296 CAPTAIN SYMONDS. [PART II. 



town, are to be found on the northern shore ; but 

 all the good land is on the southern. To connect 

 the two sides by a road will be difficult and expen- 

 sive, from the high price of labour. A communi- 

 cation between the different parts of the harbour is 

 always open for boats. 1 



In 1836 no natives resided in Manukao, having 

 all been dispersed by wars some years before. Sub- 

 sequently the remnant of the original tribe the 

 Nga-te-whatua returned : a Waikato tribe, more- 

 over, had a village on the southern shore, where a 

 Church Missionary station was established. Almost 

 all the natives have become converts to Christianity. 



On the 2nd of April we left Onehunga, in a 

 canoe, for Kauwitu, a small native village near the 

 southern head of Manukao. The natives detained 



1 Captain William Cornwallis Symouds, of the 96th Foot, and 

 Deputy-Surveyor-General of New Zealand, eldest son of the pre- 

 sent Surveyor of the Navy, Sir William Symonds, accompanied 

 me during this excursion into the interior. I lament to say that 

 on the 23rd of November, 1841, he met in this harbour with an 

 untimely death. Whilst occupied in surveying a township at 

 Karanga-hawe, he crossed on an errand of kindness and benevo- 

 lence to the southern shore : the boat was upset ; he was a powerful 

 swimmer, but before he reached the shore a shark drew him down. 

 Captain Symonds was one of the few men who carry with them 

 the respect and love of all who know them. Possessed of a pow- 

 erful and healthy constitution, which had withstood during seven 

 years the climate of the East Indies, he was expert in all manly 

 exercises, his mind was well stored with a variety of knowledge, and 

 he was a genuine true-hearted Englishman, a kind son and brother, 

 a sincere friend, and an upright, independent, and public-spirited 

 man. He was one of the first who directed attention to New 

 Zealand, and the colony will ever have to deplore his loss. 



