with in Now Zealand. The ferns, the usual growth of all open 
tracts of land, were wanting here as far as the limestone extended; 
while they covered with their thicket all the tuff-hills rising above 
the plain. At the southern! of the plain, sharp rugged limestone- 
rocks, called Terore awairoa, form a small defile. Thence we 
ascended a wood-clad hill, and in the evening reached Takapau, a 
settlement consisting of a few deserted raupo huts. 
April 5. — During the night a heavy gale blew from South- 
west with frequent gusts of rain ; but towards morning it cleared 
off again. Descending from the height on which Takapau is situ- 
ated, we came past the ancient Pali Whararipa. The rock, upon 
which the Maori-stronghold stood , arises with steep ascent from 
an extensive swampy plain; its lower part consists of tabular lime- 
stone , the top of trachytic tuff’. On the Eastside , there issues 
from a cave the W aitoatoa , a tributary of the Mokau, whose 
district we had just reached. The road continuing partly through 
marshy river-bottoms , partly across the rugged crests of the 
hilly range that intervene between the several valleys , reaches 
the Mokau valley not far from Piopio , at the mouth of the 
Mangakohai. 
Piopio is a small settlement consisting of only three huts. 
Nevertheless we found a large company of Maoris congregated 
there for a festival. On our approach , they came out to meet us 
bearing baskets full of potatoes and meat. A continuation of our 
journey was for the present quite out of the question, until the 
very last meat-basket 1 was emptied. I had to resign myself to 
my fate and, moreover, was obliged to rub noses with an extremely 
pleasant old woman, the honourable spouse of the great Mokau 
chief Ngature, who kindly administered to me a fat piece of pork, 
potatoes and apples, and invited me to seat myself by her side 
upon the unrolled mat, amid a group of weather-beaten faces, 
which without any further disguise might have appeared most cre- 
ditably in the wellknown scene in Macbeth. The occasion of the 
1 The baskets are called Patua, and are made of the bark of the Totara-tree; 
they were filled with meat and fat to the brim. 
