131 
ROADS, 
PASSES, AND AVAILABLE LAND, 
1 shall now enumerate the different pakis, or open tracts of 
land, and give a short description of them. 
Ihe Ohmetaki-taki, between the Grey and the Ahaura, is a 
errace o about 150 feet in height, generally covered with a 
uxurian growth of grass, hnt in some places scrubby, and in 
others stony. In front of it, along the left bank of the Grey, 
■ runs a ® 0 RRd, containing very fertile soil, covered with 
manuka, lias, fern, and grass, which will he valuable for agri¬ 
cultural purposes. The low land near the river comprises about 
eight square miles, and the terrace above it about ten square 
. Tlu ne 1 Xt ( ;? lled h J the natives T e Ikamatua, lies on the 
right bank of the Grey, above the junction of the Mawhera-iti. It 
is also covered with a mixed vegetation, similar to that in the low 
land of the Ohmetaki-taki. There is here but a very small grassy 
terrace on its northern side, the forest beginning immediately 
behind it. The greatest part of this paki consists of very rich 
alluvial soil, which will make the whole valuable for agricultural 
purposes. Extent, about seven square miles. 
The Waipuna is a paki on the left bank of the Grey, where it 
enters the plains. . It consists of four successive terraces, of dif¬ 
ferent relative altitudes, of which the uppermost is highest, the 
whole covered with the same character of vegetation as the two 
pakis before described. There is also some very fine land near 
the river, and the whole will contain about six square miles. 
The paki on the banks of the Otututu consists of four terraces 
of no great height, the three lowest being each from eight to 
fifteen feet, and the uppermost sixty to seventy feet high. Con¬ 
tents, about four square miles; and, for the greater part, stony 
and unfit for cultivation. 
The paki at the Mawhera-iti, in addition to a belt of grass and 
scrub on the banks of the river, comprises several fine grassy 
spots, of which the first, on the eastern side, three and a-half 
miles above the junction of the river with the Grey, is a flat about 
two square miles in extent, consisting of very fine agricultural 
land. The two next, towards the north, lie on the western side 
of the river, and are also covered with grass, but are partly stony. 
Eight miles up the river the terraces become higher, and inter¬ 
posed between them and the river a belt of grass land, from one 
quarter to half a-mile broad, partly composed of very rich soil. 
The terraces themselves are covered with stunted manuka, fern, 
mosses, and toi-toi grass: they are generally swampy, and unfit 
for agriculture. The extent of good open land at the Mawhera-iti 
may be estimated at eight square miles. 
I have not visited the grass lands on the banks of the Inan- 
gahua and its tributary, the Wharau, having only seen it from the 
mountains which I ascended. They are of large extent, and con¬ 
tain, as far as I could judge, in each valley, from 10,000 to 12,000 
k 2 
