4 o8o - / USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TJ-D. 



bosom of the Waitemata " The Shining Water " extends its generous width away to 

 the point where the Titirangi and Waitakerei Ranges, westward of the city, bound the 

 horizon. It opens out there into an expansive sheet, and then, sweeping round Kauri 

 Point on the northern shore, it runs fifteen miles further to Riverhead. The southern 

 shore, from the mouth of the Tamaki River to the foot of the ranges beyond the city, 

 lies low, and advances and recedes in regular alternation, forming a close succession of 

 pretty bays, around whose margin and gentle slopes, villas, embosomed amid trees, are 

 springing up in great number. Just off Bean Rock lies St. Helier's Bay, with its broad 

 expanse of beach, its hotel and temperance accommodation house, its long jetty and 

 extensive avenue of trees. Directly opposite is Kohimarama Bay and its Training School 

 for neglected and destitute boys. A solitary sandstone cone, known as the Bastion Rock, 

 stands off its nearest point. A little higher up the Harbour, the land retreats into 

 Orakei Bay, which is sacred to the remnant of the Maori tribes that once densely 

 peopled the isthmus, and the traces of whose pahs are still to be found in its volcanic 

 hills. At Orakei resides the chief Paora (Paul) Tuhaere and his tribes-men, well-to-do, 

 indolent, and thoroughly Anglicised in manners and in dress. Over the ridge from the Bay, 

 distant only a short walk from the eastward, is an interesting relic of bygone times, 

 when Auckland was in its swaddling clothes the small stone Maori church of the Tamaki. 



On the opposite shore of the Harbour lies the charming little borough of Devonport, 

 with its couple of wharves, between which and the city a fleet of well-appointed ferry- 

 steamers constructed after the fashion of American river-boats ply at half-hourly 

 intervals from either side. Higher up is the Calliope Graving Dock, with men-o'-war 

 anchored out in the stream not far from it, and vessels of every rig and from every 

 clime lying motionless at their moorings in mid-channel, or berthed at the various 

 wharves. Right in front sits the city, her feet in the sparkling water, her right arm 

 formed by the curvature of Mechanics' Bay, half reclaimed from the sea, and her left 

 arm bent round Freeman's Bay to the breezy plateau of Ponsonby on the west. Across 

 the mouth of Freeman's Bay stretches a breastwork, and the inner area, like that of the 

 other Bay, is in process of reclamation. Opposite the city on the northern side, the 

 shore recedes for miles into the deep concavity of Shoal Bay. On its eastern side is 

 the low peninsula across which is visible the first glimpse of Auckland from the sea. 

 The further arm of the Bay ends in Stokes' Point, within whose shelter lies the North- 

 cote Wharf, affording access to the suburb of the same name, rusticating amid, its 

 strawberry gardens and dairies. Hardly a mile beyond, the eye lights upon the borough 

 of Birkenhead and its wharf, and more remote still is Chelsea, with the brick buildings 

 and tall chimneys of the . New Zealand Sugar Company's refinery, and its wharves in the 

 foreground, and at their back the double line of trim cottages which climb in close 

 order the slope of the hill. These are the comfortable homes of the Company's employes. 



Auckland already ranks as one of the five or six leading cities of Australasia, and 

 from present indications the chances are in favour of her soon disputing Adelaide's 

 title to precedence. For capacity, combined with the utmost facility of entrance by 

 night or day, the Port is without rival in these seas. Vessels of the largest size may 

 fearlessly enter at any state of the tide. Off Tiritiri Light-house an anchorage is afforded 

 of from twelve to sixteen fathoms, and thence to Rangitoto the depth is from eight to 



