CHAPTER XVI. 
From the Waipa through the Mokau and Tuhua districts to Lake Taupo. 
On the upper Waipa. — Terrace-formation. — Orahiri. — Hangatiki. — Caves with 
Moa-bones. — The stalactite-cave Te ana Uriuri. — Sabbath breaking punished. — Manga- 
whitikau. — Limestone plateau with caves, subterraneous river passages, and funnel-shaped 
holes. — Puke Aruhe. — Stay at Piopio; rubbing of noses. — Moa-bones. — Wairere ra- 
pids. — Pukewhau. — The Mokau river. — Bush and swamp. — A wood-colony* — Maori 
cooking-stove. — Tapuiwahine mountain. — In the Ohura and Ongaruhe valley. — On the 
summit of the Ngariha. — View of Tongariro and Ruapahu. — A Tangi in Petania. — 
Puketapu. — Nothing but bush, — Pumice-stone plateau Moerangi. — Arrival at Lake Taupo. 
To reach lake Taupo from the Waipa , T had the choice of two 
roads. The one, via Otawhao , past the foot of the Managatautari, 
along the Waikato valley reaches lake Taupo at its Northern!. This 
is the road taken by Dieffenbach in 1841, and over which the 
mail is now carried every fortnight by Maoris from Aliuriri on 
the East Coast to Auckland. The second road leads up the Waipa 
through the upper Mokau and Wanganui country to the Southend 
of the lake. This is longer and much rougher than the former; 
as it leads, however, through rarely frequented districts, it pro- 
mised many interesting items. I was the less reluctant to decide 
upon the second route, because I hoped to succeed in gathering 
there some moa-bones; and consequently I fixed upon the 1 st of 
April as the day for continuing our journey. 
Thus with a new month also a new chapter of our journey 
opened. Up to the present we had after a few days’ journey re- 
