mS AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



and-rail enclosure wherein sleep some of the actors in a desperate engagement ; Waito- 

 tara, in the heart of a deep and lovely vale, carrying in its background the eminence 

 on which stood the famous Wereroa pah ; thence by peaceful homesteads and rich 

 pastures to Waverley, in the centre of a prosperous grazing country. Over the 

 Whenuakura River, and through the fertile confiscated block of the same name, the train 

 hurries with unslackened speed till, crossing the Patea River, it enters the province of 

 Taranaki " The Garden of New Zealand " and draws up at the Railway Station of the 

 town of Patea. A run of eighteen miles conducts thence to Hawera, a busy township 

 seated in the midst of a plain, and bearing the evidence of having progressed rapidly 

 to its present status. The opening up of the Waimate Plains, lying between the railway 

 and the sea-coast, gave it a powerful impetus, and the Plains are still one of the main 

 sources of its stability. They lie on the other side of the Waingongora River, and are 

 about twenty miles in length by six in breadth. They are dotted over with Maori palis 

 and villages and small European settlements, of which the principal are Manai and 

 Opunake. It is twelve miles from Hawera to Stratford, the nearest point on the 

 line to Mount Egmont, and thence to New Plymouth the route lies through a 

 valuable bush-country, in which extensive clearings, with a view to agricultural occupa- 

 tion, have been made. 



New Plymouth has a prepossessing aspect. It slopes gradually upward from the 

 beach amid trees and gardens, and is backed by a dark green zone of native bush, 

 while in the distance towers the majestic form of Mount Egmont, affluent of picturesque 

 beauty, and sufficient of itself to transform into loveliness the tamest landscape. Mars- 

 land Hill, formerly the site of a military barracks, is the central point of the immediate 

 foreground, and all around it lie churches, chapels and residences, environed by planta- 

 tions of trees whose luxuriant growth attests the generous qualities of the soil. At the 

 foot of the hill stands the Anglican Church of St. Mary, built of stone, and containing 

 in its church-yard the remains of many soldiers and settlers who fell in various actions 

 with the Maoris. The business portion of the town hugs the sea-shore ; while the 

 Huatoki Creek, as it winds its devious way through the place, adds its own attractions 

 to the coup-d' a?il. Farther to the east, the Henui River flows past the Public Cemetery, 

 prettily laid out and possessing several interesting memorials of the wars which have 

 convulsed the district at one time or another. The Recreation Grounds are pleasantly 

 laid out, and are an agreeable resort for an afternoon's stroll, or for a row upon the 

 lake in their midst. Next to Mount Egmont, the most striking features of the prospect 

 presented by New Plymouth are the " Sugar Loaves," a cluster of sandstone cones 

 slightly to the west of the town, one of them being on the main-land and the others 

 forming islets just off the shore, which glitters with its dark masses of iron-sand. 



The harbour is an open roadstead, and in times past the feat of landing on its 

 surf-bound beach in windy weather had its peculiar excitements and perils, but the con- 

 struction of a breakwater nearly two thousand feet long has greatly lessened these risks, 

 and improved the shipping facilities of the place. New Plymouth has its gas-works, and 

 it derives an abundant water-supply from the Waiwakaiho River, two miles distant. The 

 entire country between New Plymouth and the Patea River is of exceptional fertility. 

 This natural richness must be attributed in great measure to Mount Egmont, from 



