HISTORY. 
215 
of Islands, with the surrounding country, may contain 400 
inhabitants; Wangaroa, another harbour, 50; Mangonui, in 
Doubtless Bay, 100; Kawia, 50; making the entire popula¬ 
tion of the province, taking in the Thames, Tauranga, Wain- 
garoa, Aotea, and Waikato, about 13,000. 
Taranaki, or New Plymouth, is the adjoining province, 
about a day’s run from Manukau, to the south-west; it is 
celebrated for its noble snow-capped mountain, formerly called 
Taranaki, now named Mount Egmont, which seems to rise 
from the sea to the elevation of 8,676 feet, and terminates 
with a perfect cone: this beautiful mountain, with its rich 
forest belt, gives a character to the country, and excites the 
admiration of every beholder. The land between its base 
and the sea is heavily timbered, but good. It is there the 
settlement has been formed; but it is at present very contracted 
in extent, and having no port, but only an open roadstead, it 
must chiefly be an agricultural district;* its population may be 
between 2,000 and 3,000. New Plymouth is about 200 
miles south of Auckland, or 140 miles by sea, in a direct 
line; it is 150 miles distant from Wanganui, a settlement 
formed at the mouth of a noble river, which takes its rise 
from Tongariro, the highest range of the northern island. A 
block of land running more than forty miles along the coast, by 
nearly thirty in depth, was purchased of the natives in 1848-9, 
thus opening a wide range for selection, and during the last 
three or four years, since the new land regulation has been in 
force, offering it for sale at 10s. per acre, emigrants have kept 
flocking to the district, so that already the population num¬ 
bers more than 1,000, exclusive of the military, who, with 
their families, amount to about 300 more. As this is the chief 
river on the coast, and the only port for a very extensive dis¬ 
trict, it is sure to become a place of considerable importance, 
being likewise the grand mart of the interior. The river, which 
is navigable for large canoes to within a day’s walk of Taupo, a 
distance of full 200 miles, enables the interior natives to send 
* The land purchased of the natives is about 20,000 acres. The want of 
extent is a great drawback to the future prosperity of the place, as it obliges 
many of the fresh settlers to go elsewhere. 
