170 RIVER MOKAU. [PART I. 



coast, flows through a very fertile and moderately 

 hilly district. On its banks are well-cultivated 

 spots, bearing potatoes, maize, melons, and taro ; the 

 natives were also growing a great proportion of the 

 tobacco that they consumed in the year. Flax 

 covers extensive districts; and the industry formerly 

 displayed in manufacturing mats has not yet entirely 

 disappeared. Their settlement never having been 

 reached by European visitors or ships, these natives 

 had retained their unsophisticated virtues. They 

 sometimes, indeed, have come in contact with Euro- 

 peans at Kawia, where they exchange their pigs for 

 foreign commodities. A brig once entered the 

 river, and from the general aspect it appeared to 

 me as if there was sufficient depth over the bar for 

 vessels of moderate burden, at all events for steamers. 

 Inside the bar I sounded, and found three fathoms : 

 according to the natives, there is one fathom and a 

 half over the bar at low-water. Inside the head- 

 lands the river takes a sharp turn, and forms a deep 

 and completely sheltered basin. 



I returned to Taranaki accompanied by the prin- 

 cipal chiefs of Mokau, and greatly satisfied with the 

 reception they had given me, and reached the Sugar- 

 loaf Islands after an absence of eight days. 



After we had waited a great length of time for 

 the return of the Tory, a brig, the Guide, arrived 

 on the 31st January, having on board some gentle- 

 men belonging to the Tory, and bringing the 

 intelligence that she was refitting at Kaipara, hav- 



