Page:Picturesque New Zealand, 1913.djvu/214

138 Taumarunui is not much to look at, but it is one of the greatest tourist gateways of New Zealand. It is at the head of navigation on the Wanganui, and is one of the principal stations on the Main Trunk Railway. In this busy hotel town, when you seek the tourist steamer office, it is only necessary to follow the crowd. "Where shall I find the steamer office?" I asked my landlady on the morning of my trip down the river.

"Oh, it is easy to find," said she. "You'll see plenty of people going there."

So I did. There was a string of them ahead of me, and they looked like picnickers on the march. At the foot of a stairway, beside a willow-lined bank, I boarded the launch Waireka. It was hard to decide whether this craft looked more like a torpedo boat or a canoe with decks. It had a steel hull more than sixty feet long and less than a sixth as wide, and its draught was—ten inches! Near it were smaller vessels, called canoes, equipped with gasoline engines; these also belonged to "Hatrick's fleet." When we were all aboard the pilot came aft.

"Please move forward," said he; "there is shallow water here."

Then, mounting to his wheel, he gave the starting signal. First we passed rocky bars and were warned off by netting; then came big boulders; next a roar of waters, and—splash! We were in the rapids, and showered with flying foam. For a brief time we twisted and rolled in a narrow,