166
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

lines of road are about 38, 34, and 42 miles in
length respectively, and passable by horses.

FROM OTAWHAO TO MOKAU.
(By Orahiri and Mangapu.)

There are two roads from Otawhao to Ora-
hiri; one by Orakau and Mohoaonui; the other
by Waipa. On the former, there are five wide
and very dangerous swamps, and several creeks.
The distance is about 19 miles.

(By Waipa—11 miles.)

After crossing the Punia River, which is about
30 feet in width, with a depth of 5 feet and a
half, there is a good open road; it is intersected
however by two small creeks,—the Mangama-
hoe and the Mangawhero—each about 10 feet
wide; the first of which has a bridge thrown
across it, and the latter is shallow.*

FROM THE WAIPA RIVER TO THE JUNCTION
WITH THE OLD ROAD AT MANGAPU.
(30 miles.)

From Aratawa, a small native village, the road
runs parallel with the Waipa to Orahiri, crossing
four swamps, two small creeks, and the Wha-
karongo stream, about 25 feet wide, the fording
place being on the waterfall and thereby ren-
dered dangerous. The Waipa is crossed at
Orahiri, where it is about fifty yards wide, and
four feet deep. At this place there is a flour
mill belonging to the natives of Mohoaonui,
Haurua, and Mangapu.

From Orahiri to the Mangapu river, passing
the Haurua, a large settlement of the Ngatiro-
rau tribe, there is a good open road. This
river, which is about thirty feet wide, deep, and
muddy must be crossed in a canoe. The
Kakauroa settlement is situated on its banks;
and there is a large tract of cultivated land in
this locality. From this place to where it again
crosses the Mangapu, the road passes over a
very rough, broken, and wet country. The
Mangapu, which has here to be recrossed, is
about 30 feet wide, 3 feet deep, with a bad
bottom. Thence to Mangawhitikau the road
is rendered bad, by the numerous swampy
places. The bush on the banks of the Manga-
pu river, and extending about a mile on each
side, is very dense and rough. On the Manga-
whitikau, a small river 10 feet wide, with a
gravelly bottom, there is a cultivation, from
whence the road runs along the edge of a
swamp to the source of the Mangapu, which it
crosses at the junction of the old road from
Waipa.

FROM WAIPA TO THE SOURCE OF MANGAPU.
(By Te Moko o Tipi—36 miles.)

This road, starting from Te Aratawa, crosses
the Waipa river, passes over the Kopua flat,
and crosses the Humareharehare (10 feet wide
and 2 feet deep), the Opihi (15 feet wide, and
2 feet deep) two swamps, and on to Te Moko-o-
Tipi, an old settlement situated on a hill par-
tially deserted; thence through a fine open
country to Waiwatawata, formerly a large set-
tlement, but now reduced to 4 or 5 inhabitants.
A European settler also resides here. From
Waiwatawata the road passes through an open
country to Te Kopi, a deserted settlement,
crossing Mangaone river, 15 feet wide, five
creeks and swamps. Hence, crossing a small
deep creek, through 3 miles of forest, and a
broken but open fern country, to the Motu
Motu, a settlement lately deserted; from here
to Ohinatamaire, also deserted, a distance of 44
miles, through a beautiful rich country, fern
and bush alternating, and crossing 3 creeks and
4 wide and dangerous swamps. The latten may
be avoided by making a circuit to the East-
ward. From Ohinatamaire the road takes a
more southerly course leaving Pareoneonewa,
formerly a large settlement, about a mile to the
Eastward, through a rich and open country,
crossing 3 small creeks, for about 4 miles, to
the deserted settlement of Te Pehitawa. The
road here strikes into the bush for a distance of
24 miles to the Raurau, another deserted set-
tlement. One mile from here, through an
open and beautiful country, is Te Roto Marama,
one of the oldest settlements in the interior,
now, with the adjacent village of Potea, almost
deserted; their occupants, the Ngatikinoahaku
tribes having removed to Kakaroa on the
Mangapu. After a rather steep descent of
about one mile from the Rotomarama the source
of the Mongapu river is reached, where the
roads from Waipa via Te Moho-o-Tipi, and
from Waipa via Orahiri join. The narrowness
of the creeks, and soundness of the swamps, on
the former of these two roads render it better
adapted for mounted travellers than the latter.

FROM THE SOURCE OF MANGAPU TO
MOTUKARAMU.

From the source of the Mangapu, where
there is a small settlement, the road runs
through an open country to Te Maina, once a
large and flourishing settlement, but now re-
duced to two occupants; thence it proceeds
through a fine open country into the forest,
crossing two small creeks, and descending to the
old Pa of Pukearuhe. For the next two or
three miles bush and fern alternate.

The road then passes over two small creeks,
and down a steep descent to a beautiful and
fertile valley, up which it continues for a dis-
tance of 5 miles; thence to Te Tokitoki, cros-
sing three wide and rather soft swamps; here
the Mokau river is seen at a distance of 2 miles.
On the high table land on the opposite side of
the river stands the Pa of Kahuwera, from
which a most extensive view is obtained of the
surrounding country, extending to the Waikato
on the north, and Wellington on the south. From
the Tokitoki the road runs for about 3 miles
up the valley of the Mokau River to Te Poporo,
a large and populous settlement, crossing two
swamps, and three small creeks. Hence to
Motukaramu the settlement on the landing
place of the Mokau River, there are routes,
one via Ruakaka the other via Pukewu. On
the former there are seven bad swamps, and
mile and a half of dense forest. Passing the
settlement of Ruakaka, the road crosses the