Chap. Vni. PLAIN OF RITAMAHANGA. 217 
Manawatu and the Ruamahanga plain as alternate 
forest and fern land, and conceived that the ridges 
might have been entirely avoided, had they made a cir- 
cuit round their north-eastern extremities. Thus, 
the plain of the upper Manawatu was evidently in 
easy connexion with those so often described by va- 
rious travellers about the country which opens on to 
Hawke's Bay, and also with the vast plain of the 
Ruamahanga. And through the gorge of the Mana- 
watu, this immense tract of available and almost 
uninhabited country may be connected with that 
which lies between Cook's Strait and the Ruahine 
and Tararua ranges, and around Mount Egmont as 
far north as Mokau. 
Although the party suffered severely from the 
weather, which was constantly wet at this season of 
the year where they were travelling, round the spurs 
of one of the great dividing ranges of the island, yet 
all concurred in describing the plain of Ruamahanga 
as a most delightful tract of country. 
The plain was described as 60 miles in length, from 
the ridges which separate it from the upper Manawatu 
to the sea; and of an average width of 12 miles 
between the Puketoi range, which divides it from 
the east coast, and the Tararua range, and that long 
spur of it the Rimutaka, which lies between the Hutt 
and the Ruamahanga. 
The IVairara'pa lake, 10 miles in length, and 
averaging two in width, fills up the lower part of 
the plain. 
They failed in two successive attempts to discover 
a passable path over the Rimutaka ; and endured 
considerable hardship from the continued heavy rains 
among the hills, and from the want of food expe- 
rienced since they had left the plain, where the nu- 
