Morning journal and courier., 1881-08-27
Travel in New Zealand-No. l. To ROtomahana Through the Hau Hau
 Country.
BY JOHN wURTs.

j. | To the Editor of the JOURNAL COURIER: d About noon of November day party c = cricketers and myself alighted from the dim v nutive train at the terminus of the s'Aucl r land and Mercer' railway. After thre weeks quiet sojurn at the Club House i l. Auckland, was on my way to the New Zea f land Hot Lake district, of which had hear, . ! so much.
 saw my horse safely out of the cattle van and while the eleven cricketers rush bolster ously over to replenish the inner man ant , engage seats on the coach for Hamilton, I B suspicious of the lantern jawed hostler, patro 3 the stable floor until my faithful animal hai eaten the last of his generous peck of oats. My objective point, for the night, was ! Hamilton, distant twenty miles south oi dust of the numbering stage coach, which left for Hamilton at three o'clock, was soon stretching rapidly away southward. The af-
 ternoon was sultry and the few cirrhus
 clouds seemed to intensity the heat of the
 summer sun. The dust rose behind
 in 8 dense cloud and I wished de
 voutly for some of the cool rain that
 had left in the morning pattering on the cob.
 ble stones of Auckland. The road, which
 was in excellent condition for horseback | travelling, lay mostly along the banks of the
 sluggish Waikato, muddy stream having I nothing of the picturesque about it. Stag nant, lifeless dreary dismal, miasmatic va | DOTS hung over the marshes and reedy fens on either bank, and the one miserable little ! fiat-bottom, side-wheeler, without paddle
 boxes, that I met drifting down
 stream seemed to have taken the infection | and to be in the last stage of the shakes | About mile back from the river, on the | highland on either side, were to be seen the | stations of the cattle grazers-for the rich, | alluvial soil of the Waikato valley affords a | pasture unexampled in the New Zealand | provinces for richness of material and luxu | riange of growth.
 Ten miles from Mercer the coach road leaves the river bank. Passing through a | narrow defile, between two precipitous cliffs, galloped into plain view of Lake Rangiriri, | which stretched away about three miles in ! length to the foot of Q small but pie | turesque range of hills which skirted the ! farther shore. Following the directions giv- en me by the landlord at the Mercer Hotel, cleared the wire fence which ran along the | road and made my way rapidly over the meadow to the high headland where were the remains of the old Rangiriri Pah Here it was that band of ninety Maories, having ! sent the women and old men of their village
 
 made q heroic stand, through whole sum- | mer's day, against the repeated assaults of $50 troops of the line. Darkness put an end to the fighting, and the English retired for the night, with what loss is not stated but 1t is known to have been heavy. Two field pieces and n reinforcement of men were ex- pected on the morrow, when the English pro posed, as the Maories had no canoes to aid them in escaping, to wreak dire vengeance on that devoted band for the disgrace they had sustained. But under cover of the night two heroic Maori women, the wife and daughter of the chief commanding tho Pah force, pad
 dled over two great war canoes and in the morning the English force opened fire with grape and shell on fort empty of defenders" Of the original stockade of tho Pah not q
 trace remained; but could still see the half filled rifie-pits from which the savage heroes
 had poured forth their well directed fire. The
 story of the defense had been told me, not
 for the first time, by mine host at Mercer, who had been in the attacking party. AL
 though the Maori war was @ thing thirteen
 years in the past, I had found that its thrill ing and bloody but romantic events were still fresh in the minds of the colonists. who needed but hint to give you a circumstan- tial history of the campaign from the siege of Rangiriri and other affrays in the Waikato
 valley to the sanguinary day at the Gate Pah,
 Passing around the west shore of the lake,
 
 me down into level plain, where, being able to take the turf, gave freer rein to my i'm patient horse, who thought he had not yet sufficiently stretched his limbs after his un- accustomed railway journey.
 The homely but exceedingly comfortable Hamilton House, kept by buxom Yorkshire woman and her two daughters. afforded me the luxury of tub after my dusty ride, and mug of my landladys excellent homo brewed small beer freshened me up for a stroll among the tidy little cottages that con- posed the village. It was almost dark before heard the distant coach horn which warned me to hurry back to the inn or be content with what those Gargantuan knights of the bat and ball might leave of the savory meal that knew was in preparation. An! what supper was that Rashers of English bacon of the good old kind, juicy beefsteaks with mushrooms fresh from the landlady's pas tures mullins the receipt for which secured with view to future housekeeping, and chocolate such as was never brewed in homeopathic sanitarium. While the others boisterously talked cricket, applied myself to the business in hand with un-American- like stiffness and it was well that did so, for many time during the next few days were the fragrant recollections of that meal to render moro endurable the cravings of a hungry stomach.
 The next day was Saturday, and as I was extremely desirous of reaching Ohinemutu p o'clock in the morning found me paying the ferryman for getting me over the Wnikato, half mile below Hamilton and Thea. Giving | my willing steed his own way, we bounded | up the steep bank and raced south, over 0 beautifully smooth and level road, towards | Cambridge, where had been told, guides | must be engaged for the remainder of tho | trip twenty mile stretch is soon covered | by young man in bounding health with such | a horse as mine under him and his breakfast | in prospective. Imagine my dismay, how | ever, when, on dismounting at the great ram | bling hotel which was at Cambridge, the an- | swer to my first inquiry was that it | would require two days and @ half to l bring into acquisition the services of | a man who was acquainted with the trail to | Ohinemutu. There was evidently nothing | for it but to possess my soul in patience. l The time between breakfast and dinner | passed slowly enough. and had it not been l for the entertainment afforded by billiard | table in an advanced state of dilapidation, | my case would have been desperate enough | However, at the dinner table became ac- | quainted with cattle buyer, who said he | could give me directions so explicit that by | following them I would require no guide to | take me to Ohinemutu. My resolution was | immediately taken, and procuring from my | kindly informant roughly drawn map of | the road to be travelled, began my simple | preparations for a lonely journey through the | wilderness.
 First, Moro" was sent to the blacksmith's. | where his shoes were neatly reset. A small | package of Prince Albert biscuits and a cou- ple of pounds of 'tniggerhead'' completed | my outfit, which had consisted of few in. | dispensable articles of toilet, a couple of | blue flannel shirts, g blanket, g pair of heavy | kangaroo leather boots reaching six inches | above the knees, tight fitting suit of cor | duroy, Smith & Wesson of heavy calibre | and 100 cartridges. bowie knife and pair | of field glasses Thus armed and accoutred, | and with two dozen ears of Indian corn for | Moro in my hayersack, I started out, in spite |
 +The Maories on evacuating the Rangiriri took up position which they were obliged to surrender the dav