266 KAIPARA RIVER. [PART II. 



and Wakaki from the eastward. Not far from the 

 junction of the Otamatea with the Wairoa, the latter 

 is joined by the Oruawaro, another stream of con- 

 siderable size, although, as is evident from the 

 breadth of the island at this part from coast to coast, 

 not of any great length. Lower down the Tapara 

 from the south and the Kaipara proper flow into 

 arms of the estuary. The Kaipara proper follows 

 a very serpentine course in a moderate-sized valley 

 formed by the hills which bound the sea-coast be- 

 tween Kaipara and Manukao harbours, and separated 

 from an inlet of the harbour of Waitemata, in the 

 gulf of Hauraki, by a piece of land about three miles 

 in breadth, and consisting of low hills, over which 

 the natives frequently dragged their canoes in times 

 of war. Not far from the highest point to which 

 the tide reaches in the Kaipara proper another river 

 joins it, which runs likewise within a very short 

 distance of Waitemata. 



The banks of all these rivers are bounded by hills 

 of no very great height, which do not generally 

 reach to the banks, and are often more than a mile 

 distant from them ; the banks are level, and consist 

 of a somewhat clayey and fertile soil. The Wairoa 

 continually carries down a quantity of this soil from 

 the higher to the lower parts of the river, in conse- 

 quence of which its waters have a yellow appear- 

 ance. In the upper part of its course a beautiful 

 and fertile valley joins it, which begins in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Hokianga. Here the chief Parore 



