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where the river, after breaking through the Taupiri range, enters 
the low-lands of its lower basin. On my return from the Rangiriri 
bill , I found some well-executed photographs ready of the land- 
scapes along the banks of the river, which gave me great pleasure, 
because after these first successful attempts I had reasons to hope, 
that I should not have to regret having brought with me an artist 
with his apparatus , the transportation of which was necessarily 
connected with great difficulty during the overland journey. The 
Maoris, on the other hand, had killed the pig and promised us a 
juicey roast for the evening. 
At about 2 o’clock in the afternoon we started again. We met 
quite a number of canoes on the river, and in one of them the 
Maori women , who had come with us from Mangatawhiri , at last 
found their long-looked-for husbands again. The shipping of them 
was the work of a few minutes. In exchange for the women with 
their children we received from the other canoe four stout young 
men on board, and now we proceeded up the river at full speed. 
At sunset we put in at the West-side of the river-island Taipuri, 
the largest island in the Waikato, by some extremely scanty look- 
ing huts. The inhabitants very kindly brought us melons and 
apples as a token of welcome, helped us pitch our tents, kindle 
a fire, and before night had set in, we lay snug and comfortable 
in our camp, and the cook brought us the promised roast-pig. 
March 11. — Pouring rain delayed our departure. It was 
not until 11 o’clock, when the sky seemed to be clearing off , that 
we could proceed on our course. We were drawing nearer and nearer 
to the range, which closes the lower Waikato Basin towards the 
South. Gray fogs and rain-clouds were hanging over the moun- 
tains, and some dark blots in the gloomy picture were all that 
designated the narrow mountain pass, by which the river breaks 
through the mountains. When, after a bend of the river two of 
the first advance-heights have been passed, — then the valley opens, 
and the wood-clad top of the Taupiri, from which the range has 
received its name, becomes visible. 
In Auckland, already, I had heard of beds of coal appearing 
