331 
grapher, who had started from Takatahi on the Southside of the 
harbour, chose the Awaroa-road; whilst I with Haast and Koch 
took the Oparau-road. 
Mr. Charleston haying kindly placed his boat at our disposal, 
we set out with the beginning of spring-tide. The Oparau-river 
empties into the Kawhia Harbour between the peninsulas Tiritiri- 
matangi and Otururu. A close acquaintance with the channels 
between the extensive sandbanks is necessary in order to reach the 
river. Our adventurous pilots set us repeatedly upon the sand, 
before arriving in the narrow river-bed. We could proceed only 
a short distance farther up, and then landed close by a mill. The 
mill is called the Mangapapa-mill , after a small brook, on which it 
stands, and belongs to a Frenchman. The country on the Oparau 
is extremely fertile and well cultivated. The soil consists of de- 
composed trachytic tuff and conglomerate, extending from the 
trachyte-stock of the Pirongia as far as the Eastside of Kawhia 
Harbour. We proceeded a few more miles up-hill, and, when evening 
had set in, we pitched our tents upon a potatoe-field at the edge 
of the bush. 
March 29. — The night was star-light and very cold. Early 
in the morning I saw, for the first time during our journey, frost 
upon the ground. The road carried us higher and higher up into 
the mountains, now tlnmigh bush, now across open heights cov- 
ered with fern, from which a charming view is had of Kawhia 
Harbour, and a retrospect upon the country just passed through. 
After crossing several mountain-streams, the traveller enters into 
the bush, through which lie ascends to the mountain-ridge forming 
the water-slied between the West Coast and the Waipa. On the 
right of the road, after having reached the highest point of the 
pass (1585 feet above the sea), there stands a gigantic Rata tree 
(Metrosideros robustaj , about 100 feet high. The root-stock forms 
a cone 8 feet high; then the trunk begins, the circumference of 
which at a height of 4 feet above the root-stock amounts to 46 feet 
8 inches. The tree appeared to be perfectly sound, and was en- 
tirely overgrown with parasitical Bromeliacese. In the bush I gath- 
