124 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IV. 
the Ikurangi people through fear of baing surprised 
by a war-party from Taupo. 
On this table-land I saw a great extent of flax culti- 
vations, which have not been used since the time when 
traders from Sydney used to buy large quantities of it 
from the Wanganui natives. The plants were all of 
the tihore, or best species of flax ; with leaves ten to 
twelve feet long, and so luxuriant in their growth, 
that although they were planted in rows at the dis- 
tance of eight feet apart, the outer leaves of one plant 
met those of the next. They have of course been 
transplanted to this elevated situation, which was 
formerly forest, and possesses a rich loamy soil. 
The next morning we descended the long hill to 
the river, got a canoe, and proceeded to my house. 
The upper road to Taupo, by the Alangmiui, is, in my 
opinion, by far the easier of the two ; but both must 
be difficult in winter, when the streams are swollen 
by the melting of the snows from Tonga Riro, 
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