268 KAIPARA RIVER [PART II. 



everywhere there is sufficient land to enable the 

 colonist to combine agricultural pursuits with the 

 timber-trade, in which" case alone the latter can 

 prove profitable in New Zealand. 



The inlet, which is joined by the Kaipara proper, 

 is navigable for large boats as far as the tide runs 

 up. On the hills between Kaipara and Manukao 

 there is much kauri, and the river affords great fa- 

 cilities for conveying the timber down to the sea. 

 It is very serpentine in its course, and forms a num- 

 ber of paddocks of alluvial land ; these are at present 

 swampy, but a little drainage would effectually lay 

 them dry. This low land is here and there covered 

 with groves of the kahikatea-pine and the puriri 

 (Vitex litoralis), but in general only fern and flax 

 grow on it. 



About forty Europeans live on the Kaipara estuary 

 and its tributaries, and about 700 natives belonging 

 to the tribe of the Nga-te-Whatua. The Euro- 

 peans claim a great part of the land, and much 

 difficulty will arise in settling their various claims, 

 as the land was sold to them by the Nga-pui, the 

 natives in the Bay of Islands, who formerly con- 

 quered and drove away the original proprietors of 

 the soil. But a short time since these latter again 

 returned, and their numbers have increased ; where- 

 as the contrary has been the case with the Nga-pui, 

 who have silently given up all claims to the land. 



There is a Wesleyan missionary-station up the 

 Wairoa, but in an unfavourable place, there being 



