DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND. 



1091 



northerly township on the east coast, and it is reached by a few hours' steaming from 

 Whangaroa. The land in the immediate vicinity of the settlement is generally of poor 

 quality for pastoral or agricultural purposes, but its barrenness is compensated for by 

 prolific deposits of kauri -gum the crystallized exudation of the kauri pine which 





THE WAIRUA FALLS. 



denotes that at one 

 time the district was 

 the site of a dense 

 forest. In fact, timber 

 still abounds, and the 

 presence of a saw-mill 

 with good wharfage 

 accommodation shows 

 that it is duly utilized. 

 But the land is not all 

 of inferior quality. A 



glimpse at Oruru and the fertile Victoria Valley, with their smiling homesteads, will 

 suffice to dispel any illusion of the kind. Mangonui like Russell farther south, and 

 Hokianga on the opposite coast had its palmy days when whaling was almost the sole 



