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Whanganui. Topini, I found, was an old friend of mine, in the year 1840, in 

 Wellington, so lie treated me kindly, notwithstanding his having been a rebel 

 in the Hutt in 1847, and afterwards having fought against us at Whanganui. 

 He was busy getting in his wheat crop, and until that was done we could not 

 get a canoe, so we were obliged to remain patiently. Topini informed me that 

 slate rocks were found two days' journey up the Whakapapa, and he said that 

 they contained a metal — possibly cubes of iron pyrites. This information is 

 probably correct, supported by my discovery of slates in the bed of the 

 Waipare. 



At Tapuia Kumera there is a considerable extent of flat land, and since 

 striking the Whanganui we had passed many cultivations. Groves of peach 

 trees were common, and wheat, maize, tobacco, potatoes, etc., were cultivated. 



Hereabouts series of strata are largely developed, which, although I dis- 

 covered no coal seam, T have no hesitation in putting down as coal shales. 

 They dip to the S.W. at an angle of about 20°, and contain plant remains. 

 The terraces, and immediate banks of the river, are chiefly formed of pumice 

 and volcanic ashes, sometimes forming tufa. 



I may here call attention to the enormous quantity of pumice which must 

 have been thrown out by the central volcanoes. Terraces of immense extent 

 in the interior, are formed chiefly of pumice, and the rivers flowing from them, 

 such as the Waikato, the Wairoa, the Whanganui, are constantly floating 

 pumice to the sea, on the west, the south-west, and the eastern sides of the 

 island. At the township of Whanganui tons of pumice are constantly floating 

 past, and should the article be of any commercial value a vessel could load at 

 her anchorage in mid-stream, by merely putting out some sort of net to catch 

 the pumice as it floated past. 



Two or three miles below Tapuia Kumera, the Ongarue, a tributary of 

 large size, falls into the right bank of the Whanganui, at a place called Tau- 

 marunui. Ongarue receives above this junction, the waters of Te ringa motu, 

 and from this point an open country is said to extend, with only one inter- 

 vening-bush, to Ngaruawahia. 



At length Topini's harvest was garnered and secured, and we commenced 

 the descent of the river. From Tapuia Kumera to Marai Kowhai, the next 

 village of importance, and the chief residence of Topini, we occupied nine and a 

 half hours transit, giving a distance of probably more than sixty miles. 



In this distance we passed the Paparoa rapids, the worst on the river. 

 Above these rapids the coal shales pass beneath tertiary limestones and blue 

 clay, which latter continue far down the river. 



Marai Kowhai is situated in the angle on the south side of the Ohura river, 

 where that river joins the Whanganui, falling into the right bank. At this 

 village commenced the warfare with the JSTgatitu tribe who were conquered 

 some years ago by Topini. 



The Ohura river passes into the Whanganui after descending two water- 

 falls, in the neighbourhood of which coal seams crop out. 



I am informed that this river traverses a fine open country in the direc- 

 tion of the Waipa and the district of JSTgatimaniopoto. 



On the following day we passed the mouth of the Tangarakau, on our 

 descent, in two hours and three quarters from Marai Kowhai, a distance of 

 about twenty miles. The sources of the Tangarakau must adjoin those of the 

 Waitara. 



We find, therefore, three lines of communication opening from the right 

 bank of the Whanganui — 



1. To the Waikato, by the line of Ongarue. 



2. To the Waipa, by the line of the Ohura. 



3. To the Waitara, by the line of Tangarakau. 



