TRAILS FROM THE COAST TO TUTIRA 63 



spur in a westerly direction. At the base of the long ascent, on which 

 are situated the group of rock fragments called Te-Poa-Kore, it bifur- 

 cated, the less trodden path turning south towards the kainga of Manga- 

 hinahina. This kainga was perched on a rise near to woodlands of the 

 same name. Here in ancient times grew the largest trees to be found 

 on eastern Tutira. One of them, a magnificent totara named Te 

 Awhiawhi, lay in the 'eighties fallen, topped, and rudely hollowed 

 into the shape of a canoe. About the kainga itself were visible no signs 

 of defensive works ; in spite of this total lack of fortification the village 

 belongs, nevertheless, to the old order of things, and is illustrative of 

 what has been already told of the Ngai-Tatara that their pas were in 

 their heels. The kumara or sweet potato plantations here were the 

 largest on the run, the rich ground and excellent exposure well suiting 

 the requirements of this tropical tuber. About the sites of the old whdres 

 grew also in the 'eighties the usual signs of the later era peach-groves. 

 Surviving from the garden plots of this derelict village I have found 

 clumps also of another alien a species of mint (Nepeta cataria). 



Long prior to the 'eighties the " grubbed grounds," as these cultiva- 

 tion lands used to be called, had reverted to a wild state. Only the 

 name remained to show that they had been stumped by native labour. 

 Thickly covering them, groves of ngaio, wine-berry, and manuka had 

 sprung up, none of these natural plantations showing normal forest 

 growth. The trees in each patch were of similar age ; there was no 

 admixture of species. They had evidently taken immediate possession 

 of tilled ground abandoned and disused. The original vegetation of the 

 "grubbed grounds" had probably been light bush, with just sufficient 

 intermixture of bracken to carry a fire. The natives had burnt this 

 "growth in a dry summer and afterwards taken advantage of the favour- 

 able conditions to clear the land thoroughly. The kainga itself was built 

 on just such a site as the old-time natives cared for : its clustered whares 

 stood on the gentle slope of a spur studded with huge limestone crags 

 deeply sunk into the ground. One of the most lovely sites on Tutira, it 

 it was raised well above the damp of the wooded ravines on either side ; 

 it caught the earliest rays of the morning sun up the long rift of the 

 valley of the Waikoau. If its inhabitants did not live happy in content 

 and country freedom they must indeed have been hard to please. We 

 know at any rate that at least one other person desired to be on that 

 pleasant spot. She was a girl called Hariata, in love with Te-Iwi- 



