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stripe of its waters was visible. Port Nicholson was hid from our view by the eastern hills. The land in the upper part of the valley was composed of low hills, and I distinguished a swamp about three miles in circumference. The character of the whole was in the highest degree mountainous, and some time must pass before all the valleys, gorges, and ravines can be explored, or rendered accessible. Of the practicability of joining the valley of the Hutt by means of a road with Hawke's Bay, and the valley of the Manawatu, I have no doubt; but it can only be done when the colony is in a much more advanced state, and when labour is more abundant and cheaper.

Our stock of provisions was so much exhausted, that we could not safely pursue our route in the hope of finding a way out of this wilderness; I therefore determined to return by the road by which we had come. This we accomplished with some variations, and arrived at Port Nicholson on the 14th of August, after an absence of sixteen days.

From the hills surrounding Port Nicholson, I added to my collection a very curious bird, which before was only imperfectly known. This is the bird whose white-tipped tail feathers are so highly prized by the natives, and are used as ornaments for the head in all parts of the island. It is called by the natives huia. This bird is of the size of a magpie; its plumage is of a dark glossy black, inclining to a green metallic lustre. The ends of its tail feathers are tipped with white for about three-quarters of an inch; the bill is white, rather darker at its base, where it has two wattles of a rich orange colour. The male bird has a short, straight, and strong beak, but that of the female is much longer, and forms a segment of a circle.

Accompanied by a native belonging to the tribe of the

former inhabitants of Port Nicholson, the.Nga-te-kahuhunu, and now a slave to the tribe in present occupation (and who, I was told, was the only person who understood the art of decoying huias), I set out for the hills, and after a long day's walk, had the pleasure of seeing that the continued loud and shrill whistling of my guide, huia, huia, huia, in imitation of the note of the birds, had attracted four, which alighted on the lower branches of the trees near him. They came silently and with a brisk flight. I fired and killed two or three of them; but generally they come so near that the natives kill them with sticks, in order not to injure the precious tail feathers.

ASCENT OF MOUNT EGMONT OR TARANAKI BY DR DIEFFENBACH.

A.D. 1840.

ON the 22d of November 1840, we obtained the longwished-for view of Mount Egmont, and also of Mount Ruapehu, both of which were to a great extent covered with snow. But they were soon again hid from our view; and it was only on the 27th of November, after having experienced much hard weather and several severe gales, that we anchored to the northward of the Sugarloaf Islands, about two miles from the shore. Soon after we had cast anchor, a waterspout rose not far from us. The weather had begun to clear up, and I scrutinised the sides and lofty summit of Mount Egmont, which, once thrown up by the mysterious fires of the deep, was now apparently in a state of repose, to discover whether there was any pos

sibility of ascending it, an undertaking which had never yet been achieved.

We landed to the northward of Paretutu, or Sugarloaf Point, a dome-like cone of trachitic porphyry, which rises to about 300 feet, and stands quite by itself. We turned our whale-boat over, and made preparations for passing the first night under it. As soon as we had landed, the Tory weighed anchor, and with a favourable breeze was soon out of sight. The Sugarloaf Islands are five in number. South of Sugarloaf Point to Cape Egmont and Waimate, the country, as I ascertained from many subsequent excursions, slopes very slowly from Mount Egmont to the sea-coast. In fact, the country is so level round the base of Mount Egmont, that the latter seems almost to rise immediately from the plain.

The natives could not understand what induced me to ascend Mount Egmont; they tried much to dissuade me from the attempt by saying that the mountain was tapu, that there were ngarara (crocodiles) on it, which would undoubtedly eat me; the mysterious bird moa was also said to exist there. But I answered that I was not afraid of these creatures of their lively imagination, and that if, through their refusing to provide me a guide, I was the first to reach the summit, I would make the mountain tapu for myself, according to their own law. An old Tohunga, or priest, was therefore persuaded to show me the way, as far as he knew it, and with him and an American man of colour, I started on the 3d of December. Tangutu, as the worthy priest was called, was particularly qualified for the office of guide on this expedition. In the wars between the Nga-te-awa and Waikato, the latter had carried away his two wives into slavery; while he himself escaped to the mountain, where they were unable to find him. There

he lived by himself, as all his kindred were gone, and cultivated small patches in the impenetrable forest, which supplied him with food. The Waikato often chased him, but he was always fortunate enough to escape. The old man was renowned for his skill in the arts, and for the mystic lore of a priest of his nation, and had lately become a zealous missionary; and although he almost invariably kept his puka-puka (hymn and prayer books) upside down, when he pretended to sing his psalms or read the service, yet what he sung and said pretty nearly corresponded with the text, as he knew the books by heart. A mat of his own manufacture, as he had no female to work it for him, was his only dress; a hatchet, his only weapon. We did not take much provision with us, as we had no means of carrying it, and I trusted to the stores of Tangutu in the bush.

Our road led us along the beach to the northward. About two miles from the coast we came into a low shrubby forest, where the soil consisted mostly of a very dark vegetable mould. Tangutu had here cleared a place in the middle of the bush, where he had formed a clean and well-weeded garden, planted with potatoes, taro, onions, water-melons, and pumpkins. Not far from this point we crossed a rapid but not very deep stream, with a broad and pebbly bed, all the pebbles consisting of a hard blue trap rock. The forest consisted generally of tawai; here and there might be seen a majestic rimu pine, or a rata bearing crimson flowers. There were many arborescent ferns, and in the deepest shade grew the nikau palm. Sometimes we came to an open spot several square miles in extent, probably cleared at one time by natives, but now grown over with the highest New Zealand flax I The leaves in many instances were twelve, and the flower-stalks twenty feet long.

ever saw.

The country began now to rise a little, but the elevation was so slight as to be scarcely perceptible. Everywhere vegetation appeared most vigorous, and the primeval forest was often almost impenetrable on account of thick creepers and thorns, which tore our faces and hands severely. We scarcely ever obtained a view of the sun, and the shade of the trees produced a delightful coolness, although the thermometer in open places rose to 90°, and at six in the evening on a hill it stood at 80°. We did not see many birds, and I need scarcely say that the most perfect silence reigned throughout the forest. Although we walked on a track, it was only visible to the eyes of Tangutu; and it was not until after much practice that I could distinguish, in the turning or the pressure of a leaf, indications that the path had ever been trod by mortal feet. My guide, although a priest and a person of consequence among his own people, went patiently forward, carrying a heavy load for me, without a murmur. We soon came to another of his potato fields, where he had a house; he here entered the forest, and quickly returned with some fern-root and some dried shark, which he had concealed, and which greatly increased our scanty stock of provisions. In consequence of the insecurity of person and property, it is very usual with the Taranaki natives to have plantations of this sort in the forest, which are often known to the proprietor alone, and to which he can fall back in times of need. Frequently Tangutu would, on a sudden, make me stop on the way, and, entering the forest, would return with either a dried fish, or some oil contained in a dilated joint of kelp, with which he would grease his dark and glossy hair; and sometimes he brought a handful of leeks, which were always welcome.

At sunset we arrived at the cleared summit of a hill,

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