Annive^'sary Addresfi. 7 



coffin. The sacred remains were intended to be then conveyed to the summit 

 of Tongariro ; for the deep crater of the volcano was designed to be the fnuil 

 grave of the hero, with the heaven-ascending j)yramid of scoriae and a,shes for 

 his monument. But this grand idea was only half carried out. As the 

 bearers were approaching the top of the ever-steaming cone, a subterraneous 

 roaring noise became audible, and, awe-struck, they deposited their burden 

 upon a projecting rock. There the remains still lie. The mountain, however, 

 is most strictly tapu, and nobody is allowed to ascend it." 



On the morning, of the 10th of April we started on horseback, escorted by 

 the principal chiefs, for Rotoaira, a small and pretty lake at the foot of 

 Tongariro, and about ten miles north of Tokano. At first we rode over the 

 rich alluvial delta formed by the Upper Waikato where it flows into Taupo, 

 and which is in part cultivated by the natives. Then, turning to the right, 

 we skirted the wooded base of Pihanga, the hill renowned in Maori legend as 

 the spouse of Tongariro. The native tradition runs that of yore three 

 mighty giants, Tongariro, Taranaki, and Euapehu — like Pelion, Ossa, and 

 Olympus — stood side by side, until Taranaki attempted to carry off Pihanga, 

 his brother's wife. Then arose a combat like that in the classical mythology 

 between the Gods and the Titans ; in which the false Taranaki was at length 

 worsted and forced to fly, drawing after him the deep furrow of the river 

 Wanganui. His flight was stayed only by the western ocean, where he now 

 stands on the shore in solitary and mournful grandeur, his hoary head 

 covered with perpetual snow, — the magnificent cone of Mount Egmont.* 



The scenery of this region is very fascinating. The bleak shores of the 

 Lake of Taupo are, for the most part, little fitted for European settlement ; 

 but from under Tongariro and Kuapehu, stretch away East, West, and South, 

 well-grassed and well-watered valleys, separating mountain ranges that wave 

 with primeval forests. As yet, there is scarcely any sign of human habitation, 

 past or present, in this glorious country ; but the native owners are already 

 in treaty to lease large portions of it to English settlers. As we stood together 

 on the lower slopes of Tongariro, one of the Maori lords of the soil, after 

 casting a proud glance over his wide domains, turned to me and said that he 

 had lived through many changes, that he remembered the first settlement of 

 the white strangers in New Zealand, and that he now cherished the hope 

 that the rents of the broad lands of his ancestors would enable him to sj)end 

 his old age in peace, and to educate his children in the language and arts of 

 the English. He longed before he died to see the fair valleys and plains, 

 now lying silent and untenanted before us, overspread by herds of cattle and 

 flocks of sheep ; with English homesteads and townships rising up along the 

 rivers and in the glades of the forests ; and with steamboats, bearing the 



* So Captain Cook named the Taranaki of the Maoris. 



