9 6 Voyage of the Novara. 



important rivers, such as the Waikato, AVaipa, Waiho (called 

 also the Thames), Plako, and Wairao, are navigable for small 

 boats far into the interior. Of its 28 harbours, four, viz. 

 Bay of Islands, Auckland, Wangaroa, and Middle Harbour, 

 are accessible throughout the year for large ships, besides 

 offering secure anchorage ; but of tlie remainder only eight 

 will admit vessels of 400 tons, while the balance can only be 

 used by small brigs and schooners. 



Auckland, the capital, lies on an isthmus about six miles in 

 width, dividing Waitemata Harbour from that of Manukau, 

 the first being beyond all question the best harbour on the 

 east side, the former on the west. These two harbours 

 furnish moreover, by the numerous streams and creaks that 

 disembogue into them, most excellent means of commu- 

 nication with the interior. The products of the country 

 through a region of 100 miles are conveyed to Waitemata by 

 the Waih(5 and Piako rivers, while on the other hand the 

 Waikato and Waipa rivers bring to the harbour of Manukau 

 the natural products from 120 miles inland. At a compara- 

 tively small cost a cut might be carried througli the isthmus, 

 at a point where it is only a mile and a half wide, and direct 

 water communication be thus effected between the two har- 

 bours, to the manifest advantage of the country and capital. 

 At present the mail-steamer, which comes from Sydney once 

 a month with the European letters, berths in Manukau Har- 

 bour, near Onehunga, on account of the greater convenience 

 of that harbour, and its being at a much less distance, whence 



