347 



From the Manawatu we proceeded to ascend the Otaki river. 



I was rather surprised at the breadth of fertile land between Otaki and 

 the hills. It took us two hours hard walking (with packs), to reach the 

 Wairarapa pa, and then we had not reached the hills. At the Wairarapa pa 

 the question of the ascent of the river was discussed by the Maoris, and it was 

 settled that a deputation of two was to accompany us to see that we did not 

 carry away too much gold. 



The valley of the Otaki river is remarkably similar to those of the Waio- 

 hine and Ruamahunga, but it is less wild and the cliffs are not so high. The 

 river winds between cliffs about seventy feet high, composed of highly inclined 

 slates, sandstones, etc., capped by gravel terraces, the latter formation of 

 various thicknesses, from six to thirty feet. Mamaku and other tree ferns 

 abound. The stream is rapid and quite deep enough for wading, indeed it was 

 sometimes difficult to keep one's feet. As we approached the central range the 

 Waitatapia was passed, falling into the right bank. Up this stream lies the 

 road to the Ohau river. A short distance higher up, and we may say at the 

 base of the centi'al range, the Otaki divides into two branches, that from the 

 northward retaining the name of the Otaki, while the southern branch is called 

 the Waiotaueru. The northern branch is said to be full of deep holes and 

 very inaccessible. We ascended the Waiotaueru for some miles, and encamped 

 near where a stream falls into the right bank. 



We were now in the midst of soft vertical slate rocks, which had been 

 described to me as full of quartz veins, but the said quartz veins turned out to 

 be carbonate of lime. The same pyritous slates with carbonate of lime veins 

 which I had found in the Wairarapa rivers and elsewhere, were here very 

 largely developed. In the neighbotirhood I found the black mineral found 

 elsewhere, viz., graphite, but no metal except iron pyrites is visible in the 

 carbonate of lime veins themselves. 



Ascending from Otaki we soon looked down upon the range above Wai- 

 kanae, which I find the natives call Rimutaka, so that name is not confined to 

 the range adjoining the southern part of Wairarapa. It now appeared to me 

 that only one ridge separates the Waiotaueru from the Akatarewa, and that by 

 turning to the right in the ascent of the latter river, and crossing one range, 

 the Waiotaueru would be reached with ease. After about five hours climbing 

 we found the trees become Alpine in character and covered with moss, and in 

 five and a half hours we emerged from the forest upon the open ridges above at 

 a height of about 4000 feet above the sea. The Alpine trees were mostly 

 totara and black birch. The vegetation above the forest, shrubs of veronica, 

 tarata, a sort of broom, moss, flax, toi and a little grass. 



Here we were surrounded by snowy ridges and commanded a most exten- 

 sive view. The Kaikouras were very distinct, and also the Bluff, and the 

 land about Cape Campbell, with that part of Cook's Straits lying between the 

 latter and the land about Wellington. The mountains surrounding us were 

 broken into long and very steep ridges, separated by ravines some 2000 feet 

 deep, all forest except the line over 4000 feet, which is open, but in which 

 bushes are found, often as difficult to pass through as the bush. 



There was no appearance of any level land within the mountains. 



We looked down upon the Ohau valley, a deep ravine, but the view 

 towards the far N.W. was shut out. 



KARORI, MAKARA, AND TERAWITI. 



The following remarks were made on those districts in December, 1861 : — 



In November, 1861, I visited the Karori and Waiariki valleys, near 



Cape Terawiti, and although the men who had been at work at the diggings 



there were absent, and I was therefore unable to obtain various details, yet I 



z z 



