366 INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF [PART II. 



per. From Motutere we enjoyed a fine sight of 

 the Ruapahu and Tongariro. 



26th. The reason why Titipa would not accom- 

 pany us any farther was, that hostilities existed 

 between the tribe of Roturua and his own, that 

 of the Waikato. Three natives remained with 

 us, but, being slaves, they had nothing to fear. 

 Abraham, however, had promised to procure us 

 men ; we therefore started on the 26th in one of 

 his canoes, and pulled for a few miles along the 

 shore. We then landed, and struck inland over an 

 extremely hilly country, to a settlement in the 

 forest, where we found a good number of natives 

 very busy in constructing houses and clearing the 

 land for the coming spring. They have an imple- 

 ment made of very hard wood with a horizontal 

 piece attached to it, and with this tool they work 

 very expertly. A tufaceous gravel constitutes part 

 of the soil covering these hills, which show in some 

 places great fertility. The tribe living here is 

 called Nga-te-terangita, a division of the Nga-te- 

 tuaretoa. 



It is evident that forest has at some former 

 period covered a greater extent of land in the 

 neighbourhood of Taupo than it now does ; it does 

 not appear to have been destroyed by volcanic erup- 

 tions, but by the fires kindled by the natives in 

 order to clear the ground for the purpose of cul- 

 tivation. Notwithstanding this former forest, the 



