DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND. 



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whose slopes no less than ninety-seven streams meander through the woods and downs 

 of the district to the sea. Its Waimate Plains have already achieved a colonial celebrity 

 for well-fed stock, and their dairy produce is in great request throughout the North 

 Island, butter especially forming a notable article of export. A charming drive of some 

 nine or ten miles takes one to the rising town of Waitara, on the river of the same 

 name. It is outbidding the older town as the port of call for the through traffic from 



THE WELLINGTON POST OFFICE. 



the Manukau, and is rapidly developing into a place of importance. Thence the drive 

 may be extended to the Waimate Plains, where the tourist may visit the celebrated 

 prophet Te Whiti, in his native village of Parihaka, in the market-place of which he 

 was wont to deliver to throngs of natives those monthly harangues which were for a 

 long time as eagerly canvassed by the Press of the colony as were the utterances of 

 its public men. The prophet still occasionally speaks, but his wana (authority) has 

 practically departed, and he is no longer to be reckoned as a disturbing force in the 



