CHAP. XXVIII.] 409 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Journey into the Valley of the Waiho, or Thames Mata-mata. 



ON the 22nd of June we went in the boat of the 

 missionaries up an arm of the harbour which runs 

 to the northward, and then followed a path towards 

 the coast-hills, as we intended to cross them into 

 the valley of the Waiho, or river Thames. Ascend- 

 ing some low fern-hills, we arrived towards evening 

 at the margin of the forest. The ascent was very 

 gradual. We halted here at a small stream which 

 falls into the sea to the northward of Tauranga. 

 Continuing the following day through the forest, I 

 found that these coast-hills were comparatively flat 

 on the top, while on their western slope, where 

 they bound the valley of the Waiho, they termi- 

 nated abruptly, like an artificial embankment of 

 the table-land of the Thames. Before we de- 

 scended into the valley we followed for a while a 

 rivulet about thirty yards in breadth, which takes 

 its rise in the coast-hills, and then falls over their 

 almost perpendicular western slope from a height 

 of at least eight hundred feet, forming a magnifi- 

 cent cascade. In consequence - of the thick wood 



