4 Nev) Zealand Institute. 



with a request addressed to me, to give a short accoiint of liiy visits to two 

 of the most remarkable regions to be found in this or in any other country. 

 I allude, in the first place, to the great volcanic zone in the North Island, 

 including the famous Hot Lakes and Springs ; and, secondly, to Milford 

 Sound, and the other grand and wondrous inlets of the south-west coast of the 

 Middle Island. On the present occasion, I have been requested to contribute 

 some descriptions of the great Lake of Taupo and of the surrounding districts, 

 which I visited on my recent journey overland from Wellington to Auckland, 

 across the centre of the ISTorth Island. As it has been previously remarked, 

 " the official tours of a Governor may be made practically useful, for they 

 enable him to point out from personal knowledge, and in an authoritative 

 shape, the resources and capabilities of the several districts of the Colony over 

 which he presides, and the advantages which they aiford for immigration, and 

 for the investment of capital." It is well known that the published reports 

 of my journeys throughout all the Provinces of New Zealand have attracted 

 much attention in the mother country ; and that Her Majesty's Government 

 have thought it right, in the interests of this community, to give them wide 

 and official circulation by presenting them to the Imperial Parliament. 



I approached the Lake of Taupo from Napier, which I left on the 6th of 

 last April. On that evening we reached the first post of the Colonial Forces 

 at Te Haroto, thii-ty-five miles from the port, after passing over an undulating 

 country of hill and valley, which, now that permanent tranquillity appears to 

 have been established, will soon be occupied by settlers. Te Haroto is a 

 strong position, 2,200 feet above the sea, on a high hill, which commands an 

 extensive and magnificent prospect of the open ocean and of the coast, as well 

 as of the wild mountains and forests of the Urewera country. On the follow- 

 ing day we rode from Te Haroto to Opepe, a distance of forty-two miles, over 

 much rich land, and through some beautiful scenery of hill and woodland, 

 which reminds the European traveller of the Apennines and of the Italian 

 slopes of the Alps, though the semi-tropical luxuriance of the New Zealand 

 forests far surpasses the vegetation of the Old World. It was at Opepe that, 

 in June, 1869, a detachment of the Colonial Forces was surprised and cut to 

 pieces by Te Kooti. On the 8th we left Opepe ; at a distance from which of 

 some twelve miles we reached Tapuaeharuru, the native pa at the north end 

 of the Lake of Taupo, near the spot where the Piver Waikato issues from it 

 with tremendous speed and force. Here the Governor was received with 

 much enthusiasm by the Maoris of the Ngatituwharetoa clan, headed by the 

 loyal chief Poiliipi Tukairan^i, one of the last survivors of those who signed 

 the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 ; and one of the few chiefs of the central 

 districts of this island who have remained throughout stedfast in their 

 allegiance to the Queen. 



