Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/109

Rh promontory is reached, a point beyond which few travellers have yet penetrated. For a description of the country past this point we are indebted again to Mr Yon Haast’s descriptive narrative, and which, though written twenty years ago, depicts difficulties of travel still existing. He says:—“Our route now continued over granite cliffs with almost vertical sides, the ledges of which were hardly wide enough for our footing. Over these we advanced slowly, and in some places we were compelled, by the steepness of the cliffs, to pass round them upon rocks lying in the surf, placed at unequal distance, and at unequal heights, to get over which we had to wait for a receding wave, and then jump as far as possible. During this process we were occasionally caught and wetted through, only saving ourselves by holding fast to the rocks while the water rushed to and fro, the effort requiring our entire strength. This part of the road from Taura-te-Weka to Kaurangi Point is called by the Maoris Taupiri-Kaka, and is much dreaded by them. . . . We resumed our journey the next morning, the nature of the coast being the same, but becoming wilder as we advanced. All along the edge of the sea stood rugged masses of rock, often formed into gigantic triumphal arches, as if nature had erected them to gratify its own power.” Mr Thomas Brunner, the first intrepid explorer of this country, in his journal, describes this cliff in the following graphic manner:—“The Taupiri-Kaka is a steep cliff, against which the waves break on the perpendicular face of the rock, so as completely to prevent it being passed below, while inshore the mountain rises both steep and high, and presents also an impassable barrier. About 80 ft. above the sea, at a part where the point juts from the mountain, was a place which seemed as if it might afford a passage, and to this we climbed by a difficult rocky path through kenake bushes, and over and amongst large fragments of granite, but on the other side the descent seemed appalling, and we certainly, for a time, deemed it impracticable. At length, finding the remains of a rotten rope made by the Natives, we agreed that what had been done once could be done again, and upon looking down we at length perceived a ledge and some holes in the face of the rock, which might afford foothold. We, therefore, took courage and descended, but we found the descent most hazardous in passing round an overhanging rock, where it was necessary to lean backwards in order to get from one ledge to the other.” Mr Brunner here confines the name Taupiri-Kaka to one rock, but the Natives apply it to the whole of the rugged and dreaded district between Taura-te-Weka and Kaurangi Point. Mr Von Haast continues— “In the afternoon we arrived at a small stream, which we ascended for half a mile, and then climbed the steep sides of the Kaurangi mountain, 1200 ft. high, on whose ridge we continued to travel a mile, when we again descended to the rocky beach. This, however, was the end of our hard walking. A quarter of a mile further brought us to a beautiful sandy beach, which we followed to Ihua Tueroa Point, consisting of cretaceous rocks, bearing a great resemblance to a ruined castle. From this point, looking towards the north, the coast is smooth, and we saw before us the heads of the West Wanganui Harbour, above which stood the rock points of Cape Farewell. Towards the east the low country was bounded by the Whakamarama range, which, with the