[PART i. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Northern Shore of Cook's Straite. 



OWING to contrary winds and cairn- ^re un- 



able to leave the roadstead of Kapiti until the ISth 

 of November, when we weighed anchor and ran 

 along the northern shore of Cook's Straits. From 

 Waikanahi, the native settlement opposite Kapiti, 

 this shore presents the aspect of low and irregular 

 hummocks, either downs or covered with fern, and 

 improving in fertility the farther they recede from 

 the sea. This district is bordered, at a distance of 

 three or four miles from the coast, by a wooded 

 country, which rises gradually into ridges of moun- 

 tains covered with snow during the winter season. 

 These mountains, which do not exceed 3000 feet 

 at their greatest height, belong to a congeries of 

 hills running towards the centre of the island. 

 They are of the same system of mountains as tl 

 the picturesque ridges of which strike the beholder 

 on first entering Port Nicholson, and which >hut 

 in the view up the valley of the Eritonga. In the 

 latter place they are called the Tararua, and their 

 continuation into the interior the Rua-wahine. 

 Both are distinguished by a chasm or cleft, which 

 forms the valley of the river Manawatu. 



