CHAP, xvi.] 239 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Wangape and Hokianga. 



WE now return to the western coast. If we travel 

 from Kaitaia towards the source of the Awaroa, we 

 see its valley separated from the coast by undulating 

 hills of basaltic structure, and covered with forest. 

 Where the basaltic rock is found, the soil is gene- 

 rally good ; and I have no doubt that in the course 

 of time these hills will all be cultivated, and thus 

 increase the area which I have assigned to the dis- 

 trict of Kaitaia. I do not include in this the hills 

 in the middle of the island, to which Maunga Ta- 

 niwa belongs : they are too steep ever to be any- 

 thing but forest-land. The coast from Waro to 

 Wangape, or False Hokianga, fifteen miles to the 

 northward of Hokianga, is bold and rocky. Wan- 

 gape has never been surveyed. Its entrance is about 

 200 yards wide ; it then expands into a fine basin, 

 surrounded by low wooded hills, and appears to afford 

 no shelter for shipping. The natives have exten- 

 sive plantations, and belong to the tribe which lives 

 at Hokianga. 



