Adams. — On the Botany of Tc Moehaii. 33 



audible in the dense bush on misty days and on dark nights. 

 Their favourite fishing-place was Ongohi, near Port Jackson, 

 and their home was near the summit of the mountain. This 

 story of the dimly-seen Turehu is told with regard to other 

 lofty mountains in the North Island, such as Pii'ongia, and 

 may refer to the war to the knife that always existed in bar- 

 barous times between the inhabitants of the shore and those 

 of the mountain, and that still exists in some of the islands of 

 the Pacific. It is the inexpiable war between the conquerors 

 and the conquered, whether we read of it in Ancient Greece or 

 in Ancient Britain. 



Hoping to gain further information on the dread the Maoris 

 have of the interior, I obtained, through the kindness of Mr. 

 Lee, of the survey party, one of the Maori tajm legends. 

 This legend shows that the Ngapuhi occupied Barrier Island 

 and the Ngatirongo the Moehau district, and recounts a raid 

 made by the latter on the former ; but, as it does not bear 

 directly on the dread that the Maoris have always had of the 

 interior, it need not be further mentioned. 



The dread of the Turehu no doubt hiiidered the natives 

 from ascending the mountain ; but it is surprising that the 

 natural indomitable curiosity of some colonists did not urge 

 them to the summit. Several, as I have heard, made the 

 attempt, but for one reason or another gave it up ; and a 

 successful ascent was not made until January last, when my 

 son and I succeeded in accomplishing it. 



I must, however, confess my belief that, if a suspicion 

 existed among botanists that the top of Te Moehau was a 

 veritable garden of rare plants tl^at could not be found nearer 

 than the Ruahine Eange, in Hawke's Bay District, this would 

 have been sufficient inducement to have had the mountain-top 

 explored long ago. There was no ground for such a suspicion. 

 The botany of the other high peaks on the main range of 

 Cape Colville Peninsula is very well knowii, and, although 

 there may be a slight variation in some of the plants, yet the 

 vegetation on all the peaks is strikingly similar. A catalogue 

 of the plants on Kaitarakihi, east of Puriri, and of Maruae- 

 puke, east of Tapu, differs very slightly. 



One or two of the Ruahine plants appear on Castle Rock, 

 east of Coromandel ; but this would not warrant a guess at 

 the riches of Te Moehau in this respect. 



For some years I had been hoping to explore the Moehau 

 Range in order to complete what had been done on the rest of 

 the peninsula, and an opportunity offered in January last, 

 when my son was carrying on a survey in the Moehau district. 

 The survey camp was at Torehina, in the neighbourhood of 

 Cabbage Bay, and, as I spent a few days there before I made 

 the ascent of the main range, I was enabled to devote some time 



