The central portion of the district consists of a fertile plain, which stretches for about 25 miles inland, and averages from six to eight miles in breadth. The plain is traversed by several rivers, navigable for a few miles by small craft, and is diversified by clumps of forest in all directions.
The plain and adjacent valleys are richly clothed with grasses. Fruit groves abound, and wild honey is found in every forest. All descriptions of vegetables and fruits the production of temperate zones thrive to perfection, and require little culture; exotics are reared in gardens with little trouble or expense.
The climate resembles those of Hawke’s Bay and Nelson, but is sensibly warmer at all seasons; rain is more equally distributed than in Napier. All parts of the plain are accessible by dray to the coast; vessels of moderate draught can enter the principal rivers, and the roadstead is safe for large shipping in all weathers.
Turanganui, the village capital, is situated at the bottom of a deep bay, from which the district derives its English appellation, on the south bank of the Waimataha river. It contains several stores, a handsome hotel, fine court-house, post-office, etc. On the northern side of the Waimataha, opposite Turanganui, two redoubts are placed, named respectively Wilson’s and Hirini’s redoubts. The population of Poverty Bay in 1867 consisted of about 500 Maoris and 150 Europeans of all ages. Matewhero was situated about five miles from the sea, in the heart of the district. Many people resided there in houses surrounded with gardens and orchards.
[CHAPTER I.]
“AULD LANG SYNE” — NATIVE PURSUITS — SWIFT DECAY.
Several settlers of thirty, and even forty years’ standing yet reside in Turanga, or Poverty Bay, as it is named by Europeans; and the description given by those settlers of its condition on their first arrival is interesting and instructive. In those days the Maoris were numerous and industrious; they manufactured a variety of elegant and useful articles; their houses, sometimes handsomely carved, were of a superior description, and their war canoes were magnificent specimens of ingenuity and beauty. Eighty of those canoes, each capable of carrying from 70 to 100 men, have been counted at one time in the Waimataha river. The natives exported large quantities of prepared flax and other produce, which was disposed of to Sydney traders by the earlier settlers.
Hostilities sometimes broke out between different tribes, but the settlers were slightly affected by their occurrence, and, on the whole, the whites found the Maori was a good neighbour. At that time the morality of the natives was of a higher standard than it subsequently became, and the power of the chiefs was in the ascendant.