EXPLANATION OF THE MAPS. 
times to carry tlieir canoes from one side of the island to the 
other, and this has given rise to the idea of forming a canal, 
and thus uniting the two seas. # 
While the Waitemata is the most central amongst the many 
harbours of the East Coast, the Manukau basin is, of all the 
harbours of the West Coast, the best, and the only one which is 
available, without danger, for large ships. The clear-sighted¬ 
ness of Captain Hobson, who, in 1840, recommended to the 
British Government, as the most suitable situation for the 
Capital of New Zealand, this isthmus, on both coasts of which 
navigation is so easy and safe, and which is so centrally and 
favourably situated for connecting both larger continents of 
the Northern Island, deserves all commendation. No other 
position in the Northern Island offers, by its central situation, 
the advantages of so easy and safe a water communication in 
all directions. Besides the numerous arms of the sea which 
penetrate in manifold directions deep into the land, there are 
numerous navigable rivers such as the Kaipara, Wairoa, 
Waikato, Piako, and Waiho, all of which are of easy access 
from this isthmus. 
Auckland, the present capital of New Zealand, and the 
principal town of the Province of Auckland, is the seat of 
the Colonial and Provincial Governments, and was established 
in the year 1840. It is situated on the northern side of the 
isthmus, on the banks of the Waitemata. Of rapid growth, 
and extending itself from year to year, in 1861 this city 
numbered 8,000 inhabitants. More than this number occupy 
the vicinity of the town and the country of the district of 
Auckland. 
A beautiful macadamised road leads from Auckland to 
Onehunga, or the Manukau Harbour. Onehunga—originally 
a settlement of pensioners, who each received from the 
Government a cottage and an acre of land—has rapidly pro¬ 
gressed, and is now a considerable town, and on account of its 
pleasant position it is the favourite retreat of many of the 
wealthier class of Auckland. Between Auckland and One- 
* The western isthmus is the so-called Whau portage, which is one 
mile wide, the highest elevation being 111 feet. The eastern isthmus is 
the Tamaki portage, near Otahuhu, south of Mount .Richmond, and is 
only 3,900 feet long and 66 feet high. 
