200 REINGA. [PART n. 



it forms one extremity of a cliff of conglomerate 

 rock, which cannot be approached from the sea-side, 

 and which lines the coast for about six miles, and 

 terminates to the eastward in a conical hill, Te- 

 wanga-ke, whence the coast is lined by a sand 

 beach to about the middle of the northern shore. 

 It is curious to find in New Zealand the belief so 

 common among barbarous nations, that there is a 

 cave or passage through which the departed descend 

 into the nether regions. By the New Zealanders 

 this entrance is placed at the farthest extremity of 

 their sea-girt isle (Te-Muri-wenua, or land's end), 

 the limit of their known world, and the spot with 

 which, of all others, the tribes to the south had the 

 least inducement to become acquainted. The cliff 

 above mentioned is the escarpment of a steep and 

 narrow ridge, of moderate elevation, which runs 

 inland towards the harbour of Parenga, but is not 

 connected with the principal chain of mountains, 

 which we can follow through the northern island, 

 since to the southward of the harbour the island 

 consists of low flats, the greater part of which, as I 

 have already observed, is covered with sand. These 

 hills consist of a stiff clay, white or reddish, from 

 an admixture of oxide of iron, which is often found 

 in brown crusts on the surface. From the prin- 

 cipal branches of these hills ramifications run at 

 right angles, like the buttresses of a fortification, 

 and form ravines^ which receive small streams of 

 water. Only a scMity vegetation covers them, con- 



