414 WAIHO AND PIAKO. [PART II. 



river Piako ; at the western slope of the eastern 

 coast-hills flows the Waiho : both are in the same 

 valley, and discharges themselves into the gulf 

 close together. The length of this table-land is 

 nearly one hundred miles. 



The Waiho about forty miles from its embouchure 

 is still a considerable stream, which would admit 

 small steamers ; the Piako is navigable for boats. 



The mountains which bound this valley are gene- 

 rally wooded, especially those to the eastward, from 

 which the Waiho receives several tributaries of suf- 

 ficient size to be useful for floating timber down 

 from the hills. The valley itself is free of wood, 

 except near the banks of rivers, where the forest 

 principally consists of the kahikatea-pine. We 

 passed several large raupo (typha) swamps, and 

 crossed a tributary of the Piako, which was swollen 

 by the late rains. 



The next day, in travelling down the valley, we 

 passed many swamps, but a perfect drainage of them 

 might be easily effected. The soil was better, and 

 here and there it was covered with grass. Towards 

 evening we reached the Piako river, which is about 

 forty yards broad, and is deep and rapid. 



On the 28th we followed the right bank of the 

 Piako, and came towards noon to two houses which 

 had been built by the natives for a European who had 

 purchased a large district of land from them. The 

 Piako here closely approached the western hills. A 

 little lower down was a small settlement, from which 



