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arid the Mangawhero, the river takes a south-easterly direction to- 
wards the Rangitoto-range. The valley here changes to an exten- 
sive plain covered with Kahikatea-forests ; in the background rises 
the wood-clad Rangitoto-range forming the water-shed between the 
Waipa on one hand, and the Mokau and Wanganui rivers on the 
other. The river-pebbles lead us to suppose , that the Rangitoto- 
range consists ot shale, sandstone and marl, and consequently is 
not of a volcanic origin. 
April 2. — In the morning the mountains were shrouded 
in dense fogs, which vanished towards noon. The sky, however, 
remained veiled all day, so that the sun could scarcely peep through. 
It was not until sun-set, that the misty veil arranged itself in 
chains or streaks of fleecy cloudlets , all shooting from Northwest, 
and lit up by the magnificent red and yellow lustre of the parting- 
sun , thus imparting to the sky a quite peculiar appearance , and 
promising a bright and clear morning. 
We set out from Orahiri at 8 o’clock. The little Orahiri creek 
is dammed up , and forms a mill-pond which abounds in eel. Our 
road lay across the dam. Here we left the Waipa valley, and 
turning in a south-westerly direction to the heights on the left bank 
of the Mangapu, we reached the Mangapu valley itself about six 
miles from Orahiri, near the Maori village Hangatiki. Here the 
Mangapu receives the Mangaokewa from the right. The steep ridge 
between the two rivers , at the foot of which the church of Han- 
gatiki stands , is called Pukeroa. The inhabitants of the settlement 
belong to the Ngatihuiau-tribe , and have the reputation of having- 
acquired to perfection all the tricks and wiles of European ped- 
dling Jews. Yet, they very kindly brought me some grapes, the 
first I saw and tasted in New Zealand ; I found them , however, 
very sour. 
The landscape here assumes a new character. From the broad, 
open valleys of the upper Waipa, the traveller, in passing up the 
Mangapu , gradually enters the mountains and hills bordering the 
plains of the Waipa and Waikato to the South and Southwest. 
Hangatiki is situated just at the foot of the higher table-land which, 
