I 
CHAPTER XIY. 
On the lower Waikato; from Auckland to Taupiri. 
Bush travelling- in New Zealand. — Supply of provisions. — Other articles of equip- 
ment. — Fern and flax. — Departure from Auckland. — Drury Hotel. — Mangatawhiri. — 
Sueking pigs. — Tims far and no farther. — Our embarkation. — The Waikato, the main 
artery of the country. — Maori- politics. — Boat-songs. — Tiutiu. — Pukatea. — Eels. — 
Lake Wangape. — The Pah Rangiriri. — Lake Waikare. — The river-island Taipouri. — 
Brown coal at Kupakupa. — The Taupiri range. — The Mission station on the Taupiri. 
The journey through the interior of the North Island, which I 
will describe in the following chapters according to the contents of 
my diary, is but a small one, considering the distance travelled over, 
about 700 English miles. In European countries, where rail-roads 
and steam-boats are at disposal , one might travel over the same 
distance in a few days; but compared with the rapidity and the 
luxurious ease with which such a journey is performed in Europe, 
travelling in New Zealand is slow and laborious, and a lengthened 
expedition into the interior cannot be undertaken without some 
preparations. Roads passable for vehicles, lead to a distance of 
only a few miles from the towns; and passages practicable for 
* horsemen , at least in the interior of the North Island , were not 
many. The horse, which to the traveller upon the extensive, open 
plains in the interior of Australia is totally indispensable, is by 
no means of the same service in New Zealand. In many districts, 
it would not only want the necessary feed, but the difficulties arising 
from the nature of the ground are also such , that the horse must 
soon prove to the traveller a burthen rather than a help. Almost 
