From the pa we pulled up the Waiwhetu River, which there had lofty Rimu trees on its banks. The various bends were very beautiful and secluded, and seemed to be the home of the grey duck and teal, and numerous other wild fowl. Here and there, on the bank, was a patch of cultivation, and the luxuriant growth of potatoes, taros, and. Kumara, indicated the richness of the soil. As seen from the ship, or the hills, a lofty pine wood appeared to occupy the whole breadth and length of the Hutt Valley, broken only by the stream and its stony margin. This wood commenced about a mile from the sea, the intervening space being a sandy flat and a flax marsh. About the Lower Hutt and the Taita, it required a good axe-man to clear in a day a space large enough to pitch a tent upon. New Zealand. Drone photo. Sunset, misty, wilderness.