between the West Coast and the Waipa basin, with their highest peak at Pirongia, which rises to 3,156 ft., and is often snow-capped. There are other ranges forming the watershed between the basins of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers, and dividing both from the streams running into the western side of Lake Taupo. Their highest peak is Pureora, rising to 3,793 ft. The eastern side of the land district is occupied by a very broken, forest-clad country, known as the Urewera Country, the average height of which is about 2,500 ft. It is practically unexplored, and, being still in the hands of the Natives, is not as yet available for settlement. To the east, of Lake Taupo lie the Kaimanawa Ranges, of about 4,500 ft., and generally open on the ridges, with valleys clothed in beech forests. Nearly the whole of the Auckland Land District is indented on both coasts with harbours and arms of the sea, forming a cheap and easy means of access. Of rivers, properly so called, there are only two of any great length—namely, the Wairoa and Waikato. The first empties itself into the. Kaipara Harbour, a large arm, or rather succession of arms, of the sea, giving hundreds of miles of inland water-carriage to all parts of the Counties of Hobson, Otamatea, Rodney, and Waitemata. This river is navigable from its mouth to its junction with its tributaries Wairua and Mangakahia, a distance of ninety-one miles from the sea, page 20 and for forty miles it is navigable for ships of large burden. The River Waikato has a course of 200 miles, measured from its source in the Ruapehu Mountain through Lake Taupo to the sea on the West Coast. It is navigable for river-steamers for seventy-five miles from its mouth. Another river—the Thames, or Waihou—though of no great length, affords a valuable means of inland water-carriage, and is navigable for small steamers for twenty-five miles. Generally speaking, every part of the district has an abundant water-supply, now and then lessened for a short time at the end of a very dry summer.