Chap. IV. MONUMENT. 9| 
At last I reached the top in safety. Here E Kuru, 
with all his family and adherents, were drawn up to 
receive me. He has a nice, quiet, happy-looking set- 
tlement, on the flat, about 300 yards in breadth, which 
intervenes between the edge of the cliff and the hills. 
The next day I was guided by him and a large train to 
a mountain called Aurupu, close to the river, about two 
miles higher up, from which I got a view of Tonga 
Riro and Mount Egmont. There is an extensive tract 
of fine wooded upland country all about here, not very 
hilly, and possessing an extremely rich soil. In many 
places, cleared by the natives, there are tracts of 500 
or 600 acres where the plough could be used. The 
native plantations on both sides of the river are very 
extensive. 
After enjoying the view, we descended to the river's 
bank, and crossed in a canoe to Tieke, a large settlement 
two miles higher up the river than Tata, and inhabited 
by people chiefly of the Ngatiawa trilie related to E 
Kuru. Here there is a beautiful monument in honour 
of a dead chieftainess. It consists, as usual, of a large 
canoe stuck upright, and is 30 feet high, ornamented 
with carving representing three figures standing one at 
the top of the other's head. The workmanship is most 
elaborate, scarcely a square inch of the wood being left 
plain ; and the whole is painted with red ochre and 
fringed with albatross feathers. The two men who 
carved it told me it took them six weeks to complete. 
The bones of the person to whose memory the monu- 
ment was sacred were pointed out to me up in a tree. 
It is a common custom with the natives to expose 
bodies in this way, covered with old mats, on platforms 
in high trees, or elevated on long poles, till the flesh 
has rotted off the bones. The bones are then collected 
and placed in their final mausoleum, generally an 
